Chapter 1

An Orientation to Organizational Communication

An Orientation to Organizational Communication

• Organization and Communication• Perspectives on Organizational

Communication

Organization and Communication

• The Concept of Organization• The Concept of Communication

The Concept of Organization

• Humans organize to get things done• Organizations affect many aspects of life• Organizations as containers• Organizations as a set of discursive practices

The Concept of Communication

• The process of creating shared meanings among people

• Constructing social realities in ways that are actively coordinated and managed

The Concept of Communication

• Studying Organizational Communication• Understanding Organizations• Awareness of Skills• Career Opportunities• Development of the Field• Relationship to Other Fields

Studying Organizational Communication

• Improve your understanding of organizations and your own experiences as an organizational member

• Develop awareness of the kinds of communication skills that are important in organizations

• Considering a career as a communication professional or academic scholar in the field

Understanding Organizations

• Because organizations are constituted through communication, studying organizational communication helps us to understand virtually every human process in organizations

• Conflict, cooperation, decision-making, the use of power and authority, compliance gaining, resistance, innovation and change, morale and cohesion, relational development, the creation and maintenance of organizational culture

Awareness of Skills

• Well-developed communication skills are essential to personal effectiveness in organizations

• Public speaking, interviewing, group discussion, writing, etc.

Career Opportunities

• Writers• Editors• Media Specialists• Training and Development Professionals• Management• Consultants

Development of the Field

• Business Speech and Industrial Communication - 1950s

• Skills focus• Relationship between Organizational

Communication and other Disciplines• Establishing a Unique Identity

Relationship to Other Fields

Organizational Psychology

Organizational Sociology

Organizational Behavior

Psychology

Sociology

Social Psychology

Management

Perspectives on Organizational

Communication• Traditional Perspective• Interpretive Perspective• Critical Perspective

Feminisms

Traditional Perspective

Early Views• Relationship between Communication and

Organizational Effectiveness• Organization as Machine

Later Views• Organization as Living System• Conflict• Change

Interpretive Perspective

• Organizations as Cultures• Subjective versus Objective Views of

Organizations• Organizational Reality is Socially

Constructed through Communication

Critical Perspective

• Organizations as instruments of privilege and oppression

• Oppression in systems of language and meaning (sexual harassment)

• Structures of oppression (glass ceiling)

Critical Perspective

Feminisms

• Oppression of women through patriarchy• Emancipation and empowerment of women