Organizational communication, broadly speaking, is: the transactional, symbolic process in which the activities of a social collective are coordinated to achieve individual and collective goals. ^[1]

Discipline History

The modern field has a more recent lineage through business information, business communication, and early mass communication studies published in the 1930s through the 1950s. Until then, organizational communication as a discipline consisted of a few professors within speech departments who had a particular interest in speaking and writing in business settings. Wall Street, Manhattan is the location of the New York Stock Exchange and is often used as a symbol for the world of business. ... Information is the result of processing, manipulating and organizing data in a way that adds to the knowledge of the person receiving it. ... Mass communication is the term used to describe the academic study of various means by which individuals and entities relay information to large segments of the population all at once through mass media. ... Year 1930 (MCMXXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link is to a full 1930 calendar). ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Speech: (n. ... Scribe Writing Writing, in its most general sense, is the preservation and the preserved text on a medium, with the use of signs or symbols. ...

Through the World War II and post-war years, particularly 1942 through about 1949, studies of effective communication practices in group and organizational settings became particularly salient. Great numbers of servicemen (and some service women) underwent communication training, first in the military, and then in colleges and universities. A concern with effectiveness in transmitting messages soon broadened into concern with environmental factors, characteristics of the people involved in the communicative activity, and differences in utility of different transmission media. Combatants Allied Powers: United Kingdom France Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Axis Powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Charles de Gaulle Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33... Year 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ... Year 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1949 calendar). ...

Several seminal publications stand out as works broadening the scope and recognizing the importance of communication in the organizing process, and in using the term "organizational communication". Nobel Laureate Herbert Simon wrote in 1947 about "organization communications systems", saying communication is "absolutely essential to organizations". ^[2] Look up Nobel in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Herbert Alexander Simon (June 15, 1916 – February 9, 2001) was an American political scientist whose research ranged across the fields of cognitive psychology, computer science, public administration, economics, management, and philosophy of science and a professor, most notably, at Carnegie Mellon University. ... Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ...

In 1951 Bavelas and Barrett wrote An Experimental Approach to Organizational Communication in which they stated that communication "is the essence of organized activity". 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ...

In 1953 the economist Kenneth Boulding wrote The Organizational Revolution: A Study in the Ethics of Economic Organization. While this work directly addressed the economic issues facing organizations, in it he questions the ethical and moral issues underlying their power, and maintains that an "organization consists of a system of communication." 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... Kenneth Ewart Boulding (January 18, 1910 - March 18, 1993) was born in Liverpool, England, graduated from Oxford University, granted United States citizenship in 1948. ...

In 1954, a young Chris Argyris published Personality and Organization. This careful and research-based book attacked many things, but singled out "organizational communication" for special attention. Argyris made the case that what passed for organizational communication at the time was based on unstated and indefensible propositions such as "management knows best" and "workers are inherently stupid and lazy." He accused the emerging field of relying on untested gimmicks designed to trick employees into doing management's will. Year 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Chris Argyris (born July 16, 1923) is more commonly known for seminal work in the area of Learning Organizations which was later developed in the best selling The Fifth Discipline by Peter M. Senge. ...

Assumptions underlying early organizational communication

Some of the main assumptions underlying much of the early organizational communication research were:

• Humans act rationally. Sane people behave in rational ways, they generally have access to all of the information needed to make rational decisions they could articulate, and therefore will make rational decisions, unless there is some breakdown in the communication process.

• Formal logic and empirically verifiable data ought to be the foundation upon which any theory should rest. All we really need to understand communication in organizations is (a) observable and replicable behaviors that can be transformed into variables by some form of measurement, and (b) formally replicable syllogisms that can extend theory from observed data to other groups and settings

• Communication is primarily a mechanical process, in which a message is constructed and encoded by a sender, transmitted through some channel, then received and decoded by a receiver. Distortion, represented as any differences between the original and the received messages, can and ought to be identified and reduced or eliminated.

• Organizations are mechanical things, in which the parts (including employees functioning in defined roles) are interchangeable. What works in one organization will work in another similar organization. Individual differences can be minimized or even eliminated with careful management techniques.

• Organizations function as a container within which communication takes place. Any differences in form or function of communication between that occurring in an organization and in another setting can be identified and studied as factors affecting the communicative activity.

Herbert Simon introduced the concept of bounded rationality which challenged assumptions about the perfect rationality of communication participants. He maintained that people making decisions in organizations seldom had complete information, and that even if more information was available, they tended to pick the first acceptable option, rather than exploring further to pick the optimal solution. Herbert Alexander Simon (June 15, 1916 – February 9, 2001) was an American political scientist whose research ranged across the fields of cognitive psychology, computer science, public administration, economics, management, and philosophy of science and a professor, most notably, at Carnegie Mellon University. ...

Through the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s the field expanded greatly in parallel with several other academic disciplines, looking at communication as more than an intentional act designed to transfer an idea. Research expanded beyond the issue of "how to make people understand what I am saying" to tackle questions such as "how does the act of communicating change, or even define, who I am?", "why do organizations that seem to be saying similar things achieve very different results?" and "to what extent are my relationships with others affected by our various organizational contexts?" 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ...

Research Methodologies

Historically, organizational communication was driven primarily by quantitative research methodologies. Included in functional organizational communication research are statistical analyses (such as surveys, text indexing, network mapping and behavior modeling). In the early 1980s, the interpretive revolution took place in organizational communication. Highlighted by Putnam and Pacanowsky's 1983 text Communication and Organizations: An Interpretive Approach. Putnam and Pacanowsky's text opened up methodological space for qualitative approaches such as narrative analyses, participant/observation, interviewing, rhetoric and textual approaches readings) and philosophic inquiries. For Wikipedia statistics, see m:Statistics Statistics is the science and practice of developing human knowledge through the use of empirical data expressed in quantitative form. ... Statistical surveys are used to collect quantitative information about items in a population. ... Network mapping or Internet Mapping is the study of the physical connectivity of the Internet. ... For the Pet Shop Boys album of the same name see Behaviour Behavior or behaviour (see spelling differences) refers to the actions or reactions of an object or organism, usually in relation to the environment. ... Model may refer to more than one thing : For models in society, art, fashion, and cosmetics, see; role model model (person) supermodel figure drawing modeling section In science and technology, a model (abstract) is understood as an abstract or theoretical representation of a phenomenon,see; geologic modeling model (economics) model... Qualitative is an important qualifier in the following subject titles: Qualitative identity Qualitative marketing research Qualitative method Qualitative research THE BIG J This is a disambiguation page — a list of pages that otherwise might share the same title. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... interview An interview is a conversation between two or more people where questions are asked to obtain information about the interviewee. ... Rhetoric (from Greek ρητωρ, rhêtôr, orator) is one of the three original liberal arts or trivium (the other members are dialectic and grammar). ...

During the 1980s and 1990s critical organizational scholarship began to gain prominence with a focus on issues of gender, race, class, and power/knowledge. In its current state, the study of organizational communication is open methodologically, with research from post-positive, interpretive, critical, postmodern, and discursive paradigms being published regularly. The gender symbols used to denote a male or female organism. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Class may refer to: Appliance classes, in the electric appliance manufacturing industry. ... A critic (derived from the ancient Greek word krites meaning a judge) is a person who offers a value judgement or an interpretation. ... Postmodernity (also called post-modernity or the postmodern condition) is a term used by philosophers, social scientists, art critics and social critics to refer to aspects of contemporary art, culture, economics and social conditions that are the result of the unique features of late 20th century and early 21st century... Discourse is a term used in semantics as in discourse analysis, but it also refers to a social conception of discourse, often linked with the work of French philosopher Michel Foucault (1926-1984) and Jürgen Habermas The Theory of Communicative Action (1985). ...

Organizational communication scholarship appears in a number of communication journals including but not limited to Management Communication Quarterly, Journal of Applied Communication Research, Communication Monographs, Academy of Management Journal, Communication Studies, and Southern Communication Journal.

Areas of Study in Organizational Communication

Organizational communication can include:

Flow of Communication, e.g.,

• formal, informal
• internal, external
• upward, downward, horizontal
• networks

Induction, e.g.,

• new hire orientation
• policies & procedures
• employee benefits

Channels, e.g., A policy is a plan of action for tackling political issues. ... A procedure is a series of activities, tasks, steps, decisions, calculations and other processes, that when undertaken in the sequence laid down produces the described result, product or outcome. ... Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. ...

• electronic media such as e-mail, intranet, internet
• teleconference
• print media such as memos, bulletin boards, newsletters etc.
• face-to-face

Meetings, e.g., Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... An intranet is a private computer network that uses Internet protocols, network connectivity, and possibly the public telecommunication system to securely share part of an organizations information or operations with its employees. ... In telecommunication, teleconference is the live exchange of information among persons and machines remote from one another but linked by a telecommunications system. ... A bulletin board system or BBS is a computer system running software that allows users to dial into the system over a phone line and, using a terminal program, perform functions such as downloading software and data, uploading data, reading news, and exchanging messages with other users. ... A newsletter is a regularly distributed publication generally about one main topic that is of interest to its subscribers. ... Meetings are sometimes held around conference tables. ...

• briefings
• staff meetings
• project meetings
• town hall meetings

Interviews, e.g., A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service. ... Main street in Bastrop, Texas, a small town A town is a residential community of people ranging from a few hundred to several thousands, although it may be applied loosely even to huge metropolitan areas. ... interview An interview is a conversation between two or more people where questions are asked to obtain information about the interviewee. ...

• Selection
• Performance
• Career

More recently, the field of organizational communication has moved from acceptance of mechanistic models (e.g., information moving from a sender to a receiver) to a study of the persistent, hegemonic and taken-for-granted ways in which we not only use communication to accomplish certain tasks within organizational settings (e.g., public speaking) but also how the organizations in which we participate affect us. Selection is hierachically classified into natural and artificial selection. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Look up Career in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

These approaches include "postmodern", "critical", "participatory", "feminist", "power/political", "organic", etc. and draw from disciplines as wide-ranging as sociology, philosophy, theology, psychology (see, in particular, "industrial/organizational psychology"), business, business administration, institutional management, medicine (health communication), neurology (neural nets), semiotics, anthropology, international relations, and music.

Thus the field has expanded or moved to study phenomena such as:

Constitution, e.g.,

• how communicative behaviors construct or modify organizing processes or products
• how the organizations within which we interact affect our communicative behaviors, and through these, our own identities
• structures other than organizations which might be constituted through our communicative activity (e.g., markets, cooperatives, tribes, political parties, social movements)
• when does something "become" an organization? When does an organization become (an)other thing(s)? Can one organization "house" another? Is the organization still a useful entity/thing/concept?

Narrative, e.g.,

• how do group members employ narrative to acculturate/initiate/indoctrinate new members?
• do organizational stories act on different levels? Are different narratives purposively invoked to achieve specific outcomes, or are there specific roles of "organizational storyteller"? If so, are stories told by the storyteller received differently than those told by others in the organization?
• in what ways does the organization attempt to influence storytelling about the organization? under what conditions does the organization appear to be more or less effective in obtaining a desired outcome?
• when these stories conflict with one another or with official rules/policies, how are the conflicts worked out? in situations in which alternative accounts are available, who or how or why are some accepted and others rejected?

Identity, e.g.,

• who do we see ourselves to be, in terms of our organizational affiliations?
• do communicative behaviors or occurrences in one or more of the organizations in which we participate effect changes in us? to what extent are we comprised of the organizations to which we belong?
• is it possible for individuals to successfully resist organizational identity? what would that look like?
• do people who define themselves by their work-organizational membership communicate differently within the organizational setting than people who define themselves more by an avocational group?

Interrelatedness of organizational experiences, e.g.,

• how do our communicative interactions in one organizational setting affect our communicative actions in other organizational settings?
• how do the phenomenological experiences of participants in a particular organizational setting effect changes in other areas of their lives?
• when the organizational status of a member is significantly changed (e.g., by promotion or expulsion) how are their other organizational memberships affected?

Power e.g., Much of the recent sociological debate on power revolves around the issue of constraining and/or enabling nature of power. ...

• how does the use of particular communicative practices within an organizational setting reinforce or alter the various interrelated power relationships within the setting?
• do taken-for-granted organizational practices work to fortify the dominant hegemonic narrative? Do individuals resist/confront these practices, through what actions/agencies, and to what effects?
• do status changes in an organization (e.g., promotions, demotions, restructuring, financial/social strata changes) change communicative behavior? Are there criteria employed by organizational members to differentiate between "legitimate" (i.e., endorsed by the formal organizational structure) and "illegitimate" (i.e., opposed by or unknown to the formal power structure)? Are there "pretenders" or "usurpers" who employ these communicative behaviors? When are they successful?

References

• Gergen, Kenneth and Tojo Joseph. 1996. "Organizational Science in a Postmodern Context." Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, vol. 32, pp. 356-378.

• Redding, W. Charles. 1985. "Stumbling Toward Identity: The Emergence of Organizational Communication as a Field of Study" in McPhee and Tompkins, Organizational Communication: Traditional Themes and New Directions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

• May, Steve and Mumby, Dennis K. 2005. "Engaging Organizational Communication Theory and Research." Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Footnotes

1. ^ Katherine Miller, Organizational Communication: Approaches and Processes, 4th ed., p. 1.
2. ^ Herbert Simon, Administrative Behavior, 4th ed., p 208.

See also

• Communication Studies
• International Communication Association
• National Communication Association
• Academy of Management
• Association for Business Communication
• Organizational Learning
• Training and development
• Organizational Development

To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The National Communication Association (NCA) is the American national professional organization for the Communication Studies discipline. ... The Association for Business Communication (ABC) is the primary academic organization for the field of business communication scholarship, research, education and practice. ... In organizational development, the related field of training and development (T & D) deals with the design and delivery of learning to improve performance within organizations. ... The field of organization development (OD) has had several definitions. ...

External links

• International Communication Association
• National Communication Association
• Association for Business Communication
• International Association of Business Communicators
• Basics in Internal Organizational Communications by Carter McNamara
• Multi-Axial Modular Organizational Survey (open source)