Org. Comm Exam 2 (Ch. 5-9)

Power and Resistance at Work: Critical feminism

"Doing gender": gender not a property of individuals, but an emergent feature of social situations; gender as communicative performance. We are held "accountable" for our gender performances. Gender an ongoing accomplishment of both men and women. The glass slipper. View of organizations: gendered forms that construct systems of power and meaning, ex. glass slipper. Conception of gender: we are always accountable for our gendered performances. View of communication: Communication and power inextricably linked; communication creates gendered identities. Goal of emancipation: free both women and men from systems of power that make both prisoners of gender.

Communication Gender at Work: Liberal Feminism

-Critique of Enlightenment thought -"Women in management" perspective -Create level playing field in organizations. -"Glass ceiling" (woman 14.4% upper management in fortune 500 in 2015; 24 women F500 CEO'S in 2018) -Gender as organizational variable: leadership studies. -Rosabeth Moss Kanter (Men + Women of Coporation): Why do women do less well in organizations? 1. Tokenism: a perceptual communication phenomenon: high visibility, contrast with majority group, assimilation into token group stereotype. 2. Homosocial reproduction: works with tokenism. Usuing taken-for-granted communication processes. Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In: 1. Sit at the table. 2. Make your partner a real partner. 3. Don't leave before you leave. She's speaking to a lot of mainstream/traditional women. View of organizations: Creates barriers to women's advancement (glass ceiling). Conception of gender: Social roles played by men and women; gender as variable. View of communication: Communication as expression of gender roles; communication styles reflect gender. Goal of emancipation: creates equal opportunities for women and men.

Power and Resistance at Work: Radical Feminism

-Separatist position. -Organizations as patriarchal. -Women's ways of knowing; orgs built on feminine traits. -Consciousness raising. -Alternative organizational forms; collectivism -"The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house" -"essentialist" approach; perpetuates idea of "natural" feminine traits. View of organizations: inherently patriarchal; needs alternative organizations rooted in women's ways of knowing. Conception of gender: gender as essential features of women and men. View of communication: built on patriarchal meanings; needs to create alternative, woman-centered forms of communication. Goal of emancipation: Creates a world based on feminist principles, free from patriarchy.

Power and Resistance at Work: Conceptions of Power-Power as a social influence (French and Raven)

1. Positional (legitimate) power- power you get by virtue of position. 2. Referent Power-charisma 3. Expert power-power you derive from knowledge. 4. Reward power-the ability to reward gives power. 5. Coericive power-the ability to punish someone gives power. Power is not a thing, but involves relationships or interdependence between social actors and groups.

Post-Fordism and Organizational Communication: What are Boltanski and Chiapello's 3 "spirits of capitalism" and how are they connected to the emergence of post-Fordism?

1. Primitive Capitalism: -Dominance of entrepreneur (the person who could come from nothing and amass a lot of wealth) -Unstable 2. Bureaucratic capitalism -dominance of manger -hard to motivate workers-problem of alienation -"having an interesting job is as important as a job that pays well" (1973 government report) 3. Identity capitalism -Dominance of "meaningful work" discourse -Individual as entrepreneur of the self. Number 3 is a reflection of post-fordism while number 2 is a reflection of fordism.

Power and Resistance at Work: Conceptions of Power-The community power debate (elitists vs pluralists)

2 competing conceptions of power. 1. One-Dimensional Model (Dahl) (pluralist) -Pluralist position. -Behavioral Model. -Focus on decision making and overt conflict. -View of power as plural and widely distributed. A has power of B to the extent that he or she can get B to do something that B would not otherwise do. 2. Two-Dimensional Model (Bachrch and Baratz) (elitist) -Power possessed by elites. -Modified behavioral model. -Focus on non-decision making and covert conflict. -"mobilization of bias" A has power over B when A prevents B from doing something that B would otherwise do.

What is a system?

A complex set of relationships among interdependent parts that interact to adapt to a constantly changing environment. Focuses on relationships in a system, not individual elements.

Power and Resistance at Work: What is homosocial reproduction and how is it related to gender issues at work?

A condition that functions in tandem with tokenism and describes an organizational context in which, to put it simply, 'the men who manage reproduce themselves in kind'. That is men are hiring people who are like them, they hire 'diversity' but it doesn't get that far since diversity hires have trouble fitting in.

Systems Theory- Equifinality

A system can reach the same final state from differing initial conditions and by a variety of paths.

Power and Resistance at Work: How is the relation between power and resistance understood?

All power comes with a little resistance.

Systems Theory: Goals

All systems are goal oriented through the process of feedback (both positive and negative) they are able to adjust their activities in order to maintain progression toward their goal. It is possible for organizations to have multiple and possibly competing goals.

Power and Resistance at Work: Conceptions of Power-Biopower and Biocracy

Biopower (power over life) -Shift from capital-labor to capital-life relations. -People view themselves as human capital in the marketplace of life. -Conduct life as enterprise of the self. Biocracy (biopower in work contexts) -Intersubjectivity: social aspects of work a key source of value production. Space: work-life spatial distinction broken down. (the royal treatment) Time: little distinction between time at work and away from work. Economic valorization: use of unpaid labor to increase surplus value.

Post-Fordism and Organizational Communication: Fordist Organizations?

Bureaucratic, technological, and direct control; strong hierarchy and low trust. Differentiated, deskilled labor process; Taylorism. Production-oriented: -Large economics of scale -"Just in case" system -Mass production/fixed production, mass consumption. Stable lifetime employment. Internal labor market. Clear work/life separation. Transfer of Fordism to society as a whole. Keynesian economic model: state intervention in economy; class inequality addressed through taxation; WATT system (we're all in this together)

Communicating Gender at Work: Glass slipper

Certain individuals "fit" certain jobs "better" ex. pilots as men.

Systems Theory: Understand how the ideas of chaos and complexity relate to "new" systems theory.

Change is a defining feature of organizational life. Stability leads to failure. Chaos: Impossible to predict what a system will do next. Chaos is catalyst for insight and creativity. The core principle of chaos are "fractals"-constant renewal through creative destruction. Complexity: Organizations are "Complex Adaptive Systems" (CAS).

The Cultural Approach to Organizational Communication: Why did the cultural approach become popular?

Changing economic climate and challenge from other nations. Need for organizational innovation; failure of bureaucracy and rational management. Frustration with traditional research-renewed interest in qualitative research and interpretive tradition. This perspective emerged in the 1980s, due to the economic instability in the 1970s. Energy crises and the realization that white collar jobs were just as alienating as blue collar jobs.

Systems Theory: Closed Systems

Closed Systems-They are entropic and cannot resist disorganization and disintegration. Ex. Cults, which close themselves off from the rest of society in order to prevent contamination from unbelievers and societies ruled by the government.

Post-Fordism and Organizational Communication: In what ways Graham's article about Subaru-Isuzu illustrate the emergence of the post-fordist organization?

Common attributes of "Japanese Management": Focus on corporate culture, high-commitment management, team based work, workers enlisted in innovation process, cross-training of employees. Graham conducted her research in a participant observation. Both managers and workers are unaware that she is a research. Graham describes 3 main information sources: day-to-day observation, informal discussion, formal documents.

The Cultural Approach to Organizational Communication: The Purist Approach to Culture

Culture as "root metaphor" for organizing. An organization is a culture. Features: 1. Organizational culture is emergent and not shaped by managers. 2. Due to the complexity of organizational culture it is impossible to establish any causal connections between culture and organizational outcomes. 3. Organizations do not have a single unitary culture that all members share. Organizations tend to have subcultures. 4. Attempts to manage organizational culture often manipulate employee feelings and emotions and are therefore unethical.

The Cultural Approach to Organizational Communication: What is the connection between the cultural approach and organizations as systems of meaning and sense-making?

Culture doesn't exist in people's heads but in the shared public rites, rituals, artifacts, conversations, and so forth, in which people engage. What are the key communication activities through which sense-making occurs? Relevant Constructs (as a UNC student the honor code). Facts (every culture has a group of facts people have to share, they don't have to be true...like the roommate dying rumor). Practices (what do people actually do? Hang out in the pit or go to class) Vocabulary (LDOC) Metaphors (UNC dorm rooms as family) Stories (storytelling is a big thing in the culture) Rites and rituals (formal or informal ceremonies that make up the culture, UNC steals the bricks)

Post-Fordism and Organizational Communication: What is gig work? How is it connected to neoliberalism and post-fordism?

Definition: a labor market characterized by short-term contracts or freelance work as opposed to permanent jobs. This relates to neoliberalism and post-fordism in regards to the unstable job.

Post-Fordism and Organizational Communication: What is "Kaizen"? How is Kaizen connected to post-fordist work?

Definition: always looking for another way to improve. This connects to the idea of flexibility in the work process.

The Cultural Approach to Organizational Communication: Why is ethnography important as a way of studying organizations?

Definition: when researches immerse themselves (often for a period of months sometimes years) in a culture so they can become intimately familiar with the sense-making efforts of its members. Ethnographic research is good cause it does not set up experimental conditions but instead studies naturally occurring everyday behavior and communication processes.

The Cultural Approach to Organizational Communication: Be able to discuss the Disney "In Search of Excellence" video from a cultural perspective

Disney takes the pragmatist approach. Becoming disney, this isn't a breakroom this is back stage. The job is a performance.

Power and Resistance at Work: From a critical feminist perspective what does it mean to "do gender"? How is it connected to "gender accountability"?

Each of us is constantly being held accountable for our adequate performance of masculinity and femininity with each performance judged in terms of the social context in which it occurs.

Systems Theory: Entropy and Negentropy

Entropy-a measure of the relative degree of disorder that exists within a system at a given moment in time; the more disorder, the more entropy exists. Ex. closed systems. Negative Entropy-Negentropy-an open system. Open systems have the ability to counter entropy or disorder.

Post-Fordism and Organizational Communication: In what ways are work teams connected to the post-fordist workplace?

Flatter, flexible, decentralized organizaitonal structure/high trust. Flexibility of work process, labor markets, geographic mobility. De differentiated labor process.

Power and Resistance at Work: Why is it important to study workplace masculinity? What is "hegemonic masculinity"?

Focusing on workplace masculinity deconstructs the dominant-making the one the others. In other words, shining a light on masculinity means exploring how it is constructed as a dominant gender and also enables us to think about other ways in which masculinity might be performed. hegemonic masculinity=men are dominant, aggressive, strong, assertive. This is not a natural feature of men but is the product of specific historical, economic, political, and social conditions.

Power and Resistance at Work: Bourdieu and forms of human capital (economic, social, cultural); what is the idea of "habitus" and how does it connect to post-fordism and neoliberalism?

How is social inequality reproduced? 3 forms of capital: 1. Economic capital (wealth and income) 2. Social capital (connections, friendships, social network) 3. Cultural capital (educational credentials, knowledge, taste, posture, language master): 3 forms: One. Embodied (accent, comprorment, symbolic mastery) Two. Objectified (nice car, house, artwork, etc.) Three. Institutionalized (credentials and qualifications) Habitus: Physical embodiment of cultural capital. Ingrained habits and skills we possess thru life experiences. Feel for the game. Habitus allows us to successfully navigate social contexts. Certain forms of cultural capital more valued than others. Inheritance of CC more veiled than other forms of capital. Habitus seen as engrained in peopel and thus natural; reproduces inequality. (mis)reconized as legitimate in social life. This connects because of the capital stuff.

Communicating Gender at Work: Glass escalator

In feminized organizations, men experience a push upward within the group (ex. men getting promoted in school teaching settings)

Communicating Gender at Work: Glass Cliff

In times of instability, women are put in a manager position so that they're set up for failure. Ex. Carol Folt

Systems Theory: Interdependence and Hierarchy

Interdependence-a system biological or social is made up of components that function, systemically. That is one component of the system can have an effect on the entire system. In a sense a system is defined not by its parts but the relationship between and among those parts. Hierarchy-One of the most important features of a system. Systems process information and function dynamically across multiple levels. As such, any system is made up of interrelated and interdependent functions as a system in its own right. All of these hierarchically ordered levels are interrelated and any change in one level will produce changes throughout the system.

Systems Theory: What does it mean to understand organizations as systems?

It focuses on the process of organizing. It shows that organizations are complex. It shows that organizations are adaptive to changing environments (also that powerful organizations change environments)

Post-Fordism and Organizational Communication: What is neoliberalism and how is it connected to post-fordism?

It is the celebration of individual: "there's no such thing as society" YOYO system Market logic extended into everyday social relations; guide for all human action. Privatization and deregulaiton. Financialization and shareholder activism. Shift from capital-labor to capital-life relations. The enterprise self (individuals as human capital, risk society and venture labor, insecure employment/gig economy). Connection to post-fordism: It kind of lead to the creation of post-fordism. It is a feature of post-fordism.

Post-Fordism and Organizational Communication: How does the article about Amazon address issues related to the post-fordist workplace?

Kaizen on steroids (specifically aimed at white-collar workers) Development of post-fordism in different companies. "self-reinforcing set of management, data, and psychological tools to spur its...white-collar employees to do more and more" Flatter, flexible, decentralized organizations? Dedifferentiated labor process. Ranking of team members/short-term orientation. Connection: Energetic and entrepreneurial self, insecure employment. Overachievers go here to feel bad about themselves. Breakdown of work-life distinction. Captial labor to capital life. Anti-bureaucracy culture of competition. Team members at Amazon are ranked and yanked.

Communicating Gender at Work: Be able to provide an analysis of the "mad men" excerpt using the three different feminist lenses.

Liberal Feminism: Glass ceiling. Tokenism-sure they have women but none of the women are in the same positions as them. and the homo-social reproduction-the men who manage hire more men like them. Radical feminism: company is recreation of patriarchy; women should make their own company to reflect their values. Critical Feminism: the gendering of the workplace that takes place puts men in a dominant position. The women when they are taken out of their jobs to test out lipstick is another example of people preforming gender.

The Cultural Approach to Organizational Communication: Geertz's definition of culture

Man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun, I take culture to be those webs, and the analysis of it to be therefore not an experimental science in search of law, but an interpretive one in search of meaning. Organizations as systems of meanings (culture doesn't exist in people's heads but in the shared public, rites and rituals). Webs of significance that make up culture have a dual life (they are formed by people who actively participate in the creation of their culture). Thick description (the development of narrative accounts that provide rich insight into the complex meaning patterns that underlie people's collective behavior). Analyze sense-making practices of members ("from the native's point of view").

Systems Theory: How is "system" a metaphor for studying organizations?

New metaphor for organizing; rejection of mechanistic view of the world. Not objects and causes but relationships and processes. Focus on relations and patterns that connect. Critique idea of causal, linear effects; shift to circular, relational thinking. Roots in biology and information revolution.

Post-Fordism and Organizational Communication: What is "no collar" work and why is it becoming more common?

No laid out schedules. An unconventional way to work. no collar work is more common now because of post-fordism. Side-note- white collar work is office work, salary work. Blue collar work is wage pay, physical.

Systems Theory: Open Systems

Open Systems-both biological and social, exchange information and energy with their environments. This information and energy is taken into the system, transformed through various system processes and put out as something different. Ex. human body takes food and makes waste. Open systems also experience negative entropy, in that it takes them a longer time to reach that point of chaos because they are so organized.

The Cultural Approach to Organizational Communication: The Pragmatist approach to organizational culture

Organizational Culture as a Variable-Seeing culture as a variable means that scholars can examine how it varies (weak to strong) and how those variations are associated with other valuable organizational outcomes. Prescriptive view of culture. Focus on shared values and identity. Generating employee commitment. Homogeneous culture. Managerial orientation. Features: 1. Creates a shared identity among organization members. 2. Generates employee commitment to the organization. 3. Enhances organizational stability. 4. Serving as a sense-making device. Ex. Disney

Power and Resistance at Work: Conceptions of Power-Lukes' three-dimensional view of power

Rejection of behavioral model. Focus on shaping of needs. Conflict not necessary for power to be exercised. Power through identification and consent. Ex. Propoganda A may exercise power over B by getting him to do what he does not want to do, but he also exercises power over him by influencing, shaping or determining his very wants.

Power and Resistance at Work: How does Miurphy's article about fight attendants address the relationship between power and resistance in organizations?

She took the interpretative-critical approach: Interpretative-communication is central to understanding how organizational realities are created. We make sense and create reality through the language. Critical-not all descriptions of the world have equal value. What she discovered: 1. Resistance to gender hierarchy and status-the flight attendants often challenged the pilot's by making fun of the company guidelines that require them to keep the pilots hydrated. 2. Resistance to the regulation of movement and space-Female flight attendants have to live on site in a special training center where visitors are not allowed, and they have curfews. 3. Resistance to regulation of appearance-flight attendants used to have to be 120 pounds only and 20 somethings.

Communicating Gender at Work: How does Loe's "Working for Men" essay explore the relationship between femininity, masculinity, and power in the workplace.

She wrote the essay on hooters-Bazooms. There she conducted a participant observation and interviews. Women were not merely objectified victims of sexualized workplaces, but are also active architects of gender, power, and sexuality in such settings. Some women participated in the environment because it boosted self esteem others did not and retaliated by getting the manager involved or by teasing the customers.

Systems Theory: Feedback and feedback states (steady, change, and growth)

Steady-to maintain this state a system must possess the capacity for self-regulation. This system is controlled by negative (deviation counteracting) and positive (deviation amplifying) feedback. Growth-proof that instability in systems is not always bad. growth is unstable but it can lead to good results. Change-systems adapting to feedback.

Systems Theory: Homeostasis

Systems that are open and negentropic maintain equilibrium through a process of homeostasis. All systems maintain a degree of permeability with their environments, thus allowing information and energy to flow back and forth across the system's boundaries. This allows systems to have feedback and this feedback is used to correct and monitor systems as necessary.

Power and Resistance at Work: What is tokenism in organizations?

The condition whereby a person finds himself or herself identified as a minority in a dominant culture. They come to be viewed as representatives of their minority status rather than as individuals with particular traits and skills.

Post-Fordism and Organizational Communication: The move from fordism to post-fordism.

The crisis of 1970s. Energy shortage and oil price increases. Widespread political unrest. Labor unrest and widespread strike action.

Post-Fordism and Organizational Communication: Post-Fordist Organization

The fissured workplace: "Find you distinctive niche and stick to it. Then shed everything else" (Weil) Flatter, flexible, decentralized org. structure/high trust. Flexibility of: 1. Work process 2. Labor markets 3. Geographic mobility De-differenetiated labor process. Knowledge work/no-collar work/immaterial labor. Blurring of work/life boundaries (work is the new neighborhood). Limited production and niche markets Consumption oriented: commodification of daily life and branding products as "lifestyles" Centrality of corporate branding.

Communicating Gender at Work: Glass Ceiling?

The invisible and informal barriers that prevent women from reaching higher in an organization.

The Cultural Approach to Organizational Communication: Be able to talk about De Santis' "A Couple of White Guys" article in terms of how it represents a cultural/ethnographic study of organizing.

The smoking culture is what created the organization. The culture is the organization they recreate that culture based on eachother and feed off one another. It is also an ethnographic study because De Santi is himself emerged in the culture. But also he attending the smoking shop before he did the study, so he was an active member there then he conducted his study there.

Understand the idea of systems theory as a "general science of wholeness" (ludwig Von Bertalanffy)

There is a general tendency towards integration in the various sciences, natural and social. Such integration tneds to be centered in a general theory of systems. Such theory helps develop unifying principles running vertically through the universe of the individual sciences, this theory brings us nearer to the goal of the unity of science.

Power and Resistance at Work: What does it mean to say that organizations are "gendered"?

Traditionally gendered organizations or professions like nursing and grade school teaching are gendered as female.

Systems Theory: Nonsummativity

When elements in a system combine and function interdependently, the result is different from the sum of the parts. Ex. Wetness, if you combine one atom of oxygen with two atoms of hydrogen you get the nonsummative state of wetness. Oxygen and hydrogen are nonwet gasses, but combined they create a state that is different from the sum of its parts.

Royal Treatment Film?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvsIcwHavOs