Marlina Davidson

Taylor’s (2005) article investigates the relationship between postmodernism and organizational communication. At the end of Taylor’s article he describes a specific case from his own research program, showing how post-modern theory helped better understand communication in organizations. In this section Taylor goes on to describe his interest in nuclear weapons and its relationship with postmodern theory. Over the past couple of months we have learned about a lot of different theories and ways of looking at organizational communication. I wanted to see if anyone had any interests or passions before coming to UNL that have continued to grow as you’ve taken more communication classes. For example, maybe you had a job before you starting your Ph.D. or M.A. program and now, after taking communication classes, have started looking at the job or interest you had in a different way or in a deeper way.

Caroline and Taylor (1998) talked a lot about Disney World in their article on organizational communication and cultural studies. This past week we also talked a lot about Disney World as well as Gallup, specifically related to the type of culture that they are trying to create. My second question is, can you think of any other companies who are overtly trying to create a “hyperculture” culture that might be hurting its employees and/or customers? Can you think of any companies that are trying to publically promote an open and diverse culture but might be hiding something behind closed doors? Who comes to mind for me is Google. Although the public view of Google is openness, diversity, and innovation, I wonder if that is what’s actually happening.