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Researchers rarely agree on what is meant by leadership. Different investigators define it in different ways. Although there is some consensus on general statements such as “leaders have followers” and “effective leaders somehow get others to do things that are helpful for group performance”, exactly how and why performance increases is unclear. Some consensus, however, is being reached on how we should handle this problem. One suggestion was to break down the question of “What is leadership?” into two questions:
1. What characteristics or behaviours make it more likely that an individual will become a leader? 2. Once someone holds a formal position as a leader, what characteristics make it more or less likely that he or she will be effective?
The first question is one of the emergence of a leader. The second question sees leadership as those characteristics or behaviours that make an individual effective in a given position.
Leadership is seen not as some set of universally agreed-upon traits, but as those things which are positively related to groups’ productivity in a given situation. The central idea is that there is no best style of leadership. What will work best depends on the proper combination of personal characteristics and the specific situation in which one works. To understand this position more fully, let us examine the definitions given by authorities on the subject, for leadership is a great quality and it can create and convert anything. There are many definitions of leadership.
“Leadership” according to Alford and Beatty “Is the ability to secure desirable actions from a group of followers voluntarily, without the use of coercion.”
According to Chester I Barnard, “It (leadership) refers to the quality of the behaviour of the individual whereby they guide people on their activities in organised efforts”.
According to Terry, “A leader shows the way by his own example. He is not a pusher, he pulls rather than pushes”.
According to Koontz and O’Donnell, Managerial leadership is “the ability to exert inter-personal influence by means of communication, towards the achievement of a goal. Since managers get things done through people, their success depends, to a considerable extent upon their ability to provide leadership”.
In the words of R. T. Livingston, Leadership is “the ability to awaken in others the desire to follow a common objective”.
According to the Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, “Leadership is the relation between an individual and a group around some common interest and behaving in a manner directed or determined by him”.
According to Peter Drucker, Leadership “is not making friends and influencing people, i.e., salesmanship is the lifting of man’s vision to higher sights, the raising of man’s performance to higher standards, the building of man’s personality beyond its normal limitations”.
According to Louis A Allen, “A leader is one who guides and directs other people. He gives the efforts of his followers a direction and purpose by influencing their behaviour”.
In the words of Theo Haimann, “Leadership is the process by which an executive imaginatively directs, guides and influences the work of others in choosing and attaining specified goals by mediating between the individuals and the organisation in such a manner that both will obtain maximum satisfaction”.
In the words of James Gibbon, Leadership is “a process of influencing a group in a particular situation at a given point of time and in a specific set of circumstances that stimulates people to strive willingly to attain the common objectives and satisfaction with the type of leadership provided”.
According to Katz and Kalm, “In the descriptions of organisations, no word is used with such varied meanings. The word leadership is sometimes used to indicate that it is an attribute of personality; sometimes, it is used as if it were a characteristic of certain positions, and sometimes as an attribute of behaviour”. From the above definitions we can conclude that leadership is a psychological process of influencing followers (subordinates) and providing guidance, directing and leading the people in an organisation towards attainment of the objectives of the enterprise.
1. Leadership implies the existence of followers: We appraise the qualities of a leader by studying his followers. In an organisation, leaders are also followers, e.g., a supervisor works under a branch head. Thus, in a formal organisation a leader has to be able to be both a leader as well as a follower, and be able to relate himself both upward and downward.
2. Leadership involves a community of interest between the leader and his followers: In other words, the objectives of both the leader and his men are one and the same. If the leader strives for one purpose and his team of workers work for some other purpose, that’s hardly a sign of leadership.
3. Leadership involves an unequal distribution of authority among leaders and group members: Leaders can direct some of the activities of group members, i.e., the group members are compelled or are willing to obey most of the leader’s directions. The group members cannot similarly direct the leader’s activities, though they will obviously affect those activities in a number of ways.
4. Leadership is a process of influence: Leadership implies that leaders can influence their followers or subordinates in addition to being able to give their followers or subordinates legitimate directions.
5. Leadership is the function of stimulation: Leadership is the function of motivating people to strive willingly to attain organisational objectives. A successful leader allows his subordinates (followers) to set their own individual goals in such a way that they do not conflict with the organisational objectives, and – more desirably – mesh closely with them.
6. A leader must be exemplary: In the words of George Terry – “A leader shows the way by his own example. He is not a pusher, he pulls rather than pushes”. According to L.G. Urwick “It does not matter what a leader says, still less what he writes, that influences subordinates. It is what he is. And they judge what he is by what he does and how he behaves”. From the above explanation, it is clear that a leader must set an ideal before his followers. He must stimulate, energize and enable people to surpass themselves. In other words, a leader must set the pace by setting a high personal example for his followers to emulate and admire.
7. A leader ensures absolute justice: A leader must be objective and impartial. He should not follow unfair practices like favouritism and nepotism. He must display fair play and absolute justice in all his decisions and actions.
8. Leadership styles and patterns: Tannenbaum and Schmidt have described the range of possible leadership behaviour available to a manager. Each type of action is related to the degree of authority used by the boss and to the degree of freedom available to his subordinates in reaching decisions.
1. The Manager makes decision and announces it: It is an extreme form of autocratic leadership whereby decisions are made by the boss who identifies the problem, considers alternative solutions, selects one of them and then reports his decision to his subordinates for implementation.
2. The manager sells his decisions: It is a slightly improved form of leadership wherein the manager takes the additional step of persuading the subordinates to accept his decision.
3. The Manager presents his ideas and invites questions: There is greater involvement of the employees in this pattern. The boss arrives at the decision, but provides a full opportunity to his subordinates to get fuller explanation of his thinking and intentions.
4. The manager presents a tentative decision subject to change: Herein the decision is tentatively taken by the manager but he is amenable to change and influence from the employees.
5. The Manager may present the problem, get the suggestions and then take his own decision: Here manager gives sufficient opportunity to the employees to make suggestions that are carefully considered by the Manager.
6. The Manager may define the limits and request the group to make a decision: Under this style of management, the manager delegates to the group the right to make the decision. His subordinates are able to take a decision within well-defined criteria and limits.
7. The Manager may permit full involvement of the subordinates in the decision-making process: This is a style of leadership often referred to as ‘Democratic’ leadership. Leadership style refers to the behaviour pattern adopted by a leader to influence the behaviour of his subordinates for attaining the organisational goals. As different leadership styles have their own merits and demerits, it is difficult to prefer one leadership style over another. The selection of a leadership style will depend on the consideration of a number of factors. Tannenbaum and Schmidt have pointed out the important factors that affect the choice of a style of leadership. They are:
a. Forces in the manager, i.e., the manager’s personality, experience and value system.
b. Forces in the subordinates, i.e., the subordinates’ readiness for taking decisions, and their knowledge, interest, need for independence, etc.
c. Forces in the situation, i.e., complexity of the problem, pressure of time etc.
The different types of leadership styles are:
1. Autocratic or Task Management Leadership
2. Participative or Democratic Leadership and
3. Laissez-faire or Free-rein Leadership
4. Paternalistic Leadership.
1. Autocratic or Task Management Leadership: The autocratic leader gives orders which he insists shall be obeyed. He determines policies for the group without consulting them, and does not give detailed information about future plans, but simply tells the group what immediate steps they must take. In other words, an autocratic leader is one who centralizes the authority in himself and does not delegate authority to his subordinates. He is dictatorial by nature, and has no regard for his subordinates. He drives himself and his subordinates with one thought uppermost in his mind – action must produce results. An autocratic leader controls the entire planning process, and calls upon his subordinates to execute what he has planned. An autocratic leader operates on the following assumptions:
a. An average human being has inherent dislike for work and will avoid it if he can. If his subordinates were intelligent enough, they would not be in subordinate positions.
b. He assumes that unintelligent subordinates are immature, unreliable and irresponsible persons. Therefore, they should be constantly watched in the course of their work.
c. As he has no regard for his subordinates, he gets the work done by his subordinates through negative motivation, that is, through threats of penalty and punishment.
Thus, under this style, all decision-making power is centralized in the leader. The autocratic leader stresses his prerogative to decide and order, and denies subordinates the freedom to influence his behaviour.
1. Strictly autocratic leaders: A strictly autocratic leader relies on negative influence and gives orders which the subordinates must accept. He may also use his power to dispense rewards to his group.
2. Benevolent Autocrat: The benevolently autocratic leader is effective in getting high productivity in many situations and he can develop effective human relationships. His motivational style is usually positive.
3. Manipulative Autocrat: A manipulative autocratic leader is one who makes subordinates feel that they are participating in decision making process even though he has already taken the decision.
2. Participative or Democratic Leadership: A democratic leader is one who consults and invites his subordinates to participate in the decision making process. He gives orders only after consulting the group, sees to it that policies are worked out in group decisions and with the acceptance of group. The manager largely avoids the use of power to get a job done. He behaves that a desired organisational behaviour can be obtained if employees’ needs and wants are satisfied. Therefore, he not only issues orders but interprets them and sees to it that the employees have the necessary skills and tools to carry out their assignments. He assigns a fair work load to his personnel and accords due recognition to jobs that are well done. There is a team approach to the attainment of organisational goals. He recognizes the human value of showing greater concern for his subordinates. A participative leader operates on the following assumptions:
a. Subordinates are capable of doing work independently and assuming the responsibility for proper execution if they are given opportunities and incentives.
b. Subordinates are supervised, guided and aided rather than threatened and commanded to work.
c. Mistakes are not viewed seriously. The assumption is that disciplinary action breeds discontent and frustration among employees and creates an unhealthy work environment.
3. Laissez-faire or Free-rein Leadership: A free-rein leader does not lead, but leaves the group entirely to itself. The leader avoids using power and entrusts the decision-making authority to his subordinates. He does not direct his subordinates, thereby giving them complete freedom of operation. Groups of members work independently and provide their own motivation. The manager exists as a facilitator and buffer contact man between the team and outsiders, while bringing for his group the information and resources it needs to accomplish its job. A free-rein leader operates in the following manner:
a. He follows the rule of minimum exposure to accountability.
b. He relieves himself of responsibilities and is ready to blame his subordinates if something goes wrong.
c. He has no clear idea of the goals to be attained.
d. He is more security conscious than status conscious.
e. This mode of direction can produce good and quick results, if the subordinates are highly educated and brilliant people who have a sincere need to go ahead and discharge their responsibility.
4. Paternalistic Leadership: Under this type of leadership, the leader assumes that his function is fatherly. His attitude is that of treating the relationship between the leader and his groups as that of family, with the leader as the head of the family. The leader works to help, guide, protect and keep his followers happily working together as members of a family. He provides them with good working conditions, fringe benefits and employee services. It is said that employees under such leadership will work harder, out of sheer gratitude as well as emotional bondage. Task critically analyse the type of your most favourite leader.
The importance of leadership in an organisation cannot be denied. People working in an organisation need individuals (leaders) who could be instrumental in guiding the efforts of groups of workers to achieve goals and objectives of both the individuals and the organisation. The leader guides the action of others in accomplishing these tasks. A good leader motivates his subordinates, creates confidence and increases the morale of the workers. In the words of Peter F Drucker, “Good leadership is a must for the success of a business but the business leaders are the scarcest resources of any enterprise”. The following points highlight the importance of leadership:
1. Leadership is the process of influencing the activities of an individual or a group towards the achievement of a goal.
2. An effective leader motivates subordinates for turning in a higher level of performance.
3. Leadership promotes team-spirit and team-work which is essential for the success of any organisation.
4. Leadership is an aid to authority. Dynamic and enlightened leadership helps in the effective use of formal authority.
5. Leadership creates confidence in subordinates by giving them proper guidance and advice.
The history of business is full of instances where good leaders led their business concerns to unprecedented peaks of success. To quote George R Terry: “The will to do is triggered by leadership, and lukewarm desires for achievement are transformed into burning passion for successful accomplishments by the skilful use of leadership skills”.
According to Peter Drucker, “An effective leader is one who can make ordinary men do extraordinary things, make common people do uncommon things. Leadership is a lifting of a man’s sights to a higher vision, the raising of man’s standard to a higher performance, the building of a man’s personality beyond its normal limitations.” This viewpoint of Peter Drucker stresses the leader’s obligation to attain organisational goals and gives attention to the needs of the individuals who are his subordinates. The important functions of a business leader may be briefly summarized as follows:
1. He identifies group goals: A leader must always help the group identify and attain their goals. Thus, a leader is a goal setter.
2. He represents the organisation: A leader represents the organisation and its purpose, ideals, philosophy and problems to those working for it and to the outside world. In other words, a leader is a true representative of the entire organisation.
3. To take the initiative: A leader initiates all the measures that are necessary for the purpose of ensuring the health and progress of the organisation in a competitive economy. He should not expect others to guide or direct him. He should lay down the aims and objectives, commence their implementation and see that the goals are achieved according to the predetermined targets.
4. He manages the organisation: Last but not the least, he administers the undertaking by arranging for the forecast, planning, organisation, direction, co-ordination and control of its activities.
5. He acts as an arbitrator: When groups experience internal difference, whether based on emotional or intellectual clashes, a leader can often resolve the differences. He acts as an arbitrator to prevent serious differences from cropping up within the group.
6. To guide and direct: It is the primary function of the leader to guide and direct the organisation. He should issue the necessary instructions and see that they are properly communicated.
7. To encourage teamwork: A leader must try to win the confidence of his subordinates. He must act like the captain of a team.
8. To assign reasons for his action: It is the delicate task of a leader to assign reasons to his every command. He has to instruct things in such a way that they are intelligible to all concerned and their co-operation is readily forthcoming.
9. To interpret: He interprets the objectives of the organisation and the means to be followed to achieve them; he apprises his followers, convinces them, and creates confidence among them.
Different authorities and different researchers have viewed leadership differently. Some put emphasis on personal options, while others view leadership as situational. The researches conducted by behavioural scientists to find out what makes a leader effective have resulted in “theories of leadership”. The important theories of leadership are listed/discussed below:
1. Trait Theory of Leadership
2. Behavioural Theory of Leadership
3. Contingency Theory of Leadership
4. Management Grid or Leadership Grid
5. Situational Theory of Leadership
6. Great Man Theory of Leadership
7. Path-Goal Theory
8. Participation Theory of Leadership
1. Trait Theory of Leadership: Trait theory seeks to determine personal characteristics of effective leaders. It points out that the personal traits or personal characteristics of a person make him an effective or successful leader. Charles Bird examined twenty lists of traits attributed to leaders in various surveys and found that none of the traits appeared on all lists. Leaders were characterized a wide variety of traits ranging all the way from neatness to nobility. Persons who are leaders are presumed to display better judgment and engage themselves in social activities. Study of the lives of successful leaders reveals that they possessed many of these traits. According to the trait theory, persons who possess the following traits or personal characteristics could become successful leaders:
a. Good personality: Physical characteristics and level of maturity determine the personality of an individual. Good personality is an important factor in determining the success of a leader.
b. Intellectual ability: A leader must have a higher level of intelligence than the average follower. A leader should analyze the situation accurately and take decision accordingly.
c. Initiative: A leader should initiate suitable activities at a proper time.
d. Imagination: A leader should have the ability to imaginatively visualize trends and device his policies and programmes.
e. Maturity: A leader should be emotionally mature and have a balanced temperament. They should also have high frustration tolerance.
f. Desire to accept responsibility: A leader should be prepared to shoulder the responsibility for the consequences of any step he takes. In other words, he should accept full responsibility for his actions.
g. Self-confidence: A leader should possess self-confidence. Self-confidence is essential to motivate the followers and boost up their morale.
h. Flexibility: A leader should be prepared to accommodate others viewpoints and modify his decisions. He should have an open mind, ready to absorb and adopt new ideas and views of others.
a. It assumes that leadership is an inborn quality. This is not always true but, leadership qualities may be developed through training also.
b. A leader may prove very successful is one situation due to some traits, but may fail in another situation.
c. The theory also fails to mention the traits which are necessary to maintain leadership. Measurement of a trait usually occur after a person becomes a leader.
d. There cannot be any common list of personal traits found in all successful leaders.
e. Personal traits are only a part of the whole environment. By emphasizing merely on the personal traits, the other qualities of a leader are ignored.
Despite the limitations of trait theory, people still think in terms of leadership traits. For example, in many hiring and promotion decisions, the decision maker selects people, he or she should have “leadership potential”. There is nothing wrong about such a choice, but is this an effective strategy? Probably not. Using valid systems for employee selection results in higher-quality employees than basing decisions on non-job-related personality traits.
2. Behavioural Theory of Leadership: According to this theory, a particular behaviour of a leader provides greater satisfaction to the followers and so they recognize him as a good leader. The behavioural approach is based on the premise that effective leadership is the result of effective role behaviour. A leader uses conceptual, human and technical skills to influence the behaviour of his subordinates. The behavioural theory does not concentrate on the traits of leaders; it inspires study of the activities of leaders to identify their behavioural patterns. The inability of the trait approach to consistently define specific traits that would differentiate successful and unsuccessful leaders led to the conclusion that emphasis on the behaviour of leaders (which could be measured) rather than emphasis on traits (which could not be measured) were an appropriate new research strategy. Beginning in the late 1940s and continuing through the early 1960s, research based on this emphasis was conducted at Ohio State University and the University of Michigan.
a. The Ohio State University Studies: A team of Ohio State University researchers including Edwin Fleishman conducted extensive surveys. The goal of the research was to:
i. Identify the behaviours exhibited by leaders.
ii. Determine what affect these behaviours had on employee satisfaction and performance.
iii. Identify the best leadership style.
To do this, questionnaires were developed to assess leadership styles. The Leader Behaviour Description Questionnaire (LBDQ) was designed to tap subordinate perception of the leader’s behaviours, while the Leader Opinion Questionnaire (LOQ) measured the leader’s perception of his own style. After an analysis of actual leader behaviour in a wide variety of situations, two important leadership behaviours were isolated:
(i) Initiating-structure behaviour (IS): Clearly defining the roles of leader and follower so that everyone knows what is expected. This includes establishing formal lines of communication and deciding how tasks are to be performed.
(ii) Consideration Behaviour(C): Demonstrating concern for followers and trying to establish a friendly and supportive work climate based on mutual trust.
These two kinds of behaviour were viewed as independent, meaning a particular Notes leader can score high in use of one type of behaviour, the other, or both. Leaders who scored high on IS generally led high-producing groups and were rated highly by their superiors. However, the subordinates of those leaders tended to have lower morale, higher grievance rates, and higher turnover. Leaders high on C, on the other hand, generally led groups with higher morale but lower productivity. Thus, each of the specific leader behaviours had positive and negative outcomes associated with them. The extension of these findings by some later theorists led to the conclusion that leaders high on both LS and C would simultaneously satisfy their superiors (by achieving high performance) and their subordinated (by improving their morale).
b. University of Michigan Studies: Under Rensis Likert, researchers at the University of Michigan conducted extensive interviews with managers and the employees who reported to them. After studying numerous industrial situations, the researchers concluded that two leadership styles – employee-centered and production or task-centered– influenced employee performance and satisfaction.
(i) Task-Centered Leader Behaviour: An effort to lead employees by focusing on work and how well employees performs. The task-centered leader pays close attention to employees’ work, explains work procedures, and is deeply interested in performance.
(ii) Employee-centered Leader Behaviour: An effort to lead employees by developing a cohesive work group and ensuring employee satisfaction. The employee-centered leader emphasizes employees’ well-being rather than the tasks they perform. The researchers defined these behaviours as mutually exclusive; a leader tends to use one or the other. The Michigan studies showed that employee-centered leaders supervised groups with higher morale and productivity, while production-centered leaders supervised groups with lower productivity and morale. These findings led to the belief that the employee-centered leadership style was superior to the production-centered leadership style.
3. Contingency Theory of Leadership: Fiedler’s contingency model is one of the most serious and elaborate situational theories in leadership literature. Fiedler is probably the first researcher who recognised the need for a broader explanation of leadership phenomena anchored on situational variables. Fiedler’s model is called a ‘contingency’ model because the leader’s effectiveness is partially contingent upon three major situational variables.
a. Leader-Member Relations: It refers to the degree of confidence, trust and respect followers have in the leader. It indicates the degree to which group members like the leader and are willing to accept the leader’s behaviour, as an influence on them. If followers are willing to follow because of charisma, expertise, competence or mutual respect, the leader has little need to depend on task structure or position power. If, on the other hand, the leader is not trusted and is viewed negatively by followers, the situation is considered less favourable.
b. Task Structure: It measures the extent to which the task performed by subordinates is routine or non-routine. Task structure refers to the degree to which the task requirements are clearly defined, (clarity of goals) the correctness of a decision can be easily verified (verifiability of decisions made) and there are alternative solutions to task problems (multiplicity of options to solve problems). In other words, task structure refers to how routine and predictable the work group’s task is.
c. Leader Position Power: The most obvious manner in which the leader secures power is by accepting and performing the leadership role. Position power in the contingency model refers to the power inherent in the leader’s organisational position. It refers to the degree to which the leader has at his disposal various rewards and sanctions, his authority over group’s members, and the degree to which this authority is supported by the organisation.
d. Favourableness of the Situation: Thus, depending on the ‘high’ and low’ categories of these situational variables, Fiedler developed eight possible combinations ranging from highly favourable to unfavourable situations. A favourable situation is where the leader-member relations are good, the task is highly structured and the leader has enormous power to exert influence on the subordinates. The first cell in the table is identified with this high degree of favourableness. At the other extreme, an unfavourable situation is, where the leader’s power is weak, relations with members are poor and the task is unstructured and unpredictable. The last cell represents this situation. Between these two extremes lies the situation of intermediate difficulty. Fiedler states that a permissive, relationship-oriented style is best when the situation is moderately favourable or moderately unfavourable. When the situation is highly favourable or highly unfavourable, a task-oriented style produces the desired performance.
4. Managerial Grid: Robert R Blake and Jane S Moulton have designed an organisation development program emphasizing the importance of the two basic leader behaviours (concern for people and concern for production) originally identified in the Ohio State and
Michigan studies. The managerial grid categorizes leadership behaviour as concern for people and concern for production. However, rather than viewing each type of concern as an absolute measure, the managerial grid puts them along two independent continuums. A manager thus has low to high concern for people and low to high concern for production. Each type of concern is ranked on a scale from 1 to 9, resulting in five major combinations of leader behaviour:
a. Improvised (1,1) Management: Minimal concern for production or people. This style of management results in employees doing the minimum required.
b. Authority-Compliance (9.1) Management: High concern for production and low concern for people. This style of management tends to result in efficient operations.
c. Country Club (1,9) Management: Low concern for production and high concern for people. This style of management creates a working environment where employees feel comfortable.
d. Middle-of-the Road (5,5) Management: Moderate levels of concern for both people and production. This style of management balances needs through compromise, resulting in adequate performance.
e. Team (9,9) Management: High levels of concern for people and production. This style of management results in superior performance from committed employees. The model is designed to help managers first see their current leadership style and then to help them develop the most desirable style. Blake and Mouton believe there is an ideal style 9, 9 management. However, they have found that most managers use the middle-of the road style.
5. Situational Theory of Leadership: The situational theory of leadership is strongly affected by the situation from which a leader emerges and in which he works. This theory emphasizes that the entire action between the group and the leader is the main factor which makes a leader successful. The people (followers) tend to follow the person (leader) who is capable of fulfilling their aspirations. Thus, a leader recognizes the need of the situation and acts accordingly. The merit of this theory is that it makes it abundantly clear that there is no single universally “best style” of leadership. A leader has to change his style of leadership from situation to situation. Contingency or situational theories differ from the earlier trait and behavioural theories in asserting that no single way of leading works in all situations. Recent research suggests that managers should select a leadership that best fits with the situation at a given time. Effective managers diagnose the situation, identify the leadership style that will be most effective, and then determine if they can implement the required style. Early situational research suggested that three general factors affect the appropriate leadership style in a given situation.
a. Subordinate Considerations: Reflect the leader’s awareness of subordinate’s expertise, experience, competence, job knowledge, hierarchical level and psychological characteristics.
b. Supervisor Considerations: Reflect the leader’s degree of upward influence, as well as his or her similarity of attitudes and behaviours to those in higher positions.
c. Task Considerations: Reflect the degree of time urgency, amount of physical danger, permissible error rate, presence of stress, degree of autonomy, degree of job scope, importance and meaningfulness, and degree of ambiguity of the work being performed.
d. The precise aspects of each dimension that influence the most effective leadership style vary in different situations. Most situational theorists suggest that effective leaders develop a range of leadership styles, which they adapt to different situations.
1. This theory stresses the leadership ability of a person in a given situation but it is silent on the question whether he will fit in another situation.
2. If the leader adopts some style under all situations, he may not be successful. This is not always true, but leaders have been successful at all times and at all situations.
6. Great Man Theory of Leadership: The theory asserts that leaders are born and not made.
This is especially so with great leaders who are natural leaders. Leadership calls for certain qualities like commanding personality, charm, courage, intelligence, integrity, persuasiveness, tenacity and aggressiveness. These qualities are of such a nature that they can’t be taught or learnt in a formal sense. The implementations of this approach are:
a. Leaders have certain inborn leadership qualities.
b. Inborn qualities are sufficient for a leader to be successful.
c. Ordinary people cannot become leaders.
d. Leadership qualities cannot be acquired.
Thus great leaders are “the gift of god” to mankind. They bestow great good on people by their decisions and activities, which are also divinely destined and approved.
1. The theory is now regarded as almost obsolete and absurd because it has little scientific and empirical basis.
2. The theory does not explain who are leaders, how they emerge, how they behave and what exactly it is that makes for their effectiveness.
7. Path-goal Theory: Developed by Robert House, the Path Goal theory is one of the most respected approaches to leadership. The essence of the theory is that it’s the leader’s job to assist his or her followers in attaining their goals and to provide the necessary direction and/or support to ensure their goals are compatible with the overall objectives of the group or organisation. According to this theory, leaders attempt to influence their subordinate’s perceptions of the payoff for accomplishing their goals and show them ways to achieve the goals. Thus, a leader’s behaviour is motivational to the degree it:
a. Makes subordinate need satisfaction contingent on effective performance, and
b. Provide the coaching, guidance, support and rewards that are necessary for effective performance.
To test these statements, House identified four leadership behaviours or styles:
1. Directive Style: The leader tells subordinates what is expected of them, gives them guidance about what should be done, and also shows them how to do it.
2. Supportive Style: The leader shows concern for the well-being and needs of his or her subordinates by being friendly and approachable.
3. Participative Style: The leader involves subordinates in decision making, consults with them about their views of the situation, asks for their suggestions, considers those suggestions in making a decision, and sometimes lets the subordinates make the decision themselves.
4. Achievement-Oriented Style: The leader helps subordinates set goals, rewards the accomplishment of these goals and encourages subordinates to assume responsibility for their attainment.
House assumes that leaders are flexible and implies that the same leader can display any or all of these behaviours, depending on the situation.
8. Participation Theory of Leadership: Victor Vroom and Phillip Yetton developed a leader participation model that related leadership behaviour and participation to decision making. They assume that leaders use four basic styles in making decisions: authoritative, consultative, group-based and delegative. These styles led to different decision-making processes for solving both individual and group problems.
1. Male/Female leadership styles: As more women assume visible leadership roles, many observers perceive differences in the leadership styles of the two sexes. The studies thathave found differences between male and female leadership styles typically find that women tend to lead more democratically than their male counterparts. Women are more likely to encourage participation in decision making, to share power and information, and to try to enhance the self-worth of their followers. They influence through their charisma, expertise, personal contacts, and interpersonal skills. In contrast, men are more likely to rely on the authority of their position and issue directives to their followers.
2. Leading through empowerment: Managers are currently advised to lead through empowerment. Effective leaders share power and responsibilities with their employees. The empowering leader’s role is to show trust, provide vision, improve performance, dismantle blocking barriers, offer encouragement, motivate and coach employees.
3. Biological basis for leadership: A growing body of research suggests the best leaders are not necessarily the smartest, strongest, or more aggressive of a group but rather those who are most proficient at handling social interactions. Researchers have found that effective leaders possess a unique biochemical mixture of hormones and brain chemistry that helps them build social alliances and cope with stress. Higher levels of the chemical serotonin increases levels of sociability and controls aggression, while higher levels of testosterone increase aggressive tendencies and competitive drive.
Communication is the exchange of messages between people for the purpose of reaching common understandings, and achieving common goals. Unless common meanings are shared, managers find it extremely difficult to influence others. Whenever groups of people interact, communication takes place. Communication is the exchange of information using a shared set of symbols. It is the process that links group members and enables them to coordinate their activities. Therefore, when managers foster effective communication, they strengthen the connections between employees and build cooperation. Leadership is a key process in any organisation. Coming to business enterprises, people working there need leaders who could be instrumental in guiding the efforts of groups of workers to achieve the goals of both individuals and the organisation. Leadership is a process of influence on a group. Leadership is the ability of a manager to induce subordinates to work with confidence and zeal.
According to Theo Haimann, “Communication, fundamental and vital to all managerial actions, is the process of imparting ideas and making oneself understood by others”.
According to Dalton McFarland, “Communication may be broadly defined as the process of meaningful interaction among human beings. More specifically, it is the process by which meanings are perceived and understandings are reached among human beings”.
According to Louis A Allen, “Communication is the sum of all the things one person does when he wants to create understanding in the mind of another. It is a bridge of meaning. It involves a systematic and continuous process of telling, listening and understanding”.
In the words of Newman and Summer, “Communication is an exchange of fact, ideas, opinions or emotions by two or more persons”.
According to Hudson,” Communication in its simplest form is conveying of information from one person to another”.
According to Charles E Redfield, communication is “the broad field of human interchange of facts and opinions and not the technologies of telephone, telegraph, radio and the like”.
According to Koontz and O’Donnell, “Communication, is an intercourse by words, letters symbols or messages, and is a way that the organization members shares meaning and understanding with another”.
According to Sigmund, Communication is “the transmission and reception of ideas, feelings and attitudes both verbally and non-verbally eliciting a response. It is a dynamic concept underlying all lands of living systems”.
It should be clear from the above definitions that communication is not merely sending or receiving message. It is much more than that. It includes proper understanding of message, acceptance and action on it. Unless common meanings are shared, managers find it extremely difficult to influence others. Communication is a critical part of every manager’s job. Without effective communication, even the most brilliant strategies and the best-laid plans may not be successful. As a result, it is not surprising that high-level executives, as well as managers at other levels, often mention effective communication skills, both oral and written, as crucial elements for managerial success. Communication is thus an attempt to share understanding by two or more persons. It is a two-way process and is completed when there is some response from the receiver of information. It has two basic objectives:
1. To transmit message, ideas or opinions, and
2. To create an impression or understanding in the minds of the receiver of information.
Communication is an indispensable activity in all organisations. No organisation can think of its existence without effective communication. That is why Chester Bernard once remarked,
“The first executive function is to develop and maintain a system of communication”. An organisation’s very survival depends on its employees’ ability to communicate with one another and with the members of its environment. The free flow of ideas and information is an essential ingredient in the drive for quality and continuous improvement. The organisation relies on communications to learn what its customers want, to foster cooperation among its employees, and to identify and adapt to changes in the environment. An effective communication system is essential to pass messages, ideas and information for explaining objectives and plans, controlling performance and taking corrective action.
The importance of communication in management can be judged from the following:
1. Gaining acceptance of policies, winning cooperation of others, getting instructions and ideas clearly understood and bringing about the desired changes in performance are dependent upon effective communication.
2. Communication helps the management in arriving at vital decisions. In its absence, it may not be possible for the top-level management to come in closer contact with each other and discuss the important problems pertaining to the organisation.
3. Constant communication with personnel helps the management to remain informed about their problems, difficulties and grievances. Appropriate steps can be taken in time to remove the worker’s difficulties. Conflicts often arise because of communication gaps. They can be averted by setting up a regular arrangement of keeping contact with the workers through communication media.
4. Communication is quite essential for coordination, which is the essence of effective management. It brings about mutual understanding between the personnel at all levels and fosters the spirit of cooperation. In the words of Mary Crushing Niles, “Good communications are essential to coordination. They are necessary upward, downward and sideways, through all the levels of authority and advise for the transmission, interpretation and adoption of policies, for the sharing of knowledge and information, and for the more subtle needs of good morale and mutual understanding”.
5. Greater, better and cheaper production are the aims of all managers. In today’s organisations, the information passes through a variety of filters and there is always a chance for misinterpretation. An effective system of communication can play a vital role in avoiding this illusion. The employees should be told clearly what exactly to do and the way in which an instruction is to be carried out. In this process, certain directions are to be given, certain feelings must be expressed and a certain amount of interpersonal perceptions must be exchanged. In the words of Shobhana Khandwala, “For this, management has to sell ideas, motivate the workers to work with a will, and build up higher morale in the company. Communication, as an influence process, plays a vital role here. It becomes, thus, a part of education, propaganda, leadership and guidance function of the management”.
6. Under an effective system of communication, it is quite convenient for the employees to express their grievances, and bring all their problems to the notice of the management. Proper communications between the interested parties reduce the point of friction and minimize those that inevitably arise. Hence by effective communication, a group having ‘skill’ and ‘will’ to do can be built up. Communication helps in securing the largest possible participation or consultation in decision making, planning and general administration. This will give a democratic character to the managerial process and strengthen the morale of the staff.
Communication serves four major functions within an organization.
1. Control: Communication acts to control the employees’ behaviour. Organizations have authority hierarchies and formal guidelines that employees are required to follow. The control mechanism can work only when the communication – oral and written, is effective. Informal communication also controls behaviour.
2. Information: Communication is a vital necessity to an organization, just as the bloodstream is to the person. It is essential that information must be communicated to the managers on the basis of which the plans can be developed; these plans must be communicated to the operating managers and employees.
3. Motivation: Communication fosters motivation by clarifying to employees what is to be done, how well they are doing and what can be done to prove performance if it is unsatisfactory.
4. Emotional Expression: Communication provides a release for the emotional expression of feelings and for fulfilment of social needs. Employees show their frustrations and feelings of satisfaction through communication.
Levels of communication are:
1. Intrapersonal communication: It is the language used or thought internal to the communicator. Intrapersonal communication is the active internal involvement of the individual in symbolic processing of messages. Both the roles of the sender and receiver, is assumed by the individual himself and he also provides feedback to herself in an ongoing internal process. It can be useful to envision intrapersonal communication occurring in the mind of the individual in a model which contains a sender, receiver, and feedback loop.
2. Interpersonal communication: It is the level in which communication channels are the medium chosen to convey the message from sender to receiver. Communication channels can be either direct or indirect. Direct channels are those that are obvious and can be easily recognized by the receiver. They are also under direct control of the sender. Indirect channels are those channels that are usually recognized subliminally or subconsciously by the receiver, and not under direct control of the sender.
3. Group communication refers to the nature of communication that occurs in groups that are between 3 and 12 individuals. Small group communication generally takes place in a context that mixes interpersonal communication interactions with social clustering.
4. Public communication: It’s at the heart of our economy, society, and politics. Studios use it to promote their films. Politicians use it to get elected. Businesses use it to burnish their image. Advocates use it to promote social causes. It’s a field built on ideas and images, persuasion and information, strategy and tactics. No policy or product can succeed without a smart message targeted to the right audience in creative and innovative ways.
Communication can be classified on the basis of the medium employed:
1. Verbal Communication: It means communicating with words, written or spoken. Verbal communication consists of speaking, listening, writing, reading, and thinking. It may further be classified as Oral or Written Communication.
2. Non-verbal communication: It includes using of pictures, signs, gestures, and facial expressions for exchanging information between persons. It is done through sign language, action language, or object language. Non-verbal communication flows through all acts of speaking or writing. It is a wordless message conveyed through gestures (sign), movements (action language), and object language (pictures/clothes) and so on. Further non-verbal communication can be identified by personal space (proxemics), sense of smell (olfactics) and time (chronemics).
3. Meta communication: Here the speaker’s choice of words unintentionally communicates something more than what the actual words state. For example, a flattering remark like “I’ve never seen you so smartly dressed” could also mean that the regular attire of the listener needed improvement.
4. Formal Communication: A formal channel of communication can be defined as a means of communication that is formally controlled by managers or people occupying positions in an organisation. The communication flows through formal channels, that is, officially recognized positions along the line in the organisation. This ensures that the information flows orderly, timely, and accurately. Any information, decision, memo, reminder etc. will follow this path.
5. Informal Communication: Side by side with the formal channel of communication every organisation has an equally effective channel of communication that is the informal channel. It is not officially sanctioned, and quite often it is even discouraged or looked down upon. But, then, it is very much there, and has been given the name ‘grapevine’ precisely because it runs in all directions-horizontal, vertical, diagonal. As the management experts put it, “it flows around water coolers, down hallways, through lunch rooms, and wherever people get together in groups”.
7. Downward Communication: The Communication that flows from Top to Bottom is known as downward communication. Any organisation has an inbuilt hierarchical system, and in that, in the first instance, communication invariably flows downwards.
8. Upward Communication: The Communication that flows from bottom to top, which is from lower hierarchical level to higher level, is called Upward Communication. The main function of upward communication is to supply information to the upper levels about what is happening at the lower levels. It is just the reverse of the previous dimension.
9. Lateral Communication: When communication takes place between two or more persons who are subordinates working under the same person, or those who are working on the same level, it is called lateral or horizontal communication. A good example of this kind of communication is that between functional managers. It is necessary for the reviewing of the activities assigned to various subordinates having identical positions
10. Diagonal Communication: Diagonal or Crosswise communication includes flow of information among persons at different levels who have no direct reporting relationships. As an example, the Communication between the Training Supervisor and Marketing Manager, regarding the Training of a few employees of Marketing Department, is Diagonal Communication. This kind of communication is used to speed up information flow, to improve understanding, and to coordinate efforts for the achievement of organisational objectives.
Based on context, the different types of communication are:
1. Organisational Communication: Communication is the passing of information and understanding from one person to another at the same level or at different levels. It is the process by which the management reaches others in managing its work. Since managers work through others, all of their managerial functions pass through the bottleneck of communication. One person can initiate the process but he alone cannot complete it. It is completed only when it is received by others. The effectiveness of management largely depends upon the effectiveness of communication. It is communication which gives life to the organisation; so, it can be likened to the life blood of an organisation. The communication system serves as the vehicle by which an organisation is embedded in its environment. It not only integrates the various sub –units of an organisation but also, in a systematic sense, serves as an elaborate set of interconnected channels designed to sift and analyse information important from the environment. It also exports processed information to the environment. The roles of communication become more critical as the organisation grows in its size, complexity and sophistication. So, the system should be adjusted according to the needs of the organisation from time to time. Communication is the nervous system of an organisation. It keeps the members of the organisation informed about the internal and external happenings relevant to a task and of interest to the organisation. It coordinates the efforts of the members towards achieving organisational objectives. It is the process of influencing the action of a person or a group. It is the process of meaningful interaction among human beings to initiate, execute, accomplish, or prevent certain actions. Communication is, thus, the life blood of an organisation. Without communication, an organisation is lifeless and its very existence is in danger.
2. Political Communication: Political communication is a field of communications that is concerned with political scenario in a country or communication that often influences political decisions and vice versa. The area of political communication concern 2 main areas:
a. Election campaigns: the campaigning for various candidates during elections is political Communications
b. Government operations: this role is usually fulfilled by a Ministry of Communications, Information Technology or similar political entity. Such an entity is in charge of maintaining communication legislation and would be responsible for setting telecommunications policy and regulations as well as issuing broadcasting licenses, comments press releases, etc.
3. Intercultural Communication: Intercultural communication refers to the communication between people from different cultures. According to Samovar and Porter, intercultural communication occurs whenever a message is produced by a member of one culture for consumption by a member of another culture, a message must be understood. Because of cultural differences in these kinds of contacts, the potential for misunderstanding and disagreement is great. To reduce this risk, it is important to study intercultural communication. The importance of intercultural communications is increasing due to:
4. Globalisation of world markets: Doing business beyond our borders is now commonplace. Not only are market borders blurring, but acquisitions, mergers, and alliances are obscuring the nationalities of many companies. As markets expand, national boundaries and national allegiance mean less and less. What has happened is globalisation of markets where world tends to act as one marketplace. In this global marketplace, more and more markets are opening to worldwide competition enabling businesses to look for new growth opportunities for their goods and services. To be successful in this interdependent global village, companies are finding it necessary to adapt to other cultures.
5. Technological Advancements: amazing new transportation and information technologies are major contributors to the development of our global interconnectivity. Supersonic planes now carry goods and passengers to other continents overnight. Equally significant in creating the global village are incredible advancements in communication technologies. The Internet now permits instantaneous oral and written communication across time zones and continents. People in companies use high-speed data systems to transfer and exchange information and plans instantly with their counterparts in foreign locations. The new communication technologies allow teams from all over the world to work on projects and share information without leaving their desks. At the same time, advanced technologies allow manufacturers to produce their goods in foreign locations that offer abundant supply of low cost labour.
6. Understanding Culture: Every country or region within a country has a unique common heritage, joint experience, or shared learning. This shared background produces the culture of a region, country, or society. For our purposes, culture may be defined as the complex system of values, traits, morals, and customs shared by a society. Culture teaches people how to behave, and it conditions their reactions. Intercultural communications helps in understanding various cultures.
7. Educational Communication: This type of communication relates to the field of education. It involves any type of communication flows, levels, systems that lead to acquisition and imparting of learning. Example: A teacher, teaching in a class or a student giving a presentation in a class etc. Task Analyse the type of communication that you follow or have followed as a student while communicating with your friends, seniors and principal. Is there any difference?
Communication is important in building and sustaining human relationships at work. It cannot be replaced by the advances in information technology and data management that have taken place over the past several decades. Communication can be thought of as a process or flow. Before communication can take place, a purpose, expressed as a message to be conveyed is needed. It passes between the sender and the receiver. The result is transference of meaning from one person to another. The figure below depicts the communication process. This model is made up of seven parts:
1. the communication source
2. encoding,
3. the message,
4. the channel,
5. decoding,
6. the receiver, and
7. feedback.
1. Source: The source initiates a message. This is the origin of the communication and can be an individual, group or inanimate object. The effectiveness of a communication depends to a considerable degree on the characteristics of the source. Aristotle believed that acceptance of the source’s message could be increased by:- Pathos – Playing on the emotions of the receiver.
Logos – Generating logical arguments or
Ethos – Asking for message acceptance because the source is trustworthy.
The person who initiates the communication process is known as sender, source or communicator. In an organization, the sender will be a person who has a need or desire to send a message to others. The sender has some information which he wants to communicate to some other person to achieve some purpose. By initiating the message, the sender attempts to achieve understanding and change in the behaviour of the receiver.
2. Encoding: Once the source has decided what message to communicate, the content of the message must be put in a form the receiver can understand. As the background for encoding Source Encoding Message Channel Decoding Receiving information, the sender uses his or her own frame of reference. It includes the individual’s Communication view of the organization or situation as a function of personal education, interpersonal relationships, attitudes, knowledge and experience. Three conditions are necessary for successful encoding the message.
a. Skill: Successful communicating depends on the skill you possess. Without the requisite skills, the message of the communicator will not reach the requisite skills; the message of the communicator will not reach the receiver in the desired form. One’s total communicative success includes speaking, reading, listening and reasoning skills.
b. Attitudes: Our attitudes influence our behaviour. We hold predisposed ideas on a number of topics and our communications are affected by these attitudes.
c. Knowledge: We cannot communicate what we don’t know. The amount of knowledge the source holds about his or her subject will affect the message he or she seeks to transfer.
3. The Message: The message is the actual physical product from the source encoding. The message contains the thoughts and feelings that the communicator intends to evoke in the receiver. The message has two primary components:-
a. The Content: The thought or conceptual component of the message is contained in the words, ideas, symbols and concepts chosen to relay the message.
b. The Affect: The feeling or emotional component of the message is contained in the intensity, force, demeanour (conduct or behaviour), and sometimes the gestures of the communicator.
According to D.K Berlo – “when we speak, the speech is the message. When we write, the writing is the message. When we paint, the picture is the message. When we gesture, the movements of our arms, the expressions on our faces are the message”.
4. The Channel: The actual means by which the message is transmitted to the receiver (Visual, auditory, written or some combination of these three) is called the channel. The channel is the medium through which the message travels. The channel is the observable carrier of the message. Communication in which the sender’s voice is used as the channel is called oral communication. When the channel involves written language, the sender is using written communication. The sender’s choice of a channel conveys additional information beyond that contained in the message itself. For example, documenting an employee’s poor performance in writing conveys that the manager has taken the problem seriously.
5. Decoding: Decoding means interpreting what the message means. The extent to which the decoding by the receiver depends heavily on the individual characteristics of the sender and receiver. The greater the similarity in the background or status factors of the communicators, the greater the probability that a message will be perceived accurately. Most messages can be decoded in more than one way. Receiving and decoding a message are a type of perception. The decoding process is therefore subject to the perception biases.
6. The Receiver: The receiver is the object to whom the message is directed. Receiving the message means one or more of the receiver’s senses register the message – for example, hearing the sound of a supplier’s voice over the telephone or seeing the boss give a thumbs-up signal. Like the sender, the receiver is subject to many influences that can affect the understanding of the message. Most important, the receiver will perceive a communication in a manner that is consistent with previous experiences. Communications that are not consistent with expectations is likely to be rejected.
7. Feedback: The final link in the communication process is a feedback loop. Feedback, in effect, is communication travelling in the opposite direction. If the sender pays attention to the feedback and interprets it accurately, the feedback can help the sender learn whether the original communication was decoded accurately. Without feedback, one-way communication occurs between managers and their employees. Faced with differences in their power, lack of time, and a desire to save face by not passing on negative information, employees may be discouraged form providing the necessary feedback to their managers.
Informal communication is communication outside the organization’s formally authorized channels. Informal communication includes all messages transmitted in the work setting other than those that are generated specifically to fulfil work-related assignments. The nature of such communication is nowhere described in the formal communication systems, but the organization could not survive without it.
The network for much informal communication is the organization’s grapevine. Grapevines develop in organizations to handle communications that the formal channels of communication do not handle. It typically supplements or replaces the organizational hierarchy as the means for transmitting communication. The grapevine serves as an excellent source of information about employee attitudes as well as an emotional outlet for workers. Thus, grapevine is likely to be strong during uncertain times and in organizations that limit the flow of information to employees through formal channels. Also, employees may participate in a grapevine to help meet social needs. The development of grapevines is inevitable. Although grapevines are neither good nor bad in themselves, the messages they carry are subject to distortion as messages transmitted from one human link to another become progressively more garbled (distorted: confused). Their content is misinterpreted, abbreviated, embellished (overstated) and selectively transmitted in terms of what the sender believes the receiver wants or needs to know. Since the original message may be only partially true, it is not surprising that the grapevine is sometimes referred to as a rumour mill. The information that travels through Communication a grapevine typically takes the form of gossip (belief about other people) and rumours (efforts to predict future events).
The Grapevine has three main characteristics
1. It is not controlled by management.
2. It is perceived by most employees as being more believable and reliable than formal communiqués issued by top management.
3. It is largely used to serve the self-interests of these people within it.
Non-verbal communication is communication by means of elements and behaviours that are not coded into words. A glance, a star, a smile, a frown, a provocative body movement they all convey meaning. Nonverbal communication includes all elements of communication, such as gestures and the use of space that does not involve words or do not involve language. Porter has defined four aspects of non-verbal communications:
1. Physical: pertaining to the personal method, i.e., facial expressions, tone of voice, sense of touch, smell and body motion.
2. Aesthetics: Creative expressions such as those found in music, dancing or any of the creative arts.
3. Symbolic: Conveying messages through symbolic representations of reality; includes religious, status or ego-building symbols.
4. Sign: mechanical means of conveying messages such as bills, buzzers, locks on doors, etc.
The important categories of non-verbal communication include:-
1. Proxemics
Proxemics refers to the influence of proximity and space on communication. The study of an individual’s perception and use of space, including territorial space, is called proxemics. Territorial space refers to bands of space extending outward from the body. These bands constitute comfort zones. In each comfort zone, different cultures prefer different types of interaction with others. Typically there are four zones of territorial space.
a. Intimate Zone: (touching to two feet): This space is normally reserved for closest family and friends. In this zone, we interact with spouses, significant others, family members and others with whom we have an intimate relationship.
b. Personal Zone: (two to four feet): Family and friends may enter this zone without Communication causing discomfort. Friends typically interact with this distance.
c. Social Zone (four to twelve feet): The person comfortably interacts with others in this zone. Most business transactions take place within the social zone. We prefer that business associates and acquaintances interact with us in this zone.
d. Public Zone (twelve feet to as far as the person can hear and see): This is the most distant zone at which communication can occur. Most of us prefer that strangers stay at least 12 feet from us, and we become uncomfortable when they move closer. Lectures and other formal presentations take place within this zone. In general, a person who moves into a closer zone of personal space is signalling a desire for greater closeness. When the receiver of this non-verbal message interprets it as a request for more closeness than is desirable, the receiver probably will feel uncomfortable and try to move away. Territorial space varies greatly across cultures. People often become uncomfortable when operating in territorial space different from those in which they are familiar.
2. Kinesics
Kinesics is the study of body movements, including posture. Like proxemics, kinesics is culturally bound; there is no single universal gesture. Kinesics behaviour refers to body movements, such as gestures, facial expressions, eye movements and posture. We often draw conclusions regarding people’s feelings about an issue, not only from their words but also from their non-verbal behaviour, such as their facial expressions.
a. Facial Expressions: The face is a rich source of nonverbal communication. The face often gives unintended clues to emotions the sender is trying to hide. Although smiles have universal meaning, frowns, raised eyebrows, and wrinkled foreheads must all be interpreted in conjunction with the actors, the situation and the culture.
b. Eye Behaviour: Eye behaviour are used to add cues for the receiver. Eye contact can enhance reflective listening, and it varies by culture. In India, a direct gaze indicates honesty and forthrightness. Appropriate use of eye contact signals interest in the other person.
c. Gestures: Some people use gestures extensively; others communicate little through this channel. In India, the handshake is a widely used gesture. People often use the handshake as a source of information about another person’s characteristics. A strong, firm handshake is seen as a sign of confidence and enthusiasm.
3. Paralanguage
Paralanguage refers to vocal aspects of communication that relate to how something is said rather than to what is said. Voice quality, tone of voice, laughing, and yawning fit in this category. People make attributions about the sender by deciphering (make sense of; interpret or decode) paralanguage cues. Rapid, loud speech may be taken as a sign of nervousness or anger. Vocal tone includes pitch, loudness, rhythm, rate, and clarity of speech. The standards for what is comfortable vary from one culture to another.
a. Object Language: Object language refers to the communicative use of material things, including clothing, cosmetics, furniture and architecture. A work area adorned with expensive objects communicate high status.
b. Territory Employees’ work areas are, in a sense, their territory. The way people arrange themselves and others within their territory also conveys messages. In a meeting or training session, arranging chairs in rows signals that participants will be lectured to and encourages passive behaviour. Arranging chairs in a circle signals that active participation is encouraged. When interviewing or meeting with someone in his or her office, a manager sends different messages depending on whether the manager remains behind the desk or joins the other person in comfortable chairs on the same side of the desk.
4. Physical Appearance
Aspects of personal appearance such as clothing, hairstyle, jewellery and makeup communicate people’s values and social group. In the workplace, the norms for appropriate physical appearance depend on the industry, job, and organizational culture. People who fail to live up to these norms typically create a bad impression. Their physical appearance is interpreted as meaning they either do not understand their role or do not care about fulfilling it. It is important for the receiver to be alert to these nonverbal aspects of communication. You should look for nonverbal cues as well as listen to the literal meaning of a sender’s words. You should particularly be aware of contradictions between the messages.
Nonverbal communication is important for managers because of its impact on the meaning of the message. However, a manager must consider the total message and all media of communication. A message can only be given meaning in context, and cues are easy to misinterpret. The figure below presents common nonverbal behaviour exhibited by managers and how employees may interpret them. Nonverbal cues can give others the wrong signal.
5. Barriers to Effective Communication
Barriers to communication are factors that block or significantly distort successful communication. Effective managerial communication skills helps overcome some, but not all, barriers to communication in organisations. The more prominent barriers to effective communication which every manager should be aware of is given below:
a. Filtering: Filtering refers to a situation where sender manipulating information so it will be seen more favourably by the receiver. The major determinant of filtering is the number of levels in an organisation’s structure. The more vertical levels in the organisation’s hierarchy, the more will be the opportunities for filtering. Sometimes the information is filtered by the sender himself. If the sender is hiding or camouflaging some meaning and disclosing information in such a fashion as to make it more appealing to the receiver, then he is “filtering” the message deliberately. A manager in the process of altering communication in his favour is attempting to filter the information.
b. Selective Perception: Selective perception means seeing what one wants to see. The receiver, in the communication process, generally resorts to selective perception, i.e., he selectively perceives the message based on the organisational requirements, the needs and characteristics, background of the employees, etc. Perceptual distortion is one of the distressing barriers to the effective communication. People interpret what they see and call it a reality. In our regular activities, we tend to see those things that please us and to reject or ignore unpleasant things. Selective perception allows us to keep out dissonance (the existence of conflicting elements in our perceptual set) at a tolerable level. If we encounter something that does not fit our current image of reality, we structure the situation to minimize our dissonance. Thus, we manage to overlook many stimuli from the environment that do not fit into our current perception of the world. This process has significant implications for managerial activities. Example: The employment interviewer who expects a female job applicant to put her family ahead of her career is likely to see that in female applicants, regardless of whether the applicants feel that way or not.
c. Emotions: How the receiver feels at the time of receipt of information influences effectively how he interprets the information. For example, if the receiver feels that the communicator is in a jovial mood, he interprets that the information being sent by the communicator to be good and interesting. Extreme emotions and jubilation or depression are quite likely to hinder the effectiveness of communication. A person’s ability to encode a message can become impaired when the person is feeling strong emotions. Example: When you are angry, it is harder to consider the other person’s viewpoint and to choose words carefully. The angrier you are, the harder this task becomes.
d. Extreme emotions: such as jubilation or depression – are most likely to hinder effective communication. In such instances, we are most prone to disregard our rational and objective thinking processes and substitute emotional judgments.
e. Language: Communicated message must be understandable to the receiver. Words mean different things to different people. Language reflects not only the personality of the individual but also the culture of society in which the individual is living. In organisations, people come from different regions, different backgrounds, and speak different languages. People will have different academic backgrounds, different intellectual facilities, and hence the jargon they use varies. Often, communication gap arises because the language the sender is using may be incomprehensible, vague and indigestible. Language is a central element in communication. It may pose a barrier to correct and timely action if its use obscures meaning and distorts intent. Words mean different things to different people. Age, education and cultural background are three of the more obvious variables that influence the language a person uses and the definitions he or she gives to words. Therefore, use simple, direct, declarative language. Speak in brief sentences and use terms or words you have heard from your audience. As much as possible, speak in the language of the listener. Do not use jargon or technical language except with those who understand it.
f. Stereotyping: It is the application of selective perception. When we have preconceived ideas about other people and refuse to discriminate between individual behaviours, we are applying selective perception to our relationship with other people. Stereotyping is a barrier to communications because those who stereotype others use selective perception in their communication and tend to hear only those things that confirm their stereotyped images. Consequently, stereotypes become more deeply ingrained as we find more “evidence” to confirm our original opinion. Stereotyping has a convenience function in our interpersonal relations. Since people are all different, ideally we should react and interact with each person differently. To do this, however, requires considerable psychological effort. It is much easier to categorize (stereotype) people so that we can interact with them as members of a particular category. Since the number of categories is small, we end up treating many people the same, even though they are quite different. Our communications, then, may be directed at an individual as a member of a category at the sacrifice of the more effective communication on a personal level.
g. Status Difference: The organisational hierarchy poses another barrier to communication within the organisation, especially when the communication is between employee and manager. This is so because the employee is dependent on the manager as the primary link to the organisation and hence more likely to distort upward communication than either horizontal or downward communication. Effective supervisory skills make the supervisor more approachable and help reduce the risk of problems related to status differences. In addition, when employees feel secure, they are more likely to be straightforward in upward communication.
h. Use of conflicting signals: A sender is using conflicting signals when he or she sends inconsistent messages. A vertical message might conflict with a non-verbal one. Example: If a manager says to his employees, “If you have a problem, just come to me. My door is always open”, but looks annoyed whenever an employee knocks on his door”, then we say the manager is sending conflicting messages. When signals conflict, the receivers of the message have to decide which, if any, to believe.
i. Reluctance to Communicate: For a variety of reasons, managers are sometimes reluctant to transmit messages. The reasons could be:
i. They may doubt their ability to do so.
ii. They may dislike – or be weary of – writing or talking to others.
iii. They may hesitate to deliver bad news because they do not want to face a negative reaction.
iv. When someone gives in to these feelings, they become a barrier to effective communications.
j. Projection: Projection has two meanings:
i. Projecting one’s own motives into others’ behaviour: Example: Managers, who are motivated by money, may assume their subordinates also motivated by it. If the subordinate’s prime motive is something other than money, serious problems may arise.
ii. The use of defence mechanism to avoid placing blame on oneself: As a defence mechanism, the projection phenomenon operates to protect the ego from unpleasant communications. Frequently, individuals who have a particular fault will see the same fault in others, making their own fault seem not so serious.
iii. The “Halo Effect”: The term “halo effect” refers to the process of forming opinions based on one element from a group of elements and generalizing that perception to all other elements. Example: In an organisation, a good attendance record may cause positive judgments about productivity, attitude, or quality of work. In performance evaluation system, the halo effect refers to the practice of singling out one trait of an employee (either good or bad) and using this as a basis for judgment of the total employee (e.g., seeing the well-dressed manager as the “good” manager).
6. Overcoming Barriers to Communication
Following are some of the additional measures to overcome the barriers to communication:
a. Fostering good relationships: Strong relationships must be fostered between the employer and employee in order to avoid misunderstandings and accept each other’s view points in order to remove the barriers and to facilitate proper communication in the organisation.
b. Purposeful and well-focused communication: Communication should be purposeful and directed to an individual. At the end of the communication, the receiver should not be left to feel that communication had been meaningless or useless.
c. Co-ordination between superior and subordinates: In case the superior thinks at a level, which is different from that of the subordinate and vice versa, it will affect the effectiveness of communication. Therefore, there should be good and proper co-ordination and cooperation between the superior and subordinate for effective communication.
d. Avoid technical language: The specialized language should be avoided. Efforts should be made to use the language commonly understood by the receiver and sender of the message. There should be least use of technical jargon in the communication process.
e. Feedback: The selective perception of receiver should be minimized through proper feedback. The drawback of the selective perception should be explained to minimize the barriers.
f. Accuracy: There should be accuracy in the message to be transmitted between both parties for the communication to improve its effectiveness.
g. Clarity in message: The message to be transferred should be clear, practical accurate and without any ambiguity.
h. Communication of organisational philosophy: Efforts have to be made in a planned way to sensitize people with the organisational philosophy. It should be properly communicated to its employees so that accord proper attention to their day-to-day communication.
i. Flat organisational structure: The organisation should have clear cut and simple organisational structure. Tall hierarchical structures should be removed, and changed to flat structures to avoid excessive control of information. Wrong information to be transferred to anyone in the organisation can prove detrimental. Proper redesign of organisational structure will reduce the status gap.
j. Division of labour: There should be proper division of labour between people in order to reduce information overload and prevent delay in information transfer.
k. Organisation policies: The organisation should formulate its policies in such a way that it will give full advantage to all members of the organisation. It should be flexible and easy to implement. While the organisation’s goal must be clear, everyone must know about his position, in the organisational communication process. The network has to be fully developed so that no such type of barriers exists. Moreover, there should be consistency when messages are passed from a sender to a receiver. One should not introduce a personal view in the message. It must be clear and understood by everyone easily. Timeline in the message should be mentioned for if it is not passed in time, it will be of no use.
l. Minimize semantic problem: People use either the same word in different ways or different words in the same way. One will be surprised to know that there are 15 different meanings of the word ‘charge’ in the English language. They also occur when people use jargon or professional shorthand which they expect others to understand, or use language which is outside the other’s vocabulary.
m. Proper communication channels: If one wants immediate action from the receiver, there is no need to send a lengthy discussion report. One can pick up the telephone or go to his office to tell him what to do. Remember, also that one picture is worth a thousand words, and in this age of computer graphics, information can be produced more quickly in this way too.
n. Right feedback: Although one–way communication is quicker, two–way communication is more accurate. In complex situations, it helps both sender and receiver to measure their understanding and improves their joint commitment towards the task. It enables both parties to identify and clear misunderstandings leading to a higher quality of reception and acceptance.
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