Management and Leadership Chapter 10

1. Educational Administration
Chapter 10
Communication in Schools

2. Educational Administration
Communication in Schools
Four Recommends for Educational Administrators
• Communication is difficult to isolate from other
administrative processes
• Not all school problems involve miscommunication
• Communication reveals, hides, as well as eliminates
problems.
• Communication is a process that evokes action but is
far from the substance of good administration

3. Educational Administration
Communication in Schools
Key Terms
• Communication – sharing ideas or attitudes in ways that produce a degree of
understanding between two or more people.
• Message – the verbal or non-verbal cues or symbols that each communicator conveys.
• Channel – the vehicle, medium, or form in which a message travels.
• Sender – the person or generalized source sending a message
• Receiver – the destination of the message or the individual or deciphers it.
• Transmission – the actual sending and receiving of messages through designated
channels or media.
• Encoding – using cognitive structures and processes to convert the intended message
into symbolic form by the sender.
• Decoding – using cognitive structures and processes to retranslate the message by the
receiver.
• Feedback – the message sent in response to the initial message; information that
enables corrections (Ch. 1).
• Communication effects – the outcomes of the message exchange process.

4. Educational Administration
Communication in Schools
SenderSender
(source,(source,
speaker,speaker,
communicator)communicator)
ReceiverReceiver
(reader,(reader,
listener,listener,
communicator)communicator)
EncodingEncoding DecodingDecoding
MessageMessage
In ChannelIn Channel
FeedbackFeedback
General Model of Communication

5. Educational Administration
Communication in Schools
One-way communication
• Unilateral - initiated by the sender and terminated by the receiver
• Common examples in schools
• Classroom lecture
• Exhortation by the principal
• PA announcements
• Administrative directive
• Advantages
• Emphasizes the skills of the sender and encourages
administrators and teachers to think through, accurately
articulate, and provide clarity to their ideas
• Imply strong linkages between communication behavior and
action

6. Educational Administration
Communication in Schools
Two-way communication
• Reciprocal (given and receive in return)– all participants in the
process initiate and receive messages
• Common forms in schools
• Conversation
• Inquiry
• Debate
• Instruction (Socratic Method)

7. Educational Administration
Communication in Schools
Individual Communication Competence
• Sending Skills
• Use appropriate direct language
• Avoid jargon (technical or specialized words) and
complex concepts
• Information must be clear and complete
• Build on or reorganize receiver’s cognitive schema
• Minimize noise from the physical or psychological
environment
• Use multiple and appropriate channels of media
• Use face-to-face communication and redundancy when
communicating complex messages

8. Educational Administration
Communication in Schools
Individual Communication Competence
• Receiving Skills (Listening Skills)
• Attending
• Eye contact, receptive body language, focus
• Questioning
• Encouraging
• Verbal and non-verbal cues
• Paraphrasing
• Reflecting feeling
• Summarizing

9. Educational Administration
Communication in Schools
Individual Communication Competence
• Feedback Skills- Sending and receiving skills that convey knowledge
of results or effects of previous communications and behaviors.
• Can be verbal or non-verbal
• Asking questioning, describing behavior, paraphrasing
• Information should be helpful to the recipient
• Specific rather than general
• Recent rather than old
• Directed toward behavior the person could change
• Timely, the more immediate the better

10. Educational Administration
Communication in Schools
Channels of Communication
• Verbal symbols
• Human speech – direct, face to face conversation or electronic
exchanges via telephone, radio, television, video conferencing
• Written media – memos, letters, faxes, electronic mail and bulletin
boards, instant messaging, newspapers.
• Non-verbal symbols
• Body language or gestures – facial expressions, posture, hand and arm
movements
• Physical items or artifacts with symbolic value – office furnishings,
clothing, and jewelry
• Space – Territoriality and personal space
• Touching and hugging
• Time
• Intonation, accents, pitch, intensity, rate of speech

11. Educational Administration
Communication in Schools
Sources in Communication Processes: Senders and
Receivers
• Credibility
• Believability, identity and reputation of the sender
• Sender’s expertness and trustworthiness
• Trust and confidence the receiver has in the words and actions
of the sender
• Cognitive Capacities
• Psychological characteristics limit individual communication
• Communication skills
• Knowledge of subject
• Personality
• Motivation factors (attitudes, values, interests, expectations)

12. Educational Administration
Communication in Schools
Communicating in Context
• Noise - Contextual, physical, cultural, environmental
distractions that interfere with the communication process
• Examples in schools
• Closed organizational climates
• Punishment-centered bureaucratic structures
• Cultural or gender differences
• Authoritarian leadership
• Teacher militancy
• Demographic prejudice
• Outdated or obscure technology

13. Educational Administration
Communication in Schools
Information
Communicators
Media
Context
Does the language or symbols convey the
information?
Can it be understood by both sender and receiver?
What is the content and effect of the communication?
Who is speaking to whom?
What roles do they occupy?
What methods/media are being used?
What is the context in which the communication is
taking place?
What factors are creating noise that might block or
distort the message?

14. Educational Administration
Communication in Schools
Informal communication networks
Advantages of “the grapevine”
• Active informal networks are indicative of a school’s culture
and provide vital feedback to leaders
• Informal channels may satisfy social or affiliation needs not
met by formal channels
• Grapevines fill an information void and provide outlets
when formal information channels are clogged
• Informal networks provide meaning for activities within the
school

15. Educational Administration
Communication in Schools
Directional “chain of command”
Five types of communication from superior to subordinate
(Downward)
• Instructions about specific tasks
• Rationale about why the task needs to be done and how it
relates to other tasks
• Information about organizational procedures and practices
• Feedback about the performance levels of individuals
• Information regarding the organization’s goals

16. Educational Administration
Communication in Schools
Directional “chain of command”
Four types of communication from lower to upper levels of
hierarchy (Upward)
• Routine operational messages
• Reports on problems
• Suggestions for improvement
• Information on how subordinates feel about each other and the
job

17. Observe a meeting conducted by a school principal
or department chair. Take notes or tape and
transcribe what the leader said during the session.
What do you think the meanings of the leader’s
main messages were? Do the verbal and nonverbal
messages complement each other? Meet with the
leader and check whether you accurately interpreted
the intended meaning, finally, evaluate how clearly
you believe the leader communicated with the
attendees?
Tutorial Activities
Educational Administration