Organizational communication

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Organizational communication
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Organization

• Definition a collection, or system, of
  individuals who commonly, through a hierarchy of
  ranks and division of labor, seek to achieve a
  predetermined goal.

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Division of labor

• Craftsman produces entire product.
• Early in the industrial revolution it was found
  that organization could produce more by allowing
  individuals to specialize through a division of
  labor than by making each person produce entire
  product.

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Span of control

• Specialized functions require individual
  supervision.
• This requirement results in the concept of span
  of control in organizations - that is, a limit on
  the authority of the individual supervisor.
• Span of control is often determined by the number
  of people who can effectively be managed by one
  supervisor.
• As more workers are added to the organization,
  more supervisors are needed and more upper-level
  managers are required to oversee their
  activities.
• Pyramid of control - hierarchy

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Chain of command

• Chain of command - the formal communication
  system in an organization.
• Orders are sent down through the formal system.
• People in the organization may also communicate
  informally - outside the channels indicated on
  the organization chart.
• Both types of communication - formal and informal
  - help organization to move toward achieving its
  goals.
• System of formal organizational communication
  also requires members to act in certain expected
  roles.

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Industrial versus Postindustrial Society

• Two the most important changes
• (1) Nature of jobs is changing
• (2) The type of employees is changing.

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(1) Nature of jobs is changing

• Bell (1976) An industrial society is a game
  against fabricated nature, in which Man has used
  energy to make large machines that add to his
  power to transform his word. But a
  post-industrial society is a game between
  persons, between teacher and student, doctor and
  patient, research team members, and so forth.

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(1) Nature of jobs is changing

• Primary industrial society manufactures goods.
• Postindustrial society provides services.
• More people hold white-collars jobs than
  blue-collar jobs.
• White-collars jobs involve providing services
  such as trade, finance, real estate,
  transportation, education, health, research,
  government, and so on.
• A service industry, to a great extent, is based
  more on a person-to person relation rather than a
  man-to-machine relation.
• Information society.

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(2) The type of employees is changing

• These changes are dramatically influencing
  organizational communication.
• Historically, organizations have been
  owerwhelmingly male. Those males were native.
• It will become increasingly necessary to learn to
  communicate within a context of cultural
  diversity. The study of human communication in
  organizations is more relevant today than ever
  before.

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Importance of communication

• When managers and other responsible person in
  business organization are asked how much of the
  work day spent in communication, the replies
  range about 85 to 99 percent (Zelko and
  Dance,1965)
• Relationship between communication and employee
  productivity
• Urban hospitals (Jain,1973) - the quality of
  supervisory communication (as perceived by
  subordinates) correlated highly with quality od
  superordinates performance.
• Automative manufacturing plants (Hain and
  Widgerz,1973, Hain and Tubbs,1975) - the quality
  of supervisory communication correlated highly
  with high employee performance, high product
  quality, low absenteeism, and low job turnover.

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• Researchers have also discovered that
  communication skills are rated higher than
  technical skills in some fields.
• It was shown that in evaluating job performance,
  engineering supervisors rated engineers more
  heavily on their communication abilities than on
  their engineering skills.
• Importance of communication abilities in personal
  careers
• Schein (1978) studied the stages of peoples
  careers in organizations and emphasized the
  Importance of communication abilities at every
  one of those stages.
• Jennings (1971) says that when a corporate
  president gets fired, it is usually because of
  deficient communication skills.

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• Japanese management practices - factors
  associated with the Japanese economical successes
• Lifetime employment
• Slow evaluation and promotion
• Nonspecialized career paths
• Implicit control mechanism
• Collective decision making
• Collective responsibility
• Wholistic concern

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Three functions of communication in an
organization

• Conrad (1985)
• Conrad, C. (1985). Strategic Organizational
  Communications Cultures, Situations, and
  Adaptation. N.Y., Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
• (1) The command function
• (2) The relational function
• (3) The ambiguity-management function

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1. The command function

• Communication allows members of the organization
  to issue, receive, interpret, and act on
  commands.
• Two types of communication that make up this
  function are
• directions
• feedback
• The goal is the succesful influence of other
  members of the organization.
• The outcome is coordination among the many
  interdependent members of the organization.

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2. The relational function

• Communication allows members of the organization
  to create and maintain productive business and
  personal relationships with other members of the
  organization.
• Relationships on the job affect job performance
  in many ways, e.g. job satisfaction, the flow of
  communication both down and up the organizational
  hierarchy.

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3. The ambiguity-management function

• Choices in an organizational setting are often
  made in highly ambiguous circumstances - e.g.
• multiple motivations exists since choices affect
  coworkers and the organization, as well as
  oneself,
• the organizations objectives may not be clear
  etc.. etc.
• context within which the choice needs to be made
  may be unclear.
• Communication is the means for coping with and
  reducing the ambiguity inherent in the
  organization
• Members talk with each others in an effort to
  make sense of new situations, which entails
  gaining and sharing information.

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Five factors considered by members of
organization to be of prime importance in
communicating

• (1) Superior to subordinate communication
• (2) Downward communication
• (3) Superiors' perceptions of communication with
  subordinates
• (4) Upward communication
• (5) Reliability of information

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1. Superior to subordinate communication

• Superior to subordinate communication As
  measured by such questions as, to what extent
  does
• Your superior make you feel free to talk to him
  or her?
• Your superior listen to you when you tell him or
  her about things that are bothering you?
• Your superior encourage you to let him or her
  know when things are going wrong on the job?

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2. Downward communication

• Downward communication As measured by such
  questions as
• Do people in top management say what they mean
  and mean what they say?
• Is top management providing you with the kinds of
  information you really want and need?
• Are you satisfied with explanations you get from
  top management about why things are done as they
  are?

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3. Superiors' perceptions of communication with
subordinates

• Superiors' perceptions of communication with
  subordinates As measured by such questions as
• Do you believe your subordinates are frank and
  candid with you?
• Do you believe your colleagues (coworkers) are
  really frank and candid with you?
• Do you believe that your subordinates think that
  you understand their problems?

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4. Upward communication

• Upward communication As measured by such
  questions as
• Do your opinions make a difference in the
  day-to-day decisions that affect your job?
• Do you believe your views have any real influence
  in your organization?
• Does your superior let you participate in the
  planning of your own work?

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5. Reliability of information

• Reliability of information As measured by such
  questions as
• Do you think that information received from your
  subordinates is reliable?
• Do you think that information received from your
  colleagues (or coworkers) is reliable?

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1. Supervisory communication

• Supervisory communication is considered the most
  important factor influencing an employees
  communication satisfaction.
• The effective supervisor is described as
  supportive. People particularly need confirmation
  and support from their superiors.
• A wrong supervisory communication seems to create
  negative side effect such as increased
  complaints, absenteeism, employer turnover and
  even sabotage.

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A study of General Electric Company (1957)

• General Eletric Company (1957). The effective
  Manufacturing Foreman An Observational Study of
  the Job Activites of Effective and Ineffective
  Foremen. N.Y.,G. E. Public and Empoyee Relations
  Research Service.
• Better foremen initiated fewer contacts, but
  spent more time with persons when they did
  initiate a contact.
• Better and poorer foremen were contacted by
  others about the same number of times, but better
  foremen spent more time in each contact.
• Lower-rated foremen spent more time seeking
  information from others, while better foremen
  spent more time answering request for
  information.
• High-rated foremen spent more time in contacts
  where information was passed voluntarily by
  either party.
• Better foremen engaged in more two-way
  conversations on job-related matters.

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Self-esteem in leadership

• Value of self-esteem in leadership and
  followership.
• The true leader wants to enhance his/her
  followers levels of self-esteem.
• Leaders must have a positive self-image.

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2. Downward communication

• Such communication is initiated by the
  organizations upper management and then filters
  downward through the chain of command.
• People are limited as to the amount of
  information they can effectively absorb and react
  to.
• Therefore, management must, of necessity,
  restrict what it communicates to subordinates.
• Organization implies some restriction of
  communication. Without restrictions on
  communication, any organizational member could be
  buried under an avalanche of incoming messages
  from all the other members.

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Information overload

• Seven ways in which people adapt to information
  overload (Miller,1964)
• (1) omission (failing to handle all the
  information)
• (2) error (ignoring or failing to correct errors
  when made)
• (3) queuing (letting things pile up)
• (4) filtering (dealing with input in categories
  ranked according to a priority system)
• (5) approximation (lowering standard of
  precision)
• (6) multiple channels (delegation of information
  processing to others)
• (7) escape (refusal to handle the input al all)

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The effectiveness of different forms of downward
communication

• Research on the effectiveness of different forms
  of downward communication has shown that using a
  combination of channels tends to get the test
  results.
• In a classic study, Dahle (1954) found that
  channels were ranked in the following order of
  effectiveness (from most to least effective)
• 1. Combined oral and written
• 2. Oral only
• 3. Written only
• 4. Bulletin board
• 5. Grapevine

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• A combination of written and oral channels gets
  the best results.
• Sending the same message through more than one
  channel creates redundancy.
• Redundancy seems to be helpful not only in
  getting messages through but in ensuring that
  they will be remembered.
• As the number of memos, meetings, phone calls,
  and so increases, each person becomes that much
  busier, since it requires time to attend to each
  of these messages.

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The law of diminishing returns

• An important consideration in organization
  communication is so-called law of diminishing
  returns, which states that more is better, up to
  a point.

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Lack of accuracy

• Another characteristics of downward communication
  is lack of accuracy.
• Conboy (1976) cites a study that polled 100
  industrial managers to determine what percentage
  of a message got through to lower organizational
  levels.
• Board of directors 100 of communication content
  
• Vice presidents 67
• General supervisors 56
• Plant managers 40
• Foremen 30
• Workers 20

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3. Upward communication

• Upward communication -the process whereby the
  ideas, feelings, and perceptions of lower-level
  employee are communicated to those at higher
  levels in the organization.
• Functions
• It provides management with needed information
  for decision making
• It helps employees relieve the pressures and
  frustrations of the work situation.
• It enhances employees sense of participation in
  the enterprise.
• It serves as a measure of the effectiveness of
  downward communication.

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• Degree of upward receptivity - willingness to
  receive messages from subordinates.
• Degree of upward receptivity is most often
  associated with so-called open-door policy in
  business.
• If a manager has his/her door open, this signals
  a willingness to communicate with employees

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Psychological barriers between superior and
subordinate.

• Three principles
• 1. If a subordinate believes that disclosure of
  his /her feelings, opinions, and difficulties may
  lead a superior to block the achievement of
  personal goal, he/she will hide or distort them.
• 2. The more a superior rewards disclosure of
  feelings, opinions, and difficulties by
  subordinates, the more likely they will be
  disclose them.
• 3. The more a superior discloses his/her own
  feelings, opinions, and difficulties to
  subordinates and his/her superior, the more
  likely subordinates will be to disclose theirs.

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• A special type of upward communication is
  ingratiation. This is defined by Liden and
  Mitchell (1988) as an attempt by individuals to
  increase their attractiveness in the eyes of
  others.
• The authors identify three main forms of
  ingratiation. The first is flattery. Those who
  are attempting to "get in good" with others above
  them will often flatter or compliment the other
  person (often falsely). The second is
  self-disclosures and advice requests.
  lngratiators may reveal personal information or
  may request the advice of a superior to gain
  favor. Third is attitude similarity and
  sincerity. The ingratiator will attempt to stress
  any similarities between himself or herself and
  the target person. However, research has shown
  that any of the ingratiating behaviors mentioned
  will be effective only if the target person
  perceives them as sincere.

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4. Horizontal communication

• Horizontal communication is the exchanges between
  and among agencies and personnel on the same
  level of the organization chart.
• The survival of a modem organization often
  depends on the degree to which it specializes.
•  Coordination or integration of diverse units is
  required to keep the organization running
  efficiently.

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Problems in horizontal communication

• Horizontal communication frequently suffers in
  organizations because of employee loyality to a
  given department.
• The situation is intensified in organizations
  that reward people and group on a competitive
  basis.
• In such situations, each department may consider
  itself to be at the top of the organization.

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Four functions of horizontal communication

• 1. Task coordination The department heads may
  meet monthly to discuss how each department is
  contributing to the systems goals.
• 2. Problem solving The members of a department
  may assemble to discuss how they will handle a
  threatened budged cut. They may employ
  brainstorming techniques.
• 3. Information sharing The members of one
  department may meet with members of another
  department to give them some new data.
• 4. Conflict resolution Members of one department
  may meet to discuss a conflict inherent in the
  department or between departments.

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• Ineffective horizontal communication has been
  cited as one important factor in the space
  shuttle Challenger accident in January 1986.

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Reducing Barriers

• Some steps can be taken to reduce the barriers to
  horizontal communication
• 1. Relatively greater emphasis given to total
  organizational effectiveness and the role of
  departments in contributing to it departments
  measured and rewarded on the basis of their
  contribution to the total effort rather than
  their individual effectiveness.
• 2. High interaction and frequent communication
  stimulated between groups to work on problems of
  intergroup coordination and help organizational
  rewards given partly on the basis of help which
  groups give to each other.

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Reducing Barriers (cont.)

• 3. Frequent rotation of members among groups or
  departments to stimulate high degree of mutual
  understanding and empathy for one another's
  problems.
• 4. Avoidance of any win-lose situation groups
  never put into the position of competing for some
  organizational reward emphasis always placed on
  pooling resources to maximize organizational
  effectiveness rewards shared equally with all
  the groups or departments.