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21878Wk22020-21Lecture-BetterConversations.WPJ1.pptxDr. Walter Jarvis
University of Technology
School of Business
Management Department
21878 Organisational Dialogue: Theory & Practice – Lecture 2: Better Conversations – Implications for Organisational Performance
12/18/2020 5:27 PM
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Overview of Lecture 2
Quick recap from Lecture 1: Quiz on the personal context AND implications of Post-Graduate studies in Business
Unpack two perspectives on organisations and communication:
(i) Classical management & ideas on communication
(ii) Current trends affecting communication in organisations
We argue that what has been missed is seeing ALL organisations as embedded in a much larger context of society – not just markets, not just the economy. Implications are crucial, and demanding (not easy).
Implications are reflected in needing Better Conversations
Case in point: Virtual meetings
Summary and questions.
Recap from Lecture 1
What do you recall about each of the first 5 questions (and try to connect each question/answer as you go)?
How is Post Graduate different to Under-Graduate?
What specifically does “critical” mean in “critical thinking”?
What is the distinctive AND public role of a university?
Whether you favour practice over theory?
Why a focus on judgement?
Connect each above: What are some defining implications for YOUR studies in this and other PG subjects?
What questions are emerging? (keep them for the tutorial)
Ok, next a short video clip with important questions – and maybe disturbing answers – to follow.
What do you see?
1. Describe the “job description” of the two operators.
What skills are needed?
What is “success” for these operators?
Who is to determine “success” and how?
2. Describe the “job description” of the supervisor.
What skills are needed?
What constitutes “success” for the supervisor?
Who determines what that “success” looks like?
3. Do we see this same approach today? Examples?
4. Do you have any concerns about the assumptions underpinning these practices? If so what are they? Take your time – this is important.
If you don’t have any concerns … listen even more carefully -
Searching for one best way of managing organisations…
Frederick Taylor (1856-1915): Theory of scientific management (1911)
Henri Fayol (1841-1925): Elements & Principles of management (1945)
Classical approaches to management: like running an efficient machine toward clear and measurable goals
Specialisation (Division of labour)
Standardisation (Parts are replaceable)
Control & Predictability (Standard rules)
General application (Engine works in most situations)
Clear measurable goals (efficiency + effectiveness)
Communication in classical (mechanistic) approaches
Content of communication
Task-focused
No social or innovation-related communication
Direction of communication flow
Top-down communication from managers to staff in the form of rules and directives
Channel and Style of Communication
Prevalence of written communication
Highly formal, both in verbal and non-verbal communication
What trends are affecting communication in organisations today?
Increase in organisational alliances and cross-departmental team work
Generational changes, expectations for more autonomy and input into decision-making on part of employees
Scarcity of attention, information overload
New Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)
The people we want to reach are diverse and dispersed
Intellectual capital has become of significant importance
Putting pressure on efficiency, control and effectiveness …
With major responses such as …
Increase in organisational alliances and cross-departmental team work
Generational changes, expectations for more autonomy and input into decision-making on part of employees
Scarcity of attention, information overload
New Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)
The people we want to reach are diverse and dispersed
Intellectual capital has become of significant importance
Effective management requires a radically different approach to communication
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Management’s Call for Employee Engagement
What is engagement?
Full engagement represents an alignment of
maximum job satisfaction (“I like my work and do it well”)
with maximum job contribution (“I help achieve the goals of my organization”).
Blessing White Employee Engagement Report 2013
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Sources: Blessing White’s State of Employee Engagement Reports
The Employee Engagement Report explores workplace attitudes among employees on four continents (27 percent in North America) and is based on survey responses of nearly 11,000 employed professionals.
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Industry research on engagement and communication
Gallup State of the Global Workforce Report (2013); Database of 13 years
Engagement levels vary by region from 37% in India, 17% in China, to 14% in Australia!
Gallup State of the Global Workforce Report (2017); Database of 17 years
Engagement levels vary by region from 37% in India to 17% in China
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Communication and engagement
Organisational communication is responsible for 23% of the variance in employee engagement
Supervisor communication accounts for 32%
Source: Karanges et al. (2015)
What seems also to be missing is a long forgotten concept …
NOTES: Opportunities to build cooperative & more productive workplaces are being missed (Hargie & Tourish 2009). WHY??
Opportunities to build cooperative & more productive workplaces are being missed (Hargie & Tourish 2009)
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Organisations are not just economic cogs/machines embedded in markets (with competitors) focused above all on on chasing ever more elusive dollars!
- oh, within the law and in accord with government regulations (of course)
What has been missed? Organisations ( = persons) are embedded in societies (and ecologies) (Karl Polanyi)
Much larger contexts of organisations embedded in society (Karl Polanyi, 1945)
That is also, persons embedded in societies and ecologies
With organic (not merely mechanical) existence – past, current and an afterlife contribution/roles
Provides identity, purpose and direction for persons and societies.
Calls for awareness of that organic/societal contribution (eg producer, creator, health, justice, etc) and learning for that societal/organic role.
For some this can be a whole-of-life (eg farmer) for others it will be mixed and varied through life. But each role is valued for what it contributes to organic sustainability.
The change of view changes the conversations needed
Bottom line: humans can no longer be reduced/viewed just part of a machine or markets (disposable parts/resources to be made merely efficient and effective).
Instead to be recognized, respected and prized for their multiple role/contributions to a much larger whole with an even longer history and afterlife.
More to come re implications for “estates” “vocations”
From seeing organisations simplistically (& brutally) as cogs chasing dollars to more complex view of seeing organisms embedded in society & nature/ecologies
The change of view changes the conversations needed – profoundly – to repairing what is “broken”
Broken connections
Raises questions about repair – mostly via OUR attitudes and values – this is huge –
see/think carefully about the composition of the UTS Business School Graduate Attributes - these are statements to the public about what you are capable of and can do.
Reflected in understanding the attitudes and values (beliefs) underpinning Better Conversations.
We draw on Jim Knight’s Better Conversations 2016
Better Conversations are about repairing what is “broken”
“Broken”?: despite technology (to enable efficient communications) as humans – individually and as a species - we often experience deep isolation/disconnections psychologically, emotionally and socially – feeling alone, not needed, unrecognized ….
Broken promises, broken spirit, broken bonds. (Simon Sinuk, 2013)
Maybe we have simply accepted this broken state as “just the way it is”. Really?
Is this the unchangeable nature of the human condition?
And yet it’s not technology but more underpinning (unexplored) attitudes and values (beliefs) regarding the human condition that we focus on in communications and dialogue.
Remember awareness of our own bias? prejudice? (called reflexivity)
Better conversations are about healing radical brokenness (underlined are verbs/doing; bold is object)
2. By adopting habits
Demonstrating empathy
Listening with empathy
Fostering dialogue
Asking better questions
Making emotional connections
Bring a witness to the good
Finding common ground
Controlling toxic emotions
Redirecting toxic conversations
Building trust
Case in point: Virtual meetings – like ZOOM!
Virtual meeting:
An event or series of events where participants join in from multiple locations. A virtual meeting may be held “real time” where everyone is participating as the same time, often by teleconference or video conference.
Debrief:
What additional challenges do virtual meetings bring?
What are critical success factors for effective virtual meetings?
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Summary and Questions
Our joint Attitudes and Values (beliefs re what we care about most) are central to our problems (brokenness) and the prospects of solutions.
From seeing and “managing” organisations and the world of work as a machine to be controlled (by management) and made efficient and effective to recognising and renewing understanding of organic interdependence
Implications are profound for how we view “management” “control” and “communications”.
Basic to that shift will be informed views about “better conversations” – so asking “better” for Whom? How? Etc.
Learning to do would be hard in shifting our own and helping others to think about their attitudes and values
But doing so would constitute something “higher” (ie, addressing more complex needs) in education. That would be a very serious and worthwhile effort – worthy of effort and earned respect (self and others) – and arguably, that’s why you are here and why we have those Graduate Attributes.
Thank you.
References
BlessingWhite 2013, 'Employee Engagement: A Research Update', viewed March 31 2016, https://blessingwhite.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Employee-Engagement-Research-Report-2013.pdf
BlessingWhite 2011, 'State of Employee Engagement Report', viewed March 31 2016, http://www.nine-dots.org/documents/Blessing%20White%202011%20%20Employee%20Engagement%20Report.pdf
Boon, M.E. 2001, Managing Interactively: Executing Business Strategy, Improving Communication, and Creating a Knowledge Sharing Culture, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Gallup 2013, 'State of the Global Workplace Report', viewed March 31 2016, http://www.gallup.com/services/176735/state-global-workplace.aspx
Karanges, E., Johnston, K., Beatson & A., Lings, I. 2015, 'The Influence of Internal Communication on Employee Engagement: A Pilot Study’, Public Relations Review, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 129-131.
Miller, K. 2012, Organizational Communication. Approaches and Processes, 6th edn, Cengage Learning, Boston.
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