Communicating in Teams and Organisations McShane-Olekalns-Travaglione OB Pacific Rim 3e © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved 1

Communicating Through Social Networking Sites Social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace dramatically increase the scale and speed of communication. Some organisations, such as Australia’s REA Group, are making more use of these sites to communicate with staff. Others worry that social networking sites increase the risk that employees will compromise the company’s reputation. McShane-Olekalns-Travaglione OB Pacific Rim 3e 2 © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

Communication Defined  The process by which information is transmitted and understood between two or more people  Effective communication Transmitting intended meaning (not just symbols) McShane-Olekalns-Travaglione OB Pacific Rim 3e 3 © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

Importance of Communication 1.Coordinating work activities 2.Organisational learning and decision making 3.Employee wellbeing McShane-Olekalns-Travaglione OB Pacific Rim 3e © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved 4

Receiver Encodefeedback Formfeedback Sender Formmessage Encodemessage Transmit message Transmit feedback Noise Communication Process Model McShane-Olekalns-Travaglione OB Pacific Rim 3e © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved 5 DecodemessageReceiveencodedmessage DecodefeedbackReceiveencodedfeedback

Improving Communication Coding/Decoding  Both parties have motivation and ability to communicate through the channel  Both parties have similar “codebooks”  Both parties share similar mental models of the communication context  Sender is experienced at communicating the message topic McShane-Olekalns-Travaglione OB Pacific Rim 3e © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved 6

Safe to Check Your ? As reliance on technology increases, so too does cyber-bullying in the workplace. ‘The big thing with cyber-bullying, particularly , is it’s very hard to gauge tone, and a lot of confusion arises,’ advises a British manager. McShane-Olekalns-Travaglione OB Pacific Rim 3e © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved 7

How has Altered Communication  Now preferred medium for coordinating work  Tends to increase communication volume  Significantly alters communication flow  Reduces some selective attention biases McShane-Olekalns-Travaglione OB Pacific Rim 3e © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved 8

Problems with  Communicates emotions poorly  Reduces politeness and respect (increased cyber bullying)  Inefficient for ambiguous, complex, novel situations  Increases information overload McShane-Olekalns-Travaglione OB Pacific Rim 3e © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved 9

Social Networking Communication Social network communication clusters people around interests/expertise  Several types of social network communication: Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn Online discussion forums Avatar sites (eg. Second Life) Instant messaging Wikis McShane-Olekalns-Travaglione OB Pacific Rim 3e © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved 10

Nonverbal Communication  Actions, facial gestures, etc.  Influences meaning of verbal symbols  Less rule-bound than verbal communication  Important part of emotional labour  Most is automatic and nonconscious McShane-Olekalns-Travaglione OB Pacific Rim 3e © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved 11

Emotional Contagion  The automatic process of sharing another person’s emotions by mimicking their facial expressions and other nonverbal behaviour  Serves three purposes: 1. Provides continuous feedback to speaker 2. Increases emotional understanding of the other person’s experience 3. Communicates a collective sentiment – sharing the experience as part of the drive to bond McShane-Olekalns-Travaglione OB Pacific Rim 3e © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved 12

Choosing the Best Communication Channel: Social Acceptance How well the communication channel is approved and supported by the organisation, team, and individual: 1. Communication channel norms 2. Individual communication channel preferences 3. Symbolic meaning of the communication channel McShane-Olekalns-Travaglione OB Pacific Rim 3e © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved 13

Choosing the Best Communication Channel: Media Richness The channel’s data-carrying capacity needs to be aligned with the communication activity. High richness when channel: 1. conveys multiple cues 2. allows timely feedback 3. allows customised message 4. permits complex symbols Use rich communication media when the situation is nonroutine and ambiguous McShane-Olekalns-Travaglione OB Pacific Rim 3e © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved 14

Oversimplified zone Overloaded zone Nonroutine/ Ambiguous Rich Media Richness Situation Hierarchy of Media Richness McShane-Olekalns-Travaglione OB Pacific Rim 3e © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved 15 Lean Routine/clear

Factors that Override Media Richness  Ability to multicommunicate with lean channels  More varied proficiency levels  Social distractions of rich channels McShane-Olekalns-Travaglione OB Pacific Rim 3e © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved 16

Persuasive Communication  Changing another person’s beliefs and attitudes  Spoken communication is more persuasive because it: is accompanied by nonverbal communication has high quality immediate feedback has high social presence McShane-Olekalns-Travaglione OB Pacific Rim 3e © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved 17

Communication Barriers  Perceptions  Filtering  Language Jargon Ambiguity  Information Overload McShane-Olekalns-Travaglione OB Pacific Rim 3e © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved 18

Information Overload McShane-Olekalns-Travaglione OB Pacific Rim 3e © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved 19 Information load Episodes of information overload Employee’s information processing capacity Time

Managing Information Overload  Solution 1: Increase info processing capacity Learn to read faster Scan through documents more efficiently Remove distractions Time management Temporarily work longer hours  Solution 2: Reduce information load Buffering Omitting Summarising McShane-Olekalns-Travaglione OB Pacific Rim 3e © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved 20

Cross-Cultural Communication Need to be sensitive to cross- cultural issues in communication:  Importance of business cards – communicate rank and status  Different meaning of being late or on time  Recognise that English is usually a person’s second language  Varying degrees of directness about sensitive subjects (observe more nonverbal cues) McShane-Olekalns-Travaglione OB Pacific Rim 3e © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved 21

Cross-Cultural Communication  Verbal differences Language Voice intonation Silence/ conversational overlaps  Nonverbal differences Interpreting nonverbal meaning Importance of verbal versus nonverbal McShane-Olekalns-Travaglione OB Pacific Rim 3e © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved 22

MenWomen Task oriented: report talk Relationship oriented: rapport talk Power speech: gives advice directly Powerless speech: gives advice indirectly Conversations are negotiations of status Conversations are bonding events Less sensitive to nonverbal cues More sensitive to nonverbal cues Gender Communication Differences McShane-Olekalns-Travaglione OB Pacific Rim 3e © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved 23

Getting Your Message Across 1. Empathise 2. Repeat the message 3. Use multiple communication channels 4. Use timing effectively 5. Be descriptive Courtesy of Microsoft. 24 McShane-Olekalns-Travaglione OB Pacific Rim 3e © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

ActiveListening Active Listening Process & Strategies McShane-Olekalns-Travaglione OB Pacific Rim 3e © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved 25 Sensing Postpone evaluation Avoid interruptions Maintain interest Evaluating Empathise Organise informationResponding Show interest Clarify the message

Communicating in Hierarchies  Workspace design Clustering people in teams Open office arrangements  Web-based organisational communication Wikis – collaborative document creation Blogs – personal news/opinion for sharing e-zines – rapid distribution of company news  Direct communication with management Management by walking around (MBWA) Town hall meetings McShane-Olekalns-Travaglione OB Pacific Rim 3e © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved 26

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  Changes due to internet becoming the main grapevine medium Social networks are now global Public blogs and forums extend gossip to everyone McShane-Olekalns-Travaglione OB Pacific Rim 3e © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved 27

Grapevine Benefits/Limitations  Benefits Fills in missing information from formal sources Strengthens corporate culture Relieves anxiety Signals that problems exist  Limitations Distortions might escalate anxiety Perceived lack of concern for employees when company info is slower than grapevine McShane-Olekalns-Travaglione OB Pacific Rim 3e © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved 28

Communicating in Teams and Organisations McShane-Olekalns-Travaglione OB Pacific Rim 3e © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved 29