Communicating Who We Are

The Theory of Social and Organizational Culture in

the Workplace

Communication Theory (General)

• Encoding• Transmission• Decoding• Feedback

• Noise

Communicating through…

• Organizational Culture• Socialization• Feedback

Organizational Culture

Schein, Edgar H. Organizational Culture and Leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2004.• Based on what we do, don’t do, say, decide,

etc. based on a specific cultural context

Communication and Organizational Culture

How do you communicate in general?• E-mail• Telephone• Meetings (virtual and face to face)• One on one (in person and virtual)• Blogs• Twitter• Facebook• Etc.

Communication and Organizational Culture

• If you manage others how do you communicate with them?

• How about others such as your boss or outside your area?

• How do others in your organization communicate?

Communication: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

• Benefits• Detriments

What’s going on these days?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gcz81LQ2Fds

Communicating through Socialization

Van Maanen, John. People processing: Strategies of organizational socialization. Organizational Dynamics 7, no. 1 (1978): 18-36.• Theory is based on our need to reduce

anxiety

Formal Versus Informal

Serial Versus Disjunctive

Investiture Versus Divestiture

Source: Writers Directory, 25th ed. St. James Press, 2009.

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tortugaone/2790792076/in/set-72157606908781908/

Organizational Socialization

Van Maanen, John, and Schein, Edgar. Toward a theory of organizational socialization. Research in Organizational Behavior 1 (1979): 209-265.

Communication: Feedback

Share with someone next to you a positive or negative experience you have had with feedback.

Why was it positive or negative?

Communication: Research and Theory on Feedback

• Respect and relationship between the two parties• Solicited versus unsolicited• Credibility/knowledge • As soon as possible• Accurate, concrete, and irrefutable• Limited• Focus on behavior• Developmental stage

Kathleen Brinko (2010)

Wrapping Up

• Know that your message is affected by your experiences, mood, etc. and the experiences, mood, etc. of others.

• Culture effects communication. Don’t over rely on technology.

• Be conscious about how we bring new librarians into the organization.

Wrapping Up

Moniz, Richard J. Practical and Effective Management: Integrating Case Studies, General Management Theory and Self-Understanding. Oxford: Chandos Publishing, 2010.

richard.moniz@jwu.edu