When Gifts Say More
What's a gift mean? If you're like me, you probably focus on the
giving and the getting.
But, have you thought of gifts as a medium, a channel, for
communication? In a book called The Gift, French anthropologist
Marcel Mauss argues that gifts are universally used to create
and manage relationships.
For those of us interested in business communication, the idea
of managing work relationships with gifts brings several
interesting issues to our attention.
The most obvious notion is that in sending gifts, we communicate
our appreciation for what someone did. It signals awareness that
the recipient did something exemplary. Usually, the
communication is implicit, perhaps even subtle, even though the
gift may be tangible.
In a workplace context, bonuses are often seen as gifts, a
discretionary act on the part of a manager to show appreciation.
It is in the manager's power to reward or not reward, and hence
the gifting effect.
Stock options, on the other hand, represent something different;
there is no managerial discretion in their value, but there may
be discretion involved in giving them.
And don't we all consider the type and value of a gift as an
indicator of the strength of the relationship? I think we've all
been through those debates about how much we should spend when a
staff member gets married, has a baby, retires, or quits.
In each of these examples, it's not hard to see gifts as a tool
for strategically managing relationships. We can also see gifts
as a medium (like a newsletter) for exchanging messages.
What we've discussed so far assumes that a gift is an object or
service that one purchases or makes and gives to another. But,
in an organizational context, a gift might be mentorship, an
unexpected promotion, or acceptance of another person's opinion.
Consider meetings where opinions fall into two clear camps. And,
out of the blue, someone who previously opposed your position or
stayed neutral now moves to support you. That person smiles at
you, and says, "I think you've put your finger on the real issue
here." Seems like a gift, doesn't it?
Or consider this one, "Jane, you've worked a lot of hours lately
to make this presentation a big success. We appreciate what
you've done, and want you to take the rest of the week off.
Don't worry about your to-do list; we'll take care of
everything." Another type of gift.
In the mass media, reporters and editors normally cannot accept
gifts, or gifts beyond a threshhold value. It's a way of
avoiding relationship obligations that might influence their
coverage of events, people, and organizations. In this case we
see the rejection of gifts as a way of avoiding relationships.
In summary, look at exchanges of gifts as potentially more than
just an exchange between individuals; think of them as a
strategic tools for developing and managing business
relationships. That makes giving a strategic form of
communication.