Mid-Term Review

Communication Process

The steps between a source and a receiver that result in the transfer and understanding of meaning.

Channels

Medium which a message travels.

Formal Channels

Established by an organization to transmit messages related to the professional activities of its members.

Informal Channels

Created spontaneously and emerged from individual choices.

Communication Apprehension

Undue tension and anxiety about oral/written communication

Channel Richness

Amount of information that can be transmitted during a communication episode.

Filtering

A sender’s manipulation of information so that it’ll be seen more favorable by the reciever.

Selective Perception

Receiver selectively sees and hears based on their needs, motivations, experience, background and other personal characteristics.

Informational Overload

Condition in which information in flow exceeds an individual’s processing limit.

Emotions

Misinterpreting information due to overwhelming feeling

Language

Words mean different things to different people (age, ethnicity and context)

Silence

Absence of speech or noise.

Lying

Intentionally misrepresenting information including the deliberate act of withholding information.

Downward Communication

Flows from higher level to a lower level of a group

Upward Communication

Flows from lower level of a group to a higher level

Lateral Communication

Occurs between individuals of the same level.

The Chain (Formal)

Rigidly follows a chain of command

The Wheel

Relies on leader to act as central conduit for all communication

All Channel

Active communication with one another (used in self-managed groups)

Grapevine

Flows along social and relational lines.

Oral Communication

• Meetings, videos, or tele-communication

• Advantages: Speed, Feedback, and Exchange

• Disadvantage: The more people the greater the distortion

Written Communication

• Social media, Blogs, Letters, Slides

Writing Emails

1. Brief but concise subject line

2. Greeting

3. Brief and concise body

4. Check spelling

5. Reply within 24 hours (or follow-up)

Non-Verbal Communication

Messages conveyed through body movement, facial expressions and physical distance.

Proxemics

Study of physical space

Barriers

Semantics, Word Connotation, Tone Differences, Tolerance for Conflict and Methods for Resolution

High Context Culture

Rely heavily on nonverbal and subtle cues

Low Context Communication

Rely on words to convey meaning

Overcoming cross-culture communication barriers

1. Self-awareness

2. Mutual respect, fairness and democracy

3. Objectiveness

4. Empathy

5. Proactively maintaining group identity

Group

Made of 2 or more people w/ a common relationship

Team

A group whose individual efforts result in performance that’s greater than the sum of individual inputs.

Functions of a Team

• Shares leadership and accountability

• Develops purpose or mission

• Continuous problem solving

• Outcomes and goals a measures of effectiveness

Importance of Teams

1. Efficient way to use individual talents

2. Greater flexibility and responsiveness to change

3. More motivation leading to greater task identity

4. Outperforms individuals

Problem solving Team (Process Involvement)

Group of employees who meet for a few hours each week to discuss ways of improving quality, efficiency and work environment.

Self-Managed Team (Self-Directed)

Group of 10-15 employees who take on the many responsibilities of their former managers.

Cross-Functional Team

Group of employees at the same hierarchal level but from different departments to accomplish a task.

Virtual team

Uses computers to tie together physically dispersed members in order to achieve a common goal.

Multi-Team System

Collection of 2 or more independent teams that share a superordinate goal.

Role

A set of expected behaviors of a person in a given position in a social unit.

Role expectations

How others expect or believe a person should act in a given situation.

Role conflict

Situation where an individual find that complying with one role may make it hard to comply with another.

Role Ambiguity

When someone is unclear about their role.

Role Overload

When too much is expected of someone.

Role Underload

When too little is expected of someone.

Norms

Acceptable standards of behavior within a group that’re shared by its members.

Norms form due to…

• Explicit statements made by a group member

• Critical events in group’s history

• Primacy-initial patterns of behavior

• Carry over behaviors from past situations

Norms are enforced to…

Facilitate the group’s survival, make behavior predictable, minimize embarrassment, and express central values that clarifies the group’s identity.

Conformity

Adjusting one’s behavior to align with the norms of the group.

Deviant Workplace Behavior (Antisocial Behavior)

Voluntary behavior that violates significant organizational norms which threatens the wellbeing of the organization or its members.

5 stages of groups development

1. Forming

2. Storming

3. Norming

4. Performing

5. Adjourning

Forming

Uncertainty and anxiety

Storming

Intragroup-conflict

Norming

Close relationships and cohesiveness

Performing

Achieved when group is fully functional

Adjourning

Finishing activities rather than stopping task performance.

Groups do not always progress linearly

• Progress can be reverted

• Conflict can be beneficial

• Context matters

The Punctuated equilibrium model

A set of phases that temporary groups go through that involves transitions between inertia and activity.

Phase 1 of EQ Model

First meeting of group that sets direction (inertia)

Transition Phase of EQ Model

End of phase 1 when group has used 0.5 of allotted time to initiate significant change.

Phase 2 of EQ Model

Accelerated activity

Characteristics of Effective Team

Clear purpose, Informality, Participation, Listening, Civilized Disagreement, Consensus Disagreement, Open Communication, Clear rules and Assignments, Shared Leadership, External Relations, Style Diversity, and Self-Assessment

Context for Effect Teams

1. Adequate resources

2. Leadership and structure

3. Climate of Trust

4. Performance evaluation and reward

Diversity for group effectiveness

Abilities, personalities, allocation of roles, demographic diversity and preference from teamwork.

Abilities of Members

• Orientates team to problem solve situations

• Organizes and manages team performance

• Promotes a positive team environment

• Appropriately promotes perspectives

Personality of Members

• Team members should be chosen based on personality and preferences

• Team underperforms when there are 1 or more disagreeable members

• Conscientious people help team by providing reinforcement

• Open communication promotes creativity and innovation

Allocation of Roles

Creating task orientated roles and maintenance roles.

Diversity of members

• Individuals can be different in functional characteristics and demographics.

• Different demographics equates to different cultures and values

Members’ Preference for Teamwork

• Members who prefer to work independently threaten team morale

• High performing teams are composed on collaborative members

Size of Team

• Smaller teams are faster

• Larger teams solve complex problems

Social Loafing

Tendency to underperform when working collectively than working individually.

How to reduce social loafing

Teams should not be larger than necessary and individuals should be held accountable for their actions.

Individual work or teams?

• Whether job can be done better by 1 person or multiple

• Resource expenditure

Cultural Diversity and Team Performance

Cultural difference can cause initial conflict but can be useful long-term as members can offer different perspectives.

Group Cohesiveness

Giving difficult tasks and freedom to accomplish those tasks create a more tight-knit group.

Perception

Process where people organize and interpret impressions and expressions they’re exposed to, to give meaning to their environment.

The Perceiver

Influenced by personal characteristics such as attitudes, motives, interests, past experiences, and expectations.

The Target

The relationship of a target to its background.

The Situation

Context of situation observed by perceiver.

Attribution Theory

Determining relationship between atypical observed behavior and its cause (internal or external).

Fundamental Attribution Error

Tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal factors when judging the behavior of others.

Distinctiveness

Whether someone acts similarly across most situations.

Consensus

Whether all people respond similarly in the same situation.

Consistency

Whether someone behaves similarly over time.

Self-Serving Bias

Tendency for individuals to attribute their own successes to internal factors while putting the blame for failures on external factors.

Selective Perception

Selective interpretation of what someone sees based on their interests, background, experience, and attitudes.

Halo Effect

Drawing general impression of an individual based on a single characteristic.

Contrast Effect

Reaction to someone is affected by other people we have recently encountered.

Stereotyping

Judging someone based on one’s perception of the background/group of which the person belongs to.

Heuristics

Judgement shortcuts

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

People will behave in ways that’re consistent with how they’re perceived by others.

Personality

Sum of the ways someone would react to something or others that’re consistent and enduring.

Measuring Personality

Self-rating and observer-rating

Personality Determinants

Most influential: Heredity and environmental factors (before age of 7)

Personality Traits

Enduring characteristics that describes an individual’s behavior.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

100 question personality test that’s determined by how people usually act of feel in particular situations.

16 Personality Types

4 Categories of MBTI

Extraverted/Introverted

Sensing/Intuition

Thinking/Feeling

Judging/Perceiving

Strengths of MBTI

Valuable for increasing self-awareness and providing career guidance

Weaknesses of MBTI

Confines individuals to one personality type as it has little fluidity.

Big 5 Personality Model

Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Openness to Experience

Benefits of Big 5 Personality Model

Links personality to typical patterns of motivation, communication, cooperation and job performance.