Organizational Rules on Communicating: How Employees Are - and Are Not- Learning the Ropes

This research explored how employees perceived and articulated organizational "rules " in describing specific communication problem incidents. The research elicited and analyzed 560 short narratives from MBA students describing an actual on-the-job communication problem caused by another organization member's weak understanding of "how we communicate here." Respondents cited many more unwritten than written sources of guidance, naming 22 different means by which organizations conveyed guidance on "how we communicate here." Categorizing types of communication problems showed that about 20 percent could have been prevented or solved by communication policy guide lines ; other kinds of managerial intervention are recommended for those owing more to bad individual judgment, poor managerial oversight, or dearth or inappropriateness of cues from corporate culture. Organizations with some written policy on communicating may have thought more about "how we com municate here" and how to convey that information to employees. Respondents' cost estimates suggest that communication problems are a drain on profitability and effectiveness. Most organizations should examine how employees learn the communication rules at present and should introduce measures that reduce uncertainty. If employees can make sense of their work environments sooner and more accurately, errors are likely to diminish.

[1]  E. Eisenberg.  Ambiguity as strategy in organizational communication , 1984 .

[2]  Jules Harcourt,et al.  A National Study of Middle Managers'Assessment of Organization Communication Quality , 1991 .

[3]  Barbara Gray,et al.  Organizations as Constructions and Destructions of Meaning , 1985 .

[4]  Vernon D. Miller,et al.  INFORMATION SEEKING DURING ORGANIZATIONAL ENTRY: INFLUENCES, TACTICS, AND A MODEL OF THE PROCESS , 1991 .

[5]  Sherry G. Southard.  Interacting Successfully in Corporate Culture , 1990 .

[6]  K. Weick.  FROM SENSEMAKING IN ORGANIZATIONS , 2021, The New Economic Sociology.

[7]  T. Deal,et al.  Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life. , 1982 .

[8]  A. A. Felts.  Organizational Communication , 1992 .

[9]  Donald O. Wilson,et al.  Looking for a Few Good Sources: Exploring the Intraorganizational Communication Linkages of First Line Managers , 1995 .

[10]  D. Francis,et al.  Unblocking Organizational Values , 1989 .

[11]  Susan J. Ashford,et al.  Proactive feedback seeking: The instrumental use of the information environment , 1985 .

[12]  Bernward Joerges,et al.  How to Control Things with Words , 1988 .

[13]  William A. Donohue,et al.  Differences Between Formal and Informal Communication Channels , 1994 .

[14]  Debra R. Comer,et al.  Organizational Newcomers' Acquisition of Information from Peers , 1991 .

[15]  A. Mills,et al.  Organizational Rules: A Framework for Understanding Organizational Action , 1990 .

[16]  E. Schein.  Organizational Culture and Leadership: A Dynamic View , 1985 .

[17]  S. Kerr.  On the folly of rewarding A, while hoping for B. , 1975, Academy of Management journal. Academy of Management.

[18]  Steven B. Andrews,et al.  Power, Social Influence, and Sense Making: Effects of Network Centrality and Proximity on Employee Perceptions. , 1993 .

[19]  Cynthia Stohl,et al.  The role of memorable messages in the process of organizational socialization , 1986 .

[20]  William I. Gorden.  Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life , 1984 .

[21]  M. A. Whitney.  Analyzing corporate communications policy using ethnographic methods , 1989 .

[22]  Lyman W. Porter,et al.  Managerial attitudes and performance , 1968 .

[23]  M R Louis,et al.  Surprise and sense making: what newcomers experience in entering unfamiliar organizational settings. , 1980, Administrative science quarterly.

[24]  Written Corporate Communication Policy: Extent, Coverage, Costs, Benefits , 1987 .

[25]  F. Glen.  The social psychology of organizations , 1976 .

[26]  V. Vroom.  Work and motivation , 1964 .

[27]  Donald O. Wilson.  Diagonal Communication Links Within Organizations , 1992 .

[28]  Maryan s. Schall.  A Communication-Rules Approach to Organizational Culture. , 1983 .

[29]  Stanley G. Harris,et al.  Organizational Culture and Individual Sensemaking: A Schema-Based Perspective , 1994 .

[30]  J. B. Teboul.  Facing and Coping with Uncertainty During Organizational Encounter , 1994 .

[31]  R. Daft,et al.  Toward a Model of Organizations as Interpretation Systems , 1984 .

[32]  Dennis A. Gioia,et al.  Strategic sensemaking and organizational performance: linkages among scanning, interpretation, action, and outcomes. , 1993, Academy of Management journal. Academy of Management.

[33]  Fredric M. Jablin.  Organizational entry, assimilation, and exit. , 1987 .

[34]  Linda S. Henderson.  The Contextual Nature of Interpersonal Communication in Management Theory and Research , 1987 .

[35]  Donald P. Rogers,et al.  Communication Climate, Job Satisfaction, and Organizational Commitment , 1988 .

[36]  Phillip G. Clampitt,et al.  Employee Perceptions of the Relationship Between Communication and Productivity: A Field Study , 1993 .