Chapter 11: Organizational Communication Flashcards
Types of Organizational Communication
● Upward communication
● Downward Communication
● Business Communication
● Informal communication
communication of subordinates to superiora or of employees to supervisors
upward communication
drawbacks of using DIRECT upward communication
- potential volume of messages
* employees may not openly communicate the bad news to avoid confrontation or being reprimanded by their supervisors
communication passed consecutively from employees to supervisor, who relays it to their supervisor, and so on.
serial communication
The problems with using Serial Communication
- alteration of content and tone
- the farther away two people are, the less effctive communication
- MUM effect
Methods to Facilitate Upward communication
● serial communocation ● Attitude Surveys ● focused groups and exit interviews ● Suggestion Boxes or Complaint Boxes ● Third party facilitator
Communication of superior to subordinate or management to employees
downward communication
Ways to facilitate downward communication
● Bulletin boards
● Newsletters
● policy manuals and employee handbook
● intranets
a form of upward communication that is usually done by an outside consultant who administers a questionnaire asking employees to rate their opinions on such factors as satisfaction with pay, working conditions, and supervisors
Attitude surveys
The idea that people prefer not to pass on unpleasant information
MUM (minimize unpleasant messages) effect
the transmission of business related information among employees, management, and customers
Business Communication
methods to facilitate Business Communication
● memos ●telephone calls ●emails and voice mails ●business meeting ●office design
the idea behind this office design is that employees will communicate better with one another and be easier to supervise and help without the physical barriers of walls
open office design
three common design for open office
●freestanding design
●uniform plans
●free-form workstations
communication among employees in an organization that is not completely related to the completion of an organizational task
Informal communication
an unofficial, informal communication network
grapevine
Four patterns of grapevine:
● single strand
●gossip
●probability
●cluster
grapevine contains two types of information
●gossip
●humor
a distance zone within 18 inches of a person, where only people with a close relationship to the person are allowed to enter
intimacy zone
a distance zone from 18 inches to four feet that is usually reserved for friends and acquaintances
personal distance zone
an interpersonal distance from 4 to 12 feet from a person that is typically used for business and interacting with strangers
social distance zone
distance greater than 12 feet from a person that is typical of the interpersonal space allowed for social interactions such as large group lectures
public distance zone
communication inferred from the tone, tempo, and rate of speech
Paralanguage
the things people surround themselves with (i.e., clothes, jewelry, office, decorations, etc)
artifacts
message is passed on to another person by removing unimportant details
leveled
describes a message in which interesting and unusual information is kept
shapened
a description of a message in which information has been modified to fit the existing beliefs and knowledge of the person sending the information
assimilated
a response to communication overload that involves the conscious decision not to process certain types of information
omission
a method of coping with communication overload that involves organizing work into an order in which it will be handled
queuing
a response to communication overload in which the employee leaves the organization to reduce the stress
escape
listening styles
●inclusive listening ●leisure listening ●stylistic listening ●technical listening ●empathic listening ●nonconforming listening
the listening style of a person that cares about the feelings of the speaker
empathic listening
the listening style practiced by the individual who attends only to information consistent with their way of thinking
nonconforming style
a listening style of the person who can retain a large amounts of details but does not know the meaning of those details
technical listening
the listening style of a person who pays attention to way the information is presented
stylistic listening
the listening style of a person who cares about only interesting information
leisure listening
the listening style of a person who listens for the main ideas behind any communication
inclusive listening
