This volume presents organizational communication from both a communication and managerial perspective. The text's writing style and use of examples and case studies should prove accessible to undergraduates.

This book accounts for the transformation of organizations in a post-bureaucratic era by bringing a communicational lens to the ontological discussion on organization/disorganization, offering a conceptual and methodological toolbox for studying dis/organization as communication. Increasingly, scholars acknowledge that communication is constitutive of organization; because meaning is always indeterminate, communication also (and simultaneously) generates disorganization. The book synthesizes the major theoretical trends and empirical studies in communication that engage with dis/organization. Drawing on dialectics, relational ontologies, critical theory, systems theory, and affect thinking, the first part of the book offers communicational explanations of how dis/organization unfolds. The second part of the book grounds this theoretical reflection, providing empirical studies that mobilize diverse methodological and analytical frameworks (e.g., ethnography, situational, interactional and genre analysis) for studying the practices of dis/organization. Overall, the book exposes organizations (and organizing processes) as significantly messier, irrational (or a-rational), and paradoxical than scholars of organization typically think. It also offers readers the conceptual and methodological tools to understand these complex processes as communication. This book will be essential reading for scholars in organizational communication or management and organization studies, together with senior undergraduate and graduate students studying organizational communication, organizational discourse, discourse analysis (including rhetoric, semiotics, pragmatism, narratology) and courses in management studies. It will also be richly rewarding for organizational consultants, managers and executives.

Organizational Communication: Foundations, Challenges, and Misunderstandings examines how communication is central to organizational life and the complexities and complications that arise as people attempt to coordinate their organizational activities. The text underscores the importance of the relationships we establish with the people with whom we work and how a better understanding of organizational communication theory and application can help us anticipate and manage misunderstandings in the workplace. In Part One, students learn about classical and modern management theories, systems theory, and frameworks for understanding organizational communication, including organizational culture and critical theory. In Part Two, the text covers topics traditionally covered in organizational communication textbooks through the lens of misunderstandings. Stories from organizational members highlight challenges and opportunities related to communicating in the organization. Realistic recruitment, socialization, the relationship between supervisors and subordinates, peer and team relationships, and leadership communication are addressed. The fifth edition features new interview data; broader coverage of diversity; expanded discussions of emotions at work; and examinations of workplace bullying, blended relationships, and technology as it relates to gender and age. Offering students a balanced mix of theoretical and practical information, Organizational Communication is an exemplary textbook for introductory organizational communication courses.

The idea that communication constitutes organization (CCO) provides a unique perspective to organization studies by highlighting the fundamental and formative role of communication for organizational phenomena of various kinds. The book features original works that address the idea of organization as communication in the light of other theories, related concepts, as well as the tension between strategy and emergence. The first set of chapters discusses the idea of organization communication in the light of critical works of European scholars (Habermas, Honneth, and Günther). The second set of chapters reflects on a range of concepts such as institutions, routines, and leadership from a CCO perspective. The final set of chapters examines the tension between strategic and emergent communication by drawing on new methodology and empirical evidence. The chapters are set into dialogue with some of the most prominent proponents of CCO scholarship. The book offers an important contribution to CCO thinking by adding European perspectives on organization as communication. It connects the primarily North American approach and European traditions of theoretical thought to existing debates in communication and organization studies.

Communication in organizations has changed drastically since the release of the first edition of this bestselling textbook. This fully revised and updated edition delves into state-of-the-art studies, providing fresh insights into the challenges that organizations face today. Yet this foundational resource remains a cornerstone in the examination of classic research and theory in organization communication.

Organizations and Communications Technology is must reading for those interested in the relation of communication technology to organizational form and function. The book does what many such collections do not do: It presents in a complementary--if not totally unified--fashion a variety of perspectives on and answers to questions raised about the essential nature, determinants, and effects of the organization-communication technology interface. Such coherence in theme and structure is not accidental; rather, it derives from the editors′ commitment to a robust theoretical foundation in which to ground past and future research. . . . They have succeeded brilliantly in their efforts to focus substantive scholarship on theory building in a data-rich but theory-poor field. The result is a work that will no doubt be a classic. The reader who makes the commitment to mine its essays will not be disappointed. --Journal of Business and Technical Communication "As a summary of the field, this collection of theoretical essays succeeds on two main counts. . . . First, it brings together in one volume writers whose recent work has been widely cited and discussed throughout the literatures of information science, communication, management, and technology studies. Second, the book presents some exciting theoretical ideas about the relationship between communication technologies and social behavior that are applicable beyond the organizational setting. . . . On the whole, this book is a fine overview that updates and lends structure--′organizes′--this evolving literature for a diverse audience." --Journal of Communication "The editors . . . argue convincingly that the study of human and organizational aspects of communications technology suffers from a glut of data and a deficiency of theory. The objective of the book becomes one of starting the process of developing a corpus of theory that will integrate the knowledge we have. Overall, the book achieves this objective well, with the gratifying addition that there are also plenty of practical recommendations of immediate value to the practitioner. . . . This is an ambitious book and given the importance of the topic this is inevitable. It is aimed at a broad range of disciplines. It is unashamedly theoretical in its approach yet contains a good deal of immediate practical importance. My own prediction . . . suggests that this book will be regarded as a milestone from which future progress will be measured." --The Occupational Psychologist "Communications technology offers a wonderful springboard for much broader considerations of how people in organizations and behavior within them. Worthwhile . . . engaging." --Academy of Management Review "Will interest any business communication scholar concerned with the ways organizations are affected by new technologies. . . . Provide[s] a wealth of stimulating ideas." --Journal of Business Communication "Organizations and Communications Technology is an attempt to provide a foundation for theory development on information technology in organizations by delegating the task to a set of competent researchers and theorists. Given the dearth of theory development in the field such a strategy makes some sense. Because of (its) diversity, organizations, communications, and management information systems scholars should all find something of interest." --Administrative Science Quarterly How do technology and organization interact to shape organizational structures and processes? What organizational, political, and social processes constrain technological development? What forces shape the articulation of organizational and technological systems? Answering these and other pivotal questions, this powerful volume centers on the role of theory for advancing our knowledge of communication technology in organizations at several levels: micro, group, and macro. A distinguished team of contributors examines a richly diverse group of topics, including telecommunications, communication networks and new media, the use of group decision support systems, and discretionary databases, to name but a few. Organizations and Communication Technology offers nothing less than a fresh foundation for research and management practice. As such, it is essential reading for scholars, practitioners, and students in the fields of management studies, communication science, organization studies, and policy studies.

Effective advice on communication at every level in an organization, by the author of the book Communications Strategies for Family Planning, Professor of Communication at the Institute for Communication Research at Stanford University. Communication in Organizations is Goodyear Roger and Rekha Agarwala-Rogers' business communications guide for organizational success perfect for any level.