Organizational Analysis Lec 3
September 27/ 2011
The media critic who adopts an organizational approach or perspective is interested in the
precise ways that the structure of an organization and the processes it undertakes mutually
influence one another within an organization.
One way to get at that relationship is to analyze the communicative practices that occur within
organizations.
Organization – A system (network) or ordered relationships and coordinated activities directed
toward specific goals
Structure = form; the underlying framework of an organization
a. hierarchy – relationship of roles
b. specialization – division of an organization
into units
c. formalization – formal standards
Process = an organization’s substance; what it does
Structure + Process = Organizational Culture
Map These Characteristics of Organization Culture onto UTSC:
Performances – productive and purposeful displays that include:
Rituals – things engaged in or a regular basis
Sociality – codes of etiquette
Politics – specific and different types of politics within any organization
Enculturation – bring newcomers into the organization
Structure + Process = Organizational Culture
Map These Characteristics of Organization Culture onto UTSC:
2. Narratives – Stories we tell ourselves about ourselves
3. Texts – written documents and texts that an organization produces
4. Management – how an organization is directed or managed
5. Technology – the environment in which one does ones work within the organization
Conventions – The norms that govern the technical and creative choices that members of an
organization make.
Professionalization – The process by which an individual with free will and choice is transformed
(i.e. socialized) into an ideological subject (i.e. professional) whose behaviours and actions
reaffirm one’s status as a professional.
Conventions arise in part from Professionalization. Conventions are:
1. Motivated – develop out of a pragmatic need
2. Shared – shared by others