Communicating

in Teams and
Organizations
 Four Functions of Communication

 Knowledge
management

 Decision making

 Coordinating work
activities

 Fulfilling drive to bond

©Mike Kepka/San Francisco Chronicle

2 © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Communication Process Model

Sender Receiver
Transmit
Message
Receive
Form Encode Decode
encoded
message message message
message

Noise

Decode Receive Encode Form

feedback feedback feedback feedback
Transmit
Feedback

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Communicating Through E-mail

Preferred medium for

coordinating work
Tends to increase
communication volume
Significantly alters
communication flow
 Reduces some face-to-face
and telephone communication
 Increases information flow to
©UK Out Epa-Photo/PA Files/Phil Nobl. higher levels in the
organization

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Evaluating E-mail Communication

Advantages of E-mail
 Messages quickly formed,
edited, sent, and stored
 Needs little coordination
 Random information access
 Fewer social status barriers
Problems with E-mail
 Information overload
 Flaming
©UK Out Epa-Photo/PA Files/Phil Nobl.
 Interpreting emotions
 Lacks social support

5 © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Guessing E-Mail Emoticons

:-) Happy

:-} Smirk

<:-) Dumb question

:-X OOPS!

:-j Tongue in cheek

{} Hug
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 Nonverbal Communication

 Actions, facial gestures, voice intonation,

silence, etc.
 Transmits most info in face-to-face meetings
 Influences meaning of verbal and written
symbols
 Less rule bound than verbal communication
 Important part of emotional labor
 Automatic and unconscious

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 Emotional Contagion

The automatic process of “catching” or sharing

another person’s emotions by mimicking their facial
expressions and other nonverbal behavior
Emotional contagion serves three purposes:
 Provides continuous feedback to speaker
 Increases emotional understanding of the other person’s
experience
 Communicates a collective sentiment -- sharing the
experience

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 Hierarchy of Media Richness

Rich

Overloaded Face-to-face
Zone
Telephone
Media
Richness E-mail
Oversimplified
Newsletters Zone

Lean
Routine/ Nonroutine/
Situation Ambiguous
Clear
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 Communication Barriers

Perceptions

Filtering

Language
 Jargon
 Ambiguity
Information Overload

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Information Overload
Episodes of
information
overload

Employee’s
information
processing
capacity

Information Load

Time
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 Managing Information Overload

Solution 1: Increase information processing

capacity
 Learn to digest information more quickly
 Temporarily work longer hours
Solution 2: Reduce information load
 Buffering
 Omitting
 Summarizing

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Cross-Cultural Communication

Verbal differences
 Language
Nonverbal differences
 Voice intonation
 Interpreting nonverbal
meaning
 Importance of verbal versus
nonverbal
 Silence and conversational
©Mark M. Lawrence/Corbis overlaps

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Gender Communication Differences

Men Women
Report talk Rapport talk

Gives advice Gives advice indirectly

quickly and and reluctantly
directly
Avoids asking for Frequently asks for
information information

Less sensitive to More sensitive to

nonverbal cues nonverbal cues

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 Getting Your Message Across

Empathize

Repeat the message

Use timing effectively

Be descriptive

© Photodisc. With permission.

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 Active Listening Process/Strategies

SENSING
• Postpone evaluation
• Avoid interruptions
• Maintain interest

Active
Listening

RESPONDING EVALUATING
• Show interest • Empathize
• Clarify the message • Organize information

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 Communicating in Hierarchies

1. Work space design

2. Newsletters and e-zines

3. Employee surveys

4. Direct communication
with management
Windsor Star Group

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 Organizational Grapevine

Early Research Findings

 Transmits information rapidly in all directions
 Follows a cluster chain pattern
 More active in homogeneous groups
 Transmits some degree of truth
Changes Due to Internet
 E-mail becoming main grapevine medium
 Social networks are now global
 Vault.com extends gossip to everyone

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 Grapevine: Positives and Negatives

Benefits
 Supplements information
 Strengthens corporate culture
 Relieves anxiety
 Signals that problems exist
Problems
 Suggests lack of concern for employees
 Distortions might escalate anxiety

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