MGMT-464: Chapter 9 - Communication in the Digital Age

Crucial conversations

Discussions between two or more people where (1) the stakes are high, (2) opinions vary, and (3) emotions run strong.

Communication competence

A performance-based index of an individual's abilities to effectively use communication behaviors in a given context.

Social media policy

A policy that describes the who, how, when, and for what purposes of social media use, and the consequences for noncompliance.

Noise

Anything that interferes with the transmission and understanding of a message.

Defensiveness

Occurs when people perceive they are being attacked or threatened.

D

Brittany prefers to communicate via e-mail, IM, and text messaging, and tends to avoid telephone calls. What generation does Brittany most likely belong to? • Traditionalists • Baby Boomers • Gen Xers • Millennials • the Great Generation

Sender, Message, Receiver

Communication begins when the sender encodes an idea or thought. • This involves translating thoughts into a form, a code or a language others can understand. • This language becomes the foundation of the message. Sender selects the medium for the message. • Examples include face-to-face conversations and meetings, telephone calls, charts and graphs, and the many digital messaging forms--email, texting, voice mail, videoconferencing, and social media (Twitter, Facebook, Blackboard, and others). Receivers decode and create meaning • After receiving a message, decoding occurs, which is the process of interpreting and making sense of a message • The perceptual model of communication assumes the receiver creates the meaning of a message in his or her mind. • This means different people can interpret the same message differently • Can be influenced by cultural norms and values Feedback • The first round of feedback occurs when the original receiver expresses a reaction to the sender's message. • Once the initial sender has obtained this feedback, he or she is likely to decode it and send corresponding feedback. • This process continues until the sender and receiver believe they have effectively communicated. Noise • Anything that interferes with the transmission and understanding of a message. • Sources of noise: language differences, speech impairment, illegible handwriting, inaccurate statistics, poor hearing and eyesight, environmental noises, other people talking, faulty equipment, and physical distance between the sender and receiver. • Affects all the links in the communication process. • Nonverbal communication is a source of noise, as are cross cultural differences between sender and receivers, and the physical work environment.

Key Communication Competencies

Communication competence: performance-based index of an individual's abilities to effectively use communication behaviors in a given context. Communication competence reflects your ability to effectively communicate with others. The four key communication skills that affect your communication competence: • Nonverbal communication • Active listening • Nondefensive communication • Empathy

Selecting the Right Media

Communication effectiveness is partly based on using the medium that is most appropriate for the situation at hand. Media Richness • The capacity of a given communication medium to convey information and promote understanding. • Media varies from rich to lean. • The richer the medium, the better it is at conveying information. • Media richness is based on feedback, channel, type of communication, and language source. Four factors affect media richness. • 1) Speed of feedback o Faster feedback offers more richness. • 2) Channel o The visual and audio characteristics of a videoconference are richer than the limited visual aspects of a written report. • 3) Type o Personal media such as phone calls and interpersonal speech are richer than impersonal media such as memos and group emails • 4) Language source o The natural body language and speech in a face-to-face conversation provide a richer medium than the numbers in a financial statement. Complexity of the Situation • Low-complexity situations are routine and predictable, such as a manager updating employees on last month's sales or calculating someone's paycheck • Highly complex situations are ambiguous, hard to analyze, and often emotionally charged, such as a corporate reorganization or merger Picking the Right Medium • Two-way face-to-face conversations are the richest form of communication because they provide immediate feedback and allow participants to observe multiple cues, such as body language and tone of voice. These situations are complex and are highly important to receivers. • Telephone conversations are videoconferencing are not as informative as face-to-face exchanges, even though they are high in richness. • The other end of the complexity scale, static media such as newsletters, computer reports, and general e-mail blasts are the leanest and best for less complex situations. • E-mail and social media messages vary in richness: leaner if they impersonally blanket a large audience, and richer if they mix textual and video information that prompts quick conversational feedback.

Nonverbal communication

Communication without words.

Sources of Nonverbal Communication

Communication without words. • Includes observable behaviors such as facial expressions, eyes, touching, and tone of voice, as well as less obvious messages such as dress, posture, and spatial distance between two or more people. • Adds flavor to oral communication. • Understand attitudes and emotions of those with whom you are speaking, which helps one more accurately interpret their message. • Four key sources of nonverbal messages: o Body movements and gestures o Touch o Facial expressions o Eye contact

Gender Differences in Communication

Competing explanations for why men and women are thought to communicate differently • Inherited biological differences (evolutionary psychology) • Social role theory Male perspective • Expected to communicate more aggressively • Hide emotions Female perspective • Focus on rapport and relationships • Seek and give confirmation and support

Crucial conversations

Crucial conversations: discussions between two or more people where (1) the stakes are high, (2) opinions vary, and (3) emotions run strong. Examples of work-related crucial conversations are talking to a coworker who behaves offensively; critiquing a colleague's work; talking to a team member who isn't keeping commitments; or giving an unfavorable performance review. Handling difficult communications effectively can prevent problems, motivate team members, increase collaboration, and improve bottom-line results. When faced with critical conversations, people may avoid them, face them and handle them poorly, or face them and handle them well. With critical conversations, often our negative emotions kick in, and the fight or flight response takes over. Crucial conversations often happen unexpectedly, which means people typically are unprepared.

Generational Differences in Communication

Current workplace involves people from four generations. • People from the four different generations currently in the workforce—traditionalists, baby boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials—have different views on communication styles and media. Different generations favor different media. • When it comes to communication media, Millennials and Gen Xers are more likely to prefer instant messaging and texting rather than phone calls, letters, and reports than are boomers and traditionalists. Different generations hold different norms and expectations for communication. • Younger employees are more likely to use the Internet and social media to accomplish their tasks. • Improving Communication Clarify communication expectations and norms. • Use a variety of communication tools. • Be aware of implicit stereotypes. • Give people the credit and not their gender.

Becoming a More Effective Listener

Effective listening is a learned skill that requires effort and motivation. It comes down to paying attention to the content of the message. Suggestions that can increase your listening skills at school, home, and work: • Show respect. • Listen from the first sentence. • Be mindful. • Keep quiet. • Ask questions. • Paraphrase and summarize. • Remember what was said. • Involve your body.

Social Media Policy Concerns

Effective policies should • Create safe channels for employees to air their concerns • Clarify what is confidential • Outline consequences for violations • Identify spokesperson • Discuss appropriate ways to engage others • Explain what is illegal • Align social policy with organizational culture • Educate employees

Connecting with Others vis Empathy

Empathy represents the ability to recognize and understand another person's feelings and thoughts. • Fosters open communication • Mindfulness o We place our attention on the feelings and emotions being displayed both verbally and nonverbally by others • Incorporate our understanding of another person's feelings and thoughts into our communications • Leads to more effective communication and interaction because people feel heard • Send the message that we care about others

Privacy Concerns - What Can Employers Do?

Employers and their employees have reputations which are built over time and can be extremely consequential professionally. What can employers do? • Communicate what personal information from mobile devices is accessed by the employer. • Ensure employees understand what is accessible depending on the operating system used. • Create and communicate clear and sensible policies regarding potential employer actions regarding information on employees' mobile devices. Employees are especially concerned about employers having access to personal e-mails and attachments, voicemail, text and instant messages, lists of apps on their devices, information in their mobile apps, and their location. Along with other recommendations, organizations should communicate what personal information from mobile devices they will access, and they should communicate clear and sensible policies regarding potential actions regarding information on employees' mobile devices.

Managing Your Boss

Even though many organizations now claim that they believe in the merits of upward employee involvement and feedback, translating these espoused values into enacted values requires skill. Because you can't coach a boss that doesn't want to be coached, you're wise to put your efforts elsewhere if your manager is not receptive to feedback. To gauge your boss' receptiveness, it is recommended that you: Learn your manager's view of coaching. Explain what's in it for him or her. Ask for permission to provide coaching or feedback. Find how best to deliver criticism. Ask for agreement and commitment. If your boss is receptive to upward feedback, Table 9.9 provides recommendations for managing up.

A

George is planning to give a presentation at a conference. Which of the following should he NOT do? • Put multiple ideas on each slide to be efficient. • Decide where he should start and end the story he will be telling. • Plan on not reading a script to his audience. • Realize that people expect him to be nervous. • Keep any technology used simple so as not to distract the audience.

C

George is the CEO of Big Sky Travel Corporation. He needs to convey bad news to his employees. The best medium to communicate the news is most likely a) e-mail. b) text. c) face-to-face. d) memo. e) telephone.

Social Media Policy Concerns: Blocking Access

Given concerns over cyber loafing and lost productivity some organizations are turning to blocking access Downside to restricting access • Alienate employees • Fairness • Perceptions of lack of trust • Harm morale and loyalty

Practical Tips

Improving nonverbal communication skills. Body movements, gestures, and speech • Lean forward to show the speaker you are interested. • Don't display slumped shoulders, downward head, flat tones, or inaudible voice, all of which convey indecisiveness or lack of confidence. • Don't speak too fast or too slowly. Your tone of voice should match the tone of the message. • Use paraphrasing (restating what someone else has said or written) as a mechanism to check on communication accuracy. Facial expressions • Nod your head to show you are listening or that you agree. • Smile and show interest. • Don't close your eyes or tense facial muscles. Eye contact • Maintain eye contact and don't look away from the speaker.

Improving Communication

It is important to remember not to generalize any trends, preferences, or perceptions to all men, women, or members of a particular generation as there are always exceptions to the rule. Some suggestions for improving communication include: • Clarify communication expectations and norms. • Use a variety of communication tools, regardless of your preferred mode of communication (e.g., face-to-face or texting). • Don't assume, based on somebody's gender or age, that he or she only likes one mode of communication. • Make sure people get credit for their ideas and not their gender.

Costs of Social Media

Lost productivity due to cyberloafing, which is using the Internet at work for personal use, is a primary concern for employers in their adoption of social media. How do employees waste time on social media? • 50% talking on the phone or texting • 39% surfing the internet • 38% on social media • 23% are sending personal email Lost productivity due to cyberloafing, which is using the Internet at work for personal use, is a primary concern for employers in their adoption of social media. Employees waste time talking on cell phones or texting, surfing the Internet, on social media, sending personal e-mail, and online shopping. Perhaps the biggest problem with such productivity losses is that employees rarely think about them.

Managing Your Boss

Managing up • Gauge receptiveness to coaching • If your boss is receptive, do the following: o Prepare your message. o Plan your delivery and tactics. o Deliver. o Follow up.

Media richness

Measures the capacity of a given communication medium to convey information and promote understanding.

Crowdsourcing

Occurs when companies invite nonemployees to contribute to achieving particular goals and manage the input process via the Internet.

Note

People have preferences for communicating in different media. Research on individual differences identified the following trends: • More educated hotel guests prefer to complain in person or via written communication. Less educated people tend to complain on guest-comment cards. • Males and extroverts prefer to communicate via high-richness media such as face-to-face. • Older individuals are less likely to communicate via mobile devices. We suspect this will change as more baby boomers reach retirement age.

Linguistic style

Refers to a person's characteristic speaking pattern.

Empathy

Represents the ability to recognize and understand another person's feelings and thoughts.

The Communication Process in Action

Researchers have begun to examine communication as a form of social information processing in which receivers interpret messages by cognitively processing information. The communication process: 1) Sender encodes message, selects medium, such as a cell phone: "Let's meet at Starbucks to study." 2) Message is transmitted through a medium, such as a text message. 3) Receiver decodes message and decides that feedback is needed: "Which Starbucks? We have two classes together; which one are you thinking about?" 4) Receiver sends feedback through a medium, for example text messages. There may be interference between the message sent and the receiver's response. The perceptual model of communication presented in Figure 9.2 depicts communication as a process in which receivers create meaning in their own minds. • The sender is the person wanting to communicate information—the message. • Encoding translates mental thoughts into a code or language that can be understood by others. • The output of encoding is the message. • Managers can communicate through a variety of media including face-to-face conversations, phone calls, charts and graphs, and many digital forms. • Decoding is the process of interpreting and making sense of a message when received by a receiver. • Feedback occurs when the receiver expresses a reaction to the sender's message. • Noise: anything that interferes with the transmission and understanding of the message.

Paraphrasing

Restating what someone else has said or written.

C

Sally is the CIO of Picture Perfect Corporation. She would like to maximize the benefits of using social media for PPC. Sally should do which of the following? a) Do not let employees know what is illegal and then prosecute them if they commit an illegal act. b) Tell employees they are entitled to privacy when using social media. c) Use social media for identifying and engaging potential employees. d) Do not have a separate strategic social media policy. e) Block employee access to social media.

Social Media at Work

Social media: uses web-based and mobile technologies to generate interactive dialogue with members of a network. Social media is used by a significant proportion of people across all age groups, and employers and managers are wise to utilize social media tools with employees across all generations. A fundamental driving force behind technology at work, including social media, is to boost productivity. Social media has been shown to increase job satisfaction, performance, and retention, and it has also been shown to improve work-life balance and foster creativity and collaboration. If deployed effectively, social media enables businesses to: Connect in real time and over distances with many key stakeholders. Connect sources of knowledge inside and outside an organization. Expand and open the traditional boundaries to involve outsiders in problem solving.

Boosting Your Communication Effectiveness: The Ted Five-Step Protocol

Step 1: Frame your story. Step 2: Plan your delivery. Step 3: Develop your stage presence. Step 4: Plan your multimedia. Step 5: Put it together.

E

Susan attended her company's annual meeting where she was not very interested in the presentation and did not try to receive and decode the messages. What is Susan's likely listening style? • active • detached • involved • defensive • passive

Social Media at Work

The driving force behind technology including social media is the desire to boost productivity. Employee productivity: • Increased job satisfaction and better work-life balance • Performance and retention • More creativity and collaboration Employer productivity: • Connect in real time and over distances with stakeholders • Connect sources of knowledge across the organization • Expand and open traditional boundaries to involve outsiders in problem solving (crowdsourcing)

Communication

The exchange of information between a sender an a receiver, and the inference (perception) of meaning between the individuals involved.

Defining Communication

The exchange of information between a sender and a receiver, and the inference (perception) of meaning between the individuals involved. • It is a circular and dynamic process in which people interpret and make sense of the information they exchange. • Effective communication helps individuals, groups, and organizations to achieve their goals.

Sender

The person or group wanting to communicate information—the message.

Receiver

The person, group, or organization for whom the message is intended.

Active listening

The process of actively decoding and interpreting verbal messages • Unlike hearing, which is merely a physical activity, listening requires cognitive attention and information processing unlike hearing. • Listening is a cornerstone skill of communication competence. • Many of us think we are good listeners when evidence suggests just the opposite, and we will not become better listeners unless we are motivated to do so. • Made receivers feel more understood and conclude that their conversations were more helpful, sensitive, and supportive. • Clearly, active listening yields positive outcomes. • Why do you think we miss or lose so much of what we hear? o Cognitive capacity to process words at a much higher rate then people speak o Our cognitive processes are being underutilized, leading to daydreaming and distractions. o Noise o Motivation to listen and your listening style o Takes effort to actively listen What's Your Listening Style—or Styles? • 1) Active—I'm fully invested. o Motivated to listen and give full attention when others are talking o Focus on what is being communicated and expend energy by participating in the discussion. o Use positive body language, such as leaning in or making direct eye contact, to convey interest. • 2) Involved—I'm partially invested. o Devote some, but not all, of their attention and energy to listening o Reflect on what is being communicated and half-heartedly participate in the discussion o Use of nonverbal cues tends to be inconsistent or intermittent, and they can show nonverbal signs of interest and noninterest in the same conversation. • 3) Passive—It's not my responsibility to listen. o Assume the speaker is responsible for the quality of the interaction and believe their role is to passively take in information o Display attentiveness, but can fake it at times o Don't expend much motivation or energy in receiving and decoding messages. • 4) Detached—I'm uninterested. o Withdraw from the interaction o Appear inattentive, bored, distracted, and uninterested. o Start using mobile devices during the speaking-listening exchange o Body language reflect lack of interest, such as slumping and avoiding direct eye contact. These listening styles differ with respect to how invested the listener is, their level of participation, and the type of body language they display.

Listening

The process of actively decoding and interpreting verbal messages.

Crucial Conversations

Typical crucial conversations Occur when • The stakes are high • Opinions vary • Emotions run strong For example, when • Ending a relationship • Addressing offensive behavior • Giving negative feedback How to be effective during crucial conversations • Share your facts • Tell your story • Ask for other's facts and stories • Talk tentatively • Encourage testing

Cyberloafing

Using the Internet at work for personal use.

Social media

Web-based and mobile technologies to generate interactive dialogue with members of a network.

Gender, Generations, and Communication

What is linguistic style? • Refers to a person's characteristic speaking pattern. Characteristic speaking pattern where we • Use culturally learned signals to communicate what we mean • Interpret others' meaning • Evaluate one another as people

Basic Dimensions of the Communication Process

Why is communication important? • Every managerial function and activity involves some form of direct or indirect communication. • Every person's communication skills affect both personal and organizational effectiveness.

Research demonstrates that women and men communicate differently in a number of ways.

Women are more likely to share credit for success, to ask questions for clarification, to tactfully give feedback by mitigating criticism with praise, and to indirectly tell others what to do. Men are more likely to boast about themselves, to bluntly give feedback, and to withhold compliments, and are less likely to ask questions and to admit fault or weaknesses.

Touch

• People tend to touch those they like. • Women do more touching during conversations than men. • Conveys an impression of warmth and caring and can help create a personal bond between people. • Be careful about using touch with people from diverse cultures because norms for touchin vary significantly around the world.

The Female Perspective

• According to social role theory, females and males learn ways of speaking while growing up. • Research shows that girls learn conversational skills and habits that focus on rapport and relationships, whereas boys learn skills and habits that focus on status and hierarchies. • Women come to view communication as a network of connections in which conversations are negotiations for closeness.

Be Careful about Blocking Access

• Approximately 36 percent of employers block access to social media sites at work to help combat waste and loss of productivity. • The evidence is growing that restricting or completely blocking the use of social media by employees at the office can backfire because it can alienate these employees and suggest a lack of trust. • Small breaks during the workday help boost productivity, and checking personal e-mail, looking at Facebook, or checking/sending Tweets could provide a "re-energizing" break. • Blocking access could be off-putting to employees and not really save time if employees just use their personal devices to access the sites. • If you expect employees to respond to work-related e-mails on their personal time away from work, you should allow them to attend to personal interests during work hours.

Non-defensive listening

• Avoiding defensive language from either party, which can foster inaccurate and inefficient information • When people feel threatened or attacked, this will lead to defensive listening and destructive behaviors such as shutting down or being passive-aggressive, standing behind rules or policies, creating a diversion, or counterattacking. • Defensiveness from one person activates a similar response in the other party. • Defensiveness often is started by the poor choice of words we use and/or the nonverbal posture used during interactions.

Step 5 - Put It Together

• Be prepared far enough in advance to practice in front of others so they can give you effective feedback. • Use these steps as a guide, but you still need to be yourself and not directly copy someone else.

Step 3 - Develop Your Stage Presence

• Beware of how much you move—not too much or too little. • An important element of stage presence is eye contact. • Self-efficacy is an important part of overcoming nervousness, as is realizing that people expect you to be nervous.

Facial Expressions

• Convey a wealth of information. • Smiling typically represents warmth, happiness, or friendship, whereas frowning conveys dissatisfaction or anger. • Association between facial expressions and emotion varies across cultures. • A smile, for example, does not convey the same emotion in different countries. • Be careful when interpreting facial expressions among diverse groups of employees.

Step 4 - Plan Your Multimedia

• Keep your technology simple and don't let it distract the audience. • People respond differently to pictures and videos than they do to words, as they convey emotion better than words. • Table 9.8 provides suggestions for avoiding bad PowerPoint.

Body Movements and Gestures

• Leaning forward or backward and gestures provide nonverbal information that can either enhance or detract from the communication process. • Open body positions, such as leaning backward or gesturing with palms facing up, communicate immediacy, a term used to represent openness, warmth, closeness, and availability for communication. • Positive hand gestures by managers produced more immediacy from employees than defensive or no hand gestures. • Defensiveness is communicated by gestures such as folding arms, crossing hands, crossing legs, or pointing at others.

Gender, Generations, and Communication

• Linguistic style: a person's characteristic speaking pattern. • Linguistic styles incorporate such elements as directness or indirectness, pacing and pausing, word choice, and the use of such elements as jokes, figures of speech, stories, questions, and apologies. • Linguistic style is a set of culturally learned signals by which we not only communicate what we mean but also interpret others' meaning and evaluate one another as people. • Linguistic style helps explain communication differences between women and men and across generations. • Increased awareness of linguistic styles can enhance your communication competence.

The Male Perspective

• Males are expected to communicate more aggressively, interrupt others more than women, and hide their emotions because they have an inherent desire to possess features attractive to females. • Men also see conversations as negotiations in which people try to achieve and maintain the upper hand. • Evolutionary psychologists propose that men cannot turn off the biologically based determinants of their behavior.

Step 2 - Plan Your Delivery

• Presenters can deliver a talk by reading it from a script, using bullet lists that outline what will be covered in each section, or memorizing what they want to say. • Reading and memorizing are often ineffective. • If you use the bullet list approach, be sure you know not only the content for each point, but also how you want to transition from one to the next.

How the Communication Works

• Sender, Message, and Receiver • Encoding • Selecting a Medium • Decoding and Creating Meaning • Feedback • Noise

Step 1 - Frame Your Story

• Think of your presentation as a journey and decide where you want to start and end. • Include only the most relevant details or points and try to bring them to life with examples. • Try to plan your journey to end with a solution or conclude with a question to spur audience engagement or give them something to think about afterwards. • The 3-Step Problem-Solving Approach can be used as a framework for structuring your presentation.

Eye contact

• Westerners are taught at an early age to look at their parents when spoken to. • Asians are taught to avoid eye contact with a parent or superior in order to show obedience and subservience. • Need to be sensitive to different orientations toward maintaining eye contact with diverse employees.