Philip Tompkins Organizational Communicatin Imperatives :: essays research papers

Philip Tompkins Organizational Communicatin ImperativesINTRODUCTIONIn the book Organizational Communication Imperatives, by Philip K.Tompkins, we are introduced to a chapter that deals with an organization that isheld under high prestige by not only those who are employed by it, but by acountry as well. This American organization is NASA, (National AeronauticalSpace Administration), and although a very prestigious place to work, it is notfree of its share of wrongdoing and parry productive ways. Ten years ago(1986), NASA was faced with its biggest catastrophe, The Challenger Explosion.This preventable event , which claimed the life of a crew of seven, left manyquestioning the energy of conversation throughout NASA. The idea that acrucial element of the space shuttle, O-Rings, would pass inspection, althoughmany scientists doubted the success of these, would be the ultimate cause of thecrews demise presently after lift off. It seems these scientists doubts wereoverlooked by a hig her authority who gave the go ahead knowing the risk atstake.The United States Army, well know for its maintaining of order andconduct, has fallen into a most peculiar and shameful predicament due to lack ofcommunication. The New York time brought its readers to the attention that allwas not honorable in the military. An organization that shares a similar prestigeto that of NASA, an organization who has exemplified its leadership time andtime again by becoming a force, so powerful, that it is sometimes considered topolice the world, has fallen into a sex abuse scandal. It seems that severalwomen have come forward to proclaim their mistreatment from various acts rangingfrom rape to verbal harassment instilled upon them by members of the military.These women feel, had there been a genuine form of organizational communication,the study of sending and receiving messages, they would not have fell victimsto such hideous crimes. Senator Barbara Boxer stated (New York Times 11/96)that the complaints made by the women who came forward immediately were lostsomewhere along the line in an attempt to reach a higher authority, signifying aneed for some type of restructure.STRENGTHSIn the minds of many people today the United States Army Is consideredto have one of the best structured organizational communication networks. Thisis based upon the specified code of conduct that the Army is underlyingly ruledby. This is upheld by the specific chain of command which is easilydistinguished by rank and uniform. austere punishment is carried out upon thosewho violate rules and conduct, commonly accepted by this organization. Theauthority figures, in the Army, set tasks, and relay a common purpose to all