(a) It begins with a source, i.e., sender, who has a message to convey. The source
initiates a message by encoding a thought, i.e., the conversion of a message into some symbolic form. Four conditions affect the encoded message: skill, attitudes, knowledge, and the social-cultural system. One’s total communica- tive success includes speaking, reading, writing, listening, and reasoning skills. Attitudes, on the other hand, affect our behaviour. We hold predisposed ideas on numerous topics, and our communications are affected by these attitudes. Furthermore, we are restricted in our communicative activity by the extent of our knowledge of the particular topic. We cannot communicate what we do not know, and should our knowledge be too extensive, it is possible that our receiver will not understand our message. And nally, just as attitudes in uence our be- haviour, so does our position in social-cultural system in which we exist.
The message is the actual physical product from the source: when we speak – the speech is the message; when we write – the writing is the mes- sage; and when we gesture – the movements of our arms, the expressions on our face are the message.
The channel is the medium through which the message travels. It is se- lected by the source, who must determine which channel is formal and which one is informal. Formal channels traditionally follow the authority network within the organisation, and other forms of messages, such as personal or so- cial, follow the informal channels.
The receiver is the person to whom the message is directed. However, before the message can be received, the symbols in it must be translated into a form that can be understood by the receiver. This is the decoding of the mes- sage. Just as the encoder was limited by his or her skills, attitudes, knowledge, etc., the receiver is equally restricted. Accordingly, the source must be skilful in writing or speaking; the receiver must be skilful in reading or listening, and both must be able to reason.
To ensure accuracy, the receiver should provide the sender with feed-
back as a check on whether understanding has been achieved.
(b) The ability to listen is too often taken for granted because we often confuse
hearing with listening. Listening requires attention, interpreting, and remem- bering sound stimuli. Effective listening is active rather than passive. In pas- sive listening, you resemble a tape recorder. You absorb and remember the words spoken. If the speaker provides you with a clear message or makes his or her delivery interesting enough to keep your attention, you will prob- ably hear most of what the speaker is trying to communicate. Active listening requires you to get inside the speaker’s mind to understand the communica- tion from his or her point of view. Active listening is a hard work. Let us take students and their instructors as an example. Students who use active listening techniques for an entire 75-minute lecture are as tired as their instructor when the lecture is over because they have put as much energy into listening as the instructor put into speaking.
In order to enhance your active listening skills you should consider de- veloping appropriate behaviours related to active listening. Let us consider the following behaviour: How do you feel when somebody does not look at you when you are speaking? If you are like most people, you are likely to interpret this behaviour as disinterest. Therefore, you should look the speaker in the eye to focus your attention and encourage the speaker.
Also, the active listener shows interest in what is being said through exhibition of af rmative nods and appropriate facial expressions. However, in addition to showing interest, you must avoid actions that suggest that your mind is somewhere else, such as looking at your watch, shuf ing papers, play- ing with your pencil, etc.
The critical listener analyses what he or she hears and asks questions, which behaviour provides clari cation, ensures understanding, and so forth. Also, the effective listener uses phrases such as “What I hear you saying is ...” or “Do you mean ...?” Let the speaker complete his or her thought be- fore you try to respond and do not try to second guess where the speaker’s thoughts are going.
Further, most of us rather express our own ideas than listen to what some- one else says. Talking might be more fun and silence might be uncomfortable, but you cannot talk and listen at the same time. Finally, the effective listener makes transitions smoothly from speaker to listener and back to speaker. From a listening perspective, this means concentrating on what a speaker has to say and practicing not thinking about what you are going to say as soon as you get your chance.
(c) Prior to becoming chairman, Okuda served as Toyota’s president – the rst
non-family member in over 30 years to head the company. He also sticks out in his executive circles, because in Japan executives are supposed to be unseen. Okuda justi es his outspoken and aggressive style as necessary to change a company that has become lethargic and overly bureaucratic.
Okuda moved ahead at Toyota by taking jobs that other employees didn’t want. For example, when the company faced dif culties in trying to build a plant in Taiwan, many at Toyota were convinced that the project should be scrapped. Okuda thought differently. He did not want to give up. He restarted the project and led it to success. His drive and ability to overcome obstacles were central to his rise in the company.
When Okuda ascended to the presidency in 1995, Toyota was losing market share in Japan to both Mitsubishi and Honda. Okuda attributed this problem to several factors. One of them was that Toyota had been losing touch with customers in Japan for several years. For example, when engineers re- designed the Corlolla in 1991, they made it too big and too expensive for the Japanese tastes. Then four years later, they stripped out so many of the costs in the car that Corolla looked too cheap. Toyota’s burdensome bureaucracy also bothered Okuda. A decision that took ve minutes to lter through the company at Suzuki Motor Corporation took three weeks at Toyota.
In his rst 18 months on the job, Okuda implemented some drastic changes. In a country in which lifetime employment is consistent with the culture, he replaced nearly one third of Toyota’s highest-ranking executives. He revamped Toyota’s long-standing promotion system based on seniority, adding performance as a factor. Some outstanding performers were moved up several levels in management at one time – something unheard of in the his- tory of company.
Okuda also worked with vehicle designers to increase the speed at which a vehicle went from concept to market. What once took 27 months was short- ened to 18. Finally, he is using the visibility of his job to address larger societal issues facing all Japanese businesses. He recently accused Japan’s Finance
Ministry of trying to destroy the auto industry by driving up the yen. And he has been an audible voice in the country, condemning the lax lending practices that force Japanese banks to write off billions of dollars in bad loans and that led, in part, to the economic crisis in the country.
Unfortunately, some of Okuda’s actions may have back red. Speculations that he overstepped his boundary by his “blunt demands” may have offended the founding family – leading to his removal as president of the company in June 1999. However, his strategic leadership and the good he has done for the com- pany did not go unnoticed – they helped him ascend to the chairman’s job.
(d) Several years ago, Karen became interested in how body movements and
mannerisms truly re ect what an individual is saying. Continually reading in this area of study, Vesper has been able to make decisions about potential employees and potential customers by “reading” them. For example, Vesper believes that body language can give a person competitive advantage. It can make the difference when closing the sale, or in Doorway’s case, ring new employees.
During interviews, for example, Vesper pays constant attention to the job candidate’s eye movements and mannerisms. Vesper believes that she can correctly predict if the job candidate will be an aggressive salesperson while simultaneously being personable and friendly. How does she do that? By look- ing at their eyes and the way that they present themselves.
In one case a hiring decision came to two people. Candidate 1 was ani- mated and made constant eye contact. Candidate 2 never looked Karen in the eye, leaned back in his chair, and crossed both his legs and arms. Candidate 1 demonstrated the communication skills that Vesper found aligned with suc- cessful performance in her organisation.
Vesper believes that non-verbal communication can play a signi cant role in helping her organisation achieve its annual sales goals. Personally she has found that it has helped her “qualify” customers. For instance, even though a potential customer says Yes, crossed arms and legs emphatically state No! Understanding this, Vesper is in a better position to probe further into the pos- sible objections the customer has. She has found that, in many cases, she is able to steer conversation in a direction that ultimately leads to successfully closing a sale. And that is a major competitive advantage.