COMM 3170: Introduction to Organizational Communication

1
COMM 3170Introduction toOrganizational
Communication

• Summer 2005
• Dan Lair
• d.lair_at_utah.edu

2
Day Three Broad Perspectives and an Introduction
to Structure

• Journal Questions/Procedure
• Overview of Perspectives on Management and
  Organizational Communication
• Begin Discussion of Structure (to be continued on
  Wed. w/ Networks)

3
Major Trends/Perspectives in Management Thinking
1900-2005

• Scientific Management (1900-1950)
• Human Relations Movement (1930-1965)
• Human Resources Management (1960-1985)
• Theory Z (1975-1990)
• Toyotism (1975-1995)
• Total Quality Management (1980 present)
• Reingineering (1985 present)

4
Frederick Taylor and Scientific Management

• Time and Motion Studies Scientific knowledge
  about work replaces workers rule of thumb
  knowledge
• Scientific selection of workers who are trained
  for specific tasks
• Negative view of work

5
Hawthorne and Human Relations

• Elton Mayos studies at Western Electric
• Three Foci
• Productivity
• Informal organization
• Non-economic problems
• Positive view of work

6
Recent Management Trends

• Human Resource Management
• Cultural Approaches to Management Theory Z
• Toyotism lean production
• Total Quality Management
• Re-engineering
• ?????

7
Lessons from the History of Management

• Schools of thought do not replace one another
• Perspectives can co-exist and are often combined.
• Perspectives are ideal types more than accurate
  descriptions
• Different schools have different emphases
  rational and normative

8
Questions on Chapter 2Organizational Structure
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Structure in Perspective

• Structure v. Process
• Structure as a substitute for communication
• Structuration Theory and the duality of
  structure
• Structure as outcome and resource
• Structure as constraining and enabling

10
Systems Thinking(adapted from Conrad Poole,
2005)

• The whole is more than the sum of its parts
  (holism)
• Causality is complex, not linear (interdependence
  of parts)
• Systems are embedded in other systems
• Systems imperative adapt or die (feedback)
• History is crucial to organizational systems

11
Systems Thinking Illustrated(drawing from
www.threesigma.com)
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Open Systems TheoryImportant Concepts

• Equifinality
• Equilibrium
• Loose v. Tight Coupling
• Openness v. Closedness
• Entropy

13
Max Weber and the Study of Bureacracy

• Ideal Types
• Types of Rationality
• Types of Authority

14
Bureaucracy as Organizational Form

• What are the key elements of bureaucracy?
• Strengths of Bureaucracy
• Fair, systematic, non-arbitrary
• Useful for large systems
• Stable
• Weakness of Bureaucracy
• Over-concentration of power
• Threat to individuality
• Formal rationality over substantive rationality

15
For Wednesday

• Read Chapter 6 Networks, pp. 156-171 (although,
  if you have a particular interest in
  relationships in organizations, youll want to
  read the whole chapter)
• Complete Journal Entry 2