Download Fundamentals of Management

Fundamentals of
MANAGEMENT
Core Concepts & Applications
Griffin
Third Edition
Chapter 12
Communication in Organizations
Copyright © 2003 Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
PowerPoint Presentation by Charlie Cook
Chapter Outline
• Communication and the Manager’s Job
–A Definition of Communication
–The Role of Communication in Management
–The Communication Process
• Forms of Communication in Organizations
–Interpersonal Communication
–Communication in Networks and Teams
–Organizational Communication
• Electronic Communication
–Formal Information Systems
–Personal Electronic Technology
Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
12–2
Chapter Outline (cont’d)
• Informal Communication in Organizations
–The Grapevine
–Management by Wandering Around
–Nonverbal Communication
• Managing Organizational Communication
–Barriers to Communication
–Improving Communication Effectiveness
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12–3
Learning Objectives
• After studying this chapter, you should be able to:
–Describe the role and importance of communication in
the manager’s job.
–Identify the basic forms of communication in
organizations.
–Describe electronic communication in organizations.
–Discuss informal communication, including its various
forms and types.
–Describe how the communication process can be
managed so as to recognize and overcome barriers.
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12–4
Communication and the Manager’s Job
• Communication
–The process of transmitting information from one
person to another.
• Effective Communication
–The process of sending a
message in such a way that the
message received is as close in
meaning as possible to the
message intended.
Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
12–5
Managing the Flow of
Information in Organizations
Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Source: Barney, Jay B. and Ricky W.
Griffin, The Management of
Organizations. Copyright © 1992 by
Houghton Mifflin Company. Used with
permission.
12–6
The Role of Communication in
Management
• Characteristics of Useful Information:
–Accurate
• A valid and reliable reflection of reality
–Timely
• Available in time for appropriate managerial action
–Complete
• A complete and undistorted picture of reality
–Relevant
• Content which meets the needs and circumstances of the user
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12–7
The Communication Process
Noise
Sender
Start
Receiver
2
Encoding
3
Transmission
through channels
4
Decoding
1
Meaning
Noise
5
Meaning
8
Decoding
7
Transmission
through channels
6
Encoding
Receiver
Sender
Noise
The numbers indicate the sequence in which steps take place.
Figure 12.1
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12–8
The Communication Process (cont’d)
• Steps in the Communication Process
–Deciding to transmit a fact, idea, opinion, or other
information to the receiver.
–Encoding the meaning into a form appropriate to the
situation.
–Transmitting through the appropriate
channel or medium.
–Decoding the message back into
a form that has meaning to the
receiver.
–“Noise” is anything disrupting the
communication process.
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12–9
Interpersonal Communication
Form
Advantages
Oral
1. Promotes feedback 1. May suffer from
and interchange
inaccuracies
2. Is easy to use
Written 1. Tends to be more
accurate
2. Provides a record
of communication
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Disadvantages
2. Leaves no permanent
record
1. Inhibits feedback and
exchange
2. Is more difficult and time
consuming
12–10
Forms of Communication in Organizations:
Interpersonal Communication
• Oral Communication
–Face-to-face conversations, group discussions,
telephone calls, and other situations in which the
spoken work is used to express meaning.
–Advantages of oral communication
• Promotes prompt feedback and interchange in the form
of verbal questions and responses.
• Is easy to use and can be done
with little preparation.
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12–11
Forms of Communication in Organizations:
Interpersonal Communication (cont’d)
• Oral Communication (cont’d)
–Disadvantages of oral communication
• Suffers from problems with inaccuracy in meaning and
details.
• Leaves no time for thought and consideration and no
permanent record of what was said.
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12–12
Forms of Communication in Organizations:
Interpersonal Communication (cont’d)
• Written Communication
–Memos, letters, reports, notes, email, and other
methods in which the written word is used to transmit
meaning.
–Advantages of written communication
• Is accurate and leaves a permanent record
of the exchange.
• Leaves for thought and consideration,
can be referenced.
• Is easy to use and can be done with
little preparation.
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12–13
Forms of Communication in Organizations:
Interpersonal Communication (cont’d)
• Written Communication (cont’d)
–Disadvantages of written communication
• Inhibits feedback and interchange due to burden of
the process of preparing a physical document.
• Considerable delay can occur in
clarifying message meanings.
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12–14
Forms of Communication in Organizations
(cont’d)
• Choosing the Right Form
–The situation determines the most appropriate
medium
• Oral communication and email is preferred for personal,
nonroutine, or high priority communications.
• Formal written communication (e.g., memos, letters, reports,
and notes) are used for messages that are impersonal, routine,
and lower priority.
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12–15
Forms of Communication in Organizations
(cont’d)
• Communication in Networks and Teams
–Communication network—the pattern through which
the members of a group or team communicate.
–Research suggests:
• When the group’s task is simple and routine, centralized
networks perform with the greatest efficiency and accuracy.
• When the group’s task is complex and nonroutine,
decentralized networks with open communications that foster
interaction and exchange of relevant information tend to be
most effective.
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12–16
Forms of Communication
in Organizations (cont’d)
• Types of Communication Networks
2
2
3
1
4
1
5
5
1
4
5
Wheel
2
3
4
2
4
2
Circle
3
2
Y
1
2
3
1
3
5
Chain
Figure 12.2
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5
4
All channel
12–17
Organizational Communication
• Vertical Communication
–Communication that flows up and down the
organization, usually along formal reporting lines.
• Takes place between managers and subordinates and may
involve several levels of the organization.
–Upward communication
• Consists of messages from subordinates to superiors and is
more subject to distortion.
–Downward communication
• Occurs when information flows down the hierarchy from
superiors to subordinates.
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12–18
Organizational Communication (cont’d)
• Horizontal Communication
–Communication that flows laterally within the
organization; involves persons at the same level of the
organization.
• Facilitates coordination among independent units.
• Useful in joint problem solving.
• Plays a major role in communications among members of
work teams drawn from different departments.
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12–19
Vertical and
Horizontal
Communication
Source: Van Fleet, David D., and Tim
Peterson, Contemporary Management,
Third Edition. Copyright © 1994 by
Houghton Mifflin Company. Used with
permission.
Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
12–20
Forms of Communication
in Organizations (cont’d)
• Formal Communication in Organizations
–Follows the official reporting relationships and/or
prescribed channels.
Vertical communication
Horizontal communication
Figure 12.3
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12–21
Electronic Communication
• Information Technology (IT)
–The resources used by the organization to manage
information that it needs to carry
out its mission.
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12–22
Formal Information Systems
• Formal Information Systems
–Transaction Processing System
• A system designed to handle routine and recurring
transactions.
–Management Information System (MIS)
• Supports an organization’s managers by providing daily
reports, schedules, plans, and budgets.
–Decision Support System (DSS)
• An interactive system that automatically searches for,
manipulates, and summarizes information needed by
managers for specific decisions.
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12–23
Types of Information Systems
• Major Systems by Level
–Executive Information Systems (EIS)
• A quick-reference, easy-access application of information
systems specially designed for instant access by upper-level
managers.
–Intranets
• Firewall-protected private networks for internal company use
by employees.
–Expert Systems
• Information systems designed to imitate the thought process
of human experts.
Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
12–24
New Information
Technologies
Source: Van Fleet, David D., and Tim Peterson,
Contemporary Management, Second Edition.
Copyright © 1991 by Houghton Mifflin
Company. Used with permission.
Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
12–25
Electronic Communication
• Personal Electronic Technology
–Technological advances (e.g., fax machines, cellular
telephones, copiers, and personal computers) have
created opportunities for quickly disseminating and
contacting others in the organization.
–Corporate intranets and the Internet
have made possible teleconferences
and the rapid retrieval of information
from all corners of the globe.
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12–26
Electronic Communication (cont’d)
• Personal Electronic Technology (cont’d)
–Telecommuting allows people to work at home and
transmit their work to the company by means of a
telephone and a modem.
• Disadvantages are the lack of face-to-face contact, strong
personal relationships, falling behind professionally, and
losing out in organizational politics.
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12–27
Informal Communication in Organizations
• Informal Communications
–May or may not follow official reporting relationships
and/or prescribed organizational channels and may
have nothing to do with official organizational
business.
–Common forms of informal
communications are the
grapevine, management
by wandering around, and
nonverbal communication.
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12–28
Informal Communication in Organizations
(cont’d)
Informal communication
Formal communication
Figure 12.4
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12–29
Informal Communication in Organizations
(cont’d)
• Grapevine
–An informal communication network that can
permeate an organization. Types of grapevines are:
The Gossip Chain
One person tells many
The Cluster Chain
Many people tell a few
Source: Adapted from Human Behavior at
Work: Organizational Behavior, Eighth Edition,
by Keith Davis and John W. Newstrom.
Copyright © 1989 by McGraw-Hill. Reprinted
by permission of the McGraw-Hill Companies.
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12–30
Informal Communication in Organizations
• Management by Wandering Around
–Managers keep in touch with what’s going on by
wandering around and talking to people on all levels in
the organization
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12–31
Informal Communication in Organizations
(cont’d)
• Nonverbal Communication
–Any communication exchange that does not use
words, or uses words to carry more meaning than the
strict definition of the words themselves.
• Much of the content of a message
may be transmitted by facial
expression alone; other
message content is derived
from inflection and tone of
the voice. Only a small portion
of the message content is due to
the words in the message.
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Words in
the message
7%
Inflection
and tone
38%
Facial
expression
55%
12–32
Informal Communication in Organizations
(cont’d)
• Nonverbal Communication (cont’d)
–Kinds of nonverbal communication practiced by
managers:
• Images—the kinds of words people elect to use to give
emphasis and effect to what they say.
• Settings—boundaries, familiarity, home turf (e.g., office
location, size, and furnishings) are symbols of power and
influence how people choose to communicate in
organizations.
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12–33
Managing Organizational Communication
• Barriers to Effective Communication
Individual Barriers
Organizational Barriers
Conflicting or inconsistent cues
Semantics
Credibility about the subject
Status or power differences
Reluctance to communicate
Different perceptions
Poor listening skills
Noise
Predisposition about the subject
Overload
Languages
Table 12.1
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12–34
Informal Communication in Organizations
(cont’d)
• Nonverbal Communication (cont’d)
–Kinds of nonverbal communication practiced by
managers:
• Body language—how people of different cultures and
backgrounds physically position themselves and react to the
stance and body movements of others has a strong influence
on communications between individuals.
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12–35
Barriers to
Effective
Communication
Source: Van Fleet, David D., and Tim
Peterson, Contemporary Management,
Third Edition. Copyright © 1994 by
Houghton Mifflin Company. Used with
permission.
Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
12–36
More and Less Effective Listening Skills
More Effective Listening
Less Effective Listening
Stays active, focused
Is passive, laid back
Pays attention
Is easily distracted
Asks questions
Asks no questions
Keeps an open mind
Has preconceptions
Assimilates information
Disregards information
Figure 12.5
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12–37
Managing Organizational Communication
(cont’d)
• Overcoming Barriers to Communication
Individual Skills
Organizational Skills
Develop good listening skills
Follow up
Encourage two-way communication
Regulate information flows
Be aware of language and meaning
Understand the richness of media
Maintain credibility
Be sensitive to receiver’s perspective
Be sensitive to sender’s perspective
Table 12.2
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12–38