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  • Communication – Affirmative Contact & Paraphrasing the Expressed

    In the last byte, we looked at the various levels of reflective listening. In today’s byte, we look at the first two of these – affirmative contact and paraphrasing the expressed.

    Affirmative Contact: While listening to someone communicating, we find some affirmative contact through the use of simple statements like – “I See”, “Yes, I understand” etc. These statements are to indicate attentiveness, and not agreement itself.

    This affirmative contact is especially reassuring to a speaker during the initial phases of the discussion, by reducing the associated anxiety or discomfort the speaker might feel. As the discussion deepens, it would be better to use additional reflective responses to ensure a greater engagement.

    Paraphrasing the Expressed:  In a discussion, it is useful to paraphrase thoughts and feelings of the speaker. Paraphrasing is useful to reflect on the speaker’s thoughts and feelings as the receiver heard them. This helps build better empathy, openness and acceptance into the relationship while ensuring the accuracy of communication.

  • Communication – Verbal & Non-Verbal Response

    In the last byte, we looked at the four essential aspects that a listener had to do to use reflective listening.  In today’s byte, we look at some of the verbal and non verbal communication dimensions in here.

    We could look at the communication in the reflective format to consist of 2 components:

    1. Verbal
    2. Non Verbal

    The Verbal response from the receiver could have 4 parts
    1. Affirmative Contact
    2. Paraphrasing Expressed Thoughts and Feeling
    3. Clarifying implicit thoughts and feelings
    4. Reflecting on Core feelings not expressed.

    The non verbal response has two parts
    1. Silence
    2. Eye Contact.
    The following diagram summarizes this classification. To help us understand better these aspects, we shall attempt to explain using an example over the next few bytes.

  • Communication – Reflective Listening 2

    In the last byte, we looked at reflective listening and attempted to understand the 3 components of reflective listening. In today’s byte, we look at each of these 3 components in detail.

    Personal aspect: Reflective listening emphasizes the personal element of communication – not he impersonal or abstract elements of the message. There is empathy, concern etc for the communicator as a person. The communicator is not treated as an inanimate object!

    Feeling orientation:  Reflective listening also emphasizes on the feels communicated in the message. In addition to the thoughts and ideas that catch the general attention in normal communication, reflective listening also keeps an ear on the feels. The receiver pays special attention to the feel component of the message.

    Responsiveness:  Reflective listening requires the listener to resound to the communicator instead of leading the communicator in the discussion. The receiver would need to realize the distinction between his/her individual feelings and thoughts and that of the speaker. The focus has to be on the speaker’s feelings and thoughts so as to be able respond to them. A good reflective listener doesn’t lead the speaker according to the listeners’ own thought and feelings….

  • Communication – Reflective Listening

    In the last byte, we looked at the role played by richness of the medium. In today’s byte, we look at the concept of reflective listening.

    Reflective listening is the skill that intends to help the receiver and the communicator clearly and fully understand the message sent. The receiver generally listens to the communicator and repeats the message heard to the speaker to correct any inaccuracies or misunderstanding. Thus, the role of the receivers or audience is emphasized to a greater extent than the usual communication process. Managers could use this skill to understand their coworkers and reduce misunderstanding – through the reduction of perception distortion and overcome any interpersonal barriers that could lead to communication failure.

    Given the reflection on the message – it helps the communicator clarify and sharpen the intended meaning. This is extremely important in problem solving.

    We can characterize Reflective Listening on 3 aspects:

    1. Personal
    2. Feeling Oriented
    3. Responsive
    We shall discuss these in the next byte.

  • Communication – Interpersonal Process 5

    In the last byte, we looked at understanding the importance of feedback and language in the context of an organization. In today’s byte, we look at understanding the terms – data, information and richness a bit clearer.


    Data refers to the un-interpreted, unanalyzed elements of any message (in the context of interpersonal communication here). If this data provides meaning to someone through interpretation or through analysis, then it transforms into information.

    All messages need a medium to be conveyed – this could be telephone or face to face or mail etc. Each of these medium differ in their ability to convey the meaning of the message for the receiver – the following table summarizes the comparison.

    [This is a modified representation of the Table 8.1 published in the reference book]
    The attributes of the communication medium affect the richness communicated and any influence seeking behavior that is generated.

  • Communication – Interpersonal Process 4

    In the last byte, we looked a set of definitions related to the interpersonal communications model. In today’s byte we attempt to understand some of these concepts in more detail.

    As described earlier, feedback refers to the information that is fed back to the communicator after the perceiver has received the message. This completes the two – ways of communication loop. The feedback may or may not be active inherently as part of the model itself. It occurs only when the receiver provides the communicator with a response to the message – the channel of response need not be extremely clear; however there could also be a combination of means through which the feedback could be gained. The challenge Intuit Corporation faced in 2003 regarding the customer uproar and the subsequent usage of internet to manage the impending loss of reputation is an interesting case study in how effective handling of the feedback mechanism could be very important to an organization.

    Companies today are operating in a global context. Language of communication is steadily increasing its relevance in this globalization of these firms – the multitude of these multinational organizations (MNC) poses the challenge of language. Language involves not just the words but the pronunciation and the methods of combining them to people around. Language thus could be looked as a possible barrier to communication in such MNC.

  • Communication – Interpersonal Process 3

    In the last byte, we began understanding the various components of the basic interpersonal communications model. In today’s byte, we continue this discussion to look into some definitions that would become more important as we proceed with the discussion further.

    Feedback: Is the information fed back that completes the two-way communication
    Language: Refers to the words, their pronunciation, and the methods of combining them used and understood by a group of people.
    Data: The un-interpreted and unanalyzed facts
    Information: Refers to the data that have been interpreted, analyzed and have meaning to some user
    Richness: Refers to the ability of a medium or channel to elicit or evoke meaning in the receiver

    Without overloading this further, we shall just limit today’s discussion to this point and continue understanding these concepts further in the next few bytes.

  • Communication – Interpersonal Process 2

    In the last byte, we looked at the interpersonal communication model and a few definitions. In today’s byte we begin looking at the model in a greater detail.

    As stated in the definition of perceptual screens, these are windows – windows of the mind. It is these perceptual screens that influence the quality, accuracy and clarity of the message. The screen gives its flavor to the message – it is the one which defines if the message sent and the message received are the same or any distortion has occurred.

    The perceptual screens are generally composed of personal factors – every individual gets into the communication his/her various influences – age, gender, values, and beliefs, past experiences, cultural influences, and individual needs. The extent to which these windows are open or closed significantly influence both the sent and the received messages.

    We have been using the terms message pretty heavily – message refers to the thoughts and the feelings that the communicator is attempting to elicit in the receiver. It has two primary components:

    1. its content
    2. its affect.
    The thought or conceptual component of the message is contained in the words, ideas, symbols and concepts chosen to relay the message. The feeling or emotional component of the message is contained in the intensity, force, demeanor, and sometimes the gesture of the communicator. The feeling component of message is important to give the complete meaning.

  • Communication – Interpersonal Process

    In the last byte, we set the context for the importance of interpersonal communication. In today’s byte, we look at understanding interpersonal communication in a bit more detail.

    Interpersonal communication is important in building and sustaining human relations when in an organizational working context. If one were to ask – with all the sophistication in the present world of information technology were to replace interpersonal communication, the simple answer is – No. Let us try to understand it using the model presented below. We shall subsequently define a few of the words use there but not explain it in the current byte.

    The image has been adopted form the reference book.

    Some Definitions:
    1. Communicator – the person originating a message
    2. Receiver – the person receiving a message
    3. Perceptual Screen – a window through which we interact with people that influences the quality, accuracy and clarity of the communication.

  • Communication

    While concluding the section on stress management we highlighted the importance of communication. Communication is an important aspect in the interpersonal processes segment of Organizational Behavior and we shall begin the discussion on communication here.

    Communication could be understood as the evoking of a share or common meaning in another person. Specifically, interpersonal communication is communication that occurs between two or more people in an organizational set up. In the organizational context, i.e. interpersonal communications aspect, we find some essential skills that would be necessary:

    1. Reading,
    2. Listening
    3. Information Management and Interpretation
    4. Serving Clients
    To be able to understand and begin effectively using the interpersonal aspects of communication, it would be important to begin understanding of the complete interpersonal communication process.