Comm 353

Comm 353 Winter, 2005

Organizational Communication Bro. Compton

McKay #211 Office: 3627

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Office Hours

TBA

Texts

Eisenberg, E. M. & Goodall Jr., H. L. (1993). Organizational Communication: Balancing Creativity and Constraint. St. Martins Press.

Bottom of Form

Articles on reserve in library, on the Internet, or handed out in-class.

Course Description

In this course we are interested in the nature of communication when organizing and creating organizations in culturally diverse environments. As a general theme, we adopt the view that there is an inherent tension in organizations that has to do with the need for creativity and constraint simultaneously. Thus you will note that the subtitle of our texts refers to “balancing creativity and constraint.” Constraint originates with our needs to plan, implement, and evaluate in an orderly and predictable fashion. On the other hand, organizations cannot change and survive without embracing creativity and action in uncertainty. As we will see, these two forces are related to a wide variety of organizational dynamics, issues, and problems.

In this course we will reposition communication away from something organizations do to something that is done to create organizations. Within this view of organizations we will examine how power is used in communication process and in striking the balance or imbalance between constraint and creativity.

In the first part of the semester we will examine historical forces that created the modern organization and pay particular attention to the role of communication in that history. In the second section we will review a variety of theoretical perspectives that have been used in organizational analysis, i.e., a systems perspective, a functional/structural perspective, a cultural perspective, and a postmodern perspective. Next we will study methods of organizational consultation including how to conduct a needs analysis, intervention, and evaluation strategies. Finally, we will examine a variety of issues including interpersonal relations, decision making, problem solving, and leadership.

I have expectations of students that are based on the following (taken from Robert Kegan’s discussion of what constitutes a successful employee according to the organizational literature):

Invent their own work (rather than see it as owned and created by an employer).
Be self-initiating, self-correcting, self-evaluating (rather than dependent on others to frame problems, initiate adjustments, or determine whether things are going acceptably well).
Be guided by our own visions at work (rather than be without a vision or be captive to the authorities agenda).
Take responsibility for what happens to us at work externally and internally (rather than see our present internal circumstances and future external possibilities as caused by someone else).
Be accomplished masters of our particular work roles, jobs, or careers (rather than have an apprenticing or imitating relationship to what we do).
Conceive of the organization from the “outside in,” as a whole; to see our relation to the whole; to see the relation of the parts to the whole (rather than see the rest of the organization and its parts only from the perspective of our own part, from the “inside out”).

Course Requirements

Midterm Exam 100

Final Exam 150

Research Paper 100

Quizes 50

*Exams are a combination of true/false, short answer and/or essay questions. The best way to prepare for the exams is to write 1-2 page abstracts of chapters and articles as you progress through the material.

Turning in Assignments

Assignments turned in late will be graded but then penalized10% if it is was not turned in at the beginning of the class period in which it was due and 5% for each consecutive day thereafter. In the past I have been lenient in receiving work late. Doing so has consistently created problems for me and I fear failed to cultivate the right habits among students. Thus, this is now a hard and fast rule.

Besides turning in a hard copy of your assignments, you must also place a copy in the digital drop box on blackboard prior to the due date and time. This creates a safety net in the event of lost paper, etc.

Special Needs

Brigham Young University-Hawai'i is committed to providing a working and learning atmosphere, which reasonably accommodates qualified persons with disabilities. If you have any disability that may impair your ability to complete this course successfully, please contact the students with Special Need Coordinator, Leilani A'una at 293-3518. Reasonable academic accommodations are reviewed for all students who have qualified documented disabilities. If you need assistance or if you feel you have been unlawfully discriminated against on the basis of disability, you may seek resolution through established grievance policy and procedures. You should contact the Human Resource Services at 780-8875.

Preventing Sexual Harassment

Title IX of the education amendments of 1972 prohibits sex discrimination against any participant in an educational program or activity that receives federal funds, including Federal loans and grants. Title IX also covers student-to-student sexual harassment. If you encounter unlawful sexual harassment or gender-based discrimination, please contact the Human Resource Services at 780-8875 (24 hours).

Final Examination

All students should be aware of the BYUH policy that there are no early final exams. An exception to this policy is the case of a school sponsored activity which takes an individual or a team away from the University at the time an examination is scheduled to take place. Faculty and Administration who are responsible for scheduling official University activities attempt in every way to avoid scheduling activities in conflict with the scheduled examinations. Students must plan travel, family visits, etc., in a way that will not interfere with their final exams. Emergency situations should be presented in writing as soon as possible to the Dean of the college or school of the student’s major.

Attendance

Since we are a group of people interested in learning, our attendance and participation is of central importance. You are expected to attend every class and contribute your views and insights. I feel no obligation to give a passing grade to individuals who miss a significant number of classes (university policy is that the F grade is given if there are more than seven unexcused absences).

On Learning and Being a Student

The Dead Sea is mostly dead because though it receives fresh water it has no outlet. All living systems share three elements: input, throughput, and output. If any one of these three fail to function properly, the system begins to whither and die. Learning is much like this; there must be good input, throughput, and output. The quality of input is a product of reading and listening for understanding. The quality of throughput is driven by the extent to which the information is interpreted through application and analysis. The quality of output is determined by the extent to which we engage others through the written and spoken word. In many ways, learning is more of a creative act of making sense of information than it is an act of being told “facts” from an authoritative source. Don’t misunderstand me, my role as a professor is to profess, but knowing my professings or those of the authors you are about to read, is only the beginning of learning. Your learning becomes a vibrant and living phenomenon when you interpret the information and engage others in conversation about it. Our classroom time will be split between helping to make sure that the input has been good, i.e., that you understand the information, and two that throughput and output are of a high quality by engaging one another in conversation about it. This is the nature of authentic learning and communication.

The modern university, as with modern organizations and by and large for the same reasons, is not particularly well suited for authentic communication or learning. That is to say, the structure of the modern university and organization are not designed to maximize the quality of communication and learning. Nevertheless, a great deal can be done to improve both if we so choose and if we understand the structural forces that are impeding them. Courses in communication and culture should almost always heighten our awareness of these impediments.

Some argue that undergraduate education should be focused primarily on input, coming to understand the thoughts and ideas of others. I agree. However, to fully embrace the nature of learning, it must also be about actively constructing the meaning of those ideas and engaging others in conversation about them. As I said earlier, we will use our class time to do some of both. But class time is not a sufficient for the learning process. The material must be consequentially engaged outside of the classroom, in reading, thinking, and speaking with others. As you have probably learned by now, you can work inside the educational system, get a high GPA, and yet be doing very little real learning. The choice is each of ours.

I’ll conclude with a pregnancy metaphor. On two occasions my wife has been nine months pregnant. Each time she has desperately wanted and feared giving birth. Have you ever been pregnant with an idea that you have constructed from something you read or heard? Something that was immensely important to you? In such circumstances we often become desperate to communicate with others about it, to give birth to it if you will. We need to tell others and we need to hear their responses as part of the ongoing lifelong process of growing and changing. Just as a mother gives birth to a child, learning always includes giving birth to our thoughts and ideas, even if we too fear doing so.

Reading Schedule

Winter, 2004

Date	Chapter/Material	Location
1/5	Course Introduction
	History of Modern Organizations
1/7	The Ophelia Syndrome	Blackboard
1/10	The Control Revolution: Technological and Economic Origins of the Information Society by James Beniger. Preface Introduction	Blackboard
1/12	Threee Early Perspectives on Organizational Communication Case Study: Riverside State Hospital	Text, pp. 53-87 Text, pp. 88-91
1/14	Confidence Men and Painted Women	Blackboard
	Contemporary Perspectives
1/17	Holiday: Human Rights Day
1/19	The Systems Perspective on Organizational Communication Case Study: Wheels	Text, pp. 92-114 Blackboard
1/21	Cultural Studies of Organizations and Communications Management	Text, pp. 117-142 Blackboard
1/24	Critical Approaches to Organizations and Communication	Text, pp. 147-176
1/26	The Discovery of the Working Class	Blackboard
1/28	Catch Up Day
1/31	Chapter One: The Ethics of Right Verses Right Chapter Two: Right vs. Wrong	Blackboard Blackboard
2/2	Chapter Three: Ethical Fitness Values in Tensions: Ethics Away From Home	Blackboard Blackboard
2/4	The Parable of the Sadhu For Whom The Locomotives Roll	Blackboard Blackboard
2/7	Alternative to Hierarchy Case Study: The Workplace of the Future Case Study: Designing the New University	Text, pp. 180-191 Text, pp. 192 Text, pp. 193
2/9	A Case for Inefficiency The Meeting	Blackboard Blackboard
2/11	Cartoons From the Wall Street Journal A Color Book For Executives	Blackboard Blackboard
2/14	Midterm Exam
2/16	Guest Speaker
2/18	Field Guide to Studying Organizational Communication ICA Organizational Communication Audit
2/21	Holiday: Presidents Day
2/23	Introduction to ASTD and SIETAR	Internet Sites
	Levels of Analysis
2/25	Experience of Work	pp. 197-226
2/28
3/2	Interpersonal Relations	pp. 227-263

3/4	Communication in Teams	pp. 264-299
3/7
3/9		pp. 347-356
3/11	Managing the Total Enterprise	pp. 300-324
3/14
3/16	The Future of Organizational Communication	pp. 327-346
3/18
3/21
3/23
3/25
3/28
3/30
4/1	Leadership and Self Deception
4/4	“
4/6	“
4/8	“
4/11	“
4/13	“
4/20	Final Exam 11-2