Skillful managers are most likely to deal with their organizations grapevine by

Informal Communication

An interesting type of organizational communication is informal communication.

Often, informal information is transmitted through the grapevine, a term that can be traced back to the Civil War, when loosely hung telegraph wires resembled grapevines. The communication across these lines was often distorted. Because unofficial employee communication is also thought to be distorted, the term has become synonymous with an informal communication network (Davis, 1977).

Grapevines are common because they provide employees with information, power, and entertainment (Kurland & Pelled, 2000). Not surprisingly, the increased use of email has increased the importance of the grapevine (Smith, 2001).

Davis (1953) studied the grapevine and established the existence of four grapevine patterns: single strand, gossip, probability, and cluster. As Figure 11.1 shows, in the single-strand grapevine, Jones passes a message to Smith, who passes the message to Brown, and so on until the message is received by everyone or someone “breaks the chain.” This pattern is similar to the children’s game of “telephone.” In the gossip grapevine, Jones passes the message to only a select group of people. Notice that with this pattern only one person passes the message along, and not everyone has a chance to receive, or will receive, it. In the probability grapevine, Jones tells the message to a few other employees, and they in turn randomly pass the message along to other employees. In the cluster grapevine, Jones tells only a few select employees, who in turn tell a few select others.

Research on the grapevine has supported several of Davis’s (1953) findings. Sutton and Porter (1968) studied 79 employees in a state tax office and reached several interesting conclusions. They found that employees could be placed into one of three categories. Isolates were employees who received less than half of the information, liaisons were employees who both received most of the information and passed it on to others, and dead-enders were those who heard most of the information but seldom passed it on to other employees.

Managers tended to be liaisons because they had heard 97% of the grapevine information and most of the time passed it on. Nonmanagerial employees heard 56% of the grapevine information but seldom passed it on. Only 10% of nonmanagerial employees were liaisons; 57% were dead-enders and 33% were isolates.

Although most people consider the grapevine to be inaccurate, research has shown that information in the grapevine often contains a great deal of truth though it is often incomplete. A review of rumors in organizations indicates that organizational rumors are about 80% accurate (DiFonzo & Bordia, 2006). Such a statistic, however, can be misleading. Consider the following hypothetical example: A message travels through the grapevine that

“the personnel director will fire 25 people on Monday morning at 9 o’clock.”

The truth, however, is that the personnel director will hire 25 people on Monday morning at 9 o’clock. Thus, even though four out of five parts of the message (80%) are correct, the grapevine message paints a picture quite different from reality.

The grapevine contains two types of information: gossip and rumor. While both gossip and rumor contain poorly substantiated information, gossip is primarily about individuals and the content of the message lacks significance to the people gossiping. Rumor, however, contains information that is significant to the lives of those communicating the message, and can be about individuals or other topics (DiFonzo & Bordia, 2006). Usually, rumor will occur when the available information is both interesting and ambiguous. Thus, rumor serves the function of helping to make sense of ambiguous information and of helping manage potential threats, whereas gossip serves to entertain and supply social information (DiFonzo & Bordia, 2007). The most common topics for rumor are personnel changes, job security, and the external reputation of the organization (DiFonzo & Bordia, 2007). Rumor and gossip are often ways in which employees can relieve stress and anxiety, respond to perceived organizational wrongs in a nonaggressive way, maintain a sense of control, and increase their power in an organization (DiFonzo & Bordia, 2006, 2007; Kurland & Pelled, 2000).

Certainly, not all horizontal communication is informal. Employees at the same level often exchange job-related information on such topics as customers and clients, the status of projects, and information necessary to complete a particular task. To increase the amount of job-related horizontal communication, many organizations have adopted the practice of self-managed work groups.

For example, at Columbia Gas Development in Houston, 12-person drilling teams were formed. The team approach greatly increased communication among geologists, engineers, and other staff members who had previously been located in separate departments. As another example, the use of teams at Meridian Insurance in Indianapolis increased communication and efficiency so much that a 29-step process for handling paperwork was reduced to 4 steps.

Interpersonal Communication

Interpersonal communication involves the exchange of a message across a communication channel from one person to another. As shown in Figure 11.3, the interpersonal communication process begins with a sender encoding and transmitting a message across a communication channel (e.g., by memo, orally, nonverbally) and ends with another person (the receiver) receiving and decoding the message. Although this seems like a simple process, there are three main problem areas where things can go wrong and interfere with the accurate transmission or reception of the message.

Problem Area 1: Intended Message Versus Message Sent

For effective communication, the sender must know what she wants to say and how she wants to say it. Interpersonal communication problems can occur when the message a person sends is not the message she intended. There are three solutions to this problem: thinking about what you want to communicate, practicing what you want to communicate, and learning better communication skills.

Thinking about What You Want to Communicate

Often the reason we don’t say what we mean is that we are not really sure what we want to say. For example, think of using the drive-thru window at a fast-food restaurant. As soon as you stop, but before you have a chance to read the menu board, a voice crackles, “Can I take your order?” You intelligently reply something like, “Uhhhhhhh, could you hang on a minute?” and then quickly try to place an order as the pressure builds. As you drive off, you realize that you did not really order what you wanted.

Does this scenario sound familiar? If so, you are not alone. Foster and his colleagues (1988) found that many fast-food restaurant customers have so little time to think about their order that they make ordering mistakes. They found that placing a menu sign before the ordering station gave customers more time to think about their orders and that this decreased average ordering times from 28 seconds to 6 seconds and ordering errors from 29% to 4%.

As another example, think about calling a friend and unexpectedly getting an answering machine. Have you ever left a message in which the first few sentences sounded reasonably intelligent? Did the first sentence again begin with “Uhhhhhhhhh”? Or have you ever made a call expecting to get an answering machine and instead had an actual person answer the phone? These examples show the importance of thinking about what you want to communicate.

Practice What You Want to Communicate

Even though you may know what you want to say, communication errors can occur if you do not actually say what you meant to say. Thus, when communication is important, it should be practiced. Just as consultants practice before giving a training talk and actors rehearse before a performance, you too need to practice what you want to say in important situations. Perhaps you can remember practicing how you were going to ask a person out on a date: changing the tone of your voice, altering your first line, or thinking of topics to discuss so that you would appear spontaneous.

Learn Better Communication Skills

Even if you know what you want to say and how you want to say it, communication errors can still occur if you do not have the proper communication skills. It is essential to take courses in public speaking, writing, and interpersonal communication so that you will be better prepared to communicate effectively. Because of the importance of communication skills, many organizations offer a wide range of communication training programs for their employees.

Problem Area 2: Message Sent Versus Message Received

Even though an individual knows what she wants to say and says it exactly as she planned, as shown in Figure 11.4, many factors affect how that message is received.

The Actual Words Used

A particular word may mean one thing in one situation but something else in another. Take the word fine as an example. If I told you that you had “fine jewelry,” you would probably take the statement as a compliment. If the word were used to describe the weather—“The weather here in California is just fine”—it would still have a positive connotation. However, if a spouse asked, “How was the dinner I cooked?” or “How did you like our evening of romance?” an answer of “fine” would probably result in a very lonely evening.

A particular word may also mean one thing to one person and something different to another. For example, a 60-year-old man with a rural background may use the word girl as a synonym for female. He may not understand why the women at work get upset when he refers to them as the “girls in the office.” When I conduct training sessions for police officers, we discuss how such words as boy, son, and pretty little lady can be emotionally charged and should thus be avoided.

Even within English-speaking countries, a particular word can have different meanings. Take, for example, if someone said, “He was pissed.” In the United States, we would interpret that the person was angry, yet people in Ireland would interpret that the person was drunk. If someone in Ireland said, “Where is the crack?” they would be asking the location of a party, not asking about drugs.

Words or phrases that are vague can also cause problems. For example, you need a set of data by the end of the day, so you tell your assistant that you need the data immediately. At the end of the day, however, the data are not there. The next morning, the employee proudly brings you the data that she has compiled in “less than a day” and is confused about why you are angry. In this example, you encoded the message as “I need it by 5 o’clock,” you transmitted the message as “I need it immediately,” and the employee decoded it as “She needs it tomorrow.”

If someone told you, “I won’t be gone long,” when would you expect her back?

When I ask this question of my classes or seminar audiences, the answers usually range from ten minutes to three hours. Interestingly, at one seminar I conducted, a woman responded that her husband said that very phrase and came back 4 days later.

As the previous examples demonstrate, it is important to be concrete in the words we use. Why, then, are we often vague in the way we communicate? One reason is that we want to avoid confrontations. If a husband tells his spouse that he will be gone for 4 days, he may know that she will object. By being vague, he avoids the initial confrontation and hopes that she will not notice how long he has actually been gone—a common ploy used by us men, but one that never seems to work.

Another reason for vagueness is that it gives us a chance to “test the water” and see what a person’s initial reaction might be before we say what we really want. Asking someone out on a date is a perfect example. Instead of being direct and saying, “Do you want to go out this Friday?” we often say something such as, “So, what are you up to this weekend?” If the response is positive, we become a bit more bold.

Gender is another factor related to the use of words. As shown in Figure 11.5, Deborah Tannen (1995, 2001) believes that men and women speak very different languages and have different communication styles. By understanding these differences, communication in the workplace as well as in the home can be dramatically improved.

Communication can be improved if we choose our words carefully and ask, “How might the other person interpret what I am about to say?” If I use the word girl, will anyone be upset? If so, what word could I use that would be better?

Communication Channel

Problems in communication can occur as a result of the communication channel through which the message is transmitted. Information can be communicated in a variety of ways, such as orally, nonverbally, through a second party, or through a written medium such as a letter or memo. The same message can be interpreted in different ways based on the channel used to communicate it. For example, an employee being reprimanded will receive the message very differently if it is communicated in a memo or an email rather than face to face. A miffed employee who gives the cold shoulder to a coworker will receive a different response than if she yelled at the coworker or discussed the anger with her.

Another example of the channel’s importance is a supervisor criticizing an employee in front of other employees. The employee might be so embarrassed and angered that she would not hear the content of the message. Again, transmitting a message through an inappropriate channel interferes with the message’s meaning and accurate interpretation.

Often, the communication channel is the message itself. For example, if top management sends a “gofer” to deliver a message, it is essentially communicating that either the message or the receiver is not important. A colleague at another university tells about a former boss who always personally delivered good news (e.g., promotions, raises) as well as doughnuts on Friday. But lower-level management always had to communicate the bad news, a practice that was resented by employees.

Perhaps the worst choice of a communication channel occurred in 2006, when Radio Shack emailed 400 of its workers in their Fort Worth, Texas, headquarters that they would be losing their jobs. Even worse than the choice of communication channel was the actual wording of the communication, “the work force reduction notification is currently in progress. Unfortunately your position is one that has been eliminated.” Employees were given boxes and plastic bags to pack their personal belongings and given 30 minutes to leave. What message do you think this sent to the employees?

Noise

The noise surrounding a transmission channel can also affect the way a message is received. Noise can be defined as any interference that affects proper reception of a message. An obvious example is actual auditory noise, such as the sound of a subway or elevated train interfering with conversation. Other examples are the appropriateness of the channel, the reputation of the person sending the message, and other information being received at the same time.

Nonverbal Cues

Much of what we communicate is conveyed by nonverbal means. Our words often say one thing, but our actions say another. For example, a supervisor may tell an employee that she is interested in hearing her opinions, while at the same time she is frowning and looking out the window. The verbal message from the supervisor may be “I care,” but the nonverbal message is “I’m bored.” Which message will the employee pay attention to? Most likely, it will be the nonverbal one, even though nonverbal cues often lead to incorrect impressions. Nonverbal cues can be divided into five categories: body language, paralanguage, use of space, use of time, and artifacts.

Body Language. How we move and position our body—our body language—communicates much to other people. For example:

·        When one’s body faces another person, it is often interpreted as a sign of liking, whereas when a person’s body is turned away from another, it is often interpreted as a sign of dislike or lack of interest.

·        Superiority is communicated by interrupting others, leaning back in a chair, moving closer to someone, or sitting while others stand.

·        Making eye contact implies interest. In a casual conversation, increased eye contact is interpreted as a sign of liking, in a bar it may be a sign of flirting, and on a football field it may be interpreted as a sign of aggression. Lack of eye contact can mean many things, including disinterest, discomfort, or embarrassment. A person who makes eye contact while speaking but not while listening is often perceived as being powerful or dominant.

·        Raising or lowering the head or the shoulders may indicate superiority or inferiority, respectively.

·        Touching someone usually indicates liking, friendship, or nurturance. In fact, a review of several studies indicated that servers who touch their customers will receive a larger tip than those who do not (Azar, 2007).

Another study found that library clerks who briefly touched patrons as they were being handed books were rated by the patrons as being better employees than clerks who did not touch (Fisher, Rytting, & Heslin, 1976). Men initiate contact more often than women (Major, Schmidlin, & Williams, 1990).

·        A meta-analysis by DePaulo et al. (2003) found that when people lie, they are more likely to purse their lips, raise their chin, fidget, and show nervousness than when they are not telling a lie.

As one might expect, gender differences occur in the use of nonverbal cues.

For example, Dolin and Booth-Butterfield (1993) found that women use nonverbal cues such as head nodding to show attention more often than do men. In social situations, women touch, smile, and make eye contact more than men do (DePaulo, 1992).

Not surprisingly, there are many cultural differences in nonverbal communication. Here are a few examples:

·        In the United States, a thumbs-up indicates agreement. In Australia, it is considered a rude gesture.

·        In Japan, bowing is preferred to shaking hands.

·        In the United States, people point at objects with their index finger.

Germans point with their little finger, and Japanese point with the entire hand. In Japan and the Middle East, pointing with your index finger is considered rude.

·        Showing the soles of one’s feet is common in the United States but is considered offensive in Thailand and Saudi Arabia.

·        Sitting with one’s legs crossed shows relaxation in the United States but is considered offensive in Ghana and Turkey.

·        Prolonged eye contact is the norm in Arabic cultures, but it shows a lack of respect in many African, Latin American, and Caribbean countries.

·        Touching another person is common in Latin and Middle Eastern countries, but not in northern European or Asian countries.

Research has shown that body language can affect employee behavior. For example, a meta-analysis by Barrick, Shaffer, and DeGrassi (2008) found that the use of appropriate nonverbal communication is highly correlated with interview scores.

Though body language can be a useful source of information, it is important to understand that the same nonverbal cue can mean different things in different situations and cultures. So, be careful and try not to read too much into a particular nonverbal cue.

Use of Space. The ways people make use of space also provides nonverbal cues about their feelings and personality. Dominant people or those who have authority are given more space by others and at the same time take space from others. For example, people stand farther away from such status figures as executives and police officers (and even college professors), and stand in an office doorway rather than directly enter such a person’s office. These same status figures, however, often move closer as a show of power. Police officers are taught that moving in close is one method of intimidating a person.

On the other hand, status figures also increase space to establish differences between themselves and the people with whom they are dealing. A common form of this use of distance is for an executive to place a desk between herself and another person. An interesting story is told by a sports agent who was negotiating a player’s contract with George Steinbrenner, owner of the New York Yankees.

When the agent arrived at Steinbrenner’s office, he noticed that Steinbrenner sat at one end of a long desk. At the other end was a small chair in which the agent was to sit. Recognizing the spatial arrangement to be a power play, the agent moved his chair next to Steinbrenner’s. As the story goes, the Yankee owner was so rattled by this ploy that the agent was able to negotiate an excellent contract for his player client.

The following example also illustrates how the use of space can enhance a person’s status by adding an image of importance. Recently, the psychology building at Radford University was renovated, and with efficient use of attic space, every faculty member was given an office. Students who visited during office hours had been accustomed to faculty members sharing offices. Many of these students commented on how important the psychology faculty member they had come to see must be to receive his/her own office. (Of course, we never told them that we all had our own offices and that faculty members in other departments would also soon have their own.)

Four major spatial distance zones in the United States have been recognized and defined (Hall, 1963): intimacy, personal distance, social distance, and public distance.

The intimacy zone extends from physical contact to 18 inches away from a person and is usually reserved for close relationships such as dates, spouses, and family. When this zone is entered by strangers in crowded elevators and the like, we generally feel uncomfortable and nervous. The personal distance zone ranges from 18 inches to 4 feet away from a person and is the distance usually reserved for friends and acquaintances. The social distance zone is from 4 to 12 feet away and is the distance typically observed when dealing with businesspeople and strangers. Finally, the public distance zone ranges from 12 to 25 feet away and is characteristic of such large group interactions as lectures and seminars.

The way an office is furnished also communicates a lot about that person. As mentioned earlier, certain desk placements indicate openness and power; visitors and subordinates prefer not to sit before a desk that serves as a barrier (Davis, 1984). People whose offices are untidy are perceived as being busy, and people whose offices contain plants are perceived as being caring and concerned.

Use of Time. The way people make use of time is another element of nonverbal communication. If an employee is supposed to meet with a supervisor at 1:00 and the supervisor shows up at 1:10, the supervisor is communicating an attitude about the employee, the importance of the meeting, or both. Tardiness is more readily accepted from a higher-status person than from a lower-status person. Dean Smith, the great former basketball coach at the University of North Carolina, suspended any player who was even a minute late for a practice because he believed that tardiness was a sign of arrogance and worked against the team concept.

In a similar fashion, a supervisor sets aside 30 minutes for a meeting and tells others that she is not to be disturbed because she is in conference. A definitive message thus is conveyed, one that is likely to prevent constant interruptions by telephone calls or people stopping by to say hello because they saw an open door.

Care must be taken when considering how others use time, as there are tremendous cultural differences in such things as being late and keeping to time schedules. For example, punctuality is important in the United States, Austria, Canada, and Japan, but not a priority in Brazil, France, Mexico, and Saudi Arabia (Olofsson, 2004).

Paralanguage

Paralanguage involves the way we say things and consists of variables such as tone, tempo, volume, number and duration of pauses, and rate of speech.

A message that is spoken quickly will be perceived differently from one that is spoken slowly. In fact, research has shown that people with fast speech rates are perceived as more intelligent, friendly, and enthusiastic (Hecht & LaFrance, 1995) than people with slow rates of speech. People who use many “uh-hums,” “ers,” and “ahs” are also considered less intelligent. Men with highpitched voices are considered to be weak, but women with high-pitched voices are considered to be petite. People telling lies talk less, provide fewer details, repeat words and phrases more often, have more uncertainty and vocal tension in their voice, and speak in a higher pitch than do people telling the truth (DePaulo et al., 2003).

Simple changes in the tone used to communicate a message can change the entire meaning of the message. To demonstrate this point, consider this sentence:

“I didn’t say Bill stole your car.” At first reading, it does not seem unusual, but what does it actually mean? As Figure 11.6 shows, if we emphasize the first word, I, the implication is that someone else said, “Bill stole your car.” But if we emphasize the word Bill, the meaning changes to “Someone else stole your car.” And so on. Thus, a simple written message can be interpreted in seven different ways.

As you can see, many messages are better communicated orally than through memos or email.

Artifacts

A final element of nonverbal communication concerns the objects, or artifacts, that a person wears or with which she surrounds herself. A person who wears bright and colorful clothes is perceived differently from a person who wears conservative white or gray clothing. Similarly, the manager who places all of her awards on her office wall, the executive with a large and expensive chair, and the student who carries a briefcase rather than a book bag are all making nonverbal statements about themselves.

Research on visitors’ perceptions of certain office characteristics has resulted in several interesting but not necessarily surprising findings. One line of research examined the perceptions of visitors to offices that used either open or closed desk arrangements. An open desk arrangement faces a desk against a wall so that a visitor can sit next to the person who sits behind the desk. A closed desk arrangement places a desk so that a visitor must sit across from the person behind the desk.

Visitors to offices that use open rather than closed desk arrangements perceive the offices to be more comfortable, and their occupants as friendlier and more trustworthy, open, interested, and extraverted (Campbell, 1979; McElroy, Morrow, & Wall, 1983; Widgery & Stackpole, 1972). Visitors rate people with messy offices as being active and busy, those with clean offices as being organized and introverted, and those with organized offices (lots of papers placed in stacks) as being active and achievement oriented (McElroy et al., 1983; Morrow & McElroy, 1981).

Finally, visitors rate offices with plants and posters as more comfortable, inviting, and hospitable than offices without plants and posters (Campbell, 1979).

Recently, thinking about the placement of desks in an office has gone beyond the simple concept of visitor reactions. Office decorating experts (e.g., Too, 2009) using the concepts of feng shui—the Chinese art of placement and design—advise that, to properly use the energy of a room, desks:

·        should never be placed directly a 7 cross from a doorway

·        should always face away from a wall

·        should never be placed in the center of the room

Research on office design is not only interesting, but also important. A supervisor with a messy office and a closed desk arrangement is sending the message that he does not want to be bothered. This may not be his intended message, but it is the one perceived by his subordinates. Thus, if this supervisor wants to be more open and improve communication with his employees, he might start by changing the appearance of his office.

Clearly, people make judgments about others based on their office, and the next logical step is to determine whether people with different types of offices actually have different types of personalities. Limited research, in fact, does seem to show that the appearance of an office provides insight into the personality of the occupant.

McElroy, Morrow, and Ackerman (1983) looked at the personalities of faculty members who had open desk arrangements and those who had closed desk arrangements, and found that those with open desk arrangements were more extraverted and “people oriented” than their closed-desk counterparts. Furthermore, faculty members who used open desk arrangements had lower external locus of control and scored higher on the Least-Preferred Coworker (LPC) Scale, which is discussed in Chapter 12.

In another study, Zweigenhaft (1976) compared desk placement using several variables and found that older, higher-status faculty members used closed desk arrangements more than did younger members. Even more interesting was the finding that faculty members who used closed desk arrangements were also evaluated less favorably in the classroom. Thus, desk placement was able to partially predict the effectiveness of a faculty member, providing support for the idea that different types of people arrange their offices in different ways.

In a study of personnel managers, Cochran, Kopitzke, and Miller (1984) compared the office characteristics used by managers with their personalities. They found that dominant, achievement-oriented managers did not decorate their offices with anything other than standard furniture; more outgoing managers had photographs of their vacations to remind them of good times and a clock to let them know when it was quitting time; introverted managers had plants and paintings so that their office would remind them of home; and organized managers had cartoons to show that even though they were neat and compulsive, they also had a sense of humor.

The presence of windows is another factor that seems to affect the way an office is decorated. Heerwagen and Orians (1986) examined the ways people decorated both windowed and windowless offices and found that occupants of windowless offices used twice as many decorative items such as posters, pictures, and paintings. Not surprisingly, the posters in windowless offices contained more landscapes and fewer cityscapes than did offices with windows.

Amount of Information

The amount of information contained in a message can affect the accuracy with which it is received. When a message contains more information than we can hold in memory, the information becomes leveled, sharpened, and assimilated.

For example, suppose a friend told you the following message over the phone:

“John Atoms worked in Detroit for the automobile manufacturer General Floaters Corporation. He came to work on Tuesday morning wearing a brown shirt, plaid pants, white socks, and dark shoes. He leaned forward, barfed all over the floor, and then passed out. He was obviously intoxicated.

He had worked for the company for 13 years, so they didn’t want to fire him, but they had to do something. The company decided to suspend him for a few days and place him on probation. They were especially sensitive to his problems because he was on his eighth marriage.”

What would the story sound like if you passed it on to a friend? When you level some of the information, unimportant details are removed. For example, information about the color of the employee’s shirt and socks would probably not be passed along to the next person. When you sharpen the information, interesting and unusual information is kept. In the example here, the employee’s “barfing” and his eight marriages would probably be the story’s main focus as it is passed from you to your friend. When you assimilate the information, it is modified to fit your existing beliefs and knowledge. Most of us have never heard of the last name Atoms, but we probably have known someone named “Adams.”

Likewise, “General Floaters” might be passed along as General Motors. You would probably use the word drunk rather than intoxicated.

Reactions to Communication Overload

With many jobs, communication overload can occur when an employee receives more communication than he can handle. When an employee is overloaded, she can adapt or adjust in one of several ways to reduce the stress: omission, error, queuing, escape, using a gatekeeper, or using multiple channels.

Omission. One way to manage communication overload is omission: a conscious decision not to process certain types of information. For example, a busy supervisor may let the phone ring without answering it so that she can finish her paperwork. Although this technique can work if the overload is temporary, it will be ineffective if an employee misses an important communication.

Error. In the error type of response, the employee attempts to deal with every message she receives. But in so doing, each processed message includes reception error. The processing errors are not intentional but result from processing more than can be handled.

Perhaps a good example of this would be a student who has two hours in which to study four chapters for a test. A student using the error method would attempt to read and memorize all four chapters in two hours. Obviously, her test score will probably indicate that even though she did all of her reading, much of it was not remembered or not remembered correctly.

The probability of error occurring can be reduced in two ways. First, the message can be made redundant. That is, after communicating an important message over the telephone, it is a good idea to write a memo to the other person summarizing the major points of the conversation. Furthermore, after sending an important memo, it is wise to call its recipient to ensure that the memo was not only received but also read.

Second, error can be reduced by having the recipient verify the message. Ask the person to repeat the message or to acknowledge that she has read and understood it. For example, after a customer has placed an order at the drive-thru window of a fast-food restaurant, the employee repeats the order to the customer to make sure she heard it correctly. (Of course, with the poorquality intercoms used by such places, most people still cannot understand the employee.)

Queuing. Another method of dealing with communication overload is queuing— placing the work into a queue, or waiting line. The order of the queue can be based on such variables as the message’s importance, timeliness, or sender. For example, a memo sent by the company president will probably be placed near or at the beginning of the queue, as will an emergency phone message. On the other hand, a message to return the phone call of a salesperson most likely will go at the end of the queue.

With this method of handling communication overload, all of the work will usually get done. However, queues are effective only if the communication overload is temporary. If the employee is constantly overloaded, she will never reach the messages at the end of the queue.

Escape. If communication overload is prolonged, a common employee response is to escape, usually through absenteeism and ultimately through resignation. This response certainly is not beneficial to an organization, but it can be beneficial to an employee if it protects her mental and physical health by relieving stress.

An example of the escape response is often seen with students who withdraw from college courses. A student may enroll in six classes and realize after two months that she does not have enough time to do all of the reading and writing required for six classes. Rather than choosing the error or omission strategy, either of which would result in lower grades, the student withdraws from one of her classes to reduce her overload.

Use of a Gatekeeper. A response to communication overload used by many executives is the use of a gatekeeper, a person who screens potential communication and allows only the most important to go through. Receptionists and secretaries are the most obvious examples of gatekeepers.

Use of Multiple Channels. The final coping response to communication overload is the use of multiple channels. With this strategy, an organization reduces the amount of communication going to one person by directing some of it to another. For example, in a small restaurant, all of the problems involving customers, employees, finances, and vendors are handled by the owner. But as the business grows, the owner may not be able to handle all of the communication and thus may hire others to deal with finances (a bookkeeper) and vendors (an assistant manager).

Knowing and understanding this list of responses to communication overload is important. When communication overload occurs, employees will react in ways that reduce the increased stress. Some of these strategies (omission, error, escape) result in negative consequences for the organization. Thus, the organization must recognize when overload occurs and aggressively adopt an acceptable strategy to deal with it.

Problem Area 3: Message Received Versus Message Interpreted

Even though a person knows what she wants to say and says it the way she wants, and even though another individual properly receives the intended message, its meaning can change depending on the way in which the receiver interprets the message. As shown in Figure 11.7, this interpretation is affected by a variety of factors, such as listening skills, listening style, emotional state, cognitive ability, and personal biases.

Listening Skills

Listening is probably the most important communication skill that a supervisor should master. In a study of managers, Nichols and Stevens (1957) found that 70% of the white-collar workday is spent communicating. Of that, 9% is spent in writing, 16% in reading, 30% in speaking, and 45% in listening. Thus, a manager spends more time listening than doing any other single activity. This is an important point for two reasons.

First, listening is a skill, and our formal education in high school and college does not prepare us for managerial communication (Burley-Allen, 2001). We are required to take English courses to improve our reading and writing and are usually required to take one speech course to improve our oral communication skills, but we spend little, if any, time learning how to listen. Thus, the amount of time spent learning about various types of communication is inversely related to the actual amount of time spent by managers on the job.

Second, listening effectiveness is poor. It has been estimated that immediately after a meeting, we retain only 50% of the material we have heard and only 25% of the material 48 hours later (Nichols & Stevens, 1957). Although much of this loss can be attributed to poor memory practices, some is the result of poor listening habits.

Styles of Listening

What can be done to increase listening effectiveness? Perhaps the most important thing we can do is to recognize that every person has a particular “listening style” that serves as a communication filter. Geier and Downey (1980) have developed a test, the Attitudinal Listening Profile, to measure an employee’s listening style.

Their theory postulates six main styles of listening: leisure, inclusive, stylistic, technical, empathic, and nonconforming (LISTEN).

Leisure listening is practiced by “good-time” people who listen only for words that indicate pleasure. For example, a student who is a leisure listener will pay attention only when the teacher is interesting and tells jokes. As an employee, she is the last one to “hear” that employees are needed to work overtime.

Inclusive listening is the style of the person who listens for the main ideas behind any communication. In an hour-long meeting full of details and facts about a decline in sales, the only information this type of listener will “hear” is the main point that sales are down and that things had better improve. This listening style can be an advantage when cutting through a jungle of detail, but it can be a disadvantage when detail is important.

Stylistic listening is practiced by the person who listens to the way the communication is presented. Stylistic listeners will not listen unless the speaker’s style is appropriate, the speaker “looks the part,” or both. For example, when speaking to a stylistic listener, a lecturer on finance will find an attentive ear only if she wears a nice suit. After all, this listener reasons, if the lecturer cannot afford a nice suit, why listen to what she has to say about investing money? Similarly, if the speaker says that an event will be fun, she must sound as if she means it. And if an employee calls in sick to a manager who is a stylistic listener, she had better “sound” sick.

Technical listening is the style practiced by the “Jack Webbs” of the listening world—those who want “just the facts, ma’am.” The technical listener hears and retains large amounts of detail, but she does not hear the meaning of those details. In the earlier example of the meeting in which employees are told that sales have decreased, the technical listener will hear and remember that sales last year were 12.3% higher than this year, that profits are down by 21%, and that six employees will probably be laid off—but she will miss the point that unless sales improve, she could be one of those six.

Empathic listening tunes in to the feelings of the speaker and, of the six listening types, is the most likely to pay attention to nonverbal cues. Thus, an empathic listener will listen to an employee complain about her boss and is the only one of the six types of listeners who will not only pay attention but also understand that the employee’s complaints indicate true frustration and unhappiness.

Nonconforming listening is practiced by the individual who attends only to information that is consistent with her way of thinking. If the nonconforming listener does not agree with a speaker, she will not listen to what the speaker says.

Furthermore, the nonconforming listener will pay attention only to those people she considers to be strong or to have authority.

How Listening Styles Affect Communication

The following example will demonstrate the importance of the six listening styles in a work setting. Suppose an employee approaches a supervisor and tells her that she has a temperature of 106 degrees. How would each of the six listeners react?

The leisure listener would pay little attention to the employee because she does not like to hear about unpleasant things, and illness certainly is not pleasant.

The inclusive listener would probably tell a story about when she had a high temperature, thinking that the topic of conversation is fever. You may have friends who often say things that are not related to your conversation; as this example points out, they are probably inclusive listeners who mistake the main points of a conversation. In this case, the employee is communicating that she does not feel well; she is not discussing “temperatures I have had.”

The stylistic listener would pay attention only if the employee sounded and looked ill. You may have also called a professor or a date and tried to sound ill in order to cancel an appointment or a date. Few people actually sound ill even when they are, but we understand the importance of style in listening and behave accordingly.

The technical listener would hear every word but would not realize their meaning. That is, 10 minutes later, when another employee asked whether Sue is sick, the supervisor would respond, “She didn’t say. She has a temperature of 106, but I’m not sure how she is feeling.”

The nonconforming listener would pay little attention to the employee. After all, if she actually had a temperature of 106 degrees, she would be dead, and because she is not dead, she must be lying. Of course, the employee exaggerated her temperature because she was emphasizing the point that she is sick. But the nonconforming listener would not “hear” anything once she recognized that an initial statement was incorrect.

In this example, the empathic listener would be the only one who would understand the real point of the communication. The employee is mentioning her temperature because she does not feel well and wants to go home.

Understanding each of the six styles can make communication more effective in two ways. First, becoming aware of your own style allows you to understand the filter you use when listening to others. For example, a student who uses a leisure style may need to recognize that if she listens only to lectures that she finds interesting, she probably will miss a lot of important information. She might want to learn how to concentrate on lectures even when they are boring. Second, understanding the six styles can lead to better communication with others. For example, when speaking to an inclusive listener, we must either write down relevant details that we want her to remember or have her repeat the details.

Otherwise, the inclusive listener will remember only the main point: “I know there is a party tonight, but I’m not sure when or where.” On the other hand, when we speak to a technical listener, it is important to tell her what the details mean. For example, if you tell a technical listener there will be a party at your house on Thursday at 8:00 p.m., you should also add that she is invited, or she will understand only that there is a party, and not that she has been invited.

Of course, the million-dollar question is, “How can we tell what style of listener is listening to us?” The best way might be to test the listener on the Attitudinal Listening Profile mentioned earlier, but this is hardly practical. The most practical method is to use the person’s speaking style as an indicator of listening style. If the person usually mentions how she feels about things, she is probably an empathic listener, but if she speaks with a lot of detail, she is probably a technical listener.

Someone speaking to a group, of course, must relate to all styles of listeners.

The best communicators will have something for everyone. A good instructor will provide jokes and humorous stories for leisure listeners, use an outline format and provide main points for inclusive listeners, provide specific facts and details for technical listeners, discuss her feelings about the topic for empathic listeners, have good speaking skills and appropriate dress for stylistic listeners, and be confident and accurate for nonconforming listeners.

Tips for Effective Listening

In addition to understanding how your listening style serves as a filter, you can improve your listening effectiveness in many other ways. Below is a summary of tips taken from a variety of sources:

·        Stop talking.

·        Let the other person finish speaking.

·        Focus on what the person is saying rather than on how well they are saying it, what your next response will be, or what you will eat for lunch.

Try to understand what the other person is trying to say.

·        Ask questions to make sure you understand the person’s point, but don’t ask so many questions that they distract the speaker.

·        Be patient and keep an open mind. If you disagree, you can always do so after the person is finished talking.

·        Show the speaker you want to listen by using nonverbal cues such as making eye contact and nodding your head.

·        Remove or resist distractions that will keep you from listening.

·        Be silent for a few seconds after the person has finished speaking. This will encourage the person to continue to talk, you will be sure when they have finished talking, and it will give you time to respond calmly.

Emotional State

The interpretation of a message can certainly be affected by the receiver’s emotional state. When we are mad, anxious, depressed, elated, or upset, we do not think as clearly as when our moods are more moderate. Think of the last time you had an argument with someone. How rational and intelligent was your conversation?

After the argument was over, did both of you remember what was said in the same way?

Likewise, have you ever attended a class when your mind was somewhere else? My guess is that neither your attention span nor your comprehension of the material was as high as normal.

Cognitive Ability

Cognitive ability is another factor than can affect the way in which a received message is interpreted. That is, a person can receive a message exactly as it was sent, yet not be bright enough to understand it. For example, have you ever attended a class where you had no idea what the professor was talking about? You heard her words and saw her diagrams, but the message still made no sense. Likewise, have you ever told a great pun, only to be disappointed that the person at the receiving end of the joke did not understand it? If so, then you have firsthand experience in understanding how cognitive ability can affect the way in which information is interpreted.

Bias

Our biases obviously affect our ability to interpret information we receive. For example, we can hate a political candidate so much that we can refuse to process any of the positive information we hear about her. We do, however, process every piece of information that is consistent with our opinion.

― Michael G. Aamodt, Industrial/Organizational Psychology, Sixth edition.

How can managers have some control over the Grapevine in organizations?

Which of the following grapevine patterns tends to distort messages the most?

Which of the following is considered a fundamental managerial skill?

Which of the following can be used as a line of communication between Organisation and other services?