Organizational Communication Audit: Concept Analysis of “The Office” Mariah N Mclean Regent University
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Running header: CONCEPT ANALYSIS 1 Organizational Communication Audit: Concept Analysis of “The Office” Mariah N McLean Regent University CONCEPT ANALYSIS 2 Introduction Communication within an organization is essential to the health, environment and functionality of an organization. This paper will consist of a communication audit of Dunder Mifflin from the television series “The Office”. In order to audit the Dunder Mifflin paper supply company from “The Office”, I will be taking six organizational communication concepts and applying them to episodes from “The Office” in order to evaluate their use of that concept and gather an all-around idea of how effective the communication is within the Dunder Mifflin organization. Body Teamwork Teamwork is important in any situation that involves multiple people working towards the same objectives. The members of an organization and their ability to work as a team will determine the organization’s success. Teamwork is even a Biblical concept, as Corinthians 12:12 says, “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ,” (NIV). This scripture talks about the members of the church being one body, one unit, not many individuals. And also as Ecclesiastes 4:9a says, “Two are better than one,” (NIV). These verses point to the concept of teamwork. Patrick Lecioni, in his book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, talks all about organizations working as a team, “It is teamwork that remains the ultimate competitive advantage, both because it is so powerful and so rare,” (Lecioni). It can be a challenge to rally a large group to work together in teamwork, but teamwork is what makes all the difference in a company. It is especially important that management works as a team, (Lecioni). If management is not working together as a team, then CONCEPT ANALYSIS 3 the organization as a whole cannot work together as a team. The management team should act as the adhesive that holds the rest of the organization together, but if they do not act as a team then they may actually be pulling the organization apart, or just pulling it down. It will be evident among the communication within an organization if there is a lack of teamwork. There will be a lack in the five things that make up a team and there will be a lack of effective communication within the process. If a company and its management does not work as a team then there will be unrest within the company, and a disjointedness in communication. Within the Dunder Mifflin paper supply company of “The Office”, teamwork between management is not always evident. This can especially be seen within several of the episodes I watched for this paper, including “Angry Andy”, and “Last Day in FL”. With “Last Day in FL” the management team does not show a united front, specifically Nelly, who was placed in charge of the opening of the new store, and the head of the executive team. The head executive, or who appears to be, at first appears to be on the side of the team in charge of the new store that opened up. He praises them for their work and encourages them, but he plans on taking it down rather than supporting it when it is brought to the board of executives for the company. He does not warn Nelly, or Dwight who would be the Vice President in charge of the store, of the harsh critique he will be giving. And, with this he plans to fire Dwight. So not only is there a lack of unison and teamwork, but there is some betrayal which is not an aspect of successful teamwork. Leading up to the episode of “Angry Andy”, Nelly was relocated to the Dunder Mifflin office in Stanton, PA (the office focused on in the series). She walked in and because Andy, the manager was gone, she walked into his office and claimed his position. While the head executive of Dunder Mifflin did not agree with this, he did nothing to solve the problem and confusion of a self-proclaimed boss. When Andy returned to the office from FL, instead of supporting Andy CONCEPT ANALYSIS 4 and settling the issue as a team, the head executive was very hands-off. The management did not work as a team in this case to address an issue that was causing problems within the work place. It is important for all organizations to work as teams, but it is especially important that management back each other up and show the united front of a team. In this case, management did not work as a team to solve a problem and the effects can be seen in an office filled with unsatisfied employees who saw their bosses as unable to be on the same page. Perception and Credibility Perception and source credibility is a huge part of organizational communication. The way we see ourselves is often not the way that others perceive us, and our own perceptions of others may not be true to the actual situation. Perception effects the interpretation of a source, “messages are interpreted through the receiver’s impression of the source,” (McCroskey, Powell & Richmond). It makes sense, the way someone interprets a message has a lot do with how they view the source, and this is where source credibility comes into play. Source credibility is how believable a source is perceived as, (McCroskey et. al.). Dimensions of source credibility include competence, trustworthiness, and goodwill, (McCroskey et. al.) and all these aspects that make up source credibility are important for perceived believability. I can think of two specific situations in the six episodes of “The Office” that I watched that are directly related to the concept of perception and communication. One situation is with source credibility of Jim as perceived by Dwight, and the other is perception of Nelly’s unprofessional actions. Dwight was going to be fired under wrongful circumstances, taking the blame for what was actually a successful store opening portrayed to have gone awry. Jim was aware of the situation, and warned Dwight. But, because of their relationship of pranking, and CONCEPT ANALYSIS 5 deceiving each other in sort of constant rivalry through the series, Dwight does not trust Jim as a credible source. Jim has not built up a perception of goodwill and caring towards Dwight and so Dwight sees him as an unreliable source. Jim is telling the truth in this situation however, so it is a perfect example of how perception and specifically perception of source credibility can go wrong. Another example is in a later episode called the “Welcome Party”. The office is throwing a welcome party for Nelly, but because she is a self-proclaimed boss who is constantly late and does not do anything or follow protocol, the office decides to throw a purposefully bad welcome party for Nelly. During this episode, Jim and Dwight, who share an equally poor perception of Nelly from her conduct, discover that Nelly has recently gone through a rough break-up and that it has been especially hard on her. This changes their perception of Nelly since they now have a better and truer grasp on her situation that they did not before. Because of this shift in perception, they try to reverse the bad welcome party. It is important to recognize that our perceptions are not always true and we should extend grace to others. In any situation, we should attempt to really see into a person’s heart and circumstances in order to gain perspective. We should also take into account how others perceive us and do what we can to make sure we always put our best foot forward, doing all things in love as we are called to. Conflict and Conflict Resolution Conflict and conflict resolution are a part of communication within every organization, the question is whether or not it is “good” conflict and correctly handled. There are different types of conflict, the McCroskey et. al. text describes good conflict as disagreement and bad conflict as conflict. Disagreement can actually be good for an organization, “When people disagree without moving into conflict, some positive outgrowths can be seen,” (McCroskey et. CONCEPT ANALYSIS 6 al.). Conflict is a part of any organization, and how it is handled is a significant display of the health of organizational communication, “Conflict is the product of communication. What and how we communicate with another in the organizational environment will determine how others react to us. We need to think before we open our mouths. Once something is said, you cannot take it back and expect people to forget,” (McCroskey et. al). Every episode of “The Office” has some form of conflict, but it is not always handled well. In fact, it is rarely if ever handled well. There is obvious conflict in the previous situations described from “The Office” in which managers did not even attend to. The conflict with Nelly proclaiming herself boss comes to a climax when Andy, the true boss, returns. The head executive does not step in and stubborn Nelly will not give up Andy’s office. This situation ends in Andy and his girlfriend vandalizing the office and leaving. The head executive should have stepped in and helped his manager for that office out, but failed to do so due to his attraction to Nelly. This conflict was not properly resolved, and did not help the office or team grow as conflict can and should. Culture and Climate Often, within the same culture people communicate similarly and frequently.