let the blogging begin Week 2

It's early Tuesday morning and several people have already blogged about Chapters 3 and 4. If you're looking for blogs to comment on, go to these class blogs:

• Cynthia Y
• Esther
• GSackman8
• Kimber
• Molly McMuffin
• Msensei
• Sassy Scholar

Thanks to these class members for getting the week started. If you're not on this list--get blogging! Saturday will be here before you know it.

~ Professor Cyborg

organizations as systems

Although systems theory has its drawbacks (such as dehumanizing organizational members and communication is equated with information), it provides an important way of thinking about organizations. For example, recognizing that SJSU is part of a larger system--the California State University--helps you make sense of SJSU's bureaucracy. As an employee of SJSU and the CSU, I'm an employee of the State of California, so my checks come from Sacramento rather than SJSU.

Because SJSU is part of the CSU, that impacts the programs each campus might offer. For example, if the Communication Studies Department wanted to change it's focus to new media studies, the faculty would need to consider not only what's offered by other departments at SJSU, but also other communication departments in the CSU.

Consider how the organizations you're a part of are systems and the ways in which systems theory helps explain why those organizations function as they do.

~ Professor Cyborg

theory and organizational communication

You've probably heard someone say, "Oh, that's just a theory," as if theories aren't all that important or useful. Yet theories are essential for functioning in every day life as they help you explain why things are the way they are and why people behave as they do.

Eisenberg et al. argue that all theories are metaphorical and historical. That is, a theory of organizational communication provides a metaphor of organization, explaining what is not known in terms of what is known. (I discuss the nature of metaphor in greater detail in the Metaphors and Culture web lecture.) Theories are also historical because they're grounded in the time they were developed and the theories that came before them. For example, human relations arose out of dissatisfaction with classical theories of organization and human resources provided a further extension of human relations.

Theories also provide narratives of organization in that they present goal-oriented stories. Theories frame how you think about organizations. No matter how perfect a theory may seem, it will always be partial (doesn't provide a full account of organizational communication), partisan (organizational events may be assigned multiple possible meanings), and problematic (inviting dialogue and questions about organizational communication).

So Chapters 3 and 4 introduce you to early theories of organization that provide important foundations for later thinking about organizational communication. As you read about these theories, consider the historical context in which they arose. Also reflect on the ways they still influence organizing today.

~ Professor Cyborg

organizing and human civilization

The authors of your text argue that the history of human civilization is a history of organizing. In analyzing the current turbulence in the global economy, the centrality of organizing to human existence is quite apparent. Because I'm in Michigan, I've been following the saga of GM's bankruptcy, downsizing, and reorganization. As parts of GM go to other companies (e.g., Saturn to Penske and Hummer possibly to a Chinese company), there are possibilities for new ways of organizing that might prove better for all stakeholders and increase the likelihood of innovation--moving more toward the creativity side of Eisenberg et al.'s model.

As a reminder, Saturday June 6 is the last day to take the first quiz and complete the process tasks. The 6-week summer sessions goes by quickly!

~ Professor Cyborg

let the blogging begin

It's Day 3 of Week 1 and several class members have already set up their blogs, introduced themselves, and posted their work stories. Check out these blogs:

• aimee5466
• COMM 144 Student
• Cynthia Y
• Esther
• Filbert's Pink Heart
• GSackman8
• Hallie
• i like cake
• Molly McMuffin
• Msensei
• SquEarlBlog
• TM
• Wilki

If you haven't posted yet, be sure to introduce yourself and tell us about your work story this week. You're not graded on your blog entries and comments this week, but blogging now will help prepare you for next week--and you'll get to meet the others in the class and they'll get to meet you.

~ Professor Cyborg

work story

Although blogging isn't required for this week, posting your work story to your blog will get you used to blogging as well as thinking about organizational communication.

My work story includes all sorts of jobs to pay the bills while I was in school, such as food co-op manager and unit clerk on a hospital burn unit. My first job (outside of babysitting) was stuffing envelopes and other clerical work for a small psychology journal. I've waited tables (2 weeks) and sold Avon products (2 months). I knew in 8th grade that I wanted to be a professor (my father is a retired psychology professor and my stepmother is a retired business communication professor, so teaching runs in the family), I just wasn't sure about the "of what" part.

When I started my bachelor's at Western Michigan U, I majored in psychology (too many experiments and surveys), switched to interior design (I didn't have a "vision" sense), and briefly considered majoring in English (my poetry was really awful). Finally, my junior year I took a class in interpersonal communication and another in sociology, and I was hooked, majoring in the former and minoring in the latter. I taught my first university class, public speaking, in 1980 as a teaching assistant working on my master's in communication at the U of Massachusetts.

In my present life as a professor, I teach, conduct research, write textbooks and journal articles, and engage in professional and community service. Many of you know me as one of the primary advisors in the department (and if you're a COMM major or minor and haven't met with an advisor to plan your fall schedule, plan to attend a drop in advising session this month). I'm also the advising liaison for the College of Social Sciences and the faculty advisor for the COMM Club.

I'm looking forward to learning about your work stories.

~ Professor Cyborg

Day 1 Week 1 in 144

The Summer 2009 session started today. Several students have already set up their blogs and most have signed up for the class listserv (google groups). So we're off to a good start. If you haven't already, you'll want to complete the Process Tasks in the next few days. Although you don't have to blog this week, you may want to post an introductory message to get used to how Blogger works.

eCampus has uploaded the class roster, so you can access Blackboard now. All quizzes are available; you must complete the first one by midnight this Saturday.

The GM saga continues. I've been following it closely; it's difficult not to in Michigan. It's a new world order for organizations and organizing. What you'll be learning about during the summer session will help you better analyze and understand the tremendous changes U.S. organizations and others world wide are experiencing.

~ Professor Cyborg