Chapter 11: Integrity, mindfulness, and communication

The text in a way instructed students to be mindful about the knowledge gained from learning communication studies...the "study of organizational communication theory can be a worthwhile pursuit...to become a university professor"...and those who choose non-academic working lives will find org comm theoretical study mainly as "equipment for living." I find this inspirational actually, and I look forward to making org comm of value by translating it from theory to practice. Immediately, I can identify with the concept of integrity and how I have put this concept to practice. Integrity is "a mindful state of acting purposefully to fulfill the promises and commitments you make to others." It is simple for keeping your words, as mentioned elsewhere in the text. I find from my work experiences that many people make promises that they do not keep. It is especially a "no,no" when it comes to make promises to a customer. If you say you are going to call back, you should.

Chapter 10: Business Strategies

There is an introductory (if not comprehensive) understanding of business strategies that one can take from this chapter. This is what I imagine a MBA student would be learning. I don't know much about Organization & Management at this point, but I would suppose that students there must learn much about organizational communication. As we find in the text, there are many examples of an Org Comm expert being hired as a consultant. I especially like "applying what you've learned" in the next chapter where we would need to act as consultant to four examples (i.e. Miss Elizabeth). I like the discussion of the familiar companies because it shows how consumer and/or patient/client/indirect relation to a consumer are being marketed to or targeted in a specific way, depending on the product. (1) product- or service-driven companies, (2) market-driven companies (Johnson & Johnson sells its products to doctors), (3) production-capacity-driven companies (airlines), (4) technology-driven companies (Apple Computer), (5) sales-marketing-driven companies (Mary Kay), and (6) Distribution-driven companies (Wal-Mart and UPS).

"A company may communicate a strategy such as 'environmentally friendly' or 'superior customer service,' but if customers and employees do not see evidence of the company's claim, the strategy will be unconvincing and ineffective." Strategic alignment...refers to the process of modifying organizational systems and structures to support the competitive strategy. In my encounters, some work places do not have a business/competitive strategy. In one encounter, TQM (total quality management) was taking place with a one person committee; this person does not allow sufficient information and opportunities for dialogue. I would predict unsuccessful strategic alignment and interdepartmental upheaval. I find it curious when someone, who is not even a manager, pretends to be or acts like a manager of everyone.

Web Lec 5: Democracy - 12 Angry Men

There are 5 types of democracy. Demokratia is the root and Greek term meaning common people (demos) and strength, power and rule (kratia). Procedural democracy is the procedures, rules, and requirements essential for democracy. When candidates compete for various governing positions, this is competitive democracy. Actively particpating in the governing process is participatory democracy. When people work together to reach an outcome that all can support, this is called deliberative democracy. Dialogic democracy seems to be the most idealistic and reflective of human nature tendency. It involves collaboration, inquiry, participation, and dialogue. It features a balance between self-expression and listening to other. Dialogic democracy has strengths in recognizing the importances of emotions and encourages cooperative learning. The disadvantage is that this form of democracy is time-consuming and requires genuine commitment to the process.

From work and personal experiences, these five types of democracy are to me actually the escalating process of how democracy works. It's not just one type, but all five types are at times utilized. For example, let's say family members are trying to decide how they should spend christmas break. The procedures and rules are laid out (how much money to spend, and time off etc. -procedural). Then it becomes competitive in terms of who will be the official person to make the decision (mom or dad - competitive). Everyone participates in the decision process, but there is unequal distribution of power (older siblings have more to say than younger siblings - participatory). "Let's be reasonable and impartial now...let's discuss and work together to come up with a trip that everyone will enjoy"...deliberative. Emotion then runs high, young siblings are crying...so we collaborate, listen to each other...cooperate and compromise with a trip that has a mixture of activities that everyone will enjoy...dialogic democracy. This is time consuming but provides the ideal balance. I feel that in the movie "12 Angry Men" that the jurors had to work through these 5 types of democracy to finally make the emotional comeback and finally used dialogic democracy.

Chapter 9: That's a Leader!

Effective leadership habits are covered in the text, and these include habits of mind (patterned ways of thinking that define issue approach and resolution), of character (ways of being in the world), and of authentic communicative performance (relating to others in a way that reflects ones own deeply held values and beliefs). I have personal reflections for the habits of mind and character concepts.

For habits of mind, "leaders draw on their own fundamental values and capabilities--operating in a frame of mind that is true to them yet, paradoxically, not their normal state of being..." I was told from an upper-manager before that to be uncomfortable is when progress and result can be achieved. I have upheld this philosophy since. Also, I am aware that I need to be true to myself because I don't want to lose my fundamental being in the process! For habits of character, I was enlightened to learn about Level 5 leaders (aka "Executives," per Collins). This was the only level where he found "that rarest of human combinations: personal humility alongside professional will." Modesty is key for me when looking for a leader I would want to work for. Two executives I admired from work before were modest and spoke in a very modest and yet inspirational and powerful way. They were the founders of the company, and I was really proud to work for them and to follow their company's ten principles.

Chapter 8: Teamwork and Work Team

It is interesting to learn that teamwork is a fairly new concept introduced in the United States in 1898. This would have been 110 years ago. According to the textbook, most American employees now work in some form of team-based organization. In addition to individual responsibilities, employees are members of a working group, committee, or cohort. I appreciate the concept of work team where a group of employees is responsible for the entire process ranging from training, maintenance, to hiring and making compensation decisions. To be successful it requires supervisor overseeing. My relation to this concept is of supervising an operation with 8 operators (who we could consider a work team). It is true that supervisors would need to (1) faciliate to keep group on track (looking at production line for backlog and yet not rush operators), (2) be hard on rules, agendas, goals, and accountability (at same time allow operator to package the products the way that it is efficient for them), and lastly (3) communicate extensively to keep team inform of work of other teams (I made sure that I let the operators know what Customer Service Dept are expecting to ship out that day). My work experience is not exactly a work team, but I can see how the principle of good supervision could be applied to a work team.

Chapter 7: Gender Equitable Policies

Buzzanell and Liu suggested that organizations develop policies that are more gender equitable including: (1) establishing HR advocate to assist in leave negotiation, (2) making parental leave policies unambiguous, (3) rewarding and promoting competent women while they are pregnant or on maternity leave, and (4) providing flexible work schedules and rewarding employees for efficiency. Buzzanell and Liu studied several women during their maternity leaves. I have also heard first hand from several women (in terms of suggestion #1). One woman (Person A) had an HR friend, so she learned how to maximize her leave, using accrued vacation time, maternity leave, and accrued sick time. Another woman (Person B) was a full-time employee but did not have vacation time and sick time benefit. I recall it might have been 45 days maternity leave for Person B, so she took 2 weeks before and 4 weeks after giving birth as leave time. This 6 weeks for Person B is drastically different from Person A who had 4 months or 16 weeks. This is not the perfect example (due to the fact that Person B did not have vacation and sick benefit) but it does demonstrate that without an HR advocate, someone might think she is limited to 45 days when she could negotiate to use vacation and sick time and take the 4 months that would give her more bonding time. Without an HR advocate, the immediate supervisor might also oppose to a 4 months leave.

Chapter 7: A Feminist Education

I feel empowered since learning so much more about feminism, women's communication style, and leadership. These three concepts are fluid and flow very well together for me. As explained in the book, feminist research takes on a variety of forms.
Liberal feminists are interested in changing policies to level out the playing field for women. Radical feminists are more interested in dismantling the existing organizations and substituting them with a feminist-inspired structure without hierarchy.

Feminists have since adopted different approaches to explore the identity. Early research did not treat women's communication style as a utility. Women's ways of knowing, being, and leading may even be considered superior. Leadership is at the center of the organization according to this perspective. I would almost want to speculate that corporations are becoming more motherly, nurturing, and softer because they try to integrate family-like activities such as afternoon team-outings to the bowling alley. Leaders must share responsibility, develop and invest in others, and build and maintain a network of relationships. This could be analogous to a mother who divides the house chores to each family member, nurtures the kids, and maintains a loving relationship with those in the household. I feel empowered with these concepts because they demonstrate that a different perspective on something that already exists could mean a world of change (i.e. deficit vs. utility re: comm. style). Therefore, I will definitely aim for the more positive outlook on my communication style in the work and home sphere.

Web Lec Tech & Teams: Analog Media

A pervasive communication environment allows us multiple ways to communicate with enhancements such as text, audio, video, and voice. We have the ability to access, create, and share information in multimedia...(JUST NAME IT DOC...anywhere, anytime, anyone). I don't think they invisioned all of this technology when the "Back to the Future" movie was made in the 80's.

When some of us were middle school students, information finding in a library was time consuming and we followed certain guidelines on how to transfer info from the book to our note cards via handwriting. When I returned to college, work caused a time constraint, and I was dreading the experience of having to return to the library and to spend a lot of time trying to find an article and photocopying it (no more note cards at this point). However, to my SURPRISE, time constraint became more manageable since analog media such as paper magazines newpapers, and books are now accessible via new communication technologies (Research & Article Database at MLK Library website). In a group project, students can share research findings by emailing the article .pdf documents to each other instead of meeting at the library to work on note cards together or exchanging photocopies.

Chapter 6: Several Types of Power

Person A (i.e. manager or company) has power over Person B (employee) because Person A has control over what Person B wants.
There are five types of power:
(1) Reward Power - formal or informal award (i.e. bonus in exchange for compliance),
(2) Coercive Power - certain behaviors will lead to punishments (i.e. relocation or demotion),
(3) Referent Power - willing to do what Person A asks in order to become like this mentor/charismatic leader
(4) Exert Power - willing to do what Person A says because respects Person A expert knowledge
(5) Legitimate Power - complies with Person A wishes because Person A holds a high-level position (i.e. division head)

This concept of power, and various types of power, is relevant because it provides insight into the many reasons why some employees comply accordingly and become the ultimate company team player. The irony is that those who comply and be somebody's "YES, whatever you want" person will actually gain power themselves as a reward. In return, they will treat someone else in the same fashion, exerting these different power. I find that in my previous work life, coworkers would complain to me about a certain manager, but in reality they are also yearning to becoming that person, to have the same expert knowledge, and to be able to exert the same kind of power.

Chapter 5: Socialization

Socialization involves learning the rules that guide what culture members think, do, and say. It is a process for people to learn rules, norms, and expectations in becoming members of a culture. This can be related to an internship experience whereby some interns are selected for regular employment. We read in Chapter 1 (Comm and Changing World of Work) that Apple Computer put "potential employees through numerous rounds of interviews aimed at identifying those candidates who will fit best with its challenging, dynamic corporate culture." An Apple Computer intern who has been successfully socialized has one less barrier to overcome and perhaps will be critiqued more on content knowledge (vs. cultural fit) during the interview.

As an example of socialization and high-reliability organizations (HROs), I have briefly seen students, in a fire fighting class at Mission College, pull the heavy fire hose over their shoulder as part of a class requirement. According to the book, and much to my surprise, 4500 candidates apply each year but only 40-50 who demonstrate their "commitment to and compatibility with the culture are invited to participate in the (fire fighter) training academy." After graduation, first year "booters" at the fire station must show that they can be trusted (last to eat, first to clean, speak when spoken to) by seasoned members since their line of work is a matter of life & death (thus defined as HROs). This socialization of a fire fighter reminds me of starting a new administrative assistant job (though definitely not a HROs) where I felt compelled to do a favor for everyone in the office because I want to proof that I can be trusted for a greater task. I might do custodial work or any odds & ends cleaning because it reflects that I will do whatever to get the job done and that I would handle projects and excel spreadsheets with great care and detail.

Web Lec: Domination Metaphor

Critical approaches see organizations as dominating instruments that meet the interests of an elite group at the expense of the other (oppressed) group. Organization members may accept the power-imbalanced situation without resistance. Critical theorists strive to create healthy, power-balanced societies and workplaces. This approach is meaningful to me because it recognizes this form of workplace oppression. I encountered this oppression for many years in my previous work life when I worked for a NASDAQ, corporate, semiconductor company. A whole book can be written based on my hidden transcripts. Resistance to domination did not occur, on my part, because the stock options were dangling in front of me. The domination metaphor addresses how organizations "use and exploit employees, damaging employee's health and intruding on their personal lives." Individuals (also communities and countries) are used up and flushed out. It is interesting that other oppressed members of an organizations become fearful or are reluctant to join the fight for a better workplace (similar to those women who actively campaigned against the right for women to vote).

Chapter 5: Financially Successful Companies

Thomas Peters and Robert Waterman Jr. examined financially successful companies and discovered that these companies have eight common characteristics: (1) active decision making, take actions, (2) never forget who makes them successful - customers, (3) empower employees to take risk, innovate, and take responsibility,
(4) quality products depends on quality workers, (5) strong core values are widely shared among employees, (6) company tend not to diversify, stick to what they do best, (7) simple hierarchies and division of labor, and (8) neither decentralized nor centralized management. This information is meaningful because it is a good reference for success and for setting organizational cultures. There are large companies and small businesses that become successful and forget that the customers contributed to their profit (i.e. not all coffee shops franchise are friendly or have the same quality customer service), abuse and degrade employees instead of empowering and recognizing them (i.e. no recognition for 10 year service). I am a strong advocate for customer service and for the continual success of a good company, and so I take the time to let a successful community college or wholesaler know that they need to remember the customers and to fix certain acute problems that would otherwise be a detriment to their sustainability.

Chapter 4: Counter networking

Counter networking occurs by using reverse organizational science, turning around usual advice given to business leaders about making organization successful. The counter terrorism example was used in the book. Misinformation given to the network stuns the terrorist team, and they are unable to coordinate successfully. I presumed that mistakes made by the impaired team will allow authority to track messages backward through the network, thus giving authority the likelihood to capture team members. A work example I can think of is when the boss tells the operators that he/she will be leaving work early. The operators may then be caught snoozing when the boss actually comes back after an hour (and not actually leaving for the day). This may help make this organization more successful because operators may remember to be on task, even if the boss does not seem to be there.

Chapter 4: Distributed Intelligence

Organizations are being model after living systems because living systems exhibit distributed intelligence and are more adaptive to changing environment than are closed systems (machinery). Distributed intelligence refers to all members of the system (people or cells) playing a role in the system's ongoing self-organization. It fascinates me, and it also makes a lot of sense that we can look to learn from nature and from systems that already exist. The body is complex, and i.e. people/consumers trend can be complex. For example, I now understand better the role that a Salesperson and FAE (Field Application Engineer) play in a semiconductor company when they act as boundary spanners and ask the customer what new & improved product they would like to introduce to the market. The salesperson and FAE play a role in helping their company to adapt to the changing environment. I would describe their work as a "sneeze", meaning that they detect what will come next, allergy (good) or a cold (bad).

Chapter 3_Resonance 2

Maslow's hierarchy of needs include food, shelter, belonging, and self-esteem (salary, rank, status, opportunities, and responsibilities) (Chap.3). These needs must be satisfied before a person can move toward their full human potential, or self-actualization. I agree that self-actualization sustains and motivates a person to continue to strive. This concept explains the making of U.S. presidents, CEO's, and philanthropists. I believe that after a person is comfortable and wealthy, the ultimate self-actualization is to be the best that he/she can be (i.e. fulfilling a dream to be president/CEO or giving back to the community). This concept of hierarchy of needs (a form of organization) is meaningful to me because it states the obvious, and at the same time it reconfirms why I feel sometimes I can't seem to self-actualize. For example, when I don't feel I belong, rank and status does not matter because I have lost my self-esteem, then I cannot eat, and I feel like a vagabond. It takes me days or weeks to build myself back-up to the tip of the pyramid.

Chapter 3_Resonance 1

Theory in the social science, as described in Chap. 3, intrigues me. My previous knowledge of theory relates to scientific hypothesis, where each experiment must be repeatable to yield the same result, in order to support the hypothesis and form a theory. Organizing, organizations, and organizational communication are thus better understood after understanding the historical and metaphorical language of theory. "Theories reflect unique historical circumstances and diverse cultural and political interests." Historical writing is partial (only part of story told), partisan (tell version that we favor), and problematic (asks more questions than it can answer). This open approach to theory and to org comm. fascinates and brings relief for me because I can understand that what I read is a reflection of the culture, time, and non-unanimous viewpoint. I can refrain from being frustrated with the concept. I just need to understand the concept at hand and not necessarily agree with it.

Introduction and Work Story

Hello, I am an advocate for having dialogues and a voice in the workplace. I feel that I am experiencing information overload after reading Chapters 1 and 2 of the Org Comm book. This is my first time taking an online class, and I am really enjoying the flexibility and discipline that comes with this set-up.

My old job experience was at a "challenge the status quo" and "escalate to upper management as needed" kind of company. Currently, my job is at a government institution with bureaucracy. This includes top-down communication via memos and many hoops to jump, but I can see how this form of organization can prevent an employer from abusing the employee. Interestingly, there are annual reviews, but no annual increases given based on performance. Instead, there are service increases given at the existing anniversary date. Occasionally, there are cost of living adjustments. Salary increases are given based on seniority and achievement. Equity is also very key. A less senior person may be prevented from receiving a salary beyond that of the salary of a more senior person, despite performance and achievements. I can understand the reasoning behind my work place policies after reading the textbook.