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Organizational Communication

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Types of Organizational
Communication
• Upward
• Downward
• Business
• Informal
• Interpersonal

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Organizational Communication
Upward Communication
• Serial communication
– MUM effect
– open-door policy
• Attitude surveys
• Focus groups
• Exit interviews
• Suggestion boxes
• Third party facilitators
– Liaison
– Ombudsperson
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Organizational Communication
Downward Communication
• Bulletin boards
• Policy manuals
• Newsletters
• Intranets

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Organizational Communication
Business Communication
• Memos
• Telephone calls
• Email
• Voice mail
• Business meetings

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Email Etiquette
• Include a greeting
• Included a detailed subject line
• Don’t write in all caps
• Delete unnecessary information when forwarding
email
• Avoid grammar and spelling mistakes
• Don’t spend company time on personal email
• Allow ample time for a person to respond

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Voice Mail Etiquette

• Speak slowly
• Give your name at the beginning of the message
and then repeat it at the end
• Spell your name
• Leave your phone number
• Indicate good times for the person to return your
call
• Don’t ramble
• Don’t include information you don’t want others to
hear

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Office Design
• Designs
– Open (landscaped) offices
• bullpen design
• uniform design
– Cubicles
– Private offices
• Research on open designs
– decreased satisfaction
– increased socialization
– decreased costs
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Office Layout
• Furniture type
• Desk placement
• Neatness/clutter
• Artifacts
• Windows

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Organizational Communication
Informal Communication
• Grapevine
– single-strand pattern
– gossip pattern
– probability pattern
– cluster pattern
• Gossip
• Rumor

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Grapevine Patterns
Single Strand
Jones Smith Brown Tinker Evers

Gossip
Tinker
Brown Evers Frey
Smith Chance Martin
Austin
Jones

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Probability

Brown Alston Evers Chance Frey

Martin
Smith Jones Tinker

Cluster Brown

Smith Frey Alston Martin

Tinker Evers Chance

Jones 12
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Interpersonal Communication
• The exchange of a message across a
communication channel from one person to
another
• Three problem areas
– Intended message versus message sent
– Message sent versus message received
– Message received versus message interpreted

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Sender Receiver

Encodes Sends Receives Decodes

Message Message Message Message

What I want What I say I hear I think

to say her say she means

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Problem Area I: Intended

Message Versus Message Sent

• Think about what you

want to communicate
• Practice what you want to
communicate
• Learn better
communication skills

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Problem Area II: Message Sent

Versus Message Received
• Actual words used
• Communication channel
• Noise
• Nonverbal cues
• Paralanguage
• Artifacts
• Amount of information
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Actual Words Used

• The word “fine”
– to describe jewelry
– to describe the weather
– to describe food or sex
• The applicant was a:
– female
– girl
– babe
– woman
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Use concrete words and ask how the other

person might interpret your message
• Avoid such words as:
– as soon as possible
– I’ll be back soon
– I’ll be out for a while
• Why not be specific?
– Avoid confrontation
– “test the water”
– Avoid being the bad guy
(MUM effect)
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Gender Differences in Communication
(Tannen, 1986 & 1990)
• Men
– Talk about major events
– Tell the main point
– Are more direct
– Use “uh-huh” to agree
– Are comfortable with
silence
– Concentrate on the words
spoken
– Sidetrack unpleasant topics
• Women
– Talk about daily life
– Provide details
– Are more indirect
– Use “uh-huh” to listen
– Are less comfortable with
silence
– Concentrate on nonverbal
cues and paralanguage
– Focus on unpleasant topics
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Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus

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Communication Channels
• Oral
– in-person
– word-of-mouth
– answering machine
• Nonverbal
• Written
– personal letter/memo
– general letter/memo
– email
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Noise
• Actual noise
• Appropriateness of the channel
• Bias
• Feelings about the person
communicating
• Mood
• Perceived motives

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Nonverbal Cues
• Are ambiguous
• Those that aren’t, are called
emblems
• Gender and cultural
differences are common
• Nonverbal cues are thought
to be 80% of the message
received

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Nonverbal Cues Include

• Eye contact
• Expressions
• Micro-expressions
• Posture
• Arm and leg use
• Motion
• Touching

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Use of Space
• Intimacy zone
– 0 to 18 inches
– close relationships
• Personal distance zone
– 18 inches to 4 feet
– friends and acquaintances
• Social distance zone
– 4 to 12 feet
– business contacts and strangers
• Public distance zone
– 12 to 25 feet
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s39BrB9oLQ
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Use of Time

• Being late
• Leaving a meeting early
• Setting aside time for a
meeting
• Multi-tasking (working
while talking)

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Basic Assumptions About

Nonverbal Cues & Paralanguage
• People are different in their
use of nonverbal cues and
paralanguage
• Standard differences among
people reveal information
about the person
• Changes in a person’s style
reveal new messages
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Paralanguage
• Rate of speech
• Loudness
• Intonation
• Amount of talking
• Voice pitch
• Pauses

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjmkb5HCGLA
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The Importance of Inflection

• I did not say Bill stole your car.
• I did not say Bill store your car.
• I did not say Bill stole your car.
• I did not say Bill stole your car.
• I did not say Bill stole your car.
• I did not say Bill stole your car.
• I did not say Bill stole your car.
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Artifacts
• Our office
– décor
– desk placement
• What we wear
– clothing
– accessories
– hair styles
– tattoos
• The car we drive
• The house we live in
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Office Space Clip (DVD Scene 2)

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The Amount of Information

When we have too much
information, we tend to:

• Assimilate
• Sharpen
• Level

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The Amount of Information

Reactions to Information Overload
• Omission
• Error
• Queuing
• Escape
• Use of a gatekeeper
• Use of multiple channels
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Problem Area III: Message Received

Versus Message Interpreted

• Listening Skills
• Listening Style
• Emotional State
• Cognitive Ability
• Bias

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The Importance of Listening

• 70% of a manager’s job is

spent communicating
• Of that time
– 9% is spent writing
– 16% is spent reading
– 30% is spent speaking
– 45% is spent listening

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Listening Skills
• Stop talking and listen • Keep an open mind
• Show the speaker you • Use appropriate
want to listen nonverbal cues
• Empathize with the • Let the other person
speaker finish speaking
• Don’t ask excessive • Try to understand what
questions the other person means
• Remove distractions

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Listening Styles
(Geier & Downey, 1980)

• Leisure
• Inclusive
• Stylistic
• Technical
• Empathic
• Nonconforming

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Other Factors
• Emotional State
– Anger
– Fear
– Anxiety
– Excitement
– Love
• Bias
• Cognitive Ability
• Drugs and Alcohol
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Writing is easiest to read when it:

• has short sentences

• uses simple rather than
complicated words
• uses common rather
than unusual words

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Comparison of Readability Scales

Readability Index
Method Fry Flesch FOG Dale-Chall

Average number of syllables X X

per word
Average sentence length X X

Average number of words X

per sentence
Average number of 3- X
syllable words
Number of unusual words X

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Applied Case Study: Reducing Order Errors

At Hardees and McDonalds 42
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Focus on Ethics
Ethical Communication

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What Do You Think?

• Do you agree that companies should communicate any and
all information that may pertain to employees?
• Would there ever be a time where it would be more ethical
to hold back information from employees?
• If you were an employee in the insurance company, what
would you consider to be the ethical step to take: inform
employees of the possibilities of layoffs or keep that
information confidential until the company is absolutely
sure layoffs might happen?
• What would be the best, most ethical, channel to use when
communicating bad news such as layoffs?
• Do you think it is unethical not to tell your boss that you
are looking for another job? What are the situations in
which employees have an ethical obligation to provide this
information to their managers or supervisors?
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