the start of week 3

Week 3 begins today!

Sashak and B Strong have already gotten the blogging started with both discussing the web lecture on Technology and Teams. Sashak noted the positive and negative aspects of the pervasive communication environment in which we live. Organizational communication scholars in the early 1990s championed the idea of using new communication technologies to blur the boundaries of work and home. Working at home is great! But as Sashak points out, it can also mean we can't get away from work. B Strong commented on the communication imperative. This is an important concept because it reminds us that technology doesn't determine how we communicate. Instead, we figure out ways to make technology work for us to achieve our communicative goals.

Looking forward to more blog entries and comments this week! I'll also be reporting on the 3-day workshop (Tu-Th) I'm taking on universal design in the classroom.

--Prof. Cyborg

a few final notes for Week 2

a few notes

The last day of Week 2 . . .

In discussing Chapter 5, CGH said this about the anticipatory stage of assimilation, "I did a lot of research to find out exactly what the company did so that I could better understand my job position." Excellent advice for anyone starting a new job. And now so much easier with company websites. Interviewing those who already work in the organization is a good idea, too.

Like CurlySue, I had an experience with a "cult like" culture. I didn't stay in the organization very long. I found the pressure to conform stifling.

Goofy provides some examples of underlying metaphors for "busy," that help us reflect on the meaning of that simply word. Kat Finn also noted how metaphors can lead to misunderstandings and misinterpretations.

JennB156 remarked that rites and rituals in organizational culture "sounds more like a fraternity or sorority" yet consider the important rituals associated with SJSU, such as first-year orientation and graduation. Rituals help convey organizational values and provide sensemaking mechanisms for organization members.

JRosene discussed retrospective sensemaking, which I think frequently occurs in organizations, especially at the management level.

José offers an extended critique of Chapter 3 that the blogger might want to forward on to the authors of the text. Also, good insights to sections on Weick's notion of organizing and concepts associated with organizational culture in C. 5. I agree that organizational culture is particularly appealing because it illuminates what we often take for granted.

Kaeli's comments on surveillance suggest that when we know we're being watched at work we tend to be more productive. But I wonder about situations in which we know we're being watched all the time--will we find ways to subvert the system?

Longevity reminded us that "it’s not always good to have open honest communication with everyone." In the 1970s there was in emphasis in the communication discipline on being open, which turned in to saying whatever was on your mind. But that ignores the impact our communication can have on others.

Mariposa makes a good point that particularism exists today, but is more covert than in the past.

Phil's entry about goals reminded me of research some of my colleagues did about 10 years ago in which they found that the perception of shared goals was more important in organizational productivity than being able to articulate the same goals.

Sashak's discussion of systems theory reminds us that all approaches to organizational communication have their strengths and weaknesses, just as all metaphors shadow or hide at the same time as they illuminate.

Scaphoidfracture makes a good point about how difficult it can be for organization members to interpret feedback.

Shitentenemusu notes that critical approaches to organization can be negative or depressing. Some researchers and scholars go beyond a critical analysis and identify ways to move an organization in more a positive direction based on the initial critical analysis.

SJSUGirl reported that a friend said, "that for many employees Disneyland once used to be the happiest place on earth, but after being treated so poorly they no longer see it is as the happiest place on earth." Some researchers have examined Disney's corporate practices:

• Tracy, J. F. (1999). Whistle while you work: the Disney company and the global division of labor. Journal of Communication, 23, 374-389.
  
  
• Boje, D. (1995). Stories of the storytelling organization: A postmodern analysis of Disney as "Tamara-Land." Academy of Management Journal, 38, 997-1035.

Spartan Girl provides a good application of hegemony to the family.

Tiger noted that "Reddy either has no idea what communication is all about, or maybe, he just had a little bit of trouble communicating his ideas." What Reddy was trying to do was show how much management texts reinforce the conduit metaphor; it's not a metaphor that Reddy agrees with.

Victoria Beckham writes about concertive control in a law firm.

Wally Oxenfree commented on Senge's learning organization. This approach to organization seems like a must in the turbulent environment we're experiencing as well as the develop pace of new communication technologies.

Who me? gives us much to think on about women in the workpace.

Great entries and comments! Just a few more hours left to post your thoughts on Week 2's reading.

--Prof. Cyborg

The blogging continues . . . .

I'm reviewing the blogs in reverse alphabetical order today. Yu discussed ACITs (also called ICTs for information and communication technologies) in small group work and the frustration members can feel due to inexperience with these technologies. In the workshop I took last week, I found that I like the idea of using something like Elluminate (which is essentially NetMeeting), but some sometimes it seemed slow and ponderous.

Who me? and CGH Talked about McGregor's theories X and Y. Ouchi adds Theory Z organizations, or those which simultaneously promote individual achievement and a sense of community (Chapter 5). Although McGregor provided a useful base for examining the link between management attitudes and behaviors, Ouchi gives a more nuanced view of what motivates organization members.

Victoria Beckham blogged about distributed intelligence and turning points. I especially like the application of turning points to the transition from high school to college. And I'm glad Victoria chose SJSU over Ohio State. Nothing against OSU, but just consider the weather in California v. the weather in Ohio (I taught at Ohio U for a year--I've experienced the difference!). More seriously, my parents were disappointed when I didn't attend their alma mater, but like Victoria, I had to find a place that was the best fit for me.

Tiger's discussion of interdependence illuminates the ways in which the family is a system and an organization. In discussing the human relations approach, Tiger said, "As always, there are exceptions, but a happy worker does not make a productive worker, nor are groups and teams of employees always more productive or better problem solvers than people working individually." And the research supports this. Good insights here, Tiger.

Spartan Girl talked about Maslow's hieararchy of needs, the learning organization, and socialization. Socialization is especially important for the newcomer as well as the organization. What organizations sometimes forget is the impact newcomers have on an organization. My department is hiring two new faculty members and they'll likely influence the department's culture.

SJSUGirl blogged about the web lecture on metaphors and culture. I first learned about organizational culture in graduate school when I took a class on the topic. I still find the idea of culture and the influence of metaphor fascinating.

Shona also blogged about the web lecture, expressing concern about the use of IM and other new media in relationship development, maintenance , and disengagement. Although Shona suggests that such communication isn't "real" consider the impact an IM message might have. And while this class meets online, it's just as "real" as one that meets in person.

Shitentenemusu discussed power and the classical approach to organization, pointing out that "how businesses and organizations are run may not change as much as we think." Although there are many metaphors for organizing, the machine metaphor is still the one used the most often, even if the application is implicit rather than explicit.

San jose org commer made an important point about the role of trainers in socializing organization members into the organization, observing, "espoused values must be intentionally flexible/vague enough to appeal to the greatest number of employees." In developing our department's mission statement, we used language that's intentionally ambiguous, allowing members to develop their own interpretations that they could embrace.

Phil applied particularism to what happens to young people who have a juvenile crime record. It's very difficult for them to get beyond their past because employers are hesitant to hire them.

Mariposa applied the six features of organizational culture to several organizations. Interrogating an organization's culture can help us better understand why we're comfortable in some organizations and not in others. Identifying the values embedded in organizational stories uncovers basic assumptions and sensemaking practices that members take for granted.

Longevity discussed the idea that knowledge is partisan. That is, what we know is always influenced by who we are and who gets to define what constitutes knowledge. Each theory has underlying metatheoretical assumptions that often go unnoticed but must be identified so we can examine the viewpoint from which the theory was developed.

Kaeli blogged about organizational culture and Weick's sensemaking model. I've always like Weick's work; his writing tends to be poetic and innovative. For example, he's compared organizing to jazz in that how we go about organizing if often improvisational, yet some organizing is also highly predictable and scripted.

B Strong gave us some good insights into organizational surveillance. Still, consider who can do the most damage to an organization--lower-level employees (who generally are highly surveilled) or top management, who typically enjoy little or no surveillance. Think of Enron, WorldCom, Adelphis, Xerox, and Tyco to name a few.

That's it for today! Excellent posts on this week's readings!

--Professor Cyborg

complexity & social networks theories

Chapter 4 in the text discusses systems theory, which most students find intuitively interesting because of the focus on interconnectedness. For this post, rather than comment on what you've been blogging about, I want to briefly introduce two theories with roots in systems theory that focus on the intersection between new media and organizational communication. You won't be tested on this information, but I thought you might find these theories interesting. The theories also suggest how organizational scholars and practitioners might apply systems theory in more pragmatic ways.

Complexity or chaos theory provides a useful twist on traditional systems theory and Castell's (1996-8) idea of a global network society. Complexity theory makes two crucial moves that take researchers beyond the notion of a single unified world system. First, as you've learned in Chapter 4, a system's beginnings influence its end conditions, but do not determine it. For example the internet's history plays a part in current outcomes, but because that history is complex, all the key factors cannot be known. Similarly, an organization's endpoint cannot be predicted from its beginnings. Even with all the hearings and litigation associated with Enron, all the events leading to its collapse will never be fully known.

Second, complexity theory suggests "our modern global society is not one huge network, but consists of an enormous number of loosely coupled networks" (Qvortrup, 2006, p. 347). Recall in Chapter 4, Weick introduced organizational scholars to the notion of loosely-coupled systems. In this way, people are connected via multiple local and global networks, rather than a single network. Although these networks may affect each other, their connection is often indirect.

The internet functions as multiple loosely coupled networks. Originally created as a highly decentralized network to maximize the system's ability to work around any service disruptions, the internet links computers together via multiple paths. Thus, a disruption in one part of the system may influence another part, but those unaffected parts will still continue to function. Multinational organizations provide a useful example of loosely-coupled systems as well. Even when highly centralized, MNOs still exhibit the qualities of loosely coupled networks, with units located in different countries often functioning in different ways. In differentiating MNOs from other types of organizations, Peterson and Thomas (2007) observe that MNOs have

high levels of organizational complexity and a distinctive set of structures that are used to manage a pool of common resources and to transfer complex knowledge over distance. MNOs are often large and require numerous linkages to diverse external environments. The distinctive structures that they use to handle these demands include roles such as expatriates and unique categories of managers, as well as coordinating mechanisms such as international virtual teams (p. 263, 265).

Complexity theory serves to illuminate at a macro-level the intricate ways in which internet and organizational communication intersect.

Complexity theory focuses on the larger or more macro issues associated with new media and organizational communication. Social networks theory narrows the focus by identifying specific types of networks within and between organizations. Connectivity forms the central notion of social network theory. While the application of traditional systems theory in organizational communication simply examined who talked to whom, social networks theory "emphasizes the importance of exchanges that support both work and social processes" (Haythornthwaite, 2005, p. 127). Researchers examine the complexity of interactions within a social network, such as the content, frequency, level of intimacy, and relationship among participants. Although Granovetter (1973) popularized social networks theory long before the internet's emergence, the theory provides important insights into how internet communication plays a central role in developing and structuring social networks in organizations.

In applying social networks theory to internet and organizational communication, Haythornthwaite (2005) found that "online-only ties are characterized by the same kinds of interactions the literature tells us are found for offline ties" (p. 135). In addition, the researcher found the internet provided the mechanism for establishing new relationships where none had existed before. Moreover, "like other new infrastructures before it, the more 'traffic' flows on the Internet, the more those without the means to access it are excluded from its information" (p. 140). In nearly all organizations, internet access and access to relevant organization information are essential for effective functioning at the individual and unit levels.

--Prof. Cyborg

References

Castells, Manuel (1996–8) The information age: Economy, society, culture, Vols 1–3. Oxford: Blackwell.

Granovetter, M. S. (1973) The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78, 1360–1380.

Haythornthwaite, C. (2005). Social networks and internet connectivity effects. Information, Communication & Society 8, 125-147.

Peterson, M. F., & Thomas, D. C. (2007). Organizational behavior in multinational organizations. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 28, 261-279.

Qvortrup, L. (2006). Understanding new digital media: Medium theory or complexity theory? European Journal of Communication, 21, 345-356.

Start your blogs!

Start your blogs!

Class blogging has already started, with B Strong commenting on classical management and systems theory. I like how B Strong noted that from a systems perspective, there is no one best way to organize, but some approaches may work better than others. Systems theory recognizes that the beginning point doesn't determine the end point--or what happens in the middle.

CGH commented on my metaphors and culture web lecture--thank you! Both are topics I've been interested in since my graduate work at U of Kentucky.

CurlySue blogged about Theory Y and distributed intelligence. I'm really intrigued by the latter. The internet has greatly increased the ability of organizations to coordinate the distribution of organizational intelligence throughout the system.

Kat Finn and Kaeli focused on human relations, which had a tremendous impact on how we think about organizations and organizational life. Human relations moves us from viewing organizations (and people) as machines to viewing organizations as organisms. Human relations essentially put the "people" back in organizing. Kat Finn also provides a good example of applying feedback to taking quizzes in the class.

San Jose Org Commer provided a good link between open systems and the notion of a global village. I hadn't heard of virtual surgery, but I do know that the internet has had a tremendous impact on telemedicine.

In contrast to CurlySue, Shona discussed Theory X and how it doesn't seem like a very useful way to think about employees. Shona also made a good point about the importance of instructors paying attention to feedback from students (and I'll be interested in what students in this class have to say about my new approach).

Yu talked about both Theory X and Y and applied the concepts to a manufacturing company. I wonder if employee attitudes would be different at a another type of company or one where work is structured in more person-friendly ways.

That's it for today. I want to post this before the electricity goes out again. Thanks to everyone who started blogging early in the week!

--Prof. Cyborg

new tech & teaching workshop 2

The last day of the new technology and teaching workshop was busy as we learned about Elluminate, which is much like Microsoft's Netmeeting. Participants are able to IM, work on documents together, and interact via video and audio (although that seems to work best with one person presenting to others). I'd like to use it for podcasting. At the end of the day, we shared our plans for incorporating new technology into the classroom. I talked about this class and my experiment with blogging as well as the wikis I've set up for the department.

I didn't keep track, but it seemed like most of the workshop participants plan to use wikis in their classes, although at least two others mentioned blogs. Wikis provide a great way to organize. As one of the workshop facilitators said, wikis mean fewer meetings, and who isn't for that?

Nearly all the COMM 144 class members have set up their blogs, so we've got a lengthy blog roll. I'm looking forward to the blogs next week (which starts tomorrow) when students blog about their favorite concepts from chapters 3-6 and the metaphors web lecture. Although there may be some common themes, I suspect we'll get a lot of variation in the concepts class members find most meaningful.

--Prof. Cyborg

new tech & teaching workshop

Finished day 2 of the technology workshop I'm taking. Yesterday we spent the morning reviewing the Horizon Report produced by the New Media Consortium and the Educause Learning Initiative. The report identifies current and upcoming applications of new communication technologies to the classroom. In the afternoon we learned about using wikis and blogs in the classroom. I'm also interested in applying wikis in other ways. For example, I set up public wiki we can use to promote the department and develop as a resource for students. I also set up a wiki just for faculty to serve as an organizing tool and repository of institutional memory.

Today we had a presentation on Second Life. I've attended panel sessions on Second Life at the Association of Internet Researchers conference and attended a half-day workshop on teaching in Second Life. I'm sold on the idea, but need the time to learn how to use it and teach my students how to use it as well. What I liked is the presenter referred to SL as a synthetic world rather than a virtual one. So SL is real like email, IM, chat, and other online activities are real and meaningful.

We spent the afternoon learning about podcasting and developing our own podcast. The process seems a bit complex at first, but has many applications, such as podcasts of workshops, short courses, and student presentations. Looking forward to tomorrow when we find out about Elluminate.

--Prof. Cyborg