Organizational communication
Study of communication and information flow in organizations.
Organizational communication is a field of study within communication studies that examines all areas of communication and information flow contributing to the functioning of an organization. The field has evolved over time, expanding its scope from traditionally profitable companies to include NGOs and non-profit organizations, and is concerned with how organizations are formed and sustained through continuous communication among members and stakeholders.
- field
- Communication studies
- known_for
- Study of communication and information flow in organizations
- key_figures
- Herbert A. Simon, W. Charles Redding, Michel Foucault, Peter Senge, Robert Craig
- early_focus
- Business information and communication (1930s–1950s)
- later_developments
- Constitutive role of communication (1980s), critical theory (1990s), discursive turn (2000s onward)
Lore & Background
The field traces its lineage through business information, business communication, and early mass communication studies published in the 1930s through the 1950s. Until then, organizational communication consisted of a few professors within speech departments interested in speaking and writing in business settings. Nobel laureate Herbert A. Charles Redding played a prominent role in establishing the discipline.
Reader's Guide
Organizational communication has shifted significantly over time. In the 1950s, it focused on improving organizational life and output. In the 1980s, the field turned away from a business-oriented approach and became concerned with the constitutive role of communication in organizing. The 1990s saw the rise of critical theory, influenced by Michel Foucault, focusing on communication's ability to oppress and liberate. From the 2000s onward, a 'discursive turn' occurred, and interpretive and critical research expanded, creating a more varied landscape. Early assumptions included rational human action, reliance on formal logic and empirical data, and viewing communication as a mechanical process within organizations as containers. Later, Herbert Simon's bounded rationality challenged perfect rationality, and Peter Senge introduced learning organization and systems thinking. Robert Craig suggested seven components of communication theory: rhetorical, semiotic, phenomenological, cybernetic, sociopsychological, sociocultural, and critical.
Did You Know?
- In the 1990s, the field focused on communication's ability to both oppress and liberate organizational members.
- Michel Foucault is often revered as the father of Post-modern thought and described as a 'radical relativist' by Camille Paglia.
- In the early 2000s, discoveries of illegality and corruption led to bankruptcies of large organizations, changing views on ethics and corporate social responsibility.
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