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| internal organizational communication and behavior must be understood as complex and dynamic products of a continual struggle for survival as it interacts with its external environment. |
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| theory of Ludwig von Bertalanffy in General Systems Theory (1968) that the biological laws governing the systemic processes of living organisms apply equally to human systems of any kind, including the organization. |
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| metaphor that forms the basis for classical organizational communication theory. It states simply that "man is a machine" or "man is a machine part" whose value is grounded entirely in management utilitarianism, work ethic consistency, and production efficiency. As a part in the machine, any individual can be removed or replaced if it is deemed dysfunctional. The part (individual worker) is never as important as the process of production on the whole. |
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| the metaphor forming the basis for systems theories. It assumes that organizations are not static structures but rather dynamic organisms whose primary goal is survival in their ever-changing environment. This survival is accomplished only through continual adaptation to their environment (continuous organizational change). |
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| in systems theory, a group of internal organizational parts dedicated to working together to accomplish one specifically needed task (among the many needed for survival) within the overall organization. These interlinked parts are also interconnected with other parts pursuing other specific tasks. The sum of all subsystems combined together is the system. Different departments, workers, management, janitors, etc. are subsystems |
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| a collection of integrated subsystems that collectively and routinely conduct all processes necessary for an entire organization's survival. "A set of elements standing in inter-relation." |
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| in this type of system, organizations must import and export material from their external environment (they must interactively deal with the outside world). IS DYNAMIC |
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| a type of system in which organizations are insulated from the outside world, with no direct interaction between itself and its external environment (no import/export of material). IS STATIC |
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| subset of the organism's overall environment to which the organism MUST react and adapt in order to continue its existence and functioning. |
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| a protective barrier that regulates the interaction of an organization with its environment (amount of input and output). The boundary may be physical, linguistic, systemic, or psychological. |
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| organizational members or systems are physically separated from one another |
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| use of jargon or coded language to control the directional flow of information |
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| enforced rules, policies & procedures to control system behavior and output. |
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| organizational attitudes among members in a system impacting performance |
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| a porous or fluid organizational barrier that allows for a varied level of material import and export by the organization as it directly interacts with its external environment. |
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| an organizational boundary that cannot be crossed, set up to prevent material interaction (import or export) with forces outside the organization. |
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| the degree to which an organization has a permeable or impermeable boundary. |
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| the tendency of any system to drift toward chaos, inefficiency, or decay if the organizational infrastructure is not continually maintained and materially reinforced. |
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| 2nd law of thermodynamics |
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| unless stopped, entropy will gradually increase to its maximum level, until the system ceases to function or exist. |
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| a state of survival or enhanced growth; the state organizations strive to maintain |
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| when the effective and cooperative work of individual system elements leads to output levels whose sum as a team is greater than the sum of the additive individual amount of each part. |
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| the existence of multiple correct solutions to adaptive problems faced by a closed system; there is more than one correct answer concerning how to adapt to environmental changes. |
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| The Social Psychology of Organizations |
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Katz & Kahn
• Systemized the organism metaphor, applying Rensis Likert to organizations as a system.
• Coined the terms "input," "output," & "throughput." |
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| when organizations import in raw materials & energy as nourishment from its outside environment. |
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| nourish and sustain the existing system to ensure system's dynamic homeostasis. |
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| raw materials and energy used to build the actual product of the system. |
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| when an organization expels undesirable waste material from inside the organization back out into the environment. |
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| the transformation of energy and raw material into the finished product or service that is the system's real productive purpose. |
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| tells organization that system needs to make changes from the status quo by DOING something specific that constitutes a change in production. |
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| tells organization that system needs to STOP DOING these systemic changes, and return to the prior system's status quo. |
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| McMillan & Northern's (1995) term for the psychological relationship of workers in a closed system to the system itself, as well as to their co-workers. |
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the belief in equifinality as applied to an organization's ability to structurally adapt to an ever-changing environment by making constant, internal, systemic changes.
Burns & Stalker's (1968--The Management of Innovation) |
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| Burns & Stalker's Environmental Stability Theory |
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| the best systemic organizational structure actually depends upon the degree of stability of an organization's outside environment, not a pre-fabricated template. |
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| Flourish in stable, predictable environments. Emphasize downward communication. |
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| Less rigid; much more adaptable and open to change; freer flow of information. |
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| Lawrence & Lorsch's Environmental Uncertainty Theory |
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| the only way to measure the extent of organizational adaptation is the systematic study of message flow within the organization. |
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• coined the organizational communication term "the learning organization"
• Argued that adaptation can only be successful if the organization continually changes. This change is only possible when organizational members continually learn new ways to improve their system.
• Identified 3 Types of Stress: Disjunctive Stress, Discomfort Stress, & Performance Stress. |
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| sum of organizational norms, customs, beliefs, practices, goals, punishments, information flow, social interactions, & organizational values, as practically lived out each day. |
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idea that organizational culture is something that the organization HAS, not something the organization IS.
• 4 factors include Values, Heroes, Rituals, & Cultural Network. (Factors are external artifacts) |
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| idea that organizational culture is something that the organization IS, not something the organization HAS. |
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| perceived extent of openness and individual freedom of action and expression |
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idea that language holds the key to all real power, and that studying power relations among people in society is essential in order to attain social, legal, or organizational justice.
• Grew out of Continental (European post WWII) and Marxist social class philosophy
• Concerned with the inter-relationship between politics, economics, capital, power and social class.
• Key figures: Michel Foucault & Jacques Derrida; Richard Rorty & Michael Calvin McGee
• Key technique: Historical and Linguistic Deconstruction --breaking down of messages and historical narratives to reveal underlying values and unfair power relations. |
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unconsciously participating in your own domination by powerful organizations
two key terms in critical theory: POWER & CONTROL |
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| set of underlying assumptions, values, & beliefs about the nature of truth, morality, & the world. |
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| Habermas' Ideal Speech Situation |
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| organizational interaction in which interests of all parties involved are equally weighted and respected by all people involved. |
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| the ability to control, influence or manipulate the behavior of individuals, so as to influence the outcome of a system, behavior or event. Power can be achieved through language, control of resources, or expertise. |
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| conscious or unconscious domination of an individual's thought and behavior by unquestioned societal forces of religion, tradition, authority, and ideology. |
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| a philosophy rejecting all claims of absolute truth due to flaws, questionable values, slanted power relations, and unconscious assumptions inherent in human language |
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| inding in each case all the available means of persuasion (all knowledge is social) |
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| all truth is individual, intellectual, & does not require tangible material. Absolute truth is absolutely knowable, given a single assumptive truth. |
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| all truth is measured (and limited by) by the senses. If you can't measure it, it doesn't exist. Physical truth is truth, whether we mentally perceive it or not. |
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| the integration of rationalism and empiricism: we observe nature through our senses, then use our minds to deduce logical truths from those experiences |
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| the belief that industrialization, organization, and science can solve all our social and material problems as a society |
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| science has failed in its attempt to do all this; it must be doubted. |
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| the end result has been the enslavement of some to the benefit of others |
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