D268 Intro to Communication Understanding the Symbolic Exchange Process Notes PDF NEW UPDATE Western

D268 Intro to Communication: Understanding the Symbolic Exchange Process Notes PDF NEW UPDATE Western Governors University

Intro to Communication: Communication: the process of using symbols to exchange meaning.

In its simplest form, the communication process involves the sender constructing a message, intended for interpretation by a receiver, via a medium or a channel. The receiver may respond and provide feedback, in return. This all happens within an existing environment. Both the sender and the receiver may face some interference during this process that may hinder the effectiveness of the message

A process is a series of steps, or actions, occurring one after another, or simultaneously, to achieve a particular endpoint. The same is true for communication in which the sender initiates a conversation, the receiver responds, and this “process” may continue until the desired end is reached

Keep the following in mind when communicating with others: o

Communication is purposefully and actively exchanging information between two or more people to convey or receive the intended meanings through a shared system of signs and symbols.

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Communication is a process, because there are a series of actions or steps taken to send the message and receive a response.

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The elements of the communication process include the sender, receiver, message, channel, feedback, environment, and interference.

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Sender: the individual who constructs the message.

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Receiver: the individual to whom a message is sent and who interprets the message.

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Message: information traveling between the sender and the receiver.

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Channel: the medium through which the message is sent.

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Environment: the setting in which communication occurs.

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Feedback: a response: a message back to a sender after the original message is received.

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Interference: anything that prevents or distracts from a message being sent and/or received.

A sender is an individual who constructs the message. This is where the communication originates; it is the source of the communication. The sender has both intent and purpose and, thus, creates the message accordingly. Humans develop thoughts and ideas in their minds all the time. Thoughts sometimes arise unconsciously. When a need arises, one constructs a message from those thoughts and ideas, mostly consciously, and sends it across to the intended receiver(s).

Tip: In written communication, consciously constructing the intended message is especially important. A well-constructed, easy-to-understand message creates effective communication and allows the sender to accomplish their intended purpose. Written communication is best created when the sender keeps in mind the intended audience and purpose of the communication.)

Receiver A receiver is an individual to whom a message is sent and who interprets the message. The receiver can only understand a message if it was created with care.

Tip: For the communication process to be completed, it is imperative that the receiver receives the intended message and can easily interpret it.

In the workplace, the roles of sender and receiver are often reversible or easily switched. This means the sender of a message can quickly rotate between becoming the receiver and the message's sender.

The sending and receiving of messages can also happen simultaneously. For example, consider the exchange of information in an internal chat application at the workplace. An original sender may ask a question to a team. Then, the team members may ask questions for clarification to the original sender.

Immediately, the original sender becomes a receiver. The back and forth communication in this example demonstrates how sender and receiver roles can switch very quickly.

Synchronous communication happens in real-time when a person sends a message and receives feedback immediately. For example, in a telephone call the communication happens instantaneously with little to no delay in the receiver’s interpretation and feedback.

These are examples of synchronous communication: o

Video chat

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Phone calls

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Face-to-face interaction

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Instant messaging during a virtual meeting

Asynchronous communication does not happen in real-time, and the sender cannot expect to receive immediate feedback. For example, there is typically a prolonged delay in an email between when the sender constructs and releases the message and when the receiver encounters and interprets that same message.

These are examples of asynchronous communication: o

Email

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Text or SMS messaging

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Voicemail messages

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Traditional letter writing

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Online discussion forums

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Social media posts

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Synchronous Communication: communication that happens in real-time when a person sends a message and receives feedback immediately.

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Asynchronous Communication: communication that does not happen in real-time, and the sender cannot expect to receive immediate feedback.

A message is what communication is all about. It is the information the sender intends to convey to the receiver. The message can be one of four pathways: verbal, nonverbal, written, or visual.

Verbal messages refer to the use of language to communicate messages. Words are used to create and construct meaning to convey information. Verbal messages can be delivered through talking.

Nonverbal messages include gestures, body language, facial expressions, and even the way we space out from one another or arrange our environments. Nonverbal messages may be sent intentionally or unintentionally. Body language or sudden changes in facial expressions in response to something may be examples of unconscious or unintended messages. The way you say a word is also nonverbal. Vocalics or paralanguage refers to the tone, volume, speed, and pitch of words that provide clues for how the meaning of words should be interpreted.

Written messages include emails, letters, texts, or messages you may construct and send through various channels. For example, in addition to email and traditional letters, you may write on message boards or in other public forums.

You may also use other visual messages, like symbols and signs. Traffic signs or wearing a ribbon supporting a cause are visual messages.

Tip: Communication has many facets and forms. This course will focus on written communication and how it affects your daily lives and colleagues' relationships. The effectiveness of written communication depends entirely on how well the written message is constructed. It depends on the correct and impactful usage of the ‘symbols’ used or words, sentence structure, and content organization. A vague-sounding 100 words may not have the same effect as a well-written and well-structured message of 30-50 words

Communication happens using symbols to convey our message to others. A symbol is something that can be used to represent something else. A symbol can be a mark, a sign, a word, an image, or anything else that may represent a thought, a concept, another object, or an entity.

For example, if a sender wants to communicate happiness to a receiver, the sender has a choice of many different symbols. A sender can construct the words "I’m happy" as a symbol to represent happiness. The sender can also choose a happy emoticon like a smiley face in a text message, a physical smile in face-toface communication, or some other form of a visual symbol that may represent a happy person. All of these are symbols of happiness from which the sender can choose.

For symbols used in communication to make sense to all parties concerned, the symbols must have a shared meaning among all those involved in the communication. For example, a palm extending out may convey the message to “stop” between two individuals who may not even speak the same language.

In the communication process, a channel is the medium via which you convey a message. Different types of messages need different types of communication channels to be effective. The sender needs to carefully select the communication channel that best suits their messaging needs. When selecting a medium, consider the amount of information in the message, the receiver’s emotions, and the message's timeliness.

For example, consider if you received bad news via text message. The channel would likely make the message feel insincere. It may even make you feel worse than if you had received the bad news through a different channel, such as if the bad news were delivered face-to-face or in a phone call. Therefore, carefully considering the channel is an important task for the sender.

The following are some channels that match the given message type.

Verbal Channels o

In-person speech

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Phone conversation

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Voice-over-internet protocol (VoIP)

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Radio

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Podcast

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Voicemail message

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Intercom

Written Channels o

Email

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Text, instant message

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Essay

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Letter

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Memo

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Blog

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Tweet

Non-Verbal / Visual Channels o

Drawing

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Photograph

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Body Language

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Graphs

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Font types

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Architecture

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Symbol: something used to represent something else.

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Verbal messages: messages that are conveyed using words, either spoken or written.

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Non-verbal messages: messages that do not use words but are conveyed using body language or signs etc.

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Written messages: messages written in the form of letters, emails, text messages etc.

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Visual messages: messages conveyed as signs or symbols.

Feedback can be positive, negative, or ambiguous. Positive feedback occurs when the receiver acknowledges receipt of the message and understands the intended meaning. Although, it may not mean that the receiver agrees with the message. For example, you email a colleague explaining a work-related task along with some links and attachments and they reply that they have received your information, and nothing further. The fact that they have received your message and comprehend it makes it positive feedback, irrespective of whether they agree with all the information you sent.

If the receiver does not receive the message or cannot understand it, the failed interpretation is called negative feedback. The example above shows negative feedback if your colleague does not reply or replies and says that she doesn't really understand what is expected of her. You may have to send the message or email again, or go over to her physically, or call her on the phone, to try and make her understand what you mean. Positive and negative feedback can both be valuable to the interaction. If a sender receives positive feedback, then it’s reassuring that the receiver interpreted the message correctly.

Moreover, if a sender receives negative feedback, they can try adjusting their message so that the receiver better understands what they are trying to relay. From the receiver’s perspective, relaying positive or negative feedback helps achieve mutual understanding.

When the feedback is neither positive nor negative, it is ambiguous feedback. For example, you receive an automated "received" notification in response to your lengthy work-related email message, which is

not a clear indication as to whether the receiver has understood the message or agrees with your message or not.

Have you ever spoken to someone and received a response of "that’s interesting" or "hmm." This is also an example of ambiguous feedback. There is an ambiguity about the message when the receiver has not expressed their understanding of the message and the sender is unsure if the receiver understands the message. The communication cannot be improved by the sender or receiver if there is ambiguous feedback.

Feedback can also be internal. For example, a self-review of an email while you are writing helps improve the message before it is sent. A sender may correct a word or modify a sentence to make a message clearer when engaging in internal feedback. Self-review, therefore, is a good practice to employ when creating a written message.

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Positive feedback: When the receiver receives the message completely and understands the intended meaning.

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Negative feedback: When the receiver does not receive the message or is not able to understand it.

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Ambiguous feedback: When the feedback is neither positive nor negative. The receiver has not expressed their understanding or interpretation of the message.

The environment is the physical, psychological, or virtual atmosphere within which the message is sent and/or received. The environment may influence the message, especially if it is an environment with many distractions. For example, it may be difficult to communicate face-to-face in a place where you do not feel comfortable talking aloud, such as a quiet office space where people are working. Or if you work in a school and are trying to check your email in a noisy classroom with kids running around during recess time. The environment has a significant impact on your communication.

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Environment: the environment is the physical, psychological, or virtual atmosphere within which the message is sent and/or received.

Interference is anything that distracts—the sender while sending the message; or the receiver while receiving the message—or basically anything that may just "cloud" the message. A message may be most effective when there is zero interference, but that is sometimes difficult to achieve in the real world.

There are four types of interference: physical, psychological, semantic, and physiological.

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Physical interference: This is any physical interference in the communication environment. For example, some background traffic or office area noise, people talking around you, or even an airplane flying overhead.

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Psychological interference: This is any emotional or mental interference that does not allow you to completely focus on the message, making it difficult for you to interpret the message as intended.

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Semantic interference: Any issues with the language or words used may cause semantic interference. For example, the receiver may not understand the meaning of certain words or symbols, failing to understand the meaning of the message.

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Physiological interference: Physiological interference is any kind of physical discomfort or unease that may hinder you to fully understand a message.

Three Models of Communication: According to the linear model, communication is a linear, one-way process. There are a sender and a receiver, and the sender sends a message to the receiver with intentionality within an environment setting.

There may be some interference, but there is no mention of feedback.

The interaction model of communication considers the receiver’s feedback and shows it as a two-way process. When the receiver sends feedback, the receiver becomes the sender, and the original sender is now the receiver.

In the transactional model of communication, the sender and the receivers don’t just swap roles, but they both simultaneously play both roles.

The transactional model is mostly applied to interpersonal communication. Any regular conversation you may have with someone is based on this model. Since there is a continuous exchange of messages or information, it may add to the existing interference and affect the quality of communication.

When it comes to written communication, the transactional model of communication may include email exchanges and letters, etc. It can include both synchronous and asynchronous communication, as a communicator may leave a message on a message board, for example, and come back to look for a response later.

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There are three common communication models: linear model, interaction model, and transactional model.

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In the transactional model, each participant is both the sender and the receiver. The messages go both ways and so does the feedback.

Five Types of Communication: •

Intrapersonal communication: self-talk, when you have an internal dialog with yourself.

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Interpersonal communication: when two people interact.

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Group communication: when a small group of people (3-15) interact among themselves.

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Public communication: when one sender addresses a large group.

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Mass communication: when a message is broadcast to the masses in a linear communication model.

Conversations—in writing or through talking—are an intimate part of everyday life. They are imperative to normal functioning in a workplace, maintaining all sorts of relationships and just getting through the day. Understanding the anatomy of a conversation, being conscious of its purpose, and knowing where it is headed makes for a productive conversation leading to a desired expectation and result.

Conversations can be categorized in two ways. First, they can be categorized based on directionality (oneway or two-way). Second, they can be categorized by tone/purpose (cooperative or competitive). The following paragraphs describe conversation categories and the dimensions as defined by David Angle.

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One-way conversation: a conversation where one person tends to dominate the conversation and does most of the talking.

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Two-way conversation: a conversation where both participants contribute equally.

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Cooperative conversation: a two-way conversation where the interests and goals of the participants are shared or similar.

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Competitive conversation: a mostly one-way conversation where the interests and goals of the participants may clash, and they may fight to be heard over the other.

David Angle suggests that there are four types of conversations that can be laid across the two dimensions of conversation: discourse, dialogue, debate, and diatribe.

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Discourse: where one sender relays information to multiple receivers.

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Dialogue: a two-way, cooperative conversation.

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Debate: a two-way, competitive conversation where each may try their best to be heard over another.

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Diatribe: a one-way and competitive conversation where one person does most of the conversing which may be emotionally loaded.

Five Stages of Conversation: •

Initiation stage: the first stage of conversation in which all parties involved in the interaction become ready to communicate with each other.

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Preview stage: the second stage of conversation in which the subject of the conversation and relationship between the communicators is introduced.

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Talking Points stage: the third stage of conversation in which the central or main goals of the conversation are established.

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Feedback stage: the fourth stage of conversation in which a mutual understanding of all conversational points is achieved.

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Closing stage: the fifth stage of conversation in which the communicators disengage and finish the interaction.

Your communication style is a reflection of you, who you are as a person. You may be logical, or emotional, or very formal, or not so much, in your approach to engaging in conversation with others.

Your personality influences your communication style. Why is this important for you? Knowing yourself and your communication style provides you with leverage to stay in control of a conversation. With that knowledge and the knowledge of other communication styles, you can easily tailor your conversation according to a situation or person(s).

Four Communication Styles: •

Analytical communication style: This person is logical and relies on hard facts and data.

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Intuitive communication style: This person goes by their gut instinct and may not need numbers or hard data to make a point during a conversation.

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Functional communication style: This person is detail-oriented and plans and executes well.

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Personal communication style: This person is emotional and sensitive, careful about other people’s feelings when engaging them in a conversation.

In addition to knowing your own communication style, it is important to know and understand the communication styles of those around you, especially the people you work with. Knowing how others work and respond to situations helps you communicate based on their preferred style. For example, if you know that your manager is "analytical," you should use numbers, bullets, and logic when communicating with them.

When communicating with individuals who have an analytical communication style: o

Use logic rather than intuition as they like to approach everything with hard facts and data. They prefer written communication loaded with detailed, fact-based information.

Provide as much information as you can upfront. Email it to them before your meeting so they feel prepared.

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Expect an honest and reliable feedback that may seem blunt.

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Avoid "small-talk" and keep conversations crisp and concise. They like communication to be to the point.

When communicating with individuals who have an intuitive communication style: o

Don’t shy away from individuals having a big, overall picture. Invite them to brainstorming sessions and creative meetings for innovative ideas and approaches to problems or issues at the workplace.

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Try presenting information in a visual format if possible. When you send them written communication, try and include illustrations of infographics to help them better understand what you're trying to communicate.

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Try and not send them too many details as they will tend to get lost in them and may not be able to reach the expected end goal in-time.

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Be prepared to answer follow-up questions, emails inquiring about this and that as they go back and "chew on" things discussed in their own time.

When communicating with individuals who have a functional communication style: o

Prepare to answer a lot of questions. Such people like details and plan out extensively.

Ensure to have relevant information ready and at hand.

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If you are going to be working with them, create a precise step-by-step plan and task list.

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Prepare for constant feedback requests.

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Do not rush them when they are focusing on the details of a plan or task.

When communicating with individuals who have a personal communication style: o

Create a personal connection.

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Be prepared, to be honest, and open about sharing your feelings.

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Do not get offended and be diplomatic and articulate if/when they ask a seemingly personal question. Remember, they care about you.

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Send them an email after your meeting so they have the 'nitty-gritty' details discussed in the meeting. Personal communication styles typically have only the big picture in their mind.

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Communication: the process of using symbols to exchange meaning.

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Primary Receivers: main recipients of the message.

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Secondary Receivers: someone who is likely to read the message and may or may not be required to respond.

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Hidden Receivers: someone who may come across the message, but you do not know the chances of this happening.

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Determine who your primary, secondary, and hidden audience are before you construct your message. o

The primary audience are the main recipients of the message.

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The secondary audience are those who will likely receive the message, but may not need to provide feedback or act upon it.

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The hidden audience are those who may come across the message without initially being aware they received the message.

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Tailor the message to meet the needs of the primary and secondary audiences.

The AUDIENCE analysis tool can help you do that. AUDIENCE is an acronym where each letter stands for a step in the process of understanding your receivers.

A of the AUDIENCE analysis tool helps you to think about the different kinds of people who will receive your message, directly or indirectly.

Questions to ask: Who is (are) the primary, secondary, and hidden recipients of your message?

How to use this information: When you identify your primary, secondary, and hidden audiences you can craft your message such that it is relevant and meaningful to the people to whom you are communicating.

U of the AUDIENCE analysis tool involves understanding various aspects of your audience after you have gathered information about them through analysis.

Questions to ask: What knowledge does your audience have about your intended message?

How to use this information: It is important to know what the audience needs to know and compare it to how much they already know.

If you provide too much information, the receivers who have limited time may skim through the email and miss something or ignore it entirely. If you provide too little information, you risk confusing the receivers by omitting important details. This could lead to multiple follow-up emails requiring you to spend more time clarifying or answering questions.

D of AUDIENCE analysis tool involves exploring specific details of the audience related to age, gender, and education level.

Questions to ask: What is the age, gender, education level, and position of your audience?

How to use this information: Demographic traits refer to the characteristics that make someone an individual, and part of a group of people who have similar traits. When you know the demographic traits of your audience, you can make your messaging more direct, relevant, and engaging to them. Some key characteristics to consider for an individual’s demographics when crafting a communication include education, family status, gender identity, age, occupation, race, religion, sexual orientation, and socio-economic status. Every message

you craft may not need consideration to all the demographic information listed. Consideration should be given based on the type and need of the message.

I of the AUDIENCE analysis tool involves orienting your message to cater to the pieces of your message that the audience will be interested in.

Question to ask: What is their level of interest or investment in your message (i.e., What’s in it for them?)?

How to use this information: Audiences tend to be interested in messages that relate to their interests, needs, goals, motivations, or what might impact them. An effective way to communicate with a receiver is by getting their attention.

You can get and retain the receiver’s attention by communicating the most impactful, relevant, and meaningful information as early as possible in the message.

E in the AUDIENCE analysis tool involves exploring the setting in which your message will be received.

Question to ask: What setting or reality is your audience immersed in, and what is your relationship to it? What would be their likely interest in your message? Have you taken cultural differences into consideration?

How to use this information: Gathering details about the environment will help to inform your decision about what type of language and tone you should and should not use. In a workplace setting, each department and group of people have specialized jargon (specific words that are familiar to a small group of people). If your audience includes people who are not familiar with these terms, try to keep the language simple so that it is understood by the primary and secondary audiences.

N in the AUDIENCE analysis tool involves exploring the needs of the audience.

Question to ask: What information does your audience need?

How to use this information: Many of the earlier steps of the AUDIENCE tool cover aspects of "needs of the receivers." Your receivers may be executives, experts, technicians, and nonexperts. Each category or receiver needs different information. After you have identified the needs, it is important to arrange the information so people who need specific kinds of information can locate it easily. This is where content and document design come in. You must arrange the content in such a way that receivers looking for different kinds of information will immediately be able to locate the details that matter to them.

C in the AUDIENCE analysis tool helps you to tailor your message to your audience.

Question to ask: How do you adjust your message to your audience?

How to use this information: You can choose to highlight different aspects of the message depending on who your receivers are and what they need. Here are a few tips that you can use: •

Add information that receivers need, and omit information that they do not.

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Use visual components, such as bolded text and italics, if possible. This works well for a variety of receivers.

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When writing longer documents, use headings, bullets, and different types of formatting to break up larger pieces of text into smaller, sizable chunks.

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Avoid using all capital letters as this implies yelling.

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E of the AUDIENCE analysis tool helps you to assess and manage your audience’s expectations during the presentation.

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Question to ask: What are your audience’s expectations?

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How to use this information: Knowing your audience’s expectations ties in with the other information gathered. For example, do they need the information to be delivered directly? Do they want to be entertained? Do they expect advice? As you gain a clearer picture of your receivers’ motivations and needs, you will also know what the users expect.

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Demographic traits: demographic traits refer to the characteristics that make someone an individual, but that he or she has in common with others.

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Stereotyping: generalizing about a group of people and assuming that because a few people in the group have a characteristic, all of them do.

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Totalizing: taking one characteristic of a group or person and making that the “totality” or sum total of what the person or group is.

Verbal communication involves two main components: "speaking and listening. The speaker uses words to code the information and speaks to the listener, who then decodes the words for understanding and meaning."

Verbal communication helps people: •

Define reality (including thoughts, ideas, people, and emotions)

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Organize complex ideas and experiences into meaningful categories

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Think critically

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Reason abstractly

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Access memories

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Shape attitudes about the world

There are a few forms of interference within this channel of communication, including word choice, formality, and syntax (or the structure of sentences and phrases). These forms of interference can cause miscommunication—or they can actually prevent communication from happening altogether!

Rule: The semantic meaning of a word is the dictionary definition of a word. However, because many words have more than one definition, it is important to know and pay attention to context when considering what a word may mean.

Description: When someone says they will “run” the operational side of a project, they mean they will take the lead on the project (not take it outside for a run around the block).

Rule: Syntactic rules (When speaking), a sentence or phrase can mean different things.

Description: In the following sentence with no internal punctuation, a manager appears to suggest putting too much work on one employee.

Version 1 – "Let’s work Jackie!"

On the other hand, by placing a comma in the sentence, the manager appears to be expressing excitement about working with Jackie.

Version 2 – "Let’s work, Jackie!"

Rule: The pragmatic rules help people to interpret messages by analyzing the interaction completely.

That means that the words used, how they are stated, the speaker’s relationship with the listener, and the objectives of the communication must all be considered.

Description: If a manager says “I want to see you right now“ to an employee, it means something quite different than if a romantic partner were to say the same words to their significant other.

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Verbal communication is a communication channel that is about speaking and listening; how you speak to and listen to others impacts how they receive and understand your messages.

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The words you choose and the emphasis you place on words impact your message.

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Verbal communication uses three rules that govern how words are heard and received: syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic.

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Verbal communication: a channel of communication that uses spoken words between a source (i.e., speaker) and a receiver (i.e., listener)

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Connotation: the subjective definition of a word

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Denotation: the dictionary definition of a word

Formal Language is professional and academic language. In business writing, it is often appropriate for your language to have a degree of formality. Writers using a formal style tend to use a more sophisticated vocabulary—a greater variety of words, and more words with multiple syllables—not for the purpose of throwing big words around, but to enhance the formal tone of the document. That said, it is still critically important to ensure that the words you use are precise, relevant, and convey the appropriate and accurate meaning! This writing style may use the third person and may also avoid using contractions. However, this isn’t always the case. Legal agreements, professional documents, business emails, and academic papers are all generally written using a formal style of writing.

Informal Language is common, everyday language that is continuous and casual. It differs from standard business English in that it often makes use of colorful expressions, slang, and regional phrases.

As a result, it can be difficult to understand for a beginning English speaker or a person from a different region of the country.

Jargon is the specialized or technical language of a specific group or profession that may not be understood by outsiders. Jargon consists of a specific vocabulary that uses words only certain people understand. The business world is full of jargon.

Here are a few examples: •

Check the box—to complete a task

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Game changer—a fundamental or significant change

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Drill down—getting into the finer details of a problem or project

Colloquialisms are informal words and terms used in communication. Colloquialisms vary from region to region, and they demonstrate how a group uses language in their everyday lives.

Here are a few common colloquialisms you may have used yourself: •

gonna—a combined version of the words “going” and “to”

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fell through the cracks—something that has been neglected

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over the top —the effort went beyond reasonable expectations unnecessarily

Slang refers to words that are employed by certain groups, such as young adults and teens. Slang is more common in spoken rather than written language and is often used with people who are similar and know each other well. It is best to avoid using slang in professional communication.

Here are a few examples of slang with alternative word choices for use in the workplace and/or in written communication: •

bro—friend or colleague

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salty—angry or upset

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lit—awesome or powerful

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y’all—a combination of the words “you” and “all” - meaning “you all,” “all of you,” “everyone”

Idioms are expressions or figures of speech whose meaning cannot be understood by interpreting the individual words literally. Idioms can help amplify messages and can also be used to provide artistic expression. Avoid using idioms in any professional communication.

Here are a few examples of idioms, including options for more precise language to use instead.

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up in the air =unsure, unclear, not definitive

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draw a blank =cannot remember, unable to think of anything

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read between the lines=understand what is not actually stated or written

Clichés are ideas or expressions that have been so overused that they have lost their original meaning.

Clichés are common in daily life, and they are prevalent in advertisements, television, and literature.

Avoid using cliches in any professional communication. How many of the following examples have you heard before?

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happily ever after

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All that glitters isn’t gold.

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Cat got your tongue?

Another critical component of analyzing and using language appropriately is understanding how bias surfaces in spoken and written language. Bias is an attitude that is not objective or balanced. It is the use of words that intentionally or unintentionally offend people or express an unfair attitude concerning a person’s race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, disability, or illness. Biased language, then, is language that shows preference in favor of or against a certain point of view, shows prejudice, or is demeaning to others. There are many different categories of biased language, including sexist and racist language, which specifically targets and differentiates people based on their sex and/or race.

Sexist language unnecessarily differentiates between people of different genders and may exclude, trivialize, or diminish a particular sex.

Similarly, racist language conveys the idea that one race is superior to another. The goal, even in informal language, is to use an inclusive approach when communicating with and to others.

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Formal language: language used in a professional context and for academic work. More structured and prioritizes higher-order vocabulary, clarity, and complex sentence structures.

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Informal language: language used in common conversations and friendly emails, most often between friends or close colleagues. Often less structured and includes the use of slang, colloquialisms, and idioms.

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Biased language: language that shows a preference toward or against a particular group of people.

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Sexist language: language that shows a preference toward one gender.

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Racist language: language that identifies one racial group over another unnecessarily.

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Use repetition – When you learn a new word, use it often. The more opportunities you give yourself to use a new word, the more likely it will be to become a part of your discourse (or way of speaking).

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Group similar words together – Don’t learn new words in isolation. Individual words are a part of an overall language you speak, so find other words that are similar to new words you are learning and group them together. When you do this, you are giving yourself a group or set of words to pick from when communicating, increasing the chances of selecting new words from the set you have created for yourself.

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Build your vocabulary – One way to keep learning new words is to find words that actually have meaning for you. Consider keeping a journal of words you don’t know. Look each one up and write down the definition. You can also look up synonyms and antonyms of words that you are learning to help expand your understanding of individual words and build groups of words you are learning.

•

Read – One of the best ways to expand your vocabulary and improve your communication skills is as simple as it sounds – read. While there are certain types of texts that are better for improving your academic or professional vocabulary, every piece of writing has something to offer in regard to language development. If you read often enough and read a diverse enough pool of writing, you will continue to find words you didn’t know.

Engage in meaningful interpersonal communication with people unlike yourself. Spending time with people who have had different life experiences from you can provide many opportunities for learning and expanding your language awareness. As you get to know different people, you may notice the different types of language they use and the different ways they use language.

Watch and listen to communication in languages that you do not speak. Giving yourself the opportunity to hear how different languages work and watch people engage with each other using other languages can provide new perspectives on effective communication.

Spend some time with individuals of different ages, including children. Interacting with children, especially, allows you to see how you can adapt language to meet the needs of people who are in the process of rapidly learning new vocabulary. This can provide a lens into how you can and do acquire new vocabulary and language skills as well.

Good communicators include everyone and don’t make assumptions about their audience. You can make your language more inclusive by •

Using the singular pronoun “they” instead of “he or she”;

•

Being specific when discussing a person’s identity and use the terminology they prefer (when in doubt, ask the person what terminology they prefer);

•

Questioning the assumptions that you make about your audience, knowing that members of your audience might not share the same cultural values or experiences as you;

•

Being especially careful when writing about groups of people in a way that might reinforce stereotypes; and

•

When in doubt, focusing on using a professional approach in which you spend time writing and crafting a clear and appropriate message.

•

Language awareness: the ability to be sensitive to the form and function of language

•

Inclusive language: language that does not make assumptions about others

•

Written Communication: A message that utilizes the written word.

•

Audience: Any person or group to whom a message is sent.

•

Primary Audience: A person or group to whom you intend to send a message.

•

Secondary Audience: A person or group who could reasonably come in contact with the message, either directly or indirectly.

•

Hidden Audience: Unintended recipients of a message.

To be effective, the written message needs to be clear, concise, and collaborative—the three Cs of an effective written message.

Clear writing can be compared to a squeaky-clean mirror. Any spots on the mirror will affect your ability to see your reflection. In the same way, any redundant or confusing words used in a message will “stain” the meaning of the message.

What makes a message clear? Clarity means the message is precise and specific. Clear messages provide only the necessary details, use plain language, and offer lists or bullet points when necessary. They do not include any unnecessary information.

A concise message is short, succinct, and to the point. While you should write in a language similar to how you speak, you should not write exactly how you speak. In conversation, people are often redundant, obtuse, or overly descriptive. Instead, always review your message and delete any repetitive thoughts, ideas, or words. Check to see if your sentences are too wordy.

A collaborative message is one that respects the perspectives of all potential audience members.

•

Plain language: Writing in a similar way to how you speak.

•

Clarity: Being precise and specific.

•

Concise: Being short, succinct, and to the point.

•

Collaborative: Respecting the perspectives of all potential audience members.

Think about the "America Needs You" poster. What made it so effective? It is directed at "you." The best way to get your audience’s attention is to address them directly. A message that uses a youview prioritizes the needs, wants, and desires of the audience. Because the reader’s interest or benefit is stressed, the writer is more likely to help the reader understand information or get the reader to act on a request. Adopting a you-view goes beyond just using the words you or your instead of we, our, I, and mine. It means ensuring that you are writing in a way that puts the reader first.

Good communicators include everyone and don’t make assumptions about their readers. You can make your language more inclusive by:

•

▪

Using the singular "they" instead of "he or she." For example, instead of saying "A communicator should understand her audience," you could say, "A communicator should understand their audience" or "Communicators should understand their audience."

▪

Being specific when discussing a person’s identity and use the terminology they prefer. For example, instead of saying “Marilyn Gabriel is a First Nations person,” you could say "Marilyn Gabriel is a member of the Kwantlen Nation."

▪

Using neutral and specific language if a person’s disability is relevant (it usually isn’t). For example, instead of saying "Brent is confined to a wheelchair" (which is inaccurate, negative, and vague), you could say "Brent uses a wheelchair" or “Brent has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair.” When in doubt, ask the person what terminology they prefer.

Make sure that your written message: ▪

Is written in plain language;

▪

Is clear, concise, and collaborative (the three Cs of effective written communication);

▪

Is precise, specific, and clear;

▪

Is concise (short, succinct, and to the point);

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Is collaborative (respects the perspectives of all potential audience members);

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Uses a you-view prioritizing the needs, wants, and desires of the audience; and

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Uses inclusive language that is considerate and sensitive to all members of society.

Today, emails are the most common form of written communication for both personal and professional messages. In an office setting, emails are the primary medium of information exchange, as organizations stress the importance of creating a paper trail. By understanding the proper format, language, and delivery strategies for an email, you can make a strong positive impression on your audience and meet the expectations of the modern workplace.

•

Subject line: A line summarizing the email subject.

•

Salutation: A greeting that includes a formal or official title.

•

Email body: The contents of the message.

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Valediction: A closing statement in an email.

•

Complimentary close: A word or phrase to end a message.

•

Signature: Includes information such as your title, name, organizational role/position, department name, company, address, and contact information.

There may be instances when an email is not the most appropriate medium. For example, in a conflict situation, you don’t want to email your grievances to a colleague or team member. Rather, the best thing to do is meet the team member face to face and discuss any issues that may be causing the conflict. If there are multiple people involved, gather them together to discuss collaborative measures that can be taken instead of sending out a group email.

When constructing an email, it is expected that: ▪

you reply to an email within 24 hours,

▪

the email has an appropriate subject line,

▪

all expected secondary audiences have been included,

▪

proper email etiquette is followed, and the email content is neatly organized,

▪

the message is clearly about the subject stated in the subject line and only includes the information the recipient needs,

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the message has been carefully reviewed for spelling and grammar to demonstrate the credibility of the email sender,

▪

the email is direct and clear to eliminate the need for follow-up responses or misinterpretations, and

▪

the email has a positive overall tone.

Instant messages are relatively short messages that are sent instantly from one device to another, or to multiple devices linked or connected to the internet. Because the message may be one short sentence or a small paragraph of about 20 to 30 words, the message is simply stated, often informally. Since the message is just a sentence or two long, you do not need to follow a specific format. The language may be completely informal. Some people even use slang or short phrases like LOL (short for “laughing out loud”), and IDK (short for “I don’t know”) to create quick messages. Instant messages are delivered instantly, but they may be blocked for security reasons in some organizations. Make sure the application you are using to send an instant message is not blocked by the intended message destination device.

When constructing an instant message, it is expected you will: •

Respond immediately to promote the rapid exchange of information, but also be patient if there is a delay in response

•

Proofread to ensure message clarity, especially in professional contexts

•

Use messaging responsibly, safely, and at socially appropriate times

Select instant messaging to communicate when: •

You want to quickly trade short messages with someone who is not nearby

•

You want to interact with a peer or coworker

•

You want to communicate a small or relatively insignificant issue

•

You want something in writing to refer to later

•

You are not concerned about confidentiality

Although letter-writing is a slow process, letters show respect through formality and effort. Usually used for nonurgent communications, they are typically formal and permanent, and act as a confidential written message sent to a single person or organization. Letters are ideal for job applications, persuasive messages, or matters that may have legal implications.

A letter also contains features similar to an email. Creating your letter on formal letterhead adds substance and seriousness to your message.

Current date Insert the current date in a standard format. It could be MM/DD/YYYY or DD/MM/YY. Your name and contact information Use your formal name and designation, followed by the name of your company and contact information.

Greeting/salutation A written or typed official letter may be intended for someone in a position of power or a senior person.

Be sure to use the correct salutation and/or title.

Letter body (ensure that there is a start, body, and end) <Para 1> Start with a paragraph introducing your topic or subject, your reason for sending the letter. <Letter content/middle paragraph> The body contains the specifics or the actual message you need to deliver. <Last paragraph> The end should be a quick summary or review of the thoughts and ideas that you shared and should reassert what you desire and expect.

Closing End your letter on a positive note using a phrase or words that will show your personality.

Signature A letter may be handwritten, typed, or printed. What makes it special is your real signature, in ink.

When constructing a letter, it is expected that you: ▪

Follow conventions for different types of letters (e.g., block, modified block)

▪

Follow conventions for constructing different elements of a letter (e.g., address, date, salutation)

▪

Use formal letterhead when constructing a company message

Select a letter to communicate when: ▪

You want to construct a confidential message to a single recipient

▪

You want to construct a formal message (e.g., a cover letter for a job application or a persuasive message for a fundraising campaign)

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Your message may have legal implications, especially with bad-news messages

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You have time to construct and deliver the message

A memo, short for memorandum, is a printed official message sent to the members of an organization.

Memos are written records of organizational group decisions, announcements, policies, and procedures that are emailed or printed and posted on company bulletin boards. Memos may also include small reports or terms of negotiation between organizations.

A memo is an official document; hence, its language is always official, objective, and free of any emotional appeals or language. The message is specific, clear, and crisp, devoid of any redundant thoughts, ideas, or words.

Since a memo is not a personal note or message to a person(s) or organization, it does not contain a salutation or a signature. It may contain the following parts.

To: This specifies whether the communication is intended for all employees, managers only, or supervisors only.

From: This specifies the origin of the official message. It could be the CEO, VP, Senior Manager, etc.

Date: The current date in the relevant format.

Subject line: The message topic.

Memo body: The message contents.

Level of secrecy: The memo may be noted as “confidential” if the personnel receiving the message are expected not to send it to other parties.

When constructing a memo, it is expected that: o

Company letterhead will be used,

o

Organizational templates for memos will be followed, and

o

The memo will be constructed like an email, but without the opening salutation, closing salutation, and e-signature.

Select a memo to communicate when: o

You want to create a written record of decisions and policy changes to be shared within an organization, and

o

The message will be printed and physically posted to an office bulletin board as well as emailed to everyone involved.

Articles and blog posts are types of written communication and differ only slightly. An article is more formal and informational and may be based on research and interviews. Articles could be published online or printed in various newspapers or magazines. Blog posts, short for weblog posts, are personal thought pieces or opinions that people mostly share online; a blog could be considered an open, personal diary.

Both articles and blog posts have a head, body, and end. Both are relatively long pieces of written communication and can have numerous subheadings within the content body to organize the content for easier reading. Online articles and blog posts often have a section at the end where readers can post comments.

Articles and blog posts have the potential to reach large audiences; thus, their language should ideally be formal. However, for personal blogs, many people use casual language to share their thoughts.

•

Article: A relatively long piece of written communication mostly based on research, available online or printed in a newspaper or magazine.

•

Blog post: A relatively long piece of written communication mostly based on personal thoughts and opinions, published online.

Reports present large amounts of text and visual information, such as business intelligence, derived from research and analysis. Important communication tools for businesses and organizations, reports can be printed or emailed for distribution to individuals or presented to an audience in a presentation (e.g., Microsoft PowerPoint).

Formats of reports are organization specific. When creating a report, ensure that you use formats or templates approved by your particular organization.

The language of a report is always official and objective, expressing mostly data and hard facts.

A report is usually sent instantly as part of an email or made available online.

When constructing a report, it is expected that you:

▪

Follow conventions and templates as necessary for size, audience, and purpose of the report;=

▪

Include appealing visual aids (e.g., graphs, charts, infographics); and

▪

Deliver information in a succinct and engaging manner, when oral delivery is used.

▪

Select a report when:

▪

You need to provide detailed, analytical information, especially those relevant to the operation of an organization;

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You need to provide information to both employees of the organization and the public; and

▪

You need to present arguments to persuade your audience to take a specific action.

Physical barriers may make you physically uncomfortable; too much noise or an uncomfortable setting, too much or too little light, or uncomfortable temperature settings are some of the things that may create physical discomfort and cause you to not be able to send or receive communication as intended.

Social barriers, the various social norms we have been following all our lives, and biases and stereotypes we may have been nurturing consciously or unconsciously, will impact our communication and how we respond to the communication we receive.

Similarly, numerous psychological barriers may affect your mind and impact your thinking, understanding, and judgment. All these barriers may cause interference during the communication process.

•

False Assumption: When you misunderstand or misinterpret a message and assume a meaning that may not be correct or intended.

•

Anger: A type of heightened, aggressive emotion that hampers our ability to focus.

•

Attitudes and Values: These form and affect our belief system, which in turn affects the way we communicate.

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Negative Self-Image: A sense of low self-worth.

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Overconfidence: When you feel invincible and think you can overcome anything.

•

Apathy: A lack of interest in anything.

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Fear: An emotion of feeling threatened or unsafe.

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Defensiveness: A need to protect your thoughts and ideas.

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Implication: Something not stated clearly but maybe hinted at.

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Inference: A deduction.

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Abstracting: Casually scanning over something without paying attention to the details.

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Closed-mindedness: Not being open to new ideas or processes.

•

Distortion: Causing deformation.

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Filtering: Adding a filter to something.

•

Editing: Changing or modifying something.

•

Information overload: Overcome by too much information.

Follow these three strategies to ensure that your communication is clear and targets the right people and emotions.

Use Inclusive Language and Avoid Generalizations When forming your written communication, be very conscious of including all peoples, races, and genders. Use gender-neutral pronouns, words, and phrases, and avoid referring to someone’s personal details such as their ethnicity, physical features, etc. Do not make assumptions about anyone’s preferences or where they come from.

Respect Cultural and Language Differences Become aware and conscious of any biases or stereotypes you may be nurturing and try to overcome those by being open to different, new experiences and situations. Practice humility in everyday life and try to welcome a diversity of people, cultures, and ways of doing things. You can learn so much from different cultures if you decide to accept all types of people as valid.

Tolerate Ambiguity Having a high tolerance to ambiguity will help you adapt easily and faster to new situations—which is imperative in today's professional work world, where things change quite fast. Accepting ambiguity can help you work more efficiently, especially when work requires you to quickly take on a new project or interact with multiple diverse teams across different geographical locations, for example.

•

Anything that is in the physical space surrounding you is the physical environment.

•

Social norms are the sets of beliefs or rules within a society that everyone that is part of that society follows.

•

Bias is favoring one thing or person over another.

•

Stereotype is a general belief nurtured by the majority of people regarding the type of people, race etc.

•

Using gender neutral pronouns help you create communication that is all-inclusive.

•

•

•

Psychological barriers affecting communication are: ▪

False assumptions

▪

Anger

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Attitudes and values

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Negative self-image, overconfidence, and apathy

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fear and defensiveness

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Implications and inferences

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Abstracting

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Close-mindedness

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Distortion, filtering, and editing

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Information overload

Effective ways to overcome barriers to communication are: ▪

Using inclusive language and avoid generalizations

▪

Respecting cultural and language differences

▪

Tolerating ambiguity

Intercultural Communication: Interactions between two or more people from different cultures.

Keep these in mind when communicating in a diverse group: •

Determine what cultures may be present in the group.

•

Identify the cultural beliefs, values, norms, and rules that may affect the communication message.

•

Think about your behaviors and word choices that may need to change to adapt to another culture.

•

Remember that there may be multiple cultures that may impact any given interaction.

•

Culture: A group of people who through a process of learning are able to share perceptions of the world which influence their beliefs, values, norms, and rules, which eventually affect behavior.

•

Beliefs: Assumptions and convictions held by an individual, group, or culture about the truth or existence of something.

•

Values: Important and lasting principles or standards held by a culture about desirable and appropriate courses of action or outcomes.

•

Norms: Informal guidelines about what is acceptable behavior.

•

Rules: Explicit guidelines that govern acceptable behavior (usually written down).

•

Co-culture: Regional, economic, social, religious, ethnic, and other cultural groups that exert influence over one’s dominant culture.

•

Cultural Intelligence (CQ): An individual’s capability to function effectively in situations characterized by cultural diversity.

Keep these in mind when communicating in a diverse group: •

Consider what you perceive as normal and abnormal; take those ideas into account as you check perceptions with regard to intercultural interactions.

•

Think about the words that may be related to your specific corporate culture, and adapt when communicating to those outside of your organization.

Keep the following in mind when communicating in a diverse group: •

Identify communication behaviors that might be contingent on culture. Keep those in mind for future interactions or observation of others.

•

When you communicate with others, seek first to understand their perceptions. Use open-ended questions to clarify and investigate their viewpoint.

•

1. Practice Mindfulness

•

When it comes to engaging with people from other cultures, be fully in the moment and do not think about previous or possible future interactions. Instead, focus on the person in the here and now. Also, be aware of any stereotypes and prejudices you may have acquired concerning people of different cultures and try to set those aside.

•

It is also useful to have a goal when engaging in an intercultural interaction. Is the intention to learn more about the culture? To complete a business transaction? Or perhaps to extract information from the other person? Fine-tune your communication with the goal in mind. Overall, the goal of mindful intercultural interactions is to be present in the moment in a nonjudgmental way.

•

2. Check Your Perceptions

•

Perception-checking is a strategy to help monitor reactions to and perceptions about people and communication. The cautionary adage “things aren’t always as they appear” is useful when evaluating perceptions. Sometimes it is a good idea to ask for someone else’s view, especially if perceptions relate to a high-stakes situation. Perception-checking helps slow down perception and communication processes and allows a person to have more control. Perception-checking involves describing what is happening in a given situation, providing multiple interpretations of

events or behaviors, and asking questions for clarification. Some of this process happens internally, and some happens through interaction. The best practice is “when in doubt, ask.” In other words, ask someone from another culture about the proper way to behave in a certain situation.

•

3. Be Self-Aware and Engage in Self-Reflection

•

A good way to improve perceptions and increase communication competence in general is to engage in self-reflection. If a communication encounter does not go well, self-reflection can help increase cultural awareness. Your thought process regarding culture is often other-focused, meaning that the culture of the other person or group is what stands out in a perception. However, the old adage “know thyself” is appropriate. You can become more aware of your own culture by better understanding other cultures and perspectives. Developing cultural self-awareness often requires getting out of a comfort zone. Listening to people who are different is a key component of developing self-knowledge.

•

4. Engage in Cognitive Flexibility

•

Cognitive flexibility refers to the ability to continuously supplement and revise existing knowledge to create new categories rather than forcing new knowledge into old categories. In other words, people should not assume that knowledge they had about a culture 10 years ago is still the same now. Cognitive flexibility helps prevent knowledge from becoming stale and also prevents the formation of stereotypes and prejudging an encounter or jumping to conclusions. To be a better intercultural communicator, learn about others and be able to reflect on and adapt knowledge with each new experience.

•

5. Practice Tolerance for Uncertainty

•

Tolerance for uncertainty refers to an individual’s attitude about and level of comfort in uncertain situations (Martin & Nakayama, 2010). Some people perform better in uncertain situations than others, and intercultural encounters often bring up uncertainty. When communicating with someone of a different gender, race, or nationality, you might wonder what you should or should not do or say. Situations of uncertainty most often become clearer over time, but until that clarity occurs, anxiety may lead an individual to leave the situation or otherwise communicate in a less competent manner. Individuals with a high tolerance for uncertainty may exhibit more patience, waiting on new information to become available or seeking out information, which may then increase the understanding of the situation and lead to a more successful outcome (Pusch, 2009).

•

6. Build Your Cultural Intelligence

•

To build cultural intelligence, build your knowledge, grow your ability to think strategically, determine your motivations, and work productively with others. Learn about other cultures so you

can apply knowledge in an intercultural situation. Strategic thinking is important because it is how you make sense of knowledge. When engaging in an intercultural situation, pay attention to your surroundings and reflect on your interests and motivations. In this process, suspend your individual biases and avoid making assumptions. Finally, adapt to those you are communicating with and truly try to work with them toward successful communication.

•

7. Avoid Ambiguous Language

•

When trying to communicate with others in an intercultural situation, use clear language. This is especially true when two people are not native speakers of the same language. For others to know exactly what is meant and to avoid implying meaning, avoid ambiguous language. Every language and culture has its own euphemisms, clichés, idioms, and other figures of speech. These are specific to that culture and someone from another culture is unlikely to understand the meaning. For instance, in the United States, one might say something like, “that really gets my goat,” to express irritation. If someone from another culture had never heard that expression, the result might well be bewilderment; what goat? Thus, be aware of figures of speech and how they

• •

may confuse a message. Avoid using them in intercultural encounters.

8. Learn a New Culture In order to communicate effectively in multicultural environments, it’s important to look at the world through the eyes of others.

Take a moment to reflect on what you have learned: •

Culture involves a group of people who through a process of learning are able to share perceptions of the world which influences their beliefs, values, norms, and rules, which eventually affect behavior.

•

Culture is learned and influences an individual’s perceptions of the world.

•

A person’s perceptions and the cultural context can easily lead to miscommunication.

•

When communicating with a diverse group be aware of cultural differences and potential sources of miscommunication and adapt your message and communication style based on the receiver

•

Strategies to increase cultural intelligence include: ▪

Learning about other’s cultures, including differences and uniqueness.

▪

Practicing mindfulness and checking one’s perceptions

▪

Engaging in self-reflection and cognitive flexibility.

▪

Avoiding stereotyping and using ambiguous language.

•

There are three main channels of communication that you use daily: written, verbal, and nonverbal. It is best to use written communication when you need to convey facts, while it is best to use verbal communication when you need to convey feelings.

•

The four most common mistakes in email writing are the following: missing openings and closings; using unclear language or slang; using an unclear subject; and using biased language.

•

The four most common mistakes in document writing are the following: being too formal; being too wordy; being overly vague; and writing for the wrong audience.

•

Two of the most common mistakes people make in writing and sending text messages arise from autocorrect and sending messages to the wrong person or people.

•

What Is a Conflict?

•

Many people confuse the terms disagreement, argument, and conflict.

•

Disagreement

•

Suppose you and a few colleagues decide you need to meet briefly to discuss a timeline for a project. Most people feel that a two-week timeline is appropriate; however, due to your current workload, you prefer a three-week timeline. Because there are more people who would like to plan around a two-week timeline, the decision is made to do so. While you didn’t get your preference, pushing it up a week is doable, so you continue to work with others on the agreed-upon timeline. Disagreements may initially feel negative and unpleasant, but they simply mean that you and others have different opinions about something. Most disagreements are resolved as soon as a final decision is made.

•

Argument (Arguing)

•

Arguing also often carries a negative connotation. When you see two actively exchanging opposing views in a heated discussion, you may view them as arguing. Arguing is the act of giving reasons for and citing evidence in support of one’s position. The major aim of arguments is to persuade another individual to change their view.

Arguing may or may not impact the relationship, depending on the importance of the issue. For some individuals, arguing may be productive, as it makes them consider other perspectives on a situation.

•

Conflict

•

Disagreements regarding all sorts of things happen frequently. It is only over time, when a particular disagreement between two people, or among a group of people, continues and affects the emotional state and work of those involved that it becomes a conflict. A conflict may not necessarily mean the end of a relationship between the people involved. Conflict, though seemingly negative, has many positive aspects, as long as you use effective communication to resolve and manage it.

•

Conflict: A clash of ideas, thoughts, or goals among individuals or groups.

•

Disagreement: A difference of opinion regarding a decision, idea, or thought.

•

Argument: An exchange of reasons for and evidence in support of opposing positions.

Understanding conflict, what constitutes it, and what aggravates it will help you shape your communication with all parties concerned to reach a more positive, constructive outcome. For this reason, it is important to know the types of conflict you may face as well as ways to approach the situation.

•

Conflict of Process: Conflict over how to reach a common goal.

•

Conflict of Substance: Conflict due to misalignment between different perceptions of worth or investment related to achieving a goal.

•

Conflict of Values: Conflict of values or belief systems.

•

Conflict of Misperceived Differences: Conflict due to misinterpreted or miscommunicated messages.

•

Conflict of Personalities: Interpersonal conflict between individuals.

•

Interpersonal Conflict: When two people have a disagreement over an idea, thought, or desire over a period of time.

•

Intragroup Conflict: When conflict starts within a group.

Everything has a positive and negative aspect. For example, you may have heard the saying that money, or wealth, is the root of all evil. Yet we know that money can

be used for good causes. A lot of how you see the world around you depends on your perspective. This is also true for conflict.

Conflict can sometimes take on a life of its own, either slowly building as disagreements are ignored, or rapidly escalating into a combative situation that can be difficult to reconcile. It is therefore important to understand the life cycle or stages of conflict, so that you can keep it from getting out of hand. If a conflict has reached a more advanced stage, understand where it is going and manage it accordingly.

A conflict episode, which can be depicted as a mountain, moves through five stages: o

Stage 1: Underlying conflict

o

Stage 2: Conflict development

o

Stage 3: Conflict stalemate

o

Stage 4: Conflict resolution

o

Stage 5: Reconciliation

•

Underlying Conflict: When a person has just begun to experience feelings of contention.

•

Conflict Development: When those feelings of contention or conflict are triggered and take shape in the form of arguing, avoiding people, or refusing to follow procedures.

•

Conflict Stalemate: When no party concerned wants to yield or resolve the conflict.

•

Conflict Resolution: When all parties concerned come together to resolve the conflict.

•

Reconciliation: When all parties concerned come together to work through their differences.

Unfortunately, there is rarely a single cause of a conflict, and it is likely that you only see the "tip" of the iceberg when conflict emerges. The tip of the iceberg includes the expressed struggles, or issues, that both parties can easily see.

However, what lies underneath the surface? Cloke and Goldsmith’s (2011) "Iceberg of Conflict" helps illustrate what lies beneath the surface. The bulk of the iceberg exists below the waterline. In a conflict episode, what an individual brings with them into the conflict may be unseen, or under the surface. The part of the iceberg under the waterline represents the unnoticed, unspoken, and sometimes unknown variables that influence our communication and, therefore, our interactions. Without attending to the unseen iceberg mass, you may miss an opportunity to successfully manage a conflict episode and your relationships.

Parts of the iceberg under the waterline include: •

o

Personality differences among involved parties,

o

Emotions of all involved parties,

o

Differing interests, needs, and desires of all involved parties,

o

Differing self-perceptions and self-esteem of all involved parties,

o

Hidden expectations of all involved parties, and

o

Unresolved past issues, or histories, among all involved parties.

Within conflict episodes, or instances of conflict, individuals pursue different goals.

Conflict episodes have the potential to emerge due to the different goals that individual parties possess.

Hocker and Wilmot (2018) use the acronym TRIP to identify and discuss four types of goals individuals experience within conflict episodes: •

o

Topic goals: Conflicts due to topic goals arise when the parties have differing ideas about what to do or what decision to make.

o

Relational goals: Conflicts due to relational goals arise when there are differences in how each party wants to be treated.

o

Identity goals: Conflicts due to identity arise when there is a misalignment between how an individual feels they are perceived by others versus how they perceive their true identity.

o

Process goals: Conflicts due to process goals arise when there are different perceptions as to how communication should be used to manage conflict.

TRIP goals often overlap, shift, and change during disputes. It is important to remember that not all TRIP goals will emerge in all disputes. However, TRIP goals that do emerge can change. For example, some conflict episodes will be about process goals only, whereas others will be about topic or identity goals. Regardless of the goal type, it is important to learn to recognize and identify which goals are in play in order to manage the conflict.

Some goals are more important than others to some people. What is important to one may not be important to another. This adds complications, as what one person may be “fighting” for is their identity goals, whereas another may be “fighting” for

their relational goals. At the same time, it is important to remember that one’s goals before (prospective goals), during (transactive goals), and after (retrospective goals) a conflict episode might change.

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Prospective Goals are those that people hold before a conflict. In other words, these are the types of goals, or intentions, that people have before a conflict begins.

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Transactive Goals are those that people hold during a conflict. While a conflict episode is ongoing, involved parties may change what they want and what is important to them.

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Retrospective Goals are those that people hold after conflict. Once the conflict is over and all involved parties have time to reflect, goals might change based on what did or didn’t happen.

Understanding the dynamic process of goals shifting, changing, and overlapping will provide for a clearer understanding of the conflict episode. Additionally, identifying the issues at play can lead to better conflict management.

When you hear the word power, what comes to mind? Maybe you think of a powerful person, such as a superhero or the president of the United States. Social scientists use the word power in a very specific way.

Power is the degree to which a social agent (A) can get another person(s) (P) to alter their thoughts, feelings, and/or behaviors.

To better understand this definition, let’s break it down into two parts. First, you have a social agent. A social agent can come in a variety of different forms: another person, a role someone embodies, a group rule or norm, or a group or part of a group. Second, you need a person or people who are being influenced to undergo a specific change in thoughts, feelings, and/or behaviors. When people have limited resources and lack the ability to influence an outcome in a positive way, the struggle for power begins, causing conflict.

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Power is the degree to which a social agent (A) can get another person(s) (P) to alter their thoughts, feelings, and/or behaviors.

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Conflicts may arise when a social agent exerts power over a person or persons who do not want to make a change.

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When people have limited resources and lack the ability to influence an outcome in a positive way, the struggle for power begins, causing conflict.

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There are different bases of power that can cause conflict: informational, coercive, legitimate, expert, and referent.

5 Bases of Power: The first base of power is informational power, which refers to a social agent’s ability to bring about a change in thought, feeling, and/or behavior through information—or to cause conflict by withholding information to gain influence. For example, Peter has a novel idea for a new product he would like to create. While he is very knowledgeable, he doesn’t have the skills to create the prototype itself. He has asked a coworker to help him bring his idea to fruition; however, the coworker doesn’t want to help and refuses to share information.

Another type of power is coercive power, which is the ability to punish an individual who does not comply with one’s attempts to influence them. Conflict arises because the person being influenced feels forced to comply. An example of this is workplace bullying or harassment.

Legitimate power is exercised when a person believes that the social agent (A) has a valid right to influence them, and they have an obligation to accept A’s attempt to influence their thoughts, feelings, and/or behaviors. French and Raven argue that there are two common forms of legitimate power: cultural and structural.

Structural legitimate power is exercised when someone fulfills a specific position within the social hierarchy. For example, Sara, a frontline manager, is asked by her VP to remove an employee from a project because they had a negative experience with this individual in a previous interaction. The employee is very competent, and Sara thinks that the employee’s removal from the project will cause a big gap in knowledge. Sara feels pressure from her VP and does not have another option than to remove the employee from the project.

Expert power is that which we give an individual to influence us because of their perceived knowledge and expertise. This type of influence is based on perception, so P must believe and trust that A is telling the truth. For example, we often give our physicians the ability to influence our behavior (e.g., eat right, exercise, take medication) because we view these individuals as having specialized knowledge.

Referent power is fueled by the desire to associate with another person. Referent power is about relationship building and the desire to keep and maintain positive relationships. In a professional setting, an example may be that two colleagues, Lynn and Penelope, talk regularly and enjoy working together. If Lynn asks Penelope to stay late to help her finish a project, Penelope may do so even if she does not really want to because she values her relationship with Lynn.

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Emotions are natural reactions to stimuli in the outside environment.

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Although emotions are not the initial cause of a conflict, they can escalate a conversation into a conflict episode.

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To prevent conflict, it is important to refrain from negating others’ emotions.

Avoid phrases like "don’t feel that way" or "they have no right to feel that way."

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To manage conflict, you must first understand its underlying source.

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Negotiation is an approach to conflict resolution in which the parties involved aim to reach a mutual agreement.

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Negotiation requires good persuasion, bargaining, and active listening skills.

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Negotiation: A discussion aimed at reaching an agreement.

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Mediation: A structured, interactive process in which an impartial third-party assists disputing parties in resolving conflict through specialized communication.

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Face-Detracting Strategy: Attributes blame to an individual, making that person feel responsible for things going wrong.

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Face-Saving Strategy: Focuses on what went wrong rather than attributing blame to an individual. All parties involved in the task thus feel supported in trying to understand what went wrong and correct it.

How does one negotiate? As in any process, there is a series of steps that have been proven to lead to success. For negotiation, the process steps are prenegotiation, negotiation opening, exploration, bargaining, and agreement.

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Prenegotiation: The first step in the negotiation process where you prepare for negotiating.

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Opening: The second step in the negotiation process where you present your opening statement, stating your requirements and what you can offer.

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Exploration: The third step in the negotiation process where you explore all available options.

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Bargaining: The fourth step in the negotiation process where you explore all options available, discussing the pros and cons of each one.

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Agreement: The last step in the negotiation process where you reach an agreement and resolve the conflict.

Use these tips to be successful during the negotiation process: ▪

In prenegotiation, try to be fair and unbiased while considering the other parties' points of views, desires, and requirements.

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In the opening step, ensure that the tone and style of your opening statement are positive and objective. Try to avoid offering anything, but state the core issues present, demonstrate how they are affecting all parties, and suggest that everyone move forward with an open mind, focusing on the long-term benefits. Actively listen to others’

opening statements as well to make sure you understand their concerns.

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In the exploration step, explore all options with an unbiased and objective mind. Approach the phase with a spirit of collaboration and cooperation. Interrogate and investigate all options to ensure that all perspectives are heard.

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In the bargaining step, try to avoid an aggressive, negative, or argumentative tone or style. Do not impose your thoughts and opinions on the other party. Do not try to assert control, but rather be humble and sensitive to what the other person is saying. Applying bullying tactics at this step will only aggravate the conflict and may take you farther away from the agreement step.

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In the agreement step, make sure that everyone’s conditions have been met (even through compromise) so that no one complains later and backs down on what was agreed upon.

During an ongoing conflict, it may be easy to get swayed by emotions and difficult to remain objective when considering multiple viewpoints. Use these strategies to avoid common negotiation pitfalls.

Be Collaborative, Not Competitive Think of the two words. What comes to your mind when you think of competition and collaboration? Chances are, competition may bring to mind phrases like “headto-head” or “winner and loser,” whereas collaboration may bring to mind phrases like “shoulder-to-shoulder” or “handshake.” Competition is important for us to improve and grow, but in a conflict/negotiation scenario, feelings of competition may cloud or bias our thinking with a defensive “fight or flight” mindset, preventing us from fully listening to or respect others' points of view.

Instead, focus on collaboration, which brings the best in everyone involved in the conversation. You may not know everyone’s strengths and weaknesses, knowledge, experience, or skills and may prejudge someone before knowing what they might be able to contribute to solve the problem under discussion. Active listening allows us to hear the contributions of others and help integrate the best from all parties to come up with a solution. This approach allows everyone to be a part of the solution and thus also have a sense of ownership in the team’s success.

Avoid Getting Stuck on a ‘Thorny’ Point It is possible that all parties are active listeners and are compassionate and sensitive to each other's needs and requirements; yet, there comes a point where they do not agree on something. This is known as the 'thorny' point.

When the conflict stalemate occurs, try and look for the root cause. Is the source of the conflict a difference in goals or is there a power struggle? Many times, you may find that the true root cause of the conflict may be far from what you may have

anticipated and maybe there are ways so that the real need of the other party could be met.

Be Specific in the Agreement When you create an agreement, it is important that all the terms and conditions, expectations, timelines, and owners are precise and specific, and that all parties involved agree to them. Any lack of clarity at this step can cause more conflict later if any one of the parties involved feels that the settlement does not meet their needs or requirements as promised. This could lead to further contention and more conflict than before.

Check Your Emotions If your emotions are running high, wait until you have cooled down to address a conflict. Emotions can cloud judgment and prevent you from relaying your true message.

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Negotiation is a discussion aimed at reaching an agreement.

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Mediation is a structured, interactive process where an impartial third party assists disputing parties in resolving conflict through specialized communication.

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There are cultural differences that may affect the negotiation process, including the use of a face-detracting strategy rather than a face-saving strategy.

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The four main characteristics of parties entering a negotiation are:

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They are somehow interdependent

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They are each looking to achieve the best possible result in the interaction

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They are motivated and capable of influencing one another

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They believe they can reach an agreement

Get to Yes by following these steps: ▪

Ask why the other person wants what they want

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Identify your own motivations as well

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Don’t take anything personally

There are five steps of negotiation: ▪

Prenegotiation

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Opening

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Exploration

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Bargaining

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Agreement

Use these strategies to avoid common mistakes in negotiation: ▪

Be collaborative, not competitive.

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Be specific in the agreement.

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Avoid getting stuck on a 'thorny' point.

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Check your emotions.

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Interpersonal Communication: The exchange of information between two or more people with mutual, unique connections.

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Interpersonal Conflict: Occurs between two or more people when there are perceived or real goals that are not compatible with each other. This type of conflict can be expressed verbally or nonverbally.

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Bad Listening Practices

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Bad listening practices can escalate conflict and should not be used.

Therefore, it is important to be able to identify bad listening practices in order to avoid making such mistakes, particularly within conflict settings.

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Interrupting Conversations unfold as a series of turns, and turn taking is negotiated through a complex set of verbal and nonverbal signals that are consciously and subconsciously received. In this sense, conversational turn taking has been likened to a dance, where communicators try to avoid stepping on each other’s toes. One of the most frequent glitches in the turn-taking process is interruption, but not all interruptions are considered bad listening. An interruption could be unintentional if someone misreads cues and thinks a person is done speaking only to have them start up again at the same time the other person does.

Sometimes interruptions are more like overlapping statements that show support (e.g., “I think so too.”) or excitement about the conversation (e.g., “That’s so cool!”). Back-channel cues like “uh-huh,” as you learned earlier, also overlap with a speaker’s message. A person may also interrupt out of necessity if they are engaged in a task with another person and need to offer directions (e.g., “Turn left here.”), instructions (e.g., “Will you whisk the eggs?”), or warnings (e.g., “Look out behind you!”). All these interruptions are not typically thought of as evidence of bad listening unless they become distracting for the speaker or are unnecessary.

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Unintentional interruptions can still be considered bad listening if they result from mindless communication. As you have already learned, intended meaning is not as important as the meaning that is generated in the interaction itself. So if you interrupt unintentionally, but because you were only half-listening, then the interruption is still evidence of bad listening. The speaker may form a negative impression of you that cannot just be erased by your noting that you did not mean to interrupt. Interruptions can also be used as an attempt to dominate a conversation. A person engaging in this type of interruption may lead the other communicator to try to assert dominance, too, resulting in a competition to see who can hold the floor the longest or the most often. More than likely, though, the speaker will form a negative impression of the interrupter and may withdraw from the conversation.

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Eavesdropping Eavesdropping is a bad listening practice that involves a calculated and planned attempt to secretly listen to a conversation. There is a difference between eavesdropping on and overhearing a conversation.

Many, if not most, interactions throughout the day occur in the presence of other people. However, given that a speaker's perceptual field is usually focused on the interaction, they are often unaware of the other people around them or do not think about the fact that someone could be listening in on the conversation. People usually only

become aware of the fact that other people could be listening in when they are discussing something private.

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People eavesdrop for a variety of reasons. An individual might think another person is talking about them behind their back or that someone is engaged in illegal or unethical behavior. Sometimes people eavesdrop to spread gossip or out of curiosity (McCornack, 2007, p.

208). In any case, this type of listening is considered bad because it is a violation of people’s privacy. Consequences for eavesdropping may include an angry reaction if caught, damage to interpersonal relationships, or being perceived as dishonest and sneaky.

Additionally, eavesdropping may lead people to find out information that is personally upsetting or hurtful, especially if the point of the eavesdropping is to find out what people are saying behind their back.

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Aggressive Listening Aggressive listening, also referred to as ambushing, is a bad listening practice in which people pay attention in order to attack something that a speaker says (McCornack, 2007, p. 209). Aggressive listeners like to ambush speakers in order to critique their ideas, personality, or other characteristics. Such behavior often results from built-up frustration within an interpersonal relationship. Unfortunately, the more two people know each other, the better they will be at aggressive listening. Take the following exchange between long-term partners:

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Deb: "I’ve been thinking about making a salsa garden next to the side porch. I think it would be really good to be able to go pick our own tomatoes and peppers and cilantro to make homemade salsa."

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Summer: "Really? When are you thinking about doing it?"

Deb: "Next weekend. Would you like to help?"

Summer: "I won’t hold my breath. Every time you come up with some 'idea of the week' you get so excited about it. But do you ever follow through with it? No. We’ll be eating salsa from the store next year, just like we are now."

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Although Summer’s initial response to Deb’s idea is seemingly appropriate and positive, she asks the question because she has already planned her upcoming aggressive response. Summer’s aggression toward Deb is not about a salsa garden; it is the result of building frustration with what Summer perceives as Deb’s lack of follow-through on her ideas. Aside from engaging in aggressive listening because of built-up frustration, such listeners may also attack others’ ideas or mock their feelings because of their own low selfesteem and insecurities.

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Narcissistic Listening Narcissistic listening (Greene, Derlega, & Mathews, 2006, p. 421) is a form of self-centered and self-absorbed listening in which listeners try to make the interaction about them (McCornack, 2007, p. 212). You might consider this type of listener a “stage-hog.” Narcissistic listeners redirect the focus of the conversation to themselves by interrupting or changing the topic. When the focus is taken off them, narcissistic listeners may give negative feedback by pouting, providing negative criticism of the speaker or topic, or ignoring the speaker. A common sign of narcissistic listening is the combination of a pivot, when listeners shift the focus of attention back to them, and one-upping, when listeners try to top what previous speakers have said during the interaction. You can see this narcissistic combination in the following interaction:

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Bryce: "My boss has been really unfair to me lately and hasn’t been letting me work around my class schedule. I think I may have to quit, but I don’t know where I’ll find another job. "

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Toby: "Why are you complaining? I’ve been working with the same stupid boss for two years. He doesn’t even care that I’m trying to get my degree and work at the same time. And you should hear the way he talks to me in front of the other employees."

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Narcissistic listeners, given their self-centeredness, may actually fool themselves into thinking that they are listening and actively contributing to a conversation. Everyone has the urge to share their

own stories during interactions, because other people’s communication triggers one's own memories about related experiences. It is generally more considerate to withhold sharing one's stories until the other person has been able to speak and the listener has given the appropriate support and response. While most people shift the focus of a conversation back to themselves occasionally, either because they do not know another way to respond or because they are making an attempt at empathy., narcissistic listeners consistently interrupt or follow another speaker with statements like “That reminds me of the time . . .,” “Well, if I were you . . .,” and “That’s nothing. . .” (Nichols, 1995, pp. 68–72). As you will learn later, matching stories is not considered empathetic listening, but occasionally doing it does not make you a narcissistic listener.

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Defensive Listening Defensive listening is a practice of listening where you perceive an attack where one does not really exist. Sometimes this occurs when one feels guilty or even insecure. Individuals tend to personalize comments that might be made innocently. For example, imagine that you have a roommate and they make the following comment: “Gosh, the shower in here sure gets moldy easily.” If you are a defensive listener, you would assume that your roommate was somehow accusing you of not taking better care of the shower. If you both had a rule that said you would wipe the shower down each time you used it, but you had neglected to do so several times, then some guilt might be at work as well!

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Selective Listening

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If you have ever noticed yourself only listening to the points someone makes that are important to you or that you agree with, you might be engaging in selective listening. Children may not pay attention to their parents’ conversation until one of them says, “You need to have a B average if you want us to pay your car insurance.” Similarly, listening to political pundits or figures is often a place where selective listening occurs. You may take in the parts of the discussion that you agree with

and filter out the rest. As with most listening barriers, you can miss a lot of important information.

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Insensitive Listening Insensitive listening can often be the exact opposite of empathetic listening. This barrier can also be viewed as literal listening, where one listens for the content but ignores the relational meaning. This means they do not pay attention to the emotional cues the other person may be giving. Imagine if your friend did not pass an exam and then tells you about it. Rather than asking questions or providing an empathetic response, your response is, “I guess you didn’t study” or “Yeah, life can be hard.” Neither response will allow your friend to feel good about the exchange.

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Pseudo-listening Do you have a friend or family member who repeats stories? If so, then you have probably engaged in pseudo-listening as a politeness strategy. Pseudo-listening is behaving as if you are paying attention to a speaker when you are actually not (McCornack, 2007, p.

208). Outwardly visible signals of attentiveness are an important part of the listening process, but when they are just an act, the pseudolistener is engaging in bad listening behaviors. They are not actually going through the stages of the listening process and will likely not be able to recall the speaker’s message or offer a competent and relevant response. Although it is a bad listening practice, most people understandably engage in pseudo-listening from time to time. If a friend needs someone to talk but you are really tired or experiencing some other barrier to effective listening, it may be worth engaging in pseudo-listening as a relational maintenance strategy, especially if the friend just needs a sounding board and is not expecting advice or guidance. One may also pseudo-listen to a romantic partner or grandfather’s story for the 15th time to prevent hurting their feelings.

Pseudo-listening should be avoided when possible and should definitely not become a listening habit. Although someone may get away with it

in some situations, each time they risk being “found out,” which could have negative relational consequences.

Mindfulness sounds easier than it is. Mindfulness includes being self-aware and conscious enough to better understand how one is communicating and coming across (i.e., being perceived) in interpersonal communication. Mindfulness requires awareness, patience, and practice. Mindfulness does not come naturally to most people. Mindfulness includes being aware of one’s own interpersonal communication behaviors. Being mindful of one’s own actions can help them better understand how their interpersonal communication behaviors may intentionally or unintentionally escalate conflict. Being more mindful will also help you to identify behaviors that escalate conflict and replace them with positive communication behaviors that will help de-escalate conflict.

Attention "Attention involves attending fully to the present moment instead of allowing ourselves to become preoccupied with the past or future" (Shapiro, Shakur, & Sousa, 2014, p. 320). Essentially, attention is being aware of what’s happening internally and externally moment-to-moment. By internally, we’re talking about what’s going on in your head. What are your thoughts and feelings? By externally, we’re referring to what’s going on in your physical environment. To be mindful, someone must be able to focus on the here and now. Unfortunately, humans aren’t very good at being attentive. Our minds tend to wander about 47% of the time (Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010, p. 932). Some people say that humans suffer from "monkey mind," or the tendency of our thoughts to swing from one idea to the next

(Shapiro, Shakur, & Sousa, 2014). As such, being mindful is partially being aware of when our minds start to shift to other ideas and then refocusing ourselves.

Intention "Intention involves knowing why we are doing what we are doing: our ultimate aim, our vision, and our aspiration" (Shapiro, Shakur, & Sousa, 2014, p. 320). So the second step in mindful practice is knowing why you’re doing something. Let’s say that you’ve decided that you want to start exercising more. If you wanted to engage in a more mindful practice of exercise, the first step would be figuring out why you want to exercise and what your goals are. Do you want to exercise because you know you need to be healthier? Are you exercising because you’re worried about having a heart attack? Are you exercising because you want to get a bikini body before the summer? Again, the goal here is simple: be honest with ourselves about our intentions.

Attitude "Attitude, or how we pay attention, enables us to stay open, kind, and curious" (Shapiro, Shakur, & Sousa, 2014, p. 320). Essentially, we can all bring different perspectives when we’re attending to something. For example, "attention can have a cold, critical quality, or an openhearted, curious, and compassionate quality" (Shapiro, Shakur, & Sousa, 2014, p. 321). As you can see, we can approach being mindful from different vantage points, so the "attitude with which you undertake the practice of paying attention and being in the present is crucial" (Kabat-Zinn, J., 1990, p. 19). One of the facets of mindfulness is being open and nonjudging, so having that "cold, critical quality" is antithetical to being mindful. Instead, the goal of mindfulness must be one of openness and non-judgment.

So, what types of attitudes should one attempt to develop to be mindful? Daniel J. Siegel (2007) proposed the acronym COAL when thinking about our attitudes: curiosity, openness, acceptance, and love.

C stands for curiosity (inquiring without being judgmental).

O stands for openness (having the freedom to experience what is occurring as simply the truth, without judgments).

A stands for acceptance (taking as a given the reality of and the need to be precisely where you are).

L stands for love (being kind, compassionate, and empathetic to others and to yourself) (Fogel, 2014).

Jon Kabat-Zinn (1990), on the other hand, recommends seven specific attitudes that are necessary for mindfulness: 1.

1.

1. Nonjudging: observing without categorizing or evaluating.

2. Patience: accepting and tolerating the fact that things happen in their own time.

3. Beginner’s-Mind: seeing everything as if for the very first time.

4. Trust: believing in ourselves, our experiences, and our feelings.

5. Non-striving: being in the moment without specific goals.

6. Acceptance: seeing things as they are without judgment.

7. Letting Go: allowing things to be as they are and getting bogged down by things we cannot change.

Neither Siegel's COAL nor Kabat-Zinn’s seven attitudes is an exhaustive list of attitudes that can be important to mindfulness. Still, they give you a representative idea of the types of attitudes that can impact mindfulness. Ultimately, "the attitude that we bring to the practice of mindfulness will to a large extent determine its longterm value. This is why consciously cultivating certain attitudes can be very helpful… Keeping particular attitudes in mind is actually part of the training itself" (Kabat-Zinn, 190, pp. 20-21).

5 facets of mindfulness:

Observing The first facet of mindfulness is observing, or “noticing or attending to a variety of internal or external phenomena (e.g., bodily sensations, cognitions, emotions, sounds)” (Sauer & Baer, 2010, p. 31). When one is engaged in mindfulness, one of the basic goals is to be aware of what is going on inside yourself and in the external environment. Admittedly, staying in the moment and observing can be difficult, because one's mind is always trying to shift to new topics and ideas.

Describing The second facet of mindfulness is describing, or “putting into words observations of inner experiences of perceptions, thoughts, feelings, sensations, and emotions” (Sørensen et al., 2018, p. 2). The goal of describing is to stay in the moment by being detail focused on what is occurring. It should be noted that having a strong vocabulary does make describing what is occurring much easier.

Acting with Awareness The third facet of mindfulness is acting with awareness, or “engaging fully in one’s present activity rather than functioning on automatic pilot” (Sauer & Baer, 2010, p.

31). When it comes to acting with awareness, it is important to focus one’s attention purposefully. In people's day-to-day lives, they often engage in behaviors without being consciously aware of what they are doing. For example, have you ever thought about your routine for showering? Most people have a pretty specific ritual they use in the shower (the steps they engage in as they shower). Still, most people do this on autopilot without really taking the time to realize how ritualized this behavior is.

Nonjudging of Inner Experience The fourth facet of mindfulness is the nonjudging of inner experience, which involves being consciously aware of one’s thoughts, feelings, and attitudes without judging them. One of the hardest things for people when it comes to mindfulness is not judging themselves or their inner experiences. Humans are pretty judgmental and like to evaluate most things as positive or negative, good or bad, etc. However, one of the goals of mindfulness is to be present and aware. As soon as you start judging your thoughts, feelings, and attitudes, you stop being present and become

focused on your evaluations and not your experiences.

Nonreactivity to Inner Experience The last facet of mindfulness is nonreactivity to inner experience: “Nonreactivity is about becoming consciously aware of distressing thoughts, emotions, and mental images without automatically responding to them” (Galla et al., 2020, p. 351).

Nonreactivity to inner experience is related to the issue of not judging your inner experience, but the difference is in one's reaction. Nonreactivity involves taking a step back and evaluating things from a more logical, dispassionate perspective.

Often, individuals get so bogged down in their thoughts, emotions, and mental images that they end up preventing themselves from engaging in life.

For example, one common phenomenon that plagues many people is impostor syndrome, or perceived intellectual phoniness (Clance & Imes, 1978). Some people, who are otherwise very smart and skilled, start to believe that they are frauds and are just minutes away from being found out. Imagine being a brilliant brain surgeon but always afraid someone’s going to figure out that you do not know what you are doing. Nonreactivity to one's inner experience would involve their realizing that they have these thoughts but not letting them influence their actual behaviors.

Admittedly, nonreactivity to inner experience is easier described than done for many people.

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Hearing: The passive process by which people register that another person is speaking, but do not consciously listen to them.

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Listening: The active process by which people make sense of, assess, and respond to what they hear.

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Active listening: A communication technique that requires a receiver to provide clear attention and feedback to what they hear from a speaker.

Hearing someone means you register that another person is speaking, but you do not consciously listen to them through some sort of acknowledgment, such as a nod or verbal reference. Hearing is a "passive" process; it does not involve cognition.

When you hear, rather than actively listen, you are not guaranteed that you are actually internalizing the information someone is indicating, whether verbally or nonverbally, to you. Your colleague may have "heard" you say you were having a bad day, but they were not "listening" to your words and respecting your feelings, as evident by their continual conversation and lack of acknowledgment. Often, when you are hearing someone but not listening to them, it is due to some type of interference, such as background noise, texting, or distracting personal thoughts.

When you listen, you actively seek to understand what the other person is sharing.

Within the communication process, the listener is the receiver. When you are the listener you are tuned in to the message(s) the sender is sharing and

actively interpreting these messages in order to provide feedback that demonstrates your understanding. As the active listening receiver, you consciously engage in the six stages of listening: 1. Concentrate on the speaker.

2. Make eye contact with the speaker.

3. Acknowledge the speech sounds and/or body language of the speaker.

4. Understand what the speaker is saying.

5. Ask clarifying questions.

6. Confirm your understanding with a response (either verbally or nonverbally).

Active listening is a process. When you engage in active listening, you experience different roles throughout. You do, act, and contribute differently to the conversation. The active listening process is not sequential. You can begin and end the process at any point. The process can go through six stages all within a matter of seconds or minutes.

Step 1: Be Mindful. Set aside your own thoughts and work to concentrate on what the sender is sharing with you. This point is where you listen with an open mind— you are not thinking about what you are going to say next.

Step 2: Look at the Speaker. While the speaker is talking you should look at the speaker’s face to indicate that you are focused on what they are sharing with you.

Eye contact with the speaker indicates engagement. Not having eye contact can indicate a preoccupation with something other than what the speaker is saying.

Step 3: Look for Nonverbal Cues. As the speaker shares, observe the speaker’s body language (nonverbal communication) and see if you can connect any nonverbal cues with common emotions. Also know that your own non-verbal body language is being observed by the speaker for the same determination. Here are some examples: •

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Arms crossed could indicate anger or frustration.

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Avoiding eye contact or looking at the floor could indicate fear or shame.

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Pacing back and forth could indicate anxiety or confusion.

When you recognize these markers, they can help you decide whether or not the moment is the best time for the conversation to take place. If someone is showing signs of anger and fear, they may need time to breathe and reflect before engaging in a conversation in the workplace. Again, the listener can also send these same non-verbal signals indicating they are not listening.

Step 4: Resist giving an immediate response. While the speaker is finished talking, resist an immediate response to what the person is sharing with you. While this may be difficult to do, it’s important that you listen to everything the person is telling you without interruption. With active listening, put your energy into understanding the entirety of what the other person is sharing with you.

Step 5: Ask questions. Once the person is done speaking, ask the speaker to clarify points you are confused about or unsure of. The best practice of asking questions is to use part of what the person was saying in your question. This reflects that you were listening and are applying their own words in your questions and responses. For example, you could frame a sentence this way: "I heard you say you are angry about not being included in the team meeting."

Step 6: Confirm your understanding. Doing this allows the other person to confirm your understanding, to provide additional information, or to correct what you heard. For example, based on this example, the speaker might pause and reflect and then say, "Actually, I am not angry, I am feeling really hurt by this."

The active listening process is much easier said than done! How do you support yourself internally while you are actively listening to someone else? There are three strategies that can help you to maintain your active listening.

1. Covert coaching – coaching yourself by sending yourself mental messages with advice about better listening, such as "remember to make and keep eye contact to show you are listening".

2. Self-reinforcement – sending yourself affirming messages such as "you are being the best active listener you can at this moment".

3. Covert questioning – asking yourself questions that bring your attention back to the message that is being sent, such as "What does my colleague need to share with me right now?"

Some questions to keep in mind while working towards active listening: o

How do you know when to engage in active listening?

o

How do you know when someone else is engaging in active listening?

Some nonverbal indicators of active listening are:

o

Making eye contact

o

Smiling

o

Slightly raising an eyebrow

o

Having an upright posture

o

Having a slight lean toward the speaker

o

Head nods

o

Lack of distracting behaviors

Additionally, some verbal cues are: o

Referencing past statements

o

Not interrupting or interjecting

o

Ask probing questions for both clarification and elaboration

o

Using simple phrases of understanding such as "ok" or “mm”

In regard to conflict management, empathetic listening is a key component to both reaching a resolution and arriving at new ideas that better meet a team’s or person’s needs. When you listen with empathy you are putting yourself in the other person's shoes and looking at what they are saying from their perspective, before sharing your own perspective. This provides opportunities for you to respond to another person from a place of connectedness, seeking to move toward mutual goals. When you do not engage in this type of listening, you can easily slip into an argument as each of you simply seeks to prove their point correct.

Here are some strategies for getting started with empathetic listening: o

Paraphrasing – when you put the other person’s words into your frame of experience without making it about you.

o

Mirroring – when you replicate the nonverbal signals of a speaker.

o

Questioning – specifically when you ask reflective questions that invite elaboration from the speaker, which helps to demonstrate that you are listening.

Believe it or not, there are actually different styles of listening, and you have most likely experienced all of them at one time or another. People have their own way of listening and demonstrating that they are listening to others, and each one can be demonstrated and observed in a number of ways. When it comes to dealing with conflict, it is important to remember that the way people listen and demonstrate they are listening varies.

People-Oriented Listening: This type of listener focuses on the person more than the content of the message being sent. As such, they tend to be attuned to the emotional state of the other person and are able to demonstrate empathy and compassion for them. You often see people-oriented listeners in the helping professions such as therapy and social work. People-oriented listening is especially useful for empathetic listening and active listening, as it is attuned to the other’s emotional state and seeks to understand their perspective.

Action-Oriented Listening: This type of listener focuses on what the speaker requires from the communication. They are interested in logical and clear communication that gets to the point efficiently and demonstrates confidence in what the speaker is communicating. This type of listener might struggle with conflict resolution if the other person is not clear about their perspective or has a difficult time articulating it.

Content-Oriented Listening: This type of listener focuses on the content of the message being sent and wants to know as much as possible about the message.

They are the detectives of listeners, looking for patterns and connections within the content being shared. This type of listener can be very helpful in conflict negotiation and mediation, as they are able to hear patterns and similarities in what other people share.

Time-Oriented Listening: This type of listener focuses on time and might always seem like they are in a hurry for the message to be received as quickly as possible.

They are often overwhelmed by verbal information and feel the need to multi-task in order to accomplish all they think they need to, even if they actually have time to listen for longer. This type of listener might struggle with conflict management due to their hyper-focus on efficiency, rather than perspective taking and human connection. It is even possible that this listening style might escalate or cause conflict because of how much it can ignore emotions and perspective taking.

People-oriented • o

Use stories, images, or other visuals to share your message.

o

Share your emotions and be open to the speaker sharing theirs.

Action-oriented •

o

Keep your presentations concise.

o

Share step-by-step plans and have an actionable item at each step.

o

Maintain control of your speech.

Content-oriented •

o

Use credible evidence and hard data.

o

Appeal to logic and reasoning, and share clear plans.

o

Use charts or graphs when possible.

Time-oriented •

o

Begin by asking how much time the receiver has to listen.

o

Be on the lookout for nonverbal cues of disinterest or a desire to end the conversation.

o

Let the listener know that the time they spend in open communication will save time in the long run.

Listening Do’s When it comes to active listening, there are some go-to strategies you can have in your pocket as you begin to practice and improve your listening skills. Remember that active listening supports the healthy and productive resolution of conflict by seeking first to understand the other person and perspective, and then to be understood yourself.

When you listen, DO: 1. Determine your purpose in listening. Ask yourself: are you listening to acquire information, to evaluate messages, to relax and enjoy yourself, or to demonstrate empathy?

2. Listen for main ideas rather than trying to take in everything on an equal plane.

3. Show interest in others’ messages through your own nonverbal actions. Establish and maintain eye contact. Smile. Adopt an open body posture. Avoid fidgeting or slouching.

4. Ask open-minded and open-ended questions to clarify ideas and information; to probe a speaker’s reasoning and evidence; and to expand incomplete information.

5. Use and ask for examples so the speaker can connect your questions with their own world of experiences.

6. Use tentative clarifying or confirming statements using words similar to the speaker’s—reflect their own words back to them: e.g., "It sounds like…"; "You seem to think …"; "As I get it, you…"

7. Be judicious and infrequent with interruptions.

8. Paraphrase. Don’t just see if you can accurately reflect what a person is saying; see if you can determine if your understanding of the person’s “inner world” is accurate and whether you see things as the other person is experiencing them at the moment.

9. Respond after listening, sincerely, and constructively.

10. Allow for and be careful of how you interpret silence. Keep in mind that people may have many reasons, positive or otherwise, for not speaking at a particular point.

Listening Don’ts Especially when working toward the healthy and productive resolution of conflict, it is important to know what actions or inactions can escalate conflict—or lead to a stalemate.

When you listen, DO NOT: 1. Let listening be a dead end, in which you receive messages and don’t react at all.

2. Allow the listening behavior of others to sway your own.

3. Cut off or put down a speaker.

4. Interrupt excessively.

5. Pose “counterfeit questions”—belligerent statements masquerading as questions simply because they end with question marks.

6. Allow the tone of someone’s message, or how agreeable you find the person to be, to impact your interpretation or reaction to it.

7. Express your interpretations of other people’s messages excessively.

8. Be actively busy while the other person is speaking.

Feedback, as part of the communication process, follows the decoding and receipt of a message from the sender. As you remember, feedback can be either positive or negative. Positive feedback occurs when all aspects of the message have been received and understood. Negative feedback occurs when the message was not received or was only partially

received. Both positive and negative feedback can be part of active listening and important parts of the conflict resolution process because both can indicate that the receiver is listening. When you ask clarifying questions, for example, you might do so because the message was not fully received.

However, before responding to what the sender shared, you notice that you did not fully understand and ask for more information. This is a critical step in conflict management and resolution.

Beyond positive and negative feedback, there are three different types of feedback: descriptive, evaluative, and prescriptive. Each type of feedback has a different purpose and is therefore suited for different situations.

•

Feedback: Information about the quality, process, or product of a group or an individual’s work.

•

Descriptive Feedback: Feedback that objectively shares what has been observed.

•

Evaluative Feedback: Feedback that provides an assessment of a group or an individual’s work.

•

Prescriptive Feedback: Feedback that provides next steps based on observation and evaluation.

When it comes to giving feedback, it all comes down to delivery. How you deliver feedback to someone is critical for the receiver of the feedback to actually receive it and do something with it.

Listenable messages are messages that can be received by the listener and responded to appropriately and effectively. They help individuals move toward meaningful conflict resolution.

Some of the main ways you can create listenable messages are by using: o

Short sentences

o

Active verbs as much as possible

o

“I” statements and personal pronouns (e.g. I, me, my, mine)

o

Lists or other organizational structures

o

Transitions and previews of what’s to come

o

Examples that are relevant to your listener

"I" Statements vs "You" Statements

You may have heard these ideas before, especially the one about using “I statements”. This personalizes your message. Using “you statements” can imply the wrongness of another person and the way they have behaved.

When you make these kinds of statements, the message can become clouded from the listener’s perspective, moving them from active listener to defensive listener. Just observing behavior and stating how you feel only gets you part of the way there because you’re still not describing your need. Any time needs are not being met, you will reach out to get them fulfilled. As such, when you communicate about your feelings, they are generally tied to an unmet or unfulfilled need.

Creating listenable messages is an important component of giving feedback, informally or formally, and it is also critical to healthy, productive conflict management. When listenable messages are created and then used to give formal feedback, it creates the opportunity for a constructive feedback loop to open, thus providing a pathway toward resolution and healthy working relationships. While you might not be in charge of providing formal feedback in your current position, many companies and organizations are moving toward models of peer review and teambased assessments. Knowing how to provide formal, effective feedback to others is a skill that will serve you well in the future and help to demonstrate your communication abilities. Formal feedback can address any underlying or potential conflicts.

•

Emotions: Emotions are biological reactions to stimuli in the outside environment.

•

Feelings: Feelings are responses to thoughts and interpretations given to emotions based on experiences, memory, expectations, and personality.

Emotional intelligence, or EQ (Emotional Quotient), was popularized by the writer Daniel Goleman. Goleman was inspired by a model created by two social psychologists, Peter Salovey and John Mayer. As you can see, the model consists of four processes. People who are better able to use, perceive, understand, and manage emotions are better at interpersonal communication. They possess a higher emotional intelligence (EQ).

You can benefit from using the following methods to improve your emotional intelligence. o

Observation: environment, facial expressions, body language, etc.

o

Listening: voice, tone, emphasis or avoidance of aspects of the subject, etc.

o

Sensing: your intuitive assessment or gut feeling

o

Asking pertinent questions: check your assumptions and judgments

o

Self-awareness: Analyze clues based on your own experiences, biases, and knowledge, etc.

•

Interpersonal communication is the process of exchanging information and/or messages between people whose lives mutually influence one another in relation to social and cultural norms.

•

Active listening is a communication technique used to gather feedback and information.

•

Steps for active listening:

•

o

Set aside your own thoughts and focus on the message sender.

o

Look at the speaker’s face to show your focus.

o

Observe the speaker’s body language and see if you can connect any nonverbal cues with common emotions.

o

Place your energy into understanding what the other person is sharing with you.

o

Ask questions.

o

Confirm your understanding.

Nonverbal indicators of active listening include: o

Making eye contact

o

Smiling

o

Slightly raising an eyebrow

o

Having an upright posture

o

Having a slight lean towards the speaker

o

Head nods

o

Lack of distracting behaviors

•

Empathetic listening goes further into the emotional connection between speaker and listener.

•

Effective feedback is specific, descriptive, positive, constructive, realistic, and relevant.

•

Listenable messages are those that are delivered orally to another person and crafted in such a way as to be heard and received by the person receiving them.

•

Emotions are biological reactions to stimuli in the outside environment.

Feelings are responses to thoughts and interpretations given to emotions based on experiences, memory, expectations, and personality.

•

These emotions escalate conflict: o

Anger

o

Fear

o

Humiliation

o

Guilt

"Group" is one of those words you likely use almost every day, but if asked to define it, you may have to think twice. You may readily answer “a few people coming together.” But is that a group? What about people who gather in the park in the evening for a stroll or a jog? Are they a random collection of people, or do they have something in common? If you think about it, they do have something in common: they are all in the park for an evening activity.

•

Group: A gathering of people with some level of interdependence, or similarity in purpose and/or characteristics.

•

Group Dynamics: How the group members behave within the group, their attitudes and overall performance on a regular basis.

•

Intragroup Conflict: Conflict that occurs among members of a group that share common goals, interests, or other identifying characteristics.

Organized and well-managed group structures, where hierarchies, boundaries, roles, and responsibilities are clearly defined, lead to better group dynamics and a reduced risk of intragroup conflict. Intragroup conflict occurs between members of a group who share common goals, interests, or other identifying characteristics.

It is different from interpersonal conflict, because the members in conflict are united over a common purpose or goal. Unfortunately, intragroup conflict is common.

Learning why it happens and how to manage it through professional conversations is key.

The size of the group may help define the group. The bigger the group, the harder it is to manage the communication and dynamics. The number of people in the group may affect how the group members interact with each other, affecting the overall group social behavior.

Each group member may have individual goals, but they also have a common group goal. Differences in goals are a potential source of conflict. Individual goals may be specific to the individual group-member needs and requirements and based on their individual roles and responsibilities within the group.

Group members are interdependent to the extent that they share the same goal, purpose, or outcome of a team activity. Their interdependence is defined by the common needs being met by all the group members. Understanding the

interdependence across group members will help the group achieve the goal of creating the training program and avoid conflict. Group success is built on the foundation of expressed appreciation for the skills each individual can offer to the success of the group. If there are internal competitions within the team, the likelihood of group success will be lessened.

All members of a group share a common identity. For example, everyone going into an office building to work every day is an employee. Some people may proudly advertise the fact that they belong to a group of people working for a particular organization; some others may want to hide where they work. Group identity may directly affect individual group-member identity. Group members give a collective identity to the group. There is also the potential for intragroup conflict when group members belong to different co-cultures and may identify with different lives and lifestyles.

Group structure depends on group size and the relationship of members within the group. Structural elements such as roles, norms, and status can affect the group members’ responsibilities and behaviors.

You may play different roles in the different spheres of your life. You may be a manager, a team member, a representative, a daughter, a sister, or an uncle. Your role in a particular group defines you when you are in that group. Your role provides you with an identity, a sense of who you are and what’s expected of you. Role clarity is important to maintain peace and harmony within a group, especially in larger groups where solid leadership keeps everyone working toward the same activity or outcome.

Like social norms, group norms are a set of behaviors or rules that you follow within a group. Group norms are more specific than more general social norms, as they define how you act and appear within a group. The norms may also dictate interaction among group members and allocation of resources among group members.

The status of the different group members affects their relationship with one another, directly impacting group dynamics. Groups with clearly defined norms and roles fare better at avoiding conflict episodes.

•

*Forming Stage: The first stage of group formation is the forming stage. At this stage, the group is being formed and members may feel discomfort because they don’t yet know each other.

•

*Storming Stage: The second stage of group formation, in which group members vie for roles, begin taking sides against others in the group, and resist being managed by self-appointed leaders. Members communicate with each other, but group cohesiveness is overshadowed by individual goals.

•

Assigned Role: The role assigned to an individual within a group or team.

•

Assumed Role: When a role or responsibility is not assigned to an individual, but they assume it as part of the group dynamic.

•

Mismatched Expectations: When an individual’s expectations do not match what they are told.

•

Competition: When individuals vie for positions over other group members.

•

*Norming Stage. The third stage of group formation, in which the initial conflicts of group member personalities and mismatched expectations are resolved, and group dynamics improve.

•

*Performing Stage: The fourth stage of group formation, when the members of the group start to perform as one cohesive unit.

•

*Adjourning Stage: The fifth stage in group forming, when group goals have been met and the group may disintegrate or start on a new project.

To actively listen in a group, they should follow these 12 guidelines: 1. Determine their purpose for listening and keep it in mind.

2. Identify the levels at which group members are communicating their messages—e.g., emotional, positional, or intellectual.

3. Assess the relative significance of people’s comments and listen for main ideas.

4. When possible and appropriate, urge other members of the group to speak, especially those who are less dominant. Speaking can be encouraged with statements like “Please go on,” “Tell me more,” and “Care to expand on that?”

5. Observe others’ body language and other nonverbal cues.

6. Show interest in others’ messages through nonverbal actions such as nodding your head.

7. Use "interactive questioning." Ask open-minded and open-ended questions to clarify ideas and information, to probe a speaker’s reasoning and evidence, and to expand incomplete information. Use and ask for examples so that the speaker can connect your questions with their own world of experiences.

8. Use tentative clarifying and confirming statements: e.g., "It sounds like . . . ," "You seem to think that . . . ," and "As I understand it, you ........... " 9. Make polite, "targeted" interruptions. Be judicious with interruptions.

10. Paraphrase back to the speaker. Don’t just see if you can accurately repeat what a person is saying.

11. Respond after listening, sincerely, and constructively. Focus on content, ideas, and analysis rather than on personal matters.

12. Allow for, and be careful how you interpret, silence. Keep in mind that people may have many reasons, positive or otherwise, for not speaking at a particular time.

When listening, do NOT: o

Let listening be a dead end, in which you receive messages and don’t react at all.

o

Allow the listening behavior of others to sway your own.

o

Cut off or put down a speaker.

o

Interrupt excessively.

o

Pose "counterfeit questions"—belligerent statements masquerading as questions simply because they end with question marks.

o

Allow the tone of someone’s message to influence your interpretation or reactions to it.

o

Express your interpretations of other people’s messages excessively.

In a well-established group, decision-making is a managed process, as team roles, norms, and status all come into play. Group decision-making is complicated, especially if you are a part of the group and your decision may affect the group, the group dynamics, or your role or position within the group. You may have noticed that you are able to make a good decision only if you are aware of everything that might be related or contributing to that decision and you feel fairly comfortable and confident in making that choice. It is important for each group member to start feeling comfortable with their role and identity within the group to focus more on the group goals and less on their individual needs and desires.

The following image shows the decision-making continuum progressing from left to right, as the decision-making authority moves and increases from group members to those in a position of higher authority.

•

o

In a consensus approach, all group members work together to make a decision.

o

Voting allows each group member to make a single choice.

o

In a compromise, group members reach a mutually beneficial decision.

o

Under authority rule, a single person makes a decision and the other group members follow it and work accordingly.

Groupthink: A negative group phenomenon characterized by a lack of critical evaluation of proposed courses of action that results from high levels of cohesion and/or high conformity pressures.

Strategies to Managing Intragroup Conflict 1. Emphasizing group goals and effectiveness. Focusing on group goals and objectives helps prevent group conflict. If larger goals are emphasized, group members are more likely to see the big picture and work together to achieve them.

2. Providing stable, well-structured tasks. When work activities are clearly defined, understood, and accepted, conflict is less likely to occur.

Conflict is most likely to occur when task uncertainty is high; specifying or structuring roles and tasks minimizes ambiguity.

3. Facilitating dialogue. Misperception of the abilities, goals, and motivations of others often leads to conflict, so efforts to increase dialogue among group members and to share information can help eliminate conflict. As group members come to know more about one another, suspicions often diminish, and greater intergroup teamwork becomes possible.

4. Avoiding win-lose situations. If win-lose situations are avoided, less potential for conflict exists.

2. Eight Strategies to Manage Intragroup Conflict

Strategy

Description

Physical

The quickest and easiest solution to resolve the conflict is physical

separation

separation. Separation is useful when conflicting individuals or groups are not working on a joint task or do not need a high degree of interaction. Although this approach does not encourage members to change their attitudes, it does provide time to seek better accommodation.

Use of rules

Conflict can also be reduced by clearly specifying rules, regulations,

and

and procedures. Again, however, basic attitudes are not modified in

regulations

this case.

Use of

Integrators are individuals who are assigned a boundary-spanning role

integrators

between two people or groups. In this scenario, the project manager was the integrator. To be trusted, integrators must be perceived as legitimate and knowledgeable by both groups. The integrator often takes the “shuttle diplomacy” approach, moving from one person or group to another, identifying areas of agreement, and attempting to find areas of future cooperation.

Confrontation

In this approach, competing parties are brought together face to face

and

to discuss their basic areas of disagreement. The hope is that through

negotiation

open discussion and negotiation, a means can be found to resolve problems. Contract negotiations between union and management represent one such example. If a “win-win” solution can be identified through these negotiations, the chances of an acceptable resolution of the conflict increase.

Rotation of

By rotating from one group to another, individuals come to understand the frames of reference, values, and attitudes of other members, and

communication is thus increased. When those rotated are accepted by

members

the receiving groups, a change in attitudes as well as behavior becomes possible. This is clearly a long-term technique, as it takes time to develop good interpersonal relations and understanding among group members.

Identification

A further strategy is to establish goals that require groups to work

of shared

together to achieve overall success.

tasks and goals

Use of training

The final technique on the continuum is training. Outside training experts are retained on a long-term basis to help groups develop relatively permanent mechanisms for working together. Structured workshops and training programs can help forge more favorable intergroup attitudes and, as a result, more constructive group behavior.

•

A group is a gathering or collection of (two or more) people with some level of interdependence, or similarity in purpose and/or characteristics.

•

The five stages of group formation are:

•

▪

Forming

▪

Storming

▪

Norming

▪

Performing

▪

Adjourning

Characteristics of a group that may contribute to conflict are: ▪

Size

▪

Interdependence

•

•

•

▪

Identity

▪

Goal (individual vs. Group goals)

▪

Structure (roles and norms)

Factors contributing to group conflict are: ▪

Group dynamics: the processes within the group

▪

Mismatched expectations: when what the group member receives is not the same as what they expected

▪

Assigned and assumed roles: when assigned and assumed roles clash

▪

Competition: when group members compete to prove themselves better at a task

▪

Negative group behavior like cliques, inaccurate assumptions, gossip, and groupthink

The decision-making continuum consists of: ▪

Consensus

▪

Voting

▪

Compromise

▪

Authority rule

Positive communication group strategies to manage conflict include: ▪

Cooperation and collaboration

▪

Inclusion

▪

Active Listening

Improving your competence in dealing with conflict can yield positive effects in the real world. Since conflict is present in our personal and professional lives, the ability to manage conflict and negotiate desirable outcomes can help us be more successful at both.

The way you view and deal with conflict is learned and contextual. Individuals typically fall into one of these five styles when dealing with conflict: competing, avoiding, accommodating, compromising, or collaborating.

This diagram uses the concept of concern as a core value to map the various conflict management styles. On the X-axis, the diagram indicates the level of concern for others from low to high. On the Y-axis, the diagram shows the level of concern for self from low to high. o

The Avoiding conflict management style indicates a low concern for self as well as others. Individuals will avoid conflict at all costs, even though it may be damaging to both self and others.

o

The Accommodating style indicates a low concern for self but a high concern for others. Here, the individual is comfortable with forgoing their own needs for those of others.

o

The Competing style indicates a "me first" attitude. This shows a high concern for self over everyone else.

o

The Collaborating style shows a high concern for both self and others. This style is the most likely to result in a win-win situation. The Compromising style is in the center and indicates a low concern for both self and others. In this case, everyone loses equally.

In a professional setting, it helps to apply constructive conflict management styles, i.e., styles that serve your needs as well as the other person’s. Therefore, the three management styles that work are: o

Accommodating: You have a colleague who always wants to take the lead in making group presentations. Although she always does a good job, no one else in the group gets a chance to showcase their ideas because she is so dominant. You can accommodate your colleague by letting her present to the customers and management while having others take the lead for inter-departmental presentations.

o

Compromising: To address the earlier issue, colleagues may decide to have multiple presenters for the same presentation. This way everyone gets a chance to speak before the group. However, this may backfire because it may affect the impact and flow of the presentation if the presenters are not on the same page.

o

Collaborating: To collaborate, everyone needs to understand each other’s’ motivations. The colleague who always wants to take the lead is concerned that the others may not present her message impactfully.

The others want to take the lead because they also want to get a chance to be visible to management. When this group decides to collaborate, they can address these underlying concerns with their solution. The colleague who likes taking the lead can take charge of helping the others prepare for the presentation. She can rehearse the presentation with them so she is confident that the message is coming across. The others can also benefit from the experience of their colleague.

•

Competing: Individuals who employ a competing style of conflict management exhibit a low concern for the other and a high concern for self.

This is a winner-takes-all attitude.

•

Avoiding: Individuals who use avoiding as a conflict-management style often indicate a low concern for both self and others.

•

Accommodating: An individual with an accommodating style is inclined to have a low concern for self and a high concern for others.

•

Compromising: A compromising approach to conflict indicates a low concern for self and others. While a compromise may look like a reasonable approach, it may arise from indifference and low investment in the outcome, in which case it is not advisable. For it to be equitable, both parties must give up and gain something.

•

Collaborating: A collaborating style of managing conflict indicates a high concern for self and others and an investment in the outcome. This is an ideal approach, as everyone’s needs are optimally met.

•

Strategies that facilitate information exchange and include concern for mutual goals will be more successful at managing conflict.

•

The five types of conflict management styles are competing, avoiding, accommodating, compromising, and collaborating.

•

o

Individuals who compete have a winner-takes-all attitude.

o

Individuals who avoid do not address the issue and ignore it.

o

Individuals who accommodate may be considered submissive.

o

Individuals who compromise may do so due to indifference and low investment in the outcome, in which case it is not advisable.

o

Individuals who collaborate display an ideal approach to managing conflict.

Here are some tips that can help you manage interpersonal and intragroup conflicts better: o

Be responsive, not reactive. Understand what the other person’s motivations are. Their stated need may not be their actual need.

o

Accommodate and give in within reason. It is always a good idea to keep the bigger picture in mind. But do not lose sight of your own interests.

o

Information exchange is an important component in managing conflicts well. When you ask for more information, you can respond to a situation better.

o

Always remember that context plays an important role in determining whether or not a conflict-resolution style is appropriate.

•

Whether or not you have direct power over others, you can influence an individual or group of people by changing their thinking, feelings, and/or behaviors through accidental, expressive, or rhetorical communication.

•

Influence: When an individual or group of people alters another person’s thinking, feelings, and/or behaviors through accidental, expressive, or rhetorical communication.

Examples of Influential Communication Here are just a few examples of influential communication that are part of day-to-day life.

Family o

Asking a spouse for help with a household task

o

Discussing where to go to eat

o

Getting a sibling to do a task

o

Discussing curfew with a teenager

o

Sending an email to a relative to check in on them

o

Writing a cover letter for a job application

o

Asking for a raise

o

Requesting a colleague to complete a project

o

Training an employee to do a new task

o

Making a sales pitch to a customer

o

Inviting friends to a party

o

Asking someone out on a date

o

Empathizing with a friend who is having a hard day

o

Convincing a friend to join you in an exercise class

o

Suggesting a book to a friend

o

Asking neighbors to turn down their music

Work

Personal

But understanding influential communication can help you in many other ways as well, including the following:

•

Becoming a better leader in all areas of your life

•

Being better understood by those around you

•

Becoming more connected to people in your life

•

Providing guidance to others

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Bringing attention to problems that matter

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Contributing to the enrichment of your family, friends, colleagues, and community

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Being more productive

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Solving problems more effectively

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Keeping a positive approach to getting tasks done

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Understanding not only how you influence others but how they influence you

Five Styles of Influence Professional communication experts Chris Musselwhite and Tammie Plouffe (2012) identified these characteristics as five distinct styles of influence that most people fall into.

A. Rationalizing: focusing on facts, objective data, and expertise B. Asserting: stating ideas forcefully and directly C. Negotiating: looking for ways to collaborate D. Inspiring: using passion to excite people for change E. Bridging: listening to others to build personal connections You might look at this list of five styles and feel one is "better" than the others, but that’s not the case. Just like artists don’t use a single color of paint and musicians don’t use only one note to create music, all these different styles can work, depending on the situational goals, and people involved.

•

Be aware there is more than one way to be influential.

•

While no one style is always better than another, no style is likely to be effective all the time.

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If you find you naturally fall into using one type of influence most or all of the time, chances are you are not being as influential as you could be.

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Consider whether adopting other approaches−depending on the situation−might be beneficial.

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Anyone can have power to influence without having a certain title or position.

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No matter the official position of power, how persuasive a speaker they are, how logical their arguments, or how passionately they feel, no one can force someone to change their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

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Skilled influencers understand these tenets and seek to negotiate change rather than assuming they have the power to force a change

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Gain everyone’s perspective on the issue and why they believe the way they do, rather than trying to get someone to do what we want because you may know or need something.

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Recognize how your own perspective may affect those of individuals you are trying to influence.

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Perspectives: A point of view or a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something.

Compliance is the most basic level of influence. It is when someone changes, but only because they will be rewarded if they do and/or punished if they don’t. While commonly used, this type of influence is shallow and often doesn't often last.

Identification is the second level of influence. It happens when someone is influenced not by reward or punishment, but because they want to fit in or be like the person or group that is attempting to influence them. In other words, they rely on personal connection. This kind of influence, while often longer lasting than compliance, is still not necessarily permanent.

The longest-lasting type of influence is internalization. This happens when the person influenced incorporates the change into their own sense of self and their values. They don’t just see the change as a means to an end (ice cream, being like a favorite athlete), but as something worth doing because of the internal value the person has in undergoing the change. Because internalization means the person being influenced has made the change part of their own sense of what is worth thinking, feeling, or doing, it is likely something that will continue.

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Compliance Level of Influence: The shallowest level of influence. Change occurs because the person is rewarded if they do change and punished if they do not change.

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Identification Level of Influence: The second level of influence. Change occurs because they want to fit in or be like the person or group that is attempting to influence them

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Internalization Level of Influence: the longest-lasting type of influence because the person influenced incorporates the change into their own sense of self and their values.

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Influence is altering another person’s thinking, feelings, and/or behaviors.

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Influential communication—creating messages to influence others—is used in all parts of life.

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Five styles of influence are rationalizing, negotiating, inspiring, bridging, and asserting.

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Persuasion is one type of influence: crafting messages for the purpose of influencing someone.

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Any change in thought, feeling, or behavior only happens when someone is motivated to make that change.

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Traditional assumptions about influence often privilege the opinion of the one doing the persuading, which can sometimes get in the way of healthy, respectful communication.

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Sincerely trying to understand the perspectives of others helps in finding common ground and solving problems.

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Influence occurs at three possible levels: compliance, identification, and internalization.

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Implied Audience: The broader audience that your actual audience represents, but might not be present.

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Explicit Audience: The people the message is directly sent to.

Another important characteristic to think about is how the audience is—or is not— connected to the topic. What the audience knows, thinks, and feels about the topic affects how you talk to them about it and how you will adapt the message to influence them. In particular, it’s important to identify if the audience already knows they are connected to the topic you’re discussing. Do they understand why it’s relevant to them? If they don’t (such as students listening to a lesson about a topic they find boring), how can you either reveal the connection or create one?

Consider these key questions about the audience’s relationship to the topic.

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K= Knowledge: Do audience members already know a lot about the topic? A little? Nothing at all?

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R= Relevance: Why does this or should this topic matter to the audience?

Do they already understand its importance, or does it need to be pointed out?

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I= Interest level: Is your audience likely to want to know about this topic?

Are they curious about it, or will you have to get them interested in it?

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P= Point of view: Is this a topic your audience likely already has an opinion on?

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Identify the demographic characteristics (age, gender, education, occupation, socio-economics) that you can use to connect with them and how the demographics may impact the message.

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If the audience knows about the topic, identify what is relevant to them and their needs. If the audience does not know about the topic or does not have a connection to the topic, reveal the connection to their needs or create one.

In addition to thinking about the connection between the audience and the topic, you should think about the audience’s connection with you, the speaker. Why? Because facts, ideas, and feelings don’t speak for themselves. They must be communicated by someone, and this means the audience must, at a minimum, feel the person doing the talking is worth listening to.

The connections you have with your audience already—and those you don’t—will play a role in how you approach influencing them.

Ask yourself the following questions to examine your connection to the audience: •

Insider/outsider: Am I part of the same group as my audience? Am I "one of them," or am I speaking to them as an outsider?

•

Common traits: What qualities or traits do I share with the audience that might be relevant?

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History: Does this audience know me? How well? How will my past interactions with them affect how they respond to me? If they don’t know me, what can I do to gain their trust?

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Trustworthy or skeptical: Is the audience likely to assume I am a trustworthy source of information and ideas, or are they likely to be distrustful?

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Agenda: What will the audience assume is my purpose in speaking with them? Is their assumption accurate? In either case, how will this affect my interaction with them?

•

Shared goals: What goals do the audience and I share? What are things that we all would hope would happen? What might we all want to come out of this interaction?

As with the connections between the topic and the audience, it will be important to identify these connections (or lack of them) with the audience’s relationship to you.

If you think you have a connection to your audience that would positively impact how your message is received, you will likely want to make this connection clear to your audience. This is particularly challenging when creating a message for social media where you need to be conscious of the platform and the intended and potential audiences.

Skillful communicators understand that influential communication, ultimately, is about connecting with individual people. This means thinking about the audience in a way that identifies what unites members of the audience while still understanding each is their own unique person.

•

To meet the audience's expectations, consider the following about your message: the purpose, the length, the style, how it is organized, your preparation, and the use of technology and sensory aids.

Identifying the Audience Values Use this list of questions to evaluate your audience’s values: •

What needs does my audience have that are not being met? How can the proposed change meet these needs?

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What goals does my audience have?

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What makes them feel good about themselves and what they do?

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What do they want to avoid?

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What are they fearful of?

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Who or what do they trust?

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How do they decide whether something is right or wrong?

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What things are they likely/not likely to compromise on?

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Are they likely to believe I am someone who shares their values or not?

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The single most important thing to know about your audience, especially if the goal is to influence them, is to understand their values.

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Showing the audience how the change you’re trying to influence them to make will meet their values can turn a potential argument into a "win-win" situation.

Advantages of Considering Additional Perspectives Hopefully, it is clear how thinking about issues from more than one’s own point of view, or even simply in terms of two sides, can help you be more successful at influential communication. The following are just some of the advantages to thinking about things from multiple perspectives.

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You can better understand the point of view of those you wish to influence.

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You are more likely to create messages that share the change you seek, rather than simply stating your point of view.

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You are more likely to see creative solutions.

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Your ideas will be more reassuring, and less threatening, if you show you can understand multiple perspectives.

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You can reduce the defensiveness of the people you are communicating with.

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You can connect with people by not being locked in to only your own way of seeing things.

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You can find win-win outcomes that satisfy both sides.

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You can resolve issues in a way that lessens the chance of hurt feelings or resentment that might cause future conflicts.

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You are more likely to be seen as a credible source of guidance in the future by those you interact with.

It might seem obvious, but there are many physical and situational factors that can affect your message and how you deliver it including: •

Physical locations of speaker and audience

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Body language, position, and movement

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Use of visual aids and technology

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Lighting

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Message Context: The overall situation a message is being communicated in.

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Genre: A category of artistic composition, as in literature, characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter.

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There are two approaches to categorizing an audience: primary, secondary, or hidden categories or implicit and explicit categories.

Explicit audience are the people the message is directly sent to and implied audience is the broader audience that may not be present.

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Consider these audience characteristics when creating an influential message: education, family status, gender identity, occupation, race, religion, sexual orientation, and socio-economic status, topic knowledge, topic relevance, topic interest, and point of view of the topic.

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Identify how open your audience is to being influenced or making a change.

•

To meet the audience's expectations, consider the following about your message: the purpose, the length, the style, how it is organized, your preparation, the use of technology and sensory aids.

•

The single most important thing to know about your audience, especially if the goal is to influence them, is to understand their values.

•

Skillful communicators tend to look beyond the two-sided approach to include the "third side."

•

Environmental factors, such as physical location, body language, use of visual aids, and lighting can impact your message.

An effective message should focus first on the question of "why" and work its way out from the middle of the circle: •

Why is what I’m saying important?

•

Why am I suggesting this change?

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Why should you, the audience, care?

Three Ways to Appeal to the Audience

In trying to appeal to your audience, one of the first questions you’ll want to ask is why you want to influence them. While this seems like a broad question, the answer is simple. Appeals to your audience fall into three categories: reason, emotion, and personal credibility.

Reason Reason means using facts, statistics, and logical thinking. When a speaker refers to a scientific study, states objective facts about the topic to support a claim, or uses logical tools like if/then or cause/effect relationships, they are relying on reason to convince the audience.

Emotion Emotion means getting the audience to feel a certain way. When a speaker tries to get an audience to feel excited about a proposal, angry about an injustice, proud of an accomplishment, or afraid of a possible threat, they are using emotion.

Personal Credibility Personal credibility means getting the audience to trust the speaker. When a speaker mentions their own expertise on a subject, their personal experiences with the topic they are discussing, or their concern for the wellbeing of the people they are speaking to, they are using personal credibility.

Structuring the Message Another part of communicating effectively is structuring your message well.

Simply doing a "brain dump," sharing thoughts and ideas in the order they come to mind, is unlikely to be effective. So, how do you choose to arrange the content of a message? Sometimes, the topic itself will give you a good idea for the structure. For example, if the message is primarily about how to do a task, it makes sense to walk through the steps of the task in the order they must be performed. If the message is about sharing an experience you had, telling a story about what happened from beginning to end would be a logical approach.

But not all messages come with this kind of natural structure. There are five approaches to choose from:

•

Topical

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Comparison/Contrast

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Spatial

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Cause/Effect

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Problem/Solution

The topical approach is a common way to organize an influential message.

When using the topical approach, you divide your larger point it into a few subpoints (more than one, but usually less than four or five). Once you’ve divided up what you want to talk about into subtopics, you can arrange them in a way that seems best to you, such as starting with your strongest point and working down to the least important, or the other way around: starting with your least important point and working up to your strongest.

Topical Example: •

It’s easy to do.

•

It gives you influence over your future.

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It helps the community.

The compare/contrast approach focuses on similarities and differences between two or more things to help make a point. This approach can be used to point out the benefits of one thing over another, or simply to explain differences.

Compare/Contrast Example: 1. People who register to vote have influence over politicians./Unregistered people don’t.

2. People who register to vote have the right to complain about the actions of politicians./Unregistered people don’t.

3. People who register to vote help draw attention to their community./Unregistered people don’t.

The spatial organization focuses on physical space or geography. Using the spatial structure might seem to work for only a narrow range of topics, but it can be used in creative ways to organize a message effectively.

Spatial Example: 1. Advantages to the local community when residents register to vote.

2. Advantages to the city/state when residents register to vote.

3. Advantages to the nation when residents register to vote.

The cause/effect structure focuses on the causes and effects of an action.

This approach might look at a single effect and then examine the causes leading up the effect. The cause/effect structure can also be presented by discussing the effect first and then the causes, then transition to how that effect becomes the cause of another effect, and so on.

Cause/Effect Example: 1. When you register to vote (cause), it is recorded in a voter database (effect).

2. This database is used by politicians to understand who has the power to keep them in office.

3. When they know who has the power to keep them in office (cause), this leads them to pay attention to the needs and desires of these people (effect).

The problem/solution approach organizes a message by first defining a problem or need facing the audience and then suggesting a potential solution. This is followed by an explanation of the benefits of the solution. It concludes with a call to action to encourage the audience to take a specific action toward a solution.

Problem/Solution Example: 1. Right now, the needs of people of your generation and in your community are not being met.

2. Register to vote (solution).

3. Benefits: 1. It’s an easy way to get politicians’ attention.

2. It allows you to help choose public servants who will be responsive to your needs.

3. It makes you feel good because you’re contributing to your own future and that of your neighbors.

4. Take out your phone and register to vote (call to action).

Beginning and Ending the Message Whatever organizational structure you choose, you’ll want to focus on how you begin and end your message. The start of your message should get your audience’s attention and make them want to hear more, especially when you’re giving a presentation. Just announcing "Today, I will be talking to you about . . ." is not likely to inspire the audience to listen.

Effective "Openers" There are numerous ways to get your audience’s attention. Below is a list of typical ways of "hooking" an audience, along with examples of how Lucas might begin his talk to students.

Method to Hook Audience

Example

Humor

"You know, I'm a bit worried about you guys. I know how much you like to criticize how your parents and grandparents do things, but for some reason, only a few of you are registered to vote. And the ultimate way to tell older people what to do!"

A startling fact or statistic

"In U.S. presidential elections, 70% of people over the age of 60 vote; that’s nearly three times the rate of voters under the age of 30."

Use a quotation

Congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis once said, ‘The vote is precious. It is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have in a democratic society, and we must use it.’"

Ask a question

"By a show of hands, how many of you in this class care about your future? Okay. Now, how many of you have registered to vote?"

Brief story or anecdote

"The first time I went to a polling place was when I was eight years old and my mother— who had just become a citizen—took me with her to cast her first vote as an American. I didn’t understand a lot about what was happening, but I knew it was important."

Effective Closings At the conclusion of your message, you (hopefully) have your audience’s attention. The goal of the conclusion is to briefly wrap things up “with a sense of closure and completeness" (University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing, 2013). In other words, you don’t want to just stop speaking—you want to a) signal to your audience that you’re at the end of your message, b) remind them what you said, and c) explain why the message was important —which might include asking your audience to take a certain action. The

most effective conclusions do this in a way that’s memorable and connects the audience to the speaker and topic. Many communicators also use the "hook" approach in their conclusion.

Creating Clear and Concise Messages There are a few general "best practices" for effective communication that hold true in most situations.

Do

Do Not

Be brief and concise, while not oversimplifying.

Pad your message with extra words.

Use correct English and a professional tone.

Use slang, overly informal language, or incorrect English.

Use specific and clear words.

Rely on abstractions, generalizations, or phrases that don’t have clear meanings.

Be direct and forceful.

Use nondescriptive words or phrases, like "kind of," "I guess," or “um.”

Focus on the clarity of your words.

Use meaningless jargon or language because you think it sounds "official."

Be clear about what you want.

Assume your audience will know what you are asking from them without telling them.

Think about your word choice from the point of view of your audience.

Focus only on how you feel most comfortable expressing yourself—you are not the one you are trying to influence.

Do not deceive your audience. When addressing an audience, it’s important not to tell your audience things you know aren’t true, whether by inventing evidence, claiming more expertise than you have, or making up facts. Not only is this unethical, it is not productive in the long run and will negatively impact your credibility.

Do not make your audience come to a false conclusion. This situation does not mean the CEO can’t frame things in a positive way. She could say something like "We had a disappointing year last year, but the good news is we posted a modest gain this past month, and I am optimistic this year will be a much better one for us." This doesn’t distort reality, but it frames things in an honest, positive light.

Do not make it all about you. It is even more important to focus on your audience if you want them to change why they believe something or to do something to address the issue. Just talking about your own beliefs is unlikely to motivate them to change. Try to connect with what might invite your audience to consider your position, not just understand what you believe. And remember the point of communicating is almost never to show off how much you know, how impressive your vocabulary is, or how wildly creative you can be. Yes, a well-crafted message should show your knowledge, your ability to choose the right words, and your ability to think about how to create a strong message, but these are all in the service of connecting with your audience.

Do not fail to prepare. Lack of planning ahead can lead to pointless rambling, including sharing irrelevant or unimportant details, stating ideas in a way that is hard to follow, or lacking focus in what you are communicating.

The flow and organization of your message are key to effectively conveying your message to your audience. Disjointed approaches and messages without context or conclusions that your audience can relate to will only diminish your message and fail to meet the needs of the audience.

Do not fail to care. When communicating to influence, the worst outcome possible is not for people to disagree with what you say; it’s for them not to care at all. And if you don’t seem to care about what you say, why should they? Sometimes it can be difficult to convey that you care about a message.

For example, if you had a job at a store selling a product you didn’t know much about, it might be hard to get interested in the content of a sales pitch

to a customer. But even if they are trying to influence people on behalf of someone else, strong communicators find ways to care about what they say.

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Effective messages should focus on the "why" before the "what" and "how."

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To appeal to an audience, the message should use a combination of reasoning, emotion, and personal credibility. This is referred to as the "rhetorical triangle."

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You can generalize audience characteristics, but avoid stereotyping.

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There are five types of structure for organizing an influential message: ▪

Topical

▪

Comparison/Contrast

▪

Spatial

▪

Cause/Effect

▪

Problem/Solution

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Strategies to "hook" an audience in your opening remark include: use of humor, presenting a startling fact, using a quote, asking a question, or telling a brief story.

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Avoid these common mistakes when trying to influence others: ▪

Deceiving the audience

▪

Presenting false information that the audience may assume as true

▪

Making the presentation about yourself

▪

Failing to plan and prepare

▪

Failing to care

Four Rules for Effective Visuals

There are few ways visuals can actually detract from the message you are trying to communicate. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure that you are using visuals appropriately as to not distract your audience from receiving the information you are attempting to share.

The four key "don’ts" of visual aids are: • o

Don’t crowd your slides with text, visuals, or both.

o

Don’t use distracting or inconsistent colors or themes.

o

Don’t use small or complicated fonts.

o

Don’t use distracting animations.

According to the 10/20/30 rule for creating effective slideshow presentations, you should start with three guidelines in mind: Rule: 10 Slides It may sound simple, but when you have a lot of content to share, it can be quite challenging to limit yourself to only 10 slides. However, it is important to remember that your slideshow is not a replacement for your verbal synthesis and presentation. Your audio is just as much a part of the presentation as the visual slideshow is. It can be helpful to have a template to get you started. That way you know what to include on which slide and can move more easily through your presentation.

Rule: 20 Minutes Limiting your presentation to 20 minutes ensures that you have time to address issues such as technology glitches, meeting constraints, attendees’ constraints, and audience questions. Be sure to practice your presentation ahead of time to determine how long you are going to spend on each slide.

Aim for a well-balanced flow through each slide.

Rule: 30-Point Font

There is often a real desire to fit a lot of information on slides to ensure that everything you want to communicate is in plain sight for viewers. However, it is critical to remember that crowded slides are overwhelming and often result in your audience tuning out and being unable to receive your messages. To prevent this type of slide crowding, do not use any font size smaller than 30-point.

Another component of effective presentations is the arrangement of individual slides. The 6 x 6 rule is one way to think about designing your slides. There are two parts to this rule: Rule: Six words per line (bullet point) Minimizing the words you use in each line of text on your slides makes it easier for viewers to take in your presentation. While it is not necessary to always limit each line to six words or less, keeping this concept in mind as you draft your text for each slide will help you to focus and synthesize.

Rule: Six bullet points per slide As with the six-word-per-line rule, this rule encourages you to be concise about the number of bullet points you include. When drafting and revising your slides, consider how you might be able to condense or combine some of your bullet points to keep the number as close to six as possible.

There are five principles that help reduce extraneous loads for viewers. Each one will support you as you design and use multimedia such as images, graphics, and videos.

Table 4.2: Multimedia Principles to Reduce Extraneous Cognitive Load Principle

Description Avoid or exclude extraneous information or images. Less is more.

Coherence Principle

Use cues to highlight important material and draw the viewer’s attention to it.

Signaling Principle

Redundancy Principle

Avoid repetitive and extraneous on-screen text. Provide voice-over narration rather than putting your entire presentation on the screen.

Place related content (images and words) in close proximity to each other.

Spatial Contiguity Principle Align spoken words with the visuals to which they correspond.

Temporal Contiguity Principle

There are four principles that help viewers process the essential message. These principles help learners organize and recognize selected items in complex material within their working memory.

Table 4.3: Multimedia Principles to Help Process the Essential Message Principle

Description Break complex ideas into manageable pieces.

Segmenting Principle

Provide key information viewers will need, such as terms or concepts, early on.

Pretraining Principle Present words as speech rather than on-screen text when possible.

Modality Principle Use both images and words together to promote processing.

Multimedia Principle

There are three principles that help viewers interpret the message. These principles promote the interpretation of the material by motivating the student to make sense of the material. Some scholars refer to these principles as “social cues” because they address the aid of a social presence in learners.

Table 4.4: Multimedia Principles to Help Viewers Interpret the Message Principle

Description Use a conversational tone that welcomes viewers into the presentation.

Personalization Principle Regulate your voice to sound more human than machine.

Voice Principle

Don’t assume that because the speaker’s image is on screen the viewers will pay more attention.

Image Principle

•

Consider using verbal communication when you need to save space, link abstract ideas to realistic goals, engage your audience, and synthesize information.

•

There are four main purposes for which you might use visuals: decorative, representative, analogous, and organizational.

•

Visual aids support presentations, as people remember more of what they see than what they hear.

•

Use the 10/20/30 rule, the 6 x 6 rule, and the multimedia principles to create and deliver effective presentations.

•

Apply Mayer’s 12 Principles of Multimedia when creating and delivering your influential message: o

Coherence- Avoid or exclude extraneous information.

o

Signaling - Use verbal cues to highlight important material.

o

Redundancy - Avoid extraneous on-screen text.

o

Spatial Contiguity - Place related text and images near each other.

o

Temporal Contiguity - Synchronize spoken words with visuals when presenting.

o

Segmenting - Break complex ideas into manageable pieces.

o

Pre-Training - Provide key information early in the presentation.

o

Modality - Present the message orally rather than using onscreen text.

o

Multimedia - Use images and words together or just images.

o

Personalization - Use a conversational tone.

o

Voice - Regulate your voice pitch and volume.

o

image - Don't assume being on-screen keeps the viewers' attention.

•

ypes of digital communication components include audio, video, slides, animations, images/illustrations, and on-screen. text

•

Benefits of using video in a multimedia presentation: o

•

o

Can be created with a smartphone, video-recording device, computer, or webcam

o

Captures facial expressions and gestures that support the verbal and written communication

o

Helps personalize a message

o

Synchronizes a person’s voice with their movement

o

Many options for editing/building videos available today

Tips to creating professional videos: o

•

o

Tip 1: Decide on Your Digital Media

o

Tip 2: Focus Your Message

o

Tip 3: Test Your Equipment

o

Tip 4: Create the Right Setting

Benefits of using audio in a multimedia presentation:

o

•

o

Within the scope of many business professionals’ digital technology skills

o

Voice capture, music, and sounds offer variety

o

Can be added to images and videos to make them more engaging

o

Can engage the audience’s emotions through storytelling

o

Can enhance mock-ups and idea presentations you create to share your vision with others

Four Tips for Creating Professional Audio: o

•

o

Use Headphones

o

Set up space

o

Pause Notifications

o

Test the audio

Benefits of using presentation software: within the scope of most business professionals’ digital technology skills o

•

o

Allows for quick and easy media creation

o

Can incorporate text, audio, visuals, animation, and videos

o

Can be more easily reviewed and referenced

o

Can be added to images and videos to make them more engaging

o

Can engage the audience’s emotions through storytelling

There are four main types of oral presentation: informative, demonstrative, persuasive, and entertaining.

•

There are four main delivery methods for oral presentations: impromptu, extemporaneous, manuscript, and memorized.

•

It is important to pay attention to your voice as you speak, both to ensure the clarity of your message and to engage your audience.

•

Planning appropriately can help you overcome your stage fright and have greater success with your verbal presentations.