Learning Objectives
- Explain the concept of emotional intelligence.
- Describe the four types of communication in the workplace.
- Explain the various communication styles and identify your own style.
- Define nonverbal communication and describe the importance of it in an HR setting.
Communication, as you see in our opening scenario, is key to a successful career as a human resource manager (HRM) or as a manager. While communication is likely discussed in several of your business classes, it should also be addressed in an HRM book, since much of what we do in HR is based on effective communication.
How many times do miscommunications happen on a daily basis, either in your personal life or at your job? The good news is that we can all get better at communication. The first thing we need to do is learn how we can communicate with our employees. Then we will want to look at our own communication style and compare that with other styles. Have you ever spoken with someone you just didn’t “get”? It is probably because you have different communication styles. We address this in Communication Styles. Body language is also a key contributor to communication; in fact, as was suggested in the late 1960s by researcher Albert Mehrabian, body language makes up 93 percent of our communication. 1 Part of communication is also looking at the way we manage people. Depending on our style of management, we may use a variety of management styles to communicate things we need done or to give performance feedback. One major way companies communicate with employees is through the use of meetings. Some meetings can be very effective, but as you probably already know, many meetings aren’t very productive. We will discuss some strategies to help you run a more effective meeting.
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