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