Goal-Setting Theory

Goal setting is the process of improving performance with objectives, deadlines, or quality standards.

A General Goal-Setting Model

A goal creates “constructive discontent”. Properly conceived goals trigger a motivational process that improves performance

A Model of How Goals Can Improve Performance

Personal Ownership and Effective Goals:

—  Specificity makes goals measurable

—  Difficulty makes goals challenging

—  Participation gives personal ownership of the goal

How Do Goals Actually Motivate?

—  Exercises in selective perception

—  Encourage effort to achieve something specific

—  Encourage persistent effort

—  Foster creation of strategies and action plans

Practical Implications of Goal-Setting Theory: The developed ability to effectively set goals can be transferred readily to any performance environment.

Graphic Planning/Scheduling/Control Tools

Flow Charts

—  Arrange events in the order of their actual or desired occurrence (flow)

—  Eliminate wasted steps and activities (work simplification)

—  Are useful for identifying task components and in TQM

—  Potential problems: They do not indicate the time dimension of tasks.

They are not practical for complex operations where several activities occur at once

A Sample Flow Chart

Gantt Charts

A graphic scheduling technique historically used in production operations. Useful for scheduling large projects where time for each activity can be specified and progress assessed. Potential problem: Overly complex endeavors are too cumbersome for Gantt charts.

A Sample Gantt Chart

 

Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) Networks

Developed in 1958 for use in the development of the U.S. Navy’s Polaris submarine-launched missile project. Graphic sequencing and scheduling tool for large, complex, and nonroutine projects.

The Communication Process

Communication

The interpersonal transfer of information and understanding from one person to another is communication. Links in this social process include sender, encoding, medium, decoding, receiver, and feedback. The communication process is only as strong as its weakest link.

The Basic Communication Process

 Encoding

Translating internal thought patterns into a language or code the intended receiver of the message will likely understand and/or pay attention to choice of words, gestures, or other symbols for encoding depends on the nature of the message.

—  Technical or nontechnical

—  Emotional or factual

—  Visual or auditory

—  Cultural diversity can create encoding challenges.

Selecting a Medium

•         Face-to-face conversations

•         Telephone calls

•         E-mails

•         Memos

•         Letters

•         Computer reports

•         Photographs

•         Bulletin boards

•         Meetings

•         Organizational publications

•         News releases

•         Press conferences

•         Advertising

•         Moving between low- and high-context cultures can create appropriate media selection problems.

•         In low-context cultures, the verbal content of the message is more important than the medium through which it is delivered.

•         In high-context cultures, the context (setting) in which the message is delivered is more important than the literal words of the message.

A Contingency Approach (Lengel and Daft)

Media richness: A given medium’s capacity to convey information and promote learning

Characteristics of rich mediums

—  Provide simultaneous multiple information cues

—  Facilitate immediate feedback

—  Have a personal focus

Characteristics of lean mediums

—  Convey limited information (few cues)

—  Provide no immediate feedback

—  Impersonal in nature

The Legal-Daft Contingency Model of Media Selection

Decoding, Feedback and Noise

Decoding

Successful decoding depends on the receiver having:

Willingness receives the message. Knowledge of the jargon and terminology used  in the message. An understanding of the sender’s purpose and background situation.

Feedback

Appropriate forms of feedback are determined by the same factors that govern the sender’s encoding decision. Feedback affects the form and content of follow-up communication. Effective feedback is timely, relevant, and personal.

Noise

Noise is any interference with the normal flow of communication. A speech impairment, garbled technical transmission, negative attitudes, lies, misperception, illegible print or pictures, telephone static, partial loss of hearing, and poor eyesight all qualify as noise. Understanding decreases as noise increases.

To deal with noise: Make messages more understandable. Minimize and neutralize sources of interference.

Communication Strategies

Spray & Pray: Passive receivers are showered with information

Tell & Sell: A restricted set of messages with explanations for importance and relevance

Underscore & Explore: Give-and-take strategy for communicating key issues

Identify & Reply: Responding to employee concerns about prior communications

Withhold & Uphold: Telling employees only what they need to know when you think they need to know it

Clampitt’s Communication Strategy Continuum

 Seeking a Middle-Ground Communication Strategy

—  Avoid Spray & Pray and Withhold & Uphold.

—  Use Tell & Sell and Identify & Reply sparingly.

—  Use Underscore & Explore as much as possible.

Merging Communication Strategies and Media Richness: Managers need to select the richest medium possible when employing Tell & Sell, Identify & Reply, and Underscore & Explore strategies.

The Grapevine: The grapevine is the unofficial and informal communication system in an organization.

Words of Caution About the E-Grapevine and “Blogs”

Web logs (“blogs,” or online diaries) vastly and instantly extend the reach of the grapevine. Writers of blogs and senders of e-gossip leave electronic trails that may prove embarrassing or worse at a later date. Lawmakers, ethics specialists, and company policy makers are racing to catch up with new technology.

The Grapevine has a Positive Side Despite It’s Bad Reputation

Managers have predominately negative feelings about the grapevine. The grapevine is more prevalent at lower levels of the managerial hierarchy. The grapevine is likely to be more influential in larger organizations. Grapevine communication is usually accurate and can help managers learn how employees truly feel about policies and programs.

Coping with the Grapevine

The grapevine cannot be extinguished. Attempts to stifle the grapevine are likely to stimulate it instead. Monitoring and officially correcting grapevine information is perhaps the best strategy for coping with the grapevine. “Management by walking around” is an excellent way to monitor the grapevine in a nonthreatening manner.

Nonverbal Communication

Body Language: Nonverbal communication based on facial expressions, posture, and appearance

Types of Body Language

o   Facial

o   Gestural

o   Postural

o   Appearance

Receiving Nonverbal Communication: Awareness of nonverbal cues can give insight into deep-seated emotions.

Reading Body Language

Giving Nonverbal Feedback

Nonverbal feedback from authority figures significantly affects employee behavior. Positive feedback builds good interpersonal relations. Sensitivity and cross-cultural training can reduce nonverbal errors when working with individuals from other cultures.

Upward Communication

The process of encouraging employees to share their feelings and ideas with management.

Options for improving upward communication:

—  Formal grievance procedures

—  Employee attitude and opinion surveys

—  Suggestion systems

—  Open-door policy

—  Informal meetings

—  Social media

—  Exit interviews

Communicating in the Digital Workplace

Digital technology has been revolutionary for the computer, telecommunications, consumer electronics, publishing, defense, and entertainment industries

Communication objectives:

—  Effectively use the communication technologies at our disposal

—  Prepare for those technologies to come

Dealing with Information Overload: Clear objectives and priorities sharpen one’s focus and foster selective perception amid clutter and noise

Developing a Workplace Policy for Social Networking:  Online social networking by employees is common, controversial, and poorly controlled

Policy Guidelines for Using  Social Networking Sites at Work

Getting a Handle on E-Mail

—  Put short messages in the subject line.

—  Be sparse with graphics and attachments.

Hello! Can We Talk About Cell Phone Etiquette?

Advantages- mobility and convenience

Disadvantages- distracted drivers and disturbing calls in public places, with the risk of disclosing private information

How to Compose a CLEAR E-Mail Message

Five Commandments of Cell Phone Etiquette

Videoconferences: A live television exchange between people in different locations. Can reduce costly and possibly dangerous travel time.

Telecommuting: Sending work to and from one’s office via a computer modem while working at home.

Telecommuting Promises and Problems

Becoming a Better Communicator

Effective Listening

—  Tolerate silence; keep listening.

—  Ask stimulating, open-ended questions.

—  Encourage the speaker with attentive eye contact, alert posture, and verbal encouragers.

—  Paraphrase what you have just heard.

—  Show emotion to show your sympathy with the speaker.

—  Know your biases and prejudices.

—  Avoid premature judgments.

—  Summarize by reiterating what the speaker said.

Effective Writing

—  Keep words simple

—  Don’t sacrifice communication to rules of composition

—  Write concisely

—  Be specific

Purposes of Meetings

—  Find facts.

—  Solve problems.

—  Pass along information

Categories of Meetings

—  Daily check-in

—  Weekly tactical

—  Monthly strategic

—  Quarterly off-site

Conducting Successful Meetings

—  Meet for a specific purpose

—  Distribute the agenda in advance of the meeting

—  Communicate preparation expectations to attendees

—  Limit attendance to essential personnel

—  Open with a brief overview; review important items first

—  Deal with the most difficult/challenging items early in the meeting

—  Encourage participation but keep to the agenda

—  Limit use of visual aids

—  Clarify after-meeting action items

—  Follow a specific start and end time and follow up