Organizational Information Theory OIT 11 12 2012 Karl Weick 1969 1995 The social psychology of organizing Goal to describe how organizations collect manage and use the information that they receive Theoretical Influences on OIT General systems theory Bertalanffy 1968 o Systems theory as its base The interrelationship among organizational units highly related what happens in one department affects the other which effects the organization as a whole IT Accounting Human resources marketing production departments Malfunction in IT department disallows all other departments from accessing their files Feedback feedback cycles Different departments communicate with one another and share information through sharing of info we can function as an overall organization Want stability in an organization Theory of socio cultural evolution Darwin 1948 o survival of the fittest adapt in order to thrive and be successful organizations that map out plans for dealing with info that comes in on a daily basis with thrive Assumptions of OIT Organizations exists in an information environment o Totality of all info stimuli Information an organization receives differs in its equivocality o Information varies in terms of level of ambiguity to organization as a whole When info isn t routine it needs to be dealt with Information processing communication reduces equivocality Key concepts Equivocality Rules Information environment o Guidelines an organization has for dealing with information o 4 types of rules duration dealing with info that will take least amount of time personnel rules regarding who should receive the info success organizations tend to use rules that have been successful in the past experiences Effort want to accomplish things with the least amount of effort use effort most efficiently communication Cycles o series of communication behaviors used by members of an organization use to reduce the ambiguity of information go back and forth in cycles to understand all info and use info to achieve organizational goal o Three stages to a cycle Act communication behavior that indicates ambiguity Response communication behaviors that s attempts to exists lessen that ambiguity Adjustment communication behavior that is the response to the response Oh I get it now or please explain it a different way o Double interact loops of the information Can tact multiple cycles the cycle to reduce ambiguity Principles of Equivocality Reduction of equivocality depends on o Amount of equivocality Need more effort to deal with more ambiguities o Number of rules in place o Number of cycles needed Few rules in place more cycles will be needed to reduce equivocality More cycles used less equivocality remains o Should finally get to a level of understanding even if need to use a lot cycles Reducing equivocality 3 stages Enactment Analyzes situation o How ambiguous is it are there rules available to deal with this think of number of cycles that might need to be used Selection select rules to use out of options Retention remembering what you used so you can use it again in same situation Evaluation of OIT Positives o Utility focuses on communication process resonates with communication scholars o Heurism four models of public relations j grunig hunt 1984 Press Agentry Model Public Information Model 2 way asymmetrical model 2 way symmetrical model o 4 models of PR serves as a concrete application of OIT how organizations manage and use information according to particular purposes Negatives o Logical consistency Do people follow the rules Choice to follow rules Define Communication Intentionality Correspondence Meta Theory Ontological humanistic o Choice social contextualized Epistemological social scientific o Organization as a whole Axiological o Value free MIDDLE CLOSER TO SCIENTIFIC SIDE Classical Rhetorical Theory HUMANIST 11 12 2012 Classical rhetorical theories Aristolte s rhetoric 384 322 BC Quimtillian 54 to 96 CE George Campbell 1776 Contemporary rhetorical theories Dramatism The narrow paradigm CRT is Humanist Part of humanist tradition of theory building testing o Hermeneutic interpretive theories Methodological study of interpretation Aristotle Principles for creating meaning or discourse Differs from social scientific approaches speeches o Humanist deny objective truth humanist do NOT think that knowledge is certain epistemological Interpret things differently based on their life script o Humanist knowledge through human reasoning and social construction Definitions of Rhetoric Aristotle 384 322 BC o The ability to determine in any particular case all the available means of persuasion Falls under the public communication context one to many oral communication George Kennedy o Contemporary rhetorical theorist o A system of language intentionally used to persuade others decisions or actions Spoke and written word Goal To inform o Give information and clarify ideas concepts o To describe a process o To lay out a train of though To persuade To entertain o Change people s attitudes or beliefs about something o To call someone to action o Communication designed to entertain o Graduation speeches Origins of Classic Rhetorical theory Greece about the 5th century BCE o Need to argue to court in life or death situation Early rhetorical theorists emerge o The sophists taught public speaking basic principles of persuasion to Greek citizens o Plato disagreed with the sophists concerned with absolute truth about the world believed in absolute truths don t teach people how to argue something that is not the truth Aristotle Former student of plato o Disagreed with the sophists but more practical than plato o Concerned with probabilities not certainties The Rhetoric circa 384 BCE a comprehensive treatise on rhetoric o Lays out a prescriptive theory how to for constructing discourse public speeches o DESCRIBING A PROCESS Five Assumptions Rhetoric is designed to find the best or most appropriate form of influence or persuasion o Must consider the context Rhetorical Communication is Public o Speakers intend to influence their audience so they develop o Must consider the audience Rhetorical communication is intentional strategies to accomplish goals Rhetorical theory is a prescriptive art Effective speakers rely on proofs evidence Types of Proofs Inartistic proofs o Evidence that already exists in the world Artistic proofs Aristotle s main concern o Evidence the speaker creates Ethos received moral character of speaker Establish
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