Effective management and important communication skills

䉴 allow students of management to sharpen their communication skills for the world of work;.. 䉴 help managers to apply the material to their own particular workplace;.[r]

Owen Hargie, David Dickson

and Dennis Tourish

Communication skills

for effective management

Communication skills for

effective management

Owen Hargie, David Dickson and Dennis Tourish

© Owen Hargie, David Dickson and Dennis Tourish 2004 All rights reserved No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission.

No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP.

Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

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as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published 2004 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and

175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries.

ISBN 0–333–96575–2 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hargie, Owen.

Communication skills for effective manangement / Owen Hargie, David Dickson and Dennis Tourish.

p cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0–333–96575–2 (paper)

1 Communication in management I Dickson, David, 1950– II Tourish, Dennis III Title.

HD 30.3.H3653 2004

12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 04 Printed in China

For our two late friends and colleagues, Colin Hargie and Christine Saunders Working closely with them was both intellectually stimulating and fun.

We remember them with fondness and gratitude Thanks for all those lovely memories.

Preface vi

1 The world of the communicative manager 1

2 It’s not what you say … : communicating nonverbally 35

3 They could be persuaded: using your managerial influence 64

4 Let’s get together: teams at work 96

5 Steering the way: leading meetings that work 120

6 That silver-tongued devil … : making presentations matter 147

7 We can work it out: negotiating and bargaining 175

8 Will they buy it? Why managers must be able to sell 208

9 Calling all organisations: the business of the telephone 234

10 Writing matters: how to create the write impression 259

11 Tell it like it is … : communicating assertively 286

12 What’s your problem? Helping in the workplace 317

13 The war for talent: selection skills for busy managers 346

14 Feedback time: performance appraisal and management 373

15 Following the correct path: the guiding lights of

ethics and audits 405

References 436

Index 482

We live in a world that is ever changing Some changes are for the better When King Charles II had a fit in 1685 he received cutting-edge medical care from the 14 top men in the field They shaved his head and applied a blistering agent to his scalp, fed him gallstones from

a goat, had him drink 40 drops of extract from a dead man’s skull, gave him a strong laxative, forced him to vomit violently, applied an enema

containing inter alia, sacred bitters, rock salt, beetroot, fennel seeds,

cardamom seed, saffron, cochineal and aloes, administered a sneezing powder of hellebore, applied a plaster of burgundy pitch and pigeon dung to the feet, and drew a pint of blood from a vein in his right arm, followed by an additional 8 ounce from his shoulder As his condition failed to improve they forced Raleigh’s mixture, dissolved pearl and ammonia down his throat Two days later Charles was dead Likewise,

in the seventeeth century, pupils at Eton school were required to smoke before breakfast for the good of their health and were punished

if they failed to do so

Medical advice and clinical treatments have certainly changed, although one also wonders what those alive some 300 years from now will make of the care we currently receive Equally, the pace of organisational change is supersonic There are never-ending develop-ments in technology that continually affect and alter the ways in which we send messages to one another Management fads such as

business process re-engineering, just-in-time and total quality management

come and go Financial systems ebb and flow Production methods are regularly updated However, one of the few things that stays constant

in the workplace is the primacy of the human encounter There is a

deeply felt need among homo sapiens to communicate with one

another People are greatly influenced by, and remember, how others relate to them If our interactions with another person are positive, then both working and social relationships with that individual are enhanced Equally, a poorly handled interchange can damage relationships – sometimes irreparably The core contention in this book is that communication lies at the heart of effective management

Considerable evidence is provided to justify this contention Successful managers employ the skills, styles and strategies as recommended in the chapters to follow

The present text is a development and extension of our earlier one

entitled Communication in Management (Gower) The contents

repre-sent our combined experiences of researching, teaching and consulting

in the field of organisational communication During this time we have worked with numerous private and public sector bodies on their communication strategies, devised training programmes to meet iden-tified needs, carried out numerous research projects, and taught a wide range of courses to students and employees at all levels Based upon our joint deliberations, we identified the areas covered in this book as being at the core of effective management We also recognised that there was a need for a specific type of text to analyse these key dimen-sions What we set out to produce was a user-friendly, yet academically rigorous, analysis of the main features of communication that are cen-tral to effectiveness in management

This text has therefore been designed to meet the ever-expanding demand for valid and generalisable information on how best to relate

to people in business and management situations As such, it will be of interest both to practising managers and to students and teachers of organisational communication The contents of the book are informed both by research and theory, and by first-hand experience From work-ing with practiswork-ing managers and evaluatwork-ing their central roles, and from analysing the work of other academics, we have selected 13 key areas for inclusion These are: nonverbal communication, influencing and persuading, building teams, leading teams, making presentations, negotiating and bargaining, selling ideas, tele-communications, web-based and traditional writing skills, being assertive, helping and counselling, selecting the best applicants and appraising staff

In the opening chapter we place the study of these skills and strate-gies within the broader context of the nature and functions or organi-sations, and the communicative role of managers therein This provides a necessary backdrop against which the rest of the chapters can be placed Then, in the final chapter we underline the importance

of assessing communication performance We recommend that corpo-rations regularly measure and monitor internal and external commu-nications within the workplace, and discuss the main audit methods whereby this can be operationalised Given the recent ethical scandals that have besmirched many corporations, in concluding the book

Preface

we emphasise the need for managers to communicate in a principled fashion, and itemise the key factors that must be borne in mind to ensure this is achieved

The core objectives of the book are to:

䉴 examine the main communicative contexts within which managers operate;

䉴 identify and chart the key skills and strategies essential for effective managerial communication within organisations;

䉴 review research findings pertaining to each area;

䉴 allow students of management to sharpen their communication skills for the world of work;

䉴 help managers to apply the material to their own particular

workplace;

䉴 enable managers to improve their day-to-day performance in their interactions with staff at all levels

The style employed in all of the chapters encourages the reader to interact with the material covered Each chapter contains a series of boxed text, diagrams, tables and illustrations, which summarise core points Exercises are also provided to enable managers to put the mate-rial reviewed into practice All of this is underpinned and supported by

a firm foundation of research findings The referencing style employed, using superscript numbers, does not impede the flow of text, yet allows the interested reader to identify and pursue relevant source material

In writing this book, the authors would like to thank the editorial staff at Palgrave/MacMillan for all their help, advice and forbearance Words of gratitude also to Philip Burch, Graphic Design Technician at the University of Ulster, for his help in producing some of the dia-grams Finally, we are indebted to our families who provided the nec-essary motivation, and who put up with us, throughout the production of this text

OWENHARGIE

DAVIDDICKSON

DENNISTOURISH

Preface

The focus of this book is upon how communication in organisations can be improved More particularly, it examines the pivotal commu-nicative role of managers, who play a key part in maintaining effective information flow and promoting harmonious relationships within the workplace Executives devote much of their time to interactions with staff Manager-watching studies1 have revealed that they spend over

60 per cent of their working time in scheduled and unscheduled meetings with others, about 25 per cent doing desk-based work, some

7 per cent on the telephone and 3 per cent walking the job Indeed, it has also been shown2 that ‘communication, especially oral skills, is a key component of success in the business world … executives who hire college graduates believe that the importance of oral communication skills for career success is going to increase’ The corollary of this is that today’s graduates arrive with increased demands of what they want from companies,3not least of which is the expectation that communi-cations will be two-way and cognisance will be taken of their views Another example of the importance of communication was a survey4

in which 2600 UK employees clearly expressed the view that what was most de-motivating of all was lack of communication from managers, citing issues such as a complete absence of interaction, a general lack

of feedback, or meetings taking place behind closed doors

In relation to employee satisfaction, the Gallup Poll organisation

produced a scale (Q 12) comprising 12 questions, which are rated by

staff on a 1–5 scale These encompass issues such as the extent to which respondents feel they know what is expected of them at work, whether they are recognised for good performance, if their supervisor cares about them, and to what degree they believe that their opinions

seem to matter Thus, much of this Q 12 scale relates to communication

by managers From its database of surveys of more than one million employees in the USA, Gallup found5a significant link between scores

The world of the communicative manager

1

on this scale and business performance Organisations where staff scored highly outperformed their rivals on a range of measures of pro-ductivity, such as employee retention, profitability and customer satis-faction This again underscores the importance of effective internal communications

In this chapter we plan to take you on a journey around the whole world of the communicative manager You will be introduced to the climates and cultures of different organisations and see how these affect the disposition and behaviour of the inhabitants On our tour we will visit the varying territories and terrains in which managers travail

We will witness how they can function as missionaries spreading the organisational gospel, and you will be encouraged to note the styles they adopt and the relative zeal they display The signs and symbols they use to relate to and bond with their staff will be of particular inter-est While the main emphasis is upon verbal and nonverbal rituals in these often strange organisational environs, we will also examine the written forms of communication in which the people engage Among the interesting artefacts are new forms of technology (such as e-mail), which have transformed hitherto more primitive organisational hiero-glyphics To enhance our experience and inform our trek, we will also hear positive and negative stories from other experienced travellers But first let us examine the organisational habitat

Organisations

One thing that is clear, as we begin our travels, is that organisations are everywhere; our social world is unimaginable without them They come in all shapes and sizes There are large ones and small ones; flat ones and steeply hierarchical ones; those which are long established (the oldest company being Weihenstephan Brewery, founded in Germany in 1040) and those that are new to business; some of them are geographically spread out and others are located in a single build-ing The wealth continuum ranges from the very small business going bankrupt to the huge conglomerate with immense cash reserves, enor-mous power and ambitious plans for expansion Furthermore, there is

a high failure rate Some 100 000 new products are launched every year

in the USA, and more than 80 per cent of these fail.6As we shall illus-trate, poor organisational communication is a major contributing factor to such failure

Communication skills for effective management

But what do we mean by the term ‘organisation’ itself? We are all members of a whole host of organisations, yet often the closer you are

to something the less you actually see By taking a step back for a moment we can look at ‘the organisation’ in broader perspective Ocasio7noted that ‘it is easier to give examples of organizations than

to define the term’, but proceeded to conceptualise them as ‘social sys-tems of collective action that structure and regulate the actions and cognitions of organizational participants through its rules, resources, and social relations’ In like vein, Huczynski and Buchanan8 iterated

that: ‘An organization is a social arrangement for achieving controlled

performance in pursuit of collective goals’ Thus organisations involve:

organise themselves in a certain way There are systems set in place whereby members interact with one another, both formally and informally

outputs, measurement of performance against these standards, and the implementation of corrective action as required Rules are laid down and employees have to accept and abide by these This is facilitated by a managerial structure, and the pooling of shared resources

aims and common objectives Organisational members are expected

to hold certain values and to think in particular ways It is the accepted norm that employees should contribute to the corporate

‘mission’

However, different organisations are formed for varying purposes and

to achieve divergent goals The function of the organisation inevitably shapes its nature, form and structure, and in turn influences the types

of people who will want to work there The classification made several decades ago by the social scientist Parsons9is still useful, where organ-isations are divided into those that pursue:

concerned with the market economy, in terms of maximising income and accumulating capital Both manufacturing and service sector companies are involved in seeking these private enterprise goals

control and distribution of power in society Examples here are government agencies, political parties, police and the military

The world of the communicative manager