First off, ahem: ARE YOU KIDDING ME??

I’m so tempted to do the critical thinking posts on the current crisis. But it has to be sport related. So I’ll pick something else that works.

The NFL anthem crisis is probably the best way to start off this chapter. Soaking it in!

Types of communication:

• Personal communication
  • Intrapersonal communication: within oneself
  • Interpersonal communication: 1-on-1 (or more….)
  • Small group communication: limited quantity of individuals
• Organizational communication
  • Intraorganizational
  • Interorganizational

Within an organization, communication has a direction:

• Downward communication
  • Sending signals “down” the org chart to subordinates
• Upward communication
  • Sending signals from subordinate to superior
• Horizontal communication
  • Groups on the same level transmit information directly to each other

Leadership communication is “communication that influences others’ actions and attitudes, thus resulting in the fulfillment of a shared purpose or need.” A vital skill which is separate from sport-related skill (e.g. Wayne Gretzky)

Several core competencies are key to success in leadership:

• Knowledge of communication context
  • This involves an understanding of appropriate dialogue in certain situations
• Trust
  • This is needed when any of the following occur:
    • One relies upon another
    • The relationship can result in loss/gain for goal achievements
    • The desired goal may be uncertain
  • So basically always
• Active listening
  • The competency substantiates the precision in which the message is received
  • Displays empathy to the message sender
• Information accuracy
  • Facts
• Cultural sensitivity
  • Recognition of diversity without passing judgment on the benefits or disadvantages of similarities or differences in a group

Leadership communication styles

• Autocratic
  • Dominates decision making and takes pleasure in directing assignment responsibilities
  • Not preferred by athletes and other professionals
• Participative
  • Subordinates are encourages to dispute ideas
  • Best when working with highly capable subordinates
• Consultative
  • Blend of autocratic with participative
  • May be very demanding but also very involved in helping to meet expectations
• Lassez-faire
  • No leadership at all really
  • Just a vast wasteland of abdication
• A leader may also engage in different communication styles in different contexts (e.g. with different employees)
  • Avoidance: a leadership strategy of agreeing with something simply for the sake of avoiding confrontation and discord
  • Vision-setting
  • Goal-setting
  • Meaning management
  • Trust generation
  • Positive regard

Conflict Communication: different strategies

• Avoidance again!
  • Conflict avoidance is a plague
• Competition
  • Viewing conflicts as zero-sum
• Compromise
  • Exchange-based mediation
  • Requires listening as a skill and is preferred
• Accommodation
  • Making sacrifices for the greater good
  • If this is an imbalanced relationship between the employees it’s a big problem
• Collaboration
  • Works with both sides to find the optimal resolution
  • Only possible if everyone has buy-in and productively problem solve

Crisis: “the perception of an unpredictable event that threatens important expectancies of stakeholders related to the health, safety, environmental, and economic issues and can seriously impact an organization’s performance and generate negative outcomes.”

• The unpredictability of a crisis is what makes it unique
• Even the most comprehensive risk management plan cannot possibly foresee all potential crises, as they come from outside the scope of the regularly scheduled issues and disrupt systems that are normally assumed to be functioning regularly (such as city power….)

A sport crisis can devastate an organization at the fundamental level, such as NCAA punishments on university sports also causing decrease in alumni donations.

Crisis planning is kind of an oxymoron since a crisis is by definition impossible to plan for in advance. But that’s what makes it so important! Learning from previous mistakes and crises is the vital first step.

Internal and external communication during a crisis are both vital. Media interaction must be tightly controlled to prevent public perception from being dictated by people and/or other forces outside your control.

Identify a spokesperson during a crisis. Should be someone, above all else, with a high amount of credibility and perceived authority.

• College setting: school president or athletic director
• Pro setting: owner, president or general manager
  • Coach may be an option but coaches normally report to higher authorities

Media interaction strategies:

• Employ as much honesty as possible given other constraints
• Anticipate difficult questions
• Be mindful of the use of “no comment”
  • Is meant to be a tool to buy time to ascertain the correct answer but can be interpreted as buying time to build a plausible lie
• Assess the public’s stance prior to initiating contact

TYPES OF CRISES: (god I love this book)

• Physical Plant:
  • Example: power outage during Super Bowl
  • Suggested response: Clearly communicate as soon as info is available
• On-Field:
  • Example: brawl between players and fans
  • Suggested response: Work with event managers to rectify breakdown that led to crisis
• Public Tragedy:
  • Example: death of Jose Fernandez
  • Suggested response: Determine accuracy, then connect that info to appropriate crisis team members
• Corporate/Internal:
  • Example: FAU considered selling naming rights to GEO Group
  • Suggested response: Leaders must communicate and apologize where appropriate
• Player Personnel:
  • Trade of Isaiah Thomas to team rival
  • Suggested response: Accept outside criticism but also make an effort to support and communicate with incoming player(s)

Response Strategies:

• Denial
  • Scapegoating
  • Evasion of responsibility
    • Provocation
    • Defeasibility
    • Accidental
  • Reducing the offensiveness of the event
    • Bolstering
    • Differentiating
    • Transcending
    • Compensating
    • Mortifying
    • Offering corrective action

Motivation is a collection of factors internal and external to oneself that determines the direction and sustainability of a person’s behavior, a person’s level of effort, and the level of persistence.

Growth is connected to self-actualization, the peak of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

Personal initiative:

• Consistent with the organization’s mission
• A long-term focus
• Goal-directed and action-oriented
• Persistent in the face of obstacles and setbacks
• Self-starting and proactive

Rewards expectancy is a part of motivation, includes both extrinsic rewards and intrinsic rewards

Role perception is a part of motivation, in setting expectations that can be met

Intrinsic motivation is linked to creativity (see also TED Talk)

Type I behavior is the seeking of autonomy, mastery and purpose, as opposed to Type X behavior which is extrinsically motivated

Shoutout to fixed mindset vs. growth mindset

Grit is the tenacity in working through obstacles and finding new motivation.

Leadership that motivates:

Leaders create an environment of autonomy, mastery and purpose. The medium for this is the leader-member exchange (LMX).

Empowering leadership is leadership that helps employees have motivation and in turn become their own leaders.

Motivating Millennials…. sigh…. motivating Generation Z is also in here!

Big Five personality traits listed, neuroticism is negatively correlated with leadership (big surprise). Agreeableness is much murkier.

Humility required to lead! I hope… also the desire for dominance is a balance thing as well…

MOTIVATING VOLUNTEERS IS A SECTION HOLY CRAP

Factors motivating volunteers:

• Event image
• Congruity with personal values
• Development of personal contacts
• Community involvement
• Personal growth

Six areas likely to motivate volunteers:

• Values
  • Express concern for others through helping those who need assistance; volunteer is motivated by altruistic or humanitarian concerns
• Understanding
  • Gain learning experience while sharing one’s knowledge, skills and abilities
• Social
  • Motivated by the opportunity to work with others
• Career
  • Prepare for new career
• Protective
  • Reducing guilt related to being more fortunate
• Enhancement
  • Obtaining satisfaction related to personal growth

INDEED.

There are three different views about management vs. leadership:

• There is no difference, these are synonyms, and distinguishing between them is at best a practice of semantics
• They are intertwined, but distinct on some level
  • Leadership could be a form of excellent management
  • Leadership is a function of management
• They are different things (this textbook’s view)

Management as we understand it now was developed during the industrial revolution:

• Scientific management movement
  • Concerned with extrinsic motivation and organizational outcomes
• Human relations movement
  • Concerned with intrinsic motivation, in response to above
• Organizational behavior
  • Considering efficiency and human relations to examine organizational success

Management is a mechanistic process, while Leadership is a social process, because establishing values is a social activity.

Management is about the present, leadership is about the future. Management is about efficiency, leadership is about vision.

Managers are people who do things right, and leaders are people who do the right thing.

Transactional leadership maintains the status quo and is closer to management than transformational leadership.

Different kinds of definitional differences:

• Authority versus Influence relationship
  • Coercive directives are more efficient and practical and more of a management tool
  • Non-coercive directives like democratic processes are tools of leadership, using other sources of power besides authority
• Manager/Subordinate vs. Leader/Follower
  • A subordinate does as told and a follower takes action, inspired by leadership
  • Managers also lead and leaders also manage which explains all this blurriness
• Produce and Sell Goods/Services versus Intend Real Change
  • Creating a specific product within the parameters of the organization’s resources is management
  • Intended change requires leadership and vision, because there are many possible outcomes rather than just two: success (on-time and under-budget) or failure
• Coordinate Activities versus Establish Mutual Purpose
  • Managers must coordinate the different activities of the different subordinates
  • Leaders generate and clarify the essential purpose of the organization

Management oversees, Leadership motivates (next chapter)

Leadership is an influence relationship aimed at moving organizations or groups of people towards an imagined future that depends upon alignment of values and establishment of mutual purpose.