Understanding Organizational Communication: A Guide to Misunderstandings and Challenges, Slides of Effective Business Communication

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UNIT ONE

Theoretical Foundations

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction to Organizational

Constructs

Preface

• According to Modaff & DeWine, organizational life is characterized by what? - misunderstandings
• What are the Textbook Assumptions?
  • Previous course in communication
  • Purpose of course is to familiarize students with the basic elements of the field of organizational communication.
  • Students will cover methodological and philosophical orientations in more depth in an advanced course (COM 525)

Textbook Layout

Part One: Foundations

• Chapter 1: Introduction (ethics & diversity)
• Chapter 2: Classical Management Theories (prescriptive)
• Chapter 3: Human Relations & Human Resource Theories
• Chapter 4: Systems Theory - Learning Organizations (analytical framework)
• Chapter 5: Organizational Culture & Critical Theories
• Chapter 6: The Communicative Organization
  • Misunderstanding will occur - organizations should be prepared.
  • Can misunderstandings be resolved?
  • Does organization need to learn to “live with the issues?”

Part Two: Challenges &

Misunderstandings

ORGANIZATIONAL CHALLENGES

• Chapter 7: Realistic Recruitment
• Chapter 8: Socialization of Organizational Members
• Chapter 9: Conflict in the Organization

RELATIONAL CHALLENGES

• Chapter 10: Supervisor/Subordinate Communication
• Chapter 11: Peer and Co-worker Communication
• Chapter 12: Team Communication
• Chapter 13: Impact of Technology on Communication

Organizational Communication

DEFINED

• Organizational Communication Definitions - Handout
• “Communication is the basis for the way in which an organization functions”
• Communication plays a critical role in most every aspect of organizational life
• A business is a group of people organized around a common goal
• Organization - Greek origins
  • Organon - “tool” or “instrument”
  • Communication is both the means by which the tool or instrument (the organization) is created and sustained and the prime coordinating mechanism for activity designed to attain personal and organizational goals.

Organizational Communication DEFINED

• “…the process of creating, exchanging, interpreting (correctly or incorrectly), and storing messages within a system of human interrelationships.”
• “…the exchange of oral, nonverbal, and written messages within (and across the boundaries of) a system of interrelated and interdependent people working to accomplish common tasks and goals within an organization.”
• MESSAGE-CENTERED DEFINITION Docsity.com

Assumptions and Features of

Organizational Communication

• Communication is central to the existence of the organization
• Organizational communication is a complex process (creating, exchanging, interpreting, and storing messages)
• Misunderstandings occur

Sample Research Topics in

Organizational Communication

• Information Dissemination / Message Flow
• Relationship Creation, Maintenance, and Termination
• Process of Organizing
• Message Privilege and Power
• Optimal Information (overload, underload)
• Effective Channels
• Impact of Technology
• Workplace Democracy
• Influence of Organizational Structure
• Team Interaction
• Organizational Culture

Organizational Communication:

What’s in it for You?

• Better equipped to address contemporary workplace issues. - Development of a temporary workforce - Implementation of teams - Adoption of new technologies - Multiculturalism
• Trained to focus on the complex and collaborative nature of communicating, organizing and knowing.

Organizational Communication:

What’s in it for You?

• More articulate about ideas.
• Understand the task of organizing individuals, groups, projects, and thoughts.
• Knowing/Learning how to learn.

Impersonal Communication Media

Misunderstandings

“Instances in which people who are communicating don’t share meanings as well as situations in which features of organizational life serve to impinge upon the efficient and effective functioning of organizational members.”

Highlights the central nature of communication.

Case study example: page 7.

Realities of Diverse Workforce

• “Diversity in the workplace encompasses a variety of personal and social bases of identity, including race-ethnicity, gender, age, socio-economic status, and country of origin.” Brenda Allen
• Diversity must be seen as a positive characteristic of the work environment

Ethical Frameworks and Organizational

Communication

• Must be defined within the unique culture of a particular organizational environment. (???)
• “There is something inherently present in any modern organization that facilitates unethical or immoral conduct” W. Charles Redding