Introduction to Organisational Behaviour and Application to Management

1. Introduction to Organisational Behaviour and Application to Management The Group – Communication

2. What is communication? • The transference and understanding of meaning • Information, knowledge or ideas can be communicated in many different ways between individuals and groups.

4. Ways to communicate Oral Communication • Advantages: Speed and feedback • Disadvantage: Distortion of the message Written Communication • Advantages: Tangible and verifiable • Disadvantages: Time consuming and lacks feedback Nonverbal Communication • Advantages: Supports other communications and provides observable expression of emotions and feelings • Disadvantage: Misperception of body language or gestures can influence receiver’s interpretation of message

5. Communication Process (Shannon and Weaver)

6. Communication Process • The Sender – initiates message • Encoding – translating thought to message • The Message – what is communicated • The Channel – the medium the message travels through • Decoding – the receiver’s action in making sense of the message • The Receiver – person who gets the message • Noise – things that interfere with the message • Feedback – a return message regarding the initial communication

7. Channels of Communication How the sender sends the message to the receiver. Types of Channels • Formal Channels • Are established by the organisation and transmit messages that are related to the professional activities of members • Informal Channels • Used to transmit personal or social messages in the organisation. These informal channels are spontaneous and emerge as a response to individual choices

8. Communication in an organisation

9. Directions of communication • Downward • Upward • Lateral What examples of this type of communication have you experienced at University?

10. Networks of communication Chain: • Rigidly follows the chain of command Wheel: • Relies on a central figure to act as the conduit for all communication • Team with a strong leader All Channel: • All group members communicate actively with each other • Self-managed teams

11. The Grapevine (rumours) Three main Grapevine characteristics • Informal, not controlled by management • Perceived by most employees as being more believable and reliable than formal communications • Largely used to serve the self-interests of those who use it Results from: • Desire for information about important situations • Ambiguous conditions • Conditions that cause anxiety • Insightful to managers • Serves employee’s social needs

12. Reducing rumours • Announce timetables for making important decisions • Explain decisions and behaviors that may appear inconsistent or secretive • Emphasize the downside, as well as the upside, of current decisions and future plans • Openly discuss worst-case possibilities—they are almost never as anxiety-provoking as the unspoken fantasy

13. Methods of communication • newsletters • appraisals • meetings • message boards • emails • telephone conversations • posters • blogs • intranet Common forms of structured communication within an organisation include:

14. Activity • What are the advantages and disadvantages of each of the forms of communication tools?

15. Barriers to effective communication Filtering • A sender’s manipulation of information so that it will be seen more favorably by the receiver Selective Perception • People selectively interpret what they see on the basis of their interests, background, experience, and attitudes Information Overload • A condition in which information inflow exceeds an individual’s processing capacity Emotions • How a receiver feels at the time a message is received will influence how the message is interpreted

16. More barriers Language • Words have different meanings to different people Communication Apprehension • Undue tension and anxiety about oral communication, written communication, or both Gender Differences • Men tend to talk to emphasize status while women talk to create connections

17. Cultural Implications Cross-cultural factors increase communication difficulties Cultural Barriers: • Semantics: some words aren’t translatable • Word Connotations: some words imply multiple meanings beyond their definitions • Tone Differences: the acceptable level of formality of language • Perception Differences: language affects worldview Cultural Context: • The importance of social context to meaning • Low-context cultures (like the U.S.) rely on words for meaning • High-context cultures gain meaning from the whole situation

18. The cost of poor communication Failed communication can be costly. Consider this example of The Accident Group: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2866298/Accident-Group-staff-receive-4m.html and the Cerner Corporation: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1263473.stm

19. Reflection Think about communication in your presentation teams. • How do you communicate? • What model do you use? • What tools do you use?

20. The Dabbawallahs • What makes them unique? • How do they manage teams? • What motivations do their members have? • How do they communicate? • What tools do they use? • What could we learn from them?

21. The Dabbawalahs • You can also read more about the Dabbawalahs here: http://www.rediff.com/money/2005/nov/11spec.htm • http://www.citesales.com/90-dabbawallah-case-study.html • http://www.citesales.com/90-dabbawallah-case-study.html

22. Introduction to Organisational Behaviour and Application to Management The Group –Leadership

23. Leadership and management Leadership • The ability to influence a group toward the achievement of goals Management • Use of authority inherent in designated formal rank to obtain compliance from organisational members Both are necessary for organisational success

24. Are Leaders born or made? • Trait theory: leadership is inherent, so we must identify the leader based on his or her traits • Behavioral theory: leadership is a skill set and can be taught to anyone, so we must identify the proper behaviors to teach potential leaders

25. Essential leadership qualities • Extroversion • Conscientiousness • Openness • Emotional Intelligence • Do you agree? • Are there any others you think are essential?

26. Contingency theory of leadership • While trait and behavior theories do help us understand leadership, an important component is missing: the environment in which the leader exists • Contingency Theory adds this additional aspect to our understanding leadership effectiveness studies • Four key theories: • Fiedler’s Model • Situational Leadership Theory • Path-Goal Theory • Leader Participation

27. Fiedler Model • Assumes that leadership style is fixed • For effective leadership: must change to a leader who fits the situation or change the situational variables to fit the current leader • Considers Three Situational Factors: • Leader-member relations: degree of confidence and trust in the leader • Task structure: degree of structure in the jobs • Position power: leader’s ability to hire, fire, and reward

28. Situational leadership • Followers can accept or reject the leader • Effectiveness depends on the followers’ response to the leader’s actions • “Readiness” is the extent to which people have the ability and willingness to accomplish a specific task

29. Path-Goal Theory • Leaders provide followers with information, support, and resources to help them achieve their goals • Leaders help clarify the “path” to the worker’s goals • Leaders can display multiple leadership types Four types of leaders: • Directive: focuses on the work to be done • Supportive: focuses on the well-being of the worker • Participative: consults with employees in decision making • Achievement-Oriented: sets challenging goals

30. Leader Participation Model • How a leader makes decisions is as important as what is decided • Leader behaviors must adjust to the way tasks are structured in the organisation. • Complicated model which has not been proven

31. Styles of leadership • Charismatic • Transformational (and transactional)

32. Charismatic

33. Charismatic leaders influence by…

34. Transformational leaders • Inspire followers to transcend their self-interests for the good of the organisation

35. Transformational approaches

36. What style of leader are you? • Look at your Myers-Briggs and your Belbin results • Think about your experiences of when you have taken the lead in an activity • What style of leadership suits you best?

37. Other factors • Authenticity • Authentic leaders know who they are, what they believe in and value, and act upon those values and beliefs. • Ethics • Leadership is not free from values. When we assess leadership, we must assess not just the goals themselves but also the means by which those goals are achieved. • Culture • Different cultures value different leadership traits more than others

38. Trust • Trust – a psychological state that exists when you agree to make yourself vulnerable to another because you have a positive expectation for how things are going to turn out. • Key attribute associated with leadership • Followers who trust their leader will align their actions and attitudes with the leader’s behaviors/requests

39. How is trust developed? • Leadership Action: Integrity, Benevolence, Ability • Trust occurs (hopefully) • Action: Risk Taking, Information Sharing, Group Effectiveness, and Productivity

40. Reflection • What leaders do you know who are charismatic? • Are there any leaders which you trust? • What sort of leader would you like to have? • Have a look at this list of famous leaders. Are there any you do/don’t want to be like? http://www.thefamouspeople.com/political-leaders.php

41. Mentoring • Mentoring is the more experienced (mentor) helping the less experienced (protégé)

42. Effective leaders • How do you find and select leaders? • How can you train leaders? • What are your ideas?