CHAPTER 12

Work, Group, and Team

Communication
 Chapter Outline
• Communicating in Organizations
• Relationships in Work Groups and Teams
• Leadership, Power, and Influence in Working Groups
• Advancing Your Career
 Learning Outcomes
You should be able to:
• identify your formal and informal relationships at work and
suggest how you can expand the number of relationships you
have so you can operate most effectively in your career;
• describe situations in which groups and teams are most
effective and appropriate;
• analyze the relational roles you need to fulfill to help a working
group operate effectively;
• diagnose the culture of an organization and determine how
well it fits with your personal communication style;
 Learning Outcomes, cont’d
• choose the type of interaction (face-to-face or mediated) that
can maximize your on-the-job effectiveness;
• classify the types of power you possess in a given group and
describe how you can use them to help the group operate
effectively; and
• apply the guidelines to plan, participate in, and follow up on
an employment interview in a way that creates a positive
relationship with a potential employer.
 Communicating in Organizations
Formal communication
• Interaction that follows officially established
channels.
• Upward communication: Subordinates communicate
with their supervisors.
– What subordinates are doing
– Unsolved work problems
– Suggestions for improvement
– How subordinates are feeling
 Communicating in Organizations,
cont’d
• Downward communication: Managers address messages
to subordinates.
– Job instructions
– Job rationale
– Feedback
• Horizontal communication: Between people who do not
have direct supervisor–subordinate relationships.
– Task coordination
– Sharing information
– Conflict resolution
 Communicating in Organizations,
cont’d
Informal communication
• Interaction that does not follow officially sanctioned
routes; based on friendships, shared personal or
career interests, and proximity.
• Functions of informal communication:
– Can confirm, contradict, expand on, or circumvent formal
messages.
– Often more efficient and accurate than formal networks.
 Relationships in Work Groups and
Teams
• Work groups
– Three or more people who have ongoing interactions with
each other and who depend upon and support each other
in order to accomplish a goal.
• Teams
– Specialized types of work groups that work together to
accomplish a specific task and usually have a strong sense
of collective identity.
– Have members with distinct and complementary skills and
resources.
 Relationships in Work Groups and
Teams, cont’d
Characteristics of groups and teams
• Advantages:
– Better for situations where there is time available for
deliberation, a number of individuals have a stake in the
outcome, and the task is complicated and requires a broad
range of knowledge and skills.
– Groups often produce results greater than the strengths of the
individuals involved due to synergy (energy created through
positive exchanges in a group).
– Groups tend to be more accurate in their work.
– Groups produce greater commitment to outcomes.
 Relationships in Work Groups and
Teams, cont’d
Characteristics of groups and teams, cont’d
• Disadvantages:
– Groups require time to discuss and develop ideas.
– Individual members may feel pressure for acceptance in
the group and may be less likely to express disagreement,
resulting in groupthink (when individuals suspend their
critical thinking to achieve agreement).
– Groups can include people who fail to do their fair share of
the work (social loafing).
 Relationships in Work Groups and
Teams, cont’d
Personal skills in work groups and teams
• Effective team members need both task-related and
relational skills.
• Relational roles in a group:
– encouraging participation
– harmonizing
– relieving tension
– evaluating the group’s emotional climate
– giving praise
– listening thoughtfully to the concerns of others
 Relationships in Work Groups and
Teams, cont’d
Personal skills in work groups and teams, cont’d
• Most groups go through predictable series of stages:
– Orientation stage: Polite and harmonious beginnings
– Conflict stage: Disagreement emerges
– Emergence stage: Members accept team’s decision
– Reinforcement stage: Members endorse decision
 Relationships in Work Groups and
Teams, cont’d
Group cultures
• Each group has its own culture with many
dimensions of communication:
– Sociability: Friendly or aloof
– Distribution of power: Controlled by authority figures or
shared among members
– Tolerance of new ideas: Welcome or resisted
– Ways of managing conflict: Direct or indirect
– Emotional support: Scarce or plentiful
 Relationships in Work Groups and
Teams, cont’d
Face-to-face and mediated relationships
• People in working relationships can communicate either face-
to-face or through a variety of electronic media.
• Virtual teams
– Use mediated communication to connect.
– Members may be in different locations and time zones.
• One of the most significant challenges for virtual teams is
establishing trust.
– The leanness of mediated channels may create ambiguity.
– Asynchronicity may lead to misunderstandings and conflict.
– Fewer opportunities for non-work-related social interaction.
 Relationships in Work Groups and
Teams, cont’d
Face-to-face and mediated relationships, cont’d
• Establishing trust on virtual teams
– Ensure team member roles are clearly understood,
documented, and coordinated.
– Frequently exchange information between leaders and
team members.
– Create a culture of helping each other.
 Relationships in Work Groups and
Teams, cont’d
Face-to-face and mediated relationships, cont’d
• Five behaviours that distinguish high performing
virtual teams:
– They match the technology to the task.
– They make intentions clear.
– They stay in sync.
– They are responsive and supportive.
– They are open and inclusive.
Leadership, Power, and Influence in
Working Groups
Types of leadership
• Designated leader
– Person or people with official title that indicates authority.
• Emergent leader
– Chosen by group either formally or informally.
• Distributed leadership
– Relies on collective efforts of several people to influence
others and achieve goals rather than on influence of a
single person.
Leadership, Power, and Influence in
Working Groups, cont’d
Types of power
• Power: The potential to influence an individual or group.
• Legitimate power
– Derives from belief that a person in a particular position (such as
supervisor or manager) has the right to tell others what to do.
• Expert power
– Comes from group’s belief that an individual has a high level of
knowledge or a highly specialized skill.
Leadership, Power, and Influence in
Working Groups, cont’d
Types of power, cont’d
• Reward power
– Rests on ability to give incentives and compensation.
• Coercive power
– Based on the use of unpleasant consequences, threats, or force.
• Referent power
– The influence that comes from group members liking and
respecting one another.
– Usually people with good interpersonal skills and integrity.
– Dependent on perceived trustworthiness of individual.
Leadership, Power, and Influence in
Working Groups, cont’d
Leadership that supports diversity and inclusion
• Foundations of an inclusive workplace:
– Feeling safe.
– Being involved and engaged in the workgroup.
– Feeling respected and valued.
– Feeling influential.
– Feeling free to be authentic and whole.
– Recognizing, attending to, and honouring diversity.
 Advancing Your Career
Networking
• The process of deliberately meeting people and
maintaining contacts to get career information,
advice, and leads.
– Identify and cultivate your networks.
– Keep your online profile professional.
– Persist through setbacks.
 Advancing Your Career, cont’d
Interviewing
• Common characteristics of an interview:
– Purpose: Interview always has a goal.
– Structure: Has distinct opening, body, and conclusion.
– Control: Interviewer’s job is to keep exchange moving
toward preset purpose.
– Balance of participation: Person being interviewed should
do about 70 per cent of the talking.
 Advancing Your Career, cont’d
Before the interview
• Clarify the interviewer’s goals.
– Understand what skills and abilities they’re looking for.
– Do advance research on the organization.
• Be prepared to make a good first impression.
– Have a well-constructed cover letter, resumé, and online profile.
– Plan to arrive 10 to 15 minutes early.
– Dress formally and conservatively.
– Take materials that help the employer learn why you are ready,
willing, and able to take the job (e.g., extra copies of your
resumé, something with which to take notes, copies of past
work, letters of recommendation, references, etc.).
 Advancing Your Career, cont’d
During the interview
• Get off to a good start.
– Establish some common ground with the interviewer.
• Give clear, detailed answers.
– Be as specific and helpful as you can. A good answer provides a
general theme and then offers specifics.
– Good interviewers will ask follow-up questions asking for
examples, so come prepared with stories, illustrations, or
examples that provide evidence of your skills.
 Advancing Your Career, cont’d
During the interview, cont’d
• Keep your answers focused.
– As a general rule, your answers should not run much over a
minute or two without inviting the interviewer either to follow
up or to move on to the next question.
• Follow the interviewer’s lead.
– Let the interviewer set the emotional tone of the session.
– Try to match his or her level of formality without becoming
insincere.
– If the tone of the interview does not fit well with you, you may
not feel comfortable in that organization.
 Advancing Your Career, cont’d
During the interview, cont’d
• Arrive prepared to answer the interviewer’s questions.
– No matter the specific question, an employer is always asking a
potential employee “How can you help us?”
• Arrive prepared to ask the interviewer questions.
– Good questions demonstrate the homework you have done on
the organization and indicate initiative and inquisitiveness.
– In the first interview, avoid questions about salary and benefits.
 Advancing Your Career, cont’d
Common employment interview questions
• Tell me something about yourself.
• Why are you interested in this position?
• What accomplishments have given you the most satisfaction?
• What university subjects did you like best and least?
• Where do you see yourself in five years?
• What major problems have you faced, and how have you
dealt with them?
• What are your greatest strengths?
• What are your greatest weaknesses?
 Advancing Your Career, cont’d
After the interview
• Follow up with a note of thanks via email to the
interviewer.
– Express your appreciation for the chance to get acquainted with
the company.
– Let the interviewer know that the session left you excited about
the chance of becoming associated with it.
– Mention specific information you learned about the company
during the interview.
– Show how the things you learned make you a good match for
the job.
– Confirm the next steps in the interviewing process.