Communication 2nine2 Discussion Questions Presentation and Paper Topics

Preface
Chapter 1    Introduction
Chapter 2   Organizational Structure and Process
Chapter 3    Rationality, Decision-Making and (Ab) Uses of Information                            
Chapter 4    Culture, Subcultures, and Organizational Socialization
Chapter 5    Identity:  Individuality and Collectivity
Chapter 6    Connecting through Relationships & Networks"
Chapter 7    Leadership
Chapter 8    Participation, Teams, and Democracy at Work
Chapter 9    Power and Control in Organizational Life
Chapter 10  Encountering, Interpreting, and Managing Conflict
Chapter 11  Organizational Change and Change-Related Communication
Chapter 12  The Meanings and Uses of Organizational Communication Technologies
Chapter 13  Communication in Global and Multi-cultural Contexts
Chapter 14  Speaking of Ethics and Values in Organizations
Chapter 15  Analyzing Organizational Communication

 

 

Preface,

 

1.       Why do you think the four authors wrote this book?

2.  How do you understand the five themes of this text and course?

3.  What does the term “practical” mean to you?

 

For Chapter 1, “Introduction”

1.       What does it mean to “think critically” about something?

2.       Why do we have theory?

3.       What are “lay” or “implicit” theories?

4.       What does a good theory “do”?

5.       What are some common metaphors for organizations?

6.       How would you define “organizational communication”?

 

For Chapter 2, “Structure”

1.       What are some different ways of understanding organizational structure?

2.       How does structure relate to process?

3.       What do we mean by the “duality of structure”?

4.       What are the three main dimensions of organizational structure?

5.       How is systems theory practically as well as conceptually useful?

6.       What are Weber’s three main types of authority and associated types of organization?

7.       What are the main elements of bureaucracy?

8.       What are the key advantages and disadvantages of bureaucracy?

9.       Can we eliminate bureaucracy?  Should we try?  Explain.

10.   What do we mean by “alternative organizational structures” and what are some examples?++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

11.    In what ways can structure emerge?

12.   Think of how the idea of a “self-organizing system” applies to everyday life?

 

Chapter 3, “Rationality”

1.       How would you define rationality, generally speaking?

2.       Are there different forms of rationality? Please explain.

3.       What is Robert Michels’ Iron Rule of Oilgarchy? How does is apply to a variety of organizations?

4.       Hoe did Max Weber distinguish between formal and substantive rationality? And, what difference does this distinction make in everyday decision making?

5.       How are “Theory X” and “Theory Y” important to understanding the ways we see human motivation at work?

6.       What are various ways of conceptualizing and measuring efficiency? How does efficiency relate to effectiveness, according to Chester Barnard? Is efficiency always a good thing?

7.       In what senses is bureaucracy more rational than other organizational forms? How does bureaucracy sometimes undermine the pursuit of its own goals?

8.       How do we often promote “A” while rewarding “B”? Why does this happen?

9.       What does Herbert Simon mean by “satisficing”?

10.   What Karl Weick mean by “equivolcality”?

11.   How do we “enact” our decision-making environments?

12.   What kinds of phases do groups experience in their decision making?

13.   What is the “functional” model of group process?

14.   How is the metaphor of “the garbage can” helpful for reframing our interpretations or organizational decision making?

15.   How do actual or contextual group factors such as history, culture, ethnicity, gender and values influence the way rationality “looks”?

16.   How is the idea of collective mind or group (“socially distributed”) cognition meaningful?

17.   How is “emotion labor” important at work?

18.   What do Mumby and Putnam mean by “bounded emotionality”?

19.   What do we mean by “the partial inclusion” of people in organizations? What are advantages and disadvantages of this for the individual?

20.   How are certain routines, such as environmental scanning and market surveys, sometimes more important for the appearance of rationality than for the production of usable information?

 

Chapter 4, “Culture

1. What is culture? And, what are the origins of the metaphor?
2. What is the difference between saying that culture is something an organization “has” versus something it “is”?
3. What do we mean by a “symbolist” perspective on organizational culture in contrast with a “functionalist” one?
4. How is the metaphor of culture different from the climate metaphor as applied to organizations?
5. What are the elements of W. Charles Redding’s “Ideal Managerial Climate”?  How can these be successfully promoted?
6. What are Edgar Schein’s three levels of organizational culture? How can we think about organizational culture in terms of the metaphor of depth?
7. In what ways do national differences affect organizational culture? What trends in organizations, business, and work today seem to override differences in national-level culture?

8. What do we mean by organizational vocabularies, narratives, sagas, rites, and rituals?
9. How is the concept of organizational sub-culture practically meaningful for managers and administrators?
10. What do we mean by organizational “socialization” or “assimilation”?
11. How is the concept of organizational socialization biased toward the organization? What aspects of the individual-organizational relationship are overlooked by our usual understanding of organizational socialization?
12.  What are the primary stages of organizational socialization? Why do we need to pay attention to them? Why are the early experiences of organizational newcomers so important?
13. What are “memorable messages,” “turning points,” and “critical junctures” as applied to organizational or work relationships?  Can you think of three examples from your own experience?
14.  What did Emile Durkheim mean by “organic” versus “mechanical” solidarity?  How do these concepts apply to organizations as well as to larger societies?
15. What are Joanne Martin’s three perspectives on organizational culture?  How is “integration” unduly favored in both thinking aabout and practice in organizations?

 

 Chapter 5, “Identity”

1.       How is the very idea of identity historically and culturally embedded/situated?  Why does that matter?

2.       How would you define organizational identity and image?

3.       Why and how do individuals seek to identify with organizations?

4.       What challenges to organizational identification/commitment/loyalty have we witnessed in recent years?

5.       What do we mean by “the corporate person”?  What are the multiple senses of that term?

6.       How does a strong identification with an organization influence one’s decision making?

7.       In your view, which types of organizations (in any sectors) solicit/elicit the strongest forms of identification from individuals?

8.       When would you say individuals (alumni) are most likely to identify with their alma mater (university)?  Explain.

9.       Why is it difficult to identify with an organization when its boundaries are fuzzy?  How do (virtual) organizations deal with this problem?

10.   What do we mean by various groups of stakeholders for an organization? What demands on organizational identity do certain stakeholders make?

11.   How are advertising, public relations and marketing all concerned these days with organizational identities?

12.   How do many organizations position their identities and brands vis-à-vis those of other organizations (including competitors)?

13.   How can corporate or organizational identity play off of or contribute to other identities (say, national or global ones)?

14.   What is integrated marketing communication and how does it often revolve around a “univocal” expression of organizational identity?

15.   What are the several ways in which organizations “auto-communicate,” or talk to themselves?  Why do they do this?

 

 

 

 

 Chapter 6:  “Relationships & Networks”

 

1. What do we mean by the trends of discourse “conversationalization” and “technologization”? Are these trends in conflict with one another?  Explain.
2. What is “synthetic personalization”?  When is it a kind of emotion labor at work?  When is it not?
3. How is the definition of the situation important in any relationship?  How do different definitions at work create conflict?
4. What are some important relational dialectics or tensions at work?  Which do you encounter most often?
5. How are the three main “message design logics” manifested in everyday interaction?  Can you think of examples of messages which are hybrids? How do different logics fit different situations?
6. How does leader-member exchange theory (LMX) relate to the development of trust and openness in organizations?
7. What are some different social contexts or settings in which network analysis is useful?
8. How are bridges and liaisons in communication networks especially important?
9. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of high network density?
10. In what specific ways can networks also be communities? Explain.
11. What is a network organization?  How do most network organizations rely heavily on computer-mediated communication (CMC)?
12. Apply the concept of “strength of weak ties” to three different kinds of communication networks.

 

Chapter 7, “Leadership”

 

1. Explain our ambivalence about the importance of leaders.  How does this two-sided view manifest itself in politics, business, and other settings?

2. What are some different ways of defining leadership?  Why does it matter?

When does it matter how we define leadership?

3. How does leadership “look” when we focus on a process as opposed to on a

person?

4. Describe the general progression of theories of leadership from the “Great Man” approaches of the late 19^th century to teamwork and facilitation.

5. What does it mean to “essentialize” something like leadership?

6. Explain the three main leadership styles—democratic, authoritarian, and laissez faire—and  how they each may have important roles in the life of an organization

7. How are contingency approaches to leadership both helpful and limited?

8. What do we mean when we say that leadership is the “management of meaning”?

Offer several examples from different types of organizations.

9. How does leader-member exchange theory (LMX) explain leadership in terms of the nature of superior-subordinate relationships?

10. Explain the transformational approach to leadership and why it’s so compelling and important.  What are Kouzes and Posner’s five common practices at the heart of transformational leadership?

11. What roles do framing, values, and vision play in effective leadership?

12. How can leaders work against the grain or commonly accepted ideas and practices?

 

 Chapter 8, “Participation, Teams, and Democracy at Work”

 

 

1. Why are tensions between basic motivations (and objectives) for employee participation programs?
2. Explain the distinction between unitary and adversarial models of democracy and how they apply in work organizations as well as in politics?
3. What are the major types of managerially driven participation programs?
4. What is the major difference between a quality circle and a self-directed work team?
5. How might we distinguish between employee participation and workplace democracy?
6. Why do work teams sometimes (or often) fail?
7. How is it difficult for many supervisors and front-line managers to make the transition to team facilitation?
8. What are some common tensions and contradictions in work teams?

9. What are the challenges to radically democratic organizations in today’s global market?     
10. How do feminist and other “alternative” organizations sometimes undermine their own goals?
11. What are some of the ironies, contra dictions and paradox of workplace democracy?
12. For what types of work organizations do you think democratic principles are best suited?

 

Chapter 9 “Power”

 

1. Why is it so tempting to reify power?
2. Why is asking about the “what?” or the “how?” of power often more useful than focusing on “who?”
3. How are lay or everyday theories (basic assumptions) about power affected by our experiences and our place in society?
4. Why do most definitions of power focus on the direct, interpersonal relationship between one person (“A”) and another (“B”), where A has more power and perhaps more formal authority than B?
5. Why does it make a difference to think of the total amount of power in an organization as finite versus having the potential to expand?
6. What are some of the ways “lower participants” in organizations can exercise power? 
7. What is the difference between a “sovereign-centered” and a “strategic” perspective on power?
8. What are Steven Lukes’ “three dimensions” of power and how do they apply to a decision-making meeting?
9. What is “discursive closure,” and how does it function in talk at work?
10. Offer three examples of how hegemony works in practice—especially through processes of socialization.
11. Explain the four ideal types of organizational control processes:  simple, technical, bureaucratic, and “concertive.”
12. What are some different ways that resistance occurs in organizations—on either material, symbolic, or both levels?

 

“Conflict”

 

1. What are some common attributional biases which contribute to conflict?
2. What are key individual and group sources of conflict?
3. How does role ambiguity often contribute to conflict, for individuals, groups, and organizations?
4. List some common ways that issues are controlled during conflict situations?
5. Explain the conflict phases of “latent,” “felt” and “manifest”?
6. What are the five basic conflict-management styles, and how can they be appropriate in different situations?
7. In what important ways do largely collaborative negotiation strategies differ from chiefly competitive ones?
8. How do stress and burnout contribute to conflict, on individual, group, and organizational levels?
9. How can various kinds of social support help to prevent as well as resolve conflict?
10. What are the advantages and disadvantages of employee-assistance programs in today’s organizations?
11. What are the main strategies by which organizations can manage crises—especially those that threaten their images and reputations?
12. Should we strive for the elimination of conflict in organizations?  Why or why not?

 

Chapter 11, “Change”

 

1.       How is the current business trend of “change” different qualitatively from the more traditional; emphasis on “innovation”?

2.       How are the oppositional terms of “continuance,” “routine,” and “constancy/permanence” helpful in understanding the broader historical and social contexts for change?

3.       How is communication relevant to each step or phase in an organizational change process, from formulation to dissemination?

4.       What do we mean by the distinction between “first-order” and “second-order” changes (per Gregory Bateson)?  Offer an example of each from some organization with which you are familiar.

5.       Explain the differences between Richard Daft’s four types of changes, concerning: technology, administration, products, and human resources.

6.       Explain the contrast between programmed and adaptive implementation (of a change program)?

7.       In what ways is timing important in an organizational change program?

8.       How do the notions of acceptance, fidelity and uniformity contribute to the success of an organizational change program?

9.       How is Larkin and Larkin’s set of recommendations for communicating change to employees unorthodox?  Do you agree with their suggestions?  Why or why not?

10.   What are several different strategies for communicating change to various stakeholders?

11.   How is the idea of a “turbulent environment” used to justify various kinds of organizational changes?

12.   Why is it so difficult today for those who question or oppose organizational changes to have their voices heard?

 

Chapter 12, “Technology”

 

1. How is the historical idea of “technique” important to understanding the roles of technology in today’s society?
2. What is the perspective of “technological determinism” and how does it differ from the perspective on technology as a tool?
3. How are terms like the “Information Age” and “New Economy” both useful and misleading?
4. What are some key features or dimensions of new technologies that we need to understand?  Hint:  Consider how such things as speed and access can be used as criteria for evaluating new technologies, both before and after their adoption.
5. How does the concept of “critical mass” apply to new technologies and their adoption in organizations, communities, or societies?
6. How does media richness theory view different technologies in the workplace or the work context?
7. How does the social influence model treat technologies at work?
8. What are some of the key factors which determine whether a new technological innovation in an organization will be successful or not?
9. What do we mean by “first-level (order)” and “second-level (order)” effects of new technologies at work?
10. What does “hyperpersonal communication” mean in reference to e-mail use?
11. What are some advantages and limitations of e-commerce?
12. How can the Internet both enhance and hinder democratic participation—in organizations, communities, and nations?