web posters--change and climate

Today I'll blog about the remaining web posters, which focus on internal organizational communication, including organizational change and organizational climate. Cathyblog08 was interested in communicating organizational change, a slightly different take on organizational change than Hapa, who focused on changing organizational culture. What I found interesting was the research Cathyblog08 reported on that examined resistance to change. This research explores attitudinal and behavioral resistance to change and the role of communication in overcoming that resistance. I wonder if some of this resistance isn't a matter of employees recognizing that some change isn't good for the organization. For example, many faculty at SJSU resisted the change to Blackboard CE 6 and it turns out that it was a poor decision to adopt this particular learning management system.

Related to communicating organizational change is organizational climate, presented in Crives's web poster. Although the popularity of this topic has waned in recent years, the research still provides insight into organizational communication, especially between supervisors and subordinates. What I found most interesting is the need for research in light of Web 2.0 and new communication technologies. That is, the communication tools used to create organizational climate have greatly expanded, but as Crives points out, the research hasn't kept pace with these changes.

This is the final entry about the web posters. They reflected a range of interests in organizational communication, but also persistent themes, as with culture, technology, leadership, and change--all key issues in an age of globalization.

~ Professor Cyborg

web posters--leadership

In my entry today I'll blog about the web posters that focused on leadership and leadership-related issues. Kristle's web poster provides insight into classic and current views of organizational leadership. In reviewing the to do list for leaders, I was struck by how much we expect of them such as provide a vision, complete administrative tasks, manage employees, demonstrate empathy, and adapt to a changing environment. From my perspective, ideally leadership is shared, with multiple organization members stepping in to fulfill leadership functions that best suit individuals' particular knowledge bases and skill sets.

David's research provides a bridge between culture and leadership, exploring the effectiveness of various approaches to leadership in different cultures. This perspective is different from Hapa's, who was interested in leaders' roles in changing organizational culture. As David points out, the majority of leadership research has been conducted in the U.S. The research on leadership conducted outside the U.S. has revealed differences in what is expected of leaders, what it means to be a leader, and what is entailed in leadership. The paucity of research in cultural differences in organizational leadership suggests many avenues for future research.

BUS244 and Affan examined gender differences in verbal and nonverbal communication in the workplace. What I find most interesting about this research is the lack of significant differences between the two groups, especially when power is factored in. That is, differences often attributed to sex are better explained by status or how much power individuals are able to exercise in the organization. This web poster provides some insight into gender differences in leadership, which reside to a large extent on followers' expectations about how women and men should lead as well as leadership in general.

~ Professor Cyborg

web posters--technology

The web posters I'll discuss today center on organizing and new communication technologies. ZamoraDesign's research on information transparency in organizational communication examined the ways organizations use new communication technologies to make information easily accessible--or not. I like the notion of linking transparency with social responsibility. That is, part of being a good corporate citizen is making information available. Still, as several researchers point out, complete transparency is not only impossible but not advisable. Some information, such as employee records and trade secrets, have to remain inaccessible. And strategic ambiguity also suggests that clear and open communication is not always the best way to proceed. For example, sensitive negotiations between organizations may be best advanced with some equivocal communication. Mission statements are generally ambiguous to encourage agreement among all groups. What stood out in this web poster was the author's video discussion of future research, which personalized the poster.

I've done some reading on global virtual teams for a project I worked on with several colleagues. Such teams are becoming more common, especially as more organizations tap into personnel resources outside their traditional geographic boundaries. As PinkLady describes in her web poster, she's interested in this topic because she works in such a team. Some of the research in this area is rudimentary, but as the research moves away from basic comparisons of in person and online communication, organizational communication scholars will develop more sophisticated models of such teams as well as guidelines for best practices.

Anima's focus on virtual worlds and organizational communication fascinated me because of my experiences in online learning/teaching and my participation in groups and organizations that coordinate their efforts primarily online. When I attended the Association of Internet Researcher's conference last year, one of the founders from Linden Labs--the creators of Second Life--was the keynote speaker. The potential for collaborative work (as well as many other applications) in Second Life is there, but as Anima found in her research, far from fully realized. At this point, organizations seem more interested in using Second Life to develop a consumer base and not as interested in using Second Life was a work space. My dream is to have faculty meetings in Second Life. I wonder what avatars my colleagues would create.

~ Professor Cyborg

web posters--organizing and culture 2

In addition to the web posters I discussed yesterday, several others focused on organizational culture. Similar to Hapa, Violet's research focused on organizational culture and change. She identified the different aspects of culture that must be managed when attempting to change an organization's culture. Still, the research suggests that culture is not as easily managed as top executives might like to think.

Charlemagne focused on a specific group of people, front-line employees, and their role in organizational culture and the organization's performance. Classic research highlights the importance of front-line employees in presenting the public face of the organization and performing key aspects of the organization's culture. Current research emphasizes the importance of the organization's culture on front-line employee performance and the link to customer satisfaction. That is, front-line employees provide the conduit for organizational culture from the organization to those outside it.

Although CommBuzz doesn't directly address organizational culture, there's no doubt that culture plays a role in organizational identity. CommBuzz used the metaphor of a tree to present research on organizational identity grounded in social identity theory and structuration theory. Interestingly, CommBuzz found that research in this area focused primarily on lower-level employees and the degree to which they bought into the vision top management presents. What's neglected, however, is the contribution lower-level employees make to the development, maintenance, and change of organizational identity. So as with Charlemagne, CommBuzz is interested in how those outside of management participate in the creation of organizational life and sensemaking.

~ Professor Cyborg

web posters--organizing and culture 1

This week we'll blog about the web posters. I first developed the idea for web posters based on student research when I had to design web posters for my classes. I started teaching online in 1999 and because online learning was so new, one of the staff members in eCampus (called the Distance Education program at the time) suggested web posters to get students interested in our online classes. The poster provided a useful way of summarizing information. So I adapted the idea for several of my classes. For the class this semester, students submitted 14 web posters. I'll briefly discuss two or three each day this week, grouping them together by themes. I'll start with some of the web posters that addressed organizing and culture.

Kartik focused on cross-cultural communication in organizations that operate in the U.S. and India. The two countries have become quite intertwined in many ways, but certainly in terms of organizations working in new communication technologies. And the recent terrorist attacks in India aimed at prominent Indian, U.S., and British executives underscores the close ties between U.S. and Indian organizations. Kartik's suggestions for future research demonstrate the gaps in the literature.

SS & Garota de Ipanema examined culture from an intercultural perspective. The authors provide several avenues for future research that identify areas where current research is sparse. One neglected area is the impact of local culture on global culture. This parallels the general cause-effect bias in culture research, which often assumes that a more dominant culture is impervious to the effects of a less-powerful culture. For example, there's much concern about the impact of Western culture on developing nations without considering the flow of culture in the other direction.

One of the most-discussed issues in the organizational culture literature is the ability of leaders and managers to change an organization's culture, the topic Hapa's web poster addresses. If all organization members participate in creating and maintaining organizational culture, is it possible for managers and leaders to bring about change? Although those in the upper echelons of organizational hierarchies may attempt changes in organizational cultures, research does suggest these attempts often fail. As Hapa points out, "The most striking finding of my research was the relatively low success rate of cultural change efforts."

~ Professor Cyborg

ethics of compassion

I didn't post yesterday because I wanted to report on the final reading group discussion that took place this afternoon. Faculty and students participated in the discussion of Dying to Get High: Marijuana as Medicine, with co-author Dr. Richard Webb leading the discussion. This conversation was different from the previous ones in that we had quite a few questions for Dr. Webb.

The book includes an interview with Dr. Webb in which he describes his experience as a caregiver for one of the WAMM members. The person became so ill that he lived with Dr. Webb for about 10 weeks, until the person died. In discussing this experience with us today, Dr. Webb told us that working with the people in WAMM and serving as a caregiver had led him to feel more compassion for others. That's a theme throughout the book, and speaks to the ethics of compassion briefly mentioned in Chapter 14 of the text. The authors note, "a number of Buddhist traditions embrace widening circles of compassion to include not only those close to us but also those distant and even our enemies" (p. 425). The members of WAMM seem to work hard to take this approach with those inside and outside the organization, designing a system of justice focused on meeting people's needs rather than assuring everyone contributes equal amounts to the organization.

Although this was the last department reading group discussion of the book, Dr. Webb will be presenting in the University Scholar Series in the spring. In addition, the department plans to sponsor a colloquium for next semester in which Dr. Webb discusses the book. In the meantime, read Dying to Get High. It's engaging and informative on multiple levels.

~ Professor Cyborg

power to define

Yesterday I met with the second reading group for the department's book choice this semester, Dying to Get High: Marijuana as Medicine, by Wendy Chapkis and Richard J. Webb. Dr. Webb joined the group, so we got first-hand insight into the story underlying the book as well as an update on the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana.

The book includes several interviews with organizational members and those involved in the medical marijuana movement. For one discussion question I asked, "In the interview with Dr. Arnold Leff [pro-medical marijuana Santa Cruz physician] he states, 'Advertising by big corporate pharma giants has helped to create a culture that encourages drug use' (p. 35) and uses the example of Ambien, a sleeping pill. What other examples can you think of to support his claim?" Discussants easily identified other examples of our "take a pill to fix it" culture. The discussion then turned to what constituted acceptable versus unacceptable drugs and the role of pharmaceutical companies in defining "good" and "bad" drugs.

In Dying to Get High, Chapkis and Webb note the power of large organizations such as the pharmaceuticals, the AMA, and government agencies to define terms and dominate the discussion of medical marijuana. As Cheney et al. discuss in Chapter 9, "the ability to define terms is an extremely important part of the debate" (p. 258). Chapkis and Webb identify the ways in which powerful groups set the agenda for the discussion of medicine and drugs, limited the availability of information of the medicinal uses of marijuana, and silenced viewpoints about the plant.

~ Professor Cyborg

context and organizing

Yesterday afternoon six students and I discussed Chapkis and Webb's book, Dying to Get High, Marijuana as Medicine. I had developed 25 questions to guide the conversation, which lasted two hours. One question focused on the context in which the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana developed: "In Chapter 2, the authors discuss the set and the setting and argue that Santa Cruz provided the petri dish in which WAMM could grow. What about Santa Cruz made WAMM possible? Could WAMM exist anywhere else?"

I asked this question because organizational communication researchers often ignore the cultural and political environment in which organizations function. In Chapter 11, Cheney et al. discuss the socio-historical context of organizational change, tracing the history change in terms of what was happening at the time. For example, "the movements that began in the 1970s (organizational culture, quality circles, and Toyotism) all reflect a shift in the change-constancy dialectic toward a greater valuing of change" (p. 318). WAMM represented a change in addressing the needs of the those with chronic pain or illness, especially those who were poor and lacked health insurance. The organization grew out of an intersection of a particular political climate (progressive) and particular group of people (activists). WAMM enjoyed strong support from the community, including the major and city council and several health care groups. In addition, the group worked with the sheriff, who was supportive of California's medical marijuana initiative.

The reading group discussants agreed that an organization such as WAMM might be possible in another place with similar cultural and political leanings. At the time WAMM was organized, the climate in Santa Cruz related to the issue of medical marijuana was supportive of the change side of the change-constancy dialectic. However, the group also acknowledged the importance of the organization's founders and additional members who kept the organization going, especially in times of adversity.

~ Professor Cyborg

analyzing organizational artifacts

In Chapter 15 Cheney et al. discuss collecting and analyzing organizational communication data. The authors identify four primary ways to gather data: artifacts, surveys, interviews, and observations. Chapkis and Webb's research reported in Dying to Get High relies primarily on artifacts, interviews and observations.

The authors devote two chapters to artifacts. One chapter provides extensive details on the methods the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana used to process the medical marijuana. In "Mother's Milk and the Muffin Man" readers learn about alternatives to smoking marijuana, such as ingesting it in soy milk and chocolate muffins. While some members are able to tolerate smoking marijuana, many cannot but still need the medical benefits of the plant. More importantly, the chapter describes the tremendous amount of work several members of the collective go through to transform the marijuana into appropriate delivery systems. The members use every part of the plant, developing tinctures, mari-caps, and a liniment. The production of these artifacts reflects the complex nature of the plant and the issues associated with it.

The chapter "Love Grows Here" provides the most insight into the organization's culture and its essence. In this chapter, the authors describe WAMM's garden, situated in Santa Cruz county with stunning views of the Pacific Ocean. The space is defined as a healing garden in which "relationships are formed between garden volunteers and the plants under their care" (p. 161). Members form strong bonds as they work in the garden. Growing marijuana well is labor intensive and requires a cooperative effort among members--a cooperation that isn't always achieved. The garden provides a symbolic representation of the organization. When the DEA raided the garden in 2002, the event devastated the garden as well as the organization. Including a chapter that focuses on the garden provides key insights into how members felt during and after the raid.

This afternoon I'm leading the first discussion of the book. I'll report on that tomorrow.

~ Professor Cyborg

alternative organizations

As I've mentioned in previous entries, much of my research in organizational communication as focused on small groups and teams. Chapter 8 discusses democracy and participation in alternative organizations (noncorporate entities, which are the vast majority of organizations to which we belong). The authors discuss the problems these organizations often encounter, such as lack of time, emotion, inequality, self-maintenance, autonomy, and goal persistence. I just finished reading Dying to Get High: Marijuana as Medicine, by Wendy Chapkis and Richard J. Webb. Rick is a lecturer in my department. He earned his M.A. in communication studies at SJSU and was in BUS/COMM 244 the first time I taught it. He then went on to earn his Ph.D. from the U of Texas at Austin in organizational communication.

The book is at once a narrative about a social movement, medical marijuana, and a case study of an organization, the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM), located in Santa Cruz. Structured on the notion that everyone should take what they need and give what they can, the organization attempts to function as a collective, holding weekly meetings in which the group addresses policy, structural, and process issues. But as an almost entirely volunteer organization, the group encounters the challenges associated with any alternative organization. For example, some members actively participate, tending the garden, making cannabis products, planning events. Others just show up for the meetings, don't say anything, and leave with their medicine. Some people are simply too ill and too poor to contribute much. Still, those who enjoy better health and wealth feel conflicted, understanding on one level that everyone can't contribute equally, but resenting those who don't participate.

I'll be writing more about the book this week because it's the department's reading group book for the semester. This week I'm leading three discussions about the book and participating in a fourth (Dr. Webb will lead that one). The story is fascinating for me as an organizational communication scholar as well as someone who's lived in Santa Cruz since 1994.

~ Professor Cyborg

organizational change

This week SJSU launched its advising hub on the university website. It’s certainly a welcomed addition; advising has been a weak point at SJSU since long before I arrived on campus. As the university’s requirements have become more complex, advising becomes more essential. Yet with more students and fewer faculty, having the time for effective advising is challenging. So the advising hub should help guide students toward graduation and reduce some of the need for faculty advising.

At the beginning of Chapter 11 the authors of the text provide a summary of what makes organizational change efforts successful. A key component is acceptance by organization stakeholders in fidelity (a match between the intended use and how its used) and uniformity (all targeted users adopt it). I wonder the degree to which the advising hub will work. I hope it works well, but in my first glance through it, all the text and links are overwhelming. And then there’s this at the bottom of the first page: "WEBSITE DISCLAIMER: This SJSU advising site is new this fall. We have not verfied [sic] that all the information on every link is accurate, and our lists, links and materials are not exhaustive." Scary!

My eyes start to glaze over when faced with a lot of text; I figure that’s true for my students as well. And the advising hub website has a lot of text with pages that go for several screens. In contrast, for a project I’m doing in the spring, I’m working with students to develop podcasts (that will include transcripts) on things students know now about SJSU that they wished they had known when they started. The podcasts will work as an advising tool, but in formats students will find more accessible: they can read the transcript, watch the video, or just listen to the audio.

For organizational change to work, it must be planned and must involve those who will be implementing and living with the change. The advising hub planners may have done that; it's not clear from the site. But the format doesn't seem very user-friendly, so students may not use it as much as the planners might have hoped.

~ Professor Cyborg

management gurus

Box 11.5 in your text asks the question, What role do management gurus play in promoting organizational change? The author, Brad Jackson, “viewed the gurus as part of a whole management fashion industry” (p. 325).

Change in organizations necessarily involves both organization managers and leaders. While this "Voices from the Field" could have been included in Chapter 7, the focus here is more specifically on organizational change. This example provides a nice bridge between the two chapters.

In my experience at SJSU, major organizational changes have stemmed from those in the upper levels seeking to fill out their résumés, rather than following a reasoned, planned approach to change. SJSU is near the end of another overhaul based on a new vision. By my count this is the fourth "new" vision for SJSU since I arrived in 1990. This latest reinventing of SJSU, called Vision 2010, is based on an education guru book, Student Success in College: Creating Conditions That Matter, that identifies 20 highly successful universities and colleges. At least one review suggests universities and colleges can apply different aspects of the authors' findings to each institution's unique situation. However, another review suggests that the authors ignored the featured institutions' shortcomings--which may be instructive as well. As one step toward applying the suggestions in the book, SJSU has formed an Achieving Greater Expectations Institute designed to "bring faculty, staff, students, and administrators together to focus on enhancing student learning and developing a sense of belonging to SJSU to foster student success." I wonder how many students know about it.

Gurus can bring in new ideas and fresh ways of thinking. However, they can also apply a one-size-fits-nobody approach to organizational change that hurts more than helps the organization. Ultimately, if the management guru does a poor job assessing the organization's current state, needs, culture, climate, etc., then change likely will not go well. So the guru has to work closely with organization members at all levels to implement planned change effectively.

~ Professor Cyborg

image restoration discourse

Because I’m interested in the images organizations attempt to create, maintain, change, and manage, I found the examples of image restoration discourse on p. 306 in Chapter 10 intriguing. Although I’m sure SJSU has had to apply some of these strategies in the past, today I decided to examine a university that had been put on probation by the NCAA.

Nicholls State University recently completed its probation for ethics violations. The University president blogged about the incident last February. (Interestingly, the comments function on the blog is not available.) The president used several strategies to restore the university’s image. First, he used defeasibility, indicating that had he known about the actions of others, he would have done something immediately. He also used the corrective action strategy, stating the new compliance officer “was directed to be more active in preventing violations on the front end rather than policing the Athletics Department for violations after the fact.” Near the end of the statement the university president says, “while the violations and the resulting penalties were painful and embarrassing, Nicholls State University has handled them with maturity and determination,” using the bolstering strategy by emphasizing the university’s positive traits.

Large corporations often come to mind when studying how organizations restore their images, yet all organizations have to address this issue. For colleges and universities, image is especially important in attracting students. A university may have plenty of wonderful programs, but if its image is poor due to inept responses to crisis situations, then students will go elsewhere.

~ Professor Cyborg

issue control tactics

The issue control tactics Cheney et al. list in Box 10.6 (p. 287) ring true for me, although I am curious about the research on which the list is based. I searched for a footnote in that section of the chapter, but I couldn't find one.

Although these are applied to the organizational context, they seem even more relevant to political communication. The debates are over for the current presidential campaign, but the rhetorical jousting for votes will continue up until election day. Directing attention away from an issue is a common tactic. Both nominees used this strategy to respond to questions they didn't want to answer or to press an issue they thought was more important. The clearest example of limiting access to information is McCain's refusal to disclose his medical records (there's concern over his treatment for melanoma). Some have argued that Obama has not been forthright in his disclosure about associations with Bill Ayers.

Defining what type of information is considered relevant was a tactic frequently used in the debates, with each arguing the other's evidence was irrelevant, wrong, or misleading and then presenting his own evidence. The creating fear of raising an issue tactic has been applied to race and age. Creating criteria for decisions or priorities that frame the decision has been used to tote the advantages of each candidate's tax and health plans. Defining the problem, decision, or conflict in definitive terms has been applied to the economic crisis, the Iraq war, and health care (to name a few issues).

Cheney et al. point out that these tactics allow communicators to covertly exercise power and avoid or suppress conflict. What's frustrating for voters when politicians use these tactics is the lack of real discussion and debate over complex issues.

~ Professor Cyborg

labor and communication

Box 10.11, authored by Dana Cloud, associate professor at the U of Texas, Austin, focuses on labor issues in the new economy, arguing that the plight of most workers really hasn't changed. Currently, Professor Cloud is organizing a boycott of the Manchester Hyatt Hotel in San Diego, the site of the National Communication Association convention in November. The owner of the hotel contributed to the Yes on Prop 8 campaign. In addition, Unite Here claims it's been trying to unionize the hotel for some time.

The boycott has involved individuals not staying at the convention hotel and some groups moving their events off site. Several persons with disabilities have noted that they must stay at the hotel to participate in the convention and getting to any events no longer at the hotel isn't possible. There's been quite a bit of discussion about the issue on NCA's listserv.

Rather than boycotting the hotel (NCA reserved the hotel five years ago; the Manchester Hyatt will get its money even if some people choose to host their events elsewhere), my department decided to protest in the hotel. We chose a slogan and one of our graduate students (who was a graphics designer in a former life) developed a design for a t-shirt and button. If members of the department want to support this form of protest, they can order their t-shirt or button and wear it at the convention. The faculty decided the best way to address the issue is to engage people in discussion rather than leave the scene.

~ Professor Cyborg

resistance in organizations

In their discussion of power in Chapter 9, Cheney et al. note that "resistance implies something being resisted--usually a stronger force, resource, person, or institution" (p. 266). As the faculty in residence for the Accessible Technology Initiative in the College of Social Sciences I've observed instructors' resistance to making all their course materials accessible.

The initiative originated from the very top of the organization--the the CSU's Board of Trustees. The mandate is simple in its phrasing but has far-reaching consequences:

It is the policy of the CSU to make information technology resources and services accessible to all CSU students, faculty, staff and the general public regardless of disability.

This means that students will not need to self-identify as having a disability and therefore needing access to specific course material (although students still will need to register with the Disability Resource Center for services such as test accommodations). All new courses must be have course materials accessible by the end of the semester. All courses must be accessible by fall 2012.

My role is to help faculty in the college make all their instructional materials accessible to students. These materials include syllabi, handouts, digital slides (e.g., powerpoint), video (closed-captioned), and webpages. For documents, accessible means it's in a digital and editable format (so, for example, a screen reader can read the document or the student could enlarge the text), text equivalent information is included for images, hierarchical identifiers are included (such as headings), no extra spaces or lines, no text boxes, no relying on color for emphasis, no blinking visuals, and links to websites are described (rather than saying something like click here).

Most of the faculty I've spoken with do want to make their course materials accessible, although some are concerned about sharing all their class notes and digital slides because they view these materials as intellectual property. Others, however, are quite resistant for two reasons. First, they view ATI as another unfunded mandate from the CSU. I agree that converting all instructional materials into accessible formats is time consuming. But once you know how to design accessible materials, it's pretty basic. Second, they object to the increasing pressure for standardization in course materials, such as formats for syllabi, viewing these pressures as an infringement on their academic freedom. From my perspective, however, designing my syllabus in whatever manner I want isn't academic freedom; what I choose to cover in my class is where academic freedom comes in. If SJSU faculty truly want the campus to be a center of inclusive excellence, we must design our classes for all students.

~ Professor Cyborg

language, disability, and power

How power is evident in talk interests me. As the authors point out in Chapter 9, defining terms is one way to exercise power. My research in communication and disability has focused on disability as a contested term. In a chapter for Communication Yearbook 27, I identified six metaphors of disability, discussing the ways each metaphor empowered/oppressed persons with disabilities.

Disability as a medical problem suggests persons with disabilities must be repaired. This metaphor disempowers persons with disabilities, although more recent conceptualizations may provide useful tools for empowerment. For example, empowerment medicine suggests that individuals can act on and change their physical, political, societal, and economic environments. Disability as cognition focuses on the influence of attitudes toward disability or individual differences in personality traits that influence disabled-nondisabled interaction, moving away from objective notions of disability to subjective ones. This metaphor provides some avenues for empowerment in recognizing attitudes of prejudice and stereotyping that contribute to the oppression of persons with disabilities. However, the metaphor oppresses persons with disabilities in that those without disabilities are defined as the norm; persons with disabilities are Other or abnormal.

Disability in culture examines the influence of culture on what constitutes disability, highlighting the ways that cultural definitions oppress and disempower persons with disabilities. To the extent that persons with disabilities participate in communication concerning disability, disabled persons influence the language (and images) used in empowering ways. To the extent that persons with disabilities remain excluded from those discussions and defined as not fully human, then persons with disabilities will face continued oppression. Disability as culture views persons with disability forming distinct cultures/co-cultures, underscoring the empowering potential of disability as a cultural identity. Further, recognizing disabled-nondisabled interactions as intercultural communication underscores the ways in which persons without disabilities stereotype, discriminate against, and disempower persons with disabilities. However, oppression may manifest itself in the subordination and rejection of disability culture and co-culture.

Disability as politics recognizes the importance of empowering relationships in public and private interactions. The transformation of disability identity from dependent, stigmatized, and abnormal to independent, accepted, and normal constitutes the metaphor's foundation. Recognizing disability as a political and social label provides a critique of the dominant "ableist" perspective on what defines humanness and personhood. Thus, disability as politics strikes at the core of disability oppression and brings with it the power to construct one's identity.

Finally, disability as community incorporates several perspectives to provide a more complex view of disability and communication. This metaphor of disability, particularly with its focus on new communication technologies, most clearly demonstrates empowerment strategies that provide an avenue for persons with disabilities to fully participate in the social construction of their life experiences. For example, the metaphor removes the static notion of a uniform disability culture and proposes multiple co-cultures found among diverse group members who share some things in common and yet in other ways are distinctly different.

If you're interested in reading the article, the full citation is:
Coopman, S. J. (2003). Communicating disability: Metaphors of oppression, metaphors of empowerment. In P. J. Kalbfleisch (Ed.), Communication Yearbook 27 (pp. 337-394). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

~ Professor Cyborg

paradoxes and democracy

For several years I was involved in a professional organization governed by a board of directors that conducted nearly all its business online. The organization was quite innovative, launching the first online journal in the discipline committed to publishing work across the field, not just research about the internet, digital media, or computer-mediated communication. I was a member of the organization briefly, then elected to the board of directors. Two years later I was elected president, and then the board selected me to edit the journal--the second editor in the journal's existence.

The last part of Chapter 8 discusses paradoxes in democratic organizations that address four aspects of organizing: structure, agency, identity, and power. Reading this section reminded me of my time with the professional organization and the struggles members faced. Although the organization encountered paradoxes in all four areas, paradoxes of power were the most difficult for the organization members to manage productively. In academe, we like to think of ourselves as egalitarian, but in reality, multiple hierarchies exist within the academy. The organization was challenged both with resolving issues of control and leadership within the board as well as the larger hierarchical norms in the discipline and academe. For example, senior scholars who were well-known in the field generally carried more sway in board member discussions. In addition, founding members of the organization had greater influence as well. These control and leadership issues often conflicted with the organization's hierarchy. As you can imagine, some meetings became quite heated.

Although I enjoyed (most of) my time with the organization--especially editing the journal--managing those paradoxes became time consuming, tiring, and distracting. As communication scholars, we should have done a better job addresses the paradoxes of democratic organizing.

~ Professor Cyborg

democracy and organizational communication

The About Us page of the Department of Communication Studies website includes this:

The B.A. and M.A. programs focus on four primary areas or cornerstones: democracy, diversity, technology, and globalization.

• Democracy - affirms the balance of individual freedom and socio-political consensus shaped through dialogue, argument, and persuasion between individuals and groups.
• Diversity - explores the variety and complexity of communication efforts to shape beliefs, values, and perceptions in different communities and cultures.
• Technology - interrogates the implications of human communication in a mediated world.
• Globalization - recognizes the interconnectedness, integration, fragmentation, and conflict within human societies and cultures in global contexts.

All faculty (at least tenure-track) claim they cover these concepts in their classes, but sometimes I wonder if we really do. And in spite of the lofty definitions, I wonder how the terms are put into practice. For example, how democratic is the department? Who is included in departmental decisions and who is not?

In the small group communication text my spouse and I are writing, we discuss five models of democracy: procedural, competitive, participatory, deliberative, and dialogic. So just in that sense, democracy is more complex than the department's definition. In addition, the emphasis on consensus ignores the necessity of conflict and the reality of power in any democratic system, issues Deetz addresses in his work. But as Cheney et al. point out, "Democracy, thus, is a 'god term'--an unquestioned good--for many societies" (p. 215).

Certainly in the U.S., democracy plays a central role in the nation's collective identity. And it certainly plays such a role in the department's identity. Because of democracy's status as a god term, however, we fail to interrogate what we mean by democracy for our students and in practice for department decisions. For example, major departmental policy decisions seldom involve lecturers and never involve students. Who gets to participate in the department's democracy? The U.S., founded on democratic principles, has not always allowed everyone to participate. And restrictions on voting exist today. Because democracy is an unquestioned good, closely examining democratic processes in organizations is all that more important.

~ Professor Cyborg

democracy and health care teams

As I've already mentioned, I've conducted research in hospice interdisciplinary teams. My early work focused on person-centered communication in supportive and persuasive contexts. Later, I examined team processes, including democratic decision making.

Chapter 8 discusses two views of democracy and participation in organizations. One heralds the value of greater employee participation in decision making. The other notes the dark side of so-called democracy, with employees taking on more responsibilities without any compensation. My work in hospice wasn't concerned with the degree to which democracy was "real," but rather with team members' perceptions of democratic processes.

I found that in practice the hospice teams were less democratic than they're typically portrayed in the hospice and health care tea literature. I also found that involvement in decision making was the most important component of the democratic process in terms of how team members evaluated several team and individual outcomes: productiveness and cohesiveness, overall team communication, satisfaction with the team, and desire to stay with the team. In addition, team productiveness was a mediation variable between involvement with the team and job satisfaction.

For me, the most important outcome of this research was that it highlighted the need to train hospice team members in how to work together. Often organization members are thrown into situations and expected to work as a team. But without the training, people simply don't know what to do. While hospice interdisciplinary teams generally serve as exemplars for effective health care teams, members could still benefit from explicit training in teamwork.

If you're interested in reading the article, the citation is:
Coopman, S. (2001). Democracy, performance and outcomes in interdisciplinary health care teams. Journal of Business Communication, 38, 261-284.

~ Professor Cyborg

leadership deficit

The cover of the October 13, 2008, issue of TIME includes the headline, "The Leadership Deficit," as part of a series of story on the current economic crisis. The article focuses on the lack of credibility and trust members of Congress and the White House have with Americans. As the report, Michael Grunwald, put it, "Americans are always skeptical of politicians, but he financial meltdown has made it clear they no longer believe much of anything Washington's current batch of newscycle-obsessed, responsibility-dodging wold criers have to say" (p. 43). Harsh words. But it does seem that the vision those in Washington want the rest of the country to accept (e.g., "trust me, this will work") isn't selling very well.

Cheney et al.'s discussion of vision in Chapter 7 provides some insight into the cynical response Washington's recent bailouts have received. The authors of the text note that much attention is paid to those who formulate vision and missions statements and not enough attention is paid to those who are supposed to buy into those lofty words. Cheney et al. have four suggestions: personalize vision statements to local contexts, refer to those statements when introducing new program, express enthusiasm for the overall vision, and develop a personal theory or organizing mechanism for how the vision can be practically applied. From my perspective, vision is what's lacking in this entire debacle. There doesn't seem to be any overarching principle for the actions taken in Washington. And we do look to our leaders to take the steps necessary to develop and explain the economic vision for the country. In spite of the leadership alternatives discussed at the end of the chapter, we elect politicians because we expect them to lead. Right now, I agree with Grunwald that leadership is lacking.

~ Professor Cyborg

Weick's view of leadership

I've always liked Karl Weick's work. His writing is engaging. He using intriguing metaphors, such as linking organizing with jazz. His 1969 book, The Social Psychology of Organizing, had a tremendous impact on organizational studies. In a recent article with Kathleen M. Sutcliffe and David Obstfeld, Weick elaborates on the notion of sensemaking in organizations. The authors argue, "Sensemaking involves the ongoing retrospective development of plausible images that rationalize what people are doing" (p. 409). They go on to discuss sensemaking as organizing flux, starting with noticing and bracketing, about labeling, retrospective, about presumption, social and systemic, about action, and organizing through communication. Interesting that a social psychologist in a school of business argues organizing is about communicating. If you'd like to read the article, here's the citation:
Weick, K. E., Sutcliffe, K. M., & Obstfeld, D. (2005). Organizing and the process of sensemaking. Organization Science, 16, 409-421.

So it's not surprising that Weick argues against traditional approaches to leadership. In Chapter 7 of the text the authors note that Weick reverses the "walk the talk" buzz phrase. Because Weick takes the stance that organization members engage in retrospective sensemaking--acting and then thinking--talking the walk may be more productive. In this way, leaders match their words to their actions, which may give them greater flexibility. Weick's concern is that if leaders have to match actions to words, then the words will be more cautious, less innovative, and less compelling.

~ Professor Cyborg

dialectics and disability

The notion of relational dialectics, developed as an interpersonal communication theory, resonates with me because it helps explain the tensions individuals encounter in their relationships. I find it much more appealing than cognitive dissonance theory, which suggests we seek to reduce dissonance and that reducing that dissonance is possible. Relational dialectics recognizes the inherent tensions in relationships--we learn to manage them, but they're always there. So although it's an interpersonal theory, it's useful for the authors of the text to include it in Chapter 6.

The authors list six dialectics, connection-autonomy, openness-closedness, novelty-predictability, equality-inequality, instrumentality-affection, and impartiality-favoritism, applying them to relationships in organizations.

A few years ago I presented a paper at the Association of Internet Researchers in which I examined dialectics about disability identity in blogs written about disability by persons with disabilities. I was especially interested in blogs because historically identity is grounded in the body, but the internet severs that relationship, allowing persons with disabilities freedom from being constrained by physicality in online identity construction.

In conducting a close reading of five exemplar blogs, I found four dialectics: individual-societal (disability as a private and public experience), difference-unity (unique identity and commonality with others), permanence-temporary (stability/change in identity and the temporal nature of disabilities), and dependence-independence (control and relying on others). I found that individual-societal was the most prevalent--the one the five bloggers grappled with the most. Dependence-independence was also crucial, although it didn't receive as much attention. The latter two weren't emphasized as much.

Although this research isn't directly about organizational communication, it provides insight into identity construction for persons with disabilities.

~ Professor Cyborg

networking

Yesterday's entry came from my professorial persona. Today's is from my department events coordinator one. Chapter 6 emphasizes the importance of relationships and networking in the workplace. About 2 weeks ago the department hosted COMM Career Day, which I organized. Over 50 students attended. The panel included a representative from the Career Center and five communication studies alumni. Every speaker talked about the importance of networking to get a job and to change jobs within an organization. Speakers mentioned using internships, interviews (informational and employment), professional organizations, and even social contacts for networking.

As the authors of your text observe, "Much of the research on relationships at work has focused on their instrumental role in career success--the networks that people form and the role of those networks in advancing careers" (p. 141). The authors then point out that organization members form relationships for other reasons as well. Still, the workplace context will always influence the nature of those relationships. For example, I've maintained friendships with many of the people with whom I went to graduate school at the U of Kentucky. We have personal connections, such as visiting each other outside the work context and talking about topics other than work. But we keep those professional ties as well, working together on projects, serving on panels, and meeting up at conventions. For example, I found out about the text I use for the class from Ted Zorn, one of the authors, because we both went to UK and we're part of a network of UK grads.

~ Professor Cyborg

message design logics

On page 149 of the text Cheney et al. briefly mention Barbara O'Keefe's work in message design logics. O’Keefe argues that individuals differ in their basic beliefs about the function of communication, or message design logics. These individual differences are reflected in the ways communicators construct and interpret messages. For expressives, the purpose of communication is to express one's thoughts and feelings. Conventionals view communication as a game with participants following shared conversational rules. Finally, rhetoricals see the self and situations as socially constructed and negotiated in talk. For rhetoricals, communication is no longer what one does within a context (conventional), but rather, communication is the means through which interactants create socially shared contexts and negotiate definitions of self and other.

Message design logic follows a general developmental progression (O'Keefe & Lambert, 1995). The three logics are hierarchically ordered, with the expressive design logic the first individuals acquire, conventional the second, and rhetorical the third. Some individuals do not develop a message design logic past expressive; others acquire the conventional system, but do not progress to the rhetorical system; and others progress through the expressive and conventional logics and acquire the rhetorical view. However, when the next system is acquired, the previous one is not discarded but is subsumed within the more advanced level. As message producers move up the hierarchy from expressive to conventional to rhetorical, they have more options in how and to what ends they use language. Therefore, they are better able to identify interpersonal goals (theirs and others') and adapt their messages to achieve those goals.

In a lecture O'Keefe presented at the U of Kentucky when I was a graduate student, she argued that the logics generally were evident only in problematic situations. That is, under most circumstances, we all appear to be conventionals, following the rules of conversation. Particularly when conversational goals are simple, clear, and straight-forward, message design logics are not readily apparent. However, when we are trying to handle multiple, often competing goals, then how we think communication functions influences our ability to achieve those goals. In such situations, expressives will generally say whatever they're thinking, conventionals will be concerned with following the rules, and rhetoricals will try to find a way to negotiate the rules and definitions of self to manage the multiple, competing goals.

~ Professor Cyborg

more on organizational identity

On Tuesday I blogged about the department and how faculty worked together to create the department's tagline and tagline image. I emphasized the importance of that process in giving participants a stake in identity creation. What I hadn't thought about, however, was those who were left out of the process--students, staff, and part-time lecturers. Although the process was more inclusive than that of the university's, all unit members did not participate. I should note, though, that we did ask students for their ideas about the department's tagline, emailing all majors for their suggestions. Two students responded. I posted their ideas to the faculty wiki and we used those ideas as a basis for our discussion.

Similarly, for the COMM Club, only those who attended the two meetings in which the discussion of the logo took place were able to comment on the logo. All COMM majors were invited to the meetings (unlike the faculty meetings where students, staff, and part-time lecturers were not invited), so you could make the argument that the club's members attempted to be inclusive. But in person meetings privilege students who have the time to attend and don't have other commitments during the meeting. To provide greater inclusivity, the Club could have put the draft logos online and invited comments.

In spite of these criticisms, though, the club and department did seek greater stakeholder department than the university did when designing its new logo and identity standards. As Cheney et al. point out, "Although 'participation' and 'diversity' have become management buzzwords . . . , few managers today seem willing to tolerate unfettered communication about the organization's identity by employees and external stakeholders" (p. 129). When former SJSU President Robert Caret imposed the SJSU tagline "Silicon Valley's Metropolitan University" and changed the SJSU logo from the Tower to the bricks, faculty were angered, viewing the change as arrogant because so few were involved in the decision. Cheney et al. observe, "Corporate identity management is typically the domain of a relatively small clique of decision makers speaking on behalf of the rest of the organization" (p. 129). This was true of the Caret decision and of the more recent decision to change the SJSU logo and no longer allow units to develop their own logos. The new identity standards make clear the university's priorities: "The primary brand of San José State University is San José State University. All the colleges, departments, etc, make SJSU the great institution that we are, but the university as a whole is the most important aspect of our identity." Public Affairs has created "lockups" or logos for all university units. Units have no need to create their own identities; PA has already done that for them.

~ Professor Cyborg

organizational culture as fragmented

In Chapter 4, the authors of the text discuss Martin's three perspectives on organizational culture: integration, differentiation, and fragmentation. Although Martin's work is a bit dated (1992), her work is cited widely and provides useful insight into this perspective on organizational culture. The most important contribution from Martin's work is the identification of the fragmentation approach.

An integration approach to culture stresses harmony and similarities; the differentiation approach focuses on separation and conflict; and the fragmentation approach turns our attention to multiplicity and flux. Thus, from a fragmentation perspective, there is no one interpretation of meaning and meanings change from moment to moment. The world does not have the order and predictability found in the other two perspectives. The fragmentation approach to organizational culture is clearly rooted in postmodernism.

Martin defines culture from a fragmentation perspective as, "a web of individuals, sporadically and loosely connected by their changing positions on a variety of issues. Their involvement, their subcultural identities, and their individual self-definitions fluctuate, depending on which issues are activated at a given moment" (p. 153). Martin uses the jungle metaphor to stress the unknown and unknowable nature of culture from the fragmentation perspective.

In applying the fragmentation approach to organizational culture, co-cultures (Martin uses the term subcultures, but co-cultures is a more accurate term) are no longer clearly defined. Organization members move in and out of co-cultures, so insiders and outsiders are less differentiated and boundaries are porous and mutable. Ambiguity is central to organizational life and must be an integral aspect of any study of organizational culture.

Recognizing the centrality of ambiguity in organizations moves organizational scholars away from oppositional or dichotomous thinking and toward more complex views of organizational culture. So the fragmentation perspective explores multiple meanings of what is present as well as what is absent. For example, in analyzing stories, researchers from the fragmentation perspective seek multiple story interpretations and also consider what stories are not told or which organization members are not part of the story. The fragmentation perspective recognizes ambiguities in symbols, ideology, and action. These ambiguities and multiple interpretations do not necessarily come together as a coherent whole. Organizational cultures are characterized by inconsistency, paradox, and contradiction.

~ Professor Cyborg

organizational identity

Chapter 5 in the text focuses on organizational identity. The authors defined organizational identification this way, "A person identifies with an organization when he or she seeks to select alternatives with the interests of the organization--as best they can be determined--uppermost in mind" (p. 114).

As an employee in an organization, I've never been overly enthusiastic about identifying with the organization. Developing a sense of community is important, but I like having "me" at least somewhat separate from the organizations in which I'm embedded. Still, in a place like SJSU with commuter students, faculty, and staff, creating community and organizational identity can prove challenging.

Recently the department embarked on an initiative to examine its curriculum. As part of interrogating the program, faculty also developed a tagline (Listen • Speak • Engage), a tagline image (aka, our logo), and revamped the department website. Although the outcome was important because we now have tangible representation of who were are as a department, what brought us together more, and encouraged identification with the organization, was the process. We worked as a group to come up with the tagline. For our tagline image, one of our graduate students (a graphic designer in a previous life) took us through 3 rounds of ideas until we identified an image we all liked. For the department website, we integrated that image along with our renewed commitment to making program information more accessible. And students have noticed this. Several have told me Listen • Speak • Engage is "everywhere" and they say it helps them articulate what it means to major in communication studies. I have no interest in assimilation, but I do want students, faculty, and staff to feel like they have a stake in the department.

~ Professor Cyborg

organizational metamyth

Much of the work in organizational culture has taken an ethnographic approach, studying the culture of a particular organization. As Cheney et al. note, "ethnographers . . . study how social realities are constructed locally" (p. 81). The research involves observation or participant observation and detailed descriptions of organization members' everyday sensemaking.

Over 10 years ago, John Haas, Beverly Davenport Sypher, and I observed that although there are distinctions across organizations in cultural practices and other indicators, there are commonalities. We'd been involved in collecting data in several organizations on communication climate and information flow. What interested us was that in every organization, members wanted more information, no matter how much information they already received. With one exception, across all channels and sources, organization members wanted more communication. The only source they didn't want more information from was the grapevine--they didn't want more rumors. Yet, the grapevine was rated as both healthy and accurate in every organization. In the Journal of Business Communication article we published on our research, we identified this desire for more communication as a metamyth "whose basic tenet is that 'more communication is better'" (p. 196).

What also sets apart this research from more traditional organizational culture studies is the use of quantitative methods. Examining survey data from five different organizations allowed us to observe the metamyth trend that ethnographic data would not have revealed.

~ Professor Cyborg

organizational culture and commitment

Box 4.2 in Chapter 4 discusses the work of one of my colleagues at SJSU, Dr. Federico Varona. The article cited, Conceptualization and Management of Communication Satisfaction and Organization Commitment in Three Guatemalan Organizations, was published in the American Communication Journal when I was editor. This research is interested in the influence of the larger culture on the organizations studied. The two most important contributions of Dr. Varona's are understanding communication satisfaction as a more nuanced construct and recognizing the multidimensionality of organizational commitment.

But what I like best about the study is what Dr. Varona's cultural and professional background brought to the research. Summarizing his experiences living and working in Guatemala he says in a footnote: "During the fourteen years that I lived in Guatemala, I had the opportunity to interact with people of all social classes Indigenous and Ladinos, poor and rich, and professionals and workers from a great variety of organizations and institutions. This experiential knowledge along with my expertise as a scholar allowed me to get to know Guatemalan culture and Guatemalan organizations." As with Kay Meidlinger's extensive knowledge of the Catholic church and her research on parish staff members' stories, Dr. Varona's background provided a level of analysis and insight those unfamiliar with Guatemalan culture could not provide.

~ Professor Cyborg

noting what's absent in organizational communication

In the section near the end of the chapter on overall research orientations, Cheney et al. observe: "Most analyses of communication content emphasize what is said or what is present in the 'text' . . . . In some cases, however, there might be important elements that are notable for their absence" (p. 465).

Several years ago one of my master's students, Shannon Waltrip-Sequiera, did her thesis research on how parents and teachers socially construct the notions of progression and regression in children with autism. She focused on the communication of two teachers and one parent about the parent's child with autism. As part of the program designed by the child's school, the teachers and parent wrote in a notebook that went to school and home with the child each day. The main focus of the notebook was addressing the child's needs, although topics varied. Shannon analyzed several years of the notebook's content and conducted in-depth interviews with the teachers and parent.

One interesting finding was the near absence of the parent's voice. The teachers dominated the communication in the notebook; the parent generally followed their lead in defining the child's progression and regression. In this case, as Cheney et al. suggest, the absence of the parent's communication was noteworthy, particularly when it was replaced by a grandparent's contributions to the notebook.

~ Professor Cyborg

organizational communication patterns

In Chapter 15, Cheney et al. observe, "To understand organizational communication, it's often important not to focus on a single message but rather to look at a broad pattern" (p. 440). This quote reminded me of my dissertation work. My committee included an interpersonal communication scholar, a qualitative methods media studies scholar, a quantitative health communication scholar, and two sociologists, one a critical theorist and the other a specialist in complex organizations. Quite a mix of perspectives for my project on person-centered communication in hospice interdisciplinary health care teams.

For my dissertation, I used observation, focus groups, individual interviews, and a questionnaire to gather data. My primary focus was on the messages team members exchanged when comforting and persuading each other. By examining a large body of messages, I was able to tease out patterns of person-centered communication. Still, that provided a fairly micro view of organizational communication. The sociologists on my committee encouraged me to consider the broader environment in which the teams functioned, including the larger organizational structures and the realities of the U.S. health care system. For example, the critical theorist pointed out that these hospices, which were not-for-profit, functioned in a for-profit world, interfacing with hospitals and insurance companies. As I blogged about previously, interacting with these highly bureaucratic organizations influenced the hospices' internal structures.

When Cheney et al. emphasize the need to go beyond a single message and examine patterns, they're also suggesting that organizational communication researchers place their work within the larger contexts in which such communication takes place.

~ Professor Cyborg

researching your own organization

I really enjoy reading the Voices from the Field boxes, so you may notice that I blog about them often. In Box 15.2, the authors feature Jill McMillan discussing native organizational communication research in which scholars study the organizations in which they're embedded.

Several years ago one of my master's students, Kay Meidlinger, studies the stories of the organization where she worked, the office of her local Catholic church. Kay had attended Catholic church all her life and at the time of her study had worked as a member of the parish staff for some time. She collected stories during the regular staff lunches. Because of her extensive knowledge of her own parish and the larger organization in which the parish functioned, she could provide insight into the stories not possible from an outsider's viewpoint.

After she completed her thesis, we collaborated on two articles. The first, published in the American Communication Journal focused on the types of interpersonal stories the participants told. In the second, published in Management Communication Quarterly we took a critical view in examining how the stories supported (or didn't support) the status quo. Having both an insider's and outsider's view provided greater depth of analysis as we discussed our interpretations of the data.

~ Professor Cyborg

going green

In Box 15.1 the authors of the text report on Connie Bullis's work in environmental communication. Bullis argues, "our greatest challenge maybe to change our personal choices while also looking to innovative organizational approaches" in addressing environmental issues. So cycling to the grocery store instead of driving, not buying products with excess packaging, and raking up the leaves in the yard rather than using a leaf blower.

Going green at the organization can prove challenging. When I was acting chair this past spring and summer, I decided the department would no longer buy water in 16 or 20 ounce containers. We already had a water cooler in the copy room (old pipes in HGH make the tap water suspect), so I ordered one for the COMM Lab as well (old pipes an issue in the Clark Building as well). Then I set about trying to find a "green" reusable water bottle that the department would purchase and sell at cost to students, faculty, and staff (with the department's new tagline stamped on it). First I thought we could use bottles made out of recycled plastics. But there were concerns about chemicals leaching into the water. Then I checked out the popular naglene bottles, but similar issues with those. I finally settled on a stainless steel bottle. More expensive, but no leaching issues. Now I'm trying to find out if it's made in the U.S. (lower carbon footprint).

Of greatest concern in Bullis's comments is the symbolism associated with going green. It's become the "in thing" to do, so companies use language associated with sound environmental practices but may not actually be implementing such practices at all. "Green" is used because it sells, not because the organization is concerned about the Earth's future. I found when searching for water bottles that "eco-friendly" and similar terms were associated with products that didn't seem to be good for the environment at all.

~ Professor Cyborg

organizations and text metaphor

In Chapter 15, Cheney et al. suggest that "the metaphor of text draws our attention to how much of an organization is written, spoken, and, thus, constructed by its members through the linguistic and other symbolic resources available to them" (p. 438). Other communication scholars have argued that organizing is communicating. Still, the text metaphor presents a specific view of communication. The authors go on to note that the metaphor illuminates issues of authority and power and takes the mystery out of organizational structures and processes.

Although the text metaphor is intriguing, it is also static and linear, as is the notion of "reading" an organization. Text also suggests a notion of permanency, which considering the latest failings of financial firms in the last few weeks, may not provide a useful representation of the changes and flux organizations experience. Particularly in the current turbulent environment, other metaphors may better serve our understanding of organizations and organizing.

The recent near-collapse of very large and very old U.S. financial institutions suggests that as communication scholars we must go beyond a myopic focus on communication and consider the real implications of accounting in organizations. One of my colleagues at Central Michigan University suggested that all organizational communication students take at least one class in accounting so they could read a balance sheet. There's no doubt that communication played an integral part in the rise and fall of the subprime mortgage fad, but when the money simply isn't there, all the talk in the world won't bring it back.

~ Professor Cyborg

emotions in organizations

The emphasis on the rational actor that persists today in organizational studies and practice also impacts the norms that have developed associated with the expression of emotion. Rational decision making suggests that emotions play no role in how decisions are made in organizations, yet organization members often are driven by how they feel about others and the organization.

Another aspect of emotions in organization is what emotions are okay to express and what must be hidden--the emotional labor the authors of the text discuss in Chapter 3. While the organizational norms associated with the expression of emotion are culturally-bound, the growth of transnational corporations has blunted some of the impact of local cultural practices on the organizations in which they're embedded. Norms may also vary with the type of organization. For example, in the hospices I studied, expressing joy, happiness, sadness, and grief were quite accepted. Providing comfort to others in difficult times was common. Crying, especially in response to a patient's death, was considered normal behavior. Expressing anger was not as accepted, however.

The study of emotions in organizations is fairly recent and still hasn't received much attention. This likely stems from the dominance of the machine metaphor in our understanding of organization. Even later metaphors such as organizations and organisms, organizations as brains, and organizations as political systems ignore the role of emotion in everyday organizational life.

garbage cans and decision making

I first read about the garbage can model of decision making in a graduate course at the U of Kentucky. As Cheney et al. describe this approach, decision making in organizations involves "collections of: solutions looking for problems; issues and feelings seeking to be aired; and decision makers looking for decisions to make" (p. 60).

Rather than decisions occurring in a logical, linear fashion, decisions are much more haphazard and driven by all sorts of forces that aren't apparent. Once a decision is made, then a narrative is developed to explain it. For example, the recent decisions to bail out AIG insurance, Freddie Mac, and Fanny Mae have far-reaching implications. Rumors abounded for weeks and months that the federal government would rescue these institutions. The garbage can model suggests that the decisions were made and then those involved worked to develop a rationale for those decisions, what the authors of the text (and others) call "retrospective sense making" (p. 60). In this way, the decisions were legitimized after the fact rather than following a systematic process to reach a conclusion.

organizations as brains

In Images of Organization Gareth Morgan discusses eight metaphors for organization: machine, organism, brain, culture, political system, psychic prison, flux and transformation, and domination. Relying on Morgan's conceptualization of organization as brain, the authors of your text discuss the brain metaphor in box 3.4. One strength of this metaphor is it promotes the idea of the learning organization, so it goes beyond the organism metaphor that portrays organizations as adapting to their environments. The brain metaphor suggests that organizations enact their environments and can be proactive and reactive.

Still, the brain metaphor suggests a rational approach to organizing and decision making. Yet as you've probably found, organizational decisions are often all but rational. Hidden agendas, personal biases, political maneuverings, and emotions are all involved in how organization members make decisions. This was certainly the case with a professional organization I belonged to for several years. Organization members made several poor decisions in spite of information that would have suggested a different course of action. Personalities became more important than reasoned discussion. The organization--already small--lost several key members due to the conflict.

Although the brain metaphor is useful, Morgan notes "there is a danger of overlooking important conflicts that can arise between learning and self-organizing, on the one hand, and the realities of power and control, on the other hand. . . . Moreover, the process of learning requires a degree of openness and self-criticism that is foreign to traditional modes of management" (p. 117).

Images of Organization is a fascinating book and a classic in the field. I've used it in the past for the BUS/COMM 244 seminar. But the second edition is over 10 years old and I wanted a text that was published more recently. Still, Morgan's book is an essential read for all students of organizational communication.

systems theory and organizing

Systems theory is grounded in the organism metaphor for organizations (although the application of organizations as systems can implicate the machine metaphor as well). As the authors of the text note in Chapter 2, systems theory encourages communication scholars to examine the larger environment in which organizations are embedded. Although this theory has its drawbacks, such as the emphasis on unity and harmony, it provides a way to take a more macro view of organizational life.

The notion of equifinality underscores one of the problems with highly bureaucratic structures. Equifinality suggests that there are multiple ways to reach the same endpoint and the starting point doesn't determine the endpoint. When applied at a micro level to teaching, this means all instructors teaching a particular course can have the same learning objectives but have different ways to achieve them. The trend toward assessment and standardization of course curriculum runs counter to equifinality. Although this trend has been well entrenched in K-12 for some time, it's just beginning to occur at the college level as well. For example, in the upper-division writing class in my department, all instructors use the same syllabus with the same assignments. I find this trend discouraging.

organizing and hospice care teams

I write a lot about SJSU, probably because I've taught there since 1990 and it's the organization I know best. Plus it provides so many great examples it's difficult to resist talking about when I'm teaching organizational communication.

But today I thought I'd write about hospice interdisciplinary care teams in the context of differentiation and integration discussed in Chapter 2. My dissertation research focused on hospice teams and I following that line of research for several years. I found hospice teams fascinating because I'd studied interdisciplinary teams in two other contexts, one in a large mental health institution and the other a diagnostic team for severely developmentally disabled children. The teams that functioned (dysfunctioned is the better term) in the mental hospital were not a happy group. They spent a great deal of time battling over turf and not much time focusing on patient needs. There was a high degree of differentiation, but little integration. The intensely bureaucratic nature of the organization made team functioning a challenge.

The diagnostic team also functioned within a highly bureaucratic organization--the university where I did my doctoral work. But the team was fairly independent. In addition, the team did not implement its recommendations, so there was a greater incentive to work together to determine the best treatment plan for the clients.

Hospice interdisciplinary teams develop treatment plans and implement them. What I found in my research is that while far from perfect, these teams did a pretty good job carving out their individual tasks while still coming together as a group. Hospice organizations do have some level of bureaucracy, in part because they have to interact with highly bureaucratic structures such as hospitals and insurance companies. But for the most part they strive to be team-based in every aspect of the organization, not just the interdisciplinary teams. Thus, hospices are generally fairly adept at balancing specialization/differentiation and integration.

pervasive communication environment

Near the beginning of Chapter 12 Cheney et al. observe that new communication technologies "are designed to enhance the speed of communication, to facilitate the immediate access to information, and to enable complex information exchanges across different geographical locations" (p. 350). In other words, you can communicate anytime from anywhere with anyone. Coopman (Ted) coined the term pervasive communication environment to identify the degree to which communicators are immersed in a sea of interactive possibilities.

This pervasive communication environment gives us multiple access points to an integrated communication structure with text, audio, video, and voice capabilities. What does that mean? Much more than chatting with your friend in Hong Kong while you are stuck in Chicago traffic. A pervasive communication environment provides you with the ability to access, create, and share information in multimedia from almost anywhere, at anytime, for any reason. The impact on organizational communication has been far-reaching as many of you have blogged about this week. More than just checking for text messages on your cell, mobile devices connected to the internet have played important roles in organizing political protests that toppled governments. Websites such as Meetup.org enable thousands, if not millions, of people to unite over common interests and concerns. And consider the ways the internet has been used to mobilize individuals and raise money in this year's presidental campaign.

Because they so permeate our everyday lives, new communication technologies have formed an increasingly invisible network connecting individuals, groups, and organizations. It's the everydayness of these technologies that I find so interesting to study. My blog alias stems from the idea that the physicality of the internet has become a natural part of everyday life. (I discuss this in more detail in my COMM 144 blog.)

More information on the pervasive communication environment is here:
Coopman, T. M. (2006, September). Dumping dichotomies: Embracing the pervasive communication environment. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association of Internet Researchers, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

It's also prominently featured in my new public speaking book published by Wadsworth, Public Speaking: The Evolving Art, and the small group book Ted and I are working on for McGraw-Hill, Small Group Communication: A Practical Guide for the 21st Century.

technology implementation success

Earlier this week I wrote about technology failures in organizations, focusing on Blackboard. On page 359 of your text the authors talk about the factors that make technology implementation a success. One technology success at the university is the implementation of the the Accessible Technology Initiative. The initiative is CSU-wide and based on a directive from the chancellor's office--after several lawsuits in which campuses were found in noncompliance with Section 508 of the federal Rehabilitation Act.

SJSU has taken a universal design approach to making sure all campus information is accessible to everyone. Universal design principles were first applied to architecture--designing buildings and other public spaces so that all individuals can use them easily. For example, rather than designing a building with stairs at the entrance and then adding a ramp for individuals who use a wheelchair for mobility, the entrance is even with the sidewalk. The MLK Library is an example of universal design.

In practical terms, accessible technology means that all campus websites and documents are fully screen readable and easy to navigate, video incorporates a transcript or is closed-captioned, and images include text descriptions. For faculty, this initiative means that all instructional materials in current courses must be accessible by Fall 2012; for new courses, the deadline is this semester.

I'm on the Accessible Technology Initiative Instructional Materials committee and the faculty in residence for ATI for the College of Social Sciences. Getting all instructional materials so they're fully accessible is a huge undertaking--one that will benefit all students. For example, all students benefit from having a class syllabus and other course materials online.

The university is approaching the implementation of this initiative in an effective way. The provost is heading up the initiative, so there's support from top management. The external pressure is there--four successful lawsuits across the CSU. The chancellor articulated a clear vision for the initiative. Now we're working on the implementation part--securing faculty buy in, committing resources to helping faculty develop accessible instructional materials, and creating venues for faculty to work together to implement this important change.

This is my first semester as the CoSS faculty in residence for ATI. I'll keep you posted on my experiences.

~ Professor Cyborg

online communication and equal participation

On page 363 the Cheney et al. state, "In addition to its ability to stimulate a strong task-orientation in work groups, computer-mediated communication seems to facilitate more equal participation among organizational members." I've found this to be the case with online classes and my colleagues who teach online agree. In person classes privilege students who better speakers, are more outgoing, and more comfortable in a dynamic communication environment where there's often little time to reflect on what others have said. Some of my online students have emailed saying that the online class was the first one they spoke out in.

I've observed this in faculty discussions as well. When we move part of our work online, as with editing documents on a wiki, one or two people are less able to dominate the conversation and we tend to make better decisions--because everyone has an equal opportunity to participate (whether or not they take that opportunity is up to the individual). With in person meetings, there's only so much time, and it can be difficult to divide up the talk time in any equitable way. Asynchronous online communication also gives faculty time to think about what others have said before posting their comments or making changes in a document. In developing the department's new major and graduate program (to be implemented in Fall 2009) faculty found the wiki indispensable. We met in person as well, but much of the hard work took place online.

Online communication doesn't necessarily lead to all group members (or all students in a class) participating equally. But in my experience asynchronous online communication levels the playing field so everyone has the opportunity to participate without worrying about a few people dominating the conversation. Although individuals can send many lengthy emails or write many long posts on a discussion board, other participants can delete or skip those messages--the lengthy messages don't take away from others' ability to participate. With in person meetings, if a few people use more than their share of talk time, there simply isn't enough time for others to have their say.

~ Professor Cyborg

tech failures in organizations

Box 12.8 in your text discusses a research project Ted Zorn started on communication technology adoption and implementation in organizations. He began the project in early 2001, but after a year, found that the projects were either abandoned or implemented poorly. The authors of your text provide three reasons for the tech failures: (1) the systems led to increased rather than decreased workload, (2) the systems were too complex, and (3) insufficient training and development for users.

As someone who has taught online for nearly 10 years, I've observed these kind of mistakes in technology adoption at my university as well as other schools. For example, using Blackboard CE6 is far more work than using WebCT 4.0. One problem is that it can only be opened in one web browser window at a time. So as an instructor if all my files are in blackboard, I can look at only one page at a time, unless I open a window in a different browser. The system is much more complex to use and completely nonintuitive. And training has been spotty.

Another major reason technology adoptions fail is the lack of employee participation in the decision making process. This is true for any major changes in organizations. Without members' participation in all aspects of the change process, getting buy in during the implementation stage is challenging. In addition, important information is overlooked.

Involving faculty in deciding which learning management system to use may have led to a better decision at the university. As it is now, Blackboard is not compliant with accessibility laws, and if that remains the case, the university will have to go to a new system in two years--another failure in technology adoption. Consulting with a wider range of campus stakeholders might have resulted in choosing a different LMS that fit all users' needs.

~ Professor Cyborg

technology and surveillance

In Chapter 12 of the text the authors note early on, "Some writers warn that communication technologies imply increased management surveillance and control" (p. 346). There's no doubt this is happening in U.S. and international workplaces.

Several years ago two of my colleagues and I were on a hiking trip. We were talking about organizational communication (no surprise; we went to grad school together and all studied in that area). I had been teaching online for a few years and had recently taught the undergraduate course in organizational communication. I'd been amazed by how much students talked about organizational surveillance and the degree to which they were watched and monitored during their work day.

So the three of us decided to work on a project where we examined how organization members talk about surveillance. Rather than focusing on the types of surveillance, we wanted to know what people had to say about being surveilled. We developed a survey. Our students conducted interviews. We presented our findings in several venues, the most-recent one an article in Management Communication Quarterly. We thought study participants would report about all the ways they tried to subvert and work around surveillance systems. We were so wrong! Most organization members accepted the surveillance, buying into the reasons given when they joined the organization or when the surveillance was installed ("it's for your safety," "it increases productivity").

Especially in turbulent economic times organization members are hesitant to challenge the status quo and and their bosses. During times when jobs are easy to come by, organization members are more likely to resist control mechanisms such as surveillance systems. Still, consider the impact of upper management's poor decisions and unethical behavior (think of Enron, the savings and loan scandals, the current mortgage crisis). Where should the surveillance cameras be placed? In the organization's cubicles or the board room?

~ Professor Cyborg