Chapter 14: Relationships in the Workplace

Disadvantages to communication technologies in the workplace

(most pronounced) near-constant distraction provided by online games, apps, and social networking sites Spend near 2hrs a day cyberslacking -- other estimates suggest that 30 to 65 percent of employee time spent on the Internet during the day is unrelated to work

Tips on Creating a Supportive Climate

1. Encourage honest communication 2. Adopt a flexible mindset 3. Collaborate rather than control 4. Describe challenges rather than assign blame 5. Offer concern rather than professional detachment 6. Emphasize equality

Two challenges of downward communication

1. How to effectively praise subordinates 2. How to constructively criticize them

How to successfully overcome the challenge of maintaining a workplace romance

1. Leave your love at home and strictly communicate with your partner in a professional manner 2. Use e-mail, text messages, Facebook, and instant-messaging judiciously to maintain your relationship (companies have a legal right to access your business account, even if used for personal reason)

Two types of sexual harassment

1. Quid Pro Quo ("this for that") 2. Hostile Environment

5 Principles for Competent downward communication

1. Routinely and openly emphasize the importance of communication in workplace relationships with subordinates -- informal and formal interactions 2. Listen empathically -- respond positively to your employees' attempts at upward communication 3. When communicating wants and needs to subordinates, frame these massages as polite requests or persuasive explanations (in contrast, incompetent downward communication involves using power to make threats and demands 4. Be sensitive to your subordinate's feelings -- reprimand in private instead of in front of co-workers and focus on behaviors instead of judgement 5. Share relevant information with employees whenever possible.

Involvements Three Dimensions

1. Status 2. Intimacy 3. Choice

2 Reasons why managers are less likely to give negative feedback to employees they like

1. We are reluctant to give friends who work under us negative feedback because of the relationship consequences that may ensue 2. Our perceptions of others are substantially biased by whether we like them or not-- affection for a friend may lead us to judge his or her performance more generously

organization culture derives from these sources

1. Workplace values 2. Workplace norms 3. Workplace artifacts

Maintaining Mixed-Status Relationships

1. develop and follow communication rules for what's appropriate to talk about as well as when and how to communicate 2. communicate in consistent and reliable ways

6 Principles of Advocacy

1. plan before you pitch 2. know why your supervisor should agree with you 3. tailor your message 4. know your supervisor's knowledge 5. create coalitions before communicating 6. competently articulate your message

workplace romance

40-56% of professionals have been involved in a workplace romance and 10 million new workplace romances are forged every year typically among peer although 29% reported having one with a person of higher status historically, workplace romances have been discouraged, however views are beginning to shift their views and policies as it does not hurt productivity from a worker's prospective, workplace romance is typically viewed positively -- and perceived as friendly and approachable; also seen as creating a positive work climate

Two additional tactics will help you maintain your collegial and special-peer relationships

Give assurances--stressing that your relationships are based on choice rather than professional assignment and can be done by inviting them to activities outside the workplace People involved treat each other as whole human beings with unique qualities and do not strictly define each other simply as co-workers -- discussing personal life

How can we use our interpersonal communication skills to deal with workplace sexual harassment

Helpful for victim to inform harasser directly that the conduct in question is unwelcome and must stop Familiarize yourself with your organization's policy, reflecting both on how training is conducted and how it communicates organizational values Contact the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

Advantages to communication technologies

Important for decision making involving input for multiple employees Ensures more active and equal participation Can contribute to the interaction without concern for interrupting or talking over others Conversations are more democratic Freedom from time and geographic constraints Often more informative, detailed, and factual

Negative outcomes associated with workplace romances

More pronounced for women than men--more likely than men to suffer unfavorable work evaluations based on romantic involvement, are judged more negatively by their colleague following workplace romance breakups, and are more likely to be terminated by their companies for workplace affairs can be the focus of workplace gossip

Status

Most organizations are structured hierarchically in terms of status, with people ranked higher or lower than others in organizational position and power defining feature of workplace relationships is the equality or inequality between people

Criticizing subordinates

Open your interactions with positive remarks, follow the guidelines for competent interpersonal communication and cooperative language, strive to experience and express empathy toward your subordinate through perspective-taking and pathetic concern, and avoid belaboring the error that has been made instead focus most of your talk time on ideas for avoiding those missteps in the future

Praise is best displayed

PRIVATELY than public except in formal contexts as it could lead to resentment and envy among their peers and ultimately undermine the organization's climate

Workplace relationships vary in intimacy

Some remain professional and others become deeply personal

Forms of mixed-status relationships

Superior-subordinate trainer-trainee mentor-protege supervisory relationships (most of us think of this one for mixed-status relationships)

cyberslacking

Using their work computers to game, web surf, update Facebook, email, and instant message (IM) about personal interests and activities, when they should be focused on work tasks Employees in higher status, under 30, and male are most likely to cyberslack lost productivity cost of cyberslacking are enormous companies can have tracking programs to combat this

workplace relationship

any affiliation you have with a professional peer, supervisor, subordinate, or mentor

Workplace values

beliefs people share about work performance, dedication to the organization, and coworker relationships

upward communication

communication from subordinates to superiors which is pursued with desire to persuade -- influencing our superiors to support our work-related needs and wants is achieved through this

An organization exists and functions because

coworkers communicate and form relationships with one another communication and relationships are an organization's lifeblood

virtual peers

coworkers who communicate mainly through phone, email, Skype, and other communication technologies for virtual peers, the progression from information peer to collegial peer hinges on how much time the peers spend interacting and working on shared tasks together

collegial peers

coworkers whom we consider friends -- talk about work and personal issues moderate trust and intimacy sometimes this relationship is described as "blended" since they incorporate elements of both professional and personal relationships

organizational climate

created primarily through interpersonal communication-the amount of trust, openness, listening, and supportiveness present in the interactions between organizational members overarching emotional quality of a workplace built from the ground up: it is the sum total of an individuals' interpersonal behavior in the workplace

Two types of organizational climates

defensive and supportive

organizational networks

defined by three characteristics: 1. the nature of the information that flows through them 2. the modality or sensory channels through which the information flows 3. the frequency and number of connections among people in a network (known as NETWORK DENSITY) the principal wellsprings from which people acquire their workplace information

workplace cliques

dense networks of coworkers who share the same workplace values and broader life attitudes number of cliques may exist educate new employees about whom they can trust and which networks they should belong to, helping people quickly assimilate into the organizational culture can enhance productivity and provide info about how things work in the organization

supportive climate

describe the workplace as warm, open, and supportive workers communicate honestly, collaborate to solve problems, share credit, practice empathy, and encourage people to treat one another with respect, despite any imbalance in power

costs to companies for workplace bullying

disability, worker's compensation claims, lawsuits, low-quality work, reduced productivity, high staff turnover, increased absenteeism, and deteriorated customer relationships

Workplace relationships are strongly influenced by

each organization's unique culture, networks, climate, and technology along with social networks, ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic class cultures, and co-cultures

organization culture

each workplace possesses a distinct set of beliefs regarding how things are done and how people should behave influences job satisfaction, organizational commitment, service quality, and staff turnover

primary communication modality

email for many corporate workplaces

information peers

equivalent status coworkers with whom our communication is limited to work related content typically created through assignment and lack trust and intimacy

special peers

equivalent-status coworkers with whom we share very high levels of emotional support, career-related feedback, trust, self-disclosure, and friendship rarest type of peer relationship and considered best friends in the workplace

when you join an organization you are socialized into its culture through

formal and informal encounters with established coworkers

virtual networks

groups of coworkers linked solely through e-mail, social networking sites, Skype, and other online services increasing due as fuel costs increase and more people opt out to telecommute

Workplace norms

guidelines governing appropriate interpersonal communication and relationships

downward communication

having formal authority in an organization gives you freedom in the messages you use when interacting with subordinates what distinguishes competent downward communication is the willingness of empowered people to communicate without relying on their power in order to appeal to subordinates in positive, empathetic, respectful, and open ways

The organizational network to which you belong can strongly determine the kinds of opportunities - and obstacles you'll encounter as you advance in your career

important to build interpersonal ties with coworkers who are both respected and connected try to develop relationships with organizational insiders -- coworkers you befriend will strongly determine your experiences in the organization

Everything and anything you do on a company computer

is considered company property--and you will be held accountable for it

common forms of workplace bullying

isolation control of important information constraint of professional responsibilities creation of dangerous work conditions verbal abuse destruction of professional reputation

Advocacy

most effective form of communication is __________ you learn your superior's communication preferences and how to design messages to appeal to him or her

Complimenting your subordinates

most effectively done when the compliment are focused on the WORK and avoid compliments about personal matters

Relationship outcomes from the workplace

often positive; married couples who work in the same location have a 50% lower divorce rate than those employed at different workplaces

supervisory relationships

one person outranks and supervises another most are assigned rather then chosen; less likely then peer relationships to evolve into friendships due to the power imbalance -- supervisor and subordinate relationships are sometimes discouraged

professional peers

our most meaningful and intimate workplace relationship people holding positions of organizational status and power similar to our own -- most important source of personal and practical support for employees

Working value

people in nearly every industrialized nation report lower satisfaction with their live if they're unemployed, regardless of their financial standing

Pushes workplace relationship from acquaintanceship to friendship

perceived similarity in interests, beliefs, and values along with spending extended periods of time together, are placed in proximity with each other, or socialize together outside information peer to collegial peer

Tactics to maintaining peer relationships

positivity-- positive perspective and upbeat communication with your peers in a cheerful and optimistic fashion openness -- creating feelings of security and trust between you and your peers, you can do this by behaving in predictable, trustworthy, and ethical ways

The private is public in the workplace

presume that everything you say will be shared among your network

mixed-status relationships

relationships between coworkers of different organizational status provide the structural foundation on which most organizations are built

Workplace workplace relationships are defined by choice

the degree to which participants willingly engage in them

defensive climate

the environment is unfriendly, rigid, and unsupportive of workers' professional and personal needs supervisors may use communication as a way to strategically control others and to strictly enforce company hierarchy... workers may resist change, be closed-minded toward new ideas or outside input, and may negatively perceive an dissent

workplace artifacts

the objects and structures that define the organization

workplace bullying

the repeated unethical and unfavorable treatment of one or more persons by others in the workplace includes: shouting, swearing, spreading vicious rumors, destroying the target's property or work, and excessive criticism; perpetrated through passive means 1/5 of workplace bullying reports involve physical violence, including hitting, slapping, shoving common: 25%-30% percent of the US employees are bullied at some point during their worklives--10% at any given time --11-18% internationally

Biggest advantage of communication technologies within the workplace

they connect workers in a relational fashion -- allows workers to form and maintain friendships with coworkers they previously would not have been able to befriend lead to higher job satisfaction and productivity

sexual harassment

unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when (1) this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual's employment, (2) unreasonably interferes with an individual's work performance, (3) creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment

density (how connected is one member from the other) is influenced by

various factors including: job requirements, physical layout of the workspace, organizational culture two of the strongest factors are familiarity and intimacy: networks in which people have known each other for a long time and are personally close tend to be denser

hostile work environment

when an intimidating, hostile, offensive work environment is created because sexual conduct or gender-based hostility is perceived so severe or pervasive that it disrupts a person's work performance

cyberbullying

when bullying occurs online or via text messaging most frequent reported forms of workplace bullying are withholding or deleting important information sent via-email, and spreading gossip or rumors through text messages, emails, and online posts

quid pro quo

when the submission or rejection of sexual advances is a condition of, or linked to decisions about, employment

organizational insiders

workers who are reputable, knowledgeable, and connected to dense organizational networks.

3 most common challenges to workplace relationships

workplace bullying development of romantic relationships with coworkers sexual assault