LO1.1 Define organizations and describe their basic characteristics.

It is a social invention where individuals with a common goal work together to accomplish
that goal via a group effort

LO1.2 Explain the concept of organizational behaviour and describe the goals of the
field.

OB studies how individuals and groups within an organization behave and interact with one
another. The goals of the field is to identify the attitudes and behaviours people within
groups possess, how to effectively manage these people, and how external factors can
affect the organization.

LO1.3 Define management and describe what managers do to accomplish goals.

Management is the art of leading a group to accomplish a common goal through organized
efforts. Evidence based management

Managers have agendas where their goals can be related to networking activities and how
people in and out of the company can help accomplish certain tasks. Managers play
not just a leadership role but also the role of a liaison, connecting higher ups to
lower-level employees, as well as connecting with those outside of the company.

LO1.4 Contrast the classical viewpoint of management with that advocated by the human
relations movement.

The classical viewpoint of management values these:

- Centralized power
- Controlled spread of information
- Strict chain of command
- High degree of specialization and standardization of tasks
- Detailed rules

Human relation movement counters the CVofM. They value:

- People-oriented and participative styles of management

- Open communication
- Employees involved in decision making
- Less strict control

They critique CVofM in these aspects:

- Strict specialization works against the natural human need to develop and grow
overtime. It also makes the worker disconnected with the main goal of the corporation
as the tasks become more and more repetitive. These things can cause employees to
grow disengaged overtime, which affects absenteeism and turnover rates.
- Centralized power means that ideas will only be generated, or only accepted by the
the higher power members. Centralized power ignored the fact that typically
 lower-level employees are the ones who regularly interact with clients, meaning
they’re the ones who can actually provide the most helpful information to help
innovate and adapt the company. This oversight is bad for the company because it
means resistance to change
- Detailed rules rather than positive encouragement/incentives can end up doing more
harm than good because it will drive employees to do the bare minimum

LO1.5 Describe the contingency approach to management.

The contingency approach to management is a contemporary one. It involves both classical

and human relation viewpoints. Contingency approach evaluates specific situations and their
goals to determine what style of management to use because it has become understood that
this is not one standard form of management that is a one size fits all.

LO1.6 Explain what managers do – their roles, activities, agendas for action, and
thought processes.

Managerial roles:

- Interpersonal roles:
- Leadership: they act as a figurehead for their subordinates and they provide
guidance and directions
- Liaison: connects upperlevels of management to the lower level employees
- Decisional roles: making decisions for employees, like handling disturbances and
allocating resources

Activities:

- Decision making
- Networking
- Communication
- HR management: conflict resolution, motivate and reinforce

Agendas for action

- They keep typically informal agendas for their goals.

- They seek to network with those who they think can help them accomplish these goals

Thought process:

- Effective managers typically all have a common thought process where they are good
at relying on intuition to identify problems and be quick to solve it.

LO1.7 Describe the four contemporary management concerns facing organizations

and how organizational behaviour can help organizations understand and
manage these concerns.

- Diversity: OB is concerned with the problems that tend to arise in diverse workplaces
and how we can actually welcome diversity and use it as an opportunity to learn and
adapt overall.
- Employee health and wellness: work-stress has become a major concern as it is a main
reason for absenteeism and turnovers. OB is concerned with how to better implement
positive work environments to help with that.
- Workplace spirituality: building a workplace where employees feel connected
and supported
- Positive OB: studies how psychological capacities can be measured and
improved. Employee psych caps are known as Psychological Capital and are
self-efficacy, optimism, hope, and resilience
- Talent management: OB is concerned with how organizations can better recruit, train,
develop, retain, and utilize relevant talent.
- Corporate social responsibility: this is when an organization takes on responsibility for
its effects on its employees and the community. This relates to OB because an
organization’s CSR activities can affect its employees' engagement as employees tend
to be more dedicated when they have faith in the organization to be good.
LO2.1 Define personality and describe the dispositional, situational, and interactionist
approaches to organizational behaviour.

Personality is a fairly stable set of traits everybody has.

Dispositional approach: belief that people are predisposed to commit certain actions because
of their personality

Situational: belief that environmental characteristics like rewards and punishment are the
main influence for behaviours

Interactionist: a combination of the two. The most accepted approach.

LO2.2 Discuss the Five-Factor Model of personality, locus of control, self- monitoring,
and self-esteem.

Extraversion, emotional stability, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience

Locus of control categorizes people into two categories: internals and externals

Self-monitoring: the extent to which a person cares for how they’re being perceived

Self-esteem: how much confidence one has in themselves

LO2.3 Discuss positive and negative affectivity, proactive personality, general self-
efficacy, and core self-evaluations and their consequences.

PA: from what I understand, it’s like optimism. Those who tend to view the world through a
more positive light and have a more bright mood. Tend to be happier with life and are
more willinging to take on new experiences.

NA: pessimism. Those who tend to view the world through a negative light and have a more
dark mood. These people tend to be more sad and less engaged.

Proactive personality: those who are willing to take initiative

GSE: one’s beliefs of their own abilities

CSE: broad concept that explores 4 different traits that reflect what people believe about
their self-worth, competence, and capacity

- Self-esteem
- Locus of focus
- GSE
- Neuroticism

LO2.4 Define learning and describe what is learned in organizations.

Learning is the process of absorbing information through practice/experience that creates

 fairly permanent change in ones behaviour.

In organizations, workers learn practical skills, interpersonal, interpersonal, and cultural

LO2.5 Explain operant learning theory and differentiate between positive and
negative reinforcements, and extinction and punishment, and explain how to
use punishment effectively.

OLT explores how people learn by seeing the consequences of their actions. Therefore,
behaviours can be reinforced or extinguished by applying different consequences to an
employee’s behaviour.

Positive reinforcement is when a positive stimulus is added to encourage behaviour.

Neg reinforcement is when a negative stimulus is removed to encourage behavior

Extinction is when a reinforcer is removed in order to discourage behaviour

Punishment is when a negative stimulus is added to discourage behaviour. To use punishment

properly, be sure to make it clear what behaviour is being punished. This also prevents you
from accidentally punished desired behaviour. It is also important to ensure the punishment is
actually something that is undesired by this specific employee and is fair for the “crime”. Also
try not to be emotional about punishments.

LO2.6 Explain when to use immediate versus delayed reinforcement and when to use
continuous versus partial reinforcement.

When you want fast results, it is appropriate to use immediate and continuous reinforcement.
But try not to do this too often because it may cause the employees to become reliant
on your reinforcements.

LO2.7 Explain social cognitive theory and discuss observational learning, self- efficacy
beliefs, and self-regulation.

SCT explores how people learn through observational learning and by utilizing self-efficacy
beliefs and self-regulation.

Observational learning is when an employee can learn from someone else’s actions and the
subsequent consequences.

Self-efficacy beliefs are one’s beliefs about their own capabilities. Self-efficacy is very
dependent on one’s own psychological state but can also be influenced by their
previous experience with the task at hand and by seeing how others are with it.

Self-regulation is one's ability to take initiative to complete tasks. By setting goals and
performance, one can understand their next step. This relates to discrepancy
reduction and discrepancy production. Aka doing better next time or setting new goals

LO2.8 Describe the following organizational learning practices: organizational

behaviour modification, employee recognition programs, and training and
 development programs.

OB modification: this is a use of systematic learning principles to influence OB. this is like
using reinforcements, punishments, and extinction methods.

ERP bring acknowledgement to an employee’s work and encourage others to do the same

Training and development programs help to ensure a standard expectation of performance

and bring possibility for future growth.

Behavioural modelling training is the most effective:

1. Describe job
2. Demonstrate
3. Provide opportunity to practive
4. Give feedback
5. Give opportunity to transfer learning to the job
LO3.1 Define perception and discuss some of the general factors that influence
perception.

Perception is one’s interpretation of reality based on their observations through their senses
rather than reality itself.

Perception is composed of three components:

1. Perceiver
2. Target
3. Situation

Each factor can affect the perceiver’s perception of the target.

The general factors that influence perception are the perceiver’s:

- Experience: past experience sets expectations for what is being perceived. Aka bias
- Emotional state: emotions can impact how we see smth. Perceptual defence prevents
us from observing things that cause unpleasant emotions.
- Motivational state: current needs and wants may cause us to see things how we want
to see them

Or the target’s:

- Ambiguity: humans have a need to fill in the blanks when preserving the unknown.
This does not mean less ambiguity necessarily relates to more accuracy. The perceiver
also cannot always use all the info provided

Or the situation:

- The most important effect of the situation is to add more context for the target
- For example, the way you perceive a critical comment from a manager will be
different depending on whether or not it’s during a layoff or not

LO3.2 Explain social identity theory and Bruner’s model of the perceptual process.

Social identity theory says that people perceive themselves and others based on their
personal identity and social identity.

- Personal: interests, traits, abilities

- Social: nationality, religion, occupation

Once a person has been categorized, we tend to attach typical attributes that we find
familiar with that category. Called prototypes.

We view our own social category more positively

Bruner’s model relates to first impressions. When a new target is introduced, we will seek
info. Once info has been identified, we will categorize this person with a specific trait.
Afterwards, it will become much easier to identify behaviour that corresponds with this trait
but much more difficult to observe opposing info that threatens your perception.

Bruner’s models’ main ideas were that:

 - Perception is selective: we cannot observe all the info so we will decide what is
important to note and what isn’t. This is easier but leaves more room for inaccuracy
- Perception is stubborn: once we believe something, we will have a hard time changing
that thought
- Perception is consistent: we will continue to seek out details that lie with our beliefs
while ignoring info that threatens what we believe.

LO3.3 Describe the main biases in person perception.

The impressions we form on others can heavily depend on our perceptual biases such as:

- Primacy: first impression

- Recency: last impression
- Reliance on central traits: we tend to identify people by the trait that stands out the
most to us. Oftentimes physical traits are major central traits
- Implicit personality theories: we tend to relate personality traits. For example, we
might believe people who are quiet tend to be smart or that people who are energetic
tend to be ditzy.
- Projection: the beliefs you have about yourself may come to light when you’re
perceiving someone else as you may see them the same way. This could also be
attributed to perceptual defence.
- Stereotyping: when you generalize a group of people based on a specific trait while
ignoring the many other qualities that vary amongst the group. Can be very inaccurate

Stereotypes persist because it is so easy for the human mind to accept what is
commonly believed. Stereotypes are reinforced by selective perception.

LO3.4 Describe how people form attributions about the causes of behaviour and various
biases in attribution.

Attributions are when we attribute certain causes or motives to one’s actions.

It is important to identify whether an occurrence is based on dispositional factors or

situational factors in order to see if reward/punishment is warranted.

Dispositional attributions suggest that the person is predisposed to due to their personality.

Situational attributions suggest that an external situation caused the person to behave in a
certain way.

3 questions to ask to see if dispositional or situational:

- How frequently do they engage in this behaviour? (Consistency)

- Do other people also engage in this behaviour? (Consensus)
- Does this person only engage in this behaviour is a specific situation but not others?
(distinctiveness)

3 biases in attribution:

- Fundamental attribution error: tendency to overemphasize dispositional attributions

 while overseeing situational attributions.
- Actor-observer effect: the actor tends to attribute their actions to situational
circumstances whereas the observer will attribute it to their dispositional tendencies.
- Self-serving bias: we will take credit for success but deny responsibility for failures.

LO3.5 Discuss the concepts of workforce diversity and valuing diversity and how racial,
ethnic, religious, gender, age, and LGBT stereotypes affect organizational behaviour and
what organizations can do to manage diversity.

Workplace diversity can have a positive impact on:

- Costs: as we become open to hiring people of different backgrounds, we will find

hidden talent to rake in profits. Customers are also more inclined to utilize your
service if they see that the social groups that they belong to are fairly represented.
- Resource acquisition: with a fear of not enough people joining the workforce, if a
company has a good reputation of being diverse, they will likely see that people will
want to join their company
- Marketing: a diverse group of employees means a diverse background of information.
This could be used to open markets globally.
- Creativity and problem-solving: a diverse group of employees from different
backgrounds also means different insights and different perspectives. This could lead
to more effective problem-solving and creativity.
- System flexibility: as the workplace becomes more diverse, it is believed that power
will become less centralized and that there will be more room for change, growth,
adaptation, and innovation.

Stereotypes are the main barrier preventing diversity in the workplace. Minority groups who
feel they’re being judged tend to downplay the traits that identify them with the group. This
tends to cause higher turnover rates, more mental health issues, and poor performance.

- Gender Stereotypes: women aren’t often found in leadership positions and are paid
less. Could be attributed to the fact that the behaviours prescribed to managers are
corresponding to the stereotypical behaviours of men like ambition, competitiveness,
and assertiveness.
- Age stereotypes: companies have a tendency to be wary of hiring older people because
of stereotypes that see seniors as having lower potential for development. This is
inaccurate though b/c age rarely relates to development. Older people actually tend
to be more time efficient, be less absent, and have lower turnover rates. They are
often overlooked for promotions because of these beliefs though.
- LGBT stereotypes: fear coming out due to potential repercussions which leads to
depression.

How to manage workplace diversity

- Hire enough minority groups that they’re not just of token status
- Encourage teamwork to bring people together
- Remind people to be aware of stereotypes and to ensure that performance reviews
and bonuses are purely based on accurate info.

Diversity training programs: awareness training should be accompanied with skills training to
better interpersonal relations amongst employees.

Diversity programs: diversity should be implemented into every aspect of the workplace
rather than being a stand-alone practice.

LO3.6 Define trust perceptions and perceived organizational support, and describe
organizational support theory.

Trust is one's willingness to be vulnerable and take risks with a certain person/group. The
factors that determine one’s trust in another is their:

- Ability
- Benevolence
- Integrity

Trust in management tends to yield better performance and greater employee satisfaction.

Perceived organizational support is an employee’s idea of whether or not their company will
be there for them in their times of need. If they think yes, they will be more willing to
reciprocate and further advocate for the company.

Predictors for POS:

- Support
- Fairness
- Job conditions
- Rewards

Consequences of POS:

- Satisfaction
- Commitment
- Positive mood
- Better performance
- Reduced absenteeism and turnover

LO3.7 Discuss person perception and perceptual biases in human resources.

Perceptions play a role in HR.

In the applicant’s POV: Signalling theory suggests that applicants don’t have complete info on
an organization so their experience in the job application process will help them determine if
this is the right fit for them.

Interviews and work samples > cognitive ability tests > honesty test and personality test

Factors that threaten interview validity:

- Applicants will put on best impression

- Interviewer primacy perception tendencies
- Compare to previous applicants (contract effect)
 - Negative info is more important than positive info

Structured interviews are best. Common when recruiter has formal training.

- Standardized questions
- Consistency

Performance reviews will be unfair for new recruits because the manager tends to rely on
stereotypes.

Objective vs subjective measures:

- Objective measures are harder to identify in higher ranking roles.

- Subjective measures are for managers to judge

There may be rater errors:

- Leniency: too nice

- Harshness: too mean
- Central tendency: lazy rater
- Halo effect: rater focuses heavily on one central trait
- Similar-to-me effect: better reviews to those they think are similar

How OB is trying to reduce errors in subjective measures:

- Behaviourally anchored rating scale: hilariously specific rating scales based on

hypothetical situations
- Frame of reference training: raters are to be trained on how to rate accurately
LO4.1 Define values and discuss the implications of cross-cultural variation in values for
organizational behaviour.

Values are broad tendencies people have that help them determine what is good and bad.
They aren’t the most accurate to determine behaviour though.

Generational difference in values: research shows that there are more similarities than
differences. They just tend to express their values differently.

Culture heavily influences values.

*insert hofstede shit

Cultural distance: the extent in which cultures differ in values.

Cultural intelligence: ability to function properly in culturally diverse environments

LO4.2 Define attitudes and explain how people develop attitudes.

Attitudes are fairly stable evaluations of specific things.

They’re more specific than values.

Influence behaviour, though not always consistent

Belief + values -> attitudes -> behaviours

LO4.3 Explain the concept of job satisfaction and discuss some of its key contributors,
including discrepancy, fairness, disposition, mood, and emotion.

Measure job satisfaction on the job descriptive index JDI:

- People
- Pay
- Work promotion
- Supervision
- Job itself

There’s also the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire.

What determines job satisfaction:

- Discrepancy: what they receive is close to what they believe they should receive
- Fairness:
- Rewards are distributed fairly
- Equity theory: suggest that the input and outcome should be consistent
from person to person. Different from equality.
- Procedural fairness: concerned with how outcomes are decided and allocated.
Needs to be consistent
- Interactional fairness: fair info about outcome explained well
- Disposition: personality can determine job satisfaction
 - Mood and emotion:
- Mood: longer lived, less intense
- Emotion: short lived, more intense

Affective events theory: events at the job affect emotions and moods

Emotional contagion: moods can spread within a group

Emotional regulation/labour: need for employees to hide their true emotions and act
in a certain way. This tends to increase stress.

LO4.4 Explain the relationship between job satisfaction and absenteeism, turnover,
performance, organizational citizenship behaviour, and customer satisfaction.

Job satisfaction leads to lower absenteeism, lower turnover, better performance, better OCB,
and higher customer satisfaction.

Better OCB because when the employee feels more content at work, they will become more
positive in the workplace and display a great attitude to do their best work and help others.

Withdrawal: 1) reduced OCB 2) tardiness 3) absenteeism 4) turnover

LO4.5 Differentiate affective, continuance, and normative commitment and explain how
organizations can foster organizational commitment.

3 types of organizational commitment

- Affective commitment: stay with an organization b/c they want to

- Leads to positive performance
- Continuance commitment: stay with the organization b/c they have to (rent, bills)
- Leads to negative performance
- Normative commitment: stay b/c they think they should (obligation)

When commitment is too high, it affects work-life balance. Also been implicated in unethical
and illegal behaviour.

High commitment to a specific style of organization leaves no room for growth

Changes in the workplace affect employee’s commitment

Employees performing core tasks should have high OCB

LO7.1 Discuss group development.

Formal groups

- typically consist of a manager and the employees who report to the manager.
- Tasks forces and project teams are temporary groups.
- Committees are permanent groups that work outside the usual work structure.

Informal groups

- Emerge naturally due to common interest

- Can be beneficial or bad for the organization depending on its activities

Group development

- Forming
- Storming: conflict emerges as members assign roles and as different ideas began
conflicting.
- Norming: conflicts are resolved and group is more cohesive. Info and opinions flow
freely
- Performing: group effort to perform, mutual assistance
- Adjourning: celebrating the group’s success

Sometimes groups are so structured that there is no storming or norming phase

Punctuated equilibrium model:

- phase 1: very little progress, first meeting is very important to set the tone
- Midpoint: many decisions are made
- Phase 2: decisions and ideas made during midpoint are played out

LO7.2 Explain how group size and member diversity influence what occurs in groups.

Group size:

Satisfaction

- larger groups usually lower satisfaction

- less opportunity to build friendships and more conflict
- Don’t identify with the group’s accomplishments as much

Performance depends on the type of task:

- Additive: task where group performance is the sum of everyone’s efforts (building a
house). More people is better.
- Disjunctive task: the performance of the group is dependent on the quality of work by
the best worker (research team). More people is better b/c raises the probability of
having a good member.
- Process losses:
- Performance difficulties that stem from having to coordinate a large
group.
- Actual performance = potential performance - process losses
 - Potential performance AND process losses increase as more members
join
- There is a point where the addition of the marginal member will cause
actual performance to fall
- Individual performance will become less efficient
- Conjunctive tasks: performance of the group is limited by its weakest member (cheer
squad). More people is bad b/c it raises probability of adding a weaker member

Group diversity:

- Diversity can cause difficulty in communicating early

- Overtime, the nuances of surface diversity wear off and the positive elements will
shine through: innovation and creativity
- Deep diversity in thought processes can be damaging for group cohesion though

LO7.3 Review how norms, roles, and status affect social interaction.

Norms are expectations commonly held within a group. Norms are normally subconscious but
sometimes we become aware of them when entering a new unfamiliar setting. Norms are held
to set expectations for regular practices as to avoid confusion. Deviation from norms can be
worrisome, especially if it’s considered something important.

Roles are positions in which they are assigned expectations that they should meet. 2 basic
types of roles:

- Assigned roles
- Emergent roles

Role ambiguity caused by:

- Organizational factors: inherently ambiguous roles like middle managers

- The role sender: when the person assigning the role fails to set clear expectations
- The focal person: they might be new to the job and have a hard time understanding
their role

Role conflict happens when expectations are incompatible with the focal person

- Intrasender: one role sender is setting expectations that are incompatible. Example:
manager tells you to not work too hard but keeps piling on work for you to complete
- Intersender: when two role senders have different expectations from you. Example: as
a first-level manager, upper management might expect you to keep producing and to
keep workers in line but your workers may expect you to be friendly.
- Interrole: one person plays several roles
- Person-role: the person is incompatible with the role. Either inability to perform or
they may find their job unethical.

Status is a person’s rank and prestige in a group. Can be formal or informal. Acts as a way to
identify a person’s abilities or seniority. Higher members are more respected and tend to
speak more. Not always the most knowledgeable. Drastic differences in status cause
accessibility for communication. Email has helped with this though.
LO7.4 Discuss the causes and consequences of group cohesiveness.

Group cohesiveness is relative rather than absolute as it can vary depending on changes.
Members will want to stay if they think of the group positively in these aspects:

- Threat and competition: external threats

- Group size: members find it harder to identify with larger groups
- Toughness and initiation: the harder it is to join, the more people will want to
- Success: become more cohesive after experiencing some success w/ them
- Member diversity: surface level diversity may cause initial conflict

Cohesive groups develop more norms over time as members continue to stay engaged. The
more group cohesion there is, the easier it is to get deviants to comply.

If the cohesive group identifies with the goals of the organization, they will yield better
results than incohesive groups. However, if the group doesn’t identify with the goals of the
organization, they may be productive in all the wrong ways.

LO7.5 Explain the dynamics of social loafing.

Social loafing is when a person is not bringing all the effort they can to a group. 2 forms:

- Free rider effect: they will lower their involvement knowing others will pick up their
slack
- Sucker effect: a response to the free rider; they will lower their efforts if they see it’s
unfair for themselves

How to reduce social loafing:

- Keep group small so that individual accomplishments are visible

- Make sure the task is interesting
- Provide feedback
- Have rewards and punishments

LO7.6 Discuss how to design and support self- managed teams.

A team is a group in an organization.

Efficiency and quality of results increase when people work in teams

Collective efficacy is important to a team’s success.

Work group is effective when:

- Group experience is positive enough to want to continue

 - Member needs are met with positive response rather than frustration
- The output is acceptable to management

Self-managed work teams are most effective:

- Nature of the task: best when a task requires interdependence

- Team composition: stable, good size, knowledgeable, diverse
- Support: insufficient support can cause problems:
- Training: some members may not be well-equipped to handle the task at hand
- Rewards: should reward group accomplishments rather than individual
accomplishments, but still provide members individual feedback
- Management: sometimes managers may feel threatened if they feel a group can
function without them. Management should instead be concerned with
relations between teams and how to coach teams

LO7.7 Explain the logic behind cross-functional teams and describe how they can operate
effectively.

People with different backgrounds of specialization can combine their expertise to create a
cross-functional team. These teams are best for product development. The benefits come
from the deep knowledge on varying topics that provide for fast and precise development.

Elements that make cross-functional teams effective:

- Composition: include all experts in diff fields

- Superordinate goals: the goals identified should be ones that require group effort
- Physical proximity: close for informal contact which is good
- Autonomy: they need to be autonomous from higher management in order to use their
full potential
- Rules and procedures: petty rules should be avoided but there should be
fundamentally accepted procedures to avoid chaos
- Leadership: cross-functional teams need especially strong leaders with great
interpersonal skills and expertise to help avoid and resolve conflict

Shared mental models: members share identical information about how they should interact
and what the goal at hand is. Helps to create cohesion and to avoid conflicts. Difficult in
cross-functional teams due to varying backgrounds.

LO7.8 Understand virtual teams and what makes them effective.

Advantages of virtual teams:

- Around the clock work

- No transportation time, save costs
- Larger pool of talent

Disadvantages:

- Isolation
- Miscommunication
- Trust
- Cost for initial start up can be high due to the tech involved
- Management: managers can no longer see what their workers are doing
LO10.1 Define communication and explain why communication by the strict chain of
command is often ineffective.

Sender:

1. Thinking
2. Encoding
3. transmitting/sending

Receiver:

1. Perceiving
2. Decoding
3. Understanding

Chain of command:

- Upward
- Downward
- Horizontal: from team to team, through managers

Flaws w/ chain of command:

- Slow
- Filtering in language and lost meaning
- Informal communication is necessary helps teams accomplish goals more effectively
and having to pass by a middle person may make one think twice to pass this
information which is ineffective

LO10.2 Explain the factors that contribute to voice versus silence.

Workers who are satisfied with their job tend to speak more.

A positive atmosphere for voice can help with psychological safety so that workers are willing
to take risks.

A negative environment for voice causes self-censorship and creates a climate of silence.

Silence relates to the mum effect where people tend to withhold bad news, especially when
they are the cause for it.

LO10.3 Explain the organizational grapevine and discuss its main features.

Organizational grapevine is the transmission of information that doesn’t go through the formal
chain of command. It’s an informal network of communication that involves personal gossip as
well as organizational information.

75% of organization info is correct.

Emotionally charged personal gossip tends to be distorted.

Personality plays a role in who participates in the grapevine, as well as one’s location (maybe
they heard it from the cubicle over)

Involving oneself in the grapevine can be stimulating and it can also provide important info in
a timely fashion. It also helps build bonds b/w workers

The transmission or organizational ideas via the grapevine can also help test the reactions
received to see if it is worth implementing.

LO10.4 Review the role of verbal and nonverbal communication at work.

Jargon can clarify ideas b/w those in the same field but is confusing for clients and those
outside the organization/field.

Body language can gauge whether someone is interested in a conversation or not.

Differences in body language expressing different levels of relaxation can point to differences
in status.

Body language important in interviews

Props, artifacts, costumes:

- A well decorated and neat office makes visitors feel more welcomed
- Clothing can point to a person’s self-confidence and tends to make people think more
highly of their status and abilities

LO10.5 Discuss gender differences in communication and identify how a

failure to recognize these differences can cause communication
problems.

Men tend to be more concerned with power dynamics and are more concerned with putting
themselves in a one-up position.

Women tend to be more concerned with bonding with others and are more concerned with
not putting others down.

Key diffs:

- Getting credit
- Confidence
- Compliments
- Asking questions
- Feedback
- Indirectness: women tend to be indirect when giving orders so cross-gender
communication can be confusing

LO10.6 Discuss challenges relating to cross- cultural communication and identify

useful strategies to deter miscommunication.
 - Language differences
- Non-verbal communication
- Etiquette and politeness
- Social conventions
- Cultural context
- High-context: a lot of reading b/w the lines
- Low context: more direct

LO10.7 Define computer-mediated communication and highlight its

strengths and weaknesses.

Richness of the method of communication:

- How synchronous is the communication

- Can the sender and receiver interpret voice and body cues

LO10.8 Review personal strategies and organizational initiatives aimed at

enhancing communication.

Poor-communication can be self-perpetuating due to receiving negative responses

Good communication

- Takes time, build rapport

- Have empathy
- Don’t confuse the person with the problem: be clear in identifying the problem and
not to make them feel bad
- Be honest, but not cruel. Honesty without kindness is cruelty
- Listen actively

During cross cultural communication, it’s best to assume there are differences.

How to improve organizational communication:

- explain actions in a fair fashion

- 360 feedback from everyone
- Employee feedback, especially useful if used regular to see how changes have affected
employee retention
- Suggestion systems that allow lower level employees to give ideas to management and
be rewarded if their idea is implemented
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