11. Speak on the peculiarities of forming interpersonal relations within b2b and b2c paradigms. Work out a strategy for your virtual organization.

Individuals also form important interpersonal communication relationships with internal and external customers or clients as well as vendors or suppliers of the organization. These relationships are based initially on task concerns but frequently emerge into social support relationships as well. Customers generally are consid­ered to be those who purchase products or services from an organization while clients are those who are in a professional advice or service relationship with the organization. Vendors are individuals or entire organizations who provide prod­ucts or services to organizations other than their own. Customer, client, and ven­dor relationships are based on exchanges of information about products, services, timing, delivery, quality, and cost. These relationships often are established through telemediated channels but remain important to the goals of all the parties involved in the relationship.

The ability to assess expectations is critical to the nature of customer, client, and vendor relationships. Customers, clients, and vendors have specific expecta­tions about needs, services, or products, which are unrelated to the personal characteristics of the individuals expected to support these requirements. Based on previous interactions with others, customers and clients often can be aggressive and demanding. Vendors, on the other hand, want to please their customer, sometimes making truthful exchange about schedules, quality, and pricing difficult. Customer, client, and vendor relationships may be transient or long term. Effective customer, client, and vendor relationships often are based on rapidly assessing needs, connecting to identified needs, and responding with both organizational and customer, client, or vendor needs in mind. Supervisors and peers frequently provide advice about these relationships, and individuals often are evaluated based on the satisfaction and production related to communication exchanges with customers and vendors. As the marketplace becomes more diverse and international, communication with customers, clients, and vendors requires increasingly complex competencies.

12. Speak on the difference between leadership and management in organizational communication. Describe the role of a leader in your virtual organization. Which style of leadership do you advocate? Support your answer with examples.

THE IMPORTANCE OF LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION

Leadership and management communication affect nearly all aspects of organiza­tional life. Leaders help guide individuals, groups, and entire organizations in es­tablishing goals and sustaining action to support goals. Managers fulfill specific organizationally assigned roles designed to direct and evaluate the work of others. Managers are expected to be leaders, although not all managers exhibit leadership behaviors. In fact, leadership communication can come from virtually anyone in the organization, with the effectiveness of leadership and management communi­cation directly relating to organizational success and work satisfaction.

What exactly is meant by leadership and management communication? There are literally hundreds of definitions of what leaders do and what is considered to be leadership. Chances are our personal definition of leadership may vary from that of our friends and may even change from situation to situation. We might call an individual a leader, for example, because of the person's election to the presi­dency of a particular otganization. At another time we might say that same individual is not a leader because he or she does not exhibit leadership behaviors expected from the president. In other words, we expected leadership from the legit­imate or positional role of the presidency, but when the president does not exhibit leadership behaviors, we say the president is not a leader.

Leadership takes place through communication. Leaders com­municate about needed change, translate intentions into reality, pro­pose new strategies, and help sustain action to support decisions. Leadership communication is a process of influence whereby leaders attempt to convince followers to attain specific goals or broad organizational out­comes. The ability to influence is based on the leader's position, credibility to a fol­lower group, analysis and technical skills, and overall communication competence. People can be assigned the position of leader, but leadership occurs not from the assignment itself but through communication behaviors in interactions with oth­ers. In other words, leadership is socially constructed in the complex interplay of communication among leaders and others within ever-changing environments.

Management fulfills specifically defined roles designed to facili­tate work to support organizational goals. Managers are given legiti­mate power to influence the behavior of employees. They are charged with obtaining routine compliance with the operating procedures and expectations of the organization. It is hoped, of course, that managers can ex­ceed routine compliance and instill in employees a desire for excellence that goes beyond merely acceptable performance. Whether resulting in routine compliance or desire for excellence, managerial influence occurs through human communication. Based on formal supervisor-employee relationships, managerial communication directs work assignments, work evaluation, needed changes, and all other aspects of organizational action for goal achievement.

Leadership communication, whether exhibited by managers or other influential organizational members, becomes the vision of the organization that directs and redirects all organizational activity.

Leadership and management communication is part of the sense making activities of the organization. As we said earlier, leadership and management communication is a complex socially constructed process. It helps members develop priorities and determine what is needed by the organization. It influences decision making, transmits communication rules, and contributes to the shared realities that become organization's culture or cultures. As such, leadership and management communication charts the course of action for the organization. The effectiveness of communication is therefore central to organizational excellence.

DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT

It is fair to say distinctions between leadership and management are really distinctions between leadership and formal authority, that is, management. Ronald Heifetz (2007) explained "when we commonly refer to the leaders of a company, a school system, a government, or a nonprofit, we generally mean the people with formal authority. And when we refer to the movers and shakers behind the scenes, the real sources of influence in an organization or community, we generally mean the people with informal authority. We know intuitively that there is a differnce between leadership and authority because we complain frequently about the lack of leadership we get form people in these formal and informal authority positions" (p. 314). Bennis and Nanus (1985) made important distinctions between leaders and managers when they suggested:

The problem with many organizations, and especially the ones that are failing, is that they tend to be overmanaged and underled. They may excel in the ability to handle the daily routine, yet never question whether the routine should be done at all. There is a profound difference between management and leadership, and both are important. "To manage" means "to bring about, to accomplish, to have charge of or responsibility for, to conduct." "Leading" is "influencing, guiding in direction, course, action, opinion." The distinction is crucial. Managers are people who do things right and leaders are people who do the right thing. The difference may be summarized as activities of vision and judgment—effectiveness—versus activities of mastering routines—efficiency. (p. 21)

Bennis and Nanus (1985) further contended the vision leaders provide is the clearest of all distinctions between leaders and managers. To provide vision re­quires marshaling the "spiritual and emotional" resources of the organization as reflected in its values, commitment, and aspirations. Management, on the other hand, is charged with directing the physical resources of the organization, its peo­ple, machines, and products. Competent managers can get work done efficiently, but excellence comes from leaders who inspire followers to emotional involvement with work and their organization. Bennis and Nanus state, "Great leaders often in­spire their followers to high levels of achievement by showing them how their work contributes to worthwhile ends. It is an emotional appeal to some of the most fundamental human needs." In recent work, James Kouzes and Barry Posner (2009) identified "Being forward-looking—envisioning exciting possibilities and enlisting others in a shared view of the future—is the attribute that most distin­guishes leaders from nonleaders."