MAKERERE UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
COURSEWORK FOR MBA
COURSE UNIT: ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
COURSE CODE: MBA7209
FACILITATORS: Prof. J.C Munene and Assoc. Prof. Collins Aijuka
GROUP 8 MEMBERS

TOOL REVIEWED: POSITIVE MEANINGS AND POSITIVE CONNECTIONS

By (Kim Cameron, Jane E. Dutton & R.E quinn Amy.W)

S/N NAME OF MEMBER REGISTRATION NO. STUDENT NO.

1. AINEMBABAZI DOREEN
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

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TABLE OF CONTENT

Section One

Introduction

The paper is based on a review of a book entitled, Positive meanings and positive
connections. The book provides an understanding that on how energy and vitality are created
and spread in the organization to create positive connections with others and how positive
meaning engage processes and produce outcomes that help to explain extraordinary
experience and performance in organizations.

The paper consists of five sections; Section one which covers the introduction, background to
the study, statement of opportunity, purpose of the study and the conceptual framework.

Section Two discusses the concepts as presented in the conceptual framework which
includes: High quality communications, high quality relationship, meaningful work and
positive connections.

Section Three demonstrates the relationship between the variables which is high quality
Relationship, high quality communications, meaningful work, and positive connections.

Section Four shows the link between the opportunity and the conceptual framework to
encourage organizations to grasp the opportunity.

Finally, section five looks at the conclusion to the study and a case study.

BACKGROUND
Human connections in organizations are vital. Organizations depend on individuals to interact
and form connections to accomplish the work of the organization. The connections formed in
work contexts, therefore, have a significant effect on people just by virtue of the time spent
there.
The quality of connection, in turn, impacts on how organizations function.
We need to understand that,

Positive meaning and Positive connections is a vital tool that enables us appreciate how
individuals in organizations are able to thrive and achieve positive outcomes and productivity
through attaching value to the work they do while interacting and relating with each other.
We analyze how individuals can make sense out of their work, which in turn fosters them to
create a sense of satisfaction, fulfillment and derive purpose from the work they do.

Positive connections: A connection is a very brief interaction between two or more

individuals that enhances Positive feelings. They are bonds that exist between individuals
because of social interaction and mutual awareness. High Quality connections are usually
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formed because of lasting implications. For instance, feelings of vitality (energy and positive
action), of aliveness, openness, feelings of mutuality to mention but a few. These connections
can even last a lifetime.
Positive meaning is the way individuals in an organization make sense out of the work they
do. The focus here is positioned on how individuals perceive the work they do and its
importance to their lives and the organization at large. In this, people also perceive meaning
as a tool that imposes stability on Life. In the work life setting, people strive to fulfill needs
for purpose, values, efficacy (being able to perform a task to the best degree) and self-worth.

Centenary bank Kasese branch started with six staff and two motorcycles covering a vast area
in the district. The bank needed to achieve targets which like number of accounts, loans, and
profit. To increase the targets, the management advised the officers to visit vendors in the
markets, farmers, church organizations, schools and district officials which enabled the bank
to set up account opening and loan appraisal drives. This process enabled the number of
accounts rise from 900 to 7,000 and loans from 400M to 3.2bn. The branch also surpassed its
profit target by 75M. The business community in Bwera town council at the Boarder of
Uganda with DRC also asked for a branch and this was considered.
Organizations need to develop ways of relating with and involving individuals to accomplish
work and achieve high performance.

STATEMENT OF OPPORTUNITY
Organizations ensure positive connections by employing high quality connections achieved
through high quality communications and high-quality relationships. The expansion and
coverage of centenary bank Kasese to other areas made it easy for the bank in terms of
account opening and loan appraisals achieved through high quality connections

PUPOSE OF THE STUDY

The study seeks to examine the relationship between high quality communication, high
quality relationship, meaningful work and positive connections

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 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

High Quality Communication

i) Frequent
communication
ii) Timely
Meaningful work Positive meanings
communication
iii) Accurate and positive
i) Employee
communication
involvement
iv) Problem solving connections
ii) Visionary
comm
Leadership

High quality relationships

i) Shared goals
ii) Shared
knowledge
iii) Mutual respect

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 SECTION TWO
2.0 Discussion of the concepts in the conceptual frame work
In this section, we shall be able to discuss the different variables introduced in the conceptual
framework so that they are fully understood.

2.1 High Quality Communication

Communication is much more than just the exchange of words. It is about what we say, how
we say it, why we say it, when we say it, and what we neglect to say. It is our facial
expressions, our gestures, our posture, and our vocal tones. Communication includes both
verbal and nonverbal language. Communication is the energy that fuels the caring, giving,
sharing, and affirming among organizational members. Without genuine listening and sharing
of ourselves, we cannot know one another.

Effective Communication helps group members to build trust and respect, foster learning and
accomplish goals. Written, oral and body language are important tools for sharing ideas,
feelings, and commitments. A group is made up of people who share a common interest and
commitment, and yet perhaps see things from a variety of perspectives. Effective
communication is the way this diverse group of people will be able to understand the issues
and make decisions for effective change.

Accurate communication
The coordination of highly interdependent work depends not only on the frequency and
timelines of communication, but also on its accuracy. Communication is aided to be accurate
when it is free from error or delay. Research has shown that the accurate communication is
important for supporting effective group process.

Frequent communication
information needed to manage task interdependencies are exchanged through communication.
Therefore, Frequent communication helps to build relationships through the familiarity that
grows from repetition.
Problem solving communication
Effective coordination of interdependent work requires that participants engage in problem
solving communication. But it should be known that the most common response to
interdependence is conflict (Pondy, 1967), blaming and avoidance of blame (Dunnellon,
1994; Gittell, 2000)

Timely communication
For communication to be of good quality it must be timely. Delayed communication may
result in errors or delays, with negative implications for organizational outcomes

2.2 High Quality Relationship

Relationships refer to an enduring association between two persons (Reis, 2001)

Shared Goals
Shared goals motivate participants to move beyond sub goal optimization and the act with
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regard for overall work process. With shared goals for the work process, participants have a
powerful bond and can more easily come to compatible conclusions about how to respond as
new information becomes available.
Mutual respect
Respect for the work of others encourages participants to value the contributions of others
and consider the impact of their actions on others, further reinforcing the inclination to act
with regard for overall work process. Respect for each other’s competence creates a powerful
bond, and is integral to the effective coordination of highly interdependent work (Eisenberg,
1990; Rubenstein, Barth, & Douds, 1971)

Shared knowledge
Shared knowledge informs participants of how their own tasks and the tasks of others
contribute to the overall work process, enabling them to act with regard for that overall work
process. When participants share knowledge of each other’s tasks and w they fit together,
they have a powerful bond that provides content for knowing who will be impacted by any
given change and therefore for knowing who needs to know what and with what urgency.

2.3 Meaningful work

Employees should have a sense of meaning and purpose in what they do. Employees doing
“dirty work” (Hughes, 1951) such as public toilet cleaning or refuse collection seem to be just
as able to find meaning in their work. They view their work as job or career as a calling (see
their work as fulfilling and socially useful). People with a work-related calling tend to have
more rewarding relationships at work and a stronger identification with and commitment to
the work. People in jobs that are personally meaningful are more engaged than those that are
not. Organizations should strive to let their employees see meaning in the work that they do,
so that their levels of engagement and involvement goes higher. The concept of meaning of
works is one that is often studied (Colby, Sippola, & Phelps, 2002; Chapter 20). In our
consumer-led society the motivation to work has traditionally come from the need to earn a
living and is often seen to an end (Reeves, 2001). It has been linked to words such as grind,
toil, slog and sweat. However, there is clearly a positive side of work. Many people find work
to be a deeply positive experience. Work can be enjoyable, challenging, and meaningful
provided the work environment is conducive to facilitate employee happiness and wellbeing
(Stairs, 2005). Being without work can be damaging because of its financial consequences.
Good work is one that is excellent, ethical and engaging.

Being engaged in meaningful work is associated with both personality hardiness and longer
term benefits. Meaning consists of two primary elements: comprehension and purpose.
Individuals need to understand themselves, their organizations and how they fit within the
organization. This gives rise to comprehension in work which in turn drives one to pursue
purposes in work. Comprehension provides the foundation for purpose and together these two
elements provide people with a sense that their work is a source and expression of meaning in
their lives. As individuals deepen their understanding of who they are as workers, what their
organization is about, and how they uniquely fit within and contribute to their organization,
they will develop a sense of comprehension about themselves as workers that will generate a
purpose for their work.

Organizations should therefore encourage employees to attune to the organization’s purpose.

Viewing work as meaning is expected to benefit the employee who holds such views and the
organization they work for. vi

Meaning is developed through a sense-making process where the individual considers the
rewards and enjoyment work provides (Pratt &Ashforth, 2003; Starbuck & Milliken, 1988).
Other research on the meaning of work has focused on defining and investigating the effects
and characteristics of workers who consider their work to be a calling (Dobrow, 2004; Weiss,
Skelley, Hall &Haughey, 2003). Bellah and colleagues, however, in creating the job and
career orientations posited that there are other relationships an individual can have with work
that provide a sense of meaning. The tripartite concept of work orientation describes three
ways an individual can derive fulfillment from work (Bellah, et. al, 1985; Wrzesniewski, et.
al, 1997). Further, work orientation is an important individual difference worthy of
investigation because of its potential relationships to well-being.
Pratt and Ashfor define meaning as a subjective kind of sense that people make of their work.
Other scholars define meaning as a tool used by individuals for imposing stability on life.
Positive meaning is defined as a connection between two different entities’ or things that
create nonphysical reality accessible to humans (Baumesister&Vohs, 2002). (Sverko&Vizek-
Vidoviae, 1995), that one’s work is believed to provide one with many things; economic
gain, social status, a sense of belonging and even a sense of purpose or meaning.
Fostering meaningfulness in working comes from doing a specific type of work, not from
where that work is done. This is the creation of some sort of person-job fit. And the
meaningfulness at working is logic of person –fit organization (Kristof, 1996). These can be
done through employee involvement and having a visionary leadership.

Visionary leadership
According to Burns (1978: 4), “the result of transforming leadership is a relationship of
mutual stimulation and elevation that converts followers into leaders and may convert leaders
into moral agents.” Transformational leaders throw themselves into a dynamic relationship
with followers who will feel elevated by it and become more active themselves, hereby
creating new cadres of leaders. Transformational leadership alters and elevates the motives,
values, and goals of followers through the vital teaching role of leadership, enabling leaders
and followers to be united in the pursuit of higher goals. Transformational leaders raise their
followers up through levels of morality.

The issue of moral leadership concerned Burns (1978) the most. He considered moral
leadership as emerging from, and always returning to, the fundamental wants, needs,
aspirations, and values of the followers. Satisfaction of followers' authentic needs is the
primary objective of moral leadership. Burns held that transformational leadership
“ultimately becomes moral in that it raises the level of human conduct and ethical aspiration
of both leader and led, and thus it has a transforming effect on both” (page 20).

Studies have found significant and positive relationships between transformational leadership
and the amount of effort followers are willing to exert, satisfaction with the leader, ratings of
job performance, and perceived effectiveness (Bass, 1998). Howell and Frost (1989) showed
that individuals working under a charismatic leader had higher task performance (in terms of
the number of courses of action suggested and quality of performance), higher task
satisfaction and lower role conflict and ambiguity in comparison to individuals working
under considerate leaders or under structuring leaders. Leader's vision and vision
implementation through task cues affects performance and many attitudes of subordinates
(Kirkpatrick & Locke, 1996).
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Baum, Locke, and Kirkpatrick (1998) found additional support for this in their study. They
concluded that vision and vision communication have positive effects upon organizational
level performances. Stewart (2006) did a meta-analysis of 93 studies and found that
transformational leadership exhibited a consistently positive relationship with collective
performance. Zhu, Chew, and Spangler (2005) found that human-capital-enhancing human
resource management fully mediated the relationship between CEO transformational
leadership and subjective assessment of organizational outcomes. Keller (2006) studied
transformational leadership, initiating structure, and selected substitutes for leadership as
longitudinal predictors of performance.

Employee involvement
Employee involvement is creating an environment in which people have an impact on
decisions and actions that affect their jobs. Employee involvement is not the goal nor is it a
tool, as practiced in many organizations. Rather, it is a management and leadership
philosophy about how people are most enabled to contribute to continuous improvement and
the ongoing success of their work organization.
Efforts to increase employee involvement empower workers, involve them in decision
making and give them increased job autonomy. Employee involvement programs can
increase job satisfaction, employee morale and commitment to the organization, as well as
increase productivity, reduce turnover and absenteeism and enhance the quality of products
and services.
Efforts to involve employees in meaningful ways include: Self-managed work teams,
Employee committees or task forces, Continuous improvement teams, Participative decision
making and Employee suggestion forums, such as a suggestion box and monthly meetings

2.4 Positive Connections

Human connections in organization are vital and leave an impact on how individuals and
organizations function. Connections have been defined by many authors. (Berscheid& Lopes,
1997) define connection to mean a dynamic, living tissue that exists between two people
when there is some contact between them involving mutual awareness and social interaction.
(Gabarro, 1987) is of a view that connections can occur because of a momentary encounter
and can also develop and change over a long period.

Therefore, connection is vital when it is of high quality between people to make them flourish
and perform extra ordinarily at their workplaces hence quality of connection formed needs to
be good. Quality of connection has been defined by (Jane&Emmily at 263) in terms of
whether the connective tissue between individuals life is giving or life depleting. That like a
healthy blood vessel that connects parts of our body, high quality connection between two
people allows the transfer of vital nutrients; it is flexible, strong, and resilient. For example
one person’s expression of the power of a more long lasting work based connections: “I
haven’t chosen this relationship to be important to me. It just –is. She is always there in the
back (of my mind)

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