1. Communication and Information Technology
Chapter 11
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2. Understanding Communication
Q: Have you ever heard the old adage, “you can’t not communicate”?
Q: What does this mean?
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3. Communicating Supportively
Q: Isn’t supportive communication just a “nice-person” technique?
A: No. The goal is not to be merely liked by other people, or to produce social acceptance. Positive interpersonal relationships have practical, instrumental value in organizations.
Consider the following…
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4. Communicating Supportively
* Companies fostering communicative relationships enjoy higher productivity, faster problem solving, higher-quality outputs, and fewer conflicts and subversive activities than do groups and organizations where relationships are less positive.
* A 1986 study concluded that the presence of good supportive communication between managers and subordinates was three times more powerful in predicting profitability in 40 major corporations over a five-year period than the next most powerful variables – market share, firm size, and sales growth rate – combined!
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5. 1. Fear of expression and/or actions.
Breaking Through the Four Barriers to Quality Building Business Infrastructures for the 25th Century by Bruce Snell
All the problems encountered by an organization in building business infrastructure fall into the following four barriers to quality:
1. Fear of expression and/or actions.
2. Lack of communication (verbal and/or written).
3. Lack of written procedure.
4. Lack of training.
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6. What Is Communication? Communication
The transfer and understanding of meaning.
Transfer means the message was received in a form that can be interpreted by the receiver.
Understanding the message is not the same as the receiver agreeing with the message.
2 types we discuss in the business world…
Interpersonal Communication
Communication between two or more people
Organizational Communication
All the patterns, network, and systems of communications within an organization
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7. Organizational Communication Flows
Diagonal
Upwa r d
Downwa r d
Lateral
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8. Evaluating Communication Methods (p. 296)
Feedback
Complexity capacity
Breadth potential
Confidentiality
Encoding ease
Decoding ease
Time-space constraint
Cost
Interpersonal warmth
Formality
Scanability
Time consumption
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9. Exhibit 11–2 Comparison of Communication Methods
Note: Ratings are on a 1–5 scale where 1 = high and 5 = low. Consumption time refers to who controls the reception of communication. S/R means the sender and receiver share control.
Source: P. G. Clampitt, Communicating for Managerial Effectiveness (Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, 1991), p. 136.
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10. Interpersonal Communication Barriers
Filtering
National Culture
Emotions
Language
Interpersonal Communication
Information Overload
Defensiveness
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11. Barriers to Effective Interpersonal Communication
Filtering
The deliberate manipulation of information to make it appear more favorable to the receiver.
Emotions
Disregarding rational and objective thinking processes and substituting emotional judgments when interpreting messages.
Information Overload
Being confronted with a quantity of information that exceeds an individual’s capacity to process it.
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12. Barriers to Effective Interpersonal Communication (cont’d)
Defensiveness
When threatened, reacting in a way that reduces the ability to achieve mutual understanding.
Language
The different meanings of and specialized ways (jargon) in which senders use words can cause receivers to misinterpret their messages.
National Culture
Culture influences the form, formality, openness, patterns and use of information in communications.
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13. Overcoming the Barriers to Effective Interpersonal Communications
Use Feedback
Simplify Language
Listen Actively
Constrain Emotions
Watch Nonverbal Cues
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14. Exhibit 11–3 Active Listening Behaviors
Source: Based on P.L. Hunsaker, Training in Management Skills (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2001).
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15. The Emotional Bank Account Stephen R. Covey
We all know what a financial bank account is. We make deposits into it and build up a reserve from which we can make withdrawals when we need to. An Emotional Bank Account is a metaphor that describes the amount of trust that’s been built up in a relationship. It’s the feeling of safeness you have with another human being.
If I make deposits into an Emotional Bank Account with you through courtesy, kindness, honesty, and keeping my commitments to you, I build up a reserve. Your trust towards me becomes higher, and I can call upon that trust many times if I need to. I can even make mistakes and that trust level that emotional reserve, will compensate for it.
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16. The Emotional Bank Account Stephen R. Covey
My communication may not be clear, but you’ll get my meaning anyway. You won’t make me an “offender for a word.” When the trust account is high, communication is easy, instant, and effective.
But if I have a habit of showing discourtesy, disrespect, cutting you off, overreacting or threatening you, eventually my Emotional Bank Account is overdrawn. The trust level gets very low. Then what flexibility do I have?
None. I’m walking on mine fields. I have to be very careful of everything I say. I measure every word. It’s tension city, memo haven. It’s protecting my backside, politicking. And organizations are filled with it. Many families are filled with it. Many marriages are filled with it.
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17. The Emotional Bank Account Stephen R. Covey
Six Major Deposits
1. Understanding the Individual
2. Attending to the Little Things
3. Keeping Commitments
4. Clarifying Expectations
5. Showing Personal Integrity
6. Apologizing Sincerely When You Make a Withdrawal
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18. 6. Apologizing sincerely when you make a withdrawal
When we make withdrawals from the Emotional Bank Account, we need to apologize and we need to do it sincerely. Great deposits come in the sincere words:
“I was wrong.”
“That was unkind of me.”
“I showed you no respect.”
“I embarrassed you in front of your friends and I had no call to do that. Even though I wanted to make a point, I should never have done it. I apologize.”
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19. 6. Apologizing sincerely when you make a withdrawal
It takes a great deal of character strength to apologize quickly out of one’s heart. A person must possess himself and have a deep sense of security in fundamental principles and values in order to genuinely apologize.
People with little internal security can’t do it. It makes them appear too vulnerable. They feel it makes them appear soft and weak, and they fear that others will take advantage of their weakness. Their security is based on the opinions of other people, and they worry about what others might think. In addition, they usually rationalize their wrong in the name of the other person’s wrong, and if they apologize at all, it’s superficial.
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20. Communication Flows Lateral Diagonal Upwa r d Downwa r d
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21. Direction of Communication Flow
Downward
Communications that flow from managers to employees to inform, direct, coordinate, and evaluate employees.
Upward
Communications that flow from employees up to managers to keep them aware of employee needs and how things can be improved to create a climate of trust and respect.
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22. Direction of Communication Flow (cont’d)
Lateral (Horizontal) Communication
Communication that takes place among employees on the same level in the organization to save time and facilitate coordination.
Diagonal Communication
Communication that cuts across both work areas and organizational levels in the interest of efficiency and speed.
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23. The Grapevine
An informal organizational communication network that is active in almost every organization.
Provides a channel for issues not suitable for formal communication channels.
The impact of information passed along the grapevine can be countered by open and honest communication with employees.
Read p. 306
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24. How Some Companies Open Up Communication
Union Pacific
Town hall meetings
Mattel Toys
Management by walking around
Eating in the cafeteria
CDM
No titles on business cards
Open, low-partition offices
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25. How Some Companies Open Up Communication
Brooks Furniture
“People will put every effort into advancing the business in which they can communicate their ideas freely”
Greets workers by name
“Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” Dale Carnegie
Chats on personal matters GE
Work-Out
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26. Reaching and Changing Frontline Employees by TJ and Sandar Larkin
Harvard Business Review Article
Reaching and Changing Frontline Employees by TJ and Sandar Larkin
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