Organizational Communication Chapter

Communication

• Downward communication refers to the transmission of information from top-level management to lower-level employees.
• Upward communication occurs when information flows from lower-level employees to top-level management.
• Lateral communication occurs between employees at the same level of the organization.
• Informal communication involves the sharing of unofficial messages among employees, often through casual conversations, rumors, and gossip.
• Grapevine communication is a type of informal communication that can spread rapidly, but may be inaccurate and altered by personal biases.
• Statistics suggest that 70% of all organizational communication occurs through the grapevine.

Communication Frameworks

• The 5 dimensions of communicating direction are:
  • Know your audience
  • Cater the content to your audience
  • Align on purpose
  • Design the process
  • Understand, then question
• The HURIER model is a framework for improving communication skills.

Improving Communication Skills

• Give and receive feedback through methods such as 360° feedback, suggestion systems, corporate hotlines, informal meetings, and employee surveys.
• Work on nonverbal communication by maintaining eye contact, using open and relaxed body language, practicing facial expressions, and using purposeful gestures.
• Practice active listening and demonstrate attention to the speaker.
• Termination interviews require clear communication, respect, and empathy.

Decision Making

• Decision making is the ability to consistently make timely and sound decisions about work, workplace, and workforce.
• There are different types of decisions, including nonprogrammed and programmed decisions.
• Certain decisions are made with complete information, while uncertain decisions are made with incomplete information.
• Group decisions can have benefits, such as pooling resources and greater acceptance, but may also have drawbacks, such as wasting time and potential conflict.

Factors Affecting Organizational Decisions

• The Decision Styles Model highlights the different approaches to decision making, including rational, intuitive, and dependent styles.
• Obstacles to consistent decision making include noise, complexity, human nature, and organizational barriers.

Imperfections of Decisions

• People make 35,000 decisions each day, and research suggests that unconscious brain activity determines our choices well before we are aware of them.
• Framing effects can influence decision making, such as risky choice framing, attribute framing, and goal framing.
• Reliance on heuristics can lead to imperfect decisions, including the availability heuristic and the representativeness heuristic.
• Biases, such as hindsight bias, person sensitivity bias, and escalation of commitment bias, can also lead to imperfect decisions.