Communications And Organizations Ch 1-4

Front 1

Organization (1)

Back 1

A system of consciously coordinated activities or forces of two or more persons.

Front 2

Structure (2)

Back 2

Those aspects of an organization that are prespecified for a given situation; these become a substitute for spontaneous or unplanned action.

Front 3

Process (2)

Back 3

The ongoing flow of interaction; exists in an interdependent relationship with structure.

Front 4

Duality of structure (2)

Back 4

Structure is both an outcome of and a resource for interaction; structure both enables and constrains (inter)action. It helps to make things happen or it gets in our way.

Front 5

Hierarchy (element of organizational structure) (2)

Back 5

Vertical levels of an organization; represents the distribution of authority among organizational roles or positions

Front 6

Differentiation or Specialization (element of organizational structure) (2)

Back 6

Describes division of labour in an organization, the extent to which labour is divided into specialized units, departments and divisions. Holds people together (interdependence) and alienates them.

Front 7

Formalization (element of organizational structure) (2)

Back 7

Degree to which interactions in the organization are characterized by rules, regulations and norms; formal communication is highly specified and prescribed.

Front 8

Systems theory (2)

Back 8

Idea of organization as a system; incorporates lessons from both organisms and machines and applies them to society.

Front 9

Open versus Closed (systems) (2)

Back 9

Amount of influence of the environment on a system; applied to organizations, open systems are often the ideal in that they adapt constantly to the environment, yet some degree of 'closedness' may be desirable to avoid losing coherence, boundaries and identity.

Front 10

Authority (2)

Back 10

The basis for securing people's compliance in organizations; Weber has 3 authorities: charismatic, traditional, legal-rational.

Front 11

Bureaucracy (2)

Back 11

Most common type of organizational structure in contemporary organizations; based on legal-rational authority; includes fixed division of labour and clearly defined hierarchy of positions.

Front 12

Post-bureaucratic structure (2)

Back 12

Contemporary organizational forms based on principles such as a relatively flat organizational structure, no fixed positions, project-centered organization and little regard for superiority.

Front 13

Emergent structures (extent vs. emergent) (2)

Back 13

Structure, or order, may emerge spontaneously from interaction; also, unstructured, informal, and spontaneous set of work relationships can become an effective structure that works for the people involved.

Front 14

Rationality (3)

Back 14

Ordering our world based on reason; using observable facts and logical reasoning to reach objective conclusions; connotes being reasonable, sensible, sane and systematic; epitomized by bureaucracy.

Front 15

Scientific Management (Taylorism) (3)

Back 15

Taylor's system to standardize work intended to make businesses more organized and more efficient, especially through the use of 'time and motion' studies; first major development in management thought.

Front 16

Efficiency (3)

Back 16

Often refers to getting the greatest amount of output for a given input; a supreme value or 'god term' in rationalistic views of organizations.

Front 17

Decisional premise (3)

Back 17

Value that guides decisions, such as 'safety first'; Simon says this is the building block of the organization; organization as a hierarchy of decisional premises, with broadest value at the top and more specific ones at lower levels.

Front 18

Information-processing theory (3)

Back 18

Perspective on organizations that focuses on decision-making processes, especially the cognitive, quasi-rational, and info-related aspects of organizational life; emphasizes controlling uncertainty.

Front 19

Bounded rationality (3)

Back 19

Focus on the emotional experience of organizational life, based in intersubjectivity of relationships and seeing both constraint and possibility in non rational aspects of work. Our emotions can get in the way of our rationality.

Front 20

Theory X and Theory Y (McGregor) (3)

Back 20

Two competing views of work and management.
Theory X: assumes that work cannot be intrinsically or inherently satisfying; organizations must rely of external rewards to motivate employees (scientific management). Theory Y: can derive satisfactions from their jobs. Sees possibility for making work truly enjoyable.

Front 21

Socially Distributed Cognition (3)

Back 21

Idea that information resides not with individual persons but within a network of people who interact regularly.

Front 22

Functional theory (3)

Back 22

Rationalist and 'normative' theory of group decision making that suggests a standard or norm for effective groups to follow by identifying the functions that group members should perform to be effective in decision making.

Front 23

Garbage can model (3)

Back 23

Nonrationalist explanation suggests that when a problem emerges, various stakeholders dump their ideas and solutions into the garbage can, and a decision is made when an acceptable match is seen between problems, solutions, resources, and participants.

Front 24

Equivocality (3)

Back 24

Decision making involves equivocality; when two or more possible interpretations exist for a situation. Stages of decision making: enactment (what info is relevant), selection (what to focus on + interpret), retention (what to retain.

Front 25

Enactment (stage in decision making) (3)

Back 25

When we reach out to discover and understand the world around us we unavoidably 'plant' part of the reality we discover.

Front 26

Iron Rule of Oligarchy (3)

Back 26

Michel's principle that regardless of the value orientations of large organizations, they would eventually move toward concentration of power at the top of the pyramid.

Front 27

Bounded emotionality (3)

Back 27

There are certain defined limits that shape how we are allowed to act in an organization, with the emotional side being suppressed by the 'rational' side.

Front 28

Emotional dissonance (Scarduzio)

Back 28

When we have to behave differently than we feel.

Front 29

Emotional deviance (Scarduzio)

Back 29

When we deviate from the rules of emotional labour. We act differently that we are supposed to.

Front 30

Emotional harmony (Scarduzio)

Back 30

When our emotions are in harmony. We act as we want to and are allowed to.

Front 31

Culture (4)

Back 31

A system of meaning that guides the construction of reality in a social community.

Front 32

Subculture (4)

Back 32

Culture within a larger culture whose members share perceptions and understandings of central problems and interact regularly within distinct group.

Front 33

Schein's 3 levels of culture (4)

Back 33

Underlying assumptions, espoused beliefs and values, artifacts

Front 34

Hofstede's Cultural dimensions (4)

Back 34

Power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism-collectivism, masculinity-feminity, confucian dynamism.

Front 35

Language (4)

Back 35

system of meaning that helps us co-create our world through use of categories, classes, hierarchies and distinctions; language helps us orient ourselves in the world and maintain patterns of similarities and differences.

Front 36

Rites (4)

Back 36

Ceremonial acts that are prescribed or customary for a culture; in organizational settings, we find rites of passage, degradation, enhancement, renewal, conflict reduction and integration.

Front 37

Corporate culture (4)

Back 37

Describes managerial interest in managing an organization's culture

Front 38

Functionalist perspective on Organizational culture (4)

Back 38

Notion that organizations HAVE cultures that leaders should seek to shape and control in the interest of accomplishing instrumental goals.

Front 39

Symbolist perspective on Organizational culture (4)

Back 39

Notion that organizations ARE cultures; complex and evolving totality of people, goals, actions, experiences, interpretations; organizational culture is rarely monolithic and can not be controlled by management or embraced by a strategy.

Front 40

Martin's 3 perspectives on culture (4)

Back 40

Integration, differentiation, fragmentation.

Front 41

Organizational Climate (4)

Back 41

The cultural conditions for communication in the organizational setting, including levels of supportiveness, trust, openness, emphasis on high-performance goals and participation.

Front 42

Socialization (4)

Back 42

Process through which an organization communicates its culture- especially to new members. Stages: anticipatory, encounter, metamorphosis.

Front 43

Memorable messages (4)

Back 43

Messages- usually prescribing rules of conduct- that organizational members recall to have had a significant impact on their lives.