Organizational Behavior
Chapter 9
Communicating in teams and organizations

Communication: the process by which information is transmitted and understood between two or more people.

The importance of communication

• Coordination
• In addition to coordination, communication is critical for organizational learning. It is the means through which knowledge enters the organization and is distributed to employees.
• A function of communication is decision making.
• It also changes behavior.
• Communication supports employee well-being.

A model of communication

Communication flows through one or more channels (also called media) between the sender and receiver.
The sender forms a message and encodes it.
The encoded message is transmitted to the intended receiver.
The receiver senses and decodes the incoming message into something meaningful.

In most situations, the sender looks for evidence that the other person received and understood the transmitted message.
Communication is not a free-flowing conduit, the transmission of meaning from one person to another is hampered by noise.

Influences on effective encoding and decoding

Effective communication depends on the sender’s and receiver’s ability, motivation, role clarity, and situational support to efficiently and accurately encode and decode information.

Four main factors influence the effectiveness of the encoding-decoding process

• The sender en receiver encode and decode more effectively when they have similar ‘codebooks’
• Improves with experience
• When the sender and receiver are skilled and motivated to use the selected communication channel(s)
• The process depends on the sender’s and receiver’s shared mental models of the communication context

Communication channels

Two main types of channels

• Verbal
• Nonverbal

Problems with email and other digital message channels

Four top complaints:

• Poor communication of emotions
• Less politeness and respectfulness
  Flaming: messages that convey strong negative emotions
  Individuals can post digital messages before their emotions subside.
  Digital messages are impersonal
• Cumbersome medium for ambiguous, complex, and novel situations
• Contributes to information overload

Workplace communication through social media

Social media are more conversational and reciprocally interactive between sender and receiver, resulting in a sense of community.
Each type of social media serves a unique combination of functions.
Enterprise social media can improve knowledge sharing and socializing among employees under some conditions.
Many social media platforms enable feedback, which potentially gives employee more voice.

Nonverbal communication

Nonverbal communication is necessary when noise or physical distance prevents effective verbal exchanges and the need for immediate feedback precludes written communication.
Nonverbal cues signal subtle information to both parties.

Nonverbal communication differs from verbal communication in a couple of ways

• It is less rule-bound
• Nonverbal is automatic and nonconscious

Emotional contagion

Emotional contagion: the nonconscious process of ‘catching’ or sharing another person’s emotions by mimicking that person’s facial expressions and other nonverbal emotions.

Emotional contagion influences communication and social relationships in three ways

• Mimicry provides continuous feedback
• Mimicking the nonverbal behaviors of other people seems to be a way of receiving emotional meaning from those people
• It fulfills the drive to bond

Choosing the best communication channel

Synchronicity

Synchronicity: the extent to which the channel requires or allows both sender and receiver to be actively involved in the conversation at the same time (synchronous) or at different times (asynchronous)
Synchronous communication is better when:

• The information is required quickly
• Where the issue is complex and therefore requires the parties to address several related decisions.

Asynchronous communication is better when:

• The issue is simple
• The issue has low time urgency
• Getting both parties together at the same time is costly
• And/or the receiver would benefit from time to reflect on the message before responding.

Social presence

Social presence: the extent to which a communication channel creates psychological closeness to others, awareness of their humanness, and appreciation of the interpersonal relationship

A communication channel is valued for its social presence effect when the purpose of the dialogue is to understand and empathize with the other person or group.

Social acceptance

How well the communication medium is approved and supported by the organization, teams, and individuals involved in the exchange.
Factors:

• Set of norms
• The sender’s and receiver’s preferences for specific communication channels
• The symbolic meaning of a channel

Media richness

Media richness: a medium’s data-carrying capacity, the volume and variety of information that can be transmitted during a specific time.

Rich media are better than lean media when the communication situation is nonroutine and ambiguous.
Lean media work well in routine situations.

Exceptions to the media richness theory

Three factors explain why digital channels may have more media richness than media richness theory predicts

• Ability to communicate
  Employees can engage in tow or more communication events at the same time
• Communication proficiency
• Social presence effects

Communication channels and persuasion

Spoken communication is more persuasive than written communication. Three main reasons

• Spoken communication is typically accompanied by nonverbal communication
• Spoken communication offers the sender high-quality, immediate feedback
• People are persuaded more under conditions of high social presence

Written messages have the advantage of presenting more technical detail.

Communication barriers (noise)

• Both sender and receiver have imperfect perceptual processes.

Language issues can be huge sources of communication noise because sender and receiver might not have the same codebook.

The ambiguity of language isn’t always dysfunctional noise.

• Reflect the ambiguity of the topic

Jargon, specialized words and phrases for specific occupations or groups, is usually designed to improve communication efficiency.
It is a source of communication noise when transmitted to people who do not possess the jargon codebook.

Another noise in the communication process is the tendency to filter messages.

Information overload

Information overload: a condition in which the volume of information received exceeds the person’s capacity to process it.
Employees have a certain information-processing capacity. At the same time, jobs have a variating information load.

Information overload problems can be minimized by:

• Increasing our information-processing capacity
• Reducing the job’s information load
• A combination of both

Cross-cultural and gender communication

Increasing globalization and cultural diversity have created more cross-cultural communication issues.

• Voice intonation
• Language
• Use of silence
• Conversational overlaps

Nonverbal differences across cultures

Nonverbal communication represents another potential area for misunderstanding across cultures.
Many nonconscious or involuntary nonverbal cues have the same meaning around the world, but deliberate gestures often have different interpretations.

Gender differences in communication

Men and women have similar communication practices, but there are subtle distinctions that can occasionally lead to misunderstanding and conflict.

• Men are more likely to view conversations as negotiations of relative status and power. They assert their power by directly giving advice to others and using combative language.
• Men dominate the talk time in conversations with women, as well as interrupt more and adjust their speaking style less than do women.
• Men engage in more ‘report talk’ in which the primary function of the conversation is impersonal and efficient information exchange

Gender differences are modest.

Improving interpersonal communication

Effective interpersonal communication depends on the sender’s ability to get the message across the receiver’s performance as an active listener.

Getting your message across

1. To get your message across to the other person, you first need to empathize with the receiver.
2. Second, be sure that you repeat the message.
3. Third, your message competes with other messages and noise, so find a time when the receiver is less likely to be distracted by these other matters.

If you are communicating bad news or criticism, focus on the problem, not the person.

Active listening

Effective leadership includes active listening.
Three components

• Sensing
  The process of receiving signals from the sender and paying attention to them
  Active listeners improve sensing in three ways
  • The postpone evaluation by on forming an opinion until the speaker is finished
  • They avoid interrupting the speaker’s conversation
  • They remain motivated to listen to the speaker
• Evaluating
  Includes understanding the message meaning, evaluating the message, and remembering the message.
  Active listeners empathize with the speaker.
• Responding
  Providing feedback to the sender
  Maintaining sufficient eye contact and sending back channel signals both of which show interest. They also respond by clarifying the message.

Improving communication throughout the hierarchy

Workspace design

Redesigning the workspace and employee territorial practices in that space.
The location of design of areas all shape to whom we speak as well as the frequency of that communication.
Another strategy is to cloister employees into team spaces, but also encourage sufficient interaction with people from other teams.

Internet-based organizational communication

Employees are increasingly skeptical of information that has been screened and packaged by management.

Direct communication with top management

Effective organizational communication includes regular interaction directly between senior executives and employees further down the hierarchy.

• Hall meetings
• Hold roundtable forums with small representation of employees
• Management by walking around (MBWA):
  A communication practice in which executives get out of their offices and learn from others in the organization through face-to-face dialogue.

Communicating through the grapevine

Grapevine: an unstructured and informal communication network founded on social relationships rather than organizational charts or job descriptions.

Grapevine characteristics

Grapevine transmits information very rapidly in all directions throughout the organization.
The typical pattern is a cluster chain, whereby a few people actively transmit information to many others.
Grapevine distorts information by deleting fine details and exaggerating key points of the story.

Grapevine benefits and limitations

Benefits:

• Employees rely on the grapevine when information is not available trough formal channels
• The main conduit through which organizational stories and other symbols of the organization’s culture are communicated.
• Social interaction relieves anxiety
• Associated with the drive to bond

Limitations

• Information is sometimes distorted