Chapter 16: Organizational Communication Flashcards
Hierarchy
The division of people into levels of authority
Power structure
how an organization distributes power
Centralized power structure
A small number of people hold majority of the decision making ability
EX: company president and board of directors
Diffused power structure
Decision making ability is spread evenly among the organization’s members
How an organization interacts with its environment
Closed system and open system
Open system
Organizations that communicate are share information with other people or groups
Closed system
Organizations that interact little with people or groups outside of the organization
Task rituals
Repeated activities that enhance people’s abilities to do their jobs
EX: TSA (go through bags, tells you to take shoes off, repeats this action all day)
EX: Physician (checks you and every other patient they have every day)
Social rituals
Recurring events that reinforce personal relationships among organizational members
Ex: team building
Rite of passage
Signifies people’s advancement to a higher status or level in a workplace
EX: commencement, graduation
Rite of integration
Enhances feelings of inclusion and community in the workplace
EX: orientation at college
Enhancement rites
Relates to consequences for superior performance
Ex: someone encourages you to do something
Renewal rites
Update and revitalize a workplace
Organization roles
Each organization member has a role (formal or informal)
formal roles
Roles that involve functions prescribed by the organization itself
informal roles
Functions that are adopted by specific people rather than assigned by organization
Corporate stories
Stories that organizations tell about their histories, goals, and identities
Personal stories
Stories in which people describe how they see themselves and how they want others to see them (your background)
Collegial stories
Stories that people tell about other people in their organization, to comment on their positive and negative attributes
Models of Organizational Communication
- Information transfer model
- Transactional approach
- Strategical control
- Strategic ambiguity
Information Transfer model
Model of organizational communication in which communication is seen as a pipeline through which information flows from one source to another
- information goes in one direction, messages can have ambiguity
Transactional approach
A model of organizational communication that makes no distinctions between senders and receivers of messages
- messages are sent and receive simultaneously
Strategic control
Model of organizational communication that recognizes that people in an organization can use communication to control their environments and act in respectful ways
EX: asking for a raise
Balance of creativity and constraint - theory of structuration
Theory of structuration states that all human behavior is influenced by an ever-present tension between creativity and constraint
- Creativity = freedom to make independent choices
- Constraint = limitations imposed on creativity by the context in which you are working
Upward communication
Messages we send to people at higher levels of the organizational hierarchy than we occupy
Downward communication
Messages we send to people at lower levels of the organizational hierarchy
Lateral communication
Messages we share with peers or anyone who occupies the same position in the organizational hierarchy as we do
Grapevine - informal communication
Metaphor used to indicate that informal messages are often conveyed in upward, downward, and lateral directions simultaneously
Communication technology
Choosing a communication channel based on:
Channel-rich: very detailed message
Channel-lean: only words
Richest to leanest communication channels:
1. face-to-face (richest)
2. Video conferencing
3. Telephone conference
4. Texting (richer than email because of emojis)
5. Email (leanest)
Sexual harassment
unsolicited, unwelcome, and sexual in nature
1. Quid Pro Quo: something for something
a. EX: if you go our for drinks with your manager, he will help you get a promotion
2. Hostile work environment
a. Sexually offensive/ intimidating
Organizational communication
Interactions that occur in structured groups
Rituals
Repeated behaviors that provide routine for behaviors
Personal rituals
Routine behaviors through which individuals convey their organizational identity
Strategic ambiguity
Intentionally leaving something open to interpretation to achieve a goal
EX: do whatever it takes
