Organizational Communication Studies Research Articles

INTERAKSI KOMUNIKASI ORGANISASI

Organizational communication is a study that will provide benefits not only for anyone who wants to understand better the behavior of the organization, but it also has a pragmatic aspect for people who want to assert performance as a participant or member of an organization . The study of organizational communication can provide a strong foundation for a career in management, human resource development, and corporate communications, as well as other tasks oriented to people within the organization. Communication involves the organization of formal and informal forms of communication, and other forms of interpersonal communication and group communication, and public communication. Approach and understanding of the interaction in organizational communication, we can further improve the performance, achievement, and achieve goals that have been set together.

Uma perspectiva sistêmico-discursiva para estudos em comunicação organizacional

This paper approaches Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory and the discursive approach of Eliseo Veron, in order to build an epistemic and methodological framework to support organizational communication studies. The central concepts of systems theory and assumptions of the discursive approach are discussed in order to provide a synthesis of the systemicdiscursive perspective, as well as to indicate an alternative notion of organizational communication and its impact on research. In this perspective, communication can be considered the essence of the organization. Through which is built and maintained the fundamental distinction that ensures its systemic condition.

An eventful view of organizations

Recent work in organizational discourse and communication studies has engaged considerably with ontological questions in an effort to resolve dualistic understandings of discourse and materiality, problematizing the existence of objects as immutable, mechanical, and real. We argue that organizational and communication scholars can obtain further purchase on the issue by explicitly taking an eventful worldview, and treating ontology as temporal, processual, and ongoing. Drawing mainly from Deleuze, we animate this eventful view by considering three cases of direct action as a form of global activism in both object-bound and event-oriented ontologies to illustrate how an eventful view affords new insights into organizing. We argue that an eventful view of organizing moves us further beyond dualistic thinking by emphasizing the process through which material and idealistic elements intersect and transform, over space and time, in facilitating the ongoing becoming of organizing.

Using Ethnography of Communication in Organizational Research

Ethnography of Communication offers new analytical and interpretive possibilities for contextually sensitized, language- and communication-based ethnographic studies of management and organization. In this article we provide an introduction and overview of relevant linguistic and related fields, positioning Ethnography of Communication within the broader context of anthropology, ethnomethodology, and sociolinguistics. We describe Dell Hymes’s seminal contribution to theory and method of Ethnography of Communication (foregrounding Hymes’s signature concept of “communicative competence”) and outline what the application of an Ethnography of Communication approach in management research might entail (illustrating the application of Hymes’s SPEAKING grid). We conclude by offering an example of how the methods of Ethnography of Communication might be applied usefully to the study of organizational language, discourse, and communication.

James R. TAYLOR & Elizabeth VAN EVERY (2014), When organization fails. Why authority matters, New York, NY: Routledge.

The unplugged section edits some book reviews special forums dedicated to a topic, an author or a theoretical perspective. This second forum considers three important volumes gravitating around the communicative constitution of organizations perspective. Originated in a seminal contribution from one of our reviewers, Robert McPhee, who based his work on Giddens’s structuration theory, this perspective experienced different avenues and forms now a “rather heterogeneous theoretical endeavor” (Schoeneborn et al., 2014). Montreal School of organizational communication constitutes one of the main pillars of this perspective; James R. Taylor and François Cooren recently offered some stimulating volumes, carving out their own path within organizational communication studies. The CCO perspective has significantly disseminated in the field of organizing studies and an effective conversation henceforth unfolds with various discursive studies.

François COOREN (2015), Organizational discourse, Cambridge: Polity Press.

The unplugged section edits some book reviews special forums dedicated to a topic, an author or a theoretical perspective. This second forum considers three important volumes gravitating around the communicative constitution of organizations perspective. Originated in a seminal contribution from one of our reviewers, Robert McPhee, who based his work on Giddens’s structuration theory, this perspective experienced different avenues and forms now a “rather heterogeneous theoretical endeavor” (Schoeneborn et al., 2014). Montreal School of organizational communication constitutes one of the main pillars of this perspective; James R. Taylor and François Cooren recently offered some stimulating volumes, carving out their own path within organizational communication studies. The CCO perspective has significantly disseminated in the field of organizing studies and an effective conversation henceforth unfolds with various discursive studies.

Cornelissen, J.P. (2014), Corporate Communication: A Guide to Theory and Practice. London: Sage, fourth edition

Concebendo como possibilidade um “percurso de afirmação progressista” (Ruão, 2004), saúde-se o olhar proposto pelas Coordenadoras deste volume, sobre o estudo da comunicação nas organizações...

Cornelissen, J.P. (2014), Corporate Communication: A Guide to Theory and Practice. London: Sage, fourth edition

As they discuss the admitted existence of a ‘journey of progressive affirmation’ (Ruão, 2004), the Editors of this volume should be congratulated on the study of organizational communication for several reasons...

Organizational Communication: contexts, paradigms and comprehensive conceptualization

This article makes an analysis on communication in organizations in the broadestsense. It analyzes the role of organizations in the context of contemporary society, theirtransformations, implications and new requirements. This work also emphasizes theimportance of considering the socioeconomic environment to situate the practices oforganizational communication. It highlights the power that the communication playsin the digital age with all the technological innovations and implementations, as wellas the impacts of communication in organizations. Besides, it analyzes the paradigmsin studies of organizational communication, the transformations from a linear pointof view to an interactive practice, exploring the instrumental, human, cultural andstrategic dimensions.

The Three Schools of CCO Thinking

The idea of the communicative constitution of organizations (CCO) has gained considerable attention in organizational communication studies. This rather heterogeneous theoretical endeavor is driven by three main schools of thought: the Montreal School of Organizational Communication, the Four-Flows Model (based on Giddens’s Structuration Theory), and Luhmann’s Theory of Social Systems. In this article, we let proponents of all three schools directly speak to each other in form of an interactive dialogue that is structured around guiding questions addressing the epistemological, ontological, and methodological dimension of CCO as a theoretical paradigm. Based on this dialogue, we systematically compare the three schools of CCO thinking and identify common grounds as well as key differences.

Narrative Theory and Criticism: An Overview Toward Clusters and Empathy

In this article, we overview the contributions to narrative theory and criticism across four subdisciplines of communication: rhetoric, organizational communication, health communication and cultural studies. We note that much of this work has focused on stories as individual artifacts. We propose that future work on narrative should highlight the complexity of narrative by addressing narrative clusters. Furthermore, an interpretive method of analysis that relies on extended empathy is suggested for future research, along with the development of a theory of narrative empathy. In short, we encourage researchers to explore, interpret and assess narrative and narrative clusters by way of extended empathy, a goal for expanding horizons toward understanding self and others.

Importance of Effective Communication in Public Organisations

<p>Communication has crucial impacts within or among workgroups in both private and public organizations. Communication can be a channel to flow information, resources, and even policies. Given the importance of organization communication and its managerial impacts, further research is needed to explore this topic as it relates to both private and public administration field. To this end, this study assesses the impacts of organizational communication on the perception of red tape by comparing internal communication with external, especially client-oriented, communication in both public and non-profit organizations. <br />Utilizing current literature, this paper will examine effective organizational communication within a private and public organization. Many organizations today often look at communication and leadership as one-dimensional; the inability of leaders in small organizations to adapt to a leadership style that effectively communicates with the employee hinders organizational performance. This study examines the communication exchange within a private and public organization and its effects on the organizational culture and employee performance.<br />This study summarizes the increasing importance of organizational communication, the basic theoretical perspectives that guide the study of communication and the key distinctions that guide the study of organizational communication, the key functions of communication in organizations. Because organizational communication has become such a big topic, this study is limited to addressing internal and external organizational communication.</p>

Book Review: Reframing Difference in Organizational Communication Studies: Research, Pedagogy, Practice

Dennis K. Mumby (Ed.), Reframing Difference in Organizational Communication Studies: Research, Pedagogy, Practice. SAGE Publications Inc., 2011, xiii + 311 pp., Price not mentioned (Paperback).

Communication as Ventriloquism: A Grounded-in-Action Approach to the Study of Organizational Tensions

Tension-centered analyses are increasingly popular in organizational communication studies. Hence, how tensions emerge and are dealt with by organizational members in their work activities are key issues of debate in our field. The purpose of this article is to develop a ventriloqual approach for investigating how organizational tensions (whether expressed in the form of contradictions, dilemmas, paradoxes, or situational ironies) are communicatively constituted through the mobilization of figures that contradict or clash with each other. To demonstrate the theoretical and empirical value of this approach, we use it to analyze two fieldwork cases from a seven-year ethnographic study of Médecins sans Frontières, and thus show how tensions shape organizational members' realities by being felt and sensed in interactions.

Transcending transmission

PurposeExtant research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication primarily relies on a transmission model of communication that treats organizations and communication as distinct phenomena. This approach has been criticized for neglecting the formative role of communication in the emergence of organizations. This paper seeks to propose to reconceptualize CSR communication by drawing on the “communication constitutes organizations” (CCO) perspective.Design/methodology/approachThis is a conceptual paper that explores the implications of switching from an instrumental to a constitutive notion of communication.FindingsThe study brings forth four main findings: from the CCO view, organizations are constituted by several, partly dissonant, and potentially contradictory communicative practices. From that viewpoint, the potential impact of CSR communication becomes a matter of connectivity of CSR to other practices of organizational communication. Communication practices that concern CSR should not be generally dismissed as mere “greenwashing” – given that some forms of talk can be action. Consequently, there is a need to investigate which specific speech acts create accountability and commitment in the context of CSR. The CCO view shows that CSR communication potentially extends the boundary of the organization through the involvement of third parties. Thus, it is fruitful to study CSR communication as a set of practices that aims at boundary maintenance and extension. Organizations are stabilized by various non‐human entities that “act” on their behalf. Accordingly, CSR communication should also take into account non‐human agency and responsibility.Originality/valueThis paper links the literature on CSR communication to broader debates in organizational communication studies and, in particular, to the CCO perspective. By applying the CCO view, it reconceptualizes CSR communication as a complex process of meaning negotiation.

Experiencing Gossip: The Foundations for a Theory of Embedded Organizational Gossip

This article presents findings on the nature and operation of gossip that emerged from an empirical study of organizational communication during a chief executive officer (CEO) succession process. By studying gossip within the context of a broader study of change-related communication, new insights were gained that extend, and in some respects challenge, commonly accepted views of the nature of gossip. The findings suggest gossip is experienced as coupled to or embedded in the other forms of change communication employees encountered across the CEO succession process. Gossip appears to be experienced as an integral part of sensemaking and social exchange and not as a phenomenon that can be fully understood in isolation to the formal and other types of informal communication that contribute to these processes. These findings provide the foundations for a theory of embedded organizational gossip that is offered here as a framework for further empirical study.

Effective Organizational Communication: a Key to Employee Motivation and Performance

Organisational Communication, in today’s organizations has not only become far more complex and varied but has become an important factor for overall organizational functioning and success. The way the organization communicates with its employees is reflected in morale, motivation and performance of the employees. The objective of the present paper is to explore the interrelationship between communication and motivation and its overall impact on employee performance. The paper focuses on the fact that communication in the workplace can take many forms and has a lasting effect on employee motivation. If employees feel that communication from management is effective, it can lead to feelings of job satisfaction, commitment to the organisation and increased trust in the workplace. This study was conducted through a comprehensive review and critical analysis of the research and literature focused upon the objectives of the paper. It also enumerates the results of a study of organizational communication and motivational practices followed at a large manufacturing company, Vanaz Engineers Ltd., based at Pune, to support the hypothesis propounded in the paper.

Politics Even Closer to Home: Repositioning CME from the Standpoint of Communication Studies

This essay aims to bring politics closer to home in two main ways. First, we address geographical and disciplinary spaces and identities in order to propose a fruitful `breeding ground' for critical management education (CME) in the US context: organizational and instructional communication studies. Second, we engage recent calls for self-reflexivity among CME scholars, re-directing the critical lens from `mainstream' management education to political dynamics embedded in our own practices. As we articulate possibilities for both institutional, theoretical and practical collaboration, we emphasize how CME and communication scholars might work together to illuminate and transform embodied relations of difference.

O que as ciências da linguagem podem dizer para os estudos em comunicação organizacional?

Este artigo, ao propor um diálogo entre os estudos de pragmática e de comunicação organizacional, procura mostrar que a linguística pode, e muito, contribuir para os estudos da comunicação organizacional e destaca como especialmente importantes as pesquisas na área da pragmática linguística, que estuda o comportamento verbal humano e, mais precisamente, a comunicação humana, oral ou escrita, que acontece em ambientes públicos ou privados. A pragmática busca identificar os recursos linguísticos por meio dos quais as pessoas criam suas atividades, identidades, crenças, ideologias, comunidades, conhecimentos etc., assim como as estratégias de seu uso.

Does Email Communication Increase Participation in Organizational Decision Making?

One of the main issues crossing the fields of organization theory, communication theory, and information technology is whether email communication does increase participation in decision making. Common sense and some case studies suggest the so-called argument: since email allows direct (non-filtered) communication between people and identity/status concealment, it enhances more freely and easy participation in decision making. This view is especially argued by technological imperative approaches to organizational communication and media studies, which more or less explicitly assume that, given certain technological potentialities, sooner or later users will full explore and exploit them. Whether this is true or not, the technical trait of keeping trace induced some authors to point at the risk of favouring control and surveillance over workers' behaviour. In order to empirically investigate the democratization and the (dark) side effect of email communication, propensity and forms of email participation in organizational decision making have been studied confronting three types of communicators: those more oriented to use traditional media, computer-mediated (email and internet) media, and finally those who use a mix of both types of communication means. Based on 600 respondents to an online questionnaire supplied to the employees of a multinational corporation, the present research allows testing the democratization argument. Moreover, since respondents are distributed over three subsidiaries (I, NL, and UK), it is possible to understand whether nationality matters.