Management Communication N4 Notes- Module 2

CHAPTER 2

INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIP AND SOCIAL INTERACTION

SELF IMAGE

• Is one’s idea of what one is( oxford dictionary).
• People tend to compare themselves with others and form a good or poor image about them.
• A positive self-image is beneficial to an individual because  it

1. Helps one to gain personal happiness
2. Contributes to efforts geared towards attaining Personal achievement
3. Promotes  good interpersonal relationship
4. Leads to  career success

ELEMENTS OF SELF IMAGE

– A person’s self image consists of three elements

1) What you think of yourself

2) What you think other people think of you

3) What you would like your image to be

DIMENSIONS OF SELF IMAGE

Identify and explain dimensions of self image (10)

Self image is divided into five dimensions which affect the way people think about themselves

1. The Physical Dimension:

• refers to the evaluation of your body i.e your idea of what you look like physically

2. The Dimension of Skill:

• how skillful you are i.e socially and technically

3. The Intellectual Dimension:

• refers to how intelligent you believe you believe you are

4. The Psychological Dimension

• Evaluation of your personality i.e whether I am shy, outgoing, patient

5. The Sexual Dimension

• Refers to how masculine or feminine you are and your popularity with members of the opposite sex.

CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD SELF-IMAGE.

Identify FIVE characteristics of a good self-image 

The following characteristics are associated with a good image.

1. Greater self-encouragement
2. Greater motivation
3. Greater capacity to achieve
4. Greater ability to express oneself
5. More self-confidence
6. Realistic perception of strength and weakness
7. Optimism
8. Ability to withstand negative events
9. Less fear of failure
10. Better psychological adjustment
11. Ability to express anger appropriately
12. Better social skills
13. Better performance academically and in work situation.

Characteristics of poor self-image.

• Poor social skills
• Less motivation
• Less self-confidence
• Pessimistic (negative thoughts)
• Fear of failure
• Less self-encouragement
• Less capacity to achieve
• Unable to express anger

How to improve self-image.

• A positive self-image leads to success and the maintenance of good interpersonal relationships.

Ten steps to improve self-image.

State FIVE ways to improve self-image.

1. Recognize your strengths and weakness, set goals, and plan how to achieve them
2. Control your thoughts i.e substitute negative thoughts; try to understand and forgive
3. Never say bad or negative things about yourself avoid words like stupid. A failure; ugly.
4. Do not be discouraged by personal criticism
5. See all failure and disappointment in a positive light
6. Do not tolerate people’s jobs or situations if they make you feel worthless or inadequate.
7. Control your feelings
8. Pat yourself on the back when achieving goals.
9. Try to interpret other people’s behavior and intentions positively
10. Remember that you can improve your self-image at any time.

MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS.

• In an organization, managers must know the needs of their employees. Clients, e.t.c
• Understanding these needs helps to improve your interpersonal relationship, avoid conflict, motivate subordinates, and understand the actions and behavior of people.
• H Maslow developed a theory in which he proposed five levels of needs that every person wants to satisfy called the hierarchy of needs
• This hierarchy helps you to understand the behavior and actions of people you work with.
• The needs are represented in the pyramid below.

The higher order needs will not arise until the more basic(lower level) need to be satisfied.

Physical needs

• refers to the basic needs to survive e.g food, water,warmth and shelter.
• Workers who do not earn fair salary sacrifice the security of their jobs and interpersonal relationship by going on strike.
• Physical needs are fulfilled by food,shelter,clothes,relaxation and health care,adequate income.

Security needs/safety

• People need to feel safe and secure at work
• Employers can provide safe work environment i.e effective emergency plan.

Social needs

• Refers to the need for love, acceptance and friendship and a feeling of belonging.
• Employers should hold social functions, encourage team work,distribute internal magazines and hold office meetings and canteen lunches.

Esteem needs

• Refers to the need to achieve, to be recognized and appreciated by your employer and people around you
• They are fulfilled by status and recognition.

Self actualization needs

• Refers to the desire to fulfil one’s potential i.e to become what you want to be by applying your knowledge and skills
• Fulfilled by self development, challeneges, being creative and acquiring knowledge.

BARRIERS TO INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION

Identify and explain FIVE barriers to interpersonal communication.[10]

A barrier is any factor that distorts or confuses a message or prevents a message from being received properly e.g. noise or interference.

Barriers can occur within the person trying to communicate or outside and can be divided into the following categories:

• Physical barriers
• It is any physical noise that confuses a message from being received e.g faint telephone line, snow or waves on the TV screen, traffic noise e.t c
• Psychological barriers
• Any psychological state like anger, depression, fear, and boredom e.g. a relationship of fear between a manager and employees will prevent employees from discussing a problem or giving opinions.
• Physiological barriers.
• Poor health, physical disability, pain, or discomfort e.g. sitting on a hard uncomfortable chair in a lecture prevents students from concentrating, poor eyesight or hearing, holding a meeting in a hot room, a severe headache.
• Perceptual barriers
• This is when people of different cultures, personalities, education, and interest see the world differently and interpret situations differently.
• The following factors play a role in the forming of perceptual barriers.

1. Background

• People who come from different cultural and socio-economic backgrounds have different values, morals, symbols, and expectations because they have grown up in different circumstances.

1. Education and training

• People with different levels of education and training will have different vocabularies and knowledge. This affects their attitude to life and other people e.g. a personnel manager can work with people better than an accountant, An engineer may not effectively explain the fault on a machine to a personnel manager.
• Intelligence
• A person’s intelligence determines his or her level of understanding and insight and the speed at which he grasps an idea.

1. Occupation

• A person’s occupation affects the person’s attitude to life.

1. Interests

• Different people have different interests and hobbies, this determines their actions and decisions.

1. Needs

• People have different needs which determine their behavior, decisions and actions.
• Personality; Age; Sex; Religion
• Semantic barriers
• Occurs when the meanings of words used in communication are misunderstood or when different meanings are attached to a specific word
• The factors which lead to semantic barriers are jargon, vague wording, slang, and accent.
• Intercultural barriers
• Cross-cultural contact can cause barriers to communication resulting in negative attitudes and conflict among managers and employees.

1. Ethnocentricity – is the perception that the nation, group or culture to which you belong is superior to any other.

• Some people assume that their own cultural values and beliefs are the only way of doing things.they tend to judge their culture as good compared to others.

1. Stereotyping – occurs when people form an impression of a certain group and have a fixed general image or characteristic of what that particular group is like.

• Examples of stereotyping are

1) students are lazy

2) Germans are perfectionists

3) Japanese are innovative and creative

7) Gatekeeping

– is a process of creating communication barriers as a result of fearing the consequences of a specific action e.g an employee avoids a manager because he has not finished a certain task in time.

WAYS TO OVERCOME BARRIERS

State ways to overcome barriers to effective communication.

• Use face-to-face communication
• Learn as much as possible about different barriers which interfere with communication.
• Be sensitive to other people’s background
• Use direct, simple, and unambiguous language.
• Repeat the message orally or in writing
• Avoid subjective, emotional language
• Establish a relationship of trust
• Be open-minded and open to suggestions
• Get rid of a defensive attitude

Define an interview[5]

An interview is defined as a preplanned, formal, direct or indirect oral conversation between 2 or more people to exchange information about a specific subject.

• Interviews are used in the business world for recruitment and selection of staff, dealing with staff grievances and complaints, taking disciplinary action or any staff relations.
• Interviews always involve two parties either individuals or a panel of interviewers interviewing the interviewee.
• The parties meet face to face at a specific time and place decided upon before hand.
• The setting of an interview should contribute to a relaxed relationship.
• There are different types of interview which are divided into two broad categories namely informational and persuasive.

Define interview as a communication process. [5]

• Interview is a verbal and non verbal exchange of information between the  two parties.
• The participants of the interview are the interviewee; who is the receiver and the interviewer who is the sender and encodes the questions(message) by using an understandable code e.g English.
• This is face to face communication and the interviewer chooses the medium of direct oral communication.
• The interviewer reacts by providing an answer i.e feedback to the interviewer’s questions and in turn becomes the sender.
• This shows that an interview is a circular process where the two parties continuously change roles as sender and receiver.
• During the interview, communication barriers prevent communication from taking place successfully.

COMMUNICATION BARRIERS

1. SEMANTIC BARRIERS –includes the use of word not understandable to both parties during the interview e.g jargon, slang.

• Both parties  should use words with common meanings.

1. PSYCHOLOGICAL BARRIERS – status of interviewee e.g nervousness can be a barrier to good and effective communication.

• The interviewer should create a relaxed atmosphere.

1. PHYSICAL BARRIERS – include wrong choice fo venue for the interview or constant interruptions e.g too hot, too much traffic noise which prevents the participants from hearing or concentrating properly.

• Constant interruptions are telephone ringing and other employees coming to see the interviewer.

1. INTELLECTUAL BARRIERS – if different cultures or educational backgrounds are involved communication may be difficult to understand each other e.g Afrikaner and Venda or taxi driver and lawyer.

EMPLOYMENT INTERVIEWS.

• This is classified as an informational interview because during this interview the interviewer and the interviewee try to obtain and supply as much relevant information as possible so that this information is used for selection.
• During the interview the interviewer try to obtain information about the applicant’s attitude, personality,ambitions,motivations, communication skills, sense of responsibility, ability to organize and academic and general background.
• The applicant tries to find more about the job, job expectations, promotion and training opportunities.
• The communication process between interviewer and applicant is as follows.

TYPICAL QUESTIONS ASKED IN AN INTERVIEW.

• The interviewer considers the applicant in response of the following factors:
• Personal details – physical well being
• Personal appearance – personal manners & voice quality
• Confidence – communication abilities
• Motivation – maturity e.t.c

TYPES OF INTERVIEW QUESTIONS.

Identify and give examples of each of the interview question types.[10]

• Open ended questions – they start with what, why,how, and they cannot be answered with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
• They encourage the applicant to talk and reveal emotions and attitude e.g Why do you want to work for our company?
• Closed questions – answered with either yes or no e.g Are you a Christian?
• Specific questions –questions which require specific information and allow for one correct answer e.g When did you start marketing? Or How old are you?
• Reflective questions –questions formulated by rephrasing the interviewee’s previous statement in an attempt to obtain more information on a specific object.

E.G   Interviewee  – ‘ I love working with people?’

Interviewer – ‘ You love working with people?, How would that help you in this job?’

• Leading questions – asked in a way to get the answer required by the interviewer.
• They are asked to test the interviewee’s reaction and attitude e.g I think secretaries are overworked and underpaid, don’t you think so?
• Hypothetical questions – used to test the applicant’s intelligence, ability to think quickly and problem solving skills e.g If you where the principal of this college,what new things could you introduce?

QUESTIONS THE INTERVIEWER SHOULD AVOID:

• Do not ask to many closed questions answered with yes or no
• Do not put questions in a threatening manner.
• Do not ask questions which suggest the answer.
• Do not ask more than one question at a time.
• Do not ask questions which indicate that you are being judgemental.
• Applicant should do most of the talking.

HINTS FOR THE APPLICANT.

The success of the applicant’s interview relies on advance preparation for the interview with confidence.

1. Gathering information about the organization

• This is the first vital step towards a successful interview and it is important in that it enables you to know the basic facts about the organization.
• Examples of the information includes :- how big the organization is; how long it has been in business; products it offers e.t.c
• This information can be found in the company magazine, newsletters, pamphlets and internet.

1. Gathering information about the job requirements.

• If you know the requirements of the job you are applying for and know what type of person the company hopes to employ, you stand a better chance of having a successful interview and finding the right job.
• Information about the job include:- duties; location; working conditions; training and experience required.
• Appearance and grooming of the applicant :- first impressions last longer, therefore the applicant should dress appropriately in order to make a good impression.

Hints on dressing.

• Do not dress too casually, too dramatic or too formal.
• Men prefer to wear a suit or smart casual with a jacket.
• Women should dress smartly, appropriately and comfortably
• Try in advance your interview outfit
• Do not carry extra bags and parcels.

Remember,your appearance communicatesas much about you as a person as what you actually say.

1. Personal documents :- the golden rule is to take along only what you need. E.g  C.V, a pen, certificates, pocket size note book.

THE INTERVIEW

According to some authors, the first ten seconds of an interview can determine whether a candidate gets the job or not.

Interviewers tend to judge a book by its cover ,however, the applicant should make that cover most attractive by being punctual, good dressing, hairstyle, posture, gestures, accent and pronunciation are also important.

Good interview behavior.

1. Punctuality – Do not be too early or too late, be there at least 5-15 minutes before the interview.
2. Introducing yourself – the first ten seconds are key to successful interview therefore enter the room confidently with a smile, shakehands and greet the interviewer giving your full name and surname
3. Posture – it conveys your attitude. Be aware of how you stand ,sit or walk; sit up straight, do not look too relaxed and do not lean against anything.
4. Voice – includes register,tone,pronunciation, accent and style.
5. Eye contact
6. Gestures and facial expressions
7. Answering and posing questions
8. Listening
9. Typing and skills test

The ‘Do Nots’ of an interview.

• Do not shake hands half-heartedly
• Do not avoid eye contact
• Do not slouch on the couch
• Do not dress inappropriately
• Do not smoke
• Do not be too aggressive
• Do not be hostile or arrogant

Leaving – at the end,thank the interviewer and leave the room with dignity leaving a good impression.