Frames of communication
Communication is the keystone of all relationships, yet we rarely address communication beyond how we perceive it. There are four frames of communication, which should be analyzed when addressing communication in the workplace: Individual, Interpersonal, Group, and System.
Today’s post talks about Individual and Interpersonal frames of communication using real-world workplace examples.
Individual - The individual frame of communication focuses on individual behavior as the source of a problem within the organization. Perhaps you place blame on an individual’s addiction issues as the root of the problems within the team or organization, or the individual’s personality, which is vastly different than yours.
EXAMPLE: The CEO yells at staff, in front of peers, when they make mistakes.
The CEO appears to have created a toxic work culture – one of fear and lack of progress, as individuals do not feel they are in a safe space to fail. While this may have been true at one time, as the years go on, the CEO’s reputation perpetuates throughout the organization, almost as myth. For example, the PR staffer needs the CEO to approve a quote in an upcoming press release. The PR staffer’s boss texts and writes “Don’t send it to him today. He’s in a bad mood!” By continuing to tip toe around the CEO, the other leaders remove agency from themselves and the remaining staff. There is no clear way to know if the CEO changed his leadership style, or perhaps had a personal stressor in his life, which is now removed, because the executive staff work with him in a state of fear, blaming him for the toxic culture that exists while also not challenging it. He appears to rule by tyranny (Green, Hauser 2012).
As Subramanian states (Subramanian 2018) “focusing on individual behavior when evaluating an organization can be inaccurate and tends to be used in order to place blame, isolate a particular person in the organization, or to avoid looking at the deeper systemic issues in the organization.”
Interpersonal (1:1) - The interpersonal frame of communication focuses on the communication between two individuals and how the relationship between those two individuals may be the source of conflict. It is important to consider the differences between the two, whether that be different management styles, personalities, generation, etc.
Example: In a 1:1 meeting, your leader states, “I hope that our staff leave after three years. Otherwise, there’s no new ideas and it costs the organization too much money to keep them.”
You are on year three of your job on the team. You might decide that your supervisor is not-so-subtlety hinting that you start looking for a new job. Maybe you begin to question your work and your value (Baillie 1989). You then attribute this statement to the supervisor lacking in compassion, empathy, and support. You attribute their action in the workplace, in this case, this statement, to be a flaw within their character. This is attribution error. “When people make an attribution error, they assume that the way a person behaves has to do with what kind of person he or she is, not with the circumstances or environmental forces acting on that person.” (Subramanian 2018).
Perhaps there are larger forces at play, above your leader. Perhaps the organizational ethos is that they pay the lowest possible salary to keep overhead costs down, year over year, regardless of the quality of staff they can retain. If this has been standard practice for years, it is now engrained in the organization’s culture.
References:
Subramanian, A. Individual, Interpersonal, Group & Inter-Group, Organizational: Working Definitions. University of Pennsylvania. fourlevel2018.doc
Green, A., Hauser J. (2012). Managing to Change the World: The Nonprofit Manager’s Guide to Getting Results. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. pp 189.
Baillie, V.K. (1989). Effective Nursing Leadership: A practical guide. Aspen Publishers. pp 57-59. https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/kDSINW-45IwC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PR2