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?