The Challenge of Organizational CommunicationDecision Making ProcessConflict Management ProcessesOrganizational Change and Leadership ProcessesProcesses of Emotion in the Workplace

The Challenge of Organizational Communication

Our COMPLICATED World

Decision – Making Processes

Nutt (1999) concluded that half of all the decisions made in the organizations failed.

DECISION – MAKING is one of the most critical activities in any organization.

Approaches to Decision – Making Process

APPROACHES HOW DECISION – MAKING WOULD BE CONSIDERED

Classical Decision making is seen as a RATIONAL AND LOGICAL PROCESS. Emphasis is placed on procedures through which decision makers can reach an optimal solution as efficiently as possible.

Human Relations

Participation in the decision making process is seen as an avenue for the SATISFACTION of worker’s higher-order needs. Satisfied workers will then be more productive

Approaches to Decision – Making Process

APPROACHES HOW DECISION – MAKING WOULD BE CONSIDERED

Human Resources

Participation in the decision making process is seen as an avenue for eliciting valuable information from employees and for ensuring effective implementation of organizational decision.

Systems Decision making is seen as a complex process involving multiple and varied stages. Both information and organizational members are seen as part of KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS.

Approaches to Decision – Making Process

APPROACHES HOW DECISION – MAKING WOULD BE CONSIDERED

Cultural Decision making is seen as a set of practices that reflects and constitutes organizational values and assumptions. Conflicts in decision making are seen as possible indications of different values within organizational subcultures.

Critical Decision making is seen as a process through which management can exert control over employees. When employees participate in decision making, they accept the decision premises of the organization and contribute to hegemonic relationships in the organization

Conflict Management Processes

According to Putnam and Poole (1987)

“ the interaction of interdependent people who perceive opposition of goals, aims, and values, and who see the other party as potentially interfering with the realization of these goals.”

THREE I’s OF CONFLICT:

involve many different issues in the Organization Setting

When incompatibility is not a sufficient condition

Involves the expression of incompatibility

Levels of Organizational Conflict

InterpersonalLevel ofConflict

Intergroup Conflict

Inter-Organizational

Conflict

Phases of Organizational Conflict

Latent Conflict

Perceived Conflict

Felt Conflict

Manifest Conflict

Conflict aftermath

Conflict Management Styles

HIGH

LOWLOW HIGH

CONCERNFOR SELF

CONCERNFOR OTHERS

COMPETITION COLLABORATION

AVIODANCE ACCOMODATION

COMPROMISE

Criticisms of the Conflict Styles Approach

1. The conflict styles approach treats the individual communicator as the sole benchmaker for conceptualizing conflict and for determining how it will develop.

2. The conflict styles approach relies too narrowly on two – dimensional theoretical models that may not be internally congruent, exhaustive, or representative of conflict-handling modes in Organizations.

Criticisms of the Conflict Styles Approach

3. The conflict styles approach limits communication to verbal behaviors, especially those that are rational and uncomplicated, mutually exclusive across different styles, and static and unchanging.

4. The conflict styles approach treats the organization as being in the distant background rather than in the center stage of conflict activity.

Bargaining and Negotiation

“Bargaining constitutes a unique form of conflict management in that participants negotiate mutually shared rules and then cooperate within these rules to gain a competitive advantage over their opponents. Bargaining, then, differs from other forms of conflict in its emphasis on proposal exchanges as a basis for reaching a joint settlement in cooperative – competitive situation.”

- Putman and Poole (1987)

Comparison between Distributive and Integrative

BargainingDistributive Bargaining

Integrative Bargaining

GOALS Maximize individual gains and maximize losses

Maximize joint goals

ISSUES Fixed – sum issues with limited resources

Variable –sum issues shaped by overlapping positions

OUTCOMES Compromises, trade-offs, and win-lose results

Creative solutions not attributable to specific concessions

COMMUNICATIONS

Information seeking, withholding data, and deception in disclosure

Open sharing of information, accurate disclosure of needs and objectives

Third – Party Resolution

A third party is often relied on to help resolve conflicts. This “third party” might be a friend, co-worker who is brought in to help settle the conflict or to provide support for one of the parties.

- Volkema, Bergman &Farquhar

Factors Influencing the Conflict Management Process

Personal Factors- personalities, gender preferences

Relational Factors - powers, hierarchical positions

Cultural Factors - aspect of organization, national and ethic cultures

Organizational Change and Leadership Processes

MODELS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE:

Organizational life cycle (Kimberly & Miles, 1980)

Evolution of Organizational Population (Hannan and Freeman, 1989)

Planned Change (Connor and Lake, 1994)

Reactions to Organizational Change

Problems Identified in Change Process are as follows:– Lack of management support– Top managers forcing change– Inconsistent action by key managers– Unrealistic expectations– Lack of meaningful participation– Poor communication– Purpose of program was not clear– Responsibility for change not properly

identified

Communication in the Change Process

Managerial Strategies for Communicating about Change:

– Spray and Pray– Tell and Sell– Underscore and Explore– Identity and Reply– Withhold and Uphold

“Unplanned” Change : Organizational Crisis

Seeger, Sellnow, and Ulmer (2003) describe organizational crisis as evolving in three stages:

Precrisis

Crisis

Postcrisis

Organizational Leadership

Models of Leadership

• Contingency Theory

• Transformational leadership model

Communication and Leadership

The role of communication in the leadership process can be looked at in several different ways. It is important, for example, to look at what is said—the content of communication. Of course, the appropriate content of communication will vary from situation to situation, but research does give us some ideas about what effective leaders say.

PROCESSES OF EMOTION IN THE WORKPLACE

• Emotion in the Workplace

Most models of organizational life see the workplace as a setting governed by logic and rationality.

Emotion as part of the JobSeveral generalizations can be forwarded about the body of work on emotional labor:

– Most research considers frontline service workers in organizations that sanction (and pay for) emotion in the service of customers. Thus, emotional labor is seen as a way to increase the success—and profits—of the organization.

– Most research considers emotion that is explicitly controlled through training and employee manuals.

Several generalizations can be forwarded about the body of work on emotional labor:

– Most research considers emotional displays that are created through deep acting or surface acting—in other words, emotional displays that are in some way not authentic expressions of current or enduring emotion.

– When workers enact emotional labor, they are very aware that they are acting for the purpose of managerial and (sometimes) personal profit (Miller, Considine & Garner, 2007).

Emotion as Part of Workplace Relationship

Waldron (2000) argued that there are several aspects of work relationships that create potential for intense emotion in Organizations. These include:

• The tension between the public and private in work relationship

• Relational networks and emotional “buzzing”

• Conflicting allegiances• Emotional rights and obligations at work

Emotion Rules and Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Display Rule:

• Express emotions in a professional way• Express emotions to improve situation• Express emotions to the right people• Express emotions to help individuals• Do not manage emotions for personal

benefit to the detriment of others• The express of certain emotions is always

inappropriate

Stress, Burnout and Social Support in the Workplace

Communication as a Cause of Burnout

Model of Empathy, Communication and Burnout

Coping with Burnout

Individual and Organizational Coping Strategies

• Problem centered coping

• Appraisal centered coping

• Emotion centered coping

Communicative Coping: Participation in Decision Making

Communicative Coping: Social Support

Three major function of Social Support:

• Emotional Support• Informational Support• Instrumental Support

Three common supports from individuals:• Support from Supervisor• Support from co-worker• Support from friends and family

Coping with Burnout