Organizational Communication: Foundations, Challenges, and Misunderstandings

A clearly articulated treatment of organizational communication, Organizational Communication utilizes interviews to explore communication and misunderstandings at all levels of the organization.    

 

This book offers a unique perspective on the field of internal organizational communication. The authors review the foundational material, but intersperse the discussions with excerpts from interviews conducted with more than 160 leaders and workers in a variety of organizations. Unlike other books in this field, Organizational Communication explores organizational communication from the perspective of all organizational members, not just management.

Organizational Communication:

Foundations, Challenges, and Misunderstandings, Second Edition

Daniel P. Modaff

Sue DeWine
Jennifer Butler

 

Organizational Communication uses interviews to explore communication and misunderstandings at all levels of an organization.    

 

This text offers a unique perspective on the field of internal organizational communication. The authors review the foundational material but also intersperse the discussions with excerpts from interviews conducted with more than 100 leaders and workers in a variety of organizations. Unlike other texts in the field, Organizational Communication explores organizational communication from the perspective of all organizational members, not just management.

 

Features:

• Contains segments in each chapter from interviews with different organizational members, including those in positions from the bottom of the organization to the management.
• Includes communication as central to each chapter, not just as an ancillary discussion, so that students will understand how communication is relevant and critical to each of the concepts discussed.  
• Highlights the central role of communication in organizations and its relevance to all organizational members through the “The Communicative Organization Model,” proposed by the authors (Chapter 6).
• Relates almost every chapter to the concept of “misunderstandings,” the inherently problematic nature of organizational life.  
• Shows how organizational communication begins before a person enters the organization, by sharing realistic recruitment practices and problems (Chapter 7).

Quotes from Reviewers:

 

“It offers a solid coverage of the fundamentals of organizational communication theory while engaging the reader through real-world examples and cases. Students will love the easy-to-read delivery of complex information!”

                                                                                                    — Sandy H. Hanson, University of North Carolina

 

“First, the book is well-written, detailed, and fits the level of my students without being too scholarly or too simplistic. Second, the book is based on a solid foundation of relevant research in the communication field as well as related fields.” 

                                                                                                    — Calvin Brant Short, Northern Arizona University