Due September 2

 
Organizations can be looked at in many different ways. They always seem very different when seen from the inside compared to how an outsider sees them. There are many outsiders who have important stakes in an organization: customers, clients, suppliers, competitors, regulatory bodies, shareholders and the general public. Each key outside stakeholder develops its own unique viewpoint about an organization and its communication processes. Each of these different groups is important to an organization's success, and its views of the organization matter.

Select an organization for which you are an insider (for example, your employer, club, fraternity/sorority, or USC), and respond to the following queries.   Please type your responses.  Of course, you may hand draw any pictures.
 

1.  When you first joined this organization, what did you notice to be new and/or different about communication and other processes compared to what you expected? How did the ways things were done in your organization compare to the ways they were done in other organizations?

2.  Try to recall some of the stories that get told about people or events in your organization. What kind of person gets labeled a hero versus a villain? What message is inherent in the stories? What regular events and rituals occur, such as a yearly picnic, softball game, retreat, hazing, or the like? What do these rituals, stories and heroes communicate about what your organization is like and what it values?

3.  Think about the various "outsiders" that come into contact with your organization: customers, clients, suppliers, competitors, regulators, shareholders and the general public. Do you have any idea how these people see your organization? What different things do these people say about your organization? How differently do customers and/or clients see your organization compared to how competitors see it?

4.  If you wanted to communicate with an outside group to give them a sense of what your organization is like, what communication would you fashion? Is there a metaphor that aptly describes your organization (e.g., a giant behemoth, a warm cocoon, a jungle, a well-oiled machine)? What picture would you draw? What story might you tell?