9.4: Chapter 9 Summary

Organizational Communication Review

Why It Matters

You will spend the bulk of your waking life in organizations—schools, workplaces, nonprofits, and social groups. In fact, if you work for 40 years, you’ll spend roughly 12 of those years at work! Organizations rely on communication to exist; as scholar Herbert Simon put it, “Without communication, there can be no organization.”

Core Concepts

• Definition: A consciously coordinated social unit of two or more people working continuously toward common goals.
• Two Lenses of Communication:
  • Communication in Organizations: The conventional view where communication is a tool for transmitting messages to coordinate work.
  • Communication as Organization: The constitutive view where interaction literally makes up the organization’s social world, roles, and rules.
• Why Employers Care: Surveys consistently rank oral/written communication and listening as the most sought-after skills. The U.S. Dept. of Labor calls communication competency the most vital skill for the 21st-century workforce.

Historical Perspectives (The Evolution of Work)

• Classical Management Perspective (The Machine Metaphor): Workers are seen as replaceable parts. Focus is on specialization, standardization, and predictability (e.g., Frederick Taylor’s stopwatch studies and the McDonald’s "Speedee Service System").
• Human Relations Perspective: Focuses on social needs. The Hawthorne Effect showed that productivity increases simply when workers feel they are being paid attention to.
• Human Resources Perspective: Views employees as valuable assets to be involved in decision-making (e.g., Ouchi’s Theory Z, which values teamwork and collective responsibility).
• Systems Perspective: Views the organization as a living organism that must interact with its environment to survive. Key terms: Equifinality (multiple paths to one goal) and Homeostasis (stability).

Organizational Culture & Climate

• Culture: The shared values, beliefs, and "correct way to perceive" within an organization.
  • Artifacts: Visible symbols (office layout, dress code, logos).
  • Values: Strategies or yardsticks for judging behavior.
  • Basic Assumptions: Unconscious, taken-for-granted beliefs about human nature and truth.
• Climate: The subjective "mood" or atmosphere. Gibb identifies a continuum from supportive to defensive climates.

Types of Organizations

1. Mutual Benefit: Focus on members (unions, clubs, political parties).
2. Business Concerns: Focus on efficiency and profit (for-profit corporations).
3. Service: Focus on clients (hospitals, schools, social agencies).
4. Commonweal: Focus on the public at large (police, fire departments, military).

Modern Challenges & Ethics

• Communication: If you can be misunderstood, you will be.
• Ethics: A basic code of conduct. Challenges include tax evasion, environmental damage (e.g., Chevron), and the "survival of the fittest" mentality.

Mini-Quiz (check your understanding)

• What’s the difference between “communication in” and “communication as” organization?

• Name two reasons employers rank communication as a top skill in their organization

• Name the four historical perspectives on organizational management.
   

References

Adams, Susan. “The 10 Skills Employers Most Want In 2015 Graduates.”Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 12 Nov. 2014. Web. 17 Dec. 2014.

Barnard, Chester. The Function of the Executive. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, (1938). Print.

“Best Companies to Work For 2014.” Fortune. Web. 18 Dec. 2014. <http://fortune.com/>.

Blau & Scott (1962). Formal organizations: A comparative approach. San Francisco: Chandler

http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/fast-food.htm 

Bormann, E. G., and Nancy C. Bormann, Effective Small Group Communication, 4th ed. (Santa Rosa, CA: Burgess CA, 1988), 130–33.

Brady, Gene F. Management by involvement: An action guide. Human Sciences Pr, 1989.

Buckley, Walter. Sociology and Modern Systems Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. (1967). Print.

Burtscher, Michael J. “Promoting Good Decisions: How Regulatory Focus Affects Group Information Processing and Decision Making.” Group Processes & Intergroup Relations (2014). Web.

Conrad, Charles, and Marshall Scott Poole. “Introduction: Communication and the Disposable Worker.” Communication Research, 24, 581-592. (1997).

Copley, Frank Barley, and Frederick W. Taylor: Father of Scientific Management (vol.I). New York: Harper & Brothers. (1923). Print.

Cragan, J. F., and David W. Wright, Communication in Small Group Discussions: An Integrated Approach, 3rd ed. (St. Paul, MN: West Publishing, 1991), 120.Davis, Barbara, & Miller, Thomas. “Job Preparation for the 21st Century: A Group Project Learning Model to Teach Basic Workplace Skills.” Journal of Education for Business. 1996. 72, 69-73.

Deal, Terry, and Allen A. Kennedy. Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life. New York: Basic, (2002). Print.

Deetz, Stanley. Conceptual Foundations. The New Handbook of Organizational Communication: Advances in Theory, Research, and Methods. Sage. 2001. 3-46. Print.

Deming, Edward. Out of the Crisis. Cambridge, Mass: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Center for Advanced Engineering Study, (2000). Print.

Deutschman, A., “Exit the King,” The Daily Beast, September 21, 2011, accessed August 23, 2012, http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/08/28/steve-jobs-american-genius.html.

Eisenberg, Eric, & Goodall, H. L. Organizational Communication: Balancing Creativity and Constraint. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2001. Print.

Etzioni, AAmitai. Modern organizations. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. 1964.

Fayol, Henri. General and industrial management (Storrs, Trans.). London: Pitman. 1949. Print.

Fiedler, F. E., A Theory of Leadership Effectiveness (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967).

French Jr., J. R. P., and Bertram Raven, “The Bases of Social Power,” in Studies in Social Power, ed. Dorwin Cartwright (Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research, 1959), 150–67.

Gibb, Jack. (1961). “Defensive Communication.” Journal of Communication, 11, 141-148.

Goldhaber, Gerald Martin. Organization Communication. 5th ed. Dubuque, IO: n.p., 1990. Web.

Green, Reginald L. Practicing the art of leadership: A problem-based approach to implementing the ISLLC standards. Pearson Higher Ed, 2012.

Guglielmo, Frank, and Sudhanshu Palsule. “Leadership In The Social Age.” Business Source Premier. 2014. 50. Web.

Hackman, Michael Z., and Craig E. Johnson. Leadership: A Communication Perspective. Waveland Press. (2000). Print.

Hargie, O., Skilled Interpersonal Interaction: Research, Theory, and Practice (London: Routledge, 2011), 456.

Heron, Alexander R. Sharing Information with Employees. Stanford University, Calif.: Stanford UP. (1942). Print.

Holter, Norma C. and Donald J. Kopka. “Developing a Workplace Skills Course: Lessons Learned.” Journal of Education for Business. 2001. 138-143. Print.

House, R. J., and Terrence R. Mitchell, “Path-Goal Theory of Leadership,” Journal of Contemporary Business 3 (1974): 81–97.

Katz, Daniel, and Kahn, Robert L. The Social Psychology of Organizations. John Wiley & Sons. (1966).

Kim, Soo-Yeon. Exploring the Linkages among Employee Communication, Relational Trust, and Ethical Organizational Climates in Employee-organizational Relationships. Diss. U of Florida, 2011. Print.

Koschmann, Mark. “What Is Organizational Communication.” YouTube. YouTube. Web. 17 Dec. 2014. <http://www.youtube.com/>.

Krone, Garrett, & Chen. “Managerial communication practices in Chinese factories: A preliminary investigation.” Journal of Business Communication. 1992. Print.

Kreps, Gary. L. Organizational communication: Theory and practice. New York: Longman. 1990.

Lewin, K., Ronald Lippitt, and Ralph K. White, “Patterns of Aggressive Behavior in Experimentally Created ‘Social Climates,’” Journal of Social Psychology 10, no. 2 (1939): 269–99.

Madlock, Paul E., and Horan, Sean M.. “Predicted Outcome Value of Organizational Commitment.” Communication Research Reports. 2009. 40-49. Web.

Maes, Weldy, & Icenogle. “A Managerial Perspective: Oral communication competency is most important for business students in the workplace.” Journal of Business Education. 1997. 34, 67-80. Print.

March, James & Simon, Herbert. Organizations. New York: Graduate School of Industrial Administration & Carnegie Institute of Technology. (1958). Print.

Maslow, Abraham. Motivation and Personality. New York: Harper & Row. (1954). Print.

Mayo, Elton. Revery and industrial fatigue. Williams & Wilkins company, 1924.

McGregor, Douglas. The human side of enterprise. New York: McGraw-Hill. 1960.

McGregor, Douglas, Heil, Gary, and Bennis, Warren and Stephens, Deborah C. Douglas McGregor, Revisited: Managing the Human Side of the Enterprise. New York: Wiley, (2000). Print.

Meyers, Karen, and Sadaghiani, Kamyab. “Millennials in the Workplace: A Communication Perspective on Millennials’ Organizational Relationships and Performance.” Journal of Business Psychology 25.2 : 223-38. 2010. Web.

Miller, Katherine. Organizational communication: Approaches and processes (7th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. 2014.

Morgan, Gareth. Imaginization: New Mindsets for Seeing, Organizing, and Managing. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. San Francisco, CA, 1997, 151.

Murphy, Herta. A, Hildebrandt, Herbert William, Thomas, Jane P. Effective Business Communication. (2000).

Myers, Karen K., and Kamyab Sadaghiani. “Millennials in the workplace: A communication perspective on millennials’ organizational relationships and performance.” Journal of Business and Psychology 25.2 (2010): 225-238.

Ouchi, William. Theory Z. New York: Avon Books. 1981.

Pacanowsky, Michael, & O’Donnell-Trujillo, Nick. “Organizational communication as cultural performance.” Communication Monographs. 1983. 50, 126-147. Print

Papa, Michael J., Tom D. Daniels, and Barry K. Spiker. Organizational communication: perspectives and trends. Sage, 2007.

Parboteeah, K. Praveen, et al. “Establishing organizational ethical climates: how do managerial practices work?.” Journal of Business Ethics. 2010. 599-611.

Pavitt, C., “Theorizing about the Group Communication-Leadership Relationship,” in The Handbook of Group Communication Theory and Research, ed. Lawrence R. Frey (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1999), 313.

Perrigo, Eileen M., and Deborah Roach Gaut. “Is Academia” In Sync” with the Business World?.” Journal of Career Planning and Employment 54.3 (1994): 58-60.

Peters, Thomas J., Robert H. Waterman, and Ian Jones. In search of excellence: Lessons from America’s best-run companies. (1982): 101.

Putnam, Linda L., and George Cheney. “Organizational communication: Historical development and future directions.” Speech communication in the 20th century (1985): 130-156.

Redding, William Charles. Communication within the organization: An interpretive review of theory and research. New York: Industrial Communication Council, 1972.

Redding, W. Charles, and Phillip K. Tompkins. “Organizational communication: Past and present tenses.” Handbook of organizational communication. 1988. 5-33.

Robbins, Stephen P., and Timothy A. Judge. Organizational Behavior 15th Edition. Prentice Hall, 2012.

Roethlisberger, Fritz Jules, and William J. Dickson. Management and the Worker. Vol. 5. Psychology Press, 2003.

Sandhu, Ravjot. “Ravjot Sandhu’s Blog.” Ravjot Sandhus Blog. N.p., 12 Sept. 2012. Web. 17 Dec. 2014.

Sayeekumar, Manimozhi. “Organizational Communication and Reports.” Language in India. 2013: 690-695.

Schein, Edgar H. Organizational Culture and Leadership. Vol. 2. John Wiley & Sons, 2010.

Schoeneborn, Dennis. “Organization as Communication: A Luhmannian Perspective.” (n.d.): n. pag. Academia.edu. Web.

Shockley-Zalabak, Pamela, Keyton, Joann. Case Studies for Organizational Communication: Understanding Communication Processes. Los Angeles, CA: Roxbury Pub.(2006). Print.

Simon, Herbert Alexander. Administrative behavior. Vol. 4. New York: Free Press, 1965.

Skyttner, Lars. General Systems Theory Problems, Perspectives, Practice. Singapore: World Scientific, (2005). Print.

Stohl, Cynthia. Organizational communication: Connectedness in action. Vol. 5. Sage Publications, 1995.

Tagiuri, Renato. “The concept of organizational climate.” Organizational climate: Explorations of a concept (1968): 11-32.

Taylor, Frederick. W. The principles of scientific management. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1947.

Taylor, Frederick, Kingma, Gerrard ,and Peters, Jaap. The Principles of Scientific Management. Management Boek. 2011. Print.

Thayer, Lee O. Communication and communication systems in organization, management, and interpersonal relations. (1968).

Thomas, David C., and Mark F. Peterson. Cross-Cultural Management. Sage. 2014. Print.

U.S. Department of Labor, the Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills. Teaching the Scans Competencies. (1993). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Von Bertalanffy, L. General Systems Theory. New York: Braziller. 1968. Print.

Weber, Max. The theory of social and economic organization. Simon and Schuster, 2009.

Weick, Karl E. The social psychology of organizing (Topics in social psychology series). (1979).

Wood, J. T., “Leading in Purposive Discussions: A Study of Adaptive Behavior,” Communication Monographs 44, no. 2 (1977): 152–65.

The US Department of Labor. (2010). American time-use survey—2010 results [Press release]. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/atus.pdf