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
Managers as Friends?
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I believe title already sounds pretty weird but I would still like to
provoke this idea. Have you ever become friends with your manager? Does it
really w...
15 years ago
1 comment:
Today the Mercury News posted an article on their web site: Medicinal pot caregivers can be prosecuted for selling drugs; Jennifer Squires - Sentinel Staff Writer Posted: 11/25/2008 10:00:12 AM PST. In chapter 5, Cheney et al. Communicating Identity, discusses the issue of conflicting organizational identities with identification. In this case, Wo/Men's has an organizational identity that is focused on helping individuals with debilitating diseases with the use of medicinal marijuana. And yet, their identification with a convicted marijuana user (dealer) like Roger Mentch is a problematic conflict. Today the California State Supreme court upheld the previous Superior Court ruling that convicted Mentch for cultivating and possessing marijuana for sale. Wo/Men needs to delineate the differences between someone like Mentch and their organization.
The article describes the recent court decision as defining the role of the medicinal marijuana caregiver. WAMM, supported the court decision and a spokesperson for their group stated: "... beyond picking up a patient's medicine by providing a community of support for ill members. We're at people's bedsides." Read the article Read the article here
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