Chapter 1 - Organizational Communication: A Competency-Based Approach
Shockley-Zalabak begins by arguing that organizational life is becoming increasingly complex. This can be attributed to a) the increasing centrality of organizations (particularly economic ones: i.e., the workplace) to the pattern of our lives, b) the increasing complexity of organizational structures, particularly as made possible by new communication and control technologies(i.e., telecommunications and computers), and c) the increasingly information-oriented nature of work. Having made this point, Shockley-Zalabak proceeds to lay out the role of communication in organizations, and then to the organizing logic of this textbook as a whole.
In such a fluid and complex environment, where people in organizations face complex problems requiring coordinated (rather than individual) action to solve, people must be able to work together. To get them to work together, communication is essential. Organizational excellence, in Shockley-Zalabak's manner of speaking, is simply the ability to work together to solve complex problems. Her central point is that the ability of an organization to respond to its environment (i.e., its customers, suppliers, regulators, shareholders, competitors, neighbors, and other constituencies) and manage its internal processes depends upon effective communication on the part of the members of the organization.