18
CONTROLLER
HUMAN RELATION EAR
Whom is he talking to?
Does he like me – or not?
APPEAL EAR
What does he want
me to do?
SELF-REVELATION EAR
What kind of guy is he?
What happens to him?
FACTUAL EAR
How to understand
the facts?
the sentence “if you continue as before, you never will deliver
them” does not demonstrate much esteem.
The third level is the self-revelation: the sender’s statement
always conveys some sort of self-revelation. On this level he
gives away information about himself, what he stands for and
how he sees himself. On this level the receiver finds out more
about the sender. In our example we could suggest that the
controller is worried about the objectives, as he may be held
accountable for not meeting the target.
Usually it is understood as the “four ears model of a
message”, which means that every verbalised mes-
sage to another person will be received and under-
stood by him on four different levels.
The first level is the factual level: on this level facts and
figures play the most important part. The focus here lays on
clear facts, figures and data. In our above-mentioned exam-
ple this level would mean the 20% arrears in the revenues.
The second ear is known as the level of human relationship:
on this level the message conveys what kind of personal
relationship the sender and the recipient have with one an-
other. This may be the most sensitive ear, with which people
will hear the message and react particularly emotionally. It
expresses what they are thinking about each other and how
they stand together. This will be reinforced by the way of
formulating, the accent, the facial expression, gesture and
posture. In our example we cannot see these nonverbal sig-
nals, but we probably can imagine them. The formulation of
HUNGARY
Sources: “Quadrilog”
from Schultz von Thun,
ICV WG Budapest II
2014, own managerial
and consulting project
experiences.
THE 4 EARS MODEL
OF “QUADRILOG”
Human relations level
obsessions
hopes
expectations
behaviour
concerns
fears
attitudes
Factual level
personal resources
planning procedure
revenues, costs and benefits
methods
objectives
performance
Information systems
sales activities
Fig. 2 – Communica-
tion levels in front and
behind the controlling-
circle
SPEZIAL
|
CONTROLLING INTERNATIONAL
|
ISSUE 12
|
SEPTEMBER 2015
PLANNING
CONTROLL
FORECAST
