Transcript Communication

Chapter
9
Top Performance through
Empowerment, Teamwork,
and Communication
Learning Objectives
LO 9.1 Describe why and how
organizations empower employees.
LO 9.2 Distinguish among the five
types of teams in the workplace.
LO 9.3 Identify the characteristics of
an effective team and summarize the
stages of team development.
LO 9.4 Relate cohesiveness and
norms to effective team performance.
LO 9.5 Describe the factors that
cause conflict in teams and ways to
manage conflict.
LO 9.6 Explain the importance and
process of effective communication.
LO 9.7 Compare the different types of
communication.
LO 9.8 Explain external
communication and methods of
managing a public crisis.
Empowering Employees
Empowerment: Giving employees shared authority,
responsibility and decision-making with their
managers
Sharing information and decision-making authority
Keeping them informed about company’s financial
performance
Giving them broad authority to make workplace
decisions
Linking Rewards to Company
Performance
Employee stock ownership plans
Gives employees stock ownership, leading to
potential profits as the value of the firm increases.
Motivates employees to work smarter and harder so
can share in firm’s financial success.
Stock options
Right to buy a specified amount of company stock at
a given price within a given time period.
Being offered more frequently to employees at all
levels.
Approximately one-third of all options go to the top
five executives at a firm.
Employee Stock Ownership
Plans and Stock Options
Teams
Team: A group of people with certain skills who
share a common purpose, approach, and
performance goals
Mutually responsible and accountable for accomplishing
objectives.
Ability to work on teams often emphasized during the
hiring process.
Work teams: Relatively permanent groups of
employees with complementary skills who perform
the day-to-day work of organizations
Two-thirds of firms use work teams.
Five Types of Teams
Team Characteristics
Team size
Can range widely, but most have fewer than 12
members.
Ideal size is usually six or seven members.
Team level and team diversity
Team level: The team’s average level of ability,
experience, personality, or any other factor
Team diversity: The team’s differences in ability,
experience, personality, or any other factor
Stages of Team Development
Test Your Knowledge
Consensus about the leader’s role develops
during the ________ stage.
a.
b.
c.
d.
forming
storming
norming
adjourning
Test Your Knowledge
Consensus about the leader’s role develops
during the ________ stage.
a.
b.
c.
d.
forming
storming
norming
adjourning
Answer: C
Team Cohesiveness and Norms
Team cohesiveness: The extent to which team
members feel attracted to the team and motivated to
remain part of it
Increases when members interact frequently, share common
attitudes and goals, and enjoy being together.
Cohesive teams quickly achieve high levels of performance and
consistently perform better.
Team-building retreats are sometimes used to encourage
cohesiveness and improve member satisfaction and retention.
Team norm: A standard of conduct shared by team
members that guides their behaviour.
Can be positive (contributing to accomplishment of goals) or
negative (contributing to reduced work effort/quality, poor job
attendance).
Test Your Knowledge
Which situation is most likely to undermine team
cohesiveness?
a. Team members genuinely like each other.
b. Team members share common goals.
c. Team members are unsure of the team’s mission.
d. Team members have similar attitudes toward
work.
Test Your Knowledge
Which situation is most likely to undermine team
cohesiveness?
a. Team members genuinely like each other.
b. Team members share common goals.
c. Team members are unsure of the team’s mission.
d. Team members have similar attitudes toward
work.
Answer: C
Team Conflict
Conflict: The outcome when one person’s, or one
group’s, needs do not match those of another, and
one side may try to block the other side’s intentions or
goals
Cognitive conflict: A disagreement that focuses on
problem- and issue-related differences of opinion
Reconciling these differences strongly improves team
performance
Affective conflict: a disagreement that focuses on
individuals or personal issues
Team leaders should facilitate good communication
so that teammates respect each other and work
cooperatively.
The Importance of Effective
Communication
Communication: A meaningful exchange of
information through messages
Managers spend 80 percent of their time in
direct communication with others.
Company recruiters rate effective
communication as the most important skill
they’re looking for in hiring new employees.
The Process of Communication
Test Your Knowledge
Encoding a message includes
a. providing a feedback loop.
b. translating meaning into understandable
terms.
c. choosing a context.
d. processing interference.
Test Your Knowledge
Encoding a message includes
a. providing a feedback loop.
b. translating meaning into understandable
terms.
c. choosing a context
d. processing interference.
Answer: B
The Process of Communication
Communication in low-context cultures tends to
rely on explicit written and verbal messages.
Canada, United States, Switzerland, Germany, Austria
Communication in high-context cultures depends
not only on the message itself but also on the
conditions that surround it, including nonverbal
cues, past and present experiences, and personal
relationships between the parties.
Japan, Latin America, India
Basic Forms of Communication
Oral Communication
An important part of oral communication is listening
Cynical (defensive) listening: Receiver of a
message feels that the sender is trying to gain some
advantage from the communication.
Offensive listening: Receiver tries to catch the
speaker in a mistake or contradiction.
Polite listening: Receiver listens mechanically to be
polite rather than to communicate.
Active listening: Requires involvement with the
information and empathy with the speaker’s situation
the basis for effective communication
Written Communication
Channels include reports, letters, memos, online
discussion boards, social media, e-mails, and text
messages
Effective written communication reflects its audience,
the channel carrying the message, and a suitable
degree of formality
E-mail is a very effective communication channel
Volume
Security
Retention
Formal Communication
Flows within the chain of command
Downward communication
Upward communication
Open and honest communication
is key
Formal Communication
With open communication, employees feel free to
express opinions, offer suggestions, and even voice
complaints.
Seven Characteristics of Open Communication:
Employees are valued
High level of trust exists
Conflict is invited and resolved positively
Creative dissent is welcomed
Employee input is solicited
Employees are well-informed
Feedback is ongoing
Informal Communication
Informal communication channels carry
messages outside formally authorized
channels
Organizations becoming more
decentralized/global; informal communication
provides an important source of information
Grapevine: is an internal information channel
that passes information from unofficial sources
Main drawback is gossip; spreads misinformation,
weakens morale
Nonverbal Communication
Nonverbal communication transmits messages
through actions and behaviours.
Gestures, posture, eye contact, tone and volume
of voice, and even clothing choices are all
nonverbal actions that become communication
cues.
Have a far greater impact on communications
than many people realize.
Can show a person’s true feelings and thoughts;
receivers tend to believe nonverbal cues when
they conflict with verbal ones
External Communication
External communication: A meaningful exchange of
information through messages sent between an
organization and its major audiences
Customers, suppliers, firms, general public, government
officials
Every communication with customers should create
goodwill.
Communication during crisis:
Respond quickly.
Put top company management in front of news media.
Stick to the facts.
When you don’t know, offer to find out.
Recognize the existence of a problem.
Speak briefly and clearly.