Business communication (socio-psychological aspects)

Psychology of business communication

Along with business, there are educational, gaming, leisure communication, as well as intimate and spiritual ones.

However, the difference between a business conversation is that it involves the exchange of information with the aim of achieving some result in the labor sphere.

If, for example, educational communication is carried out with the goal of assimilation of educational information (knowledge), then the key subject of business communication is business. That is, such communication is characterized by limitation within one topic or range of problems that are of a business nature and discussed in an official, work environment.

Let us highlight 3 ethical principles of business communication:

1. Top-Down Principle: This is the approach of a leader to a subordinate. To maintain authority, the leader does not discuss personal topics with him and behaves according to his status. You should keep your distance, but do not forget about humane treatment of employees, polite treatment and gratitude for their work.
2. The Horizontal principle: communication between colleague and colleague. The important thing here is to show equal standing without demonstrating superiority. It is not necessary to be on a team, the main thing is not to be against it, to achieve mutual respect with all colleagues.
3. Bottom-up principle: the subordinate’s appeal to the leader or management. It is preferable to establish yourself as a good employee, to behave respectfully, without attempts at flattery or fawning: neither colleagues nor superiors will appreciate this.

Distinctive characteristics

Situations arise related to changes in transmitted information. The main reasons for this phenomenon are:

• different interpretation of information that is related to the capabilities of the language;
• differences in intellectual development, level of education, and needs of interlocutors.

In order for business communication to be constructive, it is important to build trusting relationships. What is meant by this term? This includes an open demonstration of one’s intentions, a positive attitude towards one’s immediate partner, business competence, as well as a desire to eliminate all misunderstandings that arise.

Among the obstacles that make constructive communication impossible, professionals identify the following reasons:

• social barriers that lead to misunderstanding, suspicion, and block interpersonal communication;
• ethnocultural barriers affecting the perception of other peoples;
• psychological obstacles (intrusiveness, shyness, isolation), lack of normal communication skills.

Business communication: styles

Despite the fact that business communication is generally characterized by a work environment, when talking with your interlocutor, you can adhere to a certain line of behavior, or “style,” in order to understand his mood:

1. Actual behavior style. This style is designed to operate with facts, based on documented information. Such a communicator remembers everything said, so you should be pedantic so as not to be driven into a corner.
2. Intuitive style of behavior: more free and relaxed, designed to find a creative solution to a problem in the process of putting forward options.
3. Normative style. It is characteristic of people who attach great importance to compliance with legal norms. It is also necessary to show an interest in maintaining order for greater mutual understanding.
4. The analytical communication style shows a desire for a logical basis for events. When communicating with such a communicator, you should monitor the orderliness of the dialogue and be patient.

Business communication: types

Having considered the main communication styles in a work environment, we can move on to the types of work dialogue:

• Direct communication is characterized by direct contact between interlocutors. It is effective because it becomes possible to have an emotional influence on the interlocutor.
• Indirect communication is characterized by the presence of distance between interlocutors. Indirect communication includes business correspondence - information is conveyed in the form of a business letter. This takes into account its design, presentation capacity, and relevance over a certain period of time.

Forms of implementation of business communication

The psychology of business communication involves collective interaction aimed at achieving results and is divided into several forms.

Business conversation

One of the main forms of business communication. This is a conversation organized on a specific topic, during which the solution of assigned tasks (organizational, professional, and so on) is expected.

Business conversation is different in that it is carried out in small groups, or even occurs between two people (partners, or boss and subordinate). Also, a conversation involves personal contact, solves some narrow problem (for example, holding certain events in a company) and is used between members of the same organization.

Several subtypes of business conversation can be distinguished depending on the purpose of the conversation. This could be an interview (when hiring or dismissing), a problem conversation (solving production problems) or a disciplinary conversation (issues related to norms and routines).

That is, the purpose of the conversation:

• resolving work issues, clarifying and clarifying the activities of employees;
• analysis of employee statements, that is, public opinion;
• the desire of one interlocutor to influence another in order to change the business relationship.

Based on a business conversation, conditions for more friendly informal communication may develop.

There are rules for a business conversation:

1. Psychological contact: take a comfortable position, a comfortable distance, achieve eye contact and greeting. It is important to tune in to your dialogue partner, take into account his experience, interests, mental and speech characteristics.
2. Work atmosphere: relieving tension (this could be a joke, a personal appeal, a compliment in order to defuse the atmosphere) or getting straight to the point (presenting a fact). It is important to rationally organize the communication process, present information briefly and clearly, without deviating from the topic.
3. Focusing on solving the problem: the emergence of arguments and counterarguments. It is necessary to speak respectfully towards each opinion, simplifying information for everyone to understand.
4. Successful completion of the conversation: achieving the goal, making a decision, summarizing the results.

Compliments are acceptable only if they are sincere, since flattery is felt by the interlocutor even on a subconscious level. You must be grateful for a compliment addressed to yourself from a stranger. Criticism should also be non-aggressive and based on facts, its goal is to find improvements and correct the situation. It is not the person who should be criticized, but his actions.

Business meeting

This is a process of interaction to reach a compromise, a joint decision, and distribution of obligations. The difference between business negotiations is that they are of an official diplomatic nature and are used in the process of regulating relations between organizations, heads of organizations, communities, and so on (in wider groups, outside the framework of a specific organization).

In the negotiation process, there are clearly two sides represented by a small number of people, pursuing their own interests and establishing connections to solve their own problems. This is their main difference from a business conversation, where the search for a solution is achieved by one group with common interests.

Thus, the purpose of the negotiations is:

• mutual agreement;
• resolving conflict situations;
• reaching a compromise;
• mutual solution of problems of interest;
• distribution of responsibilities of each party.

To properly conduct negotiations, you must adhere to the plan:

1. Preparing for negotiations: the stage of studying the subject of negotiations, analyzing the problem. It is important to have information about your partner, formulate your own views and have an idea of ​​your partner’s views. It is also necessary to outline a plan and methods (strategies) for conducting negotiations, and plan organizational problems.
2. Stage of business negotiations: greeting (calm, without personal appeals, friendly and respectful), introduction to the problem with a specific position. Then comes a period of dialogue, during which both parties express their options for solving the problem (or, figuratively speaking, “bargain” for themselves a convenient solution). In case of agreement, the parties come to the end of negotiations.

Therefore, negotiations are necessary when it is necessary to set certain tasks for organizations, regulate their relationships between managers, define positions and find out the opponent’s opinion.

Business meeting

This is a general meeting. Solutions to specific problems, issues on the agenda, improvements, developments, and so on are discussed. The main difference between this form of business communication is that meetings are intended for a wide range of stakeholders involved in the work process, with the goal of making a common decision.

The scope of business meetings is wide: scientific conferences, political conventions, military meetings, seminars and other meetings.

Meeting topics also range from technical or personnel to financial or administrative.

Depending on the purpose, the following types of meetings can be distinguished:

1. Informative. Appointed to listen to the report of each participant in order to get a general idea of ​​​​the state of affairs and summarize the results.
2. A meeting necessary to make a decision in the event of a specific problem. Participants from different departments speak out in favor of a particular decision, offer options, and their opinions are summarized.
3. Creative. New ideas and development prospects are discussed.

The style of the meeting can also vary:

• Dictatorial: lack of discussion, the decision of the leader or organization is voiced, questions are resolved.
• Autocratic: the leader voices questions and listens to answers.
• Segregated: the leader’s report, who also selects the participants who are allowed to speak.
• Discussion: generally accepted decisions, voting with a predominant vote of the leader.
• Free: there is no formulated plan, the topic is improvisationally varied, the goal is to maintain contact between all employees.

Reasons to call a meeting include a problem that cannot be solved alone or that directly affects employees. It can also be a way to collect the maximum number of options for solving a situation.

Meetings can also be held in cases where the manager is democratic and wants to gain the trust and favor of his subordinates in order to create a cohesive and friendly team. In this case, it is especially important to gather employees during working hours - unscheduled meetings take away people’s free time from work.

Most often, the meeting is held according to a pre-prepared plan, since first you need to decide whether there is a need for this. The agenda of a meeting, as a rule, indicates the purpose of the meeting, the topic, the list of issues, the speakers, as well as the place, start and end time.

CHAPTER 1. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNICATION PSYCHOLOGY.

Business communication is a special case of human communication in general. Therefore, it makes sense to briefly dwell on the basic psychological laws of communication.>>

Any dictionary says that communication is the interaction of two or more people, consisting in the exchange of information between them of a cognitive or affective-evaluative (emotional) nature. When communicating, there is an influence and impact on the behavior, state, and attitudes of the partner. This influence is always mutual, although it may be uneven, i.e. one of the partners can influence the other relatively more strongly. Usually, communication is included in the practical joint activities of people - joint work, learning, playing, etc. However, the process of communication can be isolated into a separate activity when it satisfies a special human need for contact and mutual understanding with other people. This description of communication is absolutely correct, but not enough, because concerns only the external, observable side of communication. >>

Let's consider what communication is from a psychological point of view. To do this, let's turn to Figure 1. It schematically depicts the “characters” participating in communication. In the bottom row there are physically existing people: A and B. For an external observer, they are communication partners, they exchange remarks, gestures, facial signs. But can it be said that communication is psychologically limited to this? Above the dotted line are “virtual characters” - images that exist in the heads of real A and B. In the second row from the bottom are “I”-images, that is, characters as they imagine themselves: “a-A” is in the head of A, “b- B" is in B's head. These "I"-images have some similarities with real people, but do not completely coincide with them. But that's not all. Each of the characters has an image of their partner “You”-image. These images are shown in the third row from the bottom. “B-A” is the image of B in the representation of A, “A-B” is the image of A in the representation of B. The “You”-image has similarities with a real partner, but everyone brings something of themselves into it. When communicating, a person from his “I”-image turns to his “You”-image of a partner, hears this appeal, the “I”-image of a partner and responds, also keeping in mind the “You”-image he has. In other words, outwardly real people conduct a dialogue A and B, but psychologically “a-A” addresses “B-A”, receives this message “b-B” and sends a response to “A-B”.>>

In addition to these real and “virtual” characters participating in the dialogue, there is also an “invisible third” objective external factor - the social norm. Or the opinion of an authority (in the figure above). His presence is reflected in remarks like: “I do (or think) like all normal people,” “It’s so natural, but you...”. Each of the participants in communication considers himself a unique individual, different from everyone else, but still constantly compares his and other people’s behavior with the social norm. Therefore, the most important conditions for the success of interpersonal communication are a similar understanding of social norms.>>

Let us dwell further on some features of the communication process. Psychologists distinguish several types and styles of communication. Let's consider some of them, namely those that may be of particular interest to the manager. Business communication itself is distinguished by the fact that it always pursues a specific goal and is usually strictly limited in time or divided into clear intervals. If the purpose of this communication does not affect the personality of a person, but concerns only his official, business role, communication is reduced to functional role (communication of mask roles, for example : boss-subordinate, seller-buyer, teacher-student, etc.; the success of this communication depends on the degree of “acceptance” of the roles by the partners).>>

If the business goal is individualized, i.e. In this particular case, a person has a business orientation or is pursuing a goal that is important to him personally, or considers corporate interests as his own - communication turns into interpersonal. The most important conditions for the success of such communication are mutual understanding and trust of partners in each other.>>

The success of communication largely depends on the style of communication. This style develops largely intuitively, unconsciously, on the basis of a subjective emotional forecast of the possibility of satisfying the interests of partners in a communication situation:>>

1) Friendly - a person is confident that both he and his partner will be satisfied with the communication. On this basis, equal, true partnership relations can develop. Such communication is not specifically controlled by anyone, it is focused on the group (the social or professional community to which the participants of the communication belong) and is carried out within the framework of the rules, traditions and interests of the group.>>

2). Distrustful - a person believes that he can satisfy common interests, but his partner cannot. In this case, leadership, even aggressive, tendencies appear, especially if a person’s communication is dominated by the need to achieve success by controlling others >>

3). Self-critical - a person believes that he cannot satisfy common interests and responsibility mainly lies with his partner. Typically, in business communication, such a person behaves pliantly, he expresses self-concern and a need for others (In his self-image there is the conviction that “someone should take care of the success of the business and about me”).>>

4) Pessimistic - a person is convinced that nothing good will come from this communication, because neither he himself nor his partner is able to satisfy their own and common interests. Such a person displays a certain detachment in communication, even inadequacy, self-absorption, maintaining an emotional distance, striving for independence, moving away from others, “so that it doesn’t get worse.”>>

It is clear that only the first style of communication is harmonious, the remaining styles are ineffective, they cannot fully satisfy the interests of partners in the communication process. However, a person cannot always adequately assess his own and others’ communication styles, since, as we have already indicated, the style is formed largely unconsciously. It is all the more important to strive to understand the style of communication and harmonize it.>>

Business communication is a living process and it includes several phases of communication. The phases of communication listed below are not strictly necessary; individual phases may be absent or occur in parallel with others, but together they form the structure of the communication process.>>

1) Preparation - choosing a place and time, determining for yourself the desired result, as well as possible and undesirable compromises. The permissible depth of trust in a relationship - desirable and possible - can be pre-planned. This phase in its developed form is real only for business communication.>>

2) Getting into contact, attuning with a partner, the opportunity to get comfortable yourself and let your partner get comfortable, understand his mood and state. At this phase, it is important to win over your partner and establish contact. This can be facilitated by phatic communication techniques - insignificant conversations on “ritual” topics about weather, nature, sports, etc. In addition, special technical techniques have been developed to speed up and facilitate contact - conversations on topics of particular interest to the partner, imitation of breathing, movements, etc., including small treats with soft drinks and sweets, and giving small gifts. At this phase, the first impression that you make on your partners and they on you is very important. This impression sets the entire tone of communication and, perhaps, predetermines its outcome. The first impression is extremely difficult to change, but if it is favorable, against its background many mistakes can pass without consequences. (Section 5 of Chapter 2 of the book is devoted to the formation of the first impression).>>

3) Concentration of attention on the problem, the task of the parties, the topic of conversation (what, in fact, we are talking about).>>

4) Motivational sounding - the task of this phase is to understand the motives of the interlocutor and his interests (“why did he come here and say all this?”). At this phase, the depth of trust (or mistrust) is established. This phase is relevant only when communicating with unfamiliar people or in some special circumstances.>>

5) Maintaining attention and switching it in the right direction - stick out what you need, hide what you need. This phase involves not entirely sincere communication with elements of manipulation. She is normal in business communication.>>

6) Argumentation and persuasion, if there is a difference of opinion.>>

(Phases 5 and 6 can be repeated many times, including in the form of tricks, especially in business communication or in disputes.)>>

7) Break in communication. If tension arises, it may be advisable to temporarily interrupt communication, even if the result is not achieved. Stopping communication should be a break, not a break. The harshness of even one of the partners can destroy a lot of work on building relationships.>>

Recording the result is necessary only in business communication, but may be desirable in some cases when resolving interpersonal conflicts.>>

For a participant in business communication, it is important to be able to listen to your partners (especially important in phases 2-6) and to be able to make yourself listened to (especially in phases 3, 5, 6 and 8). To do this, you need to learn to listen to others yourself and find out the reasons that prevent listening. >>

Effective listening is an active process of understanding and comprehending what is heard, especially necessary in business and crisis communication. It has long been known that the best communicator is not the one who knows how to speak well, but the one who knows how to listen well. People tend to listen to others only after they have listened to them.>>

The main reasons for not listening:>>

1. Preoccupation with your own thoughts.>>

2. Emotional imbalance, preoccupation with one’s own emotions.>>

3. Wounded pride and, as a consequence, psychological defense - a deliberately negative attitude towards everything that will be said, “active listening.”>>

4. Evaluating what your partner said from your personal emotional position (such as: “What nonsense!”).>>

5. Loss of attention and interest in the topic and partners.>>

6. Lack of listening and understanding skills.>>

If a manager wants to listen and understand his partners (and this is professionally necessary for him), he needs to avoid all these reasons. If he wants to be listened to, care should be taken that the same reasons do not arise for the listener: >>

You shouldn’t overload his memory and thinking, i.e. he should not be forced to keep more than 5 objects or arguments in his sphere of attention at the same time and discuss more than 1 problem; >>

if possible, control your partner’s emotionality (see section 1 of chapter 4 below), >>

do not offend your partner and do not evaluate him, and also do not give reasons to behave this way towards you; >>

maintain his interest in the topic and in you personally, and if that fails, organize a break in time.>>

It is useful for a manager involved in business communication to know some techniques for effective listening and understanding:>>

1) A very effective and relatively simple technique is non-reflective listening - maximum concentration on the interlocutor’s speech with minimal interference in it, attentive silence. This behavior of the listener facilitates the speaker's self-expression. Neutral remarks, postures, gestures, facial expressions expressing interest and understanding evoke a desire to continue communication. It is especially effective, and sometimes the only way possible, if the speaker is in crisis, unsure of himself, confused, unreasonably pessimistic or self-critical, and the listener wants to help him.>>

2) Clarification - direct request for clarification: “Please clarify...” “I don’t understand what you mean.” etc.>>

3) Paraphrasing - your own wording to check the accuracy of understanding: “If I understood you correctly...” Especially appropriate in any discussions.>>

4) Summarizing the main thoughts and feelings of the speaker, especially during long negotiations and conversations.>>

5) Reflection (or hiding) of feelings - mainly based on the understanding of non-verbal signals (see section 1 of chapter 4). Clarifications like: “You probably feel...” But with the open use of this technique you need to be extremely careful - perhaps the partner does not want you to understand his feelings at all. It’s better to remain silent and use your understanding indirectly.>>

As we have already mentioned, the main thing in the process of business communication is the effective exchange of information. But it would be a mistake to think that information is transmitted only through words. Flows of information exchanged between partners in the process of communication form specific communication channels:>>

1) Direct - what one partner (source) communicates to the other explicitly, mainly verbally or with the help of special diagrams, drawings, formulas, samples, etc..>>

2) Indirect - information about this message that is obtained intuitively or actively (for example, through special observation, attention to the details of the partner’s behavior described in Chapters 7 and 9) and the result of which is trust or distrust in the partner and the message received through the direct channel.> >

3) Controlled indirect - a message perceived as unintentional, but sent intentionally, in order to instill confidence (or distrust) in any message, a “trick.”>>

The content of communication includes certain ways in which partners influence each other. These include: infection, suggestion, persuasion and imitation.>>

Infection. In its most general form, it can be defined as an unconscious, involuntary susceptibility of a person to certain mental states. It manifests itself through the transmission of a certain emotional state, or, as the famous psychologist BD puts it. Parygin, mental attitude. >>

It has been experimentally established that the higher the level of personality development, the more critical its attitude to the influence, and thus the weaker the effect of the “contagion” mechanism.>>

Suggestion. This is a purposeful, unreasoned influence of one person on another. With suggestion, the process of transmitting information is carried out, based on its uncritical perception. Suggestion is produced by directly instilling mental states, and does not require evidence or logic. Suggestion is an emotional-volitional influence.>>

Belief. It is built on using logical justification to achieve agreement from the person receiving the information. Persuasion is an intellectual influence on the consciousness of an individual through an appeal to his own critical judgment.>>

Imitation. Its specificity, in contrast to infection and suggestion, is that here it is not a simple acceptance of the external features of another person’s behavior that is carried out, but the reproduction by him of the features and images of the demonstrated behavior. Since we are talking about the assimilation of proposed models of behavior, there are two plans for imitation: either a specific person, or norms of behavior developed by a group.>>

Of course, communication through speech, which is unique to humans, has the richest communicative capabilities, but, nevertheless, it cannot completely exhaust all the needs of communication. Non-verbal communication is carried out using gestures, facial expressions, signs, drawings, tactile, sound, olfactory and any other non-speech signals. It is convenient for conveying emotional assessments, it is of little use for communicating specific information, but in any case it can promote or hinder mutual understanding between partners. Some forms of non-verbal “messages” and ways of understanding them are described in Section 1 of Chapter 4.>>