Organizational Communication BLOG

Clan Culture is the Ideal Culture for Innovation & Tech Firms Culture is a major factor for businesses in today's world. Employees finding a culture that fits with their ideas is just as important as the company finding employees to fill their roles. This is why having a culture where people are comfortable having new and interesting ideas is critical for tech and innovation firms.  The definition of Clan Culture is "This working environment is a friendly one. The leaders or the executives are seen as mentors. The organization is held together by loyalty and tradition. There is great involvement. The organization promotes teamwork, participation, and consensus." With this description, I believe that tech and innovation firms would thrive. When you look what Clan Culture promotes, the research shows that they will lead to higher employee satisfaction and employee satisfaction leads to better performance. One study by Moulson shows that " Teamwork h...

What do fast food chains and churches have in common?  These seemingly different institutions might have more in common than you think.  Historically,  franchising was limited to the trade industry, but the strategy of franchising is now being applied to the human services industry as well.  Many of the franchising principles that guide fast food chains are also prevalent within church denominations.   I am proposing a new way to think about church congregations as franchisees of larger church denominations.  Christian churches are traditionally not for profit organizations, so the concept of franchising churches needs to be nuanced from the original definition.  Rather than a physical product, church congregations provide services including spiritual growth, community, and outreach.  Christian denominations provide support, guidance, and standards for individual churches.  In addition, church...

Humor in the workplace, when done appropriately, is imperative for supervisors and subordinates alike with the aim of helping people tolerate stressful situations, build better communication, and increase overall productivity. What is Humor? Humor is described as, Amusing communications that produce positive emotions and cognitions in the individual, group or organization (Romero & Pescosolido, 2008) Stress Tolerance Nobody enjoys stress in the office. Moreall states that, Stressed out workers make more mistakes, have more accidents, and are less productive (Moreall, 1991) The Relief theory states that If you use humor in the workplace, your stress will be relieved and will, in turn, relieve other peoples stress. Building Communication Korczynski, when talking about how humor build better communication with employees says, Humor helps create community not only through the direct communication that is necessarily involved but also through the ...

How the #MeToo Movement has Damaged Women in the Workplace Content warning - themes, topics, and language related to sexual assault takes place in this article. It has been over a year since the #MeToo movement created a second wave of stories, awareness, and support across social media platforms by those impacted by sexual harassment and assault. The movement was created in 2007 by Brooklyn activist, Tarana Burke. Burke, a three time survivor of sexual assault, knew she was not alone in being a victim. She knew she needed to raise awareness to an issue many women are affected by, but are often silenced by their attackers or society - sexual harassment or assault.  The movements 2017 revival has allowed for women to be heard and accepted across the globe, but has it hurt women along the way? Research shows the importance of having a mentor in your work life. Somebody you can look up to, somebody who can offer support and resources, and somebody who can help y...

In today's world of academia, it is no secret that racial diversity is valued in the classroom. Racial Diversity in the classroom improves interpersonal skills, improves classroom dialogue and participation, and immerses students to views and stories that are vastly different from their own. Because of this colleges have begun to put a large emphasis on marketing racial diversity to prospective students. In fact, a study done on 100 colleges showed that 78% of them ranked marketing racial diversity as their second highest priority, only after marketing academic rigor of the school. This marketing is often done through the college's website, as well as brochures and pamphlets that are given to prospective students. Many of these feature students in “stereotypical college settings,” such as throwing around a Frisbee, studying with coffee, or walking through the student union. However, a problem has arisen with colleges marketing racial diversity- many colleges will overr...

In a world that is becoming increasingly digitized, it is important for businesses to keep up with new technologies in order to stay relevant and competitive. There are many different ways that technology impacts communication within businesses and the workplace. In fact,  some researchers  have stated that “workers will soon choose to conduct all personal and professional activities from their individual homes, rendering the workplace obsolete”, which could change how we view the modern-day workplace completely. Some factors within organizations have shifted due to technology, include:  1.    Media Richness - Media can differ in “richness” based on how much information the receiver is provided from the context. For example, the most “rich” form of communication is face-to-face communication because you are able to get context like nonverbal context that enhances your understanding of the message. When looking at technology, it is important to match th...

Rekindle The Flame I suspect most of you go through the motions of work-related duties. Feeling fully exhausted to the point of no return. Some might say it’s normal or just apart of having a stressful job, but the real concern should be about improving your health.  Human services tend to have a high degree of burnout due to the toll it takes on individuals providing such intimate care. As caregivers it’s easy to care for everyone but yourself. In 2015,  the Mayo Clinic  conducted a study reveling that more than half of American physicians now have at least one sign of burnout, a nine percent increase from three years ago.  When working within health care, underlying factors like time constraints, lack of control over work processes and scheduling, and conflicting roles and relationship with leadership all lead to burnout cases. Money can't fix the emotional aspect that comes with such an intimate profession. You need to believe your work is...