new posts for this week

Bejeweled blogged about the pervasive communication environment discussed in this week's web lecture. The idea may seem obvious, but being able to send and receive messages nearly anytime from anyplace with anyone and being able to access information 24/7 have greatly impacted how people communicate and how organizations function. SantaCruz noted several of the downsides to information and communication accessibility. For example, the line between work and home has become blurred (I'm blogging from my home in Santa Cruz at 8p after spending the entire day on campus in meetings and advising). So the cell phone, the internet, fax machines, and other communication technologies have changed work expectations. For most jobs, organization members are expected to be linked to the organization at all times. Athina of Greece brought up the issue of real v. virtual in the web lecture. The conclusion is that it's all real--online communication can have the same influences as offline communication. The more interesting questions are about how people use different ways of communicating to achieve their goals and objectives.

Roy Hobbs notes that workplace democracy doesn't always functions productively. Management strategies such as total quality management tried to foster workplace democracy, but ignored the reality of organizational hierarchy. In organizations, some voices do count more than others because of power associated with particular position. Roy Hobbs also talked about gender issues in organizational communication. Although more of a political communication issue, consider the negative comments made about Hillary Clinton (hair, clothing, showing emotion) versus Barack Obama in the recent presidential primary race. In the U.S. (and most other countries) there are different leadership expectations for women and men.

The blogging is off to a good start this week--blog early and blog often!

--Professor Cyborg