COMM 325 Midterm
Critique of SM
By placing all knowledge about work in the hands of managers, workers lose control over how work gets done. This division between mental labor and physical labor serves to alienate workers from their jobs, insofar as they become mere appendages to the machinery. Focal point of organization is the body of the worker. Neglected the social dimension of work, limited view of workers, though they were only motivated by economic incentive.
Weber's forms of authory
Charismatic, tradition, rational-legal
Frank and Lilian Gilbreth
Famous for their time and motion studies. - initially interested in Taylor's ideas but became disillusioned with his focus on time as an indicator of how efficiently a job was being performed, they argued that managers should focus on motion rather than time. - they worked to redesign work tasks to make them more efficient by eliminating unnecessary movements - Therbligs - basic unit of motion. • They also believed that worker satisfaction was key to achieving optimum performance - developed the term happiness minutes "the reduced fatigue that efficient workers experience and the greater enthusiasm workers displayed once they began thinking about their own efficiency challenges" • Argued for the need to increase worker satisfaction by correctly matching people to jobs, minimizing fatigue, and giving workers personal reasons to work efficiently, advocated for tapping into employee expertise and involving them in the decision making process. • Took major issue with taylor's system because they felt it treated workers merely as bodies - modified Taylor's system to a more human form.
Relationship between scientific management and modernity
Focus on efficiency - figuring out the fastest way to do something/complete something.
W. Charles Redding
Found of Organizational Communication
traditional authority
rooted largely in the inherited right of an individual to expect obedience and loyalty from others. Exercise of authority not from power or merit but from tradition. Ex. Monarchy, "old boy" network
Technological Control
slightly less direct, technology controls the kinds of work people do and the speed at which they can do it - Henry Ford, production line, McDonalds, electronic surveillance.
Characteristics of bureaucracy
• A hierarchically organized chain of command wth appropriately assigned responsibilities, • Clearly defined system of impersonal rules that govern the rights and repsonsibilities of office holders • Development of written regulations that describe the rights and duties of organization members • A clearly defined division of labor with specialization of tasks • Norms of impersonality that govern relations between people in the bureaucracy, employees behave based on rules of position rather than personal ties • Written documentation and use of file system that stores information on which decision making is based. • Weber thought bureaucratic model was technically superior because it was democratic (everyone treated equally and impersonally), promoted the development of capitalism,
Key Issues for marx
• Alienation and expropriation - workers are deprived of ability to provide for themselves - all they have is their capacity to labor. Ex. Laws of enclosure in UK. • The shift from use value to commodity value - the goal of capitalism is not to make goods in order to produce more goods, but to turn money into more money. This highlights the shift from use value, which is viewed as less important, to exchange/commodity value - how much something is worth within an economy - i.e. cars. • The production of surplus value - the hidden nature of exploitation in capitalism - the creation of surplus value - people represent the capacity to work/ labor which is expandable and malleable. Thus the difference between the value of labor power that is purchased by an employer and the actual value produced by the worker is surplus value. • The role of ideology - Marx believed that the ideas of the ruling class were in every epoch of society which is the reason that the exploited don't revolt • Marx critiqued how everything was turned into a commodity by capitalism.
SM Controversy
• Controversial system - from union/ from factory owners (took issue with the idea that success was a result of scientific principles and not qualities inherent in "captains of industry")
Critique of Hawthorne and HRT
• Critiqued on empirical ground - replacement of workers, etc. Little correlation between morale and productivity • Challenged on ideological grounds - questioned study's conservative vision of worker-management relations - the rational manager vs the sentimental worker. • Gender bias? • Lack of conflict - viewed conflict as a result of worker psychology that could be avoided.
Cultural Studies
• Culture as everyday system of meanings - critique the distinction between high and low culture, arguing that the opposition was elitist and limited the was mass culture could be conceptualized. Believe that culture is a system of shared meanings that unites members of a particular society - shared meanings developed through "systems of representation". Ex. Language. • Focus on systems of representation - there is no natural or intrinsic meaning associated with a particular sign. Meaning arises out of difference. Study of systems of representation - semiology. Systems are social - they don't just arise out of us - they create the possibility for culture and society and our very identities. • What are the differences that make a difference? Meaning is created through difference - difference as fixed - if there is a difference, it is based on a particular thing. Stop lights example - the difference between the red and green light is based in the fact that they're part of the stoplight
Findings of the Hawthorne Studies
• Discovery of the informal work group - groups could lead to more cooperative/productive workforce. • Importance of informal communication - can contribute to worker satisfaction, boost productivity. • The Hawthorne Effect - showed untapped potential of managers to motivate workers. • Impetus for leadership research • Early systems focus - showed importance of taking a more systemic approach to attitudes and norms in workplace - early contributor to systems perspective • Use of qualitative methods - • Solution to industrial conflict - seemed to solve proble,.
Charles Perrow
"The problems advanced by social scientists have been primarily the problems of human relations in an authoritarian setting."
Clifford Geertz
"man is an animal suspended in webs of significance that he himself has spun"
System
- A complex set of relationships among interdependent parts that interact to adapt to a constantly changing environment
Constitutive/round earth perspective or organizational comm
- communication between people forms complex systems - communicate constitutes organization, communication as the fundamental process of social reality, the building blocks of an organization, allows questions of organizational reality and its complexities, takes interpretive processes into account, which is organizations as communication fundamental process that shapes our social reality and creates meaning. Entails continually creating and negotiating the meanings and negotiations that shape our lives. the idea of organizations are never just neutral structures, they are commutative cummuiative of all communications are what make organizations organizations exist as communicative, they are constantly making decisions and are shaped by people communicating much better perspective it shapes and creates organizations, recognizable forms
Systems Theory Concepts
--open and closed systems - open systems exchange info and energy with their environment which allow them to respond and adapt, a closed system does not have this movement. --interdependence and hierarchy - all parts influence and are influenced by one another, process info across levels, subsystems within the larger system. --goals - all systems are goal oriented, though they can have conflicting goals --homeostasis - for open systems, they maintain equilibrium through this. Permeability of system allows information to flow back and forth so they can adapt and thus remain balanced. --nonsummativity - holism - the work of an independent part is different from the function of the whole. --equifinality and multifinality - equifinality - a system can reach the same final state from differing initial conditions and by a variety of paths. Multifinality - the ability of a system to reach multiple goals and states from the same initial conditions and inputs. --entropy and negentropy - entropy - the relative measure of the degree of disorder, open systems exhibit negative entropy - can counter entropy - are negentropic. --feedback and feedback states (steady (wiggles around equilibrium), change (wiggles, increase, wiggles), and growth (constant increase))
The Critical Perspective's view of organization
-Organizations are social constructed through communication processes - organizations are not structures but exist as collective and coordinated communication processes. - social constructionist approach. Organizations are political sites of power and control - affect/determine systems of meaning - "deep structures" of organizations. Organizations are key sites of human identity formation in Modern Society - Organizations are important sites of collective decision making and democracy - the main social/political realms where decisions get made that affect our day to day lives. Are sites of Ethical issues and dilemmas -
Boltanski and Chiapello three spirits of capitalism and their conenction to HRT and HRM
1.) Entrepreneurial Spirit (dominance of entrepreneur) Related to the "captains of industry" phenomenon and the concept of the cult of personality 2.) Managerial Spirit ( dominance of manager) (1930s-1960s) Focused on the creation of rules and systems within the organization in order to perpetuate said organizations, and make them places of rational decision-making 3.) "Identity capitalism" (dominance of meaningful work)
Cultural Approach to Org Comm
1970s/80s First time organizations views as communication phemonena, viewed as structures of meaning created through every symbolic action, instability of 70s led to it.
The Meatrix
All the different parts of the food industry affect one another and consumers, who are also their own part in the system.
Modern Times as a critique of bureaucracy
Critique of SM - dehumanizing - treats workers badly, gives them no sense of autonomy or creativity. Bureau - lack of direct communication between manager and worker, manager makes decisions without their input, without knowing if they will really work/be beneficial.
Japanese Transplant - Relationship between power and resistance
Despite the best efforts put forth with the "kaizen" technique by the managers, resistance existed. Indeed, the more cultural and base control exerted over the workers, the more resistance, on both an individual and collective level, existed. • Suburu plant in late 80s Indiana - effort to study implementation of Japanese org in America, Japanese encourage worker participation, Graham focused on challenging the conventional thesis of the relationship between workers and management, performed ethnographic study. Unusual recruitement measures, location choice? Fewer unions, sympathetic to worker orientation, Just in Time System vs Fordism, , semi autonomous teams encourage one another but there is also pressure within the teams, kaizen - encourage continuous improvement. Individual resistance - stopping the assembly line, sabotage, gestures that challenge meaning - first thing in morning ritual, directly challenging supervisors, control and resistance as interdependent.
Types of control mechanisms
Direct, technological, bureaucratic, Ideological, Disciplinary
Human Relations Theory
Elton mayo - a happy worker is a productive worker
Human Resource Management as an extension of HRT
Genuine effort to motivate workers by recognizing their value in the organization, , also a response to the legitimacy crisis of management because they appeared to have little control of the motivation and productivity of their workers. An actual attempt to tap into higher order needs to workers while human relations just pretended to - vent.
Realist democrats
HRT Democracy Debate - argued for a "Realist" conception of industrial democracy in which administrative elites took a leading role in the development of industrial policy - believed only the elite were qualified to take part. - this position prevailed.
Theme of Control
Must coordinate the members to work collectively - i.e. control. This can only be done by resolving the conflict between the goals of the organization and the goals of its members - usually by subordinating the goals of the members. Control as a dialectical process - not linear or cause/effect. Organization implies control.
Sense-making activities
Organizational storytelling • Relevant constructs, facts, practices, vocabulary, metaphors, rites and rituals, stories
Taylor's Principles in SM
Scientific job design - each element of the work task is designed according to scientific principles, replacing method of "ordinary management" • -Scientific selection and training of individual workers - each worker is matched to the job for which he or she is best suited and then trained in the necessary skills - in ordinary management workers chose their own jobs and trained themselves -Cooperation between management and workers - managers supply a supportive supervisory environment that provides workers with a sense of achievement. -Equal division of work between management and workers - management assumes the responsibility for scientifically designing tasks and planning ahead.
natural soldiering
Taylor's belief that men have a natural instinct/inherent tendency to take it easy.
Precursors of McDonaldization
Taylorism and Bureaucracy - background features that we take for granted - SM - efficiency, bureaucracy - McDonalidzed companies run through bureaucracy, formal structure allows for more efficiency, theory or rationality, the assembly line/Fordism also important - i.e. breaking down production into tasks
The Frankfurt School
The Institute for Social Research - Neo-Marxists - early 20th century version of Marxism - interested in why capitalism keeps reproducing itself? Why do people not see the contradictions in it and revolt? What are the mechanisms that allow capitalism to reproduce itself - culture? Founded in 1924. Believed that ideas were mass produced - the culture industry. • Updating and critique of classical Marxism - an attempt to reinterpret Marxist thought in the light of the 20th century changes in capitalism. • Focus on culture and ideology - were interested in understanding not only as an economic system but as a cultural and ideological system that had a significant impact on the way people thought about and experienced the world. • Argued for a dialectical model of capitalism in which the economic aspects affected the cultural and ideological aspects and vice versa. • The "culture industry" - the coming together of popular forms of mass culture, the media, and advertising to create a "totally administered society" that left individuals little room for critical thought. Means by which capitalism could perpetuate self and produce mass consciousness. Suggests that culture in mass produced, is administered from above, creates needs in people that would not otherwise exist but are still considered essential for survival and expansion of capitalism. • Critique of Enlightenment thought - sought to analyze the relationship between this and the 20th century forms of science and rationality. They suggest that society's focus on objectification and quantification has led to an extremely narrow conception of knowledge that in unreflective. Enlightenment was mass deception.
Pyramid of Control
The levels of control mechanisms going from most sophisticated (involving the most consent/least coercion_ to most basic/coercive. From Top to bottom - Disciplinary control, ideological, bureaucratic, technological, direct. The higher it is in the pyramid, the more agency and autonomy members have. Bottom levels more about physical control, top about internalized/self control.
McDonaldization
The process by which principles of the fast food industry are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society.
Theory
Theory directs attention, points us toward thinking about the world in a particular way, is generative - generates more research. Theory - consists of a set of interrelated concepts and statements that make sense of and explain human behavior in a systematic manner and from a particular perspective. Implicit vs. Explicit theory
Examples of McDonaldization
Toys R Us as the McDonalds of Toys, Walmart, dial-a-porn, USA Today, Journalism - shorter and more concise
Model of communication in Weber's theory
Transmission of info along formal bureaucratic channels, up or down the hierarchy
Communication Model in taylorism
Transmission of information from manager to worker - conduit model??? Basic model? Shannon and Weaver?
Weick's Approach to Organizing
Viewed collective activity as an ongoing process oriented, and dynamic. We engage in organizing processes and continually try to make sense of the processes in which they are participating. • Why is Weick's approach important? Went against the idea that organizations are purely rational structures. By believing this, we create problems, equivocality. • What's Weick's definition of organizing? a consensually validated grammar for reducing equivocality by means of sensible interlocked behaviors. To organize is to assemble ongoing interdependent actions into sensible sequences that generate sensible outcomes."
Crisis of Representation
a challenge to the idea that knowledge consists of a body of facts that represent an objectively existing reality, independent from human perception and experience.
Functionalism
a discourse (a system of possibilities for the creation o knowledge) of representation. Believe that progress and emancipation can be best achieved through a process of discovery in which application of scientific principles gradually and progressively illuminate the world for us. Dominant discourse in social sciences - researchers do carefully controlled experiments to make causal claims about behavior. • Focuses on human behavior, tries to explain it, make claim about it, predict it, create causal claim. • Tries to make generalizable claims about the world. • As flat earth perspective? • Conception of Communication - as information transmission - conduit model • View of Organization - goal-oriented structures independent from member's actions • Conception of Comm-Org Relationship - comm takes place in organizations - organizations as container communication
Feminism
a discourse of empowerment - part of the modernist project and its theme of emancipation, challenges organization and world in general as being white/male. Discusses how organizations are gendered (towards both men and women), challenges social constructs of gender - both fits/challenges modernist perspective. Sees reality as socially constructed through gender-biased communication processes that have mostly excluded women from participation in organizations and institutions.; need to empower women in order to escape oppression. • Conception of Comm - as creation of gendered meanings and identities, humans "do gender" through communication • View of Org - as gendered coordinated systems of power relations and patriarchal structures • Conception of Comm-Org Relationship - communication as accomplishment of gendered, collective structures and practices.
Critical Theory
a discourse of suspicion - views reality as a product of collective communication practices of social actors. Believes that different social groups have different levels of access to symbolic and communication resources, the way reality is constructed reflects the ability of the powerful to shape this process. Round earth. • View organizations as political systems with multiple stakeholders. See a relationship between organizations and democracy, look at how power and politics work in an everyday manner. • Conception of Communication - communication as creation of ideological meaning systems mediated by power relations • View of Organizations - social/symbolic products of different political interests and power struggles. • Conception of Comm-Org Relationship - organizations and communication coproduced - both are medium and product of deep structure power relations
Interpretivism
a discourse of understanding - thinks of humans as "meaning-making", also referred to as social constructivism - sees a direct relationship between communication processes and who we are as human beings. Communication is not a conduit, but constitutes the world. Round earth approach. • Conception of comm - communication as dialogic creation of meaning systems • View of organization - social/symbolic creations of collective and coordinated actions • Concept of Org-Comm relationship - Organizations and communication coproduced.
Postmodernism
a discourse of vulnerability - poses the biggest challenge to representational discourse, response to modernism's focus on rationality - views it as problematic by creating narrow forms of thinking, focus on little stories rather than "grand narrative" rejects any single overarching social reality. Reality is constructed in multiple ways by multiple competing voices. Reality is textual. • Round earth perspective - organizations are nothing but discourse. • Conception of comm - communication as unstable and shifting system of meanings • View of Org - Organizations consist of multiple, competing, and fragmented realities • Conception of Comm-Org Relationship - organizations as products of shifting and unstable systems of signification and texts.
Metatheoretical Frameworks
a theory about theories. - see discourses. Takes into account the complexities of the world (constitutive approach)
Modernism
a way of thinking in which science, rationality, and progress are in the dominant themes. An individual through thought can understand the world. All metatheoretical discourse connected to this
Conceptions of Power - power as social influence - French and Raven
a. Argue that power as influence occurs when a psychological change takes place in the person or persons being influenced. b. Five bases of social influence (positional power or legitimate power, referent power (rooted in charisma), expert power (power in the person's ability to provide to an organization knowledge and expertise that other members do not possess, reward power (the ability to provide people with resources that result in positive feelings), coercive power - opposite of reward, most explicit form of power, c. Power does not exist as a thing but a relational process.
Community Power Debate
a. Debate in the field of political science about the nature of power that existed in society between the elitists and purists - purists 1d argued that power was equally distributed throughout society and that no one had undue influence of decision making processes. b. Elitists 2d- claimed that power was concentrated in the hands of a privledged few who controlled political agenda. One-Dimensional Model (Dahl) pluralist position behavioral model focus on decision making and overt conflict view of power as plural and widely distributed 2. Two-Dimensional Model (Bachrach and Baratz) elitist conception of power modified behavioral model focus on non-decision making and covert conflict "mobilization of bias" (Schattschneider)
Lukes 3d model -
a. Rejection of behavioral model, focus on shaping of need, shaping of peopl's beliefs, perceptions, which determine behavior, conflict does not have to be a condition for power - it isn't necessary, power through identification and consent - Diamond industry, cosmetics.
Elton Mayo
argued that the experience of the average worker was similar to PTSD, workplace produced sense of alienation in the worker leading to detachment from the work environment - proposed counseling to allow workers to "Vent" - not meant to actually help or make changes. Saw the workplace as the primary place of the creation of human identity.
Systems theory as general study of wholeness
brings together all studies, field with the universal concepts.
HRT Democracy Debate - Industrial Democrats
called for increased levels of participation by workers of all levels in industrial decision-making processes
Bureaucratic Control
central/defining feature of Western democratic societies, enables organization members to advance based on merit rather than connections, exists as a form of rules, formal structures, and roles that both enable and constrain activities of organization members.
Reasons for popularity of cultural approach
changing economic climate and challenge from other nations. Also, a need for organizational innovation and a failure of bureaucracy and rational management. Then, frustration with traditional research and renewed interest with qualitative research.
Implicit Theory
common sense assumptions about the world, frame of reference. Ex. We experience the world as organization because of this, we are never neutral, just see information.
Hawthorne Studies
conducted from 1924-1933 at the Western Electric Hawthorne Plant in Cicero Illinois. The researchers attempted to investigate the importance of a variety of physical, economic, and social variables in terms of their effects on employee behavior and attitudes. Most influential social science study to ever occur.
Critique of bureacracy
critique of rationalization process (the process by which all aspects of the natural and social world become increasingly subject to planning, calculation, and efficiency. - important part of modernity - narrowed the human vision and limited appreciation of alternative modes of existence - Weber called this "the iron cage of bureaucracy" - everyone is trapped in the system, people unable to consider another one.
Purist Approach
culture as a root metaphor for organization, emergent - cannot be manipulated, heterogeneous - groups have their own culture within the larger organization.
Pragmatist Approach to Org Comm
culture views as an organizational variable, prescriptive view of culture, focus on shared values and identity, homogenous culture, functionalist, interventionist approach, organization and culture are distinct entities, org has a culture, used to increase employee commitment, culture can be manipulated and changed,
Systematic Soldiering/Connection to SM
deliberate intention by workers to limit production/output collectively, as protection for one another (so no one is laid off for not working hard enough/they're no longer needed, wanted to prevent any one worker from "Rate busting" - jeopardize the piece rate) This was Taylor's main focus in developing Scientific Management - he wanted to prevent it.
Charismatic authority
derived from the identification of a particular person as having exceptional abilities and qualities. Ex. Religious figures, Martin Luther Kind Jr, Steve Jobs, their presence secured allegiance of followers, • One feature - tends to emerge in times of crisis and social unrest - Hitler. • Tendency towards instability and social chaos since author rests in single individual.
Direction Control
direct in explicit ways and then monitor their behavior to make sure they are performing adequately. Often functions in superior - subordinate relations. Most coercive.
Disciplinary Control
emerged recently as organizations shifted from bureaucratic, hierarchical to flatter and decentralized. Bottom-up control, focuses on employees production of a particular sense of self and work identity. The relationship between organizations and employees has shifted away from the post-World War II social contract of stable, life-time employment and toward "free agency" and a climate of much greater instability in the job market. Self discipline to improve the "entrepreneurial self". The individual is both the subject (makes decisions) and the object ( target of control). The least coercive
Marx's significance for the critical perspective
he highlighted how capitalists have more agency and power over social reality and society. The idea that certain groups have more influence is a core belief in the critical perspective.
Role of stories and metaphors in org comm
hey can be a narrative and symbolic representation of an organization's culture that indirectly guides behavior. They provide understanding to how members constructed and made sense of the organization.
historical context of human relations theory
in the late 19th century, strikes prevalent among workers, unions became a political force, Ludlow Massacre and triangle shirtwaist factory brought attention to human rights issues in the workplace. Workers gained more rights when the need for production went up during WWI - led to the creation of worker's councils, the Adamson Act (8 hour work day created) - Great Depression and wealth discrepancy of the 20s brought about more social conflict, and discussion of democracy - what form should it take? - led to debate
Karl Marx
key influence in the critical perspective. He was a critical modernist. Famous for theory of historical materialism - analyzes history based on different modes of production each involving shifting forms of property ownership and class relations. - common ownership (tribal society), citizen-slave (ancient society), aristocrat-serf (feudal society) and capitalist-wage laborer (capitalist society). Attempted to explain the nature of work under capitalism. Capital analysis of way surplus value is produced. Capitalism is full of contradictions - capitalist production is socialized- everyone participated while accumulation of wealth is privatized - he thought that over time there would be more conflict because of these contradictions.
Weber
macrotheorist - interested in the relationship between organization and how people function in society, how principles of organization affect people. - early 20th century. • Identify the characteristics of bureaucracy, responsible for developing the bureaucratic model of organizational behavior.
System as new metaphor for organization
new focus on the process of organizing, showed that organizations are complex, no simply causal relationships, organizations are adaptive and change based on environment, no longer a mechanistic view
Container/flat earth perspective of organizational comm
o Container - organizations as physical containers in which people communicate - communication flows through it, is shaped by it, communication is separate from the organization. Informative view of communication. About communication as information transmission - communication in terms of processes of distortion - send/receiver - noise. shaped by structure of organization organization separately from communication getting right info to right people transmission of information-sender and receiver different people interpret the exact same message differently if there is miscommunication it's because there was some form of noise not because different interpretations of message, its a technical problem. informational view, flat earth approach, fails to count for complexity
Key Features of Organization
o Interdependence - no member can function without affecting and being affected by other members. "Webs" of interconnected activities. o Differentiation of Tasks and Functions - all organizations operate based on division of labor, members specialize in a specific task and the organization is divided into various departments (major in late 19th, 20th century with scientific management). o Goal Orientation - all organizations oriented towards goals. Goals provide organization with character. o Control Mechanisms - direct control, technological control,
Difference between scientific management and ordinary management
ordinary management is by rule of thumb and is imprecise. It allows systematic soldiering to occur. Jobs exist - are not created or designed and workers choose their own position.
Corporate Colonization
reflects that as organizations and corporations become the more centralized source of power within our societies, the more that an individual will derive their identity and values from the organization.
Ideological Control
the development of a system of values and beliefs with which employees are expected to identify strongly. Ex. Corporate culture movement in '80s. Can be oppressive to some organization members as it asks the self to invest their identity in the company. Top-down
Organizational Control
the dynamic communication process through which different organizational interest groups struggle to maximize their stake in an organization, the collective bending of wills to a common purpose.
Communication
the dynamic, ongoing process of creating and negotiating meanings through interactional symbolic (verbal and nonverbal) practices, including conversation, metaphors, ritals, stories, dress, and space.
Scientific Management
the first systematic attempt to develop a set of principles regarding the management of workers. • Understand the historical context out of which SM emerged, including changes in understanding of time and the development of an "industrial consciousness." - emergence of industrial conceptions of time and space, laws of enclosure, immigrants to US (labor population), mechanization of travel, shift rom "task time" to "clock time" Shift from agrarian perception to Industrial consciousness. • Taylor - microtheoretical - interested in the details of work and how it is constructed. Late 19th early 20th century - 1913-1914
relation between Weber's theory (bureaucratic) and modernity
the foundation of the modern Western organization, rationalization process important to modernity
Systems Theory
the general science of wholeness, all systems have commonalities that explain its function, Ludwig von bertalanaffy
rational-legal authority
the most important, is at the foundation of the modern form of Western democracy - it the underlying form of the bureaucratic model, the impersonal system of rules and responsibilities that come with the holding of bureaucratic office - rule based on position
Organizational Communication
the process of creating and negotiating collective, coordinated systems of meaning through symbolic practices oriented toward the achievement of organizational goals
formal rationality
the search by people for the optimum means to a given end is shaped by rules, regulations, and larger social structures.
Hegemony
the struggle over the establishment of certain meanings and ideas in society. A group maintains hegemony when it is able to create a worldview that other people and groups actively support, even though that world-view may not be in their interests. It operates when the taken-for-granted system of meanings that everyone shares functions in the best interests of the dominant group.
Explicit Theory
theory is generative - it hides things, explains the world from a particular perspective, highlights, hides elements of a phenomenon.
Geertz - thick vs thin description
thin: observation of the particulars of the behavior, for blinking - a description of the behavioral event. thick: what does it actually mean, putting it in context, i.e. meaning is based in culture so it depends on the context.
Enactment, Selection, retention model
verall process people go through, people enact and creat equivocality then people select/decide on the best course of action, then there is a retention of that action? Too much rentention of rules can be bad.
Meaning centered perspective
viewing communication as the basic constitutive process through which people come to experience and make sense of the world in which they live. Creates social reality.
Elements of McDonaldization Process
• Efficiency - doing things as quickly as possible • Calculability - quantity - knowing how much something will cost, etc. More is more, SuperSize option, GPA, resume - experience. • Control through nonhuman technology - uncomfortable seats to make people leave, change dispenser • Predictability - a consistent product no matter when or where it is purchased, same services, • The "irrationality of rationality" - irrational consequences for trying to act/run business in a rational way - education system - trying to make education more efficient can lessen the quality of it. McDonald's adverse effects on the environment. • McDonalidzation extended to all sectors of life. Leisure, love life, etc. • Ritzer - Chapters
Mary Parker Follett
• Her ideas about the organization transcended the corporate model, influenced by pragmatists (who believed humans could only survive in the world if they adopted an attitude of constant experimentation and doubt toward the world). Truth not static and independent of humans but dependent on dialogue and reflection, flat nonhierarchical collectives that could empower people to improve their everyday lives - circular response - central concept - meant to capture the ongoing, dynamic, and ever changing character of the interactions among people, how they relate to one another. Focus on the process of relating, three ways of dealing with conflict (domination, compromise, integration), viewed conflict as a natural part of the workplace dynamic that would promote creativity and original solutions to problems. Two forms of power - power-over and power-with, law of the situation - the idea that exercising power or giving orders, one's authority arises out of the needs of the situation. Bridged across many topics and was ahead of her time, had a more complex understanding of the 20th century organization than her contemporaries.
Critiques of Marx
• His evolutionary model - of the economy - he believed that he had created universal principles that explained the inevitable development of economies around the world. Belieed capitalism was bound to fail - but it hasn't- this has proven problematic. • Focus on economics - Only focused on the economic features of capitalism - overemphasizes the extent to which economic structure of a society determines its cultural, political, and ideological features. There is no easy correspondence between economics and social reality. • Inability to foresee adaptation of capitalism - could not see the major changes that capitalism would undergo in the next 100 years.
Org Comm
• How is the relation between power and resistance understood? Carving out alternative ways of being an organization member
Individual Studies - Hawthorne
• Illumination Studies - intended to discover the effects of variations in lighting on employee productivity - found that productivity increased among increases and decreases in illumination - these anomalies brought about more research. • The Relay Assembly Test Room - women put in room, various variables changed - less variable work task, shorter horus, more rests, freer supervision, output increased 30% - mostly attributed to friendlier supervision - Hawthorne effect. - showed significance of the human element in work. • The Interview Program - massive interviewing campaign, "nondirect counseling" allowed worker to become mentally well-adjusted - ventilation interview. • The Bank Wiring Observation Room - goal to examine the natural development of informal group relations without interference from researchers. Found that workers engaged in classic systematic soldiering, developed strong group norms,
More Weick
• Importance of rules and cycles -rentention of rules too often can be bad or dangerous, limits flexibility of organization. Cycles, double interacts, used to make sense of a situation. • Notion of organizations as a "myth" - organizations as things do not exist, people collectively communicate to create organizational environments. • Issue of uncertainty/equivocality reduction -retrospective sense-making. • Bounded rationality and "satisficing" - we have limited information that we can access and process, so we do the best with what we have. There are two main selection processes to help individuals cope with their environment. Rules allow preset responses to standardized situations. Communication-behavior cycles are needed for more ambiguous situations that require interaction and information sharing. Once ambiguous situations may become routinized if they occur more frequently. Organizations need to find a balance between stability (through routinizing actions into rules) and flexibility (by keeping some level of equivocality in the system).
Critique of the Frankfurt School
• Limited and elitist view of mass culture - only "high" culture thought of as authentic and being able to produce the kind of insight and critical reflection that would result in social transformation - overlooked the possibility that mass, popular culture could function as other than instruments of social control. Overestimated that the power of the culture industry to create a totally administered society. • Neglect of resistance to "culture industry" - assumed that consumers of culture industry accepted it at face value when people interpreted it for themselves.
Org Comm and Ideological Functions
• Representing group interests as universal • Obscuring contradictions • Reifying social relations - makes things appear natural - gender norms
Banana Time
• What kind of study is he doing? Naturalistic/ethnographic, deep-immersion study - became a member of the group he was studying. • What issues does he focus on? Focuses on the informal work group, studying the nature of work, how people cope with the dehumanizing nature of work, does not note a correlation between productivity and interaction • Why is it such an important study? Shows the importance of informal work groups in the day to day lives of workers that allow them to cope and continue working. Explains and shows the significance of routines and seemingly meaningless interactions for workers.