Week 8: Decision Making Processes

This week we have covered that decision-making processes is essential in organization. Decision-making is relatively involving rational and logical thinking where members noticed a problem that necessitates a decision to solve or improve it.

Formal leader Kevin Rudd mentioned that instead of labor party members to vote and make the decision, he urged the party to go for one key decision-making role (Behrmann, 2011).

As Miller (2012) suggested, when there are group of people making decision together, the result will be affective and ineffective. Therefore, main decision-making role in group communication can reduce the risk of groupthink in decision making collectives.

Giving other party members to make decision can be seen as a paradoxes of participative democracy in decision-making theory as well. As Miller (2012) suggested the paradoxes (structure, agency, identity and power) not only involve democracy in decision making, but also concerning an individual’s ability and responsibility.  

References:

Behrmann, E 2011, 'Rudd says Labor Risks Becoming Minority Party Without Change,' Bloomberg Business Week 28 November, viewed 22 September 2013, <http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-11-28/rudd-says-labor-risks-becoming-minority-party-without-change.html>.

Miller, K 2012, Organization Communication, 6^th edn, Wadsworth Cengage Learning, Boston.

Week 7: Socialisation Processes

In organization, socialization processes in organization is important that allow organization members to understand an occupation and learn about the organization.

According to the Anker (2010), socialization is processes that help new-comers to understand the content and information of an organization, which will help them to adapt in the organization.

The context and information can be derived by newcomers include the rules and regulations, people, background, and the goal and values of an organization.

As an international student, when I first arrived in University of South Australia, there are numbers of things I need to learn through socialization in order to adapt in the university. For instance, a friend of mine who have been in Adelaide and she transferred to Unisa earlier than me, she did helps me a lot in acquire information about the campus, such as the availability of campus facilities, how to overrides full classes, update student ID card in order to get 24 hours access and so forth.

She guided and provided all the information throughout our conversations and meeting up, which can be seen as socialization processes. Without socializing communication, I might not know that I could access the computer pool in 7 days 24 hours.

Therefore, similar to socialization in organization, employees need to first communicate with interviewer in order to understand what is the role’s responsibility, then, new employed individuals can seek information through questions, conversations and observations.

Throughout the information seeking tactics, new-comers can learn and understand a company project and goal, how the people do things, what kinds of communication channel that the organization members prefer to communicate (written or verbal) and so forth.

Clearly, socialization in organization can be seen as a learning and information seeking processes.

References:

Miller, K 2012, Organization Communication, 6^th edn, Wadsworth Cengage Learning, Boston.

Week 6: Critical Approaches

Critical theory helps us ask question about how we can change and reform organizational practices to better represent a variety of workers with competing interest. 

Miller (2012) points out the concertive control and feminist theory, which signify the power imbalances relies on the issue of gender setting, and this type of imbalances is believe as a barriers in workplace dominant processes. 

Feminist theory focuses on the marginalization and domination of women in the workplace and the valuing of women's voices in all organization (Shockley-Zalabak, 2009). In organizational communication, it is believe that gender is socially constructed and enacted in organizations with messages, structures and practices becoming the context for gender negotiation. 

In short, critical approach in feminist theory explores the consequences of these socialized differences between men and women. This theory attempts to push our society beyond stereotyping that devalue women, and eliminate the bias ideology of power and gender in organizations.

References:

Miller, K 2012, Organization Communication, 6^th edn, Wadsworth Cengage Learning, Boston.

Shockley-Zalabak, PS 2009, Fundamentals of Organizational Communication, 7th edn, Pearson Education, Boston.

Week 5: Cultural Approaches

This chapter has presented approaches about business practices that popularised the notion of organizational culture.

 

Lund (2003) concluded that job satisfaction is positively related to the organizations which have cultures of flexibility and spontaneity while it is negatively related to control and order. Cultural practices in an organisation can tremendously affect the relationship between workers and employers, as well as the organisation's performances. 

Recent news reported that a considerable numbers of Nepalese migrant labourers are enduring appalling labour abuses in Qatar World Cup infrastructure project (Pattissons, 2013). 

The Guardian investigation reveals that Nepalese workers experience several exploitation in the workplace, such as loss of life, physical injuries, no salary, confiscate their passport, being restricted to free drinking water in dessert heat environment. These brutal working conditions forced those workers to work without pay and left them begging for food in the streets.

(Videos: Qatar: the migrants workers forced to work for no pay in World Cup host country.)

In cultural approaches theory, Peter and Waterman's suggested that to be an 'excellent' organisation, the relationship among employees and management should be positive and respectful, share the same core value of productivity and performance (Miller, 2012). Schein's explanation of organisation culture is developed through physical and social environment, values, and basic assumptions (Schein, 1992).

However, the cultural practices in Qatar is clearly a failure in organisation communication, the negative culture not only produces abusive and unfair values in the workplace, the mistreatment of workers will destruct the public's values and the organization's performances.  

As Peters and Waterman also suggested that having the 'right' organizational culture is a prescription for success. Therefore, the Qatari labour ministry enforces laws to ensure the workers' rights. Law enforces can be seen as 'change' suggested by 'Onion model' to help overcome errors of an organization.

References:

Lund, D 2003, 'Organizational Culture and Job Satisfaction', The Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 219-236.

Pattisson, P 2013, 'Revealed: Qatar's World Cup 'slaves', The Guardian 26 September, viewed 28 September 2013, <http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/25/revealed-qatars-world-cup-slaves>.

Schein, EH 1992, Organizational culture and leadership, 2nd edn, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.