BUS272 TB

270 Part 3 Interacting Effectively
OB at Work
5. After the debate is over, the class should discuss the following:
a. How effective was communication during these debates?
b. What barriers to communication existed?
c. What purposes does nonverbal communication serve?
d. Relate the lessons learned in this exercise to problems that might occur when communicating on the
telephone or through email.
ETHICAL D I L E M M A
The Pitfalls of Email
While email may be a very useful—even indispensable—
form of communication in organizations, it certainly has
its limits and dangers. 78 Indeed, email can get you into
trouble with more people, more quickly, than almost any
other form of communication.
Ask Bill Cochran. Cochran, 44, is a manager at Richmond
Group, an advertising agency. As Richmond was gearing
up to produce a Super Bowl ad for one of its clients—
Bridgestone—Cochran’s boss sent an email to 200 people
describing the internal competition to determine which ad
idea would be presented. Cochran chose the occasion to
give a pep talk to his team. Using “locker room talk,” he
composed an email criticizing the other Richmond teams,
naming employees he thought would provide them real
competition—and those who would not.
What Cochran did next—hit the Send key—seemed so
innocuous. But it was a keystroke he would soon wish he
could undo. Shortly after he sent the email, a co-worker,
Wendy Mayes, wrote to him: “Oh God . . . Bill. You just
hit REPLY ALL!”
Questions
1. After realizing what he had done, how should
Cochran have responded to this situation?
2. After the incident, Mayes says of Cochran: “His
name soon became synonymous with ‘idiotic behavior’
such as ‘don’t pull a Cochran.’” Is it unethical to
participate in such ribbing?
3. Kaspar Rorsted, CEO of Henkil, a consumer and
industrial products company based in Germany,
says that copying others on emails is overused.
“It’s a waste of time,” he said. “If they want to
write me, they can write me. People often copy
me to cover their back.” Do you agree? How can
you decide when copying others is necessary vs.
“a waste of time”?
CASE I N C I D E N T S
Using Social Media to Your Advantage
As you know, social media have transformed the way we
interact. 79 The transparent, rapid-fire communication they
make possible means people can spread information about
companies more rapidly than ever.
Do organizations understand yet how to use social
media effectively? Perhaps not. Recent findings indicated
that only 3 out of 10 CEOs in the Fortune 500 have any
presence on national social media sites. Many executives
are wary of these new technologies because they cannot
always control the outcomes of their communications.
However, whether they are directly involved with social
media or not, companies should recognize that these
messages are out there, so it behooves them to make their
voices heard. Some experts say social media tools improve
productivity because they keep employees connected to
their companies during nonoffice hours. As well, social
media can be an important way to learn about emerging
trends. André Schneider, chief operating officer of the
World Economic Forum, uses feedback from LinkedIn
discussion groups and Facebook friends to discover