Organizational Communication – a review

The core aim of the present article was to give a review of studies and theory within organizational communication. In the first part of the article four influential approaches used in the study of organizational communication are presented; the mechanistic perspective, the psychological perspective, the interpretive symbolic perspective and the systems interaction perspective. In the second part methodological issues related to the study of organizational communication are discussed, and an overview of the most valid and reliable communication research measures are presented. The study of organizational communication is most often related to three different aspects of the organization: structure, context, and process. In the following the article follows this pattern. In part three the significance of both formal (e.g. organizational size) and informal communication (communication networks) for organizational communication is elaborated in part three, and studies taking this approach are presented. Context, being the second aspect, is defined and elaborated in part four. Communication climate and superior-subordinate communication, are important concepts related to the aspect of context, and studies done within this foci of research are thus presented under this heading. The final aspect being the aspect of process is elaborated in part five. The primary focus is on organizational change, and studies and theory concerning the relation between communication and organizational change are presented. The conclusion is given in part six, and it is emphasized that future studies within the field of organizational communication should perhaps attempt taking a more complex approach in order to achieve the goal of capturing the full and whole essence of organizational communication