Unit 4
RELATIONAL CHALLENGES
Superior - Subordinate
Communication
IMPORTANT QUESTIONS
• What are the primary differences inherent in
the superior-subordinate relationship?
• What are the two types of information
communicated between supervisors and
subordinates?
• What are the distinctions between semanticinformation distance and perceptual
incongruence?
• Distinguish between upward distortion and
strategic ambiguity?
• Why would researchers want to study
leadership as a dyadic construct as opposed to
traits or behaviors?
• Vertical Dyadic Linkage Theory (VDL) is also
known by what name? Why?
Overview
• Nature and Importance of Supervisor-Subordinate
Relationship
• Prevalence of Misunderstandings in the SupervisorSubordinate Relationship
• Dyadic View of the Supervisor-Subordinate
Relationship
• Trait vs Behavior
• Leader-Member Exchange Theory (LMX)
• Communication Activities: Supervisor-Subordinate
• Trust, Immediacy, and Feedback
• Compliance-Gaining
• Communication Activities: Subordinate to
Supervisor
• Upward Influence
• Women and the Supervisor-Subordinate
Relationship
Superior-Subordinate Communication
“Those exchanges of information
and influence between
organizational members at least
one of whom has formal (as
defined by official organizational
sources) authority to direct and
evaluate the activities of other
organizational members”
Nature and Importance of
Superior-Subordinate Relationship
• Exists when one person has formal authority to
regulate the behavior of another
• Forms of Communication (Table 10.1, p. 175)
• Task and Personal Information is shared by both
superiors and subordinates
• Information sharing, seeking, and collaboration
• A critical role of communication is the
maintenance of an acceptable relationship
between the subordinate and the supervisor.
• Questions
•
•
•
Why is this relationship important for a newcomer?
Why is maintaining an acceptable relationship with a
subordinate crucial for a supervisor?
See page 176 for specific reasons
Misunderstandings in the
Superior-Subordinate Relationship
• Semantic- Information Distance
•
Gap in information and understanding that exists between
superior and subordinate on specified issues (Dansereau &
Markin, 1987)
• Perceptual Incongruence
•
Stunts growth of relationship and hinders organizational
effectiveness
• Causes
•
•
•
•
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Over-reporting by Supervisors (more positive)
Inaccurate view of satisfaction
Supervisors reporting that subordinates are actually less
satisfied than they actually are
Subordinate participation
Communication openness
Performance feedback
• Effects
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•
•
Individual (satisfaction, conflict)
Relational (development)
Organizational (climate, communication)
Misunderstandings in the
Superior-Subordinate Relationship
• Upward Distortion (subordinates)
•
The hesitancy of subordinates to communicate negative news up
the chain of command the their tendency to distort such news to
place it in a more positive light (Dansereau & Markham, 1987)
• Explanations for Upward Distortion
•
•
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Kill the messenger?! (blame subordinates)
Interpreted as criticism of supervisor
Moderating variables
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Subordinate’s desire for promotion
Need for security
Level of trust in the supervisor
Level of motivation
• Strategic Ambiguity (supervisors)
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A situation in which contextual tools are purposefully omitted
from communication to “allow for multiple interpretations on the
part of the receiver” (Eisenberg, 1984)
Can be used to promote identification and the sense of a shared
vision
Outcomes
•
•
•
Allows for meaning projection
Leads to restricted code
Allows people to regulate what and how much they want to share
Misunderstandings in the
Superior-Subordinate Relationship
Which of the
communications
strategies (upward
distortion or strategic
ambiguity) is most
ethically suspect? Why?
Leadership and the Study of
Superior-Subordinate Relations
•
Trait Research
•
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Behavior Research
•
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Intelligence, dominance, self-confidence, energy,
activity, and task-related knowledge
Initiating Structure (goals, expectations, jobs)
Consideration (personal interest in subordinate)
Leader-Member Exchange Theory
•
•
•
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Vertical Dyadic Linkage Theory (VDL)
LMX - Leader-Member Exchange (in-group
relationships)
• Mutual trust, reciprocal support, liking, greater
levels of interaction
Middle group relationships
SX - Supervisory Exchange (out group relationships)
• Role-defined and contractually-based
• Determined by liking and perceived ability of
subordinate
Maintenance Communication
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“Messages and behaviors used to preserve an
acceptable and lasting relational state” (Waldron, 1991)
Subordinate Tactics
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Personal - informal interaction used to build and
maintain a friendship
Contractual - conformity to formal role requirements,
expectations, and contracts with the supervisor
Regulative - strategic regulation--of messages,
impressions, emotions, and contacts with the supervisor
Direct - direct negotiation of the terms of the
relationship and explicit discussion of perceived
relational injustices
Communication of Women Leaders
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Minimizing POWER Differences
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Value Congruence (similarity in values)
Nonroutine Problem-Solving (creativity)
Insider Makers (group membership and jokes)
Support (social and professional)
Coaching (help in mastering skills and concepts)
Maximizing POWER Differences
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Performance Monitoring (check work and progress)
Face-threatening Acts (criticism and rebuke)
Competitive Conflict (interruptions and nonsupport)
Power Games (arguing for sake of arguing)
Communication Activities:
Superior to Subordinate
• “Supervisor as Teacher and Coach”
• Trust
• Expectations that the other will act benevolently
• Willingness to be vulnerable and risk that the
other will not act accordingly
• Some level of dependency
• Immediacy
• Any communication that indicates interpersonal
warmth and closeness
• Feedback
• Any communication between organizational
members that implicitly or explicitly provides task
guidance, personal evaluation, or other guidance
• PROVIDING and SEEKING feedback
• Compliance Gaining
•
•
Attractive style (attentive, friendly, and relaxed)
Unattractive style (inattentive, unfriendly, and unrelaxed)
Communication Activities:
Subordinate to Superior
• Dependent on FREQUENCY, TYPE, and
PERSONAL NATURE of Communication
• Upward Influence
• Goes beyond subordinate’s comfort and skill
level
• Three Potential Strategies
• Open persuasion (overt)
• Strategic persuasion (partial disclosure)
• Manipulation (disguised influence attempt)
• “Pelz Effect”
• Subordinates would initiate more upward
messages if they believed their superiors had
upward influence (Pelz, 1952)
Women and the
Superior-Subordinate Relationship
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Plight of Women in Organizations
• 10% of Fortune 500 companies’ senior managers
are women
• Less than 4% of the top-ranked individuals (e.g.,
CEO, COO, president) are women
• Women make up less than 3 percent of the top
corporate earners
Gender Inequity is rooted in our culture patterns
and therefore in our organizational systems
Research indicates that sex does not appear to be
relevant to the outcomes
Women are rated higher as managers on the skill of
“putting people at ease.”
What is most predictive of differences in evaluation
of leadership skills (one’s position in the hierarchy or
sex)?
Women and the
Superior-Subordinate Relationship
• Men and women do not differ in the types of
persuasive strategies (compliance-gaining)
• How does level of power effect the types of
persuasive strategies employed?
• BOTTOM LINE: Legitimate authority, level of
power, and one’s position in the hierarchy are
the best predictors of communication
differences in the workplace
• SEX DIFFERENCES
• Communication Competence
• Women supervisors are rated lower than men
supervisors
• Women subordinates rated women supervisors
less favorably than they rated men supervisors
• Supervisors rated women subordinates lower in
communication competence than they rated men
Summary
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Dyadic View of the Supervisor-Subordinate
Relationship that is best characterized by . . .
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Varying levels of TRUST
SUPPORT
FREQUENCY of INTERACTION
Discussion Questions (p. 192)
Modern Workplace is Undergoing Changes
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Decentralized Structures
Participative Decision Making
Project Teams (SDWTs)
Changes include . . .
• Blurred lines of authority
• Increased communication
• More equal distribution of power
• Moving from . . . authority and control to . . .
conditions where managers must be accomplished
communicators