workplace communication guide

8/13/2019 workplace communication guide

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8.2 Understanding Communication:

When employees think their organizations do a good job of keeping them informed aboutmatters that affect them and when they have access to the information they need to do theirjobs, they are more satisfied with their employers and this leads to higher market value.

Communication fulfills coordination, transmission of information, and sharingemotions and feelings

8.3 Communication Barriers

Filtering- the distortion or withholding of information to manage a persons reactions

Here are some of the criteria that individuals may use when deciding whether to filter amessage or pass it on:

1. Past experience: Were previous senders rewarded for passing along news of thiskind in the past, or were they criticized?

2. Knowledge and perception of the speaker: Has the receivers direct superior made itclear that no news is good news?

3. Emotional state, involvement with the topic, and level of attention: Does the sendersfear of failure or criticism prevent the message from being conveyed? Is the topicwithin the senders realm of expertise, increasing confidence in the ability to decode

the message, or is the sender out of a personal comfort zone when it comes toevaluating the messages significance? Are personal concerns impacting the sendersability to judge the messages value?

Selective perceptionrefers to filtering what we see and hear to suit our own needs

When we are receiving more information than we can take in, it is known as informationoverload.Working likes this significantly impacts efficiency, creativity, and mental acuity.

Emotional Disconnects


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Lack of Source Familiarity or Credibility

Workplace Gossip- Grapevine

Semantics-words can mean different things to different people, or they might not mean

anything to another person. Jargon is the language of specialized terms used by a group orprofession

Reducing Miscommunication by Jargon- know your audience, decode your acronyms, limitjargon use altogether

Gender Differences- men tend to focus more on competition, data, and orders in theircommunications, while women tend to focus more on cooperation, intuition, and requests.

Biased Language

Poor Listening

How to listen actively

1. Listen for message content.2. Listen for feelings.3. Respond to feelings.4. Note all cues.5. Paraphrase and restate.

Consequences of poor listening include lower employee productivity, missed sales,

dissatisfied customers, lowered morale, and increased turnover.

Ways to improve your listening habits

1. Start by stopping2. Dont worry about what youllsay when the time comes.3. Join the senders team.4. Dont multitask while listening.5. Try to empathize with the senders point of view.6. Confused?Ask questions.7. Establish eye contact.8.

What is the goal of this communication?9. Its great to be surprised.

10.Pay attention to what is not said.Typical communication stoppers include criticizing, blaming, ordering, judging, or shamingthe other person

Chapter 10 Understanding Conflict


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Intrapersonal conflict arises within a person. Interpersonal is among individuals such ascoworkers, a manager and an employee, or CEOs and their staff. Intergroup conflict isconflict that takes place among different groups

Conflict can be good in the early stages of decision making, because it stimulates creativity.Personal conflicts are never good.

Negotiation Strategies

Distributive Approach- The distributive view of negotiation is the traditional fixed-pieapproach. Each tries to get more of the pie and win

Integrative Approach-both parties look for ways to integrate their goals under a largerumbrella. That is, they look for ways to expandthe pie, so that each party gets more. Thefirst step of the integrative approach is to enter the negotiation from a cooperative ratherthan an adversarial stance. The second step is all about listening. Then you can both findways to achieve both goals.

Toolbox- Negotiating a Higher Salary


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Step 1: Overcome your fear.

o Many people dont even begin a salary negotiation. We may be afraid ofangering the boss or think that because we are doing a good job, well

automatically be rewarded, but if you dont ask for one, the boss may believe

youre satisfied with what youre getting. So why should he pay you more?

Step 2: Get the facts.

o Before you enter into the negotiation, do some background research. Whatare other companies paying people in your position? Check sites such asPayscale.com, salary.com, and salaryexpert.com to get a feel for the market.Look at surveys conducted by your professional organization.

Step 3:Build your case.

oMake a list of your contributions. Be sure to focus on the contributions thatyour boss values most. If another employer has shown interest in you,mention that as a fact. However, dont use this as a threat unless youreprepared to take the other offer.

Step 4:Know what you want.

o Set your target salary goal based on your research and the norms of whatyour organization will pay. Now ask yourself, if you dont get this figure,would youquit or consider alternatives?

Step 5:Begin assertively.

o Start the discussion on a strong but friendly tone. I think Im worth morethan Im being paid. List the ways youve contributed to the company.

Step 6:Dont make the first offer.

o Let your boss name the figure. However, if the boss insists that you name afigure, ask for the most that you can reasonably expect to get. You want to bereasonable, but you need to allow room to make a concession.

o If the boss opens with, The salary range for this position is $66,000 to78,000, ask for the high end. If your goal was higher than that range,challenge the range by explaining why you deserve more.

Step 7:Listen more than talk.

o more you listen, the better the boss will feel about youpeople tend to likeand trust people who listen to them.


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o If you cant get a raise now, get your boss to agree to one in a few months ifyou meet agreed-upon objectives.

Chapter 13 Bases of Power

Conformity refers to peoples tendencies to behave consistently with social norms.ie. Milgram Study, Asch Studies, Zimbardo Study

Legitimate power. As CEO of Apple, Jobs enjoys unquestioned legitimate power.

Expert power. His success has built a tremendous amount of expert power. Jobs is renownedfor being able to think of markets and products for needs that people didnt even know theyhad.

Reward power. As one of the richest individuals in the United States, Jobs has reward power

both within and outside Apple. He also can reward individuals with his time and attention.

Information power. Jobs has been able to leverage information in each industry he hastransformed.

Coercive power. Forcefulness is helpful when tackling large, intractable problems, saysStanford social psychologist Roderick Kramer, who calls Jobs one of the greatintimidators. Robert Sutton notes that the degree to which people in Silicon Valley are

afraid of Jobs is unbelievable. Jobs is known to berate people to the point of tears.

Referent power. But at the same time, He inspires astounding effort and creativity from his

people. Employee Andy Herzfeld, the lead designer of the original Mac operating system,says Jobs imbues employees with a messianic zeal and can make them feel that theyre

working on the greatest product in the world.

Legitimate Power- Power from a role or positionReward Power- Power from ability to grant a rewardCoercive Power- Power from ability to take something away or punish someone fornoncomplianceExpert Power- Power from knowledge and Skills

Information Power- Power from special access to specific infoReferent Power- Stems from personal characteristics of the person

Chapter 14 Planning and Executing Change Effectively


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Change will encounter resistance. Executing change w/o preparation is likely to lead tofailure.

Unfreezing- Create a vision for change, communicate a plan for change, develop a sense ofurgency of need for the change, build a coalition of opinion leaders, provide support foremployee needs, and allow employees to participate in planning.

Executing Change- Continue to provide support, create small wins or successes with the

change, and eliminate obstacles.

Refreezing- Publicize success, build on prior change, reward change adoption, make changea part of organizational culture.1.Unfreezing Prior to ChangeMany change efforts fail because people are insufficiently prepared for change. When employees are not prepared, theyare more likely to resist the change effort and less likely to effectively function under the new system. What canorganizations do prior to change to prepare employees? There are a number of things that are important at this stage.

Create a Vision for ChangeIn successful change efforts, the leader has an overall vision for the change.[17]When this vision is exciting and paints apicture of a future that employees would be proud to be a part of, people are likely to be more committed to change.For example, Toyota is a master of kaizen, or continuous improvement. They also follow the philosophy of kakushin, orrevolutionary change, as needed. Regardless of the nature of the particular change, there is an overall vision for the

company that justifies and explains why change is necessary to build the dream car of the future.[18]

Communicating a Plan for ChangeDo people know what the change entails, or are they hearing about the planned changes through the grapevine oroffice gossip? When employees know what is going to happen, and when and why, they may conquer their discomfortwith change. Research shows that those who have more complete information about upcoming changes are morecommitted to a change effort.[19]Ensuring that top management communicates with employees about the upcoming changes also has symbolicvalue.[20]In any organization, many changes are done on a daily basis, with some taking root and some disappearingafter a short while. When top management and the company CEO discuss the importance of the changes in meetings,employees are provided with a reason to trust that this change is a strategic initiative. For example, while changing theemployee performance appraisal system, the CEO of Kimberly-Clark Corporation made sure to mention the newsystem in all meetings with employees, indicating that the change was supported by the CEO.

Develop a Sense of UrgencyPeople are more likely to accept change if they feel that there is a need for it. If employees feel their company is doingwell, the perceived need for change will be smaller. Those who plan the change will need to make the case that there isan external or internal threat to the organizations competitiveness, reputation, or sometimes even its survival, andfailure to act will have dire consequences. For example, Lou Gerstner, the former CEO of IBM, executed a successfultransformation of the company. In his biographyElephants Can Dance, he highlights how he achieved cooperation asfollows: Our greatest ally in shaking loose the past was IBMs eminent collapse. Rather than go with the usual impulseto put on a happy face, I decided to keep the crisis front and center. I did nt want to lose the sense of urgency.[21]

Building a CoalitionIn order to convince people that change is needed, the change leader does not necessarily have to convince everyperson individually. In fact, peoples opinions toward change are affected by opinion leaders, or those people who havea strong influence over the behaviors and attitudes of others.[22]Instead of trying to get everyone on board at the sametime, it may be more useful to convince and prepare the opinion leaders. Once these individuals agree that change isneeded and will be useful, they will become helpful allies in ensuring that the rest of the organization is ready forchange.[23]For example, Paul Pressler, after becoming the CEO of Gap Inc. in 2002, initiated a culture change effort in
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the hope of creating a sense of identity among the companys many brands such as Banana Republic, Old Navy, andGap. For this purpose, management segmented the employees into groups instead of trying to reach out to allemployees at the same time. Gap Inc. started by training the 2,000 senior managers in Leadership Summits, who inturn were instrumental in ensuring the cooperation of the remaining 150,000 employees of the company.[24]

Provide SupportEmployees should feel that their needs are not ignored. Therefore, management may prepare employees for change byproviding emotional and instrumental support. Emotional support may be in the form of frequently discussing thechanges, encouraging employees to voice their concerns, and simply expressing confidence in employees ability toperform effectively under the new system. Instrumental support may be in the form of providing a training program toemployees so they know how to function under the new system.

Allow Employees to ParticipateStudies show that employees who participate in planning change efforts tend to have more positive opinions about thechange. Why? They will have the opportunity to voice their concerns. They can shape the change effort so that theirconcerns are addressed. They will be more knowledgeable about the reasons for change, alternatives to the proposedchanges, and why the chosen alternative was better than the others. Finally, they will feel a sense of ownership of theplanned change and are more likely to be on board.[25]Participation may be more useful if it starts at earlier stages,preferably while the problem is still being diagnosed. For example, assume that a company suspects there areproblems with manufacturing quality. One way of convincing employees that there is a problem that needs to be solvedwould be to ask them to take customer calls about the product quality. Once employees experience the problemfirsthand, they will be more motivated to solve the problem.

2.Executing ChangeThe second stage of Lewinsthree-step change model is executing change. At this stage, the organization implementsthe planned changes on technology, structure, culture, or procedures. The specifics of how change should be executed

will depend on the type of change. However, there are some tips that may facilitate the success of a change effort.Continue to Provide SupportAs the change is underway, employees may experience high amounts of stress. They may make mistakes more often orexperience uncertainty about their new responsibilities or job descriptions. Management has an important role inhelping employees cope with this stress by displaying support, patience, and continuing to provide support toemployees even after the change is complete.

Create Small WinsDuring a change effort, if the organization can create a history of small wins, change acceptance will be morelikely.[26]If the change is large in scope and the payoff is a long time away, employees may not realize change isoccurring during the transformation period. On the other hand, if people see changes, improvements, and successesalong the way, they will be inspired and motivated to continue the change effort. For this reason, breaking up theproposed change into phases may be a good idea, because it creates smaller targets. Small wins are also important forplanners of change to make the point that their idea is on the right track. Early success gives change planners morecredibility, while early failures may be a setback.[27]

Eliminate Obstacles

When the change effort is in place, many obstacles may crop up along the way. There may be key people who publiclysupport the change effort while silently undermining the planned changes. There may be obstacles rooted in acompanys structure, existing processes, or culture. It is the managements job to identify, understand, and removethese obstacles.[28]Ideally, these obstacles would have been eliminated before implementing the change, but sometimesunexpected roadblocks emerge as change is underway.

Kotters Eight-stage Process for Change

Harvard Business School professor John P. Kotter proposed that companies should follow eight stages wheninstituting change. Here is a summary of his suggested steps.1. Create a sense of urgency when introducing the change effort.2. Build a coalition.3. Create a vision for change and make change a part of the vision.4. Communicate a plan for change5. Eliminate obstacles to change6.

Create small wins7. Build on change

8. Make change a part of culture.Source: Kotter, J. P. (1996).Leading change.Boston, MA: Harvard Business. School Press.

3.RefreezingAfter the change is implemented, the long-term success of a change effort depends on whether change becomes part ofthe companys culture. In other words, the revised ways of thinking, behaving, and performing should become routine.For this reason, there are a number of things management can do.

Publicize SuccessIn order to make change permanent, the organization may benefit from sharing the results of the change effort withemployees. What was gained from the implemented changes? How much money did the company save? How much did
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the companys reputation improve? What was the reduction in accidents after new procedures were put in place?Sharing concrete results with employees increases their confidence that the implemented change was a right decision.

Build on Prior ChangeOnce results start coming, it is important to benefit from the momentum created by these early successes by pushingfor even more change. Following the philosophy of continuous improvement may be a good idea here. Instead ofdeclaring victory early, the company is advised to make continuous improvements to how business is conducted.

Reward Change Adoption

In order to ensure that change becomes permanent, organizations may benefit from rewarding those who embrace thechange effort. The rewards do not necessarily have to be financial. The simple act of recognizing those who are givingsupport to the change effort in front of their peers may encourage others to get on board. When the new behaviorsemployees are expected to demonstrate (such as using a new computer program, filling out a new form, or simplygreeting customers once they enter the store) are made part of an organizations reward system, those behaviors aremore likely to be taken seriously and repeated, making the change effort successful.[29]

Make Change a Part of Organizational CultureIf the change effort has been successful, change will have become a part of corporate culture. In other words, inaddition to the changes in procedures, processes, or technology, the mindset of people will also have changed. Ifchange occurs only in superficial elements, it would be misleading to declare change a success. For example, if acompany institutes a wellness program emphasizing healthy habits, rewarding employees for adopting healthy choicesand providing resources to maximize health, this change effort would be deemed a true success if valuing employeehealth and well-being also becomes a part of the organizations culture. Creating a Web site, and printing booklets anddistributing them are all tools leading to this goal, but achieving the true goal also necessitates a change in ingrainedassumptions of management and employees putting work before employee health and well-being.
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