Taking a “subordinate” approach, this “survival guide for employees” centers on understanding how and why managers communicate the ways they do and how employees can adapt their own communication skills to be more effective in the organizational environment. Students who master the study guide objectives in this book will be better prepared to function in real organizational situations. In fifteen simple chapters, this text provides clear and concise guidelines, along with a foundation of theory and scholarship, to help students learn to become more effective communicators in today's workforce.

What's New to This Edition

• Includes only the most critical aspects of communication, making the book more manageable for students by avoiding irrelevant aspects of organizations or management procedures.
• Features a new chapter on communication traits (Chapter 7), helping students gain a better understanding of their role in organizations and why individuals communicate the way they do.
• An expanded explanation of organizational orientations includes the latest research on this key area.
• Important new references to social scientific research on communication in organizations have been added in text and bibliographical materials.
• Text is now accompanied by an extensive instructor's manual.

• Combines communication and management perspectives to provide a well-rounded view of organizational communication.

• Examines how to/not to communicate with management throughout each chapter, providing students with skills they can use regardless of their career choices.

• Reviews the outcomes of effective communication, illustrating its importance in any organizational environment.

• Illustrates good and poor communication skills and teaches students how to differentiate between the two.

• Covers the importance of nonverbal behaviors and discusses what is and is not appropriate in organizations (Ch. 3).

• Features a chapter that reviews the types of positive perceptions that employees will want to establish with their supervisors (Ch. 7).

• Includes a chapter on organizational culture, which provides guidelines on how to thrive in a variety of organizational settings (Ch. 11).