Bu 604 Session 4

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Bu 604 Session 4

• Interpersonal Dynamics Teams

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Agenda

• Introduction and Lessons from Last Day
• Discussion of Interpersonal Communications in
  Organizations and Teams
• Carter Racing
• Revisiting the Question of Team Effectiveness
• Case Dividing the Pie

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Examples of National Cultural Values
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Competing Values Framework
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Exhibit 1-2 Skills in the New Workplace
Flexibility
Innovator
Mentor
Broker
Facilitator
Internal Focus
External Focus
Monitor
Producer
Coordinator
Director
Control
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Three-Component Model of Organizational Commitment
Involves Emotional attachment to, identification
with, involvement in the organization
Affective Commitment
Belief that it is ones moral obligation to
remain with the organization
Normative Commitment
Continuance Commitment
Reflects perceived cost associated with
discontinuing employment
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Responses to Job Satisfaction - EVLN Model
Active
Exit Sabotage
Voice
Constructive
Destructive
Loyalty
Neglect
Passive
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Communication Problems?

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

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Communications Process
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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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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 7-2Hierarchy of Channel Richness
Channel richness
Type of message
Information medium
Richest
Nonroutine, ambiguous
Face to face talk
Telephone
Computer
Memos, letters
Flyers, bulletins general reports
Leanest
Routine, clear
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Communication Flows in Organizations

• Downward
• Communication that flows from one level of a
  group to a lower level
• Managers to employees
• Upward
• Communication that flows to a higher level of a
  group
• Employees to manager
• Lateral
• Communication among members of the same work
  group, or individuals at the same level

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Barriers to Effective Communication

• Filtering
• Refers to a sender manipulating information so
  that it will be seen more favourably 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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Communication Flows in Organizations

• Downward communication that flows from one level
  of a group to a lower level
• managers to employees
• Upward communication that flows to a higher
  level of a group
• employees to manager
• Lateral communication among members of the same
  work group, or individuals at the same level

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Communication Questions for Consideration

• How does communication flow in organizations?
• What helps and inhibits communication in an
  organization?
• How can we improve communication?
• Are there gender and ethnic differences in
  communications?

Questions for Consideration
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Networks

• Connections by which information flow
• Formal
• Task-related communications that follow the
  authority chain
• Informal
• Communications that flow along social and
  relational lines

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Networks and Their Effectiveness
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The Grapevine

• 75 percent of employees hear about matters first
  through rumours on the grapevine
• Grapevine the organizations informal network
• Grapevine has three main characteristics
• Not controlled by management
• Most employees perceive it as being more
  believable and reliable than formal communiqués
  issued by top management
• Largely used to serve the self-interests of those
  people within it

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Purpose of Rumours

• To structure and reduce anxiety
• To make sense of limited or fragmented
  information
• To serve as a vehicle to organize group members,
  and possibly outsiders, into coalitions
• To signal a senders status or power

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Reducing the Negative Consequences of Rumours

• 1. Announce timetables for making important
  decisions.
• 2. Explain decisions and behaviours that may
  appear inconsistent or secretive.
• 3. Emphasize the downside, as well as the upside,
  of current decisions and future plans.
• 4. Openly discuss worst case possibilities it is
  almost never as anxiety provoking as the unspoken
  fantasy.

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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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Cross-Cultural Communication Difficulties

• Sources of barriers
• Semantics
• Word connotations
• Tonal differences

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Culture Contexts

• Cultures differ in how much the context makes a
  difference in communication
• High-context cultures
• Cultures that rely heavily on nonverbal and
  subtle situational cues in communication.
•  Low-context cultures
• Cultures that rely heavily on words to convey
  meaning in communication

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High- vs. Low-Context Cultures
High
Chinese
context
Korean
Japanese
Vietnamese
Arab
Greek
Spanish
Italian
English
North American
Scandinavian
Swiss
Low
context
German
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Cross-Cultural Communications Helpful Rules

• Seek out guidance and mentoring from competent
  individuals who will tell you what you need to
  hear
• Assume differences until similarity is proven,
  but test out these assumptions.
• Emphasize description rather than interpretation
  or evaluation.
• Practice empathy.
• Treat your interpretations as a working
  hypothesis.

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Making Feedback More Effective

• Feedback to those being evaluated should be
  anonymous and aggregated
• Raters should only evaluate employee behaviour
  that they know about and have experienced
  first-hand
• Raters should receive orientation and training to
  do the evaluations
• Recipients should receive guidance on how to
  interpret the feedback

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Effective Listening

• If you want to improve your listening skills,
  look to these behaviours as guides
• Make eye contact.
• Exhibit affirmative head nods and appropriate
  facial expressions.
• Avoid distracting actions or gestures.
• Ask questions.
• Paraphrase.
• Avoid interrupting the speaker.
• Dont over talk.
• Make smooth transitions between the roles of
  speaker and listener.

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Communication Questions

• 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?
• Describe an example of communication breakdown.
  What led to the breakdown?

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HR Implications

• Providing Performance Feedback

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When to Use 360-degree Feedback

• For employee development rather than for
  personnel decisions
• As part of a formal goal-setting system
• On a regular basis and not just once

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The Conflicts in Performance Appraisal

• Organizational Goals
• To allocate rewards and make personnel decisions.
• To develop and grow individuals
• Individual Goals
• To obtain performance feedback in order to
  improve.
• To maintain self image and increase rewards.

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Factors Contributing to the Effectiveness of P.A.
Interviews

• Skills in communications
• Preparation
• By Superior organization and job goals,
  standards of performance
• By Subordinate organization and job goals, own
  assessment of strengths and weaknesses, personal
  development plan
• Process ve attitude by both parties
• Substance action plan future targets
  relationship development

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The Politics of Appraisal

• Downgrade appraisals to keep up the motivation
• Softening the assessment since it is part of a
  permanent record
• Inflating/deflating assessments to maximize or
  minimize raises
• Inflating / deflating appraisals to keep / get
  rid of subordinates
• Deflating ratings to teach a lesson or to make a
  case for dismissal

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The Case Against Performance Appraisal - Peter
Scholtes

• Any employees work is tied to many systems but
  performance evaluations focus on individuals.
• Most work is the product of a group. Performance
  evaluation encourages lone ranger behaviour.
• Superior only performance evaluation ignores
  valuable data but 360 feedback is cumbersome and
  time consuming.

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• Performance evaluations assume predictable
  systems -- something that is increasingly untrue.
• Performance evaluation requires objective,
  consistent, fair processes. Such objectivity and
  consistency do not exist.

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Goal Systems vs the Reality of Work

• Reality of work
• Many activities, short duration
• Ad hoc informal interactions
• Non-routing and lots of variety
• Legitimate authority
• Low priority to many human resource tasks

• Goal Systems Need
• Advance planning
• Formal meetings and sessions
• Prescribed systems, schedules, forms
• Coach, counsellor
• Sponsored by HR staff

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If you need to do peer evaluation.

• Remember that the purpose is both to improve
  performance AND strengthen the group. You will
  need time!
• One process decide on 5-7 criteria of
  performance (eg. preparation, attendance,
  helpfulness, effort, etc)
• Rate everyone, including yourself, collect the
  ratings on each person and share them (make them
  public)

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• Person by person discuss the ratings.
• Start with each persons self assessment, then
  each person discuss their evaluation. That will
  probably be easier.
• Be descriptive and as behavioural as possible.
  Avoid blaming. Use I messages and lots of
  listening
• Move to agreement on behaviours.

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Summary and Implications Communication

• A common theme regarding the relationship between
  communication and employee satisfaction
• The less uncertainty, the greater the
  satisfaction
• Distortions, ambiguities, and incongruities all
  increase uncertainty
• Less distortion in communication equals
• More goal attainment, and better feedback
• Reduction in ambiguity and distortion
• Ambiguity between verbal and nonverbal
  communiqués increase uncertainty and reduce
  satisfaction
• The goal of perfect communication is unattainable
• The issue of communication is critical to
  motivation

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Assignment for Next Week

• Ch 4 and 13
• Case The Well Paid Receptionist
• Bring along a copy of the job description for the
  least motivating job in your organization

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• Teams Team Decision Making

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Teams Are Not Always the Answer

• A critical look at four of the assumptions
• Mature teams are task oriented successfully
  minimize the negative impact of other group
  forces.
• Individual, group, and organizational goals can
  all be integrated into common team goals.
• Participative or shared leadership is always
  effective.
• The team environment drives out the subversive
  forces of politics, power, and conflict that
  divert groups from efficiently doing their work.
• Are these true all the time?

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Stages of Group Development
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Team Model - Forrester Drexler
Formation
Vitality
Dependability
Note F D argue that this is not a
developmental Model
Impact
Focus
Coordination
Buy-In
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Team Based Model

• Formation
• Dependability
• Focus

• Composition, Fit and support
• Trust Information Sharing, Follow Through and
  Reciprocity
• Direction, Measurement, Accountability

From Forrester Drexler, A Model for Team Based
Organization Performance
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Team Based Model (cont.)

• Buy-In
• Coordination
• Impact
• Vitality

• Balanced Power, Resources, Values
• Plans, Communications, Integrating Mechanisms
• Innovation, Flexibility, Results
• Enthusiasm, Openness, Learning

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The Punctuated-Equilibrium Model
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Group Performance Factors
Size
Composition
Performance
Cohesiveness
Norms
Environment, Supervision, Resources Nature of
Task
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Team Roles

• TASK ORIENTED ROLES
• Agenda Setter, Analyzer, Co-ordinator, Evaluator,
  Information Giver...Seeker, Initiator
• MAINTENANCE ROLES
• Encourager, Follower, Gatekeeper, Group Observer,
  Harmonizer, Standard Setter
• INDIVIDUAL ROLES
• Avoider, Blocker, Clown, Dominator, Recognition
  Seeker

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Groupthink
1) Illusion of invulnerability
2) Construct rationalizations
3) Morality of position is unquestioned
4) Stereotypes--distort image of other parties
5) Pressure applied to those who express doubts
about the groups position
6) Self-censorship--deviations from consensus are
avoided
7) Illusion of unanimity
8) Mindguards--leaders and fellow members
protected from adverse information
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Warning Signs of Groupthink

• Teams isolating themselves from external sources
  of information through mindguards
• Feeling under pressure
• Exhibiting defensiveness - e.g., stereotyping
  others
• Feeling they are doing what is moral or right
• Minimizing the public expression of doubt
• Having strong leaders that intentionally or
  unintentionally discourage input and real debate
• Creating the illusion of unanimity by
  self-censorship
• Creating the illusion of invulnerability

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The Groupthink Process

• Characteristics of Groupthink
• Illusion of invulnerability
• Collective rationalization
• Belief in the inherent morality of the team
• Stereotypes of other groups
• Self-censorship
• Illusion of unanimity
• Self-appointed mind guards

• Groupthink Leads to Defective Decision Making in
  Terms of
• Incomplete survey of alternatives
• Incomplete survey of goals
• Failure to examine risks of preferred choice
• Selective bias in processing information at hand
• Failure to reappraise alternatives
• Failure to work out contingency plans

• Initial Conditions
• High Cohesiveness
• Insulation of team from outsiders
• Lack of methodical procedures for search
  appraisal
• Directive leadership
• High stress with low hope for finding a better
  solution than one favoured by the leader or other
  influential person
• Complex/changing environment

Conformity- Seeking Tendency of Group
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Remedies to Groupthink

• Assign encourage the role of critical evaluator
  in each group member
• Leaders should avoid stating preferences adopt
  an impartial stance
• Use multiple groups to work on the same questions
• Protect security, but seek outside council
  insight
• Invite outside experts have experts challenge
  the views of core members

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Remedies to Groupthink (cont.)

• When discussing alternatives, at least 1 person
  should be assigned the devils advocate role,
  to fully evaluate options
• Take time to address how enemies may respond -
  develop scenarios
• When evaluating policy alternatives, break up
  into small groups then reform to sort through
  differences
• After reaching a preliminary consensus, group
  should hold a second-guess meeting
• 10 The behaviour of the leader is key

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CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE EXECUTIVE TEAMS

• A CLEAR ELEVATING GOAL

• MINIMUM POLITICS AND PERSONAL AGENDAS

• ROLES AND ACCOUNTABILITIES UNDERSTOOD
• ACCEPTED

• EMPHASIS ON FACT BASED JUDGMENT
• LOTS OF DISCUSSION PARTICIPATION
• LEADER DOES NOT DOMINATE OR DEFER

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CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE EXECUTIVE TEAMS
(cont.)

• A CLIMATE OF TRUST AND SUPPORT
• RISK TAKING IS ENCOURAGED
• CRITICISM IS CONSTRUCTIVE NO
• PERSONAL ATTACKS

• STANDARDS OF EXCELLENCE

• PRESENCE OR ACCESS TO REQUISITE SKILLS
• AND DIVERSITY

• PRINCIPLED LEADERSHIP

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GUIDELINES FOR EFFECTIVECONSENSUS
1) COMMIT TO THE PROCESS AND SEARCH FOR BEST
SOLUTIONS
2) AVOID VIEWING THE PROCESS IN WIN / LOSE TERMS
3) STATE YOUR POSITION CLEARLY, BUT LISTEN
CAREFULLY TO ALL
4) ATTEMPT TO INVOLVE ALL IN DECISION MAKING
PROCESS CONFLICT (PROPERLYMANAGED) ENHANCES
DECISION MAKING
5) AVOID SIMPLISTIC TECHNIQUES TO RESOLVE DISPUTES
6) BUDGET TIME SO ALL IMPORTANT ASPECTS ARE
INVESTIGATED, PROBLEM DEFINITION AND STRATEGY
DEVELOPMENT ARE N.B.
7) MANAGE MAINTENANCE AND TASK FUNCTIONS IN THE
GROUP
YOU CAN ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING IF YOU DONT CARE
WHO GETS THE CREDIT.
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Use Individual Decision Making When 1. You have
the information to make a good decision 2. The
situation is urgent 3. Subordinates are already
committed or their commitment doesnt matter
Use Groups For Decision Making When 1. No one
knows the answer or the expertise is in the
group 2. You want to increase the commitment of
subordinates 3. The situation is not urgent in
the sense that it requires an immediate
response 4. You, as manager, can live with choice
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The Psychological Contract

• Psychological Contract
• it is a persons set of expectations regarding
  what he or she will contribute to the
  organization and what the organization, in turn,
  will provide to the individual.

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Team Contract

• What would it look like if the psychological
  contact existing between team members was made
  more explicit in the team charter and used by the
  group to help it actively manage its development
  and the outcomes achieved?

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Dividing the Pie

• What is your assessment of the underlying problem
  in the case and your analysis of the situation?
• What are the consequences if it is not resolved?
• What would you recommend they do and how would
  you proceed?

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Organizational Congruence Model
TRANFORMATION PROCESS
OUTPUT SYSTEMS LEVEL UNIT/GROUP LEVEL INDIVI
DUAL LEVEL
INFORMAL STRUCTURE PROCESS INDIVIDUAL
INPUT ENVIRONMENT (P.E.S.T.) RESOURCES
HISTORY/ CULTURE
S T R A T E G Y


FORMAL STRUCTURE
WORK