Organizational Communication

The field of organizational communication is somewhat related to mass communication and even intercultural communications, but more specifically concerns the ways that people interact and communicate within organizations such as businesses and political groups. Since the 1930s, organizational communication experts have looked at how humans behave in organizations in order to recognize patterns and to analyze how a membership in an organization can affect a person’s behaviors and decisions. In this section of our blog, we look at the latest research, surveys and analyses in the organizational communication field. This growing subsection of communication study has important applications, especially due to ways that e-mail, text messaging and other new information technologies have influenced human communication over the past several years.

Job Dissatisfaction Stems From Unmet Employee Needs [Study]

January 26, 2012 coms 0

A new study has linked employee satisfaction to both management style and corporate attitudes towards employees. In an article published in Springer’s Journal of Business and Psychology, researchers from the Universite Francois Rabelais in Tours, France, revealed new evidence that meeting employees’ basic needs for competence, autonomy and relatedness leads to improved job satisfaction.

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Important Communication Skills You Can’t Learn From an MBA

January 13, 2012 Elaine Hirsch 0

You finally have your MBA and your first “real” job. Writing the resume was easy since your department counselor helped you with it. The interview also went well because you were given problems taken straight out of textbooks. Now you are faced with a difficulty at work that none of your professors ever covered, leaving you helpless.

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The Importance of Authentic Communication

June 29, 2011 coms 1

Proper interaction is one of the most fundamental keys to anyone’s success in business or their personal life. The ability to create an environment where people feel they can express their ideas and feel valued is a crucial characteristic of a leader.

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Learn Organizational Behavior With a Mac App

May 25, 2011 coms 0

If you are looking to study organizational behavior, there may be an easy way to do it. This app — available from the Mac’s App Store — provides an in-depth professional-level course which covers human relations theory.

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Hanesbrand CEO Stresses the Importance of Studying Communication

April 30, 2011 coms 0

Hanesbrands CEO, Richard A. Noll, visited the Tepper School recently to give a talk to undergraduate students about his experiences in school and the workplace. The thing he stressed most were how crucial his communication studies classes were in developing the skills he still uses today while running one of the world’s most well-known brands.

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Receiving work-related communication at home takes greater toll on women

March 9, 2011 coms 0

Communication technologies that help people stay connected to the workplace are often seen as solutions to balancing work and family life. However, a new study in the March issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior suggests there may be a “dark side” to the use of these technologies for workers’ health—and these effects seem to differ for women and men.

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Workers with freedom report higher employee satisfaction

February 23, 2011 coms 0

Workers who feel they have autonomy – that they are free to make choices in the workplace and be accountable for them – are happier and more productive according to an extensive research literature review. Yet there’s no universal cross-cultural definition of autonomy.

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Megalomaniac CEOs: Good or Bad for Company Performance?

January 26, 2011 coms 0

According to a new study, dominant CEOS, who are powerful figures in the organization as compared to other members of the top management team, drive companies to extremes of performance. Unfortunately for shareholders, the performance of a company with an all powerful CEO can be either much worse than other companies, or much better. But there is one solution to an all powerful CEO: a strong board of directors. Companies with strong boards counteract powerful CEOS, and swing the tide of performance to the plus side. This study on dominating CEOs and powerful boards is now published in the Journal of Management Studies.