Littlejohn.doc

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Littlejohns Chapter 2 and 3

Chapter 2 The Idea of a Theory

Theories are the academic foundation of every discipline; they are important

because they are the means by which we codify and organize what we know

(16).

Theories function as guidebooks (16).

Theories also help us communicate knowledge (16).

Beginning to Know Theory

The book uses theory in its broadest senseany organized set of concepts,explanations, and principles of some aspect of human experience (17).

All theories are abstractionsno single theory will ever reveal the whole

truth or be able to totally address the subject of investigation (17).

Theories are also constructionsthey represent various ways different

observers see the world. Questioning a theorys usefulness, then, is wiserthan questioning its truthfulness (17).

Theories are intimately tied to actionthey guide how we act (18).

Basic Elements of a Theory

Philosophical Assumptions : knowing the assumptions behind a theory is the

first step to understanding any given theory (18).

A. Epistemology the branch of philosophy that studies knowledge, or howpeople know what they claim to know (18).

Epistemological Questions: (18-19)

1. To what extent can knowledge exist before experience? (do we haveinnate capacity to know?)

2. To what extent can knowledge be certain? (is knowledge absolute orrelative?)

3. By what process does knowledge arise? (Four positions: rationalism,empiricism, constructivism, and social constructionism).

4. Is knowledge best conceived in parts or wholes? (holistic or analytical)

5. To what extent is knowledge explicit? (articulated or tacit)

B. Ontology branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of humanbeing. In communication, this centers on the nature of human socialinteraction because being is intricately intertwined with issues ofcommunication (20).


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Four issues:

1. To what extent do humans make real choices? (determinists-state thatbehaviour is caused by many prior conditions that determine humanbehaviour; pragmatists-state that people plan their behaviour to meetfuture goals)

2. Is human behaviour better explained through states or traits? (stateview-humans are dynamic and go through numerous states in thecourse of a lifetime; trait view people are mostly predictable becausethey display more or less consistent characteristics across time)

3. Is human experience primarily individual or social? (what determinesthe human behaviour most: individual or society)

4. To what extent is communication contextual? (whether behaviour isgoverned by universal principles or depends on situational factors)

C. Axiology branch of philosophy concerned with studying values.

Questions: (20-21)

1. Can theory be value free?

2. To what extent does the process of inquiry itself affect what is beingseen?

3. Should scholarship be designed to achieve change or to revealknowledge without intervention? (use of theory)

4. To what extent should scholarship attempt to achieve social change?(whether to be objective or otherwise)

[two general positions: scholars who seek value-free knowledge and thosewhich are conscious of the value-laden characteristic of theory]

Concepts terms and definitions that tell us what the theorist is looking at

and what is considered important (22).

Explanations statements about how the variables relate to one another (22)

Two Types (22):

A. Causal Explanation events are connected as causal, with one variableseen as an outcome or result of the other

B. Practical Explanation explains actions as goal related, with the actiondesigned to achieve a future state

Principle a guideline that enables you to interpret an event, make

judgments about what is happening, and then decide how to act in thesituation.


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Not all theories have this element; some stop at explanations. For othertheorists, however, generating principles that can be used as the basis ofaction in the world is the whole purpose for engaging in theoretical enterprise(23).

Theoretical Ideals

Nomothetic Theory (23-26)

Defined as that which that seeks universal laws

Dominant in the experimental natural sciences

Goal: to depict accurately how social life works

Research process is well-codified (scientific method, esp.

Experimentation)

Philosophical Assumptions (24):

Epistemology: reality (and knowledge) is something that people

discover outside themselves; objectivity is important

Axiology: take a value-neutral stance; science is value-free

Ontology: behaviour is determined by and responsive to biology and

the environment

Concepts (25):

Concepts are operationalized in traditional science

Operationalism means that all variables in a hypothesis should bestated in ways that explain exactly how to observe them.

Validity and Reliability (See Pernia)

Explanations:

Causal they posit a linear relationship between cause and effect

Causal explanations are expressed as covering laws

Laws predict what will happen when a causal variable is in play

Practical Theory opposite nomothetic; designed to capture the rich

differences among situations and to provide a set of understanding that letsyou weigh alternative courses of action to achieve goals (26)


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Five Tenets of Alternative Paradigm to Traditional Science (by RobynPenman)

1. Action is voluntary (humans are self-motivating; you cannot predictbehaviour based on outside variables).

2. Knowledge is created socially.

3. Theories are historical. They reflect the settings and times in which theyare created

4. Theories affect the reality they are covering (27).

5. Theories are value-laden, never neutral.

Philosophical Assumptions:

Epistemology: People take an active role in creating knowledge;

Knowledge is known not by discovery but from the interaction betweenknower and known; knowing is interpreting (27).

Ontology: tend to take an actional approachindividuals create

meanings

Axiologically: tend to be value conscious

Concepts:

Concepts are not represented as universal; people respond differently

in different situations

Explanations:

It tends to use practical necessity as a basis for explanation

Principles:

When a theory includes principles, it is practical theory (28).

Vernon Cronen: practical theory offers principles informed by

engagement in the details of lived experience that facilitates joiningwith others to produce change (cited in Littlejohn 28).

Evaluating Communication Theory (29-31)


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Theoretical scope if the theory is comprehensive in scope; To be

theoretical, an explanation must go beyond a single instance to cover arange of events.

Two types of generality:

(a) theory that covers a sufficiently broad domain and; (b) theory that dealswith a narrow range of events but their explanations of these events apply toa large number of situation

Appropriateness whether the theorys claims are consistent or appropriate

to their assumptions

Heuristic Value if the theory can aid discovery and can be used to generate

new ideas for research

Validity truth value of a theory

Parsimony If two theories are equally valid, the one with the simplest logical

explanation is said to be the best

Openness the theory is open to other possibilities; It admits to diversity,

invites dialogue with other perspectives, acknowledges its ownincompleteness.

Chapter 3 Traditions of Communication Theory

Robert Craig divides the world of communication theory into seven traditions:

(1) the semiotic; (2) the phenomenological; (3) the cybernetic; (4) thesociopsychological; (5) the sociocultural; (6) the critical; and (7) the rhetorical(35).

The Semiotic TraditionSemiotics the study of signsKey Ideas:1. Basic concept is sign, a stimulus designating something other than itself(35)2. The triad of meaning asserts that meaning arises from a relationshipamong the object (referent), the person (interpreter), and the sign (36)3. Semiosis a relationship among a sign, an object, and a meaning (Charles

Saunders Peirce). The sign represents the object in the mind of aninterpreter.

Variations in the Semiotic Tradition (37)

A. Semantics addresses how signs relate to their referents, or what signsstand for (What does a sign represent?)

- Basic tenet of semiotics: representation is always mediated


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by the conscious interpretation of the person, and any interpretation ofthe sign will change from situation to situation

B. Syntactics study of relationships among signs. Semiotics believe thatsigns are always understood in relation to other signs.

C. Pragmatics looks at how signs make a difference in peoples lives, or thepractical use and effects of signs. People can communicate if they sharemeanings.

From semiotics, we learn that signs (outside ourselves) come to represent objects,but only through our internal perceptions and feelings (38).

The Phenomenological TraditionAssumption: people actively interpret their experience and come tounderstand the world by personal experience with it (38).

Key Ideas1. Phenomenology features direct experience as the way in which human

beings come to understand the world.2. It uses direct experience as the basic data of reality. All you can know iswhat you experience.3. Stanley Deetz summarizes three basic principles of this tradition: (a)knowledge is conscious; (b) how you relate to an object determines itsmeaning for you; and (c) language is the vehicle of meaning.4. Interpretationassigning meaning to an experienceis central to thistradition (39).

Variations in the Phenomenological Tradition

A. Classical Phenomenology (Edmund Husserl) truth can only be

ascertained through direct experience, but we must be objective in orderto experience the thing as it really is (39).

B. The phenomenology of perception (Maurice Merleu-Ponty) People givemeanings to the world, and any phenomenological experience isnecessarily a subjective one. We know things through our personalrelationship with them.

C. Hermeneutic Phenomenology (Martin Heidegger) also known asphilosophical hermeneutics; for Heidegger, the reality of something is notknown by careful analysis or reduction but by natural experience, which iscreated by the use of language in everyday life (39-40).

The Cybernetic TraditionCybernetics is the tradition of complex systems in which many interactingelements influence one another. Communication is understood as a system ofparts that influence one another (40).

Key Ideas (40-41)1. Systems are sets of interacting components that together form somethingmore than the sum of the parts.


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2. A system takes in inputs from the environment, processes these, andcreates outputs back into the environment.3. Systems monitor, regulate, and control their outputs in order to remainstable and achieve goals.4. One system is a part of a larger system, forming a series of levels ofincreasing complexity.

5. A series of feedback loops or networks exist within and among subsystems.

Variations in the Cybernetic Tradition (42)

1. Basic System Theory this approach depicts systems as actual structuresthat can be analyzed and observed from outside.

2. Cybernetics (Norbert Wiener) the branch of system theory that focuseson feedback loops and control processes. It challenges the idea that onething causes another in a linear fashion.

3. General Systems Theory (GST) (Ludwig von Bertalanffy) uses systemprinciples to show how things in many different fields are similar to oneanother, forming a common vocabulary for communication acrossdisciplines.

4. Second-order Cybernetics (the cybernetics of knowing by Heinz vonFoerster) holds that observers can never see how a system works bystanding outside the system itself because the observer is alwaysengaged with the system observed.

The Sociopsychological Tradition

the science of communication

Key Ideas (43)

1. It views the single human mind as the locus for processing andunderstanding information and generating messages, but it acknowledgesthe power that individuals can have over other individuals and the effects ofinformation on the human mind.2. The mechanisms of human information processing are beyond ourawareness, but communication scientists seek to describe and discoverthese.

Variations (44)

1. Behavioral theories that concentrate on how people actually behave incommunication situations as affected by other variables such as

personality traits

2. Cognitive Theory centering on patterns of thought, this branchconcentrates on how individuals acquire, store, and process information ina way that lead to behavioural outputs.

3. Biological (psychobiology) Many of our traits, ways of thinking, andbehaviours are wired biologically and derive not from learning orsituational factors, but from inborn neurobiological influences.


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The Sociocultural Tradition

These theories address the ways our understandings are worked outinteractively in communication (45).

Key Ideas (45)1. Interaction is the process and site in which meanings, roles, rules, and

cultural values are worked out.2. Reality is constructed by language. Knowledge is highly interpretive andconstructed.3. Interests and focus of study: (a) to understand ways in which people createrealities together; (b) how meaning is created in social interaction; (c) howidentities are established through interaction; and (d) how identity isnegotiated from one situation to another4. Context is crucial in understanding the forms of communication andmeanings that occur.

Variations (45-46)

1. Symbolic Interactionism - Herbert Marcuse and George Herbert Meademphasized importance of participant observation in the study ofcommunication (basic ideas are not discussed in this chapter)

2. Social Constructionism (Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann) Theidentity of a thing results from how we talk about that object, thelanguage used to capture our concepts, and the way in which socialgroups orient to their experience

3. Sociolinguistics study of language and culture; people use languagedifferently in different social and cultural groups

- Ludwig Wittgeinsteins language game and JL Austins speech

acts

4. Ethnography observation of how actual social groups come to buildmeaning through their linguistic and non-linguistic behaviours

5. Ethnomethodology (Harold Garfinkel) careful observations ofmicrobehaviors in real situations. In communication, it influenced how welook at conversations.

The Critical Tradition

Key words: power, power relations, power structure, oppression, privilege

Key Ideas (47)

Three essential features:

1. It seeks to understand taken-for-granted systems, power relations, andideologies that dominate society.


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2. It is particularly interested in uncovering oppressive social conditions andpower arrangements in order to promote emancipation, or a freer andmore fulfilling society.

3. It makes a conscious attempt to fuse theory with action.

Variations (47-50)

1. Marxism (considered as the originating branch) In communication,Marxism will assert that only when individuals are truly free tocommunicate can liberation occur. The dominant language defines andperpetuates the oppression of marginalized groups.

2. Frankfurt School Marxist in leanings; reliance on reason establishedthrough science, individual as the agent of change, and the discovery oftaken-for-granted but knowable facets of culture

3. Postmodernism rejects elitism, Puritanism, and sterility in favour ofpluralism, relativity, novelty, complexity, and contradiction. Proponents:

Jean Francois Lyotard (rejection of grand narratives) and Jean Baudrillard(insistence on the separation of signs from their referents)

4. Cultural Studies Culture is worthy of investigation; it has made availablefor academic study a range of subjects and subcultures traditionally notdeemed suitable for academic attention.

5. Poststructuralism (Jacques Derrida) postmodern; seeks to deconstructthe study of signs rather than generate a unifying theory; focuses on theinstability of meaning in texts

6. Postcolonial theory (Edward Said) postmodern; study of all cultures

affected by the imperial process from the moment of colonization to thepresent day ; seeks not simply to describe processes of colonization butto intervene with an emancipatory political stance

7. Feminist studies have examined, critiqued, challenged the assumptionsabout and experiences of masculinity and femininity that pervade allaspects of life to liberate women

The Rhetorical TraditionThe meaning of rhetoric changes through time. However, it is basically theart and practice of human communication (52).

Key Ideas: (50-51)

1. Five Canons of Rhetoric:Invention (conceptualization; assigning meaning to data throughinterpretation),

Arrangement(organizing symbols),Style (considerations involved in the presentation of symbols),Delivery(embodiment of symbols in some physical forms), andMemory(cultural memory and processes of perception)


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2. It involves a rhetor, or a symbol user.

Variations (51-52)

1. Classical Era concerned to define and codify the art of rhetoric.

2. Middle Ages concerned with matters of arrangement and style (for letterwriting, primarily)

3. Renaissance rhetoric as philosophical art

4. Enlightenment rhetoric became the means to communicate truth onceknown through rational methods

5. Twentieth century rhetoric shifted from oratory to every kind of symboluse

6. Contemporary rhetoric as epistemic: as a way to know the world, notsimply a way to communicate about the world

7. Postmodern rhetorics explore alternative frames outside the mainstreamrhetorical traditions

--end

Chapter 4: The Communicator

Core Questions:

Who am I as a communicator?

What resources enable me to communicate?

How am I different from other communicators?

How do other people see my behaviour? How do I change from one situation to another?

(refer to chapter map page 63)

A. The Sociopsychological Tradition

To understand how and why individual human beings behave the waythey do

What predicts how individual communicators will think and act incommunication situations?

The theories under this tradition focus more on the individual, the use of

research methods of psychology and a goal of prediction

2 theories under this tradition:

1. TRAIT Theorya. Traitis a distinguishing quality or characteristics; an individuals

consistent way of thinking, feeling and behaving across situations


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3 common traits discussed in comm. literature:a. Conversational narcissism(narcissism means self-love)

The tendency to be self-absorbed in conversation

Conversational narcissists tend to want to control the flow ofconversation

b. Argumentativeness---the tendency to engage in conversationsabout conversational topics, to support your own view and torefute opposing beliefs

c. Social and communicative anxiety---people afraid ofcommunication

3 aspects:

1. Psychologicalheart rate, blushing2. Behaviouralavoidance and self-protection3. Cognitiveself-focus and negative thoughts; the

strongest of the three aspects

Social and comm.. anxiety has mostly to do with how wethink about ourselves in regard to communication

situations.

5 Trait Factor Models:

1. Neuroticism---tendency to feel negative emotions and distress2. Extraversion---tendency to like groups, assertive and optimistic3. Opennessbe reflective, have imagination4. Agreeablenessto like and be sympathetic5. Conscientiousness---to be self-disciplined

Traits, Temperament and Biology

how we experience the world is very much a matter of what ishappening in our brain, and is therefore largely geneticallydetermined --- McCroskey and Beatty

Temperamentally based traits are caused by activity deep in thebrain.

2. Cognitive theory ( Cognition and Information Processing)a. Attribution Theory---deals with the ways people infer the causes of

behaviour; this may be :i. situational causes or being affected by the environmentii. personal effectsiii. abilityiv. effortv. desirevi. sentimentvii. belongingviii. obligationix. permission


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b. Social Judgement Theoryfocuses on how we make judgementsabout statements we hear; tries to predict how you will judge amessage and how this judgement will affect your own belief system

social perceptionthe process by which we use anchors that are

based on our own experiences or reference points ego involvement---is your sense of the personal relevance of an

issue; makes a great difference on how you respond to a topic

individuals judge the favourability of a message based on their

own internal anchors and ego involvement

contrast effect---occurs when individuals judge a message to befarther from their point of view than it actually is

assimilation effectoccurs when people judge the message to be

closer to their own point of view than it actually is attitude change---is facilitated when messages fall within the

latitude of acceptance

Latitude of acceptance---statements you can agree with

Latitude of rejection---statement that you cannot agree with

Latitude of noncommittant

c. Elaboration likelihood theory Essentially a persuasion theory because it tries to predict when

and how you will and you will not be persuaded by the message

Explains the different ways you evaluate the message you receive

Is the probability that you would evaluate a message criticallyCentral route---where elaboration or critical thinking occurs

Peripheral routewhere the lack of critical thinking occurs

Critical thinking depends on ones motivation and ability

B. The Cybernetic Tradition----emphasize the interrelationship amongparts of system

1. Information-Integration theorycenters on the ways we accumulateand organize information about persons, objects, situations, and ideas toform attitudes or predispositions to act in a positive or negative waytoward some object

2 variables that affect attitude change


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a. Valence--- refers to whether information supports your belief orrefutes them

b. Weight---is a function of credibility

A. Expectancy-Value Theory---attitudes are a function of complex

combination of beliefs and evaluations Attitude change can occur from 3 sources: information can alter

believability; information can change the valence of a belief; andinformation can add new beliefs to the attitude structure

B. Theory of reasoned action----behavior results in part fromintentions, a complex outcome of attitudes

2. Consistency Theories---begins with the premise that people are morecomfortable with consistency than inconsistency

Consistency is the primary organizing principle in cognitiveprocessing, and attitude change can result from information that

disrupts this balance.

A. Theory of Cognitive DissonanceB. Theory of beliefs, attitudes and valuesC. Problematic integration theory

C. The Sociocultural Tradition--- assumes that social relationships prefigureindividual differences; while sciopsychological and cybernetic theories assume thatindividual differences come before social relationships

> shows how communicators come to understand themselves asunified beings w/ individual differences and how these differences aresocially constructed

> through interaction, we construct a unified but flexible sense of theself.

1. Symbolic interactionism and Development of Self--- is a wayof thinking about the mind, self and society; sociology is thefoundation of this theory

SI teaches that as people interact with one another, they cometo share meanings for certain terms and actions.

Self is the important outcome of interaction; self is at the centerof social life

2. Social Construction of self

Rom Harre---the self is structured by a personal theory


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the person is publicly visible that is characterised by certainattributes and characteristics established within a culture orsocial group.

The self is your private notion of your own unity as a person3. Social construction of emotion

Harre suggests that emotions are socially constructed becausethey are determined by the local language and moral orders ofthe culture or social group

According to Averill emotions are belief systems that guidesones definition of the situation. The ability to make sense ofemotions is socially constructed

4. The presentational self

Erving Goffman ---everyday settings are viewed as a stageand people are actors who use performances to make animpression on an audience.

Self presentation is very much a matter of impressionmanagement

Performance then is not trivial, but literally defines who youare as a communicator The communicator is the presentationof the self, and any one person may have many selves,depending upon the many ways in which they presentthemselves

D. The Critical Tradition

> highlights the importance of power relations in society in

determining where you position yourself vis-a vis mainstream or marginalizedsociety.

Assumptions about identity categories:

a. Members of an identity category share a similar analysis of their sharedoppression

b. Shared oppression supersedes all other identity categoriesc. Identity group members are always each others allies.

Core of these assumption is the conception that identity is stable, intactand largely based on sex, race and class

1. Standpoint theory----focus on how the circumstances of an individuals lifeaffect how that individual understands and constructs a social world.

notion of layered understandings

we have multiple identities that overlap to form our unique standpoints,including intersections of race, class, gender and sexuality.

Also introduces the element of power to the issue of identity:marginalised individuals not only see the world in multiple standpoints----they also see it in the standpoint of those who are in power.

2. Identity as constructed and performed


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No identity exists outside the social construction of that category by thelarger culture

Identity is also performed according to or against the norms andexpectations for that identity

Identity politics is now seen as an effort to set identities in motion. Theyare moment-by moment performances that can change

3. Queer theory---argues that not only gender but also sex are socialconstructions that can and should be challenged

Deliberately confronts the binary in all of its forms

The focus of queer theory is on the voluntarism of identity

Queerness is about process, focusing on the lines of movement acrossideas, expressions, relationships, spaces, and desires that innovatedifferent ways of being in the world.

It is in the differences, the interactions and junctions where meaningsdont line up perfectly that are most intriguing.

Chapter 5: The Message

THE SEMIOTIC TRADITION

the study of the structure of language

treats signs as a bridge between the world of experience and the world ofexperience and world of understanding

1. Symbol Theory (Susanne Langer)

Langer considers symbolism to be the central concern of philosophybecause it underlies all human knowing and understanding

Human feeling mediated by conceptions, symbols and language

Sign---is a stimulus that signals the presence of something else

Symbol---is an instrument of thought; allows a person to think aboutsomething apart from its immediate presence.

Meaning---is the complex relation among the symbol, the object, and theperson. Meaning consists of logical and psychological aspects

a. Denotation---logical relationship between the symbol and referrantb. Connotation---psychological meaning is the relationship between

symbol and the person

2. Classical Foundations of Language (Ferdinand de Saussure)---sees

language as a structured system representing reality---Saussure believes that all a person knows of the world isdetermined by language

---Signs do not designate objects but rather constitutes them

Langue---formal language (language)

Parole---actual use of the language in communication (Speech)


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3. Theories of nonverbal behaviour

Nonverbal Codes---are clusters of behaviours that are used to conveymeaning ; are analogic which means that nonverbal codes are continuousforming a spectrum or a range

Iconicity---resemblance; iconic codes resemble the thing being symbolized

Nonverbal codes have semantic, syntactic and pragmatic dimensionsSymantics-refer to the meaning of the sign

Syntactic---refers to the ways signs are organized into systems with oneanother

Nonverbal codes enable simultaneous transmission of message with theface, the body, voice and other signals

Nonverbal codes are classified into 2 types of activity used in the code:Kinesics (bodily activity) and proxemics

THE SOCIO CULTURAL TRADITION---concerns about the ways in which

message create connections across individuals in social groups andcultures

Addresses how messages achieve social purposes and how they functionin creating bonds of various types.

1. Speech Act Theory (John Searle)

Is designed to help us understand how people accomplish things with theirwords

Identifies what it takes to make a successful statement, to have anintention understood

Utterance act---simple utterance or pronunciation of the words in thesentence

Propositional act--- asserting something about the world

Illocutionary act---fulfilling an intention, designed to have an actual effecton a persons bahavior.

Prelocution---is an act in which the speaker expects the listener not onlyto understand the intention, but act on it.

2. Kenneth Burkes Theory of Identification

There is a distinction between action and motion

Action---consists of purposeful, voluntary behaviours

Motionare non-purposeful, non-meaningful ones.

Believes that people are symbol-creating, symbol-using andsymbol-misusing animals

People filter reality through a symbolic screen; reality is mediatedthrough symbols; a person can symbolize symbols

Language is always emotionally loaded. No word can be neutral, asan effect your atitudes, judgements and feelings appear in thelanguage you use


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Language can bring us together or divide usIdentification---is when symbol brings us together into a common way ofunderstanding

Division---language can also promote separation and division

3 Overlapping sources of identification:

a. Material identificationb. Idealistic identificationc. Formal identification

Identification through mustification---this explains why people from lower strataoften identify with people on top of the hierarchy.

3. Language and Gender (Cheris Kramarae)

Any language system has power relations embedded in it, and those whoare part of the dominant linguistic system tend to have their perceptions,experiences, and modes of expression incorporated into language.

Feminine Style---closely linked to craft learning

THE SOCIOPSYCHOLOGICAL TRADITION---bridges the individual and themessage

1. Action Assembly Theory--- examines the ways we organize knowledgewithin the kind and use it to form messages

You form messages by using content knowledge and proceduralknowledge

Whenever you act, you must assemble appropriate behaviors andprocedures

2. Strategy choice modelsa. Compliance gaining---involves trying to get other people do what you

want them to do. Compliance is an exchange for something else suppliedby the compliance seeker.

Maxwell and Schimtts Compliance Gaining Strategies:

Promising

Threatening

Showing expertise about positive and negative outcomes

Liking

Pregiving

Applying aversion stimulation

Calling in a debt

Making moral appeals

Attributing positive and negative feelings

Positive and negative altercasting

Seeking altruistic compliance

Showing positive and negative esteem


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b. Constructivism---says that individuals interpret and act according toconceptual categories of the mind; reality does not present itself in rawform but must be filtered through the persons own way of seeing things.

Recognizes that constructs have social origins and are learned

through interaction with other people.c. Politeness strategystates that in everyday life we design messages

that protect face and achieve other goals as well (120)

3. Message design modelsimagine a more complex scenario in whichcommunicators actually design messages that are in line with their intentionswithin the situation they are in.a. Planning Theory---acc. To Berger, plans are hierarchical cognitive

representations of goal-directed action sequences; plans are mentalimages of the steps one will go through to meet a goal.

b. Message Design logic----people think differently about communication

and messages, and they employ different logics in deciding what say toanother person in given situation.

4. Semantic meaning theory (Osgood)

Deals with which the ways in which meanings are learned and howthey relate to thinking and behaviour.

Begins the assumption that individuals respond to stimuli in theenvironment forming a stimulus-response relationship

S-R association is responsible for the establishment of meaning, whichis an internal, mental response to stimulus.

THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL TRADITION

See interpretation as a conscious and careful process of understanding

Basis is hermeneutics---- careful and deliberate interpretation of texts

Texts are any artifacts that can be examined and interpreted.

Paul Ricoeur

like musical interpretation, the meaning of a text is always a pattern ofthe whole, never just a composite of individual elements

his hermeneutic circle consists of explanation and understanding

Explanation---is empirical and analytical, it accounts for events in terms ofobserved patterns among parts

Understanding----is synthetic, accounting for events in terms of overallinterpretation

Agrees that an intimate interaction between text and interpreter exist

The reader is always testing his interpretation by looking at features ofthe text to find the meaning


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Stanley Fish

Concerns himself with where meaning resides; denies that any meaningcan be found in texts

For him meaning lies entirely on the readerwhich leads to the termREADER RESPONSE THEORY

Fisher teaches that readers are members of interpretative communities---so meaning really resides in the interpretative community of readers.

The reader always projects his or her own meaning into features of thetext and only comes up with the readers meaning in the end.

Hans-Georg Gadamer

Teaches that individuals do not stand apart from things in order toanalyze and interpret them, we interpret naturally as part of our everydayexistence

We cannot be human without interpreting

Our experience and the world we interpret are so closely intertwined thatthey are virtually the same thing.

Language itself prefigures all experience, the world is presented to usthrough language, thus communication involves a triad of two individualsand a language.

Language is like a game. We play them, just as we experience life, butthey come to us performed and remain intact after our particular playingis finished

Chapter 6: conversation

2 major themes about conversation:

1. focused on the condition in which individuals manage uincertainty aboutother people

2. organization, coordination and meshing of behaviour in interactionalepisodes

Uncertainty and Anxeity

Chalres Berger's theory:

1. URT (uncertainty reduction theory)

- focused on how we gain knowledge about other people

- according to berger, people have a difficult time with uncertainty thatthey are motivated to seek information about others.


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- as communicators discover similarities between them their attractionto one another goes up and their need for information goes down.

- 2 kinds of uncertainty: predictive(what to expect) explanatory(why)

- ways of getting information: passive strategies (observational ie.

observing a person), active strategies (ie. asking others for information about theperson), interactive strategies (asking the person for information)

2. AUM (anxiety management theory)

- all cultures seek to reduce uncertainty but they do so in differentways:

1)high-context cultures rely on the overall situation

2)low-context cultures rely more on the explicit verbal content

- the less you know and the more anxious you are, the less effective.

- different individuals have different thresholds for uncertainty andanxiety.

- the ideal intergroup situations then is for uncertainty and anxiety tobe between your upper and lower thresholds which would lead to motivation tocommunicate and the adoption of uincertainty reduction strategies.

Accommodation and adaption

- speakers frequently adjust their behavior to one another.

Accomodation theory

- explains how and why we adjust our behavior to the actions of others.

- communicators often seem to mimic one another's behavior. this iscalled Convergence

- the opposite is Divergence - moving apart

- Convergence - happens when seeking for approval of others. peopletend to to appreciate convergence from others that is accurate, well intended, andappropriate in the situation.

- Divergence - happens to accnetuate in-group identity vis-a-vis

members of an out-group. sometimes too, speakers will dverge in order to affectother's behavoir in some way.

Interaction Adaptation theory

- communcators have interactional synchrony(coordinated back andforth pattern)


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- Interactional position or your starting point in a conversation isdetermined by 3 points

R - requirements; your needs in the ineraction

E - expectations; the pattern you predict will happen

D - desires; what you want to accomplish

- normally, you will reciprocate your partner's behaviour as a kind ofdefault response

- when reciprocal pattern is disrupted, it leads to a second kind ofresponse - compensation

Interpersonal deception theory

- deception ivolves dircet manipulation of information, behavior andimage leading the another person to fals belief

- deception apprehension and suspicion come out in strategicallycontrolled behavior. this process is called leakage.

- when we are relationally close, also have a degree of familiaritybetween us.

- truth bias make us less inclined to see deception.

Conversational Analysis

- how things are done in language

conversational maxims

- cooperative principle (cooperating in a conversation)

a. quantity maxim - how much information

b. quality maxim - how truthful

c. relevancy maxim - how pertinent

- deception occurs by violating the maxims

a. quantity - information withdrawal

b. quality - lie

c. relevancy - distract

sequencing approach

- focuses on the adjacency pair


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utterance - first pair part (FPP)

speech act - second pair part(SPP)

- presequence is an adjacency pair whose meaning depends onanother series of acts that has not yet been uttered.

- insertion is an adjacency pair between two parts of another pair andis subordinate to the main pair.

- expansion is an adjacency pair to include additional or subsidiaryintentions.

Rational Approach.

- the second approach to conversational coherence assumes thatconversations are practical acts that achieve goals. for this reason, such approachesare called rational.

- if the squence of acts appear rational, in relation to agreed on goals,it is judged coherent.

validity rules - establish the conditions necessary

reason rules - adjust statements to the belief and perspective ofothers.

- coherentist theory of meaning - communicaiton is possible onlybecause commincators possess shared meanings.

understanding is based on 3 characterisitics

- intelligibility.

- organization

- verification

Conversational Argument

- Each turn must be a rational move toward bringing agreement.

- requires communicators to cooperate in creating a dispute resolvingepisode.

- to have an argument, you must put forth an opinion that you do notexpect the other person to initially accept. (standpoint)

confrontation stage

opening stage

argumentation stage

concluding stage


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Face negotiation theory

- face referes to one's self image in the presence of others.

- facework is the communcation behavior people use to build andprotect their own face or threaten th face of another person.

locus of facework - whether it is directed to you or anotherperson

face valence - whether it is positive or negative

temporality - in the future or now

- preventive facework invloves communcation designed to protect aperson from feelings of threat to personal or group face.

- restorative facework is deisgned to rebuild one's face after loss.

Coordinated management of meaning

- CMM states that poeple interpret and act on the basis of rules.individuals first want to understand and then act on the basis of understanding

- types of rules

Constitutive rules are essentially rules of meaning, used by communcators tointerpret regulative rules are rules of action

Language-centered perspective on culture

6 assumptions

a. all comm occurs within cultural framework

b. all individuals possess tacit cultural knowledge through which theycommunicate.

c. in multicultural societies, there is a dominant linguistic ideology thatin turn marginalizes other cultural group.

d. members of the marginalized possess knowledge about both their

culture and the dominant culture.

e. cultural knowledge is both preserved and passed down.

f. when cultures coexist, each influences and affects the other.

Invitational Rhetoric


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- uses the idea of invitation as a conversational mode.

- primary goal is the clarification of ideas among all people involved.not persuasion

Conquest Rhetoric - goal is winning.

Conversion Rhetoric - change other's perspective.

Benevolent Rhetoric - help others

- environment conducive to all parties reacheing grater understandingconsists of four factors: freedom, safety, value, and openness.

Chapter 7 : The Relationship

CVBERNETIC

Relational patterns of interaction

- people define their relationship by the way in which they interact.

- Patterns get established in part because any behavior is potentiallycommunicative.

- when it comes to relationships, actions speak louder than words.

- if two people act on the same way, they are said to be engaging in asymmetrical relationship.

- complementary relationships, two people are acting in opposing ways.

- assertions can be repsonded to in 3 ways

one-up - reject

one-down - accept

one-across - neither accept nor reject

- complementary exchange happens when one asserts one-up, another, one-down.

- symmetrical exchange calls for both parties to act similarly.

Relational Schemas in the Family

- ways in which family members think about their families.

- your relational schemas consist of your knowledge of yourself, others, andrelationships you have known.

- your family schema includes:


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a. what you know about relationships in general

b. what you know about family relationships

c. what you know about your relationship wiht other members of yourown family.

- kinds of orientation predominant in family schema.

conversation orientation

conformity orientation

types of families:

consensual - high conversation, high conformity

pluralisitc - high conversation, low conformity

protective - low conversation, high conformity

laissez-faire - low conersation, low conformity

Social Penetration Theory

- process of increasing disclosure and intimacy within a relationship.

- accdg to the theory, you get to know the person by penetrating his or hersphere

- four stages of relational developement

1) orientation

2) exploratory affective exchange

3) affective exchange

4) stable exchange

- social penetration is a cyclical dialectical process.

SOCIOCULTURAL

Bakhtin's Theory of Dialogics- Prosaic - which refers to the ordinary taken for granted familiar world.

- 2 kinds of forces Centripetal (seek to impose order on apparent chaos),Centrifugal (disrupts order)

- Dialogue is something that happens within a specific situation amongspecific participants.


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- heart of dialogue is the utterance

- in contrast with Monologue which is finalization when interaction becomesclosed, static, dead.

- "to live means to participate in dialogue"

A Dialectic Theory of Relationships

- dialogical theory of relationships - relationships are defined throughdialogues.

- dialogue is the coming together of 2 voices in a conversation.

- BAxter's 3 vantage points

a. it is in dialogue that you define your relationships with others

b. dialogue affords opportunity for unity within diversity.

c. dialogue involves a sense of balance, of coherence, of form, ofwholeness

d. dialogue is discourse

- 5 qualities that change as relationships develop

1. amplitude - strength of feelings

2. Salience - focus on past, present or future

3. scale - how long patterns last

4. Sequence - order of events

5. Pace/ Rythm - rapidity of events.

Communcation Privacy Management (CPM)

- the central concen of this theory is the management of the tension betwenopeness and privacy.

- information sharing allow co-ownership of information.

- co-ownership has its own set of negotiated rights and responsibilities.

- risk assessment means thinking about costs and rewards of revealing theinformation.

- Boundary rules change as circumstance change.


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- partners must negotiate rules about boundary permeability(how open theinformation is) boundary linkage(who should know) boundary ownership (rights ofthe owners).

PHENOMENOLOGICAL

Carl Rogers

- Your overall experience as a person constitutes your Phenomenal Field(Experiences).

- As you mature, your field grows and a certain part becomes identified asthe self.

- when you feel strong and clear, you are in congruence with your self.incongruence is otherwise.

- healthy relationships are characterized by (please refer to page 205 ofTheories of Human Comm.)

- Further, ones self is a product of a relationship and not the other wayaround.

- in a dialogue, we come to relate to others by:

1. being present and connected

2. being congruent

3. showing positive regard

4. having empathy

Martin Buber

-I thou relationship is embodied in a conversation.

because you are a whole person worthy of your own experiencesopinions , ideas and feelings, you must stand by what is important to you

at the same time, you must acknowledge the full life experiences ofothers and allow them to express what is important to them.

-I It relationship

-you think about the other person as an objetc to be labeled, manipulated,changed and maneuvered to your own benefit.

Chapter 8 - The Group

Chapter 8 is dedicated to group communication theories.

The Sociopsyhological Tradition (216-218)

1. Interaction Process Analysis by Robert Bales (216-218)


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- a unified and well-developed theory of small-group communication, aiming toexplain the types of messages that people exchange in groups, the ways inwhich these shape the roles and personalities of group members, and therebythe ways they affect the overall character of the group

- Bales groups the types of messages into twelve categories which are also groupinto 4 broader sets

Behavior Types:

Behavior Type Particular problem implied

Gives information Asks for information

Gives opinion Asks for opinion

Gives suggestion Asks for suggestion

Result

If ppl do not adequately share

info

Problems of communication

If ppl do not share opinion Problems of evaluation

If ppl fail to ask of give

suggestions

Problems of control

If the group cant come to

agreement

Problems of decision

If there is insufficientdramatizing

Problems of tension

- the category of dramatizing became important in this theory

Dramatizing relieving tension by telling stories and sharing experiences that may

not always be related directly to the task of the group

Two General Classes of Communication Behavior

a. Socioemotional Behavior represented by seeming friendly, showing tension ordramatizing

- the socioemotional leader worked for improved relationships in the group,concentrating on interactions in the positive and negative sectors

b. Task Behavior represented by suggestions, opinions and information- the task leader facilitates and coordinates the task-related comments and

directs energy towards getting the job done


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An individuals positions in a group is a function of three dimensions:

a. Dominant versus submissiveb. Friendly versus unfriendlyc. Instrumental versus emotional

- your behavior, or combined behaviors, determine the groups perception of you

2. Akala ko may theory pa under the Sociopsyhological Tradition, pero wala na pala.However, the books says this about Bales and his theory:

- Bales and his theory is no longer in the mainstream because the Cybernetic andthe Sociocultural traditions are already the dominant traditions

- Even so, it had tremendous influence on how we think about groups- Even if the theory was named interaction process analysis, it actually had

little to do with interaction and processes because it is focused on anindividuals behavior

The Cybernetic Tradition (218-225)

- it reminds us that groups are part of larger systems of interacting forces. Agroup gets fresh input from outside, processes this input in some way, andcreates outputs or effects that influence the larger system as well as the groupitself

1. Bona Fide Group Theory by Linda Putnam and Cynthia Stohl (218-219)- served as response to the critique on Bales theory which likened groups to abottle separated off from the environment

- a bona fide group is a naturally occurring group- they say all groups are part of a system- it is a perspective or way of looking at all groups (that not all groups are

created artificially in labs, but are part of the environment from which it iscreated)

Characteristics:

a. Have permeable boundariesb. Interdependent with the environment

Nexus the point of contact or overlap between two more groups

2,. Input-Process-Output Model (219-221)


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- a way of viewing or looking at groups as cybernetic systems in whichinformation and influence come into the group (input), the group processes thisinformation, and the results circulate back out to affect others (output)

Two types of problems encountered by the task group:

a. Task obstacles the difficulties encountered by the group in tackling itsassignment

b. Interpersonal obstacles includes the need to make ideas clear to others, handleconflict, manage differences

Assembly effect occurs when task and interpersonal work is integrated

effectively

Synergy a term Raymond Cartell uses to describe the energy that goes into

solving task obstacle and dealing with interpersonal ones

2 kinds of Synergy:

Intrinsic synergy energy devoted to interpersonal hassles

Effective synergy the remaining energy available for the task

3. Fishers Interaction Analysis by B. Aubrey Fisher and Leonard Hawes (221-223)- also referred to as a human system model or the interact system model- focuses not on the acts but on the interactsInteract the act of one person followed by the act of another

Classifications of Interacts:

a. Content Dimension the answerb. Relationship Dimension the nonverbal manner by which the answer was made

Four phases of Decision Emergence

a. Orientation phases getting acquainted, clarifying and beginning to expresspoints of view

b. Conflict phase includes a great deal of dissent as attitudes are solidified andmuch polarizations results

c. Emergence phase first inklings of cooperation begin to show

d. Reinforcement phase the group decision solidifies and receives reinforcementfrom group members, the group unifies and stands behind its solution

- in this theory, the group, as it successively returns to a proposal, is seen tofollow the pattern of stating the problem, discussing criteria for solution,introducing an abstract solution and moving finally to a concrete solution


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- the theory shows us how to better understand groups decisions by analyzinginteraction, interaction being the basic process of communication thattransforms inputs into outputs

4. Effective Intercultural Work Group Theory by John Oetzel (223-224)

- established important variables that affect group functioning- Oetzel studies group that are culturally diverse, so he was able to determine

cultural difference which he clustered into 3 areas:a. Individualism-collectivism many cultures tend to be individualists in

orientation, its members thinking of themselves as independent andgiving priority to their own goals over group goals

b. Self-construal how members think about themselves2 general types: independent and interdependent

c. Face concerns differences in how members manage personal images

Self-face ones own image

Other-face involves the image of other people

Mutual-face involved concerns about the relationship between

self and other

- the more heterogeneous the group, the harder it will be to communicateeffectively in terms of:

a. equal participationb. consensus-based decision makingc. non-dominating conflict managementd. respectful communication

- the degree to which a group is able to manage intercultural diversity isdetermined by several situational factors, including:

a. a history of unresolved conflict among the cultural groups in society atlarge

b. in-group-out-group balance, determined by the number of groupmembers representing the different cultures

c. the extent to which the groups task is cooperative or competitived. status differences

Conclusions:

- the Cybernetic tradition has had a clear impact on our thinking aboutcommunication in groups

- these theories tend to be descriptive in approach, showing how, in differentways, groups act as systems of interacting forces

- most of the theories in this tradition have sociocultural elements

The Sociocultural Tradition (225-233)

- as a group works on its task, it actually creates a structure, which in turnaffects how it manages its task


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- the theory of structuration is a general social theory that can be applied to anynumber of situations (226)

- it has had most impact in the communication field in the areas of group andorganization communication (226)

1. The Structurational Perspective by Anthony Giddens, with contributions from DonaldEllis and Marshal Scott Poole (225-230)

- a general theory of social action- states that human action is a process of producing and reproducing various

social systemsBraided Entities term used by Donald Ellis to describe the close relation of

interaction and structure

- we do act deliberately to accomplish our intentions but at the same time, ouractions have the unintended consequences of establishing structures that affectour future actions

- structuration saturates all social life, which are not limited in group situations

only- these structures include power arrangements by which one group may

dominate another3 major modalities or dimensions that are involved in structuration:

a. An interpretation or understanding

b. a sense of morality or proper conduct

c. a sense of power in action

Ways by which structures can relate to one another:

a. one structure can mediate another the production of one structure isaccomplished by producing another

b. through contradiction the production of a structure that requires theestablishment of another structure that undermines the first one

Marshal Scott Pooles work on Structurational theory of group decision

making (with contributions from Jonelle Roth):

Groups operate depending on 3 sets of variables:

a. Objective task characteristics the standard attributes of the task such as thedegree to which the problem comes with pre-established solutions, the clarityof the problem, the kind of expertise it requires, the extent of the impact ofthe problem, the number and nature of values implicit in the problem, andwhether the solution is a one-shot action or will have broader policyimplications

b. Group task characteristics include the extent to which the group has previousexperience with the problem, the extent to which an innovative solution is


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required as opposed to adoption of a standard course of action, and theurgency of the decision

c. Group structural characteristics include the cohesiveness, power distribution,history of conflict and group size

Poole and Roths study revealed three general types of path which groupsfollowed:

a. Standard unitary sequence regular agendab. Complex cyclic sequence problem-solution cyclesc. Solution-oriented almost no problem analysis occurs here

3 Interwoven Activity Tracks elaborated in the theory:

a. task-process track consists of activities that deal directly with the problem or

task, including, for example, analyzing the problem, designing solutions,

evaluation solutions, and getting off on tangents

b. relations track involved activities that affect interpersonal relationships in the

group

c. topic-focus track a series of issues, topics or concerns of the group over time

Breakpoint points of transition that occur from time to time, or interruptions

3 Types of Breakpoints:

a. Normal breakpoints expected, natural points of termination or transition

b. Delays unexpected problems that cause a pause in normal group functioning

c. Disruptions consist of major disagreements and group failures

2. Functional Theory based on John Deweys work and developed by Randy Hirokawa(230-231)

- view the process as an instrument by which groups make decisions,emphasizing the connection between the quality of communication and thequality of the groups output

- uses the functional approach in viewing group communication- this research method may be placed under the sociopsyhological tradition but

it is placed under sociocultural because of its strong kinship with thesociocultural approach which looks at how groups work

- Hirokawa describes the group communication process like this:a. First, the group identifies and assesses a problemb. Second, the groupgather and evaluates information about the

problem


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c. Third, the group generates a variety ofalternative proposals forhandling the problem and discusses the objectives it wished toaccomplish in solving it

d. Fourth, the group evaluates these objectives and alternativeproposals, with the ultimate goal of reaching consensus on a course ofaction

Factors contributing to a faulty decision:

a. Improper assessment of the problemb. Inappropriate goals and objectivesc. Improper assessment of positive and negative qualitiesd. Development of an inadequate information basee. Faulty reasoning from the information base

3. Groupthink Theory by Irving Janis (232-233)- referred to as groupthink hypothesis- this is a direct result of cohesiveness in groups which was seen as a crucial

variable in group effectivenessCohesiveness the degree of mutual interest among members

- may be a good thing because it brings the members together and

enhances the groups interpersonal relationships

- it can also have its dangers

6 negative outcomes of groupthink (short version of page 232):

a. The group limits its discussion to only a few alternatives without considering a

full range of creative possibilities

b. The position initially favored by most members is never restudied to seek out

less obvious pitfalls.

c. The group fails to reexamine those alternatives originally disfavored by the

majority

d. Expert opinion is not sought

e. The group is so confident in its ideas that it does not consider contingency plans

Symptoms that mark groupthink:

a. Illusion of invulnerability creates an undue air of optimismb. Creation of a collective effort to rationalize the course of action decided onc. Maintenance of an unquestioned belief in its inherent moralityd. Out-group leaders are stereotypedas evil, weak or stupide. Direct pressure is exerted on members not to express counter opinionsf. Self-censorship of disagreementg. Illusion of unanimitywithin the grouph. Emergence of self-appointed mindguards


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The answers to these problems are:

a. Encourage everyone to be a critical evaluator and express reservationswhenever the come up

b. Do not have the leader state a preference up front

c. Set up several independent and separate policymaking groupsd. Divide into subgroupse. Discuss what is happening with other outside the groupsf. Invite outsiders into the group to bring fresh ideasg. Assign an individual at each meeting to be devils advocateh. Spend considerable time surveying warning signalsi. Hold a second-chance meeting to reconsider decisions before making them

final]

Conclusions:

- these theories emphasize the social construction of groups what they do andhow this action results in something larger than individuals or even groups

- these theories have strong cybernetic base as well, as the consequences ofaction within a group create constraints or structures that further limit thegroup action

General conclusion for Chapter8

1. Groups cannot be separated from the context in which they work2. Effective group work accomplishes tasks and builds interpersonal relationships3. Process and structure are intimately tied together

4. Effective group work requires careful attention to the quality of communication,creative thinking and critical thinking

Chapter 9 - The Organization

Three general defining dimensions of organization (241-242):

1. Organization structure, form and function2. Management, control and power3. Organization culture

Metaphors for the first dimension:

a. Machine an organization has parts and productsb. Organism an organization is born, grows, functions and adapts to

changes in the environment, and eventually dies

Metaphors for the second dimension:


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a. Brain organizations process information, they have intelligence, they conceptualize,and they make plans

b. Political-system power is distributed, influence is exerted, and decision are madec. Culture an org has an identity because of shared values, norms, beliefs and practices

The Sociopsychological Tradition (242-245)

- focuses on individual and group attributes or characteristics rather thancommunication patters

- due to this, the traditions is not very influential in the communicationliterature today

1. Webers Theory of Bureaucracy Max Weber (242-244)- part of Webers classical organizational theory- Weber defines an organization as a system of purposeful, interpersonal activity

designed to coordinate individual tasks. This cannot be done without authority,

specialization and regulation- Authority in an organization must be legitimate or authorized formally by the

organization- According to Weber, the best way to organize rational-legal authority is by

hierarchy, which is defined by regulation within the organization- In this structure, the head is elected or inherits the position, not appointed- In this structure, employees do not share ownership of the organization, as this

would disrupt the flow of legitimate authority

Principles of Bureaucracy

a. Authorityb. Specializationc. Necessity of rules

2. Likerts Four Systems Rensis Likert (244-245)- focused on the workers and their feelings and needs- most popular from the 40s to the 60s- looks at human relations as a management tool- the basic idea is that if you care for and nurture workers, employees will be

more highly motivated and productive- According to Likert, an org can function at any point along a continuum of four

systems:a. Exploitative-authoritative system the boss rules with an iron hand,

no feedback from employeesb. Benevolent-authoritative system the boss is sensitive to the needs of

the workerc. Consultative system the authority figures still maintain control but

seek consultation from belowd. Participative management allow the worker to participate fully in

decision-making


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- Likert says that system 4 is the best alternative because it leads to highperformance and an increased sense of responsibility and motivation

- Likert sees communication as on intervening variable in these systems

Conclusions:

- the theories under this tradition are highly formal and linear

The Cybernetic Tradition (245-249)

- sees structure as emerging from patterns of interaction within the organization

1. Theories of Organizing by Karl Weick (245-247)

- uses communication as a basis for human organizing and provide a rationale forunderstanding how people organize- according to this theory, organization are not structures made of positions and

rules, but communication activitiesAct makes up the interaction that forms an organization

Interact involves an act followed by a response

Double interact consist of an act followed by a response and then an adjustment

or follow-up by the original person (Weick believes all organizing activities are

double interacts)

Organizing is an evolutionary process with 3 parts:

a. Enactment we pay attention to stimuli, and we acknowledge that equivocalityexists

b. Selection here, organization members accept some information as relevantand reject other information

c. Retention here, certain things will be saved for future use

Choice Point faced by org members after retention, in which they decide first

whether to reenact the environment in some way

Basic Elements of the Weick Model:

a. Environmentb. Equivocalityc. Enactment


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d. Selectione. Retentionf. Choice pointsg. Behavior cycles routines that enable the group to come to an understanding

that clarifies thing for themh. Assembly rules guide the choice of routines used to accomplish the process

being conducted

2. Network Theory (247-249)- examines patterns of action to see who communicates with whomNetwork social structures created by communication among individuals and

groups

Connectedness the basic structural idea of network theory

- the idea that there are relatively stable pathways of

communication among individuals

Group network link between members of a group

Organization network link between groups

Analyzing networks:

a. Analysis of dyads link between 2 individualsb. Analysis of triads link between 3 individualsc. Analysis of groups and its subgroupsd. Analysis of global networkse. Analysis of networks multiplexity

Link basic unit of organizations

Types of Links:

a. Bridge a member of a group who is also a member of another groupb. Liaison connect 2 groups but is a member of neitherc. The Degree to which one is linked to anotherd. In-degree reflects the number of contacts other people make with youe. Out-degree involves the number of links you initiate with othersf. Centrality the extent to which you are connected to everyone else

Links can be

a. Direct a straight link between two pplb. Indirect 2 ppl are connected through a third person

Degrees of Separation the number of links between you and any other person


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Links vary in

a. frequencyb. stability

Qualities of Networks:

a. Size sheer numberb. Connectedness the ratio of actual links to possible linksc. Centrality the degree to which individuals and groups are connected to just a

few go-betweensd. De-centralized has more connectedness among member over-all, with no one

group controlling those links

Functions of Networks:

a. Control information flowb. Bring people with common interest togetherc. Build common interpretationsd. Enhance social influencee. Allow for an exchange or resources

The Sociocultural Tradition (249-261)

- less concerned with the network of connections among individuals and morefocused on the shared meanings and interpretations that are constructed withinthe network and the implications of these constructions for organization life

1. Conversation and Text in the Process of Organizing Jame Taylor (250-252)- organizations are constructed in conversations- organizing is a circular process, with interaction and interpretation affecting

one another- interaction leads to shared meaning which in turn shapes our interactionsConversations is the interaction or how participants behave toward one another

Text what is said, the content and ideas embedded in the language used

these two process cant be separated

Double Translation the process by which the text is understood in terms of thetext

Co-orientation the idea that 2 ppl both orient to a common object and the

communicators work at negotiating a coherent meaning toward the object

Surface structure the daily activities of the members within an org


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Deep structure where surface structure are generated

- this is the grammar or structural arrangement that gives the organization itscharacter and guides its actions a complex network of rules about thepatterns of interaction that are permissible in the org, etc.

2. Structuration Theory Anthony Giddens, as applied by Marshall Scott Poole and RobertMcPhee

- structure is both a manifestation and a product of communication in the org

3 metaphorical sites or centers of structuration:

1. Site of conception - includes all those episodes of organization life in which

people make decisions and choices that limit the site of conception

2. Site of implementation the formal codification and announcement of decisions

and choices

3. Site of reception org members act in accordance with the orgs decisions

Climate also emerges from structuration

- has been viewed as one of the key variables affecting communication and thesubsequent productivity and satisfaction of employees

- from Poole and McPhee, climate is the general collective description of theorganization that shapes members expectations and feelings and therefore the

organizations performance

Climates hierarchy of three steps:

a. Concept pool the set of terms that members use to define anddescribe the organization

b. Kernel climate a basic, highly abstract shared conception of theatmosphere of the organization

c. Particular climate the groups translations of the kernel climate intomore concrete terms affecting their particular part of an organization

The three layers in the hierarchy are related in a linear way:

a. the concepts create an understanding of what is going on in the orgb. from these basic understandings, the kernel climate arises, thenc. subgroups translate these general principles into specific elements of climate

that in turn affect the thinking, feeling, and behavior of the individuals


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Three interacting factors that enter into the development process of a climate:

a. Structure of the organization itself this determines interaction and practices,etc.

b. Climate-producing apparatuses mechanisms designed to affect employeeperceptions and performance such as newsletters, training programs, etc.

c. Member characteristics their skills and knowledge

3. Organization Control Theory Phillip Tompkins, George Cheney and team (254-257)- the theorists are interested in the ways in which ordinary communication

establishes a certain amount of control over employees

Forms of control:

a. Simple control direct, open powerb. Technical control use of machinery

c. Bureaucratic involves the use of organization procedures and formalrules

d. Concertive control the use of interpersonal relationships andteamwork

Power can never be avoided and is always in the system, but power is not

an external force. Instead, it is always created by various forms of

interaction within the organization. Power, then, accomplished control,

but by submitting to control, the workers themselves reinforce the same

source of power

In contemporary organizations, disciplinary control is best accomplished in

four ways:

a. Involves unobtrusive methodsb. Collaboratively producedc. Part of social relationsd. Based on the values that motivate organizational members

- Among many things created through interaction in organization is identityIdentification process of linking oneself with others

- occurs when individuals become aware of their common ground (KennethBurke)

Identity-identification duality who we are in the organization, our identities, determine to a

certain extent the identification we gorge. At the same time, our identifications shape who

we are, our identities


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5. Organizational Culture John Van Maanen and Stephen Barley, with stuff from GarethMorgan, Micheal Pacanowsky, Nick ODonnell-Trujillo, Vic Turner (258-260)

- emphasizes the ways people construct an organization reality- this approach looks at the meanings and values of the members- it examines the way individuals use stories, rituals, symbols, and other types of

activity to produce and reproduce a set of understandings

Organization culture something that is made through everyday interaction within

the organization not just task work, but all kinds of communication

Four domains of organizational culture:

a. Ecological context the physical world including the location, thetime and history, and the social context within which theorganizational operates

b. Differential interaction consists of networksc. Collective understanding the common ways of interpreting events, or

the content of cultured. Individual domain the practices or actions of individuals

Performances those very actions by which members constitute and reveal

their culture to themselves and others

Indicators that organizational members use to create and display their

understanding of events within the organization:

a. relevant constructsb. related vocabularyc. perceived factsd. practices or activitiese. metaphorsf. storiesg. rites and rituals

Suggestive list of organization communication performances:

a. ritual something that is repeated regularly1. personal ritual2. task ritual3. social rituals4. organizational rituals

b. passion workers put on performances that make otherwise dull androutine duties interesting or passionate

1. storytelling most common way2. passionate repartee consists of dramatic interactions and the use

of lively language


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c. sociality reinforces a common sense of propriety and makes use of socialrules within the organization

1. sociability performances that create a group sense of identificationand include things like joking

2. privacies sociality performances that communicate sensitivity andprivacy

d. organization politics create and reinforce notions of power and influence,which may include showing of personal strength, cementing allies andbargaining

e. enculturation process of teaching the culture to organization members

Conclusions about the Sociocultural tradition:

- all theories in this section focus on the outcomes of social interaction inorganizations

- because sociocultural theories rely mostly on an interpretive approach, theyare influenced y the tradition of phenomenology

The Critical Tradition (261-266)

- concerned with culture, but more specifically with the power relations andideologies that arise in organizational interaction

1. Hermeneutic of Suspicion by Dennis Mumby (261-262)- Mumby wanted an attitude of questioning about and an examination of the

deep structure of ideology, power and control within the organization- Hermeneutics involves the process of interpretation- Mumby says we should look for interpretations that are suspicious of the normal

order within organizations- Mumby undertakes such a critical examination using the concept of hegemony

from classical critical theoryHegemony (in org comm) involves relations of domination in which subordinated

groups actively consent to and support belief systems and structures of power

relations that do not necessarily serve indeed may work against those interests.

- hegemony is rarely a brute power move, but is instead a worked out set ofarrangements in which stakeholder buy-in actually contributes to domination

- hegemony is normally considered a negative influence in the critical tradition,but Mumby suggests that we have forgotten that resistance and transformationare also involved

2. Managerialism and Organizational Democracy by Stanley Deetz (262-263)

- shows that contemporary organizations privilege managerial interests over theinterests of identity, community, or democracy


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Four dimensions of domination

a. Naturalization the assumption of truth on the part of powerfulstakeholders

b. Neutralization - or the idea that information is neutral or value freec. Legitimation the attempt of the organization to privilege one from of

discourse as the voice of authority within the organizationd. Socialization the ongoing process of training employees to accept

and follow the moral order of the organization these process constitute a systematically distorted communication that serves

the interests of managerial capitalism managerial capitalism, permeating the modern organization, aims to reproduce

the organization for the ultimate survival of management itself the effect of managerialism is to inhibit emancipatory democracy, discouraging

autonomy and choice the solution to this state of affairs is a constant, everyday effort to create an

ideal speech situationIdeal speech situation as proposed by Jrgen Habermas, is an ideal for

communication in society in which all discourses are legitimized in open dialogue

Real democracy a balanced responsiveness, does not involved truing to create

any kind of permanent structure, but rather enactment is the attitude of constant

critique and empowerment in everyday life

3. Gender and Race in Organizational Communication from Mumbyand Deetzs studies, as enhanced by feminist theorists like Angela Trethewey, KarenAshcroft, Brenda Allen, Patricia S. Parker, Elizabeth Bell, Linda Forbes, Robin Clair

- says that organizations are gendered sites dominated by hegemonic masculinity

Tretheweys study on professional women:

The tendency to overflow women never know when their bodies may display

messages and meanings that were not intended, the majority of these unintended

messages have to do with femininity

Ashcroft and Allens study on organizations:

- said that not only are organizations fundamentally gendered but they are also

fundamentally racedImplicit message about race:

a. race is a separate, singular concept, of interest only to ppl of colorb. race is relevant when it serves organizational interests such as

creativity or productivityc. cultural/racial differences are seen as synonymous with international

differences


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d. racial discrimination stems from personal bias and the lack of racialminorities in the workplace

e. while workplaces and workers are the norm

- introducing gender and race into the study of organizational communication

has been an important avenue pursued by critical communication scholars

Parkers study on African American senior executives

- discovery: these personnel have challenges related to their identity vis--viswhite male colleagues and African American co-workers and clients

- feminist organizational communication scholars have taken seriously Mumbysdefinition of hegemony as a site both of domination and resistance

Different forms of organizational resistance by women:

a. they made fun of the organizational mandate that they participate incounseling, suggesting that the organization simply make a cardboardcutout of Freud to whom they could talk

b. they bitched about their social workers and the organizationc. they transformed client-client relationships into mentoring ones, not

sanctioned by the organization these formed of resistance enable women to feel empowered about themselves

and to envision alternatives to the conditions of their everyday lives

Robin Claires study on organization resistance:

- silence and voice exists in a complex tension, and there can be voice in silenceand silence in voice

- her work is on the paradoxes of the voice-silence tension with the issue ofsexual harassment

- she found that resistance and oppression are a particular kind of voice andsilence complicated communication phenomena that simultaneously containand oppose the organization in which they occur

- feminist scholarship has led the way in investigating the pitfalls andpossibilities of organizational life its gendered and raced dimensions and theinterlocking ways communication functions to preserve and oppose dominantorganizational ideologies

Conclusions for Chapter 9

All theories discusses in this chapter suggest that:


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1. Organizations are made through communication2. Organizational activities function to accomplish individual and joint

goals3. In addition to achieving goals, communication activities create

patterns that affect organizational life4. Communication processes create an organizational character and

culture5. the patterns of power and control that emerge in organizational

communication open possibilities and create constraintsChapter 10 Media

The Semiotic tradition

Jean Baudrillard and the Semiotics of Media

Jean Baudrillard believes that signs have become separated from the

objects they represent and that media propels this to the point where nothing is

real anymore.

In our society, this statement has evolved from different stages in

history 1) symbolic order (feudal society) signs had a clear connection with

what it signified. 2) counterfeits (Renaissance Period) signs assumed a less direct

relationship to the things in life. 3) production ( Industrial revolution) objects

are independent of any human use of the signifiers. 4 ) simulation ( Present

Day) signs create our reality.

This is why he further states that the environment now tells us what

we want. It forms our tastes, our choices, preferences and needs and that

our behavior is constrained by this reality created by media.

The Socio-Cultural Tradition

Media productions respond to social and cultural developments and in turn

influence those very developments...Media fulfill a variety of functions in society,

including framing and information, influencing opinion, providing entertainment,

setting and agenda of issues and others.

Medium Theory

Media has an impact on individuals and society. Supporting statements

say that predominant media at any given time will shape behavior andthought . As media change, so do the ways in which we think , manage

information, and relate to one another. The book then illustrates the evolution

of writing, print to electronic media and its effects on the society.

Media also fulfills a variety of functions in society and illustrated in this

model of communication: Who Says what in which channel to whom with

what effect (Laswell). Laswell also enumerates three functions of media. 1)


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surveillance provides information about the environment. 2) correlation

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