Opinion of the class

I thought this class was amazing. I loved the structure of the work and the implementation of the homework. Going back and forth between the book and the readings was a very good idea because the textbooks do become monotonous and this was able to draw the class away from that while still continuing with the learning of the material. I also really enjoyed the blog posting as our main homework assignment. I first of all like the idea of the blog because you can turn it in and be done with it whenever you are finished even if that is at 2 in the morning. It also doesn't require printing of any paper and remember to bring it to class or any such hassle. I also really preferred the blog because we baiscally wrote one paper a week (little less) and this was managable and conducive to learning the information. As I said I really enjoyed this class and am excited to have you as a professor again next semester! Thank you and Merry Christmas!

Organizational Communication Applied

A nationally recognized organization would seem to have little to improve upon but this is often times not the case. The Saint Mary’s College golf team is a nationally recognized golf team. They have gone to the national championship four years in a row representing our school at the highest level of the NCAA organization possible, but still have yet to win a national title. One may attribute these facts to the skills and abilities of the members of the golf team but it is often times a deeper reasoning where the problem lies.

The Saint Mary’s College golf team is currently made up of nine female golfers and a head coach. The organizational communication being used by the head coach, the leader, of the team is communication as an information transfer. Information is sent from the coach to the players typically through the channel of email. Unfortunately this method of communication makes too many assumptions that do not hold true especially when it comes to working with a group of 9 women. Feelings and emotions are not transferred in the words of those emails and this is difficult for women to work with. The receivers in this case, women, extract thoughts and feelings from the words and these may be incorrect assumptions. Here we discover we have already uncovered many downfalls of the organization. The management practices, gender communication and overall communication are all at question here in this organization.

Using the current method of organizational communication over simplifies communication. Treating communication as a pipeline system where information is spewed and expected to end up in the right location with the correct understanding is very unrealistic. The coach (sender) sees the players (receivers) as a passive receptor uninvolved with you meaning of the message. The results and consequences of the communication often directly affect the players making this mode of communication faulty. Using this type of communication does not account for the differences in interpretation between speaker and listener. In laymen’s terms, the women of the golf team are unable to ask questions of the coach are expected to always understand and properly interpret what is to be transferred in messages. We are treated as if we have no interest in the decisions that are made and the results that come from those decisions and this is simply not the case.

Modifying a working and mostly successful organization is often risky and difficult and requires extensive studies and research. In this situation the best possible approach to communication would be the use communication as a transactional process. This would be most successful because of the women on the team and their requirements for understanding the messages being sent from their coach. The idea that you cannot not communicate is one that is portrayed in this organizational communication process and it is an important one. You should no be able to tell the difference between who is sending and who is receiving a message because the communication should be continuous. One man managing a team of nine women is a difficult task and he has worked to the best of his abilities to succeed but information transfer is the wrong approach to use to communication. Using communication as a transactional process requires face to face communication for best results because non-verbal feedback is readily available. These non-verbal messages accompany the verbal and can fill in the gaps and questions the team members may have about the message being sent.

One approach to conquering this communication challenge would be to replace the one who is failing to communicate properly but that is not the answer in this situation. The coach is so successful and good at what he does Saint Mary’s would be at a disadvantage to lose this leader. Instead the answer is cooperation and coordination. Recently the athletic department has brought on an assistant golf coach to work with the current coach. The assistant golf coach is a women with a degree in communications. This strategy was an excellent decision by administration because it is the balance that allows the team to have the best of both worlds. The golf team is able to keep the coach with the wealth of golf knowledge and success and incorporate someone with strong communication skills and enough golf skills to understand everything that is happening.


This new implementation of management practices, improved gender communication, and the new approach to overall communication can and has begun to make leaps and bounds forward for the organization. The Saint Mary’s College golf team currently has the skills, abilities and knowledge to be a high caliber team in the NCAA and this is shown by the national recognition but these changes and new implementations could take the golf team to the next step. The organization would become more cohesive and unified if they were better able to communicate from the top down and that is exactly the opportunity the administration gave to team when they hired the assistant coach. Golf skills don’t make a golf team, players make a great golf team.

Gendered Careers and Gender Performances

Gender definitions are far reaching and often difficult to overcome. Before children are even born the question is asked, “Is it a boy or a girl?” What does it even matter? There is nothing you can do to change it, hopefully you won’t love it any less depending on the answer. We ask because the answer determines what clothes we will buy for the baby or what sports we will teach them and even how we communicate with them. Though these actions may seem sexist, they are preparatory in nature for what life to come. Gender highly defines who you are and what you are allowed to do in many aspects of life.

Through the context of history we are able to see the importance of gender and the role it has played in the life of humans since the beginning of our existence. The idea and terminology of hunters and gatherers was given exclusively to men in there ability to provide for their families. When ancient tribes would live and survive as groups it was the men who found and killed the food and the women who cooked and prepared it for the rest of the tribe. It is easy to see how the actions of each gender have been conditioned over time to fit the expectations of society. There are other restrictions applied to genders by nature that also aide in defining a gender role. Females are the only sex able to become pregnant. The hormones human glands naturally secrete create certain appearances and tendency that are filed under a strictly male or strictly female category. The scripts are already written, as humans we are supposed to comply and read the one that belongs to us, to overcome this notion would require jumping hurdles hundreds of years high.

We have been given our genders, though not by choice, and based on these genders we act out certain performances. These roles are acted out through communication, costuming, and other elements of microforming on a daily basis. When communicating, men tend to use report talk while women use rapport talk. Men give the facts tell their demands and make everything straight and to the point. Women tend to use more opinionated passive ways of stating what needs to be accomplished. Women will often also use questions rather than statements. A woman might ask, “Would you mind being here by eight in the morning tomorrow?” where as a man may state “Be here at eight.” These demands or instructions often vary widely depending on whether they are coming from a male or a female.

Constructive criticism is something that also must be conveyed and understood in the workplace and this too can be interpreted very differently depending on which sex the message is coming from. Where John Doe may say, “Your performance has been very poor this quarter and if I don’t see an improvement I will be forced to take action.” Jane Doe may remark, “You really could be doing better and trying harder. Please make an effort so I don’t have to take further action.” There are times though where constructive criticism coming from the same gender may be helpful if you work best with negative reinforcement it is possible that John Doe’s statement may motivate you more. The same applies to the converse.

Gender roles are also acted out through the clothing we choose to wear and the clothing which is deemed appropriate for us to wear. What is difficult about women and clothing in the workplace is there are basically two extremes with nothing in the middle considered acceptable. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is one of the few organizations remaining that still provides clothing for its employees and a great example of one extreme. There is a catalog employees must choose from basically with the only option being size. The FBI and their required uniform is a great example of how one extreme of the organizational world requires women to look as much like men as possible. All efforts are made for women to blend in with the men; it is as if we are not even there. Women are told their shirts can’t be too tight so there should be no sign that we have breasts. There are often certain rules and allowances for what can be done to the hair as well.

Another of the remaining organizations providing uniform represents the opposite extreme of organizational costuming: flight attendants. This and other gendered organizations allow for skirts and signs of femininity because they are selling an experience. These fields of work typically require full makeup, styled hair and particular shoes as well. Both extremes, in my opinion, reveal that the workplace is a male dominated sector. If the women must be considered equivalent with the man she is required to blend in and lose her feminine appearance. If the women is there for the mans entertainment or service she is required to show her legs, walk in heels and put on a face.

It is these gendered organizations which concern us most. In the early years of the 21st century we should be at a point in humanity where women and men are considered equal in the workplace and overall in life. Unfortunately we have just proven that this is quite far from the truth. There are male and female dominated careers. Certain careers are considered unacceptable for women to be involved in and the same is true for the converse. Careers which are deemed appropriate for women include being a mother to her children, nurse, waitress, flight attendant, receptionist and cheerleader. These careers show our softer more feminine side and require little to no responsibility. Typically women in these roles fall under the supervision of others and are rarely found supervising others. These informal roles for women allow them to be integrated into the workforce while still maintaining their femininity and taking care of their domestic responsibilities.

If these career fields are considered to be female dominated that leaves every other field to be dominated by men. OF course this is not completely, wholly and always true but the portrait is painted. Men are said to excel in sports, technology, management, and many other similar career fields. These jobs typically leave men with much responsibility and high amounts of power. Supervision is a must and often there is no direct supervisor to his position.

It is to be expected that the next question to follow is “to what extent?” Though there are examples of careers that are dominated by each gender there are plenty of examples of career fields that are approximately equal in gender participation. This statement is very true and in fact the gender career equality is increasing but it is highly unlikely the playing field will ever completely level. Historically, men worked and women did not. Men either hunted or found food or worked to make money to pay for food and women typically stayed home. In the middle of the twentieth century, during World War II women began to enter the workforce but the careers were very unbalanced. We have been and are currently working towards bridging the gendered career gap and this can be seen through the examples given earlier. These are no longer as concrete as they once would have been. Men are now often found as flight attendants, cheerleaders, nurses, Mr. Mommies and this is all without questioning the sexuality of the man. Though we are getting closer we may never fully close the gap due to natural elements that would require thousands of years of evolution. Ironic isn’t it: almost every aspect of our life is effected by whether we are male or female and we don’t even get to decide for ourselves.

Elements of Organizational Culture

Some will tell you it’s the brilliant minds, others are sure it is the hearts of the women but the answer is really everything in between. What is actually being described is the perception of our environment, or our cultural elements. The culture of Saint Mary’s is vastly different from any institution, which is to be expected due to the nature of an all women’s, but there are many attributes that affect the culture of the institution. Elements included in defining an organizations culture are: ceremonies, rituals, artifacts, stories, all of which can be found in the history o the Saint Mary’s College organization. Though there are many facets of Saint Mary’s College, including the students, the faculty, the staff and the administration, we will merely look at the cultural elements a Saint Mary’s student experiences which alone are insurmountable.

Within Augusta hall on our campus you will find artifact upon artifact compiling the history that forms modern day Saint Mary’s College. There are many pictures of past important people attending significant events. There are articles of clothing from influential people of Saint Mary’s past and there is even a table where Mother Theresa once sat and broke bread with Sister Madeleva. All of these items have a certain memory and event attached to them making them artifacts of the college. This top floor of Augusta Hall is a place where the students of the institution of Saint Mary’s College can go and feel the reality the college’s history.

Another piece of organizational culture is held in the stories and the language of telling stories and stories being passed along. At Saint Mary’s College, as is true for most organizations, there are many ways in which stories are transferred over time. I believe the most common way stories at Saint Mary’s are conveyed is from other students who share stories of Saint Mary’s past and present every day. Who knows what the source is or how the student came about this information but we typically accept it to be true. Other common ways stories are shared here at Saint Mary’s often happen before you are officially accepted as a student. When participating in admissions activities stories are shared to help convey the idea of life in this community. Other ways stories are shared are from the professors and administration, if they attended school here or if they simply have heard the stories themselves from somewhere else. Another common though possibly overlooked way of stories being passed along is from mother to daughter. Here at Saint Mary’s we have a lot of legacy students who’s mothers or aunts or grandmothers also went to Saint Mary’s and stories can be passed this way as well. Although all of these ideas are being passed on from different sources all are elements of the organizational culture.

In addition to artifacts and stories there are ceremonies that happen on some routine basis (annually) that add to the elements of organizational culture. When first arriving on campus in August, first year students typically go through a process known as orientation which is a type of ceremony of ceremonies to help students transition from high school to college. To make the transition final there is a ceremony called lighting the candle that officially ends orientation. All of the new students light a candle signifying the beginning of their college careers. There are also religious ceremonies our college practices being that we are a catholic institution. There is opening mass which is also a part of orientation and baccalaureate mass which happens before graduation. Graduation is also a ceremony. The procession of the students in front of their loved ones celebrating the time they have had and the fact that it is over.

Defining an organizations culture often unintentionally reinforces organizational values; this is often the case with organization rituals. According to our textbook authors Eisenberg, Goodall and Trethewey, “Rituals ‘dramatize’ a culture’s basic values and can range in scope from personal, day-to-day routines for accomplishing tasks to annual organization-wide celebrations”. At Saint Mary’s college an organization-wide ritual would be when we honor those who have performed well with the dean’s list title. We also perform day-to-day rituals here at Saint Mary’s College. In many classes we pray before we begin the day’s lesson or we hand in homework before getting started. Though the rituals vary greatly from one organization to another as stated by our authors we can learn much about the organization and where they place there values based on simply daily routines.

Though many people believe culture affects the intangible possessions of an organization by influencing values, attitudes and behaviors it also has material consequences. In the case of an institution such as Saint Mary’s College the elements of our individual culture affect which women choose to attend our college or which professional educators choose to work at our college which in turn effects the education and the experience women at this institution are receiving. The organizational culture can also have a monetary impact. If the culture is not appealing and tuition levels lower there is less of an income for our community to better itself with. It is true the culture affects the heart and the soul of an organization but it can also affect the flesh and the blood.

What may happen if a decentralized organization met conflict with a centralized organization

Arachnophobia: fear of spiders. Though many people suffer from this fear it is very rarely questioned, spiders are just generally seen as a scary creature. Spiders are also the main metaphor used for a centralized organization. A centralized organization is one with a central command structure, a clear leader and rules which are enforced. These organizations are seen often. We see examples in the government and most highly regarded for profit organizations. Conversely a decentralized organization is one where there is no clear leader, there is no headquarters and rules and norms are not enforced. Due to their nature these organizations are not easy to spot but examples can be found in organizations such as terrorist groups.

It is easy to see that these two types of organizations contrast each other and thus the question arises: what would the outcome be if these two organizations were to engage in conflict. Partially due to my lack of military training and partially due to the nature of the two organizations the outcome would be hard to judge and if any guess was made it would have to include many scenarios. We can use for example the United States government (a centralized organization) and a terrorist organization (a decentralized organization).

The United States government has a clear leader. There is a chain of command from the man who is actually fighting on the front lines all the way back to the president of the United States. There are also specific locations where decisions are made about the conflict. The pentagon is an entire building dedicated to the United States and dealing with foreign conflict. There is also a situation room in the white house where the president is briefed on information with conflict.

The terrorist organization has no clear leader. There is no headquarters for a terrorist organization and there is no way to try and enforce rules among the other terrorists fighting. Even if someone were to give an example of Osama Bin Laden as a leader of a terrorist organization he is not crucial to the success of the organization. Why then is it that we are going after him? Sometimes if we are used to looking at the world one way, it is hard to make any sense of looking at the world a different way. We, in the United States are used to looking at centralized organizations, so if we are fooled by a decentralized organization and we see someone who looks like a leader we believe that that person is crucial to the organization and that if we kill them the organization will fall.

This approach is wrong. In fact, this may be the worst thing we could do. The more we attack a decentralized organization the more decentralized it becomes and the stronger it becomes. It is harder to detect the location of members of a decentralized organization after an attack, and we won’t know which direction to look for an attack from them. Decentralized organizations are flexible and immune to attack because even if you manage to kill members or groups of members there are still more and new ones constantly emerge.

The best way to handle a decentralized organization would be to plan attacks very carefully. The more you can take out at once. Don’t drop bombs at random and kill whoever you can. Wait, research, record and find when the most members will be in the same location at once. I would think the best bet would be if the decentralized organization had no idea you were even watching. They would have no reason to suspect anything was wrong. But this approach takes patience and skill.

Patience and skill, much like the metaphor for a decentralized organization: a starfish. If you cut an arm off, most of the time these animals grow a new one. If you cut the starfish in half the animal won’t die, and pretty soon you’ll have two starfish to deal with. The starfish doesn’t have a head and the major organs are replicated throughout the entire being. Much like the decentralized organization, the starfish has no essential part to it. Currently we don’t hear much of a fear of star fish but maybe sometime soon. Thalassophobia: fear of sea creatures.

News Media: The Google Way of Life

It was destined to fail; Google Inc seemed to be lacking from the start. The bizarre creation of the company began in 1996 as a research project by two Stanford PhD applicants. Sergey Bren and Larry Page were both computer science majors who were known as “scary smart”. After the two computer geeks misspelled the word googol, they had created a website where people could efficiently search the internet. Three years after the two founders launched their website they decided they might want to begin to make a profit. After the advertising setup we Google users know as the right hand side column, Bren and Page had a full functioning company.

From the beginning both founders knew they wanted their company to be different and different is most certainly one way to describe the life inside the Googleplex. As the video illustrates, Google is no average company. Though this video is directed to describe how Google caters to female employees, we thoroughly see the ideas and philosophies on management and the workplace environment. From programs, to food, to sports, Google offers it all, but what does this mean for worker productivity, the workplace environment and the management approach. Obviously, Google did not fail so they must be doing something right.

It seems as though everything about Google was created for employees to be as productive as possible. The design of the building, the contents within the building, the norms of the workplace all seem to increase worker productivity. Some of the social norms referred to include, meetings over a pool table, bringing your pet to the office, taking a lunchtime hockey break, or getting a back massage. By relaxing the environment these characteristics of the company might seem to slow down the workers but in fact there productivity is the highest in their field. While it takes Microsoft years to work through innovation, design, product testing and completion, Google seems to be adding a new component to their website daily. Google also believes in continuing education. Google has tech talks once a week for employees to ask questions and be informed on everything in the technology community. This constant learning helps keep employees up on current technology allowing them to be more productive and innovative.

One of the most unique aspects of the Google community is the workplace environment. The feeling when you walk through the doors of an organization says a lot about their values and their priorities. Google employees feel as though they are working for a small company even though Google is an international corporation. Google hires only the best of the best; they receive over 1000 resumes each day. This gives Google a competitive edge to hire people who they want in their environment. People in the Googleplex are intelligent, enthusiastic people who are passionate about what they do (usually they are pretty smart too).

Another unique component of Google’s environment is their 20% idea. Google allows its employees to spend 20% of their time at work to create and develop their own project. This allows users to feel free from constraint or domination and it also helps the company with constant innovation. Something often praised about at Google is the free food. More than just a regular lunch line; there are gourmet chefs, candy jars lining halls, closets full of cereal bars and free pop machines at every corner. Google actually has a rule that there must be food within 100 feet of each employee. In case you gain what is known as the “Google 15” there are plenty of ways to work it off in one of the many gyms or fitness centers on site.

Though it is easily seen that Google is taking a step into unknown territory in their management style, they are still keeping the general ideas of the human relations approach. The Googleplex it self could be seen as the Hawthorne affect on speed. Workers aren’t just being paid attention to; the Google worker has it good. This illustration of the “Hawthorne affect on speed” was awarded by Fortune magazine naming Google the best company to work for in the year 2006. What’s more is the ratio of executives to engineers is extremely low. This distancing of management allows employees to feel less watched over or inferior. Google also has a mentoring program for new employees to orient them to their new environment. This program directly correlates with the human relations approach in that the company is recognizing the needs of the employer and then meeting those needs.

One may think of the Google Corporation as a machine, but it is certainly different from the machine used in the scientific management metaphor. Google earnestly seems to care about its employers. Any company can implement strategies to increase worker productivity, manage to the best of its abilities and create a sound work environment, but few can do what Google has accomplished. Though the company began with a bizarre start, it certainly did not fail. With company worth at over 120 billion dollars Google is far from failure. Google is far from failure because of their welcoming workplace environment, their relational management approach and their high worker productivity.

Comparing classical management approaches with approaches to organizational communication

Most scholars believe that there is not one simple definition of communication as an organization. There are some concepts such as senders, receivers and channels which stay constant, but rather than a definition scholars have agreed on multiple approaches to organizational communication. There are four approaches to communication which are most widely known and those are: communication as information transfer, communication as transactional process, communication as strategic control, and communication as a balance of creativity and constraint.


Similarly to communication, there are generally agreed upon approaches to management. There are the classical management approaches, the human relations approach and the human resource approach. The classical management approach includes theories on scientific management, bureaucracy, division of labor, and hierarchy.


When you take a closer look it becomes easy to relate communication as an information transfer to the classical approaches to management. The main metaphor used with communication as an information transfer is a pipeline. The idea of a pipeline is easily transferred to the management hierarchy. As you can see in the photo below, information would flow from the top down, much like a pipeline. Communication uses a pipeline to represent a sender transmitting a message to a receiver, where as the pipeline in the organization would represent who is in contact with who and who works with whom.


Communication as an information transfer is often thought of as a tool people use to accomplish objectives. This idea can be applied directly to the classical approach to management. Managers use subordinates as tools to complete the tasks at hand. Communication as an information transfer is very impersonal, as is the classical management style. Communication as in information transfer believes that once the message has been sent the work is over. If the sender speaks the message there is an assumption that the receiver understands what the speaker intended. The classical management style mimics this approach. If an employee is hired for the job and told what to do there is an assumption that the work will be done because the worker fully understands. Neither communication as information transfer, nor the classical approach to management, account for different interpretations of sender and receiver or employee and employer.


Classical management includes the theory of scientific management which was developed by Frederick Taylor. This theory treated management as a true science based on certain laws , rules and assumptions. Communication as an information transfer also treats communication as an exact science. We know now that neither communication nor management are exact sciences which makes both of these theories hard to follow, but this does prove how they are interrelated.


Both communication as an information transfer and the classical management approach are early theories in their fields and have been widely improved upon and criticized. Neither is perfect in any sense or accounts for all situations. Communication as an information transfer follows the pipeline metaphor that a sender transmits a message to a receiver. Classical management also has this same idea with the hierarchy theory: a superior sends a message to a subordinate. Both of these approaches have many theories and ideas in common and are interrelated. It is not difficult to imagine those mangers that were using the classical approaches to management were also using communication as an information transfer and vice versa.

Differences between human relations and human resource approaches to management.

In a discussion of approaches to management in organizations, human relations and human resources are bound to come up. Many may confuse these two different approach styles due to their similar name and their styles being similar by nature. Both styles relate to one another because the human resources approach was born out of the human relations approach. The human relations approach is mainly based in the interpersonal and social needs of the individual worker. This view point was dramatically different from those which preceded it. The human relations approach paved the way for the human resource approach which I feel our textbook portrays best as a movement rather than an approach.

The human relations approach is based off of much research and the findings of a simple test in a small town in Illinois. Elton Mayo, a human relations researcher, was preceded by feminist Mary Parker Follett who really laid the ground work for research of the human relations approach. Because Mayo’s timing coincided with the movement to change scientific management he was able to greatly influence society. Mayo stressed the importance of interpersonal relations between managers and employees. Mayo’s theory held that effective management meant that managers should strive to communicate to encourage employees to identify with the organization.

In the Hawthorne plant of an AT&T subsidiary managers and researchers were testing worker reactions to change in lighting only to find they were reacting to something completely different. It was the increased attention on the workers that actually increased productivity. This and other experiments led to the conclusion that workers are actually quite complex beings with many motives, values and emotions. These psychological studies of human complexity helped researchers and managers better understand the worker and how best to manage and communicate.

As previously stated I feel that the human relations research was more of a movement than only one approach because there are so many theories that make up the “human resources approach.” First is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs which categorizes human needs by order of importance, most of which are physiological needs to survival. This affects management because the workplace can become an environment where individuals mature from addressing their minimalistic needs to realizing their full potential or as Maslow would call it, “self actualization.”

The human resources approach was also influenced Douglas McGregor and his “Theory Y.” McGregor created this management style out of assumptions about the individual worker. McGregor believed working the body and brain is natural and that the average human learns to accept and seek responsibility. McGregor even went as far as to claim that on average people are only being partially utilized in the workplace.

The final piece of the human resource movement comes from Rensis Likert who held the principle of supportive relationships. This principle holds that all interactions within an organization should support individual self-worth and importance, emphasizing work groups and communication. This is where the human resources approach begins to truly differ from the human relations approach because human resources emphasizes employee participation in organizational decision making

When one perspective is born out of another they are bound to be similar in nature and related in many ways. The human relations approach and the human resources approach both moved away from the idea of treating the worker as a machine and moved towards understanding human behavior. The human resources approach encouraged much participation of the employee on organizational decision making while the human relations approach still contained a power distance between the worker and the manager. The human relations idea was really the first step into the future and way from scientific management. It was really the first time society experienced a meaning-centered approach to understanding human action. Human resources was able to further these ideas and give even more power to the worker.

Video Addendum to Question 2

I believe this video from the Today Show best exemplifies the point I am trying to make about Google Inc. The company itself has recognized that with the benefits they give their employees in return the employees give them job loyalty and productivity. Despite the fact that you would think that these perks are costing Google too much money they continue to grow by huge margins. Google receives, on average, 3000 applications in one day, which speaks to their demand as an employer; people want to work for this company! Google's founders have also laid a foundation where they believe that hierarchy is bad and anything opposing it is good. This allows the employees to feel comfortable in the company and in return, the vice president states, "they will do almost anything for the company." The quote echoed most in this video clip is "I love my job!"

Increasing Worker Productivity

It is usually the job of the manager to maintain quality as well as productivity. Often managers take different approaches to ensuring this productivity and sometimes it can be that one simple thing that no one has heard of that gives the best results. Managers make an effort to please their employers with physical entities such as nicer chairs to help their backs or a water-cooler in the office for free hydration. Other times supervisors may use emotional tactics to increase employer productivity. Despite the tactic used, what matters most are the results.

Increasing worker productivity always makes me think of Google Inc. They were recently named number one company in America to work for by Fortune magazine. They offer their employees perks, such as, free meals, oil changes, laundry machines and work-out facilities. Though many may believe this could have been risky, Google is basking in their rewards. I believe Google’s efforts would best fit under the human resources approach. This approach is concerned with the total organizational climate as well as with how an organization can encourage employee participation and dialogue.

After speaking with someone who has had extensive work experience I was interested to find that this person (my mother) in particular didn’t really notice what was going on as it was happening. At her current employment she feels no one really tried to increase her worker productivity. She has been working as a Media Specialist for over ten years at a middle school but cannot remember any efforts to improve her workplace quality. After talking with her for a bit she conceded to the fact that she felt best and more willing to do work when she was given positive reinforcement. I believe her employer was using Likert’s Principle of supportive relationships. This principle believes that all interactions within an organization should support individual self-worth and importance, with emphasis on the supportive relationships within work groups and open communication among them. My mother spoke of staff meetings where each employer was encouraged to share something positive about another employer. She also discussed how she would occasionally receive emails that would encourage her to continue working hard.

Overall my mother really painted a picture that feeling like a family truly makes a difference, and I believe this is true for most locations of employment. My mother claims that “if employees are treated respectfully and feel appreciated they will automatically want to work more or better.” Though this may not always be true I believe it is a good start to good management. Though other management styles may be more efficient or increase productivity it usually means an unhappy employee or a high turnover of employees. I believe someone should come up with a new theory of approach called the golden theory. This theory would reflect the golden rule we are all taught in kindergarten: “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” Treat your employees like you would want to be treated in that situation. Though we have come quite a ways from the classical management theories of the industrial revolution we still have a ways to go.

Happy Work Life

It would seem to make some amount of sense that part of one’s hopes for the future would be to pursue a happy work life. But a happy work life can vary from one person to the next. Happiness is a perceived notion and when put under a career context, to me it would mean a balance between a challenge and insignificance. To me, that means I would love to have a job that is able to balance my stress and workload with my social and family time. As we have learned from Erich Fromm and Jill Fraser this idea of a happy work life and a balance of work and play has become less and less prevalent.

Both Fromm and Fraser explain that there is a new idea of worker alienation which is when workers are no longer directly linked to the product they are creating. Sad as it was, workers would sell their labor and know they would be exploited but did it anyway simply out of necessity. The worker needed to feed himself and his family and working in the factory was the only way he was able to do this. Unfortunately this is one of the main causes of worker alienation. Worker alienation is often linked with lack of creativity and unfulfilled satisfactions. Fromm describes that “work, instead of being an activity satisfying in itself and pleasurable, became a duty and an obsession.” Fromm attributes worker alienation to this; because work became about the profit and no longer about the craft, workers were exploited by managers. After the assembly line was introduced during the industrial revolution workers were no longer required to know anything really. All jobs and tasks became so simplistic that those who owned and ran the factories could afford to exploit their workers. This series of events illustrates how workers no longer have pride or feel a connection to their job or the product they are creating.

Jill Fraser brings the idea of worker alienation into a more modern context. Fraser refers to the longer work days of the new collegiate graduate who is on the fast track to management so she experiences job spill. Job spill is when your work life spills over into what should be your social or personal life. In the 21st century we have much experience with job spill due to advances in technology and communication. We are more connected than we have ever been before and it may not always be to our benefit. Our lunch times are no longer our own we are meeting clients or discussing agendas over lunch if we are even taking a lunch at all. We also have cell phones which keep us connected to our family and friends but are also connecting us to our boss and co-workers. More than just spilling over into our work day, our jobs have begun to spill over into our weekends and our holidays. Travel is expected and working Saturdays is expected, it seems nowadays that giving up a social life is expected. Fraser also speaks to the fact that there is much less time to unwind and the stress is piling up on us.

So what does this all mean to me or to the average collegiate graduate worker? Personally, I fear that in today’s society there may be no way to avoid the exhaustion and the job spill. Today, I feel that our society exploits the “hard worker” or the “type-A” personality. The work force gets as much out of them as they are able promising success and promotions and raises. If there were any way to possibly avoid these forms of “exploitation” I think it would be personal. One would have to set limits and standards that they would abide by. Personally I am not sure I would want to make this kind of promise to myself though. I may avoid exhaustion and exploitation but I am that “type-A” personality and I want to give into the notion of success. I am, along with millions of others out there, the reason why our society is able to demand so much out of our workers because we are willing to give in to those demands. So maybe there isn’t a balance of work and play but my strategy is going to be to find a job that I enjoy enough so that my work is my play. I won’t mind working weekends and traveling to distant countries for a Saturday business meeting because I want to love what I do.