Welcome to
Organisational
Behaviour
UBSS Sydney CBD Campus
Level 10 & 11 233 Castlereagh Street
Sydney NSW2000
1-1
Communicating in teams and organizations
1-2
Learning objectives
1 Explain why communication is important in organisations
and discuss four influences on effective communication
encoding and decoding.
2 Compare and contrast the advantages of and problems
with electronic mail, verbal communication media and
non-verbal communication.
3 Explain how social acceptance and media richness
influence the preferred communication channel.
Continued
1-3
Learning objectives (cont.)
4 Discuss various barriers (noise) to effective communication,
including cross-cultural and gender-based differences in
communication.
5 Explain how to get your message across more effectively and
summarise the elements of active listening.
6 Summarise effective communication strategies in
organisational hierarchies,
and review the role and relevance of the organisational
grapevine.
1-4
Importance of communication
♦ Communication: the process by which information is transmitted
and understood between two or more people
♦ It is important for:
● coordinating work activities
● organisational learning
● decision making
● changing behaviour
● employee wellbeing
1-5
Communication process model
1-6
Influences on effective encoding and decoding
♦ Communication proficiency: motivation and ability of sender
and receiver
♦ Similar codebooks:
● message-encoding proficiency
● communication channel motivation and ability
♦ Shared mental models of the communication context
♦ Experience encoding the message
1-7
Communication channels
♦ Verbal: includes spoken
and written communication
♦ Non-verbal: any communication that
does not use words
1-8
Internet-based communication
♦ Email now preferred medium for coordinating work
♦ Tends to increase communication volume
♦ Significantly alters communication flow
♦ Reduces some selective attention biases
1-9
Problems with email
♦ Communicates emotions poorly
♦ Reduces politeness and respect (increased cyber bullying)
♦ Inefficient for ambiguous, complex, novel situations
♦ Increases information overload
1-10
Workplace communication through social media
♦ Social media include internet-based tools that allow users
to generate and exchange information.
♦ Social media take many forms, serve several functions and
are more interactive and dynamic.
♦ Social media may offer considerable versatility and
potential in the workplace.
1-11
Non-verbal communication
♦ Includes facial gestures, voice intonation, physical distance and
even silence
♦ Influences meaning of verbal symbols
♦ Less rule-bound than verbal communication
♦ Important part of emotional labour
♦ Most is automatic and non-conscious
1-12
Non-verbal communication (cont.)
1-13
Choosing the best communication channel
♦ Social acceptance
● How well the communication channel is approved and supported
by the organisation, team and individual:
► communication channel norms
► individual communication channel preferences
► symbolic meaning of the communication channel
1-14
Media richness
♦ The channel’s data-carrying capacity needs to be aligned
with the communication activity.
● High richness when channel:
► conveys multiple cues
► enables timely feedback
► permits customised messages
► allows complex symbols
● Use rich communication media when the situation is non-routine
and ambiguous
1-15
Media richness hierarchy
1-16
Exceptions to media richness
theory
♦ Ability to
multi-communicate with lean channels
♦ Communication proficiency
♦ Social presence effects
1-17
Communication channels and persuasion
♦ Changing another person’s beliefs and attitudes through the use of
facts, arguments and emotional appeal
♦ Spoken communication is more persuasive because it:
● is accompanied by non-verbal communication
● has high-quality immediate feedback
● has high social presence
1-18
Communication barriers (noise)
♦ Perceptions
♦ Filtering
♦ Language:
● jargon
● ambiguity
♦ Information overload
1-19
Dynamics of information overload
The volume of information received exceeds the person’s capacity to
process it
1-20
Information overload
♦ Solution 1: Increase information processing capacity:
● learn to read faster
● scan through documents more efficiently
● remove distractions
● time management
● temporarily work longer hours
♦ Solution 2: Reduce information load:
● buffering
● omitting
● summarising
1-21
Verbal differences across cultures
♦ Language and accent
♦ Direct vs indirect speech styles
♦ Relational context:
● high (hierarchical) or low (egalitarian) power distance
♦ Temporal context:
● view of time as sequential (monochronic) or
simultaneous (polychronic)
1-22
Non-verbal differences across cultures
♦ Importance of verbal vs non-verbal
♦ Interpretation of:
● deliberate gestures
● silence
● conversational overlaps
1-23
Gender differences in communication
1-24
Improving interpersonal communication
♦ Getting your message across:
● empathise
● repeat the message
● avoid noise
● focus on the problem, not the person
♦ Active listening
1-25
Active listening process
and strategies
1-26
Improving communication throughout the hierarchy
♦ Workspace design:
● clusteringpeople in teams
● open office arrangements
♦ Internet-based organisational communication:
● wikis, collaborative document creation
♦ Direct communication with top management:
● management by walking around (MBWA)
● town hall meetings
1-27
Communicating through
the grapevine
♦ Unstructured and informal network founded on social
relationships
♦ Early research findings:
● transmits information rapidly in all directions
● follows a cluster chain pattern
● more active in homogeneous groups
● transmits some degree of truth
● more persuasive
♦ Changes due to internet
1-28
Grapevine benefits and limitations
♦ Benefits:
● fillsin missing information from formal sources
● strengthens corporate culture
● relieves anxiety
● signals that problems exist
♦ Limitations:
● distortions might escalate anxiety
● perceived lack of concern for employees when company information
is slower than grapevine
1-29
Summary
♦ Effective communication (transmitting and understanding
information) is vital to various aspects of managing
organisations and people.
♦ Main types of communication channels are verbal and non-
verbal as well as internet-based channels. The right channel
depends on social acceptance and media richness.
♦ Several barriers create noise in the communication process
and need to be addressed through awareness and active
listening.
1-30
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