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Management
, Ninth Edition
Robert Kreitner, Arizona State University
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| | Chapter Summaries
Chapter 12:
Communicating in the Internet Age
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Modern technology has made communicating easier and less costly, with the unintended side effect of information overload. Managers are challenged to improve the quality of their communication because it is a core process for everything they do. Communication is a social process involving the transfer of information and understanding. Links in the communication process include sender, encoding, medium, decoding, receiver, and feedback. Noise is any source of interference.
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According to the Lengel-Daft contingency model, media richness is determined by the amount of information conveyed and learning promoted. Rich media such as face-to-face communication are best for nonroutine problems. Lean media such as impersonal bulletins are suitable for routine problems.
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Organizational communication is typically too haphazard. Clampitts communication continuum indicates how the five basic strategies are not equally effective. The Spray & Pray and Withhold & Uphold strategies are generally ineffective and should be avoided. The Tell & Sell and Identify & Reply strategies should be used sparingly. Managers need to use the Underscore & Explore strategy as much as possible. Media richness needs to be as high as possible if the preferred communication strategies are to be effective.
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The unofficial and informal communication system that sometimes complements and sometimes disrupts the formal communication system has been labeled the grapevine. A sample of managers surveyed had predominantly negative feelings toward it. Recognizing that the grapevine cannot be suppressed, managers are advised to monitor it constructively. Nonverbal communication, including facial, gestural, and postural body language, accounts for most of the impact of face-to-face communication. Managers can become more effective communicators by doing a better job of receiving and giving nonverbal communications.
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Upward communication can be stimulated by using formal grievance procedures, employee attitude and opinion surveys, suggestion systems, an open-door policy, informal meetings, Internet chat rooms, and exit interviews.
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Managers need to identify and overcome four barriers to communication. Process barriers can occur at any one of the basic links in the communication process. Physical barriers, such as walls and distance between two points, can block the transfer of understanding. Semantic barriers are encountered when there is confusion about the meaning of words. Psychosocial barriers to communication involve the full range of human perceptions, prejudices, and attitudes that can block the transfer of understanding. Care needs to be taken to eliminate subtle forms of sexist and racist communication.
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E-mail, supposedly a real time saver, has quickly become a major time waster. Organizations need to create and enforce a clear e-mail policy to improve message quality and curb abuses. Cell phone users need to be discreet and courteous to avoid broadcasting privileged information and/or offending others. Videoconferencing restricts how people communicate because televised contacts are more mechanical than face-to-face meetings. While telecommuting can reduce travel time and expense and offer employment to nontraditional employees, it severely restricts normal social contact and face-to-face communication in the workplace.
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Listening does not get sufficient attention in communications training. Active, cooperative listening is to be encouraged. Writing skills are no less important in the computer age. Written messages need to be specific, simply worded, and concise. Meetings, an ever-present feature of organizational life, need to be agenda-driven if time is to be used wisely.
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