| A | B |
|---|
| Active listening | Listening with greater concentration, less tolerance for distractions, and more feedback to the speaker. |
| Communication | The process of giving and receiving through listening and speaking, ideas, feelings, and information. |
| Context | A point of reference (or a place from which to begin) when communicating. |
| Displays | Gestures that are used like nonverbal punctuation marks, such as pounding your fist on a table. |
| Distancing | The distance of physical space that you maintain between other people and yourself. |
| Emblems | Gestures that are used in a specific manner because they have a specific meaning, usually one understood by both sender and receiver; the peace sign is an example of an emblem. |
| Filtering | A method listeners use to hear only what they want to hear, which may result in failing to receive messages correctly. |
| Grapevine | A network within the organization that communicates incomplete, but usually somewhat accurate information. |
| High-context culture | A culture in which social context surrounding a written document is far more important than the document itself: One must be very careful about cultural norms, nonverbal behaviors on both sides, and anything else involving the overall atmosphere of the communication. |
| Horizontal communication | Messages that are communicated between you and your equals in the formal organization. |
| Illustrators | Gestures that are used to clarify a point, such as pointing when giving directions. |
| Information overload | The type of listening that happens when a listener is overwhelmed with incoming information and has to decide which information will be processed and remembered; this is a common cause of poor listening skills. |
| Intensity | The degree to which you show serious concentration or emotion; another dimension of nonverbal communication. |
| Low-context culture | A culture in which a written agreement, such as a contract, can be taken at face value. |
| Nonverbals | Ways of communicating without speaking, such as gestures, body language, and facial expressions. |
| Organizational communication | The oral and written communication within an organization. It has both formal and informal dimensions and travels both vertically and horizontally. |
| Red flag words: | Words that bring an immediate emotional response (usually negative) from the listener, generally because of strong beliefs on the subject. |
| Regulators | Gestures that are used to control the flow of communication; eye contact is a common type of regulator. |
| Rumor mill | A gossip network that produces mostly false information. |
| Selective listening | The type of listening that happens when a listener deliberately chooses what he or she wants to hear. |
| Vertical communication | Messages that are communicated according to an organization’s chain of command by flowing both upward and downward. |
