MRK360 Chapter 6

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MRK360Chapter 6

• Communication, Conflict and Negotiation

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Whats the problem?
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Communication Questions

• Describe an example of communication breakdown.
  What led to the breakdown?
• What types of difficulties have you experienced
  when communicating with someone from a different
  culture than yours?
• How do you let the other person know you have
  heard what they are saying? How often do you do
  this?

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Communication Problems

• People spend nearly 70 percent of their waking
  hours communicatingwriting, reading, speaking,
  listening
• WorkCanada survey of 2039 Canadians in six
  industrial and service categories found
• 61 percent of senior executives believed that
  they did a good job of communicating with
  employees.
• only 33 percent of the managers and department
  heads believed that senior executives were
  effective communicators.
• Only 22 percent of hourly workers, 27 percent of
  clerical employees, and 22 percent of
  professional staff reported that senior
  executives did a good job of communicating with
  them.
• Canadians reported less favourable perceptions
  about their companys communications than did
  Americans

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Communication Terms

• Communication
• The transfer of meaning among people
• Sender
• Establishes a message, encodes the message, and
  chooses the channel to send it
• Receiver
• Decodes the message and provides feedback to the
  sender

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Exhibit 6-1 The Communication Process Model
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Communication Terms

• Message
• What is communicated.
• Encoding
• Converting a message to symbolic form.
• Channel
• The medium through which a message travels
• Decoding
• Retranslating a senders message.

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Choosing Channels

• Channels differ in their capacity to convey
  information.
• Rich channels have the ability to
• Handle multiple cues simultaneously
• Facilitate rapid feedback
• Be very personal

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Exhibit 6-1 The Communication Process Model
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Barriers to Effective Communication

• Filtering
• Refers to a sender manipulating information so
  that it will be seen more favorably by the
  receiver.
• Selective Perception
• Receivers in the communication process
  selectively see and hear based on their needs,
  motivations, experience, background, and other
  personal characteristics.

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Barriers to Effective Communication

• Defensiveness
• When individuals interpret anothers message as
  threatening, they often respond in ways that
  retard effective communication.
• Language
• Words mean different things to different people.

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Barriers to Effective Communication
Think of an example of each barrier that you have
experienced
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Nonverbal Communication

• Messages conveyed through body movements, facial
  expressions, and the physical distance between
  the sender and the receiver
• Kinesics
• The study of body motions, such as gestures,
  facial configurations, and other movements of the
  body
• Proxemics
• The study of physical space in interpersonal
  relationships

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Communication Barriers Between Men and Women

• Men use talk to emphasize status, women use it to
  create connection
• Women and men tend to approach points of conflict
  differently

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Communication Barriers Between Men and Women

• Men and women view directness and indirectness
  differently
• Women interpret male directness as an assertion
  of status and one-upmanship
• Men interpret female indirectness as covert,
  sneaky, and weak
• Men criticize women for apologizing, but women
  say Im sorry to express empathy

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Conflict

• A process that begins when one party perceives
  that another party has negatively affected, or is
  about to negatively affect something that the
  first party cares about.
• Functional
• Supports the goals of the group and improves its
  performance
• Dysfunctional
• Hinders group performance

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Group Exercise - Conflict

• In groups
• Think of a conflict situation during a group
  project (real or imaginary)
• Describe the conflict to the class
• Think of ways that you could resolve the conflict

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Three Main Sources of Conflict

• Communication we already discussed this
• Structure
• Personal Variables

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How Structure Can Lead to Conflict

• Sources of conflict
• Size, specialization, and composition of the
  group
• Too much reliance on participation
• Diversity of goals among groups
• Ambiguity in precisely defining where
  responsibility for actions lies
• Reward systems where one members gain is at
  anothers expense

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• How can personal variables lead to conflict?

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How can Personal Variables Lead to Conflict?

• Different personalities
• Different values

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Exhibit 6-4 How Conflict Builds
Conflict-handling
Outcomes
Intentions

Functional

Competing
increased

Collaborating
performance

Compromising
Behaviour

Dysfunctional

Avoiding
decreased group

Accommodating
performance
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Specific Intentions

• Competing
• A desire to satisfy ones interests, regardless
  of the impact on the other parties.
• Collaborating
• A situation where the parties to a conflict each
  desire to satisfy fully the concerns of all
  parties
• Avoiding
• The desire to withdraw from or suppress a
  conflict.
• Accommodating
• The willingness of one party in a conflict to
  place the opponents interests above his or her
  own
• Compromising
• A situation in which each party to a conflict is
  willing to give up something

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Exhibit 6-4 How Conflict Builds
Conflict-handling
Outcomes
Intentions

Functional

Competing
increased

Collaborating
performance

Compromising
Behaviour

Dysfunctional

Avoiding
decreased group

Accommodating
performance
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Conflict Outcomes

• Functional (supports the goals of the group and
  improves performance)
• Desired outcomes
• Agreement
• Stronger relationships
• Learning
• Dysfunctional (hinders group performance)