STUDY GUIDE ONE

Chapters 1 - 3                                                                                                                   COMM 388

Zalabak (7th )                                                                                                             Dr. Thomlison

 

First, be aware that this study guide is not enough to insure success on the exam. Be sure to also review notes, any handouts and the text, including the sections at the very end of each chapter.  Be sure to review and be able to recognize the definition of terms given in the margins and elsewhere in your chapters.

 

Chapter 1

 

1.     What type of a postindustrial society do we currently live in?  Into what age are we moving?  What will the majority of today's and tomorrow's jobs going to have in common?

 

2.     What are the two independent factors generating power shifts organizations?

 

3.     What are some of the major millennial megatrends according to Megatrends 2000?  (not in the text)

 

4.     What is organizational excellence?  Can it truly be achieved, and if so, how?  What is communication competency?  Do researchers generally agree on its definition? Name the main systems of Jablin & Sias' ecological model of communication competency.

 

5.     What are Littlejohn and Jabusch's four components of communication competency that created the model used throughout the text?

 

6.         In Chester Barnard's famous book, The Function of the Executive, what does he see as the primary responsibility of executives?

 

7.     According to Chapter 1, organizational excellence depends mainly upon what?

 

8.     What is the overall goal of human communication as defined in Chapter 1?

 

9.     What are the elements of the communication process? Define each.  Be able to match each element to its definition.

 

10.   What is meant when we say that human communication is “the process of creating shared realities and shared meanings”?

 

11.   What is Amitai Etzioni's view of organizations? 

 

12.    Know the text's definition of organizational communication. What are the four overall approaches to defining organizational communication? 

  

Chapter 2

 

13.      To remain alive and well, organizations must do what?

 

14.          What is the functional approach to organizational communication? What are   some of its basic assumptions?  What is the major function of organizational communication according to this view? 

 

15.      What is throughput?  Output?  Input?

 

16.      What are the characteristics of a closed system? Open system? Equifinality?

 

17.      According to the functional view, what are the three major functions of messages? What are the main factors included in each function?

 

18.      What is a communication network?  What is meant by message direction?  Message load?  Informal information flow involves what type(s) of directionality?

 

19.      Name some of the ways messages are distorted.  What is it called when we have message distortion in a system?

 

20.      What is the meaning-centered approach to organizational Communication?  What are some of its key assumptions about people and organizations?  How does this approach view influence?

 

21.      What is identification?

 

22.      What is socialization and what are its stages or phases?

 

23.      What is resource power?  What is organizational culture? What factors help us determine the culture of an organization?

 

24.      What is communication climate?

 

25.      What is postmodernism?  Critical theory?  Feminist theory?  What are some of their assumptions?  What do they say about power?   What are some of their communication implications?

 

Chapter 3

 

26.     What is the overall view of the Scientific Management theories for organizations?

 

27.     What were Taylor's views on management?

 

28.     Who was the first known person to attempt to describe broad principles of management ?  What were some of Fayol's principles of administration or management? What is a scalar chain? What is Fayol's bridge?

 

29.     According to Weber, what are the three types of authority?  Which type did he believe contributed to an unstable organization? Which type did he advocate as ideal for an organization?

 

30      What are some communication implications of the Scientific Management  view?

 

31.     What is Human Behavior perspective?  What are some of the theories in  this view of management?  What is the Hawthorne Effect?

 

32.     What are the two main views of management summarized by McGregor?

 

33.     What is the linking pin view of organizational management according to Likert?

 

34.     What is the Integrated Perspectives school of thought?  What are some of the process and environmental approaches of this school?  Cultural approaches?

 

35.     What is Theory Z and who developed it?  What are Type A & Type J organizations?

 

36.     Be generally familiar with Deal and Kennedy's basic elements of organizational culture.  Which element is the greatest influence in shaping corporate culture?

 

37.    What are some of Peters and Waterman's themes for excellent companies? 

 

38.    What does Weick mean when he says “the outcome comes before the decision”?  Why does he believe it is a mistake to think that we make decision in organizations according to well-developed plans?