Organizational Communication: Foundations, Challenges, and Misunderstandings (3e)

Organizational Communication explores organizational communication from the perspective of all organizational members, not just management, utilizing interviews to evaluate communication and misunderstandings. 

A central feature of the text is the concept of misunderstandings, which highlights the idea that organizations are inherently problematic. This focus positions communication at the center of organizational life, and shows the reader how and why communication can serve to create and resolve misunderstandings of all types.  The authors advance a model, the Communicative Organization, which allows the reader to see the significance of communication to every aspect of organizational functioning. The third edition provides a foundational overview of the field and intersperses the discussions with excerpts from interviews conducted with more than 160 leaders and workers in a variety of organizations.

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PREFACE

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

PART ONE: FOUNDATIONS

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

Defining the Study and Practice of Organizational Communication

The Changing Landscape of Organizations

            Communication Technology and the Organization

            The Realities of a Diverse Workforce

Ethical Frameworks and Organizational Communication

The Communicative Organization Model

            Anticipate Misunderstandings

                        Misunderstandings and Conflict

            Social Interaction

            Strategic Communication Planning

Summary

CHAPTER TWO: CLASSICAL THEORIES OF ORGANIZATIONS

The Metaphor of the Machine

Minimizing Misunderstandings

Taylor’s Theory of Scientific Management

            Elements of Scientific Management

            Scientific Management in the Modern Workplace

Fayol’s Administrative Theory

            Principles of Management

            Elements of Management

Weber’s Theory of Bureaucracy

            Tenets of Bureaucracy

            Bureaucracy in the Modern Workplace

Summary

CHAPTER THREE: HUMANISTIC THEORIES OF ORGANIZATIONS

Human Relations Theory

            Misunderstandings and the Emergence of the Worker

            The Beginning of the Human Relations Movement: The Hawthorne Studies

            The Emergence of Communication: Chester Barnard

            Theory X and Theory Y: Douglas McGregor

Human Resources Theory

            Four Systems of Management: Rensis Likert

            Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid

Summary

CHAPTER FOUR: SYSTEMS THEORY

Misunderstandings and the Organization as a System

Systems Framework

Principles of General Systems Theory

Characteristics of Organizations as Systems

Systems Theory and Conflict

Contingency Theory

The Learning Organization

Summary

CHAPTER FIVE: ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

Roots of Organizational Culture

Misunderstandings and Organizational Culture

Definitions of Organizational Culture

Elements of Organizational Culture

            Values

            Symbolic Elements

            Role Elements

            Interactive Cultural Elements

            Context Elements

Two Perspectives on Organizational Culture

            Culture as Variable

            Culture as Root Metaphor

Schein’s Model of Organizational Culture

Summary

CHAPTER SIX: CRITICAL THEORY

Organization as a Site of Domination

Concepts: Power, Ideology, Hegemony, and Concertive Control

Communication and Critical Theory

            A Critical Approach to Communication Technology

Critical Theory: Issues and Challenges

            Creating a More “Human(e)” Workplace

            Feminist Organizational Communication Theorizing

                        Feminist Ethical Framework

            Organizational Spirituality: Individual Practice & Organizational Commodification

            Organizational Codes of Ethics: Responsibility & Control

Summary

PART TWO: CHALLENGES AND MISUNDERSTANDINGS

CHAPTER SEVEN: REALISTIC RECRUITMENT

When Applicants and Organizations Misrepresent Themselves

The Costs of Traditional Recruiting

Addressing the Problem of Applicant Misrepresentation

Addressing the Problem of Traditional Recruitment: Realistic Recruitment

            How RJPs Work

            The Medium of the RJP

            Time of Administration of the RJP

Realistic Recruitment and the Communicative Organization

Summary

CHAPTER EIGHT: SOCIALIZATION OF NEW MEMBERS

Structuration Theory

The Need for Information

Organizational Assimilation

            Anticipatory Socialization

            Organizational Encounter

                        Organizational Identification

            Metamorphosis

            Criticisms of the Assimilation Approach

Organizational Socialization

            Factors Affecting Socialization: Loyalty and Congruency

            Socialization Processes

Summary

CHAPTER 9: SUPERIOR-SUBORDINATE COMMUNICATION

Nature and Importance of the Superior-Subordinate Relationship

The Prevalence of Misunderstandings in the Superior-Subordinate Relationship

A Dyadic View of the Superior-Subordinate Relationship

Communication Activities: Superior to Subordinate

            Trust

            Immediacy

            Feedback

            Compliance-Gaining

            Humor

Communication Activities: Subordinate to Superior

            Upward Influence

Communication Technology and the Superior-Subordinate Relationships

Effects of Culture on the Superior-Subordinate Relationship

Summary

CHAPTER 10: PEER AND CO-WORKER COMMUNICATION

Nature of Relationships in Organizations

            Proxemics

            Relational Balance

            Interpersonal Needs

            Relational Control

Relationship Development in the Workplace

Technology and Peer Relationships

Positive Consequences of Workplace Relationships

Negative Consequences of Workplace Relationships

Romantic Relationships in the Workplace

            The Organizational Perspective on Workplace Romance

Relationship Deterioration

Summary

CHAPTER 11: ORGANIZATIONAL TEAMS

Characteristics of Teams

            Relational Communication

            Decision Making

            Norms

            Cohesiveness

            Diversity

            Satisfaction

            Stress

            Stuckness

Teams at Work

            Types of Organizational Teams

            Connecting Teams with the Environment

Self-Managed Work Teams

Virtual Teams

Effective Teams

Misunderstandings and Conflict in Organizational Teams

            Negative Consequences of Team Conflict

            Positive Consequences of Team Conflict

Summary

CHAPTER 12: LEADERS AND LEADERSHIP

Overview of Leadership

Development of Leadership Theories

            Trait Approach to Leadership

            Situational Approach to Leadership

            Charismatic Leadership

            Transactional and Transformational Leadership

            Relational Leading

            Feminist Perspectives on Leading

Responsibilities of Leadership

Leaders as Change Agents

Leading Responsibly

            Corporate Social Responsibility

Passion

Summary

CHAPTER 13: GENDER AND EMOTION IN THE WORKPLACE

Overview

            Professional and Managerial Work

            Pink Collar Jobs

            Gender Identity

Emotions in Organizational Settings

            Emotional Labor

The Challenges of Work and Family

            Balancing Work & Home through Technology and Virtual Ways of Working

Summary

• New interviews with organizational members from all levels bring the experiences of organizational members to the forefront, and allows students to understand how the concepts covered in the text are experienced in the real world.
• New chapter on gender and emotions in the workplace, which includes an overview of gender at work, and discussions of professional and managerial work, pink collar jobs, gender identity, emotional labor, and the challenges of work and family, allows students to understand how these important issues are re-defining work and home life.
• New, expanded treatment of a number of topics throughout the text including communication technology, elements of organizational culture, ideology, organizational spirituality, relational leading, leaders as change agents, and corporate social responsibility equip students to confront the cutting edge theory and practice in organizations.
• Reorganized chapter material allows for information regarding the Communicative Organization model, conflict, and communication technology to be covered early in the text.  Introducing these concepts at the beginning of the book provides the reader with immediate understanding of these core features of organizational life. The reader can then explore the field of organizational communication with this information in mind, providing for a deeper understanding of the complex nature of communication in organizations.

• Each chapter contains segments from interviews with different organizational members, ranging from minority voices and those in lower positions of the organization to the management, allowing students to see how theory translates into practice.
• Communication is central to each chapter, not just discussed in an ancillary fashion at the end of the chapter. After reading each chapter, students will understand how communication is relevant and critical to each of the concepts discussed.  
• “The Communicative Organization Model,” proposed by the authors (ch. 1), highlights the central role of communication in organizations and its relevance to all organizational members. This theoretically-based model equips students with a method of creating practical prescriptions.
• The concept of “misunderstandings” or the inherently problematic nature of organizational life runs throughout the book and offers students a concept to return in every chapter. 
• Realistic recruitment practices and problems, presented in chapter seven, are not available in most texts in the field. This chapter shows students how organizational communication begins before a person enters the organization.