Chapter 1

Chapter One talks about how we think about organizations, why theories and thinking critically. This chapter starts off about talking about bureaucracy which is a large organization characterized by hierarchy. This section talks about the downsides of bureaucracy which is rigidity, depersonalization, and the diffusion of responsibility. Bureaucracy is still happening today in our society. This chapter also talks about how we should look at each organization and organizational problem on multiple levels and from multiple perspectives. This chapter continues by talking about how making the invisible visible. When something is very familiar to us we tend to take it for granted and it becomes transparent to most people. When a new idea or technology is introduced it is not taken for granted because its new. We tend not to take the new things for granted until they become familiar to us. Next we go on to talk about metaphors and how it is another form of invisibility. We tend to overlook the significance of the representation of metaphors as we become accustomed to their usage. Metaphors help us understand one thing in terms of something else. Its is very easy to overlook the significance of a metaphor. Metaphors are used a lot to describe organizations that are complex. Metaphors are also used to describe the communication process and to simplify our understanding of it. However some simplifications can get us into trouble when understanding the true meaning of the metaphor, which was used. Sometimes people use metaphors and whoever is receiving this information doesn’t understand the full meaning of what the sender is saying. Next it talks about theories and why they are important. A theory is a generalizing across different situations or cases or for our purposes organizations. Theories help us predict things, deciding the best course of action, which is why theories are so practical. This chapter was basically and introduction of what we will be learning in this class and the organizational process of organizations.
In class last Wednesday we discussed the different groups that each of us were involved in. We also talked about our different roles in those organizations and how everyone could relate to each other. We also went around the room talking about how to really define communication. The discussion during class helped me relate to everyone in different ways. Hearing about organizational communication and all the different activities people were involved in was really interesting to me. That class period was basically just an introduction of the class and what we will be doing in this class throughout the year.
By: Emily Beck