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.

Not communicating as the most effective way of communicating

One of my colleagues always wants to know about everything all the time. She wants to be copied on every email. She currently has over 6000 emails in her inbox. We go to meeting and she will ask questions about everything and interrupt everyone to give her opinion. While we all appreciate her input we feel that our meetings with her are not productive. So we all started sharing information about what she really needed to know and inviting her less to meetings. Some people just seem hungry for information yet they never "digest" it. Some people make the correct assumptions with the little amount of information provided to them. When communicating, one should always remember who she or he is talking to and remember that sometimes too much information is worse than silence.

Emotions as a communication enabler or stopper

As I continue to think about what affects my communication skills and the reasons why I am not as good of a communicator as I should be, I realize that the effectiveness of my communications is heavily based on how I feel at a particular moment. If I have plenty of energy and if my day has gone well, I make more of an effort to communicate well. However if I am tired and it's close to the end of the day, then I tend to not communicate well if at all. Along the same line, if I am in a great mood and things are going well, I will make more of an effort to be more engaged. I know what I should say and how but sometimes I just chose not to, for reasons that I nothing to do with my communication skills. I guess it is better to not do the right thing and know about it than not do the right thing and not have a clue.

As I read about each chapter and learn more about organizational communication, I realize that many of the concepts do make sense yet I wonder why they are not followed by the majority of people in organizations. People who do not have the opportunity to take this class or any communication class should still be able to use their common sense to decide what to communicate, how and to whom. Throughout the postings from the students I read about so many situations where that has not happened. We all have been in situations where someone did not communicate or did but inappropriately. And, we'll also all been in situations where we did not communicate appropriately either. When I only focus on reasons why I haven't communicated at all or well enough, I realize that it is not easy. It seems that life goes by so fast and doing the right thing all the time is almost impossible. My management expects me to get things done, deadlines are aggressive and communication is often the part I must leave out.

Communication is central to the implementation of planned change (Ch 11)

I agree with the authors that “once a change has been decided upon, it must be communicated to others”. Many times, I found out about up coming changes through the grapevine, most information was actually correct. However, each time, I was very frustrated by the silence of our managers. It did not matter who would communicate with me and how the information would circulate, what mattered to me what that someone would somehow communicate. When changes are imminent and communication does not happen, employees spend hours speculating about the details or just about whether the rumors are true or not. The lack of communication affects employee morale and eventually productivity. Awkward communication is therefore better than silence.

Box 11.1 Identifying Your Beliefs About Change (Ch 11)

I believe that change is difficult, complex but possible. People and organization do change. Based on my experience, it seems that people might agree with the goals an organization is trying to achieve but not with how the organization wants to reach these goals. In other words, employees might agree with the “what” but not the “how”. At my last company, our executive team thought that the only way back to profitability was to lay people off. While most employees agreed that we needed to get back to profitability they did not agree that the only was to lay people off. Many people thought about lowering our expenses, or cutting down on bonuses or business travel. It seems that the executive team wanted to find a short term, easy solution.

Stress versus Burnout (Ch 10)

The definition of stress on page 299 and the fact that it can be positive are interesting. I have always used the words stress and burnout interchangeably. It seem that people always complain about stress. The word is often used with a negative connotation. But I now can appreciate the difference. A few months ago, my Director, gave me a “challenge assignment”. It was an new opportunity for me that was both important and had a high level of uncertainty. I was both excited and stressed. Excited because I had been given an opportunity to show my skills and stressed because I might not be able to do what was expected of me. I can see how “stress” can be positive but I still believe that there is a fine line between stress as a positive force and stress as a negative force.

Styles of Conflict (Ch 10)

The diagram on page 290 showing various styles is very interesting. If I think about where I would position myself, I face a dilemma. For example, with my friends or socially I always place myself in the "collaborate" category. At work, in class or in more formal environment, I would place myself in the "accommodate" category but at home, I am definitely in the "compete" category. It is interesting to think about the different styles I might adopt based on situations in my life. The authors emphasize that all five styles are fine but to me they are based on specific situations. In my case, these styles are based on life “categories” not situations. I am always accommodating at work when in some situation maybe I should not be. This understanding is very consistent with what my manager wrote in my last review. He suggested that I work on becoming more assertive.

“Natural Competition” of the Market (Ch 10)

I understand how encouraging competition can benefit an organization. By trying to perform better than others, people increase their productivity and it helps the bottom line. While the short-term benefit for the company are obvious, I am not so sure about long-term benefits. A few years ago, one of my previous manager could not make up his mind about who to promote. He hesitated between me and my co-worker. So he decided to spit up our group of 6 people in two identical groups of 3 people. My co-worker managed one of the group and I managed the other. This was one of the worse decision I have seen. My co-worker and I started competing for the management of the entire group and the competition became very ugly. She, of course, never played fair. I remember about her spreading lies about me or taking credit for my ideas or always interrupting me when I was speaking at meeting to repeat exactly what I was saying. Eventually I decided to leave. My work environment has become to unhealthy for me. I was spending all my energy fighting her or defending myself. Neither one of us, nor our manager, was really thinking about what was best for the company. At the end, the company lost productivity and motivation and a great employee.

Gatekeepers and Power (Ch 9)

Five years ago, I decided that I no longer wanted to have a TV in my house. The main reason was that I realized that while people on TV did not tell me what to think, they definitely told me what to think about. This is an important distinction. I realized how information was manipulated to force me to think about certain topics. Sure, I was free to agree with X or Y, but I was not free to decided no to think about it. I know TV programs are evolving and with Tivo once has more freedom in what to think about. Yet, I don’t think we are at a point where I can completely customize the type of information I decide I want to receive.

Authority in Bureaucratic Organization (Ch 9)

Starting a new job is so fascinating for so many reasons. When I join a new team, I have a new way of looking at things. Sometimes this “new way” is encouraged, sometimes not. Questioning existing processes is often not encouraged. When I started my last job, my manager asked me to run a couple of reports once a month. I asked him who read the information and in what way the information provided helped in making decision. He could not answer. All he told me was that needed to do it because the person before me did it and that was the end of the conversation.

The "Who" of Power (Ch 9)

When I start a new job, I am usually introduced to the management within the first few days. However, the people in management are not always the one making decisions. The challenge, when starting a new job, is to find who is really in power and who decides what and when. This takes longer to find out. Once I find out where the real power resides then it becomes easier for me to do what I need to do to be successful. Then I know who I need to influence if I need a specific piece of equipment or collaboration from another team.

Defining Participation (Ch 8)

I never stopped and really thought of democratic participation at work and what it meant for me. I suppose that my definition would be something like taking into consideration everyone’s input. If I asked myself is this something that really happens in the work place? I would probably say that it depends on the level at which decisions are made. My perception is that democratic participation happens more towards the top of the organization, not in lower levels. My manager often asks for my option but has never, once, done what I suggested. So now, I only tell him what he wants to hear. Some organization promote being democratic but are not really.

The Ever Demanding Employers (Ch 8)

I agree with the statement “employees are required to participate more fully in their jobs than was true in the past”. I noticed that in my own career. When my manager hired me two years ago, he explained what was expected of me. Now, two years later, the same tasks are expected however, he slowly added more and more tasks expecting me to continue doing what I was hired for but also pick up new things along the way. It seems to me that management is never satisfied with continuation, they always try to push employees to do more. But at the end of the day, there is only so much one can do.