Introduction
Communication in different forms is usually associated with individuals’ various activities. Therefore, managers and employees are expected to learn how to interact and communicate most efficiently in order to achieve the set goals and objectives. Management communication is important for a business environment because it is a key tool for organizing the work of groups and teams, stimulating employees’ and partners’ cooperation, and improving productivity and performance; thus, the focus on specific principles of organizing effective communication is critical in this context.
Effective Communication Norms in a Business Setting
In a business setting, communication is highly regulated in order to avoid miscommunication and negative outcomes for all actors. Therefore, effective communication norms that are applied to a business setting include the reference to ethical principles and the use of a professional and respectful tone. According to Baack (2012), each detail in business communication is meaningful, and much attention should be paid to creating and transmitting messages effectively, in a formal manner, to receive expected feedback.
Thus, the formulation of the right messages in a business setting depends on following certain communication rules and policies adopted in a specific company or industry. The context is extremely significant for determining communication norms for a business setting.
As a result, effective communication norms are associated with using appropriate messages and channels of communication in order to interact with colleagues and partners, providing feedback, and focusing on multiculturalism. Thus, regardless of the type of communication in a business environment (oral, written, face-to-face, or electronic), individuals are expected to use a professional tone and formal language to formulate their ideas and messages.
Additionally, it is important to apply the principles of active listening in order to guarantee an effective interaction with a partner (Jones et al., 2019). When communicating, it is necessary to provide feedback to a speaker to guarantee the goals of the interaction are achieved (Zerfass & Viertmann, 2017). Moreover, in the business world, there are specific norms that are associated with returning calls and emails, as well as writing memorandums and reports. All these norms and rules allow for making communication in the organizational context more effective and productive.
Role of Interpersonal Communication for Managers and Employees
Interpersonal communication is critical for both managers and employees because it is a basis for their daily interactions in business environments. As a manager, a person should be persuasive and clear when communicating, and messages are expected to be concise but still correct and convincing (Baack, 2012). In this case, it is possible to expect the understanding of instructions and guidelines by employees to guarantee the effective completion of tasks. Effective interpersonal communication is also important for managers because they often provide feedback for employees and explain strategies and steps to complete.
In their turn, employees use interpersonal communication in order to improve their productivity and effectively cooperate in teams (Martinich, 2017). If employees lack skills inefficient communication, they cannot effectively collaborate and interact with co-workers in order to contribute to their performance.
Typical barriers to communication include individual differences, situational aspects and distractions, and problems in transmitting messages. Thus, according to Baack (2012), differences in native languages, cultural specifics, and particular features of personality, as well as numerous distractions in an office environment and the inability to code and encode messages effectively can provoke barriers to communication.
In order to overcome these differences, it is necessary to become aware of the possibilities of such obstacles and develop strategies for addressing them. Being a manager, it is important to address barriers to communication with the help of such techniques as the development of messages with reference to cultural and individual characteristics of people participating in an interaction. Furthermore, distracting situational factors should be minimized; therefore, meetings and face-to-face interactions should be organized in closed conference rooms, and all gadgets need to be turned off.
Role of International and Intercultural Interpersonal Communications
In modern global business, the success of companies significantly depends on their skills in international and intercultural communication. The reason is that many organizations cooperate with international partners and other organizations choose to enter international markets. Additionally, human resources in many countries are culturally diverse, and this aspect creates a challenge for leaders and managers.
As a result, they face a necessity of organizing their intercultural communication as the need of the modern business world. In order to promote diversity and avoid conflicts, it is necessary to know specific features of different cultures and the principles of interaction to achieve understanding (Baack, 2012). In this context, much attention should be paid to focusing on cultural dimensions determined by Geert Hofstede as characterizing different nations (Baack, 2012; Gjylbegaj & Jararaa, 2017). International and intercultural communication plays an important role in influencing organizations’ work, and the key to positive collaboration and interaction between representatives of different cultures is in recognizing and respecting differences in cultures.
The communication between representatives of diverse backgrounds should be based on spreading the knowledge about specifics of interactions in different cultural contexts. Such details as eye contact, greeting traditions, non-verbal cues used in communication, and body language play a critical role in determining the success of communication (Gjylbegaj & Jararaa, 2017). For example, the representatives of Western and Muslim cultures have different visions regarding the communication between men and women, including business contexts.
If cultural norms are ignored in communication, it is possible to create conflicts, observe misunderstanding, and even cause offense. Therefore, managing multicultural and international networks and human resources, it is important to focus on specifics of communication with diverse employees and partners.
Verbal and Non-verbal Management Communication
Verbal management communication is based on using words in order to express certain ideas. In this context, attention should be paid to selecting the vocabulary to use as the application of jargon can be avoided in some cases and to choosing an appropriate tone of voice. These details are important for personal communication face-to-face; in written verbal communication, the focus should be on using the appropriate formal vocabulary and formulating messages in a concise manner (Baack, 2012). Verbal communication is most effectively used during face-to-face and electronic meetings and conferences, as well as presentations and seminars.
However, it is also important to note that non-verbal communication can also have both positive and negative effects on managerial interactions. The reason is that many people do not pay much attention to learning the specifics of non-verbal communication, especially with reference to different cultures and traditions. Thus, non-verbal communication includes the use of gestures, facial expressions, touching, eye contact, and physical distancing.
When interacting, people communicate not only with the help of words but also with the help of their gestures among other details (Hall et al., 2019). If an individual uses inappropriate gestures or their facial expression contradicts their words, messages and ideas can be misinterpreted by communicators because the ineffective use of non-verbal language is often viewed as an important barrier to consider.
Approaches for Effective Written Communication
Written communication can be discussed as effective when the format of organizing messages is selected appropriately. Thus, in organizations, written communication includes exchanging memorandums, letters, emails, guidelines, and reports among other types of documents. Each of these components has a specific structure that should be followed to address the purpose of communication (Baack, 2012). All the elements of written documents need to be properly organized, and the used language should be mostly formal. It is important to apply a professional tone, make messages and texts carefully structured, correct, and clear. Thus, managers and employees should use direct and simple language, without jargon in most cases, in order to communicate the purpose of the message effectively.
Another approach to making written management communication successful is the focus on the audience’s background. It is important to think about the receiver of the message when writing it in order to guarantee that it will be decoded and followed efficiently.
For example, sending a memorandum to a supervisor, it is important to remember the typical structure of memos, the provision of the purpose of writing in the first paragraph, and focusing on facts rather than on detailed descriptions (Penrod et al., 2017). Furthermore, employees need to focus on the use of visual aids in their written communication because the excessive use of figures and tables can be inappropriate if the provided data are not explained in the text. Thus, written management communication has many details to concentrate on in order to realize the goal of interactions.
Approaches for Engaging the Audience during Presentations
Presentations are actively used in modern business settings in order to inform the audience about some achievements, research, or statistics, for example. To engage the audience during presentations, it is important to use available visual aids and organize information with the help of slides or posters which need to support a speaker’s key messages (Baack, 2012). Successful presentations should be organized in a way to promote active listening among the representatives of the audience. Thus, to ensure presentations help to engage the public, and address the principles of active listening, it is necessary to use certain approaches.
The following techniques, methods, or approaches can be applied: the objectives of a presentation need to be clearly presented, the needs and expertise of the audience need to be addressed, visual aids should be attractive and supportive, but not distracting for listeners. Therefore, presentations are effective when speakers focus on the audience, avoid jargon, do not make assumptions regarding the public’s level of knowledge, explain details in simple language, and use clear messages (Jones et al., 2019). Additionally, the content of a presentation should be interesting, effectively organized, and supported with the help of slides.
For example, visually attractive PowerPoint slides used in organizations and institutions promote active listening because of draw listeners’ attention to details and ideas. However, on the contrary, when these slides include animation and many illustrations, these elements can work as confusing ones, and such presentations do not contribute to business settings.
Effective Methods of Conflict Resolution
A range of methods and approaches are available to managers in order to resolve and overcome conflicts in organizational environments. These methods include negotiation, mediation, arbitration, compromising, accommodation, and avoidance (Baack, 2012). Some of these methods are more effective than others; for instance, avoidance is not discussed as an appropriate technique when the conflict is observed because it means ignoring the problem, but it can be used effectively to avoid conflicts (Porat et al., 2016). Negotiation, compromising, and accommodation are viewed as the most effective approaches to resolving conflicts because they are associated with contacting and discussing openly the aspects of the conflict to find solutions that can address the wishes and expectations of both parties.
Mediation and arbitration require the involvement of a third party, and a manager can perform a role of a mediator in the conflict of their subordinates. Furthermore, it is possible to involve professional mediators if a conflict is complex in order to control the whole process of coming to a solution. All these discussed methods can be applied effectively when managers know the nature of conflicts, can develop trustful relationships with employees, and their leadership is recognized and accepted. For instance, if a manager has no developed skills in mediating conflicts, they can choose a strategy of avoidance at the stage of observing a serious conflict in an organization, and this decision can lead to problems in the corporate culture or even increased turnover levels.
Techniques for Leading Teams and Meetings
Teams and group meetings can be organized and led effectively when managers know the theory of team dynamics and group work. It is important to understand how people in groups and teams tend to interact and what factors are important in order to stimulate their communication and collaboration. Managers need to provide comfortable environments for group work, objectively determine team leaders, promote cooperation, and provide required coordination. In addition, according to Baack (2012), the focus on group and team cohesion are also important because this is a significant factor for stimulating effective group work.
The problem identified in personal professional practice is that teams and groups often experience difficulties when discussing alternatives and making decisions because of team leaders’ weaknesses and inabilities to coordinate the work. Therefore, much attention should be paid to identifying effective team leaders and allowing employees to determine and assign their leaders.
Furthermore, the organization of group meetings can also be challenging for managers. Possible problems can be avoided when determining the space, time, and objectives for meeting clearly (Baack, 2012). These steps are critical to ensure long ineffective discussions can be avoided, and all objectives are addressed. For example, it is rather problematic to coordinate the work of large groups and teams; therefore, it is necessary to follow a specific plan of a meeting to organize efficient communication.
Conclusion
The analysis of management communication presented in this paper indicates that it is extremely important for a business setting as one of the most important tools for organizing and coordinating the work of employees individually and in teams. Significant principles of management communication are associated with following certain norms in organizational environments, developing skills in interpersonal communication, promoting intercultural interaction, and using verbal and non-verbal language. It is also necessary to concentrate on the principles related to using written communication, organizing presentations, resolving conflicts, and ensuring the effective work of groups and teams.
References
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