.
On average, people spend nearly one-third of their adult lives at work (Trenholm and Jensen, p. 332). Fully half of all jobs in the United States are characterized as belonging to the information processing or service sectors; in these sectors of the labor market, communication within the organization and between the organization and its other stakeholders (i.e., the client/customer base, suppliers, stockholders, regulators, and the general public) has assumed a high priority. As Trenholm and Jensen (p. 332) have pointed out, surveys of corporate leaders reveal that the two skills most valued in new employees are writing and speaking skills, with interpersonal competency high on the list of most desired qualities.
Charles Redding (p. 443) developed some 29 years ago a listing of characteristics related to supervisory communication effectiveness that remain valid today. Redding (pp. 442 û 443) suggested that better supervisors:
are willing to listen and take appropriate action in
response to subordinatesÆ suggestions and complaints;
tend to ôaskö or ôpersuadeö rather than to ôtellö
are sensitive to subordinatesÆ feelings;
are more open in passing information along, explaining changes, and overcoming resistance to change.
More recently, in their analysis of how contemporary organizations can be ôreframedö to achieve maximum productivity, efficiency, and employee satisfaction and motivation, Bolman and Deal (p. 145) emphasize interpersonal competence as a basic managerial skill. These researchers believe that while technical skills and ôknow-howö are increasingly important in the modern era, management and organizational development cont
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