Org Comm 2
What is emancipation?
The goal of the critical approach is to emancipate powerless groups. Achieve freedom, equality and autonomy within an institution or society. Begins with awareness and knowledge of differential treatment based on ideologies, assumptions, traditions
c) What does it mean to say that artifacts are hard to decipher?
These are learned by becoming a part of the organization. Outsiders won't recognize them.
b) Can dialogue help foster alignment in teams and organizations?
Yes, and it must be practiced
c) Can thinking about the conflict during a break prolong flooding?
Yes, and that's a very bad idea
close relations to the customer
gear decisions and actions to the need of the customers
b) Define a bias for action
good organizations react quickly and don't spend excess time planning and analyzing
relationship goals
how we relate to each other
b) What are the primary emphases of critical approaches?
"Critique would lead to revolution because it would reveal fundamental truths about the human social condition" Critical theorists believe that certain societal structures and processes lead to fundamental imbalances of power. These imbalances lead to alienation and oppression. Third, the role of the critical theorist is to explore and uncover these imbalances and bring them to the attention of the oppressed group.
postmodern feminists
"deconstruct" male dominated meaning systems in order to highlight women's perspectives
f) Define acceptance and independence identity goals and provide examples.
- Acceptance - fundamental need, we want to be liked - Independence - fundamental need, we want to be seen as confident
c) How are these frames related to the concept ideology?
- An example of hegemony by perpetrating the dominant ideologies. This means that sexual harassment is seen as acceptable in an organizational standpoint because of the overall ideologies came up by the org climate.
2. a) What are the conflict management styles?
- Avoidance: low concern for others and low concern for self - Accommodation: high others and low self - Compromise: Average others and average self - Competition: Low others and high self - Collaboration: High others and high self
b) What is deconstruction?
- Breaking down the ideologies of an organization to see how they work
2. a) Explain Clair's study of the framing of sexual harassment.
- Clair evaluated the narratives of women talking about their experiences of sexual harassment in the workplace. Argued that the frames used by women sometimes served to reinforce male dominance in the workplace by using phrases such as "it was just a misunderstanding".
1. a) What is the core principle we highlighted in our definition of conflict?
- Clarify goals, highlighting interdependence
b) What is microresistance? Provide examples.
- Crooked stickers on the refrigerators when treated unjustly - Wearing anti-mcdonalds shirt under their mcdonalds uniform
f) What are the sources of power for those without formal organizational power?
- Expertise - Effort and interest: "person who does the leading is the leader" - Attractiveness: charisma; similar to referent power - Location and position: not always top dog that "runs show"; ex: asst to manager might know more - Coalitions: group; power in numbers - Rules: can protect you - Culture: Disney example; used "culture" as power over economic growth/$ hungry mgmt
d) Why is goal-shifting important in managing conflict?
- Helps others manage their identity
d) What is the dialectic of control?
- Ideology can come to power because people allow it to be, organization values become internalized - Has the capacity to go against someone (you have the power)
6. How do the "intraprenuership," IBM, and flair (Office Space) stories illustrate the concepts of ideology and power?
- Ideology- how things are and how things should be - Hegemony- a subordinate group that accepts the domination of the dominant group
2. a) What does it mean to say that it's possible to see culture as something an organization has versus something an organization is?
- If you try to objectify, simplify and formalize culture, you might see it as something an organization has, rather than something an organization is.
b) How are these work styles problematic?
- It limits and discriminates against different work styles. Different styles are reserved for gender
g) How does the Disneyland case illustrate the dialectic of control and sources of power for the powerless?
- Narratives of Resistance - Disney is family but management started to not care as much - Turned to money - STRIKE
e) Are organizational members equally aware of all three levels in the model? Explain.
- No, because cultures are symbolically constituted, complicated, emergent and fragmented (not everyone is aware of it) most of the awareness happens below the surface, people only become aware of it in moments of reflection. - Emergent- they are not designed. - Fragmented- there is not just one culture, individuals are in multiple cultures.
e) How does the dialect of control suggest the potential for resistance?
- Once you recognize the part you play in the system and even though you are the one that is oppressed, you then have the ability to change it.
e) What types of identity goals are common in most conflict?
- Relationship
b) How have these frames been used in our review the approaches to organizational communication so far?
- The approaches to organizational communication we have already seen used unitary or pluralist frames of reference. For example, Classical approach=unitary frame of reference, same with HR approach to some extent. Systems approach and cultural approach tend to take the pluralist frame of reference, by considering the management of divergent subgroup interests. Critical and feminist approaches turn to the radical frame of reference by considering organizations as sites of domination.
c) What makes the critical approach distinct from the other approaches to studying organizations?
- Theorist illuminates hidden power structures, goal is to emancipate powerless groups - Critical theory focus on POWER
d) Why is such a conception of power incomplete?
- There are other forms of power that an individual hold that the concept doesn't account for
b) Which is consistent with prescriptive approaches to culture?
- These approaches use "Value engineering" because it espouses the belief that "effective cultural leaders could create 'strong' cultures, built around their own values". - Thought you could go in and change the organization
b) How is the work of Deal and Kennedy similar to Peters and Waterman's work?
- They were attempting to identify aspects of organizational culture that were prevalent in high performing companies - Both saw the importance of a strong culture held by all employees was pertinent to company success - Not unitaty
d) What are the principal criticisms of thinking of organizational culture as something an organization has?
- Treats culture as concrete and designed - Suggests that culture is easy to change - Obscures useful ideas about culture - Organizational climate >> The prescriptive approach assumes that there is a single cultural formula for achieving organizational success. Treating culture as a thing an organization has objectifies culture because it de-emphasizes the complex process through which organizational culture is created and sustained.
c) Are such expressions of power seen as possessed by individuals?
- Yes because management doesn't own ideologies
b) Are such expressions of power about relationships between individuals?
- Yes but it is simplified and incomplete because it ignores the other forms of power - Questions who has the power and individuals making choices
c) Does microresistance benefit the oppressed? Why or why not?
- Yes, it gives them a platform to fight back and act in solidarity
c) Are avoidance and accommodation strategies always ineffective?
- avoidance: rarely effective - accommodation: does nothing to satisfy your own needs
d) Why does the model use the term "espoused" values and beliefs?
- to adopt or support (a cause, belief, or way of life). The beliefs/values are adopted over time as individuals observe how others interact within the organization. Just because you believe something does not mean you will act according to those beliefs. - For example, a company could have the espoused value of being green and good for the environment but when you work for the company you could find that they do not follow it.
2. a) What is organizational culture?
...a pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid, and therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problems.
b) Explain each of the "framing devices" used from sexual harassment narratives?
1. Accepting Dominant Interests a. Less important problem than other managerial concerns 2. Simple Misunderstanding a. "Mere flirting" 3. Trivialization a. "Harmless joke" 4. Denotative Hesitancy a. Not defined by the term sexual harassment 5. Public/Private Expression - Public/Private Domain a. Described as a part of private - rather than public - life or described using private forms of expression (e.g. embarrassment, fear)
b) How long does it typically take to return to a calm state after flooding?
20 min
5. a) Explain the spiral of negativity in conflict
4 horseman of conflict: Criticism (poorly given, poorly received) → Contempt (insults/name calling) → Defensiveness → Stonewalling/withdrawing (shutdown)
1. What does the cultural emphasis focus our attention on in the study of organizations?
Anthropological approach in understanding organizations as sites of interlinked beliefs, values, behaviors or artifacts
c) According to Gottman, which nonverbal facial reaction is the worst?
Avoid eye-rolling and disgust expressions
b) How have these forms developed over time?
Based on the needs of the organization the form have developed and changed
c) Why does it matter than incompatibility between goals is perceived incompatibility?
Because the way to achieve said goals could be different but still contain the same end goal. People assume that the goals are different in some cases but they actually aren't
c) What is the overarching organization wide problem from each case?
Case 1: Bureaucratic roadblocks preventing an event from happening Case 2: Concertive control Case 3: Mistreatment in the workplace
b) What are the names of the key players in each case?
Case 1: Dennis, Mark Johnson, Marsha Case 2: Liz, Sharon, ??? Case 3: Jessica, Peter, Alex, Tom
8. What is the underlying assumption in feminist approaches to organizational communication?
Challenge patriarchal assumptions of organizational life. Assume that women and men see/experience the world and communicate in it differently
b) What is goal-shifting?
Changing goals during stages of conflict. Process: prospective, transactive, retrospective
3. What are the research-based recommendations for managing conflict?
Clarify goals, highlighting interdependencies Help others manage their identity Remember your feedback skills Monitor your own nonverbal expressions Remember the positive Know when you need to calm down Over learn skills you think will help Involve a facilitator Remember the lessons of the approaches to organizing
3. How would each of the approaches to organizing (e.g., classical, human relations, human resources, systems, culture, and critical) frame and/or intervene in conflict?
Classical: breakdown in communication leads to conflict Critical: conflict stems from imbalanced power Human Relations: unmet need of employee and fulfilling everyone's needs would make conflict irrelevant Human resources: problems and conflict lead to innovation; harnessed into participation Culture: fundamental disagreement with cultures and subcultures of an organization Systems: highlights interconnections
b) What are the implications of treating culture as constituted symbolically (e.g., culture as complicated, fragmented, and emergent)?
Complicated: culture is below the surface Emergent: culture takes time to develop and can't change the stories, myths, values, and artifacts imply Fragmented: ambiguous
9. What lessons about dialogue can we draw from our analysis of the 12 Angry Men clips?
Dialogues aren't achieved immediately. We go through different stages to achieve it.
1. Explain the different roles that can be played by a third-party in conflict?
Directive tactics- mediator initiates recommendation Nondirective- mediator secures info/ clarifies misunderstanding Procedural- mediator makes agenda Reflexive- humor/ regulates tones/ speaks lang
b) What is hegemony?
Dominant group leads another group to accept their ideology and subordination
2. Why is managing conflict in organizations important?
Essential for success at work-handle/deal with conflict. Important for community health-reach community goals. People struggle with conflict- make teams more effective.
6. a) What is flooding?
Extreme rage! This calls for a break
7. a) What is dialogue?
Form of interaction that seeks shared understanding through inquiry and divergence in ideas. Generate new ways of seeing a problem, using this can foster alignment and trust in team, must be practiced
8. a) Explain the order of the four forms of group discussion using the three continua we articulated
Forms: Debate: conversation with a winner and loser at the end Polite Discussion Skillful Discussion Dialogue: an actual conversation, open to ideas and thoughts Three continua: Divergent thinking: number of new novel ideas VS Convergent thinking: advocating for single position (win/lose) Advocacy: specific solution VS Inquiry: asking Individual Meaning Focus VS Shared Meaning Focus: describe information people share with the problem
b) Explain the indicators of organizational culture that we discussed, examples
Heroes, values, artifacts, communication rules, rituals/ceremonies, metaphors, stories
c) When can goal shifting occur?
In a heated time of conflict
7. a) What is resistance?
Intentionally not conforming with the goals and values of an organization
3. a) What is ideology?
Interests of the few represented as interests of all. Rarely questioned assumptions. Naturalizes current state as fixed. Control through hegemony, accepts submission from the dominant one as the norm. System of ideas, suggests how things ought to be, seem natural and current
4. a) In what sense are organizational communication and culture intertwined? Provide examples.
Leo Burnett, Vienna Sausage Company. Communication itself is creating the culture and we are aware of it through reflection.
b) Explain the three levels of culture in Schein's model? Provide examples.
Level 1: artifacts - Visible evidence of culture - i.e. furniture, tech, dress, architecture, awards, communication during meetings Level 2: espoused values - How things ought to be done in the org - i.e. safety, innovation, diversity, hard work Level 3: basic assumptions - shared among members, unspoken beliefs - i.e. time, space, human nature/activity/relationships, diversity = success
10. a) What are the different approaches to studying feminist activism we discussed in class?
Liberal, radical, standpoint, postmodern, pluralistic feminists
3. a) Explain Schein's model of culture.
Made up of three levels: artifacts, espoused values, and basic assumptions
9. a) List and explain the differences between feminine and masculine styles of work?
Male: competitive effort, cause-effect analysis, autonomy, strict boundaries between personal and work life, leadership as a hierarchy of control Female: cooperative effort, integrative & holistic analysis, group work, fluid boundaries between personal and work life, leadership as a web of connections
b) What nonverbal expressions are especially relevant in conflict situations? Why?
Monitor tone of voice, sarcasm, posture, facial expressions
1. a) What does it mean to say that an organization is a power struggle?
Organizations are viewed as sites of domination
c) How is it that concertive control operates through identification and discipline?
Perception of oneness or belonging to the org and is maintained by discipline, power is embedded into the system
expert
Person A has power over Person B, because Person A has some expertise that the other person needs but doesn't have
legitimate
Person A has power over Person B, because of an organizational structure like a hierarchy
referent
Person A has power over Person B, because person B wants to be like Person A
reward
Person A has power over Person B, because they can give them some reward for B's compliance
coercive
Person A has power over Person B, because they can punish them in some way
d) How does the theory of concertive control further illustrate the concepts of ideology and hegemony?
Power shifts from managers to teams through values and structures selected by the organization
5. a) Explain the four forms of control?
Simple: direct oversight, authoritarian exertion on control Technical: machinery/tech productivity tracking devices Bureaucratic: rules, follow required steps in process submit paperwork, etc Concertive: team reinforcing values of the team
c) How does the Apple case in the film, In Search of Excellence, illustrate these principles?
This is definitely a hands on company that worked together to produce the best and most innovative product they could. They had methods to their work with the goal of staying away from the bureaucratic corporate atmosphere
1. a) Explain the unitary, pluralist, and radical frames for organizational communication...in dealing with how they approach conflict?
Unitary: conflict is rare and negative, common organization goals Pluralist: conflict is inherent and positive, organizations have divergent interests Radical: conflict and power are reflections of social struggles, orgs are sites of domination
e) How are managing acceptance and independence goals useful for managing conflict?
We need to be sure to avoid insulting because that is a threat to people's identity. Also, acknowledge the need for acceptance. Provide good feedback, avoid hostage negotiations and give the benefit of the doubt
1. a) What are the components of Deal and Kennedy's "strong cultures?"
a. Values are the beliefs and visions that members hold for an organization. i. 3M espouses value for innovation; Prudential Insurance values stabilitHeroes are the individuals who come to exemplify an organization's values. ii. Bill Gates b. Rites and Rituals are the ceremonies through which the organization celebrates it's values i. Company Picnic; Awards Banquet c. Cultural network is the communication system through which cultural values are instituted and reinforced i. Formal: newsletters; Informal: interactions with employees
5. a) What are Peters and Waterman's characteristics of an "excellent culture?"
bias for action, close relations to the consumer, autonomy and entrepreneurship, productivity through people, hands on and value driven, stick to the knitting, simple from and lean staff, and simultaneous loose-tight properties
interdependence
conflicts don't emerge unless parties connect in some way i.e. manager and Bob's goals are interdependent
4. a) How could clarifying goals while highlighting interdependence assist in managing conflict?
discover common ground, underscore disagreement, focus on mundane aspects first.
autonomy and entrepreneurship
encourage employees to take risks in the development of new ideas
productivity through people
encourage positive and respectful relationships among management and employees
interactive
expressed verbally and nonverbally
simultaneous loose-tight properties
flexibility to change when needed
pluralistic feminists
hybrid/responsive to constraints "responsive to the needs of organizations that seek social change yet cannot fully embrace anti bureaucratic, counter capitalist ideals and practices."
e) What alternative view of power do critical scholars suggest?
ideology
multilevel in relation to conflict in organizations
interpersonal: between 2 people inner group: marketing and sales conflict interpersonal organizational conflict: liable to other orgs and external pressure
hands-on/value driven
known goal of the organization, focused and specific
goals
perceived incongruity between multiple goals i.e. coworkers arguing about who cleans the table. They have the same goal, just a different approach
radical feminists
protest and organize new system outside the system
g) What type of goals do most people focus on in conflict first?
task
Classical ways of thinking about power
reward coercive referent expert legitimate
standpoint feminists
seek to recognize, understand and include marginalized groups. Purely communicational
d) task goal
what the conflict is about
stick to the knitting
what they do best
identity
who am i? who are you? Who cares more? Independence and acceptance (want to be seen as effective yet liked)
b) liberal feminists
work within the system
c) Can dialogue help make teams more trusting of each other and more productive?
yes