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Communicating Who We Are The Theory of Social and Organizational Culture in the Workplace
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.
