Questionaire

COM21-Study-Guide-2018.pdf

Home >English homework help >Questionaire

GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES

OPEN UNIVERSITIES AUSTRALIA

COM21

Management Communication

STUDY GUIDE

© Griffith University 2013/3 No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photo-copying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission. These materials may only be distributed to students enrolled in this course. Published by Digitisation and Distribution, INS, Griffith University CRICOS Provider: 00233E

iii

CONTENTS

Unit Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 1

Unit Aim ....................................................................................................................................... 1

How to use this Study Guide ....................................................................................................... 2

MODULE 1 ............................................................................................................................................ 3

Week One: Management and Communication .................................................................................. 3

1.1 Introduction: Managers in Organisations ........................................................................... 4

1.2 Who is an Effective Manager? .......................................................................................... 7

1.3 Strategic Management Communication ............................................................................ 8

1.4 Strategic Conversations .................................................................................................... 8

1.5 Leadership, Management and Communication: A Symbiotic Relationship ..................... 10

1.6 Applying Key Communication Themes ........................................................................... 10 1.6.1 Cultural Ethos ..................................................................................................... 10

1.6.2 Adaptive Management Behaviours ..................................................................... 12

1.6.3 Cultural Leadership ............................................................................................ 12

Week Two: Management Ethics and Social Responsibility ........................................................... 15

2.1 Your Own Ethics .............................................................................................................. 16

2.2 Making Your Ethics Clear ................................................................................................ 18

2.3 Ethical Decisions ............................................................................................................. 19

2.4 Behavioural Traits ........................................................................................................... 22

2.5 Social Responsibility ....................................................................................................... 22

2.6 Applying Key Themes to Communication ....................................................................... 23

MODULE 2 .......................................................................................................................................... 25

Week Three: Evolution of Management Thinking ........................................................................... 25

3.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 26

3.2 The Evolution of Management Thinking .......................................................................... 27

3.3 The Classical Perspective ............................................................................................... 29

3.4 Humanist Perspective ..................................................................................................... 31

3.5 Learning Organisations ................................................................................................... 32

3.6 Sustainable Development ............................................................................................... 35

3.7 Applying Key Themes to Communication ....................................................................... 36

Contents continued …

Week Four: Communication Networks ............................................................................................ 38

4.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 39

4.2 Workplace Relationships ................................................................................................. 40

4.3 Defining Relational Situations ......................................................................................... 41

4.4 Communication Competencies ....................................................................................... 44

4.5 Different Types of Workplace Relationship ..................................................................... 45 4.5.1 Superior/Subordinate Relationships ................................................................... 45

4.5.2 Peer Relationships ............................................................................................. 46

4.5.3 Problematic Relationships .................................................................................. 47

4.6 Applying Key Themes To Communication ...................................................................... 49

MODULE 3 .......................................................................................................................................... 51

Week Five: More Communication Networks ................................................................................... 51

5.1 Communication Networks ............................................................................................... 52

5.2 Network Analysis ............................................................................................................. 53

5.3 Key Concepts In Network Analysis ................................................................................. 54

5.4 Communities of Practice ................................................................................................. 55

5.5 Inter-Organisational Relationships and Networks ........................................................... 57

5.6 Network Organisations .................................................................................................... 58

5.7 Applying Some Key Communication Themes ................................................................. 59

MODULE 4 .......................................................................................................................................... 63

Week Six: Managing Communication and Diversity ...................................................................... 63

6.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 64

6.2 Valuing Diversity .............................................................................................................. 66

6.3 Ethnocentrism and Monoculture ...................................................................................... 68

6.4 Ethnorelativism and Pluralism ......................................................................................... 69

6.5 The Changing Workplace ................................................................................................ 69

6.6 Minority Groups in the Workplace ................................................................................... 71

6.7 Communication Challenges ............................................................................................ 72

6.8 Applying Some Key Communication Themes ................................................................. 72

Week Seven: More Managing Communication and Diversity ....................................................... 74

7.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 75

7.2 The Glass Ceiling ............................................................................................................ 75

7.3 Cultural Ethos .................................................................................................................. 78 7.3.1 Recruitment Initiatives ........................................................................................ 78

7.3.2 Career Advancement .......................................................................................... 79

Contents continued …

7.3.3 Diversity Training ................................................................................................ 80

7.4 Indentifying Strategies for Awareness ............................................................................. 81

7.5 Multicultural Teams ......................................................................................................... 82

7.6 Applying Some Key Communication Themes ................................................................. 82

MODULE 5 .......................................................................................................................................... 85

Week Eight: Managing Change Related Communication .............................................................. 85

8.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 86

8.2 What Is Organisational Change? .................................................................................... 86

8.3 Products and Technology ................................................................................................ 87 8.3.1 Exploration .......................................................................................................... 88

8.3.2 Cooperation ........................................................................................................ 89

8.3.3 Ideas and Communication Champions ............................................................... 90

8.4 Changing People and Culture ......................................................................................... 90 8.4.1 Approaches to Implementing Change ................................................................ 91

8.5 Applying Key Themes to Communication ....................................................................... 92

Week Nine: More on Managing Change Related Communication ................................................ 95

9.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 96

9.2 The Need For Change ..................................................................................................... 96 9.2.1 SWOT Analysis .................................................................................................. 97

9.3 Resistance to Change ..................................................................................................... 97 9.3.1 Force-Field Analysis ........................................................................................... 98

9.4 Change Implementation Tactics ...................................................................................... 98

9.5 Creating Environments for Change Communication ..................................................... 100

9.6 Glossary ........................................................................................................................ 101

9.7 Applying Key Themes to Communication ..................................................................... 102

MODULE 6 ........................................................................................................................................ 105

Week Ten: The Integration of Strategic Planning and Communication ..................................... 105

10.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 106

10.2 Goals, Plans and Performance of Communication ....................................................... 106

10.3 The Right Messages ..................................................................................................... 108

10.4 Criteria for Effective Goals ............................................................................................ 110

10.5 Applying Key Themes to Communication ..................................................................... 111

Contents continued …

Week Eleven: Communicating in Difficult Times and Crisis Situations ..................................... 113

11.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 114

11.2 Planning in Turbulent Times .......................................................................................... 115 11.2.1 Contingency Plans ............................................................................................ 115

11.2.2 Scenario Building .............................................................................................. 116

11.3 Shaping a Crisis Plan .................................................................................................... 117 11.3.1 Prevention ........................................................................................................ 117

11.3.2 Preparation ....................................................................................................... 117

11.3.3 Containment ..................................................................................................... 118

11.4 Applying Key Themes to Crisis Communication ........................................................... 119

MODULE 7 ........................................................................................................................................ 121

Week Twelve: Understanding Public Relations ............................................................................ 121

12.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 122

12.2 Identifying and Defining Publics .................................................................................... 122 12.2.1 Internal Publics ................................................................................................. 123

12.2.2 External Publics ................................................................................................ 123

12.3 Prioritising Publics ......................................................................................................... 124

12.4 Perceptions and Public Opinion .................................................................................... 125

12.5 Perceptions of the Organisation .................................................................................... 126 12.5.1 Internal Publics ................................................................................................. 126

12.5.2 External Publics ................................................................................................ 126

12.6 Women and Minorities ................................................................................................... 127

12.7 Points to Remember ...................................................................................................... 127

12.8 Applying Key Themes to Communication ..................................................................... 128

Week Thirteen: Where Have We Been? ......................................................................................... 129

UNIT INTRODUCTION

UNIT AIM

Whether you work as a junior or middle manager or as the Chief Executive Officer, to operate efficiently you need well developed management communication skills. COM21 Management Communication is a second level unit in the Business Communication major that is part of the Griffith University Bachelor of Communication degree introduced in 2012.

This unit will provide a detailed understanding of the principles of management communication and develop the capacity to communicate effectively as a professional. There is a strong emphasis on practical communication skills which will be framed within an unfolding theoretical discourse.

The unit emphasises key elements of communication processes that are vital to working effectively and ethically in a global society. It will familiarise students with emerging communication issues and strategies, and the challenges and opportunities these bring to any management task.

This Study Guide is broken into seven modules:

• Managers in organisations

• Evolution of management thinking

• Communication networks

• Communication and diversity

• Managing change related communication

• The convergence of planning and management in the face of crisis

• Understanding external communication.

On completion of this unit, students should have developed an understanding of the following core skills, policies and theories:

• The role of communication in a manager’s job

• The Learning Organisation

• Communication networks and analysis

• Communities of practice and network organisations

• Valuing diversity

• Managing change related communication

• Implementing change communication and strategies for innovation

• Managing and communicating in crisis

• Managing team conflict

• Understanding external communications

• Managing perceptions and public opinion – internally and externally.

After successfully completing this course students will have developed a solid knowledge of the principles of effective management communication and their application in the following key areas:

COM21 Management Communication

• Communicating as an effective manager

• Understanding the relationships between leadership, management and communication

• Understanding personal and organisational realities of management ethics

• Understanding evolutionary trends in management thinking

• Recognising glass ceilings as a metaphor for minority issues and discrimination

• Recognising ethnocentrism and ethnorelativism and their impact on workplaces

• Converging planning and communication in response to difficult times.

• Developing strategies for effective management communication

• Understanding meanings for Publics and public opinion.

HOW TO USE THIS STUDY GUIDE

The study guide is broken into weekly sections and the information regarding the set reading(s) for each week is detailed at the beginning of each week. The textbook, readings and study guide are designed to work together to provide a broader view of the topics being discussed. You will notice we have included some ‘recommended’ rather than ‘required’ readings. These are for students who are particularly interested in the topic being discussed and provide additional relevant material useful for assessment tasks.

In COM21 Management Communication the textbook is Management, Fourth Asia Pacific edition written by Danny Samson and Richard L Daft. It is available through Unibooks.

We have also provided a range of Independent Learning Tasks (ILTs) for each week. These tasks are designed to encourage you to take a deeper approach to your study and help you to explore the key concepts and tangent issues. These tasks are also designed to work as an online tutorial that will build your skills and understanding in preparation for completion of your major assessment items. The ILTs are a compulsory part of your study and form part of your overall assessment.

We believe these ILTs are important in enhancing your learning experience and in providing an opportunity for you to work with your peers, we have allocated marks for their completion. As you work through each task, share your ideas with your peers on the Discussion Board. Don’t just post your thoughts, read through the comments made by other students and respond to their ideas. This will help you to see other perspectives on the topic being discussed and may alert you to ideas you had not considered. The aim is for you to debate and unpack concepts with your peers. Your tutor will oversee these discussions but will not be actively involved. They will provide general weekly feedback on this work. They will provide marks and specific, private feedback on the 2 of the 12 week interactions nominated by you.

In addition to your learning tasks you are required to produce a 2000 word essay (Assessment 2, due Monday Week 7) and a 2000 word report (Assessment 3, due Monday Week 14). More information on Assessments 2 and 3 are also included in the Unit Outline.

MODULE 1

WEEK ONE: MANAGEMENT AND COMMUNICATION

By the end of this week, students will be familiar with some of the basic elements of management communication. These include:

• Overview of the responsibilities of managers

• Definition of management communication

• Understanding the elements that create effective management communication

• Understanding the role of communication as the manager’s constant daily activity

• Understanding how leadership, management and communication share a symbiotic relationship.

REQUIRED READING

Samson, D & Daft, R L, 2015, 2012, Management, 5th or 4th Asia Pacific Edition, Cengage Learning, Australia. Chapter 1, Chapter 17.

Dwyer, J, 2011, Communication in Business: Strategies and Skills, 4th Edition, Pearson Education, Australia. pp.249 – 254.

RECOMMENDED READING

Samson, D & Daft, R L, 2012, 2015, Management, 4th or 5th Asia Pacific Edition, Cengage Learning, Australia. Chapter 14.

INDEPENDENT LEARNING TASK 4

On page 159 of Cheney (this week’s required reading) you will find Figure 6.1 which plots the intensity and intentionality of workplace incivility. Focus of the levels of intentionality and describe some experiences you are aware of in the workplace where these negative actions have been clearly targeted. It may be a personal or associate’s experience. Did the supervisor take action or were they blind to the activities? Was there any positive outcome? Write a response of between 100 – 200 words.

Post your response and your comments on the work of two peers under the ILT4 thread on the Discussion Board.

Module 2

4.1 INTRODUCTION

‘The currency of real networking is not greed but generosity.’

http://enlightenednetworker.com/homebased-business/networkmarketing/31-killer-quotes-

networking-network-marketing/ ixzz1qYQV27Bv

Work relationships and networks need to be generously ‘cross fertilised’ to grow. Consistency and care need to be taken by managers because relationships can be complicated both in our personal and work lives.

Internal and external relationships are a manager’s communication building blocks. By transforming groups of individual relationships into networks, managers build their own information highways. Information and knowledge can flow freely around these designated routes and provide access for every part of an organisation.

This discussion of relationships and networks will flow over two weeks. This week we will focus on relationships. In Week 5 the discussion will focus on relationship networks.

Firstly, let’s talk about relationships. They are the foundation of all successful communication practice. Managers build relationships with their superiors, team members, suppliers, distributors and many others. Often these are based on a model of personal relationships. It happens this way because we are all human, interacting in ways that we already know and transferring our learned experiences and responses into a workplace environment. Most of the ‘rules of engagement’ are the same for work and personal relationships: generosity, respect, support and acknowledgement.

DISCUSSION POINT. We have all found ourselves in work or learning places that value and respect everyone’s opinion. Reflect on how and when that actually happened.

Who said or did something to acknowledge your good work? How was respect shown?

In today’s work environments, relationships are so much more than just talking about how work can be done. As part of the journey from mechanistic structures towards organic structures, organisations are seeking to make every employee a knowledge worker within a learning organisation. This adds layers of complexity to relationships never considered within the classical perspective and mechanistic structures. Progressive and organically structured organisations need a very high level of communication functionally to meet these lofty aspirations.

REALITY CHECK. Follow the link to a YouTube clip about working at Google. Even though Google is at the far end of the organic structural model, it is interesting to hear these women’s stories about how innovation works within an extremely flat management style.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsnSBhWEyK4&feature=related

COM21 Management Communication

4.2 WORKPLACE RELATIONSHIPS

Many sorts of relationships exist in the workplace, but the most important set for managers to learn and use are instrumental relationships, that is, they are instrumental in directly benefiting the organisation.

Certainly, these instrumental relationships may be seen by many as the ‘ladder to success’ where career advancement is the primary goal. But that is not what it is all about. It can just as easily be about doing a job well and running an efficient and effective team. It can be about developing a community of practice or about personal friendship or just for the pleasure and satisfaction of feeling part of something important. It is often all of these things. Whatever the motivations, instrumental relations work for the mutual benefit of individuals and organisations.

Researchers Gersick, Bartunek and Dutton found that the most common reasons for workplace relations (apart from the immediate practical job requirements) were for ‘collegiality, admiration for the other person, personal friendship, and pleasure in the relationship’ (qtd in Cheney 2011, p. 143).

Through the reasons they gave and the stories they told, the participants in our study made it clear that researchers miss much of the importance of relationships if they construe relationships as resource exchanges. Relationships are important in their own right. They are also complex, potentially including various degrees of joint work, emotional support and of helpfulness and harmfulness. The extent to which each of these qualities is present depends partly on the gender of the relationship partners. (Gersick et al 2000, p.1042)

Work relationships are entirely a ‘construct’, that is, they cannot occur without a workplace and job situation. We will discuss this in further detail later. As a consequence, in a modern workplace environment these relationships often have to be actively negotiated and communicated along societal norms, instrumental to developing everyone as a knowledge worker within a learning organisation.

Relational communication in the workplace is expected to take on an egalitarian, interactive (versus one-way) nature. People don’t always fulfil those expectations, of course, but these expectations shape our views about what sort of communication we consider competent. (Cheney 2011, p. 143)

Gone are the days when respect and obedience came with the job title. Today’s relationships are fluid and multi-directional with expectations to and from all parties.

Traditionally, work and family life were conducted quite separately. At work, you had professional and hierarchical relationships, but your family and social life was mostly conducted outside working hours. With the convergence of technology in the home (or wherever you may be) and through the proliferation of computers, smart phones, emails and text messages, work and family divisions have become blurred.

Added to this, a significant increase in hours worked has meant that sometimes our work colleagues are the only ones we may significantly interact with socially and personally in any given day. We hear and read a lot about work/life balance, but do we see it working effectively in our own lives?

Another complication to be navigated in the construction of instrumental relationships is to do with self-managed or directed teams. Within organic models with flat management styles, managers must

Module 2

ensure that teams have a clearly designated leader and set unambiguous aims, objectives and outcomes while keeping all the creative energies alive. This juggling of order and chaos is risky and time consuming. That is the price of innovation within a learning organisation.

DISCUSSION POINT. Have you had an experience of a work network that was dysfunctional? Using communication models and theories deconstruct what the issues were and how it could have been fixed.

What was the issue with messages sent and received within the network? Who was causing interference? Was there any quality feedback? And if so, was it listened to and acted upon?

Progressive management and communication must be based on innovation and respect as well as productivity and profit.

In a business world where traditional roles are being transformed and emotional intelligence is being embraced, and where social discourse has become more informal, the ‘trap’ for managers is to be perceived as insincere. Acceptance can turn to cynicism if your colleagues see your friendship as manufactured.

4.3 DEFINING RELATIONAL SITUATIONS

As stated earlier, the key to understanding relationships and relational situations at work is to know and accept that they are all entirely constructed.

All our perceptions of any situation are drawn from a distillation of our own learned experiences and internal dialogue – our ‘Self’.

The possession of a Self converts the human being into a special kind of actor, transforms his relationship with the world, and gives his actions a unique character… The human being may perceive himself, have conceptions of himself, communicate with himself and act towards himself… This gives him the means of interacting with himself – addressing himself, responding to the address, and addressing himself anew… The human being can designate things to himself – his wants, his pains, his goals, objects around him, the presence of others, their actions, their expected actions, or whatnot. In short the possession of a Self provides the human being with a mechanism of self-interaction with which to meet the world – a mechanism that is used in forming and guiding his conduct. (Blumer 1966, p. 535)

REALITY CHECK. Follow the link to this YouTube clip which tells the story of the internal dialogue of a worker in a stressful meeting scenario. It is ten minutes long, but you should understand in just a few minutes how complicated we are as human beings. This internal dialogue is the ‘Self’ finding its voice about having a difficult day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyTK0ovHOhA

COM21 Management Communication

It is little wonder that relationships at work can be so complicated. People always bring their Self into any work (or social) interaction.

Complicating this, work situations such as strategic conversations, work team meetings, reporting, directing etc., almost always have a set of identifiable goals that are being communicated.

The required reading defines situational and communicational goals (Cheney 2011, p. 146). We have adapted these to a more communication orientated perspective.

Communication goals

• Instrumental goals are the simplest to understand being the initiator of action. We need to get something done and we communicate with others to achieve that outcome (e.g. gathering information, teaching, persuading, selling). Nonetheless, these goals are often shared since everyone benefits from co-operation and success.

• Identity goals. As individuals we communicate our ‘Self’ to establish our identity within the environment with a view to building relationships. This can become complicated and many of us would have found ourselves in meetings where individuals seem more concerned about putting their own stamp on events than working together.

• Relationship Goals. These are more reflective than identity goals in so far as they contain messages about the state of relationships and potentially the reshaping or modifying of relationships.

Identity and relationship goals are often less visible in our strategic conversations and situations, but we are constantly (and quite naturally) seeking legitimisation.

In fact all communication can be considered as an exercise in seeking and exchanging legitimisation. Managers need to be aware of the depth of what is actually being communicated and dig down through the visible layers to see how colleagues are negotiating their relationships and well as being constantly aware of the identity they are building for themselves – empathetic or distant, supportive or authoritarian, level playing field or playing favourites? We will discuss this further when we look at Dialectics, later in this week’s discussion.

‘We see things not as they are but as we are.’ (Taoist saying circa 550 BCE)

A good benchmark for managers is the co-operative principal – always assume that people are trying to be co-operative, even if it seems to be the opposite. People often have to assimilate information – and sometimes that doesn’t work at the pace you want to set. It is a mistake to think that your colleagues are not trying to make sense of it or that they won’t ‘get there’. Patience is truly a virtue and there are always these sorts of tensions around communication particularly when it entails significant change.

Sociolinguist H. P. Grice suggests that the cooperative principle underlies most attempts to communicate. By this he meant that we typically assume that people are trying to be cooperative – by making themselves understood – even if it is quite difficult to figure out what they mean. (Cheney 2011, p. 147)

A good way of keeping ahead of relationship tensions is to embrace the study of dialectics as a method to test what is really happening for you as the manager as well as your team.

A number of history's most illustrious thinkers have wrestled with the meaning of 'dialectic,' and as a result, the concept has permutated considerably since the inception of Western

Module 2

philosophy. Generally speaking, dialectic is a mode of thought, or a philosophic medium, through which contradiction becomes a starting point (rather than a dead end) for contemplation. As such, dialectic is the medium that helps us comprehend a world that is racked by paradox… It is with Hegel, however, that the modern notion of dialectic crystallized. Roughly speaking, Hegel's dialectic involves the reconciliation of ostensible paradoxes to arrive at absolute truth. (University of Chicago 2003)

In our context, dialectics is the study of opposing forces within relationships. Let’s look at some common workplace dialectics:

• Connection / Autonomy refers to wanting to be part of a team as opposed to wanting to be free of responsibility to and for others.

• Openness / Privacy refers to the willingness to readily share information as opposed to maintaining privacy and being in control of situations.

• Novelty / Predictability refers to freely participating in creative relationships as opposed to wanting to ensure a definite, more predictable outcome.

• Equality / Inequality refers to the desire of be equal as opposed to desiring levels of superiority.

• Instrumentality / Affection refers to being likable and good fun to work with to get the job done as opposed to overly seeking emotional benefits

• Impartiality / Favouritism refers to the desire for everyone to be ‘on a level playing field’ as opposed to the natural inclination to have favourites.

Researchers Smircich and Morgan (1982) contend that leadership itself contains a dialectic relating two opposing positions – that of the leader and the led.

…the phenomenon of leadership in being interactive is by nature dialectical. It is shaped through the interaction of at least two points of reference, i.e. of leaders and the led. This dialectic is often the source of powerful internal tensions within leadership situations… While individuals may look to a leader to frame and concretize their reality, they may also react against, reject or change the reality thus defined. Much of the tension in leadership situations stems from this source. Although leaders draw their power from their ability to define the reality of others, their inability to control completely provides the seeds of disorganization in the organization of meaning they provide. (Smircich & Morgan 1982, pp. 258-9)

We all walk a dialectic tightrope every day of the week, whether at work or in society. Managers need to find balanced dialectical positions in relationships in response to issues and situations. They must be able to communicate these positions effectively because team members are certainly watching, listening and constantly interpreting verbal and non-verbal messages, emotional intelligence, active listening and feedback skills.

In reality, dialectics are tidal – they ebb and flow between opposing sides. It is good to discuss the dialectics of a situation, but you must discuss both ends.

Dialectics manifest themselves throughout our verbal and non-verbal communication. They exist at our most basic communication levels. The important thing is that managers need to manage dialectics, no matter how big or small, towards the best possible outcomes.

To purloin a phrase from Thomas Jefferson, ‘the price of good communication is constant vigilance’.

COM21 Management Communication

4.4 COMMUNICATION COMPETENCIES

We are all different and each person brings differing skills into the management and maintenance of relationships. In this modern management era, the preference for work teams and organic styles has placed much more pressure on all workers to be competent communicators.

REALITY CHECK. Follow the link to a YouTube clip about Effective Teamwork and Collaboration from a ‘nuts and bolts’ aspect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsndhCQ5hRY

It is difficult to qualify what skills go to make a good communicator. Some people are excellent on a one to one basis, but may be poor speech makers, or ramble in meetings, or get easily sidetracked by tangents. In any event, it is up to the manager to juggle these human inconsistencies and develop both a structural and organic framework for effective workplace communication.

Cheney (2011, pp.151–2) presents a discussion of three core communication competencies that relate directly to building relationships. Read these first and consider them and then read the adaptation below that attempts to place these within communication models and theory.

• Social Perception Skills. These are skills that come through exploring your own emotional intelligence and exercising active listening techniques. Through being empathetic and rapidly adapting your behaviours to the changing situations and in response to the ‘emotional temperature’ of any interaction.

Remember that your primary drive as a manager is to make each engagement instrumental to the best outcome possible – for the organisation as well as for the participants.

High levels of social perception are central to communication success for managers.

• Message Design Skills. These are closely tied to social perception and relate to the reading of people and situations and adapting the message to best meet the needs of that audience and therefore are most successful. That is not to say that a manager can be ‘sociopathic’ in their communications and just say whatever people want to hear and then change it all the next day when confronted with a different set of issues.

These are finely honed analytical and intuitive skills in which you size up the audience, the context of the message being delivered and what you need to do or say to successfully communicate your message. It also involves having enough intuition to immediately know what not to say and what not to do. Above all, it requires you to be consistent in all your communication, listening as well as being adaptive.

• Interaction Management. This involves taking the right decision ‘midstream’ and switching the topic at the right moment. You will instantly know when you made a wrong decision. It is almost always in the collective and empathic non-verbal response. It is perfectly acceptable to say ‘oh it feels like we haven’t finished on that, so let’s go back’.

Module 2

Your colleagues will appreciate that you can ‘read the room.’ You are actively listening and applying your emotional intelligence.

4.5 DIFFERENT TYPES OF WORKPLACE RELATIONSHIP

The types of relationships that can thrive within any organisation relate directly to the nature of its structure. In COM12 Business Communications, we looked at mechanistic and organic structures and how they relate to the communication that happens within them. In this unit, we have tracked the evolution of workplaces from the classical approach to a more humanistic one. We have also discussed top down, bottom up vertical communication lines, as well as horizontal and lateral communication lines.

These differing threads all build to a discussion of the types of relationship you may find enshrined in organisations that predominately favour one or other of these structures and, consequently, develop different communication styles.

We add one caveat though. Many organisations are in a state of flux and are using hybrid forms of mechanistic and organic structures and communication styles. For the purposes of study, we will identify each of the different types of relationship as separate entities with a view to discussing their key elements.

4.5.1 SUPERIOR/SUBORDINATE RELATIONSHIPS

These types of relationships might be considered ‘old school’. Certainly they are born out of mechanistic styles of organisations dating back to the era that we have discussed within the classical historical perspective of the evolution of business management. They might be considered as the Industrial Revolution’s adaptation of the servant-master relationships dating back to feudalism. This is not to say that all mechanistic organisations are archaic – there was (and is) benevolence shown towards workers. Although born from the era that saw the rise of unions, communism and the workers’ revolution as we have discussed earlier, many organisations today are based on this superior/subordinate relationship style.

Typically, communication styles in the more mechanistic organisational model remain vertical – downwards and upwards. Communication is always predicated on a flow from the Superior above to or from the Subordinates below.

Downward messages mostly consist of job instructions and rationales including process, procedure and practice information, performance feedback and ‘indoctrination messages, which are intended to convey the organization’s cultural values and assumptions and build employee identification’ (Cheney 2011, p. 152).

Communication researchers Stephanie Zimmerman, Beverley Sypher and John Hass argue that there exists a culturally shared meta myth that more communication is better – yet in numerous organizations people were unsatisfied because of a lack of downward communication. (Cheney 2011, pp. 152–3)

Any upward communication was characterised by Cheney as mostly conveying status, performance problems, interpretation of policies and practice, and suggestions.

COM21 Management Communication

This is not to say that there was no social discourse. However, in most instances this was informal and unmanaged but, of course, friendships grew and many superiors and subordinates enjoyed good friendships, but mainly in the old fashioned paradigm of keeping work and social life separate.

Researchers Graen and Uhl-Bien suggest three phases of superior/subordinate work relationships that seem to approximate how relationships might form within social life: the stranger phase, the acquaintance phase and the mature stage (Cheney 2011, p. 154).

These phases will resonate with you as experiences you had when starting school or moving to a new place. Graen takes his idea a little further in his leader-member exchange theory that sees superiors developing inside cliques and outside cliques based on high levels of trust or low levels of trust. Of course, that sounds just like a classic dialectic that should be challenged.

DISCUSSION POINT. Consider your own work and life experiences from the perspective of the dialectic – high trust versus low trust. Workplaces often have workers who are considered to be ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’.

Have you had one or both of these experiences? Have you observed this happening to others around you?

While this all sounds very old fashioned, it is a style of communication and relationship that can still be seen today. Major fast food outlets still employ a version of this relationship style with a high percentage of teenage employees, rigid processes, procedures and systems, top down management structure and high staff turnover. If the young worker does not comply, they are soon moved on. This system works and the companies are extremely profitable. There is no desire for innovation from the ‘factory floor’ and they insist on every pizza or burger being the same. It’s also what the customer wants.

REALITY CHECK. This YouTube clip shows a 1967 recruitment ad for McDonalds. It states the importance of discipline and team work. Note the manager watching over his young workers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZjdouRo_qA

4.5.2 PEER RELATIONSHIPS

These relationships differ from those discussed above by virtue of not being imposed by a dominant hierarchy. Peer relationships are those relationships that are constructed socially within a workplace. They form organically out of shared experiences, values, attitudes, beliefs and assumptions.

Researchers Sias and Cahill describe the process of peer relationships building themselves organically (Cheney 2011, p. 155).

Module 2

Friendships tended to develop early due to the co-workers simply being around one another, working together on shared projects and tasks, and perceiving common ground. At this point the variety of communication topics increased; however, the co-workers were somewhat cautious about sharing information and opinions with each other. Relationships developed into close friendships usually because of important personal or work related problems, although perceived similarity and extra-organizational socializing continued to impact relationship development. At this point, the co-worker became a trusted source of support with communication becoming increasingly more intimate and less cautious. Over time, this trend continued into a third transition where the co-workers became an important part of each other’s personal and work life. (Sias & Cahill 1998, pp. 288-9)

Workers in peer relationships interact with each other and as a result a work culture capable of change is created. Co-workers offer advice, support and information within these parallel relationships and shared work cultures.

Managers need to be aware that peer related relationships add to the complexity within an organisation, but there is a downside. While there is great benefit in the enhanced depth of mutual understanding and support with peer relationships, things can go very wrong and productivity can be derailed by inflammatory personal issues among staff such as jealousy, anger, feelings of betrayal.

Good managing entails navigating through these issues with co-workers. This may include organising some mediation through your Human Resources department or consultant when difficulties arise.

4.5.3 PROBLEMATIC RELATIONSHIPS

Problematic relationships can really harm organisations. They can cause loss of productivity, loss of key personnel, and impact negatively in terms of physical and mental health, absenteeism and ultimately cash flow.

Cheney outlines various research which demonstrates how a spiral of incivility can grow in workplaces (2011, pp. 158–60). Sypher in Cheney (2011, p.158) even draws similarities between the emergence of road rage as a parallel phenomenon.

Pay particular attention to Figure 6.1, ‘Intensity and Intentionality of Workplace Incivility’ (p. 159), which charts a journey from indirect, passive and verbal incivility to direct, active and aggressive behaviours. This seeming breakdown in workplace civility coincides with an increase in workplace bullying and harassment. Legislation has been introduced in Australia over a 20 year period to try to stem this poor work practice.

Workplace bullying and harassment can be described as repetitive negative behaviours such as humiliation, ridicule, threatening behaviour and overt acts of hostility. In Australia, The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission formulated the following definition and description of harassment and discrimination in the workplace:

Under federal and state legislation, unlawful harassment occurs when someone is made to feel intimidated, insulted or humiliated because of their race, colour, national or ethnic origin; sex; disability; sexual preference; or some other characteristic specified under antidiscrimination or human rights legislation. It can also happen if someone is working in a ‘hostile’ – or intimidating –environment.

COM21 Management Communication

(https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/content/info_for_employers/pdf/8_discrimina tion_harassment.pdf)

Harassment can include behaviour such as:

• telling insulting jokes about particular racial groups • sending explicit or sexually suggestive emails • displaying offensive or pornographic posters or screen savers • making derogatory comments or taunts about someone’s race or religion • asking intrusive questions about someone’s personal life, including their sex life.

Harassing behaviour can range from serious to less serious levels, however one-off incidents can still constitute harassment. Also, where continued, such behaviour can undermine the standard of conduct within a work area, which may erode the wellbeing of the individual or group being targeted and lead to lower overall staff performance.

Employers also need to be aware of their responsibilities to ensure that the working environment or workplace culture is not sexually or racially ‘hostile’. Examples of a potentially hostile working environment are where pornographic materials are displayed and where crude conversations, innuendo or offensive jokes are part of the accepted culture. A person has the right to complain about the effects of a sexually or racially hostile working environment, even if the conduct in question was not specifically targeted at them.

(Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) Australia https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/content/info_for_employers/pdf/8_discriminat ion_harassment.pdf)

Another emerging class of bullying has been identified as mobbing.

Workplace mobbing can be described as a covert process whereby the perpetrators act collectively to direct psychological attacks towards those targeted until they are forced to leave their employment (Shallcross et al 2008). Similarly, workplace mobbing is also described as ‘a malicious attempt to force a person out of the workplace through unjustified accusations, humiliation, general harassment, emotional abuse, and/or terror’ (Zapf & Leymann 1996).

The outcome of mobbing most often identified by researchers is the target's expulsion from the workplace, causing psychological and physical injuries, and financial distress (Groeblinghoff & Becker 1996; Zapf & Leymann 1996).

Managers need to be aware of their own behaviours and be vigilant for power disparities within their teams. These disparities are the breeding ground of bullying and harassment within the workplace. People who engage in these activities seek to hurt and control (Shallcross 2010, pp. 27–8).

DISCUSSION POINT. Many of us have either been bullied in the workplace or have witnessed workplace bullying. Consider the HREOC definitions above, together with the Shallcross definition of workplace mobbing.

Have you been bullied or have you been a witness to bullying? What effect did it have on you personally and within the wider workplace?

Module 2

4.6 APPLYING KEY THEMES TO COMMUNICATION

This week we have been looking at relationships and relational situations. Just about everything to do with an organisation is a construct that would not exist without a job and a workplace. Managers and communicators have an opportunity to construct all the elements, words, symbols, slogans that surround this constructed environment.

• Cultural Ethos. Let’s revisit some of the basics from Week One. The first step in understanding management communication processes is in understanding how the organization speaks or communicates about itself. This language of the organization, which might at first glance seem straight forward, can combine quite complex elements of business, professional, aesthetic and economic objectives. This week we have attempted to strip down communication to its basic building blocks from which we construct the organisation’s public face. It starts with an understanding that every conversation is strategic and every situation is an opportunity.

• Symbols, Stories, Heroes, Slogans, Ceremonies. From a Cultural Ethos perspective, these devices form the basic elements that can be used to build the face of the organisation. Using these devices is particularly effective when acknowledging functional relationships and team work within the organisation. Symbols, words and rituals that celebrate success form part of portraying and identifying the heroes and stories within your organisation that are in a constant process of formation and re-formation.

• Adaptive Management behaviours and Cultural Leadership. The importance of basic, simple relationship building in a successful and adaptive organisation should never be underestimated by a manager. As the manager you are the example of how relationships will grow and be conducted within the organisation. As such, you become the cultural leader, setting the behavioural standards, and being the conduit of information flow vertically, horizontally and laterally across the organisation.

MORE THOUGHTS

More and more, work relationships and personal relationships are coming together. However, it is important to remember that you are the leader of communication and as such, your role is pivotal. It is up to you to set the relational rules of engagement because it could be your responsibility to sometimes discipline or even dismiss workers.

‘Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power.’ (Lao Tzu)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Australian Human Rights Commission, What is workplace discrimination and harassment?, Accessed 26 June 2013. http://www.humanrights.gov.au/what-workplace-discrimination-and-harassment.

Blumer, H. 1966, ‘Sociological Implications of the Thoughts of George Herbert Mead’, American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 71, Issue 5.

COM21 Management Communication

Cheney, C. Christensen, L T. Zorn, T E Jnr, Shiv, Ganesh. 2011, Organizational Communication in an Age of Globalization, Issues, Reflections, Practices, Waveland Press, Illinois.

Enlightened Networker. Accessed April 2012. http://enlightenednetworker.com/homebased- business/networkmarketing/31-killer-quotes-networking-network-marketing/ ixzz1qYQV27Bv

Gersick, C. J., Bartunek, J. M., Dutton, J. E., 2000, ‘The importance of relationships in professional life’, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 43, Issue 6.

Shallcross, L. Ramsay, S & Barker, M, 2010, ‘A Procative Response to the Mobbing Problem: A Guide for HR Managers’, New Zealand Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol 10, Issue 1, pp. 27 – 8.

Sias, P M & Cahill, D L, 1998, ‘From co-worker to friends: The development of peer friendships in the workplace, Western Journal of Communication, Vol. 62, Issue 3.

Smircich, L & Morgan, G, 1982, ‘Leadership: The Management of Meaning’, The Journal of Applied Behavioural Science, Vol. 18, No 3, pp. 258 -9.

The University of Chicago, 2003, Theories of Media. Accessed April 2012. http://csmt.uchicago.edu/glossary2004/dialectic.htm

MODULE 3

WEEK FIVE: MORE COMMUNICATION NETWORKS

By the end of this week, students will be familiar with the dynamics of relationship networks from a local and a global perspective. This will include:

• Understanding the purpose of Network Analysis and its key concepts

• Understanding the emergence of communities of practice

• Understanding the emergence of Network Organisations

• Understanding the convergence of communication techniques, locally and globally.

REQUIRED READING

Cheney, C, Christensen, L T, Zorn, T E Jnr, Ganesh, Shiv, 2011, Organizational Communication in an Age of Globalization, Issues, Reflections, Practices, 2nd ed., Waveland Press, Illinois. Chapter 6, pp. 160 – 178.

RECOMMENDED READING Samson, D & Daft, R L, Management, 2012, 2015, 4th or 5th Asia Pacific Edition, Cengage Learning, Australia. Chapter 4.

INDEPENDENT LEARNING TASK 5

In our key themes, we have identified workplace heroes and knowledge workers as people who show exceptional qualities within the workplace. Identify some heroes and knowledge workers you have experienced and write a short piece (100 – 200 words) stating reasons why these individuals might be key members of work team networks. Describe the qualities they display that may enhance the power and reach of this network within an organisation.

Post your comments and your responses to two peers’ comments within the Discussion Board under the ILT thread called ‘Post your responses to ILT5 here’.

COM21 Management Communication

REALITY CHECK. Follow the link to a YouTube clip that introduces the idea of networks as value networks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik4DWmNO2LM

5.1 COMMUNICATION NETWORKS

Managers build communication networks simply by establishing relationships with individuals and converting these relationships into active networks. By linking people together in networks it is possible to achieve more, work more efficiently and often, more creatively. Based on their integral group dynamic, networks will succeed or fail. If more is achieved through functioning as a network, it soon becomes an obvious strategy. Networks have, by nature, a way of discovering their social and political levels.

Often these levels play out at a very basic human level:

• Does the network offer opportunities?

• Is valuable information and knowledge available within the network?

• Does the network offer a base of influence?

In most cases, these three basic questions will determine the fate of the network. Most managers are too busy to waste time on building and exploiting networks if they are not delivering outcomes and offering opportunities to benefit the organisation.

Networks can be a mix of internal and external relationships and connections. They may form around particular technologies or communities of practice, professional associations or community organisations. The common link is the desire to communicate, exchange information, grow collective knowledge, share influence and be empowered through membership, at least to some degree.

DISCUSSION POINT. Many of you will have been members of a network within your workplace or personal life. Reflect on the paragraph above and focus on networks you have participated in.

Did they succeed or fail? Based on the common links above, evaluate their effectiveness.

This week we continue Module 3 by exploring network analysis, key networking concepts, communities of practice, inter-organisational networks, and define ‘network organisations’ and their core skill sets.

Module 3

5.2 NETWORK ANALYSIS

REALITY CHECK. Follow the link to this YouTube clip for a quick graphic representation of this week’s topic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMBPsEAm7VU

Network analysis was first introduced in the 1930s starting with pioneers in the field Simmel and, later. Moreno. It soon found itself applied to a range of social and technological interactions. One interesting application was when political strategists used Network Analysis as a campaign tool to identify who were the information gatekeepers and key opinion makers within communities. Kennedy was the first American president to really effectively link network research techniques and specifically targeted television advertising. The strategists would then direct their efforts directly at these network links. Since then it has become extremely sophisticated and has been applied across all social behaviourist platforms including, of course, the workplace.

Generally, network analysis can be defined as the study of the effectiveness of messages when directly applied to existing communication links between people within any system, but principally it is applied to communities and workplaces. It can also be applied to any smaller subsystem, for example, school children, teenagers, the elderly or mentally ill. It is universally applicable as long as its settings are correct.

In an organisational context it has become an integral part of situational decision making and strategy building. It allows managers to get inside a situation through the deconstruction of messages sent and received, and feedback to and from opinion makers and gatekeepers within networks across the organisation.

Certainly, network analysis is just one of the tools available to managers to investigate the cause of issues and relational situations. It is an important part of tracing a pattern of interconnectedness in issues such as changes in consumer sentiment, tighter government regulation, handling of manufacturing and marketing, and weakening of internal and external communication. Employees often reflect trends and have valuable answers. Network analysis is a way of harnessing this knowledge.

Sociologist, Mark Granovetter developed an insightful analysis based on the ‘strength of weak ties’. Granovetter argues that while we typically value strong ties in terms of network density and strength, for some purposes we should value the weaker ties. For organisations to be innovative, for example, weak ties are essential because they foster new links that allow us to challenge taken-for-granted routines and assumptions. (Granovetter qtd Cheney 2011, p. 161)

We have already discussed the need for the evolution of businesses into learning organisations as well as innovation as a ‘must do’ for survival in an era of constant change. Network analysis provides managers with mechanisms to find out what is really happening and to manage those communications and networks to the benefit of the organisation.

COM21 Management Communication

5.3 KEY CONCEPTS IN NETWORK ANALYSIS

Relations are central to network analysis because they define the nature of the communication connections between people, groups and organisations. This focus stands in sharp contrast to other areas of social sciences, which have tended to study attributes, the characteristics of people, groups and organisations rather than the relationship between them. Relations possess a number of important properties including the number of entities involved, strength, symmetry, transitivity, reciprocity, and multiplexity. (Jablin & Putnam 2001, p. 441)

Cheney et al (2011, p. 162) adapt research from two sources to create ‘Box 6.4 - Key Concepts in Network Analysis’. Firstly, have a look at this adaptation of the research and then read through the Study Guide’s adaptation which attempts to place their research within a more communication related context.

Network Roles for Individuals can be quite simply divided into the following categories:

• The Clique is where group members are connected through regular interaction. These might be members of work teams who form fairly naturally into a network.

• The Isolate refers to an individual who is not much of a team player, but is included in the network because of the specialised skills or knowledge they bring with them. Often they maybe a content expert and/or specific knowledge worker.

• The Bridge refers to someone who is a member of many networks and can act as a bridge or conduit between them. Often this member is very useful at breaking down communication barriers.

• The Liaison refers to someone who is not a member of any network, but interacts between many different networks. This person is highly effective as a conduit of horizontal and lateral communication.

• The Communication Star is often identified as a champion of the network who will take communication forward positively.

• The Gatekeeper is someone who is naturally inclined to want to control the flow of information of networks, both internally and externally.

Cheney goes on to identify the ‘dimensions’ between individuals and the networks. In communication usage we would refer to this as the group dynamic.

Dimensions of Analysis between Individuals can be evaluated according to levels of:

• Centrality is the degree to which an individual is central to the network’s function.

• Connectedness means the number of contacts each individual has secured and whether they can govern their effectiveness.

• Diversity means the number of cross or subcultural links an individual has which is also important as a modern concept of interaction.

• Accessibility refers to each network member’s ability and resources to enable them to quickly and easily access other members of the network and other networks within the organisation. (Cheney 2011, p. 162)

Module 3

DISCUSSION POINT. Reflect on your own workplace experiences and see if you can identity some of these types of individuals as well as giving thought to the sorts of ‘dimensions’ or group dynamics that surround these networks. Consider how networks benefit from centrality, connectedness, diversity and accessibility to influence team and network discussion.

Dimensions for Analysis of Whole Networks can be evaluated according to:

• Size. The number of members can be directly related to a network’s influence.

• Heterogeneity. The degree to which members are similar or different can have both positive and negative effects on the network.

• Modes of Communicating refers to the many different outlets used by the network to distribute information.

• Density refers to the ratio of actual links to possible links within a network. This relates directly to certainty and effectiveness.

• Clustering is the degree to which networks are either ‘mainstream’ or comprised of subcultures or cliques. (Cheney 2011, p. 162)

These key concepts form the basis of the tools a manager can use to understand why a network is functioning effectively or experiencing difficulties. Identifying the role players, analysing their individual centrality to information flow, their connectedness as individuals across networks and the organisation, their links across culturally diverse sectors within the organisation, and the degree to which they have quick, easy access to others, all help to clarify what is happening within that network.

5.4 COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE

Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly. (Etienne Wenger 2006, http://www.ewenger.com/theory/)

REALITY CHECK. Follow the YouTube link to a quick interview with Etienne Wenger on the strategic nature of communities of practice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waWdPbCXCjQ

Communities of practice are now prevalent in the business world in response to the growth of fixed contract and consultancies, often working within large organisations. Being a tutor at a university is a good example. The common learning goals and peer interaction creates a purposeful shared journey.

Members of a community of practice share a common discipline and share their experiences, stories, tools and ways of addressing recurring problems by interacting with each other in a committed and sustainable way. Wegner, McDermott and Snyder argue that the driving force making these communities of practice successful over time is ‘their ability to generate enough excitement, relevance, and value to attract and engage members. Although many factors, such as management

COM21 Management Communication

support or an urgent problem, can inspire a community, nothing can substitute for this sense of aliveness’ (2001, p. 50).

These communities have found practical applications in business, organisational design, government, education, professional associations, development projects, as well as social, medical and community services, but are applicable just about everywhere today.

The concept is succeeding because business recognises that knowledge is inherent to change and innovation and needs to be managed and communicated strategically. Often, an organisation might support and resource these communities as part of their innovation strategies. Communities of practice provide a new way for organisations to promote innovation within their often outsourced expertise through providing social structures that enable people to learn with and from each other outside traditional organisational structures.

A number of characteristics define this interest in communities of practice as a vehicle for developing strategic innovation in organisations:

• Communities of practice enable practitioners to take collective responsibility for managing the knowledge they need, recognizing that, given the proper structure, they are in the best position to do this.

• Communities among practitioners create a direct link between learning and performance, because the same people participate in communities of practice and in teams and business units.

• Practitioners can address the tacit and dynamic aspects of knowledge creation and sharing, as well as the more explicit aspects.

• Communities are not limited by formal structures: they create connections among people across organizational and geographic boundaries.

(Wenger 2006, http://www.ewenger.com/theory/)

Ultimately, the knowledge pool within an organisation could potentially be driven by separate communities of practice each informing a specific competency that then feeds into the wider organisation.

However, managers and organisations need to be able to meet the challenge of autonomy, practitioner-orientation, informality and cross fertilization of ideas and knowledge to be able to reap a substantial benefit. All of this can really only succeed with a mature learning organisation that has enshrined vertical, horizontal and lateral communication lines within an adaptive work culture.

Quite recently we have seen the arrival of the Virtual or On-line Communities of Practice (OCoP).

OCoPs provide a virtual space in which people who might normally never meet can come together, share stories and experiences, and solve problems pertaining to the domain interest. The evolving technologies of the Internet allow for an extension of traditional communities in geographic and cultural ways, crossing borders and languages to include experts from around the world. (Wenger 2006, http://www.ewenger.com/theory/)

Perhaps Wikipedia may actually prove to be a first step towards a Virtual Community of Practice model rather than being an on-line open encyclopaedia. We certainly have the technology.

Module 3

5.5 INTER-ORGANISATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS AND NETWORKS

Many organisations are now entering into joint ventures either as public/private ventures with government (e.g. the tunnel projects in Brisbane) or between corporations (e.g. many exploration and mining projects). These can be both short and long term arrangements.

These networks are formed for a number of reasons – personal, strategic, symbolic or institutional. Whatever the reasons, a common factor is to spread the risk. They are designed to maximise human and material resources, skills sets and knowledge to the benefit of all the partners.

With increased environmental complexity and turbulence, organizations expand their boundary spanning activities to include collaboration with other organizations. Inter-organizational collaboration involves pooling tangible and intangible resources, such as expertise, information, money, technology, and labor by two or more organizations to solve problems that neither of them can solve alone. (Gray 1985, p. 912)

REALITY CHECK. Follow the link to a YouTube clip about the joint venture in Brisbane to build tunnels as a solution to their traffic issues.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JovNSkXvngA

Often, inter-organisational relationships either exist as symbiotic entities or pooling devices.

Symbiotic entities use all their resources, products or services and capacities to combine to form one entity. A good example of this is when a university enters into a relationship with government or private enterprise in the role of innovation incubator. The other partners may fund the research and then take over the manufacture processes.

Pooling involves organisations with similar resources, building their collective market reach. Co-flight arrangements between different airlines are a good example. Qantas has arrangements with a number of other airlines to provide a wider scope of services to its customers – and, of course, these favourable residual arrangements flow back across to their other network members.

COM21 Management Communication

5.6 NETWORK ORGANISATIONS

For many global corporations, a rigid hierarchical structure no longer meets the needs of these new environments. The old hierarchical pyramid that suited industrial age companies is no longer sufficient to manage and communicate within knowledge-based organisations.

The structure of knowledge based organisations needs to be different and more complex. This has given rise to the concept of the Network Organisation.

In this week’s reading Cheney et al define Network Organisations as ‘composed of two or more organizational units from different organizations involved in a long term, and more or less formalized relationship’ (2011, p. 167). The key word is ‘formalised’. Its power base, vision, strategies and structure are contained within a network group leadership and management entity. However, the network ‘group’ retains the ability to operate laterally and flexibly within many markets.

Network Organisations form in response to environmental and strategic changes that challenge their more traditional strategies.

• Environmental Changes include changes in technology; decrease in transaction costs; turbulent changes in supply and/or demand; increase in competition; increase of risk and uncertainty; globalisation.

• Strategic Changes include savings on costs; improving the flow of information; effective redistribution of resources; improving competitiveness; improving entrepreneurial potential; launching new business; increasing co-operation; improving buyer/supplier relationships; sharing risk with others; accessing additional resources, markets and entrepreneurialism. (Adapted from Figure 6.1, Szerb 2003, p. 87)

The characteristics of a Network Organisation are:

• Independent teams within specific areas of activity

• Project-driven activities sharing common values and resources

• Separate business units that support each other locally and globally as part of a conglomerate

• Open and regular links between projects

• Use of information and communication technologies to connect the projects

• One key co-ordinating body (often headed by the CEO) to construct and implement systems and processes to specifically manage the interrelationship of projects.

(Sourced from Cheney et al 2011, pp. 163–7; Samson & Daft 2015, pp. 413-17; 2012, pp. 384–6)

The technology revolution has removed the tyranny of distance and distance. The benefits derived from economies of scale and the sharing of knowledge and resources is meeting the challenge for organisations to be adaptive globally.

A good example of a network organisation is Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) which was born out of a merger between Asea AB of Sweden and BBC Brown Boveri Ltd of Baden, Switzerland in 1988. The merged entity is now the world’s leading supplier in the $50 billion electric power industry developing robotic technology as its unique market advantage.

Module 3

ABB now controls as much as a third of Europe’s business and more than 20 per cent of the world market. It has successfully integrated 1,300 subsidiary companies operating as separate and distinct business units with 180,000 employees operating in 140 countries.

All the energy and resources of the corporate centre of ABB are geared to facilitating cross-company co-operation, with computer networks and knowledge sharing being at the centre of this process.

REALITY CHECK. Follow the link to a YouTube clip of robotic tools at the high end of innovation developed across the globe within ABB subsidiaries.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQlVOGqifkE

Obviously, the communication strategies are as complex as the corporate structure, however within the 1,300 business units, local managers are delivering localised communication strategies and techniques as their part to play within a massive structure.

At the centre of all communication is trust, no matter the size of the structure you are managing, or how global or localised. The setting of consistent standards in a way that is transparently based on goodwill, commitment and equity stands as the paramount conditions under which communication lines can be kept open and adaptable. Only through this can a corporation develop an identity that communicates a clear sense of corporate self.

In your required reading, Cheney et al state that communication within network organisations is based on the three elements of trust, identity and co-ordination. Peter Ring and Andrew Van de Ven agree, pointing out that:

Trust is the goodwill of other parties in a cumulative product of repeated past interactions amongst parties through which they have come to know themselves and evolve a common understanding of mutual commitments. (Ring & Van de Ven 1994, p. 110)

Identity and co-operation are driven from a communication perspective through overarching strategies that by nature must be vertical, horizontal as well as lateral. A communication chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

5.7 APPLYING SOME KEY COMMUNICATION THEMES

• Cultural Ethos. Strategic conversations, communicating messages consistently, building strong relationships and developing stable and effective networks are all milestones on the journey to good communication by a manager.

These are simple day to day skills and techniques that build trust, identity and cooperation. More importantly, they are often more powerful in your internal and external communication than a fortune in advertising and slick copy. What you actually say and do counts most.

COM21 Management Communication

The level of trust, cooperation and ease of communication within an organisation forms part of its cultural ethos and as such is a valuable strategic asset. This trust bank can act as an empowering agent in all communication and negotiation processes. It can embed a freedom and flexibility within networks of relationships, teams, communities of practice, and internal and external networks of exchange.

Alternatively, a lack of trust and open communication often leads to a culture of suspicion, secrecy and ultimately open conflict with increased levels of stress, indecision, low motivation among staff. This in turn, can lead to loss of productivity, high staff turnover, increased sick leave etc.

• Symbols, Stories, Heroes, Slogans, Ceremonies. As Network Organisations grow, managers need to be open to applying communication devices across not only their own team, but across hugely disparate sister companies. The key to much of this global communication lies in consistency. Using similar symbols and slogans globally, widening the audience for the stories and ceremonies, and celebrating heroes can have a great impact within an organisation if these stories and ceremonies can be celebrated on a global basis.

Many global organisations have newsletters that collect stories from every department, branch or national office. Having your organisation recognised on this global level, has enormous benefits for everyone involved. Similarly, the sharing of stories from other organisations in different parts of the world will build a heightened sense of connectedness, and an appreciation of place within the big picture.

• Adaptive Management Behaviours and Cultural Leadership.

Networks and global relationships add to the ability of a manager to adapt. Seeing what is happening in like-minded organisations is an excellent way to track change and learn about innovations. In the same way, managers can specifically learn from cultural leadership and knowledge management programs being trialled in other parts of the bigger organisation.

If the communication lines are open, information and knowledge will flow.

MORE THOUGHTS

Networks are an integral part of most organisations today. The pitfall, however, is spending so much time managing the networks that it has a negative effect on productivity. One good rule is don’t network unless there is a specific reason to do so that will be instrumental in benefiting better business outcomes. In other words, don’t go into strategic conversations, relationships or networks unless you have a strategy.

‘All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.’ (Sun Tzu, 544 - 496BC)

Module 3

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cheney, C, Christensen, L T, Zorn, T E Jnr, Ganesh, Shiv, 2011, Organizational Communication in an Age of Globalization, Issues, Reflections, Practices, 2nd ed., Waveland Press, Illinois.

Gray, B, 1985, ‘Conditions Facilitating Interorganizational Collaboration’, Human Relations, Vol. 38, Issue 10, p. 912.

Jablin, Fredric M & Putnam, Linda L, 2001, The New Handbook of Organizational Communication: Advances in Theory, Research and Method, Sage, Thousand Oaks, California.

Monge, P E & Contractor, N S, 2001, ‘Emergence of Communication Networks’, The New Handbook of Organizational Communication: Advances in Theory, Research, and Methods. Eds. F M Jablin, F M & L Putnam, Sage Publication Inc., California.

Ring, P. & Van de Ven, A. H. 1994, ‘Developmental Processes of Cooperative Interorganizational Relationships’ Academy of Management Review, Vol. 19, Issue1, p. 110.

Szerb, L, 2003, ‘The Changing Role of Entrepreneur and Entrepreneurship in Network Organisations’, Knowledge Transfer, Small and Medium Sized Enterprises, and Regional Development in Hungary. Ed. I. Lengvel, JATE Press, Szeged. pp. 81-95.

Wenger, E, 2006, Communities of practice: A brief introduction. Accessed April 2012. http://www.ewenger.com/theory/

MODULE 4

WEEK SIX: MANAGING COMMUNICATION AND DIVERSITY

By the end of this week, students will understand some of the complex issues involved in managing diversity in the workplace. This will include:

• Defining diversity

• Understanding the valuing of diversity

• Defining ethnocentrism and monocultures

• Defining ethnorelativism and pluralism

• Exploring issues for minorities

• Understanding some key challenges for managers and organisations.

REQUIRED READING

Samson, D & Daft, R L, 2012, 2015, Management, 4th or 5th Asia Pacific Edition, Cengage Learning Australia. Chapter 13.

INDEPENDENT LEARNING TASK 6

Take the New Manager Self-Test ‘Do you know your Biases’ of the Samson and Daft text (p. 469). Look at your score and write 100 – 200 words about what you learned about your own biases or, perhaps, lack of bias.

Post your piece to the Discussion Board and responses to two peers under the thread heading ‘Post responses to ILT6 here’.

COM21 Management Communication

6.1 INTRODUCTION

‘I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.’

(Martin Luther King Jr.)

Over the next two weeks we will be exploring diversity issues in the workplace. Valuing diversity is what organisations and workers can do operationally to acknowledge the benefits of our differences and similarities. Valuing workplace diversity must be continuous, effective and strategically communicated so that it becomes embedded within the work culture of an organisation. We will also look at recent criticism of many diversity programs within organisations such as tokenistic and sporadic strategies.

Diversity in the workforce takes many forms including:

• Gender

• Age and generational influences

• Developmental and acquired disabilities

• Religious and spiritual orientation

• Ethnicity/national origin

• Socio-economic status

• Sexual orientation.

Samson and Daft state that, ‘Managing diversity today entails recruiting, training, valuing, and maximising the potential of people who reflect the broad spectrum of society in all areas’ (2012, p.470; 2015, p. .518).

Today, companies are embracing a more inclusive definition of diversity that recognises a spectrum of differences that influence how employees approach work, interact with each other, derive satisfaction from their work, and define who they are as people in the workplace. In practice, workforce diversity means a workforce made up of people with different human qualities or who belong to various cultural groups. From the perspective of individuals, diversity means including people different from themselves such as race, age, ethnicity, gender, or social background. It is important to remember that diversity includes everyone, not just racial and ethnic minorities. (Samson & Daft 2012, p.475; 2015, p.522)

Exhibit 13.3 in the Samson & Daft text (2015, p. 523; 2012, p.475) explores primary and secondary dimensions of diversity. Primary dimensions such as age, race, ethnicity, gender, mental or physical abilities and sexual orientation have a continuing impact throughout one’s life. They are personal attributes that shape your ‘self’ and your world view. Secondary dimensions such as marital status, education or religious belief can be acquired or can change during one’s life, although some primary dimensions such as disability can change.

Again in the Samson & Daft text you will find Exhibit 13.1 (2015, p. 520; 2012, p.472; 2015, p.523) which sets some milestones in the history of corporate diversity. It demonstrates a slow shift towards the recognition of diversity in the workplace.

Module 4

For much of the 20th century Australia was a monoculture, even enshrining this single dominant culture within legislation called the White Australia Policy. We will discuss this in detail later.

In Australia, the journey towards diversity has been predictably slow as shown in the landmark 2002 Nugent Report on Women’s Employment and Professionalism in Australia. Its findings stated that:

The definition of work is a central theme in histories of women’s employment and professionalism. In fact, the way in which work has been historically defined in Australia has fundamentally shaped women’s access to paid employment, and their position within the formal cash economy. At the most basic level, definitions of work are gendered. A key issue in the historiography of women’s employment and professionalism has been to demonstrate ways in which ‘women’s skills have been historically undervalued, ignored altogether, or judged to be of less importance than those of men’. Historians of women’s labour have revealed the gendered nature of the economy and the labour market, the sexual division of labour within the family, and sex segregation and gender segmentation in the work place. (Nugent 2002)

DISCUSSION POINT. Focus on Nugent’s quote above that ‘women’s skills have been historically undervalued, ignored altogether or judged to be less important than those of men’.

Does this statement have meaning to you or your family? Can you discern any real change in these attitudes?

In an academic research study, Papillon (2000) referred to the work of Stoner & Russell-Chapin arguing that:

Progressive managers are increasingly aware of the prevailing demographic and social shifts. In short, these managers possess an “intellectual awareness” of diversity. They know the facts about workforce demographic shifts and have begun to consider the impact on their respective organizations (Stoner & Russell-Chapin 1997, p. 1).

Unfortunately, many contemporary organizations have not progressed beyond this preliminary ‘intellectual awareness’ stage. Consequently, these organizations are languishing in the initial phases of the diversity movement. Many are experiencing diversity, but failing to really manage it (Stoner et al 1997, p. 2). Although managers possess an ‘intellectual awareness’ and understanding of recent and emerging themes, organizational response – the ‘enactment’ of a meaningful diversity process – has been limited and fragmented. (Stoner et al., 1997, p. 3; Papillon 2000)

This week we will look at defining the complexities of diversity, examining attitudes towards diversity, the changing workplace, challenges for minorities, and communication challenges for managers.

COM21 Management Communication

6.2 VALUING DIVERSITY

By valuing diversity we empower our workers. Powerlessness occurs when people do not regularly participate in making decisions that affect the conditions of their lives and actions.

Top managers say their companies value diversity for a number of reasons, such as to give the organisation access to a broader range of opinions and viewpoints, to spur greater creativity and innovation, to reflect an increasingly diverse customer base, to obtain the best talent in a competitive environment, and to more effectively compete in a global marketplace.

(Samson & Daft 2012, p.473; 2015, p.519)

Nonetheless, it can be like quicksand – the problems unforeseen and the remedies difficult. Read the examples of mistakes given by Samson & Daft (2012, p.473; 2015, p.520-21) that are on the record in Australia and New Zealand. Although all these examples appear to be ‘blue collar’ factory examples, they reflect how managers have failed to consider any cross-cultural issues in responding to what are really quite complex issues. They have stayed with a response within their understanding of the dominant monoculture. This leads necessarily into the next question that must be addressed.

What is multiculturalism? The Commonwealth Department of Immigration and Citizenship offers the following definition:

In a descriptive sense multicultural is simply a term which describes the cultural and ethnic diversity of contemporary Australia. We are, and will remain, a multicultural society.

As a public policy multiculturalism encompasses government measures designed to respond to that diversity. It plays no part in migrant selection. It is a policy for managing the consequences of cultural diversity in the interests of the individual and society as a whole.

The Commonwealth Government has identified three dimensions of multicultural policy:

• cultural identity: the right of all Australians, within carefully defined limits, to express and share their individual cultural heritage, including their language and religion;

• social justice: the right of all Australians to equality of treatment and opportunity, and the removal of barriers of race, ethnicity, culture, religion, language, gender or place of birth; and

• economic efficiency: the need to maintain, develop and utilize effectively the skills and talents of all Australians, regardless of background.

There are also limits to Australian multiculturalism. These may be summarized as follows:

• multicultural policies are based upon the premises that all Australians should have an overriding and unifying commitment to Australia, to its interests and future first and foremost;

• multicultural policies require all Australians to accept the basic structures and principles of Australian society – the Constitution and the rule of law, tolerance and equality, Parliamentary democracy, freedom of speech and religion, English as the national language and equality of the sexes; and

Module 4

• multicultural policies impose obligations as well as conferring rights: the right to express one's own culture and beliefs involves a reciprocal responsibility to accept the right of others to express their views and values.

As a necessary response to the reality of Australia's cultural diversity, multicultural policies aim to realize a better Australia characterized by an enhanced degree of social justice and economic efficiency.

(Commonwealth Govt. 2012, National Agenda for Multiculturalism, Australian Government)

One of the recognised cultural attributes of Australia is its tradition of ‘mateship’ and giving everyone a ‘fair go’, ‘where people help and receive help from others voluntarily, especially in times of adversity’. This dialogue was heard throughout the various Queensland and New South Wales flood broadcasts in early 2011 for example. A mate can be a spouse, partner, brother, sister, daughter, son or friend, but can also be that stranger who ‘needs a hand’.

However, while the tradition of mateship forms part of Australia’s values and the Howard government has prescribed these traditional values to Australians and potential citizens in various Citizenship booklets, there is still considerable debate about what exactly these values are.

Researcher Kirsty Knight (2008) recorded verbatim responses from a cross-section of Australian workers:

One participant retorted with a rhetoric question, ‘Who really determines or who is in the position to determine what constitutes these famous ‘Australian values’. In the context of the interview this response reveals that there is animosity towards the Federal Government’s attempts to prescribe definitions of ‘Australian values’. (Knight 2008, pp.115)

Knight argues that, ‘Generally speaking, “Australian values” is an indefinable term and very much lacking in a concrete definition for the Australian people’ (Knight 2008, p.115). Evidence of this is further revealed in the following excerpt:

K: I guess the big question here is what do people actually integrate to? Recently a new citizenship test was created for new citizens of Australia and in this test they (the government) really want these newcomers to adapt and adjust to Australian ways and this mateship concept. What do you think about that?

E: I think it’s crap. I think as you said what is this idea of mateship, what is that? What does it mean? There’s no substantiated way of life you know.

(Knight 2008, p. 115)

REALITY CHECK. Follow the link to a YouTube clip that takes a different perspective to the views expressed in Knight’s research.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hZz1-lKuTk

What do you think about this debate?

COM21 Management Communication

6.3 ETHNOCENTRISM AND MONOCULTURE

Ethnocentrism is the belief that one’s own group and subculture are inherently superior to other groups and cultures… Ethnocentric viewpoints and a standard set of cultural practices produce a monoculture, a culture that accepts only one way of doing things and one set of values and beliefs, which can cause problems for employees who may not share those values and beliefs. (Samson & Daft 2012, p.476; 2015, p.529)

Harking back to our discussion of the Classical Perspective to organisational management, it is obvious to see that business culture, at least in the West, predominately consisted of a white male workforce reflecting their values, behaviours, beliefs, motivations and attitudes in life and in work. The male was the ‘bread winner’. In a personal reflection, my mother suffered these prejudices. Upon getting her first job in Australia in 1963, she was asked to provide a letter of approval from her husband when attempting to open a bank account. In the same era, women had to resign their positions in the Queensland Public Service and as teachers once they fell pregnant.

Australian culture has a historical, societal and political history of ethnocentrism and a dominant monoculture called the White Australia policy. Earlier we discussed the Nugent Report (2002) which perhaps categorises this policy as the White Australian Male Policy.

The restriction of 'non-white' immigration was one of the first acts passed in the newly-formed Federation of Australia in 1901. Spurred on by 19th century notions of European racial superiority, resistance to immigration had developed in response to a perceived competition for resources. Resentment of the Chinese population had brewed in the goldfields of the 1850s and 1860s and the indentured labour trade of the sugar and pearling industries were seen as a threat to the foundation of a nation built on a 'free labour' economy. As well as imposing a dictation test, designed to exclude all undesirable migrants, the policy also restricted the rights and freedoms of non-whites within Australia including Aboriginal people.

The dismantling of the 'White Australia' policy started in 1949. Its gradual removal over the next quarter-century was largely a foreign policy imperative, as European colonialism collapsed in the region and Australia found itself surrounded by newly independent Asian nations. It was also an adjustment in line with changing social attitudes towards racial discrimination in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1973 the new Whitlam government took the final steps to remove race as a factor in Australia's immigration provisions. In spite of the changes to the statutes, Australia effectively remained 'white' on the immigration front until 1975 when the implications of the new policy were tested by the refugee crisis in the wake of the Vietnam War. (ABC-TV 2002)

REALITY CHECK. Follow the link to a clip from the ABC series, 100 Years – The Australian Story.

http://www.abc.net.au/archives/80days/stories/2012/01/19/3415230.htm?WT.srch=1&WT.mc_id=Corp _Innovation-80Days|Day46_AdWords_:history%20of%20white%20australia%20policy_

What is your reaction? Is the White Australia policy dead? Or can we still feel, see and hear ‘echoes’ from that policy in personal conversations and wider political debates?

Module 4

6.4 ETHNORELATIVISM AND PLURALISM

Ethnorelativism is the belief that groups and subcultures are inherently equal. Pluralism means that an organisation accommodates several subcultures. Movement towards pluralism seeks to fully integrate into the organisation the employees who otherwise may feel isolated and ignored. (Daft & Marcic 2009, pp. 348)

We have now arrived at defining the two major dialectics that drive the workplace diversity debate:

• Ethnocentrism as opposed to ethnorelativism

• Monoculture as opposed to pluralism.

In line with the earlier statement that many organisations are in transition from mechanistic towards organic structures and from a classical perspective towards a behaviourist perspective, so it is that many organisations are also in transition from a monoculture towards pluralistic culture.

DISCUSSION POINT. Once again, draw from your own work (or personal) experiences and identify some workplaces or organisations you have experienced in the context of the two dialectics outlined above.

What organisational attributes enabled you to decide which side of the dialectic your personal experiences fall: Monoculture or Pluralist?

Within this evolving context of public opinion, government policies and academic research, organisations are coming to terms with diversity in their workplaces as a reflection of the ‘changing face’ of markets and communities.

Forward thinking organisations agree and are taking steps to attract and retain a workforce that reflects the cultural diversity of the population. They take seriously the fact that there is a link between the diversity of the workplace and financial success in the marketplace. To be successful, these organisations are hiring workers who share the same cultural background as the customers they are trying to reach. Today’s organisations recognise that diversity is no longer just the right thing to do, it is a business imperative and perhaps the single most important factor of the twenty-first century for organisational performance. (Samson & Daft 2012, p.474; 2015, p.518)

6.5 THE CHANGING WORKPLACE

Organisations that are sensitive to the needs of different cultures in response to changing workplaces, communities and markets seem favoured to succeed. After all, where better to learn about different cultural needs and responses to your product and marketing than ‘in house’?

The demographics of the population are shifting dramatically. The people who used to be called minorities now make up a large part of the population. During the 1990s, the foreign born population of Australia nearly doubled, and it continues to increase. (Samson & Daft 2012, p.478; 2015, p.534)

COM21 Management Communication

Some findings of the Australian Bureau of Statistics report Measures of Australia’s Progress – Overseas Born Population are detailed below:

Australia, along with New Zealand, Canada and the United States, is often described as a 'settlement country'. All four countries have experienced positive net overseas migration in recent years (OECD 2010). These countries have relatively high proportions of the population who were born overseas, when compared with other OECD countries. Australia has the highest proportion aside from Luxembourg, where over one third of the population are foreign-born.

Foreign-born in selected OECD countries - 1997 and 2007

Percentage of population Country 1997 2007

Australia 23.3 25.0 Canada 17.7 20.1 Finland 2.2 3.8 Italy(a) 2.1 5.8 Japan(a) 1.2 1.7 Luxembourg 31.9 36.2 Mexico(b) 0.4 0.4 United Kingdom 7.2 10.2 United States 10.7 13.6

(a) Foreign population rather than foreign-born population.

(b) Data for Mexico are for 1995 and 2005. Source: OECD, OECD in Figures 2009

Australia has experienced successive waves of immigration over the past century, and each wave has been characterised by a different predominant region of origin, usually related to world events of the period. In the post Second World War period, immigration from Europe increased markedly. In recent times, the proportion of Australians who were born in European countries has declined. As those earlier immigrants have grown older and returned to their country of origin or died, current levels of immigration from these regions have not been high enough to replace them.

However in 2007-08, North-West Europe and Southern and Eastern Europe were still the most common regions of birth for Australians born overseas (7.2% and 3.8% of all Australians were born in these regions). The proportion of Australians who were born in the various regions of Asia has continued to increase over the last decade, part of a trend that began in the late 1970s.

(Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2010)

Module 4

6.6 MINORITY GROUPS IN THE WORKPLACE

The biggest problem facing minorities within a monoculture is the one-eyed perspective that views anything different as dysfunctional or, even worse, dangerous. Samson and Daft argue that experience would suggest that, ‘no matter how many university degrees they earn, how many hours they work, how they dress, or how much effort and enthusiasm they invest, they are never perceived as “having the right stuff”’ (2012, p.478).

Let’s look at the key findings of research done by Colic-Peisker and Tilbury for the Centre for Social and Community Research at Murdoch University around attitudes towards visibly different migrants and minorities. The research revealed:

• High levels of unemployment among skilled refugees

• Massive loss of occupational status among skilled refugees

• Persistence of a segmented labour market. This means that racially and culturally visible migrants and refugees in particular, despite their skills levels, are allocated unattractive jobs.

• Loss of human capital benefits to Australia and a waste of skills currently in short supply (e.g. among respondents doctors and engineers reported driving taxis, and teachers cleaning offices)

• Refugees face structural disadvantage in the labour market (e.g. non recognition or part recognition of qualifications, lack of accessible referees)

• Discrimination on the basis of race, religion and ethnic origin plays a role in creating unsatisfactory employment outcomes. Employers discriminate on the basis of ‘soft skills’ such as Australian cultural knowledge.

• ‘Everyday’ street racism does not affect levels of life satisfaction as much as perceived discrimination in the labour market.

(Colic-Peisker & Tilbury 2007, p. 1)

Minority members often respond by becoming bicultural. They shape their attitudes and social responses to conform to the dominant monoculture and their own culture or ethnicity – they simply keep a foot in both camps. Essentially, they adjust their behaviour to ‘fit in’.

This is a problem for the traditional assimilation perspective. Assimilation was the key platform of the White Australia Policy that insisted that all migrants should conform to the dominant White Australia monoculture.

To what degree is this form of assimilation volunteered or imposed today? The answer is probably both, depending on the particular workplace culture. However, biculturalism begs the question whether it is appropriate in the context of multicultural communities and markets.

COM21 Management Communication

6.7 COMMUNICATION CHALLENGES

Exhibit 13.4 in the Samson and Daft text (p. 480) graphically displays the challenges facing managers and organisations in adapting their workplace and communication cultures to make diversity instrumental to the organisation’s success. By implementing comprehensive and effective communication strategies, diversity issues can be creatively and positively addressed. Later in this unit, we will be discussing change management communication strategies.

Some management strategies include:

• Ensuring that the organisation’s human resources systems are designed to be bias free, dropping the traditionally-held Western perception of a middle-aged, white male as the ideal employee.

• Increasing the career involvement of women by dealing with issues of work-family conflicts, dual-career couples and sexual harassment.

• Providing reasonable accommodation for employees with disabilities – and that means more than putting up an access ramp. Demand for equal opportunities for people with physical and mental disabilities is growing and most companies have done little to respond as yet.

• Dealing with literacy issues within the workplace as we see a dramatic increase in migrant workers from non-English speaking backgrounds.

(Adapted from Samson & Daft 2012, pp.479-80; 2015, pp.534-5)

Organisations need to be particularly adaptive when dealing with diversity. By positively facing the extra challenges raised by diversity within the workplace, the aim of turning every worker into a knowledge worker within a learning organisation is advanced. Strategies to be considered include cross-cultural training, basic literacy and numeracy education, diversity awareness programs and a range of educational and interventional programs to accommodate our changing workplace.

6.8 APPLYING SOME KEY COMMUNICATION THEMES

Cultural Ethos. The challenge for managers is to find adaptive communication strategies that successfully represent the changing face of their organisation in response to diversity. The faces of organisations are, quite literally, changing. The inclusion of different cultures and subcultures is driving this change. The diversity in the available employment pool, changing markets, places and communities is also forcing these changes.

Symbols, Stories, Heroes, Slogans, Ceremonies. Continuing the changing face metaphor, the sorts of symbols, stories, slogans and ceremonies used will need to change to meet the challenge of communicating with a diverse workforce and external stakeholders. Cross-cultural sensitivities will need to be considered.

One of the simplest ways of incorporating a culture of inclusion within an organisation’s policies, behaviours and languages is through the use of positive symbols, stories, events that recognise and celebrate the richness of a diverse workplace culture. Initiatives from rewriting a Mission Statement to incorporate a language of inclusion, to translating a newsletter or profiling some achievement can create a new dialogue across the organisation. By recognising the diverse stories and experiences of

Module 4

co-workers rather than isolating points of ‘difference’ in a culture of silence, a richer, more satisfying and less conflictual work environment can be achieved.

Adaptive Management Behaviours and Cultural Leadership. Cultural leadership takes on a new level of complexity when operating within a diverse workforce and marketplace. The progressive manager will be required to be sensitive to the cultural norms within a diverse workplace. Consideration needs to be given to what sorts of leadership messages are appropriate and decisions need to be made that are sensitive to the changing face of the organisation.

MORE THOUGHTS

The workplace is changing from a monoculture into a pluralist environment in response to Australia’s change from the White Australia Policy towards a more mature and confident multicultural society. There is no turning back the clock. The ABS statistics show that the number of Australians who are born overseas is one of the highest rates in the World. There is no other option than to adapt.

‘Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.’ (Martin Luther King Jnr)

REFERENCES

ABC-TV, 2001, ‘The rise and fall of White Australia’, Episode 2, The Australian Story, 23 Jan 2002.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2010, Measures of Australia’s Progress – overseas born population, 1370.0. AGPS, Canberra. http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20 Subject/1370.0~2010~Chapter~Overseas%20born%20population%20(3.6)

Colic - Peisker, V & Tilbury, F, 2007, Refugees and Employment: The effect of visible difference on discrimination, Final Report, Centre for Social and Community Research, Murdoch University, Perth.

Commonwealth Government. National Agenda for Multiculturalism, Department of Immigration and Citizenship. Accessed April 2012. http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/multicultural/agenda/ agenda89/whatismu.htm

Daft, Richard & Marcic, Dorothy, 2009, Understanding Management, 6th ed, Cengage Learning. Australia.

Knight, K. 2008, ‘What is multiculturalism?’, Griffith Working Papers in Pragmatics and Intercultural Communication. Vol. 1, Issue 2, p.115.

Nugent, M. 2002, Women’s Employment and Professionalism in Australia – Histories, themes and Places. The Australian Heritage Commission, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra.

Papillon, D L, 2000, A Comparative Study of Awareness and Sensitivity Diversity Training Strategies and Human Resource Policy Driven Strategies, MA Thesis. Accessed April 2012. http://www.articlesbase.com/organizational-articles/comparative-study-of-awareness-and-sensitivity- diversity-training-strategies-and-human-resource-policy-driven-strategies-1510897.html

COM21 Management Communication

WEEK SEVEN: MORE MANAGING COMMUNICATION AND DIVERSITY

By the end of this week, students will be familiar with organisational responses to the complexity of diversity. This will include:

• Defining the glass ceiling that faces women and minorities

• Understanding current organisational responses

• Understanding how the cultural ethos of organisations are changing, both structurally and in policy

• Understanding the importance of diversity training

• Exploring/understanding diversity in a turbulent global context.

REQUIRED READING

Samson, D & Daft, R L, 2012, 2015, Management, 4th or 5th Asia Pacific Edition, Cengage Learning Australia. Chapter 13. 2015 ed, pp. 296-99 also relevant.

INDEPENDENT LEARNING TASK 7

Take the New Manager Self-Test in the Samson and Daft text (2012, p. 490) OR comment on the table ‘Gender differences in leadership behaviours’ (2015, p. 610). Write 100 – 200 words about what you know about gender differences in behaviour.

Post your piece along with your responses to two peers to the Discussion Board under the thread heading ‘Post responses to ILT7 here’.

Module 4

7.1 INTRODUCTION

‘All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.’ (Thomas Jefferson)

This week we will continue to explore the complexities of workplace diversity. Last week we defined diversity and its key elements and we scoped out some important sensitivities that must be taken into account in Management Communication. This week we will look more closely at how organisations are responding (or not) to diversity. We will look at the glass ceiling that faces women and minorities, current organisational responses, how the cultural ethos being cultivated within organisations is changing through both structural and policy shifts. We will look at diversity training and diversity in a turbulent global context.

The next section introduces the barriers experienced by minority groups in establishing equitable professional recognition or financial recompense for their work. It introduces the concepts of the ‘Glass ceiling’, the ‘Rainbow ceiling’ and the ‘Brown ceiling’ which, while they are increasingly recognised, are not being positively addressed in a way that is leading to any substantial change.

It is important to realise in this discussion that these barriers do not just apply in a corporate or professional setting, but apply across all levels of the Australian workforce.

7.2 THE GLASS CEILING

The glass ceiling is an invisible barrier that separates women and minorities from top management positions. They can look up and see top management, but prevailing attitudes and stereotypes are invisible obstacles to their own advancement. (Samson & Daft 2015, p. 531; 2012, p. 481).

Researchers have commented that there is not only a glass ceiling, but also glass walls that prevent inclusion in networks and engagement in the sort of work that is essential to equitable social and professional achievement.

A significant problem contributing to the difficulties facing women to reach the top seems to be the fact that few senior women are in the so-called “production line” positions that involve profit- and-loss or revenue generating responsibilities and which are critical for advancement to the highest levels. For example, in 1999, men still held 93.8 per cent of line jobs in the United States. Similarly, in Canada, men held 93.6 of line jobs in 1999. (Wirth 2002, p. 4)

In 2002 Linda Wirth detailed the following 2002 International Labour Office (ILO) statistics:

‘ILO research and analysis suggest that discrimination is greatest where the most power is exercised. The higher one goes, the larger the gender gap:

• Women hold 1 to 3 per cent of top executive jobs in the largest corporations worldwide. For women who also experience race discrimination, the percentage is even less.

• Only 8 countries have a woman head of state; 21 countries have a deputy head; • Only 13.4% of the world's Parliamentarians are women;

COM21 Management Communication

• Only one per cent of trade union leaders are women, though women are almost 40% of their membership globally.’

The situation has not changed significantly since 2002. Below is an article from Dynamic Business Magazine in October 2010 which highlights the lack of progress in this area in Australia:

‘Women have made no significant gains in their representation among ASX 200 companies or in key executive positions over the last eight years according to new research by the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA).

The EOWA 2010 Australian Census of Women in Leadership, conducted by Macquarie University, shows that women hold only 8.4 per cent of board positions and 8 per cent of Executive Key Management Personnel positions. Among ASX 200 companies there are only six female CEOs and five female chairs.

The number of women in executive positions is likely to decrease rather than increase in the future, with only 4.1 per cent of line roles are occupied by women, with line roles largely considered the pipeline to the Executive Key Management Personnel and CEO roles.

Australian women in senior positions lag New Zealand, UK, Canada, US and South Africa, suggesting an alarming need for action in Australia to rectify the gender imbalance.’ (Olsen 2010)

DISCUSSION POINT. Reflect on the glass ceiling for women and identify whether you have any experience of this in your life.

Have you ever hit the glass ceiling? Have you seen it happen?

Many women are choosing to opt out of the workforce. A debate is raging over the reasons. The Samson and Daft text (2015, pp. 532-34; 2012, pp. 482-83) outlines the two sides of the debate. One side argues that women find the price too high in terms of reduced family time, stress and negative health impacts. The other side counters that this rationale is just another way to blame women themselves for the lower number of women managers.

Dr Helen Szoke, Commissioner for the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission gave out some ‘hard data’ on the debate on International Women’s Day in 2011. She argued that:

Demographics show us there is a growing economic need for women of all ages to more fully participate in the workforce and yet many of our most experienced and talented women are opting out of the work force.

Clearly, issues such as pay inequity, lack of promotional opportunities and the need for greater flexibility need to be addressed.

Success in any business depends on its workforce – more than ever smart employers are recognising the value of the workers and the value in retaining them through flexibility.

Put simply, businesses cannot afford to lose valuable experienced staff.

Module 4

According to the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency survey:

• 39 per cent more women than men value an organisation’s track record of promoting and supporting women

• 20 per cent more women than men value flexible work conditions • 16 per cent more women than men valued an organisation with a large number of

women in senior positions • 15 per cent more women valued a role that did not involve long hours or overtime.

So on the one hand there is a greater need for employers to retain staff like never before and on the other hand women in many workplaces are getting a rough deal. (Szoke 2011)

Women are not the only workers trapped within glass ceilings and walls. The Rainbow Ceiling has definitely been double-glazed. Gay and Lesbian workers report meeting the same invisible obstacles. Below are some verbatim reports from research:

‘You’re looking at a number of women, over the age of forty, in senior positions within the firm, many of whom are gay females who are not out and never will be because they don’t feel comfortable. The old guard where you didn’t express sexuality in a corporate setting and certainly didn’t mention you were lesbian.’

‘I am assuming that some people might be keeping me at arm’s length because they feel uncomfortable or something like that. But you can never really know.’ (Miles 2008)

Another manifestation of this discrimination against a visible minority group is called the ‘Brown ceiling’, a term which is applied to barriers and discriminatory practices faced by Indigenous Australians.

Visible minority workers arguably hit the glass ceiling and walls at a level that is disgraceful in the context of a pluralist and multicultural Australia. A remnant of the White Australia Policy sees them as outsourced workers on extremely low hourly rates.

Variations on this type of practice are experienced by minority groups across Australia. The level of discrimination can be subtle and covert, or blatant, arrogant and unapologetic. These practices can infect an organisation to the detriment of its staff, its reputation and its profitability. There can also be serious legal ramifications that no organisation can afford to ignore.

REALITY CHECK. Follow this link to an ABC 7.30 Report story ‘The Campaign for Outworkers’. Minority workers in Australia continue to be paid a pittance for outsourced work. This redefines where the glass ceiling might actually start. The glass ceiling may start at a very low level of workforce engagement and should not be considered to be a middle class phenomenon.

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2011/s3296986.htm

REALITY CHECK. Follow the link to this YouTube clip where the Indigenous version of the glass ceiling is being discussed – the brown glass ceiling. This video is longer, but is an invaluable (and timely) resource in understanding the detrimental impact this has on our first Australians.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ASjVvE1K-g

COM21 Management Communication

7.3 CULTURAL ETHOS

Many organisations are working hard to meet the challenge of change and removing obstacles preventing women and minorities from succeeding. There are many inspiring stories of organisations, large and small that operate at local, national and multinational levels.

When the US firm Mintz Levin, Cohn, Ferris Glovsky and Poppeo decided to set-up an employment law practice in a new office, the partners determined to create a diverse, inclusive environment by hiring many minority lawyers for senior positions from the start. The goal was to create a ‘critical mass’ of people who can serve as role models and mentors for younger minority lawyers who typically find it difficult to move up the ranks and become partners in a large Law firm. (Samson & Daft 2012, p. 484)

While this particular example is not included in the 2015 edition of the set text, the discussion and examples are more extensive in this newer edition. Interestingly, the ability to effectively manage diversity is being recognised as a key skill in the increasingly complex global workplace. There are benefits for both organisation and manager.

At least half of Fortune 1000 companies have staff dedicated to encouraging diversity. Increasingly, organisations such as Proctor & Gamble, Ernst & Young, and Allstate Insurance are tying manager’s bonuses and promotions to how well they diversify the Workforce. (Samson & Daft 2012, p.485)

We will discuss Change Management communication at length later in this Unit. Suffice it to comment here that changing the public face and philosophy of an organisation in response to the complexities of diversity cannot be achieved by just ‘saying that it will be so’. In Week 6 we discussed one problem organisations face. While managers might possess an ‘intellectual’ awareness, a good understanding of emerging trends and recognise the importance of a strong organizational response, the ‘enactment’ of a meaningful diversity process has been regrettably ‘limited and fragmented’ (Papillon 2000).

Managers need to be educated to be able to understand their organisation’s cultural position which will have its own inherent myths and assumptions about its diverse ‘others’. Real change must happen. This process would start with a thorough review of existing policies that were possibly written originally with a white male, ethnocentric framework.

Diversity initiatives fall into three major categories: recruitment, career advancement and diversity training.

7.3.1 RECRUITMENT INITIATIVES

Changing recruitment policies to reflect the available labour pool and diversity of the customer base is proving successful. It frees the process from affirmative action programs, the legislated and mandated quotas system set by governments, and allows organisations to design their workforce to meet their own specific needs.

Affirmative action was developed in response to conditions 40 years ago. Adult white males dominated the workforce, and economic conditions were stable and improving. Because of widespread prejudice and discrimination, legal and social coercion were necessary to allow women, immigrants and other minorities to become part of the economic system.’ (Samson & Daft 2012, p. 481)

Module 4

Today, affirmative action programs remain as controversial as they were 40 years ago. One of the current debates rages around ‘reverse’ racism. Reverse discrimination can be defined as the perception by white Australians that they are being discriminated against in response to affirmative action programs and ‘hand up’ programs towards minority groups, particularly towards Indigenous groups. It has led to the emergence of extreme political views such as those articulated by Pauline Hanson.

I talk about... the privileges Aboriginals enjoy over other Australians. I have done research on benefits available only to Aboriginals and challenge anyone to tell me how Aboriginals are disadvantaged when they can obtain 3 and 5% housing loans denied to non- Aboriginals. (Pauline Hanson)

Whether you accept Hanson’s figures or not, there can be no denying the impact of her campaigning.

Some of these ideas have been supported by a disturbingly high percentage of Australians. As we read in Week 6, ‘During the 1990s, the foreign born population of Australia nearly doubled, and it continues to increase’ (Samson & Daft 2011, p. 478). While the costs of remaining ignorant of this broad sector of the work force might be hard to estimate, the learning organisation is incorporating diversity management strategies into its operational policies and procedures.

Organisations are revamping their recruitment strategies, offering internships, and tapping into labour pools. These initiatives offer real world alternatives to growing the diversity of their workplaces. As stated earlier, there is no real alternative as the numbers of foreign born Australians grows bigger each census.

7.3.2 CAREER ADVANCEMENT

Mentoring employees from different backgrounds is proving successful in Australia. An example can be found in the Samson and Daft text (p. 486) about the IT sector with an industry-wide initiative known as Women in IT Executive Mentoring (WITEM). Follow the link below to find out more about this initiative.

http://www.orijen.com.au/services/industry-based-mentoring/women-it-executive-mentoring-witem/

There is ample evidence that mentoring programmes provide benefits for both parties involved.

‘The most significant benefit I gained from taking part in the WITEM mentoring program was a new found self-belief and confidence that I could be an effective manager and leader.’ Mentee

‘I did not realise that this could be such a win/win situation. My time as a WITEM mentor has been very worthwhile.’ Mentor

You can follow the references at the end of this Week’s work and click through to the WITEM web site.

Samson and Daft state that career progress amongst high potential minorities found that those who advance ‘all share one characteristic – a strong mentor or network of mentors who nurtured the professional development.’ (2012, p. 486). This quote is not included in the newer edition of the set text, but the 2015 discussion is more extensive.

COM21 Management Communication

The entry point for many members of minorities is often into the lowest echelons of an organisation. In 1995-6, the writer of this unit conducted a funded project at the Golden Circle Cannery for migrant workers. The goal was to set up systems to assist them to negotiate enterprise bargaining and to set up strategies where basic citizenship information could be transmitted.

In an organisation where there were 54 languages represented on the factory floor, the major issues reflected the societal issues facing lower paid migrant workers: lack of English skills, child care, single parent families, discrimination and a lack of understanding of their basic rights within Australian society. An example was that the ‘idea’ of a ‘police force’ had so many different meanings across cultures which were mostly built on their learned experiences in the home country.

In partnership with WELL, a literacy program, an English as a second language course was set up where the participants learned their rights in Australia as they learnt English. The findings of this project were workshopped across Australia to organisations and other stakeholders.

Managers need to be aware that sometimes language is the key to understanding and progress and that extra attention needs to be paid in mentoring minority workers particularly to get them started up the ladder. Mentoring can start at a very basic level. Sometimes, it is all it takes to overcome the poverty of opportunity. Certainly, many potential leaders were identified when given opportunity within the project described above.

7.3.3 DIVERSITY TRAINING

Exhibit 13.6 in the Samson and Daft text (2012, p. 488) defines the stages of diversity awareness from the lowest to the highest as:

• Denial

• Defence

• Minimising difference

• Acceptance

• Adaptation

• Integration.

Again this table is not included in the 2015 edition of Samson and Daft, but the above list provides the key information. Put simply, the aim of diversity training is to take employees on the journey from denial to integration. Of course, most employees will be higher up the scale than denial (or they should be), but this list represents a benchmark for trainers to design with.

A comprehensive diversity training program needs to address the major cultural aspects of the organisation's functioning. Management and staff need to be able to understand the issues, recognise the barriers that interrupt communication and cooperative work practice, respect difference and embrace a more equitable future. While this may be a challenging process, it promises substantial benefits for a more satisfying, creative, equitable and productive work culture.

Diversity training can be difficult and the right choice of training for the particular organisation is critical to success.

Module 4

REALITY CHECK. Follow the link to this YouTube clip which is an advertisement for a diversity training organisation. It quickly covers what they might do to set up a training program that is sensitive to the needs of the organisation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKuqeXELgn0

7.4 INDENTIFYING STRATEGIES FOR AWARENESS

Ultimately, organisations are developing their own diversity management strategies to meet the needs of their workforce, markets and communities. There is a plethora of consultants doing workshops, training and policy writing in this area. There is also a wide range of DVDs and other materials that are available.

Samson and Daft (2015, pp. 538-39; 2012 p. 489) offer six positive steps to developing a successful strategy:

• Uncover diversity problems in the organisation

• Strengthen top management commitment

• Choose solutions to fit a balanced strategy

• Demand results and revisit goals

• Maintain momentum to change the culture

• Renew the cycle with further advancements.

Researcher and consultant R Roosevelt Thomas Jnr has specialised in strategic diversity management which he defines as ‘the craft of making quality decisions in the midst of tension and complexity’. Thomas seems to encapsulate the aspirations of modern management towards diversity strategies.

What we must do is create an environment where no one is advantaged or disadvantaged, an environment where ’we’ is everyone. What the traditional approach to diversity did was to create a cycle of crisis, action, relaxation, and disappointment that companies repeated over and over again. Without ever achieving the barest particle of what they were after. (Thomas 1990, p. 309)

DISCUSSION POINT. Read through the Six Steps in developing a diversity management strategy (Samson & Daft 2011, p. 489).

Do they represent any strategies you may have seen in your workplaces? Do these seem feasible to you?

COM21 Management Communication

7.5 MULTICULTURAL TEAMS

Companies have long known that putting together teams made up of members from different functional areas results in better problem solving and decision making. Now, they are recognising that multicultural teams – teams made up of members from diverse national, racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds – provide even greater potential for enhanced creativity, innovation, and value in today’s global marketplace. (Samson & Daft 2015, p. 542; 2012, p. 500)

Managers need to be aware that multicultural teams can also present difficulties with the possibility of communication breakdowns. Obviously, it is important to give more consideration to communication models and techniques. The messages sent and received may vary markedly from those sent and received within a monoculture.

Once again, we come back to the central point that acceptance of diversity is inevitable given Australia’s demographics and its place within a globalised community and marketplace.

If we accept the idea that the globalization and international integration of companies is inevitable, then business and its study is at a crossroads of understanding. It is no longer acceptable to proceed with the study of teams as if its members are isolated from their cultural and national heritage. (Early & Gibson 2009, p. xv)

7.6 APPLYING SOME KEY COMMUNICATION THEMES

• Cultural Ethos. Organisations will be looking to Management Communication to identify potential leaders from within their workforce based on a different set of criteria where difference rather than sameness are celebrated. The first thing a progressive manager may do is undertake some diversity training so that they can shape communication to better suit those who are receiving it.

• Symbols, Stories, Heroes, Slogans, Ceremonies. In a similar vein, all these elements need to be broadened out to meet the communication needs of a multicultural workforce, market and community. This does not mean that political correctness will prevail. It just means that there will be a larger set of communication elements and devices at hand.

• Adaptive Management Behaviours and Cultural Leadership. The very meaning of leadership and adaptation will also be redefined within an organisational culture that accepts and integrates diversity into its policies, networks, strategic conversations and language.

MORE THOUGHTS

Diversity is the biggest challenge that managers will face in this time. The breaking down of prejudices and assumptions requires self-analysis and honesty.

‘No legacy is so rich as Honesty.’ (William Shakespeare)

Module 4

REFERENCES

Early, C P & Gibson, C B, 2009, Multinational Work Teams A New Perspective, Taylor & Francis, e- library UK. http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=p392ZgF_eUC&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=multicultural+w ork+teams&ots=igV6722vKE&sig=axD11YWGWVe4cVvDdAPp0d- 0oKU#v=onepage&q=multicultural%20work%20teams&f=false

Miles, Nathanael, 2008, ‘The double-glazed ceiling: Lesbians in the workplace’, Stonewall. Accessed April 2012. http://www.stonewall.org.uk/documents/doubleglazed_glass_ceiling.pdf

Olsen, D, 2010, ‘Glass Ceiling Fails to Break for Australian Women: EOWA’, Dynamic Business Magazine, October 2010. Accessed April 2012. http://www.dynamicbusiness.com.au/hr-and- staff/women-on-boards-australia-eowa-census-2062.html

Szoke, H, 2011, Embracing gender diversity as a business imperative, Women and Leadership Australia, Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission. Accessed April 2012. http://www.humanrightscommission.vic.gov.au/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=1292:embra cing-gender-diversity-as-a-business-imperative-women-and-leadership-australia&Itemid=514

Thomas, R Roosevelt, 2009, ‘From Affirmative Action to Affirming Diversity’, Harvard Business Review, March-April, pp 309. Accessed April 2012. https://umdrive.memphis.edu/tdryan/public/ SLC7321/Managing%20diversity/Thomas%20Affirming%20Diversity.pdf

Wirth, L, 2002, ‘Breaking Through the Glass Ceiling: Women in Management’, International Labour Office (ILO) First International Conference, Pay Equity between Women and Men: Myth or Reality, Luxemburg, 4 February 2002. Accessed April 2012. http://www.gouvernement.lu/salle_presse/ actualite/2002/02/04jacobsbiltgen/wirth.pdf

MODULE 5

WEEK EIGHT: MANAGING CHANGE RELATED COMMUNICATION

By the end of this week, students will be familiar with definitions of organisational change, an overview of different types of change and some basic strategies to deal with organisational change.

This will include:

• Defining organisational change

• Discussing changes to products and technology

• Understanding changes to culture and people

• Defining key strategies in training, organisational development and activities.

REQUIRED READING

Samson, D & Daft, R L, 2015, 2012, Management, 5th or 4th Asia Pacific Edition, Cengage Learning, Australia. Chapter 11.

INDEPENDENT LEARNING TASK 8

The required ILT for Week 8 is to take the 'New Manager Self-Test: Taking Charge of Change' in the Samson and Daft text (2015, p. 452; 2012, p. 414). Look at your score and write 100 – 200 words about your own attitudes and positioning in relation to change.

Post your piece into the Discussion Board and respond to two of your peers under the thread heading ‘Post responses to ILT8 here’.

COM21 Management Communication

8.1 INTRODUCTION

Over the next two weeks we will be examining the communication of change. This week we define what change is and take an overview of types of change and strategies and activities that form the foundation of a change management plan.

8.2 WHAT IS ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE?

‘People don't resist change. They resist being changed.’ (Peter Senge, Director, Centre for Organizational Learning, MIT Sloan School of Management)

Organisational change can be defined quite simply as ‘the adoption of a new idea or behaviour by an organisation’ (Samson & Daft 2015, p. 435; 2012, p. 403). Organisational change as defined by Hartel and Fujimoto (2010, p. 50) is any planned or unplanned alteration ‘that causes a shift in the status quo’ affecting both the structure and the resources of an organisation.

According to Beer and Nohria, ‘the brutal fact is that about 70% of change programs fail’ (qtd in Alvesson & Sveningsson 2007, p. 27). It is argued that this is largely due to an imbalance on the focus for outcomes of change. Traditionally the desired outcomes have been economically driven, but there is a more recent realignment of this focus to seek outcomes that will improve overall organisational capability.

Beer and Nohria (2000, p. 137) also suggest that change strategies should focus on building up the corporate culture by employing strategies that involve setting a clear direction from the top and actively engaging the participation and cooperation of people below with a ‘focus simultaneously on the hard (structures and systems) and the soft (corporate culture)’.

Researcher, Adrianna Kezar states that there are a number of theories that underpin an organisation’s drive for change:

Six main categories of theories of change assist in understanding, describing, and developing insights about the change process: (1) evolutionary, (2) teleological, (3) life cycle, (4) dialectical, (5) social cognition, and (6) cultural. Each model has a distinct set of assumptions about why change occurs, how the process unfolds, when change occurs and how long it takes, and the outcomes of change. (Kezar 2001, p. iv)

Kevar goes on to define the main assumptions implicit to each theory:

• ‘The main assumption underlying evolutionary theories are that change is a response to external circumstances, situational variables, and the environment faced by each organization Social systems as diversified, interdependent, complex systems evolve naturally over time because of external demands.’ (Morgan 1986)

• Teleological theories or planned change models assume that organisations are purposeful and adaptive. Change occurs because leaders, change agents, and others see the necessity of change. The process for change is rational and linear, as in evolutionary models, but individual managers are much more instrumental to the process (Carnall 1995; Carr, Hard & Trahant, 1996).

Module 5

• Life-cycle models evolved from studies of child development and focus on stages of growth, organisational maturity, and organisational decline (Levy & Merry 1986). Change is conceptualised as a natural part of human or organisational development.

• Dialectical models, also referred to as political models, characterise change as the result of clashing ideology or belief systems (Morgan 1986). Conflict is seen as an inherent attribute of human interaction. Change processes are considered to be driven predominantly by bargaining, consciousness-raising, persuasion, influence and power, and social movements (Bolman and Deal 1991).

• Social-cognition models describe change as being tied to learning and mental processes such as sense making and mental models. Change occurs because individuals see a need to grow, learn, and change their behaviour.

• In cultural models, change occurs naturally as a response to alterations in the human environment; cultures are always changing (Morgan 1986). The change process tends to be long-term and slow. Change within an organisation entails alteration of values, beliefs, myths, and rituals (Schein 1985; Kezar 2001, pp. iv–v).

Many of these theoretical assumptions tie into ideas we have discussed previously in this Unit: classical and behaviourist perspectives, relationship styles and dialectics. They need to be considered within these contexts. Kezar goes on to say that the best approach is to consider all these theories as metaphors that when combined will help managers understand change (Kezar 2001, pp. iv–v).

In today’s turbulent marketplace and in response to the Global Financial Crisis, many organisations find themselves in an environment of continuous change and adaptation. It is argued that ‘Successful change requires that organisations be capable of both creating and implementing ideas, which means the organisation must learn to be ambidextrous’ (Samson & Daft 2015, p. 436; 2012, p. 404).

Samson and Daft define an ambidextrous approach as ‘incorporating structures and processes that are appropriate for both the creative impulse and for the systematic implementation of innovations. For example, a loose, flexible structure and greater employee freedom are excellent for the creation and initiation of ideas, however, the same conditions often make it difficult to implement change because employees are less likely to comply’ (Samson & Daft 2015, p. 436; 2012, p. 404).

This ability to be ambidextrous is the unique quality that market leaders like Google and Apple have been able to achieve and it is why they are looked upon as models of organic structure and adaptive work culture.

REALITY CHECK. Follow the link to a YouTube clip that quickly portrays the history of Apple since the 1970s. It is a good example of an organisation that has succeeded in an environment of continuous change and innovation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nhw2ZZj0IV4

8.3 PRODUCTS AND TECHNOLOGY

In the global marketplace where continuous change is the norm, technological change is perhaps the most dominant management challenge.

COM21 Management Communication

REALITY CHECK. Follow the link below to an NPR story about the number of patent applications and licences held by Apple founder Steve Jobs, who is seen by many as a master of the ambidextrous approach.

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=152590769&m=152609 611

So what exactly is ‘technology’? The European Space Agency (ESA) defines ‘technology’ in this way:

For something name-checked so widely throughout our society, the precise meaning of the word technology is not that well-known. Technology is so frequently placed in conjunction with the word science that many think of the two as the same. Some equate technology purely with gadgetry while others think somewhat hazily of all the things that make the present different from the past. In a research and development organisation such as ESA, technology is a concept of primary importance, so by necessity the definition of the word is precise: 'technology is the practical application of knowledge so that something entirely new can be done, or so that something can be done in a completely new way. (European Space Agency)

And what is ‘technological change’? Researcher, Arnulf Grubler observes that:

All the numerous technology studies of the 20th century share one conclusion: it is simply wrong to conceptualise technological evolution according to a simple, linear model, no matter how appealing the simplification. Technological evolution is neither simple nor linear. Its four major characteristics are instead that it is uncertain, dynamic, systemic and cumulative. (Grubler 2003, p. 21)

Risk is the only certainty when dealing with technological change. James McGroddy, former Chief Technical Officer of IBM, is quoted as saying ‘killing the project minimizes risk but also eliminates reward’ (Branscomb, Morse & Roberts 2000, p. 1).

The Samson and Daft text (2015, p. 438; 2012, p. 405) contains Exhibit 11.1 which defines three innovative strategies for new products and technologies: Exploration, Cooperation and Championship (Entrepreneurship).

8.3.1 EXPLORATION

Managers need to allow for the growth of a creative culture within an organisation – the time to let new technologies and products be born. The Samson and Daft text (2015, p. 440; 2012, p. 407) contains Exhibit 11.2, Characteristics of People and Organisations. Some characteristics of creative individuals include:

• Conceptual fluency, open-mindedness

• Originality

• Less authority, independence and self-confidence

• Playfulness, undisciplined exploration, curiosity

• Persistence, commitment, focused approach. (Samson & Daft 2015, p. 2012, p. 407)

Module 5

It is the manager’s role to harness these attributes and communicate both acceptability and methodology to the creative processes. Let’s explore the Google creative process.

To keep creativity alive at Google, managers let people spend 20% of their time working on any project they choose, even if the project doesn’t tie in with the company’s central mission. Many Google managers hold open office hours two or three times a week, when anyone can come by to bat around ideas. People who interview for a job at the company are asked, ‘If you could change the world using Google’s resources what would you build?’ Google’s managers instil a sense of creative fearlessness, which is part of the reason Google shows up at the top of numerous lists of most innovative companies. (Samson & Daft 2015, p. 440; 2012, p. 405-07)

REALITY CHECK. Follow the link to an ‘in-house’ Google Tech Talk on Getting Creative Ideas where art, technology and sciences are joined at the ‘Eureka Moment’.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7M2l-jzRG8

Sooner or later, today’s organisations face the challenge of becoming ideas incubators. The degree to which they accept this challenge might be the difference between success and failure. This is a risky business where the traditional ‘blame game’ is replaced to one of learning from mistakes and perceiving them as an integral part of innovation and change.

8.3.2 COOPERATION

Successful innovation requires expertise from several departments simultaneously, and failed innovation is often the result of failed cooperation. (Samson & Daft 2015, p. 444; 2012, p. 408)

Introducing new ideas often requires cultural and behavioural change across the organisation. Vertical, horizontal and lateral communication strategies and techniques must be constructed to effectively communicate with and engage the workforce. Messages must be constructed to facilitate transformation of both work culture and behaviours to accommodate change.

Samson and Daft present Exhibit 11.4 (2015, p. 447; 2012, p. 409) which illustrates the horizontal linkage model at the centre of an organisation and, externally, the outer boxes which look at global forces. This diagram represents a methodology around linking different departments internally within the organisation and externally with technologies, innovation, and markets – all flowing into a change process.

COM21 Management Communication

8.3.3 IDEAS AND COMMUNICATION CHAMPIONS

The next key element creating technological change within an organisation is to successfully communicate your championing of ideas. Samson and Daft define an ideas champion as ‘a person who sees the need for and champions productive change within the organisation’ (2015, p. 449; 2012, p. 412).

Samson & Daft (2015, p. 449-50; 2012, p. 412) tell the stories of a few ideas champions such as Robert Vincent and his idea for an airbag sensor for automobiles. Similarly, Gary Koepper was the champion of the smartphone. Change doesn’t always happen by itself and new ideas are rarely accepted immediately.

Exhibit 11.5 of the Samson and Daft text (2015, p. 451; 2012, p. 412) defines the roles of inventor, champion, sponsor and critic in organisational change. Managers need to identify and communicate with these role players within the change innovation process.

When Texas Instruments studied 50 of its new product introductions, a surprising fact emerged: without exception, every new product that failed lacked a zealous champion ... Research confirms that successful new ideas are generally those that are backed by someone who believes in the idea wholeheartedly and is determined to convince others of its value. (Sutton qtd Samson & Daft 2015, p.449; 2012, p. 413)

Donald Schon, a Professor at MIT and authority on the dynamics of ideas and processes of change, particularly technological change, wrote:

The new idea either finds a champion or dies … No ordinary involvement with a new idea provides the energy required to cope with the indifference and resistance that major technological change provokes … Champions of new inventions display persistence and courage of heroic quality. (qtd in Hindle 2008, p. 29)

8.4 CHANGING PEOPLE AND CULTURE

Samson and Daft define people change as ‘a change in attitude of a few employees in the organisation’ and cultural change as ‘a major shift in the norms, values, attitudes and mindset of the entire organisation’ (Samson & Daft 2015, p. 451; 2012, p. 414).

This may sound as though people change is a small task and culture change is a huge task. The bottom line is that there is no such thing as a small change task – whether changing the perceptions of a few or many. In most cases the first targets for change are key to the success of your greater ambitions. They are the decision makers and the opinion makers within your organisation.

REALITY CHECK. Follow the link to a YouTube clip by Paul Brown called ‘A Brief Introduction to Change Management’. Not only does it give a brief history of recent change management theory, but it also draws the link between technological change and cultural change within an organisation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Jk6clmMycI&feature=related

Module 5

Importantly the clip above introduces us to Kotter’s eight Stages of Change. These might be worth noting as helpful for developing a response framework within your assignments:

• Establish a sense of urgency

• Create a coalition of change champions

• Develop a clear vision to empower and encourage

• Share the vision as clear communication is essential to rallying the troops

• Empower people to clear obstacles and create a can-do culture

• Secure short term wins as this will ensure confidence in the strategy

• Consolidate and keep moving using the power of momentum

• Anchor the change to stop old habits creeping in.

Major change is usually impossible unless most employees are willing to help, often to the point of making short-term sacrifices. But people will not make sacrifices, even if they are unhappy with the status quo, unless they think the benefits of change are attractive and unless they believe that a transformation is possible. Without credible communication, and a lot of it, employees’ hearts and minds are never captured.

(Kotter 1996, p. 9).

DISCUSSION POINT. Reflect on Kotter’s quote above. Have you felt resistant to change in the workplace in your experiences? Does this week’s topic change the context of that resistance? What have been your experiences?

8.4.1 APPROACHES TO IMPLEMENTING CHANGE

Understanding organisational change requires the recognition of the complex and sometimes chaotic reality of organisational reality. Alvesson & Sveningsson argue that ‘Unforseen consequences of planned organisational change such as resistance, political processes, negotiations, ambiguities, diverse interpretations and misunderstandings are part of this. Consequently, organisational change is not mainly a matter of carrying out a sequential list of steps’ (Alvesson & Sveningsson 2008, p. 28). Nevertheless it is important to understand that there are some essential steps that lay a good foundational strategy to implementing effective change processes.

The Samson and Daft text (2015, p. 453-458; 2012, p. 415-419) identifies some different approaches to implementing change:

• Training and Development. Topics for change management workshops might be teamwork, diversity, emotional intelligence, quality circles, communication skills and participative management. This list covers quite a lot of the discussion and learning to be found in both COM 12 – Business Communication and this Unit.

Silicon Valley Companies like Intel and Sun Microsystems send their managers to the Growth and Leadership Centre. You can visit their website at http://www.glcweb.com/index.htm.

COM21 Management Communication

One of the most important things to do when leading a change management strategy is to make sure that the communications are inclusive of all levels of staff. Remember, change does not occur by itself and the communicator strategy should be targeted to get everyone positively participating in and embracing change.

• Organisational Development is ‘the planned, systematic process of change that uses behavioural science, knowledge and techniques to improve the organisation’s health and effectiveness through its ability to adapt to the environment, improve internal relationships and increase learning and problem solving.’ (Samson & Daft 2015, p. 454; 2012, p. 416)

Often these processes are applied to current, major issues and problems like mergers and acquisitions, organisational decline and revitalisation and conflict management.

• Organisational Activities. These activities often take the form of team building exercises to break down cross organisational conflict, build communication skills and share common values and targets. Surveys are often used to get a snapshot of common issues and values across the organisation.

Other activities include an array of large group intervention methods (LGIMs) where rapid transformation is attempted across and organisation’s management, employees and stakeholders. LGIM’s can be very successful. However, there are some cautionary notes from researchers like Bryson and Anderson who point out that some assumptions can prove faulty.

The belief is that good things will come from getting people together to address issues of mutual concern and that relatively little advance planning and logistical support are necessary. There is a kind of ‘whatever will be, will be’ philosophy behind the method, and a belief that whatever happens is okay. The assumptions and philosophy are both the major strength and weakness of the method (Bryson & Anderson 2000, p. 151).

8.5 APPLYING KEY THEMES TO COMMUNICATION

Heracleous (cited in Alvesson & Sveningsson 2008, p. 24) argues that if existing cultural assumptions are not taken into account as part of the planned change agenda, change is often superficial or only temporary. In order to produce lasting change it is necessary to recognise the existing organisational ethos. It is important to:

bring the assumptions to the surface and recognize their expressions and legitimacy in organizational artefacts (or sub-systems) such as symbols, power structures, organisational structures, incentives, control systems, communications, rites/routines and stories/myths (Alvesson & Sveningsson 2008, p. 24).

• Cultural Ethos. Obviously these notions and ideas around managing and communicating change – whether technological or cultural – cut to the core of an organisation’s cultural ethos. Communication of a ‘new face’ and new meaning for an organisation is transformational. This week’s work gives an indication of the complexity of change. Whether it is small steps to change the perceptions of a small group or the

Module 5

entire organisation, communication models, skills and techniques will continually inform your process.

• Symbols, Stories, Heroes, Slogans, Ceremonies. Inherently, change will bring with it the need for new symbols, stories, heroes, slogans and ceremonies. These elements will form the verbal and non-verbal language of change. They need to be combined and blended to present a different, attractive and coherent message about who and what the organisation is now or is becoming.

• Adaptive Management Behaviours and Cultural Leadership. In the same way, management and leadership need to be continually adaptive in the context of change. By this stage you should have a good understanding that the leaders’ actions are highly symbolic and carefully scrutinised by staff, particularly in an uncertain work environment.

Alvesson & Sveningsson suggest that ‘Leaders should take visible steps towards the new culture by frequent and clear communication, meetings, and personal and group interviews with employees about their attitudes towards the proposed changes’ (2008, p. 25).

MORE THOUGHTS

Later in this course, we will discuss planning strategies and integration of communication, management and leadership into an integrated plan to deal with change and crisis scenarios.

Over the past eight weeks, we have been pulling together all the building blocks of management communication and we keep coming back to some key words - adaptation, innovation, culture, risk and change. Each week’s content draws attention to the fact that the only certainty is uncertainty and the only failure is to fail to meet the challenge of change.

‘It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.’ (Charles Darwin)

REFERENCES

Alvesson, Mats & Sveningsson, S, 2007, Changing Organizational Culture: Cultural Change Work in Progess, Routledge, Oxon UK.

Beer, M. & Nohria, N, 2000, ‘Cracking the Code of Change’, Harvard Business Review, Vol 78, No 3, pp. 133-141.

Branscomb, L M, Morse, K P, Roberts, M J, 2000, Managing Technical Risk, US Department of Commerce.

Bryson, J M & Anderson, S R, 2000, ‘Applying Large Group Interaction Methods in the Planning and Implementation of major Change Efforts’, Public Administration Review, March/April Vol 60, No 2. http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/shulockn/executive%20fellows%2004-05/Bryson.pdf

European Space Agency, What is Technology, Accessed 5 May 2012. http://www.esa.int/esaMI/Technology/SEMYSRWPXPF_0.html

Grubler, A, 2003, Technology and the Global Change, Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom.

COM21 Management Communication

Hartel, C E J & Fujimoto, Y, 2010, Human Resource Management, 2nd ed. Pearson Australia, Frenchs Forest, Sydney.

Hindle, T, 2008, Guide to Management Ideas and Gurus, Profile Books and The Economist, London.

Kevar, A J, 2001, ‘Understanding and facilitating Organisational Change in the 21st Century’, ASHE- ERIC Higher Education Report, Vol 28, No 4. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.

Kotter, J P, 1996, Leading Change, Harvard Business School Press, Cambridge, Mass.

Module 5

WEEK NINE: MORE ON MANAGING CHANGE RELATED COMMUNICATION

By the end of this week, students will be familiar with tactics and strategies for the successful handling of the complexities of change.

This will include:

• Examining the need for change

• Examining Resistance to change

• Applying SWOT and Force Field methodologies

• Applying implementation tactics

• Creating a conducive change environment

• Gaining a glossary of change.

REQUIRED READING

Samson, D & Daft, R L, 2015, Management, 5th Asia Pacific Edition, Cengage Learning, Australia. Chapter 11, pp. 458-471; Chapter 8, pp.323 – 330.

Samson, D & Daft, R L, 2012, Management, 4th Asia Pacific Edition, Cengage Learning, Australia. Chapter 11, pp. 419 – 433; Chapter 8, pp.301 – 305.

INDEPENDENT LEARNING TASK 9

Read the ‘Management Challenge’ in the Samson & Daft textbook (2015, p. 434; 2012, p. 402) and answer the questions posed, then read the Response to Management Challenge (2015, p.468; 2012, p. 428).

Does the response substantiate your answers to the questions posed earlier and how?

Post your piece to the Discussion Board and respond to the comments of two peers under the thread heading ‘Post responses to ILT9 here’.

COM21 Management Communication

9.1 INTRODUCTION

How do employees and other stakeholders react when organisations implement major changes? Sometimes they are energised and excited by the prospects of new, innovative ways of doing things. At other times they’re sceptical or cynical; they are being stressed at the prospect of still more change… While it may be human nature to resist change, it is also human nature to embrace change. Positive human aspirations such as learning, growth, and development all involve change. Seeing change and stability as a dialectic ... means seeing both change and stability as valued. (Cheney 2011, p. 348)

Communication is our most effective tool for change. This week we are exploring how managers can communicate so that both change and stability can be valued equally in an organisation, as Cheney suggests in the quote above.

In earlier weeks we have identified change as a constant, we have looked at elements such as mechanistic and organic structures, classical and humanist perspectives, diversity, learning organisations and sustainable development. All of these elements involve change in one way or another. How change is managed and communicated within an organisation has now been revealed as vital to achieving the aspirations of a progressive organisation with a balanced triple bottom line – productivity and profitability; local and global environmental awareness; and local and global social responsibility.

REALITY CHECK. Follow the link to this YouTube clip. It gives a quick glimpse at what we are looking at this week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__IlYNMdV9E&feature=related

DISCUSSION POINT. In considering Cheney’s quote above and the change as opposed to stability dialectic detailed therein, have you experienced major change in your own work environment or experiences. What were your first reactions? What do you think now about the change process?

9.2 THE NEED FOR CHANGE

Many people are not willing to change unless they perceive a problem or crisis. However, many problems are subtle, so managers have to recognise and then make others aware of the need to change. (Samson& Daft 2015, p. 459; 2012, p. 420)

It is a manager’s role to create adaptive strategies to solve perceived problems and issues, to identify performance gaps, and to plan and implement change in order to avoid having to deal with long- smouldering issues or ‘fires to put out’ or ‘ashes to sift through’ on a day-to-day basis.

Module 5

9.2.1 SWOT Analysis

The Samson & Daft text (2015, p. 323-35; 2012, p. 301-33) provides information on the SWOT Analysis. It outlines a well-tested methodology for teasing out an organisation’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

A SWOT analysis should provide an objective appraisal of an organisation’s ability to achieve or een exceed its stated strategic goals. An organisation’s strengths and weaknesses are based on key internal characteristics that impact on its operations, whereas opportunities and threats are based on crucial external factors that influence the organisation’s operations.

Pay particular attention to Exhibit 8.2. ‘The Strategic Management Process’. A SWOT analysis can be adapted to evaluating communication situations in any organisation. It is a highly useful analysis tool.

DISCUSSION POINT. Apply a SWOT analysis from a communication perspective to an organisation where you have personal experience of their operations. What are your observations? How might a SWOT analysis be applied before the need for change spills into crisis?

Also read the textbook (p. 420) Management in Practice – Making Change Stick as it provides some very honest reaction from workers who are undergoing major changes.

9.3 RESISTANCE TO CHANGE

To respond to the pace of change, organisations are adopting flatter, more agile structures and more empowering team-orientated cultures. As status differences erode, some employees are coming to expect involvement in decisions about organisational change. Successful organisational adaption is increasingly reliant on generating employee support and enthusiasm for proposed changes, rather than merely overcoming resistance. (Piderit 2000, pp.783)

Samson and Daft proffer several reasons for resistance to change in the work force. Typically, each one of these reasons represents a communication challenge:

• Self-interest. Typically employees resist change that may increase workload, or involve a perceived loss of power, pay, benefits and potentially, their jobs.

• Lack of Understanding or Trust. Employees will resist change if they distrust the intentions behind the change or do not understand its purpose

• Fear of the Unknown. Uncertainty is born of a lack of information and is particularly threatening to workers with low tolerance to change. By nature, workers from minorities or different cultures may feel these pressures more intensely in the knowledge that they are often the first to go when change occurs.

• Different Assessments and Goals. Employee’s perceptions can differ, sometimes markedly, and some may voice legitimate concerns about the benefits of change based on their position and perceptions. They may feel, for example, that innovation will detract from production, or marketing may perceive that the new product or service is unviable. (Adapted from Samson & Daft 2015, 460-61; 2012, pp. 421-22).

COM21 Management Communication

All of these different voices need to be heard, included in the communication chain and assimilated into the change process. There are two recognised approaches available to analyse resistance to change: force-field analysis and selective implementation tactics.

9.3.1 Force-Field Analysis

‘If you want to truly understand something, try to change it.’ (Lewin 1951, p. 346)

Force field analysis, developed by Kurt Lewin in the 1940s and 1950s, remains an influential development in the field of social science and has been commonly adapted into the behaviourist perspective of organisational development, process management and change management.

It provides a framework exploring and defining the forces that influence a situation.

Driving forces can be thought of as problems or opportunities that provide motivation for change within an organisation. Restraining forces are the various barriers to change, such as lack of resources, resistance form middle managers, or inadequate employee skills. (Samson & Daft 2015, p. 461; 2012, p. 422)

Exhibit 11.7 in the textbook (p. 423) demonstrates an example of force-field analysis applied to a change within an organisation from a traditional inventory (delivery) system to a ‘Just in Time’ system.

REALITY CHECK. Follow the YouTube link below to view a discussion on force field analysis and methodology from the ‘Mindtools’ site.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yWfvPxah1xs#!

9.4 CHANGE IMPLEMENTATION TACTICS

Samson & Daft tables five methods for dealing with this issue of change implementation tactics (2015, pp.464-67; 2012, pp. 424-5), ‘Exhibit 11.8 Tactics for overcoming resistance to change’. These methods have been adapted in the following discussion to emphasise their communication aspects.

• Communication and education are used when solid information about change is needed by employees and others to overcome resistance. A major part of communicating change is to organise activities that provides education about new technical knowledge so that users are familiar with the ideas driving change. Samson and Daft (p. 424) state that ‘managers should also remember that implementing change requires speaking to people’s hearts (touching their feelings) as well as their minds (communicating facts).’ This is the ‘bedrock’ layer of communicating change. Those ‘being changed’ need to understand how the new technology works and have a mental picture of success built for them.

Module 5

• Participation involves having users (and potential resistance leaders) actively engaged in designing the change management and communication plan. This takes us back to Piderit’s quote above (9.3) that ‘some employees are coming to expect involvement in decisions about organisational change. Successful organisational adaption is increasingly reliant on generating employee support and enthusiasm for proposed changes ....’ (Piderit 2000, p. 783). Change should be approached slowly and as time- consuming as the earliest stages can be understanding, active listening, and being inclusive and responsive to others’ views builds understanding and universal ownership of change.

It is at this start-up stage where managers need to actively combat their own fears of failure. Have faith that collaboration is powerful, and can and will result in changes within the original perceptions of the issues. But is that a bad thing or is it effective adaptive management and communication? It is a matter of putting the change management process in charge, rather than the person/manager.

The example of ‘Learning Point Associates’ quoted in the textbook (p. 425) effectively demonstrates the failure to engage from the start.

…the change team drew up a comprehensive road map for transformation but had trouble getting the support of most managers. The managers argued they hadn’t been consulted about the plans and didn’t feel compelled to participate in implementing them. (Burchardt & Gerard, 2006)

Research studies have shown that proactively engaging front-line employees in upfront planning and decision making about changes that affect their work results in smoother implementation.

• Negotiation is a formalising tool that can be engaged at the management communication level It involves transacting processes and agreements through which change can occur. It can be used to gain a more formal means of achieving cooperation by making sure everyone is in agreement. It may also involve negotiating and transacting with external stakeholders such as unions and industry partners.

An important part of a successful formal negotiation is built on finely honing messages and meaning in a written form. Often it can be said that the ‘devil is in the detail’ and this could be no truer than here. If the proposed change is substantial enough to warrant formalising the process, care must be taken to ensure that legal, social and even environmental issues are fully agreed between the various parties.

• Coercion is, in many cases, the ‘court of last resort’ where management uses formal power to force employees into change. It is a radical solution that may result in employees feeling victimised, angry, and potentially even prone to sabotage. We have recently seen the use of extreme coercion resulting in industrial action by employees in last year’s Qantas dispute and the civil unrest on the wharves a decade ago in the dispute between the Maritime Union of Australia and Patricks Stevedoring.

COM21 Management Communication

100

REALITY CHECK. Follow the YouTube link to an interview with Richard Woodward, Vice-President of the Australian and International Pilots Association where he outlines the pilots’ position in relation to the QANTAS lockout.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_a5aaiZzlI

• Top management support is a tactic that relies upon leadership communication to set the vision for change.

One survey found that 80 per cent of companies that are successful innovators have top executives who frequently reinforce the importance of innovation both verbally and symbolically (Loewe & Dominiquini 2006).

REALITY CHECK Follow the YouTube link to an interview with Steve Jobs from Apple who demonstrates the power of his leadership communication and vision,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SDowINMjfo

The Jobs’ interview above sets a benchmark for delivering a framework for innovation from the very top of a progressive organisation.

Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. ‘It's not about money. It's about the people you have, how you're led, and how much you get it’ (Steve Jobs qtd in Cramton 2011).

Without top level management support, change can become a complex play of power struggles and politics between departments and individuals. Vision and leadership communication must flow down from top management.

Read the ‘CASE STUDY: ‘A mini crisis of culture and performance’ in the Samson & Daft textbook (2015, pp. 466-67; 2012, p. 427). It gives a real world picture of some of the ways resistance to change can be overcome.

9.5 CREATING ENVIRONMENTS FOR CHANGE COMMUNICATION

There is much to consider when planning a change management communication plan. Cheney (2011, pp. 347) cites research by Susan Jarboe who gives a summary of organisational characteristics to encourage innovation and, subsequently, change. The primary characteristics are:

• Absence of Fear. In this environment, people feel free to express alternative views and, in general, feel safe to participate in trying out new ideas. There is an absence of surveillance.

Module 5

101

• Training for Innovation. People who have received specific training on creativity and innovation skills are usually more adaptive and this will hopefully build a more innovative work environment.

• Rewards and Other Structures that Encourage Innovation. Individuals or groups are rewarded through bonuses or other incentives for innovations and work structures that allow alternative paths for achieving goals.

• Support Innovation. People have the time and resources needed to try out innovative ideas.

• Vision or Objectives that highlight innovation. Creating an atmosphere and workplace culture that supports innovation can appear a rather intangible goal. If there is some recognition of innovation in the overarching vision and set objectives of an organisation, however, this can be more easily built into the daily routines. People perceive that innovation is important in achieving organisational goals.

• Task Orientation. This is a more standard requirement of any workplace but should be clearly defined and recognised. People understand that working hard and focusing on organisational objectives is valued.

• Create Leadership. The role of leadership in an innovative organisation is to encourage and support creativity and avoid behaviours that block or discourage people from innovating. It is important to recognise that leaders can emerge very naturally across all levels of an organisation (departments, sub-sections, teams, work floor). This can have positive and negative effects if wide-scale change is initiated, so empowering the right people is an important consideration. A good leader will be able to ‘read’ the currents and networks and respond positively. (Cheney 2011, pp.348)

9.6 GLOSSARY

Because change communication crosses over so many different social, psychological and organisational frameworks, the following glossary of key concepts should prove useful in conducting further research on this topic.

• Change is the process by which alteration occurs in the structure and function of a social system. It is the difference(s) between two (or more) successive conditions, states, or moments of time or a succession of differences in time within a persisting identity.

• Turbulence is a term used to describe the rapidly and unpredictably changing environment within which contemporary organisations operate and is often used to justify continuous change.

• Change-related communication is communication about change as well a communication involved in organisational change processes.

• Change–Constancy (Stability) dialectic is the notion that change and constancy are in a natural and inescapable tension. It implies that both are desirable, but also that they lean on each other for meaning

• Homeostasis is a principle from ‘Open Systems Theory’ that assumes that organisations strive for stability and routine.

• First-order Change is minor, incremental changes or adjustments that any living system has to practice in order to avoid the more fundamental second-order changes.

COM21 Management Communication

102

• Second-order Change is radical change that occurs when the entity becomes something fundamentally different from what it was originally.

• Programmed Implementation is a process of change management in which top management develops a plan for implementing the change and marshals the plan throughout its many phases.

• Adaptive Implementation is a process of change management that may be initiated at varying levels of the organisation. The implementation process is monitored and modified as new information about the implementation emerges.

• Fidelity (of adoption) is a standard of evaluating change efforts in which the criterion is the match between the designer’s intended use for the change and the user’s actual use.

• Uniformity (of adoption) is a standard of evaluating change efforts in which the criterion for change is accepted by all users.

• Unintended Consequences is a concept from ‘Systems Theory’ that suggests that a change in one part of the system will prompt changes in other parts of the system, some of which will not be anticipated.

(Adapted from various sources)

These are some terms that you may encounter in your readings, so keep this Glossary handy. Once again, you may find that glossary is a great tool to use when doing your assignments.

9.7 APPLYING KEY THEMES TO COMMUNICATION

• Cultural Ethos. Any major change process disrupts existing patterns of behaviour, routines, and networks of communication. It can challenge existing power structures, relationships, attitudes and assumptions that can be deeply entrenched within daily practice. By engaging all the stakeholders in the process of change, an organisation can better define its evolving cultural ethos.

Remember that at the basic level, Ethos is an ancient Greek word still used today meaning "character" and is used to describe the guiding beliefs or ideals that characterise a community, nation, ideology or, in this case, an organisation. By making sure that everyone’s voice is heard in the change process, an organisation has its best chance of evolving a new and authentic ‘public face and voice’.

• Symbols, Stories, Heroes, Slogans, Ceremonies. In the same way, the symbols, stories, heroes, slogans and ceremonies can only be authentic if they reflect the real face of the organisation. Consideration should be given to transposing or extending the existing story lines and languages into the new framework of desired change and organisational vision for the future.

If this is done positively and creatively it can generate support and enthusiasm or at least assist in minimising resistance. Everyone will have some experience of a dull or lack lustre framing of a change dialogue – watch any politician trying to ‘sell’ a contentious policy. The change story, its languages and how it is communicated can positively facilitate the change process, creating a more empowering work environment despite the many uncertainties.

Module 5

103

Adaptive Management Behaviours and Cultural Leadership. In the change management process, the capacity of an organisation to be truly adaptive and ‘lead from the front’ is challenged at the highest level. Managers must face the challenge of change while keeping the business profitable and productive. One of the best ways to ‘manage’ this process is by implementing a comprehensive communication strategy that will draw from and speak to all levels of the organisation.

MORE THOUGHTS

Change is always difficult, yet we grow and learn every day of our lives. Often, as President Roosevelt said ‘we have nothing to fear but fear itself’. Nonetheless change should be approached carefully. Once you have engaged people’s hearts and minds, they will embrace it. This is where emotional intelligence, active listening and being response to everyone’s concerns are paramount. After all, real revolutions are people’s movements.

Most experienced executives would advise an approach which is rapid evolution and not a revolution. Revolutions are risky and expensive and often fail. Evolutionary approaches have a much higher likelihood of success, through carefully choosing pilot projects, continually working on belief systems and incrementally building the new culture, broadening the vision and implementing new measures and goals at all levels of the organisation. (Samson & Daft 2012, p. 428).

There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. (Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, 1532)

REFERENCES

Cheney, C. Christensen, L T. Zorn, T E Jnr, Ganesh, Shiv. 2011, Organizational Communication in an Age of Globalization, Issues, Reflections, Practices, Waveland Press, Illinois.

Piderit, S K, 2000, ‘Rethinking Resistance and Recognising Ambivalence: A Multidimensional View of Attitudes Towards Organisational Change’, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 26, No. 4.

Lewin, K. 1951, Field theory in social science: selected theoretical papers, Ed. Dorwin Cartwright, Harpers, Oxford, England.

Cramton, M, 2011, 50 Quotes from the Genius Behind Apple. Accessed April 2012. http://macdailynews.com/2011/08/29/50-steve-jobs-quotes-on-life-leadership-and-the-future-of-apple/

105

MODULE 6

WEEK TEN: THE INTEGRATION OF STRATEGIC PLANNING AND COMMUNICATION

By the end of this week, students will develop an understanding of integration issues and how leadership and management communication can best be aligned.

This will include:

• Examining goals, plans and performance of communication

• Sending the right messages

• Communication criteria for effective goals

• Key Result Areas (KRAs).

REQUIRED READING

Samson, D & Daft, R L, 2015, 2012, Management, 4th Asia Pacific Edition, Cengage Learning, Australia. Chapter 7, (2015, 269-305; 2012, pp. 253 – 277).

INDEPENDENT LEARNING

Complete the New Manager Self-Test ‘Does Goal Setting Fit Your Management Style?’ (2015, p.271, 2012, p. 255) of the textbook and check your score. What did you learn from doing the test?

Post your piece to the Discussion Board and respond to the comments of two peers under the thread heading ‘Post responses to ILT10 here’.

COM21 Management Communication

106

10.1 INTRODUCTION

Men often oppose a thing merely because they have had no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike. (Alexander Hamilton, First US Secretary of the Treasury)

This week we will be exploring the integration of organisational goals, planning and communication. Earlier, we discussed the four basic management functions: planning, organising, leading, controlling, monitoring.

…planning is considered the most fundamental. Everything stems from planning. Yet planning is the most controversial management function. Planning cannot read an uncertain future…. Setting sound goals and plans is fundamental to good management at all levels of an organisation. (Samson and Daft 2015, p. 273, 2012, p. 256)

Regular strategy meetings integrating leadership, management and communication are essential to the setting and reviewing of the vision of the organisation (mission statements and goals) through to strategic planning to meet the expectations of all stakeholders.

Samson and Daft (2015, p. 273; 2012, p. 256) go on to quote Wylie and this is worth reiterating here:

Most corporate planning is like a ritual rain dance, it has no effect on the weather that follows, but it makes those who engage in it feel that they are in control. Most discussions of the role of models in planning are directed at improving the dancing, not the weather.

This may be true, but what is also true is that the planning is just as important as the final plan through its ability to weave together vision, negotiation, communication and implementation.

10.2 GOALS, PLANS AND PERFORMANCE OF COMMUNICATION

‘Goals specify future ends, plans specify today’s means.’ (Samson and Daft 2015, p. 273; 2012, p. 257)

This quote sets the scene for this discussion of goals, plans and communication. The entire purpose of an organisation should be defined by its goals, and its planning should entirely set out the strategy for achieving them.

Exhibit 7.1 ‘Levels of goals and plans and their importance’ (2015, p. 274; 2012, p. 258) of the textbook sets out a pyramid chart. Accepting that planning starts at the top of the pyramid, let’s ‘walk down’ the stages. It quickly becomes obvious that as the pyramid widens, so does the number of participants and stakeholders involved:

• Top of the pyramid are the Organisational Mission (Mission Statement). This is a broad statement of the owners or top executives and board describing the fundamental purpose, values and future aspirations of the organisation.

Peter Drucker suggests that organisations focus on eight content areas in developing goals: market standing, innovation, productivity, physical and financial resources, profitability, managerial performance and development, worker performance and attitude, and public responsibility.

Module 6

107

Most often these strategic goals are documented in a Mission Statement that Samson & Daft define as ‘a broadly stated definition of the organisation’s basic business scope and operations that distinguishes it from similar types of organisations’ (2012, p. 261). Some organisations develop additional materials to cover corporate values, product quality, location of facilities, and other short descriptors often setting out the unique aspects of the organisation.

• First step down the pyramid. ‘Strategic plans define the action steps by which the organisation intends to attain the strategic goals’ detailed in the broad Mission Statement.

• Next step down the pyramid are the tactical goals which are ‘the results that major divisions and departments within the organisation intend to achieve’ (Samson & Daft 2015, p. 279; 2012, p. 263). At this stage of planning you are directly engaging with middle management and applying the strategic plans to identify what middle management might need to do to achieve change. This is a consultative and collaborative process to align vision with the realities faced by middle management.

Remembering that lack of inclusion at the earlier stages is a principle cause of resistance, it is important that all stakeholders are engaged at this stage and during the pursuant stages to minimalise resistance.

• Next step down. Once the process above has stabilised, it is important to move on to the development of tactical plans that set out shorter term milestones to work towards.

Tactical plans define what the major department and organisational subunits will do to implement the overall strategic plan. Generally, it is the middle manager’s job to take the broad strategic plan and identify specific (and relevant) actions.

• Step down to ground level. ‘Operational tools are developed at the lower levels of the organisation to specify specific action steps towards achieving operational goals and support tactical plans’ on a day to day basis (Samson and Daft 2012, p. 263). Once again, feedback from this daily activity is a powerful indication of progress in change management and communication.

(Based on Samson & Daft 2015, pp. 277-79; 2012, pp. 261-263)

At all levels of the pyramid legitimacy, motivation, guidance, rationale and organisational standards need to be considered so that consistent organisational planning sends the right messages to all stakeholders as it is being built.

COM21 Management Communication

108

10.3 THE RIGHT MESSAGES

Reality Check: Follow the YouTube link to a presentation by John Kotter about communicating a vision for change.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGVe3wRKmH0

The pyramid above is also very important because it provides a way of ensuring that the right messages are being sent at each stage of planning.

Samson and Daft (2015, pp. 275-6; 2012, pp. 258-9) pay specific attention to the important benefits that can be gained within the processes of planning. These benefits include:

• Legitimacy. An organisation’s Mission Statement describes what an organisation stands for and its reason for existence. Samson and Daft draw reference to Fortune Magazine’s long-term survey, the ‘100 Best Companies to Work For’ as a measure of how top organisations may legitimise themselves.

Researcher, Alex Adman’s’ paper uses the survey to deconstruct some of the messages within the 100 organisations and the survey. Let’s look at some of the dimensions surveyed and some of the statements:

o Credibility. ‘Management keeps me informed about important issues and changes. I can ask management any reasonable question and get a straight answer’.

o Caring. This dimension creates a psychologically and emotionally healthy place to work. ‘Management shows a sincere interest in me as a person, not just as an employee’.

o Fairness creates an environment where ‘everybody has an opportunity to get special recognition’.

o Corporate Image. This dimension can build an ‘I’m proud to tell others I work here’ mentality.

o Hospitality. A common statement here would be ‘This is a fun place to work’.

o Welcome. This is an important building block in any organisation. ‘When you join the company, you are made to feel welcome’.

(Edman 2012, p. 21)

Adman adds that the dimensions of the survey also measure Two-way Communication, Informative Communication, Accessible Communication, Competence, Integrity, Respect, Support, Collaboration, Work Environment, Personal life, Equity, Membership, Impartiality, Justice, Personal and Team Pride, Camaraderie, Intimacy and Community. It is important to note that all of these dimensions directly correlate with a humanist/behaviourist management perspective.

Module 6

109

REALITY CHECK Follow the YouTube link to a presentation from John Kotter about the ‘Heart of Change’.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILcE51mjH6E&feature=endscreen&NR=1

• Source of motivation and commitment. A lack of clear goals and plans can damage motivation and commitment. Whereas a goal provides the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ of an organisation, a plan tells the ‘how’.

DISCUSSION POINT. Read the Australian Management Profile ‘Maureen and Tony Wheeler’, Co-founders of Lonely Planet of the textbook (2015, p. 276; 2012, p. 260). They talk about their original purpose and reason for starting Lonely Planet. What were their motivations and how did they incorporate these into their mission and messaging?

• Resource Allocation. ‘Goals help managers decide where they need to allocate resources, such as employees, money and equipment’ (Samson & Daft 2015, p. 275; 2012, p. 259). Clearly this resetting of priorities and allocation of resources needs to be carefully communicated to be understood and accepted by those affected.

• Guide to Change. An important part of a change planning is to set up milestones as strategic targets so that employees have a number of tangible outcomes to work towards. When you arrive at a milestone, it is important to review the journey. By giving employees the opportunity to participate in this process, you can evaluate your communication, analyse it within a SWOT methodology and, potentially, reassign values within a force field chart. It also gives management and employees an opportunity to celebrate at a number of points along the journey of change.

• Rationale for Decisions. It is important that change across the whole organisation stays aligned to the plan. Feedback from across the organisation needs to be continually filtered and adjusted to ensure that everyone is on the journey of change. ‘Interrogating’ decision rationales against the agreed actions within the change strategy also assists in identifying potential areas of resistance and the re-focusing communication activities on these emerging situations. This does not imply any totalitarian intent; it is simply a way of keeping ahead of issues and allowing for adaptive management and communication responses.

• Standard of Performance. ‘Because goals define desired outcomes for an organisation, they also becoming performance criteria. They provide a standard of assessment. If an organisation wishes to grow 15 per cent, and actual growth is 17 per cent, managers will have exceeded their prescribed standard’ (Samson & Daft 2015, p. 275; 012, p. 259). These sorts of positive tangible outcomes need to be ‘owned’ and celebrated by all stakeholders. Invariably, some resisters will only be placated by tangible data. Quite rightly, they will say that the organisation exists to make a profit, and ‘noble’ humanistic

COM21 Management Communication

110

and environmental outcomes are fine if the business is growing and production costs are being managed. These objections are entirely valid and positive tangible outcomes need to be communicated to all stakeholders.

An important aspect of any change strategy needs to be a close observation of how change is affecting the culture ethos of the organisation. Important questions here are: How are we seen, how do we wish to be seen, what is the journey, what are the new symbols, slogans, stories, heroes and ceremonies that need to be adapted into change?

Exhibit 7.2 on page 265 of the textbook looks at a strategy map as a way of monitoring whether the various goals and strategies for change are staying aligned to the vision for the organisation as set out in the Mission Statement.

10.4 CRITERIA FOR EFFECTIVE GOALS

Both tangible and intangible aspects of change need to be benchmarked against certain characteristics and guidelines. Samson and Daft (2012, pp. 267-9) define some of these. Read the text version first and then read an interpretation below that teases out some more of the communication issues surrounding them.

Goal Characteristics:

• Specific and Measurable. By nature all goals and aspirations are both qualitative and quantitative. Think about this as a simple example. We want to sell more apples because they are good apples. The quantitative outcome is measurable if you sell twice as many apples as last week. The qualitative outcome is less tangible. Then a customer is asked, ‘that’s a great apple where did you get it?’ and responds, ‘I’m shopping there’, recommending the product.

Both outcomes feed each other and both do happen. The point is that goals not only need to be carefully defined – they need to be measurable.

This is not to say that qualitative outcomes are not measurable – it just means that you have to work harder at it. It is important to seek customer feedback from your staff. Actively listen and respond to qualitative statements. You will always have the quantitative data which tells you how many apples people might buy today – but it is only the qualitative statements that will tell you why. This is a simplistic analogy; however it is also a basic truism that goals must be measurable. David Jones is a good example of the importance of qualitative outcomes. People shop there because of an established reputation for service and expertise – there may well be no other store like David Jones.

• Key Result Areas (KRAs) are ‘those activities that contribute most to organisation performance’. Hershey recommends that ‘organisations should monitor a maximum of 20 KRAs and divides these indicators into four distinct categories: financial indicators, customer-related indicators, process-related indicators and future-value indicators (including human resources)’ (Samson & Daft 2015, p. 285; 2012, p. 267).

Within those four indicators is a mix of quantitative and qualitative measures to be devised within your change management planning and strategy. Many organisations use

Module 6

111

the term Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) as important management controls targeted at specific outcomes. It is important that both KRAs and KPIs are redefined as part of the change process.

• Remaining both Challenging and Realistic. This is actually one of the dialectical problems that should be regularly challenged in the course of meetings. ‘Are we overreaching?’ or ‘Are our goals achievable?’ are questions that need to sit at the very basis on this debate. Certainly, it is an invitation for real feedback. And, the change/stability dialectic needs to be kept in balance.

• Challenging but Realistic: A Timeframe. Goals cannot be open-ended or they run the risk of never being finished. The risk is that the process of change can become the entire process – whereas the outcome is not a process – it is real change. It is often the communication aspect that needs to set the timeframes. It is fairly easy to set timing around tangible change, but communication activities and processes are best at setting the intangible readiness for change. Other intangibles might be inclusion, feedback, activity outcomes, negotiation and transaction of change processes and responsiveness. Again, remember that one of the major causes of resistance is lack of early participation which has quite a lot to do with the measured and thoughtful progression of these intangible aspects.

• Linked to Rewards. The textbook places much emphasis on rewards being based around ‘salary increases, promotions, and awards’ (Samson & Daft 2015, p. 285; 2012, p. 269). In addition, we can use communication tools and events like storytelling, ceremonies, heroes and new slogans as a way of rewarding achievement. Of course, money and promotions are strong rewards but equally so are inclusion, respect and acknowledgement.

These management priorities need to be carefully considered since financial incentives can turn sour if there is no acknowledgement of effort or due credit given to the correct staff. As a manager it is also wise to remember these two things: what might be initially a simple task could become incredibly complex as it unfolds and what may be a simple task for you, might be a big challenge for the person who is delegated that task to complete.

DISCUSSION POINT: Can you remember a time in your work life when respect and acknowledgement were all you really needed to feel valued?

10.5 APPLYING KEY THEMES TO COMMUNICATION

• Cultural Ethos. Special attention should be paid to these ‘Criteria for Effective Goals’ outlined above if an organisation is to gain maximum benefit from its goal-setting strategies. Having an informed and realistic understanding of the cultural ethos of an organisation can be critical to achieving the desired goals. Entrenched attitudes, beliefs, interaction dynamics can work either positively or negatively throughout any change process. Your own ‘house’ needs to be in order and everyone needs to be behind the change and understand why and how it is going to happen. To a very great extent,

COM21 Management Communication

112

internal strategies, planning and communication generate the public face of an organisation and the employees are its greatest communication asset.

• Symbols, Stories, Heroes, Slogans, Ceremonies. Similarly to last week and above, finding and identifying the new stories, symbols and ceremonies starts in-house and can become an exciting part of the unfolding change process. Creating the initial dialogue that will introduce any change or activation process, the key symbols, slogans, languages, need to be carefully planned. Something as simple as the headers for a power point slide in an important presentation can make a difference.

• Adaptive Management Behaviours and Cultural Leadership. The sorts of strategies and tactics discussed this week determine the day to day activities that drive change as a reality. Creating adaptive behaviours and providing positive cultural leadership across all levels of an organisation will generate long term benefits for an organisation.

Remember that staff respond to body language as well as words, so this can become an added pressure for the middle manager who may also be struggling with the uncertainties that a changing environment creates. These considerations can be pivotal to success. Remember also that strategies and planning require thinking whereas implementation is about doing.

MORE THOUGHTS

Everybody has accepted by now that change is unavoidable. But that still implies that change is like death and taxes – it should be postponed as long as possible and no change would be vastly preferable. But in a period of upheaval, such as the one we are living in, change is the norm. (Peter Drucker)

REFERENCES

Edmans, A, 2012, The Link Between Job Satisfaction and Firm Value, with implications for Corporate Social Responsibility, University of Pennsylvania, Finance Department; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI). http://www.greatplacetowork.com/

Module 6

113

WEEK ELEVEN: COMMUNICATING IN DIFFICULT TIMES AND CRISIS SITUATIONS

By the end of this week, students will understand essential strategies for preparation, prevention and containment of a potential crisis during difficult times and after unexpected events.

This will include:

• Planning in difficult times

• Contingency plans

• Scenario building

• Shaping a crisis plan

• Organising a Crisis Management Team (CMT)

• Communication within a Crisis Management Plan (CMP)

• Managing team conflict.

REQUIRED READING

Samson, D & Daft, R L, 2015, 2012, Management, 5th or 4th Asia Pacific Edition, Cengage Learning, Australia.

(2015, Chapter 1, pp. 36-37; Chapter 17, pp. 712–715; Chapter 7, pp. 294-298; Chapter 18, pp. 747–749).

(2012, Chapter 1, pp. 34-35; Chapter 17, pp. 648–651; Chapter 7, pp. 274-277; Chapter 18, pp. 681–687).

INDEPENDENT LEARNING TASK 11

This week we explore Scenario Building as a way of exploring what might happen to an organisation struck by crisis in difficult times and through unexpected events. From your work experiences develop a quick ‘sketch’ of two scenarios – the most optimistic and the most pessimistic – in the event of a major crisis. What would that crisis be and how might you communicate with stakeholders about this situation to minimise confusion or disorder?

What contingency plans might be appropriate?

Post your piece into the Discussion Board and respond to the comments of two peers under the thread heading ‘Post responses to ILT11 here’.

COM21 Management Communication

114

11.1 INTRODUCTION

True stability results when presumed order and presumed disorder are balanced. A truly stable system expects the unexpected, is prepared to be disrupted, and waits to be transformed. (Tom Robbins, American novelist)

Earlier in this Unit we discussed the maddening pace of change in our personal and business lives. Although most people crave stability, our shared reality is one of accelerating technical, industrial and social change. While it has always been the manager’s responsibility to negotiate pathways through unexpected disruptions of all levels of severity, Samson & Daft point out that ‘our world has become so fast, interconnected and complex that unexpected events happen more frequently and often with greater and more painful consequences’ (Samson & Daft 2015, p. 36; 2012, p. 34).

A crisis can be defined as ‘a non-routine, unpredictable event that imposes (a) significant threats to an organization and (b) urgency to contain and respond that often interrupts normal organizational functioning’ (Kalbfleisch 2005, p. 278). Depending on severity, a crisis can pose a threat across three broad areas: public safety, financial loss and reputation loss (Coombs 2007). The level of susceptibility is dependent on the nature of the crisis, its severity and the way it is managed.

The bizarre, the unthinkable, the unlikely, the unexpected, and the unimaginable can bring day-to-day operations to a standstill and cause growth strategies and fiscal plans thrown out. The only certainty is that no organization is immune; every organization is vulnerable to crises. (Hagan 2007, pp. 403)

By their nature crises are potentially explosive public events, but the extent to which the organisation’s reputation is damaged will in fact depend on how the crisis is managed. A poorly managed crisis has both immediate and long term repercussions and has the capacity to destroy a company. On the other hand, a well-managed crisis can be turned into an opportunity generating long term goodwill toward the organisation (Griffin 2008, p. 206).

Samson & Daft (2012, p. 34) define five leadership skills that meet the demands of today’s crisis management scenarios:

• Staying calm

• Being visible

• Putting people before business

• Telling the truth

• Knowing when to get back to business.

(Adapted from Samson & Daft 2015, p. 36; 2012, p. 34)

This week we will explore how to plan and communicate during turbulent times, unexpected events and team conflict. Again, we will be looking into the convergence of leadership and management communication running simultaneously alongside the convergence of strategic planning and communication.

Module 6

115

REALITY CHECK Follow this YouTube link to see the story of how one small (but famous) Japanese family business is rebuilding after the Tsunami.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTBPDwSgCZc

11.2 PLANNING IN TURBULENT TIMES

Effective crisis management should start long before the crisis occurs. Pre-planning crisis management can ensure that an organisation is best placed to ‘mitigate or reduce the severity and duration of a crisis’ (Johnston & Zawawi 2009, p. 307).

Firstly, we will look at some of the planning strategies that managers can deploy so that they are constantly in a state of readiness should they strike turbulence or the unexpected.

11.2.1 CONTINGENCY PLANS

Preparing a business contingency plan is as important as developing a sales or marketing plan. Samson & Daft (2015, p. 294; 2012, p. 274) state that contingency plans ‘define organisation responses to be taken in the case of emergencies, setbacks or unexpected conditions’. In developing an effective contingency plan, planners will initially identify and assess potential risks and extrapolate these to ‘forecast the worst case scenarios’ (Samson & Daft 2015, p. 294; 2012, p. 274). From this point, strategies can be developed to best enable an organisation to prevent or cope with a crisis (Kash & Darling 1998, p. 179).

Otto Lerbinger (2012) classified the following types of organisational crises: natural crises, biological crises, technological crises, confrontation crises, crises of malevolence, crises of mismanagement, crises of skewed management, management failure, crises of deception, crises of management misconduct.

It is important to understand that these risk areas can apply to all organisations whatever the size, strength or business field or nature of an organisation since everyone is exposed to risk in a diverse, volatile work environment. It is not only Queensland Health that falls foul of a massive payroll system problem and many workplaces have been the subject of sexual harassment allegations. A fast food outlet can be taken to task for breach of Health and Safety regulations or an accountant might misappropriate funds from a trust account creating a crisis in a reputable firm.

The Mindtools website identifies some important guidelines when building a contingency plan:

• Maintain business operations. Look closely at what you need to do to deliver a minimum level of service and functionality.

• Define time periods. What must be done during the first hour of the plan being implemented? The first day? The first week? If you break down the plan, you're less likely to leave out important details.

COM21 Management Communication

116

• Identify the trigger. What specifically will cause you to implement the contingency plan? Decide which actions you'll take and when. Determine who is in charge at each stage and what type of reporting process they must follow.

• Keep the plan simple. You don't know who will read and implement the plan when it's needed, so use clear and plain language.

• Consider related resource restrictions. Will your organisation be able to function the same way if you have to implement Plan B or will Plan B necessarily reduce capabilities?

• Identify everyone's needs. Have people throughout the company identify what they must have, at a minimum, to continue operations.

• Define 'success'. What will you need to do to return to 'business as usual'?

• Include contingency plans in standard operating procedures. Make sure you provide initial training on the plan, and keep everyone up-to-date on changes.

• Manage your risks. Look for opportunities to reduce risk, wherever possible. This may help you reduce, or even eliminate, the need for full contingency plans in certain areas.

• Identify operational inefficiencies. Provide a standard to document your planning process, and find opportunities for performance improvement.

(Mindtools. Accessed 13 June 2012)

DISCUSSION POINT. Reflect on the guidelines above. Can you think of ways that you, as the communication practitioner within an organisation, might enhance the delivery of these objectives? How might you work to ensure that the messages sent are clear and that feedback is acknowledged and absorbed into the development of a contingency plan?

11.2.2 SCENARIO BUILDING

One way managers cope with uncertainty is with a forecasting technique known as scenario building. Scenario building involves looking at current trends and discontinuities and visualising future possibilities. Rather than looking only at history and thinking about what has been, managers think about what could be. (Samson & Daft 2015, p. 294-5; 2012, pp. 274-5)

The scenario building technique involves developing a small number of scenarios (no less than two and no more than five) that offer managers an opportunity to explore alternative future outcomes. It is a creative process quite similar to story boarding in film or in advertising. Obviously, the various scenarios range from the most optimistic outcome to the most pessimistic.

Scenarios are not conceived of one at a time. You develop a range of two or three possible futures, allowing you to address an array of possibilities and rehearse your responses to each of them. At the same time, more than four scenarios tend to be too complex: you cannot keep track of their ramifications in your mind. (Rhisiart, 2006)

Samson and Daft (2015, p. 295; 2012, p. 275) cite an example of scenario building from Royal Dutch Shell. Rhisiart quotes Jeroen van der Veer, Shell’s CEO as saying:

Within Shell, I think the imperative is to use this tool to gain deeper insights into our global business environment and to achieve the cultural change that is at the heart of our Group

Module 6

117

strategy. We face real challenges in the future, we will all need to be able to respond to changing circumstances and make informed and rigorous judgements about our decisions: these scenarios and methodology will help us to do that better. (van der Veer cited in Rhisiart 2006)

11.3 SHAPING A CRISIS PLAN

Samson & Daft (2015, pp. 295-98; 2012, pp. 275-77) detail the three stages of crisis management: prevention, preparation and containment. Below we will explore and adapt these to a more communicative perspective.

11.3.1 PREVENTION

Earlier in this Unit we discussed strategic conversations, relationship building, network management and communication. These elements form the basis of a prevention strategy when faced with turbulence and the unexpected. Some key elements of prevention are:

• Build trusting relationships with key stakeholders (employees, customers, suppliers, governments, unions and the community). Johnson and Zawawi (2009, p. 309) refer to this as ‘the trust bank’ and argue that organisations with good reputations and high levels of trust are likely to receive more understanding and forgiveness from their publics in a time of crisis.

• Maintain open communication lines so that problems can be identified and prevented.

• Detect messages from business and community environment. Organisations need to understand who their different ‘publics’ are and adjust communications to and from these different audiences, not only in a crisis but throughout duration of the relationship

• Maintain environmental, social and community responsibilities as an organisation and foster an identity as an integral part of a local and global market and community.

The bottom line is that if you are listening and responding to feedback from your stakeholders, market and community you might be the first to know that trouble is just around the next corner.

DISCUSSION POINT. Reflect on the points above. In your work or life experiences, can you think of a time when crisis has been avoided simply through good will towards an organisation?

11.3.2 PREPARATION

Forward planning is essential to dealing with a crisis in order to ensure maximum preparedness. Some key elements include:

• Set up a cross functional, interdepartmental Crisis Management Team (CMT) and ensure that they are trained and qualified across a range of skills and policies to swing into action once the crisis ‘tipping point’ is reached. Training and practice are important.

COM21 Management Communication

118

From a communication point of view, this would include having designated spokespersons briefed and available.

The CMT may be a flexible group and membership might be based on what the perceived crisis might be. For example, the team you might form to deal with a response to a cyclone would be entirely different from that to deal with a failure of technology or a production or product issue. Many organisations have set up permanent CMTs with a core group who will call on specific content experts internally and externally to consult on particular issues.

• The CMT would develop a Crisis Management Plan (CMP) that works to a set formula based on the structure and dynamics of the organisation as a template for dealing with a wide range of issues. One of the roles of communication would be the delivery and understanding of these plans across all stakeholders as a living and evolving document within the work culture of the organisation.

Berstein identifies ten steps of a CMP comprising of the following techniques: identify your crisis communications team, identify your spokesperson, crisis training, establishing a notification system, identifying and knowing your stakeholders, anticipating crises, develop holding statement, assess the crisis situation, identify key messages, and finally riding out the storm (Bernstein 2004, p. 61). The first seven of these processes should be in practice before a crisis emerges.

A major part of the CMP is a communication plan that designates a crisis command centre and sets up a complete communication and messaging system. The command centre serves as a place for the crisis management team to meet, gather data and monitor incoming information, and disseminate information to the media, employees and public (Samson & Daft 2012, p. 277).

It is important to understand that each crisis management plan will be unique to the organisation that creates it. As with all plans the crisis management plan must be flexible and adapt to changes within the internal and external environment.

REALITY CHECK. Follow this link to a free downloadable CMP Template.

http://www.brighthub.com/office/project-management/articles/104970.aspx

11.3.3 CONTAINMENT Samson & Daft (2015, p. 296; 2012, p. 277) highlight some key stages of containment:

• Rapid response through activating the Crisis Management Plan. The CMP should be maintained at a state of readiness and be constructed with sufficient flexibility to be applied across the wide range of potential scenarios in a quick, coordinated and efficient manner.

• Getting out the ‘awful truth’. The Crisis Communication Plan must ensure that the organisation speaks with one voice. Conflicting stories and reportage can cause chaos and in the case of natural disaster, risk lives.

Module 6

119

Rapid, clear and consistent communication increases the quality of decisions and reduces the level of confusion. It is important not to underestimate the level of public fear in a major crisis or the variety of publics that may be affected, either directly or indirectly. Internal communication is just as important in crisis situations as it is able to provide cohesion and coherence to the organisation involved. Without timely information in a crisis, people tend to rely on rumours for their information, which increases uncertainty and the complexity of the recovery process.

Best practice of crisis communication relies on effective communication with media. How an organisation communicates with key stakeholders and the public will be just as important as managing the crisis itself in the long term because of the ‘persistence of memory’ of a poorly or deceptively managed crisis (Ucelli 2002, p. 21). In addition the media can ‘assist in providing adjusting information and reputation management messages’ (Veil 2010, p. 415), which is again, a long term recovery consideration.

• Meet emotional needs. There are many examples of recent attempts to downplay the realities of a crisis and ample evidence that it just doesn’t work. Organisations must recognise their social and ethical responsibilities, expressing concern and sympathy to their employees, stakeholders and the general public.

REALITY CHECK. Follow this YouTube link to see reportage of anger in Japan after cover ups over nuclear radiation exposure were revealed following the Tsunami.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDsIfa9Ie0s

11.4 APPLYING KEY THEMES TO CRISIS COMMUNICATION

• Cultural Ethos. Keep in mind that the messages that are sent to all stakeholders when an organisation is in crisis will last longer and be more influential than routine communication – simply because the eyes of all stakeholders will be on you. As the organisation’s central and pivotal point of communication, it is imperative that any actions or communication managers release within the crisis resolution be embedded within the organisation’s cultural ethos. This particularly relates to the notion of telling ‘the awful truth’. Years of shaping the public face of the organisation can be quickly negated if this rule is not applied. There is more reason than ever to abide strictly to those core values and attributes through which all your internal and external stakeholders know the organisation.

• Symbols, Stories, Heroes, Slogans, Ceremonies. In a similar vein, the ‘maintenance of face’ can be achieved by acknowledging and rewarding those who rise to the occasion. Crisis situations have a way of revealing new stories and heroes. These should be celebrated as a way of reinforcing the cultural ethos of the organisation. These stories and languages can become an empowering and affirming dialogue in any recovery process.

• Adaptive Management Behaviours and Cultural Leadership. The creation of a Crisis Management Team is a great way of exercising adaptive management behaviours. Scenario building and exploration will bring up strengths and weaknesses that can be

COM21 Management Communication

120

utilised and adapted within the leadership culture and communication within the organisation.

MORE THOUGHTS

Crisis management and communication should be considered to be organisational character building, creating new bonds within relationships, networks and stakeholders. It is essential to the growth and maturation of an organisation.

One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity. (Albert Schweitzer)

REFERENCES

Bernstein, Jonathan, The 10 Steps of Crisis Communications. Crisis Response, Prevention, Planning and Training. Accessed 19/6/2012. http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/docs/the_10_ steps_of_crisis_communications.html

Coombs, W T 2007, Crisis Management and Communications. Accessed 19/6/2012. http://www.instituteforpr.org/topics/crisis-management-and-communications/

Griffin, Andrew 2008, New Strategies for Reputation Management: Gaining Control of Issues, Crises & Corporate Social Responsibility, CIPR, London.

Hagan, Linda M 2007, ‘For Reputation’s Sake: Managing Crisis Communication’, in Toth, Elizabeth E, The Future of Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management: Challenges for the Next Generation, Lawrence Erlbaum and Assoc, Mahwah, New Jersey.

Johnston, J & Zawawi, C 2009, Public Relations: Theory and Practice, 3rd edn, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW.

Kalbfleisch, Pamela K 2005, Communication Yearbook 29, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ.

Kash, Toby and Darling, John 1998, ‘Crisis Management: Prevention, Diagnosis and Intervention”, Leadership & Organisation Development Journal, vol 19, no. 4, pp. 179–186.

Lerbinger, Otto, 2012, The Crisis Manager: Facing Disasters, Conflicts and Failures, Routledge, New York.

Mindtools, Contingency Planning – Creating a Good Plan B. Accessed 13/06/2012. http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_51.htm

Rhisiart, M, 2006, ‘Scenario Building’, in FUTURRG: Futures Workshop, Turku. Accessed 7/06/2006. http://www.urenio.org/futurreg/workshop1.html.

Ucelli, Loretta, 2002, ‘The CEO’s “How to” Guide to Crisis Communications’, Strategy & Leadership, vol 30, no 2, pp. 21– 4.

Veil, Shari R, 2011, ‘Mindful Learning in Crisis Management’, The Journal of Business Communication, vol 48, no 2, pp. 116-147.

121

MODULE 7

WEEK TWELVE: UNDERSTANDING PUBLIC RELATIONS

By the end of this week, students will have gained a general basic understanding of the role of public relations, its terminologies and practice. This will include:

• Identifying and defining publics

• Exploring internal and external publics

• Prioritising publics

• Exploring perceptions and public opinion

• Recognition of minority publics and women

• Listing some points to remember about public relations.

REQUIRED READING

Newsom, D, Turk, J and Kruckeberg, D 2010, This is PR: The Realities of Public Relations, 10th ed, Wadsworth Cengage Learning, Boston, USA. Chapter 5, pp. 93–116.

INDEPENDENT LEARNING TASK 12

Focusing on the difference between publics and audiences, think about your own life and work experiences and identity some publics you might be a member of – as a customer or as a member of a social or professional organisation. You can also be a member of a public simply because of your race, religion, sex or ethnic or national origin.

Post your piece into the Discussion Board and respond to the comments of two peers under the link ‘Post responses to ILT12 here’.

COM21 Management Communication

122

12.1 INTRODUCTION

Public relations is about reputation - the result of what you do, what you say and what others say about you. Public relations practice is the discipline which looks after reputation with the aim of earning understanding and support and influencing opinion and behaviour. (Institute of Public Relations http://www.instituteforpr.org/ )

Due to the globalisation of news services, social media and rapid technologies, it has become increasing important for managers at all levels to be aware of public relations – its terminologies and functions.

An employee may not be in charge of public relations in the organisation, but must be aware of their role as part of its public face. Therefore, they must be able to stay on message with the organisation’s many ‘publics’ at a customer, market and community level.

This week we will explore the terminology and functions of public relations in order to deliver a basic understanding of its organisational role.

Public Relations has developed a bad reputation over the years as the YouTube clip below points out. To a great extent, that is now ancient history because in today’s business world the greatest asset of an organisation is its reputation.

REALITY CHECK. Follow the link to a YouTube clip that follows the history of everything that is bad about public relations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsxGwshh1oI

12.2 IDENTIFYING AND DEFINING PUBLICS

Firstly, we should define some public relations terminologies that we can use in our discourse.

In public relations, the term public encompasses any group of people who are tied together, however loosely, by some common bond of interest or concern and who have consequences for the organisation. (Newsom et al. 2010, p. 94)

It is important to note that in a public relations perspective an audience and a public are not the same. An audience is anyone who receives a message but is deemed to be inherently passive, whereas a public is deemed to be anyone who is actively involved and may exercise some impact on the organisation.

Publics and organisations are interconnected through a shared and complex ability to have impacts on each other.

Module 7

123

12.2.1 INTERNAL PUBLICS

Internal publics share the institutional identity. They may include management, employees, and many other stakeholders such as shareholders, board members, investors. (Newsom et al 2010, p. 94)

One way of identifying internal publics is to list all the active opinion-making individuals and groups within an organisation who may affect management and communication decisions. Often, there is a healthy intergroup dynamic between these different internal publics but harking back to earlier discussions in this course, exclusion and isolation of specific groups will only lead to lack of participation or even active resistance.

So, although the terminology may differ, the roles of public relations and communication become intertwined in avoiding conflict.

DISCUSSION POINT. Can you identity the different internal publics within your organisation and think of how they might sometimes be at odds about management and communication issues?

How have these matters been resolved?

Feedback from strategic conversations, relationships and networks needs to be fed back into any public relations activity. An organisation with a separate public relations arm, needs to ensure that PR personnel are participating in these networks and receiving valuable information to include in their approaches.

As with any communication, the PR face of the organisation must reflect its cultural ethos or run the risk of being seen as fake or out of touch with the accepted public face of the organisation.

REALITY CHECK. Follow this YouTube link to a clip called ‘Toxic Sludge is Good for You’ which discusses lack of integrity within some PR campaigns. In this case, perhaps the PR team could be accused of trying too hard to shape perception.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaMh8KGfkTM

12.2.2 EXTERNAL PUBLICS

Newsom et al identify external publics as any that exist outside the organisation. ‘They are not directly or officially a part of the organisation, but they do have a relationship with it’ (Newsom et al 2010, p. 94). These may include government, the media, clients, suppliers and/or consumers. These also need to be identified.

REALITY CHECK. Follow the link to the YouTube clip below to see how the media might become a huge influence on the public perceptions of an organisation or industry group.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl4xgLy6MRM

COM21 Management Communication

124

12.3 PRIORITISING PUBLICS

Both the YouTube clips above demonstrate that, at least in PR terms, any notion of a mass audience is a myth and that using one standard approach to connect with all priority targets is fraught with danger because their attitudes and behaviours towards your organisation may differ significantly.

Figure 5.1 in Newsom et al, (pp. 95) ‘Prioritising Publics’, details how a formula called the Public Vulnerability Importance Index (PVI) based on a scale of one to ten can be applied to the priority rating of a target public.

P (Potential for other organisation to Influence) + V (Vulnerability of your organisation to being affected) = I (Importance of Public or Audience to your organisation)

The PVI is a tool to assist PR and communication managers to identify risk, but it is certainly not the end of the story. Communication skills like emotional intelligence, active listening, feedback and responsiveness are the key elements of successfully negotiating these prioritisation strategies. Key questions that can be asked are ‘what would I feel about this idea if I was a member of a particular public?’, ‘how might I respond to the changes being introduced’?

Newsom et al (p. 98) state that priority publics can be described in three ways:

• Nominatively. This means simply applying their name to all communication whether employees, stockholders, media, government and so on.

• Demographically. This refers to defining a public by looking at their statistical characteristics such as age, sex, income and other hard data.

• Psychographically. This method defines a public by their emotional and behavioural traits.

Psychographical testing has become increasingly sophisticated with a number of different systems that attempt to measure attitudes and behaviours. These are discussed in more detail in this week’s required reading (Newsom et al 2010, p. 96–7).

Suffice it to say, that this testing is now a major application of the humanist/behaviourist perspective where, to use the SRI questionnaire as an example, adults are categorised according to eight types: thinkers, innovators, achievers, experiencers, believers, strivers, makers and survivors. Although results may prove patchy, this practice of trying to predict behaviours from attitudes is gaining strength, especially as more data about us is gleaned from the Internet.

The working reality is that it is wise to at all these methodologies in order to gain the most accurate picture on the priority public.

Module 7

125

12.4 PERCEPTIONS AND PUBLIC OPINION

You may have heard of a saying that people have been ‘tried and found guilty in the court of public opinion’. This is the world that public relation practitioners live in.

Public opinion is what most people in a particular public think; in other words, it is the collective opinion of, for instance, what voters or teenagers or senior citizens or politicians think about a specific issue. (Newsom et al 2010, p. 108)

Public opinion is all powerful in our modern business and society. It expresses beliefs built around perceptions or evaluations of events, people, organisations or products, rather than facts. It can range across the whole spectrum from extremely positive or devastatingly negative. Alternatively, it may not exist for your organisation at all. All of these PR states need to be questioned as part of both a communication and PR role.

Long before the pollsters were on the scene, nineteenth-century essayist Charles Dudley Warner said ‘Public opinion is stronger than the legislature and nearly as strong as the Ten Commandments’. (Newsom et al 2010, p. 108)

Given that we live in a world where public opinion is quite transient, an enormously influential industry has grown up about polling all of us, all the time to see what we are thinking, buying and feeling. But make no mistake, you are being polled as a member of an identified public and not as an individual. Pollsters are not measuring so much what you personally think as much as they are measuring for discernible trends amongst your public.

REALITY CHECK. Follow this YouTube link to a report on a Gallup poll about attitudes of seniors in America. Give particular attention to what is actually been measured and how it is reported as trending rather than individual opinions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA8RD94fekc&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL5F275D D87195CB40

COM21 Management Communication

126

12.5 PERCEPTIONS OF THE ORGANISATION

12.5.1 INTERNAL PUBLICS

In PR, much has been spoken of the ‘image’ of an organisation. What is it and where can it be found? Newsom et al contend that ‘the collective perceptions of all publics for an organisation – based on what it says and does – constitute its image’ (Newsom et al 2010, p. 103).

Newsom et al comment further that this image needs to be tested in the following ways:

• If the institution has an image, does it live up to it? Or, does it say one thing and mean another?

• If the organisation has a favourable image, does it live up to it? Or do conflicting demands, low pay or other factors render this impossible?

• When an image change is necessary, have the employees been helped to make the change through participative management?

• If the company has no recognisable image, does this result in confusion, limited identification and disparate values?’

(Newsom et al 2010, p. 103)

Many of you will be able to identify the clear resonances between these PR statements and the role of communication – particularly in the strategies and tactics around change.

DISCUSSION POINT. In your work experiences, have you worked for an organisation whose public image did not align with its internal reality? Did this cause disruption and confusion?

12.5.2 EXTERNAL PUBLICS

In a similar way, Newsom et al identify some key questions that organisations should be regularly testing to challenge their relationships with their external publics. These include situations where:

• Public perceptions of a company do not reflect reality. This would include situations where vestiges of past mistakes, poor earnings, environmental problems and the like may still be having negative impact.

• External forces such as a new competitor, a breakthrough product, deregulation or an existing competitor’s new identity require identification countermeasures.

• Competitors are slow to form clearly defined and effectively projected corporate and/or product presentation. In this sense, identity is opportunistic and can become a competitive advantage in itself.

(Newsom et al 2010, p. 105)

From a communication perspective all of these ‘tests’ need to be measured against the cultural ethos of the organisation within a continuous change environment.

Module 7

127

12.6 WOMEN AND MINORITIES

When discussing publics, it is not just the size of a public that makes it influential. Earlier in the unit we discussed diversity because of gender, race, religion, sexual preference and other potentially divisive issues. These diversity groups need also to be included in any investigation of the many publics that may impact on your organisation.

In business, it is important to acknowledge the power differential between men and women. We have discussed this matter earlier in the unit, but it should be reiterated here that this is a pervasive force. The fact that many women work in male-dominated workplaces creates a dynamic public (internally and externally) and they are likely to display their own set of attitudes and behaviours towards the organisation. The same can be said of a range of minority group publics. These groups are sometimes referred to as counter publics and they can tend to group together to oppose a dominant monoculture.

DISCUSSION POINT. Drawing on your own life and work experiences, can you identify how women and minority publics in the workplace might have different attitudes and behaviours to the dominant culture(s)?

12.7 POINTS TO REMEMBER

This week’s required reading identifies some key PR points (Newson et al 2011, p. 114). Below is a short version.

• In PR, no ‘general public’ exists; there are many publics.

• In PR terms, mass audience is a myth.

• Priority publics are those that might have the most impact on the organisation.

• Psychographics is increasingly important in identifying diverse and complex publics.

• Increasingly people are turning away from traditional media which is causing fragmentation of publics and challenging PR practitioners to find new connections on the Web and through social media.

• Employees are a very important public as they have direct connection to any number of the organisation’s other publics.

• Women and minorities need to be included and their different perspectives as separate publics need to be acknowledged.

• Identifying potential issues early is a good sign of strong relationships with publics.

• ‘Image’ describes the collective perceptions of an organisation by all of its publics.

• An external public may be a supportive or adversarial constituency.

• Attitudes are a tendency or orientation toward something or someone.

• Opinions are expressions of estimates or judgements articulating a sentiment or point of view.

• Beliefs are convictions firmly fixed within a value system.

COM21 Management Communication

128

• Public opinion expresses beliefs not necessarily based on facts but on perception.

• Insensitivity or unawareness of the interconnectedness of publics is a formula for failure.

• Information and opinion are different. Appreciating that difference means recognising how understanding and knowledge differ.

(Adapted from Newsom et al 2010, p. 114-116)

REALITY CHECK. Follow the link to a YouTube clip which summarises a recent conference about the future of Public Relations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8pKQCoG5VI

12.8 APPLYING KEY THEMES TO COMMUNICATION

• Cultural Ethos. Communication strategies and public relations strategies must work together to protect and grow the cultural ethos of an organisation. In this ever-changing environment it is only safe to assume that this cultural ethos is evolving and changing continuously.

• Symbols, Stories, Heroes, Slogans, Ceremonies. It is the role of communication strategies, techniques and processes to identify emerging symbols, stories, heroes and slogans and, most often, it is the role of PR to use these elements. There is a balance and relationship there that must be measured to protect the work culture and public face of the organisations. It must remain ‘real’.

• Adaptive Management Behaviours and Cultural Leadership. Both communication and PR are at the cutting edge of adaptive management. They are both required to actively listen, respond and be inclusive of all their stakeholders and publics.

MORE THOUGHTS

Communication practice and public relations practice are bonded yet different. Communication observes what is, and public relations take what is and spin it to meet the perceptions, attitudes and behaviours of priority publics. A good public relations practitioner is neither a spin doctor, nor an image maker. They should never lose sight of the fact that it is the diverse publics who fix on an image of an organisation rather than some magic they may conjure.

We believe PR should be practiced to serve the public interest, to develop mutual understanding between organizations and their publics, and to contribute to informed debate on issues in society. (James E Grunig)

REFERENCES

Newsom, D, Turk, J and Kruckeberg, D 2010, This is PR: The Realities of Public Relations, 10th edn, Wadsworth Cengage Learning, Boston, USA.

Module 7

129

WEEK THIRTEEN: WHERE HAVE WE BEEN?

REQUIRED READING

There are no set readings this week.

INDEPENDENT LEARNING TASK 13

Don’t post this to the Discussion Board. This task is between you and your tutor.

Now we are in week 13, reflect back on your understanding of your own management communication style and the management communication structure in the organisation you work in. How has your understanding changed? What did you learn from this unit that you think will help you become a more effective manager and communicator? Is there anything you will do differently in your work life?

If you wish, you may email your response to your tutor.

There is no set reading for this week, but there is a private independent learning task.

Apart from your reflection task, use your study time this week to hone your final piece of assessment. Your final report should show you have read and applied the ideas presented in the Study Guide, your text book and your additional readings. We are looking for evidence that you have been able to draw together the connections between theory and management communication in the business environment.

Consider too the work you have completed through your Independent Learning Tasks. These tasks were set quite deliberately to give you an opportunity to practise some of the skills you will draw on in producing this final report. We hope they will also be helpful in your work life too.

Use this week to revisit some of the topics we have covered and to consider how the ideas presented are manifested in your own work environment.

COM21 Management Communication is a second level unit in the Business Communication major that is part of the Griffith University, Bachelor of Communication degree that was introduced in 2012. The follow on unit for a Communications major with Griffith University is COM31 Organisational Communication.

If you have enjoyed this unit, please consider COM31 and check the OUA website for other units available from Griffith University.

COM21 Management Communication

130

Some final words about our aims over the past 13 weeks

This unit has introduced you to the study of internal management communication. On a real world level, we have outlined the sorts of expectations modern businesses have about the pivotal role of a manager as a communications practitioner within an organisation.

Whether you are an aspiring manager, an administrator or are on the first rungs of the corporate ladder, much of the information contained in this course will help you be a better communicator.

Over the past 13 weeks we have:

• investigated the symbiotic relationships between leadership and management communication both on a theoretical as well as in a practical sense.

• considered concepts such as management ethics and decision making; the evolution towards becoming a learning organisation and perspectives and recent trends for sustainable development; strategic conversations, building workplace relationships and developing and sustaining effective networks

• highlighted societal issues like diversity, the glass ceiling and workplace bullying and harassment, and attitudes towards women and minorities.

• discussed one of the greatest challenge facing managers today – the pace of change.

• defined change related communication and strategies for innovation which are most likely to be driving the need for change.

• established that management needs to allow for the convergence of planning and communication especially in the face of change or crisis, and lastly

• introduced basic concepts and principles of public relations theory and terminologies.

COM21 has provided students with an overview of the general principles and practice of management communication in these times of turbulent market forces, globalisation and continuous change.

Thank you for studying COM21 Management Communication with us this study period.

We hope you have enjoyed this unit and we welcome your feedback via email to Dr Elizabeth Burrows, e.burrows@griffith.edu.au. We encourage you to complete our evaluation questions on the Discussion Board in the Learning@Griffith site for COM21. Only through your feedback can we understand your learning experience throughout this unit. Your input helps us to improve the learning experience for those who follow you.

We hope you have enjoyed this unit and we welcome your feedback. We encourage you to complete our evaluation questions posted over the last two weeks on the Discussion Board in the Learning@Griffith site for COM21. Only through your feedback can we understand your learning experience throughout this unit. Your input helps us to improve the learning experience for those who follow you.