Our Stake in Struggle (Or Is Resistance Something Only Others Do?)    

Encourages critical organization scholars to develop our stake in struggle in at least three ways: (a) by examining how the structure and practice of our own work enacts relations of power and resistance (i.e., reflexive, empirical study of organizational dynamics in higher education), (b) by considering how our experience of knowledge labor implicitly shapes our representations of organization (i.e., reflexive analyses of the relation between the process and products of scholarly production), and (c) by more explicitly accounting for our role as cultural agents in representing organizational life and inducting students into it (i.e., reflexive analyses of the relations among the labors of teaching, researching, and theorizing power and resistance).

Lee Ashcraft, Karen. Management Communication Quarterly (2008). Articles>Management>Organizational Communication>Workplace

Paper at Its Peak: The Myth of the Myth of the Paperless Office

Anyone who writes for a living can, like me, describe a long love-hate relationship with paper as the conveyer of the written word. There's something physically appealing about putting pen to paper, as there is about picking up and reading a well-produced bound document.

Garrison, Ronald W. Carolina Communique (2007). Articles>Workplace>Business Communication>Paper

Practical Tips for Merger Communication

When two companies merge, the complexities, emotions and often sweeping changes behind the deal can hinder effective communication to key stakeholders. Yet a well planned and implemented communication strategy contributes to the very success of the merger itself. How can you overcome the obstacles to developing and delivering on a merger communication strategy?

Fagan-Smith, Barbara and Ruta Skelton. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Articles>Business Communication>Financial>Workplace

Preparing Communicators for Contemporary Challenges: Organizational Communication in the STC Curricula  

What should organizational communication courses contribute to an STC curriculum synthesizing technological and critical literacies? We argue for a strong theoretical component as a way of setting technical competencies and organizational roles in critical perspective. We illustrate the importance of a theoretically-informed synthesis in extended examples from a recent co-op experience at a major government lab. The changing role of technical communicator can be viewed in terms of changing models of organization and communication with implications for STC curriculum design and real-world practice.

Sotirin, Patricia. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Communication>Workplace

Putting Limits on Subject Matter Expertise

At nearly every conference I attend someone is talking about the need for Subject Matter Expertise for Business Analysts. The rationale is that someone versed in the language, ideas, and systems of a given organization or product will ask better questions and elicit better requirements from stakeholders.

Vincent, Cameron. BA Collective (2007). Articles>Business Communication>Workplace>SMEs

Revive Employee Publications with New Technologies

You would think that if the humble print employee newsletter hasn't been killed off in the Internet explosion of the past decade, then it must have more than just its reputation going for it. It must actually meet a fundamental business need to inform and engage a workforce.

Schmidt, Belinda. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Business Communication>Workplace>Newsletters

Taming Internal Communications Clutter

Navigating through internal communication "whitewater" is a growing challenge in today's business environment. Every day, we face a flood of messages and requests from multiple sources, making it increasingly difficult to manage the overload.

Weisz, Terry. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Business Communication>Workplace

Teaching Line Managers to Be Good Communicators During Times of Change

When organizations are going through change, be it major or minor, the most trusted source of communication for employees is nearly always their line manager. Equipping line managers to communicate well is essential, but it also has inherent challenges.

Scarlett, Hilary. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Articles>Business Communication>Management>Workplace

Uncovering Organizational Culture: Making Sense of the Corporate World  

Understanding an organization's corporate culture can help explain how to get things done in an organization: communicate, advanced up the corporate ladder, and get project ideas accepted and completed. We can understand culture by identifying values, norms, and assumptions underlying the corporate 'world..' Cultures can he better understood by looking at such things as how an organization responds to crisis, how the intentions of group leaders come to be shared, and how an organization perceives itself. For example, a study of culture at one organization revealed such differing values between two groups, scientists and engineers, that cross-cultural mediation was necessary.

Kahn, Russell L. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Workplace>Rhetoric>Organizational Communication

Use Body Language to Deliver Your Message  

One of your most effective means to communicate with team members may not involve words. See why senior editor Matthew Osborn believes body language can say it all.

Osborn, Matthew. TechRepublic (2003). Articles>Collaboration>Communication>Workplace

Using Measurement to Enhance Employee Communication

The role of an employee communication professional is, at its core, fundamentally simple: We're in the business of designing and executing messaging to achieve a desired effect with a specific audience. How successful we are is driven by a number of factors, including appropriate use of media, timing and messages. By understanding these factors, we can target communication much more effectively. The key to understanding these factors effectively is simple: Ask.

Cooper, Marc. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Articles>Business Communication>Workplace

The Life of a Lone Writer

Lone writers are found across all industries, as junior- and senior-level employees, contract workers and direct employees. Sometimes, they’re not even the only writers in their company, but rather are the only writers in their division with either little to no contact — or little to nothing in common — with the other writers in other company divisions.

Potsus, Whitney Beth. TechCom Manager (2006). Articles>Writing>Business Communication>Workplace

Organizational Demography: The Differential Effects of Age and Tenure Distributions on Technical Communication    

Although previous researchers have proposed organizational demography as an important determinant of communication, no one has tested this relationship directly.

Zenger, Todd R. and Barbara S. Lawrence. Academy of Management Journal, The (1989). Articles>TC>Workplace>Organizational Communication

Understanding the Organizational Context to Develop Valuable Policies & Procedures

As a policies and procedures (P&P) practitioner, do you delve into P&P content development projects without a clear understanding of the organizational context? Astute P&P practitioners add more than documentation skills to assignments--they apply an understanding of the organizational context from three perspectives.

Urgo, Raymond E. Policies and Procedures Authority, The (2009). Articles>Workplace>Organizational Communication>Policies and Procedures

Managing Culture Change Within the Context of Mergers and Acquisitions 

The generic term “mergers & acquisitions (M&A)” appeared for the first time at the end of the 19th century in the United States. In times of increased global competition, M&A activities have reached all regions of the world and are not solely concerning large enterprises. However, with many M&A projects never reaching the synergy effects that were expected of them, the successful integration of one company into another remains a challenge.

Bialek, Chantal. TC World (2008). Articles>Business Communication>Workplace>Policies and Procedures

Interview with Robert Gibson: "Communicate Consistent Messages" 

Being active in 190 countries around the world, mergers and acquistions are part of the business routine for the engineering conglemerate Siemens AG. A smooth integration process is vital for business success. Supporting this integration process is one of the tasks of Robert Gibson, senior consultant for training and projects at the Siemens headquarters in Munich, Germany. tcworld spoke to him about the challenge of integrating new corporate and national cultures.

Melville, Corinna. TC World (2008). Articles>Interviews>Business Communication>Workplace