C H A P T E R: E L E V E N
Communicating
in Teams and
Organizations
11
McGraw-Hill Ryerson
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Blogging as Org Communication
Ian Smith/Vancouver Sun
“[Blogging] is a fantastically effective listening device,”
says Tim Bray, the Vancouver-based director of Web
technologies at Sun Microsystems. “There's an
immediacy of interaction you can get with your audience
through blogging that's hard to get any other way, except
by face-to-face communication.”
McShane/ Canadian OB 6e
2
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Definition of Communication
Ian Smith/Vancouver Sun
The process by which information is transmitted and
understood between two or more people
Transmitting the sender’s intended meaning (not just
symbols) is the essence of good communication
McShane/ Canadian OB 6e
3
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Four Functions of Communication
Ian Smith/Vancouver Sun
 Coordinating work activities
 Fulfilling drive to bond
 Knowledge management
 Decision making
McShane/ Canadian OB 6e
4
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Communication Process Model
Sender
Form
message
Transmit
Message
Encode
message
Receiver
Receive
encoded
message
Decode
message
Encode
feedback
Form
feedback
Noise
Decode
feedback
Receive
feedback
Transmit
Feedback
McShane/ Canadian OB 6e
5
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
City of Liverpool Bans E-mail
©UK Out Epa-Photo/PA Files/Phil Nobl.
McShane/ Canadian OB 6e
6
Civic leaders at Liverpool
City Council have
banned e-mail one day
each week because they
fear that the electronic
medium is undermining
face-to-face
communication among
employees.
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Benefits of Email
1.Preferred medium for
coordinating work
2.Tends to increase
communication volume
3.Significantly alters
communication flow
 Less face-to-face/telephone
 More upward communication
©UK Out Epa-Photo/PA Files/Phil Nobl.
McShane/ Canadian OB 6e
7
4.Reduces some selective
attention biases
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Problems with Email
1.Communicates emotions
poorly
2.Impersonal medium
 reduces politeness and
respect (flaming)
3.Inefficient for ambiguous,
complex, novel situations
©UK Out Epa-Photo/PA Files/Phil Nobl.
McShane/ Canadian OB 6e
8
4.Increases information
overload
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Other Electronic Communication
Instant messaging
 More efficient than email
 Allows simultaneous communication events
 Real-time communities through clustered
communication
Blogging (web logs)
 Seem more personal than large meetings
 Empower employees to share information
 Ability to archive information
McShane/ Canadian OB 6e
9
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Nonverbal Communication
 Actions, facial gestures, voice intonation,
silence, etc.
 Transmits most info in face-to-face meetings
 Influences meaning of verbal and written
symbols
 Less rule bound than verbal communication
 Important part of emotional labour
 Automatic and unconscious
McShane/ Canadian OB 6e
10
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Emotional Contagion
The automatic process of “catching” or sharing
another person’s emotions by mimicking their facial
expressions and other nonverbal behaviour
Emotional contagion serves three purposes:



Provides continuous feedback to speaker
Increases emotional understanding of the other person’s
experience
Communicates a collective sentiment -- sharing the
experience
McShane/ Canadian OB 6e
11
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Hierarchy of Media Richness
Rich
Overloaded
Zone
Media
Richness
Oversimplified
Zone
Lean
Routine/clear
McShane/ Canadian OB 6e
Situation
12
Nonroutine/
Ambiguous
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Contingencies of Media Richness
For electronic media, richness is also
influenced by communicator’s previous
experience:
With the medium
 Experience enables user to “push” amount of
message through that medium
With the receiver
 With experience, both parties have similar
“codebooks”
McShane/ Canadian OB 6e
13
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Communication Barriers
Perceptions
Filtering
Language
 Jargon
 Ambiguity
Information Overload
McShane/ Canadian OB 6e
14
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Information Overload
Episodes of
information
overload
Employee’s
information
processing
capacity
Information Load
Time
McShane/ Canadian OB 6e
15
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Managing Information Overload
Solution 1: Increase information processing capacity





Learn to read faster
Scan through documents more efficiently
Remove distractions
Time management
Temporarily work longer hours
Solution 2: Reduce information load



Buffering
Omitting
Summarizing
McShane/ Canadian OB 6e
16
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Thumbs Up to the Boss!
In Australia, a co-worker asked
Patricia Oliveira why she
laughed when he gave the
thumbs up that everything is OK.
She explained that this gesture
“means something not very nice”
in her home country of Brazil.
After hearing this, several coworkers gave the boss a lot
more thumbs up signs!
©Mark M. Lawrence/Corbis
McShane/ Canadian OB 6e
17
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Cross-Cultural Communication
Verbal differences

Language
Nonverbal differences




©Mark M. Lawrence/Corbis
McShane/ Canadian OB 6e
18
Voice intonation
Interpreting nonverbal
meaning
Importance of verbal versus
nonverbal
Silence and conversational
overlaps
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Gender Communication Differences
Men
Women
Report talk
Rapport talk
Gives advice
quickly and directly
Gives advice indirectly
and reluctantly
Conversations are
negotiations of status
Conversations are
bonding events
Less sensitive to
nonverbal cues
McShane/ Canadian OB 6e
More sensitive to
nonverbal cues
19
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Getting Your Message Across
Empathize
Repeat the message
Use timing effectively
Be descriptive
© Photodisc. With permission.
McShane/ Canadian OB 6e
20
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Active Listening Process & Strategies
Sensing
• Postpone evaluation
• Avoid interruptions
• Maintain interest
Active
Listening
Responding
Evaluation
• Show interest
• Clarify the message
• Empathize
• Organize information
McShane/ Canadian OB 6e
21
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
MBWA at Hiram Walker
Ian Gourlay, CEO of Hiram
Walker, values management
by walking around (MBWA)
because face-to-face
communication helps him to
understand what is really
happening in the company.
Windsor Star Group
McShane/ Canadian OB 6e
22
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Communicating in Hierarchies
1. Work space design
2. E-zines, blogs, wikis
3. Employee surveys
4. Direct communication
with management
Windsor Star Group
McShane/ Canadian OB 6e
23
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Organizational Grapevine
Early Research Findings




Transmits information rapidly in all directions
Follows a cluster chain pattern
More active in homogeneous groups
Transmits some degree of truth
Changes Due to Internet



Email becoming the main grapevine medium
Social networks are now global
Public blogs and forums extends gossip to everyone
McShane/ Canadian OB 6e
24
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Grapevine Benefits/Limitations
Benefits
 Supplements information
 Strengthens corporate culture
 Relieves anxiety
 Signals that problems exist
Limitations
 Distortions might escalate anxiety
 Perceived lack of concern for employees when
company info is slower than grapevine
McShane/ Canadian OB 6e
25
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
C H A P T E R: E L E V E N
Communicating
in Teams and
Organizations
11
McGraw-Hill Ryerson
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
C H A P T E R: E L E V E N
Chapter Eleven
Extras
11
McGraw-Hill Ryerson
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Guessing E-Mail Emoticons
:-)
:-}
<:-)
:-X
:-j
{}
Happy
Smirk
Dumb question
OOPS!
Tongue in cheek
Hug
McShane/ Canadian OB 6e
28
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.