Sidestepping the Hierarchy:
A Case study of Reddit’s Baking Community.
Jessica Chase
CMST 412: Organization Communication
Introduction
I decided to study the subreddit r/Baking for this communication case project.
The group has 159,275 subscribers to the group . The groups prides themselves
on the idea it is “for all your baking needs. Recipes, ideas, and all things baking
related.” It is open to everyone from novice to professional and is fully inclusive
regardless of age, race, location, affiliation, gender, income or status. Reddit
itself is an worldwide, anonymous, internet organization, where an individual
creates their own identity which is then connected to your email.
I chose to study r/Baking because I have been a member for roughly a year
and I am really fascinated by all things baking. In hindsight I enjoyed discovering
ways organizations thrive without a typical hierarchical communication system.
Being a stay at home mom reddit functions as an accessible organization that I
can participate in daily.
Methods of Data Collection
These are strategies in which I collected data:
1. Observations: Since Reddit is a worldwide organization. There is a constant
flow of postings and comments. Every time I open the app I am able to
observe quit a bit of communication transfer in a brief amount of time.
Checking into the discussions is an activity I enjoy in my free time, so while I
didn’t go on everyday the minimum was once a week. I would assess my
total hours of observation to be roughly 20 hours.
2. Document Analysis: R/Baking created a document simple titled ‘Rules
Thread’. The rules were set up by the groups founder u/hailtheface. These
rules outline what other users are allowed to submit, behaviors that are
strictly prohibited. It also outlines the enforcement policies. I also analyzed
Reddit content policy because within the documents found on r/Baking it
states that the rules of the whole Reddit community remain applicable.
Literature Cited
Barge, J. (1989). Leadership as medium: A leaderless group discussion
model. Communication Quarterly, 37(4), 237-247 .
DOI: 10.1080/01463378909385547
Barker, R. T., & Camarata, M. R. (1998, October). The role of communication in
creating and maintaining a learning organization: Preconditions, indicators,
and disciplines. The Journal of Business Communication, 35(4), 443-467
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/002194369803500402
Eisenberg, E. M., Trethewey, A., LeGreco, M., & Goodall Jr., H. (2017).
Organizational communication: Balancing creativity and constraint (Eighth
ed., pp. -326-330). Boston, MD: Bedford/St. Martin's.
Findings
• Reddit is directly correlated to Barge’s leaderless group discussion model (1989).
This model of leadership occurs when a designated leader, in the care the
u/hailtheface, takes on a submissive role rather than an active patrol position. In
place of one individual running the show, a group of individuals can adapt ‘leadership
qualities’ at multiple points that fuel the group discussion and productivity. This
occurs in r/Baking. Even though there are over 100,000 members there are many
users that you see on a regular basis participating in verbal and nonverbal
communication. Barge (1989) also hypothesized that leaderless group discussion
model results in positive group productivity. My observations report this to be true.
There were multiple times in which users had posted questions or concerns
regarding a current baking problem or project. Multiple group members quickly post
positive reinforcing language, helpful tips which are both from a personal experience
perspective or found from a third party source such as online videos or corporate
websites. The original poster then would check back in with updates on their
personal success or failures when taking the advice.
• Using the above mentioned as a launching point I was able to connect r/Baking to
Randolph Barker & Martin Camarata’s theory of learning organization (1998). A
learning organization is an organization that provides a stimulating climate for
individuals to be continually learning and developing not only on a personal level but
a level that also growth that benefits the group as a whole (Barker & Camarata,
1998). My observation data supports r/Baking as this style of organization. An
individual posts a popular cookie they have attempted with a unique design, popular
now is an Italian sandwich cookie called macaroons. Not only have I observed novice
bakers attempting this difficult classic cookie but those who have perfected the recipe
are pushing the boundaries of flavors, decoration, shape and even size. In a
seemingly endless stream of macaroons they are learning and enjoying a friendly
competitive atmosphere which benefits all that participate.
• By analyzing the document found in r/Baking as well as my observations I was able
to witness synchronicity and media richness discussed by Eisenberg, Tretheway,
LaGreco & Goodall (2017). Synchronicity is the way technology allows for
simultaneous communication channels and even multi-way communication
(Eisenberg et.al, 2017). This was evident in my data collection through users posting
content. The original poster was responding to multiple individual feedback
comments simultaneously while also putting out the original output post. This is
something that would be nearly impossible in a face to face setting. Media richness
is the theory that different forms of communication use some or all of our five sense
to properly communicate. By examining documents of r/Baking we see the low level
because we are only reading the typed words and do not see the nonverbal cues
from the author. However, with the use of video and audio recordings in the
discussions we can also achieve mid level richness model.