MODULE1

ORGANI
ZATI
ONALCOMMUNI
CATI
ON

TYPESOFORGANI
ZATI
ONALCOMMUNI
CATI
ON

Tobeanef
fecti
veemployee,manager
,cli
ent,orconsult
ant
,iti
sessenti
alt
ocommunicateeff
ect
iv
elywit
hot
her
s.
Havi
ngi
deas,knowl
edge,oropini
onsi
sus el
essunlessyoucancommuni catet
hos
econceptstoother
s.Mos
t
communi
cati
oninor
ganizat
ionscanbeclassi
fi
edintofourt
ypes:Upwardcommunicati
on,downward
communi
cati
on,bus
inesscommunicat
ion,andinfor
mal communicati
on.

1
)UPWARDCOMMUNI
CATI
ON-i
scommuni
cat
ionofs
ubor
dinat
est
osuper
ior
sorofempl
oyeest
omanager
s.

Ofcours
e,inidealupwardcommuni
cati
on,empl
oyeess
peakdir
ect
lyt
omanagementi
nanenvi
ronmentwi
than
“opendoor”policy
.Inf
act,t
hequal
i
tyofupwar
dcommunicat
ioni
sasi
gni
fi
cantf
act
ori
nemploy
eejob
sati
sf
act
ion(Miles,Pat
ri
ck,&Ki
ng,1996)
.

Suchapol i
cy,however,
isof
tennotpracti
cal
forseveralr
easons—perhapsthemos ti
mpor
tantbei
ngt he
potenti
alvol
umeofcommuni cat
ioni
fev er
yemployeecommuni catedwit
has peci
fi
cmanager.Di
rectupwar
d
communi cat
ional
s omaynotbeworkablebecauseempl oyeesof
tenfeel
thr
eatenedbymanagersandmaynot
bewi l
l
ingtoopenlycommunicat
ebadnewsorcompl aint
s.

Tomini
mizethenumberofdi
ff
erentpeopl
ecommuni
cat
ingwi
tht
het
opex
ecut
iv
e,manyor
gani
zat
ionsus
eser
ial
communicat
ion.

Wi t
hSERIALCOMMUNI CATION, t
hemes s
ageisrel
ayedfr
omanempl oy
eetohersuper
vis
or,whorel
aysitt
o
hersuper
vis
or,who,
int
urn,
relaysi
ttohersuper
vi
sor,
ands oonunti
lt
hemessager
eachesthetop.Al
thoughthi
s
ty
peofupwar dcommuni
cat
ionreli
evest
hetopexecuti
veofexces
siv
edemands,i
tsuff
erssev
erals
eri
ous
drawbacks.

•Thefi
rsti
sthatthecontentandtoneofthemes
sagechangeasitmov
esfromper
sontoperson.Aswil
lbe
di
scussedl
aterinthechapter,messagesar
esel
domrecei
vedthewaytheywer
esent
—es pecial
l
yift
hemes s
age
i
sbeingpassedor al
l
yfr
omper sont
operson.

•Theseconddrawbacktoser
ial
communicat
ioni
sthatbadnewsandcom-pl
ai
ntsar
esel
domr
elay
ed,
inpar
t
duetothest
res
sas s
ociat
edwithdel
i
ver
ingbadnews( McKee&Ptacek
,2001)
.

Ros enandTes s
er(1970)hav
elabel
edthi
sreluct
ancetor
elaybadnewstheMUM(mini
mizeunpl
eas
ant
mes sages)ef
fect.
TheMUMef f
ectnegat
iv
elyaff
ectst
heorgani
zat
ionbykeepi
ngi
mpor
tanti
nfor
mati
onf
rom
reachingt
heupperl ev
els
.

Butforanemployee,t
heMUMef fectisanex cell
entsur
vi
valst
rategy
—noonewant stobethebear
erofbad
news .
Whenbadnewsi spassedont os uper
v i
sors,empl
oyeestendtousepol
i
tenesstos
oftent
henews(Lee,
1993).Int
eres
ti
ngly,
peoplehavenopr obl
empas s
ingonbadnewst opeers
,especi
al
lywhentheor
gani
zati
onal
cl
imateisgeneral
l
ynegati
ve(Heath,1 996).

•Seri
alcommunicati
on’
sthir
ddrawback,especi
all
ywithi
nformal communicati
onchannels,i
sthatiti
sless
ef
fecti
vethefar
therawaytwopeoplearefr
omoneanot her.Thatis,asupervi
sori
smor el
ik
elytopas salonga
messagetoanothersuper
visori
fthet
woareinclosephysi
cal proxi
mit
y .
Iti
sunli
kely
, t
her
efore,t
hatani nfor
mal
messageorigi
nati
ngwithanemployeeataplanti
nAtlant
awi l
lreachanotheremployeeatthecorporat
eof fi
cei
n
Phoeni
x.

Theimport
anceofphysicalpr
oximitycannotbeov er
stat
ed.Infact,amaj
ors
our
ceofpoweroftencomesf
rom
bei
ngphy s
ical
l
ynearanex ecuti
ve.Seas onedexecut
iveshavebeenk nownt
oplacer
is
ingexecuti
vesi
ndi
stant
off
icest
oreducet
heirpotenti
alpower .Andgoingtol
unch“ wit
ht heguys
”hasl
ongbeenrecogni
zedasameans
ofobtai
ni
ngnewinfor
mat i
onandi ncreasedpower.

Asonewouldimagi
ne,proxi
mit
ydoesnotpl
ayarol
ewhenmes s
agesar
ecommunicat
edel
ectr
oni
cal
lyusi
ng
emai
l(Val
aci
ch,Parant
ia,
George,
&Nunamak er
,1993)
.Thus
,email
mayreducet
hepowerofpr
oxi
mitywhen
communicat
ioni
sformal.

METHODSTOFACI
LI
TATEUPWARDCOMMUNI
CATI
ON

Becauseoft
hes
epr obl
emswiths
eri
alcommunicati
on,
organi
zat
ionsus
es everalot
hermethodst
ofaci
l
it
ate
upwardcommunicati
on:
att
it
udesur
veys,f
ocusgroups
,suggest
ionboxes
, andthir
dpart
ies.

a)ATTITUDESURVEYS-ar eusual
l
yconductedannual
lybyanoutsi
deconsul
tantwhoadmi
ni
st
ersa
quest
ionnai
reas
k i
ngempl
oyeestorat
ethei
ropi
nionsonsuchfact
orsassat
isf
acti
onwit
hpay
,worki
ng
condi
ti
ons,andsuper
vi
sor
s.

Employeesareals
ogi
ventheopport
unit
ytolistcomplai
ntsorsuggest
ionst
hatt
heywantmanagementt
oread.
Theconsult
antthent
abul
atest
heresponsesandr eport
sthefi
ndingst
omanagement.Forex
ample,
Offi
ceDepot
annual
l
ys ur
veyseachofi
ts50,000empl oyees.

The48- i
tems ur
veyisadmini
steredel ect
ronical
lyandi swrit
tenintheeightl
anguagesmostcommonlyspoken
byOffi
ceDepotempl oyees.Withi
nf ourweek safterthes ur
veyshav ebeencompleted,
ther
esul
tsar
epos t
edon
asecurei
ntranetsi
tewheremanager scans eether esul
tsthatpert
aintothei
rar
ea.Manager
sthenusethe
res
ult
stocreatethei
racti
onplanf orthecomi ngy ear(Robb,2004).

Alt
houghat t
itudesurv
eysarecommonl
yused,t
heyareuseful
onlyifanorgani
zat
iontakest
heresul
tsser
iousl
y.I
f
anorganiz
ationfindst
hatit
semploy
eesar
eunhappyanddoesnot hi
ngtoaddresstheprobl
emareas,t
hes ur
vey
res
ult
swi l
lnotbebenef i
ci
al
.Furt
her
more,
toi
ncreas
etrus
t,anorganizat
ionshoul
ds har
esur
veyresul
tswith
employees.

I
fs urveyresult
saretobes hared,thenmana gementmus tshareallofthem. Whi l
epr oposingapr oj
ectt oalocal
policedepartment,Iencounteredagr eatdealofhos ti
l
it
yf r
ommanyoft hes enioroffi
cers.Afterali
ttl
epr obi
ng,
theof f
icer
srev eal
edthatseveralyearsearli
ertheyhadcompl etedanat ti
tudes urveyfortheci t
y.Af ewmont hs
l
ater ,
theresult
swer emadepubl ic.Theci t
ycitedfiv
emai ncompl ai
ntsbyt heof f
icersandpr omisedt hatacti
on
woul dbet akentosolvetheseproblems .Theof f
icer
swer ehappyunt i
ltheyrealizedthatnoneoft hei rcomplai
nts
aboutpayandwor k
ingconditi
onswer eincludedi nthereport
—t hecit
ywasi gnoringthem. Theof f
icersbecame
sor esentf
ulandmi st
rust
fulofcons ul
tantsandmanagementt hattheyv owednev eragaint oparti
ci
pat eina
project.

b)FOCUSGROUPS-istoholdfocusgroups,i
nwhi
chanout
si
decons
ult
antmeet
swi
thgr
oupsofcur
rent
employ
eest
ogett
hei
ropi
nionsands uggest
ions
.

Thi
sinf
ormati
oni
sthenpass
edontomanagement
.Tos purcandi
dres
ponses
,theconsul
tantisnott
oldthe
namesoftheempl
oyeesi
nthef
ocusgr
oup,andnodi
rectquotest
hatcoul
dpotent
ial
l
yidenti
fyapart
icul
ar
empl
oyeearepass
edon.
c)EXITI
NTERVI EWSwi t
hempl oyeesvol
untar
il
yleavi
nganor ganiz
at i
onalsoprovi
deanexcel
l
ents
ourceof
i
nformat
ion.Althoughthesei
ntervi
ewscanbeemot i
onal
lycharged, anorgani
zati
oncanl
earnmuchbyli
st
eni
ng
tothe“r
eal”reasonthatanempl oyeei
sleav
ingtheorganiz
ati
on( Frase-Blunt
,2004).

d)SUGGESTI
ONBOXES-i
stheus
eof1
-800-number
sors
ugges
ti
onorcompl
ai
ntsbox
es.

Theor
eti
cal
ly
,thes
etwoboxesshoul
dbethes
ame, butaboxas
kingf
ors
ugges
ti
onsi
snotasl
i
kel
ytoget
compl
aint
sasaboxspeci
fi
cal
lyl
abel
edcompl
aint
sandv i
cever
sa.

Thebiggestadvantageoft hes
eboxesistha
tt heyal
l
owemploy
eestoimmediat
elycommunicat
ethei
rfeeli
ngsin
ananony mousfashion.Suggesti
onboxesprov i
deasaf
evoi
cef
orsubordi
nat
esandcustomers,
andess ent
ial
feedbacktotheorganiz
ationaswell
(Phil
l
ips,2004).

Forthesebox est
obebenefi
ci
a l
,managementmustr
espondtothesuggesti
onsandcompl ai
ntsinatimely
manner .Managementcandothisbypl
aci
ngthesuggesti
ons
/complaint
sonabullet
inboardortheorganiz
at i
on’
s
i
ntranetalongwit
hmanagement’sres
ponse.I
nthi
sway ,
employeesrecei
vefeedbackaboutthei
rideas,which
fur
therencouragesot
heremployeest
ousetheboxestocommunicate.

Someor ganiz
ationst ak esuggesti
onsquiteser
iousl
yandr ewar
demployeeswhopr ovideusefuli
deas.Hercul
es,
I
nc.
,forex ample, providescas hawardsupto$1 0,
000f orempl
oyeeswhos uggestmoney -savi
ngideas,Texas
I
ndustr
iesinDal laspr ovidesbonusesthatcanreach20%ofanempl oyee’
ss al
ary
, andInger
s ol
l
-Randgives
pl
aquest oempl oy eeswhos ubmitcost
-savi
ngideasthatareul
ti
matel
yadoptedbyt hecompany .

I
nas t
udyofor
ganizat
ionsencouragi
ngsuggesti
ons,t
heEmployeeInv ol
vementAssociat
ionfoundthatover
30%ofemployeessubmitt
edatleastonesuggest
ion,appr
oxi
mately37%ofs ugges
tionswer eadopted,andt
he
val
ueoft
hetypical
suggesti
onwast enti
mesgreatert
hanthecostofrewardi
ngthesugges t
ion(Well
s ,2005)
.

e)THIRD-PARTYFACILITATORS-theus
eofat hir
dpart
ysuchasali
ai
sonoranombudsper
soni
sanother
methodthatcani
ncr
easeupwardcommunicati
on.Bot
hareres
ponsi
bl
efort
akingempl
oyeecompl
ai
ntsand
suggest
ionsandper
sonall
ywork
ingwi
thma nagement

Unfort
unately,t
heombudspersonmethodisof
tennotusedbecauseorganizat
ionsdonotwanttheexpenseof
anemploy eewho“doesnotproduce.
”Toov er
comethisproblem,MooreToolCompanyi nSpri
ngdal
e,Arkansas
,
st
artedi
ts“ RedShi
rt
”program,inwhi
chs el
ect
edsenioremployeeswearredshirt
sthati
dent
if
ythemasi nf
ormal
ombuds people.

I
fanemployeehasaprobl
em,shecans eekhel
pfr
omaRedShirt
,whohasauthori
tyt
ohel
pfi
ndasol
uti
on.
This
sys
temnotonlyopenscommunicat
ionchannel
sbutal
sopr
ovi
desjobenr
ichmentf
oranempl
oyeewhoworksat
another
wis
eboringj
ob.

I
norganizati
onsthathavethei
remployeesr
epres
entedbyuni
ons,t
hej
oboftheombudsper
sonisty
pical
ly
handl
edbyt heunionsteward.Butmanagement/
uni
onrel
ati
onshi
psar
eof
tenadver
sari
al
,sotheuni
ons t
eward
hasadiff
icul
tti
mes olvi
ngproblemsbecaus
esheisnotper
cei
vedbymanagementoruni
onmember sasbeing
neutr
al.

2)DOWNWARDCOMMUNI
CATI
ON-i
sthatofs
uper
iort
osubor
dinat
eormanagementt
oempl
oyees
.

Thedownwardcommunicat
ionprocessi
norgani
zati
onshaschangedgreatl
yovert
heyear
s(Br
andon,1
997).
Ori
ginal
l
y,downwar
dcommuni cat
ioni
nvol
vednews l
ett
ersdesi
gnedtobolst
eremploy
eemoral
ebydis
cuss
ing
happyevent
ssuchast
he“ t
hreeB’s”—babi
es,bi
rthdays
,andball
games cor
es.
KEYMETHODSI
NDOWNWARDCOMMUNI
CATI
ON

Now, however
,downwardcommunicat
ioniscons
ider
edak eymethodnotonlyofkeepingemployeesi
nfor
med
butofcommunicat
ingvi
tal
infor
mati
onneededbyempl oy
eestoperf
ormthei
rjobs.Suchcommuni cati
oncanbe
accompli
shedinmanyways ,
incl
udi
ngbull
eti
nboards
,poli
cymanuals,
newslett
ers
, andint
ranet
s.

a)BULLETI
NBOARDS

Thebull
eti
nboardi
syetanothermet
hodofdownwardcommunicat
ion.
Thenex
tti
mey
ouv
isi
tanor
gani
zat
ion,
l
ookaroundforbul
l
eti
nboards.Youwil
lseet
hemevery
where.

Thei
rmainuse, however
,ist
ocommuni catenon-workrelatedopport
uni
ti
essuchass chol
ars
hips,opti
onal
meeti
ngs,anditemsforsal
e.I
mportanti
nformati
onisseldoms eenbecausethebul
leti
nboardisnotthe
appr
opri
ateplacetopostachangeofpoli
cyorprocedure. Sti
ll
,bul
l
eti
nboardshavetheadvantageoflowcost
andwideexposuretobothemployeesandv i
si
tor
s.

Thisi
sespeciall
ytr
uei
ftheboar
dsarepl
acedinhi
ghtraff
icareass
uchasout
sider
estr
oomsandcafet
eri
asor
neart
imeclock s
.El
ect
roni
cbull
eti
nboar
ds,al
socal
ledin-housemess
agenetwork
s,al
lowt
hedis
playofeven
morecur
renti nf
ormat
ion.

b)POLICYMANUAL-i st
heplacef
orposti
ngimpor
tantchangesi
npol
i
cyorpr
ocedur
e.Thi
smanual
cont
ainsal
l
ther
ulesunderwhi
chempl
oyeesmustopera
te.

Mos tmanual
sarewr i
tt
eninhighl
ytechni
call
anguage,al
thought
heys houl
dbewr i
tteninal esst
echni
cal
s t
ylet
o
encourageemployeestor
eadt hem,aswell
astomak ethemeasiertounderst
and.Furt
her more,t
hecont
entsof
thesemanualsareconsi
deredbindi
ngcontr
actsbycourts,s
othemanualsmus tbeupdat edeachtimeapoli
cy
changes.Thi
sus ual
l
yisdonebys endi
ngupdatedpagest oempl
oy eessothatt
heycanr eplaceol
dermater
ial
withnewerones.

Tomakethi
sproces
seasi
er,
manyor
ganiz
ati
onspunchbi
nderhol
esi
nthepagest
ofaci
l
it
atet
hei
rrepl
acement
.
Sos
nin(
2001c)advi
sest
hatpol
i
cymanual
sshoul
dcontai
nthefol
l
owi
ngsixdi
scl
ai
mers:

(
1)empl
oymentwi
tht
heor
gani
zat
ioni
sat
-wi
l
l.

(
2)t
hehandbookdoesnotcr
eat
eei
theranex
pres
sedorani
mpl
i
edcont
ract
.

(
3)t
hehandbooki
sas
etofgui
del
i
nesands
houl
dnotbecons
ider
edal
l
-incl
usi
ve.

(
4)t
hemat
eri
ali
nthepr
esenthandbooks
uper
sedesmat
eri
ali
npr
evi
oushandbook
s.

(5)thehandbookcanbechangedonl
yinwr
it
ingbyt
hepr
esi
dentoft
heor
gani
zat
ion,
andi
tcanbechanged
unil
ater
all
yatanyti
me.

(
6)empl
oyeesar
esubj
ectt
opr
ovi
si
onsofa
nyamendment
s,det
ent
ions
,andchangesi
nthehandbook
.

Thety
pical
companymanual
ishundr
edsofpagesl
ong,soiti
snots
urpr
is
ingthatmanyempl
oyeesdonotwant
tor
eadit
.Toreducel
engt
hpr
oblems,mostor
gani
zat
ionshavetwot
ypesofcompanymanual
.

Thefi
rst
,call
edapoli
cymanual
,i
sver
yspeci
fi
candl
engt
hy,
cont
aini
ngal
loft
her
ulesandpol
i
ciesunderwhi
ch
theor
ganizat
ionoper
ates
.

Thes
econdt
ype,
usual
l
yknownast
heempl
oyeehandbook
,ismuchs
hor
terandcont
ainsonl
ythemos
t
essent
ial
pol
i
ciesandrul
es,aswell
asgener alsummari
esofl
essimport
antr
ules.Anexampl
ethats
uppor
tst
he
needfort
womanualsinvol
vedsecuri
tyguardsatamanufact
uri
ngplant
.Thes ecur
it
yguar
dswerepai
dmini
mum
wageandhadanav er
agetenur
eofaboutt hreemonthsbef
orequit
ti
ng.

Thecompanybecameconcer
nedf
ort
wor
eas
ons
.

Fi
rs
t,t
hreemonthswasnotenought
imef
ort
heguar
dst
olear
nal
loft
hepol
i
ciesi
nthe300-
pageemer
gency
pr
oceduresmanual
.

Second,
themanual
waswr
it
tenbyanengi
neer
,andnoneoft
hes
ecur
it
yguar
dswer
eabl
etounder
standt
he
wri
ti
ng.

Theorgani
zat
iont
hushadindus
tri
al
/or
gani
zat
ional(
I/
O)gr
aduate-
studenti
nter
nsdev
elopas
hor
t,eas
y-t
o-r
ead
procedur
emanualt
hatcoul
dbereadandunderst
oodinadayor2.

c)NEWSLETTERS

Asmenti
onedear
li
er,
newsl
etter
saredesi
gnedtobol
st
erempl
oyeemoral
ebydi
scus
singhappyori
nnocuous
event
ssuchast
hethreeB’
s(babi
es,bi
rt
hdays,
andball
gamescor
es)
.

News l
ett
ersaregoods ourcesofi
nformati
onforcel
ebrati
ngempl oy ees uccesses ,
pr ovi
di
ngfeedbackonhow
wellt
heorganizat
ionisdoing,i
ntr
oducinganewempl oyee,andpr ov i
dingremi ndersaboutorgani
zati
onal
changes.Thoughmanyor gani
zati
onsprovi
denews l
ett
ersinprintformat ,t
het rendistosendthemelectr
onical
l
y
thr
ougheitheremailoranintr
anet(Sosni
n,2001a).
Thisus eofcy ber-publicat
ionss avespri
nti
ngexpenses,
all
owsforfast
erdisseminati
onofinfor
mati
on,andprovidesgreaterflexi
bili
tyformak ingchangesandupdates.

d)I
NTRANETS

Toreplacebul l
eti
nboar ds,news l
etters
, andcompanymanual s, ani ncr
eas i
ngnumberoforgani
zati
onsar e
tur
ningt ointr
anets
—or ganizat
ion-widev ers
ionsoftheInt
ernet( Zeidner,2005).
Forexample,Fl
etcher
Challenge, aCanadianpaperandpul pcompany ,
des i
gnedFletcher Nettoimproveemployeecommuni cati
on.
Oneoft hemos tusefulaspectsofthisintr
anetist
hes peedatwhi chthecompanycans ur
veyemployeesabout
newi deas. Ot
heradv antagesincludeempl oyeeself
-servi
ce,conv eni
enceand24- hoursuppor
t,andreduced
paper ,
printi
ng,andpos tagecos t
s .

Thought
hepot
ent
ial
fori
ntr
anet
shasbar
elybeent
apped,
theyar
ecur
rent
lycommonr
esour
cesf
or:

•onl
i
neempl
oyeehandbook
s
•ans
wer
stoFAQs(
fr
equent
lyas
kedques
ti
ons
)
•empl
oyeeact
iv
it
ycal
endar
s
•f
ormst
hatcanbecompl
etedonl
i
ne
•pr
ogr
amst
owr
it
ejobdes
cri
pti
onsorper
for
manceappr
ais
als
•j
obpos
ti
ngs
•onl
i
nebenef
it
sinf
ormat
ion
•t
rai
ni
ngcour
ses
•i
nfor
mat
ionaboutr
ewar
dandi
ncent
iv
epr
ogr
ams(
Grens
ing-
Pophal
,2001
a)
3)BUSI
NESSCOMMUNI
CATI
ON-i
sthet
rans
mis
sionofbus
ines
s-r
elat
edi
nfor
mat
ionamongempl
oyees
,
management
,andcus
tomer
s.

METHODSI
NBUSI
NESSCOMMUNI
CATI
ON

a)MEMOS

Oneoft hemostcommonmet hodsofbusinesscommunicat

ionist
hememorandum, ormemo. Memoshavethe
advantageofprov
idi
ngdetai
l
edinformat
iontoalar
genumberofpeopl
einas hor
tperiodofti
me.Wit
hthe
widespreaduseofphot
ocopymachinesandcomput erpr
int
ers,
however
,employees(especi
all
yof
fi
ceworkers
)
nowreceivesomanymemost hattheyof
tendonotreadthem.

I
nf act,t
heex ecuti
veofamajorcompanyonces t
atedthatheneverr
eadamemowheni tfi
rs
tcametohim.I
fthe
mes sagewerer eal
lyi
mport
ant,hebel
ievedthepersonwouldtal
ktohimabouti
tl
ater.Al
thoughsuchanatt
it
ude
probablyisnotagoodone,itdoesunder
s cor
etheex ces
siveuseofmemosandtheirdi
minishi
ngeff
ect
iv
enessi
n
communi cati
on.

b)TELEPHONECALLS

Anothermethodofbus ines scommunicati

onisthet el
ephonecal l.I
nthepas t,t
hismethodwasappr opr
iateonly
whent hemes sagewass hortandwhenonlyaf ewpeopl eneededt orecei
vethecommuni cat
ion.Butwiththe
adventofconferencecal ls,thenumberofpeoplewhocanber eachedbyt hismet hodhascer
tainl
yincreased.
Furt
hermore,telephonecal l
swereprevi
ouslyappropriateonlyformes sagesthatdidnoti
nvol
v edetai
l.
Butt he
facs
imile,
orfax, machinenowal l
owsdetai
leds ketchesornumber stobes enttopeoplei
ndif
ferentl
ocati
onsina
matterofseconds ,andt hesecanthenbedi scussedov erthetelephone.

Onelimit
ati
onofphonecalls
,ofcourse,ist
hatnonverbalcuesarenotavai
lable.Thus,amajorport
ionofthe
messageisoftennotcommunicated.Forimport
antcall
s,howev er
,vi
deo-enhancedt el
econfer
enc-ing
(vi
deoconfer
encing)cannowbeus ed.Infact
,manyor gani
zati
onssaveinterviewexpensesbyhav ingj
ob
appli
cant
sacrossthecompanypar t
ici
pateinsuchtel
econferences,whi
challowbot hpart
iestoseeoneanother
.

As econdlimit
ati
ont ophonecall
sisthatconversat
ionsarenotdocument ed.Forex ample,onedepartment
recentl
yhadapr oblemwi t
hanadmi nist
ratorwhocontinuall
yprovi
dedincorrectinformati
onoverthephoneorat
meet i
ngs,deniedthatshehaddones o,andthenblamedanot herdepar
tmentf orerrorst
hatresult
edfromt
he
useoft heinf
ormation.Tocor
rectthi
spr obl
em, employeesquittal
ki
ngtot headmi nist
rat
oroverthephoneand
stucktoema il
,wher eever
y“conversati
on”wasdocument ed.Someadv i
ceonpr operphoneetiquett
eis
providedintheCareerWor ks
hopbox .

c)EMAI
LANDVOI
CEMAI
L

Manymemosandt el
ephonecall
shavebeenreplacedwit
hemailandvoi
cemai l
(sophis
ti
cat
edphone-ans
wer
ing
syst
ems )
.Voicemail
andemailareus
edpr i
maril
ytoexchangegener
aland/orti
melyinf
ormat
ionandask
quest
ions;t
heyarenotmeantassubst
it
utesfori
mpor t
antconv
ersat
ion(Poe,2001).

Theadvantagestoemai
landvoi
cemail
incl
udeareduct
ioni
ntheuseandf
il
i
ngofpaperandt
imes
avedby
avoi
di
ng“ s
mal l
tal
k”whencommunicat
ingashor
tmes s
agebyphone.

Onthedowns
ide,voi
cemail
oftenr
esul
tsi
n“ phonetag,
”andbothemailandvoicemai
lr
educeoppor
tuni
ti
esf
or
per
sonal
cont
act.
Infact
,Car
il
lonHeal
thCareSy st
emsrecent
lygotr
idofit
svoicemai
lsys
tembecause
employeesandcus
tomersweret
ir
edofget
ti
nganswer
ingmachi
nesandwant
edt
otal
kto“ar
ealper
son.
”Well
-
des
ignedv oi
cemai
lsyst
emsareli
mit
edtosi
mpl
etasks
, hav
eshor
tmenus,
andal
l
owacall
ert
otalkt
oareal
per
sonatanyt i
medur
ingthecal
l
.

Emailhasmanyadv ant
agesov
ervoi
cemai
l,incl
udi
ngtheabil
it
ytoeasi
lydocumentt
hes endi
ngandrecei
vi
ngof
email
,theoppor
tunityt
ocommuni
catewi
thmanypeopl eatoneti
me,andthepotent
ial
forqui
ckres
ponseti
mes,
especial
l
ywhens omeformofi
nst
antmessagingi
sused.

Thedrawback st
oemaili
ncludemi
si
nter
pret
ati
onsduetotheabsenceofpar
alanguage,thetendencytobet
oo
i
nfor
mal,theincr
easedli
kel
i
hoodofexpr
essi
ngnegati
veemotions(“fl
ami
ng”)thatmightnothavebeen
communicatedinpers
on,andthet
endencyt
onotproof
-readmes sages(
O’Kane,Palmer,&Har gi
e,2007)
.

Befor
ewrit
inganemai lmess
age,decideifemail
istheappropri
atecommuni cat
ionchannel.Email
isappr
opri
ate
forpr
epar
ingpeopleformeeti
ngs,scheduli
ngmeet i
ngs,communi cat
ingcommonnews ,dist
ri
buti
ngmemos ,and
summariz
ingaconv ers
ati
on(Poe,2001).Becauseemaileli
minat
ess uchfactor
sasbodyl anguageandtone,
itis
easytomisi
nter
pretthemeaningofanemai l
mes sage.

Agoodr ul
eoft humbistoneverputsomet
hingi
nanemai l
thatyouwouldnotwanttos eepubli
shed.Examplesof
mater
ialbett
erleftuns
enti
ncl
udecomment saboutotherpeople,compl
aint
s,andoffensi
v ej
okes.Becauseofthe
i
ncr
eas edus eandmi s
useofemail,
manyorgani
zati
ons,incl
udingMerri
l
lLynch,sendtheiremployeesthr
ough
email
trai
ning.

Cas
per
son(
2002)andPoe(
2001
)of
fert
hef
oll
owi
ngemai
let
iquet
tecommonl
ypr
ovi
dedi
nsucht
rai
ni
ng:

•i
ncl
udeagr
eet
ing(
e.g.
,“Hi
,Mar
k”)andacl
osi
ng(
e.g.
,“Tak
ecar
e”)
.

•i
ncl
udeadet
ail
eds
ubj
ectl
i
ne.

•don’
twr
it
einal
lcaps
.Iti
sdi
ff
icul
ttor
eadandcomesacr
ossa
sify
ouar
escr
eami
ng.

•i
fyouaregoingt
ofor
wardanemailmes
sage,
changetheor
igi
nals
ubjectl
ineanddel
etet
hel
ongl
i
stofpr
evi
ous
messagesornamesofpeopl
etowhomtheemail
hadbeenprev
iousl
yforwarded.

•t
aket
hes
amecar
einwr
it
ing(
e.g.
,spel
l
ing,
grammar
)thaty
ouwoul
dtak
einwr
it
ingaf
ormal
memo.

•don’
tspendcompanyt
imeonper
sonal
ema
ilunl
essy
ouror
gani
zat
ions
peci
fi
cal
l
yal
l
owsy
out
odos
o.

•al
l
owampl
eti
mef
ort
her
ecei
vert
ores
pond;
notev
ery
onecons
ider
semai
lt
orequi
reani
mmedi
ater
espons
e.

Whenl
eav
ingames
sageons
omeone’
svoi
cemai
l
,fol
l
owt
hes
egui
del
i
nes
:

•s
peaks
lowl
y.

•gi
vey
ourna
meatt
hebegi
nni
ngoft
hemes
sageandt
henr
epeati
tatt
heendoft
hemes
sage.

•s
pel
lyournamei
ftheper
soni
snotf
ami
l
iarwi
thy
ouori
fyournamei
sdi
ff
icul
ttos
pel
l
.

•l
eav
eyourphonenumber
,ev
eni
fyout
hinkt
heper
sonal
readyhasi
t.

•t
oav
oidphonet
ag,
indi
cat
esomegoodt
imest
hatt
heper
soncanr
etur
nyourcal
l
.

•don’
trambl
e.Anti
ci
pat
ethepos
sibi
l
it
yofget
ti
ngv
oicemai
lr
athert
hant
alk
ingt
otheact
ual
per
sonandha
vea
shor
tmessageready
.
•don’
ti
ncl
udei
nfor
mat
iont
haty
oudon’
twa
ntot
herpeopl
etohear
.

d)BUSI
NESSMEETI
NGS

Acommonmet hodofbus i
nesscommuni cati
onisthedr eadedcommi tt
eemeet i
ng.Resear
chindicatesthatt
he
aver
ageemploy ees pendsanav er
ageof4. 35hour sattendi
ng3.34meet ingseachweek(Rogelberg,Leach,
Warr,&Burnf
ield,2006) .Super
v i
sor
satt
endedev enmor emeeti
ngs(5.0)andspentmoreti
mei nthes e
meeti
ngs(6.6hour s).Thoughmeet i
ngsofferseveraladvantagesoveremail,
memos ,andphonecalls,t
heirt
ime
demandscanr esulti
nnegat i
veemployeea tt
it
udes( Rogelbergetal
.
, 2006).

e)OFFI
CEDESI
GN

Tof aci
li
tat
eemploy eecommuni cat
ion,70%ofor ganizat
ionshav eadoptedwhatisf
ormallycal
ledan“ open”or
“landscaped”off
icedes i
gn,
andi nf
ormallyc al
l
eda“ cubef arm”(Grossman,2002).Ori
ginal
lydevelopedby
furnit
uremanufacturer
sinWes tGermany ,thedesi
gnus esl ar
ge,openoffi
ceareaswit
houtwalls.I
ndivi
dualwor
k
unitsaresepar
atedintocubi
clesbys uchitemsasplant s
,book cases,
des k
s,andpart
it
ions.

Theideabehindthi
sdesi
gnisthatemployeeswill
communicat
ebett
erwi
thoneanotherandbeeasiert
o
superv
iseandhelpwit
houtthephysical
barri
ersofwal
ls(
Poe,2000)
.Whenitconsoli
datedi
tsmanyoffi
cesi
nto
onecentrall
ocat
ioni
nMinneapoli
s,Ali
naHealthSyst
emwass osol
donthei
deaofanopenof fi
ceenvir
onment
thatev
ent heCEOhadacubi cl
e!

Ther
ear
ethr
eecommondes
ignsf
oropenorl
ands
capedof
fi
ces(
Mar
ti
nez
,1990)
.

•Inafr
eest
andingdesi
gn(al
socal
l
edabul lpendesi
gn)
,al
ldesk
sarepl
acedinalargear
eathatiscompl
etel
y
open.Wit
hunif
ormplans,
desksar
epl acedatuni
formdi
st
ancesandaresepar
atedbypanel
sintocubi
cl
eareas
.
Free-
for
mwor kst
ati
onsuseacombinati
onofdesignss
othatt
hedif
fer
entneedsofeachworkercanbe
accommodated.

Twoi
nter
est
ingt
rendsi
nof
fi
cedes
ignar
e“boul
evar
ds”andpor
tabl
eof
fi
ces
.

•Aboulevar
disawidehall
waythatr
unsthroughseveral
depart
ments.Thewidthoftheboulev
ardall
owss
pace
fori
mpromptuemployeecommunicati
on,andthepathoftheboul
evar
dthrough,r
atherthanaround,
depart
mentsencour
agesemployeeint
eracti
on.

•Becauselandscaped,oropen,
offi
ceenv
ironmentsreducepr
ivacy
,manyor
gani
zat
ionshav
e“ port
abl
eoff
ices
”
contai
ni
nganempl oyee’scomputer
,fi
l
es,andsuppli
esthatca
nbewheeledi
ntoawall
edoff
iceorcubi
cl
ewhen
pri
vacyisneeded.

Thelandscapedoff
icemaybeappeali
ng,butr
esearchhasnotgener
all
ybeensuppor
ti
ve.Lands
capedof
fi
ces
canincr
easecontactandcommunicat
ionandarel
es sexpensi
vet
hanregul
arof
fi
ces,
butoftent
heycanl
essen
product
iv
ityandj
obs ati
sf
act
ion(
Brennan,Chugh,&Kl i
ne,2002)
.

I
nas tudyofmorethan500empl oy eesin14organizat
ions,O’Nei
ll(
1994)f
oundthatst
oragespaceandt
he
abil
i
tytoadj
ustorcontrol
one’soff
ices pacewerethebes tpredi
ctor
sofsati
sf
acti
onwit
hwor k
space.Var
iabl
es
suchasparti
ti
ontype,panel
height,ands quar
efootagewer enotrel
atedt
osati
sf
acti
onorperf
ormance.

4)I
NFORMALCOMMUNI CATI
ON-t rans
mi t
tedthr
ought
hegrapev
ine,
ater
mthatcanbet
racedbackt
othe
Civ
ilWar
,whenl
oos
elyhungt
elegr
aphwiresresembl
edgr
apev
ines.

Thecommuni
cat
ionacr
osst
hes
eli
neswasof
tendi
st
ort
ed.
Becaus
eunof
fi
ci
alempl
oyeecommuni
cat
ioni
sal
so
t
houghtt
obedi
st
ort
ed,
thet
ermhasbecomes
ynony
mouswi
thani
nfor
mal
communi
cat
ionnet
wor
k(Dav
is,
1
997).

Grapevinesar
ecommonbecauset
heypr
ovi
deempl
oyeeswi
thinfor
mati
on,
power
,andent
ert
ainment(
Kurl
and
&Pelled,200p).
Nots
urpr
is
ingl
y,t
hei
ncr
eas
eduseofemai
lhasincr
eas
edthei
mport
anceoft
hegrapevi
ne
(
Smi t
h, 2001)
.

Davi
s(1953)st
udiedthegr
apevi
neandes
tabl
i
shedt
heex
ist
enceoff
ourgr
apev
inepat
ter
ns:
singl
est
rand,
gos
sip,
probabi
li
ty
, andcl
ust
er.

a)I
ntheSINGLE-STRANDGRAPEVI NE,JonespassesamessagetoSmith,
whopassesthemessagetoBrown,
andsoonunti
lt
hemes sageisr
ecei
vedbyeveryoneorsomeone“break
sthechai
n.
”Thispat
ter
nissimil
artot
he
chi
ldr
en’
sgameof“ t
elephone.
”

b)I
ntheGOSSI
PGRAPEVINE,J
onespassest
hemes s
agetoonl
yasel
ectgr
oupofpeople.
Noti
cet
hatwit
hthi
s
pat
ter
nonl
yoneper
sonpass
esthemess
agealong,
andnotever
yonehasachancet
orecei
ve,
orwi
llr
ecei
ve,i
t.

c)InthePROBABILI
TYGRAPEVINE,Jonestel
l
st hemess
aget
oaf
ewot
herempl
oyees
,andt
heyi
ntur
n
randomlypas
sthemessageal
ongtootheremployees
.

d)I
ntheCLUSTERGRAPEVI
NE,
Jonest
ell
sonl
yaf
ews
electempl
oyees
,whoi
ntur
ntel
laf
ews
electot
her
s.

Researchont hegr
apevinehassuppor
teds ev
eral
ofDavi
s ’
s(1
953)fi
ndings.Sutt
onandPor
ter(
1968)st
udi
ed
79empl oyeesinastat
et axof
fi
ceandreachedsever
ali
nter
est
ingconcl
usions.Theyf
oundt
hatempl
oyeescoul
d
beplacedintooneofthr
eecategori
es.

I
SOLATESwereemployeeswhorecei
vedlessthanhalfoft
heinfor
mati
on,
li
ai
sonswer
eemployeeswhoboth
r
ecei
vedmostoft
heinf
ormati
onandPASSEDI TONTOOTHERS, andDEAD-ENDERSwer
et hosewhohear
d
mostoft
hei
nfor
mati
onbutsel
dompas seditontootheremployees.

Managerst
endedtobeli
ai
s onsbecausetheyhadhear
d97%ofthegr
apevineinf
ormati
onandmostoftheti
me
pas
sediton.Nonmanager
ialemployeesheard56%ofthegr
apev
inei
nfor
mationbutsel
dompassediton.Onl
y
1
0%ofnonmanager
ial
empl
oyeeswer
eli
ai
sons
;57%wer
edead-
ender
sand33%wer
eis
olat
es.

Althoughmos tpeoplecons i
derthegrapevi
net obeinaccurat
e,researchhasshownt hatinformati
oninthe
grapevineoftencont ainsagreatdealoftr
uththoughitisoft
enincompl et
e.Arevi
ewofr umor sinorgani
zat
ions
i
ndi cat
esthator gani
z ati
onalr
umorsar eabout80%accur ate(DiFonzo&Bor dia,
2006) .Suchas tati
sti
c,
howev er,canbemi sl
eading.Considerthefol
lowi
nghy pothet
icalexample:Ames sagetravelsthr
oughthe
grapevinethat“ theper s
onneldi
rectorwil
lf
ire25peopleonMondaymor ni
ngat9o’ cl
ock .
”

Thetr ut
h,howev er
,ist
hatt
hepers
onneldi
rect
orwi
ll
hir
e25peopleonMondaymorni
ngat9o’cl
ock.
Thus
,even
thoughf ouroutoffi
vepar
tsoft
hemessage(80%)ar
ecorr
ect
,thegrapev
inemes
sagepai
ntsapi
ctur
equi
te
dif
ferentfromreali
ty
.

TWOTYPESOFI
NFORMATI
ON

(
1)GOSSI
Pwhil
ebot
hgossipandrumorcontai
npoorl
ysubstant
iat
edinf
ormat
ion,gos
sipi
spr
imar
il
yabout
i
ndi
vi
dual
sandt
hecont
entofthemessagelack
ssigni
fi
cancetothepeopl
egossipi
ng.

(2)RUMOR, however,cont
ainsinformati
ont
hati
ss i
gni
fi
canttotheliv
esoft hosecommuni cat
ingthemes s
age,
andcanbeaboutindivi
dual
sorot hertopi
cs(Di
Fonzo&Bor di
a,2006) .Usually,
rumorwil
loccurwhent he
avai
labl
einf
ormati
onisbothinteresti
ngandambiguous
.Themos tcommont opi
csforr
umorar epersonnel
changes,j
obsecuri
ty
,andtheex ter
nalr
eput
ati
onoftheorgani
zation(DiFonzo&Bor di
a,2007) .

•Thus
,rumorserv
esthef
unct
ionofhel
pi
ngtomakes ens
eofambiguousinf
ormati
onandofhel
pi
ngmana ge
pot
enti
alt
hreat
s,wher
easgos
s i
pser
vestoent
ert
ainandsuppl
ysoci
ali
nformati
on(Di
Fonzo&Bordi
a,2007).

•Rumorandgos s
ipareof
tenway sinwhichempl
oyeescanreli
evest
ressandanxiety
,res
pondtoper
cei
ved
or
gani
zati
onalwrongsinanonaggressi
veway,maint
ainasenseofcontr
ol,
andincreaset
hei
rpoweri
nan
or
gani
zati
on(DiFonzo&Bordia,2006,2007;Kur
land&Pelled,2000).

Cert
ainl
y,notal
lhori
zontalcommunicat
ioni
sinf
ormal.Employeesatthesamel evelof
tenexchangejob-r
elat
ed
i
nfor
mationons uchtopi
csascus tomer
sandcli
ents
,thestatusofproj
ects,andinfor
mationnecess
aryto
complet
eapar t
icul
artask.
Toi ncr
easet
heamountofjob-rel
atedhorizont
alcommuni cat
ion,manyorgani
zati
ons
haveadoptedthepracti
ceofself-
managedworkgroups.

Forex ample,atColumbi
aGasDev el
opmentinHouston,1
2-persondri
ll
i
ngteamsweref or
med.Theteam
approachgr eatl
yincr
easedcommunicat
ionamonggeologi
sts
,engineer
s,andothers
taffmemberswhohad
previ
ous l
ybeenl ocat
edinsepar
atedepart
ments
.Asanotherexample,t
heuseofteamsatMer i
di
anInsur
ancein
I
ndianapoli
si ncr
easedcommunicati
onandeff
ici
encysomucht hata29-st
epprocessforhandl
i
ngpaperwork
wasr educedt o4s t
eps.

I
NTERPERSONALCOMMUNI
CATI
ON

I
NTERPERSONALCOMMUNICATI
ON-i
nvol
vest
heex
changeofames
sageacr
ossacommuni
cat
ionchannel
f
romoneper
sont
oanot
her
.

AsshowninFigur
ebelowtheint er
personalcommunicati
onprocessbegi
nswit
has enderencodi
ngand
tr
ansmi
tti
ngames sageacrossacommuni cati
onchannel(
e.g.
,bymemo, or
all
y,nonver
ball
y)andendswi
th
anot
herpers
on( t
herecei
ver)recei
vinganddecodingthemes sage.

Al
thought
hiss
eemsl
i
keas
impl
epr
oces
s,t
her
ear
ethr
eemai
npr
obl
emar
easwher
ethi
ngscangowr
ongand
i
nter
fer
ewi
tht
heaccur
atet
rans
mis
sionorr
ecept
ionoft
hemes
sage.

THREEMAI
NPROBLEMAREAS

1
)PROBLEMAREA1
:INTENDEDMESSAGEVERSUSMESSAGESENT

Foreffecti
vecommunicati
on,thesendermus
tknowwhatshewant
stosayandhowshewantst
osayit
.
I
nterpersonalcommunicat
ionprobl
emscanoccurwhent
hemessageapersons
endsi
snotthemess
ageshe
i
ntended.

Ther
earet
hrees
olut
ionst
othi
sprobl
em:thi
nki
ngaboutwhatyouwantt
ocommuni
cat
e,pr
act
ici
ngwhaty
ou
wantt
ocommunicat
e,andl
ear
ningbet
tercommuni
cati
onski
ll
s.

a)THI
NKI
NGABOUTWHATYOUWANTTOCOMMUNI
CATE

Oftenthereasonwedon’ tsaywhatwemeani st hatwearenotreal

lysurewhatwewantt os ay.Forexample,
thi
nkofusingthedri
ve-thruwindowataf as t
-foodrest
aurant.
Ass oonasy oustop,butbeforeyouhaveachance
toreadthemenuboar d,av oi
cecrackles,“CanI tak
eyourorder?”Youintel
li
gentl
yreplysomethingli
ke,
“Uhhhhhhh, coul
dyouhangonami nute?”andt henquick
lytr
ytoplaceanor derasthepressur
ebui l
ds.Asyou
dri
veoff,youreal
i
zethaty oudidnotreall
yorderwhaty ouwanted.

Doest
hiss
cenar
ios
oundf
ami
l
iar
?

I
fs o,youarenotalone.Fosterandhi
scol
leagues(
1988)foundthatmanyf ast-
foodr
estaurantcus
tomershave
solit
tl
etimetothinkabouttheiror
dert
hattheymakeorderi
ngmistakes.Theyfoundt
hatplacingamenus i
gn
beforetheorder
ings t
ati
ongav ecust
omersmor et
imetothi
nkaboutt hei
rorder
sandthatthisdecr
easedaver
age
orderi
ngtimesfrom28s econdsto6secondsandorder
ingerr
orsfrom29%t o4%.

Asanotherexample,
thinkaboutcal
l
ingafriendandunexpectedl
ygetti
nganansweri
ngmachi ne.Haveyouever
l
eftames sagei
nwhicht hef
irs
tfewsentencessoundedreasonablyi
ntel
l
igent
?Didthefi
rsts
entenceagainbegi
n
wit
h“ Uhhhhhhhhh”?Orhav eyouevermadeacal lex
pecti
ngt ogetanansweri
ngmachineandi ns
teadhadan
actual
personanswerthephone?Theseex amplesshowtheimportanceofthi
nki
ngaboutwhaty ouwantto
communicate.
b)PRACTI
CEWHATYOUWANTTOCOMMUNI
CATE

Eventhoughyoumayk nowwhaty ouwantt

osay,communi
cati
onerror
scanoccurifyoudonotact
uall
ysay
whaty oumeantt
os ay
.Thus,whencommunicat
ionisi
mpor
tant
,its
houldbepract
iced.Jus
tasconsult
ant
s
pract
icebef
oregiv
ingatrai
ni
ngtal
kandactor
srehears
ebef
oreaperfor
mance,youtooneedtopract
icewhat
youwanttosayinimport
antsi
tuat
ions
.

Perhapsyoucanrememberpract
ici
nghowyouweregoi
ngtoaskaper
sonoutonadat
e:changi
ngthetoneof
yourvoi
ce,al
ter
ingyourf
ir
stl
i
ne,orthi
nki
ngoft
opi
cstodi
scusssot
hatyouwoul
dappearspont
aneous
.

c)LEARNBETTERCOMMUNI
CATI
ONSKI
LLS

Evenify ouknowwhaty ouwanttosayandhowy ouwanttos ayi

t,communi cat
ionerr
orscans t
il
loccuri
fyoudo
nothav ethepropercommunicat
ionskil
l
s.I
ti
ses s
ential
totakecour sesinpubli
cspeaki
ng,wr i
ti
ng,and
i
nterpersonalcommunicati
onsothatyouwil
lbebett
erpreparedtocommuni cateef
fect
ivel
y .
Becauseofthe
i
mpor tanceofcommuni cat
ionsk
ill
s,manyorgani
zat
ionsofferawider angeofcommuni cat
iontr
aini
ngprograms
fort
heiremploy ees
.

2)PROBLEMAREA2:
MESSAGESENTVERSUSMESSAGERECEI
VED

Event
houghanindi
vidualknowswhatshewantstosayands
aysi
tex
act
lyass
hepl
anned,
ass
howni
nFi
gur
e
bel
ow,manyfact
orsaffecthowthatmess
ageisrecei
ved.

a)THEACTUALWORDSUSED

Aparti
cularwordmaymeanonet hi
nginone
si
tuat
ionbuts omethi
ngelseinanot
her.Takethe
wordfineasanex ample.I
fIt
oldyouthatyouhad
“f
inej
ewel r
y,”youwoul dpr
obablyt
akethe
st
atementasacompl iment.

I
fthewor dwereusedtodes cri
betheweat her—“The
weatherher
einCalif
orniaisj
ustfi
ne”—i twouldsti
l
l
haveapos i
ti
veconnotati
on.Howev er
,ifas pouse
asked,“Howwast hedinnerIcooked?”or“ Howdid
youli
keoureveningofromance? ”anans werof
“fi
ne”wouldprobabl
yr esul
tinaveryl
onel yeveni
ng.

womenatwor kgetups etwhenher efer

stothemas
t
he“ gi
rl
sintheof f
ice.
”WhenI conducttrai
ni
ng
ses
s i
onsforpoli
ceof f
icers,wediscusshows uch
wordsasboy ,
s on,andpr et
tyli
tt
leladycanbe
emoti
onal
lychar
gedandshoul
dthusbeavoi
ded.Ev
enwit
hinEngli
sh-speak i
ngcount ri
es,aparti
cul
arwordcan
hav
ediff
erentmeani
ngs
.Take,f
orexampl
e,i
fsomeones
aid,“Hewaspi ssed.”

I
ntheUnitedStat
es,wewouldi
nterpr
ett
hattheper
sonwasangr
y,y
etpeopl
einI
rel
andwoul
dint
erpr
etthatt
he
personwasdrunk
.Ifsomeonei
nIrel
andsai
d,“Wherei
sthecr
ack
?”theywoul
dbeaski
ngthel
ocat
ionofapart
y,
notaski
ngaboutdrugs.

Wor
dsorphr
asest
hatar
evaguecanal
soca
usepr
obl
ems
.Forex
ampl
e,y
ouneedas
etofdat
abyt
heendoft
he
day,soy outelly
ourassi
stantthatyouneedthedataimmediately.
Attheendoft heday ,howev er
, t
hedat
aare
nott
her e.Thenex tmor
ning,theemployeeproudl
ybr i
ngsyout hedat
athats hehascompi ledin“lesst
hanaday”
andisconf usedaboutwhyy ouareangry.I
nthi
sex ample,y
ouencodedt hemes sageas“ Ineeditby5o’cl
ock
,”
youtransmi t
tedthemessageas“ Ineediti
mmediatel
y,”andtheemploy eedecodedi tas“Sheneedsi t
tomorrow.”Ifsomeonetoldyou, “I
won’tbegonelong,”whenwoul dyouex pectherback ?

WhenI as
kthisquesti
onofmyclassesorseminaraudi
ences
,theanswer
susual
l
yrangefromt
enminut
est
o
thr
eehours.
Inter
est
ingl
y,atoneseminarI
c onduct
ed,awomanr es
pondedt
hatherhusbands
aidt
hatv
ery
phras
eandcameback4day slat
er.

Asthepr evi
ousexamplesdemonstr
ate,i
ti
simport
antt
obeconcret
eint hewordsweuse.Why,then,ar
ewe
oft
env agueinthewaywecommuni cate?Onereasoni
sthatwewanttoav oi
dconf
ront
ati
ons.I
fahusbandtel
ls
hi
ss pousethathewil
lbegonefor4day s,
hemayk nowthatshewi
l
lobject.Bybei
ngvague,
heav oi
dstheini
ti
al
confront
ati
onandhopest hats
hewill
notnoti
cehowlonghehasactual
lybeengone—acommonpl oyusedbyus
men, butonethatnev
erseemst owork.

Anotherreasonforvaguenessi
sthati
tgi
vesusachanceto“t
estthewater”andseewhatapers
on’si
nit
ial
react
ionmightbebef or
ewes aywhatwereal
lywant.As
kingsomeoneoutonadat ei
saperf
ectexampl
e. I
nst
ead
ofbeingdirectandsayi
ng,“Doyouwanttogooutthi
sFri
day?”weoftensaysomethi
ngsuchas,“So,
whatare
youupt othisweekend?”Ift
herespons
eisposi
ti
ve,webecomeabitmor ebold.

Genderisanotherf
act
orrel
atedtotheuseofwor
ds.DeborahTannen(
1 995,
2001 )bel
ievesthatmenand
womens peakv er
ydif
fer
entl
anguagesandhavedif
fer
entcommunicat
ionsty
les.Byunderstandi
ngthes
e
di
ff
erences,communicat
ioni
nt heworkpl
aceaswel
lasint
hehomecanbedr amati
cal
lyimproved.

Communicati
oncanbeimprovedifwechoos
eourwordscaref
ull
yandas
k,“Howmightt
heotherper
son
i
nter
pretwhatIamaboutt
os ay?
”IfIus
ethewor
dgirl
,wil
lanyonebeups
et?I
fso,
whatwordcouldIuset
hat
woul
dbebet t
er?

b)COMMUNI
CATI
ONCHANNEL

Probl
emsi ncommunicat
ioncanoccurasaresul
tofthecommuni
cat
ionchannel
throughwhichthemes s
ageis
tr
ansmitt
ed. I
nfor
mat
ioncanbecommuni cat
edinav ar
iet
yofway
s,s
uchasor al
l
y ,
nonverbal
ly,
throughasecond
part
y,orthroughawr
itt
enmediums uchasalett
erormemo.

Thesamemes sagecanbei nter

pret
edindif
fer
entwaysbasedonthechannel usedtocommuni cat
eit
.For
example,
anemploy eebei ngrepr
imandedwill
recei
vet
hemes sageverydif
ferentl
yifi
tiscommunicat
edina
memooranemai lr
at herthanfacetoface.
Ami ff
edemploy
eewhogi vesthecoldshouldertoacoworkerwi
l
l
recei
veadif
fer
entres ponsethanifs
hey el
l
edatthecoworkerordi
scussedtheangerwithher.

Anot
herexampleofthechannel’
simpor t
anceisasupervi
sorcri
ti
ci
zi
nganemployeeinfrontofotheremployees
.
Theemployeemightbes oembarr
as sedandangeredthatshewouldnotheart
hecontentofthemes sage.Agai
n,
tr
ansmit
ti
ngames sagethroughaninappropr
iatechannel
inter
fer
eswit
hthemes s
age’smeani ngandaccurate
i
nter
pret
ati
on.

Often,t
hecommuni cati
onchanneli
sthemes s
ageitsel
f.
Forexample,
ift
opmanagementsendsa“gofer”to
deli
veramess age,i
ti
sessent
ial
lycommunicati
ngthatei
thert
hemes s
ageort
herecei
veri
snotimpor
tant.A
coll
eagueatanotheruni
ver
sit
ytell
saboutafor
merbos swhoalwayspers
onal
l
ydeli
ver
edgoodnews( e.g.,
promoti
ons,rais
es)aswell
asdoughnutsonFriday
. Butl
ower-
level
managemental
wayshadtocommuni catet
he
badnews
,apr
act
icet
hatwasr
esent
edbyempl
oyees
.

Perhapsthewor stchoi
ceofacommuni cati
onchannel occur
redin2006,whenRadi oShackemai l
ed400ofi ts
workersinthei
rFortWorth,
Tex as,headquar t
ersthattheywoul dbelosi
ngtheirj
obs .
Ev enworsethanthechoice
ofcommuni cat
ionchannelwast heactualwordingoft hecommuni cat
ion,
“thewor kforcereduct
ionnotif
icat
ion
i
scur r
entl
yinprogress.Unf
ortunatel
yy ourposi
tionisonet hathasbeeneli
minated.”Empl oy
eeswer egiven
boxesandpl as
ticbagstopackt hei
rpersonalbelongingsandgi ven30minutestoleave. Whatmes sagedoy ou
thi
nkthissenttotheemployees?

c)NOI
SE-canbedef
inedasanyi
nter
fer
encet
hataf
fect
spr
operr
ecept
ionofames
sage

Thenoisesurr
oundingat r
ansmissionchannelcanal
soaffectt
hewayames sageisrecei
v ed.
Anobv i
ous
exampleisactual
audit
orynoise,s
uchast hesoundofas ubwayorelev
atedtr
aini
nterfer
ingwithconv
ersat
ion.
Otherexamplesaretheappropri
atenessofthechannel
,t
her eput
ati
onofthepers
ons endingthemessage,and
ot
herinfor
mationbeingrecei
vedatt hesametime.

d)NONVERBALCUES

Muchofwhatwecommuni cateisconveyedbynonverbalmeans .
Ourwor dsoftensayonethi
ng,butouract
ions
sayanother.
Forexample,as upervi
sormaytel
lanempl oy
eethats heisi
nterest
edinheari
ngheropini
ons,
whi l
e
att
hes amet i
mesheisfrowningandl ook
ingoutt
hewi ndow.Thev erbalmes s
agefromthesupervi
sormaybe“ I
car
e,”butthenonverbalmes sageis“I
’mbored.
”Whi chmes sagewillt
heempl oyeepayatt
ent
ionto?Mostli
kely,
i
twil
lbet henonv
erbalone,ev enthoughnonver
balcuesoftenleadtoincorr
ectimpress
ions
.

Nonver
balcuescanbedi
vi
dedi
ntof
iv
ecat
egor
ies
:bodyl
anguage,
par
alanguage,
useofs
pace,
useoft
ime,
and
ar
ti
fact
s.

(1
)BODYLANGUAGE. Howwemov eandpos i
ti
onourbody—ourbodylanguage—communi
cat
esmucht
oot
her
peopl
e.Asonemi
ghtex
pect
,genderdi
ff
erencesoccuri
ntheuseofnonverbal
cues.

Forexample,Dol
i
nandBoot h-
But
terf
iel
d(1993)f
oundt hatwomenusenonverbalcuessuchasheadnoddingto
showattenti
onmoreoft
enthandomen. I
nsoci
alsi
tuat
ions,womentouch,s
mi l
e,andmak eeyecont
actmore
thanmendo( DePaul
o,1992).
Notsurpr
isi
ngl
y,t
herearemanycult
uraldi
ff
erencesinnonver
balcommunicati
on.

Researchhasshownthatbodyl anguagecanaffectemploy
eebehav i
or.Forexampl
e,amet a-analy
sisbyBarri
ck,
Shaffer
,andDeGrass
i (
2008)f oundt hatt
heuseofappropriat
enonv erbalcommuni
cationishighl
ycorrel
ated
withi
ntervi
ewscor
es.Thoughbodyl anguagecanbeaus efulsourceofinf
ormati
on,i
ti
si mportantt
ounder st
and
thatt
hes amenonver
bal cuecanmeandi f
fer
entthingsi
ndi
fferentsi
tuati
onsandcul
tures.So,becar ef
ulandtry
nottoreadtoomuchintoaparticul
arnonverbalcue.

(2)USEOFSPACE. Theway speoplemak euseofspaceal s

opr ov i
desnonver balcuesabouttheirfeel
ingsand
personali
ty.Dominantpeopleorthosewhohav eaut
hor i
tyaregi
v enmor espacebyot hersandatt hesamet ime
takespacef r
omot hers.Forexample,peoplestandf
artherawayf roms uchstatusf i
guresasexecut i
vesand
poli
ceof f
icer
s(andev encoll
egepr of
essors),
ands t
andi nanoffi
cedoor wayr atherthandir
ectlyenters ucha
person’soffi
ce.Thesesames t
atusfi
gures,however,oft
enmov ecl oserasas howofpower .Poli
ceof f
icersar
e
taughtthatmovingincloseisonemet hodofintimi
datingaperson.

Fourmaj
orspat
ial
distancezonesi
ntheUni
tedSt
ateshav
ebeenr
ecogni
zedanddef
ined(
Hal
l
,1963)
:i
nti
macy
,
pers
onal
dis
tance,socialdi
st
ance,
andpubl
icdi
st
ance.
•TheI NTIMACYZONEex tendsf
romphysical
contactt
o1 8i
nchesawayfr
omaper sonandisus
ual
lyr
eser
ved
forcloserel
ati
onshi
pssuchasdates
,spouses,andfamil
y.Whenthi
szoneisent
eredbystr
anger
sincr
owded
elevator
sandt hel
ik
e,wegeneral
lyf
eeluncomfort
ableandner
vous.

•ThePERSONALDISTANCEZONEr angesfrom18i
nchest
o4f
eetawayf
romaper
sonandi
sthedi
st
ance
usual
l
yres
erv
edforf
ri
endsandacquai
ntances.

•TheSOCIALDISTANCEZONEi sfr
om4t
o12f
eetawayandi
sthedi
st
ancet
ypi
cal
l
yobs
erv
edwhendeal
i
ng
wit
hbusi
nesspeopl
eands
tranger
s.

•ThePUBLICDISTANCEZONErangesf
rom12to25feetawayandischar
act
eri
sti
cofsuchl
argegroup
i
nter
act
ionsasl
ectur
esands
emi
nars.
Thewayanoff
icei
sfurni
shedal
socommunicatesal
otaboutt
hatper
son.

Asment i
onedear
li
er,
certai
ndeskplacementsi
ndicateopennessandpower;v
isi
tor
sands ubor
dinat
espr
efernot
tos
itbefor
eadeskthatservesasabarri
er(
Davis
,1 984).Peopl
ewhoseoffi
cesareunt
idyarepercei
veda
sbeing
busy,andpeopl
ewhos eoff
icescont
ainpl
antsar
eper cei
vedasbeingcar
ingandconcerned.

(
3)USEOFTI
ME.
Thewaypeopl
emak
eus
eoft
imei
sanot
herel
ementofnonv
erbal
communi
cat
ion.

I
fanempl oy eei
ssupposedt omeetwithas upervisorat1:
00a ndt hesupervi
sors howsupat1 :1
0,thes upervi
sor
i
scommuni cati
nganatt
itudeabouttheempl oyee,theimportanceofthemeet ing, orboth.Tardi
nessismor e
readi
lyacceptedfromahi gher
-st
atuspersonthanf romal ower-st
atusperson. DeanSmi t
h,thegreatformer
basketbal
lcoachattheUni ver
si
tyofNorthCarolina,suspendedanypl ayerwhowasev enami nutelat
ef ora
pract
icebecaus ehebel
iev edt
hattar
dinesswasas ignofarroganceandwor kedagai nsttheteamconcept .

I
nas i
milarfashi
on, asuper v
isorsetsasi
de30mi nutesforameet ingandt el
lsot
hersthatshei snottobe
dis
tur
bedbecaus es heisinconference.Adef
ini
ti
v emes sagethusi sconveyed,onethati
sl i
kelytoprevent
const
antinterr
upt i
onsbyt el
ephonecal l
sorpeoplestoppingbyt os ayhell
obecausetheys awanopendoor .
Caremus tbetak enwhencons i
deringhowothersus eti
me, astherearetremendousculturaldif
ferencesi
nsuch
thi
ngsasbei nglateandk eepingtot i
meschedul
es .Forexample, punctual
it
yisi
mpor t
antintheUni t
edStat
es,
Austr
ia,
Canada, andJ apan,butnotaprior
it
yinBraz i
l,
France,Mex ico,andSaudiArabia(Olofsson,2004).

(4)PARALANGUAGE.Iti
nvol
vesthewaywesaythi
ngsandcons
ist
sofv
ari
abl
ess
uchast
one,
tempo,
vol
ume,
numberanddur
ati
onofpauses,
andrat
eofspeech.

Ames saget
hatisspokenquick l
ywill
bepercei
veddiff
erent
lyf
romonet hati
sspokenslowl
y.I
nf act,r
esearch
hasshownthatpeoplewit
hfas tspeechrat
esarepercei
vedasmor ei
ntell
i
gent,
fri
endl
y,andenthus i
ast
ic(Hecht
&LaFrance,
1995)thanpeopl ewithslowrat
esofspeech.Peoplewhous emany“uh-hums,”“ers,”and“ahs”
areal
soconsi
deredlessi
ntel
l
igent .

Menwi t
hhigh-pi
tchedvoicesareconsider edt obeweak,butwomenwi t
hhigh-
pit
chedvoicesar
econsider
edt
o
bepeti
te.Peopl
etell
i
ngliestal
kless
, providef ewerdetai
l
s,r
epeatwordsandphras
esmoreof t
en,havemore
uncer
tai
ntyandvocaltensi
onintheirvoice, ands peaki
nahigherpi
tcht
handopeopletel
l
ingthetrut
h(DePaul
o
etal
.,
2003) .

Simplechangesinthetoneusedtocommuni cateames sagecanchanget heent i

remeaningoft hemessage.To
demons t
rat
ethispoint
,consi
derthi
ss ent
enc e:
“Idi
dn’tsayBil
l s
tol
eyourcar.”Atfirstr
eading,i
tdoesnotseem
unusual
,butwhatdoesi tact
ual
lymean?Iifweemphas iz
et hefir
stword,I
,theimplicati
onisthatsomeoneelse
sai
d,“Bil
lst
oleyourcar.
”Butifweemphas izethewordBill
,themeaningchangest o“ Someoneel sest
oleyour
car.
”Ands oon.Thus ,
as i
mplewrit
tenmes sagecanbeinterpret
edins ev
endiffer
entway s.Asy oucansee,
manymes
sagesar
ebet
tercommuni
cat
edor
all
ythant
hroughmemosoremai
l
.

(5)ARTIFACTS. Afi
nalel
ementofnonv erbalcommunicat
ionconcernstheobj ects
, orarti
fact
s,t
hataperson
wearsorwi t
hwhichshes ur
roundshersel
f.Aper s
onwhowear sbri
ghtandcolorfulclothesispercei
ved
dif
ferent
lyfr
omaper sonwhowear sconservati
vewhit
eorgr ayclot
hing.Si
milarl
y,themanagerwhopl acesal
lof
herawardsonherof f
icewal
l,theexecuti
vewi t
halar
geandex pensi
vechai
r,andt hes t
udentwhocar r
iesa
bri
efcaserathert
hanabookbagar eallmak i
ngnonverbal
s t
atementsaboutthems elv es.

Researchonvi
si
tors’percepti
onsofcert
ainof
fi
cechar
act
eri
st
icshasres
ult
edinseverali
nter
esti
ngbutnot
necessari
l
ysur
pri
singfindings.Onel
ineofres
earchex
ami
nedt heper
cepti
onsofvi
si
torstooff
icest
hatused
ei
theropenorcl
oseddes kar r
angements.

•AnOPENDESKARRANGEMENTf
acesades
kagai
nstawal
lsot
hatav
isi
torcans
itnex
ttot
heper
sonwhos
it
s
behi
ndt
hedes
k.

•ACLOSEDDESKARRANGEMENTpl
acesades
ksot
hatav
isi
tormus
tsi
tacr
ossf
romt
heper
sonbehi
ndt
he
des
k.

Vis
it
orstoof
fi
cesthatus eopenrat
herthancloseddeskarr
angementsper
cei
v etheof
ficest
obemor e
comfor
tabl
e,andt
hei roccupant
sasfri
endli
erandmor etr
ustwor
thy
,open,i
nterest
ed,andextr
aver
ted(Campbel
l
,
1979;McElr
oy,Morrow, &Wall,
1983;Wi dgery&Stackpol
e,1973)
.

Vi
s i
torsr
atepeoplewit
hmessyoffi
cesasbeingacti
veandbusy,
thosewit
hcleanof
fi
cesasbeingor
gani
zedand
i
ntrovert
ed,andthosewit
horgani
zedoff
ices(l
otsofpaper
spl
acedinst
acks)asbei
ngacti
veandachi
evement
or
iented(Mc El
royetal
.
,1983;Morrow&McEl r
oy ,
1981).

Fi
nal
ly,v
isi
tor
srat
eoff
iceswit
hplant
sandpost
ersasmor
ecomf
ort
abl
e,i
nvi
ti
ng,
andhos
pit
abl
ethanof
fi
ces
wi
thoutpl
antsandpos
t er
s(Campbel
l,1
979).

Recently
,thi
nki
ngaboutt
hepl
acementofdes k
sinanoffi
cehasgonebey ondt
hesimpl
econceptofvi
sit
or
reacti
ons.Of
fi
cedecor
ati
ngex
perts(e.
g.,Too,2009)us
ingtheconceptsoff
engshui
—theChineseartof
placementanddesi
gn—advi
sethat,
toproperl
yusetheener
gyofar oom,desks
:

•s
houl
dnev
erbepl
aceddi
rect
lyacr
ossf
romadoor
way

•s
houl
dal
way
sfaceawayf
romawal
l

•s
houl
dnev
erbepl
acedi
nthecent
eroft
her
oom

Researchonoff
icedes i
gnisnotonlyi
nter
est
ing,
butalsoi
mpor tant
.Asupervi
sorwit
hames syoff
iceanda
cl
oseddes kar
rangementiss endi
ngthemessagethathedoesnotwantt obebother
ed. Thi
smaynotbehis
i
ntendedmes s
age, buti
tistheonepercei
vedbyhissubor
dinates.Thus
,ift
hissuper
vis
orwantstobemor eopen
andimprovecommuni cati
onwi t
hhisemploy
ees,hemightstar
tbychangingtheappearanceofhi
soffi
ce.

Cl
earl
y,peoplemakej
udgmentsaboutother
sbas edont hei
rof
fi
ce,andthenextl
ogi
calstepistodeter
mine
whet
herpeoplewit
hdif
fer
enttypesofof
fi
cesactuall
yhav edi
ff
erentt
ypesofpers
onal
iti
es.Limi
tedresearch,i
n
f
act,
doess eemtoshowthatt
heappearanceofanof f
iceprovi
desins
ighti
ntot
hepersonali
tyoftheoccupa nt
.

McElr
oy,Mor
row,andAck
erman(
1983)l
ook
edatt
hepersonal
it
iesoffacul
tymember
swhohadopendesk
ar
rangement
sandthos
ewhohadclos
eddes
kar
rangements,
andf oundthatt
hos
ewit
hopendeskar
rangement
s
wer
emor eex
trav
ertedand“peopl
eorient
ed”thanthei
rcl
osed-deskcount
erpar
ts.Fur
thermor
e,f
acult
y
memberswhousedopendes karr
angementshadlowerext
ernall
ocusofcontr
olandscoredhi
gherontheLeas
t-
Pr
efer
redCoworker(LPC)Scal
e.

I
nanot herstudy,Zweigenhaf t(
1976)compar eddeskplacementusi
ngs everalvari
ablesandfoundthatol
der,
higher -s
tatusfacul
tymember susedcl oseddeskarr
angementsmorethandi dyoungermember s.Evenmore
i
nt eresti
ngwast hefindingthatfacult
ymember swhous edclos
eddes karr
angement swerealsoeval
uatedles
s
fav orabl
yintheclassroom. Thus,des kpl
acementwasabl et
oparti
all
ypredictt
heef f
ect i
venes
sofaf acul
ty
member ,providi
ngsuppor tfort
hei deathatdi
ff
erentt
ypesofpeoplearr
anget heirof
ficesindi
ff
erentways.

I
nas tudyofpersonnel managers,
Cochr an,Kopi t
zke,andMi l
ler(1984)comparedtheoff
icecharact
eri
sti
csused
bymanager swit
ht heirpers
onali
ti
es.Theyf oundt hatdominant,achievement
-ori
entedmanagersdidnot
decorat
etheirof
ficeswi t
hanythi
ngot herthans t
andardfurni
ture;mor eout
goi
ngmanager shadphotographsof
thei
rvacat
ionstor emindthemofgoodt i
mesandacl ocktoletthemk nowwhenitwasquitt
ingti
me;int
rover
ted
managershadpl antsandpainti
ngss othattheiroffi
cewouldremi ndthemofhome; andorganiz
edmanager shad
cart
oonstos howt hateventhoughtheywer eneatandcompul s
ive,theyal
sohadas ens
eofhumor .

Thepr esenceofwi ndowsisanotherf

actorthatseemstoaff
ectthewayanof f
icei
sdecorated.Heerwagenand
Ori
ans( 1986)ex aminedtheway speopledecoratedbothwindowedandwindowlessof
ficesandf oundthat
occupant sofwindowlessoff
icesusedtwiceasmanydecor ati
veit
emssuchaspos t
ers,pict
ures,andpainti
ngs.
Nots urpr
isi
ngly
, thepost
ersinwindowlessoffi
cescontai
nedmor el
andscapesandfewercityscapesthandid
off
iceswi t
hwindows .

e)AMOUNTOFI
NFORMATI
ON

Theamountofinf
ormat
ioncontai
nedinamessagecanaf
fectt
heaccuracywi
thwhichi
ti
srecei
ved.
Whena
messagecontai
nsmoreinf
ormati
onthanwecanholdi
nmemor y,
theinfor
mat
ionbecomesl
evel
ed,shar
pened,
andassi
mil
ated.

Whatwoul
dthes
tor
ysoundl
i
kei
fyoupas
sedi
tont
oaf
ri
end?

Wheny oulev
els
omeoftheinfor
mati
on,uni
mport
antdet
ail
sar
eremov
ed. Forexampl
e,inf
ormat
ionaboutt
he
col
oroftheempl
oyee’
sshi
rtandsockswoul
dprobabl
ynotbepass
edalongtothenextper
son.

Wheny oushar
penthei
nfor
mat
ion,i
nter
esti
ngandunusual
inf
ormat
ioniskept
.I
ntheexampl
ehere,the
employ
ee’s“bar
fi
ng”andhi
sei
ghtmarri
ageswoul
dprobabl
ybethes t
ory’
smainf
ocusasiti
spas
s edfr
omy
ou
toy
ourfri
end.

Wheny ouas s i
mil
atethei
nfor
mati
on,i
ti
smodif
iedt
ofi
tyourexi
st
ingbel
ief
sandk nowl
edge.
Mos tofushave
neverheardoft helas
tnameAtoms,butwepr
obabl
yhaveknowns omeonenamed“ Adams.
”Likewise,
“GeneralFloaters
”mightbepass
edalongasGener
alMotor
s.Youwouldprobabl
yusetheworddrunkrat
her
thani
ntoxicated.

f
)REACTI
ONSTOCOMMUNI
CATI
ONOVERLOAD

Withmanyjobs,communicat
ionover
loadcanoccurwhenanempl oyeer
eceivesmorecommuni
cat
iont
hanhe
canhandl
e.Whenanempl oyeeisoverl
oaded,
s hecanadaptoradj
usti
noneofs ever
alway
stor
educet
hestr
ess
:
omiss
ion,
error
,queui
ng,escape,usi
ngagatekeeper,
orusingmult
ipl
echannels.

•OMI
SSI
ON.
Onewayt
omanagecommuni
cat
ionov
erl
oadi
somi
ssi
on:
acons
ciousdeci
si
onnott
opr
oces
s
cer
tai
nty
pesofinf
ormati
on.
Forex ampl
e,abus ysuper
vis
ormayletthephoner
ingwi
thoutans
weringits
ot hat
shecanf
ini
shherpaper
work.Al
thoughthi
stechniquecanwor
kiftheoverl
oadi
stemporar
y,i
twil
lbeinef
fecti
ve
i
fanemployeemis
sesanimport
antcommuni cati
on.

•ERROR. I
ntheerr
orty
peofr es
ponse,theemployeeatt
emptstodeal
withever
ymessageshereceives
. Buti
nso
doi
ng,eachprocess
edmes sageincl
udesrecept
ionerr
or.Thepr
ocessi
ngerr
orsar
enotint
ent
ionalbutresul
t
fr
omprocessingmorethancanbehandled.

Perhapsagoodex ampleofthi
swoul
dbeas tudentwhohast
wohoursinwhichtost
udyfourchapt
ersf
orates
t.
Astudentusi
ngtheer r
ormethodwoul
dattempttoreadandmemori
zeall
fourchapt
ersi
ntwohours.Obvi
ousl
y,
hertests
corewi
llprobablyi
ndi
cat
ethatev
ent houghshedi
dal
lofherr
eading,muchofi
twasnotremembered
ornotremember
edcor rectl
y.

Thepr
obabi
l
it
yofer
roroccur
ri
ngcanber
educedi
ntwoway
s.

Fir
st,themess agecanbemaderedundant
.Thatis
,aftercommunicati
nganimportantmes sageoverthe
tel
ephone, i
ti
sagoodi deatowri
teamemot ot
heot herpersonsummariz
ingthemajorpointsoftheconver
sat
ion.
Furthermore,aft
ersendi
nganimport
antmemo,iti
swi setocal
li
tsreci
pi
enttoensurethatthememowasnotonl y
receivedbutalsoread.

Second,err
orcanber educedbyhavingthereci
pientveri
fythemes sage.Asktheper s
ont or
epeatthemes s age
ortoacknowledgethatshehasreadandunder s
toodit.Forexample,aft
eracus tomerhasplacedanor deratthe
dri
ve-t
hruwindowofaf ast-f
oodrest
aurant
,theempl oyeerepeat
st heordert
ot hecustomertomak es ureshe
heardi
tcorr
ectly.
(Ofcourse,wi
ththepoor-quali
tyinter
comsus edbys uchplaces ,
mos tpeoples
ti
llcannot
underst
andtheempl oyee.
)

•QUEUI NG.Anot
hermethodofdeal
i
ngwit
hcommuni
cati
onoverl
oadi
squeui
ng—placi
ngthewor
kint
oaqueue,
orwait
ingli
ne.
Theorderoft
hequeuecanbebas
edonsuchvar
iabl
esast
hemessage’si
mport
ance,t
imel
i
nes
s,
orsender.

Forexample,
amemos entbyt
hecompanypr es
identwi
llpr
obabl
ybepl
acednearoratthebegi
nni
ngofthe
queue,aswil
lanemergencyphonemessage.Ontheotherhand,
amessaget
oreturnthephonecal
lofa
sal
espersonmostl
ik
elywill
goattheendofthequeue.

Withthismethodofhandl
ingcommunicationoverl
oad,
all
ofthewor
kwill
usual
l
ygetdone.Howev er
,queuesar
e
eff
ecti
v eonl
yift
hecommuni cat
ionov
er-loadistempor
ary.
Ift
heemploy
eeiscons
tant
lyov
erloaded,shewil
l
neverreachthemessagesattheendofthequeue.

•ESCAPE.I
fcommuni
cati
onover
loadi
sprol
onged,
acommonempl
oyeer
espons
eist
oes
cape,
usual
l
ythr
ough
absent
eei
smandul
ti
matel
ythr
oughresi
gnat
ion.

Thisr
esponsecer
tai
nlyi
snotbenef
ici
alt
oanorgani
zat
ion,
buti
tcanbebenef
ici
alt
oanempl
oyeei
fi
tpr
otect
s
hermental
andphy s
ical
heal
thbyreli
evi
ngs
tres
s.

Anex ampleoft hees caperes ponseisoftenseenwithstudentswhowithdrawfr

omcol l
egecourses.As t
udent
mayenr oll
insixcl as
sesandr eal
iz
eaf t
ertwomont hsthatshedoesnothav eenoughtimetodoallofthereadi
ng
andwr i
ti
ngr equiredforsixclasses.Ratherthanchoosi
ngt heerr
ororomissionst
rat
egy,eit
herofwhichwould
res
ultinlowergr ades,thestudentwi t
hdrawsf r
omoneofhercl assestoreduceheroverl
oad.

•USEOFAGATEKEEPER.
Ares
pons
etocommuni
cat
ionov
erl
oadus
edbymanyex
ecut
iv
esi
stheus
eofa
gat
ekeeper,
aper
sonwhos creenspot
ent
ial
communi
cat
ionandall
owsonlythemos
timpor
tantt
ogot
hrough.
Recept
ioni
st
sandsecr
etar
iesarethemos
tobvi
ousex
amplesofgatek
eepers
.

•USEOFMULTI PLECHANNELS. Thef inalcopingres

pons etocommuni cat
ionov erl
oadistheuseofmul
ti
pl
e
channels
. Wit
hthisstr
ategy,anor ganizati
onr educest
heamountofcommuni cati
ongoingtoonepersonby
dir
ecti
ngs omeofittoanother.Forex ampl e,i
nas mall
restaurant,
all
oftheproblemsinvolvi
ngcustomer
s,
employees,fi
nances,andv endorsarehandl edbyt heowner .Butasthebusinessgrows,theownermaynotbe
ablet
ohandl eal
lofthecommuni cati
onandt husmayhi r
eot herst
odeal wi
thfinances(abookkeeper
)and
vendors(anassi
s t
antmanager )
.

Knowingandunder s
tandingthi
slis
tofrespons
estocommuni cati
onov erl
oadisimport
ant.
When
communi cati
onover
loadoccurs,employeeswil
lr
eacti
nway sthatreducet heincr
easedstr
ess.
Someoft hes
e
str
ategi
es( omi
ssi
on,err
or,escape)resul
ti
nnegati
veconsequencesf ortheorganiz
ati
on.Thus,
theorgani
zat
ion
mus tr
ecognizewhenov erl
oadoccursandaggressi
vel
yadoptanaccept abl
estrat
egytodealwi
thit
.

3)PROBLEMAREA3:
MESSAGERECEI
VEDVERSUSMESSAGEI
NTERPRETED

Eventhoughaper sonknowswhats hewantstos ayandsaysittheways hewants

,andev enthoughanother
i
ndivi
dualproperl
yrecei
vesthei
ntendedmes sage, i
tsmeaningcanchangedependingont hewayinwhichthe
recei
veri
nterpret
sthemes s
age.Ass howni
nFi gurebelowthisint
erpr
etati
oni
saff
ectedbyav ari
etyoff
actor
s,
suchasli
steningski
ll
s,l
i
steni
ngstyl
e, emot
ionalstat
e,cogni
tiveabil
it
y,andper
sonalbi
ases.

a)LI
STENI
NGSKI
LLS

List
eningispr obabl yt hemos timpor t
ant
communi cations k i
llt
hatas uper vi
sor
shouldmas ter. I
nas tudyofmanager s,
NicholsandSt evens( 1 957)f oundt hat
70%oft hewhi te-collarwor kdayi s
spentcommuni cating. Ofthat ,9%is
spentinwr i
ti
ng, 16%i nr eading, 30%i n
speaking,and45%i nlisteni
ng. Thus ,a
managers pendsmor et i
mel i
s t
ening
thandoinganyot hers ingleactivit
y.This
i
sani mpor t
antpoi ntfort wor easons .

Fi
rst
,li
st
eningi sas k
ill
,andourf or
mal educati
oni
nhighschool andcoll
egedoesnotprepareusformanager
ial
communication( Bur
ley-All
en, 2001)
.Wear erequi
redtot
akeEngl is
hcoursestoimproveourreadi
ngandwriti
ng
andareusuallyrequir
edt otakeones peechcoursetoi
mproveouror alcommunicat
ionski
ll
s,butwespendli
ttl
e,
i
fany,ti
melear ninghowt oli
s t
en.Thus ,
theamountofti
mes pentlearni
ngaboutvar
ioustypesofcommunicati
on
i
sinver
selyrelatedtotheact ualamountoftimespentbymana gersonthejob.

Second,l
i
steni
ngeff
ect
ivenes
sispoor.I
thasbeenest
imat
edthatimmediat
elyafterameeti
ng, weretai
nonl
y
50%ofthemateri
alwehaveheardandonly25%ofthemater
ial48hoursl
ater(Nichol
s&St evens,
1957).
Al
thoughmuchofthisl
osscanbeattr
ibut
edtopoormemorypract
ices
,somei stheresul
tofpoorl
isteni
nghabi
ts
.
STYLESOFLI
STENI
NG

Whatcanbedonetoincr
easeli
st
eningeffect
iv
enes s?Perhapsthemos ti
mpor
tantthi
ngwecandoi sto
r
ecogni
zethatev
erypers
onhasapar t
icul
ar“li
steni
ngs t
yle”thats
ervesasacommuni cat
ionfi
l
ter
.Geierand
Downey(1
980)havedev el
opedatest
, t
heAtti
tudinalLi
st
eningProfi
l
e,tomeasureanempl oy
ee’sl
is
teningst
yl
e.

Theirt
heorypos
tul
atess
ixmai
nst
yl
esofl
i
steni
ng:
lei
sur
e,i
ncl
usi
ve,
sty
li
st
ic,
techni
cal
,empat
hic,
and
nonconfor
ming(LI
STEN).

(L)LEI
SURELISTENINGispracti
cedby“good-ti
me”peoplewholi
st
enonl
yf orwordsthatindi
cat
epleasur
e.For
example,
as t
udentwhoisalei
surel
ist
enerwil
lpayat
tent
iononl
ywhentheteacherisi
nteresti
ngandtel
l
sjokes.
Asanempl oy
ee,shei
sthelastoneto“hear
”thatemploy
eesareneededt
owor kov er
ti
me.

(I
)INCLUSI VELI
STENINGisthestyl
eofthepersonwholist
ensf
orthemaini
deasbehindanycommunicat
ion.
In
anhour -l
ongmeeti
ngful
lofdet
ail
sandfactsaboutadecli
neins
ales,t
heonl
yinfor
mationt
hist
ypeofli
st
enerwil
l
“hear”isthemai
npointt
hatsal
esaredowna ndthatt
hingshadbett
erimpr
ove.Thi
sli
steni
ngsty
lecanbean
advantagewhencutti
ngthr
oughajungl
eofdet ai
l,
buti
tcanbeadi s
advant
agewhendet ai
li
simpor
tant
.

(S)STYLISTICLI
STENINGispracti
cedbytheper sonwholis
tenstothewayt hecom-municat
ioni
spresent
ed.
Styl
is
ticli
st
ener
swill
notl
i
stenunlesst
hes peaker’
ss t
ylei
sappropri
ate,
t hes
peaker“l
ooksthepart
,”orbot
h.For
example,whenspeaki
ngtoastyl
ist
icl
is
tener,alectur
eronfi
nancewillf
indanatt
enti
veearonlyi
fshewearsa
nicesuit
.

Aft
erall
,t
hisl
i
stenerreasons,i
fthel
ect
urercannotaf
for
danicesui
t,
whylis
tent
owhatshehastos
ayabout
i
nvest
ingmoney ?Similar
ly,
ift
hespeak
ers ayst
hataneventwi
ll
befun,s
hemustsoundasifs
hemeansi
t.Andi
f
anemployeecal
lsinsicktoamanagerwhoi sastyl
i
sti
cli
st
ener
,shehadbett
er“
sound”si
ck.

(T)TECHNI CALLISTENINGist hes t

y l
epr acti
cedbyt he“ JackWebbs ”oft
heli
steni
ngwor l
d—thosewhowant
“justt
hefacts
,ma’am.”Thetechni calli
stenerhearsandr etainslargeamountsofdetai
l
,butshedoesnothear
themeaningofthosedetai
ls.
Int heear l
i
erex ampleoft hemeet inginwhichemployeesaretol
dthatsaleshave
decreased,t
hetechni
calli
st
enerwi llhearandr emembert hatsaleslas
tyearwere12.3%highert
hant hisyear
,
thatprof
it
saredownby21 %, andthats ixempl oyeeswi l
lprobablybelaidof
f—buts hewil
lmissthepointthat
unlesssal
esimprove,
shecoul dbeoneoft hosesix.

(E)EMPATHI CLISTENINGt unesintothef eel

ingsofthes peakerand,ofthesi
xli
st
eningty
pes ,
ist
hemos tl
i
kel
y
topayattent
iontononver
bal cues.Thus,anempat hicli
stenerwil
lli
stentoanemployeecomplai
naboutherbos
s
andist
heonl yoneofthesi
xt ypesofli
stenerswhowi llnotonlypayat t
enti
onbutal
sounderst
andthatt
he
employee’scomplai
ntsi
ndicatetr
uef r
ustrati
onandunhappi ness
.

(N)NONCONFORMI NGLISTENINGispracti
cedbytheindi
vi
dualwhoatt
endsonlytoi
nformati
onthati
s
consi
st
entwi
thherwayoft hi
nki
ng.I
fthenonconf
ormingli
st
enerdoesnotagreewi
thas peak
er,shewil
lnot
l
ist
entowhatthespeakers
ays.Fur
thermore,t
henonconfor
mingl
ist
enerwil
lpayat
tent
iononlytothos
epeople
sheconsi
der
st obestr
ongortohaveauthori
ty
.

TI
PSFOREFFECTI
VELI
STENI
NG

I
naddit
iont
ounder
standinghowyourl
i
steni
ngs t
yl
eserv
esasafil
ter
,youcanimprov
ey ourl
ist
eni
ng
ef
fect
iv
enessi
nmanyot herways
.Bel
owisas ummaryofti
pst
akenfromav ar
iet
yofsources
:

•s
topt
alk
ing.
•l
ett
heot
herper
sonf
ini
shs
pea
king.

•f
ocusonwhatthepersonissayi
ngrat
herthanonhowwel
lt
heyaresayi
ngit
,whatyournex
tres
pons
ewi
l
lbe,
or
whatyouwi
l
leatforl
unch.Trytounder
standwhatt
heot
herper
sonistr
yingt
osay.

•as
kquesti
onstomakes
urey
ouunder
standt
heper
son’
spoi
nt,
butdon’
tas
ksomanyques
ti
onst
hatt
hey
di
st
ractt
hespeaker
.

•bepat
ientandk
eepanopenmi
nd.
Ify
oudi
sagr
ee,
youcanal
way
sdos
oaf
tert
heper
soni
sfi
ni
shedt
alk
ing.

•showthes
peak
ery
ouwantt
oli
st
enbyus
ingnonv
erbal
cuess
uchasmak
ingey
econt
actandnoddi
ngy
our
head.

•r
emov
eorr
esi
stdi
st
ract
ionst
hatwi
l
lkeepy
ouf
roml
i
steni
ng.

•besil
entf
oraf
ewsecondsaf
tert
hepersonhasf
ini
sheds
peaki
ng.Thi
swil
lencouraget
heper
sont
ocont
inuet
o
tal
k,y
ouwill
besur
ewhentheyhavef
ini
shedtal
ki
ng,andi
twi
ll
giveyout
imetorespondcal
mly
.

b)EMOTI
ONALSTATE

Theint
erpret
ati
onofames s
agecancer
tai
nl
ybeaffect
edbyt
herecei
ver
’semo-t
ionals
tat
e.Whenwearemad,
anxi
ous,depres
sed,el
ated,
orupset
,wedonotthi
nkascl
ear
lyaswhenourmoodsaremoremoder
ate.
Thi
nkof
thel
astt
imey ouhadanargumentwi
thsomeone.

Howrati
onalandint
ell
igentwasyourconvers
ation?Aftertheargumentwasover,di
dbothofyourememberwhat
wassai
dinthesameway ?Lik
ewise,haveyouev erat
tendedacl asswhenyourmindwass omewhereel
se?My
gues
sisthatnei
theryouratt
enti
onspannory ourcompr ehensi
onofthemateri
alwasashighasnormal
.

c)COGNI
TIVEABI
LI
TY

Cogniti
veabil
ityisanotherfactorthancana f
fectthewayi nwhichareceivedmessageisinterpreted.Thatis
,a
personcanreceiveames sageex actl
yasitwass ent,yetnotbebri
ghtenought ounderst
andi t.
Forex ample,
haveyouev erattendedacl asswher eyouhadnoi deawhattheprof
ess orwastal
ki
ngabout ?Youhear dher
wordsands awherdi agrams ,butthemes sagestil
lmadenos ens
e.Lik
ewi se,
haveyouev ertoldagr eatpun,onl
y
tobedisappointedthattheper sonatthereceivi
ngendoft hejokedidnotunderst
andit?Ifso,theny ouha ve
fi
rs
thandex peri
enceinunder standinghowcogni ti
v eabi
li
tycanaff
ectthewayi nwhichi
nformat ionisint
erpr
eted.

d)PERSONALBI
ASES

Ourbi
asesobvi
ousl
yaff
ectourabil
itytoi
nter
preti
nfor
mati
onwereceiv
e.Forexampl
e,wecanhateapol
i
ti
cal
candi
dat
esomuchthatwecanr efusetoprocessanyoft
heposi
ti
veinf
ormati
onwehearabouther
.Wedo,
however
,pr
ocessever
ypieceofinformat
ionthati
sconsi
st
entwi
thouropini
on.

I
MPROVI
NGEMPLOYEECOMMUNI
CATI
ONSKI
LLS

1
)INTERPERSONALCOMMUNI
CATI
ONSKI
LLS

Oneofthemostcommonmethodsusedtoincr
easeint
erper
sonalcommunicati
onski
ll
sist
hetrai
ni
ngworkshop
conduct
edbyanoutsi
decons
ult
ant
.Alt
houghal ar
genumberofcons ul
tant
sleadcommunicat
ionwor
kshops,
suchworks
hopsoft
enbri
ngonl
yshor
t-ter
mi mprovementi
nskil
l
s.

Anexcepti
ontothi
sgener
alf
ail
uretopr
oducelong-t
ermimpr
ovement
swasreport
edbyFrestonandLease
(1
987)fromthei
rworkwit
hQuestarCor
porat
ioninSal
tLakeCi
ty.
Astheper
sonnelmanageratQuest
ar,Fr
est
on
beli
ev edthatt
heorganizati
on’smanager swerenotproperlytrainedincommuni cati
on. Ques
tarthushir
edLeas e
asacommuni cati
onscons ul
tant,andtoget
herFrestonandLeas edes ignedanewt rai
ningpr
ogramt hati
ncluded
semi nar
sonawar eness,nonverbalcommuni cat
ion,ass
erti
v enes s,andlis
tening.Inadditi
ont
othes eminars
,
FrestonandLeas ealsousedr ol
eplayandgr oupdis
cussion. Ther evis
edt r
ainingprogrambroughtmor epos i
ti
ve
atti
tudesforsupervi
sorsandincreasedperformancequalit
yi ntask ssuchasper formanceapprai
s al
andtrai
ning.

2)WRI
TTENCOMMUNI
CATI
ONSKI
LLS

Att
emptstoimpr
ovet
hequali
tyofwri
tt
encommuni
cat
ionhavegeneral
l
ytak
ent
wopaths.Oneappr
oach
concent
rat
esoni
mprovi
ngthewrit
er’
sski
l
ls,
andt
heotherconcent
rat
esonmak
ingmater
ial
easi
ert
oread.

•I
MPROVI
NGWRI
TING

Wit
hincreasedus eofemail
,ef
fecti
vewr i
ti
ngskil
lsar
emoreessent
ialt
hanever(
Tyler
,2003b).I
tisdi
ff
icultf
oran
or
ganiz
ationt oover
comeanempl oyee’slackoff
ormalt
rai
ni
nginwr i
ti
ng(ort
ochangebadwrit
inghabi
ts).
Sever
alcons ult
ingf
ir
ms,however,speci
alizei
ntheimpr
ovementofemployeewri
ti
ngbyteachi
ngemploy eesthe
mosti
mpor tantconcept
sofwri
ting.Forexample,

Br oadbent(1997)adv i
sesthatwr
itingcanbei mprovedwhenwr i
ter
svaluewhattheywrit
e,setpersonal
st
andar dsandgoal s(e.
g.,v
ocabular yusageatatwelft
hgradereadi
nglevel
,nogrammarer r
ors,eachdocument
proofreadtwice)
, andspendconsi
der abl
eti
medoingt hei
rownediti
ngaswellasgett
ingother
stoedi tthe
document .Employ eesneedtoanaly zethei
raudi
ence:Ifawri
tt
encommuni cati
onisi
ntendedforabl ue-coll
ar
empl oyee,thenthereadabi
li
tymus tbek eptsi
mple.I
ftheint
endedaudienceisabusyexecuti
ve, t
hemes sage
mus tbek eptshort.

•READABI
LI
TY

Writ
tencommunicati
oncanbr
eakdownwhenmater
ial
ist
oodif
fi
cul
tformanyempl
oyeestor
ead.
provi
di
ng
employeeswi
thi
mpor t
antmat
eri
alt
oreadwi
l
lbeaneff
ect
ivec
ommuni cat
ionf
ormonl
yift
heempl
oyeescan
unders
tandwhatiswri
tt
en.

I
nas t
udyofwr i
tt
encommuni cat
ionatarestaurantchain,Smi
thandChr i
stensen(2007)f oundawiderangeof
readabil
i
tylevel
sinwrit
tenmater
ial
sgiventoempl oyees .
Thoughmos tcommuni cati
onwaswr i
tt
enataninth-
gradelevel
, amemot ocookswaswr i
tt
enatt hefourt
h- gr
adelevel
andthes exualhar
as s
mentpol i
cywaswr it
ten
atalevelsuchthatanassoci
ate’
sdegree(fi
fteenthgrade)wouldbeneededt ounderstandt hewri
ti
ng.Gi
v enthat
mos toftheemployeeshadonlyahigh-schooleducation,manyprobablydidnotunderstandthesexual
harassmentpoli
cy.

Tosol
vet hepr
obl
emofcompl exreadi
nglev
elsi
ndocument
swri
tt
enbyWas hingt
onst
ateempl
oyees,
in2004
Gover
norChr i
sGregoi
reini
ti
ateda“ pl
ai
ntal
k”pol
icyr
equi
ri
ngt
hatdocumentsbewri
tt
enatal
evelt
hatcoul
dbe
under
stoodbythegeneralpubli
c.

Toens ur
et hatempl oy eeswill
beabletounderstandwr i
tt
enmat er
ial
,several
readabi
li
tyindi
cesareavai
lable.
Whenus ings uchani ndex,anorganiz
ati
onanalyzesthemat er
ialt
ober eadandthencompar esi
tsreadabil
ity
l
ev elwi
ththet ypi
cal educationoftheemployeeswhowi llr
eadthedocument .Forexample,i
fmos temployees
hav ehi
ghs chooldiplomasbuthav enotbeentocollege,t
hedocuments houl
dbewr it
tenatl
essthanatwel ft
h-
gradelevel
.