Week 8 Chapter 9 Communicating in teams and Organisations. Flashcards
The process by which information is transmitted and understood between two or more people
Communication defined
Effective communication is
Transmitting intended meaning (not just symbols)
The importance of communication
Coordinating work activities Organisational learning Decision making Change behaviour Employee wellbeing
Communication transmission is no longer affected by ‘noise’ T or F?
T
_____ arises from the psychological, social and structural barriers that distort and obscure the sender’s message. Communication is not free flowing.
Noise
The words we choose, how we sound and how we look when we speak all convey important information to the other person. Two important messages we convey are about _____, or how we perceive our power and others’ power and _____, or the degree to which we set ourselves as apart from others.
status, affiliation
It is easier to have an argument on email than it is face-to-face. T or F?
T
Social _____ refers to how well a communication channel is approved and supported by the organisation, teams and individuals. One factor in social acceptance is the organisation’s and teams norms regarding the use of specific ______ channels.
acceptance, communication
The phrase, ‘you should do …’ is a way of expressing caring. T or F?
T
_____ includes silence, but its use and meaning varies from one culture to another. In Japan silence is a way of _____ without upsetting harmony or offending the other person, and silence symbolises respect and indicates that the listener is thoughtfully contemplating what has just been said. In contrast, most people in the United States and many other cultures view silence as a _____ of communication and often interpret long breaks as a sign of disagreement.
Communication, disagreeing, lack
Stand-up meetings between executives and staff are a fad that is now dead. T or F
F
There are two main Communication channels
- Verbal:
- Non-verbal:
Verbal
Non-verbal
uses words, and occurs through either written or spoken channels
Verbal Communication Channel
any part of communication that does not use words
Non-verbal communication channel
The _____ process model suggests communication ______ depends on the ability of the sender and receiver to efficiently and accurately ____ and decode information.
communication, effectiveness, encode
There are four main factors that influence the effectiveness of the encoding-decoding process:
Communication Proficiency
Similar codebooks
Shared mental models of communication context
Experience encoding the message
Communication is more effective when both parties are skilled and enjoy using the selected communication channel
Communication Proficiency
Dictionaries of symbols, language, gestures, idioms and other tools to convey information
Similar codebooks
Less communication is required to clarify meaning about the context
Shared mental models of communication context
The more experience in communicating about a subject, the more people learn how to transmit information effectively to others.
Experience encoding the message
• Internet-based communication
Email has become the medium of choice in most places because:
o Quickly written, edited and transmitted
o Asynchronous (sent and received at different times) so there is no need to coordinate communication sessions
o Reduces some face-to-face and telephone communication but increases communication with people further up the hierarchy
some problems with email:
o Poor medium for communicating emotions
o Reduces politeness and respect
o Poor medium for ambiguous, complex and novel situations
o Contributes to information overload
What is the essence of good communication?
Transmitting the sender’s intended meaning
How does email reduce discrimination in the workplace?
It hides people’s physical characteristics
_____ communication occurs when a receiver is able to receive and understand the message. To accomplish this difficult task the sender must learn to ____ with the receiver, _____ the message, choose an _____ time for the conversation and be descriptive rather than evaluative. Be descriptive, focus on the problem not the person, if you have negative information to convey. People tend to stop listening when the information attacks their self-esteem.
Effective, empathise, repeat, appropriate
Communication _____ is likely to blur the richness of a communication medium when computer-mediated channels are used?
proficiency
The automatic process of sharing another person’s emotions by mimicking their facial expressions and other non-verbal behaviour
Emotional Contagion
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 as part of the drive to bond
Decoding hidden messages: There are two important hidden messages:
Status: how we perceive our own and others’ power
Affiliation: the degree to which we set ourselves apart from others
Choosing the best communication channel there is
Social acceptance and media richness
Refers to how well the medium to approved and supported by the organisation, team and individuals
Social acceptance
Social Acceptance depends partly on _____, but also on _____ preferences for specific communication channels
norms, individual
a medium’s data-carrying capacity; that is, the volume and variety of information that can be transmitted during a specific time
Media Richness
According to media richness theory, rich media are better than lean media when the communication situation is non-routine and _____.
ambiguous
Choosing the wrong medium reduces communication _____
effectiveness.
Research supports relevance of media richness for traditional channels (face-to-face meetings, written memos, etc.) but evidence is mixed when computer-mediated communication channels are considered. Three factors seem to override/blur medium’s richness:
- Ability to multi-communicate with multiple people
- Communication proficiency
- Social presence effects: the benefits of media richness channels such as face-to-face communication may be offset by social distractions from the message content (e.g. in a meeting with a CEO, an employee may concentrate more on how they present themselves than on what the CEO is saying
the use of facts, logical arguments and emotional appeals to change another person’s beliefs and attitudes, usually for the purpose of changing the person’s behaviou
Persuasion
- It is typically accompanied by non-verbal communication
- It offers the sender high-quality, immediate feedback about whether the receiver understands and accepts the message which allows the sender to adjust the content and emotional tone
- People are more persuaded under conditions of high social presence than low social presence
However, written communication can offer more technical details which is valuable when the issue is important to the receiver.
Reasons why spoken communication is more persuasive than written communication
Messages can get _____ on their way up or down the corporate hierarchy by deleting or delaying negative information or using less-harsh words.
filtered
a condition in which the volume of information received exceeds the person’s capacity to process it. This can be minimised by increasing information processing capacity, reducing job’s information load, or a combination of both.
Information overload
High richness is conveyed when channel:
conveys multiple cues
allows timely feedback
allows customised message
permits complex symbols
Use rich communication media when the situation is non-routine and _____
ambiguous
Spoken communication is more persuasive because it is accompanied by _____ communication and has high quality immediate feedback and has high _____ presence
non-verbal, social
Communication Barriers
Perceptions Filtering Language Jargon Ambiguity Information overload
The 2 Solutions to Managing Information Overload
Increase information processing capacity
Reduce information load
Ways to Increase information processing capacity
Learn to read faster Scan through documents more efficiently Remove distractions Time management Temporarily work longer hours
Ways to Reduce Information load
Buffering
Omitting
Summarising
Cross-cultural differences in communication
- Voice intonation: loudly, deeply and/or quickly
- Language
- Silence: different cultures are more/less silent
- Conversational overlaps: interrupting someone else’s speech
- Non-verbal
- Interpreting non-verbal meaning
- Importance of verbal versus non-verbal
Men and women perceive functions of language differently. Men see conversations as ______ of relative power and status whereas women see conversations as opportunities to strengthen _____ bonds. Men’s use of language is also more task-oriented, and women are more sensitive to non-verbal cues.
negotiations, social
Improving Interpersonal Communication
Empathise Repeat the message Use multiple communication channels Use timing effectively Be descriptive
Ways of Improving workplace communication
Workspace design
Internet-based organisational communication
Direct communication with top management:
Open space arrangements can increase , but they also have the potential to increase noise, distraction and loss of privacy
.
Improving Workplace Communication
Internet-based organisational communication
- Wikis, collaborative document creation
Direct communication with management
- Management by walking around (MBWA)
- Town hall meetings
Work place design
Organisational 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
Organisational grapevine - Changes due to internet
Email becoming the main grapevine medium
Social networks are now global
Public blogs and forums extend gossip to everyone
Grapevine Benefits
Fills in missing information from formal sources
Strengthens corporate culture
Relieves anxiety
Signals that problems exist
Grapevine Limitations
Distortions might escalate anxiety
Perceived lack of concern for employees when company informtation is slower than grapevine
