Information Technology

Home > Information Technology > Compulsory Units > Communicate in the workplace > Communicate in the workplace

Key terms and concepts

Active listening	Responding to what you hear, indicating you are listening.
Answering machine	A machine that records messages when the telephone is un-answered. The recipient can play these messages back.
Aggressive	To put others down, only see your point of view, pushy and abusive at times.
Assertive	To be clear and honest when speaking about your feelings and respect the rights and needs of others without making judgements.
Audit trail	The series of records that shows how changes are made to documents. An audit trail means that you can see who made the changes and when they were made.
Body language	Movement of the body and facial expressions to communicate.
Call waiting	Where a caller is put on hold and can be listening to music, the radio or messages.
Client	Someone who comes to you for your professional services.
Communicate	Successfully convey an idea from one person to another using some form of medium – verbal, non verbal.
Communication breakdown	Failure to communicate or be understood for some reason.
Compose	To produce or put together an idea, usually written.
Conference calls	This is where several people are calling by telephone from different locations and everyone can be heard via a loud speaker.
Email	Messages sent via the Internet from one computer to another using phone lines and modem.
Empathy	The ability to see things from the other person’s point of view.
External lines	Telephone access outside the organisation/company.
Facsimile (FAX) machine	Operated via telephone lines, producing a hard copy for the receiver.
Feedback	Any reply to a message.
Groupware	A type of software that allows users on a network to organise and schedule activities and to communicate with each other.
Hands-free	Not having to hold the telephone, but carry on a conversation using a microphone/load speaker facility.
Internal client	Other workers within the same organisation, for whom you provide a professional service.
Internal lines	Telephone access inside the organisation/company.
Interpretation	What the receiver understands from the communication and what they get from it.
Medium	The method or channel you choose to send the message by – verbal, written, visual, non-verbal.
Memory dialling	The facility to store numbers in memory on the telephone and be able to dial or redial by a code.
Message	What you want to communicate – an idea, instruction, request, statement.
Non verbal	Without talking (words)
Oral	By way of speaking in words.
PABX	Private Automatic Branch Exchange – can handle many telephone lines within an organisation.
Pagers	A small device used to page a person by displaying a message or telephone number.
Passive	When you do not attempt to clearly communicate what you think or feel.
Pessimists	People who always seem to see the negative side of things.
Receiver	The person/s who you want to communicate with.
Redirecting calls	A system whereby you can redirect calls from one place to another if you know where you are going to be, e.g. from an office phone to a mobile.
Screening calls	Listening to the caller and asking questions to establish the purpose of the call, then make a decision based on this information and the company policy.
STD	Subscriber Trunk Dialling – long distance calls.
Stereotypes	Judging or classifying people into a particular category according to appearance, behaviour, clothes or a belief.
Voicemail	A type of answering machine where messages can be recorded.

Back to Communicate in the workplace