Task Time
refers to an organic sense of time where work is shaped by the demands of the tasks to be performed
ex: life in a farming community is shaped by the seasons; working long hours in the harvest season contrasts with the more limited amount of labor in the winter months
Clock Time
-was not only crucial for the development of mass-production techniques but also as a means of controlling a workforce for whom independent work was the norm
-it is still the defining feature of work for many people
-an employee’s level of power and prestige is at least partly reflected by how independent he or she is from the clock
communication
the dynamic, ongoing process of creating and negotiating meanings through interactional symbolic (verbal and nonverbal) practices, including conversation, metaphors, rituals, stories, dress, and space
organizational communication
the process of creating and negotiating collective, coordinated systems of meaning through symbolic practices oriented toward the achievement of organizational
direct control
The simplest way to control employees is to direct them in explicit ways and then monitor their behavior to make sure they are performing adequately
-one problem is that supervisors are not always able to directly control worker productivity
organizational control
a response to employee efforts to exercise autonomy
technological control
the implementation of various forms of organizational technology to control worker productivity
ex: Henry Ford’s introduction of the moving production line in automobile manufacturing in 1913
bureaucratic control
a mechanism to counter some of the excesses of early capitalism, characterized by boom and bust cycles in which little long-range planning occurred
-tend to promote taken-for-granted ways of behaving
ideological control
the corporate development of a system of values, beliefs, and meanings with which employees are expected to identify strongly
biocratic control
“biocracies” focuses on the idea that in the current, post-Fordist organization, it is “life itself” (bios) that companies are attempting to capture
critical communication capacities
to question commonsense thinking and interrogate our “direct” experience of the world
capitalism
forces workers to sell their labor and work for someone else
-the dominant economic and political system
-workers are no longer able to produce for themselves what they need to live
Marx (Karl)
-provides an analysis of the historical development of different economic systems: Tribal, ancient, feudal, and capitalist
-Developed the theory of historical materialism
-Marx uses the theory of ideology to show how economic structure in society has a direct impact on the system of ideas that prevail in that society.
According to Marx, “the ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas.”
historical materialism
analyzes history according to different modes of production (common ownership (tribal), citizen-slave (ancient), aristocrat-serf (feudal), and capitalist-wage laborer (capitalist)
surplus value
Marx refers to the difference between the value of the labor power, as purchased by the capitalist, and the actual value produced by the laborer
alienation
work under capitalism work is inherently alienating bc it deprives workers of the ability to experience work as an embodiment of their own creativity and skills
ideology
a system of attitudes, beliefs, ideas, perceptions, and values that structure reality in a way that serves the interests of the dominant class
Frankfurt School
interested in understanding capitalism not only as an economic system, but also as a cultural and ideological system that had a significant impact on the way people thought about and experienced the world
economic determinism
argued that the nature of society was casually determined by its economic foundation
dialectical theory
Frankfurt Schoolers viewed society as the product of the interrelationships among its cultural, ideological, and economic aspects
critical theory
culture industry
coming together of popular forms of mass culture, the media, and advertising to create a “totally administered society” that leaves individuals little room for critical thought
cultural studies
An interdisciplinary academic movement that traces its birth to a group of scholars associated with the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, beginning in the mid-1960s.
They critique the distinction between high and low culture arguing that such opposition was not only elitist but also limited the ways in which everyday culture could be conceptualized.
Take everyday culture as a serious object of study, examining the complex ways in which it structures experience.
Explore the systems of shared meanings that connect members of a group or community. Such shared meanings are developed through “systems of representation”
hegemony
Hegemony refers to the establishment of certain meanings and ideas in society in which general direction is imposed by the dominant fundamental group through developing consensus of others.
corporate colonization
a concept that reflects the extent to which corporate ideologies and discourses pervade our lives
Marx’s view on capitalism
under capitalism, workers do not possess their own means of production
suggestions of culture industry
Popular culture is mass produced.
It is administered from above and imposed on people.
It creates needs in people that would not otherwise exist.
Fordism
a set of organizational and societal arrangements that profoundly shaped 20th-century life
division of labor
many workers each complete a single, repetitive task
scientific management
addressed the relations between employers and employees
systematic soldiering
deliberate restriction by workers of output
the central problem in the workplace
ordinary management
a system Frederick Taylor perceived as arbitrary and based on rules of thumb
charismatic authority
authority is derived from special powers
traditional authority
authority is derived from tradition and custom
rational-legal authority
authority is derived from a system of rational and impersonal rules
foundation for the bureaucratic model
iron cage of bureaucracy
everyone becomes imprisoned
a rationalized world that is calculable but not necessarily fulfilling
human relations school
the first to establish the idea of the workplace as a social organization
the studied conducted by the theorists still provide the touchstone for many of the central questions that present-day organizational communication and management scholars are asking themselves
Hawthorne studies
researchers attempted to investigate the effects on employee behavior and attitudes of a variety of physical, economic, and social variables
Hawthorne effect
workers respond to the personal attention paid to them by supervisors
Theory X
traditional philosophy of management control
The average human being has an inherent dislike of work and will avoid it if he can.
Because of this . . . most people must be coerced, controlled, directed, threatened with punishment to get them to put forth adequate effort toward the achievement of organizational objectives.
The average human being prefers to be directed, wishes to avoid responsibility, has relatively little ambition, and wants security above all.
Theory Y
realizes the full potential of workers as human beings
situates work as providing the possibility for human growth and the realization of higher needs of esteem and self-actualization
four systems approach
leadership styles that reflect the degree of employee participation in organizational decision making
Exploitative-authoritative: Motivation occurs through fear and threats, and decisions are concentrated with top management.
Benevolent-authoritative: Motivation occurs through both rewards and threats, and decisions are made in top management with possible opportunity for comment at the lower level.
Consultative: Motivation occurs through rewards, and there is some low-level participation in decisions.
Participative: Motivation occurs through rewards, and decision making is distributed throughout the organization.
rationalization
how the natural and social world was increasingly subject to planning, calculation, and efficiency