Managerial Communications Chapter 9

Managerial Communications

• Communication is the linking process of management and the heart of all organizations.
• Information and communication is power in an organization, with staff members who have information about facts and processes becoming centers of power.
• The ability to communicate well, both orally and in writing, is a critical managerial skill and a foundation of effective leadership.

The Importance of Communication

• Communication is the way managers conduct managerial functions of planning, organizing, staffing, evaluating, and controlling.
• Managers spend between 70 to 90 percent of their time communicating with employees and other internal and external customers.

Definitions

• Data: a description of certain actions, facts, phenomena, and processes regarding an organization.
• Information: meaningful data that brings an increase in useful knowledge to help perform specific tasks in the organization.
• Knowledge: expertise and skills acquired by a person through experience or education.
• Wisdom: a deep understanding and realizing of people, things, events, or situations, resulting in the ability to choose or act to consistently produce the optimum results with a minimum of time and energy.
• Communication: the transfer and understanding of meaning.

Communication Flow

• Downward flow: from a manager to subordinates (information, decisions made by managers).
• Upward flow: from subordinates to managers (information, ideas from subordinates).
• Diagonal flow: cuts across both work areas and organizational levels (increased efficiency and speed, usually via e-mail).

Types of Communication

• Interpersonal communication: occurs between two or more persons (friends, family, co-workers).
• Organizational communication: all the patterns, networks, and systems of communication in an organization.

Written vs. Verbal Communication

• Written Communication: if the message is detailed, very important, and official (e.g., wedding invitation, memos, reports, letters, e-mails, organizational newsletters).
• Verbal Communication: if the message is short, personal, and out of daily routine (e.g., working-group discussions, gossips).

The Interpersonal Communication Process

• Encoding: the process of putting thoughts, ideas, and messages into words, symbols, or gestures.
• Transmission: the process of sending the message through a channel (e.g., speech, writing, gestures).
• Decoding: the process of interpreting the message.

Barriers to Effective Interpersonal Communication

• Filtering: the sender selects information to be communicated.
• Selective perception: the receiver selectively perceives the message.
• Emotions: emotions can affect the communication process.

Organizational Communication Networks

• Chain: communication flows in a straight line from one person to another.
• Star: communication flows from one person to several others.
• All-channel: everyone communicates with everyone else.
• Grapevine: informal communication network that spreads rumors and gossip quickly.

IT and the Organization

• IT has changed organizational communication by increasing the information flow and availability of information.
• IT has enabled delocalization of companies and saved resources (e.g., working from home).
• However, IT can also lead to a lack of interpersonal relations and psychological impact due to being fully available.

Factors Used in Evaluating Communication Methods

• Speed: how fast the message is transmitted.
• Cost: the cost of transmitting the message.
• Reliability: how reliable is the communication method.

Knowledge in Organizations

• Tacit knowledge: personal knowledge (e.g., hands-on skills, special know-how, heuristics, intuitions).
• Rule-based knowledge: explicit knowledge used to match actions to situations by invoking appropriate rules.
• Background knowledge: the mindset by which people in the organization understand particular events, actions, objects, or situations in distinctive ways.
• Meta-knowledge: uses to create, integrate, and invigorate all organizational intellectual resources in order to achieve superior levels of performance.### Types of Knowledge in Organizations
• Tacit Knowledge:
  • Procedural and embedded in action
  • Ensures task effectiveness
  • Examples: know-how, heuristics, intuition
• Rule-based Knowledge:
  • Declarative and encoded in programs
  • Promotes operational efficiency and control
  • Examples: routines, standard operating procedures, record structures
• Background Knowledge:
  • Contextual and expressed in texts
  • Instills commitment through shared meaning
  • Examples: stories, metaphors, visions

Organizational Knowledge Management

• Organizations can continuously expand, renew, and refresh their knowledge
• Communications promote the learning of tacit knowledge to increase employee skills and creative capacity
• Rule-based knowledge maximizes efficiency and equability
• Background knowledge unifies purpose and meaning in communities

Knowledge Creation

• Knowledge creation is a multi-dimensional concept including intuition, learning, experiences, and new ideas
• The Nonaka Model provides a comprehensive framework for capturing the essence of knowledge creation
• Tacit knowledge is considered the most valuable knowledge
• Mobilization and conversion of knowledge through information technology is key to knowledge creation

Nonaka Model for Knowledge Creation

• Socialization: sharing experiences and tacit-to-tacit knowledge transfer
• Externalization: articulating tacit knowledge to explicit concepts
• Combination: systematizing concepts into a knowledge system
• Internalization: embodying explicit knowledge into tacit knowledge

Human Capital, Knowledge, and Organizational Performance

• Human capital refers to the knowledge, talent, and experience of employees
• Structural capital refers to codified knowledge that doesn't exist within employees' minds
• Relational capital refers to relationships with suppliers, customers, and external entities
• Organizational results and added value are influenced by human capital, structural capital, and relational capital