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##  Organizational Communication: Research and Practice. ERIC Digest.            

During the last decade of the 20th century, the world of business               underwent many fundamental changes. Technological advances in                   computing allowed some employees to work mostly from home, and the              prevalence of beepers and cell phones blurred the line between job              and home for many workers. But so far, these new professional aids              and tools do not seem to have had much effect on organizational                 cultures, except for making more employees work longer hours. A new             book by Jill Andresky Fraser reports that 25 million Americans work             more than 49 hours a week, and 11 million work more than 60 hours a             week (Fraser, 2001). The stress on white-collar workers is already              enormous, and the recent wave of job cuts and volatile stock market             fluctuations will probably deepen that stress. Along with this comes            news that many companies are now grading their employees-using                  academic-type grades-"ranking them from best to worst as a way of               making sure that managers evaluate employees honestly and make                  clearer distinctions among them" (Abelson, 2001). 
In the colleges             and universities business students learn about organizational                   communication in order to be able to function well in the business              environment of which they will become a part. And although                      organizational culture is inextricably interwoven with the academic             discipline of speech communication, organizational communication                entails more than just speech communication (Aiex, 1988). This                  Digest reviews the literature to examine recent research on                     organizational communication and to see how the academic world                  prepares its students to communicate in today's increasingly global             business world. RECENT ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION RESEARCHIn            recent years, the research in organizational communication has                  looked at such diverse subjects as job satisfaction, managerial                 briefings, the "outsider within," decision making, and the domains              of business management/organizational communication. There does not             seem to be a dominant theme in research, such as "organizational                culture" was during the 1980s. For example, a research study which              examined organizational communication as a moderator of the                     relationship between job performance and job satisfaction was                   conducted and the results presented in 1997. Findings suggest strong            support as a predictor of job satisfaction and weak support as a                moderator of the job performance-job satisfaction relationship. They            also showed that communication dimensions with the greatest support             as predictors were accuracy of information, desire for interaction,             communication load, trust in superior, influence of superior, and               communication satisfaction (Pettit et al, 1997). 
In another recent            study, Paul Gamble and Clare Keliher (1999) examined a series of                managerial briefings in nine stores of a major electronics retail               chain. Results revealed that managers were neither trained nor                  appraised on their briefings skills, prepared themselves                        indifferently, and made little use of techniques known to affect                attentiveness and recall; it was found that the daily communication             session appeared to have little impact on staff motivation or                   behavior. The "outsider within" perspective was studied by Mark                 Orbe (1998). Findings delineated and described the ways that                    traditionally marginalized group members communicate in mainstream              organizational settings. Findings also suggest that the model's                 strength lies in its approach to studying diversity in                          organizations. 
Frank Schmidtlein (1999) examined common                       assumptions about the rationality or irrationality of organizational            behavior and found that decision making occurs in a complex context             that successful college/university institutional research offices               must recognize and work with. Findings indicated that emerging                  organizational theories suggest there are limitations on the use of             data and analysis in the decision making process. 
Kim White-Mills             and Donald Rogers (1996) explored the common but separate domains of            business management and organizational communication. The two                   researchers investigated which textbooks, conceptual books, and                 articles most influenced educators in the area of                               business-managerial-organizational communication (BMOC). Their                  findings suggest that there is no common body of knowledge uniting              BMOC, but, in fact, they are three separate fields which overlap at             present but which seem to be moving in three different                          directions (one technical, one critical, and one managerial). THE             ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION COURSERonald L. Applebaum provides             an overview of organizational communication instruction in a 1998               article. He discusses the following: the fundamental problems in                selecting an approach to organizational communication; the purpose              of an organizational communication course; the structure and content            of organizational communication coursework; and teaching strategies             used in the basic course in organizational communication. 
Another             scholar/educator, Peggy Yuhas Byers (1998) advocates the use of case            study discussions as an effective instructional technique in the                organizational communication class. She presents a variety of                   formats for bringing case studies to life for students, and she                 cites the following sources for case studies: the World Wide Web,               local and national news publications, local businesses and                      industries, and self-developed cases. Byers's article also presents             methods for facilitating case study discussions. 
Students need to             know that organizational communication is not just getting along                with colleagues in the workplace, but also encompasses various types            of business writing (more on this follows in the next section).                 Heather Brodie Graves (1999) incorporates case studies in her                   classes to help students understand the issues inherent in corporate            communication. She finds that cases provide a variety of contexts               and examples for professional business writing that enlighten                   students as to the range of documents, rhetorical situations, and               audiences addressed in workplace writing. 
A recent article                    suggests that communication audits serve well as educational tools              for both student auditors and employees of organizations. It                    contends that instructors need to gain access to organizations,                 especially through internal audit departments; they should negotiate            the exchange of essentially free audit findings for a learning                  experience and research data; and they must secure commitments from             top management, other organizational members, and student                       auditors (Scott et al, 1999). 
Aline Wolff, in a 1996 article,                 analyzes a large-scale communication project for MBA students which             she believes exemplifies the type of projects that graduating                   students will be expected to collaborate on or to manage                        successfully. The article also considers the implications for                   teaching managerial communication to MBA students and recommends                ways to integrate real world tasks into the curriculum. 
The team              approach can function well in business and organizational                       communication classes, according to Deborah Britt Roebuck (1998).               She uses the Team Learning approach to teaching, in which students              spend approximately 80% of their in-class time working in permanent,            heterogeneous teams, becoming active and responsible participants in            the learning process. Roebuck outlines the instructional activity               sequence-getting started, forming the team-learning groups, grading,            and using the challenges and benefits of the team-learning                      method. WRITING AS ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATIONColleges and               universities require that their business students learn the basic               tenets of organizational communication, and this usually means a                general technical writing course and a speech communication course.             Indiana University's Kelley School of Business, for example,                    stresses professional writing for undergraduate business                        majors (juniors and seniors) and offers a required course in                    professional writing within the business school and not administered            by the English Department. It also requires the university-wide                 speech communication course which all undergraduates must take. 
It            is more common, however, for such technical writing courses to be               required at the MBA level. The example of Heather Brodie                        Graves's (1999) graduate-level writing class was already cited.                 Another example can be found in an English course (listed as English            339) and entitled "Writing for Government, Business, and Industry,"             at St. Cloud State University (Minnesota). This course is aimed                 mostly at graduate-level business students, and it emphasizes the               essential elements of audience and voice. It is grounded on the                 assertion of some composition theorists that the absence of voice is            symptomatic of a profound developmental deficit (suggesting an                  inability to navigate successfully the avenues of modern                        organizational culture). The course uses the classroom memo and                 committee minutes to facilitate students' development of an                     organizational writing voice and a sense of audience (Inkster,                  1993). 
As this Digest demonstrates, the technological advances                reshaping our world at the dawn of the 21st century will have a                 powerful impact on organizational communication, and the academic               community will be challenged to develop curricula and coursework                capable of preparing students to effectively function in the rapidly            changing environment. For additional information on this subject,               please study the references provided below. REFERENCESAbelson,            Reed (2001). "Companies Turn to Grades, and Employees Go to Court."             New York Times, March 19, 2001, Al, A12. 
Aiex, Nola                           Kortner (1988). "Communicating within Organizational Cultures." ERIC            Digest.  [ED 296 419] 
Applebaum, Ronald L. (1998). "Approaches to             Teaching Organizational Communication." Journal of the Association              for Communication Administration, 27(2), 119-25, May 1998. [EJ 583              387] 
Byers, Peggy Yuhas (1998). "Case Studies in the                          Organizational Communication Course: Applying Textbook Concepts to              Real Life Organizations." Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of              the Central States Communication Association. [ED 421 727] 
Fraser,            Jill Andresky (2001). "White-Collar Sweatshop: The Deterioration of             Work and Its Rewards in Corporate America." New York: Norton,                   2001. 
Gamble, Paul R. and Keliher, Clare E. (1999). "Imparting                Information and Influencing Behavior: An Examination of Staff                   Briefing Sessions." Journal of Business Communication, 36(3),                   261-79, Jul 1999. [EJ 592 870] 
Graves, Heather                                Brodie (1999). "Using Cases in Graduate-Level Professional Writing              Classes." Business Communication Quarterly, 62(4), 89-92, Dec                   1999. [EJ 603 155] 
Inkster, Bob (1993). "The Organizational                   Voice." Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Conference on              College Composition and Communication. [ED 356 496] 
Orbe, Mark                P. (1998). "An Outsider Within Perspective to Organizational                    Communication: Explicating the Communication Practices of                       Co-Cultural Group Members." Management Communication Quarterly,                 12(2), 230-79, Nov 1998. [EJ 575 017] 
Pettit, John D., Jr., et                al. (1997). "An Examination of Organizational Communication as a                Moderator of the Relationship between Job Performance and Job                   Satisfaction." Journal of Business Communication, 34(1), 81-98, Jan             1997. [EJ 553 694] 
Roebuck, Deborah Britt (1998). "Using Team                 Learning in Business and Organizational Communication Classes."                 Business Communication Quarterly, 61(3), 35-49, Sep 1998. [EJ 587               505] 
Schmidtlein, Frank A. (1999). "Emerging Perspectives on                  Organizational Behavior: Implications for Institutional                         Researchers." New Directions for Institutional Researchers, 26(4),              61-71, Win 1999. [EJ 601 732] 
Scott, Craig R., et                             al. (1999). "Using Communication Audits to Teach Organizational                 Communication to Students and Employees." Business Communication                Quarterly, 62(4), 53-70, Dec 1999. [EJ 603 149] 
White-Mills, Kim,             and Rogers, Donald P. (1996). "Identifying the Common and Separate              Domains of Business-Management-Organizational Communication."                   Journal of Business Communication, 33(3), 353-62, Jul 1996. [EJ 553             650] 
Wolff Aline (1996). "Preparing MBA Students for the World of             Professional Communication." Business Communication Quarterly,                  59(2), 86-94, Jun 1996. [EJ 551 896] 
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Digest #170 is                   EDO-CS-02-01 and was published in February 2002 by the ERIC                     Clearinghouse on Reading, English & Communication, 2805 E 10th St.,             Bloomington, IN 47408-2698, Telephone (812) 855-5847 or (800)                   759-4723. 
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This project is funded at             least in part with Federal funds from the U S Department of                     Education under contract number ED-99-CO-0028. The content of this              publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of               the US Department of Education nor does mention of trade names,                 commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the US               Government.                                                                  **Title:** Organizational Communication: Research and Practice. ERIC Digest.            **Note:** ERIC/REC Digest number D170.                                                 **Document Type:** Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073); **Available From:** ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication, Indiana              University, 2805 E. 10th St., Suite 140, Bloomington, IN 47408-2698.            Tel: 800-759-4723 (Toll Free); Web site: http://eric.indiana.edu.            **Descriptors:** Communication Research, Higher Education,  Instructional                        Effectiveness, Literature Reviews,  Organizational Communication,               Speech Communication, Student Needs, Technical Writing,  Theory                 Practice Relationship                                                        **Identifiers:** ERIC Digests, Globalization, Organizational Culture, Organizational             Research                                                                     
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