Week Nine: The Communicative Organization
Our lesson this week focused on Modaff and DeWine's model of the Communicative Organization. This model consists of four elements: 1) anticipating misunderstandings; 2) social interaction; 3) behavioral flexibility; and 4) strategic communication planning. By combining these four priorities, the authors promote an organization formed around the importance of communication. They call this the "Communicative Organization" or CO (109). Members of a Communicative Organization know that misunderstandings are a normal and positive component of communication, and they plan accordingly. Modaff and DeWine believe that misunderstandings can be positive if organizations (and their members) promote flexible social interactions, engage in on-going dialogues, create structures to deal with conflicts, and develop communication strategies (109-117).
The most important element of communication is TALK. Classical management and relationship theories de-emphasize this fact by making statements such as: "Don't talk about it; do something!" or "Let's stop talking and act!" These statements assume that talking and action are dissimilar or separate. In contrast, Modaff and DeWine propose that organizations follow a model of "TALK AS ACTION" (106-109). "Talk, as it produces and reproduces structure, is action itself" (108). In other words, talking IS doing something. This view places a critical focus on communication.
- JOURNAL NINE -
Select one of the four elements of Modaff and DeWine's Communicative Organization model (anticipate misunderstandings; social interaction; behavioral flexibility; or strategic communication planning) and apply it to an organization from your daily life. Your application can EITHER illustrate how your organization uses an element of this model OR show how it should use this model (in the form of a critique).
posted by Jen at Saturday, March 25, 2006
8 Comments:
shephanie
The communicative Organization
In the commnicative organization within my office the staff have misunderstanding occurs as a natural part of organized acivitiy and is anticipated througout the week.
the solution to be implemented is part of tool-talk, do not just talk about implement a solution, by brainstorming, setting goals and giving task directions and get feed back from the staff about the performance and see if the new solutions is working to stop the misunderstandings between staff. tool-talk is effective way to stop the misunderstandings in the office. stephanie(harlem USA)
March 29, 2006 12:22 PM
Strategic Communication Planning:
Effective communication is critical to your organization’s success. Many corporate and government organizations are excellent at taking action, but less confident about communicating with their various audiences.
A Strategic Communications Plan helps by organizing your communications with a written blueprint for actions and activities: what, how, when, where, and to whom you should be communicating.
When properly done, strategic communications planning takes into account all aspects of your organization’s public image. It provides criteria for making day-to-day decisions about communications, and a template against which all such decisions can be evaluated. This leads to greater focus and effectiveness.
The plan starts with a clear set of communication objectives. It explains in detail which audiences you wish to reach, what (and perhaps what not) to communicate, the time frame for carrying out these actions, media to be used, and how much each step will cost. It also includes plans for evaluation, so results can be measured and improvements made in the future.
April 04, 2006 2:16 PM
Melissa said
The element of Modaff and DeWine Communicative that would fit my job would have to be anticipating misunderstandings. I work in what we call the walk in center and we have a call center. Since the call center communicates on the phone it is often harder to deal with they member since they do not see the members face to face. When I deal with them face to face we who work in the walk in center can deal with member easily since we can extract the information from the member when they seem not to know what they are talking about. There is often a lot of misunderstanding because what the member was told over the phone was in correct. This is caused when the rep did not understand the question that was told to them or the member did not say the question correctly.
April 04, 2006 10:44 PM
Gaduate 1(gretha
The communicative Organization is extremely important in my place of business. As with many human organized and operated organization communication methods, there are misunderstanding and of course benefits. As recent as this week, I sent out an email to our ninety staff members. Inexpertly, I had many follow-up phone calls to verify the information. In my view it was clear, simple and fine language communication . It was not accepted by a few members of my staff in this manner.
Effective communication is critical to any efficiently run organization or company. In my view my company makes an effort to maintain productivity, by efficiently communicating with staff members. This communication is encouraged by, holding regular meetings, emails and written memos.
Presently, working with professional’s engineers and inspectors, communication is an absolute essential engine that enhances the flow of business. With all of this in mind Communicative Organization is an element of social interaction.
Implementing Modaff and Dewine's communicative organization model will surly enhance my department, nevertheless complement it the every day interaction of staff members.
gretha Mitchell
graduate1
April 06, 2006 5:09 PM
It is crucial that we keep Modaff and DeWine's "Communicative Organization" model in mind when we consider TALK AS ACTION. Emphasizing TALK without any structure will merely result in frustration and time consumption. While it is sometimes important for organization members to socialize and resolve conflicts, we all know that these sort of "talks" can get out of hand (as we see in every episode of "The Office"). In order for TALK AS ACTION to really talk place, the communication must have a clear purpose, defined boundaries (such as who will speak, who will moderate, and how long the talk will take) and a follow-up plan.
April 29, 2006 7:27 AM
Bessie said,
As members of a union, we are familar with Modaff and DeWine Communicative Organization and the phrase Talk AS Action.
Recently, at a school crossing guards meeting hosted by the union we were informed by a union representative that we would be paid for Winter Recess by the union. We were told not to file a claim for unemployment, but some of the crossing guards misunderstood the message and filed a claim that was denied.
The union representative told us we would be paid, but they did not reveal how we would be paid. I called Marissa who takes care of payroll and she informed me she did not know how the union were paying us for Winter Recess.
However, when we got paid we were missing one week from our check, and we lost money because of misunderstandings with the union. There are many forms of Communicative Organization and I classified this as anticipating misunderstandings between the union and crossing guards. The union took action by talking, but this organization failed in structuring how the money would be paid to the crossing guards.
May 02, 2006 11:11 AM
The communication in my office is terrible. When the employees in the firm have problem it is hard to go to a higher person. They are always to busy to hear about a problem that you may have.
Maureen
May 24, 2006 1:42 PM
There are so many annoying things in the Taps UK, do not let the Bathtub Taps to chaos! Smoothly with the leader, often people do not feel it's there, but mainly with its spool, Pull Out Kitchen Taps, switch the way.
December 15, 2014 8:38 PM
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