Wiley CIAexcel Exam Review 2014 Focus Notes: Part 3, Internal Audit Knowledge Elements

Domain 4

Focus on: Communication (5–10%)

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

One thing that is common to all four functions of management (i.e., planning, organizing, directing, and controlling) is communication. Surveys have shown that 80% of a manager’s time is spent on communication and 20% on other activities. Communication involves two or more people. The effectiveness of organizational communication can be increased with clear verbal and written messages with little or no noise. Communication as a chain is made up of identifiable links—sender, encoding, medium, decoding, receiver, and feedback. The communication chain is only as strong as its weakest link. The following are the identifiable links in the communication chain:

• Sender conveys the message to a receiver.
• Encoding translates the message from sender.
• Medium is the vehicle to send or receive a message.
• Decoding translates the message from sender to receiver.
• Receiver gets the message.
• Feedback means the receiver acknowledges the message.

Sender

The sender is an individual or a group of people whose goal is to convey or transmit the message to a receiver in the best possible media and in the fastest way.

Encoding

The objective of encoding is to translate internal thought patterns into a language or code that the intended receiver of the message will be able to understand. Words (written or oral), numbers, gestures, or other symbols are used in encoding. The purpose of the message affects the medium of encoding. For example, if ...