OB - Chapter 9

problems with email

1. poor medium for communicating emotions 2. reduces politeness and respect 3. Poor Medium for Ambiguous, Complex, and Novel Situations 4. Contributes to Information Overload

advantages of communication through social media

1. presenting the individual's identity, 2. enabling conversations 3. sharing information 4. sensing the presence of others in the virtual space, 5. maintaining relationships, 6. revealing reputation or status, and 7. supporting communities (see Exhibit 9.3).32 For instance, Facebook has a strong emphasis on maintaining relationships but relatively low emphasis on sharing information or forming communities (groups). Wikis, on the other hand, focus on sharing information or forming communities but have much lower emphasis on presenting the user's identity or reputation.

influences on effective encoding and decoding

1. similar codebooks - The sender and receiver rely on "codebooks," which are dictionaries of symbols, language, gestures, idioms, and other tools used to convey information. With similar codebooks, the communication participants are able to encode and decode more accurately because they assign the same or similar meaning to the transmitted symbols and signs. 2. message encoding proficiency - Even with the same codebooks, some people are better than others at communicating the message because, through experience, they have learned which words and gestures transmit the message best to that audience. Suppose that you have spoken to several employee groups about the company's new product development plans. 3. Communication Channel Motivation and Ability - The encoding-decoding process depends on the sender's and receiver's motivation and ability to use the selected communication channel. Some people prefer face-to-face conversations, whereas others would rather prepare or receive written documentation. Some people are skilled at communicating through Twitter tweets, whereas others are more effective at writing detailed reports 4. Shared Mental Models of the Communication Context - Mental models are internal representations of the external world that allow us to visualize elements of a setting and relationships among those elements (see Chapter 3). A sender and receiver with shared mental models of the communication context have similar images and expectations regarding the location, time, layout, and other contextual features of the information. These shared mental models potentially increase the accuracy of the message content and reduce the need for communication about that context

communication channels and persuasion -

1. spoken communication is generally accompanied with verbal communication 2. high quality sender high quality feedback 3. more under high social pressure

importance of communication

1. synchronize their work 2. organizational learning. It is the means through which knowledge enters the organization and is distributed to employees 3. decision making. s as well as from stakeholders in the external environment. 4. to change behaviour. When communicating to others, we are often trying to alter their beliefs and feelings and ultimately their behaviour. This influence process might be passive, such as merely describing the situation more clearly and fully, or it might be a deliberate attempt to change someone's thoughts and actions. 5. communication supports employee well-being.

gender differences in communication

men realize communications as negotiations more men engage in report talk women use more indirect questions these can create conflicts women visit social media more

cross cultural and gender communication

cross culture - voice intonation is a form of communication barrier words are misunderstood

direct communication with top management

townhall meetings roundtable forums management by walking around - ceo walks around

social acceptance

1. Social acceptance refers to how well the communication medium is approved and supported by the organization, teams, and individuals involved in the exchange.42 One factor in social acceptance is organizational, team, and cultural norms regarding the use of specific communication channels. Norms partly explain why face-to-face meetings are daily events among staff in some firms, whereas computer-based video conferencing (such as Skype) and Twitter tweets are the media of choice in other organizations 2. A second social acceptance factor is individual preferences for specific communication channels.44 You may have noticed that some coworkers ignore (or rarely check) voice mail, yet they quickly respond to text messages or Twitter tweets. 3. A third social acceptance factor is the symbolic meaning of a channel.45 Some communication channels are viewed as impersonal whereas others are more personal; some are considered professional whereas others are casual; some are "cool" whereas others are old-fashioned. For instance, phone calls and other synchronous communication channels convey a greater sense of urgency than do text messages and other asynchronous channels.

exceptions to media richness theory

1. ability to multi communicate - It is usually difficult (as well as rude) to communicate face-to-face with someone while simultaneously transmitting messages to someone else using another medium. Most information technologies, on the other hand, require less social etiquette and attention, so employees can easily engage in two or more communication events at the same time 2 .communication proficiency - Earlier in this chapter we explained that communication effectiveness is partially determined by the sender's competency and motivation with the communication channel. People with higher proficiency can "push" more information through the channel, thereby increasing the channel's information flow 3. social presence effects - Channels with high media richness tend to have more social presence, that is, the participants experience a stronger physical presence of each other.52 However, high social presence also sensitizes both parties to their relative status and self-presentation, which can distort or divert attention away from the message.53 Face-to-face communication has very high media richness, yet its high social presence can disrupt the efficient flow of information through that medium

Communication process model

1. communication flows through channels between the sender and receiver. 2. The sender forms a message and encodes it into words, gestures, voice intonations, and other symbols or signs. 3. the encoded message is transmitted to the intended receiver through one or more communication channels (media). 4. The receiver senses the incoming message and decodes it into something meaningful. Ideally, the decoded meaning is what the sender had intended.

how emotional contagion influences communication and social relationships

1. continuous feedback, communicating that we understand and empathize with the sender. 2. receiving emotional meaning from those people. If a coworker is angry with a client, your tendency to frown and show anger while listening helps you to experience that emotion more fully 3. fulfill the drive to bond that we mentioned earlier in this chapter and was introduced in Chapter 5. Bonding develops through each person's awareness of a collective sentiment. Through nonverbal expressions of emotional contagion, people see others share the same emotions that they feel.

improving interpersonal communication

1. getting your message across - This chapter began with the statement that effective communication occurs when the other person receives and understands the message. This is more difficult to accomplish than most people believe. To get your message across to the other person, you first need to empathize with the receiver, such as being sensitive to words that may be ambiguous or trigger the wrong emotional response. Second, be sure that you repeat the message, such as by rephrasing the key points a couple of times. Third, your message competes with other messages and noise, so find a time when the receiver is less likely to be distracted by these other matters. Finally, if you are communicating bad news or criticism, focus on the problem, not the person 2. active listening - sensing - process of receiving signals from the sender and paying attention to them 3. evaluating - understanding the message meaning, evaluating the message and remembering it 4. responding - This third component of listening involves providing feedback to the sender, which motivates and directs the speaker's communication. Active listeners accomplish this by maintaining sufficient eye contact and sending back channel signals (e.g., "I see"), both of which show interest

Communication barriers

1. imperfect perceptual process 2. tendency to filter messages

internet based organizational communication

Employees are increasingly skeptical of information that has been screened and packaged by management, so a few companies such as IBM are encouraging employees to post their own news on internal blogs and wikis. Wikis are collaborative Web spaces where anyone in a group can write, edit, or remove material from the website. Wikipedia, the popular online encyclopedia, is a massive public example of a wiki. IBM's WikiCentral now hosts more than 20,000 wiki projects involving 100,000 employees. The accuracy of wikis depends on the quality of participants, but IBM experts say that errors are quickly identified by IBM's online community. Another concern is that wikis have failed to gain employee support, likely because wiki involvement takes time and the company does not reward or recognize those who provide this time to wiki development.

media richness

Media richness refers to the medium's data-carrying capacity—the volume and variety of information that can be transmitted during a specific time.47 Exhibit 9.4 illustrates various communication channels arranged in a hierarchy of richness, with face-to-face interaction at the top and lean data-only reports at the bottom. A communication channel has high richness when it is able to convey multiple cues (such as both verbal and nonverbal information), allows timely feedback from receiver to sender, allows the sender to customize the message to the receiver, and makes use of complex symbols (such as words and phrases with multiple meanings).

nonverbal communication

Nonverbal communication includes facial gestures, voice intonation, physical distance, and even silence. This communication channel is necessary where noise or physical distance prevents effective verbal exchanges and the need for immediate feedback precludes written communication. But even in quiet face-to-face meetings, most information is communicated nonverbally. Rather like a parallel conversation, nonverbal cues signal subtle information to both parties, such as reinforcing their interest in the verbal conversation or demonstrating their relative status in the relationship

nonverbal differences across cultures

Nonverbal communication represents another potential area for misunderstanding across cultures. Many nonconscious or involuntary nonverbal cues (such as smiling) have the same meaning around the world, but deliberate gestures often have different interpretations. For example, most of us shake our head from side to side to say "No," but a variation of head shaking means "I understand" to many people in India. Filipinos raise their eyebrows to give an affirmative answer, yet Arabs interpret this expression (along with clicking one's tongue) as a negative response.

grapevine characteristics

Research conducted several decades ago reported that the grapevine transmits information very rapidly in all directions throughout the organization. The typical pattern is a cluster chain, whereby a few people actively transmit rumours to many others. The grapevine works through informal social networks, so it is more active where employees have similar backgrounds and are able to communicate easily. Many rumours seem to have at least a kernel of truth, possibly because they are transmitted through media-rich communication channels (e.g., face-to-face) and employees are motivated to communicate effectively

grapevine benefits and limitations

Should the grapevine be encouraged, tolerated, or quashed? The difficulty in answering this question is that the grapevine has both benefits and limitations.89 One benefit, as was mentioned earlier, is that employees rely on the grapevine when information is not available through formal channels. It is also the main conduit through which organizational stories and other symbols of the organization's culture are communicated. A third benefit of the grapevine is that this social interaction relieves anxiety. This explains why rumour mills are most active during times of uncertainty.90 Finally, the grapevine is associated with the drive to bond. Being a recipient of gossip is a sign of inclusion, according to evolutionary psychologists. Trying to quash the grapevine is, in some respects, an attempt to undermine the natural human drive for social interaction.

emotional contagion

automatic process of "catching" or sharing another person's emotions by mimicking that person's facial expressions and other nonverbal behaviour. Technically, human beings have brain receptors that cause them to mirror what they observe. In other words, to some degree our brain causes us to act as though we are the person we are watching

information overload

information overload occurs whenever the job's information load exceeds the individual's capacity to get through it. Employees have a certain information processing capacity—the amount of information that they are able to process in a fixed unit of time. At the same time, jobs have a varying information load—the amount of information to be processed per unit of time

workspace design

refer to the paper