Docsity
Log inSign up
Docsity
Prepare for your exams
Prepare for your exams

Study with the several resources on Docsity

Earn points to download
Earn points to download

Earn points by helping other students or get them with a premium plan

Guidelines and tips
Guidelines and tips
Sell on Docsity
Sell on Docsity
Log inSign up

Prepare for your exams

Study with the several resources on Docsity

Find documents

Prepare for your exams with the study notes shared by other students like you on Docsity

Search Store documents

The best documents sold by students who completed their studies

Search through all study resources
Docsity AINEW

Summarize your documents, ask them questions, convert them into quizzes and concept maps

Explore questions

Clear up your doubts by reading the answers to questions asked by your fellow students

Earn points to download

Earn points by helping other students or get them with a premium plan

Share documents
download point icon20 Points

For each uploaded document

Answer questions
download point icon5 Points

For each given answer (max 1 per day)

All the ways to get free points
Get points immediately

Choose a premium plan with all the points you need

Study Opportunities

Choose your next study program

Get in touch with the best universities in the world. Search through thousands of universities and official partners

Community

Ask the community

Ask the community for help and clear up your study doubts

University Rankings

Discover the best universities in your country according to Docsity users

Free resources

Our save-the-student-ebooks!

Download our free guides on studying techniques, anxiety management strategies, and thesis advice from Docsity tutors

From our blog

Exams and Study
Go to the blog

Major-eras of organizational (communication) theory, Study notes of Social structure and social organization

Seattle Pacific University (SPU)Social structure and social organization

Major-eras of organizational (communication) theory in define classical perspective, human relation, system theory, cultural perspective and critical perspective.

Typology: Study notes

2021/2022

Uploaded on 03/31/2022

ilyastrab
ilyastrab 🇺🇸

4.4

(52)

382 documents

1 / 5

Toggle sidebar

This page cannot be seen from the preview

Don't miss anything!

bg1
MAJOR ERAS OF ORGANIZATIONAL (COMMUNICATION) THEORY
IN THE 20
TH
CENTURY
C
OMMUNICATION
4170:
A
PPLIED
O
RGANIZATIONAL
C
OMMUNICATION
D
R
.
K
AREN
L.
A
SHCRAFT
I. CLASSICAL PERSPECTIVES (1900-1930)
Some general assumptions:
• A “science” of organization will lead to greater efficiency and production.
• Organization owners should strive to control all organization resources.
• Individuals who follow orders and work hard can improve themselves.
• Workers respond to rational-economic motivation.
Example #1: Scientific Management (Frederick Taylor)
→ One “best way” to complete any task
→ Select personnel scientifically
→ Compensate by production, not position
→ Managers plan; workers implement the plan
Example #2 Bureaucracy (Max Weber) :
→ Clear, hierarchical system of authority
→ Division of labor according to specialization
→ Complete, “universal” system of rules re: personnel rights & responsibilities
→ Exhaustive procedures for work performance
→ Selection and promotion based on technical competence
→ Impersonal member relations
Status of communication:
• Viewed as a managerial tool to command and control workers
• Function: Emphasis on production & maintenance
• Structure: Formal, hierarchical, & downward
• Informal, horizontal, & social communication = obstacles that should be squelched
II. HUMAN RELATIONS & RESOURCES (1930-1965)
Some general assumptions of the Human RELATIONS movement:
• “A happy worker is a productive worker” (shift from objective work design to social
dimensions of work).
• Organizations should reflect more democratic values and open communication.
• Informal communication is inevitable and useful to managers (for example, to assess and
influence employee satisfaction).
pf3
pf4
pf5

Partial preview of the text

Download Major-eras of organizational (communication) theory and more Study notes Social structure and social organization in PDF only on Docsity!

MAJOR ERAS OF ORGANIZATIONAL (COMMUNICATION) THEORY

IN THE 20

TH

CENTURY

C OMMUNICATION 4170: A PPLIED O RGANIZATIONAL C OMMUNICATION

D R. K AREN L. A SHCRAFT

I. CLASSICAL PERSPECTIVES (1900-1930)

Some general assumptions:

  • A “science” of organization will lead to greater efficiency and production.
  • Organization owners should strive to control all organization resources.
  • Individuals who follow orders and work hard can improve themselves.
  • Workers respond to rational-economic motivation.

Example #1: Scientific Management (Frederick Taylor)

→ One “best way” to complete any task → Select personnel scientifically → Compensate by production, not position → Managers plan; workers implement the plan

Example #2 :Bureaucracy (Max Weber)

→ Clear, hierarchical system of authority → Division of labor according to specialization → Complete, “universal” system of rules re: personnel rights & responsibilities → Exhaustive procedures for work performance → Selection and promotion based on technical competence → Impersonal member relations

Status of communication:

  • Viewed as a managerial tool to command and control workers
  • Function: Emphasis on production & maintenance
  • Structure: Formal, hierarchical, & downward
  • Informal, horizontal, & social communication = obstacles that should be squelched

II. HUMAN RELATIONS & RESOURCES (1930-1965)

Some general assumptions of the Human RELATIONS movement:

  • “A happy worker is a productive worker” (shift from objective work design to social dimensions of work).
  • Organizations should reflect more democratic values and open communication.
  • Informal communication is inevitable and useful to managers (for example, to assess and influence employee satisfaction).

Example #1: Managers & (Mis)communication (F. J. Roethlisberger)

  • Management is a verbal activity involving the use (i.e., persuading) and interpretation (i.e., listening) of language, which is variable and emotional
  • Management based on two assumptions—(1) workers are strictly economically motivated and (2) communication with workers should only be about facts—is deeply flawed. All members have personal histories and emotional needs that must be considered.
  • Good managers facilitate open communication and seek to understand worker perceptions.

Example #2: Organizational communication “climate” (Jack Gibb)

DEFENSIVE CLIMATE SUPPORTIVE CLIMATE Evaluation Description Control orientation Problem orientation Strategy Spontaneity Neutrality Empathy Superiority Equality Certainty Provisionalism

Some General assumptions of the Human RESOURCES perspective:

  • Motivation is economic, social, and related to a worker’s sense of self-worth.
  • Workers are untapped resources, wasted by most organizations. Most workers can take initiative and enjoy contributing to worthwhile objectives.
  • Managers should create an environment in which workers can pursue individual & organizational goals simultaneously.
  • Participation leads to better performance and, thus, improves morale.

Example: Douglas MacGregor and Theory X & Y

  • If work enabled self-esteem and self-actualization, motivation could be “built in” to the work process. But first, we must challenge common managerial assumptions about workers: THEORY X THEORY Y 1. People dislike work, prefer to avoid it 2. Workers are not ambitious, prefer direction 3. Workers avoid responsibility, are indifferent about organizational goals 4. Workers must be threatened w/ punishment to achieve productivity 5. Workers are not highly intelligent, not capable of creativity 6. Human resources are inherently difficult to manage 1. People view work as natural as play 2. Workers are ambitious, prefer self- direction 3. Workers seek responsibility, feel rewarded through their achievements 4. Workers are self-motivated, require little supervision 5. Workers are smart and creative 6. Human resources are usually wasted; management should create environments in which they flourish
  • Related example: Rensis Likert identified 4 management systems: (1) Exploitative- Authoritative, (2) Benevolent-Authoritative, (3) Consultative, (4) Participative

Status of communication in the HRs:

  • Viewed as a tool to coordinate, increase morale, and tap members’ creative resources
  • Function: production & maintenance (defined more broadly), limited innovation
  • Structure: formal & informal; hierarchy yet some decentralization; downward communication still stressed but with increasing concern for upward & horizontal

Example #1 :Comparative Management

  • Culture is imported into organizations from national, regional, and/or ethnic influences
  • Specific example from Hofstede’s work on cultural variability: Cultural differences on axes like power-distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity/femininity, and individualism/ collectivism become manifest at work. Organizations tend to adapt to local cultures.

Example #2: Corporate Culture (or a managerialist, functional approach)

• Culture is something an organizationhas—an asset or possession to be managed toward

enhanced performance. Emphasis on culture as unified across an organization.

  • Specific examples from “Strong” (Deal & Kennedy) and “Excellent” (Peters & Waterman) Cultures: Strong cultures enable members to understand and identify with their work and each other. Strong culture = supportive business environment, dedication to shared vision and values, well-known corporate heroes, effective rights and rituals, formal and informal networks. Excellent cultures = a bias for action, close relations with customers, autonomy and entrepreneurship, productivity through people, value-driven, “stick to the knitting,” maintain a simple form and lean staff, simultaneous loose-tight properties.

Example #3: Cultural Symbolism & Performance (or an anti-managerialist,

interpretive approach)

• Culture is what an organizationis—a performance that is ongoing, communicative,

contextual, episodic, and improvisational. Emphasis on culture as unstable, negotiated, and variable across an organization.

  • Much like a play, an organization has heroes, heroines, and villains whose goals, values, and practices indicate important features of the shared “script.”
  • Several features constitute organizational culture (Pacanowsky & O’Donnell-Trujillo): (a) relevant constructs (organizing structures, including persons, objects, activities); (b) facts (social knowledge that explains the mundane); (c) vocabulary (local lingo or vernacular); (d) metaphors (symbolic images for capturing experience); (e) stories (narratives that typify experience and display values); and (f) rites and rituals (recurring practices that provide outlets for sensemaking, celebration of values, and so on).

Status of communication:

  • Viewed as the ongoing activity through which organizational realities are created, expressed, maintained, and transformed
  • Function: maintenance & innovation, defined in terms of meaning systems
  • Structure: mostly informal & emergent (but ex. #2 = formal & strategic), multidirectional

V. CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES (1985-??)

General assumptions:

  • First, a nod to origins: Marx’s critique of work amid capitalism (late 1800’s)—alienation, exploitation, & false consciousness
  • Organizations are political. That is, organizational communication (re)produces systems of power, which are not neutral or random but, instead, promote dominant interests.
  • Organization theory also supports dominant interests. Even the so-called neutral cultural theorists (see example #3 under “Cultural Perspectives”) do so with their silence about

power, so let’s move beyond their interest inconsensus & how to uncoversuppressed

conflict & why (emphasis on culture as contested).

  • Some key concepts: (a) domination (i.e., certain groups enjoy privileged access to the means of production & expression); (b) ideology (i.e., deeply embedded worldviews make domination seem “normal” or “natural”); and (c) consent & hegemony (i.e., members ironically preserve the power of an elite few in the name of self-interest).
  • Goal of research: To expose and critique taken-for-granted relations of power toward emancipatory social change. More “invisible” forms of control require careful attention.

Example #1: Corporate Colonization (Stanley Deetz)

  • The corporate sector has become the primary institution of U.S. society, and it has colonized most areas of our lives (e.g., government, family, education, media).
  • Our capacity to participate in democracy has gradually eroded (e.g., our needs our narrowly defined; capitalist bureaucracies breed passive employee-consumers, not active citizens; the majority can/do not participate in corporate decisions).
  • Yet, because colonization is unobtrusive, we do not scrutinize the scope of corporate power as we do other social and political trends.
  • To revive democracy, we must expose the consequences of colonization and work to ensure the political and workplace participation of multiple stakeholders.

Example #2: Feminist Perspectives

  • Some beliefs that bind diverse feminist approaches: Organizations are “gendered” in ways that tend to privilege (some) men/masculinity. Such inequalities are unethical, impractical, and changeable. Research can expose how inequality works and thereby improve the

working lives of womenand men.

  • How are organizations gendered? Consider (a) communication norms, (b) the public-private split, (c) informal networking activities, and (d) metaphors for business.
  • How is organization theory gendered? Consider current theories of leadership succession, which presume that a leader’s tenure remains unscathed by “private” needs.

Status of communication:

  • Viewed as a process of systematic distortion and social change
  • Function: maintenance, but in a different, “deep structure” sense—to make inequality seem legitimate (or to “manufacture consent”); innovation, also in a different sense—to liberate and transform
  • Structure: concerned with the processes & outcomes of hierarchy—formal and informal, surface and deep