Communication Skills – MCM 301 VU
© Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan
12
Lesson 04
Communication in the Organization
Guiding Principles
1. People are not mind readers. They judge you by their behavior & not by your intent
We cannot communicate. The very attempt not to communicate communicates something. Through not
only words, but through tone of voice and through gesture, posture, facial expression, etc., we constantly
communicate to those around us. Through these channels, we constantly receive communication from
others.
2. A word is like an arrow, once out of the bow never returns
You can't really take back something once it has been said. The ef fect must inevitably remain. Despite the
instructions from a judge to a jury to "disregard that last statement the witness made," the lawyer knows
that it can't help but make an impression on the jury.
3. We don’t exchange ideas; we exchange symbols that stand for ideas
Words (symbols) do not have inherent meaning; we simply use them in certain ways, and no two people
use the same word exactly alike.
Mediated communication
This level of communication occurs when two (or a few) people use some intermediate means for
carrying their messages. They do not communicate face to face and thus do not have direct feedback.
Mediated communication often uses a mechanical or electrical device to transmit or receive messages.
Examples include the telephone, closed-circuit television, radio, radar, and the communication satellite.
Mediated communication also occurs through letters, reports, forms, and interoffice memoranda.
Person-to-Group Communication
The person-to-group level involves one speaker and audience. The speaker usually faces the audience,
and the audience usually contains people with similar interests. A small, private person-to-group situation
often has some of the characteristics of interpersonal communication. However, for large public groups,
the person-to-group level lacks the benefits provided by interpersonal exchanges.
The traditional speaker and audience setting may include microphones, projectors, and tape player.
Mass Communication
Mass communication includes messages sent to large, public, dissimilar, anonymous, distant audiences
using some intermediate instrument of transfer. The instruments include electronic (for example, radio,
television, tape, and film) and print (for example, newspaper, magazine, book, pamphlet, brochure, direct -
mail campaign). The restricted opportunity for feedback is the most serious barrier to effective mass
communication.
The "mass media," as they are often called, have grown to include the print media of books, newspapers
and magazines, the electronic media of television, radio, and audio/video recording, and the new media of
computers and computer networks. While these media differ in many ways, they all share the
characteristics by which scholars define mass communication.
COMMUNICATION IN THE ORGANIZATION
Communication is used extensively in the managerial functions of planning, organizing, staffing,
directing and controlling. Virtually every task that a manager performs requires the use of communication
in one form or another.
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