Communication In The Digital Age

Communication in the Digital Age

Channels of Communication Formal • Path follows the authority chain • Messages relate to professional activities

Informal • Spontaneous channels from individual choice • Messages often personal or social

The Communication Process

Direction of Communication Executive Upward

Manager

Downward

Lateral

Manager

Employee

Manager

Interpersonal Communication Three Forms: • Oral • Written • Nonverbal

Oral Communication • Advantages  Speed  Feedback  Simple to Correct

• Disadvantages  Potential for distorted message when passed through a number of people

Written Communication Advantages • Provide a tangible and verifiable record • Record can be stored for an indefinite period of time • Physically available for later reference • More likely to be well thought-out, logical, and clear

Disadvantages • Time consuming • Lack of feedback • May not be read

Nonverbal Communication • Body language conveys:  The extent of affinity for another  The relative perceived status between a sender and receiver

• Meaning changes with:  Intonation  Facial Expression  Physical Distance

Formal Small-Group Networks • Chain gives best accuracy • Wheel facilitates leadership development • All-Channel provides member satisfaction

The Grapevine • Emerges when:  Situation is important  Ambiguity exists  Situation causes anxiety

• Three Characteristics:  Not controlled by management  Perceived as being more believable and reliable (and often is)  Largely used to serve self-interest of those willing to communicate

Electronic Communication • E-mail • Instant and Text Messaging • Web Logs (Blogs) • Videoconferencing

E-Mail Limitations • Easy to misinterpret • Should not be used for negative messages • Overused and overwhelms • People are emotionally disinhibited

• Privacy concerns

IM & TM

> Deal? > OMG y! > ;) > BRB-BOS >k

• Essentially real-time • Inexpensive • Good for short messages • Some find it intrusive and distracting • May be inappropriate for formal business messages

Social Networking Software • Explosive growth area. • Facebook® and MySpace ® • Individuals post information about themselves publicly – seen by:  Potential employers  Current employers  Police, federal agencies…

Web Logs (Blogs) • Another public private space • Web sites about a single person or company usually updated daily • May be used to gather information from customers

Videoconferencing • Permits employees to conduct interactive meetings without being physically in the same room • Conserves travel funds • Becoming more accessible as costs drop

Barriers to Effective Communication • • • • • •

Filtering Selective Perception Information Overload Emotions Language Communication Apprehension

Influence, Power and Politics: An Organizational Survival Kit

Power The capacity that A has to influence the behavior of B so that B acts in accordance with A’s wishes

Nine Influence Tactics Legitimacy

Pressure

Rational persuasion

Coalitions

Inspirational appeals Consultation

Exchange Personal appeals

Ingratiation

Three Influence Outcomes Three possible outcomes: • Commitment  Substantial agreement

• Compliance  Reluctant or insincere agreement

• Resistance  Stalling, unproductive arguing or outright rejection

Five Bases of Power Due organizational position: • Coercive Power  Complies from fear of the negative results

• Reward Power  Complies due to desire for positive benefits

• Legitimate Power  From the formal authority to control and use organizational resources

Personal Bases of Power Stems from an individual’s unique characteristics: •Expert  Influence wielded as a result of expertise, special skill, or knowledge

•Referent  Based on identification with a person who has desirable resources or personal traits charisma

Effective Power Bases • Expert and referent power are positively related to performance and commitment • Reward and legitimate power are unrelated to organizational outcomes • Coercive power is negatively related to employee satisfaction and commitment

Power Tactics • Used to translate power bases into specific actions that influence others • More immediate than power bases • Can result in the accumulation of a power base

Influence Tactic Effectiveness • Most effective:  Rational Persuasion  Inspirational Appeals  Consultation

• Least effective:  Pressure

• Combining tactics increases effectiveness

• Direction, sequencing, individual skill, and organizational culture modify effectiveness

Employee Empowerment “Sharing varying degrees of power with lower-level employees to tap their full potential”

W Alan Rudolph: Definition of empowerment Recognizing and releasing into the organization the power that people already have in their wealth of useful knowledge, experience and internal motivationOutside of job requirements

Participative Management

Individual Factors Contributing to Political Behavior • Traits that encourage political action:  High self-monitors  High need for power

• Situational influences leading to illegitimate political actions:  Lower organizational investment  Greater the number of perceived alternatives  Greater expectations of success

Politics: Power in Action Politics occur when employees convert power into action

Organizational Politics: Activities not required as part of one’s formal role in the organization, but that influence, or attempt to influence, the distribution of advantages and disadvantages within the organization Outside of job requirements

Requires the use of power

The Reality of Politics Politics arise in organizations because of: • Conflicting interests

• Limited resources • Ambiguity in decision making

Politicking: twisting facts to support one’s own goals and interests

Organizational Factors Contributing to Political Behavior • Organizational resources declining or distribution shifting • Opportunity for promotion exists • Organizational culture issues:     

Low trust Role ambiguity Zero-sum reward allocation High performance pressures Leading by poor example

Impression Management (IM) • The process by which individuals attempt to control the impression others form of them • People may misrepresent themselves in situations of high uncertainty or ambiguity • Misrepresentations may discredit the individuals – seen as insincere or manipulative

Impression Management Results • Interviews  Self-promotion and ingratiation work well

• Performance Evaluations  Ingratiation positively related

 Self-promotion is negatively related

Designing Effective Organizations

Organizations: Definition & Dimensions • An organization is a system of consciously coordinated activities or forces of two or more persons • The unity of command principle specifies that each employee should report to only one manager

Organization Charts • An organization chart is a graphic representation of formal authority and division of labour relationships

• Hierarchy of Authority – working from bottom to top, top with the highest authority e.g. CEO

Work Specialization • Also known as division of labor • Describes the degree to which activities in the organization are subdivided into separate jobs • Benefits:  Greater efficiency and lower costs

• Costs:  Human costs when carried too far  Job enlargement as a solution

Departmentalization • Basis by which jobs are grouped together so that common tasks can be coordinated • Common bases:     

Function Product Geography Process Customer

Chain of Command Unbroken line of authority that extends from the top of the organization to the lowest echelon and clarifies who reports to whom

•Authority: positional rights •Unity of Command principle: one boss •Fewer organizations find this is relevant

Span of Control • The number of employees a manager is expected to effectively and efficiently direct • Determines the number of levels and managers an organization has  Trend is toward wider spans of control  Wider span depends on knowledgeable employees

 Affects speed of communication and decision making

Division of Labour • Spans of Control – the number of people reporting directly to a given manager • Staff personnel – provide research, advice and recommendations to line managers • Line managers – have authority to make organizational decisions

Centralization and Decentralization Centralization - degree to which decision making is concentrated at a single point in the organization  Only includes formal authority: positional rights  Highly centralized when top managers make all the decisions  Decentralized when front line employees and supervisors make decisions  Trend is toward increased decentralization

Formalization Degree to which jobs within the organization are standardized  Formal = minimum discretion over what is to be done, when it is done, and how  Informal = freedom to act is necessary

Common Organizational Designs

• Simple structure • Bureaucracy • Matrix structure

Simple Structure

• • • • •

Low degree of departmentalization Wide spans of control Authority centralized in a single person Little formalization Difficult to maintain in anything other than small organizations

Bureaucracy • Highly routine operating tasks achieved through specialization  Formal rules and regulations  Centralized authority  Narrow spans of control  Tasks grouped by functional departments  Decision making follows the chain of command

Matrix Structure • Combines two forms of departmentalization  Functional  Product

• Dual chain of command • Advantages:  Facilitates coordination and efficient allocation of specialists

• Disadvantages:  Possible confusion, fosters power struggles, stress

Matrix Structure for a College of Business Administration

Managing Change and Organizational Learning

Forces of Change External Forces for change originate outside the organization • Demographic Characteristics

• Technological Advancement • Customer & Market Changes

• Social & Political Pressures

Forces of Change Internal Forces for change come from inside the organization • These forces can be subtle such as low job satisfaction or • Manifest in outward signs such as low productivity, high turnover and conflict

Approaches to Managing Organizational Change • Lewin’s Three-Step Model of Change • Kotter’s Eight-Step Model of the Change Process • Organizational Development

Sources of Resistance to Change People tend to resist change, even in the face of evidence of its benefits. Individual • • • • •

Habit Security Economic Factors Fear of the Unknown Selective Information Processing

Organizational • • • • •

Structural Inertia Limited Focus of Change Group Inertia Threat to Expertise Threat to Established Power Relationships and Resource Allocations

Change Agents • Persons in organization responsible for managing change activities • Can be managers or non-managers, current employees, newly hired employees or outside consultants • Outside consultants can provide objective perspectives, but don’t have to live with the consequences of change

Lewin’s Three-Step Model

Unfreezing can be achieved by:  Increase driving forces that direct behavior away from the status quo  Decrease restraining forces that hinder movement from the existing equilibrium  Combine the two above approaches

Creating a Learning Organization Organizational learning (OL) and a learning organization (LO) are not the same thing Types of Learning:  Single-Loop: error correction process relies on past routines and present policies  Double-Loop: errors are corrected in ways that involve the modification of the organization’s objectives, policies and standard routines – used by learning organizations

Kotter’s Eight-Step Plan 1. 2. 3. 4.

Create urgency Form coalition Create new vision Communicate the vision

5. Empower others 6. Reward “wins” 7. Consolidate improvements

Movement

Unfreezing

Refreezing

8. Reinforce the change

Organizational Development A collection of planned-change interventions that seek to improve organizational effectiveness and employee well-being Based on humanistic-democratic values:  Respect for People

 Trust and Support  Power Equalization  Confrontation  Participation

Overcoming Resistance to Change 1.

Education and Communication

2.

Participation

3.

Building Support and Commitment

4.

Implementing Changes Fairly

5.

Cooptation

6.

Selecting People who Accept Change

7.

Coercion

Defining OL and LO OL is a reflective process, played out by members at all levels of the organization, that involves the collection of information from both the external and internal environment LO is one that proactively creates, acquires, and transfers knowledge and that changes its behaviour on the basis of new knowledge and insights

Five Basic Characteristics of a Learning Organization

People in a learning organization: 1. Are willing to put aside their old ways of thinking

2. Learn to be open with each other 3. Understand how the organization really works 4. Can form a plan or vision that everyone agrees on 5. Can work together to achieve that vision

Building an Organization’s Learning Capability Learning capabilities are defined as the special knowledge,skills and technological know-how that differentiate an organization from its competitors and processes that enable an organization to adapt to its environment Two major contributors:  Facilitating Factors  Learning Mode

The End