BUS603: Managing People

Regardless of the type of communication involved, the nature, direction, and quality of interpersonal communication processes can be influenced by several factors.

Social Influences

Communication is a social process, as it takes at least two people to have a communication episode. There are a variety of social influences that can affect the accuracy of the intended message. For example, status barriers between employees at different levels of the organization can influence things such as addressing a director level as "Ms. Jones" or a coworker at the same level as "Mike". Prevailing norms and roles can dictate who speaks to whom and how someone responds. Exhibit 11.4 illustrates a variety of communications that illustrate social influences in the workplace.

Exhibit 11.4 Patterns of Managerial Communication

Perception

In addition, the communication process is heavily influenced by perceptual processes. The extent to which an employee accurately receives job instructions from a manager may be influenced by her perception of the manager, especially if the job instructions conflict with her interest in the job or if they are controversial. If an employee has stereotyped the manager as incompetent, chances are that little that the manager says will be taken seriously. If the boss is well regarded or seen as influential in the company, everything that she says may be interpreted as important.

Interaction Involvement

Communication effectiveness can be influenced by the extent to which one or both parties are involved in conversation. This attentiveness is called interaction attentiveness or interaction involvement. If the intended receiver of the message is preoccupied with other issues, the effectiveness of the message may be diminished. Interaction involvement consists of three interrelated dimensions: responsiveness, perceptiveness, and attentiveness.

Organizational Design

The communication process can also be influenced by the design of the organization. It has often been argued to decentralize an organization because that will lead to a more participative structure and lead to improved communication in the organization. When messages must travel through multiple levels of an organization, the possibility of distortion can also occur, which would be diminished with more face-to-face communication.