let the blogging begin Week 5

It's the 5th week of the summer session and the final blogging week. Quite a few class members have gotten an early start:

• akaFlash
• cjlynch
• Esther
• G
• GSackman8
• ilikecake
• Kimber
• Miss Potato
• Molly McMuffin
• Msensei
• TM

The holiday weekend is coming up. Blog early and often so you're not spending the 4th in front of your computer screen!

~ Professor Cyborg

org com and the future

In Chapter 10, Eisenberg et al. discuss larger issues in organizational communication and organizing, focusing on strategic positioning and alignment. The primary message is flexibility and adaptability in a turbulent environment.

The cover story of the May 25, 2009, issue of TIME is on the future of work, providing a more updated version of what's covered in Chapter 10. In a series of short articles, the magazine outlines how work has changed and trends that suggest new work paths in the coming months and years. Topics include types of jobs, management training, benefits, career trajectories, retirement, women in the workplace, green jobs, Gen X in the workplace, manufacturing, and the office. Plenty of intriguing tidbits of information. For me, the most interesting trend is telecommuting. Already it's estimated that 28% of the U.S. workforce telecommutes either full or part time. Seth Godin, the author of the article, "The Last Days of Cubicle Life," argues:

More and more, though, the need to actually show up at an office that consists of an anonymous hallway and a farm of cubicles or closed doors is just going to fade away . . . I'd rather send you a file at the end of my day . . . and have the information returned to my desktop when I wake up tomorrow.

Many companies are already working this way. I've found the best faculty meetings are those in which we've already done much of the work online and the only work left is what we need to talk about in person.

If you get the change, read the entire cover story. Lots of interesting ideas to think about and discuss.

~ Professor Cyborg

leadership at the bottom

Leadership in organizations is typically associated with those at the top, such as CEOs, COOs, CFOs, CIOs, and the like, or those in middle-management supervisory roles. And in some companies, the people at the top truly are crucial to the organization's well-being. Consider the case of Apple and Steve Jobs. With Jobs at the helm, Apple flourished. When he left in the early 1990s, Apple quickly lost its way and its ability to make money. Jobs came back and Apple's innovative ideas soared. Still, without creative and smart people around him, even Steve Jobs wouldn't be able to keep Apple on the cutting edge of new communication technology.

In Chapter 9, Eisenberg et al. fall into this leaders-at-or-near-the-top trap as well, drawing a distinction between leaders/managers/supervisors and employees (aren't managers, supervisors, Presidents, etc., employees of the organization, too?). I suspect that leadership in the bottom levels of the organization may be as important (or even more important) than leadership at the top. At SJSU, for instance, the university went through several years of interim and temporary presidents and managed to muddle along just fine. But what would happen without department chairs? The university would come to a standstill. Even worse would be no office managers (administrative staff). It's not just the tasks department chairs and office staff complete, it's also the support they provide, goals they set, and ways they motivate others to complete their tasks.

Maybe it's time to take a closer look at leadership communication outside the upper echelons of organizations and study how those taking care of the day-to-day organizing tasks lead the way.

~ Professor Cyborg

gangs as organizations

Near the end of Chapter 8, Eisenberg et al. mention that "terrorist organizations have turned to online communication as a means of recruiting and staying connected with new members" (p. 267). I'm not sure if local gangs are doing the same, but they certainly use cell phones and other new media to organize and accomplish their goals.

I bring up gangs today because the Merc ran an article on increased gang violence in Santa Cruz county. Although the article focused on Watsonville, there's evidence that gang activity is on the rise in other parts of the county. For example, in my neighborhood of Pleasure Point, we're seeing more graffiti and tagging. Within the past year a neighborhood park was tagged (Brommer Park at Brommer and 30th) along with a house next to Moran Lake on East Cliff Drive. And then there's the regular tagging of signing, sidewalks, fences, and benches. Just like companies mark their territory with advertisements, gangs mark their territory with graffiti.

~ Professor Cyborg

networked university case

At the end of Chapter 8, Eisenberg et al. pose the case of the networked university. The authors note that many universities have established campuses far from their primary sites, sometimes in other countries. Then the authors refer to the University of Phoenix, a for-profit institution, and similar organizations that "offer highly flexible degree programs that require very little in the way of physical presence in a classroom."

Partly because the textbook was published two years ago, the case and discussion seem rather quaint. As institutions of higher education, all colleges and universities should be examining ways to integrate new media into the classroom and learning experience. For traditional place-oriented schools, developing innovative ways to structure classes will be essential for survival. The U of Louisville, for instance, offers a bachelor's degree in communication that's completely online. Enrolling in online classes costs more than in person classes, but students are willing to pay for the flexibility online classes offer.

~ Professor Cyborg

collaboration and knowledge building

Monday's Mercury News had an interesting column by Larry Magid in the Business section. In the article (titled "Cheating is cheating, but tech offers chance to teach critical thinking" in the online version and "Technology could aid student learning" in the paper version), Magid argues that while students cheating on tests and papers is wrong, maybe what teachers should be doing is rethinking what they're evaluating and how they're evaluating it. As Magid points out:

In the work force, what's important in most situations is not so much the facts you can pull out of your head but your ability to acquire information when you need it and — most importantly — your ability to make sense of it.

Team papers and tests provide opportunities for students to work together on assignments and better understand the collaborative nature of knowledge development. Academe still tends to cling to the notion of the lone researcher toiling away in the laboratory during the wee hours of the morning. But consider the recent breakthroughs in science such as the human genome project and face transplant. These involve multiple groups coordinating their efforts to test theories, gather data, interpret results, and strike out on new scientific paths.

As Eisenberg et al. point out, teams are not without their drawbacks. Team members must have the expertise for the task, must have training in how to work together, must have a task that requires teamwork, and must figure out a way to match team member expertise with assigned work.

Certainly in the educational setting we need to do a better job of teaching students how to collaborate as they learn about and explore new topics. The notion that learning is an individual effort isolates students from each other. One reason I have students blog in my online classes and comment on each others' blogs is that students learn from each other. On my teaching evaluations, students often comment that reading others' blogs helps them better understand the class material and bring to their attention concepts and ideas they overlooked.

~ Professor Cyborg

let the blogging begin Week 4

It's the morning of Day 2, Week 4, and the blogging has already begun. Earlier bloggers this week include:

• akaFlash
• Esther
• G
• GSackman
• Kimber
• Miss Potato
• Molly McMuffin
• Tina
• TM

The early bloggers get the early comments! And they have less stress later in the week as the Saturday midnight deadline approaches. Don't be the blogger posting at 11:59pm on Saturday night--Blog early and blog often!

~ Professor Cyborg