Chapter 11 Communicating in Organizations 319Challenges Facing Today’s Organizations
Diversity is a word you likely hear a lot nowadays. We use it throughout this
book to highlight the importance of understanding and respecting people from
various co-cultures with experiences different from our own. But you also hear
about companies needing to “diversify” and the importance of tailoring messages
to a “diverse” audience. What does it all mean? It means that today’s organiza-
tions need to branch out and be open to new ideas and experiences. They must
make use of new communication technology and address colleagues and other
organizations worldwide. Organizational members must find ways to balance the
multitude of pressures for their time and must learn to be tolerant of each other’s
differences and behave competently and respectfully at all times. We examine
these important issues in the sections that follow.
Workplace Conflict
Today’s diverse workplace requires employees to be able to work with a variety of
colleagues who may differ in culture, religion, race, ethnicity, age, gender, and sexual
orientation (Lämsä & Sintonen, 2006). In addition, most jobs require employees
to work in actual teams (Devine et al., 1999), which entails close interaction with
others who have different personalities, ideas, interests, and goals. When people
work closely together, conflicts may arise, which can have negative effects on perfor-
mance, productivity, and the workplace climate (Kolb & Putnam, 1992). Although
not all conflict is bad, if it is handled poorly it can foster tension and animosity.
According to Gottman (1994), unconstructive reactions include the following:
c Criticism involves attacking another’s personality or character rather than
focusing on his or her bothersome behavior. Since organizations value
accountability and can blame individuals for any failures or problems, they
can be a magnet for criticism. Although criticism isn’t necessarily bad in
itself, it can become a problem when it becomes pervasive and brings about
more harmful behavior.
c Defensiveness is a self-protective response to another’s actions or accusations.
Since people have an inherent need to protect themselves, they may lie
(perhaps even to themselves) to avoid facing consequences or to cover up
mistakes (Knapp, 2008). When something goes wrong in an organization,
people often deny responsibility, make excuses, and counterattack (Gott-
man, 1994). These reactionary behaviors can be very harmful to workplace
relationships, even destroying friendships.
c Contempt includes communicating with truly negative intent. It may
include insults, sarcasm, name-calling, ridicule, hostile humor, and/or body
language such as rolling one’s eyes. The end target is to make the person feel
rejected or excluded from a community. Not only is contempt harmful for
the workplace, but it also negatively affects people’s health and well-being.
c Stonewalling often follows contempt and involves creating physical and/
or psychological distance from people (or the larger organization) by beingCONNECT
Conflict such as criticism,
contempt, and stonewall-
ing can arise in other types
of interpersonal relation-
ships (Chapter 8) as well.
Remember to use coop-
erative strategies (such as
focusing on the issue and
considering options and
alternatives) to deal with
these types of issues.