assistance needed b

1. Discuss the nature of communication in organizations.

2. Identify and describe the primary methods of

communication.

3. Describe the communication process.

4. Note how information technology affects communication.

5. Identify and discuss the basic kinds of communication

networks.

6. Discuss how communication can be managed in

organizations.

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Chapter Learning Objectives After studying this chapter you should be able to:

11–3

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The Nature of Communication

in Organizations

• Communication

–The social process in which two or more parties

exchange information and share meaning

• Purposes of Communication in Organizations

–Achieve coordinated action

–Information sharing

–Express feelings and emotions

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permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

FIGURE 11.1 Three Purposes of Organizational Communication

11–5

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permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

Communication Across Cultures

Interpersonal Relations

Issues in Communications

Language

• Different word

meanings

• Nonverbal

communication

Coordination

• Time zones

• Communication

systems

11–6

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permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

Methods of Communication

• Primary Organizational Communication Methods

–Written

–Oral

–Nonverbal

• Choice Considerations

–Audience (physical or not physical presence)

–Nature of the message (urgency and secrecy)

–Costs of transmission

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permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

FIGURE 11.2 Methods of Communication in Organizations

11–8

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permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

Methods of Communication (cont’d)

• Written

Communication

–Types

• Letter

• Office memorandum

• Email

• Reports

• Manuals

• Forms

• Oral

Communication

–Aspects to Consider

• Changes in tone,

pitch, speed, volume

• Possibilities of

feedback

11–9

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permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

Methods of Communication (cont’d)

Facial

Expressions

Physical

Movements

Body

Language

Environmental

Elements

Elements of Nonverbal

Communication

11–10

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permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

Elements of the Communication Process

Source Individual/group/organization interested in communicating

something to another party

Encoding The process by which the message is translated from an

idea/thought into transmittable symbols

Transmission The process through which the symbols that represent the

message are sent to the receiver; the medium is the channel

or path through which the message is transmitted

Decoding The process by which the message receiver interprets its

meaning

Receiver Individual/group/organization that perceives the encoded

symbols

Feedback The process in which the receiver returns a message to the

sender that indicates receipt of the message

Noise Any disturbance in the communication process that

interferes with or distorts communication

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permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

FIGURE 11.3 The Communication Process

11–12

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permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

Digital Information Processing

and Telecommunications

Workplace

Changes Due to

Technology

Innovation

Organizational intranets

and extranets

The Internet

New types of

telecommunication systems

Computerized information

processing systems

Combinations of all these

11–13

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permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

Digital Information Processing and

Telecommunications (cont’d)

• Today’s Office of the Future

–Virtual offices link managers, clerical employees,

professional workers, sales personnel, suppliers,

customers

–Advantages

• Computerized data storage, retrieval, transmission systems

• Improves productivity

• Increases idea sharing/knowledge sharing

–Risks

• Reduction in face-to-face meetings leads to depersonalization

• Reduction of office social structures

11–14

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permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

Communication Networks

• Communication links individuals

and groups in a social system

–Stages of organizational

communication link development

• Task-related communication links

• Small group communication networks

• Larger organizational networks

–Function of communication networks

• Structure flow/communication content

• Support organizational structure, culture,

beliefs, value systems

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permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

FIGURE 11.4 Small-Group Communication Networks

11–16

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permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

Communication Networks (cont’d)

Small-Group Networks: Information Flow Patterns

Wheel

Network

Information flows between the person at the end of each

spoke and the person in the middle

Chain

Network

Each member communicates with the person above and

below, except for the individuals on each end who

communicate with only one person

Circle

Network

Each member communicates with the people on both sides

but with no one else

All-Channel

Network

All members communicate with all other members

11–17

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permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

Communication Networks (cont’d)

• Characteristics of Communication Networks

–Networks form spontaneously as interactions among

workers continue

–Networks rarely are permanent

–Task is crucial to the choice of a network pattern

–Environment affects the frequency and types of

interactions among members

–Personal factors and group performance factors

influence communication networks

–Networks strongly influence group effectiveness

–Electronic groups that have little face-to-face

communication are an emerging trend

11–18

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permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

Communication Networks (cont’d)

• Organizational Communication Networks

–Communication and information flows do not

necessarily follow the lines of an organization chart

• Downward communication provides directions

• Upward communication provides feedback

• Horizontal communication is related to task performance

11–19

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Communication Networks (cont’d)

Gatekeeper

Isolate/

Isolated

Dyad

Liaison Cosmopolite

Roles in an

Organizational Network

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permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

FIGURE 11.5 Comparison of an Organization Chart and

the Organization’s Communication Network

11–21

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permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

Managing Communications

• Improving the Communication Process

–Communication fidelity

• The degree of correspondence between the message

intended by the source and the message understood by the

receiver

–Typical problem areas:

• Source

• Encoding/Decoding

• Receiver

• Feedback (verification)

11–22

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permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

Managing Communications (cont’d)

Area Symptom/Problem Solution

Source Information filtering Understand underlying basis

Encoding-

Decoding

Lack of common

experience base

Improve semantics

Reduce jargon

Receiver Selective attention,

value judgments, source

credibility, overload

Reduce dissonance and overload

Feedback Lack of feedback leads

to improper response

Source must be more concerned

with message, symbols, medium,

receiver feedback. Receiver needs

to be source oriented

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Table 11.1 Improving the Communication Process

11–24

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Managing Communications (cont’d)

Reduce noise (rumor grapevine)

Foster

informal

communication

Develop a

balanced

information

network

Improving Organizational

Factors in Communication

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permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

• After reading the chapter:

–Which of the communication technologies that students

use now will have the most impact on communication

patterns in organizations in the future?

–What personal privacy issues for workers could arise

from the use of increasingly pervasive and “always-on”

communication networks by employers?

–Does “get a life” mean that you must go off “the grid”?

Organizational Behavior in Action