ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE THEORY in class qualitative theory looking at myths and themes studying an organization how orgs communicate and how It evolves over time theyre ever changing like a living organism ex Even if we looked at a yearbook from the 80s we can recognize our facility shared reality all members contribute regardless of position symbols ex We communicate our values vires artes mortes through our seal behavioral ex sga elections graduation verbal ex white trash Wednesday sometimes its direct observation where you observe whats going on and sometimes its participant obs And youre taking part in whats going on ritual performance registering for classes walking to the union on Wednesday having breakfast buying books passion the team runs out sing war chant and start crying sociality market Wednesday rush on game day you pass someone and say go noles political student senate slating for adpi officers faculty senate enculturation orientation going to first football game play convocation Defined by a life cycle of change organizations are complex and experience constant cycles of change These life cycles can result in confusion anxiety frustration disbelief or excitement on the part of the members of the organization emotions especially acute during stressful times ex Recession and company layoffs in 2010 In order to understand how organizations evolve Pacanowsky O Donnell Trujillo developed Org Culture Theory as a means of examining how organizations communicate and evolve over time Culture is not something an organization HAS a culture is something an organization IS The Cultural Metaphor The Spider Web Geertz 1973 Organizational culture the essence of organizational life Includes the emotional psychological atmosphere ex Employee morale levels of productivity attitudes Cultures are intricate like a spider s web each strand of the web represents an aspect of the organization People are critical to the organization just as spiders are to the spider web Several different types of communication stories gossip jokes are used to create the web Assumptions of the cultural approach Organizational members create and maintain a shared reality All members regardless of position contribute to organizational development Organizational values inform members about what is most important in a culture The use and interpretation of symbols are critical to an organization s culture Symbols represent shared meaning of organization members and include verbal and non verbal communication Organization members create use and interpret symbols in order to maintain their sense of organizational reality Organizational values can also be communicated through the use of symbols Physical buildings logos objects decor Behavioral rituals ceremonies traditions Verbal jargon nicknames stories jokes Cultures and their interpretations vary across organizations Interpretation of the communication that takes place within an organization differs depending on the organization Understanding Organizational Culture ethnographically According to Geertz 1973 one must immerse themselves IN an organizational culture and see it from a member s perspective to truly understand what is happening in a culture This is often done by 1 Direct observation 2 Interviews 3 Participant observation Field journals used to record experiences record feelings about communicating w a diff culture The goal is a thick description of the layers of meaning within an organization The Communicative Performance Organization members are actors participating in communicative performances that create a unique organizational culture Performances can be classified loosely into Five categories 1 Ritual performances regular and reoccurring presentations in the work place Personal things your routinely do each day at the work place ex Regularly checking your voicemail task routine behaviors associated with a persons job ex At a car place they have to verify costomers car insurance social verbal nonverbal routines that normally take into consideration interactions with others ex My friend group does HH every fri organizational frequently occurring company events ex Faculty mtgs pinick ex 2 Passion performances organizational stories that employees share with one another ex telling a story every year to the new employees to keep them from engaging in bad behavior 3 Sociality performances organizational behaviors demonstrating cooperation politeness w others ex When I say good morning to roommates even when times are tense 4 Politics performances behavior that demonstrates power control ex Nurses were quiet about their pay then they spoke up and gained control because they got more pay 5 Enculturation performances assist employees in discovering what it means to be a member of an organization Critique of Organizational Culture Theory Heurism applicable in many contexts and cultures Utility useful and relevant in explaining virtually any employee member experience within an organization Logical consistency high level of consistency because of the concept of culture some feel the theory relies too much on shared meaning which in turn jeopardizes consistency THE RHETORIC of Aristotle In class Aristole taught at a university FALSE there were none Said that people need logic treat the audience like they re intelligent SPA Socrates taught plato who taught Aristotle learn from one and teach the other Aristole was way more interested in logic and facts than plato was Sophists created public speaking handbooks that were political based aristole didn t like this because there are speeches that aren t political Ethos credibility intelligence pathos emotional logos logical proof ex deductive reasoning Neel 1994 said we need to go back to Aristotle because pjordan is bad Syllogism 2 propositions major and minor that lead to a conclusions Ex This is this and this is this therefore we have this It is simplicity that makes the uneducated more effective than the educated when addressing popular audiences Aristotle 384 BC 322 BC Rhetoric Thinking about and studying Public Speaking is important for several reasons It is a skill employers seek in potential employees It allows us as a society to be open to listening to conflicting viewpoints Information communicated to a group can resonate beyond the initial group Public speaking is a critical skill in a democratic society Aristotle is generally thought to be the person who drew significant attention to public speaking
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