CMN 2148 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1-6: Organizational Communication, Instrumental And Value Rationality, Organizational Chart
17 Dec 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
CMN2148 - Organizational Communication
Trevor Tucker
NOTES
Gareth Morgan, “Images of Organization: The Executive Edition”
— INTRODUCTION: ORGANIZATIONS, COMMUNICATION, &
METAPHORS —
What is an Organization?
•Organizations are many things at once. They are complex and multifaceted. They
are paradoxical.
•All organization and management theory and practice is based on images, or
metaphors, that lead us to understand situations in powerful yet partial ways. We
recognize that since every metaphor has limitations as well as strengths, we must
be aware of the inherent blind sports that inevitably undermine our effectiveness.
•A symbolic construction; created through the communication of people (inside and
outside the organization). It is not the buildings themselves, the paper, or the
products. Organizations exist by virtue of people enacting them through their
communication. It is greater than the sum of its parts, it is symbolic.
•Organizations are created through communication and are therefor fluid and in
perpetual process. What an organization is and can be is influenced by
perceptions, biases, beliefs, fears, etc. Communication is central to the process.
•Organizations can be both closed and open systems
•A change in one element can affect the whole
•Organizations like to maintain their identity
What is Communication?
•Human communication is: the process of making sense out of the world and
sharing that sense with others. Sense-making is the “ongoing retrospective
development of plausible images that rationalize what people are doing.”
•Organizational communication looks at these processes in the context of
organization to try to understand, describe, or explain them.
What Elements are Essential for Communication?
•listening, clear channels, various channels, empathy, nonverbal, trust
What Motivates People in an Organization? What do People Need?
•renumeration? only 12% of employees leave a job for $
•stability
•creativity
•affirmation
•empathy
•power (i.e. to make changes; information)
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“75% of people don’t leave their jobs because of the work; they leave because of their
bosses” —Gallup, 2015
•Interactions, decisions, messages, interpretations, symbols, images, negotiations,
agreements, contracts, relationships, and so forth have no inherent meaning apart
from human interaction; organizations are communicative.
How do Metaphors Fit in?
•We all have assumptions about the worlds, about people, about organizations (the
glasses we look through). These assumptions influence our interpretations, our
interpretations reflect the metaphors we think through.
•Metaphors allow us to grasp unfamiliar concepts by imagining them in terms of
concepts already understood. Each metaphor is a mental shortcut.
•The metaphor that the scientists uses to study these latent tendencies shapes
what he or she sees. The same is true of organizations. Think “structure” and you’ll
see structure. Think “culture” and you’ll see all kinds of cultural dimensions. Reality
has a tendency to reveal itself in accordance with the perspectives through which it
is approached.
What are Metaphors
•Metaphor is a comparative figure of speech often used to add a creative flourish to
the way we talk, such as when we say that “life is a game.” It is a primal force
through which humans create meaning by using one element of experience to
understand another. They give us the opportunity to stretch out thinking and
depend out understanding, thereby allowing us to see things in new ways and to
act in new ways [metaphors become tools].
•The concept of organization it self a metaphor. It is based on an image taken from
the ancient Greek world for tool or instrument. Similarly, the concept of
management is based on an old image of horsemanship and the challenge of
putting a through its passes.
•Metaphors are devices for understanding one element in terms of another e.g. the
corporate world is a jungle (competitive). They offer an insightful and creative way
to describe things. They have an emotional component to them.
•Metaphors capture the essence, but only in a partial way (the corporate world in
more than just a jungle). So, metaphors world well when their limits are recognized
and when more than one is used to describe things.
•Metaphors both reveal and conceal.
•Metaphor always produces one-sided insights. They gloss over the fact that the
same person has other feature that were eliminated from view. Metaphor always
creates distortions, too. Metaphor uses evocative images to create what may be
described as constructive falsehoods, which, if taken literally or to an extreme
become absurd.
•Metaphor can be incomplete, biased, and misleading. Metaphor is inherently
paradoxical, as the way of seeing created becomes a way of not seeing.
— ORGANIZATIONS AS MACHINES —
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•When we think of organizations as machines we begin to see them as rational
enterprises designed and structures to achieve predetermined ends. The
organizational machine is given goals and objectives; it is designed as a rational
structure of jobs and activities; its blueprint becomes an organizational chart; people
are hired to operate the machine and everyone is expected to behave in a
predetermined way.
•This is the theory that has driven much of organization and management since the
industrial revolution.
•When goals are fixed, environments are stable, and the workforce eager and
compliant, a mechanical mode of organization can provide the basis for effective
operation.
“Your job is not to think” —Fredrick Taylor
“I have heard my teacher say that whoever uses machines does all his work like a
machine, and he who carrier the heart of a machine in his breast loses his simplicity. He
who has lost his simplicity becomes unsure in the strivings of his soul. Uncertainty in the
strivings of the soul is something which does not agree with honest sense, It is not that I
do not know of such things; I am ashamed to use them.” —Chuang-tzu, 4th century BC
Key Terms:
-efficiency -rational
-reductionistic -scientific
-routine -precision
-hierarchy -predictability
-mechanization -specialization
-command -fear
-technology -bureaucracy
-control -division of labour
-stand in line -authority
-centralization -team spirit
Mechanistic Theories
•According to mechanistic theories, an effective organization is like a well-built
machine: with clearly defined functions, clearly defined components, and pre-
determined goals.
•key management activities include planning, design, and maintenance.
When the Organization is Viewed as a Machine…
1. There is an emphasis on organizational rules, control, and structure.
•Tall Structure: characterized by a narrow span of control and a large
number of hierarchical levels, Tight control from above.
•Flat Structure: characterized by a wide span of control and fewer
hierarchical levels. Loose control. Facilitates delegation and collaboration.
2. Centralized authority (concentrated in management’s hands, clear lines of
authority)
3. Formal reporting relationships
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Document Summary
Gareth morgan, images of organization: the executive edition . Metaphors : organizations are many things at once. They are paradoxical: all organization and management theory and practice is based on images, or metaphors, that lead us to understand situations in powerful yet partial ways. It is not the buildings themselves, the paper, or the products. Organizations exist by virtue of people enacting them through their communication. It is greater than the sum of its parts, it is symbolic: organizations are created through communication and are therefor uid and in perpetual process. What an organization is and can be is in uenced by perceptions, biases, beliefs, fears, etc. Communication is central to the process: organizations can be both closed and open systems, a change in one element can affect the whole, organizations like to maintain their identity. What is communication: human communication is: the process of making sense out of the world and sharing that sense with others.
