Management Communication - Assignment Example

Student Name: Tutor: Title: Management Communication Course: Question 1: Informative presentation is meant to communicate information that the specific listener understands something. One can teach a customer how to do something or a coworker how to approach a certain job. The main purpose of an informative presentation to convey a certain message that is important to the listener. Informative presentation aims to assist the audience to understand an issue, topic technique clearly (Pearson & Nelson, 2000). For instance, an informative presentation can entail a worker teaching a customer how to use a phone he has purchased. A persuasive presentation is meant to change the attitude or perception of the audience to a new stand. The presenter aims as convincing the audience to take a particular stand. The process of persuasion is meant to woe or motivate the audience towards a certain direction (McLean, 2005). A persuasive speech can include an environmental lobbyist group convincing members of their society to change their attitude about refuse disposal being a role of the government or marketer persuading a customer to try a new product in the market. Question 2: Yes, the principle of consensus often works. People are usually persuaded to buy things because they are owned by other people since they have a point of reference. Their confidence is emboldened knowing that another person that they know uses the same product that they are being persuaded to buy (McLean, 2005). Testimonials of people that we know that have used a product or a service increase our confidence in the product. It is often true that people tend to follow the trend of peers when making purchases like cars or other luxury products like phones or other basic products like where to eat. Personally I am susceptible to this kind of persuasion in many ways. For instance, I have bought phones when recommended to my friends or used a brand of a product that encountered as a friend’s house. If the friend confirms that the product is good, I will often believe him or her. Question 3: Discontinuance is the action of the speaker engaging the customer in a campaign to stop to stop doing something that are already engaged in like excessive drinking or driving while under the influence of alcohol. The speaker convinced the audience to stop doing something by enumerating its disadvantages. Deterrence refers to the call of action which specifically persuades the audience not to start something when they have not yet embarked on it such as use of prohibited drugs (Bruneau, 1990). The members are encouraged to keep away from certain vices that can be detrimental. I think discontinuance is more difficult challenge than deterrence because the users may be hooked to the problem. For instance, it is more challenging to persuade a smoker to stop smoking than to advice someone who has not started smoking against the vice. Question 4: Deceiving the audience or coercing people to do something is unethical and wrong. It is against fairness and personal freedom of choice. Manipulation can take the form of management of facts in order to prevail upon inherent insecurities or emotional appeal with the aim of benefiting oneself. Intentional bias is a form of deception. Further deceptions can take the form of partial truths, lies or omitting relevant and important information with the aim of deceiving the audience. Manipulating the audience using fear, guilt or other relationships is unfair. All these make persuasion unethical. It is possible for persuasion to be ethical. Honesty and integrity have to be part of persuasion in order for it to be ethical (Luthans, 1989). The Ethos and credibility has to be build throughout when making the persuasive presentation. As a presenter you have to stick to the facts without exaggerating anything to your own advantage. Question 5: http://www.yesware.com/blog/sales-presentation/ This elevator speech identifies the company and the product hence making it easy for customers to relate with the product. The objective is the re-launch of the corporate website. The elevator speech goes ahead to talk about the advantages of the launched websites and how content has improved. The target audience has been identified and the benefit to the company specified. The attention seeker has been highlighted in bold and the body contains the bulk of the explanation. The achievement of thirty stories forms part of the conclusion. The residual message ends with the information about the accolades received by the website. The only weakness is that the elevator speech is too brief hence using more technical terms that cannot be understood in a layman language. Question 6: It does enhance our understanding of communication to see nonverbal communication as that which is not verbal communication. This is true since most of the communication is nonverbal and nonverbal communication can either be unintentional or intentional. Any communication that is not voiced is referred to nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication may not be the same universally but remain universal in its functions and displays. However, nonverbal communication has to be contextualized to avoid any confusion (Covino & Jolliffe, 1995). Nonverbal communication is present everywhere and it is meant to enhance communication even where few words have been said. Understanding nonverbal communication enhances effective communication. It is important in speaker/audience relationship. Question 7: The assumptions are that nonverbal communication is complex, confusing and not easily discerned hence the need to have an observer who will provide feedback about your own nonverbal gestures and assess the response of the audience. It is not easy to read and understand nonverbal communication hence the need to watch keenly for reactions among the audience and what they mean concerning the presentation (Bruneau, 1990). Considering the complexity of nonverbal communication, the speaker has to do more research on it in order to communicate effectively without losing the audience. A speaker or presenter has to understand specific type of nonverbal communication and focus on it. Question 8: When people do not know what do in a crisis situation there is increased confusion and the possibility of more causalities in the ensuing melee. Fear and panic grips the victim making them to communicate obvious mistakes that would have been avoided with clear and effective communication. Prior to the crisis it is important to have a clear communication strategy that will have all members of the organization prepared in order to address probable challenges. It is important to have an authorized spokesman to communicate all the important information in the course of the crisis. The spokesman must be a confident person who is very conversant with the environment of the organization. The main objective is to avoid any kind of confusion during the emergency (McLean, 2005). Not all members of the organization should have the authority of speaking to members of the press because this increases confusion. A crisis management plan has to be developed prior to the crisis. Question 9: Self-disclosure is very important in a business setting since it gives a glimpse of who you are or what you represent. Social penetration theory is getting to know one another from a superficial level to intimate levels of communication (DeVito, 2003). A person will get to know what you will let him know. If you lie about your name, age or position, the new person will not get to know you better. Intimate knowledge as well as trust levels is achieved over time progressively. Positive interactions prompt to more positive interactions. Silence can be misinterpreted as unwillingness to communicate. It is important to reveal personal information slowly by slowly to those people who are trusted (Watzlawick, 1993). Self-disclosure is important since it will decide how you are perceived and future relationship with other people. Question 10: Some of the most effective strategies of managing conflict are avoidance, supportiveness, empathy and face-saving. Avoidance is important since it gives time for the problem to be resolved. It is important to resolve the conflict after consultation and discussion. Supportiveness is crucial since it focuses on points and not merely personalities. Focusing on the message and not the messenger is import to diffuse the conflict and open ways of discussion to resolve the conflict. Face-saving is a good strategy since it separates the message from the messenger and allowing the discussion to focus on points (Sunnafrank, 1990). Empathy allows someone to feel the pain of others and try to put ourselves in their shoes. Empathy can reduce the possibility of the conflict escalating. Finally, managing your emotions is fundamental in avoiding escalating conflicts at the workplace. Question 11: If I were a manger in charge of a dozen workers I would rely primarily on theory Z management style since it combines both theory X and Y. It is important to realize that theory X and Y cannot be used exclusively be applied in a workplace setting (Massie & Douglas, 1992). One needs a combination of the two to ensure that workers are pushed where necessary and encouraged to perform where they seem responsible. Theory X will be needed in setting departmental goals and pushing the workers to attain them while theory Y will be needed in encouraging workers to be responsible and accountable in their work. Theory Z is important since it combines both theory X and Y (Luthans, 1989). These two theories are effective if they are implemented in specific assignments within the workplace. Theory X will be applied in dismissing a lazy work and theory Y used to encourage workers to attain their goals for both personal growth and the good of the company (Maslow, 1954). Consequently, Theory Z will be perfect for me. References Bruneau, T. (1990). Chronemics: The study of time in human interaction. In J. DeVito & M. Hecht (Eds.), The nonverbal reader (pp. 301–311). Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press. Covino, W. A., & Jolliffe, D. A. (1995). Rhetoric: Concepts, definitions, boundaries. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. DeVito, J. (2003). Messages: Building interpersonal skills. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Luthans, F. (1989). Organizational behaviour. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Massie, J., & Douglas, J. (1992). Managing: A contemporary introduction. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Maslow, A. (1954). Motivation and Personality. New York, NY: Harper & Row. McLean, S. (2005). The basics of interpersonal communication (p.112). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Pearson, J., & Nelson, P. (2000). An introduction to human communication: Understanding and sharing (p. 133). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill. Sunnafrank, M. (1990). Predicted outcome value and uncertainty reduction theory: A test of compting perspective. Human Communication Theory, 17, 76-150. Watzlawick, P. (1993). The language of change: Elements of therapeutic communication. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company. Read More