What Happens to Messages When They Are Distorted
As message travels
from person to person, a number of things can happen to those messages. This effect
is aggravated when a message travels in serial fashion from one person to another to
another and so forth. Though not all of the following distortion effects necessarily
occur in each and every message, and in fact, some may even seem contradictory, all do
occur from time to time when messages become distorted as they are sent from person to
person:
· Leveling:
As a message move from person to person, it tends to become shorter, simpler, less
detailed, and more abbreviated. More and more information gets dropped out from what
was in the original message. There is no assurance that the information that is
retained is important or what was dropped out might have been vital to its
understanding. Leveling is probably the main outcome of messages as they move from
person to person.
· Sharpening:
Some of the details that are retained become highlighted and focused in upon. These
retained details may take on disproportionate importance to their importance in the
original message.
· Changes:
Retained details may be changed in content and emphasis from what was in the original
message.
· Additions:
Details may be added to embellish, fill in gaps, and make the message more sensible and
plausible.
· Assimilation:
Details (and at times the order in which they appear) are distorted to fit with the
receiver's past experiences, expectancy sets, attitudes, perceptions, and previous
messages that have been sent and received.
· Middle
Message Loss: The beginning and the ending of messages tend to be remembered better
than the middle parts of the message.
· Loss
of Qualifiers: Statements that were previously qualified tend to become more and more
definite statements.
· Evaluation:
People tend to evaluate the message and categorize the content as good or bad, liked or
disliked, and they then place evaluative labels into the message.
· Grouping:
Similar items within a message (and outside the message) are lumped together and
stereotyping can take place.
· Conformity:
The content and language and style of a message are frequently altered to fit social
norms.
· Pleasing
the Receiver: Messages are often modified to make them more acceptable to the
receiver. This is an effect that is exaggerated when the message is sent up an
organizational hierarchy. As we have seen earlier, employees tend to send messages
that please their supervisors or managers and messages and that contain information they
think their supervisors or managers wants to hear. They also tend to send more favorable
than unfavorable information is sent up the organizational hierarchy, especially when that
information in important and they tend to block unfavorable information from being sent up
the hierarchy. The “pleasing the receiver” effect, however, is moderated
when employees trust their supervisors or managers. That is, the greater the trust
an employee has in a manager, the