Organizational Communication In An Age Of Globalization

The thought-provoking, timely second edition continues to offer a comprehensive, global perspective on organizational communication. The authors multinational experience, consulting and teaching expertise, enthusiasm for their subject, and engaging style of writing create an inviting foundation for the exploration of this multifaceted topic. Each chapter demonstrates the practicality of theory and how practice contributes to the development of theory, while challenging readers to build on established knowledge to develop new approaches to the pressing problems in complex, multicultural organizations. The text is organized topically around the most important issues in organizational communication. Five themes recur throughout the chapters: the interdependence of internal and external forms of organizational communication, the disciplinarity and multidisciplinarity of organizational communication, global and multicultural perspectives of organizational communication, the unity of theory and practice, and critical thinking in the analysis of organizational messages and discourses. Discussions highlight language and symbolism. The authors weave analysis of the multiple levels of messages throughout the chapters; stimulate critical thinking about contemporary work and organizational life; approach the familiar as unfamiliar; ask probing questions about commonly accepted practices; and offer more imaginative ways of working together. Readers gain an appreciation for the social, political, economic, technological, and ideological contexts in organizationsand the place of organizations within the broader culture. The authors lead by example in encouraging readers to think about, talk about, and experience organizational communication in entirely new ways.

Interorganizational Collaboration: Complexity, Ethics, and Communication centers around three key assertions: (1) interorganizational collaboration is complex and warrants study as a specific type of leadership and communication; (2) successful collaborative relationships are grounded in a principled ethic of democratic and egalitarian participation; and (3) interorganizational collaboration requires a specific communication language of practice. Interorganizational collaboration is influenced by increased interconnectedness, shifting organizational needs, and a changing workforce. Collaboration invokes ethical questions and ethical responsibilities that must be considered in communication practices and structures. Although there are many popular books and practitioner materials on collaboration, most are not focused on introducing foundational concepts to a novice audience. In addition, the subject of communication in collaboration has been somewhat underdeveloped. The authors focus on communication from a social constructionist stance. One of their primary goals is to develop a collaboration pedagogy based on existing communication scholarship. The authors present communicative practices vital to interorganizational participation, and they view collaboration as something beyond an exchange of resources and knowledge. Unlike group and organizational texts that approach collaboration from a functional or strategic perspective, this text anchors collaboration in the assumption that democratic and principled communication will foster creative and accountable outcomes for participants in collaborative problem solving. The authors articulate a collaborative ethic useful in all communicative contexts. Micropractices of communication are fundamental not only to collaborating across organizations but also to fostering just and trusting relationships. The book discusses the cornerstone assumptions and principled practices necessary for stakeholders to address problems—for example, recognizing and validating the needs of fellow stakeholders; separating people’s positions from underlying interests; listening for things that are never quite said; identifying overlapping commonalities; building trust while respecting difference; and constructively navigating conflict. The book also focuses on building collaborative praxis based on the assumption of contingency. Praxis cultivates knowledge and ethical understanding of a situation so participants in collaborations can make the best decision based on specific circumstances.

It is often said that the practice of management is in crisis, and that managers are now finding it harder than ever to develop strategies which withstand the shocks of the marketplace. This illuminating book cuts through these conflicting issues to show how organizational communication plays a vital role in confronting uncertainty. Arguing that many managers fail to adequately consider the communication consequences of the decision making process and its impact on organizational effectiveness, Hargie and Tourish present here numerous organizational communication insights, and show how they reveal a way through these dilemmas. Based on cutting-edge research findings and case studies, this book features contributions from the UK, USA, Canada, New Zealand and Norway, bringing multiple perspectives to this topical subject. The result is a comprehensive guide to organizational communication useful for managers, academics and students.

Communication in organizations has changed drastically since the release of the first edition of this bestselling textbook. This fully revised and updated edition delves into state-of-the-art studies, providing fresh insights into the challenges that organizations face today. Yet this foundational resource remains a cornerstone in the examination of classic research and theory in organization communication.

Over the last several years, the debate about publics seems to have newly emerged. This debate critically reflects the Habermasian ideal of a (national) public sphere in a transnational context. However, it seems that the issue of a reconstruction of a global public sphere is more complex. In this brilliant and provocative book, Ingrid Volkmer argues that a reflective approach of globalization is required in order to identify and deconstruct key strata of deliberate public discourse in supra- and subnational societal formations. This construction helps to understand the new processes of legitimacy at the beginning of the 21st century in which the traditional conception of a ‘public’ and its role as a legitimizing force are being challenged and transformed. The book unfolds this key phenomenon of global deliberate interconnectedness as a discursive and negotiated dimension within ‘reflective’ globalization, i.e. continuously constituting, maintaining and refining the ‘life’ of the global public and conceptualizes a global public sphere. Offering insightful case studies to illustrate this new theory of the global public sphere, the book will be essential reading for students and scholars of media and communication studies , and social and political theory.

Values at Work is an analysis of organizational dynamics with wide-ranging implications in an age of market globalization. It looks at the challenges businesses face to maintain people-oriented work systems while remaining successful in the larger economy. George Cheney revisits the famous Mondragon worker-owned-and-governed cooperatives in the Basque Country of Spain to examine how that collection of innovative and democratic businesses is responding to the broad trend of "marketization." The Mondragon cooperatives are changing in important ways as a direct result of both external pressures to be more competitive and the rise of consumerism, as well as through the modification of internal policies toward greater efficiency. One of the most remarkable aspects of the changes is that some of the same business slogans now heard around the globe are being adopted in this set of organizations renowned for its strongly held internal values, such as participatory democracy, solidarity, and equality. Instead of emphasizing the special or unique qualities of the Mondragon experience, this book demonstrates the case's relevance to trends in all sectors and across the industrialized world.