Week8 Tutorial

In this week’s tutorial, my group members and I were given a chance in participating in a teamwork exercise where we were required to build a structure using just a strip of brown tape, a string, a few spaghetti sticks and a marshmallow. The group who build the tallest structure provided placing the marshmallow on the top of the structure without falling apart wins. The purpose of this group exercise is to allow us to experience and have a better understanding towards the previous chapter that is Cultural Approaches. My group members and I are all from different countries thus we have varying cultural backgrounds. As a group with a multicultural background, we started off the exercise by discussing the best way in carrying out the task. Every member was assigned to a task individually according to his or her capability and this demonstrated the Machine Metaphor theory in Chapter One where everyone has a specific task and they are replaceable. This was the initial thought during the early progress while completing the task, but after further discussion, we concluded that this was not a Machine Metaphor. This is because we were open to changes, and we were able to adapt to any changes, provided that every group member has a say in the decision making process when we voice out our individual opinions in regarding the best ways in completing the task. Thus we concluded it wasn’t the Machine Metaphor theory in practice.

Chapter 7 : Socialization Processes

Summary from Textbook:

Three approaches are looked at when the processes, of which individuals and organizations adapt to each other, are looked at. These are:

• Assimilation- the ongoing behavioural and cognitive processes by which individuals join, become integrated into, and exit organizations


• Socialization- the adaptation of individuals through formal and informal socialization processes


• Individualization- the changing of aspects of the organization to better suit the needs, abilities or desires of the employee

There are several phases of socialization, as adaptation of the employee to the organization is not immediately:

• Anticipatory socialization- the processes that occur before the individual enters the organization


• Encounter- when the employee first encounters life on the job


• Metamorphosis- when the employee is fully accepted in the organization

It was suggested that there are several processes that an individual must undergo when entering the organization:

• Developing a familiarity with others


• Acculturating- learning the culture of the organization


• Feeling recognized by others


• Becoming involved in the organization


• Developing job competency


• Role negotiation

There are several communication processes during socialization, and one of them is the employment interview. This is most commonly used due to several reasons:

• The interview as a recruiting and screening tool- this serves to act as a way of gathering information on behalf of the organization by the interviewer on the interviewee


• The interview as an information-gathering tool- the interviewee also views the interview as a way to gather information about his future work place


• The interview as a tool for socialization- it serves as a tool to ease a newcomer’s adaptation to the organization once he is accepted

The second communication process is the newcomer information-seeking tactic. This is done through several ways: overt questioning, indirect questioning, third party information source, testing limits, disguising information, observation and surveillance.

The final communication process is the role-development process. This is done through several interrelated phases:

• Role-taking phase- the phase in which talents and motivations of the member is discovered by the superior through iterative testing sequences


• Role-making phase- negotiations about the roles required of by the member between both superior and member


• Role-routinization phase- where both roles and expected behaviours on both sides are understood by each other

Although entering the organization is important, one has to consider the exiting of the organization as being important as well. There are several generalizations about communication during the exit process:

• A process anticipated by either employer or employee


• Influences both who leave and those who stay


• Effects on families of those who leave the organization


• Communication from sources that may promote exits, and social support in helping to relieve stress of leaving.

This chapter is linked to chapter 3, as it talks about how an employee would socialize with his/her co-workers in the workplace, and how some people are told before and after leaving the organization. This would help the worker to integrate himself into the culture at the workplace, thus making him adapt quicker.

Reference:

Miller, K 2009, Organizational Communication: Approaches and Processes, 6^th edition, Belmont, CA, Wadsworth Publishing Company.

Unity of life in the workplace

This article explains three main points: social relationship, balancing work and private life and purpose of working. In this article, Dr. Michael Naughton says ‘a person should not refer to work and leisure as separate entities, but as integrated realities that are directed towards the uplift of people’s loves, especially of the underprivileged’. This allows the reducing of stress in the employees’ lives. By building social relationships with their fellow workers, supervisors, subordinates and customers, trust, cooperation, group work, communication and many problems can be resolved with relatively ease. This, indirectly helps to build a healthy organizational culture, and thus, improving the company as a whole. To Dr. Naughton, ‘purpose’ was the key to bringing everyone together, thus providing a better understanding of the tasks those groups were to complete. In relation to the textbook theories learnt under the chapter titled: Processes of emotion in the workplace, this article demonstrates a good example to the sub theory: Emotion as part of Workplace Relationships. This theory mentions that most organizational emotions arise from emotions that develop from relationships between workers in the workplace. With this article, it helps me in relating to the topic/question chosen for my assignment three essay, where it is about communication and leadership in an organization. This is because this article explains the importance of communication in the workplace among peers.

Reference:

Alvendia-Q, R 2011, Unity of life in the workplace, BusinessWorld online.com, online, viewed 8 September 2011, from http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Opinion&title=Unity-of-life-in-the-workplace&id=37505

Chapter 6 : Critical Approaches

Summary from Textbook:

Some of the previous approaches contain underlying common threads. The first one is the ‘political’ frame of reference used to understand the organization. This ‘political’ frame is further divided into 3 frames of references: Unitary where emphasis is placed on common organizational goals, Pluralist, where the organization consists of many groups with divergent interests, and Radical, where the organization is viewed ‘as a battleground between rival forces, for the achievement of largely incompatible ends’. The second thread involves approaching organizational life, where the role of the theorist is to understand or explain organizational communications.

Theorists have started to take the critical approach, rather than the social approach. They believe that certain societal structures and processes may lead to fundamental imbalances of power. These may lead to alienation and oppression for certain social classes and groups. The roles of these theorists, thus, are to explore and uncover such imbalances and to bring them to the attention of the oppressed group, leading them to freedom.

A critical theorist views power as being the most important. It is typically equated to the constructs of control and domination, which is central to all critical theories. In order to explore this concept, three approaches were utilized by most theorists: the traditional approach, the symbological approach/ interpretive approach, and the radical-critical approach. Two forms of control over power were analysed, being: control over modes and means of production, and control of organizational discourse. Even those restrictions that were meant to help the workers in time of need, were worded as such that when something went wrong, it would be the fault of the workers and not the fault of the company. An example would be the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

Critical theorists also argue that these processes will lead to a shaping of ideology and hegemony. Ideology refers to ‘the taken-for-granted assumptions about reality that influence perceptions of situations and events” whereas hegemony refers to a process in which a dominant group leads another group to accept subordination as the norm. The next step is then emancipation, or “the liberation of people from unnecessarily restrictive traditions, ideologies, assumptions, power relations, identity formations, and so forth, that inhibit or distort opportunities for autonomy, clarification of genuine needs and wants, and thus greater and lasting satisfaction”. It is also seen as a process of emerging awareness and communicative action on the part of the oppressed.

With emancipation, comes resistance. This concept discovers how workers can exert counter pressure on the exercise of power and control. It is usually seen in collective and organized processes; however theorists are more interested in seeing how resistance can be undertaken by an individual. However, it is not a straightforward and unproblematic process, but a pragmatic process that involves both acts of resistance and complicity in organizational systems of power.

There are two critical approaches in communication, the concertive control theory and the feminist theories. The concertive theory explains how power relationships can be transformed in team-based and alternative form organizations. Three main concepts help to understand this theory:

• Control- Simple control, technological control, bureaucratic control and concertive control


• Identification- the perception of oneness with or belongingness to a collective, where the individual defines him or herself in terms of the collective in which he or she is a member


• Discipline- to reward or punish behaviour that conforms with or deviates from the values identified as important by the work group.

Feminist theorists believe that females are being downplayed in the workplace due to tradition and stereotyping. There are several groups of feminist theorists: liberal feminists, radical feminists, standpoint feminists, postmodern feminists and pluralist feminists. Three studies are explored to provide a sampling of feminist scholarship in organizational communication: the framing of sexual harassment, discourse at a woman-owned business and disciplined bodies.

Through their scholarship, critical theorists attempt to show ‘how specific interests fail to be realized owing partly to the inability of people to understand or act on those interests. They also use quantitative data that show how resources are distributed in organizations and how individuals perceive their lives within organizations. Interpretive research techniques similar to those used by cultural scholars are the most commonly used techniques.

I like this chapter as it shows that when people are oppressed, they may rise up and oppose their oppressors. However, I feel that it does not only apply to within an organization, but can also apply to the population and the Government in control.

Reference:

Miller, K 2009, Organizational Communication: Approaches and Processes, 6^th edition, Belmont, CA, Wadsworth Publishing Company.

Participate in workplace festivities

After reading this article regarding festive celebrated in an organization, it shows that the organization culture this company has is very different compared to some company. The organization culture of this company allows employees to get to know and understand different people from different background, culture and diversity. This is one very good organization culture because it shows that the company or the superior cares about the employees and their different culture. By showing their appreciation, they often organize different festivals in the company that relieves the boredom and stress of working. The employee will feel appreciated and thus it helps in improving the job satisfaction and productivity of the company. Also, with the mingling of employees regardless of positions, will allow free flow of information. Barriers between all employees are lowered during these times, breaking down the hierarchy and boundaries in the company. This article shows a good example regarding the chapters on Cultural Approaches and Organizational Diversity Processes. It also shows how people can get to know others that they would not usually befriend, thus improving self-confidence. Besides, this article will be useful for my essay in assignment 3, question 3 because it shows how the information flow is made easier through the inter-mingling of people from different cultures. Moreover, this article shows a good example on the leadership action/decision in having celebration on most festivals as it shows that the leader of the organization cares for the workers not only based on results in work. By reducing the gap between superiors and employees, indirectly it improves the communications between them, hence enhancing productivity.

Reference:

Mehta, M 2011, Participate in workplace festivities, Times of india.com, online, viewed 5 September 2011, from http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-08-29/work/29940561_1_festive-celebrations-organisations-secret-santa

Lecture 5

This lecture was conducted based on some of the unfavorable cultures present within organizations. A culture of bullying or laziness within an organization can sometimes hurt an organization drastically. Different cultures in an organization affect the progress/growth of an organization. For example, an organization with an enthusiastic positive thinking towards the assigned work tasks without gossiping or laziness during the working hour, their growth and progress will better as compared to the organization with a culture of gossiping and laziness. This will not only affect the organization’s growth, but also the organization’s image as well. Aside from organization culture, personal commitment is very important as well. In order to achieve excellence, an individual’s commitment to promoting a positive culture within the organization is essential.