Ph.D students of Western Mindanao State University

1. MANAGING
ORGANIZATIONAL
COMMUNICATION
SAR-ANAM. MISUARI
Discussant

2. • HANDLING ORGANIZATIONAL DIVERSITY
a. Women and Minorities;
b. Multicultural Groups,
Differently-abled Employees
• ORGANIZATIONAL CHANNELS
a. Formal channels - horizontal,
vertical and diagonal

3. • As we move further into the twenty-first century, the
workforce continues to reflect the dramatic demographic
changes that began many years ago. Women continue to
join the workforce in increasing numbers and are now
entering careers that were once exclusive bastions of men.
• Various factors have contributed to these changes over the
last several decades, including increased career
aspirations, changes in educational systems and the
development and growth of workplace support schemes,
such as child care and flextime. Changes in workforce
demographics are also found along racial and ethnic lines.
• In short, the organizations of today and tomorrow are and
will continue to be populated by men and women from a
wide range of racial, ethnic and cultural groups.
Background…

4. WOMEN AND
MINORITIES IN
TODAY’S
ORGANIZATIONS

5. • Women and other minorities
are entering the workforce in
increasing numbers.
• (Allen, 2000; Gates, 2003)
noted that experiences of
women and minorities are
different from that of men.
• Commentators have talked
about the phenomenon that
has come to be known as the
glass ceiling.

6. • Morrison and Von Glinow (1990) explain
that the glass ceiling is a concept
popularized in the 1980s to describe a
barrier so subtle that it is transparent,
yet so strong that it prevents women and
minorities from moving up in
management hierarchy.
• Discriminatory practices that have
prevented women and other protected-
class members from advancing to
executive-level jobs.

7. • Schwartz (1989) differentiated between
women on a career track and women
on a mommy track who were
assumed to want flexible work and family
support in exchange for fewer
opportunities for advancement.

8. Stereotyping and Discrimination
• Prejudice refers to negative attitudes
toward an organization member
based on his/her culture group
identity.
• Discrimination refers to observable
behavior for the same reason (Cox,
1991).
• The stereotyping of women and
minorities in the workplace is not
always overt and simplistic. Osland
and Bird (2000), for instance note
that people in organizations often
move beyond irrational stereotypes.

9. Rational
Barriers in
Organizational
Systems

10. 1. There is compelling evidence that women and ethnic
minorities experience limited access to or exclusion
from informal communication networks.
Ibarra (1993) notes “Limited network access produces
multiple disadvantages, including restricted knowledge of
what is going on in their organizations and difficulty in
forming alliances, which in turn are associated with
limited mobility and glass ceiling effects.

11. • 2. The second relational experience that is
different for white men and women and people
of color involves that of establishing mentor-
protégé relationships (Noe, 1988; Ragins &
Cotton, 1991).
Kram (1985) was one of the first researchers to
discuss the importance of mentoring relationship,
defining mentor as “an experienced, productive
manager who relates well to a less-experienced
emlployee the benefit of the inidvidual as well as
that of the organization.
Indeed, research indicates that women who have
been successful in breaking into executive positions
at large companies rank “having an influential
mentor” as a critical component for career
advancement (Ragins et.al., 1998).

12. • 3. The third systemic aspect of
organizational life that confronts
women and minorities is
Tokenism.
In many organizations, white males represent
the vast majority of employees, especially
among the ranks of management. Thus, women
and people of color in managerial positions are
often tokens or highly visible representatives of
their gender or ethnic minority (Ilgen & Youst,
1986; Kanter, 1977).
Morrison and Von Glinow (1990), “Tokens’
performances are hindered because of the
pressure to which their visibility subjects them
and because members of the dominant group
exaggerate differences according to stereotypes”
(p. 203).

13. BEYOND WOMEN
AND MINORITIES

14. • Diversity in the workplace also
accounts for others who is some
way are “different” from the norm.
Orbe (1998) calls these groups
“co-cultural groups” in
moving beyond issues of race and
gender to consider groups such as
employees with disabilities and
lesbians, gay, bisexual, and
transgender (LGBT) employees.

15. • The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was
enacted in 1990, and major amendments to the act were
added in 2008.
• This legislation prohibits discrimination based on
disability and requires that organizations make
“reasonable accommodations” for disabled workers. The
ADA has had historical effects on access in public and
workplace, but scholars and activists note that there is
still work to be done, as “these solutions have yet to alter
fundamentally the social motifs of public life” (Harter,
Scott, Novak, Leeman & Morris, 2006, p. 4). Activist Joel
Solkoff believes that this is because “institutions often
strive to follow the legal letter of the ADA but not its
inclusive spirit” (Phillips, 2010).

16. • For LGBT organizational members, however, there has not
been wide-ranging legislative action similar to the ADA, and
National Public Radio recently labeled being “gay in the
office” the “last frontier of workplace equality” (“Being Gay,”
NPR, 2010).
• Individual states began instituting anti-discrimination laws
regarding sexual orientation in 1982, and in 2010, twenty-one
states prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation
and/or gender identity. At the national level, the Employment
Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) that was first introduced as in
Congress in 1994 was still being discussed in committee at
the end of 2009. Even without legislative mandate, though,
many businesses have included sexual orientation in their
non-discrimination policies.
• Reasons for taking this lead include both fairness and
business concerns.

17. The
Multicultural
Organization

18. • In the first stage—first-generation affirmative action—the
organization is concerned with meeting legally mandated
requirements for gender and ethnic diversity. Unfortunately, “simply
responding to legislative mandates does not seem to automatically
result in greater minority inclusion” (Gilbert & Ivancevich, 2000, p. 93).
• Indeed, the focus on numbers and quotas in these firms can lead to
intergroup conflict, distrust, and hostility.
Morrison and Von Glinow (1990)
have described three phases of
workplace development in the
area of cultural and gender
diversity.

19. • In the second stage of development, organizations reach
second-generation affirmative action. At this stage,
the firm has met affirmative action goals in terms of
numbers, and the emphasis shifts to supporting female and
minority employees.

20. • Finally, a multicultural
organization moves beyond
the concept of support for
minority members to the
institution of policies that
deliberately capitalize on
cultural and gender diversity.
• As Gilbert and Ivancevich
(2000, p. 93) contend,
“[R]ather than simply making a
commitment to valuing
diversity, creating an
atmosphere of inclusion
requires change on many
fronts, including fairness,
empowerment, and openness.”

21. From Cox, T. H. (1991). The multicultural organization. Academy of Management Executive, 5(2), 34–47. Reproduced
with permission of the Academy of Management (New York).
Dimension
• 1. Acculturation
• 2. Structural integration
• 3. Informal integration
• 4. Cultural bias
• 5. Organizational identification
• 6. Intergroup conflict
Definition
• Modes by which two groups adapt to
each other and resolve cultural
differences
• Cultural profiles of organization
members, including hiring, job
placement, and job status profiles
• Inclusion of minority-culture members
in informal networks and activities
outside of normal working hours
• Prejudice and discrimination
• Feelings of belonging, loyalty, and
commitment to the organization
• Friction, tension, and power struggles
between cultural groups
Dimensions for Describing a Multicultural Organization

22. The Diverse
Organization:
Opportunities

23. From Cox, T. H. (1991). The multicultural organization. Academy of Management Executive, 5(2), 34–47. Reproduced
with permission of the Academy of Management (New York).
• 1. Cost argument
• 2. Resource-acquisition
argument
• 3. Marketing argument
• 4. Creativity argument
• 5. Problem-solving argument
• 6. Systems flexibility argument
• As organizations become more diverse, the cost of a poor job in
integrating workers will increase. Companies who handle diversity
well will create cost advantages over those that do not.
• Companies develop reputations as prospective employers for
women and ethnic minorities. Those with the best reputations for
managing diversity will win the competition for the best personnel.
As the labor pool shrinks and changes composition, this edge will
become increasingly important.
• For multinational organizations, the insight and cultural sensitivity
that members with roots in other countries bring to the marketing
effort should improve that effort in important ways. The same
rationale applies to marketing in subpopulations within domestic
operations.
• Diversity of perspectives and less emphasis on conformity to
norms of the past (which characterize the modern approach to
management of diversity) should improve the level of creativity.
• Heterogeneity in decision-making and problem solving groups
potentially produces better choices through a wider range of
perspectives and more critical analysis of issues.
• An implication of the multicultural model for managing diversity is
that the system will become less determinant, less standardized,
and therefore more fluid. The increased fluidity should create
greater flexibility to react to environmental changes (i.e., reactions
should be faster and at less cost).
Opportunities Realized through Diversity

24. The Diverse
Organization:
Challenges

25. Avoiding Negative Effects of Diversity Management Programs
• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 marked the beginning of programs
designed to ensure equal opportunity in the workplace. The
affirmative action programs that stemmed from this act aim “to
remedy discrimination and increase the representation of designated
disadvantaged groups, namely, women and ethnic minorities”
(Heilman, 1994, p. 126).
• First, affirmative action programs can affect how an individual
benefitting from the program views his or her competence, and this
self-view of competence can in turn impact work behavior and
communication.
• Second, affirmative action leads others in the workplace to stigmatize
as incompetent those individuals assumed to have benefitted from
these programs.
• Third, individuals who feel they have been unfairly bypassed by
affirmative action programs perceive injustice in hiring and promotion
procedures.

26. • Sexual Harassment
• In 1980, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) specified that sexual
harassment is a kind of sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964:
Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature
constitute sexual harassment when (1) submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or
condition of an individual’s employment, (2) submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as
the basis for employment decisions affecting such individual, or (3) such conduct has the purpose or effect of
substantially interfering with an individual’s work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive
working environment. (Federal Register, 1980, p. 25025)
• It is enough to believe that sexual comments or behaviors create a work environment that
is clearly hostile. Thus, understanding and recognizing sexual harassment in the workplace
is rarely clear-cut. This is because “sexual harassment is not a purely objective
phenomenon but one based on an individual’s perception of another’s behavior, which may
be affected by any of a number of factors that make up a situational context” (York, 1989,
p. 831). That is, one person may be offended by “girlie” calendars hanging on the wall;
another might not even notice them. What one person sees as an innocent flirtation,
another may construe as sexual harassment. Although quid pro quo harassment is probably
much more rare than hostile work environment harassment, the Civil Rights Act of 1964
makes it clear that all forms of harassment must be taken seriously.

27. • Finally, Bingham (1991) has looked at communicative strategies
for dealing with sexual harassment in the workplace. Bingham
notes that women (and, less often, men) who are being harassed
face multiple communicative goals. The desire to deal with the
harassment sometimes competes with the goal of keeping a
good job and saving face. Thus, Bingham suggests that there is
rarely an ideal way of dealing with harassment. Directly
confronting the harasser in an assertive fashion is often the best
strategy, but there are times when a victim of sexual harassment
should use other strategies (e.g., directly reporting the
harassment or dealing with the harasser in a less confrontational
manner).

28. Balancing Work and Home
• Individuals and organizations are increasingly
faced with the daunting challenge of balancing
the needs of work and home. More and more
women are entering in the workforce—some for
their entire lives and others for shorter time
periods throughout the life span. The needs of
older women in the workplace might be quite
different from those of younger women or of
midlife men. For example, younger women have
serious concerns with the logistics of child care
and the creation of flexible work plans. For older
women, the concerns often shift to balancing the
needs of child care, elder care, and self-care and
to planning for future retirement. Furthermore,
both women and men may now find themselves
trying to make sense of the “work” of staying at
home with children.

29. APPROACHES TO ORGANIZATIONAL DIVERSITY
Approach How Diversity Would Be Considered
• Classical Because diversity would limit the homogeneity of the workforce
and hence be distracting or detrimental to morale, diversity would
be strongly discouraged.
• Human relations Diversity would be neither encouraged nor discouraged. Emphasis
would be placed on meeting the needs of women and ethnic
minorities, even if those needs diverged from those of majority
employees.
• Human resources Diversity would be encouraged because increased creativity and
new ideas would increase the competitive advantage of the
organization. Emphasis would be placed on maximizing the potential
of women and minorities to contribute to the goals of the
organization.
• Systems Diversity would be seen as one important avenue for the
organization to adapt effectively to a turbulent global environment.
Systems scholars might address the integration of women and
minorities into formal and informal communication networks.
• Cultural Diverse organizations would be seen as important places where
organizational culture intersects with national, ethnic, and gender-
based culture. Emphasis would be placed on the process through
which the intersection of cultural values is negotiated through
communicative interaction.
• Critical Diverse organizations would be seen as the arena in which
subjugated groups (e.g., women and people of color) must deal with
the dominant class. Emphasis would be placed on the ways in which
interaction among members of various cultures serves to perpetuate hegemonic relationships.

30. Organizational Channels
Communication channels are the means through which people in an
organization communicate. Thought must be given to what channels are used to
complete various tasks, because using an inappropriate channel for a task or
interaction can lead to negative consequences. Channels can be formal and informal.

31. • Communication can be characterized as vertical, horizontal, or diagonal.
• Vertical communication
• This is the type of communication in which flow of information comes from the top
to the bottom and vice versa. The vertical channel of communication can be divided
into two – downward communication and upward communication.
• A downward communication is defined as the type of communication in which flow
of information in an organization comes from the top management down to those
at the lower levels in the organization or establishment.
• memorandums, directives, management policies, policy statements etc. For
example if the Director General of a company communicates to the accountant of a
company, we can call that a typical example of a downward communication.
• The upward communication can also be called the bottom-up communication. It is
the exact opposite of the downward communication in the sense that it is the flow
of information from subordinates to managers all of who work within the same
organization. A good examples of an upward communication for example is when
an employee leaves a suggestion for top managers through a suggestion box.

32. • Horizontal communication
• The horizontal type of communication can also be called the
lateral communication. It is a type of communication
in which workers or managers who have the same level of
authority in an organization communicate directly among
themselves. For instance, a good example of a horizontal
communication can be as follows: When a Human Resource
manager communicates directly to a Production Manager.
These two are people at the same level of authority within the
organization or business.

33. • Diagonal communication
• A diagonal communication in an organization is the process
whereby the flow of information is between people who work
in different departments and are at different levels of the
organization.
• A good example of a diagonal communication is – an instance
where a Human Resource Manager is sending out information
to an accounts officer in the Accounting Department. Some
experts in this field also define Diagonal communication as
the process of sharing information between different
structural levels within an organization or establishment.

34. Conclusion:
Effective communication skills are the foundation of an
organization’s success. Understanding the different types of
communication is important for making sure your project
communication is successful.