Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Corporation
Before Control based on supervision Value increased by labour Foundation of work is profit Information acquired is needed Communication based on need to know After Control based on feedback Value increased by knowledge
Qualities of Organization
Diversity of all skills.
Structure define/arrange roles. Division of labour. Common objectives. A communication network that allows for the exchange of information among all participants.
Organization in Relationships
Organizatio n Interface Environment
Internal relationships. Interface service offered. Companies attempt to try and increase interface with more services. External relationships with the environment.
Time leads to change in environment the challenge is to keep interface up to date. o Nokia was a paper company and became a phone company. To preserve a business, organizations need to anticipate the future; their task is o see/preserve the interface even through changes. Dealing with change: o Cannot change the environment. o Can anticipate changes based on assumptions. o Build strategy to meet anticipated changes to keep/increase the interface. o Use functions of organization to meet changes HR, operations, finance, IT, marketing.
Culture
Created by organizations internal culture. The sum of everything we have learned as part of our environment. Provides the underpinning structure of all assumptions in the environment. Very important as it includes behaviour and belief. Main issue in organizational theory. Provides meaning.
Resource s Feedbac k
Support
PR
Advertisin g
Communit y Commen t
PR a way of trying to influence media. Specialized media gives specified news ex: consumers. Context can be political, economic, social, ethical, technological, legal. Organizational communications examines how each company constitutes a context that affects peoples personal/organizational lives.
Organizational research makes people the focal point of analysis and reasons that each company is the product of individual interactions and relationships. An organization needs the work of all of its people to produce a product. o
Theoretical approaches
1. View of Reality o Organizations exist as concrete realities with physical features reflected in the process of communication. o Communication is tangible and can be observed, measured and classified. o Organization as a shared experience of members. o Reality is defined by common interpretations of experience that members construct by communication with each other. A physical company with a roster list.
Regulatio n Functionalis Interpretati t ve Objectiv e Radical structuralist Chang e Radical humanist Subjectiv e
2. Functionalist approach: Organization as an object can be studied with concepts and methods of traditional social science. Organization communication is observable, measured, labelled, classified and related to other organizational variables. Focus on relationships between communication processes and effectiveness. Study information flow, organization networks, distortion, breakdown of channels. 3. Interpretative approach: Organization as culture. Organization as subjective phenomenon emerging from shared experiences of people who compromise it. Organization is solely constructed through communication. Organizational communication as a process through which social construction occurs. Organizational communication is the product of negotiated order. Organization is the product of negotiated order. Reveal those communication activities that occur in a variety of settings to produce the unique character of an organization. A building of shared meaning it brings people together.
4. Radical humanist approach: Similar to interpretative. Concerned with symbols, meanings and interpretation of experience. Some features are undesirable and change is required. Organizational suppression in systems of language and meaning ex: harassment as a result of demeaning language. If you take care of the people, you have a better workforce. 5. Radical structuralist approach: Similar to functionalism organization as a physical object. Organizational oppression in power differences and inequalities in organization structure. Concerned with symbols, meanings and interpretations of experience.
Rules rights, responsibilities, duties. Exhaustive performance procedures. Impersonality in human organizational relationships. Selection of personnel on the basis of technical competence.
Eclectic Theories
May Parker Follett o Itegration of inerests depends on shared power. o One exercises power with others rather than over others. o Human relations. o Metaphor of engine changing into metaphor of organism. Hawthorne Studies: o Done by Western Electrical company. o Illumination studies to determine the influence of lightning on productivity no difference between control and experimental groups. Group under new conditions is experimental; the other is control. o Results showed same degree of productivity, so they brought in Mayo, a scientist, who: Isolated six females who assembled telephone relay systems. Introduced changes such as incentive plans, rest pauses, temporary work hours. o Productivity remained high the experiment duration was one yaer. o Social satisfaction arising out of human association in work. Mayo. Organizational theory taking a new approach.
Globalization:
housing booms in other countries; the collapse of the Greek economy had negative impacts on the EU and the rest of the world countries. Seen as powerful and unstoppable. o The World Is Flat, Thomas Friedman (2005). Global economy offers exciting opportunities for entrepreneurs. Many others argue that globalization can lead to: o Loss of domestic jobs. o Abuse of third-world country workers. o Environmental problems. To what extent should the US model of capitalism be exported to nations with different governmental systems and culture? o Debating Globalization, David Held and others (2005). Have to consider the issues of trade, environment protection, economic development and security. Becomes clear that we live in an interconnected world which makes it difficult to understand globalization systems and how to make them work. Joseph Stiglitz (Globalization and its Discontents, 2002): while globalizations critics are correct in saying it has been used to push a particular set of values, this need not be so. Globalization does not have to be bad for the environment, increase inequality, weaken cultural diversity and advance corporate interests at the expense of the well-being of ordinary citizens. Field of organizational communication can be a big help to debates about globalization. Questions: o How can organizational members communicate effectively in the contracted time and space of global markets? o How can communication be used to enhance understanding in the multicultural workplaces that are a crucial feature of our global economy? o How can communication processes in business, government, and non-governmental organizations be used to protect the rights of workers in the United States and abroad? o How does organizing occur in the realm of the political and economic policy debates that are critical to the long-term direction of the global economy? Attacks on the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon, London and others have made terrorism a buzz word for our lifetime. o Oliver, 2007: in the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon on 9/11, the conventional wisdom was that everything has changed. Rosemary OKane points out that terrorism: o Has been around for centuries. o Can be perpetrated by individuals, groups, nation-states and regimes. o Not an ideology, but a set of strategies that involves the use of unpredictable violence against individuals and thus creates ongoing fear and suspicion among large groups of people.
Terrorism:
Effectiveness of terrorism today is enhanced by technology and urban residences with a high population rate and methods of mass transport. Implications of terrorism can be seen most in the war on terror and homeland security: o Most basic concern is understanding how terrorist networks operate, which requires knowledge about how terrorist organizations recruit, socialize, make decisions, pick leaders and form connections through technology and interpersonal contact. o The war on terror has also come to encompass military interventions like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. o Ergo, communications scholars must understand complex communication processes involved in military actions, politics and bureaucracy and the complexities of how to deal with military families. o Must also learn how to work with large government entities and use organizational rhetoric to link their goals to public opinion. o Weapons of Mass Persuasion: Strategic Communication to Combat Violent Extremism, Corman, Trethewey & Goodall (2008) considers the ways the United States has mishandled 9/11 and suggests strategies to move forward diplomatically. o Can also respond to terrorism through homeland security homeland security is a problem of organizational communication. Brian Michael Jenkins, RAND Corporation: Homeland security is not a television show about mysterious government agencies, covert military units, or heroes with fantastic cell phones that summon F16s. It is an ongoing construction project that builds upon philosophy and strategy to ensure effective organization, establish rules and procedures, deploy new technologies and educate a vast army of federal agents, local police, part-time soldiers, private security guards, first responders, medical personnel, public health officials and individual citizens. o Critical questions revolve around how to develop communication systems to enhance border security, improve tracking of possible terrorist activities and develop the ability of first-response organizations (police, fire, hospitals, military). o Can also consider the role of the individual citizen in reference to homeland security public relations, crisis communications, the best way that homeland security issues can be explained to everyone, airport security and so on.
Need to mediate the conflicts that arise between the need for security and the preservation of civil liberties.
Questions: o How do terror networks organize, recruit a socialize members and communicate across time and space? o What communication systems can and should be put into place to best ensure the security of our borders? o How can we help prevent our fear of terror from becoming a fear or
Shows how terrorist organizations are starting to target disenchanted Westerners. Shows the important communication link between law enforcement at the local level and homeland security at the national level. One cannot properly exist without the other. Terrorist was captured due to enhanced communication and organizational systems. Offers an insight into how the terrorist Shahzad was radicalized into becoming the terrorist next door he had money problems and found no help in America. Points to ways to improve homeland security Shahzad was able to board a plane. More aware of the ways that terrorist networks recruit and operate.
o each other? How can we best deliberate policy and make decisions in the changed environment of our post-9/11 world?
Climate change:
Climate change is an issue that can no longer be denied and must be addressed by governments, businesses and individuals. Recent changes in our climate due to global warming can be attributed to activities of organizations and individuals. Scientists have observed the effects of global warming polar ice caps melting, sea levels rising which lead to changes in plant and animal life as they adapt to the new conditions. o Occurring on land, underwater and in all ecosystems. o Influences weather like hurricanes and tsunamis. Changes not consistent over the globe and unpredictable. o Scientists cannot tell which parts of the world will grow warmer and which will stay the same. They can only guess. Much of the contribution to global warming began due to the industrial revolution our methods of factory manufacturing, petroleum-fuelled transport and systems of energy production started the process of global warming.
Organizational communications play an important part in finding ways to reverse or slow the process of climate change, especially in debates about global warming. o China and India, who are just now becoming industrialized, are arguing against the UN resolution to lower greenhouse gasses as to do so would slow their rate of industrialization. o United States debates on the balance between economic opportunity and environmental health are constant: 2010 BP oil rig explosion led to a huge environmental crises in the Gulf of Mexico. o Organizational communications also help when dealing with the effects of global warming, such as an increased incidence of forest fires and weather disasters. o Addressing global warming and change can open up opportunities for businesses that want to raise their level of environmental responsibility and sell themselves as green (environmentally safe) companies to consumers. o Although there are debates as to when companies should go green, it is clear that business owners are making decisions with the environment in mind. Questions: o How can organizations reinvent themselves to reduce or eliminate their contributions to global warming? o How can government representatives engage in productive debate about ways nations can work together to influence climate change? o How can entrepreneurs address the greening of organizations as an opportunity for both profit and social responsibility? o As climate change increasingly affects local weather events and patterns how should local, state, national and international agencies coordinate their activities to cope with the human consequences of global warming? Demographics statistics of a population. Simple but important. Influence how we communicate with each other. o Ex: shift from rustbelt states to sunbelt states over 80% of US citizens living in cities and suburbs. o 1930 5.4% are 65+; 2007 12.6% are 65+. Estimated that 20% of US citizens will be 65+ by 2050. o 1990 9% Hispanic; 2008 12.4% Hispanic. Have overtaken blacks as US population. By 2050, whites will become a minority. These show that the US of today is dramatically different from the US that it was before. Where, who and how we live lead to dramatically different experiences as we encounter organizations. The issue of age: o Scientists divide population into generational cohorts that show similarities in birth year and experience. For example, a World War II Cohort would be known for dependability while Late Baby Boomer Cohorts are known for their ambition. Generation Y Cohorts are known to be technologically-savvy.
Changing demographics:
Changing demographics result in multi-cultural workspaces, increasing responsibility to aging family members, workers with longer commutes and etc. Also pose the challenge of treating individuals with different races, ethnic backgrounds, ages etc in ways that respect them and creates opportunity for meeting goals. Questions: o How can we communicate with members of a culturally diverse workforce in ways that respect difference and help achieve organizational and individual goals? o How do members of the sandwich generation cope with the stresses of work and family concerns? o What are the various communication patterns and needs of individuals from different age groups? o How can we use communication technology to design virtual workplaces for employees in a variety of locations? Karl Weick suggests that successful groups and organizations need to be as complicated as the problems that confront them. o For example, the organizational structure of a small catering
U.S. population will reach 400 million by 2050, in comparison to places like Japan, China and Russia, whose birth rate seems to have stagnated. Key employable demographic age (1564) will increase by 42% in the U.S. and decrease by 10% in China and 44% in Japan. Nations with an increasing population of older citizens will have to find a way to handle the aging population Kotkin estimates that Chinas lack of a developed social-security system will lead to the aging population cutting into the countrys savings and per capital income rates. For the United States, the challenge will be in providing jobs for all these new people, though immigration and the recent trend of starting up small business will undoubtedly help with that. Small businesses, not mega corporations, will be the engines of employment.
The organization has five critical features: o 1. Social collectivity. o 2. Organizational and individual goals.
company will become more complex if it grows into a large restaurant. This is also how we should see organizational communication as the problems are complicated (terrorism, global warming) we must complicate our thinking.
3. Coordinating activity. 4. Organizational structure. 5. Embedding organization within an environment of other organizations. Stretch the understanding of the definition ex: structure is more than simple hierarchy; there are structures that eschew hierarchy, structures based on collective and communal relationships, etc. o As we stretch our definition and understanding, we notice that there are organizational types available today that were not available in past decades. Non-profit organizations are still considered a business, though they do not make money, and they bring about changes in first and third world countries rather than selling products. Advances in computer and technology do away with the physical brick and mortar location of the businesses. o o o The SMCR model, even with a feedback loop, fails to summarize all the ways that we need to think about communications. o Communication now stands for networks (computers linking us to others), meaning systems, multiple ways of information flow, warning but not panicking, coming to an understanding within the community. Robert Craig, 1999: o Contrasts transmission and constitutive communication models. Transmission a way of moving information from sources to receivers. Constitutive process that produces and reproduces shared meaning. Believes that we should consider constitutive models as the meta model. o Provides different ways to develop theory and research. o Proposed 7 different ways of thinking about how communication works. Communication Theorized As: The practical art of discourse. Possible Use in Organizations Considering the communicational strategies of organizational leaders during a crisis. Studying the way that organizations create and sustain identity through corporate symbolism i.e. logos. Mediating conflict between two employees through dialogue. Finding optimal ways to set up a communication
Rhetorical
Semiotic
Phenomenological Cybernetic
Sociopsychological
Sociocultural
Critical
Dismissive reflection.
network system for employees who telecommute. Using knowledge about personality and interaction style to improve conflict management programs. Looking at the intersection of organizational, national and ethnic cultures in multinational organizations. Confronting the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace through programs design to shift beliefs about gender and power.
Conclusion:
As the world becomes more complicated, so must our thinking. Founding perspective are not dead subjects they still have a wide influence on todays communication processes. o Purely theoretical explain how but not how to. Human resources spotlight on role of employees as contributors to the company. Human relations spotlight on individual needs. In more contemporary approaches system, cultural, critical: o Ways to understand and explain organization communications. o Enhance our understanding of any organization. o Exert influence. o Used mostly by scholars. o System organization as components and processes (something that happens in an organization) o Cultural organization as network of values, norms, stories, behaviours, artefacts. o Critical organizational power and emancipation of employees. Before the Industrial Revolution, most work was done by individuals and small groups. o Goals were created by artisans/families/cottage industries (a worker finishing a task from start to finish). After Industrial Revolution: o Increased mechanization and industrialization the organization of large groups in factories/assembly lines (death of cottage industries). Scholars and consultants tried to advise businesses how to deal with changes: o 1. Henry Fayols Theory of Classical Management.
2. Max Webers Theory of Bureaucracy. 3. Frederick Taylors Theory of Scientific Management. The only similarity between them was the belief that organizations should be modelled after machines. The machine metaphor: o Industrial Revolution had impacts on how people worked and how they thought about work. o Metaphor learn something about organizations by comparing it to an object. Gives a partial view of an organization that will reveal obscure, important aspects. o Specialization/division of labour everyone has a specific task to complete. o Standardization/replaceability workers seen as cogs and can be easily interchanged or replaced. o Predictability organizations run according to specific rules and standards and can be fixed by a rational consideration. o o o Henry Fayol father of modern operational-management theory. o French industrialist. o Late 19th- early 20th. o Elements of management (what managers should do) and principles of management (how managers should enact what they do). 5 fundamental elements. o 1. Planning looking to the future to attain organizational goals. Fayol: the plan of action facilitates the utilization of the firms resources and the choices of best methods for attaining the objective. o 2. Organization arrangement and evaluation of employees. o 3. Command set tasks for employees to meet goals. o 4. Coordinating. Fayol: separate activities of an organization must be harmonized into a single whole. o 5. Control comparison between goals and activities to make sure organization is functioning as supposed to. Fayol does not include communication as one of his elements of management; however, these elements cannot be complete without communication all of them require communication between workers and managers so it is an implicit part of Fayols elements of management. Principles of organizational structure: o Scalar chain organization should be arranged in a strict vertical hierarchy and that communication should be largely limited to vertical flow (moving up and down the chart). o Unity of command employees should receive orders regarding a particular task from only one supervisor. o Unity of direction activities having similar goals should be laced under a single supervisor.
Elements of management:
Principles of management:
o o o o
Division of labour work can best be accomplished if employees are assigned to a limited number of specialized tasks. Order there should be an appointed place for each employee and task within the organization. Span of control managers will be most effective if they have control of a limited number of employees (20-30 first level; six for higher managers).
Board of Directors
President
Executive Staff
VP of Product Planning
VP of Manufac turing
VP of Human Resources
VP of Marketin g
VP of Financial Affairs
Recognized that, in some cases, horizontal (i.e direct) communication would provide better communication. o Provided a structural gangplank (Fayols bridge) that linked employees at the same level. o Link should only be used when authorized by the manager or when it is beneficial to complete organizational goals. Fayol: It is an error to depart needlessly from the line of authority, but it is an even greater one to keep to it when detriment to the business ensues. Principles of organizational power: o Centralization organizations will be most effective when central management has control over decision-making and employee activities; optimization can be influenced by characters of managers/employees and firm size. o Authority and responsibility managers should hold authority both from their position and from their character, and should have responsibility in equal measure. o Discipline all members be obedient to the organizational rules and to the managers who enforce them. Principles of Organizational reward: o Remuneration of personnel employees should be rewarded for their work with salaries and benefits. Kreps: based on the notion that organization members primary motivation is financial and that work performance is dependent on the amount of remuneration they receive from the organization.
Equity employees should be treated justly. Tenure stability organization should grant employees enough time to finish their tasks with maximum performance; jobs are thus secure. Principles of organizational attitude: o Subordination of individual interest to general interest organization can only be effective when the interests of the whole surpass the interests of individual members; organizational goals must always be considered first. o Initiative managers should value and direct an employees efforts to work in the best interest of the organization. o Esprit de corps there should be no favouritism in the organizational ranks. o o For an organization to work, it must be: o Highly structured. o Each individual with a known place. o Clear rules to help with structure. o Employees should be rewarded. o Employees should be encouraged to work for the goals of the organization. Theory is prescriptive evidence demonstrates that the theory is actually not adequate to describe the way that organizations function. o In a classic study of what managers do, Mintzbergs findings included a number of interpersonal, informational and decisional functions that contradict with Fayols elements of management. Despite the weakness of the theory, it has had an impact on how management is taught and evaluated in the business world. German sociologist. Ideas introduced to the US in English translations at the same time as Fayols. More scholarly approach ideal type theory. o Lays out the features of the ideal organization. Believed that the bureaucracy would triumph due to technical superiority. Six facets: o 1. Clear defined hierarchy. o 2. Division of labour. o 3. Centralization of decision-making and power. o 4. Closed systems - will shut itself off from the outside world and factors that could hamper its functioning. . Thompson, 1967: bureaucracies must be technical cores that must be buffered from the environment through structural/communicative means. Ex: in a physicians office, the interaction between the doctor and the patient is the technical core and it is protected by nurses, appointments and receptionists. o 5. Importance of rules rationally established rules should be in place for every contingency and written down. o 6. Function of authority bureaucracy works through a system of authority, power and discipline; three possible types.
Conclusion:
A. Traditional/legitimate authority: Power based on old beliefs on who should have control. o Ex: Queen of England is monarch because of tradition. Thus, power may be distributed to people due to a tradition rather than actual ability. B. Charismatic authority: Based on an individuals personality and ability to attract/interact with people. Highly unstable followers may become disenchanted. Can be seen in cult organizations. C. Rational-legal authority: Based on rules and developed through a reliance on information and expertise. Power rests in the rules. Weber: Every single bearer of powers of command is legitimated by the system of rational norms, and his power is legitimate insofar as it corresponds with the norm. Obedience is given to the norms rather than to the person. Far more impersonal Weber advocated it as the basis of bureaucratic functioning.
Detailed in The Principles of Scientific Management with reference to the system implemented in Bethlehem Metal Corporation, which improved its work. Four tenants: Spotlight on o 1. There is one best way to do every job: Scholarship Attacked the system where job skills were passed down Scott DUrso points out that the worker today is through generations. just as monitored as the Best way of working would be workers of Taylors time. found through time and motion studies the most Technology at work leads time-efficient way would be to new opportunities for taught to all other workers. avoiding work and doing o 2. Proper selection of workers for social tasks but this the job. also gives employers a way to spy on their o 3. Training workers through time workers. and motion studies: Believed that only first-class Post 9/11 world have workers should be retained issues on monitoring and if a job cannot be located for surveillance. a worker, he should be fired. Almost 80% of US firms o 4. Inherent difference between conduct surveillance on management and workers: employees. Organizational managers best suited for planning, thinking 55% of US companies and administrative tasks. noted they retain and Organizational workers best review e-mail. suited for labour. 90% of employees Advocates strict division of admitted that some of labour. their e-mails were Scientific methods used to determine the personal. best way to do each job. 23% knew they were Problems eradicated: being watched. o Uneven work removed due to the time and motion studies training. 40% were unsure about o Piece rate should be based on the companys minimum standards set through surveillance policy. time and motion results Proposes a model management therefore cannot lower organization that them. considers issues such as o Social pressure of systematic centralization, size, soldiering would also be eliminated climate and policy factors as workers would be picked for to show the way we are specific jobs and break up the still being watched. original work groups. Theories and methods fell into some disrepute later. o Faced opposition from unions. o Became known as the enemy of the working man. Had an impact on organizations many organizations attempt to enhance efficiency through scientific studies.
Classical structure:
Also seen in non-profit organizations so that as little money is spent for as much. In many companies, the classical structure is blurred through the use of cross-functional teams or matrixing of tasks. Many organizations also recognize the value of communication that flows freely, and thus reject the formal organizational chart structure. The classical theories are the basis for todays structures. Classical theorists advocate the scientific design of jobs and fitting employees to their jobs and of rewards for work well done. Computerized organizations will find the most Case Study: The efficient way to make their system keeping mistakes to a minimum and using few keystrokes. Creamy Creations We are often looking for the one best way to Takeover (pg 34) accomplish a task. Also follow Taylors theory of fitting the worker to the job. o Lawler and Finegold (2000) argue about individualizing the organization in a way that allows for differences between employees today, the idea is matching the employee to the specific type of work he should do. o Kalleberg (2008) argues that there are factors that can lead to mismatches skills and qualifications, conflicts with work and family, geographical location, time preferences and inadequate earnings; this will all lead to poor performance, dissatisfaction and turnover. Money will always be a factor in organizations and today, the question is about which pay structure is worth it for the bottom line. o Debate about bonuses paid to professionals in the financial sectors and huge payouts received by CEOs. o 2007 CEOs make 431 times as much as the average worker.