Comm. 144F: Organizational Communication
Prof. Federico Varona

MID-TERM EXAM -  STUDY GUIDE

Chapter 1: AN ORIENTATION TO ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION
I.  Organization and Communication
1. The Concept of Organization
2. The Concept of Communication
II. Perspectives on Organizational Communication
1. Traditional Perspective
2. Interpretive Perspective
3. Critical Perspective: Feminisms

Chapter 2: COMMUNICATION AND ITS FUNCTIONS
I.  Communication Function and Structure Relationship
II. Communication, Information, and Meaning
III. Functions of Communication:
1.   Traditional Perspectives
2.   Interpretive Perspectives
3.   Critical Perspectives
4.   Interpersonal Communication: Relationship Development Among Workers

Chapter 3: Organizational Communication Structure
I.  Basics of the Traditional Approach
II. Formal Communication:
1.  Downward Communication
2.  Upward Communication
3.  Horizontal Communication
4. Diagonal Communication
5 . Information Distortion from the Traditional View
III. Informal Communication
IV. Communication Structure as a Network
V. Interpretive Approaches to Communication Structure
VI. Critical Approaches to Communication Structure

Chapter 4: Organizational Theory: Prescription for Control
I.  Scientific and Classical Management
1.Taylor’s Scientific Management
2. Fayol’s General Management
3. Weber’s Bureaucratic Theory
4. Common Themes in Taylor, Fayol, and Weber
II. The Human Relations Movement
1. The Hawthorne Studies and Elton Mayo
2. Implications
III. Human Resource Development
1.  McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y
2.  Likert’s Four Systems
3.  Theory Z

Chapter 5: Organizational Theory: Metaphors of Biology
I.  System Theory:
1.  System Concepts
2.  Influence in Org. Comm.
3.  Complexity and Chaos
II. Weick’s Theory of Organizing
1. Equivocality Reduction
2. The Evolutionary Metaphor
III. Luhmann's Social Systems Theory
1. Systems as communication
2. Episodes, Stability, and Change
3. Communications and Decision Contingencies
IV. Evolutionary Psychology

Chapter 6: Organization Theory: Communication and Culture
I.  Comm. and Culture: A way to understand organizations
1. Traditionalist Perspective
2. Interpretive Perspective
3. Critical-Interpretivist Perspective
4. Merging Perspectives
II. Approaches to Understanding Organizational Culture
1.   Consensual and Contested Meanings
2.   Multiple Cultures Perspective
3.   Metaphors
4.   Narratives
5.   Rites and Ceremonies
6.   Reflexive Comments
7.   Fantasy Themes

Chapter 7: Information Technology
I.  Information Technology and Change
II. Traditional Perspective
1.   Purposes of Info. Technology
2.   Digital Divide and Info. Techno. Fluency
3.   Organizational Impact
III. Interpretive Perspective
1. Techno. Influence on Sense Making
2.  Social Construction of Info. Techno.
IV. Critical Perspective
1. Techno. and Managerial Control
2.  Techno. and Global Control
3.  Techno.  and Resistance
4.  Technologized Life