Case Study Questions

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Your Role: You are a new Organizational Behavior Consultant who has been studying how individuals and groups of employees act in the workplace. You have been hired by this client to improve in house relationships and productivity.

In answering the questions below, you will show how skilled you are in observing, analyzing and suggesting workplace improvements, which can help this client enhance employee productivity and the organization's overall performance. Do not focus only on the what for each question … but also on the why for each aspect of your diagnosis, and on the how for each step of your action plan.

Answers should based on textbook and own working experience.


A. Diagnosis: How did Rinaldi get into this mess?

1. What is Follet's contribution? What is going on with her?

2. What is Vaughan's contribution? What is going on with him?

3. What is Rinaldi's contribution?

4. Why is Rinaldi behaving this way?

5. Did Rinaldi deserve the performance appraisal from Follet?

6. How would you describe Rinaldi's emotional intelligence?

7. What are Rinaldi's sources of conflict? Why do they exist?

8. What were the critical events or "choice points" Rinaldi encountered over her six months at Potomac Waters?

9. What could Rinaldi have done differently?


B. Action Planning: What Should Rinaldi Do Now?

10. Should she try to salvage her situation or decide to leave Potomac Waters?

11. If she decides to stay, what should she do about her relationship with Follet?

12. If she decides to stay, what should she do about her relationship with Vaughan?

13. If she decides to stay, what should she do about her relationship with Berman?

14. If she decides to stay, what should she do about her relationship with Bautista?

15. If she decides to leave, what lessons will she have learned from this experience?

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For the exclusive use of C. Odom, 2016. 4310 AUGUST 24, 2011 LINDA A. HILL MARK RENNELLA Martha Rinaldi: Should She Stay or Should She Go? The holidays were over and it was the beginning of a new year, January 2009. Martha Rinaldi had not yet made a decision about what she should do: stay in her current position at Potomac Waters; ask to be reassigned to a different brand; or, accept a standing offer at Deep Dive Pizza, where she had interned the previous summer. Things were certainly not going as she had hoped upon arriving at Potomac Waters as an assistant product manager (PM) in the Health Drinks Division. For the past four months she had been working on Invi, a new brand of fruit health drinks. She gazed at the adjacent desk of her colleague, Jamie Vaughan, and wondered whether she could continue working with him and whether Natalie Follet (her manager) would be able to help her develop her marketing skills. An associate PM, Vaughan had been working at this position since February of 2008. Relations had been tense with Vaughan from the first day. He had started without formal training in marketing, as he proudly told her many times, and often voiced his resentment of “know-it-all” young MBAs. Both Vaughan and Rinaldi reported to Natalie Follet, also a company veteran and only the second female PM in the Health Drinks Division of Potomac Waters. Having worked half-time at home for six months for personal reasons, Follet communicated mainly through email. Recently, in a rare, in-person meeting, Follet criticized Rinaldi for lacking initiative. Follet would be back working full-time at the office soon. (See Exhibit 1 for short biographies of Vaughan, Rinaldi, and Follet.) Despite her short time at Potomac, Rinaldi had already lived through a few tense and sometimes vocal exchanges with Vaughan and Follet. Making matters worse, many of her tasks on the job had been menial (copying, fixing powerpoints, etc.). She wondered if she had a career at Potomac. Background Rinaldi was the third in a family of four daughters raised in Iowa City. All the sisters liked sports. Martha enjoyed soccer in particular and excelled at the midfield position. She also liked helping her father do the bookkeeping for his hardware store and maintaining the store’s web site. After high school, she completed an undergraduate degree in computer science. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ HBS Professor Linda A. Hill and writer Mark Rennella prepared this case solely as a basis for class discussion and not as an endorsement, a source of primary data, or an illustration of effective or ineffective management. This case, though based on real events, is fictionalized, and any resemblance to actual persons or entities is coincidental. There are occasional references to actual companies in the narration. Copyright © 2011 President and Fellows of Harvard College. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, call 1-800-545-7685, write Harvard Business Publishing, Boston, MA 02163, or go to http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu. This publication may not be digitized, photocopied, or otherwise reproduced, posted, or transmitted, without the permission of Harvard Business School. This document is authorized for use only by Curtis Odom in 2016. For the exclusive use of C. Odom, 2016. 4310 | Martha Rinaldi: Should She Stay or Should She Go? A year after graduating from University of Iowa, Martha began an MBA at a top-10 business school located in a suburb of Chicago with strengths in marketing and management information systems. Although Rinaldi had intended to focus on IT, her exposure to the faculty at her MBA program inspired her to switch to marketing. After completing the first year of study at her two-year MBA program, Rinaldi landed a summer position as an assistant to the Director of Promotions at Deep Dive Pizza, a regional restaurant chain headquartered in Chicago. In the highly fragmented restaurant industry, the Deep Dive chain found some local notoriety though flashy advertising featuring new products, including the “pizza of the week” as well as other meal items that were relatively easy to mass produce, such as desserts and specialty drinks. Through combining the casual atmosphere of a full-service family dining restaurant with regular changes in menu selections that were more typical of high-end restaurants, Deep Dive became a hit. The only drawback of this strategy was that its complex execution posed a great challenge, especially as the model was introduced into neighboring regions unfamiliar with Deep Dive’s approach. Lean and mean, Deep Dive prided itself at being careful with costs so it could lavish attention on the customer. Martha’s supervisor often said, “The office isn’t luxurious, but it’s never dull here!” Martha contributed some great ideas about educating new franchise owners about the core elements of the Deep Dive brand and was also able to build bridges with new suppliers who had to adjust to Deep Dive’s frequent new-product development. Toward the end of her internship, she also applied her background in computer science in creating a persuasive presentation on the return on investment on some potential major investments in computerized information systems. These successes caught the attention of the CEO. Upon the end of her internship, Martha’s boss took the unusual step of setting up a celebratory goodbye party, inviting the three members of the pricing and promotions team he managed to Deep Dive’s signature restaurant in downtown Chicago. As the team dug into the enormous “Fun Sundae” ice-cream dessert, Martha’s boss reminded Rinaldi of what he had said the week before: a job offer with the promotions team was waiting for her next summer. Looking Over Two Offers After earning an MBA in May 2008, Rinaldi looked over the two job offers she received in July. The first was a somewhat surprising offer from Deep Dive. The CEO had taken a personal interest in Rinaldi and proposed that she lead a new “Special Projects” team in the marketing department where she would report directly to the vice president of marketing. Rinaldi would be asked to lead teams with members from across Deep Dive’s business units to take advantage of opportunities for growth. The second offer was from Potomac Waters as an assistant PM in their Health Drinks Division. The two offers had very distinct pluses and minuses. While Deep Dive was a fun place to work, it had only one female manager (VP of Sales). The salary at Deep Dive was more attractive than the one offered at Potomac (a $15,000 difference), but Deep Dive was still an entrepreneurial firm and its future seemed very much dependent on successful rapid expansion. Although Martha liked the idea of taking on this responsibility, she wondered if she would get better training in marketing from a bigger company with a better reputation. She also did not know Deep Dive’s VP of marketing and was unsure of what their relationship would be. And with the recent economic crisis, Martha learned that consumers would probably cut back on eating out, opting instead for the cheaper and potentially healthier option of eating at home while saving on money that would be spent on gas and transportation. Potomac Waters was a much larger and better established firm with a national presence and headquarted in a warmer city—Washington, D.C. (Potomac’s market share in its product categories on the East and West Coasts had grown an average of 2% annually in the previous 2 BRIEFCASES | HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL This document is authorized for use only by Curtis Odom in 2016. For the exclusive use of C. Odom, 2016. Martha Rinaldi: Should She Stay or Should She Go? | 4310 three years. It was also expanding to the Midwest, where Martha had noticed Potomac entering into the Chicago market.) Marketing was important in the restaurant industry, but it was central to success in the beverage industry. It was especially important now at Potomac, which was making a push for national brand recognition during a time of international economic crisis. Luckily for Potomac, the $40 billion U.S. beverage industry, like most consumer staples, had not done as badly as many other sectors of the economy in the “Great Recession” and was expected to rebound to its normally modest, but reliable, rates of growth. As Martha learned while researching her job offers, Potomac was a privately held company whose owners believed there was an opportunity to take a significant market share away from traditional beverage companies because of growing consumer interest in non-carbonated and private-label beverages. From its recent entrances in new markets, it seemed that Potomac was cherry-picking the regions of high-growth in the U.S. beverage market. Two of their three divisions, Health Drinks and Sports Drinks—were expected to spearhead that growth (maintained by the consumers’ steady interest in trends centering on healthy living). Revenues from the third and oldest division—Carbonated Soft Drinks—were expected to remain steady. Although hopes were high for the company, the hard economic times for the country (with many experienced marketers from other industries looking for work) combined with the endemic competitiveness in the beverage industry meant that a marketing job at Potomac would always be fast-paced and demanding. Martha heard from a company recruiter visiting her school that Potomac had a proven record of marketing excellence—a company that could give her thorough training in all aspects of marketing, thus preparing her better to excel in a position like the one at Deep Dive. Although she would not know her exact assignment and whom she would report to until her starting date, Potomac’s location in a stronger industry than Deep Dive’s and its superior marketing department made the beverage company more attractive to her. When she visited Potomac in June of 2008, many of the reasons why she had become interested in the company were confirmed through her interactions with its employees who seemed happy to spend part of their work day sharing information and getting to know her. At a lunch with some of the assistant PMs, she received more good feedback. A PM from Sports Drinks said that Rinaldi’s drive, energy, and enthusiasm were valued qualities at Potomac. She also spoke briefly with Doug Berman, the Group Product Manager for Health Drinks who came by unexpectedly to give an update on some internal performance benchmarks they had recently begun to use (see Exhibit 2 for an organization chart). She was impressed with his down-to-earth manner, his intelligence, and the encouraging news: productivity was up at Health Drinks, thanks to some good team efforts. Rinaldi learned that she would be evaluated annually using very specific performance objectives (starting with an early performance review within the first three months) and that it was corporate policy to encourage promotions from within the organization. She also learned that all product managers changed assignments every 12 to 24 months to get experience about all the stages of the product life cycle. That policy kept things interesting, but it could also get in the way of developing close working relationships. A few days after she informed Deep Dive that she would be taking another position, she received a call from her old boss. He wished her well on her career but expressed real disappointment about her choice. “On top of your good ideas, the CEO and I thought you fit well with the group here. We think you’re making a mistake and we hope you’ll think of us in the future.” Rinaldi felt that she had made the right decision because she had researched Potomac Waters thoroughly. It had the stability and national stature she wanted as well as a solid reputation for grooming and training its new hires. HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL | BRIEFCASES This document is authorized for use only by Curtis Odom in 2016. 3 For the exclusive use of C. Odom, 2016. 4310 | Martha Rinaldi: Should She Stay or Should She Go? Rinaldi had been recruited by the Health Drinks Division of Potomac Waters. Potomac had succeeded in entering into different niches in the non-alcoholic beverage market with unique branding and flavors. For instance, Sports Drinks featured some flavors that were traditionally associated with soft drinks, like traditional colas. But all Potomac drink divisions featured cuttingedge packaging design that shared similar visual traits and felt good in consumers’ hands. Preceding her interviews, Rinaldi had talked to assistant PMs from the other divisions. One had informed her that the Health Drinks Division was headed by a young executive (Doug Berman) who seemed open to ideas and had assembled a creative staff. Another gave her a different take: while Health Drinks was strong, the marketers there were a bit discontented because promotions in their department had slowed down. But, in general, Potomac usually promoted its assistant product managers to product mangers in two or three years—faster than the industry average of three to four years. Welcome to the Fishbowl Following a half day of orientation by Human Resources (HR) on September 1, 2008, Martha was taken to the third floor of the seven-story office building located in the pleasant D.C. suburb of Arlington, Virginia. Rinaldi was struck by how quiet the office was. At the same time, she could see everybody in their smallish cubicle-offices with two to four people grouped per cubicle. The cubicles were normal except that they employed glass partitions. At the wall opposite the elevator entrance to the floor was Rinaldi’s new office, affectionately called “the fishbowl” because it was the first thing people noticed when they arrived. After HR escorted her to her desk, she met Jamie Vaughan, an associate PM. He would be seated next to her and would be working with her, sharing one end of a large U-shaped desk that faced the wall. HR had informed Rinaldi that Vaughan was in his mid-30s and had moved from operations to marketing in June of 2006. He started work on the new brand of fruit health drinks, Invi, since the launch of its first product—“Blue Sky”—a banana-blueberry drink in February of 2008. (Follet was assigned as PM to Invi at the same time.) “Hi,” he said quickly. “Weren’t you starting tomorrow? Well, welcome. We’ll get a chance to talk later after I finish something.” Facing a bare desk and a computer, Rinaldi decided to check her email where she found a message from her boss, Natalie Follet, whose office was located upstairs on the fourth floor: “HR informed me of your arrival,” Follet wrote. “I thought you were going to be with HR for most of the day. I don’t have anything for you to do right now, but you can look over our marketing collateral and some recent market surveys. Talk to Jamie after you’re done. We’ll meet tomorrow at 9:30.” As Rinaldi left the office, she recognized Doug Berman, the Group PM she had been so impressed with during her interviews. Slowing down to greet him, Martha was disappointed as he rushed passed her to the stairs without a word. The next morning, Follet informed Rinaldi that she was “a little unprepared” for Rinaldi’s arrival and that she should continue to get to know the brand in preparation for a major market survey that would start in two or three weeks. Follet was busy but would be available for questions. In the meantime, she told Rinaldi to learn as much as possible from Vaughan but she should remember that she was reporting only to Follet. Follet ended the meeting with this comment: “You’re from the famous Generation Y – good with technology, but rumored to be impatient and demanding sometimes, which you don’t seem to be. . . . I’m still working from home 50% of the time for the near future, so you’ll have to be good at taking instruction from me remotely. So you’ll have to be ready to do anything and to do it pretty fast. Jamie can help you of course, but I’m the last word on important decisions. He’s pretty busy anyway.” Rinaldi responded that she was a good team player, doing everything from packing boxes to planning strategy at Deep Dive. “And I’ve always been a quick study.” Before Follet could reply, she turned her attention to an incoming phone call. 4 BRIEFCASES | HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL This document is authorized for use only by Curtis Odom in 2016. For the exclusive use of C. Odom, 2016. Martha Rinaldi: Should She Stay or Should She Go? | 4310 Back at the fishbowl, Vaughan asked Rinaldi about her MBA training and then informed her that he had grown up in Chicago. “So you worked at Deep Dive last year?” he volunteered. “That place is all marketing, isn’t it? It’s got a great reputation but very little substance when you bite into the product. Lots of young people at the corporate level, I heard. Why didn’t you stay at Deep Dive? Wouldn’t you have fit right in?” Martha responded: “I thought I would learn more about marketing, here.” Vaughan continued. “Well, with launching Invi, there won’t be a lot of time for us older hands to show you the ropes; you’ll have to prove yourself from day one. While there’s ‘no such thing as a dumb question,’ Natalie and I prefer answers. I’m just calling it like I see it. Good luck.” Reading over the product literature for Invi in the afternoon, Rinaldi thought it was good to be part of a new brand that would get a lot of attention in the company. And the branding was well done, which was proof of some smart marketers around the office. Vaughan interrupted her thoughts: “You said you’d be happy to help in any way you can. Can you copy these?” It was 4:00 p.m. when he handed her a very large stack of papers. It was 7:00 p.m. when she finished. The Next 60 Days After a second day as uninspiring as the first, Rinaldi was looking forward to lunch after being invited by an assistant PM from the Carbonated Soft Drinks Division. Informally, he informed her, people involved with product management from all over the company would meet for lunch on Wednesdays. She learned from another assistant PM that Rinaldi was part of a “new wave of MBAs being recruited to Potomac. Just six months ago, the Vice President of Marketing [Julius Bautista—at 33, he was a young superstar at the company] made it a formal policy to focus on hiring MBAs and other young high potentials for entry-level positions.” Young people were an important customer segment for beverages—it made sense that the company would want young employees, Rinaldi thought to herself. Feeling more energized, Rinaldi went to Follet’s office to ask if there was something she could help with. Before she reached the door of the office, Rinaldi noticed Vaughan seated on the desk facing Follet. Vaughan seemed unusually close to his boss. Instead of interrupting this unusually intimate scene, Rinaldi chose to return to her desk. Turning on her computer, she found an email from Follet that had been sent during lunchtime: “Jamie tells me that you’ve been restless. Come see me at 3:00. Read some more product literature in the meantime.” Although her 3:00 p.m. meeting with Follet turned out to be a straightforward resume of Invi’s short but complex history, the abrupt tone of the email had made Rinaldi extremely nervous. In her second week Rinaldi began her formal introduction to Potomac Waters. For the next five weeks she had meetings with department heads from research and development, finance, market research, legal, and manufacturing, and all of those leaders seemed to welcome her input. But Rinaldi returned to many of these same department heads, not for additional idea-sharing but acting as a courier for Vaughan while gathering signatures of approval for some billboard advertising plans. Trying to shake things up a bit, Rinaldi decided one morning to begin the day by visiting Follet’s office to ask a question. Surprised by Rinaldi’s entrance, Follet barely glanced away from her computer screen and told Rinaldi to “Ask Jamie, please,” impatiently. “Isn’t there still a lot more for you to read and familiarize yourself with anyway?” Going back to the fishbowl after this disappointment, Rinaldi wondered if she had played “the impatient young employee” role in Follet’s eyes. She couldn’t help but feel the contrast between her boss’s lack of interest in her and the lively conversations she had with other managers. “Why can’t Follet see my potential?” she thought to herself. “I can’t get more than five minutes in her office and all I really get from her is short emails.” HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL | BRIEFCASES This document is authorized for use only by Curtis Odom in 2016. 5 For the exclusive use of C. Odom, 2016. 4310 | Martha Rinaldi: Should She Stay or Should She Go? Rinaldi’s first interesting assignment came in late October 2008 when Vaughan and Follet asked her to review and expand some “return on investment” (ROI) projections for marketing activities planned for Invi in the next six months. Bautista had made a big push for applying analytics to Potomac’s marketing, which already enjoyed a reputation for creative brilliance. Rinaldi felt she was good at both aspects of marketing and saw how Vaughan’s number crunching complemented Follet’s more intuitive talents of finding ways to connect with the consumer. Follet and Vaughan asked Rinaldi for three major revisions before emailing the ROI results, as requested, to Bautista. A couple of days later, Bautista emailed Rinaldi (cc’d to Follet and Vaughan): “Great job—a good contribution.” Despite this praise, Vaughan and Follet said little about it and did not follow up soon with any similar assignments. And although Follet presented the same data to the entire Health Drinks Division two weeks later, she had not asked Rinaldi for any additional help and did not acknowledge Rinaldi nor otherwise involve her during the presentation. During the “question and answer” period following the presentation, Rinaldi only volunteered a few supporting comments to Follet’s analysis. After the presentation, Rinaldi went for a spontaneous early dinner with Anna Deutch, an associate PM in Health Drinks who had graduated from Rindaldi’s MBA program two years before. “That presentation by Follet was effective,” Deutch commented. “That’s the way to make an impression with management. Those ROI numbers were a good addition.” Rinaldi volunteered that she had done most of the work with those numbers. “I stayed in the office until 8 two nights in a row with Vaughan and Follet to get those done—and barely a thank you for it.” Deutch warned her not to make late hours a habit: “People think you don’t know what you’re doing if you work too late on assignments.” Then, Deutch congratulated her for not losing her cool: “Well, that’s too bad that your work did not get airplay. But Bautista saw it, like you said. In the long term, it’s much more important that you don’t do too much obvious self-promotion. The focus here is on the work getting done.” The Coffee Clash On December 1, 2008, Rinaldi headed out of the D.C. Metro towards her office with little interesting on the horizon. She was nervous because she needed to make a good impression in the first year, at least in her division, if she wanted to go anywhere in the company. As Rinaldi entered the fourth floor, she noticed an unusual amount of activity humming around Deutch’s desk, located next to the elevator on the third floor. Deutch looked anxious. “We are so stretched,” Deutch said. “Half the office is out with a vendor and Doug [Berman] has this four-hour meeting with the vice president of marketing and sales with half their staffs coming over. Our two admins are stuck on a disabled commuter train. Can you help?” Rinaldi agreed to lend a hand. Just as Rinaldi was finishing with distributing some new trade pamphlets in the conference room, Bautista walked in and acknowledged her with a friendly nod. At the end of the afternoon, however, Rinaldi received an email from Bautista that was cc’d to Follet. “I’d like to compliment your intentions in helping out Anna this morning; however, I think your time is better spent on something more valuable. The ROI report I saw from you a few weeks ago was good and I’d like you to concentrate on those kinds of efforts.” Rinaldi was a bit puzzled. Should she have said no to a colleague who asked for help? Or was Bautista giving her advice about how best to succeed at Potomac? The next day, Follet asked Rinaldi to her office. “It’s ok that you were helping out Deutch in a pinch. I like her. I don’t know why Bautista just didn’t email me directly. I talked to him and 6 BRIEFCASES | HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL This document is authorized for use only by Curtis Odom in 2016. For the exclusive use of C. Odom, 2016. Martha Rinaldi: Should She Stay or Should She Go? | 4310 everything is fine. Anyway, sometimes we just have to help out around here, no matter what the situation.” Rinaldi wondered just whose directive she should follow. At this point, she’d just follow the advice of the higher-ranking executive. To PowerPoint or Not to PowerPoint? December 3 turned out to be busy. While Rinaldi was working on a short deadline to review storyboards for Invi commercials, she received an email marked urgent from Vaughan, who was working remotely. “Can you get these PowerPoint slides into better shape for presentation I have to do tomorrow? I’m too busy to deal with this.” Rinaldi banged out a response on her keyboard: “You just gave me this storyboard assignment yesterday and said it was very important. This is getting confusing!” Less than a minute later, Vaughan responded: “You new hires can’t pitch in on the less glamorous stuff we all have to do? It’s nothing out of the ordinary. And you don’t know enough to help with the other things I’m doing.” Fuming, Rinaldi riposted: “I’ll do it, ok? But it’s hard to do slides and the storyboard at the same time.” Five minutes later, Follet made a rare personal visit to the fishbowl. “Jamie needs some help. Since when was making slides so difficult?” Follet asked. Raising her voice, Rinaldi replied: “I’m working on that right now. But when I got his message, I was working on something else he gave me that was also ‘important.’ I know he’s been here longer, but he can’t be so arbitrary, especially when I am busy too. I’m happy to help, so long as I feel that Jamie is respecting my workload, too! ” Cutting her off with a gesture that also signaled that their exchange might be noticed, Follet whispered: “Sometimes we have too much to do and we just do it anyway. If Jamie asks you to do something, assume it’s for a good reason. Please finish the slides.” Rinaldi later confronted Vaughan about forwarding the email to their boss and implying that she was too proud to help with small tasks. Although Rinaldi was grateful that Vaughan made a gracious apology, this incident remained disturbing for her. A few days later, Rinaldi and five other recent hires, all MBAs, met with Julius Bautista. Living up to his reputation as a “hands-on” manager, Bautista was taking a personal interest in following how they were doing as a way to gauge his initiative to increase the presence of employees with formal business education. At the end of the hour-long meeting, Bautista took Rinaldi aside. “I remember during your orientation week you were volunteering all sorts of ideas. But you were pretty quiet today.” Rinaldi said she was just not feeling well that day. Bautista pressed her: “Is everything going ok with Jamie and Natalie?” She was surprised to hear his interest, but careful not to seem bitter: “Jamie is not the best communicator, but I’m working on that. And Natalie has been very fair with me.” Bautista seemed satisfied adding with a smile, “When you figure out communicating with Jamie, send me a note.” Rinaldi was glad not to have revealed any problems with her manager. That would be impolitic. Rinaldi believed that loyalty was an important quality for an employee. Performance Evaluation One rainy evening in early December 2008, Rinaldi was joined on the Metro by Doug Berman’s assistant who paid close attention to office politics. “You know that Jamie and Natalie are rumored to be having an affair?” she blurted out. Shocked by her frankness, Rinaldi was not too surprised by the news itself: the two seemed unusually in sync. The assistant also asked if Rinaldi had received her three-month evaluation yet. HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL | BRIEFCASES This document is authorized for use only by Curtis Odom in 2016. 7 For the exclusive use of C. Odom, 2016. 4310 | Martha Rinaldi: Should She Stay or Should She Go? Rinaldi was upset that she had not heard anything about a performance review from Follet; it seemed that she remained a low priority on Follet’s agenda. Her suspicions were confirmed after she asked Follet for a review. “OK. If you want one we can do one,” Follet sighed. Looking stressed going over her calendar, Follet scheduled a meeting for the next week. The review was done over lunch at a local pub on December 12. On the plus side, Follet complimented Rinaldi for her ability to work with people around the office and her verbal and analytical skills. On the minus side, Follet criticized her lack of initiative and assertiveness, adding that Rinaldi was usually quiet at meetings. Rinaldi calmly replied that she did not want to come across as a “know-it-all” MBA and was still learning. She said little negative about Vaughan except that his tendency to assign basic tasks to her discouraged her from taking the initiative about highervalue projects. Follet thought Rinaldi should not find it hard to get along with Jamie, but that perhaps relations might improve with some more clearly delineated responsibilities. For her part, Rinaldi had to admit that she had been quiet at meetings and promised to respond to Follet’s suggestions. Leadup to a Decision Point On Friday, December 19, Rinaldi was relieved to go out for drinks with two colleagues—both assistant PMs from Carbonated Soft Drinks. The weekend was coming up and Rinaldi was grateful. She told her colleagues that the preceding week had been incredible: she and Vaughan had gotten into a shouting match after he grilled her about some calculations she had made. Rinaldi explained: “After I said, ‘Well, you’re hard to please,’ he protested, saying, ‘you arrogant MBAs are all alike.’ He was so loud everybody in the office dropped what they were doing to stare at us. I ended it by walking out on him to make some copies.” Taking a deep breath, Rinaldi continued: “That guy is something. I don’t know what his problem is.” The associate PM explained that Vaughan had a reputation for being difficult; she added that two or three colleagues on the same floor had complained to Follet about Vaughan’s rough treatment of Rinaldi. “Follet tried to tell me that Jamie is a good person who’s misunderstood.” Although Follet suggested she might try to smooth things between Rinaldi and Vaughan, Rinaldi knew that wouldn’t happen soon enough: her future with the brand depended on working well with Vaughan now. “So, last week, Jamie accepted my invitation to try to talk things out,” Rinaldi added. “He actually apologized for getting so angry and added that he was feeling really frustrated about being overlooked for a promotion.” After this yelling incident, many of the staff rallied to support Rinaldi, at least emotionally. She learned that Follet had a reputation of being a star performer who had not successfully made the transition to becoming a manager. One PM who had worked under Follet complained that his training under her had been second-rate. Although this testimony reassured Rinaldi that these tensions with Vaughan and Follet weren’t all her fault, they made the future seem all the more murky and alarming. It was clear that Follet was not going to make Rinaldi’s training a priority. Maybe Rinaldi could ask Bautista if she could be moved to work for another brand? But that would be an extraordinary and highly visible move. Might she herself be branded as a difficult employee if she made that request? And there was always the standing offer from Deep Dive to come back to a better-paying job with more responsibility. Although the CEO was very disappointed that she had turned down his first offer, a friend at Deep Dive said that Rinaldi still had a good reputation there. 8 BRIEFCASES | HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL This document is authorized for use only by Curtis Odom in 2016. For the exclusive use of C. Odom, 2016. Martha Rinaldi: Should She Stay or Should She Go? | 4310 Exhibit 1 Short Biographies of Rinaldi, Vaughan, and Follet Martha Rinaldi, Assistant Product Manager, age 27 Home Town: Iowa City, Iowa High School: Iowa City High School, 2001 College: University of Iowa. Degree in Computer Science, 2006 Graduate School Degree: MBA, 2008. Job History: After graduating with good grades from high school, Martha Rinaldi took a year before college to earn money for her degree. She was the first in her family to attend college. She lived at home, working part-time in her family’s hardware store and working another part-time job in the admissions office of the University of Iowa. She also used her computer skills to update and make changes occasionally to the office’s web site. Her other significant work experience was gained at Deep Dive Pizza during her summer internship while pursuing her MBA studies. Jamie Vaughan, Associate Product Manager, age 35 Home Town: Chicago, Illinois High School: Lincoln Park High School, 1992 College: Loyola University, Chicago. Degree in Mathematics, 1996. Job History: Statistician, Maryland Department of Transportation (1996-2003). Statistician, Quality Control, Manufacturing, Potomac Waters (2003-2006). Associate Product Manager, Potomac Waters (2006-2009). Always adept at numbers and analysis, Jamie Vaughan graduated among the top of his class in high school and college. His interest in moving away from his home town to explore another metropolitan area motivated him to look for work in the area of Washington, D.C., where he became a statistician at the Maryland Department of Transportation. Impatient with relatively low salary increases in his government job, Vaughan found a position at Potomac Waters’ Manufacturing Division. He then transferred to the Health Drinks Division as an Associate Product Manager, skipping the stage of “Assistant Product Manager” because of his familiarity with the company and his skills with statistics. Natalie Follet, Product Manager, age 34 Home Town: New York City, New York High School: Trinity School, New York City, 1994 College: New York University, New York. Degrees in Art History and Fine Arts, 1998 Job History: Design Associate (2000-2002) and then Special Assistant to the Creative Director (20022003) in an advertising firm in New York. Assistant Product Manager (2003-2006), then Associate Product Manager (2006-2008), then Product Manager (2009) at Potomac Waters. When she was younger, Follet left NYU hoping to start a career as an artist, but found little monetary success. At the age of 26, Natalie took an entry level job as a “design associate” at an advertising agency in New York. Her artistic talent was noticed and she eventually became a Special Assistant to the Creative Director. Natalie Follet moved from New York to the D.C. area to accompany her husband, who obtained a job as a lobbyist for the pharmaceutical industry in 2003. Because Washington, D.C., did not have advertising firms as well-established as those in New York, Follet was relieved to find a job as an Associate Product Manager at a respected company like Potomac Waters. HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL | BRIEFCASES This document is authorized for use only by Curtis Odom in 2016. 9 Exhibit 2 Assistant Product Manager (Martha Rinaldi) Product Manager Associate Product Manager (Anna Deutch) Product Manager Group Product Manager Health Drinks (Doug Berman) Vice President Marketing (Julius Bautista) Product Manager Invi (Natalie Follet) Associate Product Manager (Jamie Vaughan) Product Manager Potomac Waters Organization Chart for Martha Rinaldi 4310 -10- For the exclusive use of C. Odom, 2016. This document is authorized for use only by Curtis Odom in 2016. 3 Attitudes and Job Satisfaction MyManagementLab ® Improve Your Grade! When you see this icon , visit mymanagementlab.com for activities that are applied, personalized, and offer immediate feedback. LEARNING OBJECTIVES After studying this chapter, you should be able to: 1. Contrast the three components of an attitude. 2. Summarize the relationship between attitudes and behavior. 3. Compare the major job attitudes. 4. Identify the two approaches for measuring job satisfaction. 5. Summarize the main causes of job satisfaction. 6. Identify three outcomes of job satisfaction. 7. Identify four employee responses to job dissatisfaction. Chapter Warm-up If your professor has chosen to assign this, go to the Assignments section of mymanagementlab.com to complete the chapter warm-up. Attitudes Attitudes Evaluative statements or judgments concerning objects, people, or events. Attitudes are evaluative statements—either favorable or unfavorable—about objects, people, or events. They reflect how we feel about something. When you say “I like my job,” you are expressing your attitude about your work. Attitudes are complex. If you ask people about their attitudes toward religion, Lady Gaga, or an organization, you may get simple responses, but the underlying reasons are probably complicated. To fully understand attitudes, we must consider their fundamental properties or components. 34 M03_ROBB3859_14_SE_C03.indd 34 19/09/16 3:40 PM Cognition, affect, and behavior are closely related. 35 exhibit 3-1 The Components of an Attitude Cognitive = evaluation My supervisor gave a promotion to a coworker who deserved it less than I do. My supervisor is unfair. Affective = feeling I dislike my supervisor! Negative attitude toward supervisor Behavioral = action I’m looking for other work; I’ve complained about my supervisor to anyone who would listen. Typically, researchers assume attitudes have three components: cognition, affect, and behavior.1 The statement “My pay is low” is a cognitive component of an attitude— a description of or belief in the way things are. It sets the stage for the more critical part of an attitude—its affective component. Affect is the emotional or feeling segment of an attitude reflected in the statement “I am angry over how little I’m paid.” Affect can lead to behavioral outcomes. The behavioral component of an attitude describes an intention to behave a certain way toward someone or something—as in, “I’m going to look for another job that pays better.” Viewing attitudes as having three components—cognition, affect, and behavior— helps us understand their complexity and the potential relationship between attitudes and behavior. For example, imagine you just realized that someone treated you unfairly. Aren’t you likely to have feelings about this, occurring virtually instantaneously along with the realization? Thus, cognition and affect are intertwined. Exhibit 3-1 illustrates how the three components of an attitude are related. In this example, an employee didn’t get a promotion he thought he deserved. His attitude toward his supervisor is illustrated as follows: The employee thought he deserved the promotion (cognition); he strongly dislikes his supervisor (affect); and he has complained and taken action (behavior). Although we often think cognition causes affect, which then causes behavior, in reality these components are difficult to separate. In organizations, attitudes are important for their behavioral component. If workers believe, for example, that managers, auditors, and engineers are in a conspiracy to make employees work harder for less money, we should try to understand how this attitude formed, how it impacts job behavior, and how it might be changed. M03_ROBB3859_14_SE_C03.indd 35 Cognitive component The opinion or belief segment of an attitude. Affective component The emotional or feeling segment of an attitude. Behavioral component An intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or something. 19/09/16 3:40 PM 36 WATCH IT If your professor has assigned this, go to the Assignments section of mymanagementlab .com to complete the video exercise titled Gawker Media: Attitudes and Job Satisfaction. Attitudes And behAvior Cognitive dissonance Any incompatibility between two or more attitudes or between behavior and attitudes. Early research on attitudes assumed they were causally related to behavior—that is, the attitudes people hold determine what they do. However, one researcher—Leon Festinger— argued that attitudes follow future behavior.2 Did you ever notice how people change what they say so that it doesn’t contradict what they do? Perhaps a friend of yours consistently argued that her apartment complex was better than yours until another friend in your complex asked her to move in with him; once she moved to your complex, you noticed her attitude toward her former apartment became more critical. Cases of attitude following behavior illustrate the effects of cognitive dissonance,3 contradictions individuals might perceive between their attitudes and their behavior. People seek consistency among their attitudes, and between their attitudes and their behavior.4 Any form of inconsistency is uncomfortable, and individuals will therefore attempt to reduce it. People seek a stable state, which is a minimum of dissonance. When there is dissonance, people will alter either the attitudes or the behavior, or they will develop a rationalization for the discrepancy. Recent research found, for instance, that the attitudes of employees who experienced emotionally challenging work events improved after they talked about their experiences with coworkers. Social sharing helped these employees adjust their attitudes to behavioral expectations.5 trouble following yourself. The desire to reduce dissonance depends on three factors, including the importance of the elements creating dissonance and the degree of influence we believe we have over those elements. The third factor is the rewards of dissonance; high rewards accompanying high dissonance tend to reduce tension inherent in the dissonance (dissonance is less distressing if accompanied by something good, such as a higher pay raise than expected). Individuals are more motivated to reduce dissonance when the attitudes are important or when they believe the dissonance is due to something they can control. The most powerful moderators of the attitudes relationship are the importance of the attitude, its correspondence to behavior, its accessibility, the presence of social pressures, and whether a person has direct experience with the attitude.6 Important attitudes reflect our fundamental values, self-interest, or identification with individuals or groups we value. These attitudes tend to show a strong relationship to our behavior. However, discrepancies between attitudes and behaviors tend to occur when social pressures to beto remember attitudes you frequently express, and attitudes that our memories can easily access are more likely to predict our behavior. The attitude–behavior relationship is also likely to be much stronger if an attitude refers to something with which we have direct personal experience. M03_ROBB3859_14_SE_C03.indd 36 19/09/16 3:40 PM 37 Job Attitudes tive or negative evaluations employees hold about their work environments. Much of the research has looked at three attitudes: job satisfaction, job involvement, and organizational commitment.7 and employee engagement. Job satisfaction and Job involvement When people speak of employee attitudes, they usually mean job satisfaction, a positive feeling about a job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics. A person with high job satisfaction holds positive feelings about the work, while a person with low satisfactance, we review this attitude in detail later. Related to job satisfaction is job involvement, the degree to which people identify psychologically with their jobs and consider their perceived performance levels important to their self-worth.8 Employees with high job involvement strongly identify with and really care about the kind of work they do. Another closely related concept is psychological empowerment—employees’ beliefs regarding the degree to which they influence their work environment, their competencies, the meaningfulness of their job, and their perceived autonomy.9 Research suggests that empowerment initiatives need to be tailored to desired behavioral outcomes. Research in Singapore found that good leaders empower their employees by fostering their self-perception of competence—through involving them in decisions, making them feel their work is important, and giving them discretion to “do their own thing.”10 Job satisfaction A positive feeling about one’s job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics. Job involvement The degree to which a person identifies with a job, actively participates in it, and considers performance important to their self-worth. Psychological empowerment Employees’ belief in the degree to which they affect their work environment, their competence, the meaningfulness of their job, and their perceived autonomy in their work. organizational Commitment An employee with organizational commitment identifies with a particular organization and its goals and wishes to remain a member. Emotional attachment to an organization and belief in its values is the “gold standard” for employee commitment.11 Employees who are committed will be less likely to engage in work withdrawal even if they are dissatisfied because they have a sense of organizational loyalty or attachment.12 Even if employees are not currently happy with their work, they are willing to make sacrifices for the organization if they are committed enough. Perceived organizational support Perceived organizational support (POS) is the degree to which employees believe the organization values their contributions and cares about their well-being. An excellent Salesforce.com employees covered all his medical expenses and stayed in touch with him throughout his recovery. No doubt stories like this are part of the reason Salesforce.com 13 was the eighth of Fortune People perceive their organizations as supportive when rewards are deemed fair, when employees have a voice in decisions, and when they see their supervisors as supportive.14 M03_ROBB3859_14_SE_C03.indd 37 Organizational commitment The degree to which an employee identifies with a particular organization and its goals and wishes to maintain membership in the organization. Perceived organizational support (POS) The degree to which employees believe an organization values their contribution and cares about their well-being. 19/09/16 3:40 PM 38 is important in countries where the power distance—the degree to which people in a country accept that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally—is Power distance A national culture attribute that describes the extent to which a society accepts that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally. Employee engagement An individual’s involvement with, satisfaction with, and enthusiasm for the work he or she does. view work as an exchange than as a moral obligation, so employees look for reasons to feel supported by their organizations. In high power-distance countries like China, employee and encouragement. The difference is in the level of expectation by employees. employee engagement Employee engagement is an individual’s involvement with, satisfaction with, and enthusiasm for the work he or she does. To evaluate engagement, we might ask employees whether they have access to resources and opportunities to learn new skills, whether they feel their work is important and meaningful, and whether interactions with coworkers and supervisors are rewarding.15 Highly engaged employees have a passion for their work and feel a deep connection to their companies; disengaged employees have essentially checked out, putting time but not energy or attention into their work. Engagement becomes a real concern for most organizations because so few employees—between 17 percent and 29 percent, surveys indicate—are highly engaged by their work. Employee engagement is related to job engagement, which we discuss in detail in Chapter 7. Engagement levels determine many measurable outcomes. Promising research findings have earned employee engagement a following in many business organizations and management consulting firms. However, the concept generates active debate about its usefulness, partly because of the difficulty of identifying what creates engagement. The two top reasons for engagement that participants gave in a recent study were: (1) having a good manager they enjoy working for; and (2) feeling appreciated by their supervisor. However, most of their other reasons didn’t relate to the engagement construct.16 Another study in Australia found that emotional intelligence was linked to employee engagement.17 challenges and demands.18 There is some distinctiveness among attitudes, but they overlap greatly for various reasons, including the employee’s personality. Altogether, if you know someone’s level of job satisfaction, you know most of what you need to know about how that person sees the organization. Let’s next dissect the concept more carefully. How do we measure job satisfaction? How satisfied are employees with their jobs? MeAsuring Job sAtisfACtion shuffling papers, writing programming code, waiting on customers, or driving a truck. Jobs require interacting with coworkers and bosses, following organizational rules and policies, determining the power structure, meeting performance standards, living with less-than-ideal working conditions, adapting to new technologies, and so forth. An employee’s assessment of satisfaction with the job is thus a complex summation of many discrete elements. How, then, do we measure it? M03_ROBB3859_14_SE_C03.indd 38 19/09/16 3:40 PM 39 Approaches to Measurement Two approaches are popular. The single global rating is a response to one question, such as “All things considered, how satisfied are you with your job?” Respondents circle a number between 1 and 5 on a scale from “highly satisfied” to “highly dissatisfied.” The second method, the summation of job facets, is more sophisticated. It identifies key elements in a job, such as the type of work, skills needed, supervision, present pay, promotion opportunities, culture, and relationships with coworkers. Respondents rate these on a standardized scale, and researchers add the ratings to create an overall job satisfaction score. Is one of these approaches superior? Intuitively, summing up responses to a number of job factors seems likely to achieve a more accurate evaluation of job satisfaction. Research, however, doesn’t support the intuition.19 This is one of those rare instances in which simplicity seems to work as well as complexity, making one method essentially as time consuming, while the summation of job facets helps managers zero in on problems and deal with them faster and more accurately. Measured Job satisfaction Levels Are most people satisfied with their jobs? Generally, yes, to the tune of 49–69 percent of employees worldwide.20 Job satisfaction levels can remain quite consistent over time. For 1972 to 2006.21 However, economic conditions tend to influence job satisfaction rates. In late 2007, the economic contraction precipitated a drop-off in job satisfaction; the lowest jobs.22 Thankfully, the job satisfaction rate increased to 47.7 percent in 2014,23 but the level was still far off the 1987 level of 61.1 percent.24 Job satisfaction rates tend to vary in different cultures worldwide, and of course there are always competing measurements that offer alternative viewpoints. The facets of job satisfaction levels can vary widely. As shown in Exhibit 3-2, people have typically been more satisfied with their jobs overall, the work itself, and their supervisors and coworkers than they have been with their pay and promotion opportunities. Regarding cultural differences in job satisfaction, Exhibit 3-3 provides the results of a global study of job satisfaction levels of workers in 15 countries, with the highest are they simply more positive (and less self-critical)? Conversely, the lowest levels in the study were from South Korea. Autonomy is low in South Korean culture, and businesses tend to be rigidly hierarchical in structure. Does this make for lower job satisfaction?25 It is difficult to discern all the factors influencing the scores, but exploring how businesses are responding to changes brought on by globalization may give us clues. WhAt CAuses Job sAtisfACtion? Think about the best job you’ve ever had. What made it the best? The reasons can differ greatly. Let’s consider some characteristics that likely influence job satisfaction, starting with job conditions. M03_ROBB3859_14_SE_C03.indd 39 19/09/16 3:40 PM 40 100 exhibit 3-2 Average Job Satisfaction Levels by Facet 90 80 Percentage 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 5.80 5.88 5.72 5.60 5.40 5.63 5.51 Promotion Supervision 5.00 Coworkers Overall 5.46 5.45 5.44 5.30 5.27 5.20 5.24 5.22 5.18 5.16 4.89 4.80 4.76 4.60 4.40 ex ic o er la N nd or w De ay Un nm ite ark d St at es Ja pa G er n m an Sw y G ed re at en Br ita in C an ad a Ru ss ia A C ze ustr al ch Re ia pu bl ic Fr So an ce ut h Ko re a 4.20 Sw M Source: J. H. Westover, “The Impact of Comparative State-Directed Development on Working Conditions and Employee Satisfaction,” Journal of Management & Organization 19, no. 4 (2012), 537–554. 6.00 Pay itz exhibit 3-3 Average Levels of Employee Job Satisfaction by Country Work Itself Job Conditions Generally, interesting jobs that provide training, variety, independence, and control satisfy most employees. Interdependence, feedback, social support, and interaction with coworkers outside the workplace are also strongly related to job satisfaction, even after accounting for characteristics of the work itself.26 As you may have guessed, managers also play a big role in employees’ job satisfaction. Employees who feel empowered by their leaders M03_ROBB3859_14_SE_C03.indd 40 19/09/16 3:40 PM 41 experience higher job satisfaction, according to one study of a large Hong Kong telecommunications corporation.27 Research in Israel further suggested that a manager’s attentiveness, responsiveness, and support increase the employee’s job satisfaction.28 Thus, job conditions—especially the intrinsic nature of the work itself, social interactions, and supervision—are important predictors of job satisfaction. Although each is important, and although their relative value will vary across employees, the intrinsic nature of the work is most important.29 In other words, you have to like what you do. Personality As important as job conditions are to job satisfaction, personality also plays an important role. People who have positive core self-evaluations (CSEs; see Chapter 5 for further discussion)—who believe in their inner worth and basic competence—are more satisfied with their jobs than people with negative CSEs. Additionally, in the context of commitment to one’s career, CSE influences job satisfaction. People with high levels of both CSE and career commitment may realize particularly high job satisfaction.30 Core self-evaluation (CSE) inner worth and basic competence. Pay Pay does correlate with job satisfaction and overall happiness for many people, but the effect can be smaller once an individual reaches a standard level of comfortable living. As a corollary, money does motivate us is not necessarily the same as what makes us happy. Corporate social responsibility (Csr) Would you be as happy to work for an organization with a stated social welfare mission as you would for an organization without one? An organization’s commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR), or its self-regulated actions to benefit society or the environment beyond what is required by law, increasingly affects employee job satisfaction. work, charitable giving, and other globally attuned philanthropy. CSR is good for the planet and good for people. Employees whose personal values fit with the organization’s CSR mission are often more satisfied. In fact, of 59 large and small organizations recently surveyed, 86 percent reported they have happier employees as a result of their CSR programs.31 The relationship between CSR and job satisfaction is particularly strong for millennials. “The next generation of employees is seeking out employers that are focused on the triple bottom line: people, planet, and revenue,” said Susan Cooney, founder of philanthropy firm Givelocity.32 CSR allows workers to serve a higher purpose or contribute to a mission. According to researcher Amy Wrzesniewski, people who view their work as part of a higher purpose often realize higher job satisfaction.33 However, an organization’s CSR efforts must be well governed and its initiatives must be sustainable for long-term job satisfaction benefits.34 Although the link between CSR and job satisfaction is strengthening, not all employees find value in CSR.35 However, when managed well it can also significantly contribute to increased employee job satisfaction. Therefore, organizations need to address M03_ROBB3859_14_SE_C03.indd 41 Corporate social responsibility (CSR) An organization’s selfregulated actions to benefit society or the environment beyond what is required by law. 19/09/16 3:40 PM 42 a few issues in order to be most effective. First, not all projects are equally meaningful for every person’s job satisfaction, yet participation for all employees is sometimes expected. Second, some organizations require employees to contribute in a prescribed manner. Pressuring people to go “above and beyond” in ways that are not natural for them can burn them out for future CSR projects36 and lower their job satisfaction, particularly when CSR projects provide direct benefits to the organization (such as positive press coverage).37 People want CSR to be genuine and authentic. Lastly, CSR measures can seem disconnected from the employee’s actual work,38 providing no increase to job satisfaction. In sum, CSR is a needed, positive trend of accountability and serving. outCoMes of Job sAtisfACtion Having discussed some of the causes of job satisfaction, we now turn to some specific outcomes. Job Performance As a general rule, happy workers are more likely to be productive workers. Some researchers used to believe the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance was a myth, but a review of 300 studies suggested the correlation is quite robust.39 Individuals with higher job satisfaction perform better, and organizations with more satisfied employees tend to be more effective than those with fewer. organizational Citizenship behavior (oCb) It seems logical that job satisfaction should be a major determinant of an employee’s orga40 going beyond the normal expectations of their jobs. Evidence suggests job satisfaction is likely to engage in citizenship behavior.41 their own.42 Individuals who feel their coworkers support them are also more likely to engage in helpful behaviors than those who have antagonistic coworker relationships.43 Personality matters, too. Individuals with certain personality traits (agreeableness and conscientiousness, for example; see Chapter 5) are more satisfied with their work, which 44 Finally, individuals who receive positive activities.45 Customer satisfaction reasonable to ask whether employee satisfaction is related to positive customer outcomes. For frontline employees who have regular customer contact, the answer is “yes.” Satisfied employees appear to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.46 M03_ROBB3859_14_SE_C03.indd 42 19/09/16 3:40 PM 43 so committed to finding customer service employees who are satisfied with the job that it offers a $2,000 bribe to quit the company after training, figuring the least satisfied will take the cash and go.47 ness” to ensure that customers are satisfied, and it works: of the company’s more than has a direct effect on customer satisfaction. Life satisfaction they may be more related than you think.48 Research in Europe indicates that job satisfaction is positively correlated with life satisfaction, and our attitudes and experiences in life spill over into our job approaches and experiences.49 Furthermore, life satisfaction decreases when people become unemployed, according to research in Germany, and not just because of the loss of income.50 For most individuals, work is an important part of life, and therefore it makes sense that our overall happiness depends in no small part on our happiness in our work (our job satisfaction). the iMPACt of Job dissAtisfACtion voice–loyalty–neglect framework—is helpful for understanding the consequences of dissatisfaction. The framework’s four responses differ along two dimensions: constructive/ destructive and active/passive. The responses are as follows:51 Exit. The exit response directs behavior toward leaving the organization, including looking for a new position or resigning. To measure the effects of this response to dissatisfaction, researchers study individual terminations and collective turnover— the total loss to the organization of employee knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics.52 Voice. The voice response includes actively and constructively attempting to improve conditions, including suggesting improvements, discussing problems with superiors, and undertaking union activity. Loyalty. The loyalty response means passively but optimistically waiting for conditions to improve, including speaking up for the organization in the face of external criticism and trusting the organization and its management to “do the right thing.” Neglect. The neglect response passively allows conditions to worsen and includes chronic absenteeism or lateness, reduced effort, and an increased error rate. Exit and neglect behaviors are linked to performance variables such as productivity, and loyalty—constructive behaviors that allow individuals to tolerate unpleasant situations or improve working conditions. As helpful as this framework is, it’s quite general. We next address behavioral responses to job dissatisfaction. Exit Dissatisfaction expressed through behavior directed toward leaving the organization. Voice Dissatisfaction expressed through active and constructive attempts to improve conditions. Loyalty Dissatisfaction expressed by passively waiting for conditions to improve. Neglect Dissatisfaction expressed through allowing conditions to worsen. Counterproductive Work behavior (CWb) Substance abuse, stealing at work, undue socializing, gossiping, absenteeism, and tardiness are examples of behaviors that are destructive to organizations. They are indicators M03_ROBB3859_14_SE_C03.indd 43 19/09/16 3:40 PM 44 Counterproductive work behavior (CWB) Intentional employee behavior that is contrary to the interests of the organization. of a broader syndrome called counterproductive work behavior (CWB; related terms are deviant behavior in the workplace, or simply withdrawal behavior; see Chapter 1).53 follow negative and sometimes long-standing attitudes. Therefore, if we can identify the work become frustrated, which lowers their performance54 and makes them more likely 55 in the wrong line of work), lack of fit with the organization (working in the wrong kind 56 - viduals in teams with high absenteeism are more likely to be absent themselves.57 can, furthermore, be a response to abusive supervision from managers, which then spurs further abuse, starting a vicious cycle.58 might use work time to surf the Internet or take work supplies home for personal use. In can be quite creative, controlling only one behavior with policies and punishments leaves the root cause untouched. Employers should seek to correct the source of the problem— the dissatisfaction—rather than try to control the different responses. unfairness, a way to try to restore an employee’s sense of equity exchange.59 It therefore has complex ethical implications. For example, is someone who takes a box of markers home from the office for his children acting unethically? Some people consider this stealto the organization before they decide. Does the person generously give extra time and behavior as part of an attempt to “even the score.” titudes, for instance, and identify areas for workplace improvement. If there is no vocational fit, the employee will not be fulfilled,60 so you can try to screen for that to avoid a mismatch. Tailoring tasks to a person’s abilities and values should increase job satisfac61 Furthermore, creating strong teams, integrating supervisors with them, providing formalized team policies, and introducing team-based incentives may 62 AbsenteeisM We find a consistent negative relationship between satisfaction and absenteeism, but the relationship is moderate to weak.63 Generally, when numerous alternative jobs are available, dissatisfied employees have high absence rates, but when there are few alternatives, dissatisfied employees have the same (low) rate of absence as satisfied employees.64 encouraging all their employees—including those who are highly satisfied—to take days come free with no penalties. M03_ROBB3859_14_SE_C03.indd 44 19/09/16 3:40 PM 45 turnover The relationship between job satisfaction and turnover is stronger than between satisfaction and absenteeism.65 the best predictor of intent to leave. Turnover has a workplace environment connection too. If the climate within an employee’s immediate workplace is one of low job satisfaction leading to turnover, there will be a contagion effect. This suggests managers should consider the job satisfaction (and turnover) patterns of coworkers when assigning workers to a new area.66 Employees’ job embeddedness—connections to the job and community that result in an increased commitment to the organization—can be closely linked to their job satisfaction and the probability of turnover such that where job embeddedness is high, the probability of turnover decreases, particularly in collectivist (group-centered; see Chapter 4) cultures where membership in an organization is of high personal value. 67 Embedded employees thus seem more satisfied with their jobs and are less likely to want to consider alternative job prospects. Lastly, the satisfaction–turnover relationship is affected by alternative job prospects. If an employee accepts an unsolicited job offer, job dissatisfaction was less predictive of turnover because the employee more likely left in response to “pull” (the lure of the other job) than “push” (the unattractiveness of the current job). Similarly, job dissatisfaction is more likely to translate into turnover when other employment opportunities are plentiful. Furthermore, when employees have high “human capital” (high education, high ability), job dissatisfaction is more likely to translate into turnover because they have, or perceive, many available alternatives.68 Job embeddedness The extent to which an employee’s connections to the job and community result in an increased commitment to the organization. understanding the impact Given the evidence we’ve just reviewed, it should come as no surprise that job satisfaclarge organizations into those with high morale (more than 70 percent of employees expressed overall job satisfaction) and medium or low morale (fewer than 70 percent). The stock prices of companies in the high-morale group grew 19.4 percent, compared with 10 percent for the medium- or low-morale group. Despite these results, many managers ployees are, so they don’t think there’s a problem when there is one. For example, in one study of 262 large employers, 86 percent of senior managers believed their organizations treated employees well, but only 55 percent of employees agreed; another study found 55 percent of managers, compared to only 38 percent of employees, thought morale was good in their organization.69 Regular surveys can reduce gaps between what managers think employees feel and what they really feel. A gap in understanding can affect the bottom line in small franchise sites as well as in large companies. As manager of a KFC restaurant in Houston, Jonathan McDaniel surveyed his employees every three months. Results led him to make changes, such as giving employees greater say about which workdays they had off. McDaniel believed the process itself was valuable. “They really love giving their opinions,” he said. “That’s the most important part of it—that they have a voice and that they’re heard.” Surveys are no panacea, but if job attitudes are as important as we believe, organizations need to use every reasonable method find out how they can be improved.70 M03_ROBB3859_14_SE_C03.indd 45 19/09/16 3:40 PM 46 suMMAry Managers should be interested in their employees’ attitudes because attitudes influence behavior and indicate potential problems. Creating a satisfied workforce is hardly a guarantee of successful organizational performance, but evidence strongly suggests managers’ efforts to improve employee attitudes will likely result in positive outcomes, including greater organizational effectiveness, higher customer satisfaction, and increased profits. iMPLiCAtions for MAnAgers remember that an employee’s job satisfaction level is the best single predictor of behavior. Pay attention to your employees’ job satisfaction levels as determinants of their performance, turnover, absenteeism, and withdrawal behaviors. Measure employee job attitudes objectively and at regular intervals in order to determine how employees are reacting to their work. To raise employee satisfaction, evaluate the fit between the employee’s work interests and the intrinsic parts of the job; then create work that is challenging and interesting to the individual. Consider the fact that high pay alone is unlikely to create a satisfying work environment. TRY IT! If your professor has assigned this, go to the Assignments section of mymanagementlab.com to complete the Simulation: Attitudes & Job Satisfaction. P I PERSONAL INVENTORY ASSESSMENTS A PERSONAL INVENTORY ASSESSMENTS Core self-evaluation (Cse) scale You probably have a general awareness of your CSE, or how you candidly view your capabilities. This PIA can provide you with further insight. MyManagementLab ® Go to mymanagementlab.com for Auto-graded writing questions as well as the following Assisted-graded writing questions: 3-1. Based on your own experiences, can you identify situations in which your job attitudes directly influenced your behavior? 3-2. MyManagementLab Only—comprehensive writing assignment for this chapter. M03_ROBB3859_14_SE_C03.indd 46 19/09/16 3:40 PM 11 Communication MyManagementLab ® Improve Your Grade! When you see this icon , visit mymanagementlab.com for activities that are applied, personalized, and offer immediate feedback. LEARNING OBJECTIVES After studying this chapter, you should be able to: 1. Describe the functions and process of communication. 2. Contrast downward, upward, and lateral communication through small-group networks and the grapevine. 3. Contrast oral, written, and nonverbal communication. 4. Describe how channel richness underlies the choice of communication channel. 5. Differentiate between automatic and controlled processing of persuasive messages. 6. Identify common barriers to effective communication. 7. Discuss how to overcome potential problems of cross-cultural communication. Chapter Warm-up If your professor has chosen to assign this, go to the Assignments section of mymanagementlab.com to complete the chapter warm-up. 170 M11_ROBB3859_14_SE_C11.indd 170 19/09/16 3:47 PM 171 CommuniCation Communication is powerful: no group or organization can exist without sharing meaning among its members. In this chapter, we’ll analyze communication and ways we can make it more effective. Communication must include both the transfer and the understanding of meaning. Communicating is more than merely imparting meaning; that meaning must also be understood. It is only thus that we can convey information and ideas. In perfect communication, if it existed, a thought would be transmitted so the receiver understood the same mental picture the sender intended. Though it sounds elementary, perfect communication is never achieved in practice. Increased understanding of the functions and processes of communication can lead to positive changes in organizational behavior. Communication The transfer and the understanding of meaning. Functions of Communication Communication serves five major functions within a group or organization: management, feedback, emotional sharing, persuasion, and information exchange.1 Almost every communication interaction that takes place in a group or organization performs one or more of these functions, and none of the five is more important than any of the others. Communication acts to manage member behavior in several ways. Organizations have authority hierarchies and formal guidelines for employees that guide communication flow. When employees follow their job descriptions or comply with company policies, communication performs a management function. Informal communication controls behavior too. When work groups tease or harass a member who produces too much (and makes the rest of the members look bad), they are informally communicating, and managing, the member’s behavior. managing Behavior FeedBaCk Communication creates feedback by clarifying to employees what they must do, how well they are doing it, and how they can improve their performance. We saw this operating in goal-setting theory in Chapter 7. Formation of goals, feedback on progress, and reward for desired behavior all require communication and stimulate motivation. emotional Sharing The workgroup is a primary source of social interaction for many employees. Communication within the group is a fundamental mechanism by which members show satisfaction and frustration. Communication, therefore, provides for the emotional sharing of feelings and fulfillment of social needs. For example, after a White police officer shot an unarmed Black man in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2015, software engineer Carl Jones wanted to process his feelings through talking with his coworkers at his corporation. As a second example, Starbucks had baristas write “Race Together” on coffee cups to start conversations about race relations. In both cases, the initial communications were awkward, so awkward that Starbucks pulled the campaign, but Jones and others have forged solid relationships from their emotional sharing.2 PerSuaSion Like emotional sharing, persuasion can be good or bad depending on if, say, a leader is trying to persuade a workgroup to commit to the organization’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives or to, conversely, persuade the workgroup to break the law to meet an organizational goal. These may be extreme examples, but it’s important to remember that persuasion can benefit or harm an organization. M11_ROBB3859_14_SE_C11.indd 171 19/09/16 3:47 PM 172 inFormation exChange The final function of communication is information exchange to facilitate decision making. Communication provides the information individuals and groups need to make decisions by transmitting the data needed to identify and evaluate choices. the Communication Process Communication process The steps between a source and a receiver that result in the transfer and understanding of meaning. Formal channels Communication channels established by an organization to transmit messages related to the professional activities of members. Informal channels Communication channels that are created spontaneously and that emerge as responses to individual choices. Before communication can take place it needs a purpose, a message to be conveyed between a sender and a receiver. The sender encodes the message (converts it to a symbolic form) and passes it through a medium (channel) to the receiver, who decodes it. The result is a transfer of meaning from one person to another.3 Exhibit 11-1 depicts this communication process. The key parts of this model are (1) the sender, (2) encoding, (3) the message, (4) the channel, (5) decoding, (6) the receiver, (7) noise, and (8) feedback. The sender initiates a message by encoding a thought. The message is the actual physical product of the sender’s encoding. When we speak, the speech is the message. When we write, the writing is the message. When we gesture, the movements of our arms and the expressions on our faces are the message. The channel is the medium through which the message travels. The sender selects it, determining whether to use a formal or informal channel. Formal channels are established by the organization and transmit messages that are related to the professional activities of members. They traditionally follow the authority chain within the organization. Other forms of messages, such as those that are personal or social, follow informal channels, which are spontaneous and subject to individual choice.4 The receiver is the person(s) to whom the message is directed, who must first translate the symbols into understandable form. This step is the decoding of the message. Noise represents communication barriers that distort the clarity of the message, such as perceptual problems, information overload, semantic difficulties, or cultural differences. The final link in the communication process is a feedback loop. Feedback is the check on how successful we have been in transferring our messages as originally intended. It determines whether understanding has been achieved. direCtion oF CommuniCation Communication can flow vertically or laterally, through formal small-group networks or the informal grapevine. We subdivide the vertical dimension into downward and upward directions.5 Sender Message to be sent Receiver Encoding message Channel Message received Message decoding Noise Feedback exhiBit 11-1 The Communication Process M11_ROBB3859_14_SE_C11.indd 172 19/09/16 3:47 PM 173 downward Communication Communication that flows from one level of a group or organization to a lower level is downward communication job instructions, explain policies and procedures, point out problems that need attention, and offer feedback. In downward communication, the delivery mode and the context of the information are of high importance. We will talk more about communication methods later, but consider the ultimate downward communication: the performance review. Alan Buckelew, CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines says, “A review is probably the one time when you want to be physically present.” The Samsonite CEO agrees: “A conference call cannot substitute for face-to-face interactions.” Automated performance reviews have allowed managers to review their subordinates without discussions, which is efficient but misses critical opportunities for growth, motivation, and relationship-building.6 In general, employees subjected to less direct, personalized communication are less likely to understand the intentions of the message correctly. The best communicators explain the reasons behind their downward communications but also solicit communication from the employees they supervise. upward Communication Upward communication flows to a higher level in the group or organization. It’s used to provide feedback to higher-ups, inform them of progress toward goals, and relay current problems. Upward communication keeps managers aware of how employees feel about their jobs, coworkers, and the organization in general. Managers also rely on upward communication for ideas on how conditions can be improved. munication is increasingly difficult because managers can be overwhelmed and easily distracted. To engage in effective upward communication, try to communicate in short summaries rather than long explanations, support your summaries with actionable items, and prepare an agenda to make sure you use your boss’s attention well.7 And watch what you say, especially if you are communicating something to your manager that will be unwelcome. If you’re turning down an assignment, for example, be sure to project a “can do” attitude while asking advice about your workload dilemma or inexperience with the assignment.8 Your delivery can be as important as the content of your communication. lateral Communication When communication occurs between members of the same workgroup, members at the same level in separate workgroups, or any other horizontally equivalent workers, we describe it as lateral communication. Lateral communication saves time and facilitates coordination. Some lateral relationships are formally sanctioned. More often, they are informally created to short-circuit the vertical hierarchy and expedite action. So from management’s viewpoint, lateral communications can be good or bad. Because strictly adhering to the formal vertical structure for all communications can be inefficient, lateral communication occurring with management’s knowledge and support can be beneficial. But dysfunctional conflict can result when formal vertical channels are breached, when members go above or around their superiors, or when bosses find actions have been taken or decisions made without their knowledge. M11_ROBB3859_14_SE_C11.indd 173 19/09/16 3:47 PM 174 exhiBit 11-2 Three Common Small Group Networks Chain Wheel All Channel Formal Small-group networks Formal organizational networks can be complicated, including hundreds of people and a half-dozen or more hierarchical levels. We’ve condensed these networks into three common small groups of five people each (see Exhibit 11-2): chain, wheel, and all channel. The chain rigidly follows the formal chain of command; this network approximates the communication channels you might find in a rigid three-level organization. The wheel relies on a central figure to act as the conduit for all group communication; it simulates the communication network you might find on a team with a strong leader. The all-channel network permits group members to actively communicate with each other; it’s most often characterized by self-managed teams, in which group members are free to contribute and no one person takes on a leadership role. Many organizations today like to consider themselves all channel, meaning that anyone can communicate with anyone (but sometimes they shouldn’t). As Exhibit 11-3 demonstrates, the effectiveness of each network is determined by the dependent variable that concerns you. The structure of the wheel facilitates the emergence of a leader, the all-channel network is best if you desire high member satisfaction, and the chain is best if accuracy is most important. Exhibit 11-3 leads us to the conclusion that no single network will be best for all occasions. the grapevine Grapevine An organization’s informal communication network. The informal communication network in a group or organization is called the grapevine.9 Although rumors and gossip transmitted through the grapevine may be informal, it’s still an information from peers about a company has important effects on whether job applicants join an organization,10 Networks exhiBit 11-3 Small Group Networks and Effectiveness Criteria M11_ROBB3859_14_SE_C11.indd 174 Criteria Chain Wheel All Channel Speed Accuracy Emergence of a leader Member satisfaction Moderate High Moderate Moderate Fast High High Low Fast Moderate None High 19/09/16 3:47 PM 175 The grapevine is an important part of any group or organization communication network. It serves employees’ needs: small talk creates a sense of closeness and friendship among those who share information, although research suggests it often does so at the expense of those in the outgroup.11 It also gives managers a feel for the morale of their organization, the issues employees consider important, and employee anxieties. Evidence indicates that managers can study the gossip driven largely by employee social networks to learn more about how positive and negative information is flowing through the organization.12 Furthermore, managers can identify influencers (highly networked people trusted by their coworkers13) by noting which individuals are small talkers (those who regularly communicate about insignificant, unrelated issues). Small talkers tend to be influencers. One study found that social talkers are so influential that they were significantly more likely to retain their jobs during layoffs.14 Thus, while the grapevine may not be sanctioned or controlled by the organization, it can be understood and leveraged a bit. modeS oF CommuniCation How do group members transfer meaning among each other? They rely on oral, written, and nonverbal communication. This much is obvious, but as we will discuss, the choice between modes can greatly enhance or detract from the way the perceiver reacts to the message. Certain modes are highly preferred for specific types of communication. We will cover the latest thinking and practical application. oral Communication A primary means of conveying messages is oral communication. Speeches, formal oneon-one and group discussions, and the informal rumor mill or grapevine are popular forms of oral communication. The advantages of oral communication are speed, feedback, and exchange. Regarding speed, we can convey a verbal message and receive a response in minimal time. As one professional put it, “Face-to-face communication on a consistent basis is still the best way to get information to and from employees.”15 If the receiver is unsure of the message, rapid feedback allows the sender to quickly detect and correct it. Unfortunately, we should acknowledge that we are usually bad listeners. Researchers indicate that we are prone to “listener burnout” in which we tune the other person out and rush to offer 16 Active listening; in which we remove distractions, lean in, make eye contact, paraphrase, and encourage the talker to continue17—helps us learn more and build trust if we are genuine and not judgmental.18 The exchange given through oral communication has social, cultural, and emotional components. Cultural social exchange, in which we purposefully share exchanges that transcend cultural boundaries, can build trust, cooperation, and agreement between individuals and teams.19 One major disadvantage of oral communication surfaces whenever a message has to pass through a number of people: the more people, the greater the potential distortion. If you’ve ever played “Telephone,” you know the problem. Each person who receives a whispered message in this pass-along game interprets the message in his or her own way. The message’s content, when it reaches its destination, is often very different from the original, M11_ROBB3859_14_SE_C11.indd 175 19/09/16 3:47 PM 176 even when we think the message is simple and straightforward. Therefore, oral-communication “chains” are generally more of a liability than an effective tool in organizations. Written Communication Written communication includes letters, e-mail, instant messaging, organizational periodicals, and any other method that conveys written words or symbols. The advantages depend on what written mode is used. Written business communication today is usually conducted via letters, PowerPoint®, e-mail, instant messaging, text messaging, social media, apps, and blogs. Some of these create a digital or physical long-term record, while the advantage of others is quick, fleeting information exchange. The disadvantages are also specific to each written mode. We will therefore discuss the applications more in a bit. nonverbal Communication Every time we deliver a verbal message, we also impart an unspoken message.20 Sometimes the nonverbal component may stand alone as a powerful message of our business communication. No discussion of communication would thus be complete without consideration of nonverbal communication; which includes body movements, the intonations or emphasis we give to words, facial expressions, and the physical distance between the sender and receiver. We could argue that every body movement has meaning, and no movement is accidental (though some are unconscious). We act out our state of being with nonverbal body language. For example, we smile to project trustworthiness, uncross our arms to appear approachable, and stand to signal authority.21 If you read the minutes of a meeting, you wouldn’t grasp the impact of what was said the same way as if you had been there or could see the meeting on video. Why not? There is no record of nonverbal communication, and the emphasis given to words or phrases (intonation) is missing. Both make the meaning clear. Intonations can change the meaning of a message. Facial expressions also convey meaning. Facial expressions, along with intonations, can show arrogance, aggressiveness, fear, shyness, and other characteristics. Physical distance also has meaning. What is considered proper spacing between people largely depends on cultural norms. A businesslike distance in some European countries feels intimate in many parts of North America. If someone stands closer to you than is considered appropriate, it may indicate aggressiveness or sexual interest; if farther away, it may signal disinterest or displeasure with what is being said. ChoiCe oF CommuniCation Channel Why do people choose one channel of communication over another? A model of media richness helps explain channel selection among managers.22 Channel richness The amount of information that can be transmitted during a communication episode. M11_ROBB3859_14_SE_C11.indd 176 Channel richness Channels differ in their capacity to convey information. Some are rich in that they can (1) handle multiple cues simultaneously, (2) facilitate rapid feedback, and (3) be very personal. Others are lean, in that they score low on these factors. Face-to-face conversation scores highest in channel richness because it transmits the most information per 19/09/16 3:47 PM 177 communication episode–multiple information cues (words, postures, facial expressions, gestures, intonations), immediate feedback (both verbal and nonverbal), and the personal touch of being present. Other examples of media with high channel richness (in descending order) include video conferences, telephone conversations, live speeches, and voice mail. Impersonal written media such as formal reports and bulletins score lowest in richness as well as memos, letters, prerecorded speeches, and e-mail.23 In sum, rich channels give us the chance to observe. The unconscious aspects of communication help us understand the full meaning of a message. When these aspects are missing, we must look for other clues to deduce the sender’s emotions and attitudes. Choosing Communication methods The choice of channel depends on whether the message is routine. Routine messages tend to be straightforward and have minimal ambiguity; channels low in richness can carry them efficiently. Nonroutine communications are likely to be complicated and have the potential for misunderstanding. Managers can communicate them effectively only by selecting rich channels. ChooSing oral CommuniCation Whenever you need to gauge the receiver’s receptivity, oral communication is usually the better choice. The marketing plan for a new product, for instance, may need to be worked out with clients in person, so you can see their reactions to each idea you propose. Also consider the receiver’s preferred mode of communication; some individuals focus on content better in written form and others prefer discussion. For example, if your manager requests a meeting with you, you may not want to ask for an e-mail exchange instead. The pace of your work environment matters too. A fast-paced workplace may thrive on pop-by meetings, while a deadline-heavy team project may progress faster with scheduled Skype videoconferences. Much of what we communicate face-to-face is in the delivery, so also consider your speaking skills when choosing your communication method. Research indicates the sound of your voice is twice as important as what you are saying. A good speaking voice, clear and moderated, can be a help to your career; while loud, questioning, irritating, immature, falsetto, breathy, or monotone voice tones can hinder you. If your voice is problematic, your work teams can help you raise your awareness so you can make changes, or you may benefit from the help of a voice coach.24 ChooSing Written CommuniCation Written communication is generally the most reliable mode for complex and lengthy communications, and it can be the most efficient method for short messages when, for instance, a two-sentence text can take the place of a 10-minute phone call. But keep in mind that written communication can be limited in its emotional expression. Choose written communication when you want the information to be tangible, verifiable, and “on the record.” Letters are used in business primarily for networking and record-keeping purposes, and when signatures need to be authentic. Also, a handwritten thank-you note is never a wrong choice for an applicant to send after an employment interview, and handwritten envelopes are often put right on the receiver’s desk unopened by administrative staff. In general, you should respond to instant messages only when they are M11_ROBB3859_14_SE_C11.indd 177 19/09/16 3:47 PM 178 professional and initiate them only when you know they will be welcome; remember that your conversation will not be stored for later reference. Texts are cheap to send and receive, and the willingness to be available for quick communications from clients and managers is conducive to good business. However, some users—and managers—view text messaging as intrusive and distracting, so establish some protocols first. Some of the most spectacular gains in social media are in the sales arena, both business-to-public and business-tohis fastest sale ever by instantly connecting with a potential client after TweetDeck alerted him that a CEO was tweeting his frustration about Web conferencing.25 Finally, curtail usage of blogs, posting, and commenting; both options are more public than you may ChooSing nonverBal CommuniCation It’s important to be alert to nonverbal aspects of communication; look for these cues as well as the literal meaning of a sender’s words. You should particularly be aware of contradictions between the messages. For example, someone who frequently glances at her wristwatch is giving the message that she would prefer to terminate the conversation no matter what she actually says. We misinform others when we express one message verbally, such as trust, but nonverbally communicate a contradictory message that reads, “I don’t have confidence in you.” information Security Security is a huge concern for nearly all organizations with private or proprietary information about clients, customers, and employees. Organizations worry about the security of the electronic information they need to protect such as hospital patient data, physical information they still keep in file cabinets, and information they entrust their employees with knowing. Most companies actively monitor employee Internet use and e-mail records, and some even use video surveillance and record phone conversations. Necessary though they may be, such practices can seem invasive to employees. An organization can relieve employee concerns by engaging them in the creation of information-security policies and giving them some control over how their personal information is used.26 PerSuaSive CommuniCation We’ve discussed a number of methods for communication up to this point. Now we turn our attention to one of the functions of communication—persuasion—and the features that might make messages more or less persuasive to an audience. automatic and Controlled Processing Automatic processing A relatively superficial consideration of evidence and information making use of heuristics. M11_ROBB3859_14_SE_C11.indd 178 To understand the process of persuasion, it is useful to consider two different ways we process information.27 Think about the last time you bought a can of soda. Did you carefully research brands, or did you reach for the can that had the most appealing advertising? If we’re honest, we’ll admit glitzy ads and catchy slogans have an influence on our choices as consumers. We often rely on automatic processing, a relatively superficial consideration of evidence and information, making use of heuristics like those we discussed in Chapter 6. Automatic processing takes little time and low effort, so it makes sense to use it for processing persuasive messages related to topics you don’t care much 19/09/16 3:47 PM 179 about. The disadvantage is that it lets us be easily fooled by a variety of tricks, like a cute jingle or glamorous photo. Now consider the last time you chose a place to live. You probably sourced experts who knew something about the area, gathered information about prices, and considered the costs and benefits of renting versus buying. You were engaging in more effortful controlled processing, a detailed consideration of evidence and information, relying on facts, figures, and logic. Controlled processing requires effort and energy, and it’s harder to fool someone who has taken the time and effort to engage in it. So what makes someone engage in either shallow or deep processing? Let’s explore how we might determine what types of processing an audience will use. intereSt level One of the best predictors of whether people will use an automatic Controlled processing A detailed consideration of evidence and information relying on facts, figures, and logic. or controlled process for reacting to a persuasive message is their level of interest in it.28 Interest levels reflect the impact a decision is going to have on your life. When people are very interested in the outcome of a decision, they’re more likely to process information carefully. That’s probably why people look for so much more information when deciding about something important (like where to live) than something relatively unimportant (like which soda to drink). Prior knoWledge People who are ...
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Case Study Questions
Part A: Diagnosis
The primary reason as to why Rinaldi got into the mess is because she had a negative
attitude towards her fellow colleagues at workplace. She views Vaughan and Follet as her rivals.
She has entered into conflict with both several times, making her discouraged to work with them
in future. Follet as the manager of the department has claimed that Rinaldi lacks initiative in her
work. She is not convinced that Rinaldi will perform in the job. Rinaldi on the other hand views
Follet as a hater and feels discriminated. She is not comfortable to work with her in the same
company. Vaughan has also contributed to the mess experienced at Potomac Waters. Vaughan
seems to have differences with Rinaldi and uses the...


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