Communicating

in Teams and
Organizations

McGraw-Hill/Irwin
McShane/Von Glinow OB 5e Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Learning Objectives:
Students should be able to:
Develop analytical /critical thinking;
Understand the requirements for effective
communication;
Overcome barriers to communication;
Identify the relevant communication medium
for a given situation;
Understand the meaning of active listening;
Get introduced to organizational and team
communication

McShane/Von Glinow OB 5e 2 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
Communication Defined

The process by which

information is transmitted and
understood between two or
more people

Effective communication
Transmitting intended meaning
(not just symbols)

9-3
Importance of Communication

1. Coordinating work activities

2. Organizational learning and

decision making

3. Employee well-being

9-4
Communication Process Model
Sender Receiver
Transmit
Message
Receive
Form Encode Decode
encoded
message message message
message

Noise

Decode Receive Encode Form

feedback feedback feedback feedback

Transmit
Feedback

9-5
Improving Communication
Coding/Decoding
1. Both parties have motivation and ability to
communicate through the channel
2. Both parties carry the same codebook
3. Both parties share similar mental models of
the communication context
4. Sender is experienced at communicating the
message topic

9-6
How E-Mail has Altered Communication

Now preferred medium for coordinating work

Tends to increase communication volume
Significantly alters communication flow
Reduces some selective attention biases
9-7
 Admiral Warns Staff of E-mail Faults

Courtesy of Admiral Insurance

Executives at Admiral Insurance are concerned that e-mail is

making staff at the Welsh company less polite. Along with
reminding employees of e-mails limitations, Admiral holds 'no
email days, encouraging employees to increase face-to-face
communication.
 Benefits of Email

1. Preferred medium for

coordinating work
2. Tends to increase
communication volume
3. Significantly alters
communication flow
Less face-to-face/telephone
More upward
communication
4. Reduces some selective
attention biases
Courtesy of Admiral Insurance
Problems with E-Mail

Communicates emotions poorly

Reduces politeness and respect
Inefficient for ambiguous, complex, novel situations
Increases information overload
9-10
Other Electronic Communication

Instant messaging
More efficient than email
Allows simultaneous communication events
Real-time communities through clustered
communication
Blogging (web logs)
Seem more personal than large meetings
Empower employees to share information
Ability to archive information
Social Networking Communication

Social network communication clusters people

around interests/expertise

Several types of social network communication

Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn
Online discussion forums
Avatar sites (e.g. Second Life)
Instant messaging
Wikis

9-12
Nonverbal Communication

Actions, facial gestures, etc.

Influences meaning of verbal symbols
Less rule bound than verbal communication
Important part of emotional labor
Most is automatic and nonconscious

9-13
Emotional Contagion

The automatic process of sharing another

persons emotions by mimicking their facial
expressions and other nonverbal behavior
Serves three purposes:
1. Provides continuous feedback to speaker
2. Increases emotional understanding of the other
persons experience
3. Communicates a collective sentiment -- sharing
the experience

9-14
Choosing the Best Communication
Channel: Social Acceptance
How well the communication
channel is approved and
supported by the organization,
team, and individual:
1. Communication channel
norms
2. Individual communication
channel preferences
3. Symbolic meaning of the
communication channel

9-15
Choosing the Best Communication
Channel: Media Richness
The channels data-carrying
capacity needs to be aligned with
the communication activity
High richness when channel:
1. conveys multiple cues
2. allows timely feedback
3. allows customized message
4. permits complex symbols
Use rich communication media
when the situation is nonroutine
and ambiguous

9-16
Hierarchy of Media Richness
Rich

Overloaded
Zone

Media
Richness

Oversimplified
Zone

Lean

Nonroutine/
Routine/clear Situation Ambiguous

9-17
Factors that Override Media Richness

Ability to multi-communicate with lean

channels
More varied proficiency levels
Social distractions of rich channels

9-18
Persuasive Communication
Changing another persons beliefs and attitudes.
Spoken communication is more persuasive because:
1. accompanied by nonverbal communication,
adding emotional punch to the message.
2. has high quality immediate feedback whether
message is understood and accepted.
3. has high social presence, so receiver is more
sensitive to message content and more motivated
to accept the message.

9-19
Communication Barriers

Perceptions

Filtering
Language
Jargon
Ambiguity

Information Overload

9-20
 Communication Barriers

Perceptual process of both receiver and

sender (about assumptions, needs,
expectations influence what signals get
noticed)
Sender and receiver not having the same
code book
Ambiguity of language (words having double
meanings)in terms of metaphors when
communicating with people with different
values and beliefs

McShane/Von Glinow OB 5e 21 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
 Communication barriers (noise)

Jargon specialized words and phrases for

specific occupations or groups
Filtering deleting or delaying negative
information or using less harsh words so the
message sounds more favorable.
Information overload occurs when the jobs
information load exceeds the individuals
capacity to get through it.
(info carrying capacity, info load amt of info to be
processed in a fixed unit of time)

McShane/Von Glinow OB 5e 22 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
Information Overload
Episodes of
information
overload

Employees
information
processing
capacity
Information Load

Time 9-23
Managing Information Overload
Solution 1: Increase info processing capacity
Learn to read faster
Scan through documents more efficiently
Remove distractions
Time management
Temporarily work longer hours

Solution 2: Reduce information load

Buffering
Omitting
Summarizing

9-24
Cross-Cultural Communication

Verbal differences
Language
Voice intonation
Silence/conversational overlaps

Nonverbal differences
Interpreting nonverbal meaning
Importance of verbal versus
nonverbal

Mark M. Lawrence/Corbis

9-25
Gender Communication Differences
Men Women
Report talk Rapport talk

Gives advice Gives advice indirectly

quickly and directly and reluctantly

Conversations are Conversations are

negotiations of status bonding events

Less sensitive to More sensitive to

nonverbal cues nonverbal cues

9-26
Getting Your Message Across

1. Empathize

2. Repeat the message

3. Use timing effectively

4. Be descriptive

Courtesy of Microsoft.
9-27
Active Listening Process & Strategies
Sensing
Postpone evaluation
Avoid interruptions
Maintain interest

Active
Listening
Responding Evaluating
Show interest Empathize
Clarify the message Organize information

9-28
Communicating in Hierarchies
Workspace design
Clustering people in teams
Open office arrangements

Web-based organizational communication

Wikis -- collaborative document creation
Blogs -- personal news/opinion for sharing
E-zines -- rapid distribution of company news

Direct communication with management

Management by walking around (MBWA)
Town hall meetings

9-29
Organizational Grapevine

Early research findings

Transmits information rapidly in all directions
Follows a cluster chain pattern
More active in homogeneous groups
Transmits some degree of truth

Changes due to internet

Email becoming the main grapevine medium
Social networks are now global
Public blogs and forums extends gossip to everyone

9-30
Grapevine Benefits/Limitations

Benefits
Fills in missing information from formal sources
Strengthens corporate culture
Relieves anxiety
Signals that problems exist

Limitations
Distortions might escalate anxiety
Perceived lack of concern for employees when
company info is slower than grapevine

9-31