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
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
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
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
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
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
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
