Topic: Supervision and Communication
The aim of this essay is to identify the role of communication in a supervisory context. Supervision has many different meanings. The essay deals with the role of the supervisor in an educational organization. The following are also discussed: the role of communication in a supervisory context; a model of communication and some barriers to communication ; some suggestions to improve communication; and feedback and its role in communication and supervision .
Harris (1963) writes:
The precise definition one finds of the specific term supervision is: “ all efforts of designated school officials directed towards providing leadership to teachers and other educational workers in the improvement of instruction; involves the stimulation of professional growth and development of teachers, the selection and revision of educational objectives, materials of instruction, and methods of teaching, and the evaluation of instruction.” (p.336)
The work of supervisor as a school official is to influence teaching behaviour in such a way as to improve the quality of learning for students. Effective communication is an essential ingredient in all supervisory roles. Communication means not only talking, but also involves individuals sharing, their knowledge, feelings and purposes with others and also to understand the feelings, knowledge and purpose of others.
Wiles and Lovell (1975, p.19)write, ‘A supervisor is a person formally designated by the organisation to interact with members of the teaching behaviour system in order to improve the quality of learning of students.’ But there is also an informal support system present through which teachers share their ideas and develop their skills. Through informal support systems teachers help other teachers and students and students also help each other. Willes and Lovell (1975, p.19) further explain, ‘… that formally designated leaders have an important role to play. They are the expediters. They help establish communication between persons who have similar problems and resource people who can help. They stimulate staff members to look at the extent to which ideas and resources are being shared, and the degree to which persons are encouraged and supported as they try new ideas.’
The role of supervisor in the school context is to energise teaching behaviour to improve the quality of learning for students. It can be achieved by working with teachers in their lesson planning and in the evaluation of teaching outcomes and student learning outcomes. Supervisors work with teachers to develop and achieve organisational/ school goals. Teachers as supervisors also play an important role in student’s learning process. But effective communication plays a vital role in all supervisory situations. Effective communication can provide a firm basis for cooperative efforts and personal and organisational growth, as well as goal achievement and interpersonal influence. Effective communication can be used to transmit information, values, insight and emotions in an effective way. We can use it to develop commitment and cohesiveness between the members of an organisation. It is an important ingredient in the process of group/organisational development.
Willes and Lovell (1975, p.83) define communication as ‘the process by which one human being can to a degree know what another thinks, feels or believes. It is the means by which an individual’s needs for others can be satisfied. It is the source of all growth except body building, and the key to human relatedness.’
Hansford (1988, p.3) writes, ‘… communication is ‘any process where meaning is stimulated’ and as a consequence the definition to be used will be: ‘ Classroom communication is a process in which an individual teacher or student either intentionally or accidentally stimulates meaning in the mind of another classroom member by means of verbal and nonverbal symbols and cues.’ The way in which teacher and student present themselves and manipulate others is an important part of communication. The important part of communication is not only what they say but also how it is said. Wiles and Lovell (1975, p.83)write, ‘… Communication may be defined as the transmission of meanings through the use of symbols. When men interact by means of symbol, they are engaged in communication. The sender and receiver have communicated only if they identify themselves with each other’s situation.’
The basic elements in any communication model includes – sender, encoding, channels, decoder and receiver.
Sender: Lovell and Wiles (1975, p.84) write, ‘The sender is the individual or group that wishes to transmit a message to a receiver. … the concept of self which the sender holds and especially the way he sees his relationship with the receiver of the message could be important factors in the way the message is worded, what the sender is willing to reveal, what he feels he must not reveal, and the expectations he holds for the receiver’s response.’ The process of communication can be enhanced if the sender is considered as a credible source.
Encoding: It is a process through which the sender selects symbols to transmit his ideas. It is important that he selects appropriate symbols to transmit a message or idea that the receiver can understand. These symbols can be words, pictures, sense information like touch or smell and different sounds. Wiles and Lovell (1975) write,
The message is the symbol of the idea, event, information, or attitude which the sender is using to stimulate the receiver of the message in some specified way. The problem is that symbols are far from perfect representations of reality. They have to be interpreted and given meaning by humans. As message become more complex, meanings and interpretation become more complicated and more dependent on a common field of understanding between senders and receivers (p.84).
Channels: After encoding the message, the next step is to communicate the message to a receiver. To transmit or communicate a message different channels can be used e.g written, verbal, visual, touch, gestures, electronic etc. Lovell and Willes (1975) describe,
Channels are the networks or linkages through which messages travel from sender to receiver. In face to face communication the channel is normally a direct line, but in organisational communication different kinds of channels develop and sometimes messages have to be interpreted and reformulated at different stations before the intended receiver gets it. The “wheel,” the “circle,” and the “all channels” are patterns of communication … In the chain each person in the network has direct contact with only two individuals. In the wheel, one individual has contact with all others, but they only have contact with the one individual. … In the “all channel” all members of the network have contact with all other members. (p.84)
Decoding: It is a process in which receiver senses and interprets the symbols and decodes the information of the sender. An effective communication can occur only when the receiver encodes the message exactly as the sender intended it. Pfeiffer (1991, p.8) writes, ‘ When a message is received by another person, a decoding process occurs. Just as senders must encode message in preparation for transmission through communication channels, receivers must sense and interpret the symbols and then decode the information back into images, emotions, and thoughts that make sense to them. When messages are decoded exactly as the sender has intended, the images of the sender and images of the receiver match, and effective communication occurs.’
Receiver: Wiles and Lovell (1975) writes,
The receiver is the person or group that is the target of the message. His interpretation, understanding, feelings, and total reaction to the message is a function of many factors: his understandings of the symbols used, what he wants and needs to hear, his perception of the sender and his intent, what he wants to conceal from himself, and the limitation of the physical structure of the situation. Communication in organisations and among individuals is tremendously complex and difficult. Absolute congruence between communicator and receiver is never possible. It is only possible to constantly work to increase mutual understandings. (P.87)
Intentional and accidental message passes through the various communication channels. Intentional communication occurs when a supervisor plans/ structures communication. For example, to perform an experiment by the class in the laboratory and at the end of the experiment the class submits a written report. Accidental communication takes place when during intentional communication the supervisor shows his sudden verbal or physical or vocal reaction in response to student behaviour. Classroom communication is a complex process. Usually the teacher is considered a major source of information who transmits the messages. The students are considered as receivers who respond to the messages. In instructional communication it is not only important what the teacher says but how it is said. It is also important that feed forward of information is followed by feedback. Lovell and Wiles (1975) write,
In educational organisations, formal messages flow downward and upward through the hierarchy. … However, in educational organisations, the normal flow is downward. Superintendents send messages to assistant superintendents, and assistant superintendents send messages to principals and on through the channels to teachers and students. Even downward channels present problems since messages often change during their downward flow. This occurs as a result of misinterpretation, lost meaning, and blockages. Often it is to protect his own position in the organisation.
Upward channels are even less effective in the educational organisation but quite important. It is essential for educational leaders to get feedback from students, teachers, supervisors and principals. Students and teachers represent an important source of ideas for improvement. It is also necessary to know how policy statements, directives, and other kinds of messages are being received and acted on. This is an important source of information about teacher satisfaction and dissatisfaction and is therefore, an important factor in teacher motivation. But upward flow of communication can be very threatening to students and teachers. Therefore, it is often distorted and inaccurate. Teachers say what they think the superintendent wants to hear. Sometimes principals block or distort information that they feel may make their performance look bad. (pp. 84 & 85)
Emotional disturbance can affect the quality of communication. Lack of trust among the members of a group is another reason for decrease in the effectiveness of communication. Lovell and Willes said (1975, p.89), ‘… Emotional disturbance decreases the range of facts that a person considers significant. If a person is deeply disturbed, only the facts that seems to him to bear upon his problem are important. He is unwilling to take the time to consider other ideas until his disturbance is decreased. Actually he cannot consider other facts.’
Communication Barriers
Pfeiffer (1991, p.8) writes,
If everyone were to have the same experiences, all messages would be encoded, transmitted, and decoded alike. Symbols would have the same meanings for everyone, and all communication would be received as the senders intended. However, people differ in their personal histories, ways in which they experience things, and emotional responses, leading to differences in the ways in which communications are encoded, transmitted, received, and understood. Different people attach different meanings to the words, pictures, sounds, and gestures used during communication (p.8).
Messages can be destroyed by other factors called interference or noise. Noise can affect the effectiveness of communication. Pfeiffer (1991) further describes two types of noise (Physical and Psychological noise) which can disrupt communication.
Physical noise refers to conspicuous distractions in the environment that make it difficult to hear or pay attention. For example, when the environment is excessively hot or excessively cold, or when one is in a noisy nightclub, one may tend to focus more concern on the situation than on the message. Physical noise can inhibit communication at any point in the process—in the sender, in the message, in the channel, or in the receiver.
Psychological noise alludes to mechanism within individuals that restrict a sender’s or receiver’s ability to express and /or understand messages clearly. For example, senders with limited vocabularies may have difficulty translating images into symbols that can be understood easily by receivers. Receivers with inflated self-concepts may filter messages that disagree with their self-perceptions and put energy into defending themselves rather than into understanding the messages. Psychological noise most often results in defensiveness that blocks the flow of communication between sender and receiver (p.8).
In educational institutions we experienced communication problems related to physical and physiological noise. In schools we experienced different types of physical noise such as students laughing, shouting, running, talking, teachers talking and shouting, phone/school bell ringing, traffic, thunder, lightning, wind etc. We also experienced the problems related to physiological noise such as illness, headache, cold, cough etc. Classes/schools who have students from different cultural and ethnic background face the problems related to incorrect and poor pronunciation. The use of the words which have a number of possible meaning are also a barrier to effective communication. Hansford (1988, p.25) writes, ‘… that noise not includes ‘distracting and interfering messages, sounds and movements’ but also ‘confused thinking … failure to adapt his/her language to the audience… physical and emotional factors as a headache, lack of sleep, poor pronunciation, poor mental health, prejudices, attitudes… background and experiences’.
A supervisor plays a vital role in communication. He works not only as a receiver or sender but also as a facilitator. To make a communication system effective he needs to work as a developer as well as a maintenance person. Wiles and Lovell (1975) highlight some points that can make a communicator effective.
As a sender, the individual should : (1) See himself as sharing, not telling … (2) See himself as seeking to relate to other people, not to control them … (3) See his task as seeking truth rather than convincing others … (4) Judge his own contribution by the feedback he gets from others rather than his personal judgement … (5) Look for agreement and any disagreement and seek the meaning the other person intends in the areas of difference … (6) Seek to be empathetic … (7) Seek words with common meanings … (8) Seek to eliminate from his behaviour actions that threaten …
As a receiver the individual should : (1) Seek to help the sender clarify his meaning … (2) Seek understanding … (3) Seek to identify what is not being said as much as he tries to understand what is being said …
As a supervisor, he should : (1) Encourage people to know and value other … (2) Provide the physical arrangements that contribute to better communication … (3) Seek to develop a permissive atmosphere … (4) Seek to identify areas of agreement and areas of disagreement … (5) Reflect to the group what he thinks the group has said … (pp.95 & 96)
Feedback can be given in a formal or informal way, written or oral. It allows the supervisor/teacher:
· To know what aspects of work (lesson) are seen as being delivered well.
· To check that specific information is delivered correctly.
· To know what aspects need improvement.
Pfeiffer (1991) writes,
Giving feedback is a verbal or nonverbal process through which a person communicates his or her perceptions and feelings about another person’s behaviour. Most people give and receive feedback daily without being aware that they are doing so. The process of giving and asking for feedback is one of the most important ways of learning new behaviours and of assessing our impact on others. It is through feedback that we learn to “keep on course” and to see ourselves as others see us (p. 27).
Giving and receiving feedback is a time consuming process. The failure of this process causes barriers to effective communication. In teaching, feedback regarding context plays an important role. In the classroom context, Hansford (1988) highlights three principles of feedback,
Immediateness: In order to keep the flow of interaction moving between teachers and students it is generally important that immediate feedback be given. Having initiated comments, or responded to teachers, students require feedback that tells them the information is correct or incorrect and whether to continue speaking or to be quiet. A lack of feedback creates uncertainty and has a stultifying effect on interaction.
Clarity: Whether the feedback is supportive or negative it should be expressed in a manner that is clear, precise and concise.
Appropriateness: … responses can be either confirming or disconfirming. Confirming responses tend to be appropriate as they facilitate the interaction process, whilst disconfirming or dysfunctional responses reduce the potential for effective communication to occur. … identify various categories of dysfunctional response behaviour—impervious, irrelevant, interrupting, tangential, impersonal, incoherent and incongruous. All dysfunctional responses are inappropriate, as they tend to confuse, disturb, frustrate and alienate potential receivers. … most frequently occurring inappropriate responses were classified as impervious (teachers ignore or disregard the communication attempts of students) and interrupting (teachers either cut short or talk over student comments) (pp. 46 & 47)
Feedback is an important component for the growth and development of the supervisory role. In order to be on the right track it is important for a supervisor/teacher to receive feedback regarding his work. Sometime it can be referred as a debriefing session. Feedback, whether written or oral, is more effective if it is specific. Non specific feedback such as “excellent”, “good”, “well done” cannot give useful information. It should include such information that allows students to repeat that action or behaviour. It is not possible for feedback to be always positive. There is a need to take feedback as a constructive criticism for the professional growth and improvement. Pfeiffer (1991, pp. 27 & 28)writes, ‘ However, giving feedback is a learned skill that can be developed through the use of the following nine guidelines. … (1) Consider the needs of others. … (2) Describe behaviour only; do not attempt to interpret. … (3) Focus on behaviour that can be changed. … (4) Be specific. … (5) Wait for feedback to be solicited. … (6) Be non-judgemental. … (7) Giving feedback immediately after the behaviour. … (8) Allow the freedom to change or not to change. …(9) Express feelings directly.’
Conclusion
The role of supervisor requires those skills and strategies, that can be useful for workers to improve their working performance. In the school context, a supervisor should focus his attention on teacher’s needs related to teaching and should keep an eye on different aspects such as anxiety level, confidence and level of experience. One of the main aspects of the supervisor is to assist workers/teachers to generate, select and test solutions to problems they face in their working/teaching place. If the relation between supervisor and supervisee is that of collaborative colleagues and their focus is on solving problems, then an effective environment for professional development can take place. The role of supervisor should be assisting, sharing and supporting rather than directing. This does not decrease the authority of the supervisor.
As I discussed above, the work of supervisor is to influence working/teaching behaviour in such a way as to improve the quality of work/student learning. Effective communication is an essential ingredient of the supervisory process. Through effective communication: one can share one’s feelings and ideas; trust can be developed when people feel that their diverse opinion is being valued. In educational organizations effective learning/organisational growth takes place by the use of the appropriate communication process. Both teachers’ and students’/workers’ beliefs, attitudes and values can be influenced through effective communication. Many organizational and social problems are raised by inadequate communication processes. Through the understanding of the basic elements (sender, encoding, channels, decoding, receiver) of the communication model and the role of feedback (as discussed above), these problems can be solved.
Harris, B.M. (1963). Supervisory Behaviour in Education. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
Hansford, B. (1988). Teachers and Classroom Communication. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Ltd.
Pfeiffer. J. W. (1991). Theories and Models in Applied Behavioural Sciences, vol.2 Groups and vol. 2. Management/Leadership. Pfeiffer Company : San Diego.
Wiles, K., And Lovell.J.T. (1975). Supervision For Better Schools. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J.