Communication class

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Communication

What is communication and why is it important in the context of groups and OB?

One of the factors with high impact on group effectiveness is the presence and/or absence of effective communication

Communication must include transferring and understanding of meaning

Plays four equally important roles and should be recognised as such by managers

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Communication – 4 functions Control – Informal and formal control of behavior

of members in a group

Motivation – job clarity, expectations, feedback

Emotional expression – groups a source for social interaction and therefore communication plays a role for release of emotions

Information – facilitating decision making by providing information by transmitting data to identify and evaluate alternative choices

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Communication – ProcessThe most important factor – the ‘purpose’ of

communication

Sender, encoding - The sender has a thought which he/she wants to let someone else know. This thought is encoded in the form of a message.

Message - The thought thus acquires a body, a shape and a structure.

Channel - The message is transmitted using some channel to reach the receiver; could be formal and informal channels

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Communication – Process Receiver, Decoding - The receiver ‘decodes’ the

message to understand its meaning.

Noise - The process of decoding may not generate the same ‘thought’ that the sender wanted to transmit. The distortions are the ‘noise’.

Feedback – Check on how successfully the original intended message has reached the receiver.

Direction of communication can be downward, upward and lateral

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Communication Types - Interpersonal

Oral – speed and feedback; opportunities for messages to become distorted

Written – Usually more carefully done, therefore more likely to be well thought out, logical and clear

Non-verbal – body movements, tone and emphasis given to words, facial expressions, distance between sender and receiver

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Change your tone and you change your meaning:

Placement of the emphasis What it means

Why don’t I take you to dinner tonight? I was going to take someone else.

Why don’t I take you to dinner tonight? Instead of the guy you were going with.

Why don’t I take you to dinner tonight? I’m trying to find a reason why I

shouldn’t take you.

Why don’t I take you to dinner tonight? Do you have a problem with me?

Why don’t I take you to dinner tonight? Instead of going on your own.

Why don’t I take you to dinner tonight? Instead of lunch tomorrow.

Why don’t I take you to dinner tonight? Not tomorrow night.

Source: Based on M. Kiely, “When ‘No’ Means ‘Yes,’ ” Marketing, October 1993, pp. 7–9. Reproduced in A. Huczynski and D. Buchanan, Organizational Behaviour, 4th ed. (Essex, England: Pearson Education, 2001), p. 194.

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Communication Types - Organizational

Formal, small-group networks – chain, wheel, all-channel

The all-channel network permits all group members to actively communicate with each other.

The wheel relies on the leader to act as the central conduit for all the group’s communication

The chain rigidly follows the formal chain of command

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Communication Types - Organizational

Grapevine 75% of employees hear of matters first through

rumors Rumors emerge as a response to situations that are

important, when there is ambiguity, under conditions that arouse anxiety

Computer aided E-mail – nearly 1 trillion e-mails sent daily worldwide.

Upto 70% e-mail comes in the form of spam or phishing e-mails

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Communication Types - Organizational

Internet messaging (IM) – Many organizations are concerned about security

Intranet and extranet links Video conferencing – this will be seen as an

alternative to travel So?

In the electronic age, employees can theoretically be ‘on call’ 24/7

Boundaries between organizations becoming blurred – possible clouding of employment distinction

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Communication Types – Organizational

Knowledge Management – Process of organizing and distributing an organization’s collective wisdom so that right information gets to the right people at the right time

Why important? Intellectual assets as important as physical or financial

assets Baby boomers leaving work places – taking away their

experience and learning Reduce redundancy and make organization more efficient

How? Creating databases that can be readily accessed Creating culture of sharing Creating mechanisms for people to share insights

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Communication Types – Organizational

Source: Based on R.H. Lengel and D.L. Daft, “The Selection of Communication Media as an Executive Skill,” Academy of Management Executive, August 1988, pp. 225–32; and R.L. Daft and R.H. Lengel, “Organizational Information Requirements, Media Richness, and Structural Design,” Managerial Science, May 1996, pp. 554–72. Reproduced from R.L. Daft and R.A. Noe, Organizational Behavior (Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt, 2001), p. 311.

Low channel richness High channel richness

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Communication – Barriers

Filtering – purposefully manipulating information so it will be seen more favorably by the receiver

Selective perception – Receiver projecting their interests and expectations into the communication while decoding messages

Information overload – Individuals having more information than they can sort out and use

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Communication – Barriers

Emotions – how receiver is ‘feeling’ impacts interpretation of message

Language – Same words mean different things to different people

Communication apprehension – 5% to 20% suffer from communication apprehension

High oral communication apprehensives distort communication demands of their jobs in order to minimize need for communication

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Communication – Current IssuesCommunication barriers between men and

women Men talk to:

Emphasize status, power, and independence.

Complain that women talk on and on.

Offer solutions. To boast about

their accomplishments.

Women talk to: Establish

connection and intimacy.

Criticize men for not listening.

Speak of problems to promote closeness.

Express regret and restore balance to a conversation.

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Communication – Current Issues “Silence” as Communication

Is a critical element of groupthink Way for employees and/or managers to express

dissatisfaction Sign that someone is upset Crucial element of group decision making

“Politically correct” communication Handicapped, blind, elderly – physically challenged,

visually impaired, senior Garbage, quotas, women – post consumer waste

materials, educational equity, people of gender

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Communication – Current Issues Cross cultural communication

Gestures having different meanings across cultures Barriers – semantics, word connotations, tone

differences, perception differences High context cultures

○ What is not said may be more important than what is said

○ Implies more trust ○ Oral agreements imply strong commitment

Low context cultures○ Rely essentially on words to convey meaning○ Agreements will tend to be in writing, precisely worded,

highly legalistic

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Communication – Current Issues Cultural guide

Assume differences until similarity proven Emphasize description rather than interpretation or

evaluation Practice empathy Treat your interpretation as a working hypothesis

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Managerial Implications Employee satisfaction – less uncertainty, ambiguity -

more satisfaction

Group performance – use of vertical, lateral information channels will reduce uncertainty, increase flow, improve group performance and satisfaction

Motivation – Expectancy theory – clarity of goals, rewards, performance and links between the same

Turnover – Almost 29% higher turnover where either there are no job previews or only positive job information is presented. Conveying honest and accurate information during recruiting and selection process.

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Think…

Consider the way in which this man is communicating. What channel is he using? How rich is it? For what kinds of message would it be appropriate? Not appropriate?