Influences on Communication

• Task interdependence

• Physical facilities

• Interaction of the individuals (parties, lunches, etc.)\

• Status of the individual- higher level individuals tend to dominate conversation

• Cultural norms- specific to cultures: ex-Japanese vs American culture

Requirements for Communication

• Attention

• Comprehension

• Acceptance

• Feedback

Barriers to Understanding

• The use of SRC- self-reference criterion, seeing things only from your perspective

• Over interpretation- inferring the meaning from an incomplete message

• Projection- trying to make others feel the way we do about something

• Stereotypes- having preconceived notions about others

• Arrogance- believing that your views are superior

• Evaluative responses- judging a message as either right or wrong

Steps to Improving Communication

• Determine the objectives and analyze the situation

• Clarify relevance and purpose

• Use simple language

• Avoid redundancy (stating the same thing over and over again)

• Ensure appropriate feedback

The 4 Main Types of Corporate Culture

1) Power Cultures

In these cultures self-reliant and highly competitive self-development provides the basis of relations. A manager’s success is related to their charisma, ambition, and influence, rather than their knowledge and experience. The style of the chief executive (CEO) is the model for other mangers. In organizations of this type mangers need to be tough-minded and aggressive.

Highlights: Charisma, ambition, influence, self-reliance are all important. This type of organizations has a highly competitive environment where aggression is rewarded.

2) Role Cultures

In these cultures a manger’s role is completely related to their place within a centralized system. Their success depends on how well they adhere to rules, procedures, and precedents. Individualism and aggression are NOT valued in these cultures. Employees in these organizations should NOT exceed the limits of their roles. Empowerment is not a management theory that is put into practice in this type of corporate culture.

Highlights: Organizational structure, rules, regulations, and job titles are all very important. Individualism, aggression and assuming responsibility for job functions outside of your job are NOT highly valued.

3) Task Cultures

In organizations of this type, they value everything that makes it possible to get the work done and get company goals accomplished. The main concern in these types of organizations is to be successful with the completion of projects. A manager’s success is related to their knowledge and experienced required to achieve tasks, rather than to meet the requirements of their role. If something does not help the company to meet its goals, it is not considered to be of any value.

Highlights: Things and people in the organization only have value if they add to the ability to get the job done. The “bottom line” is highly valued.