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36 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Defintion of Organizational Culture
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Organizational culture is defined as the actions, practices, stories, and artifacts that characterized a particular organization.
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7 Elements of Symbolic Expression of a Culture
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-Metaphors
-Riturals -Stories -Heros and Heroines -Artifacts -Communication Performance -Values |
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The Elements of Symbolic Expressions of a Culture
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-Metaphors: figures of speech that define unfamiliar experiences in terms of more familiar ones
-Rituals: dramatized events that range from daily routines to yearly celebrations -Stories: narratives that convey what and who is valued by the culture |
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The Elements of Symbolic Expression of a Culture
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-Heros and Heroines: members of a culture who are upheld as role models because they personify the culture values
-Artifacts: tangible and physical features of an organization -Communication Performance: dynamic, ongoing, and creative communication behaviors that construct cultures -Values: shared set of beliefs about appropriate organizational behaviors |
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Ethnography
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-Emerged in the 1980s as a systematic way to analyze organizational culture by reflecting on the "lived experience" of employees
---It requires the researcher to be a participant-observer and then reflect his or her experiences with members of the culture |
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3 general types of Ethnography
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1.) The basic elements of an organizational culture are analyzed by observation and questioning of employees (Realist Tale)
2.) The ethnographer uses creative methods such as letting employees express their experiences by drawing a sketch (Impressionist Tale) 3.) The ethnographer reports about his/her emotional experience in the cultural settings after observation(Confessional Tale) |
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Benefits of Ethnography
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-Provides rich descriptions of organizational life
-Captures subtle points -Exposes the sources of power and resistance -Encourages a defition of the workplace as a community |
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3 broad perspectives of organizational culture
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-Practical view
-Interpretive view -Critical view |
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Practical View
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-Organizational cutlure can be influenced and controlled by the management
-Defines strong organizational culture as: 1.) Supportive business environment 2.) Dedicatoin to a shared vision and values 3.) Well-known corporate heroes 4.) Effective rituals 5.) Formal and informal communication networks **If managers creates a culture wiht these characteristics, business success will follow |
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Communication Performance at Walmart
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-Usage of extensive messages (do we want to increase profit, or do we want to be number one?)
-Motivation by cheering -Rapid communication to improve business |
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The Rise of Critical Theories in the U.S.
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-For the first time in human history, more individuals worked for someone else than themselves- people became more dependent from consumers (company made them money, not individual consumers)
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The Rise of Critical Theories in the U.S. Continued
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-Globalization reshaped the industry completely- employers had the option to hire lower-wage workers overseas and invest in foreign economies
-As worldwide resources became limited, governments around the world changed their strategy: ---More resources for big businesses (i.e. tax exemptions) ---The goal: strengthened employers would pass increased profits on to employees |
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Centrality of Power
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-It is important to understand the types of power relationship to balance the needs of people with the needs of profit
-Five types of social power 1.) Reward Power 2.) Cohersive Power 3.) Referant Power 4.) Expert Power 5.) Legitimate Power |
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Five types of social power
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1.) Reward Power: person A can give formal or informal reward to person B
2.) Coercive Power: when person B feels that certain behavior will lead to punishment from person A 3.) Referant Power: person B is willing to do what person A is asking for to be like person A 4.) Expert Power: person B is willing to do what person A says because person B respects person A's expert knowledge 5.) Legitimate Power: person B complies with person A's wishes because person A holds a high level position |
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Recent Trends in Organizational Communication
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-One area of critical scholars is employee health and well-being
-Another area focuses on resistance against organizational power and control (i.e. guy from officespace) |
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Critical Research and Cultural Approach
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-Similarities:
---Critical theorist gathers interpretive cultural data about race, class, gender, age, languages, marriages, motives, and actions -Differences: ---Critical research aims to discover the structure of power ---The cultural approach only focuses on what happens but not in whose interest it happens |
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The Concept of Identity
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-Identity often involves
---Understanding of how we are- similar and different from others and how that shapes our sense of self ---How individuals are positioned (compared to others) or how they position themselves through language and action **Identity influences how we communicate with others and how others communicate with us |
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Practices that Organizations use to "make" Members' Identities
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-Defining the person directly: who graduated at a top-ranked university is described as better compared to better
-Defining a person by defining others: I am providing real, hands-on work, while others are paper pushers -Providing a specific vocabulary of motives: a successful teacher is not asking for a higher salary, he is "in it for the kids" -Explicating morals and values: guiding values such as innovation, customer service, or efficiency |
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Gender Differences at Work
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-Men seek status by engaging in report talk while women seek relationships by engaging in rapport talk
-Women are less likely to negotiate for things like salaries and raises, they tend to earn less over the course of their lifetime |
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Gender Identity as organizational performance
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-Gender is something we do as opposed to something that we are
-Feminist scholars argue that we "do" gender through performances at moment to moment behavior within organizations ---From this perspective, gender is not a natural or fixed category. Gender is learned and performed for specific occassions |
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The Concept of Intersecting Identities
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-Power and ideology influence how different aspects of one's identity are valued
---In some countries, old people are the best decision makers, and in others, old people are to not be a part of decision-making ---In some companies, workers are asked to not voice their opinion, and in others, employees are asked to participate -Identity is often understood as a dialectic between privilege and disadvantage ---Sometimes age is advantageous and sometimes it is not |
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3 strategies to better communicate multiple identities
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-Be mindful. Pay attention to your own privilege
-Be proactive. Take the initiative to create positive changes. -Fill yor communication toolbox. Be prepared to use effective listening, critical thinking, and dialogue to communicate more productively about differences in work/life |
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Benefits of Employee participation Organization
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-The use inidvidual ideas and the combination of those to get:
---Better products and services that meet customer demands ---More efficient internal processes -More flexibility and better work performance through better motivated employees -More information about global markets, customers, and competitors -Just in time information about changes of the organizational environment |
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Matrix Structure
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Typical project team structure
-4 Departments and 3 Projects ---Engineering ---Programming and Implementation ---Manufacturing ---Quality Control |
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Challenges for members of Project Teams
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-Team members often don't know each other because they come from different departments
---They have different skill sets, communication behaviors, and organizational backgrounds ---Often pressure to keep a tough schedule -Project team members have to deal with conflicting goals adn that makes task prioritization very important |
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Challenges for Managers with Work Teams
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-Managers must recognize and reward contribution of both the team and individual members
-They need to delegate responsibilities and to support and accept team decisions -They need to make team follows rules, keeps deadlines, and accomplishes its goals |
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The Biggest Challenges for Managers
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-Managers are not used to empower self-directed work teams
-Many have a different understanding of their own role and authority |
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Reasons for teams conflict
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-People feel threatened by oppositional goals and views
-Team conflicts occur because people pursue different interests -Studies have shown that some degree of conflict is essential and healthy for open, effective communication |
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How to work and live with conflicts
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1.) Accommodation: if several suggestions are discussed, you woul dalways agree to skip yours if others insist on theirs (involves low concern for self, and high concern for others)
2.) Compromise: the solution is always a compromise even if not all options are equally good 3.) Collaboration: allows to discuss the different options and to decide what is really best (it is best to collaborate ideas) |
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Emergent Communication Networks
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-Very powerful and benefit especially from informal communication
---Informal communication can provide you wiht important information for your work without explicitely asking for it -Informal communicaiton is often more efficient and accurate than the formal dissemination of information ---You can ask those directly who you think know the answer without considering official, hierarchical communication flows |
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Rituals at Walmart
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-Yearly, gigantic events like manager meeting and shareholder conference (cheer leading, motivation by positive communication)
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Strategy at Walmart
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-Low price, no unnecesary investment, expansion, number 1 on the market
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Heroes at Walmart
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-The founder Sam Walton- it is said that most current strategies and activities and reflecting his ideas and ideals
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Artifacts at Walmart
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-Uniform with smiley
-many pictures of the founder -Small offices for executives |
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Interpretive View
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-Culture is too persuasive and complex to be controlled
-Managers cannot create strong organizational cultures themselves -Culture is a process that is socially constructed in everyday communication behaviors (it is created by all organizational members) **Scholars focus on how organizational culture is not on how it can be controlled |
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Critical View
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-Focus on the issues of power and domination within a particular culture
-To examine these cultures, it is necessary to expose how cultural values such as values, stories, or rituals funciton to support the power structure of an organization |
