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Fundamentals of Organizational

Communication

Communication Implications of

Major Organizational Theories


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The Scientific Management School

Scientific Management perspective

theoretical approach to organizations

that emphasizes organizationaldesign,worker training for efficiency,chains of command, and division oflabor. The perspective rests on theassumption that work and organizationscan be rationally or scientifically

designed and developed.


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Major Scientific Management Theories

Principles of Scientific Management:Frederick Taylor (1856-1915)

Four Essential Elements Careful selection of workers

Inducing and training the worker by thescientific method

Equal division of work betweenmanagement and workers

Discovering the scientific method for tasksand jobs


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Principles of Scientific Management:Frederick Taylor (1856-1915)

Time and Motion Study a technique for determining the efficiency

of production through work observation andtime measurements; used to develop work

standards that can be measured forefficiency.


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Principles of Management: HenriFayol (1841-1925)

Credited with the first known attempt todescribe broad principles ofmanagement for the organization andconduct of business.


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Fourteen Principles of Management:

Henri Fayol Division of work

Authority

Discipline

Unity of Command

Unity of direction

Subordination ofindividual interests

to the generalinterest

Remuneration

Centralization

Scalar chain

Order Equity

Stability of tenure ofpersonnel

Initiative

Esprit de corps


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Fourteen Principles of Management:Henri Fayol

His discussion of the scalar chainis

the only known treatment of

horizontal communication found in

organizational literature until the

writings of Chester Barnard in 1938.

the chain of superiors ranging from the

ultimate authority to the lowest ranks


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Principles of Bureaucracy: MaxWeber (1864-1920)

The father of bureaucracy

Three types of authority

Charismatic

Traditional

Bureaucratic


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Principles of Bureaucracy: Max Weber

Bureaucracy

organizations based on formalized

rules, regulations, and procedures,which make authority rational asopposed to charismatic or traditional.

Chain of command the formal authority and reporting

structure of an organization.


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Communication Implications ofScientific Management Theories

Communication was to be a tool ofmanagement designed to facilitate

task completion Train employees

Give daily instructions

Communication was to be formal

Messages primarily from supervisorsto subordinates


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Communication was viewed asrational and functioning to reduce

uncertainty about task expectationsand measurement


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The Functional approach toorganizational communication can

be used to describe communicationimplications from the ScientificManagement viewpoint. Organizational communication

functioned to organize taskperformance and to clarify rules andregulations.


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The Functional approach

Scientific Management theorists

described messages as flowing viathe chain of command primarily ina downward direction.


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The Meaning-Centered approach

Communication was described as a

variable of the organization controlledby management

Culture was not a primary consideration

Decision making was anotherorganizational variable controlled bymanagement


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The Emerging Perspectives

Scientific Management theoristsdid not consider abuses of power,as evidenced in the EmergingPerspectives, and readily

supported a legitimate powerwithin the control of management.


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Scientific Management Theories inContemporary Organizations

A careful examination of mostcontemporary organizations reveals

numerous Scientific Managementprinciples still in operation.

Local, state, and national

governments are also organized withmany of these principles.


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The Human Behavior School

The Human Behavior school shiftsthe emphasis from the structure of

organizations, work design, andmeasurement to the interactions ofindividuals, their motivations, and

their influence on organizationalevents.


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The Human Behavior School

The Human Behavior Perspectiveassumes that work is accomplished

through people and emphasizescooperation, participation,satisfaction, and interpersonal skills.


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Major Human Behavior Theories

Principles of Coordination: MaryParker Follett (1868-1933)

Best known for her true principles oforganizations based on a stablefoundation for the steady, orderedprogress of human well-being.

Characterized conflict as potentiallyconstructive and described collectiveresponsibility and integration assupportive of business excellence.


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Principles of Coordination: MaryParker Follett (1868-1933)

Four Active Principles:1. Coordination by direct contact of the

responsible people concerned

2. Coordination in the early stages

3. Coordination as a reciprocal relation of all

the features in a situation4. Coordination as a continuing process.


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The Hawthorne Effect: Elton Mayo(1880-1949)

When the famous Hawthorne studiesbegan, Mayo was experimenting withthe alteration of physical workingconditions to increase productivity.

They became aware that otherunexpected factors were interactingwith physical factors to influence workoutput.


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The Hawthorne Effect: Elton Mayo(1880-1949)

Output increased not matter how thephysical variables were changed. Mayoand his colleagues came to understandthat a powerful and previously

unrecognized influence in theexperimental setting was the attentionthe researchers were paying to theworkers.


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The Hawthorne Effect: EltonMayo (1880-1949) As a result of the Hawthorne

research, production could nolonger be viewed as solely

dependent on formal job andorganizational design.


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The Hawthorne Effect: EltonMayo (1880-1949) This effect, widely know as the

Hawthorne effect, was the firstdocumentation in industrial

psychological research of theimportance of human interactionand morale for productivity


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Theory X and Theory Y: DouglasMcGregor (1906-1964)

McGregors description of managementassumptions about workers. Theory Xcharacterizes assumptions underlyingScientific Management theory, and Theory Y isassociated with assumptions common to

Human Behavior perspectives. Theory Xmanagers assume workers dislike work andwill avoid responsible labor. Theory Ymanagers believe that workers can be self-directed and self-controlled.


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Theory X and Theory Y: DouglasMcGregor (1906-1964) McGregor has been criticized for what

some have called a polarized either/orapproach to human nature. McGregorhas responded that Theory X andTheory Y are assumptions that may bebetter understood as ranges ofbehaviors from X to Y.


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Theory X and Theory Y


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Participative Management:Rensis Likert (1903-1981) Likerts theory of employee-

centered management based oneffectively functioning groupslinked together structurallythroughout the organization


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Likerts Linking Pin Concept


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Participative Management: Rensis Likert(1903-1981)

Taylor had interpreted variability inperformance as a need to establishspecific procedures and productionstandards; Likerts interpretation called

for an increase in participation byorganizational members at all levels.


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Participative Management: RensisLikert (1903-1981)

Likerts (1960) attitude towardcommunication was clear when hestated: Communication isessential to the functioning of an

organization. It is viewed widely asone of the most importantprocesses of management.


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Participative Management: RensisLikert (1903-1981)

Likerts research also revealed thatproductivity was high in groups inwhich the supervisor andsubordinate shared reasonable

accurate perceptions of each other.Likert concluded from this findingthat good communication and highperformance go together.


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Human Behavior Theories Effective communication was

a cornerstone of the Human

Behavior perspective. Interactions at all levels were

expected to be extensive andfriendly, with substantialcooperation throughout theorganization.


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Human Behavior Theories Functional Approach

The Human Behavior viewpoint saw a

more complex role for communicationthan the Scientific Managementtheorists envisioned.

The relationship function of

organizational communication wasconsidered significant.

The change function of communicationwas everyones responsibility


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Human Behavior Theories Meaning-Centered Approach

Communication was better

understood in the HumanBehavior perspective than inthe Scientific Management

approach.


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Communication Implications ofHuman Behavior Theories

Meaning-Centered Approach

The Human Behavior

perspective exhibits moreconcern with workerparticipation and satisfaction

than do Scientific Managementtheories.


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Communication Implications ofHuman Behavior Theories

Emerging Perspectives

Despite this concern for

participation, Human Behaviortheorists pay little attention to theconcerns of power and howcommunication constitutes

organizing, decision making, andinfluence.

Women and other marginalizedvoices are not included as concerns.


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Human Behavior Theories inContemporary Organizations

Most contemporaryorganizations include not only

Scientific Management ideas butalso much of the thinkinggenerated from the Human

Behavior theorists.


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The Integrated Perspectives School

Theories that attempt to explainhow people, technologies, and

environments integrate toinfluence goal-directed behavior.


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Major Integrated Perspectives Theories:Process and Environmental Approaches

Process and environmentalapproaches to organizational

theory attempt to describe howcomplex processes such asdecision making influence the

internal operation of organizationsand are influenced by externalenvironments


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Decision-Making Approach

Sociotechnical Integration

Contingency Theory

The Systems Approach

The New Systems Approaches Flux,

Transformation, Quantum Physics,Self-Organizing Systems, and ChaosTheory

Learning Organizations


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Decision-Making Approach: HerbertSimon (1916- )

Simons concept that organizationalbehavior is a complex network ofdecisions, with decision-makingprocesses influencing the behavior of theentire organization.


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Bounded rationality - assumption thatpeople intend to be rational, but withlimited information-processing capacityhuman decision making is based onselective perception and thereforeexhibits limited rationality.


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He described decision making as thefundamental organizational process.Decision making, he said, occurs throughthe communication behaviors ofindividuals who intend rationality but canonly approach rationality because oflimited information-processing capacity.


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Sociotechnical Integration: Eric L. Trist(1909-1993) and Kenneth W. Bamforth

theoretical attempt to balance humansocial-psychological needs withorganizational goals;


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Two Assumptions Assumed that organizational production is

optimized through optimizing social andtechnical systems

Assumed a constant interchange existsbetween the work system and the broaderenvironment.


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Their experiments led them to concludethat meaning in work could be establishedthrough group assignments that permitindividuals to be included in entire taskcycles rather than working on isolatedparts of a job.


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Contingency Theory: Joan Woodward (1916)-1971), Paul Lawrence (1922- ), and Jay Lorsch (1932- )

Approach that rejects the one best wayto organize in favor of the view that nospecific set of prescriptions is appropriatefor all organizations. As such,organizations must adapt to changingcircumstances, the needs of individuals,and the environment in which the

organization operates.


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Contingency Theory: Joan Woodward (1916)-1971), Paul Lawrence (1922- ), and Jay Lorsch (1932- )

Contingency theory suggests thatconsiderable judgment is required tounderstand effective organizationaloperation because that operation all

depends on the situation.


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The Systems Approach: Daniel Katz (1903-1998) and Robert Kahn (1918- )

Describes organizations as made up ofsubsystems, which take in materials andhuman resources, process materials andresources, and yield a finished product to

the larger environment.


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The New Systems Approach Flux,Transformation, Quantum Physics,

Self-Organizing Systems, and ChaosTheory:Gareth Morgan (1943- ) and Margaret Wheatley(1944- )

Autopoiesis - process describing each

element in a system simultaneouslycombining the maintenance of itself withthe maintenance of the other elements ofthe system.


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The New Systems Approach Flux,Transformation, Quantum Physics,

Self-Organizing Systems, and ChaosTheory:Gareth Morgan (1943- ) and Margaret Wheatley(1944- )

Dissipative Structures - descriptions of

structures when a loss of energy and formcontribute to disequilibrium, which in turncontributes to growth and new structuresand forms.


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The New Systems Approach Flux,Transformation, Quantum Physics, Self-

Organizing Systems, and Chaos Theory:Gareth Morgan (1943- ) and Margaret Wheatley (1944- )

Self-organizing/Self-renewing Systems -processes occurring when disturbances amplify

stimulating reconfigurations to deal with newinformation.

Chaos Theory - description of systems disturbedfrom stable states of unpredictability.


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Learning Organizations:Peter Senge andGareth Morgan (1943- )

Organizations gaining knowledge fromcontinuous processes of informationexchange between the organization andits environment.

Double-loop Learning the process oflearning (single-loop) vs. the process oflearning to learn (double loop)


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Learning Organizations:Peter Senge andGareth Morgan (1943- )

Senges Five Disciplines System Thinking

Personal Mastery

Mental Models

Building Shared Vision

Team Learning


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Learning Organizations:Peter Sengeand Gareth Morgan (1943- )

Senge:

A learning organization is a place

where people are continually

discovering how they create theirreality. And how they can change it.


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Major Integrated Perspectives Theories:Cultural Approaches

Theories that describe howorganizational members collectively

interpret the organizational worldaround them in order to define theimportance of organizationalhappenings. Approaches to theory that

explain organizational behavior interms of the influence of cultures thatexist both internally and externally to

the organization.


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Elements of Culture: Terrance Deal (1939- ) andAllen Kennedy (1943- )

Five Basic Elements ofOrganizational Culture Business environment

Values

Heroes

Rites

Rituals


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Theory Z: William Ouchi (1943- )

Ouchis theory derived from comparisons

between Japanese and Americanorganizations. Theory Z organizationsretain individual achievement andadvancement as a model but provide acontinuing sense of organizationalcommunity not typical of many Americanorganizations.


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Major Integrated PerspectivesTheories: Cultural Approaches

Theory Z Type A Organization

1. Short-termemployment

2. Individual decisionmaking

3. Individualresponsibility

4. Rapid promotion

5. Formal control

6. Specialized careerpaths

7. Segmented concerns

Type J Organization1. Lifetime

employment

2. Consensual decisionmaking

3. Group or collectiveresponsibility

4. Slow advancement

5. Informal control

6. Generalized careerpaths

7. Holistic concerns


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Major Integrated PerspectivesTheories: Cultural Approaches

Theory Z Type A Organization

-reflects culturalvalues of

individuality overgroup membershipand assume thatbroad social needsare supported by

other institutionsrather than formalemployment groups

Type J Organization

-reflects a culture inwhich loyalty to

groups is moreimportant thanindividualachievement and inwhich individuals

gain identity fromlong-term affiliationswith the companiesfor which they work


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In Search of Excellence: Thomas Peters (1942- )and Robert Waterman (1936- )

Eight Themes A bias for action

Close to the customer

Autonomy and entrepreneurship

Productivity through people Hands-on value-driven

Stick to the knitting

Simple form, lean staff

Simultaneous loose-tight properties


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Organizational Culture Formation:Edgar Schein

Model of Culture: 3 Levels1. Artifacts and creations The most visible level of culture consisting of the

physical and social environment

2. Values Individual and group preferences for the way it

should be in the organization

3. Basic assumptions The core of what individuals believe to be true

about the world and how it works


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Sensemaking Model: Karl Weick (1936- )

The outcome comes before the decision

Weick is arguing that we make decisions

and then render them sensible byexplaining the meaning of our decisions.


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Sensemaking Model: Karl Weick (1936- )

Seven Characteristics

1. Grounded in identity construction

2. Retrospective

3. Enactive of sensible environments

4. Social

5. Ongoing

6. Focused on and by extracted cues

7. Driven by plausibility rather than accuracy


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Communication Implications of IntegratedPerspectives Theories

Systems theorists the effectivenessof communication is related not only

to what happens within theorganization, but also to how theorganization communicates with its

environment, its customers, andcommunity.


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Cultural approaches more specificabout the importance of

communication in carrying messagesabout the culture and influencingbehavior through cultural

expectations.


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The Functional framework

The rejection of the one best way

concept and the emphasis on theexternal environment require acommunication system in continual

adaptation to changingcircumstances.


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Both decision-making and culturalconcepts are based on howorganizational members generateshared meanings and how these

meanings influence behavior andorganizational effectiveness.


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The major premises underlying theprescriptive and popularized culturalapproaches are that organizationsare more effective with strong

cultures and that strong culturesrequire effective communication.


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The cultural theorists alsounderscore the importance of valuesfor excellent organizations and theneed for values to become part of

the shared realities of organizationalmembers.


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Integrated Perspectives Theories inContemporary Organizations

The contribution of IntegratedPerspectives theorists in describing

the need to acknowledge the influenceof the external environment hasimproved our ability to think

comprehensively about organizationsand how people and technology relateto larger environments.


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Integrated Perspectives Theories inContemporary Organizations

Concern for organizational cultureis readily apparent incontemporary organizations

Vision and mission statements

Training programs in organizationalvalues

Annual events and rituals


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Postmodern, Critical, and FeministPerspectives

Theories that focus on power,

domination, and challenges tohierarchy, bureaucracy, andmanagement control.


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Postmodern Perspectives: StewardClegg (1947- )

The postmodern condition is highlyordered, technologicallyspecialized, mass-mediated, anddemanding of precision, speed,flexibility, and adaptability inindividual performance


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Postmodern Perspectives: Steward Clegg(1947- )

Clegg contends that postmodernism rejects

the concepts of scientific managementwhen he characterizes postmodernorganizations a flexible structures needingworkers with multiple skills who are capable

of continual learning.

Market niches replace mass consumption,and smaller is better if organizations aredoing what they do best.


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Postmodern Perspectives: Steward Clegg(1947- )

Five Principles of the PostmodernOrganization(Eisenberg and Goodall)

Decentralization of power

Changes in markets and commodity values

Flattening of hierarchies Cultures based on trust and respect for

difference

The use of groups


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Critical Theory: Jurgen Habermas (1929- ) Critical theory is what the name

implies: a criticism, a critique ofsociety, organizations, and socialconstructions. Tracing its roots tothe work of Karl Marx and other,

Critical theory today takes as acentral theme the issues of powerand power abuse in organizationsand society as a whole.


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Critical Theory: Jurgen Habermas (1929- )

Habermas calls for the use of Critical

theory to reconstitute reason andrationality as processes for positivesocial change. According to Habermas,communicative process is the basis for

change and carries a notion ofconstitutive process, literallyfoundational to all organizing, influence,and decision making.


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Critical Theory: Jurgen Habermas (1929- ) Critical theorists call for a third

paradigm in contrast to scientificand interpretative approaches tomanagement and organization.Specifically, Critical theorists seek

understanding of organizational lifenested in the broader context ofsociety through understanding ofpower and political relationships.


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Commentaries on Critical Theory andPostmodernism: Mats Alvesson (1956- ) and StanleyDeetz (1948- ), Martin Kilduff (1949- ) and Ajay Mehra (1968- ), and

Gareth Morgan (1943- ) Alvesson and Deetz Critical theory calls

into question the illusion thatorganizations and their processes are

natural and self-evident, theuniversalization of managerial interest, theprimacy of instrumental reasoning, andhegemonic practices.


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Gareth Morgan (1943- ) Kilduff and Mehra

Challenging underlying assumptions of how weview organizations and organizational life.

Postmodernism sees truth as problematicand focuses on how individuals construct theirsocial worlds.

Views the objective as subjective andchallenges notions that we truly can generalize

from one experience to another.


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Commentaries on Critical Theoryand Postmodernism: Mats Alvesson (1956- )and Stanley Deetz (1948- ), Martin Kilduff (1949- ) and AjayMehra (1968- ), and Gareth Morgan (1943- )

Morgan

Identifies examples of how

organizations establish class structuresthat provide forms of control over work,behavior, and even the continuation ofemployment.


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Gareth Morgan (1943- ) Critical theories contend that the world

economy is dominated more bymultinational organizations than by

governments or national alliances. Criticaltheorists view these multinationalorganizations as primary sites fordomination and abuses of power.


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Feminist Organization Theories:Marta Cals (1942- ), and Linda Smircich

Theories that critique the genderedassumptions of modern organizations and

call for the recognition and valuing of

multiple voices and perspectives.


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Feminist Organization Theories: Marta Cals(1942- ), and Linda Smircich

Seven Approaches to Feminist Theory:

Liberal feminist theory

Radical-cultural feminism

Psychoanalytic feminism

Marxist feminist theory

Social feminism/gendering or organizations andorganizing

Poststructuralist feminism/postmodernperspectives

Third-world/postcolonial feminism



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Communication Implications ofPostmodern, Critical, and Feminist

Perspectives The Functional approach

Hierarchy with its control of networks,

exclusion of voices other than thedominant power structure, and deliberate

distortions through mediated channels

should be exposed so as to support more

participative and democratic practices in

organizations.



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Perspectives The Meaning-Centered approach

Critical perspectives discount

interpretative notions of the Meaning-

Centered approach that focus on

shared realities.



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Perspectives The Emerging Perspectives

approach

Most closely associated with Postmodern andCritical Perspective theory.

Both the Emerging Perspectives approach

and Postmodern and Critical Perspectives

theories propose a value of increased

participation and democracy among workers

with an emphasis on the value of all

organizational voices.

Postmodern Critical and Feminist


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Postmodern, Critical, and FeministPerspectives in Contemporary Organizations

The delayering of organizations isevident in numerous organizations,with self-managing and high-performance teams replacingtraditional notions of supervision.

Adaptation, flexibility, and change are

more common than unusual, andorganizations regularly examine newapproaches requiring increased andchanging skills from the work force.


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Fundamentals of Organizational

Communication


Major Organizational Theories

Chapter 4End

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