Specific patterns of problematic interaction

There are situations which can injure the integrity of the conversation by blocking its flow, creating frustration, and reducing understanding and satisfaction. These apply to most social and much business conversation. The most common communication problems are the following.[7]

Some professionals suffer from the occupational hazard of talking too much – professors, clergy, speakers and trainers, and others who are paid to talk for a living. Involved in their own monologues, going on and on without giving the others their turn, such people soon frustrate others, losing the involvement of the listeners.

Another hazard arises when a talker begins a topic and the listener grabs it away and opens a "me-centred" monologue. Thus the initiator of the topic is unable to complete his or her thought. This is very frustrating, and eventually such behaviour, which is called the "take-away" and "me-too" syndrome, drives people away.

Unsolicited advice. Some people are quick to give advice as soon as the other person mentions a problem, intruding with "Have you thought of...?" or "Why don't you...?" Men seem especially prone to this tendency, although women are not immune from it. It is also prevalent among "professional know-it-alls" such as teachers, managers, administrators, and some lawyers, ministers, and counsellors. The advice-giver assumes the authority or even parenting role, and that can be off-putting. It is considered more appropriate to let the person finish and then, perhaps, to ask "Are you asking for my opinion?" or "What alternatives have you thought of?"

Interrupting can also be very annoying when a person is breaking in before the interlocutor has completed the thought. Usually this is done because the interrupting people are impatient and are afraid of not getting their thoughts expressed. Many such situations occur on TV interviews when the host has guests with opposing views. The guests butt in, over-talk, even shout in order to get in their words. According to some producers, this makes for exciting television, while many observers find it irritating.

Contradicting is the ultimate conversation-blocker. Although great in structured debate, direct disagreement ("I disagree with you" or the more gingerly "Yes, but") is not helpful in conversation, which is at its best when it is mutual and collaborative. Instead of the "I'm right, you're wrong" game, it is considered better to hear out the point of view being expressed, check the understanding, and then offer "My view is different from yours. Let me explain." People who feel heard and understood are more likely to hear and understand someone expressing a different view.

Stingy contributors. This describes the people who listen, take and receive, but contribute little enthusiasm, information, self-disclosure, acknowledgement, compliments or other elements that lift a conversation. They like to "pick the brains" of others who share personal experiences, but give nothing in return, remain cool and contained with personal matters. This cautious, ungenerous style causes an out-of-balance conversation in which real trust can never exist.

Exhibiting one or more of the above mentioned communication patterns in a conversation makes one's interlocutor frustrated or annoyed. With heightened awareness, these mistakes can be avoided, and eliminating them from one's repertoire can reduce the interaction problems.

Linguistic features of business communication

Content and Structure

Business communication presupposes speaking in a public situation, so its effectiveness much depends of the general rules of public speaking. The study of public speaking is guided by one overriding principle: what is effective depends on the speaker, the situation, and the listeners.

Preparation for speaking in public begins with establishing a goal. The choice of the topic is usually determined by the reason for giving the speech. The topic should always be related to goals. The first step in goal setting is to determine the general purpose of the speech. General purposes include informing, entertaining, and persuading. Next, a speaker establishes a specific purpose. Establishing a specific purpose involves answering the question, "What exactly do I want my audience to do, think, or feel when I am finished speaking?" The third step in goal setting is audience analysis. Answers to six specific questions can help determine what information you need about the audience[8]: (1) What do they already know about the topic? (2) What is their specific interest in it? (3) What are their attitudes and feelings about the thesis and purpose? (4) About the speaker? (5) About related subjects and issues? (6) How will the situation affect the speech? Answering the questions sometimes simply involves asking a few people; in other cases it requires inferring from demographic data. A good speaker will continue to use feedback from listeners while talking. What the speaker learned may require a revision of the purpose.

Next the speaker states the thesis, which is a subject-centred statement: it is a single sentence summary of the speech. A thesis is the main point or central idea of the speech. Developing a thesis requires organizing. Organizing thoughts involves outlining the speech, choosing two, three, or four main points that will be used to develop or support the theses. Several standard plans for choosing main ideas are the time pattern, the space pattern, and three specific topical patterns. After selecting main points, the speaker arranges them, using audience analysis. With a deductive structure, the thesis is stated early in the speech. With an inductive structure, the thesis is withheld until midway through or at the end of the speech.

Finally, main points are developed with sub-points and supporting materials and the speaker prepares the introduction and the conclusion. An introduction needs to get the listeners' favourable attention and to begin pointing their thoughts toward the subject of the speech. Introductions may use several techniques: humour, serious illustrations, quotations, questions, a startling statement or statistic, or in some situations direct reference to audience, occasion, or subject. A conclusion should refocus listeners thinking on the thesis and leave them in an appropriate mood. Techniques for conclusions are the same as those for introductions, with the addition of a summary. Combining one of the techniques with a summary is recommended, especially for informative speeches. Relating conclusion to introduction can also give a speech unity.

Language

Communicating effectively requires shared meaning between communicators. Meaning refers to the entire set of reactions people assign to symbols. Meanings are not directly related to the symbols that stand for them, though it is a common knowledge that words have meanings. On the contrary, it is people who have the meanings: only the user connects a symbol to the meanings it calls up.

Words are symbols people use to represent concepts, and concepts are the ideas people have to explain their experiences. People develop concepts by synthesizing, or combining, the mental images of experience into ideas. This is called conceptualizing, and to do it, people must be able to abstract. Abstraction refers to the process of selecting an element from a reality to distinguish it from other elements. In abstracting, people develop a category system of concepts. The complexity of a category system depends on the number of features on which a person can focus about any reality.

To use a category system to identify realities, people have to exclude some things. Whatever is said or whatever ideas are thought about any reality, some things are not said or not thought. Words also reflect different levels of meaning or abstraction. Concepts, and thus words, vary from specific to general, and the higher the level of abstractness, the more ambiguous words become.

The more possible things a word can be applied to, the more possible misunderstandings can occur in communicating. When the term abstract is applied to words, it refers to features of a concept that cannot be seen. The word concrete refers to features that are specific and can be seen.

Words also represent different types of meanings. Denotative meanings are the actual objects or concepts referred to; connotative meanings are the values people attach to the concept—a negative or positive reaction to the symbol itself or to the thing or experience the symbol stands for.

Communicators also share the system in which symbols are used. Language is described as a symbolic system involving verbal and nonverbal, vocal and nonvocal symbols. Grammar is what makes language systematic. Grammar consists of the rules of word arrangement and inflections that make individual words useful. Knowing grammar helps people interpret word relationships and word and sentence meanings.

Each language system has differences of dialect and style. A dialect is a language variant used by a group of speakers that is different from the language of the general community. Dialects may be ethnic, geographical, or social, and they involve differences in word choices, grammar, and sound. Dialects influence communication because they activate any biases communicators have in favour of or against the group or community with which they identify the dialect. Style differences are primarily related to the degree of formality in language use. Styles vary according to situations as well as the relationships among the communicators. There are five styles of formality: frozen, formal, consultative, casual, and intimate.[9]

All the above stated is important from the viewpoint of the listener: a speaker, in order to be accepted and properly understood, needs to consider the audience and speak their language.[10]