Communication, Leadership, and Decision-Making in Organizations

Posted on Feb 12, 2025 in Other university degrees and diplomas

Communication Process

The communication process involves several key steps:

  1. Issuer or Source: Starts with an individual or group (the source) with ideas or information to communicate.
  2. Message: The message is the form in which the idea or thought is conveyed.
  3. Coding: Converting the idea into a message that can be understood.
  4. Channel: The medium through which the message is transmitted; it can be formal or informal.
  5. Decoding: The interpretation of the message by the receiver.
  6. Receiver: The individual or group that receives the message.
  7. Feedback: The response between the receiver and the sender.

Channels and Communication Media in Organizations

Definition: Channels are the means by which information is transmitted. The choice of channel depends on whether the message is routine (“direct”) or non-routine.

Verbal Communication

Definition: Verbal communication may be formally planned or informal and incidental. It often occurs as oral communication between two people.

Characteristics:

  • Brevity: Answers questions like “What, who, how.”
  • Precision: Technicalities should be avoided to prevent confusion.
  • Direct: Avoid sending messages through intermediaries.

Nonverbal Communication

Definition: Nonverbal communication uses symbols and actions, such as facial expressions and body movements.

Chain of Command, Authority, and Span of Control

  • Chain of Command: Formed by all people at hierarchical levels.
  • Authority: The right associated with a position and the person who exercises it.
  • Span of Control: A limit on the number of people an administrator can supervise.

Leadership Styles and Theories

Definition: Leadership styles are the different patterns of behavior exhibited by administrators.

  • Autocratic: Wields authority and expects strict compliance with orders.
  • Participatory: Welcomes colleagues’ views for decision-making.
  • Liberal: The leader makes little use of power.
  • Eclectic: The best leadership style is a mixture of the above.

The New Profile of the Leader

Functions:

  1. Stay on top of what’s happening.
  2. Promote a culture that drives the organization.
  3. Make the organization respond to changing conditions.
  4. Create consensus and eliminate power struggles.
  5. Require high ethical standards.
  6. Encourage corrective actions to improve strategy.

Aspects of Leadership in Mexico

  • Modernization in Mexico: Radical change towards social enterprise, restructuring social security policies, etc.
  • Cultural Features in Mexico: Achievement motivation and sense of self, minor decreased tendency toward centralization of decisions.
  • Mexican Profile Features: Low application of knowledge transfer, difficulty delegating responsibility, and inefficiency.

Methods to Collect and Evaluate Information

  • Reasoning: Information is organized logically.
  • Intuition: Reality is perceived, and information is gathered.
  • Method for Evaluating Information: Analyze data and its application.
  • Logic: Techniques and practices are thoroughly examined.
  • By Feeling: Personal values are used to approach and evaluate information.

Model for Optimizing Decision-Making

Describes how individuals should behave to maximize a result.

Ethics in Decision-Making

Ethical decision-making means that every decision made by an administrator meets the following criteria:

  • Being goal-focused.
  • Protecting confidentiality.
  • Assuming responsibility.
  • Being adequately trained.

Agents of Change

  • Internal: Part of the formal structure of the organization, playing a specific role within it.
  • External: Consultants specialized in certain administrative processes, providing technical advice to managers so that the change process is carried out properly.

Planning and Implementing Change

  • Design.
  • Development or process.
  • Feedback after the change.

Resistance to Change

Employees resist change because it threatens their security needs, social integration, etc.

  1. Logical or rational resistance.
  2. Psychological-emotional resistance.
  3. Sociological interest or group resistance.

Organizational Learning

Process of error detection and correction.

According to Lykes: The process and knowledge aimed at improving the understanding of actions.