Workplace Communication: Building Relationships and Getting Things Done, Study notes of Communication and Development studies

Download Workplace Communication: Building Relationships and Getting Things Done and more Study notes Communication and Development studies in PDF only on Docsity! Communic ation and the workplaceWhere communication Drives relationships to get things done 1. General observations 2. Working together … being friends 3. Romance in the workplace 4. Sexual harassment 5. Hierarchy vs. social networks 6. Working on teams Today’s agenda Friendships with coworkers • Based largely on shared workplace experiences • No superior-subordinate relationship • Affects job satisfaction • Can be challenging because the task/social dimensions can conflict at times • Calls for balance between the social and professional dimensions from both persons With superiors/subordinates Old military rule of thumb: When soldier is promoted above peers, s/he is reassigned to another unit where the troops did not know her/him as a superior office With superiors/subordinates • Power difference adds 3d dimension to the friendship (in addition to task and social dimension) • Friendship with boss adds to job satisfaction • Pressured by fact the boss’s goals not always the employee’s • Both sides need to be open, adaptable • Otherwise friendship is doomed sooner or later Workplace harassment relationships • One of the things that keeps Human Resources and Legal staffs up at night • Not the only form of harassment • Often about power, not sex • Can involve any combination of the sexes • Sometimes hard (sometimes easy!) to know if you’ve been harassed Prevention •Seminars to inform, warn employees •Regular tutorials (UMSL) •Avoid any hint of it yourself Workplace harassment and the law • Originated with Civil Rights Act, 1964 • Two general definitions: – “this for that” – hostile environment • Did it occur? – Is it real – did it actually carry the meaning you drew? – Does it/will it influence your job performance? – Did you reject the behavior in ways clear to the person? – Has the behavior persisted? • Go to person … your supervisor … HR … a lawyer … Equal Employment Opportunity Commission A workplace systems perspective: When it’s not “all about me”• Network theory – Structure of an organization consists of interaction patterns among members – who talks to who and why, what is the information flow? -- Cynthia Stohl, Stephen Littlejohn • Key foundations – Defines org. comm as the collective and interactive process of generating and interpreting messages. – Connectedness -- relatively stable pathways of communication among individuals. Individuals who communicate together are linked to groups that are in turn linked into the larger overall network. A workplace systems perspective: When it’s not “all about me”Formal network (idealized) Emergent/informal network (actual) Compare/contrast the two kinds of social networks Formal network •Management makes decisions •Command and control •Top-down •Little lateral info flow •One-way info flow (down) •Turn-of-20th century Scientific Management concept •Employees assumed to be trainable, but have no knowledge to offer Emergent/informal network •Hidden social architecture • Employees knowledge-based, geographically spread •Project team-oriented •Who’s really trusted •Who real opinion leaders are •Most decisions made on the basis of personal expertise and influence Survey questions for the typical social network analysis 1. Who do you typically turn to for help in thinking through a new or challenging problem at work? 2. Who are you likely to turn to in order to discuss a new or innovative idea? 3. Who do you typically give work-related information? 4. Who do you turn to for input prior to making an important decision? 5. Who do you feel has contributed to your professional growth and development? 6. Who do you trust to keep your best interests in mind? 7. Who do you share personal information with? 8. Who do you ask to find out what’s really going on in the organization? 9. When a new organizational policy is announced, who do you ask in order to find out “what does this really mean?” Why organizations DON’T commission SNA’s • Fears it will be too critical of management communication • Concerns that it will build employee expectations for changes in communication practices • Simply do not want to know and would not change • Sees value in things staying as they are ~ The new | workplace retationsiit the ae v ip ' og The team dimension of workplace communication • Tight, precise job descriptions becoming thing of the past • Organizations today depend on ad hoc groups – Task forces – Project teams – “skunkworks” • Teams are multi-disciplinary – members come together from various disciplines And still more advantages • Teams tend to be more successful in implementing complex plans. • Teams develop more creative solutions to difficult problems. • Teams build commitment and support for new ideas among staff and community members. A team using technology But there are challenges • Require time to jell • Members may have invisible agendas – Opposed to teams, so they might sabotage – Activity level linked to how visible team is to upper management – Members there to protect their unit’s turf – Goof-offs who let regularly miss deadlines, skip meetings • Weak leadership can spell doom