Foundational Concepts

 I.         What is “Transactional Communication?”

A.     The “Action” model (of communication) - archery metaphor

1.      Active sender / passive receiver

2.      Message/meaning is “fixed”

3.      Sender and receiver are unchanged

4.      Fault for problems lies with the sender

 

B.     The “Interaction” model - ping pong metaphor

1.      Active sender AND receiver

2.      Message/meaning can be “misinterpreted” by receiver

3.      Sender and receiver are unchanged

4.      Fault for problems lies (usually) with the receiver

 

C.    The “Transactional” model - creation metaphor

1.      Active sender AND receiver

2.      Message/meaning are jointly created by sender and receiver

3.      Sender and receiver are changed by the communication process

4.      Fault for problems is largely irrelevant

 

 II.       The Social Dialectic

A.     Organizations are the product of the transactions of individuals, yet

B.     Individuals only become who they are as a result of the social environment (organizations) they are a part of.

C.    Thus, individuals both create and are created by organization, continuously

 

 You and Org. Comm.

 Employees, in the modern org, must understand the relations between effective communication and the successful operation of the organization (and their personal success within it).  Thus, employees must understand how to choose the most appropriate strategies in different situations.  ADAPTATION!

                                                                                                                                                           

i.        Strategic Communication is the ability to

ii.      analyze the situation - This requires –

(1)   a vocabulary which allows recognition of important features of the organization and its activities  &

(2)   pattern recognition (including the novel patterns) – What events, people and structures connect to each other repeatedly

iii.    select appropriate communication strategies

iv.     enact those strategies successfully/skillfully

 

        !  diagnosis = 2 and 3 

        !  3 requires a repertoire of strategy & tactics

 

 

 III.            An Overview of Organizational Communication

 

A.      Defining “communication” and “Organizational Communication.”

1.      Communication = people, acting mutually, to manage meaning, (emergent meaning), in context

2.      Org. Comm. = a different (often more complex) context, multiple levels relationships (especially interesting is power), a different shared organizational “culture.”

 

3.      The Central Premise of the course.  " The central dilemma organizations face is that

(1)   the organization's need for control and coordination is in continual tension with

(2)   the individual's need for autonomy, sociability, and creativity." [ Charles Conrad ]  (Individuals also need structure, stability, predictability in order to know how to go about meeting their needs.)

                                                                       

(3)   This requires "flexible" mechanisms of control

(4)   Culture is a control and coordination mechanism

(5)  When culture fails to adequately resolve the dilemma, "misunderstandings" occur.
[ C. Conrad (1990).  Strategic Organizational Communication.  Holt, vii. ]
 

    This accounts for the dramatic growth of the field of Org. Comm. 

                                                                                                                       

4.      What do we  mean by “strategic?”

a.      Strategy is a choice, a way of accomplishing work, e.g bureaucracy

b.      Often multiple strategies exist in a signle organization or office.

c.      Strategies have communication implications

 

d.      For individuals within organizations strategies create

(1)   guidelines for action/communication

(2)   constraints (limits) on their actions

(3)   resources for accomplishing action

(a)   When choices of action are complex and conflicted paralysis can occur.

 

e.      Individual choices create and change d1, d2, and d3 above (a dialectic)

 

 

 Discussion Questions for Wednesday.

 

1.       Using your own experience in organizations, what are some typical examples of the conflict between individual needs and organizational needs?

2.      Using your own experience in organizations, what are some typical organizational efforts to solve this problem?