Book/Articles:
Questions to ask when analysing:
Traditional: How did the company use formal communication channels and HR practices to control and
align behavior with organizational goals? Did they reinforce the existing culture?
Interpretive Perspective: How did individuals or groups interpret and respond to the company’s
communication and cultural messages? What role did informal communication, and shared meanings
play in shaping organizational culture?
Critical Perspective: Were there any issues of power, inequality, or employee exclusion within
the culture or communication practices? Did certain communication strategies serve to reinforce or
challenge existing hierarchies?
Week 1:
Chapter 1: Lecture 1
1. Crisis Management and Cosmology Episodes in the 1997 Red River Floods and
Hurricane Katrina
● Tools and Methods in Crisis Management: Often, established crisis
management tools and strategies are assumed to be sufficient for handling
new crises based on previous experiences.
● 1997 Red River Floods Example:
○ Officials' Approach: During the Red River floods, officials continued
using traditional strategies even under extreme conditions, failing to
recognize the situation’s novelty. They underestimated the severity,
leading to a breakdown in sense-making.
○ Cosmology Episode: This term describes a sudden collapse in
organizational sense-making when people encounter an event beyond
their understanding, leading to a state of confusion and disorientation.
, ○ Impact of the Record-Breaking Flood: As the flood exceeded
historical records, the methods and plans that had been reliable in the
past failed. An operations manager observed, “No one has ever seen
this much water in the Fargo area,” indicating their need to improvise
and react in real time. Another described it as “dealing with an
unknown,” underscoring the unprecedented nature of the crisis.
○ Comparison to Hurricane Katrina: FEMA’s confused response during
Hurricane Katrina is seen as another example of a cosmology episode,
where traditional crisis responses were insufficient for the scale and
complexity of the disaster.
● Self-Organization:
○ Despite the chaos, the Red River crisis management system eventually
began to self-organize, restoring order in an initially chaotic
environment.
○ After Hurricane Katrina, similar self-organization occurred across
various government levels, showing that crisis management can adapt
when established plans fail.
2. The Critical Perspective in Organizational Studies
● Contrast with Traditional and Interpretive Scholars:
○ Unlike traditional and interpretive scholars, critical scholars view
organizations as tools for privilege or even oppression, examining
power imbalances and inequalities within organizational structures.
○ Focus: They analyze the relationship between privileged (e.g., owners,
executives, elite classes) and disadvantaged groups (e.g., workers,
women, minorities) and how this dynamic is perpetuated through
language and discourse within organizations.
Organizational Oppression and Language
● Role of Language in Oppression:
○ Language can maintain oppression by embedding discriminatory
attitudes in communication. For example, some scholars argue that
gender discrimination in organizations is partly sustained by
demeaning language about women, which influences behavior and
attitudes.
● Structural Oppression:
○ Oppression also stems from structural inequalities within organizations,
such as physical segregation or lack of access to power for certain
groups (e.g., women facing barriers to promotion or being assigned to
insignificant roles).
○ Examples:
, ■ Women might face structural barriers, like being assigned to
"do-nothing" jobs or denied advancement opportunities, limiting
their access to organizational influence and information.
Approaches to Addressing Oppression
● Language and Structural Remedies:
○ Addressing oppression requires changes in both language and
structure. This might involve:
■ Language: Eliminating sexist language to dismantle symbols of
male dominance.
■ Structure: Reforming male-dominated hierarchies to allow
greater inclusion of women and minorities.
○ Critical scholars argue that focusing on only language or structure
misses the broader reality of organizational oppression, which resides
in the relationship between both.
3. Dennis Mumby’s Views on Deep Structure in Organizational Power Dynamics
● Interpretive Research Critique:
○ Mumby, a critical theorist, agrees that interpretive research
demonstrates the symbolic nature of organizational reality but criticizes
it for not fully explaining the role of symbols in sustaining power and
dominance.
○ Deep Structure Concept: Mumby defines "deep structure" as the
underlying rule system governing behavior within an organization. It
establishes power relationships and is maintained through symbolic
forms in communication.
○ Symbolic Power:
■ Symbols in organizational communication help to create and
reinforce these power structures, serving the interests of the
privileged class.
■ Critical scholars often explore how symbols and discourse
shape power and reinforce dominance.
Systematic Distortion of Communication
● Definition by Critical Scholars:
○ Systematic distortion refers to a symbolic manipulation where the
interests of owners/managers are falsely linked with those of workers
through ideological communication. It’s a form of control beyond mere
informational errors, as it subtly aligns worker interests with
management goals.
, 4. Critical Perspective on Katrina and the Private Sector
● Wal-Mart's Response to Katrina:
○ Wal-Mart’s proactive response during Katrina showcased its crisis
capabilities, leading media to portray its efficiency as superior to
government efforts.
○ Critical Analysis:
■ Featherstone critiqued this portrayal, arguing that framing the
private sector as more capable than government agencies
ignores how underfunding may have hindered government
response capabilities.
■ Symbolic Representation: This narrative subtly reinforces the
private sector's image as superior, obscuring the impact of
reduced resources on public agencies’ effectiveness.
Organizational Silence and Critical Theory
● Silences in Organizational Communication:
○ Critical theorists analyze "textual silences," where critical information is
omitted in discourse, potentially manipulating understanding.
○ Example: During discussions on Hurricane Katrina, officials remained
silent on key evacuation issues, which some see as a form of
"speech-act silence"—communicating through silence while allowing
for plausible deniability (i.e., “I never said that”).
○ Manipulative Silence: Huckin describes this as a strategy to subtly
convey information while withholding explicit statements, making it an
indirect but influential form of control.
5. Feminism as a Subset of the Critical Perspective
● Focus on Women’s Oppression:
○ Feminist theory in organizational communication focuses on critiquing
and dismantling patriarchy, aiming to address the oppression of
women.
○ Different Feminist Approaches:
■ Liberal Feminism: Seeks to achieve equality by removing
patriarchy from societal institutions.
■ Radical Feminism: Blames "male power" for gendered
oppression and calls for restructuring social and cultural
institutions like family, church, and education to eliminate
patriarchy entirely.
