Communicating in

organisational
settings

 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 1
Communicating at Pixar
 Pixar Animation Studios
has created a
workplace that
encourages
communication among
team members and
across the organization.

©Mike Kepka/San Francisco Chronicle

 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 2
Four functions of communication
 Knowledge management

 Decision making

 Coordinating work activities

 Fulfilling relatedness needs

© R. Millard, The Advertiser/(Adelaide)

 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 3
 Communication process model

Sender Transmit Receiver

message

Receive
Form Encode Decode
encoded
message message message
message

Noise

Decode Receive Encode Form

feedback feedback feedback feedback

Transmit
feedback
 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 4
Communication barriers
 Perceptions
 Filtering
 Language
 jargon
 ambiguity

 Information overload

© Photodisc. With permission.

 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 5
Information overload
Episodes of
information
overload

Employee’s
information
processing
capacity

Information load

Time
 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 6
Managing information overload
 Solution 1: Increase information processing
capacity
 learn to digest information more quickly
 temporarily work longer hours

 Solution 2: Reduce information load

 buffering
 omitting
 summarising

 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 7
Communicating through email

 Advantages of email
 efficient medium
 asynchronous
 random information access
 fewer social status barriers

 Problems with email

 information overload
 interpreting emotions
 flaming
 lacks empathy or social support

 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 8
Email emoticons

:-) Happy

:-} Smirk

<:-) Dumb question

:-X OOPS!

:-j Tongue in cheek

{} Hug
 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 9
Non-verbal communication
 Actions, gestures, facial expressions, etc
 Transmits most info in face-to-face meetings
 Influences meaning of verbal and written symbols
 Less rule bound than verbal communication
 Important part of emotional labour

 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 10
Hierarchy of media richness
Rich

Overloaded Face-to-face
zone
Telephone
Media
richness Email
Oversimplified
Newsletters zone

Lean
Routine/ Non-routine/
Situation ambiguous
clear

 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 11
Organisational grapevine
 Early research findings
 transmits information rapidly in all directions
 follows a cluster chain pattern
 more active in homogeneous groups
 transmits some degree of truth
 Changes due to Internet
 email etc becoming main grapevine medium
 social networks are now global
 vault.com extends gossip to anyone

 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 12
Grapevine: benefits and problems
 Benefits
 supplements information
 strengthens corporate culture
 relieves anxiety
 signals that problems exist

 Problems
 suggests lack of concern for employees
 distortions might escalate anxiety

 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 13
Cross-cultural communication
 Verbal differences
 language
 voice intonation

 Non-verbal differences
 interpreting non-verbal meaning
 importance of verbal versus non-verbal
 silence and conversational overlaps

 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 14
Gender communication differences

Men Women
Report talk Rapport talk

Give advice Give advice indirectly

quickly and and reluctantly
directly
Avoid asking for Frequently ask for
information information

Less sensitive to More sensitive to

non-verbal cues non-verbal cues

 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 15
Getting your message across
 Empathise

 Repeat the message

 Use timing effectively

 Be descriptive

© Photodisc. With permission.

 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 16
Active listening process

Sensing
• Postpone evaluation
• Avoid interruptions
• Maintain interest

ACTIVE
LISTENING

Responding Evaluating
• Show interest • Empathise
• Clarify the message • Organise information

 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 17