Study Guide for Comm 101 Exam 2

Note: Other material from the readings may be on the Exam, this should
serve only as a guide for what is most likely to be on the exam

1. Defining Organizational Communication

a. Organizational communication: The interaction required to direct a
group of people toward a shared goal.
b. Organizational communication as dialogue: This definition of
organizational communication focuses on mindful interaction,
equitable transactions, empathetic conversations, and real
meaning.
c. Organizational communication as information transfer: This definition of
organizational communication sees communication as a one-way
pipe line where senders attempt to communicate meaning to
receivers.
i. Metaphor - pipeline
ii. Focuses on exchange of information and the transmission of meaning
iii. Pros: It is a basic foundational approach
iv. Cons: It is incomplete, assumes passive receiver that is not participating in
the message
d. Creativity vs Constraint
i. Communication as balancing creativity and constraint
ii. Communication is a moment to moment working out of the tension
between individual creativity and organizational constraint
1. Constraint: The rules, norms that come with a particular system
that those within the system are expected to abide by
2. Creativity: the design and modification of social systems through
communication

2. Communication and the Changing World of Work

a. Situation: this means that it is situational specific. Effective communication for a
construction company is different than what it would be for a film production
company or a small paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania
b. Perishable: we mean that patterns of interaction that were effective last year may
be outdated today due to changes in customer taste and technology
c. Globalization: the closer integration of the countries and peoples of the world
which has been brought about the enormous reduction of costs of transportation
and communication, and the breaking down of artificial barriers to the flows of
goods, services, capital, knowledge, and people across borders
d. Outsourcing: is when companies in the United States choose to hire people in
other countries to do some of their work. Business today search the globe for the
lowest labor costs and move jobs to where they can get the cheapest workers. For
example, Nike has been known for having sweatshops in South Korea and
Apple has had its products made in Foxconn in China
 e. Corporate inversion: Occurs when a company, in an attempt to lower its taxes,
buys a much smaller company in a foreign country that has a more favorable tax
code. The company does not actually change how it does business by now claims
that its company is located in another country
f. Multicultural management: is the ability to adapt ones leadership styles to both
respond to and make the most of pervasive cultural differences in values and
practices among a diverse employee population
g. IMF: International Monetary Fund Lends money to member nations (188
members) in order to allow them to prevent economic collapse
h. World Bank: World Bank Created by the UN to give loans to developing
countries to allow them to better their economies
i. World Trade Organization: World Trade Organization created to eliminate trade
tariffs and settle international trade disputes
j. Human Trafficking: The illegal trade of human beings across borders
k. Environmental degradation: is heightened companies move in attempts to find
locals with the least environmental regulations and/or the most resources to be
exploited
l. McDonalds Theory of Peace: no two countries with a McDonalds have every
fought a war
m. Urgent Organizations: Organizations who main goal is to shorten the time period
in which employees can respond to their customers and each other
n. Informal Communication Networks: are relationships with trusted cowokers
characterized by quick, verbal communication, and are the most dynamic source
of power in contemporary organizations because of role they play in responding
to a turbulant business climate
o. The New Social Contract: Refers the new implied contract between employees
and employers. Is a different kind of employment relationship in which job
security is fleeting and tied to the fit of employees skills fit with the organizations
needs at the time.
p. Ethical concerns The new world of work is replete with unique and challenge
ethical concerns
q. Quality of life Americans are working more than ever and work is increasingly
inescapeable as technology keeps us connected all the time.
3. Ethics and Communication
a. Ethics: the study of the general nature of morals and of the specific choices made
by a person
b. The Golden Mean: Is an ethical principle developed by Aristotle. The principle
holds that morality is to be found in moderation and that extremes should be
avoided.
This is not say that all behavior can be tolerated in moderation, as Aristotle found
certain behaviors such as murder and adultery to be always unethical
He also believed that personal interest should be subordinated to the interest of
our communities

c. The Categorical Imperative: Developed by 18th century German philosopher

Immanuel Kant
 d. Three tenets of the Categorical Imperative
i. 1) Act as if your actions were to become a universal law that everyone
must obey
ii. 2) Never treat others merely as a means, but also always as an ends unto
themselves. Kant believed that a good end can never justify a bad means
for achieving it.
iii. 3) Act in a way that respects the rights of others
e. Utilitarianism: Developed by philosopher Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill.
This system of proposed that all ethical conflicts can be resolved by determining
which action would create the greatest good for the greatest number of people
f. The Veil of Ignorance: created by modern day American philosopher John Rawls.
Rawls argued that if people had to make decisions to knowing whether they
would benefit themselves, i.e. behind a veil of ignorance, they act more justly.
He believed that people would favor systems of governance that benefited
everyone and not an elite few because people would not know their place in
society. Rawls believed that a just society would focus on caring for its weakest
members

g. Ends-based-principles: as exemplified by utilitarianism, these principles are

focused on creating good outcomes
h. Rules-based-principles: as exemplified by the categorical imperative, stress an
obligation to duty and universal codes of behavior
i. Care-based-principles: as exemplified by the veil of ignorance and the golden
rule, stress reciprocity and the need to consider the world from the position of
others

4. Intergroup Communication
a. Intergroup communication
When we interact with people, we view them not just as individuals, but members
of social groups.
Cultural similarity and dissimilarity are both important to consider
Involves understanding intracultural communication
Intercultural communication has been studied in various ways and through
various lenses. E.g.
Cultural studies
Critical intercultural communication
Dialectic approaches
Intergroup approaches
Communication at the social identity level
Judge the behavior of self and others in terms of group membership
Determine ingroups and outgroups
Deindividuate both self and others (Makes collective activity possible
but can lead to intergroup bias and prejudice.)
Merits and Demerits
Makes collective activity possible
Can lead to intergroup bias and prejudice
 Outgroup Homogeneity Effect : They are all the same
Social Categorization
A natural socio-psychological sense-making process
Foundation of stereotyping
The Filing Cabinet

b. Intergroup contact theory

Allport (1954), Brown & Hewstone (2005)

Bringing a member or members of one social group into contact with members of another social
group with the goal of influencing attitudes and reducing prejudice

Certain conditions must be present

Group members should have equal status in the contact situation

i. Cooperation not competition emphasized

ii. Common goals articulated

iii. Support from relevant authorities and institutions

c. Accommodative processes
d. Communication patterns of groups in power
e. How can positive interactions between groups best be facilitated? What are the
necessary conditions for successful interactions?

Typicality and Salience

These terms focus on the extent or nature of awareness of group difference

Salience needs to be high for attitudes to translate or generalize

Outgroup member must be seen as typical
If outgroup member is seen as atypical, positive attitudes may not generalize. This is
called subtyping
Unfortunately, high group salience and typicality are also often attached to negative contact
experiences due to intergroup anxiety
Thus typicality and salience do not necessarily produce positive results, but they must be
present to achieve positive results

5. Casing the Promise Land

a. Organizational detective: good detectives ask lots of questions, take notes,
observe and watch, and solve the mystery of the organization
b. Ethnography: a method of inquiry focused detailed, in-depth description of
everyday life and practice. This is sometimes referred to as "thick description" --
a term attributed to the anthropologist clifford geertz writing on the idea of an
interpretive theory of culture in the early 1970s. The use of the term "qualitative"
is meant to distinguish this kind of social science research from more
"quantitative" or statistically oriented research. Dr. Brian A. Hoey
 c. Fieldwork: The collection of information outside of a laboratory,
library, or workplace setting.
will take on one of two roles when examining the organization
Observer Depending on the organization and your affiliation or lack there of
you may not be an active participant and will function as an outside observer to
the culture.
Observer participant If you are someone who is also a part of the organization or
you take on the role of a participant during your study then you are an observer
participants

d. Problems with academic writing: Bares little resemblance to actual way

people communicate in the real world. Does not allow for the
writer to effectively communicate the way organizational
members actually live, talk, and think. To study organizations you
have to go out into the field.
e. How to conduct an organizational analysis?
1) Introduce organization and explain key information about it.
2) Explain why you chose this organization.
3) Discuss some questions you hoped to answer through your organizational audit.
4) Explain methods used, questions asked, etc.
5) Explain findings.
6) Make recommendations on how to improve.
7) Share findings and recommendations with the organization.

f. Thick description
Show dont tell Dont tell us that a culture is sexist, show us that the organization is sexist. How
could this be done?

Quote directly and accurately from those your interview

Be specific and detail in your observations

Focus on the symbols, stories, langue, and how organizational members communicate

Remember the Waagen, Everything counts

Dig, dig, dig do not rely on superficial and easy answers dig to find what is really going on

6. Communication, Culture, and Organizing

a. What is the cultural approach to studying organizations?
The cultural approach offered a radically different way to think about the relationship between
communication and organization.
For the first time, scholars began to take seriously the notion that organizations are communication
phenomena that only exist because their members engage in complex patterns of communication
behavior.

Put another way, scholars viewed organizations as structures of meaning created through the everyday
symbolic acts of their members (Keyton, 2011; Martin, 1992; Putnam & Pacanowsky, 1983)

By studying communication phenomena such as stories, metaphors, and rituals, researchers developed
rich understandings of the ways members both constructed and made sense of their organizational
realities.

THE EMERGENCE OF THE CULTURAL APPROACH

Tradition reviews say organizations working only as large bureaucracies. However, by the 1970s
and 1980s this view was becoming outdated. Large bureaucracies, like Ford and General Motors,
began to fail. Workers in these organizations reported feeling dehumanized.

For example, in the wake of the oil crises, Japanese automobile companies were quick to exploit
U.S. companies failure to produce fuel-efficient cars.

In this sense, intrinsic rewards and meaningful work that produced personal growth (a phrase
that would have been alien to the 1950s white-collar worker) became just as important as
extrinsic rewards.

In particular, some researchers were becoming critical of the dominant paradigm and its focus
only on effectiveness and productivity. Such an approach, it was argued, reflected a managerial
conception of what was important to study in organizations.

The cultural approach explained by Mike Pacanowsky and Nick ODonnell-Trujillo (1982),

The jumping off point for this approach is the mundane observation that more things are going
on in organizations than getting the job done. People in organizations also gossip, joke, knife
one another, initiate romantic involvements, cue new employees to ways of doing the least
amount of work that still avoids hassles from a supervisor, talk sports, arrange picnics. (p. 116).

b. What are the 4 key characteristics of culture?

i. 1) Culture is a collection of signs and meaning that doesnt exist in
peoples heads but in the shared (i.e., public) rites, rituals, artifacts,
conversations, and so forth in which people engage.
1. Semiotics is the study in which sign systems, or systems of
representation, come to create social reality for people.
ii. 2) Culture people actively participate in the creation of culture but at the
same time culture acts back on its members, shaping and constraining their
conception of the world. Just as a spider both creates and is limited by its
web, so people create and simultaneously are limited by their culture.
iii. 3) Culture - emphasizes the notion that culture is not a thing; rather, it
exists in the moment-to-moment
 iv. 4) Culture Should be seen as an interpretive rather than experimental
science. This is a shift away from the quantitative study of communication
variables (and the search for laws of human behavior) toward the
qualitative study of collective sense making in real-life settings.

c. What are the 4 functions a pragmatist sees culture hazing in an organization?

i. 1) Creating a shared identity amongst organization members. By
developing a strong culture, members are more likely to share a single
vision of the organization and its overall beliefs and values.
ii. 2) Generating employee commitment to the organization. A strong, shared
identity amongst employees also increases the possibility that those
employees will be highly committed to the organization.
iii. 3) Enhancing organizational stability. The creation of a strong culture, a
shared identity, and high employee commitment minimizes organizational
turnover, reduces the chances of distrust and workermanagement
conflict, and enhances the stability of the organization. Similarly, in
maintaining organizational stability, companies will look to hire
employees who fit in with the corporate culture.
iv. 4) Serving as a sense-making device. Employees develop a shared set of
taken-for-granted norms and principles that help the day-to-day organizing
processes. Indeed, an important part of being socialized into any
organization involves learning the culture of that organization. Ex:
Miners in Chile
d. Expressions of culture and sense making
i. Relevant Constructs: All organizations and social collectives identify
objects, individuals, events, and processes that punctuate the daily life of
the organization and allow members to structure their experiences. For
example, the construct of meeting makes sense to most organization
members as a relatively structured event that can be differentiated from
more loosely scripted behaviors such as informal chats by the coffee
machine
ii. Facts: Every organizational culture has a body of social knowledge,
shared by members, that enables those members to navigate the culture.

iii. Practices: Organizational life is made up of a set of ongoing practices that

members must engage in to accomplish the process of organizing. From a
cultural perspective, a focus on such practices provides insight into the
routine features of everyday organizational life. Ex: Snow boarders
iv. Vocabulary: . Often one of the most distinctive features of a culture is
members use of a specific vocabulary, or jargon, that describes important
aspects of the culture. Such jargon frequently serves as a kind of badge
signifying membership of the culture.

v. Metaphors: - The study of organizational metaphors has become an

important way for culture researchers to interpret the sense-making
processes of organization members
 vi. Rites and Rituals: emerge partly from a need for organization members to
experience order and predictability in their lives. Such rituals can be as
informal as a daily greeting between two colleagues or as formal as the
pomp and circumstance of a graduation ceremony
vii. Stories: Organizational culture researchers thus view storytelling as one of
the most important ways in which humans produce and reproduce social
reality.
Organizational stories is that they have a distinct moral imperative
(Bruner, 1991); that is, through the story structure, they move us toward a
particular moral conclusion about some aspect of organizational reality.
Stories are not just random descriptions of events but, rather, perform a
sense-making function in teaching us what is important to pay attention to.

7. Organizational Culture and Law Enforcement

a. Game theory: the study of mathematical models of conflict and cooperation
between intelligent rational decision-makers. (Myerson, 1991).

b. What are the rules of the game of law enforcement?

what behaviors they expect of each other, how to score points and what it means to
be considered a good player.

How do police officers get rewarded?

What activities produce desirable results that will earn them notoriety and promotions?

What behaviors are not rewarded?

What do people in high crime areas want?

What incentives and disincentives exist in for them?

What are the benefits of them cooperating with police?

What might be the disincentives for them in cooperating with the police?

Why does tension exist between members of minority communities and police?

What can be done to solve this problem?

How can we change the rules of the game?

c. How does game theory interact with communication?

Both operate from the premise that reality is socially constructed
Both assume that organizations have rules and norms of behaviors that incentives and deincentivize
certain forms of behavior.

Both believe that for change to be successful it must occur on the cultural, not individual level

d. Community policing
Policing also has rules and logic that makes certain actions the right things to do
and other actions the wrong things.

The current crisis in American policing requires dismantling the old law enforcement
game and starting anew.

e. How does community policing change the rules of law enforcement?

Many police agencies are collaborating with the U.S. Department of Justice and
organizations like the Police Foundation to develop and implement a new game that
redirects the work of the police away from law enforcement outputs such as
arrests and drug seizures as a measure of success.

f. What is the goal of community policing:

Strong neighborhoods are places where crime rates are low and where residents and the police work
together to keep it that way.

This new approach emphasizes public safety outcomes, like strong, safe, thriving neighborhoods.

In Wilmington, Deleware police worked closely with residents to build relationships through block-by-
block organizing, regular neighborhood social events and collaborative problem solving.

Surveys of this neighborhood at that time reflected strong support for the police and the willingness of
residents to intervene as needed to prevent crime.

g. What are the 6 principles of community oriented policing?

1. The empowerment of the community
2. A belief in a broad police function
3. The reliance of police on citizens for authority, information, and collaboration
4. The application of general knowledge and skill
5. Specific tactics targeted at particular problems rather than general tactics such as
preventive patrol and rapid response
6. Decentralized authority to better respond to neighborhood needs