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Enjoying Your Work
Richard Brislin
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Not all communications from executives to employees are taken seriously
I try to communicate clearly with my employees, but sometimes I feel that I am not successful," Karen Fong told her executive assistant.
Karen was president of a health maintenance organization. She had been on the job for six months, having taken over from a former president who had not been popular with doctors, nurses, and other staff members.
In fact, the organization had the reputation of being tough on presidents, as four had come and gone over the last seven years.
One of Karen's goals was to decrease the number of complaints about health care services. She directed the manager of the human resources division to develop a system that would allow patients to give feedback about the quality of medical care they had received. She also asked the managers in accounting, custodial services, and information technology to prepare reports on different initiatives that she wanted to see implemented.
Three months after communicating her directives, Karen was disappointed with the results. The department managers had given her plans for the implementation of various innovations, but she felt that they represented half-hearted efforts. She wondered if she could have been clearer in her communications.
Karen has encountered a common problem. Executives give directives, and little seems to happen. One reason for the problem is that employees try to determine the seriousness of the directives that executives order. Executives talk about many organizational issues, and employees have the task of sorting through the talk to determine the issues that require time and effort.
I once worked for an organization that changed its accounting procedures every year. A new office manager came in with still another new set of procedures that were quite complex and difficult to learn. Employees complained, "Why should we learn this new system when it will probably be changed next year?"
In Karen's case, her problem is compounded because so many presidents have come and gone. If employees do not like a directive, they can stall if they believe that the president will not be with the organization very long.
Executives will see more implementation of their directives if they are more careful in their communications. They should keep three concepts in mind: distinctiveness, consistency, and consensus.
» Messages that are distinct stand out from the everyday verbalizations of executives. They are presented in a way that communicates a sense of importance. Executives should be careful when communicating high priority directives. If they do not prioritize, employees will have a difficult time figuring out the difference between less and more important initiatives.
» Consistency means that executives have to communicate the same message at different times, to different audiences, and when using various communication methods. They will have little success with their initiatives if they seem to be saying one thing when talking with doctors, another when talking with patient advocacy groups, and still another when talking with television reporters. Executives do not want to develop the reputation of having multiple faces dependent upon the type of audience they are addressing.
» Consensus means that various people associated with the initiatives feel that they will improve the organization. Employees become confused when an executive issues a directive and mid-level managers seem unenthusiastic about it. Executives need to explain the reasons for their initiatives with their managers and to make sure that everyone has bought into the planned changes.
Many times, managers will be able to suggest improvements to the executives' directives if they know the outcomes that are desired. Managers are more likely to put time and effort into implementing the directives if their suggestions have been recognized.
Executives will increase their chances of success if all their messages contribute to the same theme. If Karen wants to decrease the number of HMO member complaints, she should frame her directives in terms that will help in the implementation of this goal.
With carefully constructed communications, Karen can communicate to employees in human resources, accounting, custodial services, and information technology how their efforts will lead to decreased complaints and increased member satisfaction.
The purpose of this column is to increase understanding of human behavior as it has an impact on the workplace. Given the amount of time people spend at work, job satisfaction should ideally be high and it should contribute to general life happiness. Enjoyment can increase as people learn more about workplace psychology, communication, and group influences.
Richard Brislin is a professor in the College of Business Administration, University of Hawaii. He can be reached through the College Relations Office at
cro@cba.hawaii.edu.