Effective Communication (7 C's) 12/21/2023

Communication is more than speaking or writing.

Effective communication requires a common
understating of ideas, desires and observations
between the sender and the receiver.
It further extends the concept to require that the
transmitted content is received and understood
by someone in the way it is intended.

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Effective Communication (7 C's) 12/21/2023

7 Principles of Effective Communication

1.Clarity- Clarity means emphasizing on
specific message or goal at a time, rather than
trying to achieve too much at once.
It makes understanding easier.
Complete clarity of thoughts, expression and
ideas enhances the meaning of the message.
Clarity of thought:
What is the objective
of the communication?
What is to be communicated?

Which medium will prove to be the most

suitable for this purpose?
Clarity of expression:
Use simple words
Demonstrate Show
Visualize See
 Use single words for long sentences

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Effective Communication (7 C's) 12/21/2023

At all the times Always

At the present time now
 Use verbs for nouns
Come to a conclusion conclude
Submit a proposal propose
 Avoid double entry
11 a.m. in the morning 11 a.m.
Period of one week one week
 Use concrete expressions
Avoid words like high, low big, small, many, few,
soon , easy etc.
These words are a matter of opinion or context.

Prefer active constructions

Easier to comprehend
Your efforts are appreciated by all of us.
All of us appreciate your efforts.
Avoid excessive use of infinitives
It is my job to supervise I Supervise
Avoid jargons
As they are trade, profession or industry
specific.
Avoid Ambiguity
Use short sentences

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Effective Communication (7 C's) 12/21/2023

1.Clarity means getting your message across so the

receiver will understand what you are trying to convey.
2. You want that person to interpret your words with
the same meaning you have in mind.
3. Accomplishing that goal is difficult because, as you
know, individual experiences are never identical, and
words have different meanings to different persons.
Here are some specific ways to help make your
messages clear:
1.Choose short, familiar, conversational words.
2.Construct effective sentences and paragraphs.
3.Achieve appropriate readability (and listenability).
4. Include examples, illustrations, and other visual aids,
when desirable.

2. Completeness-
Effective Communication must be complete and
should convey all the facts to the audience.
Complete communication is cost saving as no
additional cost is incurred in conveying extra
message.
Complete communication always gives additional
information whenever required. It leaves no
question in the mind’s of the receiver.
Complete communication helps in better decision-
making.
Complete communication persuades and motivates
the audience.

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Effective Communication (7 C's) 12/21/2023

Complete communication answers all the questions

asked.
Every communication must be complete and
adequate.
Complete communication gives something extra when
desired.
Incomplete messages keep the receiver guessing,
create misunderstanding and delay actions.
Every person should,
therefore, be provided
with all the required
facts and figures to
make the communication
complete.

3.Conciseness-
Communicating in least possible words.
It is a necessity of effective communication.
It is time as well as cost saving.
Underlines and highlights the main message.
Short and essential message in limited words to
the audience.
More appealing and comprehensible to the
audience.
Non-repetitive in nature.
For Effective Communication
Include only relevant facts
Avoid repetition
Avoid trite and wordy expressions
Organize your message well.

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Effective Communication (7 C's) 12/21/2023

Conciseness-
1.A concise message saves time and expense
for both sender and receiver.
2. Conciseness contributes to emphasis; by
eliminating unnecessary words, you let
important ideas stand out.
3. When combined with a “you-view”, concise
messages are inherently more interesting to
recipients as they avoid unnecessary
information.

4. Consideration-
Means taking the audience into account,
stepping in their shoes, understanding the
emotions, view points, background and
educational levels.
Adopt the you-attitude.
Avoid gender bias.
Emphasize positive,
pleasant facts.
Give integrity to your message.

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Effective Communication (7 C's) 12/21/2023

1.Consideration means that you prepare every

message with the recipient in mind and try to
put yourself in his or her place.

2.Try to visualize your readers (or listeners)—

with their desires, problems, circumstances,
emotions, and probable reactions to your
request.

3. Then handle the matter from their point of

view.

4. This thoughtful consideration is also called

"you-attitude," empathy, the human touch, and
understanding of human nature. (It does not
mean, however, that you should overlook the
needs of your organization.)

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Effective Communication (7 C's) 12/21/2023

5. Courtesy-
 The message should show the sender’s expression and
should show respect to the receiver. The sender should be
polite, judicious and enthusiastic.
 Take into consideration the viewpoint and feelings of the
receiver.
 Courteous message is positive and focused on the
audience.
 It is not biased and uses terms that show respect to the
audience.
 Answer should be prompt.
 Omit irritating expressions.
 Apologize sincerely for a mistake.
 Thank generously for a favor.

6. Concreteness-
Means being specific rather than general.
Being particular and clear rather than fuzzy
or general.
Communicating concretely means being
specific, definite, and vivid rather than
vague and general.
 Concrete communication is supported by
specific facts and figures.
 Use of clear words and expressions.
 Concrete messages cannot be
misinterpreted.

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Effective Communication (7 C's) 12/21/2023

7. Correctness-
At the core of correctness is proper grammar,
punctuation and spellings.
Correct facts, figures, no grammatical errors.
Sent at the correct time.
In the correct style or language.
Helps in boosting the confidence level.

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Effective Communication (7 C's) 12/21/2023

Check for the 7Cs:

•Clear – Use precise, vigorous words and active
voice
•Conversational - Group your ideas, no trite
phrases, no jargon, no pompous, "lawyer" language
•Courteous – Use straightforward, respectful tone
•Coherent – Use transitions and order ideas
logically
•Concise - No redundancies: not wordy, minimal
use of perfect tense
•Complete - No assumptions: use adequate detail
and audience perspective evident, reflect likely
audience questions/concerns
•Correct - Accurate information: error free

Effective communication is an important life

skill that enables us to understand people
better and helps us connect with them.
Effective communication needs to be planned,
organizations as well as individuals within
them must identify not only what needs to be
communicated but also to who , why and with
the help of which medium.

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Effective Communication (7 C's) 12/21/2023

Business communication is the process of sharing

information between people within and outside a company.
Business communication is the sending and receiving of
verbal and non verbal messages within the organizational
context (Roebuck, 2001; Ober, 2001; Murphy, Hildebrandt, &
Thomas, 1997).
Hanna and Wilson (1998) expanded on this definition,
indicating business communication is a process of generating,
transmitting, receiving, and interpreting messages in
interpersonal, group, public, and mass communication
contexts through written and verbal formats.
Hynes (2005) stated effective business communication is the
key to planning, leading, organizing, and controlling the
resources of the organizations to achieve objectives, and may
be formal or informal in nature.

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Effective Communication (7 C's) 12/21/2023

Business Communication is lifeblood of an

organization.
It is needed for:
• Exchanging information
• Exchanging options
• Making plans and proposals
• Reaching agreement
• Executing decisions
• Sending and fulfilling orders
• Conducting sales

The Role of Communication in Organizations

key purposes:
• direct action: to get others to behave in
desired fashion
• achieve coordinated action
 systematic sharing of information
+ interpersonal side with the focus on
interpersonal relations between people

Formal and Informal Channels of Communication

© Andrew Triganza Scott –MBA (Maast.), M.Ed (Leadership), BPsy (Hons), PGCE.

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Effective Communication (7 C's) 12/21/2023

The Role of Communication in Organizations

 “the social glue … that continues to keep the
organization tied together”
 “the essence of organization”
 a key process underlying all aspects of
organizational operations
 properly managing communication processes
is central to organizational functioning.
Behavior in Organizations, p.289
Formal and Informal Channels of Communication
© Andrew Triganza Scott –MBA (Maast.), M.Ed (Leadership), BPsy (Hons), PGCE.

Information- The main objective of a business

is to pass on information and making people
more informed, E.g.- all the advertisement
activity that we see around as are an attempt
to inform and pass the information on to
others, and in case of business houses this
information is mostly about the product or
services that they have to offer. But the mode
of communication may be verbal, written,
visual or any other.

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Motivation- communication in business is also

necessary to increase the motivation in the
workers. So if the communication is done properly
and is successful in motivating the workers and
workers are motivated enough the work gets done
easily, efficiently and they will work independently
and with out supervision.
Raising Morale - Another very important objective
of business communication (internal) is to keep the
moral of the workers high so that they work with
vigor and confidence as a team. This is a major
factor that can have a very serious impact on the
success of a business house.

Order and instructions – An order is an oral or written

command directing the start, end or modifying an
activity. This form of communication is internal and is
carried out within a business house. Order may be
written or verbal. Written orders are given when the
nature of work is very important or the person who
would perform the task is far away. We should always
be careful while handing out written orders and should
always keep a copy of the order so that follow up
action can be taken.
Education and Training- Now communication can also
be used in business to increase the circle of knowledge.
The objective of education is achieved by business
communication on three levels
(a) Management (b) employees (c) general public

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Effective Communication (7 C's) 12/21/2023

Exercise 1.
(The scene is a busy open-plan office with a lot of coming
and going and background noise).
Practice educator: So how did the procedure go yesterday?
(Scanning emails on PC, furrows brow, begins tapping
keyboard.)
Student worker: Emmmm fine. (Spoken quietly in monotone.
Glances toward practice educator, then at others in the
room, then looks to the floor. Hand initially covers mouth,
and then begins to bite nails).
a. Whether intentional or not, what message do you think the
practice educator is sending?
b. How much of this is conveyed in words as opposed to non-
verbal behavior?
c. What message does the student give in response?

Exercise 1: Suggested answers:

a. Whether intentional or not, what message do you think the practice educator is sending? The practice educator seems
to be communicating that s/he is busy or preoccupied with something else. This is likely to be an unintended message,
i.e. a message that is leaked unintentionally from one to another, but which is a truthful reflection of reality. The
practice educator appears to be more concerned with reading emails than with the student’s answer at this point of
time. It is unclear whether the practice educator is generally disinterested in the student and his/her work from the
information that we have, or whether this conclusion would be a misinterpretation on the part of the student.
b. How much of this is conveyed in words as opposed to non-verbal behaviour? The practice educator’s verbal and
nonverbal behaviour appear to contradict each other. While s/he asks the student about yesterday’s procedure,
his/her lack of attending behaviours (e.g. eye contact, interested facial expression, leaning slightly forward) and
preoccupation with the emails tends to send a message of disinterest at this point in time (see Section 2 for
information on attending skills).When there are mixed signals in this way, the receiver tends to choose the non-verbal
aspects over the verbal part of the message (Stiff et al, 1990). (See section 3 for information on non-verbal
communication).
c. What message does the student give in response? The student’s non-verbals, (i.e. monotone, hesitation/’emmmm’
before commenting ‘fine’, and the apparently nervous gesture of hand to mouth and nail-biting); might suggest that the
student is unsure and worried. This hunch could be checked out through reflective questioning (see section 5) and more
information could be sought, as to what the student is unsure about, (e.g. the procedure? Talking to the practice
educator? Talking in a busy office? etc.). Again, the student’s non-verbal behaviour contradicts the verbal message of
‘fine’. However, this seems to be missed by the practice educator, who is not actively listening (see section 2 for active
listening skills).

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Effective Communication (7 C's) 12/21/2023

Gathering feedback from employees, customers,

suppliers and other stakeholders helps to
identify problems before they get out of hand.
Helps organizations to respond promptly and
effectively to concerns and suggestions.
Feedback involves both verbal and non-verbal
communication and could be informal or formal,
positive/negative and Immediate/delayed.
 Basis of problem solving.
 Improving interpersonal relationships.
 Improving customer interactions and relations.
 Improving customer service.
 Better coordination.

EXERCISE
Giving feedback in a sensitive, problem-focussed way can significantly affect how it is
heard and subsequently handled.
a. Consider the relative impact of each of the following pairs of statements.
b. Return to the guidelines for effective feedback above. For the second statement in
each pair, note which guideline
it seems to relate to.
1. ‘You are always late. You never get here on time.’ Versus ‘I notice that this is the
third morning this week that you have arrived late for work.’
2. ‘You have created a problem here!’ Versus ‘How can we solve this problem?
3. ‘That was a terrible way to handle that situation’ Versus ‘Here is what happened…
My reaction is … The outcome has been…’
4. ‘That’s not a bad idea, but I don’t think the rest of the team would go for it’ Versus
‘I can see your point, but I don’t think it would work because…’
5. ‘You probably won’t have any ideas to contribute to the development meeting’
Versus ‘You might have some ideas or suggestions also’.
6. ‘You are just making too many careless mistakes. You’re not doing the job properly’
Versus ‘We have discussed what happened. What do you think are the obstacles
standing in the way of improvement?’
7. ‘You really rushed that procedure to try and get away early’ Versus ‘When you went
through points 1 to 3, you didn’t pause to complete point 2 as we had discussed.
This meant that …’

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Guidelines for answering questions.

a. The first statement in each pair tends to make
us feel either that we are being threatened or
that we are seen as insignificant in some way.
The more supportive second statement is more
likely to engender feelings of support and
understanding.
b. 1= Specific rather than generalized; 2= Problem-
oriented, not people-oriented; 3=Descriptive,
not evaluative; 4= Owned
rather than disowned; 5= Validating, not
invalidating; 6= Supportive rather than purely
critical; 7= Dealing with decisions
and actions rather than assumed intentions or
interpretations.

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