The term “critical approach” refers to a broad, interdisciplinary body of theory and research that conceives of organizations as dynamic sites of control and resistance. “Critical studies” covers several distinct yet related intellectual traditions, each of which examines the communicative practices through which control and resistance are produced, reproduced, and transformed in the process of
Postmodern approaches to organizational communication elude easy description. Broadly speaking, they are diverse forms of inquiry that challenge and reconstruct systems of power, identity, and representation. Since the 1980s, postmodern approaches, situated with reference to a larger critical tradition, have burgeoned in organizational communication studies. Under this rubric, many extant theories and methods in organizational
Organizational conflict is a frequent occurrence in most work settings. Whether rooted in interactions with co-workers, supervisors, or customers, conflict is an inevitable part of task and relational communication. Conflict refers to incompatibilities or perceptions of diametrically opposed goals and values that occur in the process of organizing. It includes disagreements about ideas, negotiations to
Advancing technology, global connectivity, and ethical lapses have resulted in an escalation in the frequency and intensity of organizational crises over the past two decades. Commensurate with the increase in crisis events, academic research in crisis communication has expanded, focusing predominantly on the role of communication in predicting, managing, and resolving crisis events. Definition Of
Organizational culture is the “set(s) of artifacts, values, and assumptions that emerge from the interactions of organizational members” (Keyton 2005, 1). These interactions create a social order or a communication construction of the organization. Thus, symbols, messages, and meaning create a continuous communication performance at work. This is why it is frequently stated that an
Organizational discourse is a burgeoning area of study featuring the role of discourse and communication in organizational dynamics. While its rhetorical and literary roots date back to the ancient Greeks, a more recent impetus has been the analysis of professional talk in institutional settings, beginning in the 1970s, and the role of slogans, creeds, jokes
Organizational ethics includes the consideration of a wide number of issues of rights, responsibilities, values, and proper conduct in contemporary organizations and in organizations’ relations to host societies. Conceptions and studies of organizational ethics have focused on both internal practices and social consequences and have been descriptive as well as normative. Unsurprisingly, questions of organizational
For organizational communication scholars, identification provides a key to understanding organizing practices, the individual–organization relationship, and the construction of selves. “Organizational identification” refers to the creation, maintenance, and modification of linkages between individuals and organizations, whereas “identity” refers to the conception of the self that defines the person’s position in the social order (Cheney 1983a;
Metaphors have played an important role in shaping the study of organizations and organizational communication since the 1980s. Various principles of metaphor have been used to conceptualize the abstract and complex domains of organizations and organizational communication; to imagine new constructs, theoretical insights, and perspectives; to analyze and understand organizational culture; and to facilitate organizational
Organizational structure is the set of formally stipulated rules and regulations that regulate and legitimate the organization’s work processes, communication, and other activities. An organization’s structure constrains interaction processes and biases the style and content of interaction; also, since organizational structure is the framework of any organization, it is the focus of discourse about organizational
Organizational assimilation refers to the process by which individuals move from “outsider” to full membership in an organization. Fredric Jablin (1982, 1987, 2001) developed a framework to consider the influence of communication on the social construction of role expectations and their enactments that considers the stages of vocational socialization, organizational entry, metamorphosis, and organizational exit.
Change is fundamental to organizing. To organize, or structure human activity intentionally to achieve collective goals, is in itself a change process – a movement from one state of being to another. A change process in the context of formal organizations may be defined as a sequence of events by which alteration occurs in the
Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is an action taken by an individual that is discretionary and not formally recognized or rewarded by an organization but in total promotes the organization’s effective functioning. Simply put, it is behavior that goes above and beyond the requirements of the job yet is not necessarily compensated by the traditional organizational
Organizational socialization describes how people learn to fit into a new organization or job. It is a process by which an individual learns appropriate attitudes, behaviors, and knowledge associated with a particular role in an organization. The general theory asserts that people who are well socialized into an organization are more likely to stay and
Organizational staffing is concerned with having the right people at the right place and time to achieve organizational outcomes. Staffing is a complex, multifaceted process that affects all areas of the organization but is particularly important with regard to organizational effectiveness. As such, the organization strives to attract, motivate, and retain a workforce with the
Positive organizational scholarship (POS) focuses on the generative (that is, life-building, capability-enhancing, capacity-creating) dynamics in organizations that contribute to human strengths and virtues, resilience and healing, vitality and thriving, and the cultivation of extraordinary states in individuals, groups, and organizations. POS is premised on the belief that enabling human excellence in organizations unlocks latent potential
This comprehensive view of organizational career management systems discusses the portfolio of career planning and management practices available to organizations and explores ways by which organizations can use career systems to meet their needs. It focuses on organizational career management: what it is, why it is needed, and what it does. Special attention is given
Organizational psychologists—researchers and practitioners alike—have long been interested in understanding how people react, psychologically, to the various aspects of their workplace and in understanding the consequences of these psychological reactions. Given that most people are likely to spend at least some of their working careers as members of one or more organizations, it is perhaps
Organizational entry is a multistage process whereby a new employee is brought into an organization. This process, which can be examined both from an individual and an organizational perspective, generally includes such steps as the initial attraction and recruitment of a job candidate, the assessment and possible selection of that job candidate, and then the
Organizational image (OI) can be defined as a construction of the public impressions of an organization created to appeal to an external audience while simultaneously interpreted by the organization’s members. Construed external images, projected images, and desired future images can be developed and transmitted by mass media, public relations consultants, and savvy marketers. Typically, these
Organizational justice refers to judgments of the moral rightness or social appropriateness of events in the work environment. As studied by management scholars, this organizational justice or fairness (these terms tend to be used interchangeably) is treated as a subjective judgment made by an individual or group of individuals. Organizational justice research emphasizes the description
The mention of organizational politics is frequently met with harsh words and disparaging glances. Society, as a whole, has grown to view anything political with chagrin. Much of this disdain comes from the awareness that politicking, when successful, is associated with manipulation, and in some cases, verbal or physical intimidation. Moreover, the general public has
Organizational image is a useful concept for understanding the impressions individuals have of organizations or that organizations want to convey to individuals. The term refers to an image that encapsulates the likeness of an organization. Organizational images can have a strong influence on most aspects of members’ organizational experiences. From an individual perspective, organizational image
Identity is one of the most prominent issues of contemporary organizations. Like individuals, organizations increasingly talk about “having” identities, seeking identities, expressing identities, and even changing identities. And the emphasis on identity is not idle talk. Having become an arena of managerial attention and concern, identity-related activities consume a growing amount of organizational resources and
It is a commonplace to observe that the healthcare delivery system in the US is in crisis: costs are high and rising rapidly, the quality of care is inadequate along important dimensions, and the delivery system is rife with inefficiencies and waste. What is less commonly acknowledged is that many of the prominent strategies for
The term organizational communication denotes both a field of study and a set of empirical phenomena. The former is a largely US-based subdiscipline of the field of communication studies (though programs are being established in New Zealand, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Europe, and China); the latter refers broadly to the various and complex communication practices
Organizational contingencies are factors that moderate the effect of organizational characteristics on organizational performance. Whether a particular level of organizational characteristic would lead to high performance depends on the level of the contingency factor. If there is a fit between the level of contingency and the level of organizational characteristic, then, other things being equal
By organizational failure is usually meant failure against some measure of performance, or failure to achieve a goal that is normally expected. Thus, a company can be identified as failing if it is not profitable, or a school if it does not educate students to a required level, or in sufficient numbers. Clearly, such measured
Organizational learning is a construct employed to depict a set of rational and non-rational processes relevant to the creation, retention, and transmission of knowledge in organizations. The concept has been linked to organizational performance, sustainable competitive advantage, organizational transformation and corporate renewal, organizational and technological innovation, and entrepreneurship among other themes. Change, adaptation, and learning
Branding and organizational identity refer to a process through which a pattern or a structure is ascribed to a group of individuals and recognized as unique, autonomous, and relatively stable in space and time. There are two components to this: the organizational identity, which is a concern with what and who the organization is, and
Because investigations of organizational communication involve the intersection of two complex concepts – organization and communication – the discipline of organizational communication involves a number of diverse topical interests. Most scholars would agree that “organizations” are social collectives, embedded in a larger environment, in which activities are coordinated to achieve individual and collective goals. The
Organizational behavior (OB) can be defined as the study of human behavior in the workplace. More specifically, investigators employ the principles of the scientific method to help them understand, predict, and manage employee behavior. The knowledge that follows rigorous, systematic study is used to enhance the productivity of organizations and the quality of work life
Organizational development (OD) is a field of professional practice focused on facilitating organizational change and improvement. The theory and practice of OD is grounded in both the social and behavioral sciences. The field originated in the 1960s and has been evolving ever since. This evolution has been influenced by a wide range of disciplines including
Change has been considered the most reliable constant within organizations. Yet, although the phenomenon has been recognized as important for years, organizational change is one of the least understood aspects of organization life, evidenced by numerous failed initiatives. In spite of the books and articles written about managing change, perhaps the paradox between prevalence and
The term organizational climate has been used in many different ways to refer to a wide variety of constructs. In recent years some consensus about what precisely should be included in the construct—and what should not be included in the construct—has begun to emerge. Research interest in climate has remained high, despite the variety of
Formal organizational communication is not an easily defined term. Organizational communication is a complicated phenomenon that has no clear boundaries. Several definitions attempt to conceptualize the abstract nature of organizational communication. The study of organizational communication involves the intersection of two complex and dynamic concepts: organizations and communications. An organization has three primary characteristics: Social
Some scholars argue that the informal organization is more powerful than the formal organization. Scholars also suggest that a great deal of communication in organizations is informal communication. Elton Mayo and his famous Hawthorne studies found that informal communication influenced the development and reinforcement of performance standards, member expectations, and values at the work group
Organizational image refers to people’s global impressions of an organization; it is defined as people’s loose structures of knowledge and beliefs about an organization. Organizational image represents the net cognitive reactions and associations of customers, investors, employees, and applicants to an organization’s name. Accordingly, it serves as a template to categorize, store, and recall organization-related
The term organizational politics refers to the informal ways people try to exercise influence in organizations through the management of shared meaning. As such, politics should be viewed as neither an inherently bad nor good phenomenon but rather one to be observed, analyzed, and comprehended to gain a more informed understanding of organizations and how
It has been broadly reported that change is happening at an accelerated rate in organizations. As a result, employees are constantly required to understand the changes, cope with the challenges, and ultimately adapt. In this environment, a typical employee response is to resist the change. A recent review of empirical research on reactions to change
Organizational sensemaking is not an established body of knowledge; it is a developing set of ideas drawn from a range of disciplines (e.g., cognitive psychology, social psychology, communication studies, and cultural analysis) concerning a particular way to approach organization studies. Central to the sensemaking perspective is the notion that explanations of organizational issues cannot be
Organizational socialization (OS) is the process through which a newcomer to an organization transitions from outsider to integrated and effective insider. This longitudinal process includes the acquisition or adjustment of shared values, attitudes, skills, knowledge, abilities, behaviors, and workplace relationships. Organizational socialization occurs whenever an employee crosses an organizational boundary. The OS research mainly focuses
Organizational structure refers to the formal and informal manner in which people, job tasks, and other organizational resources are configured and coordinated. Although organizational structure sounds like a singular characteristic, it is composed of a number of dimensions, because there are multiple ways the employees within an organization and the job tasks that are carried
Organizational behavior management (OBM) combines the principles of B. F. Skinner’s reinforcement theory with applications in work settings. It espouses the same basic tenet as reinforcement theory: Behavior is shaped and maintained by its consequences. What occurs after rather than before the behavior of interest is the focus, as exemplified in the principles of reinforcement
Although the origin of what is called organizational citizenship behavior, contextual performance, or prosocial organizational behavior can be traced back to classic management and organizational science treatises, serious theoretical and empirical research in the area did not begin until the late 1970s. Researchers Dennis Organ, Walter Borman, Stephen Motowidlo, Phillip Podsakoff, and Scott MacKenzie have
Organizational retaliatory behavior refers to actions taken by disgruntled employees in response to perceived injustice at work. Organizational retaliatory behavior can take many forms, including withholding effort or citizenship behaviors, intentionally performing tasks incorrectly, purposely damaging equipment, taking supplies or materials, taking longer breaks than allowed, calling in sick, spreading rumors about people at work
Industrial and organizational (I/O) psychologists are interested in understanding employees’ psychological reactions to their workplaces. Not surprisingly, much of this interest focuses on employees’ commitment to the organizations for which they work. Among the several work attitude variables studied by I/O psychologists, only job satisfaction has received more attention than organizational commitment. Conceptualizing Organizational Commitment
At some point in our working lives, most of us feel that things at work would be fine if only we were in charge. Some people feel that way most of the time. They believe that the problems they and their coworkers encounter at work could be avoided or surmounted if someone competent were in
Organizational justice refers to individual or collective judgments of fairness or ethical propriety. Investigations of organizational justice tend to take a descriptive approach. As such, an event is treated as fair or unfair to the extent that one believes it to be so. In other words, justice research is concerned with identifying the antecedents that
The workforce of the United States continues to grow more diverse. Employment equity legislation has made organizational diversity an issue of legal, ethical, and strategic interest. Data reported in 2005 by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) indicate an increase in the percentage of people of color in the private sector from 27% in 1998
Organizational surveys are also known as employee opinion surveys or employee attitude surveys. Most experts prefer to call them organizational surveys to clarify that the sponsor and user of such surveys is almost always the organization. Further, the people asked to complete such surveys may be employees at any or all levels, including top executives.
Although there is no universally accepted definition of organizational culture, researchers generally agree that organizational culture refers to the shared meaning, interpretations, and understanding of various organizational events among organizational members. Organizational culture serves as a guide to members to behave in ways shown to be effective over time; adds a sense of predictability and
This article explores the intricate relationship between organizational culture and employee stress within the realm of health psychology. The introduction sets the stage by defining organizational culture’s significance in the workplace and outlining the pervasive impact of stress in organizational settings. The subsequent section explores a nuanced examination of various organizational cultures, such as clan