Organizational Behavior 1BA3 Midterm

What are organizations

Organizations are social inventions, for accomplishing common goals through group effort.

In OB we ask the questions in regard to organizations:

1. WHO? are we talking about in the change

2. WHAT? are the goals for change

3. HOW? are you going to achieve the goals

Micro OB

Individual working towards achieving goals

Meso OB

Groups, Teams, Departments working towards achieving goals

Macro OB

Whole organizations and companies working towards achieving goals

Describe "Organizational Behavior" in a nutshell:

The attitudes(THINKING), and behaviors(RESPONSE) of Individuals(Micro), Groups(Meso), and the whole Organization(Macro).

Attempt to-

1. understand(the underlying problem, who and what)

2. predict(ask questions on the problem at hand)

3. explain(give a written report why you think your method will work)

4. manage(take action steps)

-how people behave in the work place

What are the steps in the Thermostat Analogy?

Step 1. Find out your current state. (temperature)

Step 2. What is the desired state you want to be at? (desired/comfortable temperature)

Step 3. Find the magnitude of the gap, and close it.

Step 4. Measure the change, and try again. (because it's never perfect)

What were the four "evolutions" to OB

1.Classical Top Down/Theory X

-Silo Business Style... every department kept separate like silos

2. Human Relations Management/Theory Y

3.Human Resource Perspective

-This style goes beyond human relations.

4. Contingency Theory

Who were the two people related to Theory X, and what were they responsible for?

Beaucracy was founded by Max Weber who had these beliefs:

i. This is the most effective managing style

ii. Plans and human control, strict chain of command

iii. Avoid mistakes by not letting workers think for themselves

Scientifical Management was founded by Frederick Taylor who had

these beliefs:

i. everything had to be precise and carefully calculated and researched.

ii. FUNCK quality, we need maximum output and efficiency

iii. He invented the piece rate of pay system. (Early version of commission, you are paid per unit of output you produce)

Who were the three people related to Theory Y, and what were they responsible for?

Hawthorne Studies: A study on how psychological and social processes/emotions affect productivity and efficiency.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs top-bottom

Self-Actualization

Esteem Needs

Affiliation Needs

Safety Needs

Psychological Needs

McGregor creates Theory Y in response the Max Weber's Theory X

-It is more optimistic

-Gives workers the benefit of the doubt that they aren't pieces of shit, but that they actually want to contribute if given the chance.

What are the 4 areas talked about in Human Resource Perspective?

Participative Management: Managers are actively participating in the organization outside of their office duties.

-Workplace democracy has been introduced, workers now have a say.

-It fosters Autonomy: Giving the work over to the workers to let them make decisions on what's best.

-Employees are now contributing to productivity

What does the Contingency Theory believe?

There is no, one perfect style to choose from when being a manager. A good manager will be able to recognize the demands of the situation.

This means a good manager has Situational Sense:

Being able to accurately sense which of the styles to use

-Also believes a good manager knows that when they wake up every day no matter what there will be three disruptors/chaos causers they will encounter during the day

What are the three disruptors a manager knows they will face every day no matter what?

Conflict

Uncertainty

Complexity

According to Mintzberg, what roles do managers play?

(What do managers do?) Give examples.

Informational Roles: The skill of how I receive and transmit information.

-Monitor

-Disseminator

-Spokesperson

Interpersonal Roles: How managers establish and keep interpersonal relations.

-Figurehead

-Leader

-Liaison

Decisional Roles: The role to make decisions.

-Entrepreneur

-Disturbance Handler

-Resource Allocator

-Negotiator

According to Luthens et al, what activities managers partake in? (What do managers do?)

Routine Communication

Traditional Management (Are you able to be traditional if needed.

Networking

Human Resource Management

According to Kotter, what agendas do managers have?

(What do managers do?)

-Agenda Setting (good at goal setting)

-Networking

-Agenda Implementation (good at following through with goals)

According to Simon & Isenberg, what do managerial minds have?

-Situational Sensing

-Rapid Mental Processing (more in less time and accurate)

-Synthesizing (Can you handle chaos, pull many things together)

-Analyses (Data Analytics)

Ability

What a person is capable of physically doing

Personality

The set of psychological characteristics that influences the way you interact with the world - There is no one good personality.

Describe the three approaches in "Personality and OB"

1. Dispositional Approach - Your personality dictates how you act and your behaviors

2. Situational Approach - Your environment/situation you are in dictates our behaviors

3. Interactionist Approach - Your environment & personality dictate your behaviors

What 3 abilities were taught to us?

Cognitive Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence

Cultural Intelligence

C.I.

Cognitive Intelligence: One's own ability to learn and process cognitive information such as reading, comprehension, mathematical patterns, and special patterns.

E.I.

Emotional Intelligence: One's own ability to accurately identify emotions, understand them, and then manage said emotions in yourself and other people. Self (awareness and management), Other (awareness and management)

C.Q.

Cultural Intelligence: One's own ability to function effectively in situations with characterized by high cultural diversity.

-Strategy: Interpret & Understand a culture

-Motivation: Interest in being open to, and

experiencing other cultures

-Knowledge: Understanding how cultures are

similar and/or different

-Behavior: Modify verbal and non-verbal

behaviors so they are acceptable

Whats the BIG 5? (5 factor model of personality)(O.C.E.A.N.)

1. Extraversion/Introversion

2. Emotional Stability (Neuroticism)

*High Neuroticism = Low E.S.*

3. Agreeableness

4. Conscientiousness

5. Openness to Experience

Which one of the BIG 5 has the most correlation to performance on a job?

Conscientiousness

What are other important personality characteristics?

Locus of Control

Self-Monitoring

Self-Esteem

Positive/Negative Affectivity

Proactive Personality

Self-Efficacy

Core Self-Evaluations

What is Locus of Control and give examples of external and internal.

Where you place the blame/responsibility in problems in your life.

(External = Blame everyone else)

(Internal = Accept responsibility and blame yourself)

What is Self-Monitoring and give examples of high and low

How you filter and think about what you are going to say, before you say it.

(High = Hard Filter) (Low = No Filter)

What is Self-Esteem?

How much do you like yourself.

What is Positive and Negative Affectivity? give examples of each.

How you see the world. (Positive = Optimistic Approach)

(Negative = More Pessimistic)

What is a proactive personality?

Taking the bull by the horns, taking action, going out there and getting it

(Proactive = More motivated)

(Not Proactive = Cant take initiative, Not a go-getter)

Self-Efficacy

How confident are you that you will succeed? How much do you believe in your capabilities/abilities.

Core Self-Evaluations

How you evaluate yourself as an individual. Do you feel control in your life. Are you confident in your success and future success. Finally, do you feel like you are emotionally stable?

Core Values

A deeply held (individual) belief about how you see and perceive the world. Based on a very long time of experiences.

Work Centrality

Do you work to live or live to work? If you love your work and your focuses around work are high, you are high in work centrality.

What are all of Hofstede's beliefs in cultural differences in values?

-Power Distance (The extent to which all members of society accept power. The distance in superiority and workers.)

-Uncertainty Avoidance (The risk-taking or hardworking.)

-Masculinity/femininity (How the culture stresses nurturing and achievements/rewards)

-Individualism/collectivism (Individual work, privacy, initiative vs loyalty to the group, we're doing the right thing for group not just me, interdependence)

-Long-term/short-term orientation (goal setting values in society/people. Immediate gratification, I'm planning for the now. Are you thrifty, frugal, persistence and perceiver.

High power distance cultures also tend to be collectivist.

A. True

B. False

A. True

Attitudes

A fairly stable evaluative tendency to respond consistently to some specific object, situation, person or category of people

Belief -> Value -> Attitude -> Behavior

What are the two dimensions of job satisfaction

Facet Job Satisfaction

Overall Satisfaction

Define Facet Satisfaction, and give examples

what is it you're doing, your colleagues your environment, where you work, what's your commute, work from home, work from mobile. You can be higher or lower on these facets individually.

Describe all the aspects that affect overall satisfaction

-Discrepancy: Big or small can make a difference on how satisfied you are with your job

-Fairness (organizational justice);

-distributive(salary distribution, how

outcomes are distributed)

-procedural

-interactionist(timely management, back

channels, hearing about a promotion from

the grape vine or from your manager)

People leave other people, other leaders,

not organizations

-Disposition: how much you are satisfied with your job

-Mood and Emotion: Mood is how you are feeling, longer lasting, diffuse. Emotions have a trigger, they're more intense and spontaneous.

-Work factors: Challenge(development planning); compensation(fair compensation, not necessarily the best but fairly allocated); career opportunities(lateral moves inside or outside the company with different positions); people (who help you get your work done, managers, co-workers, etc.)

*All these can affect your satisfaction

Emotional Contagion

how emotions spread through people

What are some consequences of poor job satisfaction

-Absenteeism

-Turnovers (when people actually leave)

-Performance (More satisfied employees perform better)

-Organizational Citizenship Behavior(OCB): voluntary and informal behaviors, happen everyday and are not formally recognized by the organization. But they increase overall effectiveness. You want a lot of this behavior on your team. Helping behaviors, cooperation, courtesy etc.

-Customer Satisfaction & Profit: In any kind of client interaction, any position in your company that interacts with customers, the higher those employees are satisfied with their jobs the better they will be interacting with customers. It improves customer satisfactions.

People who are more satisfied with their jobs will be less likely to take one for the team and be all right with it.

A. True

B. False

B. False!

They will be MORE likely to take one for the team.

What is organizational commitment

bond between you and the organization

What are the three dimensions of organizational commitment

-Affective Commitment (means you want to STAY at the organization, you want to be there.) (they would be ambassadors, they are loyal and committed to the customers, yes I would recommend this org... they are advocates)

-Continuance Commitment (I NEED to stay, not I want. The costs of leaving is too high)

-Normative Commitment (I feel like I SHOULD stay, the guilt of leaving is too high)

Why is Continuance and Normative Commitment dangerous for an organization

They are taking up a seat, a position, they're not leaving, and someone who could perform better. They are more of a Debby downer, negative affectivities, and working against the company actually.

Perception

The process of interpreting the message of our senses to provide order and meaning to the environment.

-Perceiver, experience, needs, and emotions can affect his perception of the target (what you are brining)

-Target, perception involves interpretation of the target (What teal brings to the table) Ambiguous targets are susceptible to interpretation

-Situation, context (eg timing, mood) can affect what one perceives

What are the two dimensions of Social Identity Theory

1. People (perceivers) form perceptions of themselves (target) based on their characteristics and memberships in social categories (situations)

2. People (perceivers) form perceptions of others (target) based on their memberships in social categories (situation)

What are the two models of perceptual processes

The basic 5-stage perception model

Bruner's Model

Describe the 5-Stage Perception Model

1. Environmental Stimuli/Input

-Sensory Overload can occur when too many stimuli for a person to process

2. Observation (5 senses)

3. Perceptual Selection/Attention

-Your experiences, your needs, motives will affect what you pay attention to

-Since only some stimuli are sensed, this limits what can be perceived

-External Factors (size, contrast, intensity, etc.)

-Internal Factors (familiarity, source credibility, etc.)

4. Perceptual Construction/Organization

-Organizing thoughts and coming to conclusions

-The mind constructs a reality. The final image/conclusion you come to in your head

5. Interpretation

-Attribution, your actions

Describe Bruner's Model

1. Unfamiliar Target Encountered

New Co-Worker

2. Openness to Target Cues(Data)

Search for Information

3. Familiar Cues Encountered

Co-Worker was a Stanford Grad

4. Target Categorized

"Good Man" with "Good Potential"

5. Cue Selectivity

Not good performance is ignored

6. Categorization Strengthened

Still a good man

Bruner Believed that people made selections, went back and constructed a thought and re select ideas and thoughts forming new constructions over and over

Define Attributions and the two types

The process by which causes or motives are assigned to explain people's behaviors

Internal Attributions (Dispositional Attributions): Perception that outcomes are due to personality or individual fault (yourself) rather than the environment or situation.

External Attributions (Situational Attributions): Perception that outcomes are due to the environment and situation, and not one's self fault.

Define Attribution Cues and the three types

Three implicit questions guide our decisions as to as to whether we should attribute the behavior to Internal/Dispositional or External/Situational causes.

Consistency Cues: Does the person engage in the behavior consistently and regularly? Provides data on an employee's performance over time.

Consensus Cues: Does most people engage in this behavior or is it this one unique person? Provides data for comparison of all employees

Distinctiveness Cues: Does this person engage in the behavior in all situations or just this one situation? This data allows for comparison among tasks

What are the three types of attribution biases?

Fundamental Attribution Error: The tendency to overemphasize dispositional explanations for behavior at the expense of situational explanations

Actor-Observer Effect: Propensity for actors and observers to view the causes of the actors behavior differently

Self-Serving Bias: Tendency to take credit for successful outcomes and to deny responsibility for failures

Define and list the types of attribution errors people may commit when perceiving you, another individual, or anything really shit.

Attribution Bias.

Stereotyping: The tendency to generalize about people in a social category and ignore variations among them

Self-fulfilling Prophecy: Occurs when our expectations about another person cause that person to behave in a way that is consistent with those expectations

Halo: One trait forms a general impression

Projection: The tendency for perceivers to attribute their own thoughts and feelings to others. The belief that others are like me, think like me, act like me, etc.

Implicit Personality Theories: Personal theories that people have about which personality characteristics go together

Primacy Effect: The tendency for a perceiver to rely on early cues or first impressions

Recency Effect: The tendency for a perceiver to rely on recent cues or last impressions

Reliance on Central Traits: Personal characteristics of a target person that are of particular interest to a perceiver (weight, height, physical appearance) something similar to me, or something I do that we can connect over

What are some workplace challenges related to perception?

Perception and Workforce Diversity:

-Must boost knowledge on stereotypes, and cultural intelligence.

Perceptions of Trust:

-Willingness to be vulnerable and take healthy risks in the organization.

Perceived Organizational Support (POS):

-When an employee believes that a company values their contributions and cares about their wellbeing.

Perception in Human Resource Management:

-Where do perceptual errors happen. Interviews and Performance Appraisals.

What are the 3 stages of motivation

-Start: What gets this going?

-Magnitude: What is it that determines the magnitude/intensity of the behavior?

-Stop: What is it that causes the behavior to stop?

What are the 4 characteristics all motivation has

1. Effort - the strength of your work related behavior, labor and time.

2. Persistence of Effort- how much

stick-with-it-ness do you have?

3. Direction of Effort - how you channel your effort. What's your strategy

4. Goal - your target, and why.

What are the 3 approaches to Motivation?

C1 Content approaches

C2 Cognitive approaches

C3 Contextual (Situational) approaches

What are the 3 theories found in Content Approaches to Motivation?

Expectancy Theory

Equity Theory

Goal Setting Theory

Describe in as much detail "Expectancy Theory"

What's going on in the heads of my workers that could be causing demotivation?

Says that motivation is jointly(all happening at same time, multiplicative) determined by three factors (M->E) (E->P) (P->O) (V)

Motivation to Effort.

Effort to Performance:

A persons perception that putting in EFFORT on the job or at school will result in successful PERFORMANCE. Begins with the human/employee saying "I believe if I put this much effort in, I'll do well on the assignments"

Performance to Outcome(Consequence):

A persons perception that successful PERFORMANCE will result in the obtainment of a value/worthwhile OUTCOME. "I also believe that my good performance will give me a good grade. I will be happy with myself and learned something."

Valences(Value):

The extent to which the person finds the OUTCOME to be satisfying personally.

What does expectancy theory suggest I do?

1. Boost expectancy; Managers must increase employees perceptions that effort will lead to successful performance. (E->P)

2. Clarify Reward Contingencies; Managers must increase perception that high performance will lead to desired outcome/valuable outcome. (P->O)

3. Appreciate diverse needs and give them rewards that they appreciate. (V)

Describe in as much detail the three elements of "Equity Theory"

1. Theoretical Anchor:

a. Motivating state that produce behaviors

that reduce dissonance/confusion,

discomfort/discrepancy.

b. I am motivated to remove the dissonance

2. Ratio of Exchange:

a. A lot of it goes on in your head. In equity

theory the human compares himself to

something else using a ratio of exchange.

b. Ime/Ome (Input over Output) of my

efforts compared to what Iyou/Oyou get

for your efforts.

3. Outcomes of Perceived Inequity:

a. Alter inputs (I'm going to work harder)

b. Alter outputs/outcomes (Start

complaining, etc.)

c. Cognitively distort perceptions

(rationalize, "it's only this way because...")

d. Leave the field

e. Take actions to change input/outcomes.

(Sabotage, cheating, data manipulation)

f. Change the comparison other.

What does equity theory suggest?

People compare themselves

Objectively decide pay grade

Have emotional intelligent when addressing employees discrepancies

Make sure you have a reputation for an open door policy.

Describe "Goal Setting Theory" and the 4 elements required for motivation

1. Specificity; The more specific the goal, the higher the consistency

2. Difficult; Difficult goals make for higher motivation. They can't be unobtainable

3. Acceptance; Goals must be bought in. I want to achieve this goal. Must be accepted by the human for it to be accomplished

4. Feedback; You must have regular feedback, touching base with the humans

What does Goal Setting Theory suggest I should do as a manager?

1. Meet with the employee to come up with agreed upon goals

2. Understand that people have different goal orientation/preferences

3. Distal long-term goal setting, proximal short-term goal setting

4. Maintain regular monitoring progress checks

5. Make sure all 4 elements of goal setting are satisfied

What is the Management by Objectives system?

I am managing by goal setting. A managerial technique for improving motivation and performance using the goal setting principles.

What are the theories found in C3, Contextual Approaches to Motivations

How can I change your job, how can I increase your pay?

1. Reinforcement Theory (Operant Learning)

2. Job Design Theory (As a Motivator)(Structure Content and Configuration of work task as and goals)

3. Money (As a Motivator)

Describe in as much detail Reinforcement Theory

a. Positive Reinforcement: When a pleasant or desired stimulus is applied to a person following some behavior. Praise from a boss, Raise, or even a chocolate bar. The stimulus is a positive reinforcement if the behavior that proceeded it happens again.

b. Negative Reinforcement: When an unpleasant stimulus is removed or withdrawn following a behavior. We say the removal of the unpleasant stimulus has negatively reinforced job behavior. The behavior is likely to happen again after the removal.

c. Punishment: When an unpleasant stimulus occurs right after a behavior, a punishment. The action will likely not happen again.

d. Extinction: When a pleasant stimulus is revoked/removed immediately after a behavior. The action will likely not happen again.

-Can be used in Employee Recognition Programs: (Awards, Ceremonies, Announcements)

-Can be used in Training and Development Programs: ("if you can reach this level as an employee.... we will pay for...")

Describe in as much detail as you can Job Design Theory

Key concepts:

-Job Design

-Job Scope

-Job Involvement

-Job Enrichment

Skill Variety: The extent to which the job involves a variety of activities

SVUP MUP

Task Identity: The extent to which the job involves completion of a task from beginning to end.

TIUP MUP

Task significance: The extent to which the worker perceives the work is important.

TSUP MUP

Autonomy: The extent to which the job allows the worker to decide how he will get his task done. AUP MUP

Feedback: The extent to which performing the job allows the worker to receive clear information regarding his performance.

FUP MUP

Describe Money as a Motivator

Pay for Performance:

Production Jobs - Peace rate pay system (Early commission)

What is Individual Decision Making?

The opening exercise... The process of developing a commitment to some course of action.

Also referred to as "problem solving".

What is the Rational Decision Making Process?

•Identify Problem

•Search for relevant information

•Develop alternative solutions to the problem

•Evaluate alternative solutions

•Choose best solution

•Implement chosen solution

•Monitor and Evaluate chosen solution

Perfect Reality

A decision making strategy that is completely informed, perfectly logical, and oriented toward economic gain. These characteristics do not exist in real-world decision makers.

Bounded Rationality

A decision making strategy that relies on limited information and that reflects time constraints and political considerations.

One of the reasons our decisions are "bound" is Framing. Define this.

-Aspects of the presentation of information about a problem that are assumed by decision makers

-How a problem is framed or worded can lead you to certain decisions

One of the reasons our decisions are "bound" is Cognitive Biases. Define this.

-Tendencies to acquire and process information in an error-prone way

-A mental shortcut, a rule of thumb. Taking out some steps from A-Z

-An availability biases; When we use past events and associated decision depending on how available they are in our memory.

-A representativeness biases; When we make a decision that is representative of a stereotype or belief that we have.

One of the reasons our decisions are "bound" is Problems with Problem Identification. Define this.

-Perceptual Defense

-Problem defined in terms of a functional specialty. It is defined in your field of expertise.

-Problem defined in terms of solutions. Jumping to conclusions.

-Problem is diagnosed in terms of symptoms. (low moral because of pay VS low moral because of job structure)

One of the reasons our decisions are "bound" is Problems with Info Search. What are it's two elements?

-Too little Info(Confirmation bias)

Zero in too quickly

-Too much info (information overload) Overwhelmed and confused

One of the reasons our decisions are "bound" is Problems with Alternative Developments, Evaluation, and/or Choice. What are it's two elements.

-Anchoring; The inadequate of adjustment of subsequent estimates from an initial estimate that serves as an anchor. We use an anchor from which we make comparisons to then make a decision.

-Satisficing; Establishing an adequate level of acceptability for a solutions to a problem and then screening solutions until one that exceeds this level is found. We will continue to generate alternatives until one that is "good enough" comes along.

One of the reasons our decisions are "bound" is Problems with Risk. Define this.

-How people handle the unknown can impact how they make a decision.

-Tolerance for ambiguity(unclearness, indistinct, foggy, etc.).

-When people make choices between two bad decisions, they make risky decisions

-When people make choices between two good decisions, they make conservative decisions

-Attitudes towards risk dictate how people make decisions (Risk seeking VS risk avoiding, etc.)

One of the reasons our decisions are "bound" is Problems with Solution Implementation. Define this and its two elements.

-Decision makers are often dependent on others to implement their decisions, and it might be difficult to anticipate their ability and motivation to do so.

-Sequential Interdependence; He was waiting for someone else to finish their work so he can start his to hand it in

-Reciprocal Interdependence; A group project, everyone depends on each other for the overall mark

One of the reasons our decisions are "bound" is Problems with Solution Evaluation. Define this.

-False/Delusional Justification (of a faulty/poor decision in order to avoid dissonance and regret.)

-Escalation of Commitment: the tendency to invest additional resources in apparently failing course of action.

**Reasons For Escalation: dissonance reduction; social norm for consistent behavior; motivation to not appear wasteful; the way the problem is framed; personality moods emotions

One of the reasons our decisions are "bound" is Problems because of Emotion and Mood. Explain how mood and emotion can make our decisions bound.

-Emotion can: Correct ethical errors, aid in developing creative solutions to problems, but can also be distracting and unsettling to decision-making and lead to poor choices.

-Mood can affect Information recall, evaluation, time reference, projected outcomes, creativity.

What are 5 ways that could hinder effective sender-receiver communication?

•Personality (The BIG 5 + Others)

•Perception Errors (Stereotyping, Halo, etc.)

•Motivation Level (Sender to deliver or Receiver to listen)

•Choice of Language (Lingo, Slang, Medium, etc.)

•Physical Noise from a shop floor or some shit

What are the 6 Stages in the Communication Model, which one are sender and which one are reciever

SENDER:

1. Thinking; What do I want to teach them

2. Encoding; What decks/pictures/speaking, PowerPoint

3. Transmitting; Am I face to face, Skype, written notes, electronic notes

RECEIVER:

4. Perceiving; what does the student choose to pay attention to (big 5)

5. Decoding; what errors and bias come into play when I decode Dr. Teals encoding

6. Understanding; What do you leave with, what actions do you take.

What is Communication?

The process by which information is exchanged between a sender and a receiver. The Who, What, How. Effective communication is when the right audience receive the right information in a timely manner.

Organizational Communication is about "formal communication". What is their formal method of communication?

Chain of Command (who is supposed to talk to who)

-Chain is a channel which information flows to groups. Lines of authority and formal reporting relationships

-A Chain of Command it is called an "organizational chart" it shows the entire network of employees with who reports to who

-Three necessary forms (communication upward; across/horizontal; downward)

When you communicate there are always three ways. Up: chemical engineer conceives a new formula, and passes it along to the RND Manager. Across: The RND Manager tells his marketing manager about the new formula. Down: Vice President of production communicates to the plant manager, its time to gear up for the manufacturing of our new product.

There are many barriers to effective communication. What are some Deficiencies of the Chain of Command

-Failure to consider informal communication (shouldn't only just use formal)

-Filtering (messages are watered down, the lead could say we are planning for impending layoffs, and by the time it gets to the lower level they just hear rough waters ahead.)

*(Filtering increases with more links in the chain [has to go through more ppl])

*(stick to the funcking straight up and down don't go horizontal do what I told you)

-Slowness

Effective communication exists when there is agreement and sensitivity to the following:

•The job expectations: what, why, how, and with whom.

•How employees should allocate their time

•How long it should take to learn a job

•The importance employees attach to each pay

•The amount of authority employees have

•Skills and Abilities of employees

•Employee performance and obstacles to good performance

•The manager's leadership style

3 More barriers to effective communication also stem from deficiencies in the chain of command when they are not in place. Describe them.

•Voice: The constructive expression of the disagreement of the organization or practice. Are your people allowed to say that there is something wrong or needs change.

•Psychological Safety: A shared belief that it's safe to take social risks. Do you encourage your people TO speak up and want to

•Mum Effect: The tendency to avoid communicating unfavorable news to others.

Another barrier to effective communication is the grapevine. Describe it and list the pros and cons.

An organization's informal communication network (cuts across formal lines of communication) (informal chain of command)

A channel of communication that is not apart of the organization's formal communication network.

Pros

•Can Keep Employees Informed

•Provide a test of employee reactions to proposed changes

•A potential informal recruiting source

Cons

•Pipeline for rumors

Another barrier to effective communication is Verbal Language of Work. Describe it and list the pros and cons.

Specialized language used by job holders or members of particular organizations (Jargon)

-Does your audience know the jargon?

Pros

•It can be very efficient, very fast

•Common basis for vocab, "commvoc" (I think it means "common vocabulary")

Cons

•Can be a barrier to clear communication

•New organizational members can find it intimidating and confusing

Another barrier to effective communication is Non-Verbal Language of Work. Describe it.

The transmission of messages by some medium other than speech or writing

•Body Language, Face gestures, Hand gestures, Body Positioning, Eye contact, Smiling, Quality of handshake, etc.

•Office Décor and Arrangement, Paintings, plants, photos of family or not, tidy, clean.

•Clothing, and attire.

Another barrier to effective communication is Gender Differences in Communication. When can it become a barrier?.

Can become a barrier if gender differences are not respected in (these or other categories):

•Getting Credit

•Confidence and Boasting

•Asking Questions

•Apologies

•Feedback

•Compliments

•Ritual Opposition

•Managing up and down

•Indirectness

Another barrier to effective communication is Cross-Cultural Communication. Describe it and it's dimensions.

Many failures in business come from problems in cross-cultural mismatch/mishaps.

Dimensions:

•Social conventions (verbal or non) greetings and goodbyes

•Language differences

•Non-verbal communication

•Etiquette and politeness

•Cultural Context

Low vs High Context Culture:

(low = info is provided explicitly, much of what we communicate is speech)

(high = uses surroundings to communicate, what in the context is representing us and communicating for us)

Important Precautions:

•Assume differences until you know otherwise

•Recognize differences in cultures

•Watch your language (and theirs)

Define Information Richness and its two dimensions

Richness is especially important today with increased reliance on technology to facilitate information exchange. The potential information carrying capacity of a communication medium. (F2F > Text)

Degree of synchronization:

The degree to which information is synchronous to receivers and senders (is it real time, Immediate, or is it long term like email or fax)

Degree of nonverbal and paraverbal cues:

The extent to which both parties receive nonverbal (body) and paraverbal (voice).

-Non-Routine messages require richer media

-Routine messages do not require richness

What are some Personal Approaches to Improving Communication?

•Take the time to listen and understand

•Be accepting and open to others, and their ideas

•Say what you feel

•Give detailed timely feedback

What are some Organizational Approaches to Improving Communication?

•Provision of explanations (open door policy... don't let them keep it in their head)

•360 degree feedback (Lower Level, Same Level, Higher Level, all give feedback)

•Anonymous surveys and suggestion system

•Management Training