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Organizational Communication: Balancing Creativity and Constraint
Respected scholars Eric Eisenberg, H.L. Goodall Jr., and Angela Trethewey continue to join the most respected and contemporary scholarship in the field with practical, hands-on application in this concise and readable introduction to organizational communication. Using the metaphor of creativity (getting what you want) and constraint (following established rules), this student-friendly textbook offers students opportunities to practice the theories and concepts they learn—including in this edition all new coverage of identity and difference in the workplace as well as social media, blogging, smartphone use, and other technological topics. The seventh edition is also available in affordable e-book formats that will fit with any budget.
448 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 2, 2019
An excellent one-volume "technical" text on organizational communication.
I have used Organizational Communication: Balancing Creativity and Constraint as a supplementary text for my course, The Leader As A Vision Caster And Communicator. While I am all for "tips and tricks" that one can find in most popular communication books, I appreciate Eisenberg, et al for their focus on the theory behind the communication.
As the title suggests, Eisenberg, Goodall, and Trethewey examine communication as the tension that exists between creativity and constraint. The authors define communication as:
My favorite chapters:
Chapter 2: Defining Organizational Communication. The authors evaluate communication as information transfer, transactional process, or strategic control. The book specifically addresses creativity and constraint here and chapter 8 as well.
Chapter 3: Three Early Perspectives on Organizations and Communication. Here the authors address why theory matters and give us three approaches to organizational communication: Classical Management, Human Relations, and Human Resources (addressing Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, McGregor's Theory Y Management, and Likert's Principle of Supportive Relationships.
Chapter 4: The Systems Perspective on Organizations and Communication. Systems are explained and theories such as Senge's Learning Organization are addressed.
Chapter 5: Addresses organizational culture.
Chapter 8: Teams and Networks.
Chapter 9: Communicating Leadership: The authors address leadership styles (trait, situational, transformational, discursive) and how to lead while communicating with employees (emphasizing openness, supportiveness, motivation, and empowerment).
Chapter 10: Organizational Alignment: Managing the Total Enterprise. The portions to which I want to return include: Positioning the Organization, "Helping Colleges and Universities Do What They Do Best," and Organizational Learning.
The authors provide some fifty pages of resources and indexing making it easy to use. Organizational Communication will not be your everyday text, but it is a great reference text.
I have used Organizational Communication: Balancing Creativity and Constraint as a supplementary text for my course, The Leader As A Vision Caster And Communicator. While I am all for "tips and tricks" that one can find in most popular communication books, I appreciate Eisenberg, et al for their focus on the theory behind the communication.
As the title suggests, Eisenberg, Goodall, and Trethewey examine communication as the tension that exists between creativity and constraint. The authors define communication as:
the moment-to-moment working out of the tensions between the need to maintain order (constraint) and the needs to provide change (creativity). As such, communication is the material manifestation of a. institutional constraints, b. creative potential, c. contexts of interpretation. (p. 401).This book is a college textbook. It is theory and theory applied. While not overly technical, many of my students did not want to wade through the theory. They felt the book was carrying extra weight in their communication backpack. Their frustrations aside, I like this text. It is the kind of reading that helps improve not only organizational communication, but everyday communication as well.
My favorite chapters:
Chapter 2: Defining Organizational Communication. The authors evaluate communication as information transfer, transactional process, or strategic control. The book specifically addresses creativity and constraint here and chapter 8 as well.
Chapter 3: Three Early Perspectives on Organizations and Communication. Here the authors address why theory matters and give us three approaches to organizational communication: Classical Management, Human Relations, and Human Resources (addressing Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, McGregor's Theory Y Management, and Likert's Principle of Supportive Relationships.
Chapter 4: The Systems Perspective on Organizations and Communication. Systems are explained and theories such as Senge's Learning Organization are addressed.
Chapter 5: Addresses organizational culture.
Chapter 8: Teams and Networks.
Chapter 9: Communicating Leadership: The authors address leadership styles (trait, situational, transformational, discursive) and how to lead while communicating with employees (emphasizing openness, supportiveness, motivation, and empowerment).
Chapter 10: Organizational Alignment: Managing the Total Enterprise. The portions to which I want to return include: Positioning the Organization, "Helping Colleges and Universities Do What They Do Best," and Organizational Learning.
The authors provide some fifty pages of resources and indexing making it easy to use. Organizational Communication will not be your everyday text, but it is a great reference text.
June 14, 2023
Yes, it might not be the most exciting book out there, but it provides a great overview of the field. My favorite chapters were the ones on identity and difference and organizational leadership.
April 7, 2022
Easily digestable, and it helped me to understand a realm of communication study that I hadn't had much interaction with in my education. Definitely wish that there was a bit more theory, as I enjoyed the telling of concepts like the Hawthorne Studies and how they were applied to modern ideas and metaphors for how we devise our workplaces and common work week. Bonus points for Foucault showing up :)
July 23, 2011
Easy to understand, good all around book for graduate level studies. Might be too much for undergrads. Wish there was more theory though.
August 15, 2014
I typically don't add textbooks because I rarely ever read them cover to cover. This one I did. It was informative while also interesting. Basically the best textbook I have had to read. :)
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August 7, 2022Dreadful book. Thank goodness my course didn't require me to read all of it...
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews