Discussion Questions

Posted: March 27th, 2020

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Discussion Questions

Question 1

In order to select the best communication channel, social acceptance and media richness are significant factors to consider. Social acceptance can be described as the level of success in which the medium of communication is embraced by individuals, teams, and the larger organization. Social acceptance factors involve selecting the best communication medium, making consideration of relationships and organizational environments, and taking into account the individual preferences of communication mediums. It provides significant factors that allow organizational leaders to select the most preferred styles of interactions (McShane and Von Glinow 302).

Media richness can be described as the capacity in which data is carried in this medium. It also refers to the variety of communication styles that can be transmitted within the medium (McShane and Von Glinow 315). Media richness is considered of higher quality when it conveys a larger variety of communication styles, such as verbal and non-verbal cues. It is also more preferred when it provides room for communicators to formulate and relay responses. An example that can apply in real life concerning media richness is a presentation of business proposals. Instead of sending a 150-page long booklet of a proposal, most people would prefer a meeting in which the presenter provides an abridged version of the book while relaying the important parts of the proposal message.

Question 2

Effective communication is important for the development of an organization. Through communication, members are able to relay messages timely, accurately, and through the correct mediums. This promotes coordination in the workplace. Additionally, communication is an effective way of solving conflicts, which are inevitable in most organizational environments. It is an effective way of ensuring that members have understood their professional roles and responsibility, thus enhancing overall productivity. Communication ensures that relevant information is provided to all relevant stakeholders of the company. This promotes efficiency in decision-making. Training can only be achieved through efficient relaying of information from a teacher to a learner (McShane and Von Glinow 305).

            One factor is the motivation of both the sender and receiver to relay messages to one another through the provided channels of communication. Another influence is the availability of codebooks that need to be similar between the communicators. The context of the topic needs to be familiar to both the sender and receiver of the message. Finally, both the sender and receiver need to be proficient in sending these messages through the relevant channels. The sender needs to have experience at encoding the message while the receiver needs to be experienced in decoding. For instance, a sender needs to utilize the right medium of communication, such as an email for professional uses while instant messaging, which tends to be more personal, can be used for social communication.

Question 3

In some organizational hierarchies, emails are often considered an effective way to relay messages to people who are higher up. Social networking communication is also considered an effective way of communicating information, although people from the organization may use them for non-professional purposes. Essentially, it is a way for employees to communicate and interact socially and in a healthy environment. Conversely, it is only used for employees to interact with one another. People existing in different positions in the organizational hierarchy are typically not interactive with one another on social media. Furthermore, workspace design and web-based communication channels are efficient ways for employees to communicate with one another. Meetings allow personnel higher up in the hierarchy to communicate with those who are in the lower levels.

The grapevine is an unstructured communication system that is facilitated through development of social connections (McShane and Von Glinow 320). It is often a system that employees turn to when there are no formal means of communication, or when these systems prove ineffective. One advantage of the grapevine is that it relays information at a fast pace because the protocols for information transfer, which may often take time to reach everyone, are not adhered to. For instance, when employees are not provided with effective communication systems and platforms in the company, they will rely on social interactions, such as social media to communicate with one another.

Question 4

The dependence model of power exists in such a way that one party possesses power over another individual, which makes them dependent. On the other hand, the dependent party also possesses some type of power over the dominant one in order to ensure that the relationship is maintained. Legitimate power is the power possessed by individuals in certain positions of the organization. This type of power is typically achieved from job descriptions. Reward power is possessed by individuals who have the resources and ability to provide rewards which others value. This is typically power possessed by managers and others higher in the organizational chain. Coercive power is the capacity to administer punishment. People who possess this power have the ability to prevent or persuade people (McShane and Von Glinow 338). Expert power is the ability to amass influence from others in the organization because of proficiency or skills that other people value. Referent power comes from one’s identity. For example, people are normally drawn to individuals who are funny, interesting, and highly sociable, even in the workplace.

Work Cited

McShane, Steven L., and Mary Ann Von Glinow. Organizational Behavior: Emerging Knowledge and Practice for the Real World. Tata McGraw Hill, 2011.