Unit I. Managerial communication

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Managerial communication1

Managers have three basic jobs: to collect and convey information, to make decisions, and to promote interpersonal unity. Every one of those jobs is carried out through communication. Managers collect relevant information from conversations, the grapevine, phone calls, memos, reports, databases, and the Internet. They convey information and decisions to other people inside or outside the organization through meetings, speeches, press releases, videos, memos, letters, and reports. Managers motivate organizational members in speeches, memos, conversations at lunch and over coffee, bulletin boards, and through "management by walking around."

Effective managers are able to use a wide variety of media and strategies to communicate. They know how to interpret comments from informal channels such as the company grapevine; they can speak effectively in small groups and in formal presentations; they write well.

Managerial communication is different from other kinds of communication. Why? Because in a business or management setting, a brilliant message alone is not sufficient: you are successful only if your message leads to the response you desire from your audience.

To get that desired audience response, you need to think strategically about your communication—before you start to write or speak. Strategic communication is based on five interactive variables: (1) communicator (the writer or speaker) strategy, (2) audience strategy, (3) the message strategy, (4) channel choice strategy, and (5) cultural context strategy.

Communication—oral, nonverbal, and written—goes to both internal and external audiences. Internal audiences are other people in the same organization: subordinates, superiors, peers. External audiences are people outside the organization: customers, suppliers, unions, stockholders, potential employees, government agencies, the press, and the general public.

In business we communicate for only one reason: to influence someone to think or behave in a particular way. For example, managers want to influence employees to understand, support, and work for business goals such as increasing productivity, sales, profits, and quality while reducing costs. To influence any audience, we must understand and relate to their interests and needs. Communication takes many forms: face-to-face or phone conversations, informal meetings, e-mail messages, letters, memos, and reports. All of these methods are verbal communication, or communication that uses words. Nonverbal communication does not use words. Pictures, computer graphics, and company logos are nonverbal. Interpersonal nonverbal signals include smiles, who sit where at a meeting, the size of an office, and how long someone keeps a visitor waiting.

Typically, effective communication is based on face-to-face interaction between people working to establish and maintain mutual trust and understanding. This interpersonal communication is often supported by the appropriate written, spoken, and broadcast communication material (memos, newsletters, news releases, speeches, videotapes, and other media). However, when we rely solely on these media, no matter how well crafted, we lose the ability that interpersonal communication provides to gauge if and how people respond to our communication. Essentially, we confuse merely disseminating information with interactive communication.

To increase the chances for success of any important business activity, develop a communication plan at the outset. The plan should articulate a clear purpose, the desired outcomes, and the messages and methods that will work best with audiences you need to reach. Without this kind of planned communication, the success of the activity and of the people involved is jeopardized unnecessarily.

Business depends on communication. In every organization, communication is the way people get their points across and get work done.

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