Report: Comm.

In Human Relations & Human

Resources Organizations
Monday, January 29, 2024
5:15 PM

Three kinds of communication flow in organizational settings: Content of

Communication (Farace, Monge, Russell, 1977)

1. Task-related communication - accompanied by communication that attempted to

maintain the quality of human relationships within the organization--maintenance
communication.

2. Maintenance-related communication - communication on social topics that maintains

human relationships

3. Innovation-related communication - communication is about new ideas. The

interaction about how the job can be done better, new products the organization could
produce, different ways of structuring the organization, and so on.

Direction of Communication Flow

Classical communication
o Flows predominantly downward, directives flows from management to workers.

Human relations approach

o Puts emphasis on horizontal communication, but does not eliminate the need for vertical
information flow.

Human relations theorists believe that an important aspect of need satisfaction is

communication among employees, so interaction that flows horizontally among employees
is just as important as downward communication in the accomplishment of organizational
goals.

The goal of human resources organization is to encourage the flow of ideas from all
locations throughout the organization. Thus, in the simplest sense, communication in this
organizational approach will include all directional flows--downward, upward, horizontal,
and diagonal.

This multi-directional communication flow often takes place in team-based settings in

human resources organization.
A human resources organization will often reconfigure the organizational chart to
optimize the flow of new ideas.

Channel of Communication

Human Relations Approach: Face-to-face interaction -- more appropriate for addressing the
human needs emphasized in the human relations approach.
Human resources theorists desire to maximize the productivity of the organization through the
intelligent use of human resources.

Scholars have suggested that effective managers will work to match the communication
channel to the task at hand (Trevino, Lengel & Daft, 1987).

High-level of "Rich" communication Face-to-face

uncertainty channel interaction
Low-level of "Lean" communication Written
uncertainty channel communication

Style of Communication

Informal communication - less emphasis on titles, formal business attire, and

bureaucratized language.

Dual goals of human resources organizations in enhancing effectiveness and fulfilling

human needs:

TO SATISFY NEEDS FOR AFFILIATION Informal style

FOR ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS Informal style

Human resources manager would not eschew the use of a formal style if it were the
most appropriate for the task at hand.

HUMAN RELATIONS AND HUMAN RESOURCES ORGANIZATIONS TODAY

Human relations theories were proposed as a reaction to classical management

systems and to evidence that meeting human needs is a critical aspect of organizational
performance.

The influence of human relations ideas can clearly be seen in the general attitude of
management toward employees.

E.g., If a manufacturing organization needed to shut down a factory, management

would be likely to consider both economic issues and human factors, such as the
needs of workers and their families for severance pay and job placement or
retraining programs.

In general it is the principles of human resources theorists that are most often reflected
on today's organizations.

Two important developments: The area of consideration of organizations as learning

systems and the development of systems of knowledge management.
 Learning organizations vs. having "learning disabilities" (Senge, 1990; Senge, Roberts,
Ross, Smith & Kleiner, 1994)

a. Learning Organizations - emphasize mental flexibility, team learning, a shared vision,

complex thinking, and personal mastery.
 Can be prompted through participation and dialogue in the workplace.
 Google, Amazon, and Facebook are leading examples of learning organizations
because they have a culture of continuous improvement and innovation.
b. Knowledge Management - see the organization as embodying a cycle of knowledge
creation, development, and application.
 a systematical process which includes collecting, organizing, clarifying,
disseminating and reusing the information and knowledge throughout an
organization.
 KM deals with explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge and should possess
maturity attribute, dynamic attribute and self-growth attribute.
From <https://www.google.com/search?
q=knowledge+management+in+organizations&oq=knowledge+management+in+organizations&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyCQgAEEUYORiABDIHCAEQLhiABDIHCAIQABiABDIHCAMQABiABDIHCAQ
QABiABDIICAUQABgWGB4yCAgGEAAYFhgeMggIBxAAGBYYHjIICAgQABgWGB4yCAgJEAAYFhge0gEIOTgwMmowajeoAgCwAgA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8>

Ex. Toyota - roost at Knowledge Management

 Multinational automotive manufacturer with headquarters in Aichi, Japan.

 Distinguishes between explicit and tacit knowledge:
 Explicit knowledge is data, instructions, and procedures that can be captured in
words and numbers.
 Tacit knowledge is gained by experience, resides in the minds of experts, and is
harder to transmit to others.
 In order to share tacit knowledge internally, Toyota uses a Job Instruction (JI)
document--which has its roots in WWII.
 It was essential for their products to be very reliable. Toyota came up with the JI
Document to standardize production, improve safety, and ensure quality.
 Today, Toyota has hundreds of JI documents in use to make a single car.
 When launching a new factory, Toyota rigorously promotes knowledge transfer. The
company send two-three hundred new employees to work in an existing factory. There
they work side-by-side with the more experienced employees on the assembly line, and
study the production system.
 After initial training on the job, the newer employees are transferred back to the new
factory. They are accompanied by one-two hundred highly experienced employees who
work alongside them, and ensure that Toyota’s finely-tuned production system is
implanted into the new site

From <https://document360.com/blog/5-real-life-examples-of-knowledge-management-success-you-can-learn-from/>

Developed the notion that effective organizations are those that can harness the cognitive
abilities of their employees, and indeed, these ideas developed from the kernel of the
human resources approach are seen by many as the ideal way to run contemporary
organizations.

The WHAT of Human Resources Programs

Organizational programs that exemplifies human resources all emphasize team management
and the importance of employee involvement in ensuring product or service quality and
organizational productivity.

 Cotton (1993) defines employee involvement as "a participative process that uses the
entire capacity of workers, designed to encourage employee commitment to
organizational success" (p.3).
 The goal is generally one of creating a "knowledge-enable organization" (Tobin, 1998) in
which the collective knowledge of workers facilitates high performance (Fisher &
Duncan, 1998).

All share the basic principle of trying to structure the organization in ways that
maximize the contribution of employees, both individually and collectively.

Pfeffer (1998) labels this important principle as "putting people first" in his book The Human
Equation.
 This book--based on both anectodal evidence and social scientific research--highlights
seven practices of successful organizations that serve as a useful summary of what is
done in organizations today that follow human resources principles.

The HOW if Human Resources Programs

As Jassawalla and Sashittal (1999) note with regard to collaborative teams, "although they are
formed with great optimism, few are managed for success."

 Know when team-based management is appropriate.

 Consider the attitudes of top management
 Deal with cynicism about change
 Facilitate the translation process