Communicating in Organizations

“The greatest problem in communication is

the illusion that it has been accomplished.”
-George Bernard Shaw

“The most important thing in communication

is to hear what isn’t being said.”
- Peter F. Drucker
 Communication Model

 Phenomenology
 Message Channels
 Relative Roles
 Feedback
 Listening

Organizational Behavior for the Hospitality Industry © 2009 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
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 Phenomenology
 Meanings are in people, not in words.
 If a word falls in a forest, and nobody
reads it, does it have any meaning?
 Definition: the different meanings that
each person attributes to a word.
 Ambiguities can cause
misunderstandings.

Organizational Behavior for the Hospitality Industry © 2009 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
Berger/Brownell 3 All Rights Reserved.
 Message Channels
 Verbal
 Spoken words
 Written words
 Visual symbols
 Non-verbal
 Body language
 Actions

Organizational Behavior for the Hospitality Industry © 2009 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
Berger/Brownell 4 All Rights Reserved.
 Relative Roles
Differences in status between two individuals will
make a difference in how they communicate.
When status differences
are large, the
communication process
will be more formal.
People of low status are
often intimidated by
those of higher status.
Organizational Behavior for the Hospitality Industry © 2009 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
Berger/Brownell 5 All Rights Reserved.
 Feedback
 Any message that the receiver gives to
the sender that indicates the receiver’s
interpretation of the sender’s message.
 Feedback helps us to understand if the
receiver understood the message
properly.
 Can be verbal or non-verbal.

Organizational Behavior for the Hospitality Industry © 2009 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
Berger/Brownell 6 All Rights Reserved.
 Listening

 Listening means more than just hearing.

 Listening requires active attention and
avoiding distractions in order to understand
and remember the message.

Organizational Behavior for the Hospitality Industry © 2009 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
Berger/Brownell 7 All Rights Reserved.
 Listening
 Pay attention to the speaker.
 Be attentive to both verbal and nonverbal

communication.
 Listen with empathy; suspend judgment until

hearing the person out.

 Let the speaker know you are paying attention.
 Lean toward speaker and maintain eye contact.
 Nod to express understanding.
 Ask for clarification if needed.

Organizational Behavior for the Hospitality Industry © 2009 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
Berger/Brownell 8 All Rights Reserved.
 Listening
 HURIER Listening Model
 Hearing
 Understanding
 Remembering
 Interpreting
 Evaluating
 Responding

Organizational Behavior for the Hospitality Industry © 2009 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
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 Effective Communication
 Eschew obfuscation (avoid
confusion).
 Avoid slang.
 Be brief.
 Be precise.
 Know when to use redundancy.
 Choose the right time and place.

Organizational Behavior for the Hospitality Industry © 2009 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
Berger/Brownell 10 All Rights Reserved.
 Speaking
 Involves both language and paralanguage.
 Paralanguage includes:
 Inflection
 Speed
 Volume
 Pronunciation
 Fluency
 Silence

Organizational Behavior for the Hospitality Industry © 2009 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
Berger/Brownell 11 All Rights Reserved.
 Nonverbal Communication

 93% of meaning is communicated non-

verbally.
 Four functions of non-verbal
communication:
 Express emotion.
 Communicate the nature of the relationship.
 Affect verbal meaning.
 Substitute or replace verbal communication.
Organizational Behavior for the Hospitality Industry © 2009 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
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 Communicating Nonverbally
 Appearance
 Posture and Positioning
 Proxemics: “personal space”
 Touching
 Gestures
 Facial Expressions
 Eyes
 Chronemics: timing

Organizational Behavior for the Hospitality Industry © 2009 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
Berger/Brownell 13 All Rights Reserved.
 Organizational Communication
 The efficiency and effectiveness
of the organizational “message
processing system” is crucial to
overall success.
 Communication channels:
 Formal Communication Network
 Informal Communication Network

Organizational Behavior for the Hospitality Industry © 2009 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
Berger/Brownell 14 All Rights Reserved.
 Formal Communication Network

 Components:
 Upward Communication
 Employee to manager
 Downward Communication
 Manager to employee
 Lateral communication
 Manager to manager

Organizational Behavior for the Hospitality Industry © 2009 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
Berger/Brownell 15 All Rights Reserved.
 Upward Communication
 Communication from employees to managers
 Benefits:
 Provides feedback to management
 Enhances employees’ feeling of participation
 How to improve:
 Encourage employees to communicate with you
 Listen supportively
 Respond
 Avoid communication barriers

Organizational Behavior for the Hospitality Industry © 2009 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
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 Downward Communication
 Communication from managers to
employees
 Functions:
 Give instructions
 Establish corporate atmosphere
 Main barrier:
 Message gets distorted as it passes through
various levels

Organizational Behavior for the Hospitality Industry © 2009 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
Berger/Brownell 17 All Rights Reserved.
Improving Downward Communication
 Use upward communication
 Establish trust
 Allow employees to get to know you
 Be honest
 Explain why
 Use redundancy and multiple channels
 Make the message important to the employee
 Don’t overload

Organizational Behavior for the Hospitality Industry © 2009 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
Berger/Brownell 18 All Rights Reserved.
 Lateral Communication
 Communication between peers.
 Coordinates functions of different
departments.
 Guidelines to improve:
 Reward good lateral communication.
 Make sure inter-departmental
competition is constructive.

Organizational Behavior for the Hospitality Industry © 2009 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
Berger/Brownell 19 All Rights Reserved.
 The Grapevine

 Composed of informal links that cross

status and departmental boundaries
 75% accurate
 Fastest type of organizational
communication
 Maintain the grapevine as a valuable
source of information, but work on
eliminating rumors by increasing downward
communication.
Organizational Behavior for the Hospitality Industry © 2009 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
Berger/Brownell 20 All Rights Reserved.