Communication SOCL 1115

We need to improve communication around here Ask any employee what they'd like to change about their company, and you're likely to hear "We need better communication around here." Everyone around them nods in active agreement. But what are they agreeing about? What do they mean by this? It could be any number of things. Probing people's complaints about "poor communication" can lead to the core issues that need attention

Issues No one really understands my needs and ideas. (issues of respect and listening skills) Some of us are left out of information loops or decision-making. (organizational structure issues) The organization has levels and divisions that speak different languages (language barrier issues, class/education boundary issues) People work alone or can't converse during work hours. (work organization issues) Everything is put in writing; no one talks to me as a person (organization climate issues). Nothing is put in writing; you have to have strong political networks to know what's happening.(organizational structure issues) We have such different world-views that no one understands where I am coming from. (diversity issues) We employees don't dare tell management what's really going on. (management style issues) We managers don't dare tell employees what's really going on. (survival issues)

Cont.. Next time someone says "we need better communication around here", ask them "Can you give me an example of something that's happened recently?"

Sending Messages 2 models of how we communicate What does it mean "to communicate"? We spend most of our waking hours trying to link our internal reality with the external world. We have developed hundreds of channels to do this, yet our ability to achieve consistent and perfect understanding is elusive. The following pages start with the basics of how human beings (try to) communicate with each other through "signals", "messages", "signs," and "codes."

Shannon & Weaver's model Think of a telephone or a radio: A source (a person's mind, for instance) generates a message, A transmitter codes the message into a physical signal (electrons, light or sound waves, smoke signals). This passes through a channel. Noise may intervene. The signal is decoded by a receiver, so that the destination can understand it.

Key points: The model is linear, i.e communication is seen as a transaction. Suggests there is a "sender" and a "receiver" that some THING is "sent". No feedback mechanism. Examples of communications that have minimal feedback: communication: TV, mass media. Describes technical transfer aspects of communication (Shannon was an engineer working on reducing signal noise.) Although it is used to describe human communication, that was not S & W's intent. The context of the communication and the message content are both irrelevant.

Noise Noise is particularly useful concept for understanding the affect of culture or conflict on communication. In S & W's model, noise is a physical disturbance in the signal (such as static, a torn page in a magazine, glare, channel overload).

Noise Cont. "Noise" is now used to describe anything that might distort or interrupt communication, for example: Mental distraction--your attention is elsewhere Relationship between those who are communicating Language gap Emotional reactions Differences in interpretation, in knowledge

Gerbner's model Gerbner adds in the contextual elements of perception, culture, the medium, and power Person #1 perceives an event, "E". This perception is filtered: (physical ability to experience the event, personal and cultural selective perceptions), and is therefore one step removed from the original event ("E1"). Person #1 selects a channel to send the message. ("Signal" or "S") The message = the FORM + its CONTENT ("SE1" or Signal + E1). Person #2 receives and decodes the message, also filtering the message (physical ability to receive the message, cultural and personal selective perceptions), and therefore receives "a perception of a statement about an event" ("SE2") The message understood by Person #2 is now several removes from the original intent.

Key points: 1. Every person involved in the communication has perceptions and filters which structure how they send or receive a message. 2. A message is content PLUS form -- both convey meaning.

Consider the differences in how you declare "I love you" over a private candlelight dinner on the run as you dash out the door to work writing it by hand on homemade paper sending an spray painting it across a railroad overpass. Or with a graphic in an -)

Cont.. Furthermore, the model accounts for power difference by noting that those with greater access to various media have more options and channels to send messages--they can afford to pay a plane with an "I love you" banner fly over the football stadium... (or more seriously, the ability to put messages out in national and international media).

Perception in Communication In living our lives and communicating with each other our perception of reality is less important than reality itself. Some would argue that there IS no ultimate reality, only the illusion of our perceptions.

Our perceptions are influenced by: physical elements -- what information your eye or ear can actually take in, how your brain processes it. environmental elements -- what information is out there to receive, its context. learned elements -- culture, personality, habit: what filters we use to select what we take in and how we react to it

For example Color blind people will not perceive "red" the way as other people do. Those with normal vision may physically see "red" similarly, but will interpret it culturally: red meaning "stop" or "anger" or "excitement" or "in debt" (US) red meaning "good fortune" (China) red meaning your school's colors

Selective Attention The world deluges us with sensory information every second. Our mind produces interpretations and models and perceptions a mile a minute. To survive, we have to select what information we attend to and what we remember.

Information that attracts our attention Sends out strong physical stimulus: contrast, blinking, loudness, etc. Elicits emotion -- TV dramas, memory aid: when taking notes on an article, write your emotional response to it Is unexpected? (This may draw your attention or conversely, you may miss it entirely with your mind filling in the missing pieces you expected to receive.) Fits a pattern Previous knowledge that gives it context Interests you Connects to basic needs (belonging, sex, danger, hunger...) Is useful.

Cont.. Note how important your cultural filters will be in determining the answers to these questions--what hooks your emotions? What is "normal" and what is "unexpected", etc.

Test yourself! Here are some fun videos about attention and perception:

Thank you