Sunday, December 16, 2007
Blog opinion
I very much enjoyed the blog this semester. I actually feel as though I understand organizational communications, perhaps better than if we had, had multiple tests. I like when I can think about a subject and reflect on my life to apply what I have learned in class. I don't think taht very much needs to be changed, but I have had some trouble with extra add-ins throughout the semester, I guess the computer and I do not always get along, but other than that I really think that this assignment is a good one to use for this class.
Final Post
Post #8: Based on the themes we have discussed in class throughout the semester, describe one major change that you would make to an organization that you are familiar with. This change could have to do with the organization of space and time, or the use of team based work, management practices, gender relations or any number of other themes that we have covered.
I have spent the past two and a half years working with the Student Managers Organization (SMO) at Notre Dame, and it is definitely an organization that deserves to be analyzed and had some changes made. There are 21 junior managers that will move on to the 17 other varsity sports that are active at the University. The organization is so large and organizes team functions for over 200 people. With SMO, the fall semester of junior year is spent strictly with the football team. We work fall practice, daily practice, set up and take down the equipment used during every practice and move equipment wherever it needs to be moved. We also travel with the team to its various locations, attend meetings, and meals with them.
The football sect of the organization is a large organization in itself. We have our own building and offices in the Gugelimino building, and we can have practice outside on grass fields or inside on the turf fields. The physical space for the managers at least is not in an office. We work primarily behind the scenes, and we have a “mudroom” that basically holds a lot of equipment such as balls and cones, and the players’ game cleats. It is not a comfortable environment, but we do not do much work in there in the grand scheme of things, so it doesn’t need to be a nice place to rest and think. Because the managers are the lowest in the football pecking order, we do not have a nice place, and the surroundings let us know that. We do however make the best of it. The camaraderie between the 21 people is very strong, and if we are doing work in the manager mudroom we simply get cozy. We work in several other places, but it is known that other than the equipment that we bring in, we aren’t allowed to touch anything, and as a woman, if a player enters the locker room, I have to leave. The physical space on game day is one of enjoyment. Like the stage of a theatre or the floor of the Coliseum, the Notre dame stadium, or whatever stadium we happened to be playing in, would be my place to work. With all of the experience I had gained through practice, and the discipline I have learned throughout my time in the organization, being on the front lines of a division 1 college football game seemed like a reward, no matter the outcome. All of the hard work through good and bad weather, cramped conditions and hard labor were worth it to be at that game at that time. The physical space may have been the most enjoyable aspect of my work
The way that the organization functions as an organization is more complicated than the space environment. In managers, as well as the football organization as a whole, there is a definitive pecking order, and this pecking order uses communication in several different ways. The first way uses communication as information transfer. Kevin White, the Athletic director of Notre Dame is on the same if not a higher level than Charlie Weis, only he doesn’t have any say in what goes on in practice. Charlie Weis leads the team, but he also has various tasks and opinions of the managers. He tells Henry Scroope, and Matt Kerls anything that he feels we should be doing, or helping him out with on the administrative side. Henry, who is in charge of Matt, tells my boss Kathleen what he wants us to do in terms of practice, equipment and relays any messages that Charlie may have said to Henry about us. It is an order from the top down, and at times can almost be a problem. This type of communication can be problematic because it “does not account for differences in interpretation between speaker and listener” (41). At some times when there is no time to ask questions, if the message is not conveyed strongly enough from the top down, the message can be skewed and changed slightly. Also if there is no room for discussion, it also leaves no room for reasoning it a task will be very difficult. Kathleen helps the managers out by relaying messages back up to Henry, but it doesn’t always get done in a timely fashion, and does not always help out a manager.
It is also in this top down method, that SMO reminds me of classical management. When we first arrived at fall camp, we were issued 2 t shirts, two pairs of mesh shorts, socks, tennis shoes, hats, polos and a “casual” blue shirt, all with the intention that during fall camp, as well as other football functions throughout the year, we would be dressed the same. In fact, at the end of the year, when a few people were wearing the wrong color t-shirt and shorts, there was a problem. With classical management approaches, there were, “…ranks uniforms, regulations, task specialization, standardized equipment, command language and drill instruction…this success served as a model for organizational action, one based on the division of labor and machinelike efficiency” (65). The student managers, especially during practices were well-oiled machines, that rarely made mistakes, and worked very quickly, and of course, the power and instruction came from the top down. Mixed in with classical management also came the idea of scientific management. We were slow at the beginning, and they told us this. Gradually with time and confidence we got better, but as the semester went on and we grew tired, there would be a reminder of how we need to keep moving faster. What is interesting about this thought is that as junior student managers we were always hurrying up to wait. We would hurry up to set the field for the players, but they wouldn’t arrive to the field for about a half an hour to an hour after we were done. This inefficiency on the side of the team or the head managers would be something that I change. If we finish setting up we should go to practice so that the momentum isn’t stopped.
SMO shows some of the colors of bureaucracy. As defined by W. Richard Scott organizational bureaucracy has the following characteristics, “ A fixed division of labor among participants, a hierarchy of offices, a set of general rules that govern performances, a rigid separation of personal life from work life, the selection of personnel on the basis of technical qualifications and equal treatment of all employees” (77). While this ideal bureaucracy was not seen as completely possible, everything but the last two, are exactly what I have encountered through my experience. I am not saying with this that I did not enjoy my job as a student manager; this is not a resistance narrative. I do think however that the organization may have worked a little better if in some areas it lightened up.
This semester I was one of 6 women who worked daily with literally over one hundred men. It was an incredibly different atmosphere than many can imagine. The atmosphere was also not just one of male dominance, but one of male dominance of the most testosterone-ridden sport. These were manly men, who lifted weights, drank protein shakes, hit other men with equipment on. These men were nice, but because I was not used to being so underrepresented as a woman, it was hard adjusting at first. I have a brother, so I know how to handle joking around, but at times I had to grow a tougher skin to “roll with the boys.” I already stuck out because I was female, I didn’t want to stick out because I didn’t fit in. If I were to change the organization I wouldn’t change the amount of testosterone driven men that I worked with, I would perhaps change the fact that they don’t always realize what they are saying, especially around women. In order to become one with the managers and the team I had to push aside my female instincts to match everyone else
.
Although there are a few aspects of the organization that I would change, I wouldn’t have traded my experience for the world. Working in an organization that resembled classical, scientific and bureaucratic management helped me gain experience and a tougher skin for work once I graduate from Saint Mary’s College.
I have spent the past two and a half years working with the Student Managers Organization (SMO) at Notre Dame, and it is definitely an organization that deserves to be analyzed and had some changes made. There are 21 junior managers that will move on to the 17 other varsity sports that are active at the University. The organization is so large and organizes team functions for over 200 people. With SMO, the fall semester of junior year is spent strictly with the football team. We work fall practice, daily practice, set up and take down the equipment used during every practice and move equipment wherever it needs to be moved. We also travel with the team to its various locations, attend meetings, and meals with them.
The football sect of the organization is a large organization in itself. We have our own building and offices in the Gugelimino building, and we can have practice outside on grass fields or inside on the turf fields. The physical space for the managers at least is not in an office. We work primarily behind the scenes, and we have a “mudroom” that basically holds a lot of equipment such as balls and cones, and the players’ game cleats. It is not a comfortable environment, but we do not do much work in there in the grand scheme of things, so it doesn’t need to be a nice place to rest and think. Because the managers are the lowest in the football pecking order, we do not have a nice place, and the surroundings let us know that. We do however make the best of it. The camaraderie between the 21 people is very strong, and if we are doing work in the manager mudroom we simply get cozy. We work in several other places, but it is known that other than the equipment that we bring in, we aren’t allowed to touch anything, and as a woman, if a player enters the locker room, I have to leave. The physical space on game day is one of enjoyment. Like the stage of a theatre or the floor of the Coliseum, the Notre dame stadium, or whatever stadium we happened to be playing in, would be my place to work. With all of the experience I had gained through practice, and the discipline I have learned throughout my time in the organization, being on the front lines of a division 1 college football game seemed like a reward, no matter the outcome. All of the hard work through good and bad weather, cramped conditions and hard labor were worth it to be at that game at that time. The physical space may have been the most enjoyable aspect of my work
The way that the organization functions as an organization is more complicated than the space environment. In managers, as well as the football organization as a whole, there is a definitive pecking order, and this pecking order uses communication in several different ways. The first way uses communication as information transfer. Kevin White, the Athletic director of Notre Dame is on the same if not a higher level than Charlie Weis, only he doesn’t have any say in what goes on in practice. Charlie Weis leads the team, but he also has various tasks and opinions of the managers. He tells Henry Scroope, and Matt Kerls anything that he feels we should be doing, or helping him out with on the administrative side. Henry, who is in charge of Matt, tells my boss Kathleen what he wants us to do in terms of practice, equipment and relays any messages that Charlie may have said to Henry about us. It is an order from the top down, and at times can almost be a problem. This type of communication can be problematic because it “does not account for differences in interpretation between speaker and listener” (41). At some times when there is no time to ask questions, if the message is not conveyed strongly enough from the top down, the message can be skewed and changed slightly. Also if there is no room for discussion, it also leaves no room for reasoning it a task will be very difficult. Kathleen helps the managers out by relaying messages back up to Henry, but it doesn’t always get done in a timely fashion, and does not always help out a manager.
It is also in this top down method, that SMO reminds me of classical management. When we first arrived at fall camp, we were issued 2 t shirts, two pairs of mesh shorts, socks, tennis shoes, hats, polos and a “casual” blue shirt, all with the intention that during fall camp, as well as other football functions throughout the year, we would be dressed the same. In fact, at the end of the year, when a few people were wearing the wrong color t-shirt and shorts, there was a problem. With classical management approaches, there were, “…ranks uniforms, regulations, task specialization, standardized equipment, command language and drill instruction…this success served as a model for organizational action, one based on the division of labor and machinelike efficiency” (65). The student managers, especially during practices were well-oiled machines, that rarely made mistakes, and worked very quickly, and of course, the power and instruction came from the top down. Mixed in with classical management also came the idea of scientific management. We were slow at the beginning, and they told us this. Gradually with time and confidence we got better, but as the semester went on and we grew tired, there would be a reminder of how we need to keep moving faster. What is interesting about this thought is that as junior student managers we were always hurrying up to wait. We would hurry up to set the field for the players, but they wouldn’t arrive to the field for about a half an hour to an hour after we were done. This inefficiency on the side of the team or the head managers would be something that I change. If we finish setting up we should go to practice so that the momentum isn’t stopped.
SMO shows some of the colors of bureaucracy. As defined by W. Richard Scott organizational bureaucracy has the following characteristics, “ A fixed division of labor among participants, a hierarchy of offices, a set of general rules that govern performances, a rigid separation of personal life from work life, the selection of personnel on the basis of technical qualifications and equal treatment of all employees” (77). While this ideal bureaucracy was not seen as completely possible, everything but the last two, are exactly what I have encountered through my experience. I am not saying with this that I did not enjoy my job as a student manager; this is not a resistance narrative. I do think however that the organization may have worked a little better if in some areas it lightened up.
This semester I was one of 6 women who worked daily with literally over one hundred men. It was an incredibly different atmosphere than many can imagine. The atmosphere was also not just one of male dominance, but one of male dominance of the most testosterone-ridden sport. These were manly men, who lifted weights, drank protein shakes, hit other men with equipment on. These men were nice, but because I was not used to being so underrepresented as a woman, it was hard adjusting at first. I have a brother, so I know how to handle joking around, but at times I had to grow a tougher skin to “roll with the boys.” I already stuck out because I was female, I didn’t want to stick out because I didn’t fit in. If I were to change the organization I wouldn’t change the amount of testosterone driven men that I worked with, I would perhaps change the fact that they don’t always realize what they are saying, especially around women. In order to become one with the managers and the team I had to push aside my female instincts to match everyone else
.
Although there are a few aspects of the organization that I would change, I wouldn’t have traded my experience for the world. Working in an organization that resembled classical, scientific and bureaucratic management helped me gain experience and a tougher skin for work once I graduate from Saint Mary’s College.
Gender in organizations
Recently, we have been discussing the gender aspect of organizational life. Discuss some ways in which gender is acted out within organizations. You can use our readings for examples of how gender appears in everyday organizational performances, such as costuming, forms of talk, as well as other practices. Close by discussing to what extent you think organizations are gendered – is there any part of an organization that isn’t shaped by assumptions about gender? Use chapter seven and our readings by Deborah Tannen and Rosabeth Moss Kanter to answer this question.
In between sports in my junior year of high school, I decided to work at a small diner that was right by my house. This diner is a typical 1950's diner with the tacky carpet, old drapes, original counter tops, and handmade milkshakes that sat very well with a side of crinkle cut french fries. The management was very oldfashioned as well. Women were the waitresses and women worked at the drive through. The men worked the grill, bussed tables and washed dishes in the back. The Chef-o-Nette women were known for being cute and friendly, and worked well under stressful conditions. While our status did not reach the level of Rosabeth Moss Kanters observations, we were still known, highly visible and noticed.
The diner was however not always the most busy restaurant, so during our downtime we would socialize in the back. The men would talk to us about what was going on in their lives, we would speak back and on occasion we would be asked our opinion "as a woman" by the men. Whether or not they actually took t into consideration on a professional level, didn't matter. I remember when Harlan Howard would be decorating a window for the holiday, he asked me what I thought as a woman, as in whether I thought it looked attractive or not. I simply said taht it looked great because I know taht whatever I said he would have kept it anyway.
There are times when waiting on people that they will be the ones to not specify what they want exactly, and yet, as a waitress, I always apologized. If a customer did not want mayonaise on their BLT, but failed to specify, I would aplogize, smile, and take the food back. As a woman I agree with Tannen when she speaks about a woman in a similar situation who had actually not done anything wrong, " She had done nothing wrong; I was the one who lost the number. But in fact she was not apologizing; she was just uttering an automatic conversation smoother to assure me taht she had no intention of rushing me off.." (Tannen, 45). I found myself apologizing to the customer for things taht had not been my fault.
In between sports in my junior year of high school, I decided to work at a small diner that was right by my house. This diner is a typical 1950's diner with the tacky carpet, old drapes, original counter tops, and handmade milkshakes that sat very well with a side of crinkle cut french fries. The management was very oldfashioned as well. Women were the waitresses and women worked at the drive through. The men worked the grill, bussed tables and washed dishes in the back. The Chef-o-Nette women were known for being cute and friendly, and worked well under stressful conditions. While our status did not reach the level of Rosabeth Moss Kanters observations, we were still known, highly visible and noticed.
The diner was however not always the most busy restaurant, so during our downtime we would socialize in the back. The men would talk to us about what was going on in their lives, we would speak back and on occasion we would be asked our opinion "as a woman" by the men. Whether or not they actually took t into consideration on a professional level, didn't matter. I remember when Harlan Howard would be decorating a window for the holiday, he asked me what I thought as a woman, as in whether I thought it looked attractive or not. I simply said taht it looked great because I know taht whatever I said he would have kept it anyway.
There are times when waiting on people that they will be the ones to not specify what they want exactly, and yet, as a waitress, I always apologized. If a customer did not want mayonaise on their BLT, but failed to specify, I would aplogize, smile, and take the food back. As a woman I agree with Tannen when she speaks about a woman in a similar situation who had actually not done anything wrong, " She had done nothing wrong; I was the one who lost the number. But in fact she was not apologizing; she was just uttering an automatic conversation smoother to assure me taht she had no intention of rushing me off.." (Tannen, 45). I found myself apologizing to the customer for things taht had not been my fault.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
organizational culture
Organizational culture is derived from the way that people give symbolic value in their workplace to create a "unique sense of place." for my example, I have chosen to talk about the Student Managers Organization at Notre Dame. After making "the cut" after sophomore year, where only 21 people made it on to manage for junior and senior year, the 21 people I have been working with very closely since August 1st, 2007, have created our own organizational culture.
When we first came to South Bend for football camp this fall, we had a meeting held sort of briefing us all on how we were to act as students, as managers and as people around the organization as well as in the general public. We would, and have come into contact with confidential information in this past semester that we could only talk about with the managing "family." This metaphor sort of helped bring us together in our own culture because we were the only people that we could talk to each other about these topics. It came to "construct and experience our organization in relation to this metaphor" (128).
During a 40 to 50 hour work week, there came to be certain rituals that we would do as a group, or if needed, by ourselves. Every week was very similar. On Monday we would buff, tape, and paint football helmets, Tuesday we would untape and put them back together, then go work practice. Wednesday and Thursday we had practice, but after practice on Thursday we would load up the truck to take the equipment to the stadium, or send it to the teams destination. Friday there was a walk through, and Saturday there would be a game. We also have evaluated each other throughout this whole process. These rituals have helped reinforce the organizations values, and pull us together because we were all in the same boat.
Artifacts are important indicators of an organization in telling the world what is going on. Being that dress codes are considered an artifact, I believe that as a manager we most definitely had artifacts. As a group we would wear matching mesh shorts and a shirt, and every day we would rotate our color scheme so that one day we would wear a grey shirt and one day we would wear a navy shirt. In the fall/winter months, we would wear matching grey on grey sweats and when we traveled casually, we would have matching athletic navy travel suits. It helped bring us together because we would blend together as a unit.
The Student Managers Organization has contributed to people's sense of membership because we all go through so much on a daily basis. We are all so busy with school, friends and family on top of our daily duties, that the culture we create only helps us be stronger as individuals as well as a group.
When we first came to South Bend for football camp this fall, we had a meeting held sort of briefing us all on how we were to act as students, as managers and as people around the organization as well as in the general public. We would, and have come into contact with confidential information in this past semester that we could only talk about with the managing "family." This metaphor sort of helped bring us together in our own culture because we were the only people that we could talk to each other about these topics. It came to "construct and experience our organization in relation to this metaphor" (128).
During a 40 to 50 hour work week, there came to be certain rituals that we would do as a group, or if needed, by ourselves. Every week was very similar. On Monday we would buff, tape, and paint football helmets, Tuesday we would untape and put them back together, then go work practice. Wednesday and Thursday we had practice, but after practice on Thursday we would load up the truck to take the equipment to the stadium, or send it to the teams destination. Friday there was a walk through, and Saturday there would be a game. We also have evaluated each other throughout this whole process. These rituals have helped reinforce the organizations values, and pull us together because we were all in the same boat.
Artifacts are important indicators of an organization in telling the world what is going on. Being that dress codes are considered an artifact, I believe that as a manager we most definitely had artifacts. As a group we would wear matching mesh shorts and a shirt, and every day we would rotate our color scheme so that one day we would wear a grey shirt and one day we would wear a navy shirt. In the fall/winter months, we would wear matching grey on grey sweats and when we traveled casually, we would have matching athletic navy travel suits. It helped bring us together because we would blend together as a unit.
The Student Managers Organization has contributed to people's sense of membership because we all go through so much on a daily basis. We are all so busy with school, friends and family on top of our daily duties, that the culture we create only helps us be stronger as individuals as well as a group.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
The Office: Season three episode 21
“Beach Games”
This episode of the office deals with several different story lines that we can relate to class. Michael is asked to offer recommendations for his replacement, because he has been asked to go to the corporate office to interview for a job there. The manner in which he decides to find his replacement is to have a beach day, an informal way to get the office members to relax and see who has the characteristics that he likes. Toby stays behind because Michael sees him as not very fun, and he gets sad because he has a small crush on her.
Michael asks Pam to take notes on who seems to be showing leadership qualities. Michael makes reference to the Starfish and the Spider model, by saying, “What happens when you cut off a chickens head? It dies until you find a new head,” By saying this he is referring to a centralized organization that will essentially die if he doesn’t replace himself. He is looking for the office workers indefinable qualities. Pam is sad because she says that she has, “the most boring job in the office, why shouldn’t she have the most boring job on beach day.” Michael seems to put Pam in the position to continually not be controlled by any Hawthorne effect (beach day is allowing the workers time to relax), but because she has to do things so often and through her own personal time she is making reference to the “White Collar Sweatshop.”
While en route to the beach, Michael lets everyone in the office know that he will be monitoring them throughout the day and someone will get a special prize at the end of the day, the prize being his job. This sparks a Tayloristic mindset in all of the workers. If they perform better, the better chance that they have not only to keep their jobs, but also to advance in the company.
Michael is having a hard time keeping his employees motivated for two reasons. The first is that a few of the people that he is considering have also been offered a job at corporate, and the second reason is that he is not keeping enough motivation for his specific job. Michael is also oppressing Pam by making her take notes and not participate in anything. Pam, the secretary in normal circumstances, breaks out of the grip of Michael. She has her own resistance narrative by walking over the hot coals that Michael wanted everyone else to walk over. She walks over them, and then makes a speech about her life to the entire office.
There are also many roles that the people of the office fulfill in this episode. The character named Andy tried to “reconstruct the person according to the needs of the organization” through his member role. He tried to be everything that Michael would want in a person as a leader. Dwight fell under this as well because he tried to compete to the best of his ability making him what Michael would want. The office may have formal roles, but the way in which the office is run there are many informal roles, and overstepping of people, including Michael. Friendships seem to take over some of the formal roles, creating cliques and a sort of human relations approach.
Pam and Michael have a reciprocal/complimentary role because they engage in an interlocking relationship. Michael needs her in the office, as well as on Beach day to take notes and to do the work for him that he cant complete at the time. Stanley has only partial inclusion in this episode as well as the show. Stanley only put part of his identity into his job, and most of the time seems depressed or sad to even be at work. Stanley also takes a role distancing approach because he doesn’t want to do work so often.
Dwight loves Michael as well as the office so much that he has full role embracement. He takes a stand in this episode where he is on the coals and cries out that the will not leave the hot coals until he is given the job of regional manager. He loves his job but would love to move up because he is so in love with the company.
This episode of the office deals with several different story lines that we can relate to class. Michael is asked to offer recommendations for his replacement, because he has been asked to go to the corporate office to interview for a job there. The manner in which he decides to find his replacement is to have a beach day, an informal way to get the office members to relax and see who has the characteristics that he likes. Toby stays behind because Michael sees him as not very fun, and he gets sad because he has a small crush on her.
Michael asks Pam to take notes on who seems to be showing leadership qualities. Michael makes reference to the Starfish and the Spider model, by saying, “What happens when you cut off a chickens head? It dies until you find a new head,” By saying this he is referring to a centralized organization that will essentially die if he doesn’t replace himself. He is looking for the office workers indefinable qualities. Pam is sad because she says that she has, “the most boring job in the office, why shouldn’t she have the most boring job on beach day.” Michael seems to put Pam in the position to continually not be controlled by any Hawthorne effect (beach day is allowing the workers time to relax), but because she has to do things so often and through her own personal time she is making reference to the “White Collar Sweatshop.”
While en route to the beach, Michael lets everyone in the office know that he will be monitoring them throughout the day and someone will get a special prize at the end of the day, the prize being his job. This sparks a Tayloristic mindset in all of the workers. If they perform better, the better chance that they have not only to keep their jobs, but also to advance in the company.
Michael is having a hard time keeping his employees motivated for two reasons. The first is that a few of the people that he is considering have also been offered a job at corporate, and the second reason is that he is not keeping enough motivation for his specific job. Michael is also oppressing Pam by making her take notes and not participate in anything. Pam, the secretary in normal circumstances, breaks out of the grip of Michael. She has her own resistance narrative by walking over the hot coals that Michael wanted everyone else to walk over. She walks over them, and then makes a speech about her life to the entire office.
There are also many roles that the people of the office fulfill in this episode. The character named Andy tried to “reconstruct the person according to the needs of the organization” through his member role. He tried to be everything that Michael would want in a person as a leader. Dwight fell under this as well because he tried to compete to the best of his ability making him what Michael would want. The office may have formal roles, but the way in which the office is run there are many informal roles, and overstepping of people, including Michael. Friendships seem to take over some of the formal roles, creating cliques and a sort of human relations approach.
Pam and Michael have a reciprocal/complimentary role because they engage in an interlocking relationship. Michael needs her in the office, as well as on Beach day to take notes and to do the work for him that he cant complete at the time. Stanley has only partial inclusion in this episode as well as the show. Stanley only put part of his identity into his job, and most of the time seems depressed or sad to even be at work. Stanley also takes a role distancing approach because he doesn’t want to do work so often.
Dwight loves Michael as well as the office so much that he has full role embracement. He takes a stand in this episode where he is on the coals and cries out that the will not leave the hot coals until he is given the job of regional manager. He loves his job but would love to move up because he is so in love with the company.
Starfish and the Spider
Because it is based on a clear hierarchy, division of labor among troops, and a centralized command source, the U.S. military is a clear example of the classical model of organization that we discussed earlier in the semester. By contrast, contemporary terrorist organizations are often said to exemplify the decentralized types of organization that we have been discussing in relation to system theory.
Use your readings from system theory to speculate on what may happen as there two types of organization engage in conflict.
The most effective example that I got from the reading to describe my thought is the reference made to the record companies fighting off the P2P drives. The record companies are very structured organizations with one area in which they gather and meet. There is one person in charge of each record label or company, and without the direction of this head person, the lower levels do not know what to do exactly. Essentially they will die until they find a new head. The main point here, is that. a head is essential. The people to people (P2P) networks in which people share their music file with other people around the world, have no leader. No one knows who has created these new drives. There is no president of these file sharing companies, therefore there is no one who can be taken down. If one drive gets shut down, other people will find ways to share their files.
The record companies are centralized systems, much like the spider, and much like our military. Everyone has a position, everyone is accounted for and if for some reason the head were to be taken down, the system would die for a little bit because it would need to wait until a new head rose. The P2P systems are decentralized, in that they have no real head, no positions, no hierarchy. The P2P systems are like terrorist organizations. If you cut the “head” off of a starfish what will it do? It will regenerate, and two starfish will come from the one. If one is stopped, it will only fuel the creation of two.
I do not wan to say that we cannot succeed, because I would like to think that terrorist organizations will someday cease to exist, however I do not see how this can be so. If one “bad guy” is stopped, another takes over. I do not forsee how we can ever, as a world community, can ever fully stop these organizations.
Use your readings from system theory to speculate on what may happen as there two types of organization engage in conflict.
The most effective example that I got from the reading to describe my thought is the reference made to the record companies fighting off the P2P drives. The record companies are very structured organizations with one area in which they gather and meet. There is one person in charge of each record label or company, and without the direction of this head person, the lower levels do not know what to do exactly. Essentially they will die until they find a new head. The main point here, is that. a head is essential. The people to people (P2P) networks in which people share their music file with other people around the world, have no leader. No one knows who has created these new drives. There is no president of these file sharing companies, therefore there is no one who can be taken down. If one drive gets shut down, other people will find ways to share their files.
The record companies are centralized systems, much like the spider, and much like our military. Everyone has a position, everyone is accounted for and if for some reason the head were to be taken down, the system would die for a little bit because it would need to wait until a new head rose. The P2P systems are decentralized, in that they have no real head, no positions, no hierarchy. The P2P systems are like terrorist organizations. If you cut the “head” off of a starfish what will it do? It will regenerate, and two starfish will come from the one. If one is stopped, it will only fuel the creation of two.
I do not wan to say that we cannot succeed, because I would like to think that terrorist organizations will someday cease to exist, however I do not see how this can be so. If one “bad guy” is stopped, another takes over. I do not forsee how we can ever, as a world community, can ever fully stop these organizations.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Human Relations v Human Resources
For your fourth post, discuss the differences between the human relations and human resource approaches to management. Pay particular attention to how they approach the issue of worker participation.
With productivity as the key concern, there are two approaches that have stemmed from the classical model of organizations.: Human resources and human relations.
“The human resources approach is concerned with the total organizational climate as well as with how an organization can encourage employee participation and dialogue” (87). In the human resources approach participation is the focal point, it is where the question “what does an organization look like” is asked. The workers participate in the way that they themselves are rearranging the workplace through a workplace democracy. The teams that they work in (marketing team, news team, sales team etc.) are so needed that the structure changes in such a way to facilitate their needs without jeopardizing the company as a whole.
“ The human relations approach starts with the assumption that all people ‘want to feel united, tied, bound to something, some cause, bigger than they, commanding them yet worthy of them, summoning them to significance in living’” (82). This approach focuses more on psychological factors that can increase or decrease worker productivity, such as the physical environment, or the “feeling” they get from listening to music at work. There is also a subculture of informal organization, in which workers are networked within the company as well as out of the company. These little networks or cliques, are part of what “ties” the worker to the organization because they have something that cannot be gotten at by management. It is a culture unto itself where the workers bind together through the experiences they have shared and the non-formal information that they can acquire. Worker participation in human relations deals more with these informal networks, because the workers are drawn in not only because of interest in their career but because they are personally drawn into the system.
With productivity as the key concern, there are two approaches that have stemmed from the classical model of organizations.: Human resources and human relations.
“The human resources approach is concerned with the total organizational climate as well as with how an organization can encourage employee participation and dialogue” (87). In the human resources approach participation is the focal point, it is where the question “what does an organization look like” is asked. The workers participate in the way that they themselves are rearranging the workplace through a workplace democracy. The teams that they work in (marketing team, news team, sales team etc.) are so needed that the structure changes in such a way to facilitate their needs without jeopardizing the company as a whole.
“ The human relations approach starts with the assumption that all people ‘want to feel united, tied, bound to something, some cause, bigger than they, commanding them yet worthy of them, summoning them to significance in living’” (82). This approach focuses more on psychological factors that can increase or decrease worker productivity, such as the physical environment, or the “feeling” they get from listening to music at work. There is also a subculture of informal organization, in which workers are networked within the company as well as out of the company. These little networks or cliques, are part of what “ties” the worker to the organization because they have something that cannot be gotten at by management. It is a culture unto itself where the workers bind together through the experiences they have shared and the non-formal information that they can acquire. Worker participation in human relations deals more with these informal networks, because the workers are drawn in not only because of interest in their career but because they are personally drawn into the system.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Is Fordism much like Alienated Labor?
For your third post, discuss which approach or approaches to organizational communication seems most closely connected to classical approaches to management and discuss why this is so.
After reviewing several of the theories from chapter two, and many of the approaches in chapter three, I Have decided that the Alienated Labor theory, written by Fromm, is most like taht of Fordism.
To clarify, the alienated labor theory is one in which people are no longer driven to do their work because they love it. People are driven to work in order to turn a profit and survive, and no longer look to work as a liberator. The Ford factories, once full of craftsman who spent hours and days handcrafting automobiles, were soon put to work in deskilled jobs. These men worked long hours at the factories, not because they loved what they did, but because Ford offered $5 a day.
The Ford factories simplified the once intricate jobs, into easy tasks, devoid of any real craftsmanship, and created the assembly line. In this assembly line, people had to work with the pace that the entire line was moving at. They could no longer take their time in order to be sure that they did everything correctly. These industrial workers, "fulfilled a small isolated function in a complicated and highly organized process of production, and was never confronted with 'his' product as a whole...he became a part of the machine, rather than its master as an active agent" (Fromm 9-10).
After reviewing several of the theories from chapter two, and many of the approaches in chapter three, I Have decided that the Alienated Labor theory, written by Fromm, is most like taht of Fordism.
To clarify, the alienated labor theory is one in which people are no longer driven to do their work because they love it. People are driven to work in order to turn a profit and survive, and no longer look to work as a liberator. The Ford factories, once full of craftsman who spent hours and days handcrafting automobiles, were soon put to work in deskilled jobs. These men worked long hours at the factories, not because they loved what they did, but because Ford offered $5 a day.
The Ford factories simplified the once intricate jobs, into easy tasks, devoid of any real craftsmanship, and created the assembly line. In this assembly line, people had to work with the pace that the entire line was moving at. They could no longer take their time in order to be sure that they did everything correctly. These industrial workers, "fulfilled a small isolated function in a complicated and highly organized process of production, and was never confronted with 'his' product as a whole...he became a part of the machine, rather than its master as an active agent" (Fromm 9-10).
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Productivity
Throughout our studies of organizational communication and studies of several theories of organizations, I decided to interview my own dad, Jorge Lopez, about his personal experiences with organization and how organizations have evolved in terms of worker productivity. He sees the evolution of worker productivity as having changed in three ways: Personal productivity, business productivity and a difference in quality.
Personal productivity advanced in the 1980’s with the creation of the personal computer. No longer was there a need to handwrite memos and papers, in order to send them through a chain of people in order to have them typed and sent out. People, businessmen in particular, had no need for secretaries in a clerical sense. They gained the ability to perform not only their own work, but also their clerical work done in a much more efficient manner. Emails allowed for people to talk to co-workers on the same level, as well as those above them, although decisions were made in a bureaucratic manner.
Personal productivity as a worker helped further along the business productivity. As the secretarial positions became almost obsolete, several functions that the workers used to serve became obsolete as well. The amount of time that it took workers as well as how many workers to order new merchandise, fill their orders, etc. got cut down because of business software. This new business software forced workers to become more efficient because they didn’t have to perform many tasks by hand anymore. These tasks became mechanical and automatic, and managers were forced to “bring together the science and the man” (Taylor 64).
Personal productivity also helped to further advance the quality of the products that were made as well. If quality is built into a process, the companies don’t have to spend money rebuilding if it doesn’t work. This aspect I am reminded of the craft ideal. In the craft ideal, people were driven by love of their job in order to be productive. Today this same notion may not be completely true at least in the sense that they do their job because they necessarily love it. This is where the quality aspect also reminds me of alienated labor as well. In alienated labor, work is happening to the worker, they are working for money and not for the love of their job. The point that my Father was trying to get across to me is that companies have married the two concepts together.
With the higher technology, people are able to be more precise, almost in a craftsman like way, and at the same time they are able to produce a lot more than they used to be able to. He gave me the example of the Honda Company. Before our family got a Honda, we had an older Ford station wagon. The gold station wagon was nice because it had space, but it had a large amount of problems with it. Efficiency was built into the process, however, craftsmanship may have been lacking. When we sold our ford for a Honda, the car rarely broke down and only needed minor fixing.
Personal productivity advanced in the 1980’s with the creation of the personal computer. No longer was there a need to handwrite memos and papers, in order to send them through a chain of people in order to have them typed and sent out. People, businessmen in particular, had no need for secretaries in a clerical sense. They gained the ability to perform not only their own work, but also their clerical work done in a much more efficient manner. Emails allowed for people to talk to co-workers on the same level, as well as those above them, although decisions were made in a bureaucratic manner.
Personal productivity as a worker helped further along the business productivity. As the secretarial positions became almost obsolete, several functions that the workers used to serve became obsolete as well. The amount of time that it took workers as well as how many workers to order new merchandise, fill their orders, etc. got cut down because of business software. This new business software forced workers to become more efficient because they didn’t have to perform many tasks by hand anymore. These tasks became mechanical and automatic, and managers were forced to “bring together the science and the man” (Taylor 64).
Personal productivity also helped to further advance the quality of the products that were made as well. If quality is built into a process, the companies don’t have to spend money rebuilding if it doesn’t work. This aspect I am reminded of the craft ideal. In the craft ideal, people were driven by love of their job in order to be productive. Today this same notion may not be completely true at least in the sense that they do their job because they necessarily love it. This is where the quality aspect also reminds me of alienated labor as well. In alienated labor, work is happening to the worker, they are working for money and not for the love of their job. The point that my Father was trying to get across to me is that companies have married the two concepts together.
With the higher technology, people are able to be more precise, almost in a craftsman like way, and at the same time they are able to produce a lot more than they used to be able to. He gave me the example of the Honda Company. Before our family got a Honda, we had an older Ford station wagon. The gold station wagon was nice because it had space, but it had a large amount of problems with it. Efficiency was built into the process, however, craftsmanship may have been lacking. When we sold our ford for a Honda, the car rarely broke down and only needed minor fixing.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Shove your dreams aside
As I go through my junior year of college, the only thing that I think about is the fact that I will have to grow up, graduate, and get a job. I have hopes that I will be able to have a balance between my work and my life. I am not sure if anyone today can really escape alienated work, but I hope to find work that I have a passion for, but can back off in order to have a normal and well rounded life. In my career I want to have a good balance between creativity and constraint. In different terms, I hope that my work has a balance between rules and hierarchy as well as the freedom to explore all the possibilities that could be found in the job.
"Work instead of being an activity satisfying in itself and pleasureable, became a duty and an obsession. The more it was possible to gain riches by work, the more that it became a pure means to the aim of wealth and success" (Fromm). In Fromm's "Work in an Alienated Society," he discusses the difference between craft ideal and alienated labor. Craft labor is what people can think of when they think of artisans. Craft laborers work not only because they are good at what they do, but because what they do is, "not only a useful activity, but one which carries with it a profound satisfaction" (Fromm). Work today, as described by Fromm is driven by money only. People today are drawn to professions mostly because of the amount of money that they will recieve in exchange for their work, whether or not they actually love what they do. People who may have dreams and aspirations to work at a job that pays little, may shove those dreams aside in order to make more money. I want to have a drive to work, and love what I do first before I am drawn to the salary.
In another article by Jill Fraser, she describes work as alienated labor. People no longer take the breaks from work that they used to in order to spend time with their families, friends or even to have a personal day. It is seen almost as lazy to do so. People work so much in fact that they bring their work with them when they are trying to relax.People not only do their job, but they become their job. Businessmen and women of all kind are now in a society where it is almost impossible not to be able to reach someone,via email, text, cell phone etc. Work is seemingly happening to people, being almost forced apon them because they need the money, rather than people wanting to do it. People do not slow down in order to relax, and to take a breather. Because of the competition in the current workplace is so high, work environments themselves are becoming jungles in which employees can be attacked in order for someone else to advance. I do not like this about the American workplace, but someday I will have to venture out into this jungle, I just hope that I have enough common sense and knowledge taht I can keep myself sane through other avenues, even if I have to constantly work.
I suppose if I can't necessarily get away from work in this "alienated society," I can always try to balance what other time I have left in the day/week/month into something that I actually enjoy, can learn something about myself from. A camp that I have been going to/ working at for about ten years has helped me grasp the meaning of having a life other than the "hustle and bustle" of the real world. The campers that I have had, have left imprints on my life that I will never forget, and even though I don't want to do anything in my job that deals with kids, I think that we can all learn something from those who are younger than us. This past summer at camp, we made a video and posted it on youtube with the idea that if any of these kids had a message to send to the world, what would they say. As you will notice, none of them have messages of hurrying, none of them have messages that are driven by money. I hope that when I make my choice in the future about where I work, I keep these messages in mind.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3QdsI-qqxw&mode=related&search=
"Work instead of being an activity satisfying in itself and pleasureable, became a duty and an obsession. The more it was possible to gain riches by work, the more that it became a pure means to the aim of wealth and success" (Fromm). In Fromm's "Work in an Alienated Society," he discusses the difference between craft ideal and alienated labor. Craft labor is what people can think of when they think of artisans. Craft laborers work not only because they are good at what they do, but because what they do is, "not only a useful activity, but one which carries with it a profound satisfaction" (Fromm). Work today, as described by Fromm is driven by money only. People today are drawn to professions mostly because of the amount of money that they will recieve in exchange for their work, whether or not they actually love what they do. People who may have dreams and aspirations to work at a job that pays little, may shove those dreams aside in order to make more money. I want to have a drive to work, and love what I do first before I am drawn to the salary.
In another article by Jill Fraser, she describes work as alienated labor. People no longer take the breaks from work that they used to in order to spend time with their families, friends or even to have a personal day. It is seen almost as lazy to do so. People work so much in fact that they bring their work with them when they are trying to relax.People not only do their job, but they become their job. Businessmen and women of all kind are now in a society where it is almost impossible not to be able to reach someone,via email, text, cell phone etc. Work is seemingly happening to people, being almost forced apon them because they need the money, rather than people wanting to do it. People do not slow down in order to relax, and to take a breather. Because of the competition in the current workplace is so high, work environments themselves are becoming jungles in which employees can be attacked in order for someone else to advance. I do not like this about the American workplace, but someday I will have to venture out into this jungle, I just hope that I have enough common sense and knowledge taht I can keep myself sane through other avenues, even if I have to constantly work.
I suppose if I can't necessarily get away from work in this "alienated society," I can always try to balance what other time I have left in the day/week/month into something that I actually enjoy, can learn something about myself from. A camp that I have been going to/ working at for about ten years has helped me grasp the meaning of having a life other than the "hustle and bustle" of the real world. The campers that I have had, have left imprints on my life that I will never forget, and even though I don't want to do anything in my job that deals with kids, I think that we can all learn something from those who are younger than us. This past summer at camp, we made a video and posted it on youtube with the idea that if any of these kids had a message to send to the world, what would they say. As you will notice, none of them have messages of hurrying, none of them have messages that are driven by money. I hope that when I make my choice in the future about where I work, I keep these messages in mind.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3QdsI-qqxw&mode=related&search=
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Information Overload
In our chapter 2 reading, an approach to organizational communication is through communication as an infomation transfer. According to Eisenberg, Goodall and Tretheway, with information transfer "if a message is out there, it shoudl be understood" (29). There are, of course, ways in which this can be disrupted and a message is in fact skewed. The way that stuck with me the most and seems to affect me the most is information overload, where "the reciever becomes overwhelmed by the information taht must be processed" (29). I found this clip on you tube that described this perfectly.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=aQl9uKTFxrE
http://youtube.com/watch?v=aQl9uKTFxrE
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