Organizational Communication
Organizational Communication
Organizational Communication
Organizational Communication
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Types of Organizational
Communication
• Upward
• Downward
• Business
• Informal
• Interpersonal
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Organizational Communication
Upward Communication
• Serial communication
– MUM effect
– open-door policy
• Attitude surveys
• Focus groups
• Exit interviews
• Suggestion boxes
• Third party facilitators
– Liaison
– Ombudsperson
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Organizational Communication
Downward Communication
• Bulletin boards
• Policy manuals
• Newsletters
• Intranets
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Organizational Communication
Business Communication
• Memos
• Telephone calls
• Email
• Voice mail
• Business meetings
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Email Etiquette
• Include a greeting
• Included a detailed subject line
• Don’t write in all caps
• Delete unnecessary information when forwarding
email
• Avoid grammar and spelling mistakes
• Don’t spend company time on personal email
• Allow ample time for a person to respond
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Office Design
• Designs
– Open (landscaped) offices
• bullpen design
• uniform design
– Cubicles
– Private offices
• Research on open designs
– decreased satisfaction
– increased socialization
– decreased costs
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Office Layout
• Furniture type
• Desk placement
• Neatness/clutter
• Artifacts
• Windows
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Organizational Communication
Informal Communication
• Grapevine
– single-strand pattern
– gossip pattern
– probability pattern
– cluster pattern
• Gossip
• Rumor
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Grapevine Patterns
Single Strand
Jones Smith Brown Tinker Evers
Gossip
Tinker
Brown Evers Frey
Smith Chance Martin
Austin
Jones
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Probability
Cluster Brown
Jones 12
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Interpersonal Communication
• The exchange of a message across a
communication channel from one person to
another
• Three problem areas
– Intended message versus message sent
– Message sent versus message received
– Message received versus message interpreted
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Sender Receiver
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Communication Channels
• Oral
– in-person
– word-of-mouth
– answering machine
• Nonverbal
• Written
– personal letter/memo
– general letter/memo
– email
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Noise
• Actual noise
• Appropriateness of the channel
• Bias
• Feelings about the person
communicating
• Mood
• Perceived motives
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Nonverbal Cues
• Are ambiguous
• Those that aren’t, are called
emblems
• Gender and cultural
differences are common
• Nonverbal cues are thought
to be 80% of the message
received
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQENwD-QlRA&feature=related 24
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Use of Space
• Intimacy zone
– 0 to 18 inches
– close relationships
• Personal distance zone
– 18 inches to 4 feet
– friends and acquaintances
• Social distance zone
– 4 to 12 feet
– business contacts and strangers
• Public distance zone
– 12 to 25 feet
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Use of Time
• Being late
• Leaving a meeting early
• Setting aside time for a
meeting
• Multi-tasking (working
while talking)
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Paralanguage
• Rate of speech
• Loudness
• Intonation
• Amount of talking
• Voice pitch
• Pauses
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjmkb5HCGLA
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Artifacts
• Our office
– décor
– desk placement
• What we wear
– clothing
– accessories
– hair styles
– tattoos
• The car we drive
• The house we live in
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• Assimilate
• Sharpen
• Level
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• Listening Skills
• Listening Style
• Emotional State
• Cognitive Ability
• Bias
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Listening Skills
• Stop talking and listen • Keep an open mind
• Show the speaker you • Use appropriate
want to listen nonverbal cues
• Empathize with the • Let the other person
speaker finish speaking
• Don’t ask excessive • Try to understand what
questions the other person means
• Remove distractions
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Listening Styles
(Geier & Downey, 1980)
• Leisure
• Inclusive
• Stylistic
• Technical
• Empathic
• Nonconforming
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Other Factors
• Emotional State
– Anger
– Fear
– Anxiety
– Excitement
– Love
• Bias
• Cognitive Ability
• Drugs and Alcohol
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Focus on Ethics
Ethical Communication
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