Organizational cultures and communication.

This article presents a curriculum, which investigates how communication creates and maintains organizational cultures, with activities and assignments that focus on interpretive and critical symbolic analyses of cultural forms. After this course, students will be able to (1) identify various cultural aspects of organizational life; (2) understand differing approaches to studying organizational cultures; (3) analyze and interpret symbolism in organizational languages and practices; (4) think critically about the role of power and emotion in organizational culture; and (5) discuss issues of cultural creation, maintenance, and change in the workplace. There is one essay exam in the course based on the history and theories of organizational culture, followed by a series of nine reading quizzes based on cultural forms as discussed in assigned readings. Students investigate an organizational culture to gain a new awareness of cultural symbolism and practices by choosing one of three options. For each option, students analyze two different cultural forms, such as symbols, metaphors, stories, rituals, ceremonies in their papers. Each option can be developed into the cultural research project. The paper should be 4-6 pages.