Running header: CONCEPT ANALYSIS 1

Organizational Communication Audit: Concept Analysis of “”

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 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 “”, 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 “”. 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. Every organization has its own culture and this plays into the organizational communication. The culture of an office has a lot to do with communication in the work place. The organization sits within the culture of the area it is in, and culture of its location will affect the culture within that organization. “Organizations create their own culture,” (McCroskey et al). The culture within an organization is impacted by the kind of work the members of the organization do, the members of the organization, traditions that are built, stories that circulate, and the leadership has a lot of influence on the culture. Within cultural groups, there are shared beliefs, values, histories, and CONCEPT ANALYSIS 7 ways of communication, (McCroskey et al). Sometimes, within a culture there are smaller cultures and these are called subcultures, and different cultures also have varying levels of ethnocentrism.

The climate of an organization will also heavily effect what the culture of an organization looks like. Organizational climate “can determine the amount and type of communication between supervisors and subordinates,” (McCroskey et al). There are three types of climate that affect culture and communication, “Dehumanizing”, “Happiness for Lunch Bunch”, and “Open”.

Essentially, the “Dehumanizing” and “Happiness for Lunch Bunch” climate are two ends of one spectrum where an “Open” climate is the happy medium. A “Dehumanizing” climate is one in which there is little communication between supervisors and subordinates, and really there is little to no communication horizontally between subordinates. This climate “leads to distrust, distortions, dislike, and lower production levels,” (McCroskey et al). The “Happiness for Lunch

Bunch” climate is the opposite of a “Dehumanizing” climate, it is a climate in which communication is encouraged, and employee satisfaction and socialization is important.

Unfortunately, in this climate employee satisfaction is so sought after little work gets done, and progress in work is scarce. An “Open” climate is the happy medium that encourages communication while still focusing on work.

The Dunder Mifflin office definitely has its own culture and climate. From the episode

“”, it appears that there may be a “Happy for Lunch Bunch” climate due to Andy’s obsession with reaching his employees and truly inspiring them. He takes the office on an irrelevant field trip to Gettysburg. It is made clear in the episode that Andy needs to stop worrying about what his employees think and be more of a boss than a friend. The office culture as whole seems to be one that is filled with teasing (especially seen in “” when CONCEPT ANALYSIS 8

Andy is beat up by a little girl), a normalcy for interruption in meetings Gettysburg (happiness for lunch bunch), test the store –overall observation of normalcy to interrupt during meetings and employee input, and there is a little bit of rivalry. It is a rather interesting culture that rides between friendly and chaotic.

The culture of an organization is important to how a team communicates and what they communicate. Culture directly influences the way that members work together, confront conflict, help each other, and more.

Accountability

Accountability is a difficult but key part within the communication of a true team. ”Some people are hard to hold accountable because they are so helpful. Others because they get defensive. Others because they are intimidating. I don’t think it’s easy to hold anyone accountable, not even your own kids,” (Lecioni). In case it was not obvious, again, accountability is not easy. But team members need to be able to hold each other accountable for the success of the organization as a whole, and even for the success of the individual. Someone cannot get better at their job without the feedback of others. To be clear, accountability within teamwork “refers specifically to the willingness or team members to call their peers on performance or behaviors that might hurt the team,” (Lecioni). Accountability is a biblical principle as well, Proverbs 27:17 says, “Iron sharpens iron and one man sharpens another”

(NIV). Accountability makes us better. It is all about improvement, and being able to move towards success as a team is important.

Within the Dunder Mifflin office of Stanton there is a lack of accountability. This can be seen in nearly every episode that an employee or boss does something others see should be CONCEPT ANALYSIS 9 corrected, and yet stand by and do nothing. There is certainly a lack of accountability with Nelly as no one confronts her about her work conduct and only Jim tells her that she cannot declare herself as the boss. Dwight also has a habit of treating Jim poorly, yet no one calls Dwight on it.

Instead, this is a constant issue in the television series and is exemplified in “Test the Store” when Dwight is put in a position of power and abuses it by berating Jim and giving him the lowliest tasks.

Without accountability, no one can be stopped from abusing power, or doing things that hurt the company. It is important that managers promote an open climate, a warm culture, teamwork and a safe place for constructive criticism as well as responsibility for holding others accountable.

Status and Ego

As Lecioni explains in his book, concern for personal status and ego is detrimental to the success of the team. Rather, members of an organization need to be focused on the goals and objectives of the organization and working towards those goals together in order for success.

In an effort to climb up in the company and be recognized for his individual accomplishments, Dwight almost loses his job. But, when Jim causes him to be late for a meeting, Tod, who is also looking out for himself, offers to take Dwight’s place, assuming this will build him up. Instead Tod is falsely fired. This is an example of how being consumed with one’s own status and ego can steer you towards failure rather than success. In order to work as a true team, there must be a unified goal that all members are focused on instead of themselves.

This is also a biblical principle as God opposes the proud and helps the humble, expecting us to CONCEPT ANALYSIS 10 be unified as one body in Christ. In the same way, organizations should not let status and ego divide them because this distracts from the unity that brings success.

Conclusion

To sum up my analysis of “The Office”, it is a bad example of organizational communication, but a hilarious example of how not to communicate within an organization. It is clear that the show is meant to be funny and entertain rather than set an example of what to do. A lot can be taken away from the show though in learning how to apply concept and how not to communicate.

CONCEPT ANALYSIS 11

References:

Daniels, G. (Writer). Eihorn, R. (Director). “The Office”. Daniels, G. (producer). NBC

Universal.

Lencioni, P. (2002). The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable. San Francisco, CA:

Josssey-Bass: A Wiley Company.

McCroskey, J. C. & Powell, L. & Richmond, V. P. (2013). Organizational Communication for

Survival (5th ed). Upper Sadler River, New Jersey: Pearson.