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.     

Taxonomy visualization in support of the semi-automatic validation and optimization of organizational schemas

Never before in history has mankind produced and had access to so much data, information, knowledge, and expertise as today. To organize, access, and manage these valuable assets effectively, we use taxonomies, classification hierarchies, ontologies, controlled vocabularies, and other approaches. We create directory structures for our files. We use organizational hierarchies to structure our work environment. However, the design and continuous update of these organizational schemas with potentially thousands of class nodes organizing millions of entities is challenging for any human being.The taxonomy visualization and validation (TV) tool introduced in this paper supports the semi-automatic validation and optimization of organizational schemas such as file directories, classification hierarchies, taxonomies, or other structures imposed on a data set for organization, access, and naming. By showing the “goodness of fit” for a schema and the potentially millions of entities it organizes, the TV tool eases the identification and reclassification of misclassified information entities, the identification of classes that grow too large, the evaluation of the size and homogeneity of existing classes, the examination of the “well-formedness” of an organizational schema, and more. As a demonstration, the TV tool is applied to display and examine the United States Patent and Trademark Office patent classification, which organizes more than three million patents into about 160,000 distinct patent classes. The paper concludes with a discussion and an outlook to future work.     

A lesson from the New York Times: Timing and the management of cultural change

Abstract

The author places newspaper decision‐making models within a timing framework, using the infamous New York Times‐Jayson Blair‐plagiarism case to illustrate how the U.S. newspaper industry can feasibly and sincerely engineer the change in newspaper culture suggested by an earlier industry‐commissioned study. Using arguments from timing theory, the author illustrates how the framework generates timing‐related questions about management style that would not normally get asked. Ultimately, the argument challenges newspaper managers to re‐consider the essence of the managerial concept of control and, eventually, their own managerial style and culture. Cultural transformation, the author argues, does, indeed, start at the top but with management acknowledging that it has much to learn and that popular culture‐enhancing management tools must be used only when managers consider the timing‐induced paradoxes inherent in decision‐making, where the “when”; becomes just as important as the “what.”;     

A descriptive investigation of the possible communication‐based reasons for effective and ineffective group decision making

The present study sought to compare the nature and content of interaction within a number of “effective” and “ineffective” decision‐making groups in an effort to identify consistent differences which might account for the differences in the quality of their group decisions. The goal of the investigation was to generate data which will help us better understand the communication‐based reasons for “effective” and “ineffective” group decision making. Using basically a qualitative approach, six “effective” groups and five “ineffective” groups were compared. The study found that the discussions of those two sets of groups can be distinguished on the basis of at least four communication‐related characteristics: (1) The manner in which the groups examined opinions and assumptions advanced by group members; (2) The manner in which the groups evaluated alternative choices; (3) The nature of the premises which served as the basis for the groups’ decisions; and (4) The nature of influence exerted by the most influential members of the groups. These four differences are discussed in terms of specific empirically‐testable propositions regarding the relationship between group interaction and quality of group decision making.     

The emergence of homogeneity and heterogeneity in knowledge structures during a planned organizational change

Scholars and practitioners increasingly strive to understand the complexities marking implementations of organizational change programs. Studies on this topic often concentrate on members' cognition about a planned change, regularly finding that members' knowledge structures and interpretations either converge or diverge over time. Using interviews, observations, and a unique discourse processing technique, a nine-month case study of one division of a municipal government organization shows that members' knowledge structures simultaneously converged and diverged as a consequence of both the change initiative and several unanticipated organizational events, including a clash between workgroups. The study's findings and theoretical perspective suggest a challenge to cognitive perspectives on knowledge and traditional research on organizational change; they also provide lessons for practitioners on how organizations may learn from complex change dynamics.     

Engaged Journalism and News Work: A Sociotechnical Analysis of Organizational Dynamics and Professional Challenges

ABSTRACT

Building upon the sociotechnical perspective presented by Lewis and Westlund (2015, “Actors, Actants, Audiences, and Activities in Cross-media News Work: A Matrix and a Research Agenda.” Digital Journalism 3 (1): 19–37. doi:10.1080/21670811.2014.927986), this study examines organizational dynamics, technological affordances and professional challenges of engaged journalism practices by analyzing how Hearken, one of the most celebrated audience engagement companies, and its tools and services are being implemented in 15 U.S. news organizations. This framework identifies Hearken and organizations like it as important “external actors” providing technological “actants” that are shaping how newsrooms report the news by providing ways for audiences to be brought into producing the news, particularly during the earlier phases of the reporting process. Based on in-depth interviews, we find that nearly every news organization in our sample reports some measure of success by using Hearken for involving audience members throughout the production of news. At the same time, we also identify how this implementation is significantly shaped by organizational imperatives and the models particular organizations create for producing audience-centric news work. Ultimately, this study presents a partial update to the decades-long literature on participatory journalism by suggesting that engaged journalism practices actually create opportunities for meaningful audience involvement.     

组织效能影响因素实证研究

通过对跨国企业成功实践的研究，推断出知识管理以及企业文化是组织效能的有效影响因素，并采用问卷调查的实证研究方法对该推断进行验证。结果表明：知识管理正向影响组织效能，企业文化也同样正向影响组织效能，且两者融合对组织效能的正向影响效果更显著。并据此结论为企业提高组织效能提出相关的知识管理和企业文化建设建议。     

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.     

高校科技期刊编辑人员组织认同状况分析 ——以江苏省为例

以江苏省高校科技期刊编辑人员为研究对象,运用文献分析法、问卷调查法和统计分析法及SPSS 17.0软件对他们的组织认同状况进行调查研究。结果显示:高校科技期刊编辑人员的组织认同程度一般;组织认同的4维度中,编辑人员对组织的归属感属中等偏上,对直接领导的感激程度一般,以组织为自豪程度一般,编辑部内部关系融洽。对在管理上如何提高高校科技期刊编辑人员的组织认同提出了建议。     

Graduate theses—an index of graduate work in speech XVIII∗

This study attempts to summarize selected concepts from the theory of Kenneth Burke and test their applicability in a formal organization. Semantic differential scales and the paired‐comparison technique were used to gather data on “order,” “mystery,” and “identification” as perceived by members of all levels of the hierarchy within a university.     

Expressions of Identifications: The Nature of Talk and Identity Tensions Among Organizational Members in a Struggling Organization

This study investigates how organizational members communicatively enact identification and more specifically how tensions in identification are expressed through members’ talk and behaviors. Using a case-study approach, we explored the experiences of members in an organization in turmoil. Semi-structured interviews, questionnaires given at two times, and observations of organizational events were used to understand the identification tensions these individuals negotiated and ways that identification, disidentification, and ambivalent identification were enacted. The study provides empirical evidence of changing identifications and articulates their communicative manifestations. The findings not only support the notion that identification is a complex and dynamic process but also contribute to the identification literature by illustrating specific ways that various forms of identification tensions are enacted and communicated in response to organizational change.     

Communication practices as unobtrusive control: An observational study

This paper reports a study that examines naturalistic communication as concertive control. The paper argues that, while the theoretical perspective considers communication in the powerful role of controlling organizational decision making, research efforts have not, for the most part, examined communication practices. Results of an interpretation of communication interaction observed during organizational meetings identify several communicative practices that are interpreted as unobtrusive control practices. First, premises are articulated and reiterated during meetings. Second, leaders simultaneously reinforce and appeal to organizational premises. Third, as premises are articulated and reiterated, leaders' metacommunication suggests that the premises are being drawn from the members. Fourth, members participate in this process through interactive decision‐making rituals. A more complex interpretation is offered to enrich the understanding of concertive control. Specifically, instances of concertive control also operate as bureaucratic control and simple control. Limitations of concertive control are discussed. Results indicate that premises may be negotiated or not accepted. Finally, in one example, the success of concertive control creates a reversal in control roles.     

Exploring the relationship between workplace freedom of speech,organizational identification,and employee dissent

The purpose of this study was to examine how subordinates' perceptions of workplace freedom of speech related to their levels of organizational identification and their strategies for expressing dissent. Full‐time working adults from various organizations in the Southwest completed self‐report survey instruments. Results indicated that organizational identification as well as the expression of articulated dissent and latent dissent varied as a function of workplace freedom of speech.     

Thornton wilder: Guest star

The purpose of the study was to investigate the dimensions of profane language use in a college student sample. Two hundred and eighty‐three responses to a questionnaire on personal use of “sexual vernacular” were submitted to factor analysis. Results of the factor analysis yielded five dimensions of profane language based upon predispositions to use such words.     

A refined view of download time impacts on e‐consumer attitudes and patronage intentions toward e‐retailers

Abstract

The following paper is a case study analysis of the Sony Corporation; a leading transnational media corporation in the production and sale of consumer electronics, music and film entertainment and videogame technology. There are two main parts to this study. Part I, examines the history and development of the Sony Corporation. This paper argues that the business strategies and corporate culture of a company are often a direct reflection of the person (or persons) who were responsible for developing the organization and its business mission. Part II. examines the Sony Corporation from the standpoint of business strategy. Special attention is given to the subject of organizational culture and strategic decision‐making. A second argument of this paper is that while Sony is a transnational media corporation, the organization is decidedly Japanese in its business values. The significance of this research lies in its revelations concerning the complex changes facing a company that was once historically Japanese in its origins but is tecoming increasingly transnational ïn scope and operations.     

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.     

The “Wicked Problem” of Neutral Description: Toward a Documentation Approach to Metadata Standards

Increasingly, metadata standards have been recognized as constructed rather than neutral. In this article, we argue for the importance of a documentation approach to metadata standards creation as a codification of this growing recognition. By making design decisions explicit, the documentation approach dispels presumptions of neutrality and, drawing on the “wicked problems” theoretical framework, acknowledges the constructed nature of standards as “clumsy solutions.”     

Professional intervention and organizational incorporation: examining journalistic use of microblogs in two Chinese newsrooms

Existing research has widely accounted the influence of microblogs on traditional news production, but less attention has been paid to how microblogs are socially constructed in newsrooms. Taking the social constructivist approach, this study explored the professional and organizational construction of journalistic use of microblogs. We conducted 33 in-depth interviews with news workers at two local newspapers in China and a textual analysis of their microblog posts. We found that Chinese news workers heavily stressed professional values and journalistic authority, which set limits to information appropriation and self-expression on microblogs. Production culture, organization policy, and organization culture were also found to shape journalistic use of microblogs. The highly censored press environment restricted both organizational and individual use of microblogs, but sometimes motivated news workers to seek extra value on microblogs.