Social Models of Communication

Communications theorists focus on individuals, organizations, culture, and gender. Similar to the list of personal qualities opening this chapter, Deutsch (1973) argues that communication skills required for successful conflict management include ability to listen, assertiveness, clarity, credibility, empathy, flexibility, and openness.

The “Johari Window” (Figure 7.7) helps people improve self-awareness and self-control and to understand how others perceive them (Luft 1969). The panes (as Luft calls the cells to preserve his metaphor) are shown here in different sizes in a variation of the original to suggest different amounts of information in each. The “Open” pane represents how much information an individual knows about himself and is willing to share with another, which varies from one person to the next. The “Hidden” pane represents information that people know about themselves but are unwilling to share. The Open pane becomes larger, and the Hidden pane shrinks, as people become better acquainted and more trusting of one another. The “Blind” pane represents information that an individual is unaware others have about him. The “Unknown” pane represents things an individual does not know about himself, such as how he will face new challenges. Presumably, both the Blind and Unknown panes shrink with age and experience.

Hase (1999) extended (Figure 7.8) the Johari Window. He places stereotyping and prejudice in the bottom left pane. But, it is perfectly plausible for others to know your prejudices and say nothing or to use them against you. One can hold a belief that someone else regards as prejudice but others hold as a fundamental value (e.g., that abortion is or is not murder). That is, knowledge, ethics, loyalties, motives, and their use affect organizational communication. Hase focuses on “dark” behaviors, such as blackmail, blind spots, collusion, desire for recognition, hidden agendas, lack of skill, nepotism, old-boy networks, powerlessness, prejudice, secrets, self-interest, stereotyping, threats, victimization, and whistle blowing.