Organisational Communication Theories
© Brian Brown, 1998-1999. All rights reserved.
Last Modified: January 28, 2000.

| Intrapersonal | Interpersonal | Group | Organization | Mass/Cultural |

This is a summary of the information in
Littlejohn, Stephen. (1992). Theories of Human Communication (5th Ed.). California: Wadsworth Publishing.
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MODEL OF STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM
Farace, Monge and Russell

• An organization is a system of at least two people with interdependence, input, throughput and output
• Communicators cooperate to produce a product by using energy, information and materials
• Applies information theory
• Two types of information
  • Absolute Information - all knowledge present in the system (what do we know)
  • Distributed Information - that which has been diffused through the organization (who knows it)
• A network is characterized in three ways
  • Scope of communication - level of analysis,
    • individuals
      • amount of information recieved, ie. load (function of complexity and rate)
      • underload occurs when rate is below your processing ability
      • overload occurs when rate exceeds capacity of your processing ability
    • dyads
      • governed by rules or expectations
      • connections between dyads are called links
        • symmetry - whether communication is equal or more one sided
        • strength - how often the communication takes place, more communication = stronger link
        • reciprocity - amount of agreement on what is communicated
        • content - what is discussed
        • mode - method of communication, face to face, email, phone, fax
    • groups
      • three type of group structures
        • micronetwork (communication pattern)
        • power relations (who influences who)
        • leadership (role distribution)
    • organization
      • maybe different structures for task work, power relations, social communication
      • Different network roles created by communication between groups
        • bridge - a member of a group linked to a member of another group
        • liason - connects two groups but is a member of neither
        • isolate - stand alone
      • characterized by
        • size (number of people)
        • centrality (degree to which people can access one another)
        • density or connectedness (ratio of actual links to possible links)
        • multiplexity (network overlap)
    • interorganizational (or environmental)
      • linkages between people from one organization to people in another organization

• Function of communication
  • production - deals with direction, coordination, control of task activities (what, when, how)
  • innovation - the pathway through which suggestions and insights are communicated (generates change and new ideas in the system)
  • maintenance - preserves values and relationships necessary to keep system together
• Structure of communication
  • emergent patterns or regularities in the transmission of messages
  • who talks to who
  • the flow of information through the organization
• Concepts of network theory are useful in providing a picture of the communication dynamics in an organization

"The positional tradition theories examine the ways management uses formal networks to achieve its objectives".
"The relational tradition theories examine the ways organization is accomplished by interaction between individuals."

  BUREAUCRACY THEORY (Positional)
Max Weber (pg. 307)

• An organization is a system of purposeful, interpersonal activity designed to coordinate tasks
• Authority in an organization comes from rules and regulations
  • Bureaucratic (rational-level) authority - vested in supervisors and managers
    • rules which allow solutions of problems, standardization, and equality
    • sphere of competence, systematic division of labor with each role having clearly defined rights and powers
    • hierarchy, seen in organizational charts
    • competence, people are promoted on their knowledge and merits
    • non-ownership
    • freedom to allocate resources by managers
    • carefully maintained records (paper trail)
    • non-bureaucratic leadership
• Presents a traditional view of an organization*
• Communication in an organization is not treated as a variable or seen as important by this theory

FOUR SYSTEMS THEORY (Positional)
Likert (pg. 308)

• Looks at human relations from a production, management orientated perspective
• If you care for and nuture workers, the organizations operations will improve
• An organization functions along a continium of four systems
  1. exploitative-authorative system - deals with iron hand, no feedback
  2. benevolent-authorative system - manager is more sensitive
  3. consultative system - seeks consultation from workers
  4. participative management system - workers participate in decision making
• System of management causes certain outcomes to occur
  • authoritative managers - less group loyalty, more conflict, lower productivity
  • Participative management - higher performance, increased sense of responsibility and motivation

"With its emphasis on concertive control, this theory is really in both the positional and relational tradition."

MODEL OF CONTROLLING ORGANIZATIONS
(ORGANIZATIONAL IDENTIFICATION THEORY)
Tomkins, Chenney (pg. 312)

• Control in an organization is exterted in four ways
  • Simple control - by the use of direct open power (like likerts system 1 management, do as you are told)
  • Technical control - by use of machinery
  • Bureaucratic control - use of organizational procedures and formal rules (like Weber), training manual, policies, memos, reports
  • Concertive control - use of interpersonal relationships and teamwork - relies on a shared reality and shared values
• Control is accomplished by shaping the decisions made by organizational members
• Enthymemes are used for unobtrusive control of decision making - company newsletters, training programs, incentives (increased productivity = job retention)

"The relational tradition theories examine the ways organization is accomplished by interaction between individuals."

ORGANIZATIONAL MODEL (Relational)
Weick (pg. 314)

• Uses communication as a basis for human organizing and provides a rationale for understanding how people organize
• Organization is something people create through communication and their activity
• Organizing Activities
  • Act - statement or behavior of an individual
  • Interact - an act followed by a response
  • Double Interact - an act followed by a response, then an adjustment or follow-up by the first individual
• Organizing activities reduce uncertainty of information
• Relies upon three major processes
  • enactment - defining the situation
  • selection - narrowing, rejecting some aspects, reducing equivocality
  • retention - some aspects of information saved for future use
• Behaviour cycles
  • sets of interlocked behaviors that enable the group to reach understanding about what to include and what to reject
  • members actions are governed by assembly rules - sets of criteria used to decide how to reduce equivocality

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT THEORY
Frederick Taylor

• Taylor, Frederick: The principles of scientific management. http://melbecon.unimelb.edu.au/het/taylor/sciman.htm also found at http://www.cohums.ohio-state.edu/history/courses/hist563/fwt5-29.htm

Griffin. (1994). A first look at communication theory. (2nd Ed.). McGraw Hill.