human-human communication in professional environments

Human-Human Communication in

Professional Environments

W. J. (Chris) Zhang, PhD, P. EngDepartment of Mechanical Engineering

University of Saskatchewan, Canada

Email: [email protected]

Outline:

1. Background

2. Motivation

3. Principle of Human-Human Communication (HHC)

4. Case study

5. Summary

Face-to-face communication

Communication through a media

In professional environments, the goals: accuracy and easy to understand

What is the goal of human-human communication?

Background

Background

Communicator

Audience

Message

Aristotle’s theory, circa 220 BCE

Creditability, etc.

Background, etc.Logics, etc.

H-H communication is not only to exchange information but also involves the relationship between the communicator and audience

Background

Communicator

Audience

Message

Creditability, etc.

Background, etc.Logics, etc.

Communication rheology

Background

A: Have you had lunchB: I got up quite late

A’s mind: guess B has not had lunch; assuming that this assumption is correct

A: Here there is a tomato, please help yourselfB: Thanks; tomato is a healthy foodA: I think so

Communication rheology

Motivation

1. My own experience as a PhD student 20 years ago in The

Netherlands

2. My own experience as a professor in North America:

Chinese student, Indian students, etc.

3. In the west, character -> intellectual -> communication

EX 1: NSERC scholarship competition: Research (40%), Leadership (30%), Communication (30%)

MotivationEX 2: Engineering programs across Canada have a class (3 c.u.) for human-human communication. Chinese students get average of 60-65% while the class average is about 70%

EX 3: In the engineering program at the University of Saskatchewan, human-human communication training includes:

1. one communication class (3rd year)2. 1st year, design team – peers and presentation3. 2nd year, design team –peers and presentation4. 4th year, design team – peers, companies, professors,

presentation

Motivation

EX 4: Employers such as Boeing, National Engineering Accreditation Board such as CEAB in Canada and the corresponding organization in the US, Europe all recognize: Communication is a skill that is seriously missed in contemporary graduates.

Joseph Hoey, “Employer Satisfaction with Alumni Professional Preparation.”

Three out of Four Say Better Communication Equals Greater Employee Retention.”

Hudspith, R.D., “Education for Social Responsibility: Two approaches.”

MotivationWhy does the western engineering education so stress on H-H communication?

1. Activities in business and manufacturing are featured more team work and thus more human-human communication.

2. Poor communications may cause failures, ineffectiveness and inefficiency, more seriously,

Human individual with human individual: fighting Community with community: war

Remark 1: Chinese philosophy and culture on H-H communication:

1. Do more but say less2. By doing, you show your contribution to audiences but not by saying3. Asking questions or asking for clarification is discouraged

Motivation

Axiom I: Cannot not communicate

Axiom 2: Establish creditability through communication

Axiom 3: Exert influence through communication

Principle

1. Do not guess and just ask

2. Do not hide your mind and let audience know you

3. Top down development

4. Provide background

5. Always give introduction

Principle 1: Do not guess and just ask

If you are not sure if audience knows about what you said or if you have a need to know audience’s background knowledge to understand what you are going to say, you just ask audience:

Can you follow me?Do I make sense to you?Is that right?

If you have not understood what others said, you just ask but not make assumption. For instance, you can always ask audience:

Can you please to rephrase what you said?Excuse me?Pardon me?

A: Have you had lunchB: I got up quite late

A’s mind: guess B has not had lunch; assuming that this assumption is incorrect

A: Here there is a tomato, please help yourselfB: Sorry, I have had lunch

Remark 2: In Chinese culture, guess is encouraged. Correct guess is regarded as a smart behavior, while incorrect guess is neglected

Remark 3: In Chinese culture, asking question is considered as low intelligent behavior; asking question means less knowledgeable behavior

Principle 1: Do not guess and just ask

Principle 2: Do not hide your mind and let audience know you

Starting EndAudience

White box


Starting EndAudience

Black box


Remark 5: Chinese culture generates black-box process – i.e., an end result only

Remark 6: In Chinese culture, more exposures of minds may be viewed more chances to make mistakes. Therefore, two options need to be internally analyzed to present only the best one

Only one person’s view, which may not be the best one from a team’s view, so the black-box is not helpful to team work

Principle 3: Top down development

Top

Down


I saw a man who was my classmate in primary school and was a shy boy

Most important Less important Least important

Situation: A and B; B had a delicious lunch with a friend C.

A: Have you had lunch;B: I had a friend C to visit me and he helped me to cook lunch; we cooked tomato which is a healthy food. ………?

Not quite clear about whether B had a lunch or not; he had lunch but he told to A something about how he made lunch


Tomato

With a friend C

Cook food

Take lunchTop

Down

Bottom-up approach is never efficient, as it takes too much attention from audience, and when it runs to top, audience may not have enough attention

Principle 4: Provide background

ABC

Top

Down

Wang Zhang

Wang has no knowledge of A

Zhang has full knowledge of A, B, C as well as their aggregation into a building

Zhang: This building is built upon A, then B and C, etc. In this case, Wang does not have any idea about A, so his understanding involves a deficient here. Therefore, A should first give some knowledge of A to Wang

Principle 5: Always give introduction

Introduction

1 1

2

I am sorry, I need to leave 1 but to 2. I will be back to 1 very soon

Principle 5: Always give introduction

I met a man who was my classmate in primary school. I want to introduce him today to you guys.

It was a yesterday evening, there was a big rain in that area. ……..

He was a shy boy, …..

1

2

3

There is a missing introduction sentence between 1 and 2. In fact, 1 and 3 are connected, while 2 is not connected. Therefore, we can view 2 as another branch other than 1-3 branch.

Before I continue to describe him, let me first explain the situation where I met him.

Principle

1. Do not guess and just ask

2. Do not hide your mind and let audience know you

3. Top down development

4. Provide background

5. Always give introduction

Case study (e-mail communication)Example 1:

A: I have completed a report. Please read it.B: no response (as B thinks: after I completed the reading, I will then respond to A’s)

B fails to follow ‘Do not hide you and let audience know you’ principle. After A sent the email to B. B does not respond, causing an uncertainty in A’s, as there are many possible situations: (1) B has not received A’s email, (2) B has received but B will not read it because B is not interested in it, (3) B has received but B will read it and will respond to only after reading and B has some comment, etc.

Unless reading it causes no time, B may write to A:

I have got your report and I will read it and give you my comment if any

Remark 7: Chinese culture is such that there is no response. The first situation is that B will never read it, just forget about it, so no response. The second situation is that B will need time to read, but there will be no response until B has completed the reading


A: I have completed a report. Please read it. B: respond to A as follows: “I will read it and get back to you with my comments.

Suppose A is very busy and a manager. As a manager, A has communication with C, D in addition to B. B has made a mistake by violating ‘provide background’ principle. This is because B’s sentence ‘I will read it. ….” is not presented with the context which is known to B but not necessarily known to A, as he or she may have forgetten it. Therefore, in B’s response, B should keep A’s message. As such, it should be

B’s response:

I will read it …..

> I have completed a report. …..

Remark 8: Chinese approach usually does not include other’s message, e.g., cell phone message system

Case study (e-mail communication)Example 3: Continue Example 2:

B’s response:

> I have completed a report. …..

I will read it …..

B’s response violates ‘top down’ principle. The problem is that A will have to read his or her past email, which will take him or her extra time. It may be possible that we they glance their email or read a little bit response of B, they can recall what they wrote in the past. That is to say, there is no need to ask A to review his or her past email.

Remark 9: Chinese approach usually puts response at the end.


Situation: A wrote a paper which needs to be revised and submitted to a conference by August 19. B is A’s supervisor. However, A did not clearly remember this deadline

A wrote to B on a day before the deadline:Here is a new version of the paper.

A violates the principle of ‘Do not hide your mind and let audience know’ and the principle of ‘Do not guess and just ask’. In composing A’s email, A assumed that B knows the deadline. A may have several intentions by sending the revised paper to B: (a) Please read it again and give me feedback before August 19, (b) Keep it as a future reference. To B, which one is correct, a or b, is uncertain. So the correct one is (assuming A has (a) in mind):

I have revised paper, see the attached file. Please read it and revise it if any before the deadline of August 19.


The role of carbon copy in the email system. The most important benefit with the email system is that it can allow a group of people to be distributed by message, that is through cc or Bcc.

Remark 10: Chinese approach seldom uses CC or BCC function in email communication

Summary

1. What is communication

2. Why communication is important

3. Five principles for effective communication

4. Specific knowledge of email communication

End

Thanks and Questions

human-human communication in professional environments

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