COM 574 Reading Guide Questions for October 2 - Irwin Mallin, IPFW Communication

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COM 574, Fall 2008 – Reading Guide Questions for October 2

For Morgan Ch. 9

1. In the strategic ambiguity article you began to see the dialectics of organizational life that Eisenberg has identified (we'll see them in more detail next week when we read the Disneyland article):

stability <—> change
autonomy <—> coordination (also known as creativity <—> constraint)

In other words, there's always a tension in organizations between wanting to keep things as they are and wanting to change. Similarly, there's also always a tension between "doing your own thing" and doing what the organization wants.

As you read this chapter, think about how the examples Morgan gives exemplify these dialectics. Also think about these examples in terms of another dialectic:

responsibility to us <—> responsibility to them

(I’m being strategically ambiguous about who comprises “us” and “them,” ‘cause I want to see what you come up with and whether you think the definitions of “us” and/or “them” vary through the examples).

2. Also, as you look at the examples Morgan gives in Ch. 9, do some strike you as particularly bad? Which ones? Do others strike you as unproblematic, as an organization “just doing its job?” Which ones?

For Sinclair:

1. From management’s point of view, what makes an orientation toward working in teams attractive? How about from the employees point of view?

2. In your own work (and school!) experience are you more motivated when working in teams or when working alone? Is the work product of a team better than the work product of someone working alone? How do you account for these answers?

For Joyce:

1. What pressures have you experienced in giving to United Way at work?

2. How do the examples Joyce provides exemplify the dialectics of organizational life?

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