Chapter 14

Chapter 14 was about communication and the workplace. Through this chapter we learned the different types of communication that can be seen while working. It talked about the differences of the communication between men and women. It also talked about the differences of communication based on the hierarchies—such as upward, downward, and diagonal communication. Lastly, it talked about the different ways we communicate—such as phone calls, emails, voicemail, facebook, and other various ways.


After looking into this subject further, I came across an article that made me think about larger corporations and how they communicated. Surely, it would be different from a small company wherein they can have meetings. If there was a company where they were hundreds of employees working, how do they communicate? How does technology affect their work? I then came across this article by Pamela Hinds and Sara Kiesler. They found that when employees are talking with their superiors, it was usually done through phone or email. But if they were talking to one another (on a more lateral level) then it was more face to face. They also found that most workers used email, rather than the phone to talk. “email is more effective than voice mail for conveying and discussing complex situations.” (Hinds & Kiesler) They continued and said, “voice mail technology would be more attractive to administrators both because it is efficient and it conveys social information to the sender, such as his or her status, accessibility, and dominance.” (Hinds & Kiesler)

Source:
Hinds, Pamela and Sara Kiesler. "Communication Across Boundaries: Work, Structure, and use of Communication Technologies in a Large Organization." Organization Science (1995): 303-393.