Risk Conception and Risk Management, Essay Example

Effective communication is imperative to any organization or business. Effective listening is a major part of communication (Ivancevich, 2011). Effective listening occurs when a message is heard and meaningful information is transferred from one person to another (Ivancevich, 2011). There are many barriers that hinder communication. For example, selective listening and selective perception are two of the major communication issues that affect the workplace. Selective listening occurs when the person that is being talked to is not focused on what the speaker is saying. This can occur for many reasons-the listener mind may be wandering into all the duties or things they may need to be taking care of at the moment or the listener does not feel what the speaker is saying is important to or  relevant to him/her. The result of selective listening is that the listener remembers what he/she thinks the speaker said rather than what the speaker really said. Next, selective perception is when he listener creates a message based upon what they already know or what they think they know about the subject. So, naturally, the listener does not listen attentively to the speaker because they feel they already know enough about the subject.

These two barriers are evident in many work areas. I have a close friend who is a public school educator who works as a literacy coach. She says she encounters this all the time from fellow educators. According to her, educators are very territorial and when they feel threatened they will shut down mentally. She does workshops on how to reach struggling readers and best strategies to use. She was presenting a workshop to a group of English teachers and at the end of the workshop, she surveyed them. They were asked to answer questions and explain which new strategy was their favorite. Only 2 of the group of 15 teachers could answer the questions. These 2 teachers were new teachers and the other 13 were veteran teachers who had been practicing selective perception.

When referring to a business or organization, empowerment is considered the practice of sharing information, rewards and power with employees in such a way that they feel confident to take initiative and make decisions that can solve problems and improve the service and performance of the organization (Ivancevich, 2011). For example, when employees feel empowered they will usually make decisions that will benefit both the company and its clients

One scenario where an employee has been empowered occurred in a local home improvement store. A customer had purchased a great deal of home improvement supplies from an online site and had the supplies shipped to a local store. Many of the customers use the online site because they are able to get products at a cheaper rate. However, the customer wanted a specific color and texture of blind, but the online shipment order did not contain that demand. Instead, the customer was notified of an “I owe you “when they arrived at the store to pick up those items. The customer was very upset that the products she wanted were not there as she had been assured that they would. The cashier tried explaining this to the customer, but could not calm her down. There were no members of management on staff at the time as it was the lunch hour. Prior to this, the managers had a meeting with all employees. The meeting was geared towards employees taking initiative to help improve the daily operations of the business. Employees were told to handle situations that they could, and to only consult management if they were unsure about what to do.  So, the cashier decided to check and see if the store had the blinds in stock. They did. She gave the customer what she wanted and explained to the manager what had happened when she returned from lunch. The manager applauded her for taking charge and satisfying the customer.  In this case, empowering the employee was a success because the company did not lose anything and we ended up with a satisfied customer.

Managers can do several things to improve communication within an organization. First, managers can increase the opportunities for employees to interact with members of management. When managers engage in casual conversation with employees that is not directly about a task that needs to be completed, it makes employees feel more comfortable sharing and discussing the needs of the company. In order to do this, managers must often work alongside staff, have lunch in common areas with employees, and park in common areas with employees. The less differentiation there is between employee and manager the better the rapport will be (Prestwood & Schumann, 2002). Next, a question box may prove helpful. Placing a suggestion box in a common area where employees can make suggestions about improvements they would like to see can be beneficial. To show that the suggestions are being taken seriously, one suggestion should be addressed and discussed at weekly meetings. The employees need to see that changes are being made. Finally, meetings should be very structured. Employees don’t want to feel like meetings are just another way to take up their precious time. There should be agenda and time limits on discussions. If decisions are unable to be made on specific discussions, they should be carried over to the next meeting. At the end of each meeting, there should be a survey where employees can grade designees on the appropriateness and success of the meeting. In order for an organization to make necessary changes to improve the organization, proper communication must be maintained. For example, “Communication is regarded as highly important in the successful implementation of change programs because it is used as a tool for announcing, explaining, or preparing people for change and preparing them for the positive and negative effects of the impending change” (Ivancevich, 2011  ).

Great leadership is the foundation of any organization. Great leaders should conduct themselves in a way that sets them apart from their employees, yet it must be done in a respectful manner. Effective leaders never want to make employees feel like they are beneath or inferior to them. This only leads to hostility and anger towards the manager. Great leaders lead by instruction, in other words they demonstrate what qualities they expect to see in others. When a leader has lead by demonstration, it is easier to allow employees to take charge of situations with confidence that they will do a great job and handle the situation appropriately. For example, “Most of the organizations agree now days that effective leadership is one of the most important contributors to the overall organizational performance and change” (Jick, 2001). Some managers have an “I must fix it attitude” (Berglund, 2007). They do not allow employees the time to work out their own problems; they merely jump in and take over the situation; while other managers do not assist even when they are needed.  In both scenarios, the managers have failed at their duties. For example, I witnessed an employee at a local restaurant nearly clear up confusion with a customer until the manager bombarded the situation before he fully understood what was going on. The employee was a cashier. She had placed the customer’s items in a bag and given her the change from a twenty dollar bill. The woman walked out of the store and proceeded to come back in quickly. She walked back to the counter and laid the money she had been given on the counter. She explained to the cashier that she was given too much money back. The manager abruptly interrupted the transaction assuming that the customer had been short changed. He was very rude to the cashier and wouldn’t allow the customer or cashier to explain. By the end of the transaction, the client and the customer were both upset. The customer demanded a full refund and proclaimed that she would not patronize a business that did not treat its customers like human beings.

Works Cited

Berglund. H (2007), Risk Conception and risk management in corporate innovation, International Journal of Innovation Management Vol. 11, No. 4 pp, 497–513

Jick, T. (2001) Vision is 10%, implementation is the rest. Business Strategy Review, Vol. 12 No 4, PP 36-38

Ivancevich, J. (2011). Organizational Behavior and Management. 9^th Ed. McGraw Hill.

Prestwood. D and Schumann. P (2002), Innovative Leader, Principles of Innovative Leadership, Volume 11, no 551