What Is Organizational Communication?

Studying Organizational Communication

Looking back to Chapter Six, we looked at three primary ways Communication scholars conduct research. When we study organizational communication we can look to quantitative methods to predict behaviors, or qualitative methods to understand behaviors. We can use qualitative methods to study communication in the natural environment of organizations in order to understand organizational cultures and how they function.

Critical approaches view organizations as "sites of domination" where certain individuals are marginalized or disadvantaged by oppressive groups or structures. Quite often, the focus of this line of research involves gender or ethnic identity as they manifest themselves in organizations. The critical researcher uses interpretative research techniques similar to cultural studies. When looking at something such as a company pamphlet or the organization's employee handbook, a critical researcher will expose political messages that may disadvantage particular groups of people.