Transcript Organizational Communication - Chapter 12

Communication in
Organizations
CARLI GRANT
How would you communicate with these men?
How would you communicate with Dr. Goldman?
Features of Organizational Communication
 Structure – There is a hierarchical structure the
assigns different levels of power and status, and
determines who can communicate what with whom.
 Networks – There are formal and informal links
between members of an organization. These could
involve virtual and social and personal networks.
 External Environments – Communications within an
operation are effected and altered by economic or
social issues.
Organizational Culture
- ways of thinking, acting, and understanding work that are shared by members of an organization and that reflect an organization's
identity
 Organizational cultures are characterized of shared
values, behaviors, practices and communicational
forms.
 Communication between members of organizations
creates, sustains, and sometimes alters the culture.
 The four kinds of communication that are
particularly important in developing and conveying
organizational culture are vocabularies, rites and
rituals, and structures.
Vocabulary
 The language of an organization reflects and
expresses its history, norms, values, and identity.
 Hierarchical Language – vocabularies that designate
status
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG54HSGuidQ
 Masculine Language – many organizations have
developed to continue to use language reflecting
men’s traditional interests. (sports related, sexually
themed, violent language)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37HXByCFyhg
Stories
 Corporate Stories – Convey the values, style, and
history of an organization.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZow-3nCl0k
 Personal Stories – Accounts that announce how
people see themselves and how they want to be seen
by others.
http://youtu.be/2v0RhvZ3lvY?list=UUjytSaAbYN1dNMA2EbP2NQ (1:38)
 Collegial Stories –stories told by co-workers that
forewarn us about what to expect from whom.
Rites and Rituals
 Rites – dramatic, planned, sets of activities that
bring together aspects of cultural ideology in a single
event. (Rites of passage, rites of integration,
enhancements rites)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pCKUzWBRd
k
 Rituals – forms of communication that occur
regularly and that members of an organization
perceive as familiar and routine. (personal, social,
and task)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWrfOdQG0G
U
Structures
- organize relationships and interaction between members
 Roles – responsibilities and behaviors expected of
people because of their specific position
 Rules- patterned ways of interacting, including social
and communicational norms, as well as specific
organizational rules applied to a company.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QiwAf8ltuk
 Policies - formal statements of practices that reflect
and uphold the overall culture of an organization.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ish8NBunrQU
Organizational Communication Specific To Our Era
 Diversity: Organizations that survive and thrive in a
era of diversity will be those that adapt effectively to
meet the expectations and needs of different workers
and the present era.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aVUoy9r0CM
 Teams – requires interaction intensely with
members of teams that may form and dissolve
quickly
 Relationships - Simultaneously personal and
professional
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB9iMqnQtE0
Discussion Questions
 What rites and rituals do you have within Gordon
State College? (These can be personal, social, or task
related)
 What are the pros and cons of having a friendship
with a professor on campus?
PLEASE NOTE:
Chapter summarized from information found in:
Wood, Julia T. (2014). Communication Mosaics:
An Introduction to the Field of Communication. 7th
Edition. Boston, MA: Wadsworth.
These student lecture notes provide a brief
summary of Wood’s discussion on verbal
communication (chapter 4) while providing
additional commentary and examples. The
information in this slideshow is based on the work
(content and organization) of Wood (2014).