Changing Organizational Culture

I enjoyed reading Hapa's web poster and I agree with the concepts presented. The research, recent and classic, is well structured and well presented. It is true that changing culture is extremely difficult and the bigger the organization, the harder it is to change its culture. Yet, in order to become and remain competitive, organizations must reinvent themselves and sometimes this means changing the culture.
It is obvious that nobody knows exactly how to change a culture. There is not a single formula that will work each time for all organizations but I believe that it is safe to say that at a minimum a good communication strategy and patience are essential in order to successfully change culture.

Creating Transparency within an Organization

I really enjoyed reading the poster about creating transparency. The topic has been very important in the organization where I work lately. Letting people know what you are doing help create partnerships, trust and better business relationships. If you have nothing to hide then it means that you are a great person to work with. Often people do not have anything to hide but just do not know how to communicate what they are doing or do not have time to communicate. The internet, as Zamoradesign states, has played an important role. It is so much easier today to know about organizations that if an organization is trying to hide something, people will know immediately. I agree with Zamoradesign, transparency is essential and should be mandatary for every business.

An Analysis of Global Virtual Teams: Conflict & Leadership (PinkLady's web poster)

I really enjoyed reading about global virtual teams. I have had to work with many different teams around the world lately and some experiences have been better than others. As stated, misunderstandings tend to be more frequent because of the lack of visual cues. What I found helped me a lot is making sure my communication was very clear so people would not be confused about my message and my goals. The more I explained what I was trying to do the more successful the collaboration was. It is inevitable that in today's global economy people have to work virtually with team around the world. The better one person learns to be aware of the differences between virtual teamwork and physical teamwork, the more successful this person is going to be.

Cross-cultural Communication (Kartik)

Today's bay area knowledge workers come from all the over the world and many people come from India. Understanding cultural differences is indeed crucial if one wants to have productive working relationships. I have been working with people from India for many years and I slowly learned about what is appropriate and what is not, like the example given with the handshake. I am sad to know that I have made some mistakes in the process but I eventually learned thanks to the patience of many people from India who eventually became my mentors and friends.
Learning and being culturally educated seems to become more important everyday and I am not surprised to know, based the research, that people that are better cross-culture communicators are paid more.

The Effect of Gender on Verbal and Non-Verbal Communications in the Work Place

I always figured there were differences between the verbal and the non-verbal communication between males and females but I did not what these differences were. Reading this poster has helped me understand how to better communicate when I communicate with my colleagues and my manager.

For example, you wrote that Allen and Griffith’s study suggests that “female employees send less information to their supervisors than male employees”. When I think about it I see that this is true for me. I do not send as much information to my supervisor as my male colleague. Now, I can see that this can be perceived as me interacting less with my supervisor than my colleague.

This is just one example. Reading your web poster made me more aware of how my communication verbal and non-verbal can be more efficient in the work place.

Concise versus Lengthy Communication

Most teachers ask students to write concisely. The objective is to learn to say what we mean to say in fewer words.
Yet, when I observe people communicating at work, it seems that the opposite is true and better perceived. People who communicate more are the ones getting noticed and eventually promoted. It seems that someone who does excellent work but keeps a lower profile does not get noticed as much as the person always talking... intelligently or not. It is almost as if the longer a person speaks the higher the chances of that person influencing others are. This influence seems to be more based on people just wanting the speaker to stop talking and therefore agreeing with him or her than on logic or data. Why is there a contradiction between what we learn in school and the corporate world?

People who only hear what they want to

When I met my new manager six months ago for the first time I thought that it would take a little time for him to come up to speed. I now realize that it is not a matter of time. He is not willing to understand our department current processes so he wants to change them all. While I agree that some changes are necessary, others are worth keeping. When I explain him the reasons why we should keep these processes, he does not listen. He only wants me to say what he wants to hear. This attitude puts me in a difficult position. If I tell him what he wants to hear, I am not thinking about what's best for the company. If I don't, then I risk losing my job. I really like the company I work for. How does one communicate with someone who refuses to listen? Or is it me who has not found the correct way to communicate? I have tried various methods such as emails, one on one meetings or talking to his manager. It is a very difficult juggling act. My next move is to try to talk to my mentor.