Bu 604 Session 4

1. Bu 604 Session 4 Interpersonal Dynamics & Teams

2. Agenda • Introduction and Lessons from Last Day • Discussion of Interpersonal Communications in Organizations and Teams • Carter Racing • Revisiting the Question of Team Effectiveness • Case: Dividing the Pie

3. Examples of National Cultural Values

4. Flexibility External Focus Internal Focus Control Competing Values Framework

5. Exhibit 1-2 Skills in the New Workplace Flexibility Innovator Mentor Broker Facilitator Internal Focus External Focus Monitor Producer Coordinator Director Control

6. Three-Component Model of Organizational Commitment Involves: Emotional attachment to, identification with, involvement in the organization Affective Commitment Belief that it is one’s moral obligation to remain with the organization Normative Commitment Continuance Commitment Reflects perceived cost associated with discontinuing employment

7. Responses to Job Satisfaction - EVLN Model Active Exit Sabotage Voice Constructive Destructive Neglect Loyalty Passive

8. Communication Problems? • People spend nearly 70 percent of waking hours communicating—writing, reading, speaking, listening • WorkCanada survey of 2039 Canadians in six industrial and service categories found • 61% of senior executives believed they communicated effectively with employees • 33% of managers & department heads believed that senior executives were effective communicators. • 22% of hourly workers, 27% of clerical employees, and 22% of professional staff reported senior execs did a good job communicating with them • Canadians reported less favourable perceptions about their company’s communications than did Americans

9. Communications Process

10. Communication Terms • Communication • The transfer of meaning among people • Sender • Establishes a message, encodes the message, and chooses the channel to send it • Receiver • Decodes the message and provides feedback to the sender

11. Communication Terms • Message • What is communicated. • Encoding • Converting a message to symbolic form. • Channel • The medium through which a message travels • Decoding • Retranslating a sender’s message.

12. Choosing Channels • Channels differ in their capacity to convey information. • Rich channels have the ability to • Handle multiple cues simultaneously • Facilitate rapid feedback • Be very personal

13. Exhibit 7-2Hierarchy of Channel Richness Channel richness Type of message Information medium Richest Nonroutine, ambiguous Face to face talk Telephone Computer Memos, letters Flyers, bulletins general reports Leanest Routine, clear

14. Communication Flows in Organizations • Downward • Communication that flows from one level of a group to a lower level • Managers to employees • Upward • Communication that flows to a higher level of a group • Employees to manager • Lateral • Communication among members of the same work group, or individuals at the same level

15. Barriers to Effective Communication • Filtering • Refers to a sender manipulating information so that it will be seen more favourably by the receiver. • Selective Perception • Receivers in the communication process selectively see and hear based on their needs, motivations, experience, background, and other personal characteristics.

16. Barriers to Effective Communication • Defensiveness • When individuals interpret another’s message as threatening, they often respond in ways that retard effective communication. • Language • Words mean different things to different people.

17. Communication Flows in Organizations • Downward: communication that flows from one level of a group to a lower level • managers to employees • Upward: communication that flows to a higher level of a group • employees to manager • Lateral: communication among members of the same work group, or individuals at the same level

18. Communication Questions for Consideration Questions for Consideration • How does communication flow in organizations? • What helps and inhibits communication in an organization? • How can we improve communication? • Are there gender and ethnic differences in communications?

19. Networks • Connections by which information flow • Formal • Task-related communications that follow the authority chain • Informal • Communications that flow along social and relational lines

20. Chain Wheel All-Channel Speed Moderate Fast Fast Accuracy High High Moderate Emergence of a leader Moderate High None Member satisfaction Moderate Low High Networks and Their Effectiveness

21. The Grapevine • 75 percent of employees hear about matters first through rumours on the grapevine • Grapevine: the organization’s informal network • Grapevine has three main characteristics • Not controlled by management • Most employees perceive it as being more believable and reliable than formal communiqués issued by top management • Largely used to serve the self-interests of those people within it

22. Purpose of Rumours • To structure and reduce anxiety • To make sense of limited or fragmented information • To serve as a vehicle to organize group members, and possibly outsiders, into coalitions • To signal a sender’s status or power

23. Reducing the Negative Consequences of Rumours 1. Announce timetables for making important decisions. 2. Explain decisions and behaviours that may appear inconsistent or secretive. 3. Emphasize the downside, as well as the upside, of current decisions and future plans. 4. Openly discuss worst case possibilities; it is almost never as anxiety provoking as the unspoken fantasy.

24. Nonverbal Communication • Messages conveyed through body movements, facial expressions, and the physical distance between the sender and the receiver • Kinesics • The study of body motions, such as gestures, facial configurations, and other movements of the body • Proxemics • The study of physical space in interpersonal relationships

25. Communication Barriers Between Men and Women • Men use talk to emphasize status, women use it to create connection • Women and men tend to approach points of conflict differently

26. Communication Barriers Between Men and Women • Men and women view directness and indirectness differently • Women interpret male directness as an assertion of status and one-upmanship • Men interpret female indirectness as covert, sneaky, and weak • Men criticize women for apologizing, but women say “I’m sorry” to express empathy

27. Cross-Cultural Communication Difficulties • Sources of barriers • Semantics • Word connotations • Tonal differences

28. Culture Contexts • Cultures differ in how much the context makes a difference in communication • High-context cultures • Cultures that rely heavily on nonverbal and subtle situational cues in communication. •  Low-context cultures • Cultures that rely heavily on words to convey meaning in communication

29. High- vs. Low-Context Cultures High Chinese context Korean Japanese Vietnamese Arab Greek Spanish Italian English North American Scandinavian Swiss Low context German

30. Cross-Cultural Communications: Helpful Rules • Seek out guidance and mentoring from competent individuals who will tell you what you need to hear • Assume differences until similarity is proven, but test out these assumptions. • Emphasize description rather than interpretation or evaluation. • Practice empathy. • Treat your interpretations as a working hypothesis.

31. Making Feedback More Effective • Feedback to those being evaluated should be anonymous and aggregated • Raters should only evaluate employee behaviour that they know about and have experienced first-hand • Raters should receive orientation and training to do the evaluations • Recipients should receive guidance on how to interpret the feedback

32. Effective Listening • If you want to improve your listening skills, look to these behaviours as guides • Make eye contact. • Exhibit affirmative head nods and appropriate facial expressions. • Avoid distracting actions or gestures. • Ask questions. • Paraphrase. • Avoid interrupting the speaker. • Don’t over talk. • Make smooth transitions between the roles of speaker and listener.

33. Communication Questions • What types of difficulties have you experienced when communicating with someone from a different culture than yours? • How do you let the other person know you have heard what they are saying? How often do you do this? • Describe an example of communication breakdown. What led to the breakdown?

34. HR Implications Providing Performance Feedback

35. When to Use 360-degree Feedback • For employee development rather than for personnel decisions • As part of a formal goal-setting system • On a regular basis and not just once

36. The Conflicts in Performance Appraisal • Organizational Goals: • To allocate rewards and make personnel decisions. • To develop and grow individuals • Individual Goals: • To obtain performance feedback in order to improve. • To maintain self image and increase rewards.

37. Factors Contributing to the Effectiveness of P.A. Interviews • Skills in communications • Preparation • By Superior: organization and job goals, standards of performance • By Subordinate: organization and job goals, own assessment of strengths and weaknesses, personal development plan • Process: +ve attitude by both parties • Substance: action plan; future targets; relationship development

38. The Politics of Appraisal • Downgrade appraisals to “keep up the motivation” • Softening the assessment since it is part of a permanent record • Inflating/deflating assessments to maximize or minimize raises • Inflating / deflating appraisals to keep / get rid of subordinates • Deflating ratings to teach a lesson or to make a case for dismissal

39. The Case Against Performance Appraisal - Peter Scholtes • Any employee’s work is tied to many systems but performance evaluations focus on individuals. • Most work is the product of a group. Performance evaluation encourages “lone ranger” behaviour. • Superior only performance evaluation ignores valuable data but 360 feedback is cumbersome and time consuming.

40. Performance evaluations assume predictable systems -- something that is increasingly untrue. • Performance evaluation requires objective, consistent, fair processes. Such objectivity and consistency do not exist.

41. Reality of work Many activities, short duration Ad hoc informal interactions Non-routing and lots of variety Legitimate authority Low priority to many human resource tasks Goal Systems Need Advance planning Formal meetings and sessions Prescribed systems, schedules, forms Coach, counsellor Sponsored by HR staff Goal Systems vs the Reality of Work

42. If you need to do peer evaluation…. • Remember that the purpose is both to improve performance AND strengthen the group. You will need time! • One process: decide on 5-7 criteria of performance (eg. preparation, attendance, helpfulness, effort, etc) • Rate everyone, including yourself, collect the ratings on each person and share them (make them public)

43. Person by person discuss the ratings. • Start with each person’s self assessment, then each person discuss their evaluation. That will probably be easier. • Be descriptive and as behavioural as possible. Avoid blaming. Use “I” messages and lots of listening • Move to agreement on behaviours.

44. Summary and Implications: Communication • A common theme regarding the relationship between communication and employee satisfaction • The less uncertainty, the greater the satisfaction • Distortions, ambiguities, and incongruities all increase uncertainty • Less distortion in communication equals • More goal attainment, and better feedback • Reduction in ambiguity and distortion • Ambiguity between verbal and nonverbal communiqués increase uncertainty and reduce satisfaction • The goal of perfect communication is unattainable • The issue of communication is critical to motivation

45. Assignment for Next Week • Ch 4 and 13 • Case: The Well Paid Receptionist • Bring along a copy of the job description for the least motivating job in your organization

46. Teams & Team Decision Making

47. Teams Are Not Always the Answer A critical look at four of the assumptions: • Mature teams are task oriented & successfully minimize the negative impact of other group forces. • Individual, group, and organizational goals can all be integrated into common team goals. • Participative or shared leadership is always effective. • The team environment drives out the subversive forces of politics, power, and conflict that divert groups from efficiently doing their work. Are these true all the time?

48. Stage I Forming Prestage1 Stage II Storming Stage III Norming Stage IV Performing Stage V Adjourning Stages of Group Development

49. Team Model - Forrester & Drexler Formation Vitality Dependability Note: F & D argue that this is not a developmental Model Impact Focus Coordination Buy-In

50. Formation Dependability Focus Composition, Fit and support Trust: Information Sharing, Follow Through and Reciprocity Direction, Measurement, Accountability Team Based Model From: Forrester & Drexler, A Model for Team Based Organization Performance