Chapter 13 Outline
(Italicized and bolded words are key words)
I. Interpersonal communication skills are needed to develop healthy relationships at work, including
managers, co-workers, and customers.
A. A manager is an employee who is responsible for planning, directing, and monitoring the
work of other employees.
1. Since we tend to reward people who help us, managers usually pay back or
“exchange” with employees for their extra efforts.
a. Through these exchanges, subordinates and managers develop in-group
relationships, close working relationships between managers and employees
who consistently take on work above that which is expected and are rewarded
in a variety of monetary and non-monetary ways.
b. Some people have out-group relationships, difficult and strained working
relationships between managers and employees who consistently do not work
up to standards or get along with managers.
c. Many employees have mid-group relationships, relationships between
managers and employees who perform their jobs acceptably but not
exceptionally well so managers usually don’t think of them when looking for
help with additional or special assignments.
d. There are some guidelines to effectively communicate with a manager.
1). Adapt to your manager’s communication preferences.
2). Identify how you can help your manager effectively complete the
work of your group.
3). Volunteer for specific assignments and follow-through.
4). Clarify assignments.
5). Seek feedback and use it to improve.
B. Communicating in co-worker relationships requires developing mutual trust and
cooperation through effective communication.
1. There are multiple types of co-worker relationships.
a. Informational peer relationships are work-based peer relationships in which
interaction and conversation are devoted solely to work topics.
b. Collegial peer relationships are work-based peer relationships that have
developed into context-based friendships.
c. Special peer relationships are work-based peer relationships that have
developed into “best-friend,” or relationships that extend beyond the
workplace.
2. There are some guidelines for communicating in co-worker relationships.
a. Use positive nonverbal cues that make it easy for someone to approach you.
b. Share task-related information freely.
c. Seek and provide peer feedback.
d. Resolve conflict through collaboration.
e. Talk in person.
f. Do not gossip about people in the organization.
g. Be a good team member.
1). A workplace team is a formally established group with a clear
purpose and appropriate structure in which members know
each other’s roles and work together to achieve goals.
2). Task roles are communication behaviors that help a team focus on
the issue under discussion.
3). Maintenance roles are communication behaviors that improve
interaction among team members.
C. Communicating in customer, client, and vendor relationships
1. Customers and clients are the people, groups, or organizations that use our
organization’s goods or services.
2. Vendors are the people, groups, or organizations that supply our organization with
necessary raw materials or other goods and services.
3. Boundary spanning is the process of communicating with people outside of our
organization in a mutually beneficial relationship.
a. There are some guidelines for communicating in boundary-spanning
relationships.
1). Listen to understand.
2). Demonstrate empathy and provide comfort.
3). When turning down a request, honestly explain the reasoning being a
company policy as well as the limitations of your authority.
4). Clearly communicate expectations for vendors.
II. Three of the most common informal relationships that can affect our careers and work satisfaction are
mentoring relationships, workplace friendships, and workplace romantic relationships.
A. A mentoring relationship is a developmentally oriented relationship between a mentor, a
more experienced and often older person, and a protégé, a less experienced and often younger
person.
B. Some co-workers become collegial peers or friends, and a few become special peers or very
close friends. These workplace friendships are sources of support and resources that help people
do their jobs and do them more happily.
C. Workplace romance is a mutually desired relationship between two employees of the same
organization who become sexually attracted to each other.
III. To be successful in the workplace, one must be able to communicate with a diverse workforce.
A. Culture plays a role in different work styles.
1. A results-oriented culture is a culture that prioritizes the results of working over
building relationships at work.
2. A relationship-oriented culture prioritizes building relationships at work.
3. A sequential task-completion culture is a culture whose members prefer to break
large tasks down into separate parts and complete one part at a time, in order.
4. A holistic task-completion culture believes that a large or complex task should be
tacked in its entirety.
B. Gendered communication in the workplace is worthy of understanding.
1. Because of the different ways that they were socialized, most men and women have
different linguistic styles, or the patterned way in which they use language to
communicate.
2. Because of their linguistic style, women tend to encounter the glass ceiling, an
invisible yet real barrier that prevents deserving employees from advancing.
3. Men are disproportionately represented in the ranks of upper management, a
situation that puts women at a disadvantage because of their linguistic style.
C. Intergenerational differences in the workplace tend to center around authority, rules,
priorities regarding work versus leisure, technology, competence, and degree of loyalty to
company and career.
1. Views of authority differ between older people, who may have a greater respect for
authority, and people under 30, who are more likely to question their managers and
openly disagree with decisions made by authority.
2. Age-related differences in attitude toward rules include those who strictly adhere to
company rules (typically older workers) and those who see rules as suggestions
(typically younger individuals).
3. Priorities regarding work versus leisure may differ by generation, with older workers
sacrificing leisure to work and younger employees desiring to balance work and leisure.
4. Technology competence may differ depending on one’s age.
5. Degree of loyalty to the company varies, with older workers expecting to stay with
the same employer for a lifetime, while younger workers do not have such loyalty
expectations.
IV. To improve as an employee and grow in your career, it is essential to seek and learn from feedback,
both positive and negative.
A. Asking for feedback is the skill of eliciting observations from others about your behavior. It’s
important to think of feedback as being in your best interest. Some guidelines are:
1. Specify the kind of personal feedback you are seeking.
2. Ask neutral questions.
3. Listen and paraphrase what you hear.
B. Constructive criticizing is the feedback skill of diplomatically describing the specific negative
behavior of your partner and its effects on others. Some guidelines are:
1. Criticize in private.
2. Ask for permission.
3. Whenever possible, preface a negative statement with a positive one.
4. Be specific about the behavior and why it is problematic.
5. When appropriate, suggest how the person can change the behavior or action.
C. The following guidelines will help you respond gracefully to criticism and allow you to make
the most of negative feedback.
1. Show gratitude for the feedback you receive.
2. Agree with everything you can.
3. Ask for more detail.
4. Take responsibility.
V. There is a dark side of workplace communication.
A. Aggression at work
1. Workplace aggression is any counter-productive behavior at work intended to hurt
someone else.
2. Verbal aggression is sending verbal messages intended to hurt someone. It includes
incivility, rudeness, teasing, brushing people off, name calling, and verbal fighting.
3. Behavioral aggression is nonverbal acts intended to hurt someone.
4. Physical aggression is nonverbal acts of violence against another person with the
intent to do bodily harm.
5. Bullying is the persistent, highly aggressive behavior directed by the aggressor, or
bully, toward a specific person or persons, or target(s).
B. Avoiding sexual harassment in the workplace can be aided by employers clearly
communicating that sexual harassment, or unwanted verbal or physical sexual behavior that
interferes with work performance, will not be tolerated; coping with sexual harassment involves
informing the harasser directly that his or her actions are unwelcome and must stop and
deciding whether or not to use the employer complaint mechanism.
VI. Digital communication skills in professional relationships
A. Social media allow us to remain in touch with work when out of the office.
1. This crossover can blur the lines between personal and professional lives.
2. Relationships with professional colleagues can comprise the bulk of our interpersonal
relationships.
B. Learning how to take advantage of opportunities provided by social media can better position
communicators for professional success.
C. It is also important to be an effective manager of your online identity and manage digital
communication etiquette.
D. Appropriately integrating social media into your professional relationships with
colleagues and clients is an essential skill. One study of social media policies in major
organizations found that they currently emphasize three issues: (1) visibility and persistence, (2)
editability, and (3) association.
E. Some guidelines to consider are:
1. Match your purpose with your media.
2. Respond in a timely fashion.
3. Give praise where appropriate.