Experiential Analysis - Communication in Organisations

Introduction
Zeffane, Tipu & Ryan (2011, p78) provide a very simplistic definition of communication being “the formal as well as informal sharing of meaningful and timely information.” Communication in organisations is not as simple as this definition describes and the personal factors that complicate organisational communication will be explored in this experiential analysis. This analysis delves into an organisation and provides a snapshot reflection on the experiences and perspective of an individual working in a team in this organisation, focusing on the impact that personal factors have on communication within the team being studied.
The organisation being discussed is XYZ Pty Ltd which is a medium and privately owned accounting firm in a rural area. The objective of XYZ Pty Ltd is to produce high quality work and make large profits for its partners. XYZ Pty Ltd has seven partners and is structured into seven teams functioning under each partner. The partner of each team acts as the manager of the team and has separate clients to the other partners. XYZ Pty Ltd has a high turnover of staff in the back office (being non-senior staff) this is especially evident with the younger staff, with most not lasting any longer that 3 years. The traineeships that XYZ Pty Ltd offers for young staff are set out as 3 years and the staff members are asked to stay for the 3 years so as to not leave the company out of pocket in training costs, although they are not bound to stay by contract. Young staff members are very unproductive in the early training time and require extensive one-on-one on the job coaching. Staff members are also required to complete a University Degree in Accounting, part-time while undertaking the 3 year traineeship.
The XYZ Pty Ltd team being discussed includes: workers Robyn, Kim, Claire, Toni and partner Joe. Claire has only been working at the organisation for 2-3 years while the other team members have all been working at the organisation for a minimum of 6 years. Joe has a typical old fashioned management style and engages in as little as possible communication with his team members. Discussion is always about the jobs at hand until the annual performance review which is the only time that team members are given personal feedback.
As a result of the situation outlined through this paper Claire resigned from XYZ Pty Ltd after 2 years of training and working with Toni everyday. Claire has pursued a different career path and vows to never work in accounting or a large office again.

In this paper Joe’s team at XYZ Pty Ltd will be discussed in relation to the effect that personal factors; including culture, gender and emotions have on the interpersonal communication between team members and the consequences this creates for the organization.
As XYZ Pty Ltd is privately owned and run by partners who are the sole beneficiaries of the company, and are involved in the running of the business on every level, the partners in effect are the organization, as there is no separation between them. Due to this it is not possible to analyse the organisation and team separately as Joe runs the team and dictates all policy and procedures for his team. Employees are divided into these teams and only work for the one team, there is no mixing of jobs or employees between the teams.
Culture
It is suggested in the literature that culture is a difficult term to define and given this, there were multiple definitions supplied which all varied from each other but ; “Fundamentally, culture is conceptualized as shared symbols, norms, and values in a social collectivity, such as a country. Beyond national culture, culture also represents shared values and attitudes within a specific organisation or in other forms of social grouping.” (Zhang et al. 2007, p56) Furthermore one’s culture and values defines their attitudes and behaviours in any given situation.
There has been a significant increase in cultural diversity in organisations which has made it necessary for managers to learn and understand how to deal with these differences between their staff to ensure that they are able to meet their group goals. (Seyman 2006, p308) The correct management of cultural diversity in the workplace “allows all the employees to reach their full potential in pursuing the organizational goals. “ (Seyman 2006, p301) “A lack of understanding of cross-cultural collaboration can lead to a variety of problems. For example, organisational studies on teams involving more than one national culture show that such teams may experience more problems, such as conflict, misunderstanding, poor performance, and decreased trust, as compared to homogeneous teams.” (Zhang et al. 2007, p54)

Within the team there was difficulty in communication with Toni as her background is different from the rest of the team. Toni is from Vietnam and has English as her second language, after coming to Australia as an adult. While the rest of the team were all born in, and of an Australian background. They also all grew up in the same locality and speak English as their first language. The struggles in communication were frustrating on both sides, as Toni found it difficult when people did not understand her when she explained something, and the other person couldn’t understand what she was teaching them. The manager Joe was well aware of the difficulties in communication with Toni, but the only way in which he recognised them, was to have Toni send drafts of all written correspondence to him to authorise and adjust before going out to clients. There was no protocol or acknowledgement of the difficulties in face-to-face communication within the team, between team members and Toni.
Joe valued Toni greatly as an employee and praised her on her quality of work so much so, that he decided she was the best example for trainees to follow and learn her work ethic and meticulous detail. Joe then teamed up Toni with Claire for training. This meant that they sat on desks next to each other and that Toni gave Claire all her work and checked all of it upon completion. Toni was Claire’s go to for everything and Toni had to explain all questions and problems to Claire including when her work was wrong. There was regular conflict and miscommunication between Toni and Claire when they did not understand each other, especially when Toni was trying to teach Claire, and Claire could not fully understand what was being taught. Claire would ask lots of questions to ascertain all of the details so she could understand what Toni meant, which would frustrate Toni as it would take up lots of time and clearly was not how Toni thought it should be. Claire became quite unhappy with her job and the way that Joe ignored the difficulties and left her working with Toni through two performance appraisals.
Recommendations
It is clear that Joe has overlooked and mismanaged the cultural diversity within the team and that this has resulted in the diminished performance of team members. (Seyman 2006, p303) Joe could improve the communication, cohesiveness and productivity of the team by providing training programmes to inform the staff about how people from different cultures work and their attitudes etc. to help team members understand and work together. Joe could also speak with team members one on one and implement strategies to lessen the difficulties faced by Toni. (Seyman 2006, p307)
Gender
Gender is a significant factor in communication between individuals, especially in the workplace. There are masses of stereotypes of behaviour based on gender such as; “men are still stereotyped as speaking loudly and directly and to the point, whereas women are still seen as indirect and more softly spoken communicators...Some advise women to adopt the more powerful, direct speaking styles which are stereotypical of men.” (Barrett 2009, p433)
Feminism is a women’s movement from the 70’s that sought to eliminate the political, economic and social inequalities between men and women. While it made significant changes to the world for women it did not remove gender as a defining factor that shapes women’s’ experiences in the workplace. (Kelan & Jones 2010, p27) “There is still a lot of evidence that the glass ceiling is a persistent barrier for women’s advancements. The number of women in senior positions has been stagnating or even declining in recent years. Besides this vertical segregation, the workplace continues to be segregated horizontally, with men and women working in different areas.” (Kelan & Jones 2010, p39) Preventing women’s advancements within organisations to senior positions “involves substantial social and economic costs for us all” (Babcock 2003, p12)
All of the partners of XYZ Pty Ltd are male and employ very traditional masculine communication and management styles. There is clearly the glass ceiling present at this organisation as there are no women in senior positions and no room for the advancement of women. Physical segregation is also present in XYZ Pty Ltd with the women working out the back in open plan office spaces and the men in offices with views down the corridor. Robyn, Kim, Toni and Claire all communicate in a typically feminine style of being soft spoken, indirect and engaging in more personal and emotive conversations. Joe on the other hand is very typically masculine in his communication style and very direct and to the point showing no emotion.
Recommendations
The traditional harsh masculine communication styles are becoming outdated with the modern styles of management. Modern communication has “changed to favour verbal activities such as cooperative problem-solving, rapport-building, emotional self-reflexivity and self-disclosure, active listening, and the expression of empathy. These are all stereotypically feminine approaches to communication” (Barrett 2009, p435) Joe could engage in some softer more feminine communication with his team to create some group cohesion and team morale making the girls feel as though he is more approachable and more on their level rather than being so threatening and segregated.
Emotions, Relationships and Personalities
Emotions play a substantial role in workplace communications and interactions on a daily basis. Emotional states are the centre of the constructions of employee behaviours and attitudes in the organisation. Everyday events in the workplace “influence the way we think in reference to our jobs, our employers, and our colleagues. Ultimately, the emotional build-up can profoundly affect our behaviours.” (Ashkanasy & Daus 2002, p78)
A positive display of emotions in the workplace leads to effective communication. (Kopelman & Rosette 2008, p66) “Positive emotion can also lead to contagion effects in groups that can subsequently result in positive outcomes. The practical implications of emotional contagion include training for leaders to display positive affect, as well as incorporating positive affect in organizational socialisation and culture processes.” (Ashkanasy & Daus 2002, p79)
Emotional dissonance is when an employee expresses an emotion that they do not feel. Emotional dissonance happens when an employee attempts to change their “mood to match the required emotional expression of the organization” (Ashkanasy & Daus 2002, p80) Overtime emotional dissonance can lead to negative relationships in the organisation. “A negative relationship is one where interactions such as concealment, manipulation, conflict, disrespect, disagreement, incivility and/ or animosity are frequent...The workplace is one of the few environments where people are forced into relationships with others and, as a result, it is an ideal environment to examine these negative relationships.” (Morrison 2008, p332) Negative relationships are highlighted when there is a breakdown of communication between individuals in an organisation. (Lieberman 2006, p49)
At XYZ Pty Ltd Kim always appears to be in a good mood and displays positive emotions in the workplace. It is noticed even by members of other teams on the days that Kim is not there as she is such a friendly, happy and bubbly person that brightens up everyone else’s day, showing the contagion effect. Kim also has positive communication with all of her team members including with manager Joe. Kim seems to be unbothered by Joe’s lack of emotions in the workplace. Claire on the other hand experiences emotional dissonance as through her struggles and breakdown in communication and training with Toni, the relationship is becoming negative and Claire is becoming very unhappy. It is becoming harder and harder for Claire to express positive emotions as she isn’t feeling them anymore at work and it is becoming noticeable to other team members.
Recommendations
There is a variety of ways for organisations to manage emotions and relationships in the workplace. These include job re-design and enrichment, job rotation, giving employees more autonomy, training and communicating with specific problem employees. “We know that negative emotions can be contagious, so managers may have to deal with employees who are the root cause of a negative climate...As with any other performance issue, it is critical to establish clear goals and expectations, and a timeline for expected improvement. If this approach is not successful, a more negative consequence should follow such as punishment (e.g., withholding a raise) and/or re-assignment into a job requiring little social interaction” (Ashkanasy & Daus 2002, p84)
Conclusion
This experiential analysis has analysed XYZ Pty Ltd in relation to an individual’s perspective from working in a team at this organization. The organisation was studied in relation to the effect that personal factors; including culture, gender and emotions had on the interpersonal communication between team members and the consequences this created for the organization.
There was a major issue of cultural diversity between team members at XYZ Pty Ltd, as all team members struggled in communication with Toni, especially Claire who was being trained by Toni. When properly managed cultural diversity in an organisation can be a great thing and even give an organisation an advantage, but in the case with this organisation it has resulted in conflict and poor performance by team members. Joe could implement various strategies to resolve these issues and get his team back on track including; implementing training programs, restructuring job roles and undertaking one-on-one consultation about the issues.
Gender is still a substantial issue in many workplaces today and this is especially evident at XYZ Pty Ltd. There is a glass ceiling and gender segregation evident with only men in senior positions and the women all working out the back in open plan office spaces. Joe also communicates in a very masculine way being very direct and to the point showing no emotion. To improve team cohesion and morale Joe could take on more a feminine communication style, showing empathy, active listening and cooperative problem solving.
Emotions in the workplace affect everyone, both positive and negative. Positive emotions lead to a contagion effect and positive outcomes. This was evident at XYZ Pty Ltd with everyone noticing when Kim was away and them missing her bright happy personality. Negative emotions though, lead to emotional dissonance, where an employee expresses an emotion that they do not feel, and can lead to negative relationships in the workplace. This was the case for Claire as her negative emotions impacted further on her communication with Claire and resulting in a negative relationship between them. There is a variety of ways for organisations to manage emotions and relationships in the workplace. These include job re-design and enrichment, job rotation, giving employees more autonomy, training and communicating with specific problem employees.
This experiential analysis provided a snapshot reflection on the experiences and perspective of an individual working in a team in this organisation. From the analysis and it can be concluded that there is much to be desired from a management perspective and that implementing some of these recommendations would vastly improve the communication and relationships between all members of the team including the manager Joe.

References
Ashkanasy, N M & Daus, C S 2002, “Emotion in the Workplace: The New Challenge for Managers”, The Academy of Management Executive, vol.16, no.1, pp76-86, accessed date 20/07/13, ABI Inform Complete Database
Babcock, L 2003, Women don 't ask: negotiation and the gender divide, Princeton, N J, Princeton University Press, USA, accessed 20/07/13, University of South Australia Library
Barrett, M 2009,"Have they learnt to interrupt?: Comparing how women management students and senior women managers in Australia perceive workplace communication dilemmas", Gender in Management: An International Journal, vol.24, no.6, pp432–454, accessed date 20/07/13, ABI Inform Complete Database

Kelan, E K & Jones, R D 2010, "Gender and the MBA", Academy of Management Learning & Education, vol.9, no.1, pp26, accessed date 20/07/13, ABI Inform Complete Database
Kopelman, S & Rosette, A S 2008, "Cultural variation in response to strategic emotions in negotiations", Group Decision and Negotiation, vol.17, no.1, pp65-77, accessed date 20/07/13, ABI Inform Complete Database

Lieberman, A L 2006, "The ‘A’ List of Emotions in Mediation from Anxiety to Agreement", Dispute Resolution Journal, vol.61, no.1, pp46-50, accessed date 20/07/13, ABI Inform Complete Database

Morrison, R L 2008, "Negative relationships in the workplace: Associations with organisational commitment, cohesion, job satisfaction and intention to turnover", Journal of Management and Organization, vol.14, no.4, pp330-344, accessed date 20/07/13, ABI Inform Complete Database
Seyman, O 2006, "The cultural diversity phenomenon in organisations and different approaches for effective cultural diversity management: a literary review", Cross Cultural Management, vol.13, no.4, pp296-315, accessed date 20/07/13, ABI Inform Complete Database
Zeffane, R, Tipu, S A & Ryan, J C 2011, "Communication, Commitment & Trust: Exploring the Triad", International Journal of Business and Management, vol.6, no.6, pp77-87, accessed date 20/07/13, ABI Inform Complete

Zhang, D, Lowry, P B, Zhou, L & Fu, X 2007, "The Impact of Individualism--Collectivism, Social Presence, and Group Diversity on Group Decision Making Under Majority Influence", Journal of Management Information Systems, vol. 23, no.4, pp53-80, accessed date 20/07/13, ABI Inform Complete Database

References: Ashkanasy, N M & Daus, C S 2002, “Emotion in the Workplace: The New Challenge for Managers”, The Academy of Management Executive, vol.16, no.1, pp76-86, accessed date 20/07/13, ABI Inform Complete Database Babcock, L 2003, Women don 't ask: negotiation and the gender divide, Princeton, N J, Princeton University Press, USA, accessed 20/07/13, University of South Australia Library Barrett, M 2009,"Have they learnt to interrupt?: Comparing how women management students and senior women managers in Australia perceive workplace communication dilemmas", Gender in Management: An International Journal, vol.24, no.6, pp432–454, accessed date 20/07/13, ABI Inform Complete Database Kelan, E K & Jones, R D 2010, "Gender and the MBA", Academy of Management Learning & Education, vol.9, no.1, pp26, accessed date 20/07/13, ABI Inform Complete Database Kopelman, S & Rosette, A S 2008, "Cultural variation in response to strategic emotions in negotiations", Group Decision and Negotiation, vol.17, no.1, pp65-77, accessed date 20/07/13, ABI Inform Complete Database Lieberman, A L 2006, "The ‘A’ List of Emotions in Mediation from Anxiety to Agreement", Dispute Resolution Journal, vol.61, no.1, pp46-50, accessed date 20/07/13, ABI Inform Complete Database Morrison, R L 2008, "Negative relationships in the workplace: Associations with organisational commitment, cohesion, job satisfaction and intention to turnover", Journal of Management and Organization, vol.14, no.4, pp330-344, accessed date 20/07/13, ABI Inform Complete Database Seyman, O 2006, "The cultural diversity phenomenon in organisations and different approaches for effective cultural diversity management: a literary review", Cross Cultural Management, vol.13, no.4, pp296-315, accessed date 20/07/13, ABI Inform Complete Database Zeffane, R, Tipu, S A & Ryan, J C 2011, "Communication, Commitment & Trust: Exploring the Triad", International Journal of Business and Management, vol.6, no.6, pp77-87, accessed date 20/07/13, ABI Inform Complete Zhang, D, Lowry, P B, Zhou, L & Fu, X 2007, "The Impact of Individualism--Collectivism, Social Presence, and Group Diversity on Group Decision Making Under Majority Influence", Journal of Management Information Systems, vol. 23, no.4, pp53-80, accessed date 20/07/13, ABI Inform Complete Database