Chapter 16: Organizational Communication

Question 1

Hierarchy

Answer 1

The division of people into levels of authority

Question 2

Power structure

Answer 2

how an organization distributes power

Question 3

Centralized power structure

Answer 3

A small number of people hold majority of the decision making ability
EX: company president and board of directors

Question 4

Diffused power structure

Answer 4

Decision making ability is spread evenly among the organization’s members

Question 5

How an organization interacts with its environment

Answer 5

Closed system and open system

Question 6

Open system

Answer 6

Organizations that communicate are share information with other people or groups

Question 7

Closed system

Answer 7

Organizations that interact little with people or groups outside of the organization

Question 8

Task rituals

Answer 8

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)

Question 9

Social rituals

Answer 9

Recurring events that reinforce personal relationships among organizational members
Ex: team building

Question 10

Rite of passage

Answer 10

Signifies people’s advancement to a higher status or level in a workplace
EX: commencement, graduation

Question 11

Rite of integration

Answer 11

Enhances feelings of inclusion and community in the workplace
EX: orientation at college

Question 12

Enhancement rites

Answer 12

Relates to consequences for superior performance
Ex: someone encourages you to do something

Question 13

Renewal rites

Answer 13

Update and revitalize a workplace

Question 14

Organization roles

Answer 14

Each organization member has a role (formal or informal)

Question 15

formal roles

Answer 15

Roles that involve functions prescribed by the organization itself

Question 16

informal roles

Answer 16

Functions that are adopted by specific people rather than assigned by organization

Question 17

Corporate stories

Answer 17

Stories that organizations tell about their histories, goals, and identities

Question 18

Personal stories

Answer 18

Stories in which people describe how they see themselves and how they want others to see them (your background)

Question 19

Collegial stories

Answer 19

Stories that people tell about other people in their organization, to comment on their positive and negative attributes

Question 20

Models of Organizational Communication

Answer 20

• Information transfer model
• Transactional approach
• Strategical control
• Strategic ambiguity

Question 21

Information Transfer model

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Transactional approach

Answer 22

A model of organizational communication that makes no distinctions between senders and receivers of messages
- messages are sent and receive simultaneously

Question 23

Strategic control

Answer 23

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

Question 24

Balance of creativity and constraint - theory of structuration

Answer 24

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

Question 25

Upward communication

Answer 25

Messages we send to people at higher levels of the organizational hierarchy than we occupy

Question 26

Downward communication

Answer 26

Messages we send to people at lower levels of the organizational hierarchy

Question 27

Lateral communication

Answer 27

Messages we share with peers or anyone who occupies the same position in the organizational hierarchy as we do

Question 28

Grapevine - informal communication

Answer 28

Metaphor used to indicate that informal messages are often conveyed in upward, downward, and lateral directions simultaneously

Question 29

Communication technology

Answer 29

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)

Question 30

Sexual harassment

Answer 30

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

Question 31

Organizational communication

Answer 31

Interactions that occur in structured groups

Question 32

Rituals

Answer 32

Repeated behaviors that provide routine for behaviors

Question 33

Personal rituals

Answer 33

Routine behaviors through which individuals convey their organizational identity

Question 34

Strategic ambiguity

Answer 34

Intentionally leaving something open to interpretation to achieve a goal
EX: do whatever it takes