Technology in government: How organizational culture mediates information and communication technology outcomes

The adoption of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in public organizations promises to better connect managers with citizens, increase public participation in government decision making, improve the efficiency of service delivery, decrease uncertainty, and improve information dissemination. While each of these outcomes is important for both public managers and citizens, we know little about how organizational culture mediates the effectiveness of ICTs on producing these outcomes. This research, using data from two points in time, investigates the relationships between ICTs and managerial outcomes (e.g. improved decision making and public participation) and how they are mediated by organizational culture such as centralization and routineness. Technology variables include technology use and capacity. Models will control for other organizational and technological factors such as size, structure, task and department to investigate the mediating effects of organizational culture on ICT outcomes for local governments. The data come from two national surveys of 2500 local government managers in the United States in 2010 and 2012. The results are important for understanding how organizational mechanisms, in particular organization culture, mobilize ICTs in ways that affect managerial outcomes.     

Communication and recovery: Structuration as an ontological approach to organizational culture

This inquiry focuses on the world's largest and most successful group of Alcoholics Anonymous. It adopts Giddens's theory of structuration as a framework for studying the deeply layered social interactions within the organization. Ethnographic data were analyzed by means of an interpretive interactionist methodology. The results indicated that the organization is a “disembedding mechanism,” in which structures from the global organization are disembedded by the founder, transformed, and recreated in the local organization. The alcoholic self is both agent and outcome as it evolves through recursive group practices and individual actions. As used in this study, the structurationist perspective on organizational culture provides a fuller understanding of the ways in which organizations are created and sustained through interaction, as well as the significance of their historicity and cultural contexts, and can help guide future research on organizational culture.     

Perceived organizational effectiveness,job satisfaction,culture, and communication: Challenging the traditional view

This study challenges the traditional view that organizational culture, relationships, and communication activities precede or produce the outcomes of job satisfaction and perceived organizational effectiveness. Specifically, the study (a) empirically examines job satisfaction and perceived effectiveness for their potential as important explanatory processes for the outcomes of organizational culture, relationships, and information receiving and sending, and (b) empirically compares the traditional model with the competing conceptualization. Results of a canonical correlation analysis utilizing 2245 individuals in 21 organizations in various parts of the world indicate that 54.8% of the variance in perceptions of culture, relationships, information receiving, and information sending can be explained by job satisfaction and perceived organizational effectiveness. Results of a nested model comparison of the two models using latent variable path analysis demonstrated that the competing conceptualization is a significantly better fit to the data than the traditional view.     

International organizing and organizational communication

Despite empirical and anecdotal evidence of the growing problem of alcohol use and abuse on college campuses, there is a high level of uncertainty regarding factors contributing to this particularly risky behavior. Past research has argued persuasively for the role individuals’ level of self‐efficacy and perceptions of threat or susceptibility play in decisions to engage (or not engage) in a variety of behaviors (Witte, 1992). However, factors contributing to the development of these perceptions of self‐efficacy and threat have yet to be completely understood. The present investigation argues that it is through our interactions with others, as well as our personal experiences with risky behaviors, that we develop perceptions of threat and efficacy. Recognizing, however, the complex and reciprocal nature of the attitude‐behavior relationship, this paper explores the intricacies of the relationships among communication, threat, efficacy, and behavior. 239 undergraduates at a medium‐sized northeastern university completed two surveys assessing perceptions of risk, self‐efficacy, social interaction patterns with friends, and behavior. The data suggest that both interaction with friends and perceptions of self‐efficacy significantly contribute to students engaging in excessive drinking. In addition, communication among friends and drinking itself contribute to evolving perceptions of threat and self‐efficacy. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as directions for future research, are discussed at the conclusion of the paper.     

A cognitive approach to human communication: An action assembly theory

An essential characteristic of human communicative behavior is that it is at once novel and creative yet patterned and repetitive. This observation suggests processes of selection of memory elements and subsequent construction of novel behaviors. In an effort to explicate these processes a general theoretical framework is developed. Further, a specific theory, consistent with the general framework, is also advanced. The theory is comprised of five axioms and seventeen propositions which serve to specify the nature of the relevant structures and processes.     

Evaluation of organizational communication competency: The development of the communication training impact questionnaire

As organizations devote more time and financial support to the development of training programs, the field of organizational communication needs to meet the demand for applications of organizational theory to the work world. This research reports the development of an evaluation instrument designed to go beyond participants' reactions to the training program, and assess the application of a specific skill to work tasks. The degree to which the participants perceive they have mastered the skill also is assessed. Data were collected on 267 participants in various communication training programs. Strong internal reliability, validity tests and factor analysis indicate that the Communication Training Impact Questionnaire can be used to assess two of Kirkpatrick's levels of training impact. Suggestions for using the instrument are discussed and implications for the field of organizational communication are presented.     

The relevance of modern organization theory to organizational communication

The developing field of organization theory is examined from the perspective of speech‐communication scholarship and the extent to which certain implications of overlooked theories in organizational communication have impact for our discipline.     

Distortion of subordinate to superior communication in organizational settings

In a field setting it was found that messages concerning unfavorable situations were more distorted than messages concerning favorable situations, but mostly when the stimulus situation was task related. For non‐task related stimulus situations messages concerning unfavorable situations were distorted less than were messages concerning favorable situations. This latter finding was attributed to a “real‐life” pratfall effect.     

Basic communication fidelity: An extension

The concept of Basic Communication Fidelity represents the degree of congruity between cognitions of two or more individuals following a communication event. Measurement of the concept is expanded beyond source/receiver comparison of cognitions implanted in a communication source in the form of geometric forms to include self‐oriented cognitions generated by an individual communicator in an environment reflecting stability of self‐oriented cognitions over the duration of the interaction. Results increase potential application, precision and explanatory value of the construct.     

Using the outdoor scavenger hunt to teach theories of organizational communication

Courses: Communication Theory, Organizational Communication, Strategic Communication.

Objectives: Students will identify and categorize organizational discourses on their campuses; students will become aware of the ethical considerations of communication; students will recognize the different perceptions of organizational culture on campus.     

Interdisciplinary studies of communication: An editorial

The following is the Keynote Address for the 1966 Conference of the Central States Speech Association and was delivered at the General Session on April 15 in Chicago, Illinois.     

Creating a departmental culture for communication grants

Extramural funding to support communication research influences and is influenced by the culture of our discipline, universities, and departments. Both the National Communication Association and the International Communication Association have established closer ties to funding agencies and encouraged members' grant writing pursuits through mentorship and convention programs, newsletter columns, and publicity. Universities vary in how much support they have available as infrastructure to assist in the submission and administration of grants. Some institutions facilitate extramural funding endeavors through mentoring programs, university-wide research centers, sharing of indirect costs, and space. Department cultures, too, vary in the resources available to support grants. Departments in many ways have the most direct effects on grant-supporting cultures. In addition to activities indicated for the discipline and university, departments can build a grant culture by recognizing grant writing in their personnel practices, creating systems for rewarding and supporting grant activities, and having policies in place for the many related issues (e.g., release time, indirect cost sharing, research assistants). Finally, the interpersonal culture, whether colleagues recognize and support grants, plays a major role in individual pursuit of, and satisfaction with, seeking extramural funding to support communication research.     

Creating a departmental culture for communication grants

Extramural funding to support communication research influences and is influenced by the culture of our discipline, universities, and departments. Both the National Communication Association and the International Communication Association have established closer ties to funding agencies and encouraged members' grant writing pursuits through mentorship and convention programs, newsletter columns, and publicity. Universities vary in how much support they have available as infrastructure to assist in the submission and administration of grants. Some institutions facilitate extramural funding endeavors through mentoring programs, university-wide research centers, sharing of indirect costs, and space. Department cultures, too, vary in the resources available to support grants. Departments in many ways have the most direct effects on grant-supporting cultures. In addition to activities indicated for the discipline and university, departments can build a grant culture by recognizing grant writing in their personnel practices, creating systems for rewarding and supporting grant activities, and having policies in place for the many related issues (e.g., release time, indirect cost sharing, research assistants). Finally, the interpersonal culture, whether colleagues recognize and support grants, plays a major role in individual pursuit of, and satisfaction with, seeking extramural funding to support communication research.     

Time pressure: An unexamined issue in organizational newcomers' role development

Although the impact of time pressure on integrative problem solving has been widely explored in traditional negotiation research, little attention has been paid to its effect as organizational newcomers negotiate and coordinate work role expectations with supervisors. This study examines the effect of time pressure on three integrative communication dimensions of supervisory role negotiations: directness, elaboration, and mutual concessions. One hundred seventy employed college undergraduates completed survey items pertaining to recalled supervisory discussions of role expectations. Consistent with the hypotheses, time pressure had a significant positive effect on each of the communicative dimensions of the recalled negotiation.     

档案文化传播渠道比较研究

本文通过对五种档案文化传播渠道的社会功能、传播特点及受众情况等方面的比较分析．提出拓展档案文化传播渠道，共同营造一个档案文化传播的良好环境．在社会大文化建设中提升档案文化的价值。     

Knowledge vacuum: An organizational learning dynamic of how e-government innovations fail

In spite of attempting to implement e-government innovations to enhance efficiency in public organizations for several decades, e-government innovation has often not met the expectations of citizens, legislatures, or the organizations. Although a wide range of causes from poor planning to improper implementation have been suggested for explanation of failures, it is still challenging to theoretically construct an explanation of what the overarching dynamic is behind those causes. To further develop the understanding of the conditions of unrealized benefits of e-government innovation, we propose a conceptual framework of a knowledge vacuum, which is an organizational condition in which excessive exploration and organizational inertia interact to create a vicious cycle of low performance. We first review the history of e-government and factors that affect the success and failure of e-government innovation. Next, we develop the conceptual framework, and apply the concept to review an e-government innovation failure case for an illustrative purpose. We conclude by discussing theoretical and practical implications of the conceptual framework and its limitations in understanding the current state of e-government innovations.