 |
| Holly Steuart |
"Strategic ambiguity is essential to organizing because it allows for multiple
interpretations to exist among people who contend that they are attending to the
same message." (Eisenberg, p.231).
Do you find it useful as a general manager to be ambiguous when communicating your stations goals to employees and others, just so long as they and you feel everyone is on the same page? If this concept doesn't fit with organization, can you tell me why?
"No. Being ambiguous about station goals with the staff would be extremely counterproductive. Every department needs to understand the expectations so that we can meet the stated goals, measure progress and insure accountability at every level. If we have increased the ratings of station programming for instance, it will take every employee working together to make it happen: from program creation to promotion to on-air execution by the technical staff. If I was ambiguous regarding my expectations or ambiguous about the goal (are we trying to increase ratings or would that just be a nice by-product of working each day?) that would undermine the quality standards we set as well as threaten to undermine the entire business. Without clearly stated goals and a road map to get there, employees won't feel any sense of urgency or achievement. It is a recipe for failure in the communications business."
"Strategic ambiguity... (allows) participants to express their thoughts and feelings and
simultaneously deny specific interpretations" (Eisenberg, p. 236)
Have you ever had an interaction with an employee who wanted you to commit to a certain course of action, have you found being ambiguous to be effective?
"Yes. There have been a few occasions in managing an individual employee where some ambiguity can be helpful in terms of managing expectations. For instance if an employee expresses an interest in a position for which they are not yet qualified, you want to discuss the possibilities of them doing that particular job without making a promise or firm commitment to give them a position when they aren't ready. I view this more along the lines of helping them see how they might eventually get the position they want by discussing what they can specifically do in the mean time to get there."
"Yes. There have been a few occasions in managing an individual employee where some ambiguity can be helpful in terms of managing expectations. For instance if an employee expresses an interest in a position for which they are not yet qualified, you want to discuss the possibilities of them doing that particular job without making a promise or firm commitment to give them a position when they aren't ready. I view this more along the lines of helping them see how they might eventually get the position they want by discussing what they can specifically do in the mean time to get there."
"...an early awareness of the concerns of ...stakeholders
enables companies to join and shape the debate before it turns against
them". (Bonsi, Mendonca, & Oppenheim, p. 26)
Has there been an instance when your organization tried to get ahead of a social issue in the workplace and how did that work out? If so, was there any kind of collaboration with competitors to make that happen?
"Due to the competitive nature of local television, we wouldn't consult a competitor. But we try to get ahead of certain social issues, such as employee health concerns. I realized from talking with employees that our station food choices were limited and unhealthy (classic vending food and sodas). So I worked with my business manager to replace the old machines with state of the art machines that dispense healthy food and drink choices as well as a specialty coffee machine. This created a huge morale boost among the staff who felt like we cared more than before about their well-being and health.
Another thing I have done is to become a Facebook page administrator for the station's Facebook page. That way I can directly get involved in answering viewer comments or concerns so that -- at least in terms of social media -- we are not caught playing catch up on an issue important to the viewers. It's also important to the workplace because employees who are active on our Facebook page to see that management is involved and monitoring the page in a positive way."
Do you see any social issues down the road that are not a concern now, but could be?
"Along the lines of the issue above, we are always monitoring social media for all types of social trends: "who is talking and what are they talking about" is very important in our business even if a particular social issue does not make itself immediately felt in the workplace."
References:
Eisenberg, E. (1984) Ambiguity as Strategy in Organizational Communication. Communication Monographs, 51 pp. 227-242.
Bonini, S.M.J., Mendonca, L., & Oppenhim, J. (2006). When Social Issues Become Strategic. The McKinsey Quarterly, 2 pp. 19-31.
References:
Eisenberg, E. (1984) Ambiguity as Strategy in Organizational Communication. Communication Monographs, 51 pp. 227-242.
Bonini, S.M.J., Mendonca, L., & Oppenhim, J. (2006). When Social Issues Become Strategic. The McKinsey Quarterly, 2 pp. 19-31.
Hey John,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I liked how she highlighted how ambiguity can be detrimental to an organization and not encourage employees to act with a sense of urgency. I wondered after reading Eisenberg's reading this week, if ambiguity in communication is an inherent trait or if it can actually be taught. I feel like there are people out there who can talk to you for 5 minutes and you have no idea what they said and realize after that they never really answered the question. I feel like that's a skill that's learned over time and cannot be taught.
After all, you have to be ambiguous enough but clear enough that there's no more questions to be answered. If you're too ambiguous, people will just keep asking you questions. (I rambled a bit, hope that makes sense)
Hi Melanie.. it makes complete sense to me. I think it's a talent that is learned from years of being in management. You want to keep employees engaged but at the same time, not every employee is going to get what they want out of the job. So if you can sell them on the concept that they're being heard, but not necessarily commit yourself to any particular course.. then your golden.
DeleteThanks for your comments!
John,
ReplyDeleteVery interesting post, from a social perspective, I think it is very progressive and noteworthy that she would be willing to act as an administrator to the station's Facebook page. This really shows that she is invested in the commentary from the viewers and looks to them to help guide news messaging. I also agree with her that it is a great example for staff. She is not sitting on the sidelines having someone feed her the information, she is getting in there and reviewing it herself.
There was one point that I didn't agree with her though, she indicated that she didn't use strategic ambiguity when communicating goals. I think where I question this would be the station's mission statement which in a way outlines company goals. Typically mission statements provide direction, however very loosely and in my mind and according to Eisenberg rather ambiguously. Would you agree that perhaps maybe some ambiguous elements exist in the station that perhaps she overlooked in her analysis? If so, what other areas do you think she/ or the station may be using strategic ambiguity?
Great article, I love when classmates conduct interviews! They are always so interesting!
Ramona
Hi Ramona,
ReplyDeleteTV stations are weird creatures. While they are very focused on the bottom line just like any other business, there is a lot to it that is very subjective. Many of us on-air folk are hired based on a gut decision from someone higher (and in my case a focus group) so while I think Holly meant what she said, that there are targets her station needs to hit, I think there is much more to her job where ambiguity would come into play. So yeah, I would agree with you that people at her level do employ strategic ambiguity.
- When a station says it's here to serve the community - how so?
- When a GM says he/she wants to "grow" the ratings - but by how much?
- When we're told we are all family - what does that mean?
Thanks Ramona!!