xx-341: Communication in
Groups &Organizations
Robert Kraut
HCII/Tepper
robert.kraut@cmu.edu
NSH 3515
Office hours – after class & send email
http://orgcomm15.hciresearch.org
Porter Hall (PH) 125B
Tues & Thurs, 9-10:20
Agenda
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Introductions
Goals & themes of the course
Topics
Course requirements
Logistics
Initial discussion of group success
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Instructor: Robert Kraut
• Joint appointment in Tepper (IS & OB) and Human Computer Interaction
• Social psychologist by education - Yale Ph.D.
• Taught psychology and sociology at U of Penn & Cornell
• 12 years in industry - Bell Labs & Bellcore. Systems engineering &
managing behavioral & computer science research on interpersonal
communication.
• Visiting faculty at Facebook & Hewlett-Packard
• Research on a wide range of communication topics
• Design of online communities
• Effects of technology on social life
• Communication processes in project teams
• Interpersonal communication & conversation
• Electronic tools for communication
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Course goals
• To provide a broad understanding of the ways
communication in groups and organizations works
successfully and the ways it fails
• Provide enough knowledge so you can make
intelligent communication choices
• Specifically,
• Better understand what makes communication within and
between groups more or less effective.
• Better evaluate claims about groups in terms of empirical
evidence.
• Apply data gathering and analysis techniques to diagnosing
problems in workgroups.
• Apply principles from research to make the groups you work in
more effective.
• Not a business writing, public speaking course
• (see 70-340 Business Communications instead)
• Includes both the research base as well as practical conclusions
• Modest overlap with Negotiations & Organizational Behavior
Methods
• Readings and lectures to give an empirical and
theoretical foundation
• Unannounced quizzes to encourage you to do the readings
• Evidence that quizzes on readings help learning
• Discussion in class and on a weekly course forum to
explore the central ideas with a range of
organizational experiences
• Exercises, cases and short papers to apply what
you've learned
• Frequent quizzes
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Communication Makes Groups and
Organizations Go
• Communication is how people in organizations spend their time
• It is the mechanism through which most social & organizational
action occurs
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Managerial work
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Goal setting & leadership
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Attitude change
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Affiliation
Social networks for advice and influence
Technical work
• Communication failure leads to individual & organizational
failure
• New technologies are changing the equation
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Nature of communication is changing
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Organizational forms may be changing to follow
Organizing principles for the course
• Multiple levels of analysis
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Pairs (dyads), Small Groups, Social Networks &
Organizations
• Both classic and contemporary readings
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Original research, to see where the conclusions come from
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Cases, to apply conclusions
• Practice
• In class exercises
• Short, empirical or application papers to get you to observe
communication processes
• Discussion in class and online
• Frequent quizzes
Topics
• Working in groups
• Basis for team success and
failure
• Team composition &
process
• Managerial communication
• Leadership
• Communication & group
performance
• Distributed groups
• Causes of success & failure
• Role of communication
media
• Coordination
• Wikipedia as a distributed
organization
• Identity, Diversity &
Conflict
• Diversity of source of
conflict & innovation
• Intro to negotiation
• Managing group conflict
• Social loafing
• Attitudes & persuasion
• Interpersonal influence
• Person perception & selfpresentation
• Social networks
• In organizations
• In personal relationships
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Syllabus
• Syllabus will change!
• Up-to-date version at
http://orgcom15.hciresearch.org/
• Announcement of changes in announcement tab on
course website
• Major announcements on course mailing list
(hcii-orgcom@lists.andrew.cmu.edu)
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Course requirements
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Reading: ~ 2 articles or chapters per class
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Read & be prepared for discussion in class & online
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Was the question the author addressed well motivated?
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What did the author actually show?
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Do you believe it?
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How can you apply it?
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At least one post per article
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Quizzes about every week
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Final exam
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4 empirical essays
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Comparison of good and poor teams (individual)
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Technology for distributed work (two parts: one team & one individual)
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Team conflict (solo)
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Empirical persuasion assignment
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Improve a Wikipedia article
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Optional: Participate in up to 2 research experiences for a 3% bonus on
final grade
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Wikipedia assignment
• Create or substantially improve a Wikipedia
article related to the course
• Authentic writing assignment, where 100s or
1000s will read your work
• Understand how an online organization
operates
• Weekly milestones at
http://dashboard.wikiedu.org/courses/Carneg
ie_Mellon_University/Communication_in_Gr
oups_and_Organizations__(Fall_2015)
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Course web site
• Use course website
• Syllabus & readings
• For protected directory:
• Userid = “cmu” & Password = “student”
• Copies of lecture notes
• Discussion forums
• Uploading homework
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Online profile
• Upload a recognizable head and shoulder photo
• Otherwise I’ll find a Facebook photo or Hub photo to
upload
• Include personal information
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Make Your Stay or Go Decision This Week
• Enrollment is capped at 30 students
• Room size
• Grading burden
• Waiting list contains ~30 students
• If you are going to drop the course, please do
so by Jan 6th and let me know, so I can
replace you with someone from the waitlist
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