Management Midterm 3

Five Guidelines for Seeking Feedback

1. Consider seeking regular feedback from your boss. This also has the added benefit of signaling to the manager that you care about your performance and want to be successful. 2. Be genuine in your desire to learn. When seeking feedback, your aim should be improving yourself as opposed to creating the impression that you are a motivated employee. If your manager thinks that you are managing impressions rather than genuinely trying to improve your performance, feedback seeking may hurt you. 3. Develop a good relationship with your manager as well as the employees you manage. This would have the benefit of giving you more feedback in the first place. It also has the upside of making it easier to ask direct questions about your own performance. 4. Consider finding trustworthy peers who can share information with you regarding your performance. Your manager is not the only helpful source of feedback. 5. Be gracious when you receive unfavorable feedback. Even though it may not feel like it at times, feedback is a tool you can use to improve your performance by using feedback constructively. Consider that the negative feedback giver probably risked your goodwill by being honest. Unless there are factual mistakes in the feedback, do not try to convince the person that the feedback is inaccurate.

4 Steps of Organizational Control

1. Establish standards 2. Measure performance 3. Compare performance to standards 4. Take corrective action as needed. Corrective action can include changes made to the performance standards—setting them higher or lower or identifying new or additional standards.

Five Rules for Active Listening

1. Listen for message content 2. Listen for feelings 3. Respond to feelings 4. Note all cues 5. Paraphrase and restate

Reinforcement Interventions

1. Positive reinforcement is a method of increasing the desired behavior. Positive reinforcement involves making sure that behavior is met with positive consequences. Praising an employee for treating a customer respectfully is an example of positive reinforcement. If the praise immediately follows the positive behavior, the employee will see a link between behavior and positive consequences and will be motivated to repeat similar behaviors. 2. Negative reinforcement is also used to increase the desired behavior. Negative reinforcement involves removal of unpleasant outcomes once desired behavior is demonstrated. Nagging an employee to complete a report is an example of negative reinforcement. The negative stimulus in the environment will remain present until positive behavior is demonstrated. The problem with negative reinforcement may be that the negative stimulus may lead to unexpected behaviors and may fail to stimulate the desired behavior. 3. Extinction occurs when a behavior ceases as a result of receiving no reinforcement. For example, suppose an employee has an annoying habit of forwarding e-mail jokes to everyone in the department, cluttering in-boxes and distracting people from their work. Commenting about the jokes, whether in favorable or unfavorable terms, may be encouraging the person to keep forwarding them. Completely ignoring the jokes may reduce their frequency. 4. Punishment is another method of reducing the frequency of undesirable behaviors. Punishment involves presenting negative consequences following unwanted behaviors. Giving an employee a verbal or written warning for consistently being late to work is an example of punishment.

Reinforcement Schedules

1. Reinforcement is presented on a continuous schedule if reinforcers follow all instances of positive behavior. An example of a continuous schedule would be giving an employee a sales commission every time he or she makes a sale. 2. Fixed ratio schedules involve providing rewards every nth time the right behavior is demonstrated, for example, giving the employee a bonus for every 10th sale he or she makes. 3. Fixed interval schedules involve providing a reward after a specified period of time, such as giving a sales bonus once a month regardless of how many sales have been made. 4. Variable ratio involves a random pattern, such as when a slot machine pays out at a casino to ensure patrons believe there is a chance the machine might payout with any given play.

During the Meeting

1. Start the meeting on time. Waiting for members who are running late only punishes those who are on time and reinforces the idea that it's OK to be late. Starting the meeting promptly sends an important signal that you are respectful of everyone's time. 2. Follow the meeting agenda. Veering off agenda communicates to members that it is not important. It also makes it difficult for others to keep track of where you are in the meeting and can facilitate important points not being addressed. 3. Manage group dynamics for full participation. Be on the lookout for full participation and engagement from all team members as well as any potential problems such as social loafing, group conflict, or groupthink. 4. Summarize the meeting with action items. Be sure to clarify team member roles moving forward. If individual's tasks are not clear, chances are role confusion will arise later. There should be clear notes from the meeting regarding who is responsible for each action item and the timeframes associated with next steps. 5. End the meeting on time. This is vitally important as it shows that you respect everyone's time and are organized. If another meeting is needed to follow up, schedule it later, but don't let the meeting run over.

Who are the best individuals for a team?

A key consideration when forming a team is to ensure that all the team members are qualified for the roles they will fill for the team. This process often entails understanding the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) of team members as well as the personality traits needed before starting the selection process.

Reinforcement Theory

According to reinforcement theory, behavior is a function of its consequences. If the consequences following your good deed were favorable, and therefore you are more likely to do similar good deeds in the future. In contrast, you would be less likely to demonstrate similar behaviors in the future if the consequences were poor, or your behavior would likely become extinct.

Acquired Needs Theory

According to this theory, individuals acquire three types of needs as a result of their life experiences. These needs are need for achievement, need for affiliation, and need for power.

Equity Theory

According to this theory, individuals are motivated by a sense of fairness in their interactions. Moreover, our sense of fairness is a result of the social comparisons we make. Specifically, we compare our inputs and outputs with someone else's inputs and outputs. We perceive fairness if we believe that the input-to-output ratio we are bringing into the situation is similar to the input/output ratio of a comparison person, or a referent. Perceptions of inequity create tension within us and drive us to action that will reduce perceived inequity.

SMART Goals

Accumulating research evidence indicates that effective goals are SMART. SMART goals are specific, measurable, aggressive/achievable, realistic, and timely.

Steps to Creating and Maintaining a Cohesive Team

Align the group with the greater organization. Establish common objectives in which members can get involved. Let members have choices in setting their own goals. Include them in decision making at the organizational level. Define clear roles. Demonstrate how each person's contribution furthers the group goal—everyone is responsible for a special piece of the puzzle. Situate group members in proximity to one another. This builds familiarity. Give frequent praise, both to individuals and to the group, and encourage them to praise each other. This builds individual self-confidence, reaffirms positive behavior, and creates an overall positive atmosphere. Treat all members with dignity and respect. This demonstrates that there are no favorites and everyone is valued. Celebrate differences. This highlights each individual's contribution while also making diversity a norm. Establish common rituals. Thursday morning coffee, monthly potlucks—these reaffirm group identity and create shared experiences.

Wiki

An Internet-based method for many people to collaborate and contribute to a document or discussion. Essentially, the document remains available for team members to access and amend at any time. Perhaps the most famous example of wikis is Wikipedia. Wikis are gaining traction as a way to structure project work globally and get information into the hands of those that need it. Empowered organizations put information into everyone's hands.

Challenge of Knowing Where to Begin

At the start of a project, team members may be at a loss as to how to begin. Also, they may have reached the end of a task but are unable to move on to the next step or put the task to rest. Floundering often results from a lack of clear goals, so the remedy is to go back to the team's mission or plan and make sure that it is clear to everyone.

Autonomy

Autonomy is the degree to which the person has the freedom to decide how to perform tasks. As an example, a restaurant chef working in a small restaurant who has control over the menu, concept, and pricing will have greater autonomy compared to a chef who is working in a chain restaurant who oversees the cooking process without having control over the taste of food, how it is cooked, or where ingredients are acquired from. Autonomy increases motivation at work, but it also has other benefits. Autonomous workers are less likely to adopt a "this is not my job" attitude and instead be proactive and creative.

Communication Freezers

Avoid saying: 1. Telling people what to do: "You must..." "You cannot..." 2. Threatening with "or else" implied: "You had better..." "If you don't..." 3. Making suggestions or telling other people what they ought to do: "You should..." "It's your responsibility to..." 4. Attempting to educate the other person: "Let me give you the facts." "Experience tells us that..." 5. Judging the other person negatively: "You're not thinking straight." "You're wrong." 6. Giving insincere praise: "You have so much potential." "I know you can do better than this." 7. Psychoanalyzing the other person: "You're jealous." "You have problems with authority." 8. Making light of the other person's problems by generalizing: "Things will get better." "Behind every cloud is a silver lining." 9. Asking excessive or inappropriate questions: "Why did you do that?" "Who has influenced you?" 10. Making light of the problem by kidding: "Think about the positive side." "You think you've got problems!"

Guidelines for Giving Feedback in a Performance Appraisal Meeting

Before the meeting, ask the person to complete a self-appraisal. This is a great way of making sure that employees become active participants in the process and are heard. Complete the performance appraisal form and document your rating using several examples. Be sure that your review covers the entire time since the last review, not just recent events. During the meeting, be sure to recognize effective performance through specific praise. Do not start the meeting with a criticism. Starting with positive instances of performance helps establish a better mood and shows that you recognize what the employee is doing right. Give employees opportunities to talk. Ask them about their greatest accomplishments, as well as opportunities for improvement. Show empathy and support. Remember, your job as a manager is to help the person solve performance problems. Identify areas where you can help. Conclude by setting goals and creating an action plan for the future. After the meeting, continue to give the employee periodic and frequent feedback. Follow through on the goals that were set.

Behavioral Controls

Behavioral controls involve the direct evaluation of managerial and employee actions, not of the results of managerial decisions. Behavioral controls are typically more appropriate when the actions of individuals can be clearly tied to the organization's performance.

Biased Language

Can offend or stereotype others on the basis of their personal or group affiliation. Language that belittles or stereotypes a person poisons the communication process.

Common Barriers to Effective Teams

Challenged of knowing where to begin Dominating team members Poor performance of some team members Poorly managed team conflict

Communication

Communication supports each of a manager's P-O-L-C functions as the ability to effectively communicate is a necessary condition for successfully planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Communication is vital to coordinating actions and articulating goals. Communication is formally defined as "a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior."

The Costs of Organizational Control

Controls can cost the organization in several areas, including 1. Financial 2. Damage to culture and reputation While organizations benefit from tracking employee behavior, implementing strict monitoring efforts can have undesirable cultural consequences in the form of reduced employee loyalty, greater turnover, or damage to the organization's external reputation. 3. Decreased responsiveness Another potential cost of having controls is that they can afford less organizational flexibility and responsiveness. Typically, controls are put in place to prevent problems, but controls can also create problems. 4. Failed implementation A final area of cost, failed implementation, is needed when controls are poorly understood, so that their launch creates significant unintended, negative consequences.

Information Overload

Defined as "occurring when the information processing demands on an individual's time to perform interactions and internal calculations exceed the supply or capacity of time available for such processing." Experts note that information overload is "A symptom of the high-tech age, which is too much information for one human being to absorb in an expanding world of people and technology.

Poorly Managed Team Conflict

Disagreements among team members are normal and should be expected. Healthy teams raise issues and discuss differing points of view because that will ultimately help the team reach stronger, more well-reasoned decisions. Unfortunately, sometimes disagreements arise because of personality issues or feuds that predated the teams' formation. Ideally, teams should be designed to avoid bringing adversaries together on the same team. If that is not possible, the next best solution is to have adversaries discuss their issues privately, so the team's progress is not disrupted. The team leader or another team member can offer to facilitate the discussion. One way to make a discussion between conflicting parties meaningful is to form a behavioral contract between the two parties. That is, if one party agrees to do X, the other will agree to do Y.

Effective Teams in Relation to Companies

Effective teams give companies a significant competitive advantage. In a high-functioning team, the sum is truly greater than the parts. Team members not only benefit from one another's diverse experiences and perspectives but also stimulate each other's creativity. For many people, working in a team can be more fun than working alone.

Effects of High Levels of Justice

Employers would benefit from paying attention to all three types of justice perceptions. In addition to being the right thing to do, justice perceptions lead to outcomes companies care about. Injustice is directly harmful to employee psychological health and well-being and contributes to stress. High levels of justice create higher levels of employee commitment to organizations, are related to higher job performance, higher levels of organizational citizenship (behaviors that are not part of one's job description but help the organization in other ways such as speaking positively about the company and helping others), and higher levels of customer satisfaction, whereas low levels of justice lead to retaliation and supporting union certification movements.

Individual Differences in Reactions to Inequity

Equity theory assumes that once people feel that a situation is inequitable they are motivated to react. However, does inequity disturb everyone equally? Researchers identified a personality trait that explains different reactions to inequity and named this trait equity sensitivity.[] Equity sensitive individuals experience distress when they feel they are overrewarded or underrewarded and expect to maintain equitable relationships. At the same time, there are some individuals who are benevolents who give without waiting to receive much in return and entitleds who expect to receive a lot without giving much in return. Thus, the theory is more useful in explaining the behavior of equity sensitive individuals, and organizations will need to pay particular attention to how these individuals view their relationships.

Fairness beyond Equity: Procedural and Interactional Justice

Equity theory deals with outcome fairness, and therefore, it is considered to be a distributive justice theory. Distributive justice refers to the degree to which the outputs received from the organization are fair. Two other types of fairness have also been identified: procedural justice and interactional justice.

Expectancy Theory

Expectancy theory argues that individual motivation to put forth more or less effort is determined by a rational calculation. According to this theory, individuals ask themselves three questions. 1. The first question is whether the person believes that high levels of effort will lead to desired outcomes. This perception is labeled as expectancy. For example, do you believe that the effort you put forth in a class is related to learning worthwhile material and receiving a good grade? If you do, you are more likely to put forth effort. 2. The second question is the degree to which the person believes that performance is related to secondary outcomes such as rewards. This perception is labeled as instrumentality. For example, do you believe that passing the class is related to rewards such as getting a better job, or gaining approval from your instructor, friends, or parents? If you do, you are more likely to put forth effort. 3. Finally, individuals are also concerned about the value of the rewards awaiting them as a result of performance. The anticipated satisfaction that will result from an outcome is labeled as valence. For example, do you value getting a better job or gaining approval from your instructor, friends, or parents? If these outcomes are desirable to you, you are more likely to put forth effort.

External Communications

External communications deliver specific business messages to individuals outside an organization. They may announce changes in staff or strategy, earnings, and more. The goal of an external communication is to create a specific Message that the Receiver will understand and share with others. Examples of external communications include press releases, ads, Web pages, and customer communications.

Feedback Controls

Feedback controls involve gathering information about a completed activity, evaluating that information, and taking steps to improve similar activities in the future. This is the least proactive of controls and is generally a basis for reactions. Feedback controls permit managers to use information about past performance to bring future performance in line with planned objectives.

Feedback

Feedback refers to the degree to which the person learns how effective he or she is at work. Feedback may come from other people such as supervisors, peers, subordinates, customers, or from the job. A salesperson who makes informational presentations to potential clients but is not informed whether they sign up has low feedback. If this salesperson receives a notification whenever someone who has heard his presentation becomes a client, feedback will be high.

Financial Control

Financial control involves the management of a firm's costs and expenses to control them in relation to budgeted amounts. Thus, management determines which aspects of its financial condition, such as assets, sales, or profitability, are most important, tries to forecast them through budgets, and then compares actual performance to budgeted performance. Financial controls provide the basis for sound management and allow managers to establish guidelines and policies that enable the business to succeed and grow.

Why do SMART Goals Motivate?

First, goals give us direction; therefore, goals should be set carefully. Giving employees goals that are not aligned with company goals will be a problem because goals will direct employee's energy to a certain end. Second, goals energize people and tell them not to stop until they reach that point. Third, having a goal provides a challenge. When people have goals and when they reach them, they feel a sense of accomplishment. Finally, SMART goals urge people to think outside the box and rethink how they are working. If a goal is substantially difficult, merely working harder will not lead to results. Instead, you will need to rethink the way you usually work and devise a creative way of working.

Downsides to Goal Setting

First, setting goals for specific outcomes may hamper employee performance if employees lack skills and abilities to reach the goals. In these situations, setting goals for behaviors and for learning may be more effective than setting goals for outcomes. Second, goal setting may motivate employees to focus on a goal and ignore the need to respond to new challenges. For example, one study found that when teams had difficult goals and when employees within the team had high levels of performance orientation, teams had difficulty adapting to unforeseen circumstances. Third, goals focus employee attention on the activities that are measured, which may lead to sacrificing other important aspects of performance. When goals are set for production numbers, quality may suffer. As a result, it is important to set goals incorporating all critical aspects of performance. Finally, aggressive pursuit of goals may lead to unethical behaviors. Particularly when employees are rewarded for goal accomplishment but there are no rewards whatsoever for coming very close to reaching the goal, employees may be tempted to cheat.

After the Meeting

Follow up on action items. After the meeting understand critical action items. In addition, it may be necessary to follow up on the action items of others.

Goal Setting Theory

Goal setting theory is one of the most influential theories of motivation. It has been supported in over 1,000 studies with employees, ranging from blue-collar workers to research and development employees, and there is strong evidence that setting goals is related to performance improvements. In fact, according to one estimate, goal setting improves performance between 10% and 25% or more.

Norming Stage

Group members often feel relief at this point, and they are much more committed to each other and the group's goal. Feeling energized, group members are now ready to get to work. Finding themselves more cohesive and cooperative, participants find it easy to establish their own ground rules (or norms) and define their operating procedures and goals. The group tends to make big decisions, while subgroups or individuals handle the smaller decisions. It is hoped at this point the group members are more open and respectful toward each other and willing to ask one another for both help and feedback. They may even begin to form friendships and share more personal information. At this point, the leader should become more of a facilitator by stepping back and letting the group assume more responsibility for its goal. Since the group's energy is running high, this is an ideal time to host a social or team-building event.

Two-Factor Theory

Herzberg came to the conclusion that aspects of the work environment that satisfy employees are very different from aspects that dissatisfy them. Herzberg labeled factors causing dissatisfaction of workers as "hygiene" factors because these factors were part of the context in which the job was performed, as opposed to the job itself. Hygiene factors included company policies, supervision, working conditions, salary, safety, and security on the job. In contrast, motivators are factors that are intrinsic to the job, such as achievement, recognition, interesting work, increased responsibilities, advancement, and growth opportunities. According to Herzberg's research, motivators, and not hygiene factors, are the conditions that truly motivate employees.

Typical Team Goals

Improving quality, reducing costs, and meeting deadlines.

Process-Based Theories

In contrast to need-based theories, process-based theories view motivation as a cognitive (and potentially rational) process. Individuals analyze their environment, develop reactions and feelings, and react in certain ways.

How can organization's satisfy employees needs?

In the long run, physiological needs may be satisfied by a paycheck, but it is important to remember that pay may satisfy other needs such as safety and esteem as well. Providing generous benefits, including health insurance and company-sponsored retirement plans, as well as offering a measure of job security, will help satisfy safety needs. Social needs may be satisfied by having a friendly environment, providing a workplace conducive to collaboration and communication with others. Company picnics and other social opportunities may also be helpful. Providing promotion opportunities at work, recognizing a person's accomplishments verbally or through more formal reward systems, and job titles that communicate to the employee that one has achieved high status within the organization are among the ways of satisfying esteem needs. Finally, self-actualization needs may be satisfied by providing development and growth opportunities on or off the job, as well as by assigning interesting and challenging work.

Need for Affiliation

Individuals who have a high need for affiliation want to be liked and accepted by others. When given a choice, they prefer to interact with others and be with friends. Their emphasis on harmonious interpersonal relationships may be an advantage in jobs and occupations requiring frequent interpersonal interaction, such as a social worker or teacher. In managerial positions, a high need for affiliation may again serve as a disadvantage because these individuals tend to be overly concerned about how they are perceived by others. Thus, they may find it difficult to perform some aspects of a manager's job such as giving employees critical feedback or disciplining poor performers.

Direction of Communication Within Organizations

Information can move horizontally, from a Sender to a Receiver, or vertically, down from top management or up from the front line. Information can also move diagonally between and among levels of an organization.

What are inputs and outputs?

Inputs are the contributions the person feels he or she is making to the environment. Outputs are the rewards the person feels he or she is receiving from the situation.

ERG Theory

Instead of the five needs that are hierarchically organized, Alderfer proposed that basic human needs may be grouped under three categories, namely, Existence, Relatedness, and Growth. Existence need corresponds to Maslow's physiological and safety needs, relatedness corresponds to social needs, and growth need refers to Maslow's esteem and self-actualization. ERG theory does not rank needs in any particular order and explicitly recognizes that more than one need may operate at a given time. Moreover, the theory has a "frustration-regression" hypothesis, suggesting that individuals who are frustrated in their attempts to satisfy one need may regress to another one.

Interactional Justice

Interactional justice refers to the degree to which people are treated with respect, kindness, and dignity in interpersonal interactions. We expect to be treated with dignity by our peers, supervisors, and customers. When the opposite happens, we feel angry. Even when faced with negative outcomes such as a pay cut, being treated with dignity and respect serves as a buffer and can alleviate stress.

Space

Intimate, Personal, Social Standing too far away from a colleague (such as a public speaking distance of more than seven feet) or too close to a colleague (intimate distance for embracing) can thwart effective verbal communication in business.

Job Crafting

Job crafting refers to the changes employees make to their own job description—expanding certain elements that are a better fit to their own personality or reducing the scope of the job to achieve better work-life balance—all in the service of better meeting the employees' career and life goals. The idea behind job crafting is that oftentimes employees are not passive recipients of their roles and instead take an active role in shaping their own job roles and responsibilities to fit the realities of their interests, passions, and goals. Not all jobs allow job crafting, but some organizations are increasingly encouraging employees to take on an active role in the shaping of job descriptions.

Job Enlargement

Job enlargement refers to expanding the tasks performed by employees to add more variety. Like job rotation, job enlargement can reduce boredom and monotony as well as use human resources more effectively. When jobs are enlarged, employees view themselves as being capable of performing a broader set of tasks.[] Job enlargement is positively related to employee satisfaction and higher-quality customer services, and it increases the chances of catching mistakes. At the same time, the effects of job enlargement may depend on the type of enlargement.

Job Enrichment

Job enrichment is a job redesign technique that allows workers more control over how they perform their own tasks, giving them more responsibility over their jobs. As an alternative to job specialization, companies using job enrichment may experience positive outcomes such as reduced turnover, increased productivity, and reduced absences. This may be because employees who have the authority and responsibility over their own work can be more efficient, eliminate unnecessary tasks, take shortcuts, and overall increase their own performance. At the same time, there is some evidence that job enrichment may sometimes cause employees to be dissatisfied. The reason may be that employees who are given additional autonomy and responsibility may expect greater levels of pay or other types of compensation, and if this expectation is not met, they may feel frustrated. However, job enrichment may not be suitable for all employees. Not all employees desire to have control over how they work, and if they do not have this desire, they may feel dissatisfied in an enriched job.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow's theory is based on a simple premise: Human beings have needs that are hierarchically ranked. The most basic of Maslow's needs are physiological needs. Physiological needs refer to the need for air, food, and water. Once physiological needs are satisfied, people tend to become concerned about safety. Are they safe from danger, pain, or an uncertain future? One level up, social needs refer to the need to bond with other human beings, to be loved, and to form lasting attachments. The satisfaction of social needs makes esteem needs more salient. Esteem needs refer to the desire to be respected by one's peers, feeling important, and being appreciated. Finally, at the highest level of the hierarchy, the need for self-actualization refers to "becoming all you are capable of becoming." This need manifests itself by acquiring new skills, taking on new challenges, and behaving in a way that will lead to the satisfaction of one's life goals.

Psychological States

Meaningfulness Responsibility Knowledge of results

Sacrifice for a Common Good

Members are also willing to sacrifice for the common good in which individuals give up scarce resources for the common good instead of competing for those resources.

Outcomes

Motivation Performance Satisfaction Absenteesism Turnover

Team Norms

Norms are shared expectations concerning behaviors within a group or team. Just as new employees learn to understand and share the assumptions, organizational norms, and values that are part of an organization's culture, they also must learn team norms. This understanding helps teams be more cohesive and perform better. Norms are a powerful way of ensuring coordination within a team.

Differences in Meaning

Often exist between the Sender and Receiver. "Mean what you say, and say what you mean." While this advice may seem straightforward, different words mean different things to different people. Age, education, and cultural background are all factors that influence how a person interprets words. The less we consider our audience, the greater our chances of miscommunication will be. When communication occurs in a cross-cultural context, extra caution is needed given that different words will be interpreted differently across cultures and different cultures have different norms regarding nonverbal communication. Eliminating jargon is one way of ensuring that our words will convey real-world concepts to others. Speaking to our audience, as opposed to ourselves, is another. Nonverbal Messages can also have different meanings.

Reactions to Unfairness

Oftentimes, the situation may be dealt with perceptually, by distorting our perceptions of our own or referent's inputs and outputs. For example, individuals may justify the situation by downplaying their own inputs ("I don't really work very hard on this job"), valuing the outputs more highly ("I am gaining valuable work experience, so the situation is not that bad"), distorting the other person's inputs ("He really is more competent than I am and deserves to be paid more"), or distorting the other person's outputs ("He gets $14 but will have to work with a lousy manager, so the situation is not unfair"). Another way of addressing perceived inequity is to reduce one's own inputs or increase one's own outputs. If individuals reduce their efforts, perceived inequity can be reduced. Indeed, research shows that people who perceive inequity tend to reduce their work performance or reduce the quality of their inputs. Increasing one's outputs can be achieved through legitimate means such as negotiating a pay raise. At the same time, research shows that those feeling inequity sometimes resort to stealing to balance the scales. Other options include changing the comparison person (for example, you may learn that others doing similar work in different organizations are paid only minimum wage) and leaving the situation by quitting one's job. We might even consider taking legal action as a potential outcome of perceived inequity.

Storming Stage

Once group members feel sufficiently safe and included, they tend to enter the Storming phase. Participants focus less on keeping their guard up as they shed social facades, becoming more authentic and more argumentative. Group members begin to explore their power and influence, and they often stake out their territory by differentiating themselves from the other group members rather than seeking common ground. Discussions can become heated as participants raise conflicting points of view and values, or disagree over how tasks should be accomplished and who should be responsible for certain tasks. It is not unusual for group members to become defensive, competitive, or jealous. Group members may take sides or begin to form cliques within the group. Questioning and resisting direction from the leader is also quite common. This stage actually serves an important purpose: group members are becoming more authentic as they express their deeper thoughts and feelings.

Job Rotation

One of the early alternatives to job specialization was job rotation, which involves moving employees from job to job at regular intervals, thereby relieving the monotony and boredom typical in repetitive jobs. Using this technique, among others, the company was able to reduce its turnover level. Job rotation has a number of advantages for organizations. It is an effective way for employees to acquire new skills, as the rotation involves cross-training to new tasks; this means that organizations increase the overall skill level of their employees.[] In addition, job rotation is a means of knowledge transfer between departments. An interesting side effect of job rotation in some jobs is increased accountability and more ethical behavior.

Operational Control

Operational control, in contrast to strategic control, is concerned with executing the strategy. Where operational controls are imposed, they function within the framework established by the strategy. Normally these goals, objectives, and standards are established for major subsystems within the organization, such as business units, projects, products, functions, and responsibility centers. Typical operational control measures include return on investment, net profit, cost, and product quality. These control measures are essentially summations of finer-grained control measures. Corrective action based on operating controls may have implications for strategic controls when they involve changes in the strategy.

Outcome Controls

Outcome controls are generally preferable when performance can be measured through tangible performance metrics.

Criteria that individuals may use when deciding whether to filter a Message or pass it on

Past experience. Was the Sender rewarded or criticized for passing along news of this kind in the past? Knowledge, perception of the speaker. Has the Receiver's direct superior made it clear that "no news is good news"? Emotional state, involvement with the topic, level of attention. Does the Sender's fear of failure or criticism prevent him from conveying the Message? Is the topic within his realm of expertise, increasing his confidence in his ability to decode it, or is he out of his comfort zone when it comes to evaluating the Message's significance? Are personal concerns impacting his ability to judge the Message's value?

Scientific Management and Job Specialization

Perhaps the earliest attempt to design jobs was presented by Frederick Taylor in his 1911 book, Principles of Scientific Management. Scientific management proposed a number of ideas that have been influential in job design. One idea was to minimize waste by identifying the best method to perform the job to ensure maximum efficiency. Another one of the major advances of scientific management was job specialization, which entails breaking down tasks to their simplest components and assigning them to employees so that each person would perform few tasks in a repetitive manner. While this technique may be very efficient in terms of automation and standardization, from a motivational perspective, these jobs might be considered boring and repetitive and therefore associated with negative outcomes such as absenteeism. Job specialization is also an ineffective way of organizing jobs in rapidly changing environments where employees close to the problem should modify their approach based on the demands of the situation.

Proactivity/Feedforward Control

Proactivity can be defined as the monitoring of problems in a way that provides their timely prevention, rather than after the fact reaction. In management, this is known as feedforward control; it addresses what can be done ahead of time to help a plan succeed. The essence of feedforward control is to see the problems coming in advance.

Procedural Justice

Procedural justice refers to the degree to which fair decision-making procedures are used. Research shows that employees care about procedural justice for many organizational decisions, including layoffs, employee selection, surveillance of employees, performance appraisals, and pay decisions. They tend to care about procedural justice particularly when they do not get the outcome they feel they deserve. Research has identified many ways of achieving procedural justice. For example, giving employees advance notice before laying them off, firing them, or disciplining them is perceived as fairer. Allowing employees' voices into decision making is also important. Even when it is not possible to have employees participate, providing explanations is helpful in fostering procedural justice. Finally, people expect consistency in treatment. If one person is given extra time when taking a test while another is not, individuals would perceive decision making as unfair.

Major Classes of Tasks

Production Tasks - Production tasks include actually making something, such as a building, a product, or a marketing plan. Idea Generated Tasks - Idea generation tasks deal with creative tasks, such as brainstorming a new direction or creating a new process. Problem-Solving Tasks - Problem-solving tasks refer to coming up with plans for actions and making decisions.

Selective Perception

Refers to filtering information to suit our own needs. This process is often unconscious. Selective perception is a necessary tool that provides efficiency in a complex culture, but it can also lead to mistakes in communication. A classic study on selective perception involved participants watching a particularly violent football game between Princeton and Dartmouth. Participants rooting for a specific team counted more infractions committed by the other team.

Social Loafing

Refers to the tendency of individuals to put in less effort when working in a group context. The social loafing tendency is not so much a matter of laziness as a matter of perceiving that one will receive neither one's fair share of rewards if the group is successful nor blame if the group fails. Rationales for this behavior include, "My own effort will have little effect on the outcome." "Others aren't pulling their weight, so why should I?" Or "I don't have much to contribute, and no one will notice anyway."

Poor Performance of Some Team Members

Research shows that teams deal with poor performers in different ways, depending on members' perceptions of the reasons for poor performance. In situations in which the poor performer is perceived as lacking in ability, teams are more likely to train the member. In situations in which members perceive the individual as simply low on motivation, they are more likely to try to motivate or reject the poor performer.

Improving Listening Skills

Silence is one of the great arts of conversation.

Fundamental Factors Affecting Group Cohesion

Similarity - The more similar group members are in terms of age, sex, education, skills, attitudes, values, and beliefs, the more likely the group will bond. Stability - The longer a group stays together, the more cohesive it becomes. Size - Smaller groups tend to have higher levels of cohesion. Support - When group members receive coaching and are encouraged to support their fellow team members, group identity strengthens. Satisfaction - Cohesion is correlated with how pleased group members are with one another's performance, behavior, and conformity to group norms.

Core Job Characteristics

Skill Variety Task Identity Task significance Autonomy Feedback

Skill Variety

Skill variety refers to the extent to which the job requires the person to use multiple high-level skills. A car wash employee whose job consists of directing cars into the automated car wash demonstrates low levels of skill variety, whereas a car wash employee who acts as a cashier, maintains car wash equipment, and manages the inventory of chemicals demonstrates higher skill variety.

Social Roles

Social roles serve to keep the team operating effectively. When the social roles are filled, team members feel more cohesive and the group is less prone to suffer process losses or biases, such as social loafing, groupthink, or a lack of participation from all members. Cooperator Role - includes supporting those with expertise toward the team's goals. This is a proactive role. Communicator Role - includes behaviors that are targeted at collaboration such as practicing good listening skills and appropriately using humor to defuse tense situations. Having a good communicator helps the team to feel more open to sharing ideas. Calibrator Role - serves to keep the team on track in terms of suggesting any needed changes to the team's process. This role includes initiating discussions about potential team problems such as power struggles or other tensions. Similarly, this role may involve settling disagreements or pointing out what is working and what is not in terms of team process.

Dominating Team Members

Some team members may have a dominating personality that encroaches on the participation or airtime of others. This overbearing behavior may hurt the team morale or the momentum of the team. A good way to overcome this barrier is to design a team evaluation to include a "balance of participation" in meetings. Knowing that fair and equitable participation by all will affect the team's performance evaluation will help team members limit domination by one member and encourage participation from all members, even shy or reluctant ones.

Strategic Control

Strategic control is concerned with tracking the strategy as it is being implemented, detecting any problem areas or potential problem areas suggesting that the strategy is incorrect, and making any necessary adjustments.[] Strategic controls allow managers to step back and look at the big picture and make sure all the pieces of the picture are correctly aligned.

Strategic and Operating Controls

Strategic controls make sure that the ship is going in the right direction, while management and operating controls make sure the ship is in good condition before, during, and after the voyage.

Task Identity

Task identity refers to the degree to which the person completes a piece of work from start to finish. A Web designer who designs parts of a Web site will have low task identity because the work blends in with other Web designers' work, and in the end, it will be hard for the person to claim responsibility for the final output. The Webmaster who designs the entire Web site will have higher task identity.

Task Significance

Task significance refers to whether the person's job substantially affects other people's work, health, or well-being. A janitor who cleans the floor at an office building may find the job low in significance, thinking it is not an important job. However, janitors cleaning the floors at a hospital may see their role as essential in helping patients recover in a healthy environment. When they see their tasks as significant, employees tend to feel that they are making an impact on their environment and their feelings of self-worth are boosted.

Stretch Goal

Teams also have a "stretch" goal, which is difficult to reach but important to the business unit.

Types of Teams

Teams may be permanent or long term, but more typically, a team exists for a limited time. TASK FORCE: An example of a temporary team is a task force that addresses a specific issue or problem until it is resolved. PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT: Other teams may be temporary or ongoing such as product development teams. CROSS-FUNCTIONAL: In addition, matrix organizations have cross-functional teams where individuals from different parts of the organization staff the team, which may be temporary or long-standing.

Communication Channels

The channel, or medium, used to communicate a message affects how accurately the message will be received. Verbal, written, and nonverbal communications have different strengths and weaknesses.

Poor Listening

The consequences of poor listening are lower employee productivity, missed sales, unhappy customers, and billions of dollars of increased cost and lost profits. Poor listening is a factor in low employee morale and increased turnover because employees do not feel their managers listen to their needs, suggestions, or complaints.

Need Based Theories

The earliest answer to motivation involved understanding individual needs. Specifically, early researchers thought that employees are motivated to satisfy their needs.

Boundary-Spanning Roles

The final two roles are related to activities outside of the team that help to connect the team to the larger organization. Teams that engage in a greater level of boundary-spanning behaviors increase their team effectiveness. Consul Role - includes gathering information from the larger organization and informing those within the organization about team activities, goals, and successes. Often the consul role is filled by team managers or leaders. Coordinator Role - includes interfacing with others within the organization so that the team's efforts are in line with other individuals and teams within the organization.

Organizational Control

The fourth facet of the P-O-L-C framework, organizational control, refers to the processes by which an organization influences its subunits and members to behave in ways that lead to the attainment of organizational goals and objectives. When properly designed, such controls should lead to better performance because an organization is able to execute its strategy better.

Job Characteristics Model

The job characteristics model is one of the most influential attempts to design jobs to increase their motivational properties. The model describes five core job dimensions, leading to three critical psychological states, which lead to work-related outcomes.

Key to Effective Communication

The key to effective communication is to match the communication channel with the goal of the communication. For example, written media may be a better choice when the Sender wants a record of the content, has less urgency for a response, is physically separated from the Receiver, does not require a lot of feedback from the Receiver, or the Message is complicated and may take some time to understand. Oral communication, however, makes more sense when the Sender is conveying a sensitive or emotional Message, needs feedback immediately, and does not need a permanent record of the conversation.

Touch

The meaning of a simple touch differs between individuals and cultures.

Job Design

The primary influence over worker motivation is job design. How a job is designed has a major impact on employee motivation, job satisfaction, commitment to organization, as well as absenteeism and turnover. Job design is just one of the many organizational design decisions managers must make when engaged in the organizing function.

Concurrent Controls

The process of monitoring and adjusting ongoing activities and processes is known as concurrent control. Such controls are not necessarily proactive, but they can prevent problems from becoming worse. For this reason, concurrent controls are thought of as real-time controls because they deal with the present.

Who is the referent?

The referent other may be a specific person or an entire category of people. Referents should be comparable to us—otherwise the comparison is not meaningful. It would be illogical for entry-level employees to compare themselves to the CEO of the company given the differences in the nature of inputs and outcomes. Instead, individuals logically compare themselves to those performing similar tasks within the same organization or a different organization.

Key Mechanism Managers Rely on to Control Performance

The use of performance referents that serve as comparison points when understanding if performance is on target. The use of multiple referents is advised, as different measures will provide different insights into the organization's functioning. In a similar manner, multiple performance measures should be utilized when individuals access their own personal finances.

Organizational Behavior Modification

This is a systematic application of reinforcement theory to modify employee behaviors. The model consists of five stages. 1. The process starts with identifying the behavior that will be modified. Let's assume that we are interested in reducing absenteeism among employees. 2. In step 2, we measure the baseline level of absenteeism. 3. In step 3, the behavior's antecedents and consequences are determined. 4. In step 4, an intervention is implemented. Removing the positive consequences of negative behavior may be an effective way of dealing with the situation 5. Finally, in step 5 the behavior is measured periodically and maintained.

Need for Achievement

Those who have a high need for achievement have a strong need to be successful. A worker who derives great satisfaction from meeting deadlines, coming up with brilliant ideas, and planning his or her next career move may be high in need for achievement. Individuals high on need for achievement are well suited to positions such as sales where there are explicit goals, feedback is immediately available, and their effort often leads to success. However, a high need for achievement has important disadvantages in management. Management involves getting work done by motivating others. Those who are high in need for achievement may view managerial activities such as coaching, communicating, and meeting with subordinates as a waste of time. Moreover, they enjoy doing things themselves and may find it difficult to delegate authority. They may become overbearing or micromanaging bosses, expecting everyone to be as dedicated to work as they are, and expecting subordinates to do things exactly the way they would perform a task.

Need for Power

Those with a high need for power want to influence others and control their environment. Need for power may be destructive of one's relationships if it takes the form of seeking and using power for one's own good and prestige. However, when it manifests itself in more altruistic forms, such as changing the way things are done so that the work environment is more positive or negotiating more resources for one's department, it tends to lead to positive outcomes. In fact, need for power is viewed as important for effectiveness in managerial and leadership positions.

How can managers influence these perceptions to motivate employees?

To influence their expectancy perceptions, managers may train their employees, or hire people who are qualified for the jobs in question. Low expectancy may also be due to employees feeling that something other than effort predicts performance, such as political behaviors on the part of employees. In this case, clearing the way to performance and creating an environment in which employees do not feel impeded will be helpful. The first step in influencing instrumentality is to connect pay and other rewards to performance using bonuses, award systems, and merit pay. Publicizing any contests or award programs is helpful in bringing rewards to the awareness of employees. It is also important to highlight that performance and not something else is being rewarded. Finally, to influence valence, managers will need to find out what their employees value. This can be done by talking to employees, or surveying them about what rewards they find valuable.

Overpayment Inequity

What would you do if you felt you were overrewarded? Originally, equity theory proposed that overrewarded individuals would experience guilt and would increase their effort to restore perceptions of equity. However, research does not provide support for this argument. Instead, it seems that individuals experience less distress as a result of being overrewarded.[] It is not hard to imagine that individuals find perceptual ways to deal with a situation like this, such as believing that they have more skills and bring more to the situation compared with the referent person.

The Benefits of Organizational Control

When they are well designed and implemented, they provide at least five possible areas of benefits, including 1. Improved cost and productivity control Good controls help the organization act efficiently and effectively by helping managers control costs and productivity levels. Costs can be controlled using budgets, where managers compare actual expenses to forecasted ones. Similarly, productivity can be controlled by comparing how much each person can produce, in terms of service or products. 2. Improved quality control Increasingly, quality can be quantified in terms of response time (i.e., How long did it take to prepare a burger?) or accuracy (i.e., Did the burger actually weigh one-quarter pound?). 3. Opportunity recognition 4. Better ability to manage uncertainty and complexity This is a fourth area of benefit from well-designed and implemented controls. 5. Better ability to decentralize decision making. Organization researchers have long argued that performance is best when those individuals and areas of the organization that are closest to customers and pockets of uncertainty also have the ability (i.e., the information and authority) to respond to them.

Outcome Interdependence

Where the rewards that an individual receives depend on the performance of others.

3 Types of Task Interdependence

1. POOLED: Pooled interdependence exists when team members may work independently and simply combine their efforts to create the team's output. For example, when students meet to divide the sections of a research paper and one person assembles the sections together to create one paper, the team is using the pooled interdependence model. 2. SEQUENTIAL: If one person's output becomes another person's input, the team would be experiencing sequential interdependence. They might decide that it makes more sense to start with one person writing the introduction of their research paper, then the second person reads what was written by the first person and, drawing from this section, writes about the findings within the paper. Using the findings section, the third person writes the conclusions. 3. RECIPROCAL: Finally, if the student team decided that in order to create a top notch research paper they should work together on each phase of the research paper so that their best ideas would be captured at each stage, they would be undertaking reciprocal interdependence

Ten Ways to Improve Your Listening Habits

1. Start by stopping. Take a moment to inhale and exhale quietly before you begin to listen. Your job as a listener is to receive information openly and accurately. 2. Don't worry about what you'll say when the time comes. 3. Join the Sender's team. When a speaker pauses, summarize what you believe they said. Be attentive to physical as well as verbal communications. 4. Don't multi-task while listening. 5. Try to empathize with the Sender's point of view. You don't have to agree; but can you find common ground? 6. Confused? Ask questions. 7. Establish eye contact. 8. What is the goal of this communication? 9. It's great to be surprised. Listen with an open mind, not just for what you want to hear. 10. Pay attention to what is not said. Does the Sender's body language seem to contradict the Message?

Process Model of Communication

A Sender, such as a manager, coworker, or customer, originates the message with a thought. The sender encodes the message, translating the idea into words. The medium of this encoded message may be spoken words, written words, or signs. The receiver is the person who receives the message. The receiver decodes the message by assigning meaning to the words. The meaning that the receiver assigns may not be the meaning that the sender intended, because of such factors as noise. Noise is anything that interferes with or distorts the message being transformed. Noise can be external in the environment (such as distractions) or it can be within the receiver.

Web Pages

A Web page's external communication can combine elements of public relations, advertising, and editorial content, reaching Receivers on multiple levels and in multiple ways. Banner ads, blogs, and advertiser-driven "click-through" areas are just a few of the elements that allow a business to deliver a Message to a Receiver online. The perceived flexibility of online communications can impart a less formal (and, therefore, more believable) quality to an external communication.

What is a group?

A group is a collection of individuals who interact with each other such that one person's actions have an impact on the others. Groups where people get along, feel the desire to contribute, and are capable of coordinating their efforts may have high performance levels, whereas those characterized by extreme levels of conflict or hostility may demoralize members of the workforce.

Difference Between Group and Team

A group is a collection of individuals. A team is a particular type of group: a cohesive coalition of people working together to achieve mutual goals. A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they are mutually accountable.

Groupthink

A group pressure phenomenon that increases the risk of the group making flawed decisions by allowing reductions in mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment. Groupthink is a serious risk in highly cohesive groups.

Establishing Team Norms and Contracts

A key to successful team design is to have clear norms, roles, and expectations among team members. Problems such as social loafing or groupthink can be avoided by paying careful attention to team member differences and providing clear definitions for roles, expectancy, measurement, and rewards.

Body Language

A simple rule of thumb is that simplicity, directness, and warmth convey sincerity. And sincerity is key to effective communication. A firm handshake, given with a warm, dry hand, is a great way to establish trust. A weak, clammy handshake conveys a lack of trustworthiness. Gnawing one's lip conveys uncertainty. A direct smile conveys confidence.

Self-Directed Teams

A special form of self-managed teams are self-directed teams in which they also determine who will lead them with no external oversight.

Forming-Storming-Norming-Performing-Adjourning Model

According to this theory, to facilitate a group successfully, the leader needs to move through various leadership styles over time. Generally, this is accomplished by first being more direct, eventually serving as a coach, and later, once the group is able to assume more power and responsibility for itself, shifting to delegator.

Ads

Advertising places external business Messages before target Receivers through media buys. A media buy is a fee that is paid to a television network, Web site, or magazine by an advertiser for an on-air, site, or publication ad. The fee is based on the perceived value of the audience who watches, reads, or frequents the space where the ad will appear.

Process Loss

Any aspect of group interaction that inhibits group functioning.

Top Management Teams

Appointed by the chief executive officer (CEO) and, ideally, reflect the skills and areas that the CEO considers vital for the company. The top management team often includes representatives from functional areas, such as finance, human resources, and marketing or key geographic areas, such as Europe, Asia, and North America. Companies have top management teams to help set the company's vision and strategic direction, key tasks within the planning P-O-L-C function. Top teams make decisions on new markets, expansions, acquisitions, or divestitures. The top team is also important for its symbolic role: how the top team behaves dictates the organization's culture and priorities by allocating resources and by modeling behaviors that will likely be emulated lower down in the organization. That "the people make the place" holds especially true for members of the top management team.

Too Much Cohesion

Because members can come to value belonging over all else, an internal pressure to conform may arise where some members modify their behavior to adhere to group norms. Members may become conflict avoidant, focusing on trying to please one another so as not to be ostracized. In some cases, members might censor themselves to maintain the party line. As such, the group is dominated by a superficial sense of harmony and discourages diversity of thought. Having less tolerance for deviants, who threaten the group's static identity, cohesive groups will often disapprove of members who dare to disagree. Members attempting to make a change may be criticized, undermined, or even ostracized by other members, who perceive their attempts as a threat to the status quo. The painful possibility of being marginalized can keep many members in line with the majority. The more strongly members identify with the group, the easier it is to see outsiders as inferior, or in extreme cases, as enemies.

Punctuated Equilibrium

Believed that evolution occurred in rapid, radical spurts rather than gradually over time. Proposed that groups remain fairly static, maintaining a certain equilibrium for long periods. Change during these periods is incremental, largely due to the resistance to change that arises when systems take root and processes become institutionalized. In this model, revolutionary change occurs in brief, punctuated bursts, generally catalyzed by a crisis or a problem that breaks through the systemic inertia and shakes up the deep organizational structures in place. At this point, the organization or group has the opportunity to learn and create new structures that are better aligned with current realities. Whether the group does this is not guaranteed. Groups can repeatedly cycle through the Storming and Performing stages, with revolutionary change taking place during short transitional windows. For organizations and groups who understand that disruption, conflict, and chaos are inevitable in the life of a social system, these disruptions represent opportunities for innovation and creativity.

Lack of Source Familiarity or Credibility

Can derail communications, especially when humor is involved. Sarcasm and irony are subtle and have a high potential to be misunderstood. Lack of familiarity with the source of a joke can lead to misinterpreting humor, especially in less rich information channels like e-mail. Similarly, if the Sender lacks credibility or is untrustworthy, the Message will not get through. Receivers may be suspicious of the Sender's motivations ("Why am I being told this?"). Likewise, if the Sender has communicated erroneous information in the past, or has created false emergencies, his current Message may be filtered.

Information Richness

Channels vary in their information richness. Information-rich channels convey more nonverbal information. Research shows that effective managers tend to use more information-rich communication channels than less effective managers. Like face-to-face and telephone conversation, videoconferencing has high information richness because Receivers and Senders can see or hear beyond just the words—they can see the Sender's body language or hear the tone of their voice. Handheld devices, blogs, and written letters and memos offer medium-rich channels because they convey words and pictures/photos. Formal written documents, such as legal documents, and spreadsheets, such as the division's budget, convey the least richness because the format is often rigid and standardized.

Cohesion

Cohesion can be thought of as a kind of social glue. It refers to the degree of camaraderie within the group. Cohesive groups are those in which members are attached to each other and act as one unit. The more cohesive a group, the more productive it will be and the more rewarding the experience will be for the group's members. Cohesive groups tend to have the following characteristics: they have a collective identity; they experience a moral bond and a desire to remain part of the group; they share a sense of purpose, working together on a meaningful task or cause; and they establish a structured pattern of communication.

Key Properties of a True Team

Collaborative Action Compensation Based on Shared Outcomes Sacrifice for the Common Good

Collaborative Action

Collaborative action where, along with a common goal, teams have collaborative tasks. Conversely, in a group, individuals are responsible only for their own area.

Communication Categories

Communication can be categorized into three basic types: 1. verbal communication, in which you listen to a person to understand their meaning 2. written communication, in which you read their meaning 3. nonverbal communication, in which you observe a person and infer meaning. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

The Communication Process

Communication fulfills three main functions within an organization: (1) transmitting information, (2) coordinating effort, and (3) sharing emotions and feelings. All these functions are vital to a successful organization. Transmitting information is vital to an organization's ability to function. Coordinating effort within the organization helps people work toward the same goals. Sharing emotions and feelings bonds teams and unites people in times of celebration and crisis. Effective communication helps people grasp issues, build rapport with coworkers, and achieve consensus.

Task Roles

Contractor Role - includes behaviors that serve to organize the team's work, including creating team timelines, production schedules, and task sequencing. Creator Role - deals more with changes in the team's task process structure. For example, reframing the team goals and looking at the context of goals would fall under this role. Contributor Role - important because it brings information and expertise to the team. This role is characterized by sharing knowledge and training those who have less expertise to strengthen the team. Completer Role - often where ideas are transformed into action. Behaviors associated with this role include following up on tasks such as gathering needed background information or summarizing the team's ideas into reports. Critic Role - includes "devil's advocate" behaviors, which go against the assumptions being made by the team.

Customer Communications

Customer communications can include letters, catalogs, direct mail, e-mails, text messages, and telemarketing messages. Some Receivers automatically filter bulk messages like these. Others will be receptive. The key to a successful external communication to customers is to convey a business message in a personally compelling way—dramatic news, a money-saving coupon, and so forth.

Active Listening

Defined as giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times. Active listening creates a real-time relationship between the Sender and the Receiver by acknowledging the content and receipt of a Message. For example, repeating and confirming a Message's content offers a way to confirm that the correct content is flowing between colleagues. The process creates a bond between coworkers while increasing the flow and accuracy of messaging.

Business Use of Email

Email problems at work range from the use of poor subject lines that convey little information to conveying that a message is urgent when that is not truly the case. Consequently, it is important to remember e-mail's lack of richness can quickly lead to miscommunication. E-mail is a medium-rich channel. It can convey facts quickly. But when it comes to emotion, e-mail's flaws make it far less desirable a choice than oral communication—the 55% of nonverbal cues that make a conversation comprehensible to a listener are missing. E-mail readers do not pick up on sarcasm and other tonal aspects of writing as much as the writer believes they will.

Barriers to Effective Communication

Filtering Selective Perception Information Overload Emotional Disconnects Lack of source familiarity or credibility Workplace Gossip Semantics Gender Differences Differences in meaning between Sender and Receiver Biased Language

Filtering

Filtering is the distortion or withholding of information to manage a person's reactions. Some examples of filtering include a manager who keeps her division's poor sales figures from her boss, the vice president, fearing that the bad news will make him angry. A gatekeeper (the vice president's assistant, perhaps) who doesn't pass along a complete Message is also filtering. Filtering prevents members of an organization from getting a complete picture of reality. To maximize the possibility of sending and receiving effective communications, it's helpful to deliver a Message in multiple ways and to seek information from multiple sources. In this way, the effect of any one person's filtering the Message will be diminished. Since people tend to filter bad news more often when communicating with a superior, it is also helpful to remember that subordinates in an organization may be wary of sharing bad news. One way to defuse the tendency to filter is to reward employees who clearly convey information, regardless of whether the news is good or bad.

Jargon

Given the volume of Messages we send and receive every day, it makes sense that humans try to find shortcuts—a way to communicate things in code. In business, this code is known as jargon. Jargon is the language of specialized terms used by a group or profession. It is common shorthand among experts and if used sensibly can be a quick and efficient way of communicating. Most jargon consists of unfamiliar terms, abstract words, nonexistent words, acronyms, and abbreviations, with an occasional euphemism thrown in for good measure. Every profession, trade, and organization has its own specialized terms. At first glance, jargon seems like a good thing—a quicker way to send an effective communication. But that's not always how things happen. Jargon can be an obstacle to effective communication, causing listeners to tune out or fostering ill-feelings between partners in a conversation. When jargon rules the day, the Message can get obscured.

Emotional Disconnect

Happens when the Sender or the Receiver is upset, whether about the subject at hand or about some unrelated incident that may have happened earlier. Effective communication requires a Sender and a Receiver who are open to speaking and listening to one another, despite possible differences in opinion or personality. One or both parties may have to put their emotions aside to achieve the goal of communicating clearly. A Receiver who is emotionally upset tends to ignore or distort what the Sender is saying. A Sender who is emotionally upset may be unable to present ideas or feelings effectively.

Rehearsed Listening

How often have we been in conversation with someone else where we are not really listening but itching to convey our portion? This behavior is known as "rehearsing." It suggests the Receiver has no intention of considering the Sender's Message and intends to respond to an earlier point instead. Clearly, rehearsing is an impediment to the communication process.

Eye Contact

In business, the style and duration of eye contact considered appropriate vary greatly across cultures. In the United States, looking someone in the eye (for about a second) is considered a sign of trustworthiness.

Formal Work Groups

Made up of managers, subordinates, or both with close associations among group members that influence the behavior of individuals in the group.

Informal Work Groups

Made up of two or more individuals who are associated with one another in ways not prescribed by the formal organization. For example, a few people in the company who get together to play tennis on the weekend would be considered an informal group.

Forming Stage

In the Forming stage, the group comes together for the first time. The members may already know each other or they may be total strangers. In either case, there is a level of formality, some anxiety, and a degree of guardedness as group members are not sure how they will fit into the group or how work will be conducted. Because of the large amount of uncertainty, members tend to be polite, conflict avoidant, and observant. They are trying to figure out the "rules of the game" without being too vulnerable. At this point, they may also be quite excited and optimistic about the task, perhaps experiencing a level of pride at being chosen to join a particular group. First, they are trying to get to know one another. Often this can be accomplished by finding some common ground. Members also begin to explore group boundaries to determine what will be considered acceptable behavior. This trial phase may also involve testing the appointed leader or seeing whether a leader emerges from the group. At this point, group members are also discovering how the group will work in terms of what needs to be done and who will be responsible for each task. This stage is often characterized by abstract discussions about issues to be addressed by the group; those who like to get moving can become impatient with this part of the process. This phase is usually short in duration, perhaps a meeting or two.

Adjourning Stage

Many groups or teams formed in a business context are project-oriented and therefore are temporary. Alternatively, a working group may dissolve because of an organizational restructuring. An ideal way to close a group is to set aside time to debrief ("How did it all go? What did we learn?"), acknowledge one another, and celebrate a job well done.

Benefits of Creating a Cohesive Group

Members are generally more personally satisfied and feel greater self-confidence and self-esteem in a group where they feel they belong. For many, membership in such a group can be a buffer against stress, which can improve mental and physical well-being. Because members are invested in the group and its work, they are more likely to regularly attend and actively participate in the group, taking more responsibility for the group's functioning. In addition, members can draw on the strength of the group to persevere through challenging situations that might otherwise be too hard to tackle alone.

Performing Stage

Members are more interdependent, individuality and differences are respected, and group members feel themselves to be part of a greater entity. At the Performing stage, participants are not only getting the work done, but they also pay greater attention to how they are doing it. Group leaders can finally move into coaching roles and help members grow in skill and leadership.

Before the Meeting

Much of the effectiveness of a meeting is determined before the team gathers. There are three strategies to ensure that the team members get the most out of their meeting. 1. First, ask yourself, Is a meeting needed? If the meeting is primarily informational, ask yourself whether it is imperative that the group fully understands the information and whether future decisions will be built on this information. If so, a meeting may be needed. If not, perhaps simply communicating with everyone in a written format will save valuable time. Similarly, decision-making meetings make the most sense when the problem is complex and important, there are questions of fairness to be resolved, and commitment is needed moving forward. 2. Second, create and distribute an agenda. An agenda is important in helping to inform those invited about the purpose of the meeting. It also helps organize the flow of the meeting and keep the team on track. 3. Third, send a reminder before the meeting. Reminding everyone of the purpose, time, and location of the meeting helps everyone prepare themselves.

Gender Differences

One common perception about gender differences is that women use more tentative language in communication. A meta-analysis of 39 studies shows that men were somewhat more likely to use assertive communication (such as direct suggestions, explanations, expression of disapproval, giving their opinion), and women were slightly more likely to use affiliative communication (praise, probing questions, indicating agreement, and expressing support).

Press Releases

Public relations professionals create external communications about a client's product, services, or practices for specific Receivers. These Receivers, it is hoped, will share the Message with others. In time, as the Message is passed along, it should appear to be independent of the Sender, creating the illusion of an independently generated consumer trend, public opinion, and so on. Press releases try to convey a newsworthy message, real or manufactured. It may be constructed like a news item, inviting editors or reporters to reprint the Message in part, or as a whole, with or without acknowledgment of the Sender's identity. Public relations campaigns create Messages over time, through contests, special events, trade shows, and media interviews in addition to press releases.

Collective Efficacy

Refers to a group's perception of its ability to successfully perform well. A group with high collective efficacy is one whose members share a belief in the group's capability to pursue its agreed-upon course of action and attain its goals.

Storytelling

Storytelling has been shown to be an effective form of verbal communication; it serves an important organizational function by helping to construct common meanings for individuals within the organization. Stories can help clarify key values and help demonstrate cultural norms and expectations within an organization, and story frequency, strength, and tone are related to higher organizational commitment. The quality of the stories entrepreneurs tell is related to their ability to secure capital for their firms.

Task Interdependence

Task interdependence refers to the degree that team members depend on one another to get information, support, or materials from other team members to be effective. Research shows that self-managing teams are most effective when their tasks are highly interdependent.

How diverse should my team be?

Team composition and team diversity often go hand in hand. Teams whose members have complementary skills are often more successful because members can see each other's blind spots. One team member's strengths can compensate for another's weaknesses. Diversity in team composition can help teams develop more creative and effective solutions. Research find improved performance for teams that believe in the value of diversity. The more diverse a team is in terms of expertise, gender, age, and background, the more ability the group has to avoid the problems of groupthink.

Questions that can help to create a meaningful team contract include the following:

Team values and goals. What are our shared team values? What is our team goal? Team roles and leadership. Who does what within this team? (Who takes notes at the meeting? Who sets the agenda? Who assigns tasks? Who runs the meetings?) Does the team have a formal leader? If so, what are his or her roles? Team decision making. How are minor decisions made? How are major decisions made? Team communication. Who do you contact if you cannot make a meeting? Who communicates with whom? How often will the team meet? Team performance. What constitutes good team performance? What if a team member tries hard but does not seem to be producing quality work? How will poor attendance/work quality be managed?

Do We Need Teams?

Teams are not a cure-all for organizations. To determine whether a team is needed, organizations should consider whether a variety of knowledge, skills, and abilities are needed, whether ideas and feedback are needed from different groups within the organization, how interdependent the tasks are, if wide cooperation is needed to get things done, and whether the organization would benefit from shared goals. If the answer to these questions is "yes," then a team or teams might make sense.

Virtual Teams

Teams in which members are not located in the same physical place. They may work in different cities, states, or even different countries. Often, virtual teams are formed to take advantage of distributed expertise or time—the needed experts may be living in different cities. A company that sells products around the world, for example, may need technologists who can solve customer problems at any hour of the day or night. Despite potential benefits, virtual teams present special management challenges, particularly to the controlling function. Managers often think that they have to see team members working to believe that work is being done. Because this kind of oversight is impossible in virtual team situations, it is important to devise evaluation schemes that focus on deliverables. Another special challenge of virtual teams is building trust. Communication is especially important in virtual teams, through e-mail, phone calls, conference calls, or project management tools that help organize work. If individuals in a virtual team are not fully engaged and tend to avoid conflict, team performance can suffer.

Traditional or Manager-Led Teams

Teams in which the manager serves as the team leader. The manager assigns work to other team members. These types of teams are the most natural to form, wherein managers have the power to hire and fire team members and are held accountable for the team's results.

Team Contracts

Teams that are able to articulate and agree on established ground rules, goals, and roles and develop a team contract around these standards are better equipped to face challenges that may arise within the team. Having a team contract does not necessarily mean that the team will be successful, but it can serve as a road map when the team veers off course.

How to Demonstrate Active Listening

The first step is to decide that we want to listen. Casting aside distractions, such as by reducing background or internal noise, is critical. The Receiver takes in the Sender's Message silently, without speaking. Second, throughout the conversation, show the speaker that you're listening. This can be accomplished nonverbally by nodding your head and keeping your attention focused on the speaker. You can also do it verbally, by saying things like, "Yes," "That's interesting," or other such verbal cues. As you're listening, pay attention to the Sender's body language for additional cues about how they're feeling. Interestingly, silence plays a major role in active listening. During active listening, we are trying to understand what has been said, and in silence, we can consider the implications. Finally, if anything is not clear, ask questions. Confirm that you've heard the message accurately, by repeating back a crucial piece like, "Great, I'll see you at 2 p.m. in my office." At the end of the conversation, a "thank you" from both parties communicates mutual respect.

Facial Expressions

The human face can produce thousands of different expressions. These expressions have been decoded by experts as corresponding to hundreds of different emotional states. Our faces convey basic information to the outside world. The effect of facial expressions in conversation is instantaneous. Our brains may register them as "a feeling" about someone's character.

Posture

The position of our body relative to a chair or another person is another powerful silent messenger that conveys interest, aloofness, professionalism—or lack thereof. Head up, back straight (but not rigid) implies an upright character. In interview situations, experts advise mirroring an interviewer's tendency to lean in and settle back in her seat. The subtle repetition of the other person's posture conveys that we are listening and responding.

Succession Planning

The process of identifying future members of the top management team. Effective succession planning allows the best top teams to achieve high performance today and create a legacy of high performance for the future.

Purpose of Assembling a Team

The purpose of assembling a team is to accomplish larger, more complex goals than what would be possible for an individual working alone or by pooling the efforts of several individuals working independently. Teamwork is also needed in cases where multiple skills are required from several individuals. Teams can, but do not always, provide improved performance. Working together to further a team agenda seems to increase mutual cooperation between what are often competing factions. The aim and purpose of a team is to perform, get results, and achieve success in the workplace.

Semantics

The study of meaning in communication. Words can mean different things to different people, or they might not mean anything to other people. For example, companies often have their own acronyms and buzzwords (called business jargon) that are clear to them but impenetrable to outsiders.

Group success depends on...

The successful management of its members and making sure all aspects of work are fair for each member.

Compensation Based on Shared Outcomes

They also share the rewards of strong team performance with their compensation based on shared outcomes. Compensation of individuals must be based primarily on a shared outcome, not individual performance.

Verbal Communication

Verbal communications in business may take place over the phone, in person, or via video conferencing. With verbal communication, the medium of the Message is oral. Research shows that individuals tend to enjoy verbal communication, and it is effective in helping to build relationships at work.[] In addition, oral communication has a special place at work, including the role of storytelling and crucial conversations.

Nonverbal Communication

What you don't say can be even more important. Research shows that 55% of in-person communication comes from nonverbal cues like facial expressions, body stance, and tone of voice. Our faces convey important emotions. We can send a silent message without saying a word. A change in facial expression can change our emotional state. One's body language, appearance, and tone need to be aligned with the words one is trying to communicate.

How large should my team be?

When deciding team size, a good rule of thumb is a size of two to 20 members. The majority of teams have 10 members or less because the larger the team, the harder it is to coordinate and interact as a team. With fewer individuals, team members are more able to work through differences and agree on a common plan of action. They have a clearer understanding of others' roles and greater accountability to fulfill their roles. Some tasks, however, require larger team sizes because of the need for diverse skills or because of the complexity of the task. In those cases, the best solution is to create subteams where one member from each subteam is a member of a larger coordinating team.

Team Meetings

While few individuals relish meetings, they serve an important function in terms of information sharing and decision making. They also serve an important social function and can help to build team cohesion and a task function in terms of coordination.

Team Roles

While relatively little research has been conducted on team roles, some studies show that individuals who are more aware of team roles and the behavior required for each role perform better than individuals that do not. Early research found that teams tend to have two categories of roles: those related to the tasks at hand and those related to the team's functioning. Team leadership is effective when leaders are able to adapt the roles they are contributing to or asking others to contribute to fit what the team needs, given its stage and the tasks at hand.

Crucial Conversations

While the process may be the same, high-stakes communications require more planning, reflection, and skill than normal day-to-day interactions at work. Examples of high-stakes communication events include asking for a raise or presenting a business plan to a venture capitalist. In addition to these events, there are also many times in our professional lives when we have crucial conversations—discussions in which not only are the stakes high but opinions vary and emotions run strong. One of the most consistent recommendations from communications experts is to work toward using "and" instead of "but" as you communicate under these circumstances. In addition, be aware of your communication style and practice flexibility; it is under stressful situations that communication styles can become the most rigid.

Workplace Gossip

Workplace gossip, also known as the grapevine, is a lifeline for many employees seeking information about their company. Employees trust their peers as a source of Messages, but the grapevine's informal structure can be a barrier to effective communication from the managerial point of view. Its grassroots structure gives it greater credibility in the minds of employees than information delivered through official channels, even when that information is false.

Written Communication

Written business communications are printed messages. Examples of written communications include memos, proposals, e-mails, letters, training manuals, and operating policies. Written communication, by contrast, can be constructed over a longer period of time. Written communication is often asynchronous (occurring at different times). That is, the Sender can write a Message that the Receiver can read at any time, unlike a conversation that is carried on in real time. A written communication can also be read by many people (such as all employees in a department or all customers). It's a "one-to-many" communication, as opposed to a one-to-one verbal conversation. There are exceptions, of course: a voicemail is an oral Message that is asynchronous. Conference calls and speeches are oral one-to-many communications, and e-mails may have only one recipient or many.

Self-Managed Teams

hese teams manage themselves and do not report directly to a supervisor. Instead, team members select their own leader, and they may even take turns in the leadership role. Self-managed teams also have the power to select new team members. As a whole, the team shares responsibility for a significant task. Organizations began to use self-managed teams as a way to reduce hierarchy by allowing team members to complete tasks and solve problems on their own. Research has shown that employees in self-managed teams have higher job satisfaction, increased self-esteem, and higher growth on the job. The benefits to the organization include increased productivity, increased flexibility, and lower turnover.