Organizational Communication : A Critical Approach

by Dennis K. Mumby

• ISBN13: 9781412963152
• ISBN10: 141296315X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-08-02
• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc

Summary

Organizational Communication: A Critical Approach is the first textbook in the field that is written from a critical perspective while providing a comprehensive survey of theory and research in organizational communication. The text familiarizes students with the field of organizational communication-historically, conceptually, and practically-and challenges them to reconsider their common sense understandings of work and organizations, preparing them for participation in 21st century organizational settings. Linking theory with practice, Mumby skillfully explores the significant role played by organizations and corporations in constructing our identities. The book thus provides important ways for students to critically reflect on their own relationships to work, consumption, and organizations.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xv
Acknowledgments	p. xix
Developing a Critical Approach to Organizational Communication	p. 1
Introducing Organizational Communication	p. 3
Organizations as Communicative Structures of Control	p. 4
Defining "Organizational Communication"	p. 6
Interdependence	p. 6
Differentiation of Tasks and Functions	p. 7
Goal Orientation	p. 8
Control Mechanisms	p. 8
Direct Control	p. 9
Technological Control	p. 9
Critical Technologies 1.1: Defining Communication Technology	p. 11
Bureaucratic Control	p. 11
Ideological Control	p. 11
Disciplinary Control	p. 12
Communication Processes	p. 14
Framing Theories of Organizational Communication	p. 15
Functionalism: The Discourse of Representation	p. 17
Interpretivism: The Discourse of Understanding	p. 18
Critical Case Study 1.1: A Conduit Model of Education	p. 19
Critical Theory: The Discourse of Suspicion	p. 21
Postmodernism: The Discourse of Vulnerability	p. 22
Feminism: The Discourse of Empowerment	p. 24
Conclusion	p. 27
Critical Applications	p. 27
Key Terms	p. 28
The Critical Approach	p. 29
The Critical Approach: A History	p. 30
Karl Marx	p. 30
Marx's Key Issues	p. 31
Critiquing Marx	p. 35
The Institute for Social Research (the Frankfurt School)	p. 36
Critical Theory and the Critique of Capitalism	p. 37
Critical Theory and the Critique of Enlightenment Thought	p. 38
Critical Case Study 2.1: McDonaldizing "Fridays"	p. 39
Critiquing the Frankfurt School	p. 39
Cultural Studies	p. 40
Understanding Organizational Communication From a Critical Perspective	p. 44
Organizations Are Socially Constructed Through Communication Processes	p. 44
Critical Technologies 2.1: Mediating Everyday Life	p. 45
Organizations Are Political Sites of Power and Control	p. 46
Organizations Are Key Sites of Human Identity Formation in Modern Society	p. 47
Organizations Are Important Sites of Collective Decision Making and Democracy	p. 48
Organizations Are Sites of Ethical Issues and Dilemmas	p. 48
Conclusion	p. 49
Critical Applications	p. 50
Key Terms	p. 51
Theories of Organizational Communication and the Modern Organization	p. 53
Scientific Management, Bureaucracy, and the Emergence of the Modern Organization	p. 55
The Emergence of the Modern Organization	p. 56
Time, Space, and the Mechanization of Travel	p. 56
Time, Space, and the Industrial Worker	p. 58
Critical Technologies 3.1: Timepieces and Punch Clocks	p. 59
Scientific Management: "Tayloring" the Worker to the Job	p. 61
Taylor's Principles: The "One Best Way"	p. 63
The Contributions of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth	p. 65
A Critical Assessment of Scientific Management	p. 68
The Legacy of Scientific Management	p. 69
Bureaucratic Theory: Max Weber and Organizational Communication	p. 71
Weber's Types of Authority	p. 72
Charismatic Authority	p. 72
Traditional Authority	p. 74
Rational-Legal Authority	p. 74
Weber's Critique of Bureaucracy and the Process of "Rationalization"	p. 75
The Legacy of Bureaucracy	p. 76
Critical Case Study 3.1: Rationalizing Emotions	p. 77
Conclusion: A Critical Assessment of "Classic" Theories of Organization	p. 78
Critical Applications	p. 80
Key Terms	p. 80
The Human Relations School	p. 81
Placing the Human Relations Movement in Its Historical and Political Context	p. 82
Elton Mayo and the Hawthorne Studies	p. 84
The Hawthorne Studies	p. 85
The Illumination Studies (1924-1927)	p. 85
The Relay Assembly Test Room (RATR) Studies (April 1927-February 1933)	p. 86
The Interview Program (September 1928-January 1931)	p. 86
The Bank Wiring Observation Room Study (November 1931-May 1932)	p. 87
Implications of the Hawthorne Studies	p. 87
Critical Case Study 4.1: Reframing Happiness at Zappos	p. 88
A Critique of the Hawthorne Studies	p. 90
Reexamining the Empirical Data	p. 90
Critiquing the Ideology of the Hawthorne Researchers	p. 91
The Wholly Negative Role of Conflict	p. 91
Rational Manager Versus "Sentimental" Worker	p. 91
Gender Bias in the Hawthorne Studies	p. 92
Summary	p. 92
Mary Parker Follett: Bridging Theory and Practice	p. 92
Follett's Theory of Organization	p. 93
The Strange Case of the Disappearing Theorist	p. 96
Human Resource Management	p. 97
Douglas McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y	p. 98
Critical Technologies 4.1: "Wilfing" Your Life Away	p. 100
Rensis Likert's Four Systems Approach	p. 100
Critiquing Human Resource Management	p. 101
Conclusion	p. 103
Critical Applications	p. 104
Key Terms	p. 104
Organizations as Communication Systems	p. 105
Situating the Systems Perspective	p. 106
The Principles of the Systems Perspective	p. 107
Interrelationship and Interdependence of Parts	p. 108
Holism	p. 108
Input, Transformation (Throughput), and Output of Energy	p. 110
Negative Entropy	p. 110
Equilibrium, Homeostasis, and Feedback	p. 111
Hierarchy	p. 113
Goal Orientation	p. 114
Equifinality and Multifinality	p. 114
Organizations as Systems of Communication	p. 115
Critical Technologies 5.1: Organizing Food	p. 116
Karl Weick and Organizational Sense Making	p. 118
Weick's Model of Organizing: Enactment, Selection, and Retention	p. 120
A Critical Perspective on Weick	p. 124
Critical Case Study 5.1: Airlines and Equivocality	p. 124
Niklas Luhmann and the Autopoietic Organization	p. 126
A Critical Perspective on the Autopoietic Organization	p. 129
Conclusion	p. 129
Critical Applications	p. 130
Key Terms	p. 131
Communication, Culture, and Organizing	p. 133
The Emergence of the Cultural Approach	p. 134
Two Perspectives on Organizational Culture	p. 137
The Pragmatist Approach: Organizational Culture as a Variable	p. 137
Critical Technologies 6.1: Communication Technology and Organizational Culture	p. 140
The Purist Approach: Organizational Culture as a Root Metaphor	p. 140
A Broader Conception of "Organization"	p. 142
The Use of Interpretive, Ethnographic Methods	p. 142
The Study of Organizational Symbols, Talk, and Artifacts	p. 144
Relevant Constructs	p. 145
Facts	p. 145
Practices	p. 146
Vocabulary	p. 146
Metaphors	p. 147
Critical Case Study 6.1: Organizational Culture and Metaphors	p. 148
Rites and Rituals	p. 149
Organizational Stories	p. 149
Summarizing the Two Perspectives	p. 152
Conclusion	p. 152
Critical Applications	p. 153
Key Terms	p. 154
Critical Perspectives on Organizational Communication and the New Workplace	p. 155
Power and Resistance at Work	p. 157
Perspectives on Power and Organizations	p. 158
Power as Social Influence	p. 158
The One-Dimensional Model of Power	p. 160
The Two-Dimensional Model of Power	p. 161
The Three-Dimensional Model of Power	p. 162
Organizational Communication and Ideology	p. 163
Critical Case Study 7.1: Ideology and Storytelling	p. 165
Ideology Represents Particular Group Interests as Universal	p. 166
Ideology Obscures or Denies Contradictions in Society	p. 167
Ideology Functions to Reify Social Relations	p. 168
Examining Organizational Communication Through the Lens of Power and Ideology	p. 169
Organizational Communication and Corporate Colonization	p. 171
Engineering Culture	p. 172
Resisting Corporate Colonization	p. 173
The Hidden Resistance of Flight Attendants	p. 174
Critical Technologies 7.1: Social Media as Resistance	p. 177
Conclusion	p. 178
Critical Applications	p. 179
Key Terms	p. 179
The Postmodern Workplace: Teams, Emotions, and No-Collar Work	p. 181
Disciplinary Power and the Postmodern Organization	p. 182
The Postmodern Organization: From Fordism to Post-Fordism	p. 183
The Fordist Organization	p. 184
The Post-Fordist Organization	p. 185
The Post-Fordist Organization: Teams, Emotions, and No-Collar Work	p. 187
Teams at Work	p. 187
Critiquing Work Teams	p. 190
Critical Technologies 8.1: Virtual Teams	p. 193
Emotions at Work	p. 194
Critical Case Study 8.1: What Does Drinking Coffee Have to Do With Organizational Communication?	p. 197
Doing "No-Collar" Work	p. 198
Conclusion	p. 202
Critical Application	p. 203
Key Terms	p. 203
Communicating Gender at Work	p. 205
Feminist Perspectives on Organizational Communication	p. 207
Liberal Feminism: Creating a Level Playing Field	p. 207
Radical Feminism: Constructing Alternative Organizational Forms	p. 214
Critical Feminism: Viewing Organizations as Gendered	p. 216
Critical Technologies 9.1: Gender, Technology, and Power	p. 221
Masculinity and Organizational Communication	p. 222
Critical Case Study 9.1: Why My Mom Isn't a Feminist	p. 226
Conclusion	p. 227
Critical Applications	p. 228
Key Terms	p. 228
Communicating Difference at Work	p. 229
Defining Difference	p. 230
Race and Organizational Communication	p. 231
Putting Race and Organization in Historical Context	p. 231
Race and the Contemporary Workplace	p. 233
Interrogating Whiteness and Organizational Communication	p. 237
Critical Case Study 10.1: Interrogating Mumby Family Whiteness	p. 240
The Body, Sexuality, and Organizational Communication	p. 241
Instrumental Uses of the Body and Sexuality	p. 241
Critical Technologies 10.1: Technologies of the Body	p. 243
Critical Case Study 10.2: Sexing up the Corporate Experience	p. 244
Sexual Harassment in the Workplace	p. 245
Resistant/Emancipatory Forms of Sexuality	p. 247
Gay Workers and "Heteronormativity"	p. 249
Conclusion	p. 252
Critical Applications	p. 253
Key Terms	p. 254
Leadership Communication in the New Workplace	p. 255
Traditional Perspectives on Leadership	p. 256
The Trait Approach	p. 257
The Style Approach	p. 259
The Situational Approach	p. 261
Summary	p. 262
New Approaches to Leadership	p. 263
Leadership as Symbolic Action	p. 263
Transformational Leadership	p. 265
Followership	p. 266
Critical Case Study 11.1: Leadership Lessons From "Dancing Guy"	p. 269
Critical Technologies 11.1: E-Leadership	p. 271
A Critical Communication Perspective on Leadership	p. 270
Leadership and Disciplinary Power	p. 272
Resistance Leadership	p. 273
Narrative Leadership	p. 274
Gender and Leadership	p. 275
Conclusion	p. 277
Critical Applications	p. 279
Key Terms	p. 280
Branding and Consumption	p. 281
Branding	p. 283
Critical Case Study 12.1: Diamonds Are Forever?	p. 286
Branding and Identity	p. 290
Critical Case Study 12.2: When Brands Run Amok	p. 292
Marketing, "Murketing," and Corporate Colonization	p. 293
Organizations, Branding, and the Entrepreneurial Self	p. 295
Critical Technologies 12.1: Do You Have Klout?	p. 297
The Ethics of Branding	p. 298
Conclusion	p. 301
Critical Applications	p. 303
Key Terms	p. 303
Organizational Communication, Globalization, and Democracy	p. 305
Defining Globalization	p. 306
Spheres of Globalization	p. 308
Globalization and Economics	p. 308
Globalization and Politics	p. 311
Globalization and Resistance	p. 313
Globalization and Culture	p. 315
Critical Case Study 13.1: Culture Jamming Nike	p. 316
The Globalization of Nothing	p. 318
Gender, Work, and Globalization	p. 319
Critical Technologies 13.1: Work, Technology, and Globalization in the Call Center	p. 322
Communication and Organizational Democracy	p. 323
Mason's Theory of Workplace Participatory Democracy	p. 324
Stohl and Cheney's Paradoxes of Participation	p. 326
Paradoxes of Structure	p. 327
Paradoxes of Agency	p. 327
Paradoxes of Identity	p. 327
Paradoxes of Power	p. 328
Deetz's Stakeholder Model of Organizational Democracy	p. 328
Conclusion	p. 331
Critical Applications	p. 332
Key Terms	p. 332
Communication, Meaningful Work, and Personal Identity	p. 333
Meaningful Work	p. 334
A Sense of Agency	p. 334
Enhances Belonging or Relationships	p. 336
Creates Opportunities for Influence	p. 336
Critical Technologies 14.1: How Does Communication Technology Affect Our Experience of Work?	p. 337
Permits Use and Development of Talents	p. 338
Offers a Sense of Contribution to a Greater Good	p. 338
Provides Income Adequate for a Decent Living	p. 339
Managing Work Identity: Some Historical Context	p. 340
Creating and Managing Work Identities	p. 343
Identity, Identification, and Disidentification	p. 344
Conformist Selves	p. 346
Dramaturgical Selves	p. 347
Resistant Selves	p. 348
No Collar, No Life	p. 351
Critical Case Study 14.1: A Tale of Two Countries	p. 352
Conclusion	p. 353
Critical Applications	p. 354
Key Terms	p. 355
Glossary	p. 357
References	p. 367
Index	p. 387
About the Author	p. 411
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