Identifying the communicator

Finally, it is worth re-emphasizing that the communication act is a two-way process. Not

only does a speaker attempt to identify his audience, but the audience tries to identify

the speaker through his communication. As the Elizabethan poet and dramatist Ben

Jonson wrote;

‘language must shews a man; Speak that I may see thee.’ Little reseaI’ch has been

unde11aken in industry into this factor although considerable ‘mchair psychology’ may

b.e called into play, when a lunch-time chat is commenced

with ‘I wonder what the boss really meant when he

said :’

After taking a short look in the next two chapters at the method used to measure the

factors affecting managerial communication and the backgrounds of managers involved

in the study, we can take the basic ideas of this chapter into the every-day life of the

manager. The findings of a study can only be as good as the methods used and might.

only succeed with management team of similar background.

Since managers spend as much as 50 per cent of their working day listening, they

should be accomplished in this skill. Yet, too often we hear such comments as “Bob just

doesn’t” or “Barbara is hard to work with because she never takes the time to listen” or

somebody wasn’t listening.” In fact, of the four primary communication skills needed for

effective management-reading, writing, speaking, and listening-listening is used the

most frequently and yet receives the least attention from educators.

A number of essential managerial skills involve listening. First, much of the data

necessary for decision making comes through listening to employees, yet poor listeners