Communication in Teams and Organizations 9 - ADMN2220

Communication in Teams and Organizations

• Communication is the process of transmitting and understanding information between people. It involves conveying intended meaning, not just symbols.

• Communication is crucial for coordinating work activities, organizational learning, improved decision-making, changing behavior, and employee well-being.

Communication Process Model

• The communication process involves a sender and a receiver.
• The sender forms a message, encodes it, transmits it, and decodes any feedback.
• The receiver receives the message, decodes it, forms feedback, and encodes it to send to the sender.
• Noise can interfere with the process.

Improving Communication: Coding/Decoding

• Effective communication requires shared codebooks between sender and receiver.
• Experienced encoding and well-motivated communicators are important.
• The chosen channel should be appropriate for the sender/receiver and aligned with their motivations and skills.
• Shared mental models of the context are essential for effective communication.

Communication Channels

• Verbal communication utilizes words (spoken or written). Spoken and written communication have different strengths and weaknesses.
• Written communication has improved with email etc, improving efficiency.
• Nonverbal communication encompasses all aspects of communication not using words (body language, tone of voice, physical distance, etc.).

Choosing the Best Communication Channels

• Employees now have more communication channels than before (physical and digital).
• The right channel needs to be chosen based on relevant factors.

Choosing Channels: Synchronicity

• Synchronous communication happens in real-time, while asynchronous occurs at different times.
• Choose channels based on time urgency, topic complexity, cost of communication, and the receiver's capacity for reflection.

Choosing Channels: Social Presence

• Channels vary in their ability to create a sense of closeness between communicators.
• Higher social presence factors include synchronous communication and casual/personal message content.
• These factors increase empathy and influence.

Choosing Channels: Social Acceptance

• The communication channel should be acceptable to those involved.
• Factors to consider include firm/team norms, individual preferences, and symbolic meanings associated with the channel.

Choosing Channels: Media Richness

• Communication richness is the ability of a channel to convey cues, allow feedback, support customized messages, and utilize complex symbols.
• Channels with high data-carrying capacities are better for non-routine and ambiguous situations.
• Lean channels work well for routine, clear situations

Hierarchy of Media Richness

• Rich channels (e.g., face-to-face) can convey multiple cues and allow for feedback.
• Lean channels (e.g., email or newsletters) are less rich but suitable for routine situations.

Exceptions to Media Richness

• Electronic channels allow for multi-communication through various lean channels.
• Proficiency level differences and social distractions may impact choice.

Communication Barriers

• Communication barriers can occur at various levels (perceptions, language, jargon, ambiguity, filtering, information overload).

Active Listening

• Active listening is an important communication aspect.
• Key aspects include making eye contact, maintaining engagement, putting personal thoughts on hold, providing feedback, repeating key details, and preventing interruptions.

Active Listening Process and Strategies

• Active listening involves multiple stages, including sensing, active listening, and evaluating.

Cross-Cultural Communication

• Verbal differences include language, voice intonation, and conversational/silence overlaps.
• Nonverbal differences include varying nonverbal gestures.
• High and Low-Context cultures also need consideration.

Organizational Grapevine

• The grapevine is an informal communication network in organizations.
• Early findings indicate information spreads quickly, follows cluster patterns, is more active in homogeneous groups, and often contains some truth.
• The emergence of email, social networks and other online channels has changed how grapevines operate in organizations.

Grapevine Benefits/Limitations

• The grapevine facilitates information sharing and strengthens corporate culture
• It can, however, lead to inaccuracies and distortions.
• Can increase anxiety.
• Perceived lack of concern for employees if slower than company information.

What would you do?

• A scenario describing a conflict situation where the workplace team has reached a conclusion on Plan B but one person believes Plan A is superior, presenting to department and executives and how to proceed in this situation.