PowerPoint Presentation
to Accompany Chapter 17 of
Management
Canadian Edition
Schermerhorn  Wright
Prepared by: Michael K. McCuddy
Adapted by: Lynda Anstett & Lorie Guest
Published by: John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Planning Ahead — Chapter 17 Study Questions
 What is the communication process?
 How can communication be improved?
 How does perception influence communication?
 How can we deal positively with conflict?
 How can we negotiate successful agreements?
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Study Question 1: What is the communication
process?
 Communication.
– An interpersonal process of sending and receiving
symbols with messages attached to them.
 Key elements of the communication process:
– Sender.
– Message.
– Communication channel.
– Receiver.
– Interpreted meaning.
– Feedback.
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Figure 17.1 The interactive two-way
process of interpersonal communication.
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Study Question 1: What is the communication
process?
 Effective and efficient communication:
– Effective communication
• Occurs when the intended meaning of the sender is
identical to the interpreted meaning of the receiver.
– Efficient communication
• Occurs at a minimum resource cost.
– Potential trade-offs between effectiveness and
efficiency must be recognized.
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Study Question 1: What is the communication
process?
 Persuasion and credibility in communication.
– Communication is used for sharing information
and influencing other people.
– Persuasion is getting someone else to support
the message being presented.
– Horizontal structures and empowerment are
important contexts for persuasion.
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Study Question 1: What is the communication
process?
 Persuasion and credibility in communication
(cont.).
– Expert power and referent power are essential
for persuasion.
– Credibility involves trust, respect, and integrity
in the eyes of others.
– Credibility can be built through expertise and
relationships.
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Study Question 1: What is the communication
process?
 Sources of noise in communication:
– Poor choice of channels.
– Poor written or oral expression.
– Failure to recognize nonverbal signals.
– Physical distractions.
– Status effects.
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Study Question 1: What is the communication
process?
 Poor choice of channels.
– Choose the channel that works best.
– Written channels work for messages that:
• Are simple and easy to convey.
• Require extensive dissemination quickly.
• Convey formal policy or authoritative directives.
– Spoken channels work best for messages that:
• Are complex or difficult to convey where immediate feedback
is needed.
• Attempt to create a supportive, even inspirational, climate.
Management Fundamentals - Chapter 17
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Study Question 1: What is the communication
process?
 Guidelines for making oral presentations:
– Be prepared.
– Set the right tone.
– Sequence points.
– Support your points.
– Accent the presentation.
– Add the right amount of polish.
– Check your technology.
– Don’t bet on the Internet.
– Be professional.
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Study Question 1: What is the communication
process?
 Failure to recognize nonverbal signals.
– Nonverbal communication takes place through
gestures, facial expressions, body posture, eye contact,
and use of interpersonal space.
– Mixed messages occur when a person’s words and
nonverbal signals communicate different things.
– The growing use of communication technologies causes
important nonverbal communication to be lost.
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Study Question 1: What is the communication
process?
 Physical distractions.
– Include interruptions from telephone calls,
drop-in visitors, a lack of privacy, etc.
– Can interfere with the effectiveness of a
communication attempt.
– Can be avoided or at least minimized through
proper planning.
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Study Question 1: What is the communication
process?
 Status effects.
– Occur when an organization’s hierarchy of
authority creates a barrier to effective
communication.
– Status effects include:
• Filtering — the intentional distortion of information
to make it appear favorable to the recipient.
• Subordinates acting as “yes men.”
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Study Question 2: How can communication
be improved?
 Active listening.
– The process of taking action to help someone say
exactly what he or she really means.
 Rules for active listening:
– Listen for message content.
– Listen for feelings.
– Respond to feelings.
– Note all cues, verbal and nonverbal.
– Paraphrase and restate.
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Study Question 2: How can communication
be improved?
 Ten steps for good listening:
– Stop talking.
– Put the other person at ease.
– Show that you want to listen.
– Remove any potential distractions.
– Empathize with the other person.
– Don’t respond too quickly; be patient.
– Don’t get mad; hold your temper.
– Go easy on argument and criticism.
– Ask questions.
– Stop talking.
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Study Question 2: How can communication
be improved?
 Feedback.
– The process of telling others how you feel about
something they did or said, or about the situation in
general.
 Constructive feedback guidelines:
– Give it directly.
– Make it specific.
– Give it when the receiver is willing/able to accept it.
– Make sure it is valid.
– Give it in small doses.
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Study Question 2: How can communication
be improved?
 Use of communication channels.
– Channel richness is the capacity of a
communication channel to carry information in
an effective manner.
• Low channel richness is impersonal, one-way, and
fast.
• High channel richness is personal, two-way, and
slow.
– Managers need to choose a channel with the
appropriate richness for the communication.
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Figure 17.2 Channel richness and the use
of communication media.
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Study Question 2: How can communication
be improved?
 Ways to keep communication channels open
through interactive management.
– Management by wandering around (MBWA).
– Open office hours.
– Regular employee group meetings.
– Computer-mediated meetings and video conferences.
– Employee advisory councils.
– Communication consultants.
– 360-degree feedback.
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Study Question 2: How can communication
be improved?
 Proxemics and space design.
– Proxemics is the use of interpersonal space.
– Interpersonal space is an important nonverbal
cue.
– Workspace layout is often overlooked as a form
of nonverbal communication but is being
increasingly recognized for its impact on
communication and behavior.
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Study Question 2: How can communication
be improved?
 Technology utilization.
– Information technologies facilitate communication.
– The electronic grapevine speeds messages and
information from person to person.
• Functional if information is accurate and useful.
• Dysfunctional if information is false, distorted, or based on
rumor.
– E-mail privacy.
– Employer’s policy on personal e-mail.
– Don’t assume that e-mail privacy exists at work..
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Study Question 2: How can communication
be improved?
 Valuing culture and diversity.
– Ethnocentrism is the tendency to consider one’s
culture superior to any and all others.
– Ethnocentrism can cause people to:
• Not listen to others.
• Address or speak to others in ways that alienate
them.
• Use inappropriate stereotypes in dealing with
someone from another culture.
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Study Question 3: How does perception
influence communication?
 Perception.
– The process through which people receive and
interpret information from the environment.
– People can perceive the same things or
situations differently.
– People behave on the basis of their
perceptions.
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Figure 17.3 Perception and
communication.
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Study Question 3: How does perception
influence communication?
 Perception and attribution.
– Attribution
• The process of developing explanations for events.
– Fundamental attribution error
• Occurs when observers blame another’s performance failures
or problems on internal factors rather than external factors.
– Self-serving bias
• Occurs because individuals blame their personal performance
failures or problems on external factors and attribute their
successes to internal factors.
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Study Question 3: How does perception
influence communication?
 Perceptual tendencies and distortions:
– Stereotypes.
• Occur when someone is identified with a group or
category, and then oversimplified attributes
associated with the group or category are used to
describe the individual.
– Halo effects.
• Occur when one attribute is used to develop an
overall impression of a person or situation.
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Study Question 3: How does perception
influence communication?
 Perceptual tendencies and distortions
(cont.):
– Selective perception.
• The tendency to single out for attention those
aspects of a situation or attributes of a person that
reinforce or appear consistent with one’s existing
beliefs, values, or needs.
– Projection.
• The assignment of personal attributes to other
individuals.
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Study Question 4: How can we deal positively
with conflict?
 Conflict.
– A disagreement between people on:
• Substantive issues regarding goals and tasks,
allocation of resources, distribution of rewards,
policies and procedures, and job assignments.
• Emotional issues arising from feelings of anger,
distrust, dislike, fear, and resentment, as well as
personality clashes.
– Conflict that is well managed can help promote
creativity and high performance.
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Study Question 4: How can we deal positively
with conflict?
 Functional conflict.
– Moderately intense conflict.
– Constructive and stimulates people toward
greater work efforts, cooperation, and
creativity.
 Dysfunctional conflict.
– Low-intensity and very high-intensity conflict.
– Destructive and hurts task performance.
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Figure 17.4 The relationship between
conflict and performance.
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Study Question 4: How can we deal positively
with conflict?
 Causes of conflict:
– Role ambiguities.
– Resource scarcities.
– Task interdependencies.
– Competing objectives.
– Structural differentiation.
– Unresolved prior conflicts.
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Study Question 4: How can we deal positively
with conflict?
 Structural approaches for resolving
conflicts:
– Appealing to superordinate goals.
– Making more resources available.
– Changing the people.
– Altering the physical environment.
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Study Question 4: How can we deal positively
with conflict?
 Integrative devices for resolving conflicts:
– Using liaison personnel, special task forces,
cross-functional teams, or a matrix
organization.
– Changing reward systems.
– Changing policies and procedures.
– Training in interpersonal skills.
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Study Question 4: How can we deal positively
with conflict?
 People’s conflict management styles reflect
different combinations of cooperative and
assertive behavior.
– Cooperativeness is the desire to satisfy the
other party’s needs and concerns.
– Assertiveness is the desire to satisfy one’s own
needs and concerns.
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Study Question 4: How can we deal positively
with conflict?
 Conflict management styles:
– Avoidance (withdrawal).
• Uncooperative and unassertive.
– Accommodation (smoothing).
• Cooperative and assertive.
– Competition (authoritative command).
• Uncooperative and assertive.
– Compromise.
• Moderately cooperative and assertive.
– Collaboration (problem solving).
• Cooperative and assertive.
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Figure 17.5 Alternative conflict
management styles.
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Study Question 4: How can we deal positively
with conflict?
 Conflict management styles:
– Lose-lose conflict.
• Management by avoidance or accommodation.
– Win-lose conflict.
• Management by competition and compromise.
– Win-win conflict.
• Management by collaboration.
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Study Question 5: How can we negotiate
successful agreements?
 Negotiation is the process of making joint
decisions when the parties involved have
different preferences.
 All negotiation situations are susceptible to
conflict and require exceptional
communication and interpersonal skills.
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Study Question 5: How can we negotiate
successful agreements?
 Negotiation goals and approaches:
– Substance goals.
• Concerned with outcomes.
• Tied to the “content” issues of negotiation.
– Relationship goals.
• Concerned with processes.
• Tied to the way people work together.
– Effective negotiations occur when …
• Issues of substance are resolved.
• Working relationships are maintained or improved.
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Study Question 5: How can we negotiate
successful agreements?
 Criteria for effective negotiation:
– Quality.
• Negotiating a “wise” agreement that is truly
satisfactory to all sides.
– Cost.
• Negotiating efficiently, using minimum resources
and time.
– Harmony.
• Negotiating in a way that fosters interpersonal
relationships.
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Study Question 5: How can we negotiate
successful agreements?
 Types of negotiation:
– Distributive negotiation …
• Focuses on claims made by each party.
• Leads to win-lose outcomes.
– Principled (or integrative) negotiation …
• Goal is to base the outcome on the merits of
individual claims.
• Leads to win-win outcomes.
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Study Question 5: How can we negotiate
successful agreements?
 Gaining integrative agreements:
– Separate the people from the problem.
– Focus on interests, not on positions.
– Generate many alternatives before
deciding what to do.
– Insist that results are based on some
objective standard.
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Figure 17.6 The bargaining zone in
classic two-party negotiation.
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Study Question 5: How can we negotiate
successful agreements?
 Common negotiation pitfalls:
– Falling prey to the myth of the “fixed
pie.”
– Nonrational escalation of conflict.
– Overconfidence and ignoring other’s
needs.
– Too much “telling” and too little
“hearing.”
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Study Question 5: How can we negotiate
successful agreements?
 Approaches to avoiding negotiation pitfalls:
– Mediation
• Involves a neutral third party who tries to
improve communication between negotiating
parties and keep them focused on relevant
issues.
– Arbitration
• Involves a neutral third party who acts as a
judge and issues a binding decision.
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Study Question 5: How can we negotiate
successful agreements?
 Approaches to dispute resolution when integrative
agreements cannot be achieved:
– Mediation.
• Involves a neutral third party who tries to improve
communication between negotiating parties and
keep them focused on relevant issues.
– Arbitration.
• Involves a neutral third party who acts as a “judge”
and and issues a binding decision.
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Study Question 5: How can we negotiate
successful agreements?
 Ethical issues in negotiation …
– High ethical standards should be
maintained.
– Profit motive and the competitive desire
to win sometimes lead to unethical
behavior.
– Unethical negotiating behavior can lead
to short-term gains but long-term losses.
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