MGMT 1000 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Business Communication, Ethical Decision, Critical Thinking
20 Jun 2018
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CHAPTER 1 – Communicating in the Digital World
Critical thinking – Osborn-Parnes Creative Problem-Solving Process:
1. Explore the challenge – identify the challenge, gather information and clarify the problem
2. Generate ideas – come up with many ideas to solve the problem, pick the most promising
ideas
3. Implement solutions – select and strengthen solutions, plan how to bring your solution to
life and implement it
Skills Employers Want
- Written/oral communication
- Critical thinking/analytical reasoning
- Ability to analyse and solve complex problems
- Ethical decision making
- Teamwork skills
- Innovation and creativity
- Ability to locate and evaluate information
- Understanding statistics
Trends and Challenges in the Information Age
- New communication technologies, social media
- Around-the-clock availability expectations
- Global competition
- Flattened management hierarchies, team-based projects, diverse workforce,
mobile/virtual office
Information Flow and Media Choices in Today’s Business World
Business communication functions:
1. To inform
2. To persuade
3. To promote goodwill
Internal communication – exchanging ideas and messages with superiors, co-workers, and
subordinates
- When written – e-mail
- Clarify procedures and policies, inform management of progress, develop new
products/services, persuade to make changes or improvements, coordinate activities,
evaluate and reward employees
External communication – with suppliers, customers, the government, and the public
- Most commonly email, but also hardcopy letters, letters to be faxed or scanned
- Answering inquiries about products or services, persuading customers to buy products or
services, clarifying supplier specifications, issuing credit, collecting bills, responding to
government agencies
Oral x written communication
Media richness - how much clarifying information the medium is able to convey to the recipient
- Lowest/least effective: spam, newsletter, flyer, bulletin, poster, letter, memo, note, e-mail
- Medium: blogs, chat, message boards, IM,
- Highest/most effective: telephone, videoconferencing, IM or chat with video and audio,
conversation, meeting
Unaddressed documents ! written, addresses ! audio ! video ! face-to-face
Social presence – the degree to which people are engaged online and ready to connect with
others OR the degree of “salience” (being there) between a sender and receiver using a
communication medium
! How much awareness of the sender is conveyed along with the message
Formal Communication Channels:
Information flow in Organizations:
1. Downward communication – from management to subordinates
- Policies, procedures, directives, job plans, mission goals, motivation
- Improvement: smaller operating units and work teams, management speaking
directly to employees, shorter chains of communication; company publications,
announcements, meetings, videos
2. Horizontal Communication – among workers at same level
- Task coordination, problem solving, conflict resolution, idea generation, team
building, goals clarification
- Improvement: training employees in teamwork and communication techniques,
establishing reward systems based on team achievement rather than individual
achievement, encouraging full participation in team functions
3. Upward communication (from subordinates to management)
- Product feedback, customer data, progress reports, suggestions, problems,
clarification
- Improvement: hiring communication coaches to train employees, asking
employees to report customer complaints, encouraging regular meetings with
staff, providing/trusting/non-threatening environment in which employees can
comfortably share their observations and ideas with management, offering
incentive programs that encourage employees to collect and share valuable
feedback
Barriers blocking flow of communication:
- Closed communication climate, top-heavy organization structure, long lines of
communication
- Lack of trust btw. Management and employees
- Competition for power, status, and rewards
- Fear of reprisal for honest communication, differing frames of reference among
communicators
- Lack of communication skills
- Ego involvement, turf wars
Document Summary
Chapter 1 communicating in the digital world. Ability to analyse and solve complex problems. Flattened management hierarchies, team-based projects, diverse workforce, mobile/virtual office. Information flow and media choices in today"s business world. Business communication functions: to inform, to persuade, to promote goodwill. Internal communication exchanging ideas and messages with superiors, co-workers, and subordinates. Clarify procedures and policies, inform management of progress, develop new products/services, persuade to make changes or improvements, coordinate activities, evaluate and reward employees. External communication with suppliers, customers, the government, and the public. Most commonly email, but also hardcopy letters, letters to be faxed or scanned. Answering inquiries about products or services, persuading customers to buy products or services, clarifying supplier specifications, issuing credit, collecting bills, responding to government agencies. Media richness - how much clarifying information the medium is able to convey to the recipient. Lowest/least effective: spam, newsletter, flyer, bulletin, poster, letter, memo, note, e-mail.
