We researched and discussed the discussion topic about how communication manifests itself in the organization in which the student works. We talked about how he and employees, he and customers, employees and customers, he and corporate managers communicate. We discovered there is a bias in the literature of unrealistic expectations of communications and how to deal with people and discussed more practical ways to deal with the realities of people's behaviors.
We read through Ch. 5 Individuals in Organizations and Ch. 6 Groups in Organizations. Ch. 5 included the theories of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory, Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory, Skinner's Behaviorist Theory (Rewards Theory), Salancik/Pfeffer's Social Information Processing Theory, and Leader-Member Exchange Theory. Ch. 6 included the following group theories: Bona fide groups, primary work teams, long-standing teams, project teams, pre-fab teams, self-managing teams, directional groups, quality teams, task force groups, steering committees, focus groups, geographically diverse teams, special support groups, inter organizational groups, and communities of practice.
We read the case study involving multiple communication problems within an organization involving an employee and her boss. We evaluated the problems and chose communication and behavioral theories to match the circumstances and to solve the problems.
We worked on two discussions. The first involved discussing how communications manifests itself in organizations that utilize early and modern management theories such as the Scientific Management Theory (Taylor, Fayol, Webber), the Human Behavior Theory, and the Systems Theory. The second involved discussing how values affect communications in an organization with which he was familiar, e.g. Dunkin' Donuts.
