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).
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
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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