List three ways in which your organization (Red Cross, ASPCA, Walmart, Wegmans) communicates with your stakeholder group. For each, list three things they seek to achieve with that form of communication.
Giddens Structuration Theory
To start:
Giddens is a sociologist
His work has been applied to organizational communication here and elsewhere
Communicators
act strategically
according to rules
to achieve goals
and thereby create structures
that come back to affect future actions.
A circularity that resolves a conflict
between those who hold that
human action is caused by outside forces
human action is the intentional product of individual volution
between creativity and constraint
Giddens says "both" and describes a mechanism
We act intentionally
but our actions have the unintended consequence
of creating structures that affect future actions
rules
norms
roles
expectations
organizations
languages
media'
This "structuration" pervades social life
a paradox of constraint emerging from creativity
a dialectic of control (Taylor)
structure gives at least some power to the subordinate
The mechanism of this structuration, by and large, is interaction (Taylor)
Note the strong echo of Giddens in James R. Taylor:
Taylor's conversation = Giddens' action
Taylor's text = Giddens' structure
There are three dimensions of structuration
how things should be understood (interpretation or signification)
expressed in the modality of communication
how we should act (morality or legitimation)
expressed in the modality of norms
how to get things done (power or domination)
expressed in the modality of facilities
Structure versus system
System as a set of organized mediators
Structure as a set of "invariant" characteristics
A structure may be satisfied by multiple systems
A system may enable multiple structures
Rules and resources: the components of structure
Both are used somewhat strangely
Rules, for Giddens, are more akin to routine practice
the collection of ways in which we act
Life scripts
Taylor's Frames
Weick's Retention
Its not that we are required to do something, its that we do
Resources are capabilities that generate command:
Allocative resources generate command over objects
Authoritative resources generate command over people
Structures can
mediate each other
contradict each other
Organizations are structures
they exist through the actions of people
and rely on roles, norms, and rules
Also note the relationships to Weick and Shein
Weick's retention ~=
Shein's socialization ~=
Taylor's text = ...
Weick's enactment ~=
Shein's discovery ~=
Taylor's conversation ~= ...
Don't overemphasize the equivalences
So why does structuration matter
It makes purpose central
It reminds us that normal practice is usually not accidental
That it is a byproduct of getting a job done
It gives us tools with which the effects of new technology can be better understood
It is not enough to understand uses of technology
One must also understand effects
And the practices that will result from them
Any design that
ignores or belittles existing practice
assumes that management is solely responsible for structuring organizations
is likely to fail
Looking ahead: some additions
The ways in which time and space are structured
the message beneath the medium
Knowledge as a collective achievement
text
Agency as a complex of actors
text as a product of communities
Infrastructure as technology
the substitutability of mediators
communication as the essential modality of structuration
interaction -> conversation
Index Card Assignment Due Wednesday
List three ways in which your organization (Red Cross, ASPCA, Walmart, Wegmans) communicates with your stakeholder group. For each, list three things they seek to achieve with that form of communication.
Unless otherwise noted, the contents of this page
were written by participants on the Media Space Wiki, operated by Davis Foulger,
and should be cited accordingly. For example (APA): Foulger, D. and other
participants. (August 27, 2008). Organizational Spr2006 Sess14. MediaSpaceWiki. Retrieved on from
http://evolutionarymedia.com/wiki.htm?OrganizationalSpr2006Sess14.
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