COM 574 Readings for September 4 - Irwin Mallin, IPFW Communication

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COM 574, Fall 2008 – Reading Guide Questions for September 4

For Putnam and Cheney:

1. As you read this article, trace how what people think of as “organizational communication” has changed over time. For example....

1a. What courses that we teach now at IPFW remind you of what they describe under “Early Org Com Research: The Study of Communication Media?”

1b. Look at the examples of findings of research under “Communication Channels.” Do these findings seem consistent with your own workplace experience?

1c. Now closely read the last paragraph of that section (bottom of p. 136). What’s the complaint about channel studies about (in your own words)?

1d. How would you describe the difference between earlier and later communication climate research? What assumption(s) in the earlier research did the later research try to correct?

1e. Look at the examples of findings of research under “Network Research.” Do these findings seem consistent with your own workplace experience?

1f. Now closely read the last paragraph of that section (toward the bottom of p. 140). What are the complaints about network studies about (in your own words)?

1g. Same thing for the section on “Superior-Subordinate Communication”: Do the findings seem consistent? How would you characterize the complaint(s) about that research?

2. On pp. 142-153, they identify four perspectives that were considered “new directions” when this article was written in the mid-1980s. For each of those perspectives....

a. describe what that perspective emphasizes in your own words (for example, what does it mean to study org com from a rhetorical perspective or a cultural perspective?)

b. think of an example of something that would be learned through using this perspective at your workplace.

3. What overlap do you see among these four directions? For example, does rhetorical impact any of the other three? Does info processing? (It’s only fair to tell you that I flat-out stole this question from Corman, et al. (1995), cited below)

Read the whole essay before you try to answer 4, but think about 4 as you’re reading the whole essay:

4. From your perspective as an organization member looking for “news you can use,” is it good that scholars moved from the issues that concerned them in the early days to the issues that began to concern them in the 1980s? How about from your perspective as a student who will want something interesting to write a paper about for COM 574? (This question was kinda sorta adapted from Corman, et al. (1995)).

For Mumby and Stohl:

1. In the introductory section of this essay, the authors state their complaints about the way org com has been thought about and taught and suggest what they’ve done at West Lafayette to overcome those complaints. How would you describe the complaints and their solution? What do you think of their solution?

2. Most of the article is devoted to identifying and explaining what they have identified as the four “central problematics” of org com. You are probably accustomed to seeing “problematic” used as an adjective. They’re using it here as a noun. What does “problematic” mean as a noun?

3. For each of the four problematics.....

a. Describe the problematic in your own words

b. What differences do you (and/or the authors) see between how a discipline like business or OLS would think about and study this problematic and the way COM would think about and study it?

c. What’s an example of an event/situation/practice at your workplace that could be analyzed through this problematic?

4. What are they trying to argue in the conclusion of this article?

5. Now that you’ve read these two articles, has your conception of what it means to say “I study org com” changed any? How so? (Corman, et al. (1995) also ask a variation on this question, but I like to think I would've thought of it myself.)

References

Corman, S. R., Banks, S. P., Bantz, C. R., & Mayer, M. E. (1995). Foundations of organizational communication: A reader. (2nd ed.). White Plains, NY: Longman.

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