University of Turin Advanced Business Administration

1. University of TurinAdvanced Business Administration Communication and Interpersonal Skills Associate Professor Christine Burton

2. Aim of this lecture • General overview of communication • Supportive/Unsupportive Statements • Communication – handout

3. Organisational Communication is not just a passing of information but: ‘an interactive circle involving sender and receiver, messages, media and feedback loops’ ‘an active way of creating, shaping and maintaining relationships and enacting shared values, common cultures, agreed goals and means for their achievement’ ‘a culturally driven process of sensemaking’ (Clegg, Kornberger, Pitsis, 2005)

4. Functions of Organisational Communication: Informative (transports information; facts and figures – basis for action) Systemic ( ‘glue’ between org members – creates bonds) Literal ( enables meaning to be established and owned ‘sensemaking’ – ‘why are we here?’) Figurative (links org to wider environment – represents organisational identity, mission + purpose)

5. Communication in the Workplace • Communication articulates power and reveals power relations • Effective communication in the workplace: • Creates and maintains a positive workplace culture • Enables unified effort towards goal achievement • Ineffective communication in the workplace • Creates culture ‘atmosphere’ of mistrust, confusion, dislike, toxicity • Confuses / undermines united effort • Communication routes both formal and informal • Formal (authorised) • Dependent upon organisational structure: • Upwards, downwards, lateral • Executive/managerial directive, newsletters, bulletins, emails, face to face • Informal (unauthorised) • Grapevine • Rumour mill

6. The Communication Process • The Communication Source (the sender) • The message • Encoding the message (convert the message to symbolic form) • The Channel (the medium through which the encoded message is sent • Decoding (retranslating the sender’s message) • Receiver (transfer of meaning) • Feedback

7. Interpersonal Communication – Process of Delivery / Feedback Feedback

8. Types of Communication Oral Communication • Advantages – quick easy transference of information – main disadvantage is if a number of people are involved Written Communication • Permanent, tangible, verifiable- drawbacks are that it is time consuming – no immediate feedback from written communication – sending a memo is no assurance that it has been received and there is no ability to check immediately if the receiver has understood the sender’s intentions. Nonverbal Communication • Body language – gestures, facial expressions – verbal intonation – emphasis given to words or phrases that conveys meaning. Every oral communication always has a non-verbal message. How we say something is often more important than what we say.

10. Barriers to Communication Filtering Selective Perception Emotions Information Overload Language Non-Verbal Cues Communication Overload (anxiety) Gender Cross Cultural

11. Humanistic Model and the Pragmatic Model • Humanistic Model • Openness • Empathy • Supportiveness • Positiveness • Equality • Pragmatic Model • Confidence • Immediacy • Interaction Management • Expressiveness • Other-orientation

12. Strategies for Humanistic and Pragmatic Communication • Assertion • Paraphrasing • Feedback • Networking • Self-disclosure

13. Communicating authenticity and integrity(Denning etc) • Communicating authenticity: the language of leadership • Telling stories: the art of self-disclosure • The traditional way: problem-analysis-solution • A different way: attention-desire-reinforce with reason • Use disclosure, connect with the listeners’ values, simplify

14. What interpersonal skills do managers need to develop? • Active listening skills • Intensity • Empathy • Acceptance • Willingness to take responsibility for completeness • Developing Feedback Skills