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How communication breaks down
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| What the manager said | What the manager meant | What the subordinate heard |
| 1. I’ll look into hiring another person for your department as soon as I complete my budget review. | We’ll start interviewing for that job in about three week. | I’m tied up with more impor- tant things. Let’s forget about hiring for the indefinite future. |
| 2. Your performance was below par last quarter. I really expected more out of you. | You are going to have to try harder, but I know you can do it. | If you screw up one more time, you’re out. |
| 3. I’d like that report as soon as you can get it. | I need that report within the week. | Drop that rush order you are working on and fill out that report today. |
| 4. I talked to the boss but now, due to budget problems, we’ll be unable to fully match your competitive salary offer. | We can give you 95% of that offer, and I know we’ll be able to even more for you next year. | If I were you, I’d take that competitive offer. We’re certainly not going to pay that kind of salary to a person with your credentials. |
| 5. We have a job opening in Los Angeles that we think would be just your cup of tea. We’d like you to go out there and look it out. | If you‘d like that job, it’s yours. If not, you can stay here in Denver. You be the judge. | You don’t have to go out to LA, if you don’t want to. However, if you don’t, you can kiss goodbye to your career with this firm. |
| 6. Your people seem to be having some problems getting work out on time. I want you to look into this situation and straighten it out. | Talk to your people and find out what the problem is. Then get with them and jointly solve it. | I don’t care how many heads you bust, just get me that out. I’ve got enough problems around here without yours. |
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3. Supposing you were Communications Manager in a large company, what advice would you give managers to avoid communications problems?
Write down a few of the suggestions you would make:
1. ……………………………………………………………………..
2. …………………………………………………………………….
3. ……………………………………………………………………
4. ……………………………………………………………………
5. …………………………………………………………………….
6. ……………………………………………………………………
7. ……………………………………………………………………… etc.
TEXT 3. Internal Communication.
1. Select three of the items below which, in your opinion, best contribute to improving communication.
trust flexi-time
open plan offices small teams
voice mail strong corporate identity
e-mail frequent meetings
mobile phones staff parties
2. Read the article and do the task below.
COMMUNICATION – IT’S MUCH EASIER SAID THAT DONE
By Glare Gascoigne
Trust is key in an open organization.
Getting staff to talk to each other ought to be the least of your problems, but internal communication can be one of the hardest nuts to crack in business. “Communication comes up in every department. The repercussions of not communicating are vast, ” says Theo Theobald, co-author of “Shut up and Listen!
The Truth About How to Communicate at Work.”
Poor communication can be a purely practical problem. Gearbulk, a global shipping business with branches around the world, faced language and geographical difficulties, as well as a huge amount of paperwork.
Installing an automated system means data is now entered only once but can be accessed by anyone in the company, whenever they are.
Given today’s variety of communication tools, it seems strange that we still have a problem communicating. But the brave new world of high-tech can create barriers – senior managers hide behind their computers, staff use voice mails to screen calls, and employees sitting next to each other will send e-mails rather than
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speak. “Managers should get up, walk round the office and talk to people, ” says Matt Rogan, Head of Marketing at Lane4, a leadership and communications consultancy. “Face-to-face communication can’t be beaten.
Another problem is simply hitting the “reply all” button, bombarding people with information. “We had unstructured data coming at staff from left, right and centre, leaving it up to individuals to sort out, ” says Ramon Ferrer, Vice President
of Global IT AT Gearbulk. “Our new system has reduced e-mails and changed the way people work.”
Information overload also means people stop listening. But there may be a deeper reason why a message fails to get through, according to Alex Haslam, Professor of Psychology at Exeter University.
“Everyone thinks a failure to communicate is just an individual’s error of judgment, but it’s not about the person; it’s about the group a group dynamics, ” he says. “Just training people to be good communicators isn’t the issue.”
The problem is that employees develop common loyalties that are far stronger that the need to share information. This can even extend to questions of safety.
In the mid-1990s there were a lot of light air crashes in Australia because the two government departments responsible for air safety weren’t communicating. The government was trying to save money and both groups felt threatened.The individuals were highly identified with their own organization and unwilling to communicate with other department, ” says Haslam.
A company is particularly at risk when cost-cutting is in the air. Individuals withdraw into departmental loyalties out of fear. Sending such people on yet another “how to communicate” course will be pointless. Instead, Haslam believes that identifying the subgroups within an organization and making sure each group feels valued and respected can do far more to encourage the sharing of information. The key to communication is trust’ he says.
Task 1. Complete the chart below.
Communication problems.
A. High Tech B. Information overload C. Common loyalties
consequences consequence consequence
1…………………. 4……………………. 5……………………
2………………….
3…………………..
Task 2. Read the article again and answer the questions.
1. What communication problems did Gearbulk have?
2. How did Gearbulk overcome the problems?
3. What solutions does Theobald recommend for the above problems?
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4. According to the author, why does staff often receive too many e-mails?
5. Why weren’t the two government departments (responsible for air safety) communicating?
6. What does the author think about sending people on communication
courses?
VOCABULARY.
1. Which word in each group does not form a word partnership with the first word?
1. waste time resources information
2. face trouble problems difficulties
3. duplicate information time work
4. install systems factories equipment
5. save money time experience
6. develop truth loyalty motivation
7. share support information resources
8. allocate time ideas resources
9. interrupt e-mails conversations meetings
LANGUAGE REVIEW. (optional)
Idioms.
A. Complete these idioms with the missing words from the box.
Use a dictionary to know the words.
| point | bush | grapevine | stick | wavelength | ||||||
| wires | nutshell | picture | tail | purposes | ||||||
1) to put it in a ………………………………
2) to get straight to the ………………………
3) to hear it on the ………………………..….
4) to put you in the ……………………….….
5) to get the wrong end of the …………….…
6) to be on the same ………………………....
7) can’t make head or …………………….of it
8) to talk at cross……………………………..
9) to beat about the …………………………..
10) to get our …………………….……crossed
B. Which of the idioms in Ex. A mean the following?
a. to fail to understand anything …….
b. to share similar opinions and ideas ……
c. to summarize briefly ……
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d. to misunderstand ….....
e. to delay talking about something ……
f. to give the latest information …….
g. to talk about the most important thing …….
h. to hear about something passed from one person to
another …….
C. Complete the sentences with the idioms from Ex. A.
1. Ok, I’ll …………….……………. I’m afraid we’re going to have to let you go.
2. “You and your boss seem to agree on most things.”
“Yes, we are …………………………………………………………..……….
3. I think we are …………………………..… I mean next month, not this month.
4. Some important decisions were taken at yesterday’s meeting. Let me …………
…………………………………………………………………………………..
5. He never gives you a straight answer. He’s always ……………………….…...
6. I ………………………………………………… that he’s been fired, is it true?
7. It’s a very complicated system, but to ………………………………………….. it works exactly like a big kettle.
8. If you think our biggest problem is market share then you have …………….…
………………………………………………………………………………..…
9. This report makes no sense at all. I ………………………………..…………....
10. Everyone arrived for the meeting at different times. We must have ……………..………………………………………………………………………………….
D. Ask your partner the following questions.
1. What have you heard on the grapevine recently?
2. When was the last time you got the wrong end of the stick?
3. When is it necessary to put someone in the picture?
4. In what situations is it good to get straight to the point?
5. In what situations is it good to beat about bush?
6. Can you give an example of when you were talking at cross purposes?
7. Is there anything you can’t make head or tail of?