While dealing in a business setting there are certain types of communication that will help the success of the business. The author of Contemporary Business Communication, Scott Ober states, “ Communication is the process of sending and receiving messages”. There is verbal communication, which is the use of words. Oral communication, the most frequently used type of communication in the business world. Then there is written communication, which is a written type of communication medium that may be more difficult to convey than oral communication to get your message across. In written communication it is harder to get the message across to your audience. You have to make sure they understood the message correctly, and are on the same page as you are. With written communication you can not see the audiences reaction to make sure the message was received. This why the message being passed on must be correct. Some examples of written communication are email, website, letters, and reports. Direct face-to-face communication is no longer the only medium used by organizations to communicate with business leaders and employees through real time. New types of communication have emerged thanks to technological advancement. The use of audio communication (teleconference) as well as video conference has become popular mediums. Video conference may soon be the new face-to-face communication utilized by many businesses to aide the success of their companies. In dealing with organizational communication, there are certain ethics that may have to be followed in order to ensure the well being of the company's name as well as its employees. Besides ethics, effective teamwork is another important value of a company for it is the structure that many companies operate on. Although the success of the company maybe be based on a group or groups of people working toward a common goal, not all teams can work together. Conflicts and differences in opinion will exist before any type of conformity or consensus can be reached. That is the beauty of working in groups. Contrasting ideas and opinions bring out creativity as well as innovative work.
Face-to-Face Communication
"Frequent face-to-face communication is the way to develop a winning team, whether in sports or in business"- Mike Krzyzewski, Duke University Basketball Coach
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing defines face-to-face communication as personal interaction in real life as opposed to via some digital or electronic communications medium.
Communication in an organizational setting has been diversified with the improvement of technology, but face-to-face communication still remains one of the most effective form of communication. As technology engulf our lives we are utilizing less and less in person interaction in order to communicate within the organizational structure. Many organization will op for using e-mail and instant messages rather than a personal confrontation. According to a respondent from a survey by NFI Research, "too many people take the easy way out and try to do everything via e-mail and in a lot of cases consume more time on both side of the equation" (1). The respondent is pointing out the fact that we as a culture are losing our sense of social interaction by reverting to our boxed computer screen. By affectively using face-to-face communication, it will often command a higher rate of response by the recipient of the message. Because of the cultural upbringing, many of us are so acquainted to writing everything out rather than directly speaking to the other person, we have developed a fear for confrontations or a higher uncertainty avoidance trait. Prenhall defines it as the extent to which members of a culture feel threatened by uncertain or unkown situations. In the organizational structure, executives may avoid confrontation or personal discussion as a way to delay decision-making. Being confronted will force them to make a decision or express an opinion right away.
(8)
Advantages of Using Effective Face-to-Face Communication in Organizational Meeting:
Reinforce the importance of one's work-related roles and their implications on "real" people and other team members (4)
Increase the ability to read important nonverbal cues delivered by the sender
Increase the element of trust by the ability to read other's truthfulness in their messages
Give people the feeling that their opinions count
Strengthen bonds among team members
Increase in productivity
Vocally, content can express feelings both in terms of what is said and how it is said; nonverbal cues such as body gestures and facial expressions (7)
Information communicated is instantaneously received (7)
Problems can be best addressed together as a group
Disadvantages of Using Face-to-Face Communication in Organizational Meeting:
More expensive for companies to finance a conference
Pay for employees travel to conferences
Reduction in creativity
Talents maybe be distributed around the world rather than in one city to meet for a face-to-face interaction
Intimidation
The pressure to give an immediate response might jeopardize the project later on if the decision was not well thought out
Video Conference
In today’s world with technology growing so fast, we have been introduced to this new form of communication called video conferencing. Video Conferencing is a very easy to use, and is inexpensive for businesses. It allows colleagues to talk face to face around the world in meetings. This is the best way for companies around the world to communicate with each other, without even leaving the room. Today there are many different programs like ichat,skype,oovoo,polycom, and Tandberg that make this new way of communicating happen.
Positive Effects of Video Conferencing:
In communicating in business video conferencing has become the best advancement in communicating globally.
This type of communication is quickly growing in businesses all over.
Video conferencing really helps workers who need a more flexible work area.
With video conferencing you can take your work where ever and still stay connected.
It also saves you a lot of time, it take less then a minute to start a meeting this way.
Employees can stay in the office instead of flying over seas, saving the company a lot of money on traveling.
Allows us to communicate with businesses in different time zones.
Video conferencing is being considered the stronger choice over audio conferencing because of its more intimate nature. It allows those conferencing to communicate while being able to see each other’s facial expressions. This feature allows the speaker to gage the receiver’s nonverbal feedback making them more able to adjust their message.
Save companies to spend on getting the best web conferencing symtem
Potential Effects on the Healthcare Industry
Another study done noted that the health care industry could benefit those living far away from specialists by using video conferencing. People can video conference with a specialist and then the specialist could instruct the local care giver on the most effective way to help their patient. This would save people travel time. Especially families with sick children, it is also thought to help ease parental anxiety because it would be easier to see a specialist instead of waiting months for an in person appointment.
Video conferencing has also been found to be helpful in trauma based situations where specialist can be filled in about patients and give better assessments of immediate care which can greatly increase the chance in the patient’s full recovery.
Negatives About Using Video Conferencing:
Even though there are many pros to video conferencing there are three main issues that don’t make video conferencing so popular yet in businesses. The three issues are Eye Contact, Appearance Consciousness, and Signal Latency.
Eye Contact:
When it comes to eye contact its very important in getting the persons attention, to show that its there turn to talk now, and shows who’s is the leader in the conversation
So when it comes to having a conference call on the phone where you cannot see each other there is no eye contact. While with video conferencing by you avoiding making eye contact, it makes a very bad impression
Also sometimes the camera is at the top of the screen, but then the image of the person talking to is in the corner or lower, so the eye contact is also off there
Appearance Consciousness:
Another problem with video conferencing is that you are on camera, meaning that your appearance means everything.
Also some people feel very awkward, or unconfident when they see themselves on a screen. This causes problems for people to be able to communicate well with everyone else. They don’t give off the confident attitude that they might give off over the phone.
Signal latency:
Depending on where you are the you might not get the best internet service.
You can be stuck in a part of the country were service is not so strong, which can then affect the video signal.
When you have poor video signal it can really mess up the quality of sound and picture.
This then makes it hard to have a meeting, and to business with one another.
Communication "Noise" Can Hinder Effectiveness
Poor lighting can cause poor quality of the video display and become “noise” for those interacting over video conference. Lighting is important because it can affect the tone of the conversation and the way the speaker is perceived. Formula’s for good lighting have been derived but they are another expense that business has to factor into the cost effectiveness of video conferencing.
Static and poor streaming quality can also hurt the communication over video conference. It can also slow down the flow of communication. A study found that although people felt engaged in video conferencing they valued face to face communication more. It also found the elements of the video interface hindered the communication pattern.
All of these issues will disappear over times. The more and more people get used to video conferencing, it will be the dominant device that businesses will use to communicate face to face.
In the video below, we see just how much video communication can do with businesses and your personal life
Audio Conference
Audio conference otherwise known as a telephone conference involves more than one party to listen in on the audio portion of the call. The conference calls are designed to allow the called party to participate or to merely listen in to the call and cannot interact with others through the call. Audio conferencing is an old practice that businesses use daily to speak to employees as well as clients from different regions of the country or the world. Although it is an old practice, audio conferences are revolutionized through new and innovative technology. With the invention of the internet, conference calls are becoming increasingly used with web conference, in which presentations and documents are shared via the internet. This new concept allows those on-call to view contents such as corporate reports, sales figures and company data presented by the participants. The other benefit gives the viewers of documents a clearer understanding of the presenter's goals and explanations.
A new kind of interactive pattern has emerged from audio conference. Conference calls can now be stream live through podcasting and social networks. This broadcasting of calls allows a large audience to access the call and information without having to dial in. In some cases, the live broadcasts create an opportunity for audience members to interact with those conference call participants. This ability enables the audience to input their ideas and contents and get direct feedback from the participants.
Purpose of Audio Conference:
Public corporations use audio conference to report quarterly results
Allows stock analysts to question the corporations, known as earning calls
Allows for client meetings or sales presentations
Project meetings and updates
Regular team meetings
Training classes and communication to employees who work in different locations
Cut travel costs
Allow workers to be more productive by not having to go out-of office for meetings
Used for entertainment or social purposes such as party line or a group call
Provide break from boredom as well as socializing with others
Meet New people
Audio conference serves many purpose from business to entertainment to social, but it also has its disadvantages.
Common Causes of Poor Conference Calls (24):
People do not show up
Lack of familiarity with behavior and protocol
Lack of familiarity with equipment and technology
Background noise and disturbances
Poor coordination by call-initiator
Lack of moderator
From the video bellow we see how many companies set up conference calls, and use them to benefit their businesses.
Nonverbal Communication
Nonverbal communication (NVC) is usually understood as the process of communication through sending and receiving wordless messages. i.e., verbal language is not the only source of communication, there are other means also. NVC can be communicated through gestures and touch (Haptic communication), by body language or posture, by facial expression and eye contact. NVC can be communicated through object communication such as clothing, hairstyles or even architecture, symbols and info graphics. Speech contains nonverbal elements known as paralanguage, including voice quality, emotion and speaking style, as well as prosodic features such as rhythm, intonation and stress. Dance is also regarded as a nonverbal communication. Likewise, written texts have nonverbal elements such as handwriting style, spatial arrangement of words, or the use of emoticons.
Lets take a closer look at the means through which nonverbal communication is conveyed and there characteristics.
Non-verbal cues substitute for, contradict, emphasize or regulate verbal message.
Non-verbal cues are often ambiguous.
Non-verbal cues are continuous.
Non-verbal cues are more reliable.
Non-verbal cues are culture bound.
While much nonverbal communication is based on arbitrary symbols, which differ from culture to culture, a large proportion is also to some extent iconic and may be universally understood. Paul Ekman's influential 1960s studies of facial expression determined that expressions of anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness and surprise are universal.
Clothing and bodily characteristics: Elements such as physique, height, weight, hair, skin color, gender, odors, and clothing send nonverbal messages during interaction. For example, research into height has generally found that taller people are perceived as being more impressive. Melamed & Bozionelos (1992) studied a sample of managers in the UK and found that height was a key factor affecting who was promoted. Often people try to make themselves taller, for example, standing on a platform, when they want to make more of an impact with their speaking.
Physical environment: Environmental factors such as furniture, architectural style, interior decorating, lighting conditions, colors, temperature, noise, and music affect the behavior of communicators during interaction. The furniture itself can be seen as a nonverbal message
Proxemics: physical space in communication: Proxemics is the study of how people use and perceive the physical space around them. The space between the sender and the receiver of a message influences the way the message is interpreted. The perception and use of space varies significantly across cultures and different settings within cultures. Space in nonverbal communication may be divided into four main categories: intimate, social, personal, and public space. The term territoriality is still used in the study of proxemics to explain human behavior regarding personal space. Hargie & Dickson (2004, p. 69) identify 4 such territories:
Primary territory: this refers to an area that is associated with someone who has exclusive use of it. For example, a house that others cannot enter without the owner’s permission.
Secondary territory: unlike the previous type, there is no “right” to occupancy, but people may still feel some degree of ownership of a particular space. For example, someone may sit in the same seat on train every day and feel aggrieved if someone else sits there.
Public territory: this refers to an area that is available to all, but only for a set period, such as a parking space or a seat in a library. Although people have only a limited claim over that space, they often exceed that claim. For example, it was found that people take longer to leave a parking space when someone is waiting to take that space.
Interaction territory: this is space created by others when they are interacting. For example, when a group is talking to each other on a footpath, others will walk around the group rather than disturb it.
Movement and body position:
Kinesics:
The term "Kinesics" was first used (in 1952) by Ray Birdwhistell, an anthropologist who wished to study how people communicate through posture, gesture, stance, and movement. Part of Birdwhistell's work involved making film of people in social situations and analyzing them to show different levels of communication not clearly seen otherwise.
Posture:
Posture can be used to determine a participant’s degree of attention or involvement, the difference in status between communicators, and the level of fondness a person has for the other communicator. Studies investigating the impact of posture on interpersonal relationships suggest that mirror-image congruent postures, where one person’s left side is parallel to the other person’s right side, leads to favorable perception of communicators and positive speech; a person who displays a forward lean or a decrease in a backwards lean also signify positive sentiment during communication. Posture is understood through such indicators as direction of lean, body orientation, arm position, and body openness.
Gesture:
A gesture is a non-vocal bodily movement intended to express meaning. They may be articulated with the hands, arms or body, and also include movements of the head, face and eyes, such as winking, nodding, or rolling ones' eyes. The boundary between language and gesture, or verbal and nonverbal communication, can be hard to identify. Although the study of gesture is still in its infancy, some broad categories of gestures have been identified by researchers. The most familiar are the so-called emblems or quotable gestures. These are conventional, culture-specific gestures that can be used as replacement for words, such as the hand-wave used in the US for "hello" and "goodbye". A single emblematic gesture can have a very different significance in different cultural contexts, ranging from complimentary to highly offensive.
Another broad category of gestures comprises those gestures used spontaneously when we speak. These gestures are closely coordinated with speech. The so-called beat gestures are used in conjunction with speech and keep time with the rhythm of speech to emphasize certain words or phrases. These types of gestures are integrally connected to speech and thought processes. Other spontaneous gestures used when we speak are more contentful and may echo or elaborate the meaning of the co-occurring speech.For example, a gesture that depicts the act of throwing may be synchronous with the utterance, "He threw the ball right into the window."
Gestural languages such as American Sign Language and its regional siblings operate as complete natural languages that are gestural in modality. They should not be confused with finger spelling, in which a set of emblematic gestures are used to represent a written alphabet.
Gestures can also be categorized as either speech-independent or speech-related. Speech-independent gestures are dependent upon culturally accepted interpretation and have a direct verbal translation. A wave hello or a peace sign are examples of speech-independent gestures. Speech related gestures are used in parallel with verbal speech; this form of nonverbal communication is used to emphasize the message that is being communicated. Speech related gestures are intended to provide supplemental information to a verbal message such as pointing to an object of discussion.
Eye gaze:
The study of the role of eyes in nonverbal communication is sometimes referred to as "oculesics". Eye contact can indicate interest, attention, and involvement. Studies have found that people use their eyes to indicate their interest and with more than the frequently recognized actions of winking and slight movement of the eyebrows. Eye contact is an event when two people look at each other's eyes at the same time. It is a form of nonverbal communication and has a large influence on social behavior. Frequency and interpretation of eye contact vary between cultures and species. Eye aversion is the avoidance of eye contact. Eye contact and facial expressions provide important social and emotional information. People, perhaps without consciously doing so, probe each other's eyes and faces for positive or negative mood signs. Gaze comprises the actions of looking while talking, looking while listening, amount of gaze, and frequency of glances, patterns of fixation, pupil dilation, and blink rate.
Paralanguage: nonverbal cues of the voice:
Paralanguage (sometimes called vocalics) is the study of nonverbal cues of the voice. Various acoustic properties of speech such as tone, pitch and accent, collectively known as prosody, can all give off nonverbal cues. Paralanguage may change the meaning of words. The linguist George L. Trager developed a classification system which consists of the voice set, voice qualities, and vocalization.
The voice set is the context in which the speaker is speaking. This can include the situation, gender, mood, age and a person's culture.
The voice qualities are volume, pitch, tempo, rhythm, articulation, resonance, nasality, and accent. They give each individual a unique "voice print".
Vocalization consists of three subsections: characterizers, qualifiers and segregates. Characterizers are emotions expressed while speaking, such as laughing, crying, and yawning. A voice qualifier is the style of delivering a message - for example, yelling "Hey stop that!", as opposed to whispering "Hey stop that". Vocal segregates such as "uh-huh" notify the speaker that the listener is listening.
Functions of nonverbal communication:
Argyle (1970) put forward the hypothesis that whereas spoken language is normally used for communicating information about events external to the speakers, non-verbal codes are used to establish and maintain interpersonal relationships. It is considered more polite or nicer to communicate attitudes towards others non-verbally rather than verbally, for instance in order to avoid embarrassing situations. Argyle (1988) concluded there are five primary functions of nonverbal bodily behavior in human communication:
Express emotions
Express interpersonal attitudes
To accompany speech in managing the cues of interaction between speakers and listeners
Self-presentation of one’s personality
Rituals (greetings)
Concealing deception:
Nonverbal communication makes it easier to lie without being revealed. This is the conclusion of a study where people watched made-up interviews of persons accused of having stolen a wallet. The interviewees lied in about 50 % of the cases. People had access to either written transcripts of the interviews, or audio tape recordings, or video recordings. The more clues that were available to those watching, the larger was the trend that interviewees who actually lied were judged to be truthful. That is, people that are clever at lying can use voice tone and face expression to give the impression that they are truthful.
However, there are many cited examples of 'leakage' cues, where clues to deceivers' true concealed opinions or knowledge are unwittingly provided in the nonverbal (paraverbal and visual) communication channels. Most studies examining the leakage hypothesis from visual cues rely upon hand coding of video footage , a method that is open to coding errors. A recent study, however, demonstrated clear bodily movement differences between truth-tellers and liars using an automated body motion capture system: truth-tellers demonstrated greater overall bodily movement compared to liars in two different situations.
Nonverbal communication is a daily part of our live as such it is apart of how we do business. Body language, posture, facial expressions and eye contact are important factor to consider when doing business. These factors can affect how you are perceived as well as how you are received . When communicating in a business environment it is important to be aware of the non verbal aspects of communication.
The relation between verbal and nonverbal communication
The relative importance of verbal and nonverbal communication
An interesting question is: “When two people are communicating face-to-face, how much of the meaning is communicated verbally, and how much is communicated non-verbally?” Studies have analyzed the relative contribution of verbal and nonverbal signals under more naturalistic situations. Argyle(1970) , using video tapes shown to the subjects, analysed the communication of submissive/dominant attitude and found that non-verbal cues had 4.3 times the effect of verbal cues. The most important effect was that body posture communicated superior status in a very efficient way. On the other hand, a study by Hsee et al. had subjects judge a person on the dimension happy/sad and found that words spoken with minimal variation in intonation had an impact about 4 times larger than face expressions seen in a film without sound. Thus, the relative importance of spoken words and facial expressions may be very different in studies using different set-ups.
Interaction of verbal and nonverbal communication:
When communicating, nonverbal messages can interact with verbal messages in six ways: repeating, conflicting, complementing, substituting, regulating and accenting/moderating.
Repeating
"Repeating" consists of using gestures to strengthen a verbal message, such as pointing to the object of discussion.
Conflicting
Verbal and nonverbal messages within the same interaction can sometimes send opposing or conflicting messages. A person verbally expressing a statement of truth while simultaneously fidgeting or avoiding eye contact may convey a mixed message to the receiver in the interaction. Conflicting messages may occur for a variety of reasons often stemming from feelings of uncertainty, ambivalence, or frustration.When mixed messages occur, nonverbal communication becomes the primary tool people use to attain additional information to clarify the situation; great attention is placed on bodily movements and positioning when people perceive mixed messages during interactions.
Complementing
Accurate interpretation of messages is made easier when nonverbal and verbal communication complement each other. Nonverbal cues can be used to elaborate on verbal messages to reinforce the information sent when trying to achieve communicative goals; messages have been shown to be remembered better when nonverbal signals affirm the verbal exchange.
Substituting
Nonverbal behavior is sometimes used as the sole channel for communication of a message. People learn to identify facial expressions, body movements, and body positioning as corresponding with specific feelings and intentions. Nonverbal signals can be used without verbal communication to convey messages; when nonverbal behavior does not effectively communicate a message, verbal methods are used to enhance understanding.
Regulating
Nonverbal behavior also regulates our conversations. For example, touching someone's arm can signal that you want to talk next or interrupt.
Accenting/Moderating
Nonverbal signals are used to alter the interpretation of verbal messages. Touch, voice pitch, and gestures are some of the tools people use to accent or amplify the message that is sent; nonverbal behavior can also be used to moderate or tone down aspects of verbal messages as well. For example, a person who is verbally expressing anger may accent the verbal message by shaking a fist.
Ethics in Business Communication
Business Ethics can be defined as written and unwritten codes of principles and values that govern decisions and actions within a company. In the business world, the organization's culture sets standards for determining the difference between good and bad decision making and behavior.
In the most basic terms, a definition for business ethics boils down to knowing the difference between right and wrong and choosing to do what is right. The phrase 'business ethics' can be used to describe the actions of individuals within an organization, as well as the organization as a whole.
Ethics in a business is a matter that has been overlooked for many years in the business world. In an article in the Wall Street Journal, 79% of young Americans feel that there are no standards in Ethics.They claim that there is no place for honesty in business dealings these days. Yet the value of ethics in business and business communication play a major role on futures of many organizations. On a communication standpoint things like, harassment and privacy are very important issues, the way you speak or act towards fellow employees play a big role on the type of organization you are affiliated with and show the type of environment that the organization displays. In many cases the way management unfairly treat employees in an organization triggers a retaliation towards the management by the employees in an unprofessional way that result in a various unethical responses such as invasion of privacy and in big cases where employees try to bring down organizations. These are just examples of what happens to organizations who display no ethical values in their businesses. The value of Ethics in business communication are what assure companies from stabbing each other in the backs and keeping the moral values and codes of the company from deteriorating. Departments like Accounting and Auditing have to make sure they keep a very strict ethical code because they are in charge of money, most ethical problems may seem like something minute in the beginning but in the long run it ends up snowballing into a major catastrophic issue. Ethics should stay incorporated in every organization because its the glue that keeps everyone from hunting each other down in the business. It is what makes things fair and keeps the trust of the company alive. Without ethics a company would have no structure, no values or morals and in the long run would eventually break down little by little.
The comment below is from My Property Mentor, a business that follows ethical organizational conducts.
These are the guiding principles which drive our business. As a company we steer clear of ‘get rich quick’ marketeers who just want to sell you a course. We help people understand the truth behind the various methods of property investing via our products, workshops, digital media channels, blogs and revolutionary collaborating network events.
In all aspects of our business we are extremely careful who we link with. That may be just a simple text link out from us to another company, or literally the people we choose to work with on a daily basis.
It has been a big challenge keeping a moral compass in property investing. Our stance is to connect with and help people who have the same way of thinking and doing business as ourselves. We never directly recommend anyone on our sites or blogs that we have not worked with personally and tested first. That way, if we loose money, then at least it’s just us and not any clients of ours. This is why we don’t sell deals or other products on behalf of someone else- ever.
Although many feel that Ethics in a business have become lost, I feel that it's used without us even knowing it. Ethics isn't something you can write down on a wall for people to follow, they are unwritten rules that we all know and follow unconsciously. It plays a big role on how we treat one another in the business and how we communicate. Treat others the way you would want them to treat you and have respect for all of those around you. The Ethics model that My Company Mentor shows up top should be an example to all companies on what it means to have Ethics in their organization.
How to be successful in your business
1. Face to Face
2. Video
3. Audio
4. Nonverbal Communication
5. Ethics in Business Communication
Introduction
While dealing in a business setting there are certain types of communication that will help the success of the business. The author of Contemporary Business Communication, Scott Ober states, “ Communication is the process of sending and receiving messages”. There is verbal communication, which is the use of words. Oral communication, the most frequently used type of communication in the business world. Then there is written communication, which is a written type of communication medium that may be more difficult to convey than oral communication to get your message across. In written communication it is harder to get the message across to your audience. You have to make sure they understood the message correctly, and are on the same page as you are. With written communication you can not see the audiences reaction to make sure the message was received. This why the message being passed on must be correct. Some examples of written communication are email, website, letters, and reports. Direct face-to-face communication is no longer the only medium used by organizations to communicate with business leaders and employees through real time. New types of communication have emerged thanks to technological advancement. The use of audio communication (teleconference) as well as video conference has become popular mediums. Video conference may soon be the new face-to-face communication utilized by many businesses to aide the success of their companies. In dealing with organizational communication, there are certain ethics that may have to be followed in order to ensure the well being of the company's name as well as its employees. Besides ethics, effective teamwork is another important value of a company for it is the structure that many companies operate on. Although the success of the company maybe be based on a group or groups of people working toward a common goal, not all teams can work together. Conflicts and differences in opinion will exist before any type of conformity or consensus can be reached. That is the beauty of working in groups. Contrasting ideas and opinions bring out creativity as well as innovative work.
Face-to-Face Communication
"Frequent face-to-face communication is the way to develop a winning team, whether in sports or in business"- Mike Krzyzewski, Duke University Basketball Coach
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing defines face-to-face communication as personal interaction in real life as opposed to via some digital or electronic communications medium.
Communication in an organizational setting has been diversified with the improvement of technology, but face-to-face communication still remains one of the most effective form of communication. As technology engulf our lives we are utilizing less and less in person interaction in order to communicate within the organizational structure. Many organization will op for using e-mail and instant messages rather than a personal confrontation. According to a respondent from a survey by NFI Research, "too many people take the easy way out and try to do everything via e-mail and in a lot of cases consume more time on both side of the equation" (1). The respondent is pointing out the fact that we as a culture are losing our sense of social interaction by reverting to our boxed computer screen. By affectively using face-to-face communication, it will often command a higher rate of response by the recipient of the message. Because of the cultural upbringing, many of us are so acquainted to writing everything out rather than directly speaking to the other person, we have developed a fear for confrontations or a higher uncertainty avoidance trait. Prenhall defines it as the extent to which members of a culture feel threatened by uncertain or unkown situations. In the organizational structure, executives may avoid confrontation or personal discussion as a way to delay decision-making. Being confronted will force them to make a decision or express an opinion right away.
Advantages of Using Effective Face-to-Face Communication in Organizational Meeting:
Disadvantages of Using Face-to-Face Communication in Organizational Meeting:
Video Conference
In today’s world with technology growing so fast, we have been introduced to this new form of communication called video conferencing. Video Conferencing is a very easy to use, and is inexpensive for businesses. It allows colleagues to talk face to face around the world in meetings. This is the best way for companies around the world to communicate with each other, without even leaving the room. Today there are many different programs like ichat,skype,oovoo,polycom, and Tandberg that make this new way of communicating happen.
Positive Effects of Video Conferencing:
Potential Effects on the Healthcare Industry
Negatives About Using Video Conferencing:
Even though there are many pros to video conferencing there are three main issues that don’t make video conferencing so popular yet in businesses. The three issues are Eye Contact, Appearance Consciousness, and Signal Latency.Eye Contact:
Appearance Consciousness:
Signal latency:
Communication "Noise" Can Hinder Effectiveness
All of these issues will disappear over times. The more and more people get used to video conferencing, it will be the dominant device that businesses will use to communicate face to face.
In the video below, we see just how much video communication can do with businesses and your personal life
Audio Conference
Audio conference otherwise known as a telephone conference involves more than one
party to listen in on the audio portion of the call. The conference calls are designed to allow the called party to participate or to merely listen in to the call and cannot interact with others through the call. Audio conferencing is an old practice that businesses use daily to speak to employees as well as clients from different regions of the country or the world. Although it is an old practice, audio conferences are revolutionized through new and innovative technology. With the invention of the internet, conference calls are becoming increasingly used with web conference, in which presentations and documents are shared via the internet. This new concept allows those on-call to view contents such as corporate reports, sales figures and company data presented by the participants. The other benefit gives the viewers of documents a clearer understanding of the presenter's goals and explanations.
A new kind of interactive pattern has emerged from audio conference. Conference calls can now be stream live through podcasting and social networks. This broadcasting of calls allows a large audience to access the call and information without having to dial in. In some cases, the live broadcasts create an opportunity for audience members to interact with those conference call participants. This ability enables the audience to input their ideas and contents and get direct feedback from the participants.Purpose of Audio Conference:
Audio conference serves many purpose from business to entertainment to social, but it also has its disadvantages.
Common Causes of Poor Conference Calls (24):
From the video bellow we see how many companies set up conference calls, and use them to benefit their businesses.
Nonverbal Communication
Nonverbal communication (NVC) is usually understood as the process of communication through sending and receiving wordless messages. i.e., verbal language is not the only source of communication, there are other means also. NVC can be communicated through gestures and touch (Haptic communication), by body language or posture, by facial expression and eye contact. NVC can be communicated through object communication such as clothing, hairstyles or even architecture, symbols and info graphics. Speech contains nonverbal elements known as paralanguage, including voice quality, emotion and speaking style, as well as prosodic features such as rhythm, intonation and stress. Dance is also regarded as a nonverbal communication. Likewise, written texts have nonverbal elements such as handwriting style, spatial arrangement of words, or the use of emoticons.
Lets take a closer look at the means through which nonverbal communication is conveyed and there characteristics.
Characteristics of nonverbal communication:
While much nonverbal communication is based on arbitrary symbols, which differ from culture to culture, a large proportion is also to some extent iconic and may be universally understood. Paul Ekman's influential 1960s studies of facial expression determined that expressions of anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness and surprise are universal.
Clothing and bodily characteristics:
Elements such as physique, height, weight, hair, skin color, gender, odors, and clothing send nonverbal messages during interaction. For example, research into height has generally found that taller people are perceived as being more impressive. Melamed & Bozionelos (1992) studied a sample of managers in the UK and found that height was a key factor affecting who was promoted. Often people try to make themselves taller, for example, standing on a platform, when they want to make more of an impact with their speaking.
Physical environment:
Environmental factors such as furniture, architectural style, interior decorating, lighting conditions, colors, temperature, noise, and music affect the behavior of communicators during interaction. The furniture itself can be seen as a nonverbal message
Proxemics: physical space in communication:
Proxemics is the study of how people use and perceive the physical space around them. The space between the sender and the receiver of a message influences the way the message is interpreted.
The perception and use of space varies significantly across cultures and different settings within cultures. Space in nonverbal communication may be divided into four main categories: intimate, social, personal, and public space.
The term territoriality is still used in the study of proxemics to explain human behavior regarding personal space. Hargie & Dickson (2004, p. 69) identify 4 such territories:
Movement and body position:
Kinesics:
The term "Kinesics" was first used (in 1952) by Ray Birdwhistell, an anthropologist who wished to study how people communicate through posture, gesture, stance, and movement. Part of Birdwhistell's work involved making film of people in social situations and analyzing them to show different levels of communication not clearly seen otherwise.Posture:
Posture can be used to determine a participant’s degree of attention or involvement, the difference in status between communicators, and the level of fondness a person has for the other communicator. Studies investigating the impact of posture on interpersonal relationships suggest that mirror-image congruent postures, where one person’s left side is parallel to the other person’s right side, leads to favorable perception of communicators and positive speech; a person who displays a forward lean or a decrease in a backwards lean also signify positive sentiment during communication. Posture is understood through such indicators as direction of lean, body orientation, arm position, and body openness.Gesture:
A gesture is a non-vocal bodily movement intended to express meaning. They may be articulated with the hands, arms or body, and also include movements of the head, face and eyes, such as winking, nodding, or rolling ones' eyes. The boundary between language and gesture, or verbal and nonverbal communication, can be hard to identify.Although the study of gesture is still in its infancy, some broad categories of gestures have been identified by researchers. The most familiar are the so-called emblems or quotable gestures. These are conventional, culture-specific gestures that can be used as replacement for words, such as the hand-wave used in the US for "hello" and "goodbye". A single emblematic gesture can have a very different significance in different cultural contexts, ranging from complimentary to highly offensive.
Another broad category of gestures comprises those gestures used spontaneously when we speak. These gestures are closely coordinated with speech. The so-called beat gestures are used in conjunction with speech and keep time with the rhythm of speech to emphasize certain words or phrases. These types of gestures are integrally connected to speech and thought processes. Other spontaneous gestures used when we speak are more contentful and may echo or elaborate the meaning of the co-occurring speech.For example, a gesture that depicts the act of throwing may be synchronous with the utterance, "He threw the ball right into the window."
Gestural languages such as American Sign Language and its regional siblings operate as complete natural languages that are gestural in modality. They should not be confused with finger spelling, in which a set of emblematic gestures are used to represent a written alphabet.
Gestures can also be categorized as either speech-independent or speech-related. Speech-independent gestures are dependent upon culturally accepted interpretation and have a direct verbal translation. A wave hello or a peace sign are examples of speech-independent gestures. Speech related gestures are used in parallel with verbal speech; this form of nonverbal communication is used to emphasize the message that is being communicated. Speech related gestures are intended to provide supplemental information to a verbal message such as pointing to an object of discussion.
Eye gaze:
The study of the role of eyes in nonverbal communication is sometimes referred to as "oculesics". Eye contact can indicate interest, attention, and involvement. Studies have found that people use their eyes to indicate their interest and with more than the frequently recognized actions of winking and slight movement of the eyebrows. Eye contact is an event when two people look at each other's eyes at the same time. It is a form of nonverbal communication and has a large influence on social behavior. Frequency and interpretation of eye contact vary between cultures and species. Eye aversion is the avoidance of eye contact. Eye contact and facial expressions provide important social and emotional information. People, perhaps without consciously doing so, probe each other's eyes and faces for positive or negative mood signs. Gaze comprises the actions of looking while talking, looking while listening, amount of gaze, and frequency of glances, patterns of fixation, pupil dilation, and blink rate.Paralanguage: nonverbal cues of the voice:
Paralanguage (sometimes called vocalics) is the study of nonverbal cues of the voice. Various acoustic properties of speech such as tone, pitch and accent, collectively known as prosody, can all give off nonverbal cues. Paralanguage may change the meaning of words.The linguist George L. Trager developed a classification system which consists of the voice set, voice qualities, and vocalization.
Functions of nonverbal communication:
Argyle (1970) put forward the hypothesis that whereas spoken language is normally used for communicating information about events external to the speakers, non-verbal codes are used to establish and maintain interpersonal relationships. It is considered more polite or nicer to communicate attitudes towards others non-verbally rather than verbally, for instance in order to avoid embarrassing situations.Argyle (1988) concluded there are five primary functions of nonverbal bodily behavior in human communication:
Concealing deception:
Nonverbal communication makes it easier to lie without being revealed. This is the conclusion of a study where people watched made-up interviews of persons accused of having stolen a wallet. The interviewees lied in about 50 % of the cases. People had access to either written transcripts of the interviews, or audio tape recordings, or video recordings. The more clues that were available to those watching, the larger was the trend that interviewees who actually lied were judged to be truthful. That is, people that are clever at lying can use voice tone and face expression to give the impression that they are truthful.However, there are many cited examples of 'leakage' cues, where clues to deceivers' true concealed opinions or knowledge are unwittingly provided in the nonverbal (paraverbal and visual) communication channels. Most studies examining the leakage hypothesis from visual cues rely upon hand coding of video footage , a method that is open to coding errors. A recent study, however, demonstrated clear bodily movement differences between truth-tellers and liars using an automated body motion capture system: truth-tellers demonstrated greater overall bodily movement compared to liars in two different situations.
Nonverbal communication is a daily part of our live as such it is apart of how we do business. Body language, posture, facial expressions and eye contact are important factor to consider when doing business. These factors can affect how you are perceived as well as how you are received . When communicating in a business environment it is important to be aware of the non verbal aspects of communication.
The relation between verbal and nonverbal communication
The relative importance of verbal and nonverbal communication
An interesting question is: “When two people are communicating face-to-face, how much of the meaning is communicated verbally, and how much is communicated non-verbally?”
Studies have analyzed the relative contribution of verbal and nonverbal signals under more naturalistic situations. Argyle(1970) , using video tapes shown to the subjects, analysed the communication of submissive/dominant attitude and found that non-verbal cues had 4.3 times the effect of verbal cues. The most important effect was that body posture communicated superior status in a very efficient way. On the other hand, a study by Hsee et al. had subjects judge a person on the dimension happy/sad and found that words spoken with minimal variation in intonation had an impact about 4 times larger than face expressions seen in a film without sound. Thus, the relative importance of spoken words and facial expressions may be very different in studies using different set-ups.
Interaction of verbal and nonverbal communication:
When communicating, nonverbal messages can interact with verbal messages in six ways: repeating, conflicting, complementing, substituting, regulating and accenting/moderating.
"Repeating" consists of using gestures to strengthen a verbal message, such as pointing to the object of discussion.
Verbal and nonverbal messages within the same interaction can sometimes send opposing or conflicting messages. A person verbally expressing a statement of truth while simultaneously fidgeting or avoiding eye contact may convey a mixed message to the receiver in the interaction. Conflicting messages may occur for a variety of reasons often stemming from feelings of uncertainty, ambivalence, or frustration.When mixed messages occur, nonverbal communication becomes the primary tool people use to attain additional information to clarify the situation; great attention is placed on bodily movements and positioning when people perceive mixed messages during interactions.
Accurate interpretation of messages is made easier when nonverbal and verbal communication complement each other. Nonverbal cues can be used to elaborate on verbal messages to reinforce the information sent when trying to achieve communicative goals; messages have been shown to be remembered better when nonverbal signals affirm the verbal exchange.
Nonverbal behavior is sometimes used as the sole channel for communication of a message. People learn to identify facial expressions, body movements, and body positioning as corresponding with specific feelings and intentions. Nonverbal signals can be used without verbal communication to convey messages; when nonverbal behavior does not effectively communicate a message, verbal methods are used to enhance understanding.
Nonverbal behavior also regulates our conversations. For example, touching someone's arm can signal that you want to talk next or interrupt.
Nonverbal signals are used to alter the interpretation of verbal messages. Touch, voice pitch, and gestures are some of the tools people use to accent or amplify the message that is sent; nonverbal behavior can also be used to moderate or tone down aspects of verbal messages as well. For example, a person who is verbally expressing anger may accent the verbal message by shaking a fist.
Ethics in Business Communication
Business Ethics can be defined as written and unwritten codes of principles and values that govern decisions and actions within a company. In the business world, the organization's culture sets standards for determining the difference between good and bad decision making and behavior.
In the most basic terms, a definition for business ethics boils down to knowing the difference between right and wrong and choosing to do what is right. The phrase 'business ethics' can be used to describe the actions of individuals within an organization, as well as the organization as a whole.
Ethics in a business is a matter that has been overlooked for many years in the business world. In an article in the Wall Street Journal, 79% of young Americans feel that there are no standards in Ethics.They claim that there is no place for honesty in business dealings these days. Yet the value of ethics in business and business communication play a major role on futures of many organizations. On a communication standpoint things like, harassment and privacy are very important issues, the way you speak or act towards fellow employees play a big role on the type of organization you are affiliated with and show the type of environment that the organization displays. In many cases the way management unfairly treat employees in an organization triggers a retaliation towards the management by the employees in an unprofessional way that result in a various unethical responses such as invasion of privacy and in big cases where employees try to bring down organizations. These are just examples of what happens to organizations who display no ethical values in their businesses. The value of Ethics in business communication are what assure companies from stabbing each other in the backs and keeping the moral values and codes of the company from deteriorating. Departments like Accounting and Auditing have to make sure they keep a very strict ethical code because they are in charge of money, most ethical problems may seem like something minute in the beginning but in the long run it ends up snowballing into a major catastrophic issue. Ethics should stay incorporated in every organization because its the glue that keeps everyone from hunting each other down in the business. It is what makes things fair and keeps the trust of the company alive. Without ethics a company would have no structure, no values or morals and in the long run would eventually break down little by little.
The comment below is from My Property Mentor, a business that follows ethical organizational conducts.
These are the guiding principles which drive our business. As a company we steer clear of ‘get rich quick’ marketeers who just want to sell you a course. We help people understand the truth behind the various methods of property investing via our products, workshops, digital media channels, blogs and revolutionary collaborating network events.
In all aspects of our business we are extremely careful who we link with. That may be just a simple text link out from us to another company, or literally the people we choose to work with on a daily basis.
It has been a big challenge keeping a moral compass in property investing. Our stance is to connect with and help people who have the same way of thinking and doing business as ourselves. We never directly recommend anyone on our sites or blogs that we have not worked with personally and tested first. That way, if we loose money, then at least it’s just us and not any clients of ours.
This is why we don’t sell deals or other products on behalf of someone else- ever.
Although many feel that Ethics in a business have become lost, I feel that it's used without us even knowing it. Ethics isn't something you can write down on a wall for people to follow, they are unwritten rules that we all know and follow unconsciously. It plays a big role on how we treat one another in the business and how we communicate. Treat others the way you would want them to treat you and have respect for all of those around you. The Ethics model that My Company Mentor shows up top should be an example to all companies on what it means to have Ethics in their organization.
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