©2007 Prentice Hall Organizational Behavior: An Introduction to Your Life in Organizations Chapter 7 Communication and Interpersonal Relationships

©2007 Prentice Hall Preview How can you make the communication process work for you? How can you use non-verbal behaviors to communicate more effectively? How can understanding gender styles improve your ability to communicate on the job? How do you build trust in relationships? How do you persuade others? What communication strengths do you already have? Which skills do you need to develop? What are some tested tactics for doing well on job interviews?

©2007 Prentice Hall How can you make the communication process work for you? Communication: the exchange of thoughts, opinions or information by speaking, writing or other means Conduit metaphor: language transfers thoughts and feelings from person to person like a pipe transfers water from place to place Noise: any disturbance that disrupts the communication process

©2007 Prentice Hall Receiving the message Did you hear and understand the message the way the sender intended? Selective attention: at any given moment humans can focus on only some of the stimuli that come our way, while other stimuli are disregarded Overload may cause filtering of messages

©2007 Prentice Hall Decoding the message and forming a response Attribution: answering why the sender is behaving in a particular way; can involve fundamental attribution error or self- serving bias Categorizing: putting people into categories or groups that have similar characteristics; could involve prejudice Supporting psychological identity

©2007 Prentice Hall Encoding the response Translate your idea into a form that others can recognize, typically into written or spoken language Most important goal is to be as clear as possible Monitor your use of jargon

©2007 Prentice Hall Transmitting the response Media are considered rich or lean depending on the amount and type of information they can portray and the amount of feedback they allow Channels are formal or informal based on whether they are sanctioned by the organization

©2007 Prentice Hall How can you use non-verbal behaviors to communicate more effectively? The non-verbal aspect of communication, behaviors like our actions, body movements, facial expressions, gestures, dress, or where we choose to deliver a message is enormously important

©2007 Prentice Hall How can understanding gender styles improve your ability to communicate on the job? There are differences between how men & women communicate If women are in the minority, their ideas are not listened to as much Women may run into the double-bind problem

©2007 Prentice Hall What is trust? Calculus-based trust is based on our belief that another person may be deterred from acting against our interests Identification-based trust is based on our belief that another person identifies with our interests and values, and is likely to look out for them Trust is defined as one party’s optimistic expectation of the behavior of the another Distrust is defined as the expectation that others will not act in one’s best interests and may deliberately seek to cause harm

©2007 Prentice Hall How do you create trusting relationships? Trust is created by using promises, commitments, offers, demands, expectations, and explicit and tacit understandings Trust is established through dialogue and conversation, by making and keeping promises, and by setting and meeting expectations Trust is also an emotion that is essential to our well-being

©2007 Prentice Hall Trust and lying Lying is important not so much because it “interferes with trust,” (although it can do that, too) but because people want to maintain relationships, avoid conflicts and prevent the loss of face

©2007 Prentice Hall How do you persuade others? Persuasive communication is aimed at changing attitudes To persuade effectively, you must control the characteristics of the communicator, the message, and the audience The central route focuses on the argument you are making The peripheral route focuses on the communicator

©2007 Prentice Hall The communicator Is the communicator credible?  Competent  Trustworthy Is the communicator likable?

©2007 Prentice Hall The message Match the message to the audience:  Avoid extreme positions  Content rich or content poor?  Frame your message effectively Frame the consequences negatively Fear tactics must include instructions for coping Frame the risks in terms of losses Frame the attributes positively

©2007 Prentice Hall The audience Understand your audience’s needs Why people change their attitudes  Cognitive dissonance theory  Self-perception theory Put the audience in a good mood

©2007 Prentice Hall Communication competencies Use Table 7.3 to rate the extent to which you are competent on each of the listed skills

©2007 Prentice Hall Self-monitoring An individual’s tendency to actively construct their public image to achieve social goals Use Table 7.4 to rate yourself The higher your score, the more likely you are to monitor your self-expression

©2007 Prentice Hall Personal orientation to others How much are you really interested in others? If you are more proself you are likely to be:  individualistic  competitive If you are more prosocial you are likely to be:  cooperative,  altruistic  egalitarian  maximin

©2007 Prentice Hall Active listening A strategy of paying attention in order to assess the emotional and informational content of a message and establish rapport with the speaker Occurs when you receive a message, process it, and respond so as to encourage further communication Ask open instead of closed questions

©2007 Prentice Hall What are some tested tactics for doing well on job interviews? Make a good first impression: pay attention to grooming, adopt good posture, and smile Present yourself favorably: use Impression management techniques like self- promotion Find companies that are looking for people like you

©2007 Prentice Hall Be aware of company responsibilities and tactics for interviews Structured interviews: panels, clear job descriptions, rate based on desired behaviors The effects of social exchange: realistic job preview gives both positives and negatives about the job Etiquette to expect from companies The “interview inquisition” including logic puzzles

©2007 Prentice Hall Apply what you have learned World Class Company: The Mayo Clinic Advice from the Pro’s Gain Experience

©2007 Prentice Hall Summary – How can you make the communication process work for you? A one-to-one communication is often, and inadequately, conceptualized as a series of steps Pitfalls in communicating include selective attention, overload, categorizing, erroneous attributions, and the desire to support one’s own psychological identity When responding to a communication, it is important to choose the appropriate medium, based on whether it is rich or lean, formal or informal

©2007 Prentice Hall Summary – How can you use non- verbal behaviors to communicate more effectively? Keep in mind that non-verbal communication is powerful Pay attention to such behaviors as facial expressions, gestures, and entering an individual’s personal space

©2007 Prentice Hall Summary – How can understanding gender styles improve your ability to communicate on the job? Men are more likely to use report talk and agonism, while women are more likely to use rapport talk and to misunderstand agonism Women and other minorities may find themselves in a double-bind when it comes to meeting both their traditional roles and their business roles

©2007 Prentice Hall Summary – How do you build trust in relationships? Trust is either calculus-based or identification-based Trust is both an emotional skill and a relational skill It may be also a personality trait Lying affects relationships because people want to maintain relationships, avoid conflict, and avoid loss of face

©2007 Prentice Hall Summary – How do you persuade others? Key issues relate to the communicator, the message, and the audience Is the communicator credible and likable? Is the message extreme? Content-rich? Effectively framed? What are the needs and mood of the audience? Can you change people’s minds by applying the theory of cognitive dissonance?

©2007 Prentice Hall Summary – What communication strengths do you already have? Which skills do you need to develop? Assess your strengths and weaknesses Learn what your personal orientation to others is, and also whether you are a self- monitor Practice active listening

©2007 Prentice Hall Summary – What are some tested tactics for doing well on job interviews? Understand the importance of making a good first impression and adopt an impression management strategy for the interview Know what the company is looking for in terms of personality Understand that a company also has a role in designing a good interview