Critical Theory of Communication Approach to Organizations * 07/16/96 Critical Theory of Communication Approach to Organizations Of Stanley Deetz in Em Griffin, A First Look at Communication Theory (4th ed.) 5/5/2019 *

* 07/16/96 CLICKER Deetz views multinational corporations such as GM, AT&T, IBM, Time-Warner, and Amoco, as the dominant force in society; A = TRUE B = FALSE 5/5/2019 *

* 07/16/96 CLICKER Deetz challenges the view that communication is the transmission of information (the conduit model); A = TRUE B = FALSE 5/5/2019 *

* 07/16/96 CLICKER According to Deetz’s view, language does not represent things that already exist, language takes part in creating reality; A = TRUE B = FALSE 5/5/2019 *

CLICKER THE APPROACH TO MANAGEMENT THAT DEETZ FAVORS IS: A = STRATEGY; B = CONSENT; C = INVOLVEMENT; D = PARTICIPATION; 5/5/2019

Corporate Colonization of Everyday Life * 07/16/96 Corporate Colonization of Everyday Life Deetz views multinational corporations such as GM, AT&T, IBM, Time-Warner, and Amoco, as the dominant force in society; The multinational corporations are seen as more powerful than the church, state or family in their influence of individuals’ lives; For instance, over 90 % of mass media outlets--newspapers, broadcast, cable, telephone lines, and satellites--are owned by just a handful of corporations; 5/5/2019 *

* 07/16/96 Critical Deetz’s theory of communication is critical in that he wants to critique the easy assumption that “what’s good for General Motors is good for the country;” Deetz wants to examine communication practices in organizations that undermine fully representative decision making, thus reducing the quality, innovation, and fairness of company policy; 5/5/2019 *

Information versus Communication * 07/16/96 Information versus Communication Deetz challenges the view that communication is the transmission of information (the conduit model); Implicit in this model of transmission is the idea of an independent reality [World View I], one that is referred to by words that represent those things; 5/5/2019 *

* 07/16/96 : A CONDUIT OR TRANSMISSION MODEL 5/5/2019 *

Information versus Communication * 07/16/96 Information versus Communication Deetz sees the belief in a transmission (conduit) model as part of perpetuating corporate dominance; As examples, the annual report of the corporation is presented as facts that stand apart from human decisions; Instead, Deetz points out that what seems to be value-free information is really meaning in formation; 5/5/2019 *

Information versus Communication * 07/16/96 Information versus Communication In place of the information model, Deetz offers a communication model that regards language as the principal medium through which social reality is produced and reproduced; [DOES THIS IDEA SOUND FAMILIAR TO YOU? IT SHOULD. What comes to mind here is the Semiotic Tradition, Symbolic Interactionism and Constructivism]; 5/5/2019 *

Information versus Communication * 07/16/96 Information versus Communication According to Deetz’s view, language does not represent things that already exist, language takes part in creating reality; 5/5/2019 *

Information versus Communication * 07/16/96 Information versus Communication People who adopt the language of big business may not be aware that they are putting corporate values into play; For instance, “the bottom line” (an economic metaphor) is not necessarily the most important thing, there may be non-financial considerations to take into account; 5/5/2019 *

* 07/16/96 Communication & Power Deetz thinks of communication as ongoing social construction (like Pearce and Cronen, chapter 5); But Deetz differs in adding the issue of power as central; For Deetz, the fundamental issue is control and how different groups are represented in decision-making; 5/5/2019 *

Overt control Covert control Stakeholder democracy in action * 07/16/96 Free expression but no voice in decisions Overt control Stakeholder democracy in action Covert control 5/5/2019 *

Strategy: Overt Control * 07/16/96 Strategy: Overt Control Managerialism: discourse based on “a kind of systematic logic, a set of routine practices, and ideology;” It comes down to control; Choice is limited to loyalty or exit; Regardless of a company’s product line or service, “control is the management product and is most clearly the one on which individual advancement rests.” Efficiency becomes control as the key; 5/5/2019 *

* 07/16/96 Control Nowhere is the quest for control more apparent than in the corporate aversion for public conflict; Managers are rewarded for “putting out fires,” “running a tight ship,” or “making things run smoothly;” 5/5/2019 *

Consent: Covert Control Without Objection * 07/16/96 Consent: Covert Control Without Objection Consent is when employees willingly give loyalty to the organization without getting much in return; The employee actively, though unknowingly, “is complicit in her or his own victimization”; The force of an organizational practice is strongest when no one even thinks about it [“That’s the way it’s done around here”]; 5/5/2019 *

INVOLVEMENT: FREE EXPRESSION OF IDEAS * 07/16/96 INVOLVEMENT: FREE EXPRESSION OF IDEAS Shifting from the Managerial Control side of the figure on Organizational Practices to the Co-Determination side, is a shift from autocracy to liberal democracy; Deetz says “the right of expression appears more central than the right to be informed or to have an effect;” 5/5/2019 *

INVOLVEMENT: FREE EXPRESSION OF IDEAS * 07/16/96 INVOLVEMENT: FREE EXPRESSION OF IDEAS Many managers use these open sessions as a way to let employees blow off steam; When workers find out that their ideas aren’t represented in the final decision, they quickly become cynical about the process; 5/5/2019 *

Participation: Stakeholder Democracy in Action * 07/16/96 Participation: Stakeholder Democracy in Action Deetz believes that joint, open decisions in the workplace are possible; One of the goals of his theory is to reclaim the possibility of open negotiations of power; 5/5/2019 *

Participation Expand the list of people who should have a say: * 07/16/96 Participation Expand the list of people who should have a say: investors workers consumers suppliers host communities greater society and the world community 5/5/2019 *

* 07/16/96 Participation Deetz believes that those who are affected by corporate decisions have a say; He sees no legitimate basis for privileging one group of stakeholders over another; 5/5/2019 *

* 07/16/96 Participation Deetz maintains that managerialism impedes democratic stakeholder participation through systematically distorted communication; Systematic distortion operates through norms and expectations--it is subtle, e.g., arbitrary authority relations within an organization, suppression of conflict; 5/5/2019 *

* 07/16/96 Participation Deetz would have managers take the role of mediators rather than persuaders, coordinating the conflicting interests of all parties affected by corporate decisions (p. 268); Deetz suggests management start by gettting to know workers; 5/5/2019 *

Saturn: A Model of Stakeholder Participation * 07/16/96 Saturn: A Model of Stakeholder Participation Saturn does much of what Deetz recommends: Every member thinks and acts like an ownerl; Management of work is reintegrated with the doing of work; Quality information is widely distributed; Social structure grows from the bottom rather than enforced from the top, i.e., work teams with authority; 5/5/2019 *

* 07/16/96 Critique If everything is in play (constructivism), then do we have a right to participate in decisions that affect us; Tongue-in-cheek summary:”If we just didn’t find it natural and right and unavoidable to hand power over to managers, everything would be very different and our problems would be solved” (quoting McPhee, p. 269); 5/5/2019 *