MGMT10002 Chap.6 Communication Processes, Channels and Listening
Communication Processes, Channels and Listening
Communication is the creation of shared meaning, not the successful transmission of words. A sender encodes a message through a channel; a receiver interprets it through experience, expectations and context; feedback reveals whether meaning and action align.
Noise can be physical, technical, semantic, emotional, cultural or political.
Channel choice should fit ambiguity, urgency, record needs, accessibility and relationship risk. Rich interaction helps when issues are complex or identity-laden, while written media can support consistency and reference. Active listening uses attention, inquiry, paraphrase and confirmation, then changes understanding or action where warranted.
Managers also need upward, downward and horizontal flows, and must account for power that makes silence ambiguous.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Encoding, channel, interpretation and feedback
- 02
Noise, filtering and selective attention
- 03
Channel richness, record and accessibility
- 04
Upward, downward and horizontal communication
- 05
Active listening, inquiry and paraphrase
- 06
Non-verbal cues and cultural context
- 07
Difficult conversations and feedback
- 08
Communication systems during ambiguity and change
AskSia-authored practice weighting (not an official mark scheme): repair a silent restructure announcement
- +2Identify complexity, identity threat and inconsistent local interpretation as conditions requiring more than transmission.
- +2Explain why silence cannot establish understanding or agreement, especially under power asymmetry.
- +2Combine a stable written reference with interactive explanation, aligned supervisors and multiple feedback channels.
- +2State what is decided, uncertain and open to influence; provide a route for anonymous or private concern.
- +2Measure understanding, questions and emerging impact, then revise the message or plan from evidence.
Key terms
- Encoding
- Converting intended meaning into words, symbols or behaviour for communication.
- Feedback
- A response that reveals how a message was interpreted and whether action or understanding aligns.
- Noise
- Any physical, semantic, psychological, technical, cultural or political condition that distorts meaning.
- Channel richness
- A channel's capacity for rapid feedback, multiple cues and personal focus, useful when ambiguity is high.
- Active listening
- Focused attention, inquiry, paraphrase and confirmation used to understand before responding.
- Filtering
- Selective alteration or withholding of information, often shaped by incentives, hierarchy or anticipated reaction.
Communication Processes, Channels and Listening FAQ
Is email a poor communication channel?
Not inherently. It provides reach, consistency and a record. It is weaker for high ambiguity, emotion or rapid clarification. Combine channels according to purpose rather than declaring one medium universally rich or poor.
What does active listening add?
It tests interpretation. Managers ask open questions, paraphrase meaning, acknowledge emotion and confirm next steps. Listening is incomplete when feedback never affects understanding, explanation or action.
Why can silence be misleading?
Silence can mean agreement, confusion, low relevance, cultural restraint, fear or lack of opportunity. Power makes open disagreement costly. Seek multiple feedback routes and observable understanding rather than inferring one motive.
How should difficult feedback be given?
Use specific behaviour and impact, a private and timely setting, inquiry into context, clear expectations and support. Preserve dignity and allow response. Avoid global personality judgements and public surprise.
How should managers build a channel portfolio for organisational change?
Start with communication purposes rather than media preferences. A concise written source can preserve stable facts and decisions; interactive sessions can handle ambiguity, identity concern and immediate clarification; supervisor conversations can translate implications into local work; private or anonymous routes can surface concerns that hierarchy suppresses.
Sequence the channels so people receive a common foundation before interpretation fragments, then publish updated answers and distinguish decisions from proposals. Check accessibility across time, language, disability and technology. Align supervisors before they become competing sources of meaning, but allow them to escalate questions rather than forcing false certainty.
Feedback needs ownership, response time and a visible account of what changed. Measure shared understanding through case decisions, consistent action and emerging implementation issues, not message opens or attendance alone. If rumours persist, examine unresolved uncertainty and trust instead of simply repeating the same message louder. The portfolio should evolve as change experience creates new evidence.
What does active listening require after paraphrasing?
Paraphrasing tests meaning, but the manager must also clarify assumptions, acknowledge legitimate emotion and explain the decision or next inquiry. Where feedback reveals a flaw, change the action and communicate that link. Where a constraint remains, state the reason and preserve a route for new evidence. Listening becomes performative when every contribution ends with the original plan unchanged and no explanation.
Document commitments, return at the promised time and check whether the speaker recognises their concern accurately. This creates accountability without implying that listening requires agreement with every request.
Exam move
For every communication case, write sender intention, audience interpretation, channel, noise and missing feedback. Then propose a channel portfolio rather than a single tool: written reference for consistency, interactive discussion for ambiguity, and an accessible route for concerns. Practise translating vague advice into operational design.
'Listen better' becomes ask a specific open question, paraphrase, confirm understanding and document the action that follows. Contrast transmission with shared meaning and feedback with evaluation. Analyse one instance where power filters upward information. Add evidence such as misunderstanding, rework, contradictory action or questions instead of message-open rates alone.
Rehearse a difficult conversation using observation, impact, inquiry, expectation and support. Follow current task instructions for any communication analysis and protect confidential real-world information.
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