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Learning Objectives What We Will Be Investigating: • Understand why communication is considered difficult. • Understand the difference between external and internal messages. • Explain the difference between messages and meanings. • Realize that communication problems can relate to encoding or decoding. • Grasp what it means to call communication a process—irreversible, and transactional. • Understand the difference between the content and relationship levels of communication. • Explain how jargon, semantics, syntactics, and pragmatics relate to verbal messages. • Understand that words have both a denotative and a connotative meaning. • Become familiar with the nonverbal categories of paralinguistics, oculesics, kinesics, proxemics, artifactics, tactilics, and chronemics. Chapter 2 Human Communication Processes and Principles Kre66464_02_ch02_p029-052.indd 29 11/3/11 2:41 PM Introduction CHAPTER 2 It was impossible to get a conversation going. Everybody was talking too much. —Yogi Berra Chapter Outline 2.1 Human Communication Defined What Are Messages? What Are Meanings? Encoding and Decoding 2.2 Key Principles of Human Communication Principle 1: Communication Is a Process Principle 2: Communication Is Irreversible Principle 3: Communication Is Transactional Principle 4: Communication Includes Both Content and Relationship Dimensions 2.3 Verbal and Nonverbal Messages In Organizational Life Verbal Communication Systems Nonverbal Communication Systems 2.4 Coordinating Verbal and Nonverbal Communication Introduction Despite the fact that we communicate all the time, it is not always easy for us to communicate well. There are many points in the communication process where the fidelity, clarity, accuracy, and intended influences of communication can and often do break down. Yet despite the potential for communication breakdowns, communicators often naively assume that when they tell others to do something, those people will understand them, agree with them, and comply with them. As you can see, there are many optimistic assumptions about communication taking place, and it is often unlikely that all these goals will be easily obtained. Unless the messages you are sending are very simple, chances are that the recipients of these messages will not fully understand what you want to convey. Your audiences may understand parts of what you want them to, but they are unlikely to understand all of your intended ideas. Certainly they won’t understand all the details and subtleties of your communication the first time. Feedback, repetition, and message redundancy can help improve the odds of getting your ideas across, but even then, certain aspects of your messages will likely elude your audience members. And even if they do develop a somewhat full understanding of your messages, they may not agree with your point of view. If listeners don’t fully understand your message and don’t agree with your perspective, what are the chances that they will comply with your requests? Not very good. And even if others understand and agree with you, they still may not comply with your requests for a host of reasons. Communication is complicated. Strategic organizational communicators recognize the fragile nature of human communication and therefore develop strategies for enhancing communication processes and outcomes. They carefully assess the potential for misunderstandings, design messages and use communication channels that will appeal to the unique characteristics of their intended audiences, evaluate the ways their messages are interpreted, and provide feedback and reinforcement to clarify misunderstandings and encourage cooperation. Kre66464_02_ch02_p029-052.indd 30 11/3/11 2:41 PM Section 2.1 Human Communication Defined CHAPTER 2 In this chapter, we will examine the key elements, processes, and channels for organizational communication. In doing so, we will explore the unique demands of effective intrapersonal communication, interpersonal communication, group communication, multigroup communication, and interorganizational communication. We will also examine the coordinated use of verbal and nonverbal communication as a critical component of communication competence. Along the way we will discuss how effective communicators also use multiple communication channels, such as face-to-face, print, and computermediated channels of communication. We will attempt to unpack some of the complexities of communication by outlining the major components of human communication and examining some of the underlying principles that guide the communication process. The concepts described in this chapter will become the building blocks for the following chapters since every level and approach to organizational communication is based on these basic tenets of human communication. Let’s get started with some definitions. 2.1 Human Communication Defined A relatively basic but broadly encompassing definition of communication is as follows: Human communication occurs when a person responds to a message by creating a meaning. The two critical components of this definition are messages and meanings. Let’s examine both in detail. What Are Messages? Messages are the primary symbols of the communication process; they work as cues to stimulate communicators to create meanings. There are many different sources of messages. The most obvious message sources are external messages, which derive from our external work environments. Some of the most important external messages in an organizational setting include the words our coworkers say or write to us. Such verbal messages are surrounded and strongly influenced by an array of nonverbal messages, such as the facial expressions and gestures organizational participants display when they speak or the ways that written words are displayed (such as in memos, email, or even on billboards or other advertising media). Another primary source of external messages includes the many, sometimes subtle, environmental cues we attend to that tell us about our organizational worlds, such as room temperatures, lighting levels, colors, scents, textures, music, and other background sounds. (We’ll discuss verbal and nonverbal messages in more detail later in this chapter.) We also respond to a wide array of internal messages. These internally generated messages, normally called intrapersonal communication, include a wide range of conscious and unconscious cues that we send to ourselves based on our individual thoughts, feelings, and reactions to different situations. In fact, we all spend a lot of time engaged in an ongoing dialog with ourselves in which we examine how to interpret different situations we find ourselves in and plan our best responses to them. The biggest challenge we typically face is in deciding which of these messages are most important for us to pay attention to. We may be conflicted about how to write a certain memo, or how to deal with a problem coworker, or whether to convene a meeting, and these and other internal messages are buzzing around in our heads as we go through the day. Yet we can’t deal with them all and are forced to attend to some and put others mentally aside. Kre66464_02_ch02_p029-052.indd 31 11/3/11 2:41 PM Section 2.1 Human Communication Defined CHAPTER 2 What Are Meanings? Meanings are the interpretations we make of the different external and internal messages that we attend to. Although we never have total knowledge about any situation we encounter, we strive to collect, analyze, and interpret enough relevant messages to develop a good operational sense of these situations so we can respond appropriately. For example, imagine that you see a coworker leaving his office in tears. You may not know this man very well, and you have no idea what has happened to make him cry. But nonetheless, you have seen people cry before in a variety of situations, and so you use that information to figure out what is going on and to develop an appropriate response. You have gathered enough information to establish an operational meaning for the situation that can guide your response to it. Humans have an insatiable appetite for creating meaning. We all want to know what is going on around us and to make sense out of it. Nowhere is this quest for meaning more evident than in organizational life, where organizational participants want to know about changes in their organizations, such as new job demands, emerging operational constraints, personnel changes, or fast-opening and closing opportunities for advancement. We have the capacity to create a wide array of rich and vivid meanings for different situations. However, our meanings are not just logical interpretations of the situations we encounter (captured exactly like a photograph); they are imbued with our personal feelings, concerns, goals, expectations, and experiences (resembling an abstract painting with many of our unique interpretations). The meanings we create for the messages we attend to in any given moment are rapidly compared, contrasted, and combined with older stored meanings we have developed from past experiences. The more fast-paced and complex the situations we encounter, the more we work to update and create meanings that help us understand these situations. When we encounter complex situations, we may have to ponder seriously the full interpretation of new messages in comparison to previously created meanings. We regularly update our previous understandings based on the interpretation of new messages, continually building a more comprehensive and reliable set of meanings (knowledge) about the world. As we do so, each of us gives more emphasis to certain cues over others, combines new messages in different ways, and compares new messages to our own unique set of stored interpretations from past experience to create our own personal meanings of situations. The implication of these unique interpretations of messages is that there is likely to be significant difference in opinion about what different situations really mean. For example, in What are the meanings you constructed when you looked at this photo? Kre66464_02_ch02_p029-052.indd 32 11/3/11 2:41 PM Section 2.1 Human Communication Defined CHAPTER 2 business negotiations, the different negotiating parties may have very disparate perspectives on the goals for the negotiations, the key issues under examination, and the indicators for successful resolution of the negotiations. Successful negotiators must therefore try to understand these different interpretations and provide suggestions for bridging disparate perspectives. This is strategic organizational communication in action. Indeed, it is through the process of strategic organizational communication that we can determine the different ways that organizational participants interpret situations and thereby gain a richer understanding of these situations and each other. Nowhere is this sharing of meanings more important than in modern organizational life, where we regularly need to coordinate with a broad range of organizational participants to adapt to novel, complex, and challenging situations that are difficult to make sense of and respond to effectively. To be effective communicators, we must all use organizational communication to share the challenges of making sense of complex demands and coordinate efforts to overcome problems. Let’s consider an example. When a juvenile offender enters the court system and is convicted of a crime, a probation officer must do a presentence investigation to determine the exact nature of the crime that was committed. That will involve communication with the police or the county attorney. In addition, the process will also include a home visit to find out about the offender’s family. A trip to the child’s school to see how the offender performed academically is also common, as well as interviews with any previous employers. And as a result of this process, the probation officer will need to appear in court and recommend to a judge what an appropriate sentence should be. All of these stakeholders become a part of the criminal justice system—a system comprised of several different constituencies, all of whom have a role to play in the outcome. Encoding and Decoding Two primary translation processes link messages and meanings in the process of human communication: encoding and decoding. Whenever two or more people interact, they are simultaneously sending (encoding) and receiving (decoding) messages, verbally and/or nonverbally. Encoding is the cognitive process by which we translate the meanings we hold into strategic messages that we send to others. This is not a trivial process in which we directly translate meanings into messages. Rather, it is a complex process in which we weigh our communication goals, current knowledge, and potential audiences to craft appropriate and effective messages. In doing so, we must make decisions about what we want to say as well as how we want to say it to have the desired effects on our intended audiences. And of course, some of those messages are also sent unconsciously, or semiconsciously; we are not always fully aware of how and why we send the messages that we do. Nonetheless, that doesn’t change the fact that they are messages being sent. Decoding is the cognitive process of translating the messages that we attend to into meanings that can help us understand our world and the people with whom we communicate. As we discussed earlier, we make sense of new messages we attend to by comparing and contrasting their meanings with previous meanings we have created for similar situations, continuously enhancing the meanings we hold for different situations and building on our body of knowledge. Kre66464_02_ch02_p029-052.indd 33 11/3/11 2:41 PM Section 2.2 Key Principles of Human Communication CHAPTER 2 It is important to note that we typically engage in encoding and decoding processes simultaneously and interactively. In a job interview, for example, the interviewer may be asking questions, but he is also receiving and interpreting the answers to his questions. Similarly, the candidate for the job is sending out information about herself, but she is also trying to read the reactions of the interviewer even as she speaks. This process enables us to guide our communication activities with the latest information and monitor the effects of our messages on others so that we can update the meanings we form. Who knew there was so much going on in the “simple” process of communication? This is why it may be easy to communicate, but it is difficult to communicate well. In the next section, we turn our attention to some key principles of human communication. 2.2 Key Principles of Human Communication Several important principles about the nature of human communication must be considered when communicating strategically in organizational settings. Let’s examine four of the most important of these principles. Principle 1: Communication Is a Process Perhaps the most important principle is that communication is a process. Communication does not start and stop; it is continuous, dynamic, ongoing, and cumulative. Whenever we create and respond to messages—either internally or externally generated messages—and create meanings in response to these messages, we are engaging in the process of communication. Since we send messages to ourselves and to others all the time (whether intentionally or unintentionally), and we are constantly creating meanings to help us make sense of our world, the communication process surrounds us all the time. It is as though we were swimming in an ocean of messages and meanings. Communication engulfs us and is the primary adaptive process of living. Principle 2: Communication Is Irreversible We discussed earlier how every time we communicate, we reflect on the meanings we create for the messages we perceive by contrasting new information with information we have gained from previous communication events. In this way, communication is a stepby-step, iterative building process. This means that communication is irreversible. Once we say something to someone, we can’t take it back. Every communication event is likely to have influences on all future communication events. For example, if you falsely accuse a coworker of leaving from work too early, you could apologize and ask the person to please disregard your accusation. However, it is not likely that the coworker will forget the accusation, even if it’s a relatively minor point. It will be indelibly stamped in his or her memory, and this communication event will frame all future interactions and your relationship with this person. This suggests that the messages we send to others in organizational settings are likely to influence all future meanings these people create about us. This is why it is important to be judicious about what Kre66464_02_ch02_p029-052.indd 34 11/3/11 2:41 PM Section 2.2 Key Principles of Human Communication CHAPTER 2 we communicate to others. The messages we send influence future communication as well as the nature of our relationships with others. Principle 3: Communication Is Transactional Communication is more than just a series of actions or interconnected interactions between communicators. Communication is transactional. In that sense, there is really no such thing as “one-way” communication. By its very nature, all communication is interactive, and meanings are negotiated jointly; messages do not exist independent of each other in a vacuum. Transactional communication implies that when we analyze communication situations, both as senders and as receivers of messages, we need to take into account the many factors that influence the communication process, such as the settings in which communication occurs, the distinct individuals involved, the wide range of messages exchanged, and the past meaning and expectations that communicators bring to the table. The transactional nature of human communication implies that communication is exceedingly complex and that great care must be taken in communicating in organizational settings. For example, if in a formal performance appraisal your manager rates you as “below average” in productivity, the meaning of that phrase will involve all that you know about your relationship with the manager, what “below average” really means in your organization, how other employees have been evaluated on this dimension, whether this rating is tied to decisions about salary and promotion, how you respond—or don’t respond—to this rating, and a host of other factors. Principle 4: Communication Includes Both Content and Relationship Dimensions As Watzlawick and colleagues (1967) have proposed that there are both content and relationship dimensions to communication. Every time we communicate with others, we send both content and relationship information. The content aspects of human communication refer to the ideas and facts we convey to others. The relationship aspect of human communication refers to the meaning we assign to the content—what the message says about our relationship. In that respect, the relationship dimension is more implied and symbolic. For example, when a manager asks her secretary to get her a cup of coffee, the content of the message is quite transparent: she wants a beverage. But embedded within this statement—as is always the case—there is a relationship message as well. Depending on how the request was made, and what the history of the relationship has been, the relationship message could be interpreted in various ways. One possible relationship message is that this is a “one-up” relationship where the manager wants to be in control. But, by asking for the coffee in a friendly, polite way, the relationship message could also be, “I’m really grateful to have you around to help.” The point is that there will always be a relationship message, but what that message is will involve the interpretation of each individual. Even if the manager says nothing at all to her secretary for several weeks, the relationship message in that case might be, we don’t have a relationship! Or it could be that “I trust you a lot and know that you can work effectively without supervision.” In short, the relationship message is a symbolic message, and the Kre66464_02_ch02_p029-052.indd 35 11/3/11 2:41 PM Section 2.2 Key Principles of Human Communication CHAPTER 2 symbolism may be far more important than the explicit content of the message itself. Too often, communicators focus primarily on the content information they intend to send to others without being fully aware of the relational implications of what they are saying. Relational development is a step-by-step process in which we get to know one another through our communication and build a mutual sense of trust and cooperation. Much of relational development is built on the norm of reciprocity, which, as we discussed in the previous chapter, suggests that people who interact with each other are likely to respond to one another in similar ways. For example, if the ways in which we communicate with others in organizational settings demonstrate respect and caring, there is a good likelihood that others will reciprocate and treat us similarly. Conversely, if we show disinterest or disrespect toward others, chances are that these people will treat us similarly, especially if our communication violates their expectations for how they want to be treated. Every time we communicate with others in organizational settings we have the opportunity to meet others’ communication expectations and encourage these organizational participants to reciprocate by meeting our communication expectations. These reciprocal instances of meeting mutual expectations are the building blocks for developing strong and cooperative organizational relationships. Why are content and relationship aspects of human communication so important? Organizations in Action Social Media and Business Communication In Chapter 1 we referred to two ways to approach organizational hierarchy: 1. The levels of communication approach. This hierarchy describes the encompassing communication roles that organizational participants perform in organizing. 2. The power approach. This hierarchy describes the successive levels of formal influence and control that are dictated by the design of the organization. Recently, a third type of hierarchy in organizational communication has been considered. The blog SOCIALCAST formulated a hierarchy of social media tools employed by businesses. SOCIALCAST conducted an extensive business communication survey about how Fortune 500 companies are employing social media—such as Twitter, Google+, Facebook, email, and blogs—and combined the survey results with information learned from sources such as the Center for Marketing at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (www.umassd.edu/cmr/) as well as Nielsen (www.nielsen .com/content/corporate/us/en.html). It then constructed a hierarchy of social media according to (a) levels of communication and (b) appropriateness. With regard to levels of communication, forms of social media were rated by suitability for phatic communication (small talk), gut-level communication (sharing personal or emotional information), factual communication (sharing observable information), and evaluative communication (offering opinions or judgments). The various social media were also ranked according to whether (continued) Kre66464_02_ch02_p029-052.indd 36 11/3/11 2:41 PM Section 2.3 Verbal and Nonverbal Messages In Organizational Life CHAPTER 2 2.3 Verbal and Nonverbal Messages In Organizational Life As we discussed earlier, verbal and nonverbal messages work together in organizational communication. The interpretations of words are influenced by the nonverbal cues that surround these words. For example, the way that comments are stated (such as the use of paralinguistic cues like tone, volume, emphasis, and intonation) can demonstrate how important the comments are. Facial expressions can demonstrate when speakers are serious about what they are saying and when they are not. Strategic organizational communicators pay close attention to both the words they use in communicating with others and the ways they deliver those words. Even in written form, they were more appropriate for “many-to-many” communication (such as Twitter) or for “one-tomany” communication (such as Gmail). SOCIALCAST observed that the top forms of social media communication and resources used by businesses were as follows: • Webinars/podcasts (67%) • Ratings and reviews (63%) • Brand social network pages (61%) • Company blogs and social media searches (such as Facebook searches) (53%) SOCIALCAST noted three businesses in particular that have successfully employed social media in their marketing mix: • Disney, which gathered over 26 million Facebook users to its fan page, making it the fourth most popular on that social networking site. Also mentioned as effective Facebook fan pages were Skittles, Coca-Cola, and Red Bull. • CNN, which used Twitter to build brand loyalty among the 4.6 million followers of its breaking news Tweets. Also mentioned were JetBlue, the New York Times, and Whole Foods. • American Express, which created an “open forums” social-learning blog helping 16,000 small business owners become more profitable. Dell and PlayStation were also mentioned as effective bloggers. Critical Thinking Questions 1. What other companies have you seen using social media for business communication? Are there particular examples of uses that impressed (or annoyed) you? 2. If you were in charge of social media for your college or university, what strategies would you employ? 3. The examples here focus on businesses communicating with consuming publics. Can you think of social media uses that might be appropriate for internal communications within a company? Sources Dyer, P. (2011, July 30). Using social media as a communication tool [Infographic]. Panorama. Retrieved from http://www.pamorama.net/2011/07/30/using-social-media-for-customercommunication-infographic/ SOCIALCAST. (2011, July 12). E2sday: A hierarchy of communication. Socialcast blog. The future of work. Retrieved from http://blog.socialcast.com/e2sday-a-hierarchy-of-communication/ Organizations in Action (continued) Kre66464_02_ch02_p029-052.indd 37 11/3/11 2:41 PM Section 2.3 Verbal and Nonverbal Messages In Organizational Life CHAPTER 2 words are framed by the nonverbal cues that surround them. The design, color, layout, medium, and use of photographs often say as much or more in annual reports, websites, and advertisements than the words that are used in these organizational media. This suggests that great care must be taken in planning the use of verbal and nonverbal messages so they complement each other. Verbal Communication Systems Perhaps the most commonly recognized messages are imbedded in the words people express to each other. Such verbal messages are language based and can be both spoken and written. The effectiveness of the verbal messages we send is dependent on language skills. Let’s look at some aspects of verbal communication systems. Jargon Even if you are familiar with the language being used, there are varying levels of language competency in using and interpreting words. For example, in many organizations, technical language is used that may be understood only by individuals with specialized occupational training. These specialized language systems are referred to as jargon. The ability to understand and use jargon is one of the ways that professional groups establish expertise and membership within that profession. One of the reasons we depend on lawyers in organizational settings is that legal representatives have developed specialized skills for deciphering and using legal terminology. If your lawyer is not familiar with pertinent legal jargon, he or she is not likely to be an effective legal advocate for you or your organization. Denotative and Connotative Meanings There are two primary ways that people make sense of verbal communication: through the use of denotative and connotative interpretations. We create denotative meanings for words based on our understanding of the objective definitions of the terms. For example, dictionary definitions for words are denotations. Most people can agree on generally accepted denotative definitions, although there are often multiple definitions for certain words that may be used differently by unique groups. For example, as we just discussed, the use of jargon by specialized groups establishes technical definitions for terms that are typically only known by members of those groups. What nonverbal aspects of communication are evident in this newspaper ad that was placed in numerous British newspapers by Rupert Murdoch following the News of the World phone-hacking scandal? Kre66464_02_ch02_p029-052.indd 38 11/3/11 2:41 PM Section 2.3 Verbal and Nonverbal Messages In Organizational Life CHAPTER 2 Connotative meanings for words are the unique personal meanings that we develop for words based on our past experiences. The connotative meanings of words involve their emotional dimensions—how a word “feels.” For example, if you are uncomfortable with computers, words that refer to computers and information technology may raise anxiety for you. This is a connotative reaction that is unique to you and that influences your creation of the meaning of certain words. When speaking with or writing to different audiences, it is important to take into consideration not only the denotative meanings of words but also the potential connotative meanings they may have so you can better predict how audiences may interpret your statements. For example, several years ago I worked on a care-coordination project to install home-based telemedicine computing systems for veterans who were receiving chemotherapy for cancer treatment. This equipment was to be used to help monitor the veterans’ health conditions and to identify when they were having dangerous reactions to their treatments. Many of the veterans identified for this care-coordination program were elderly and were not comfortable using computers. A number of them rejected the installation of the equipment in their homes, even though it could have helped reduce their pain and suffering and even save their lives, because they did not like the term computer (connotation). Eventually, we learned to refer to the telemedicine technologies as “telephone” equipment rather than as “computer” equipment, and the acceptance rate for this home-based technology increased dramatically. There were few negative connotations for the term “telephone” among this audience. This suggests that there is real power in the ways that we use language with different organizational audiences. Overcoming Challenges There are often serious challenges associated with the use of terminology in organizational settings. Many organizations depend too much on the use of overly technical terminology, making it difficult for key audience members to understand the messages they are trying to convey. For example, technology equipment companies often use complicated technical language in their user manuals. Not only does such overly technical language tend to confuse consumers, it can also frighten consumers who have limited literacy levels. This is a problem I often encounter in university life, where faculty use complex academic jargon to communicate with nonacademic audiences, limiting their ability to convey important information to these audiences. In communicating effectively with different audiences, it is therefore important for organizational representatives to consider the language capacities of key audiences and to design verbal messages that are appropriate and meaningful. Semantics, Syntactics, and Pragmatics There are three different primary yet interrelated approaches to examining the uses of language in organizational life: the semantics, syntactics, and pragmatics perspectives: • Semantics refers to the ways in which language is interpreted, including both denotative and connotative meanings for words. Examining the semantic dimensions of language is important when determining the ways word choices can inform or misinform different audiences. So far in this chapter we have emphasized the semantic aspects of language. Kre66464_02_ch02_p029-052.indd 39 11/3/11 2:41 PM Section 2.3 Verbal and Nonverbal Messages In Organizational Life CHAPTER 2 • Syntactics refers to the structure of language, such as the unique rules and principles that govern how terms and phrases are organized into sentences and paragraphs. Syntax is important to consider when examining the appropriateness, formality, and accuracy of language use. • Pragmatics refers to the unique applications of language in different situations, whether the purposes of language use are to inform, persuade, promote cooperation, or even to antagonize others. Pragmatics is a critical perspective for understanding the strategic uses of language in organizational life. In preparing an organizational website, for example, it is important to take into account semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic perspectives on the use of language. Semantic analysis could guide the choice of language so that it would be appropriate for key organizational audiences who might use the site. Syntactic analysis could guide the structure of language used on the site to emphasize key points clearly and succinctly. Pragmatic analysis could guide the strategic use of language to encourage key audiences to respond to the organization in specific ways (to invest in the organization, to purchase products, or to recommend the organization to others, for example). Nonverbal Communication Systems There is a broad range of different yet interrelated forms of nonverbal communication that influence organizational communication. In this section we’ll look at seven key nonverbal systems that work together with verbal communication to influence organizational communication outcomes. These seven systems of nonverbal communication include paralinguistics, oculesics, kinesics, proxemics, artifactics, tactilics, and chronemics (see Table 2.1). Table 2.1 Seven Systems of Nonverbal Communication Name Definition Paralinguistics The vocal sounds that surround the spoken word, such as the volume, rate, tone, accent, and emphasis of speech; also refers to the different ways in which written language is expressed, such as font style and size, print color, page design, and medium. Oculesics The use of facial expressions and eye behaviors to communicate with others. Kinesics The use of bodily movements and gestures to communicate personal information to others. Proxemics The distance we establish between one another or between movable objects. Artifactics The objects we surround ourselves with that define who we are to other people. Tactilics The use of physical contact and touch. Chronemics The use of time in human interactions. Paralinguistics Paralinguistics is the nonverbal communication system that refers to the vocal sounds that surround the spoken word, such as the unique ways that words are pronounced, as well as the volume, rate, tone, accent, breathiness, and emphasis of speech. Paralinguistic Kre66464_02_ch02_p029-052.indd 40 11/3/11 2:41 PM Section 2.3 Verbal and Nonverbal Messages In Organizational Life CHAPTER 2 factors have tremendous influences over the ways spoken language is interpreted. For example, consider the phrase “no way.” This phrase can be interpreted as an angry refutation, a playful jest, an emphatic refusal, or even a minor statement of disbelief depending on the way it is said. Trained actors, comedians, and accomplished public speakers are masters at using paralinguistic cues to strategically communicate messages. Paralinguistic cues also refer to the different ways in which written language is expressed, such as font style and size, print color, page design, and medium (paper type, web design, posters, magazines, etc.) to emphasize the words used in different ways. Paralinguistics can even refer to background sounds and music that can have strong influences on establishing a unique ambiance or mood for an environment. Strategic organizational communicators are not only experts in controlling their use of paralinguistic cues, they also develop strong skills for interpreting paralinguistic nonverbal cues. Critical evaluation of paralinguistic cues can help a skilled organizational communicator detect a communicator’s sincerity, the importance of a topic to a communicator, or a speaker’s level of confidence in a stated opinion. For example, the use of an overly rapid and/or halting speech pace, combined with a number of nonfluencies, or errors in speech, can suggest a speaker’s nervousness, excitement, and/or anxiety. A monotonous vocal pattern might suggest boredom or a lack of personal involvement. Similarly, unusually loud speech volume can indicate intensity and even anger. These are all important cues to be aware of when communicating with others in organizational settings. Oculesics Oculesics refers to the use of facial expressions and eye behaviors to communicate with others. The face has been shown to be the primary message site for conveying emotions to others in face-to-face (or even in telephone) communication. Just as is the case with paralinguistic cues, facial expressions can qualify, complement, or contradict spoken statements. If a coworker says “you are so smart” accompanied by a sincere facial expression, you would likely interpret this statement differently than if the same thing is said with an angry facial expression. In face-to-face communication, we pay a lot of attention to monitoring facial expressions to interpret the meanings of statements, to elicit nonverbal feedback from others, and to make sure we are being understood. The face is an important nonverbal cue for displaying sincerity (or lack thereof). Maintaining consistent and appropriate facial expressions, such as holding a consistent concerned facial expression for a coworker who stubbed his toe, can demonstrate empathy for that person. However, letting an occasional smile (micromomentary expression) slip into your concerned facial expression is likely to suggest that you may not be genuinely concerned about the other person. It is difficult for most people to display consistently a facial expression that is at odds with their actual feelings, and it may be difficult to keep a smile off your face when you think the sight of a coworker hopping around the room after stubbing his toe is comical. Skilled communicators do their best to display appropriate facial expressions as well as to monitor the expressions of others with whom they interact. Eye contact is also a very powerful form of oculesic nonverbal behavior. We use eye contact to express our level of interest in others, with high levels of eye contact conveying Kre66464_02_ch02_p029-052.indd 41 11/3/11 2:41 PM Section 2.3 Verbal and Nonverbal Messages In Organizational Life CHAPTER 2 strong interest and minimal levels of eye contact expressing limited interpersonal interest. There are times when it is appropriate to provide direct eye contact (such as when someone is speaking to you), whereas there are other times when direct eye contact can be disconcerting for the other person. The direction of eye gaze toward or away from another person is also used to coordinate turn-taking in interpersonal communication. Listeners are likely to spend more time gazing at a speaker’s face during interpersonal interactions than speakers spend looking at listeners. Direct gaze by listeners indicates that they are paying attention to the speaker. The speaker is likely to glance occasionally toward his or her listener to make sure the listener is paying attention to what is being said and to determine when the listener wants to take a turn speaking. When listeners want the floor, they will glance away from the speaker and quickly glance back and raise their eye gaze up and down. Sometimes this will be accompanied by paralinguistic cues such as clearing of the throat. Sensitive speakers will recognize these nonverbal demands for the floor and provide an opportunity for the listener to switch roles to become the speaker and jump into the conversation. This coordinated use of interpersonal gaze enables smooth conversational interchange and comfortable interpersonal communication for competent communicators. Speakers who do not pay attention to these nonverbal turn-taking cues will often speak over the voices of others or fail to share control of the conversation. Both of these violations of interpersonal turn-taking can undermine the development of cooperative interpersonal relations. Blinking, winking, and closing the eyes during conversations are also used to qualify communication and to convey interpersonal responses to interactions. During times of difficult communication situations, it is not uncommon to notice that speakers provide less eye contact than usual to listeners. Strategic organizational communicators pay close attention to these eye behaviors to make sense of interpersonal interactions. Kinesics Kinesics refers to the use of bodily movements and gestures to communicate personal information to others. Body movements include hand and arm gestures (such as waving or pointing), head and neck movements (such as nodding), leg and foot behaviors (such as tapping or kicking), and even portraying different physical postures (such as leaning forward/backward, standing alert, or slumping). Each of these nonverbal movements communicates interpersonal attitudes and dispositions. Some gestures, such as the thumbs up sign or the head nod for “I agree,” can substitute for the use of words. These gestures are often strongly tied to culture and the use of different languages, so it is wise to learn the cultural differences regarding the use of gestures when communicating with In what ways is eye contact (or lack thereof) a powerful form of oculesic nonverbal behavior? Kre66464_02_ch02_p029-052.indd 42 11/3/11 2:41 PM Section 2.3 Verbal and Nonverbal Messages In Organizational Life CHAPTER 2 people from different countries or cultural groups. For example, according to Lustig and Koester (2010), a U.S. engineer “unintentionally offended his German counterpart by giving the common U.S. gesture for ‘OK’: hand up, thumb and forefinger held in a circle, to indicate that he had done a good job. The German interpreted the gesture’s meaning as a crude reference to a body orifice and walked off the job” (pp. 206–207). Similarly, the “thumbs-up” gesture that we use in the United States has only positive meanings, but it’s a vulgar gesture in many other world cultures. Although many of our bodily movements can be subtle, they often provide strong indicators about our attitudes and feelings about different situations and people. In cooperative relationships, you may notice the mirroring of bodily movements between communicators, who often seem to be moving in synchrony. In these situations, one person tends to mirror the other’s behaviors, such as nodding agreement in response to the other person’s head nod, gesturing similarly, or even walking in step with that person. Postures can also illustrate alertness and formality in communication. Strategic organizational communicators carefully monitor body movements to assess attitudes and are also careful to portray appropriate bodily movements to show their level of involvement in and orientation to different situations. For example, in a job interview, it is important for the interviewee to appear alert, involved, agreeable, and cooperative by using appropriate movements and postures. Proxemics Proxemics refers to the distance we establish between one another or between movable objects. What we consider to be the appropriate space between ourselves and others is often referred to as our personal space. Although personal space expectations are strongly influenced by cultural background, they are also influenced by interpersonal power disparities, the intimacy of the relationship, and the spatial constraints of the situation in which we find ourselves. Typically, we provide more space to powerful individuals, whereas we often move closer to those with whom we are intimate. (Interestingly, we often refer to intimate relationships as “close” relationships!) The use of personal space is typically a negotiation between communicators, where participants attempt to establish the appropriate space between themselves and others. It can be uncomfortable if the person you are communicating with has a different expectation of personal space than you have. If they stand too close to you, it can feel a bit intimidating. If they stand too far away, you might wonder whether they like you or not. Different cultural groups establish unique norms for personal space expectations, which can complicate intercultural communication, potentially leading to misconceptions and hurt feelings. Do these gestures translate to people from different countries? Kre66464_02_ch02_p029-052.indd 43 11/3/11 2:41 PM Section 2.3 Verbal and Nonverbal Messages In Organizational Life CHAPTER 2 However, there are situations in organizational life where we cannot control our personal space with others, such as when there is limited space available (perhaps on a crowded elevator or in a subway car). In these situations, we may be willing to overlook our normal space expectations, but we tend to compensate for these personal space violations in other ways, such as by avoiding direct eye contact with those who are too close, by facing away from others to minimize the violation of personal space expectations, or by using blocking behaviors such as crossing your arms in front of you or holding objects between you and the other person. Typically, violations of our personal space expectations can make us feel very uncomfortable and even angry at the person who is impinging on our personal space. Interestingly, our concern is not only with distances between ourselves and others but also with access to spaces that we feel we “own” or control. These space expectations are referred to as situations of territoriality. For example, we can become very territorial about access to our normally used seat in a conference room, our planned parking spot, and our typical workspace. If we find others using these “owned” spaces, we can get quite irritable. Our use of space communicates judgments we make about interpersonal intimacy and power. Strategic organizational communicators are aware of these powerful yet often unspoken assumptions about space and are careful not to violate space expectations in organizational settings. Artifactics Artifactics refers to the objects we surround ourselves with that define who we are to other people. These objects include the clothing and jewelry we wear, the cars we drive, the items we use to decorate our homes and workspaces, even the cell phones we buy. We often feel a strong sense of ownership over these objects; and the design, color, and markings on these objects tend to reflect who we are as people. When decorating our workspaces or homes, for example, we carefully select items that convey our personal tastes, status in life, and values. Think about the clothes that you wear that have words emblazoned on them. What do these words say? What do they say about you? Often the words reflect organizations we support or are affiliated with. They might describe brand names that reflect our preferred station in life. They might include political statements or symbols that illustrate our personal values. Think also about how your choices of clothing may have changed over the years. What do these changes reflect about you? Often the organizations we work for have dress codes for different jobs. Typically these expectations are not officially codified, but they are often reinforced by the people we work with. If you dress inappropriately according to the culture of the organization you work for, your coworkers and perhaps even your supervisor may let you know you are violating organizational norms. (Sometimes they can express these violations to you rather harshly to reinforce the cultural norms.) There are strong pressures to use artifacts that conform to organizational expectations and that establish shared values with What artifactic norms are important to you? Kre66464_02_ch02_p029-052.indd 44 11/3/11 2:41 PM Section 2.3 Verbal and Nonverbal Messages In Organizational Life CHAPTER 2 others. Using similar artifacts with others can help reinforce your connections with these people. On the other hand, the decision to diverge from abiding by established artifactic norms can alienate you from others. The same artifactic cultural constraints often exist for the choices we make about hairstyles and hair colors, the use of jewelry (including piercings and other body jewelry), tattoos, makeup, and even the colognes or perfumes we wear. Artifacts convey a lot of information about the cultural affiliations and personal values held by organizational participants. Strategic organizational communicators are therefore judicious about their use of artifacts to ensure that they convey an image that is appropriate to the organizations and the individuals they work with. Tactilics Tactilics refers to the use of physical contact and touch. There are strong cultural norms in organizational life about who is allowed to initiate physical contact with others and where and how these touches can occur. Touch is, perhaps, the most personal and intimate channel of human communication. Establishing physical contact with others breaks through personal space barriers. Just as in our earlier discussion of personal space, the initiation of purposeful physical contact demonstrates both power and intimacy. Powerful individuals are typically more likely to initiate appropriate touches to less powerful organizational members. The key word here with regard to touching is “appropriate.” There are strong cultural norms and even formal legal and organizational regulations that govern touching behaviors. There can be sexual implications to the initiation of touching behaviors, and intense touching may cause physical pain and even injury. It is important to make sure that your touching behaviors do not violate personal, cultural, organizational, or legal expectations. If you violate these expectations, there can be swift and strong repercussions. Certain parts of the human anatomy, such as the hands, the shoulder, or the back, may be allowable sites for professional touches. However, many other parts of the body are typically off-limits for public touching. Of all the different What do these demonstrations of tactilics indicate about the cultural norms in the organizations in which they take place? Kre66464_02_ch02_p029-052.indd 45 11/3/11 2:41 PM Section 2.3 Verbal and Nonverbal Messages In Organizational Life CHAPTER 2 kinds of touching behaviors, skin-to-skin touching (haptics) is the most intimate tactilic cue. Skin-to-skin touching not only communicates pressure but also body temperature and vibration (from blood flow and respiration). Although inappropriate touching can alienate and dehumanize communication with others, appropriate touching can increase the personal nature of interpersonal interaction and can demonstrate social support and caring. Indeed, research has shown that humans have a need to touch and be touched. Therefore, it is important to identify acceptable strategies for touching in organizational life that promote the relational benefits of tactilic communication and minimize the negative reactions that come from inappropriate touching. It is important to carefully monitor cues that suggest that touching is welcomed and to make sure that there are no negative responses to touching. It is best when touching behaviors are reciprocal and match the tone of the communication situation. For example, when a coworker receives an award or an honor, it is usually appropriate to shake that person’s hand or pat them on the back to show approval and support. It may be appropriate to initiate touch by offering a hug to colleagues who are sad or grieving. These touches can add intimacy to relationships and can enhance organizational communication. Chronemics Chronemics refers to the use of time in human interactions, including the amount of time we spend communicating with one another, our punctuality in meeting deadlines and showing up for appointments, as well as the expectations we have for activities based on the time of the day, day of the week, or month of the year. When we provide a significant amount of time to interact with others in organizational settings, we are indirectly telling these people that they are important to us. Conversely, if we do not provide others with much time for interaction, we may be suggesting to them that they are not perceived as significant to us. Employees can become jealous if their manager provides more time and attention to other coworkers than to them. Customers may feel important if they are given direct face time with key organizational representatives. For example, sometimes in car dealerships, the general manager or owner is brought in to meet with customers to help seal car sales. As noted earlier, it is important to share speaking time equitably with others when we communicate. If you do all the talking in interpersonal interactions, it can make your relational partners feel disempowered and alienated. For example, in medical interviews, too often physicians do most of the talking while patients do most of the listening. This can be a problem because patients often have important experiential information about their symptoms and responses to treatments to share with their doctors. Moreover, when patients are not given adequate time to express themselves, they can become discouraged from participating in their own care. The same pattern can be found in work organizations where managers dominate conversations with workers, limiting the opportunity for workers to share relevant information. Research has shown that active participation in organizational life can enhance loyalty, commitment, sharing of relevant information, and improve goal attainment outcomes. Punctuality in keeping appointments and meeting deadlines is also very important in modern organizational life. When employees meet deadlines and show up on time, it can increase supervisors’ trust and confidence in them. On the other hand, failure to abide by Kre66464_02_ch02_p029-052.indd 46 11/3/11 2:41 PM Section 2.4 Coordinating Verbal and Nonverbal Communication CHAPTER 2 time constraints can suggest lack of interest and incompetence, and is regarded as unprofessional. It is important to keep abreast of time expectations so you do not violate these deadlines and undermine your relationships with other organizational participants. There are also numerous established cycles in organizational life that organization members should be aware of. These include production cycles, pay cycles, vacation cycles, and meeting cycles. In some organizations, different activities are scheduled for different times of the day, week, or month. Recognizing these cycles can help you prepare for them, increase perceptions of your competence, and reduce the chances that you will miss important deadlines. Staying on top of these cycles is also likely to reduce your stress levels because you won’t be trying to get things done at the last minute. You may have noticed that you may feel hungry, tired, or anxious at different times of the day. Often these feelings are cured by time expectations, such as expectations about job breaks, lunch time, or quitting time. I have noticed in classes that there is often increased nervousness and anxiety expressed a few minutes before the scheduled end of class periods. The same thing often occurs with workers toward the end of their work shifts. It is important for strategic organizational communicators to be aware of the many nonverbal influences of time on communication. 2.4 Coordinating Verbal and Nonverbal Communication The wide array of verbal and nonverbal messages used in organizational life tend to complicate both the encoding and decoding of organizational communication. It is not easy to effectively coordinate the production and presentation of all the many verbal and nonverbal messages that we send (that is, encode) to others so that they are all in synchrony. It is also not easy to attend to and make sense of (that is, decode) all the verbal and nonverbal messages available to us in organizational life. We typically control only a small subset of the messages we send to others and tend to make sense of situations based on a relatively small sample of messages that are available to us. Therefore the selection and control of verbal and nonverbal messages is critical to effective organizational communication. We develop selective and strategic processes of encoding and decoding to do the best we can to send effective messages to others and to make sense of the messages available to us in organizational life. This suggests that the communication process is fragile and imperfect. Effectively coordinating the range of messages we send to others is challenging, and making sense of the wide array of messages available to us in any given situation also is difficult. However, being aware of the complexities of effective organizational communication can help us develop strategies for monitoring our communication activities and for seeking new information to interpret communication situations reliably. There is an interesting paradox in verbal/nonverbal encoding and decoding. Communicators tend to overemphasize control over the production of verbal messages instead of nonverbal messages when encoding (creating) messages to deliver to different audiences. They pay close attention to crafting the right words to say or write, but they may not focus so carefully on the nonverbal cues they inevitably send that surround these well-crafted words. This often means that our verbal messages do not always match the range of nonverbal messages we send to others. This can cause problems when the words we use in Kre66464_02_ch02_p029-052.indd 47 11/3/11 2:41 PM Section 2.4 Coordinating Verbal and Nonverbal Communication CHAPTER 2 organizational life say one thing and the nonverbal cues we display say something else. For example, a supervisor might say that he has an “open door” policy and really wants subordinates to stop by, but he just doesn’t look or sound sincere when he says it. Complicating this even further, when making sense of messages, we tend to provide more credence to the interpretation of nonverbal messages over words. We realize that it is easier for communicators to manipulate the use of words, but it is much harder for them to control the different nonverbal messages that surround these words. Mismatches between verbal and nonverbal messages typically suggest disingenuous behavior, where communicators are attempting to deceive audiences. It is therefore important to make sure that the nonverbal messages we send reinforce the words we use. Verbal messages are typically the best tools for communicating content information, whereas nonverbal messages are generally best suited for providing relationship information in organizational life. Since communicators are more likely to focus on their use of verbal messages, we can see how it is likely that they are often in more control of the communication of content information than of the communication of relationship information. It is not uncommon for supervisors in work organizations to inadvertently alienate their workers by providing curt and sometimes angry negative job performance feedback. If supervisors communicate lack of respect for workers through the way they reprimand them, they can seriously damage their relationships with these workers. Sometimes the content of job-related feedback can be overshadowed by the relational implications of the information being communicated. It is imperative for strategic organizational communicators to recognize how the uses of verbal and nonverbal messages work together to provide both content and relationship information so these message systems can be strategically coordinated to accomplish communication goals. Too often, lack of awareness of these different message systems can undermine the effectiveness of organizational communication. Case Study Changes at Apex Accounting Sam Harder recently retired as president and CEO of the Apex Accounting Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which provides specialized accounting services to a number of small to mid-size companies within the metropolitan area. Sam worked his way up at Apex over 27 years with the company, from his starting position as an entry-level accountant right out of business school to take on increasingly higher levels of responsibility within the company, ultimately serving for the past 10 years as the company’s president, CEO, and principal owner. Sam was particularly well liked by both customers and employees. He took time to get to know everyone by name and was always available to assist employees and customers. The employees were sorry to see Sam go and were anxious about new directions at the company after Sam’s retirement. Sam sold his controlling interest in Apex to a large accounting conglomerate from Chicago, General Accounting Corporation. General Accounting assigned Bob Cox, one of its top management executives from Chicago, as the new president of Apex. While Apex was a relatively small company, with around 35 full-time employees, it had established an excellent reputation as an accounting firm. Apex had a long history of profitability and high employee satisfaction. Employees were proud to work at Apex, where they had much autonomy, a nice office environment, and strong executive support. Apex evolved a highly decentralized organizational structure over the years, where each of the firm’s 10 primary accountants managed (continued) Kre66464_02_ch02_p029-052.indd 48 11/3/11 2:41 PM Section 2.4 Coordinating Verbal and Nonverbal Communication CHAPTER 2 their own staff teams to serve the accounting needs of a select group of business customers. This decentralized accounting team structure enabled each accounting team to provide personalized services to their dedicated business customers. Customers also liked the service and attention they received from Apex and felt a bond with their personal accounting teams. During his first week at Apex, the new president, Bob Cox, held a company-wide meeting where he told the employees he was happy to be at Apex and planned to continue the successful business strategies used there. However, within a few weeks of taking office, Bob issued a formal written memo to all employees announcing a major operational change in the company to increase efficiency and profitability. To achieve these goals, he planned to centralize accounting services and dramatically expand the number of business clients served by the company. According to the centralization plan, the 10 individual accounting teams would be merged into one centralized accounting services department that would share responsibilities for serving business customer accounting needs. Workflow in the new centralized accounting department would be streamlined by an office reorganization that would remodel the private office suites where each accounting team was housed into a large open office space for the accountants to work together, surrounded by centralized support services. These operational changes mirrored the business accounting strategies that had been used for years at the General Accounting Corporation. The Apex accountants and staff members were not happy with these proposed changes. Several began searching for new job opportunities at other area accounting firms. Many of the current business customers were not happy with the new direction proposed for Apex and wanted to continue to work exclusively with the same accounting teams that they had worked with in the past. Several of these business customers vowed to follow their accountant to new firms. Trouble was brewing at the Apex under the direction of the new boss. Critical Thinking Questions 1. Why was Sam Harder so much more successful at establishing effective relationships with employees and customers than the new company president Bob Cox? 2. How effective are the message strategies used by Bob Cox? Is he doing a good job of encoding? 3. How are employees and customers decoding Bob Cox’s messages? Are these the meanings that Bob intends to convey? 4. How do the messages Bob sends to employees in the company-wide meeting differ from the messages he sends in his memo to all employees? How does this influence trust and cooperation in the company? 5. Why, from a proxemics perspective, is Bob’s plan to redesign the office space at Apex likely to violate personal space expectations and lead to territorial behavior by employees? 6. From a chronemics perspective, why is it that customers and employees are more likely to trust Sam Harder than Bob Cox? 7. What are the content and relational implications of the different communication styles illustrated by Sam Harder and Bob Cox? 8. What are the major differences in the transactional communication factors in Sam Harder’s interactions with employees and customers in comparison with Bob Cox’s communication with these audiences? How do these transactional differences influence organizational communication outcomes in this case? 9. Why was Bob’s use of a memo to announce the planned changes at Apex a poor communication strategy? (Consider opportunities for feedback and participation using this medium for communication.) 10. Given the current problems that exist with employees and customers at Apex, what communication strategies do you suggest for Bob Cox to use to improve this situation? (Remember that communication is irreversible.) Case Study (continued) Kre66464_02_ch02_p029-052.indd 49 11/3/11 2:41 PM Summary CHAPTER 2 Summary This chapter offers a basic view of the nature of communication and why good communication is difficult. The difficulties associated with communication involve the difference between messages and meanings, the problematic nature of encoding and decoding, and the fact that communication is an irreversible and transactional process. Additionally, problems can occur at both the content and the relationship levels of messages. In sending and receiving messages, we use verbal and nonverbal codes. The verbal codes include issues involving what words actually mean and what emotional overtones they have. Nonverbally, messages involve a wide variety of behaviors, including paralinguistics, oculesics, kinesics, proxemics, artifactics, tactilics, and chronemics—all of which have a bearing on the outcome of the communication process. Taken together, the verbal and nonverbal components of communication provide the opportunity to understand one another as well as potential sources of confusion and problems. Discussion Questions 1. A famous motto in communication studies is, “Meanings are not in words— meanings are in people.” With the ideas in this chapter in mind, what is such a statement trying to say? 2. What are some specific problems that you have had both encoding and decoding messages within organizations? 3. If communication is indeed “irreversible,” how, specifically, does that change the way that you ought to communicate? 4. If your supervisor says to you, “What were you doing in your office yesterday afternoon?,” what is the “content” of this message, and what might be possible “relationship” messages embedded within it? 5. In what specific situations have you experienced what is described in this chapter as the “norm of reciprocity”? 6. Although nonverbal messages tend to be out of our conscious awareness, what nonverbal behaviors—good, bad, or otherwise—are part of your nonverbal style? 7. What are the pros and cons of using “jargon”? In what situations could it actually be helpful, and in what situations is it an obstacle to good communication? 8. The words “boss” and “manager” usually denote the same person—that is, they have roughly the same “dictionary” meaning. But what is the connotative difference between these two words, and can you think of other pairs of words that have similar denotative meanings but different connotative meanings? 9. What are some situations that you have experienced which illustrate different rules and expectations regarding paralinguistics, oculesics, kinesics, proxemics, artifactics, or tactilics? 10. Is “common sense” enough to enable one to be an effective communicator, or is an understanding of communication theory really helpful in ways that common sense is not? Kre66464_02_ch02_p029-052.indd 50 11/3/11 2:41 PM Summary CHAPTER 2 Key Terms Artifactics The objects we surround ourselves with that define who we are to other people. Chronemics The use of time in human interactions, including the amount of time we spend communicating with one another, our punctuality in meeting deadlines and showing up for appointments, as well as the expectations we have for activities based on the time of the day, day of the week, or month of the year. Connotative meanings The unique personal meanings that we develop for words based on our past experiences. The connotative meanings of words involve their emotional dimensions—how a word “feels.” Content aspects of human communication The ideas and facts we convey to others. Decoding The cognitive process of translating the messages that we attend to into meanings that can help us understand our world and the people with whom we communicate. Denotative meanings Meanings for words based on our understanding of the objective definitions of the terms. For example, dictionary definitions for words are denotations. Encoding The cognitive process by which we translate the meanings we hold into strategic messages that we send to others. Environmental cues Another primary source of external messages. They are the sometimes subtle hints that we attend to that tell us about our organizational worlds, such as room temperatures, lighting levels, colors, scents, textures, music, and other background sounds. External messages The most obvious message sources, which derive from our external work environments. Internal messages Normally called intrapersonal communication, include a wide range of conscious and unconscious cues that we send to ourselves based on our individual thoughts, feelings, and reactions to different situations. Jargon Technical language used that may be understood only by individuals with specialized occupational training. Kinesics The use of bodily movements and gestures to communicate personal information to others. Meanings The interpretations we make of the different external and internal messages to which we attend. Messages The primary symbols of the communication process; they work as cues to stimulate communicators to create meanings. Nonverbal messages The facial expressions and gestures organizational participants display when they speak or the ways that written words are displayed (such as in memos, email, or even on billboards or other advertising media). Oculesics The use of facial expressions and eye behaviors to communicate with others. Paralinguistics The nonverbal communication system that refers to the vocal sounds that surround the spoken word, such as the unique ways that words are pronounced, as well as the volume, rate, tone, accent, breathiness, and emphasis of speech. Kre66464_02_ch02_p029-052.indd 51 11/3/11 2:41 PM Summary CHAPTER 2 Pragmatics The unique applications of language in different situations, whether the purposes of language use are to inform, persuade, promote cooperation, or even to antagonize others. Proxemics The distance we establish between one another or between movable objects. Relationship aspect of human communication The meaning we assign to the content—what the message says about our relationship. Semantics The ways in which language is interpreted, including both denotative and connotative meanings for words. Syntactics The structure of language, such as the unique rules and principles that govern how terms and phrases are organized into sentences and paragraphs. Tactilics The use of physical contact and touch. Territoriality Expectations about spaces and the access to spaces that we feel we “own” or control. Transactional communication Idea that when we analyze communication situations, both as senders and as receivers of messages, we need to take into account the many factors that influence the communication process, such as the settings in which communication occurs, the distinct individuals involved, the wide range of messages exchanged, and the past meaning and expectations that communicators bring to the table. Verbal messages Language-based messages that can be both spoken and written. Kre66464_02_ch02_p029-052.indd 52 11/3/11 2:41 PM