Management, 11th Edition

Chapter 17. Communication and Collaboration

Chapter 17 Study Questions

1. What is the communication process?

2. How can collaboration be improved by better communication?

3. How can we deal positively with conflict?

4. How can we negotiate successful agreements?

Learning From Others: Impact Begins with Communication and Collaboration

"My Siamese cat Skimbleshanks is up a tree... At Wilco concert—Jeff Tweedy is so cool Home alone ... Flying to Ireland, wish me luck driving ... Just saw Todd with Stephanie!"

So who cares? Well it turns out that a lot of people care, just as Evan Williams and Biz Stone co-founders of Twitter, had anticipated. They are the guys who moved microblogging into the upper limits. And the quick, easy, and ever-present social networking offered through Twitter isn't just for friends and family—companies are using it, radio and television shows are using it, and, of course, celebrities are using it.

According to David Murray, director of social Web communications at Bivings Group, "Twitter is a digital handshake. It's one of the fastest ways you can reach out to people." The Twitter concept of sending 140 character or less "tweets" hit the mark with traffic rising quickly to the 40 million range. "I guess we have a lot of things we think we can prove," Stone says, "to provide the infrastructure for a new kind of communication, and then support the creativity that emerges." For his part, Williams points out: "we're totally focused on making the best user experience possible and ...