0% found this document useful (0 votes)
93 views

The Digital-Age Workplace: Instructor: Tram Nguyen

The document discusses communication skills needed in the digital workplace. It covers new communication challenges and requirements like media literacy and online communication. Traditional skills like reading and writing are still important but must be combined with new skills to allow communication anytime, anywhere through various technologies. The document provides tips for effective communication, listening, non-verbal communication, and intercultural communication.

Uploaded by

Kinh Ý Vòng
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
0% found this document useful (0 votes)
93 views

The Digital-Age Workplace: Instructor: Tram Nguyen

The document discusses communication skills needed in the digital workplace. It covers new communication challenges and requirements like media literacy and online communication. Traditional skills like reading and writing are still important but must be combined with new skills to allow communication anytime, anywhere through various technologies. The document provides tips for effective communication, listening, non-verbal communication, and intercultural communication.

Uploaded by

Kinh Ý Vòng
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 40

CHAPTER 1

THE DIGITAL-AGE WORKPLACE

Instructor: Tram Nguyen


What comes to your mind about when you hear
“COMMUNICATION”?
WHAT ARE COMMUNICATION SKILLS?

TRADITIONAL QUALITIES NEW REQUIREMENTS

Reading Media savvy


Listening Online communication
• Media literacy
Speaking • Employer
Writing communication
Non-verbal skills • Personal branding
WHY COMMUNICATION SKILL MATTERS?

• Job placement
• Job performance
• Higher income
• Career advancement
• Organizational success
WHAT DO EMPLOYERS WANT?

• Excellent oral and written communication skills


• Ability to work in teams
• Professionalism and work ethics
• Critical thinking and analytical reasoning
• Unblemished social media presence
INDUSTRY 4.0: WHY DOES IT MATTER?
THE DIGITAL-AGE WORKPLACE
NEW CHALLENGES IN THE DIGITAL WORKPLACE

Rapidly changing
communication
technologies

“Anytime,
Renewed anywhere”
emphasis on and
ethics nonterritorial
offices
Communication in
the workplace is
extremely
challenging
Self-directed
Global group works
competition and virtual
teams

Flattened
management
hierarchies
THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS
THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS

How does a receiver


Hearing, reading, observing
decode a message?

When is communication When a message is understood as the


successful? sender intended

How can a communicator Ask questions, check reactions, don’t


provide for feedback? dominate the exchange
THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS
THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS

How may the sender • Verbally or nonverbally


encode a message? • By speaking, writing, gesturing

• E-mail, texts, memos, letters,


What kinds of channels
phone, body
carry messages?
• Other?
SUCCESSFUL COMMUNICATION

Sender 60% Receiver 40%

Verbal 7%
Non-verbal 55%
Paralinguistic 38%
WHY YOU SHOULD REALLY LEARN TO WRITE IN THIS COURSE?

• Digital media require more written


communication
• Business generates a wide range of messages
via various tools
• Technical experts and engineers write too!
EFFECTIVE LISTENING

DO YOU KNOW THAT…..

The average person


listens at only about
25% - 50%
efficiency

Source: Husman, R. C., Lahiff, J. M., & Penrose, J. M. (1988). Business communication: Strategies and skills. Chicago: Dryden Press.
MYTH OR FACT?

1. Listening is a matter of intelligence.


2. Speaking is more important than listening in the communication process.
3. Listening is easy and requires little energy.
4. Listening and hearing are the same process.
5. Speakers are able to command listening.
6. Hearing ability determines listening ability.
7. Speakers are totally responsible for communication success.
8. Listening is only a matter of understanding a speaker’s words.
9. Daily practice eliminates the need for listening training.
BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE LISTENING

• Physical barrier
• Psychological barrier
• Language problems
• Nonverbal distractions
• Thought speed
• Faking attention
• Grandstanding
10 KEYS TO BUILDING EFFECTIVE LISTENING

1. Stop talking and concentrate on what others are


saying

2. Control your surrounding, choose a quiet


time and space

3. Establish a receptive mindset, expect that you


will learn something

4. Keep an open mind, listen objectively

5. Listen for main points and central themes


10 KEYS TO BUILDING EFFECTIVE LISTENING

6. Capitalize on lag time: Review – Anticipate -


Evaluate

7. Listen between the lines: Spoken and


unspoken, facts and feelings

8. Judge ideas, not appearance

9. Take note selectively: Important facts, key


learning points…

10. Provide feedback: Engage in the speech, ask


appropriate questions
BUILDING STRONG NON-VERBAL SKILLS

Non-verbal communication includes “all unwritten


and unspoken messages, whether intended or
not.” (Guffey & Loewy, 2016)

- Eye contact
- Facial expression
- Posture/Gesture
YOUR APPEARANCE ALSO COUNTS
TIME, SPACE AND TERRITORY ALSO SEND SILENT MESSAGES

30 – 45 cm 45 – 120 cm 120 – 360 < 360 cm


cm
MASTERING NON-VERBAL SKILLS

• Establish and maintain eye contact to show interest, attentiveness,


strength, and credibility.
• Use posture to show interest: leaning forward, sitting or standing erect, and
looking alert.
• Improve your decoding skills: observe facial expressions and body language
• Probe for more information: seek additional cues if you don’t understand
• Avoid assigning nonverbal meanings out of context: don’t interpret
nonverbal behavior unless you understand a situation or a culture
MASTERING NON-VERBAL SKILLS
MASTERING NON-VERBAL SKILLS
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
WHAT IS CULTURE?

CULTURE is the complex system


of values, traits, morals, and customs
shared by a society, region, or country.
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

CULTURES

CULTURES
A UNIQUE CULTURE

feeling
talking

doing

cultural secrets
CULTURAL DIMENSIONS

Context

Time Individualism
Orientation

CULTURE

Communication
Style Formality
CULTURAL DIMENSION: CONTEXT

LOW-CONTEXT CULTURES HIGH-CONTEXT CULTURES

Communicators depend little on Communicators highly depend


the context of a situation to on the context of a situation to
convey their meaning convey their meaning
CULTURAL DIMENSION

VALUE

• Individualism
LOW-CONTEXT CULTURES • Prefer individual initiative, self-assertion, personal achievement

• Collectivism
HIGH-CONTEXT CULTURES
• Prefer memberships, group values, duties, decisions
CULTURAL DIMENSION

FORMALITY

LOW-CONTEXT CULTURES • LESS emphasis on tradition, ceremony, social rules

HIGH-CONTEXT CULTURES • MORE emphasis on tradition, ceremony, social rules


CULTURAL DIMENSION

COMMUNICATION STYLE

LOW-CONTEXT CULTURES • Emphasize words, straightforwardness and openness

HIGH-CONTEXT CULTURES • Rely on nonverbal cues and total picture to communicate


CULTURAL DIMENSION

TIME

• Precious commodity
LOW-CONTEXT CULTURES • Time = Productivity, efficiency, and money

• Unlimited resource
HIGH-CONTEXT CULTURES
• Time = never-ending resource to be enjoyed
CULTURAL CONTEXT

Figure 1: Comparison of Low and High-Context Cultures

Where on the chart would you place Vietnam?

Note: Reprinted from Essentials of business communication (p. 17) by M. E. Guffey & D. Loewy, 2010, Mason, OH: South-Western/Cengage Learning. Copyright 2013 by
Cengage Learning
BARRIERS IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

ETHNOCENTRISM STEREOTYPES

TOLERANCE EMPATHY
TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE INTER-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION

• USE SIMPLE ENGLISH


Use short sentences and familiar words; be careful with ambiguous wording, puns, slangs and
idiomatic expression
• SPEAK SLOWLY AND ENUNCIATE CLEARLY
• ENCOURAGE ACCURATE FEEDBACK
Ask probing questions, encourage listeners to engage in the conversation
• CHECK FREQUENTLY FOR COMPREHENSION
• OBSERVE EYE MESSAGES. SMILE WHEN APPROPRIATE
• ACCEPT BLAME
• LISTEN WITHOUT INTERRUPTING
• CONSIDER HIRING A TRANSLATOR
WORKPLACE DIVERSITY: Effective communication

• Seek training
• Understand the value of differences
• Learn about your cultural self
• Make fewer assumptions

You might also like