Download Human Communication

Human Communication:
The Basic Course
Twelfth Edition
PowerPoint™
Presentations
prepared by:
Naomi Young
University of California,
San Diego
Joseph A. DeVito
Hunter College of the City University of New York
Chapter Twelve:
Human
Communication In
the Workplace:
Organizational
Communication
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Chapter Goals
Learn About:
 Chapter Goals – Learning About:
 The nature and types of organizations
 The characteristics of organizations
 The types of organizational messages and
relationships
Learn To:
 Communicate more effectively in the
organizational context
 Advance your own status and personal
satisfaction within the organization
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3
Organizations

The importance of organizational
communication
– Employment
– Complexity
– Influence

What is an organization?
–
–
–
–
Organized
Group of people
Working together
Compatible goals
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Characteristics of
Organizations
Rules and regulations
 Division of labor
 System of rewards and consequences
 Organizational Culture

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Organizational Messages
Sending and
receiving verbal and
nonverbal messages
in an organizational
context
 Limited to
messages occurring
within the
organization’s
formal and informal
groups

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Organizational Messages

Formal Communication
– Messages sanctioned by the organization
– Organizationally focused

Upward Communication
– Messages sent from the lower levels of a
hierarchy to the upper level

Downward Communication
– Messages sent from the higher levels to the
lower levels of the hierarch

Lateral Communication
– Messages between equals—manager-tomanager, worker-to-worker
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Informal Organizational
Communication: The Grapevine
Messages may concern any topic
germane to workers and the organization
 Messages are called grapevine messages
because they follow twisting routes
reminiscent of grapevines

–
–
–
–
Understand grapevine purposes
Treat grapevine information as tentative
Tap into the grapevine
Assume your messages will be repeated
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Communication Channels in
Organizations


Communication networks are configurations of
channels through which messages pass from
one person to another.
Messages may be transmitted face-to face, via
telephone, email, intranet, teleconferencing,
informal memos, or formal reports
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Information Overload
Think before passing
on messages
 Use the messages as
they come to you
 Organize your
messages
 Get rid of extra copies
 Take inventory

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Information Isolation

Worker is given little or no information
Difficult
for individual
to do the job assigned
Deprives the
organization
of useful input
Creates unhappy and
unmotivated worker
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Organizational Message
Competence
1. Listen actively, empathically, critically,
and in depth
2. Apologize when you make an error
3. Avoid contributing to information
overload or information isolation
4. Use the grapevine appropriately
5. Demonstrate the communication skills
of leadership
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Organizational Message
Competence cont…
6. Avoid speech that is racist,
heterosexist, ageist, or sexist
7. Help manage conflict
8. Use power effectively
9. Understand the communication flow
10. Prepare all messages as if they are
going to be graded
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Organizational Relationships
 Sexual
Harassment
– Qui Pro Quo - ‘something for
something’
– Hostile Environment - behavior that
makes workers uncomfortable
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Bullying
Gossiping about someone
 Treating others as inferior
 Excluding members from social functions
 Verbal insults, name calling
 Negative facial expressions
 Excessive blaming
 Being supervised (watched, monitored)
more closely than others
 Being unnecessarily criticized

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Romance in the Workplace
In one survey:
– 59 % felt that office
romances were
nothing to worry
about
– 23 % said they had
had affairs within
office walls
– 19% said they had
dated a subordinate
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Mentoring




Involves a one-on-one relationship between an
expert and a novice
A relationship that is supportive and trusting
Mutual and open sharing of information and
thoughts about the job
The relationship enables the novice to try out
new skills under the guidance of an expert, to
ask questions, and to obtain the feedback so
necessary in learning complex skills
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Networking
Start with people
you already
know
 Seek mutually
beneficial
relationships
 Create folders,
files, and
directories
 Be proactive

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Organizational Relationship
Competence
1. Be a mentor and a network giver as well as a
protégé and network seeker.
2. Be supportive of your co-workers.
3. Exercise caution in the development of office
romances and understand your company’s
policies regarding such relationships.
4. Self-disclose selectively.
5. Avoid bringing your relationship problems to
work with you.
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Organizational Relationship
Competence cont…
6. Learn the cultural rules of the organization.
7. Stress the positive. Be friendly, helpful, and
positive.
8. Remember that your colleagues may one day be
your superiors or you may be theirs.
9. Relate to others at your appropriate relationship
stage
10.Watch out for any ethnocentrism on your part.
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Knowledge to Action
If you ran a company
of, 40 or 50
employees, how
would you go about
facilitating both
upward and
downward
communication?
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