COMM 4170-01: Applied Organizational Communication

1. COMM 4170-01:Applied Organizational Communication Instructor: Dan Lair Day Eight: Critical Approaches to Organizational Communication September 21, 2005

2. Today’s Agenda • Overview of the Critical Approach • Discussion of Eisenberg & Goodall, “Critical Approaches to Organizations and Communication” • Discussion of case study, “Corporate Counseling”

3. Origins of Critical Approaches to Organization(al Communication): Karl Marx • Early Marx (1840s) • Sociological Marx • Work and human nature • Alienation • Later Marx (1860s) • Economic Marx • Labor and surplus value • Marx’s Model of Society: • (Economic) Base: Means and Mode of Production • (Cultural) Superstructure: Culture, Politics, Art, etc. • Ideology as False Consciousness

4. The Critical Perspective: Key Assumptions • Organizations are inherently political, meaning that they are sites of power favoring dominant interests • Organizational theory tends to support those dominant interests by ignoring deeper power structures. • Critical approaches question taken-for-granted in the interest of promoting change

5. The Central Term: Power French and Raven (pp. 142-143 in Eisenberg) Lukes’ Three-Dimensional View of Power Power and subjectivity: Foucault Other Related Terms: Domination Ideology Reification Naturalization Legitimation Hegemony The Critical Perspective:Key Concepts

6. A Critical Example:Feminist Perspectives • Feminist approaches to organizations argue that organizations are “gendered” to privilege men/masculinity. • Question: In what ways are organizations gendered? • Feminist approaches seek to expose inequality in an effort to improve organizational life for all members.

7. The Critical Approach:Conception of Communication • A process for both domination and change • Functions for maintenance (as in legitimation) and innovation (as in emancipation). Function of communication lies beyond simply day-to-day organizational activities. • Formal and informal, surface-level and deep structures.

8. Discussion of Eisenberg and Goodall, “Critical Approaches” • What do Eisenberg and Goodall mean by the “hidden but pervasive power that organizations have over individuals” (p. 140)? • What does it mean to say that “ideology exists in the practices of everyday life” (p. 144)? • What are the strengths and weaknesses of a critical approach to organizational communication?

9. Case Study:“Corporate Counseling” • In your theory specialization groups, work through this case study in the following four steps: • Describe the case in general, from the critical perspective. • Diagnose the central communication problem in the case, based on your “reading” of both broad patterns and specific details. • Suggest potential solutions for that problem, based on the critical perspective. • Assess the appropriateness of the critical perspective for this particular case. Are there weaknesses/blind spots that hinder your ability to suggest adequate solutions? • Be prepared to return to the full class to discuss the case in-depth, based upon the conclusions you have reached as a group.