14e

Organizational
Behavior
Human Behavior at
Work

Chapter Three
Managing
Communications
John W. Newstrom

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 Outline
• Fundamentals of communication
• The importance of communication
• The two-way communication process
• Communication Barriers
• Downward Communication
• Upward Communication
• Lateral Communication
• Informal Communication (Figure 3.7)

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 Communication
• Transfer of information and understanding
from one person to another
– Requires a sender and a receiver
• Goal is to have the receiver:
– Understand the intended message
– Act upon the received information, if required
• Not complete till the message is received,
interpreted, and understood
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 Importance of Communication
• Helps an organization achieve its goals by
accomplishing all the basic management
functions
• Facilitates better performance and improves
job satisfaction
• Open communication - Contributes to
transparency
– Transparency: Being open, candid, clear, honest,
and accessible
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 Importance of Communication
• Managers:
– Initiate communication
– Pass on messages to and interpret
communications for employees
• Executive summary: Tool used to
communicate to employees and superiors
– Provides concise highlights of a longer document
or set of reports
– Aids in rapid decision-making
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 Figure 3.1 - The Communication Process

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 Two-Way Communication Process
• Key to successful encoding lies in the process
of framing an issue for presentation
– Framing: Usage of rich, colorful, carefully selected
language to shape the perceptions of recipients
• Benefits
– Both parties experience greater satisfaction
– Frustration is prevented
– Improved work accuracy

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 Potential Problems of Two-Way
Communication Process
 Polarized: Taking extreme positions
 Defensive reasoning: Results in a drive toward
control and an emphasis on winning
 Cognitive dissonance: Internal conflict and
anxiety that occurs when people receive
information incompatible with:
 Their value systems or prior decisions
 Other information they may have

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 Potential Problems of Two-Way
Communication Process
 Form of self-revelation to others and a source of
evaluation
 Face-saving: Attempt to preserve or enhance
one’s valued self-concept when it is attacked
 Regrettable messages that hurt one’s self-
concept, personal image, or social honor
 Use of inappropriate tone when conveying a
message

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 Noise
• Barrier to communication
• Emerge in:
– Physical environment
– Individual’s emotions
• Affect communication by:
– Completely preventing it
– Partially filtering it
– Giving it incorrect meaning
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 Types of Communication Barriers
• Personal barriers: Arise from human
emotions, values, and poor listening habits
– Psychological distance: Feeling of being
emotionally separated
• Physical barriers: communication
interferences that occur in the environment in
which the communication takes place
– Proxemics: Study of spatial separation

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 Types of Communication Barriers
– Semantic barriers: Arise from limitations in the
symbols with which communication occurs
– Semantics: Science of meaning
– Jargon: Specialized language of a group
– Challenging for people from different cultures
– Inference: Interpreting symbols based on
assumptions instead of facts

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 Communication Symbols
 Words - Every common word has several
meanings
 Context - Environment surrounding the use of a
word
 Social cues: Positive or negative bits of
information
 Readability: Process of making writing and speech
more understandable
 Pictures - Clarify word communication
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 Communication Symbols
 Should be combined with well-chosen words and
actions to be effective
 Action
 Nonverbal communication: Communicating through
one’s actions
 Aspects
 Failure to act is an important way of communicating
 Actions speak louder than words
 Credibility gap: Difference between what is said and
done
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 Communication Symbols
 Factors influencing communication credibility
 Trustworthiness
 Expertise
 Dynamism
 Body language: Communicating meaning with
one’s body in interpersonal interaction
 Important supplement to verbal communication

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 Figure 3.2 - Clear Writing Guidelines

Source: Adapted from Frank Luntz, “Words that Pack Power,” BusinessWeek, November 3, 2008, p. 106 and Readingease: The Key to Understanding,
Employee Relations Staff. General Motors Corporation, n.d.
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 Figure 3.3 - Primary Impact of Barriers on
the Steps in Communication

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 Downward Communication
• Flow of information in an organization from
higher to lower levels of authority
• Key to better communication is to have
sensitive managers who:
– Ensure careful preparation of messages
– Convey messages with candor, energy, personal
stories, and warmth
– Are open to honest communication with
employees
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 Downward Communication
 Prerequisites for managers
 Develop a positive communication attitude
 Continually work to be informed
 Consciously plan for communication
 Develop trust
 Problem
 Communication overload: Employees receive
more communication inputs than they can process
or more than they need
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 Conditions Encouraging Acceptance of a
Communication
 Acknowledged legitimacy of the sender
 Perceived competence of the sender relative to
the issue
 Trust in the sender as a leader and as a person
 Perceived credibility of the message received
 Acceptance of the tasks and goals that the
communication is trying to accomplish
 Power of the sender to enforce sanctions on the
receiver
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 Communication Needs of Employees at
Lower Levels
• Job instruction - Objective requirements,
opportunities, and problem areas of the job
should be stated
• Performance feedback: Helps people know
what to do and how well they are meeting
their goals
– Feedback-seeking behavior: Searching for
information about one’s prior performance and
possible areas of improvement
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 Communication Needs of Employees at
Lower Levels
 News - Downward messages should reach
employees in a timely manner
 Social support: Perception that one is cared for,
esteemed, and valued

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 Upward Communication
 Management needs to listen closely to the
employees
 Initiative and positive action, and
 Sensitivity to weak signals
 Adaptability to different channels of employee
information
 Difficulties
 Delay - Slow movement of information to higher
levels
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 Upward Communication
 Filtering - Partial screening out of information
 Organizational silence: Conscious or unconscious
withholding of information on the part of employees
 Employee’s legitimate need for a response
 Distortion - Willful modification of a message
intended to achieve one’s personal objectives

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 Upward Communication Practices
• Questioning
– Open questions: Introduce a broad topic and give
people an opportunity to respond in many ways
– Closed questions: Focus on a narrower topic and
invite the receiver to provide a specific response
• Active listening: Requires hearing and use of
mind
– Helps receivers understand both the factual idea
and the emotional message the sender intended
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 Figure 3.4 - Guidelines for Effective Listening

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 Upward Communication Practices
• Employee meetings - Probe in depth about
issues that are on employees' minds
• Open-door policy: Encourages employees to
come to the higher management with any
matter that concerns them
• Participation in social groups - Information
gained on a spontaneous basis
– Reveals true conditions better than most formal
communications
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 Lateral Communication
• Communication across chains of command
– Boundary spanners: Employees who play a major
role in lateral communication
• Have strong communication links within their
department, with people in other units, and with the
external community
– Networks: Group of people who develop and
maintain contact to exchange information
informally
• Networking: Being actively involved in a network
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 Figure 3.5 - Suggestions for Developing and
Using a Personal Network

Sources: Some items adapted from William C. Byham, “Start Networking Right Away (Even If You Hate It),” Harvard Business Review, January 2009, p.
22, and Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha, “The Real Way to Build a Network,” Fortune, February 6, 2012, pp. 23–30.

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 Electronic Communication
• Social networking: Connecting people into a
form of virtual community through Internet
sites and software programs
• Wikis: Web pages that enable their users to
add or modify content
– Wikipedia: Collaboratively created and constantly
updated collection of articles

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 Electronic Communication
 Electronic mail: Computer-based communication
system that allows the user to send a message to
someone instantaneously
 Disadvantages
 Loss of face-to-face contact
 Temptation to send spontaneous and emotion-laden
messages
 Risks of using acronyms and emoticons that can be
misunderstood

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 Electronic Communication
• Difficulty of accurately conveying and interpreting
emotions in brief messages
• Blogs: Online diaries or journals created and
updated frequently by individuals
– Twittering: Expressing oneself in a brief message
in real time to a self-selected network of
interested persons

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 Telecommuting
 Working electronically from home or a satellite
location through computer links to their offices
 Personal advantages
 Freedom from the distractions of the workplace
 Reduced time and money spent on commuting
 Reduced expenditures for work-relevant clothing
 Ability to spend more time with family members

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 Telecommuting
 Corporate advantages
 Improved productivity and employee loyalty
 Reduced space requirements
 Opportunity to hire key talent from a distant city
 Capacity to accommodate disabled or chronically
ill employees

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 Telecommuting
 Social benefit - Reduction in auto traffic and
pollution
 Problems
 Managers cannot have direct control over their
employees
 Possibility of being overlooked at promotion time
 Risk of getting burned out from the temptation to
put in more hours daily
 Feeling socially isolated
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 Telecommuting
 Temptation to engage in household activities
instead of working
 Consequence of physical isolation
 Feeling out of touch with regular networks
 Unable to experience intellectual stimulation from
peers
 Removed from informal channels of
communication
 Insulated from most sources of social support
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 Virtual Offices
• Physical office space and individual desks
replaced with an array of portable
communication tools
• Employees can perform their work from
anywhere
• Risk - Loss of an opportunity for social
interaction

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 Grapevine
• All informal communication systems
• Coexists with formal communication system
• Electronic grapevine: Messages are flashed on
computer screens
• Features
– Cluster chain: Each link in the chain informs a
cluster of other people instead of only one person
– Liaison individual: Active communicators on the
grapevine for any specific unit of information
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 Figure 3.7 - Factors That Encourage
Grapevine Activity

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 Rumor
• Grapevine information communicated without
secure standards of evidence being present
• Elaborating: Adding new details in order to
include one’s own strong feelings, judgment,
and reasoning
• Types
– Historical and explanatory
– Spontaneous and action-oriented
– Negative or positive
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 Figure 3.8 - Guidelines for
Control of Rumor

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