Business Discussion 5
Top Performance through Empowerment, Teamwork, and Communication http://www.wileybusinessupdates.com
Chapter
9
1
Discuss empowering employees.
Name and describe the five types of teams.
Identify the stages of team development.
Evaluate team cohesiveness and norms.
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Learning Objectives
Describe team conflict.
Explain the importance of effective communication.
Compare the basic forms of communication.
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Empowerment - giving employees authority and responsibility to make decisions about their work without traditional managerial approval and control
Sharing information and decision-making authority
Keeping them informed about company’s financial performance
Giving them broad authority to make workplace decisions
Empowering Employees
3
Employee Stock Ownership Plans
10 million workers participate in 10,900 ESOPs.
Gives employees ownership, leading to potential profits as the value of their firm increases and motivating them to work smarter and harder.
Stock Options
Right to buy a specified amount of company stock at a given price within a given time period.
Being offered more and more to employees at all different levels.
1/3 of all options go to the top five executives at a firm.
Linking Rewards to Company Performance
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Employee Stock Options and Ownership
5
A team is a group of employees who are committed to a common purpose, approach, and set of performance goals.
Mutually responsible and accountable for accomplishing objectives.
Ability to work on teams often emphasized during the hiring process.
Work teams are groups of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose.
Two-thirds of U.S. firms currently use work teams.
Teams
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Five Species of Teams
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Stages of Team Development
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Team cohesiveness is the extent to which team members feel attracted to the team and motivated to remain part of it.
Increases when members interact frequently, share common attitudes and goals, and enjoy being together.
Cohesive teams quickly achieve high levels of performance and consistently perform better.
Team norms are the informal standards of conduct shared by team members that guide their behavior.
Can be positive or negative.
Team Cohesiveness & Norms
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Conflict - when one person or group’s needs do not match those of another, and attempts may be made to block the opposing side’s intentions or goals.
Cognitive conflict focuses on problem-related differences of opinion.
Reconciling these differences strongly improves team performance.
Affective conflict refers to the emotional reactions that can occur when disagreements become personal rather than professional.
Team leaders should facilitate good communication so that teammates respect each other and work cooperatively.
Team Conflict
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Communication is the meaningful exchange of information through messages.
Managers spend 80 percent of their time in direct communication with others.
Company recruiters rate effective communication as the most important skill they’re looking for in hiring new college graduates.
Importance of Effective Communication
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The Process of Communication
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Communication in low-context cultures tends to rely on explicit written and verbal messages.
U.S., Switzerland, Germany, Austria
Communication in high-context cultures depends not only on the message itself but also on the conditions that surround it, including nonverbal cues, past and present experiences, and personal relationships between the parties.
Japan, Latin America, India
Cultural Context
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Basic Forms of Communication
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Cynical listening: Receiver of a message feels that the sender is trying to gain some advantage from the communication.
Offensive listening: Receiver tries to catch the speaker in a mistake or contradiction.
Polite listening: Receiver listens mechanically to be polite rather than to communicate.
Active listening: Requires involvement with the information and empathy with the speaker’s situation; the basis for effective communication.
Listening
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Channels include reports, letters, memos, online discussion boards and social media, e-mails, and text messages
Delayed feedback
Provides record of the message
Importance to consider audience, the channel carrying the message, and the appropriate degree of formality
Email is a popular form
Written Communication
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Flows within the chain of command
Downward communication
Upward communication
Open and honest communication is key
Formal Communication
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Informal communication is to carry messages outside formally authorized channels.
The grapevine is an internal channel that passes information from unofficial sources.
Informal Communication
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Nonverbal communication transmits messages through actions and behaviors.
Gestures, posture, eye contact, tone and volume of voice, and even clothing choices are all nonverbal actions that become communication cues.
Have a far greater impact on communications than many people realize.
Nonverbal Communication
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External communication is a meaningful exchange of information to major audiences: customers, suppliers, firms, general public, government officials
Every communication with customers should create goodwill.
External Communication
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