Critical Theory of Communication Approach to Organizations

1. Critical Theory of Communication Approach to Organizations Of Stanley Deetz in Em Griffin, A First Look at Communication Theory (4th ed.)

2. CLICKER QUESTION With regard to communication in the organization, Deetz is concerned with: = POWER = CONTROL IN DECISION-MAKING = COMMUNICATION PRACTICES IN THE ORGANIZATION

3. 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

4. CLICKER Deetz challenges the view that communication is the transmission of information (the conduit model); A = TRUE B = FALSE

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

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

7. 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;

8. Critical • Deetz’s theory of communication is criticalin 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;

9. 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;

10. : A CONDUIT OR TRANSMISSION MODEL

11. 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;

12. 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];

13. Information versus Communication • According to Deetz’s view, language does not represent things that already exist, language takes part in creating reality;

14. 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;

15. Communication & Power • Deetz thinks of communication as ongoing social construction (like Pearce and Cronen, chapter 5); • But Deetz differs in adding the issue of poweras central; • For Deetz, the fundamental issue is control and how different groups are represented in decision-making;

16. Free expression but no voice in decisions Overt control Stakeholder democracy in action Covert control

17. 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;

18. 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;”

19. 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”];

20. 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;”

21. 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;

22. 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;

23. Participation • Expand the list of people who should have a say: • investors • workers • consumers • suppliers • host communities • greater society and the world community

24. 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;

25. 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;

26. 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;

27. Saturn: A Model of Stakeholder Participation • Saturn does much of what Deetz recommends: • Every member thinks and acts like an owner; • 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;

28. 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);