Page 273 - DMGT402_MANAGEMENT_PRACTICES_AND_ORGANIZATIONAL_BEHAVIOUR

Management Practices and Organisational Behaviour

Notes
Example: The employment interviewer who expects a female job applicant to put her
family ahead of her career is likely to see that in female applicants, regardless of whether the
applicants feel that way or not.
Emotions: How the receiver feels at the time of receipt of information influences effectively
how he interprets the information. For example, if the receiver feels that the communicator is in
a jovial mood, he interprets that the information being sent by the communicator to be good
and interesting. Extreme emotions and jubilation or depression are quite likely to hinder the
effectiveness of communication. A person’s ability to encode a message can become impaired
when the person is feeling strong emotions.

Example: When you are angry, it is harder to consider the other person’s viewpoint and
to choose words carefully. The angrier you are, the harder this task becomes.

Extreme emotions: such as jubilation or depression – are most likely to hinder effective
communication. In such instances, we are most prone to disregard our rational and objective
thinking processes and substitute emotional judgments.

Language: Communicated message must be understandable to the receiver. Words mean different
things to different people. Language reflects not only the personality of the individual but also
the culture of society in which the individual is living. In organisations, people come from
different regions, different backgrounds, and speak different languages. People will have different
academic backgrounds, different intellectual facilities, and hence the jargon they use varies.
Often, communication gap arises because the language the sender is using may be
incomprehensible, vague and indigestible. Language is a central element in communication. It
may pose a barrier to correct and timely action if its use obscures meaning and distorts intent.
Words mean different things to different people. Age, education and cultural background are
three of the more obvious variables that influence the language a person uses and the definitions
he or she gives to words. Therefore, use simple, direct, declarative language. Speak in brief
sentences and use terms or words you have heard from your audience. As much as possible,
speak in the language of the listener. Do not use jargon or technical language except with those
who understand it.
Stereotyping: It is the application of selective perception. When we have preconceived ideas
about other people and refuse to discriminate between individual behaviours, we are applying
selective perception to our relationship with other people. Stereotyping is a barrier to
communications because those who stereotype others use selective perception in their
communication and tend to hear only those things that confirm their stereotyped images.
Consequently, stereotypes become more deeply ingrained as we find more “evidence” to confirm
our original opinion.
Stereotyping has a convenience function in our interpersonal relations. Since people are all
different, ideally we should react and interact with each person differently. To do this, however,
requires considerable psychological effort. It is much easier to categorize (stereotype) people so
that we can interact with them as members of a particular category. Since the number of categories
is small, we end up treating many people the same, even though they are quite different. Our
communications, then, may be directed at an individual as a member of a category at the
sacrifice of the more effective communication on a personal level.
Status Difference: The organisational hierarchy poses another barrier to communication within
the organisation, especially when the communication is between employee and manager. This
is so because the employee is dependent on the manager as the primary link to the organisation
and hence more likely to distort upward communication than either horizontal or downward
communication. Effective supervisory skills make the supervisor more approachable and help

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