Leadership Theories & Practice

MGT 6772

Dr. Kimanya Ards

Definition of communication

• The exchange of information between two or more people through symbols or words via face-to face or written interchange

Why do we communicate?

• Physical needs• Identity needs• Social needs

Communication and Leadership

• Two important parts of leadershipcommunication are sending and receivingmessages

Planning the Message

• • What is the goal of the message?• • Who should receive the message?• • Will you send the message?• • When will the message be transmitted?• • Where will the message be transmitted?

Models of communication

• Linear Communication Model• Interaction Communication Model• Transactional Communication Model

Linear Communication Model

• Developed in 1949 by engineers Claude Shannon & Warren Weaver

• Assumes communication is a one-way process• Also known as the Action Model– Originally introduced as a mathematical model

(Floyd, 2009; Towne, Adler, & Proctor, 2011)

Components of LCM

• Sender• Encodes • Message • Channel• Receiver• Decoder• Noise

(Towne, Adler, & Proctor, 2011)

SENDER (encodes)

RECEIVER (decodes)MESSAGE

noise nois

enois

e

noise

noise

noise

Strengths & Weaknesses of lcm

• Strengths– Most common in

lower-level communication

– Affiliated with interpersonal events

– Considered framework for defining communication

• Weaknesses– Not effective in

measuring human communication

– No consideration for practical problems

– Too linear

(Shannon & Weaver, 1949)

Interaction Communication Model

• Developed by Wilbur Schramm in 1954• Every action has a reaction• Backchannel style of communication

(Floyd, 2009)

Components of ICN

• Same components as Linear Model• Additional elements– Communication is a two-way process– Adds feedback and context

(Floyd, 2009)

SENDER (encodes)

RECEIVER (decodes)MESSAGE

noise nois

enois

e

noise

noise

noise

CONTEXT

FEEDBACK

Strengths & Weaknesses of ICM

• Strengths– Includes feedback– Includes context– Includes culture

• Weakness– Only includes

communication between two people

(Schramm, 1954)

Transactional Communication Model

Developed by Barnlund in 1970 Humanized view of how we communicate Environment

MESSAGE

noise nois

enois

e

noise

noise

noise

CONTEXT

FEEDBACK

COMMUNICATOR COMMUNICATOR

SENDER (encodes)

RECEIVER (decodes)

Strengths & Weakness of TCM

• Strengths– Suggests dialogue

can occur with more than two people

– More humanized– Suggests continuous

communication

• Weakness– Suggests

communication and meaning are the same

The Oral Message Sending Process‐

• Develop rapport• State your communication objective• Transmit your message• Check the receiver’s understanding• Get a commitment and follow up‐

Test Question

Written Communicationand Writing Tips

• Lack of organization• Edit your work• Write to communicate, not to impress

Feedback

• The process of verifying messages • Forms of feedback

– Questioning– Paraphrasing– Allowing comments and suggestions

How to Handle Feedback

• View it as an opportunity to improve• Stay calm• Do not get defensive• Do not blame others• Do not criticize

360 Degree Multirater Feedback‐

• • Is based on receiving performance• evaluations from many people• – Managers• – Peers• – Subordinates• – People from outside the organization

Enhancing Communication Skills

• Develop better questioning skills• Establish clear expectations to increase

productivity• Be intentional in your choice of words • Enhance your skills in providing positive and

constructive feedback• Enhance conflict management skills• Become an active listener

• A situation in which two or more people have not yet found a way to resolve a dispute, disagreement, or argument

How do you define conflict?

• Avoiding • Accommodating • Competing• Compromising• Collaborating

Ways we handle conflict

Test Question

• Avoiding – Ignoring the conflict– Lose-lose situation– Physical– Conversational

Ways we handle conflict (cont…)

• Accommodating– The act of giving in to one's needs while ignoring

your own– Lose-win situation• Low concern for self• High concern for other party

Ways we handle conflict (cont…)

• Competing– Win-lose• High concern for personal needs• Low concern for other party

– Friendly competition

Ways we handle conflict (cont…)

• Compromise– Both parties give up something to receive

something– Partial lose-lose– Goals are not worth disruption

Ways we handle conflict (cont…)

• Collaborating– Working towards a solution that will satisfy both

parties• High concern for self• High concern for other party

– Win-win

Ways we handle conflict (cont…)

Dysfunctional Conflictvs. Functional Conflict

• Dysfunctional conflict– conflict prevents the achievement of

organizational objectives

• Functional conflict– when disagreement and opposition supports the

achievement of organizational objectives

• Identify your problem• Make a date• Describe feelings• Be considerate• Negotiate • Maintain

Effective ways to handle conflict

Negotiation

• Process in which two or more parties arein conflict working to reach an agreement

Negotiating(cont…)

• Negotiation is often a zero sum game; one‐• party’s gain is the other party’s loss• • Sell your ideas to convince the other party

to• give you what you want• • Try to work toward a win win result‐• • All parties should believe they got a good• deal

• Criticism• Contempt • Defensiveness• Stonewalling

Psychological factors of conflict

• Criticism– The act of engaging in complaints about your

partner

• Gunnysacking – Bringing up several old occurrences without

addressing issues at the time of occurrences happened

Psychological factors (cont…)

(Floyd, 2009)

• Contempt– The act of insulting one another and attacking

partner’s self-worth– Sarcasm– Using nonverbal cues to show low opinion of

partner

Psychological factors of conflict

(Floyd, 2009)

• Defensiveness• Stonewalling– The act of withdrawing from a conversation– Shutting down

Psychological factors of conflict

(Floyd, 2009)

Crisis Leadership

• Crisis– Is a low probability, high impact event that‐ ‐threatens the viability of the organization

Crisis Leadership (cont.)

• Strategic crisis leadership requires three things:– Using environmental monitoring techniques to identify events that could trigger crises in the future– Integrating crisis management into the strategicmanagement process – Establishing a culture that embraces crisis awareness and preparation as a way of life

Crisis Leadership (cont.)

• Crises come in many forms– Natural disasters– Terrorist attacks– Product failures– Human error disasters– Unexpected death of key individual(s)– System failures

Crisis Management Plan

• An effective crisis management plan is one that is:– Comprehensive, with clear leadership, team, and individual assignments in the form of roles and responsibilities– Upgraded frequently and supported by training and periodic drill sessions– Coordinated and controlled across levels and units of the organization

Pre Crisis Planning‐

• A pre crisis plan is the best way to mitigate the negative ‐consequences of any crisis

• Entails three components– Appointing a crisis leader– Creating a crisis response team– Assessing risk

Pre Crisis Planning (cont.)‐

• Crisis response team– Should involve a good mix of the representatives from all sectors of the organization– Diversity in the makeup of the crisis management team is emphasized– Members must be calm, self confident, assertive, and ‐dependable during a crisis– Leaders must develop comprehensive training programs for crisis response

Guidelines for EffectiveCrisis Communication

• • It is generally believed that the first 24 hours• of a crisis are crucial because of the media’s• need to know what happened so they can• tell their audiences• • There is an information vacuum that, if left• unfilled by the organization(s) involved, will• be filled for them by others• • Telling the truth up front is the simplest and• most effective way of defusing public• hostility

Assignments

• Test questions are due• Presentations for week 7 assignment is due

Got questions

ReferencesBarnlund, D. C. (1968). Interpersonal Communication:

Survey and Studies. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.Floyd, K. (2009). Interpersonal communication: The

whole story. Boston: McGraw Hill.Schramm, W. (1954). How communication works. The

Process and Effects of Communication, ed. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Shannon, C., & Weaver, W. (1949). The Mathematical Theory of Communication. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Towne, N., Adler, R., & Proctor, R. (2011). Looking out looking in (13th ed.). Cengage Learning.