Relevance of Silence in the Context of Managerial Communication

Communication is the way or process of transformation of data or information from a sender to receiver (Bovee and Thill 2008, p. 38). According to them, an effective communication plays the vital part to achieve the organisational goal. In the context of managerial communication, an effective communication is very helpful for early warning of potential problems, stronger decision making, faster problem solving, having a steadier workflow and resulting increased productivity responsible for the growth for the organisation. In an organisation, an effective communication can be proceed by both verbally and non-verbally. In non-verbal communication silence is one of the most important aspect. In managerial communication, silence is very important in listening more effectively, in understanding and paying concentration in various problems, to support the co-worker in critical work issue and building good relationship, in negotiation process when emphasising a point more effectively. Silence in a team can also signify harmony and productivity. Sometimes silence can effect in strong decision making, can result silence conflict in organisation, hinder the overall performance and sometimes silence can cause misunderstanding and tension. So it can be said that silence can play a significant role in the context of managerial communication. Through this essay some important aspects of silence and its consequences will be discussed and some suggestion will be provided to mange silence properly in the context of managerial communication.

According to Lewis (1975, p. 156) non-verbal communication are those communications that are not in words. Bratton and Gold(2002, p.584) suggested that nonverbal communication is the process of coding meaning through individual behaviour such as facial expression, silence, touch or hand gesture etc. According to Mckenna (2006, p-698) non-verbal communication is concerned about those aspects of communication that are not expressed orally or in