Introduction to Communication - Panama Communicating in Organizations Chapter 11

Introduction to Communication - Panama

Communicating in Organizations

Chapter 11

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Organization

Defined: A human group that has been deliberately designed so as to achieve a desired objective.


The Importance of Organizational Communication


• Your life is shaped by organizations everyday

• Organizations influence individuals; individuals influence organizations

• Understanding organizations enhances professional success

The Importance of Organizational Communication


Defining Organizational Communication

Organizational Communication

Defined: The transmission of messages through both the formal and informal channels of a relatively large, deliberately designed group, resulting in the construction of meanings that have influences on its members, both as individuals and on the group as a whole.


• Organizations are the set of interactions that members of groups use to

accomplish their individual and common goals

• Communication Functions– Production

– Maintenance

– Innovation• Communication Structure – occurs within hierarchy

– Downward

– Upward

– Horizontal

– Formal

– Informal

What is Organizational Communication?


• Organizational culture is a pattern of shared beliefs, values, and behaviors within a given organization– Composed of languages, habits, rituals, ceremonies,

etc– Develop to integrate new members

• To understand organizational culture, look to– Artifacts– Stated beliefs– Underlying values

Organizational Culture


Organizational Communication and the Individual


• Processes that influence individuals in regard to their participation/membership with an organization– Organizational identification – when individual

values overlap with organizational values– Processes can be active, passive, and

interactive information-seeking strategies

Assimilation


• Semantic-Information Distance– Information/Understanding Gaps– Upward Distortion

• Perceptual Co-Orientation• Successful Supervisor-Subordinate

Communication– Openness– Supportive– Motivation– Empowerment– Ingratiation

Supervisor-Subordinate Communication


• Horizontal Communication

• Formal/Professional• Informal/Personal• Supervisors can

encourage effective coworker communication

Communicating With Coworkers


• Emotion Labor – Requirement to display specific emotions– Rmotional display rules

• Stress/Burnout – Emotional exhaustion– Lack of sense of personal accomplishment– Depersonalization– Role conflict/confusion/ambiguity

• Work-Life Conflict– Balance issues– Pressure to prioritize work

Organizational Dilemmas


The Individual, Organizational Communication, and Society


• Contingent employees– Work in temporary,

part-time, or subcontractor positions

– “Disposable workforce”

• Urgent organizations

Influence of Organizations on Individuals and Society

The new social contract◦More change for employees


• Organizational Communication and Power– Bullying– Sexual Harassment– Employee Privacy and Monitoring

Organizations, Communication, and Power


• One of the most important societal factors • Increasing connectedness (economic,

political, cultural) to others around the globe

• More intercultural contact• Homogenizing effects on organizational

practices

Globalization


• Repeated, hostile behaviors • Occurring over an extended period • Intended to do harm to parties who can’t

defend themselves• 30% of workers have been bullied• Few strategies are successful in managing

bullies

Bullying


• Quid pro quo, inappropriate displays– Touching, names, date requests,

displays w/ sexual content• Primarily a communicative

behavior• Responses

– Confronting harasser– Complain to HR or supervisor– Legal– Leaving

Sexual HarassmentUnwanted sexual attention that interferes w/ ability to do one’s job


• 76% of employers monitor workers web connections

• Also includes drug testing, • Video, e-mail, instant message, phone,

location monitoring, • Personality & psychological testing• Keystroke logging• Monitoring can decrease morale &

increase worker stress

Employee Privacy & Monitoring

Sociocultural Situations• People get together in organizations in

carefully organized patterns so as to accomplish certain goals that could not be attained in alternative groups settings

• The needs of a populationare provided not only by an economic system, butalso by social institutions

Social Institution

• Defined: A broad configuration of closely related cultural elements and organized social activities that are essential to fulfilling a perceived basic need of the social order.

Society’s Need for Organizations

• Every society has basic social institutions– Educational– Government– Religious– Economic– Family– Many Others

Bureaucracy as a Prerequisite

Bureaucracy: A deliberately designed plan of the goals, norms, roles, ranks, and controls in an organization


• Why do you need it?– Group size– Task complexity


An effective organization must have a formal communication network that will maintain group cohesion as well as facilitate attaining the group’s goals.

Big Boss

Underboss Underboss Underboss

Peon Peon PeonPeon

The Classical Theory of Bureaucracy

Max Weber

Max Weber, a German social scientist

The Emergence of Rational Society

• Social order held together by rational lines of thought


Leadership is based legal-rational power and not on tradition or charisma

http://www.celebrityzone.co.uk/celebimage/charisma.jpg


• Nobody has a “legitimate” right to leadership; technical managerial skills is the key to good leadership

Weber’s Principles

1. Fixed Rules2. A rationally defined division of labor3. A clear graded hierarchy of power and

authority4. A fixed and universalistic system of

sanctions

Three General Theories of Organizational Design, Management, and Communication

1. Human Use Perspective2. Human Relations Perspective3. Human Resources Perspective

Human Use Perspective Developed between 1800s and late 1920s

Wage Formula

Adam SmithScottish Economist1723-1790

Wealth of Nations

“Wage-incentive-system”• Wages were the only means to motivate employees• Production norms established• Bonuses were tied to norms• Very popular system

– Employers loved it– Employees hated it

“Scientific Management”

• Time and Motion studies

• First person to use a scientific approach to the study of production

Organization Chart

• French engineer, Henri Fayol• Communication should be restricted to the tasks

and operations related to the work being done

Manager

Worker Worker Worker

Peon Peon Peon

Low Peon

Weber, Taylor, Fayol

• Attention on the essential nature of deliberate planning while designing communication systems within organizations

Human Relations Perspective1920s – 1960s

Hawthorne Studies1924-1932

• Effects of lighting on working conditions• Personal and social characteristics of

workers are crucial factors in the work process

• Perceived attention is powerful• Informal communication plays an

important part in worker productivity

Hawthorne Studies1924-1932

• Managers must design communication systems in organizations that will produce high job satisfaction

Hawthorne Effect

The phenomenon in which subjects in behavioral studies change their performance in response to being observed.

Hawthorne Conclusions

1. The aptitudes of individuals are imperfect predictors of job performance.

2. Informal organization affects productivity. 3. Work-group norms affect productivity.. 4. The workplace is a social system.

Decline of the Human Relations Perspectives

“Caring” and “Sympathetic” was sometimes construed as “Weak” and “Indecisive”

http://www.cardweb.com/graphic/flashgraphics/indecisive.jpg

Decline of the Human Relations Perspectives

Was the perspective too idealistic?

Human Resources Perspective

Human Resources Perspective

W. Edwards DemingAmerican Statistician

Deming’s Objective

• Produce goods of maximum quality

• Loyalty and dedication are keys

Quality Control Circle

Frequent discussions with employee input; management listens

Human Resources vs.

Human Relations• Employees viewed as potential resources

for the organization• Management tries to minimize

communication barriers• Management motivates workers toward

quality, not just output

A Contemporary Perspective:Systems Theory

• Mutual Dependence• Synergy• Balance• Communication

as ‘glue’

The design for the content, transmission, and reception of messages dictates who can say what to be received by whom about specific kinds of topics by communication with what medium in order to achieve specified types of goals

The Flow of Messages in Large Organizations

1. Formal Communication through official channels

2. Informal communication in organizational settings

3. Distortion of messages in the grapevine4. Consequences of formal and informal

communication

Formal Communication through Official Channels

• Vertical transmission

Boss

Manager Manager Manager

Worker Worker Worker Worker Worker Worker

Peon

Peon

Peon

Peon

Peon Peon Peon

Upward Flowing Messages

1. Routine operational messages

2. Assessment by experts

3. Feedback on completion of tasks

4. Reports on problems

Downward Flowing Messages

1. Requests2. Specific orders and

instructions3. Operating guidelines4. Policy-shift

directives

Critical Importance of Some Messages

Mistakes?

Accuracy and Distortion

Upward Messages

1. Condensed2. Simplified3. Standardized4. Idealized5. Synthesized

Downward Messages

Selective exposure

Downward Messages

Selective attention and listening

Downward Messages

Selective perception

Downward Messages

Selective retention and recall

Downward Messages

Selective action

Downward Messages

Vocabulary differences

Informal Communication in Organizational Settings

Socially validated constructions of meanings

Informal Communication in Organizational Settings

• Speed• Rumors• Gossip• Speculation• Interpretations

Distortion of Message in the Grapevine

Two general patterns of distortion1. Embedding2. Compounding

Embedding

• Leveling• Sharpening• Assimilation

Compounding

• Original story is relatively brief

• Original story is of a threatening or disturbing nature

Grapevine and Managers

• Accept it and don’t try to eliminate it• Acknowledge that it should remain

unrestrained• Do not underestimate its power• Use it• Maintain all formal channels of

communication• Remind organizational members to

question and assess its accuracy

Consequences of Formal and Informal Communication

Unique organizational cultures develop from two basic sources

1. Official organization as it functions with its carefully defined channels of formal communication

2. Micro subcultures of many spontaneously formed peer groups among the workers


Conflicting CulturesPotential for differences between subgroups within an organization is always there.


Organizational Cohesion(Features of the organization that keep it together)

1. Dependency-based cohesion2. Division of labor3. Formal Communication


• Ethics and Organizational Communication– Individual Perspective – ethical demands on

the individual– Communal Perspective – ethical demands on

all members

Ethics and Organizational Communication


• We tend to focus on individual rights & responsibilities

• Communal approach focuses on the common good– Morality is based on consequences for the group

• But when organizations are unethical, no individuals may be held responsible

• Most ethical approach considers needs of individual & community and holds community and leaders responsible

Ethics & Organizational Communication


• Managing conflict with coworkers– Prepare for the conflict, use strategy control– Decide if the issue is worth confronting right

away or at all– Try to understand each party’s goal– Plan the interaction before engaging in it

Improving Your Organizational Communication

End of Session

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Introduction to Communication - Panama Communicating in Organizations Chapter 11