This document discusses the history of organizational communication from the Industrial Revolution to the present. It outlines five epochs: 1) 1830s-1920s of laissez-faire indifference to workers; 2) 1920s-1940s of beginnings of paternalism; 3) 1940s-1980 of prosperity and entitlement; 4) 1980-1990 of globalization and focus on business; 5) 1990-present of technological revolution fueling individualism and openness. Key forces shaping the field included technology, leadership styles, economics, and psychology. The role of communication professionals has evolved from reactive messaging to strategic business partnership.

1. From Evolution to Revolution, a mini history
of Organizational Communication
Roger D’Aprix , 2014 CLE Conference

2. 7 Forces that have shaped our work
 Changing and accelerating economic and social
realities
 Media and journalistic fashions and fads
 The SOS Model
 Corporate leadership actions, styles and beliefs
 Message- delivery systems from printing to digital
delivery
 Behavioral psychology and audience research
 Access to technology and networking systems

3. Five Organizational Communication
‘Epochs’
 1830s to 1920s: The Industrial Revolution—a time of laissez-faire
indifference to worker needs and workplace communication (Who’s
your boss? What does he want you to do right now?)
 Early 1900s sees rise of unions and bitter, violent era of conflict and
suppression; rule of the Robber Barons
 1920s to 1940s: An Awakening of Conscience—the beginnings of
Paternalism, Concern for the worker and the Company as ‘family’;
diluted by the Depression of the 1930s
 1940s to 1980: A Golden Age of U.S. Prosperity, Paternalism and
Entitlement thrive—a time when organizational communication begins
to flourish in a command and control era
 1980 to 1990: Globalism erupts and the Revolution begins—a time
when competition rises up from Japan to India to China and
elsewhere; Communication becomes ‘business focused’
 1990 to the Present: Technology Flowers, Fuels the Revolution—and
refuels Rugged Individualism and Greater Openness in an era of
‘cyber-utopianism’

4. The First Employee Communication
 Tradition says that the first
employee communication
was in the textile mills of
England in the early 1800s
 Since most employees were
illiterate, it took the form of
spoken, face-to-face
communication of ‘the
rules’
 Because of the noise level
in the mills, employees
purportedly became expert
lip readers

5. 19th
and 20th
Century Ties that Bind
 As we evolved from an
agricultural to an industrial
society, the following became
our corporate DNA:
 A corporate world view that
placed the pursuit of efficiency
ahead of every other goal
 Top-down authority, decision-
making and communication
 Intense focus on cost
reduction and cost
effectiveness
 Interchangeable Workers (as
strictly a ‘cost of doing
business’)

6. Old Economy Leadership Structure
and Styles; Alfred Sloan’s 1920’s
formula  Pyramid, chain-of-
command organizations
 Vertical integration
 Hierarchical structures with
command and control
leadership styles
 Tolerance for bureaucracy
 Social contract with
expectation of loyalty and
long service
 Authority, loyalty and
discipline of the workforce
as critical values

7. The World’s Second Oldest Profession
 Edward Bernays:
 OC as an art form came
out of WWI from allied
propaganda efforts
 Edward Bernays was
seen as the ‘founder’ of
modern OC
 Wrote 1925 book
entitled ‘Propaganda’
 In late 1920s led
Chesterfield campaign
urging women to smoke
 Later advised corporate
leaders and presidents

8. The Depression: an Era of Stagnation
 Organizational
communication suffered
along with the economy
 Unemployment grew from
3.2% in 1929 to 25% in 1933
 WWII finally broke the back
of the Depression in 1940
 By 1942 with war,
unemployment was 4.7%; in
1944 1.2%

9. 25 Golden Years (Circa 1945-1970)
 WWII becomes a tipping point
for U.S. companies as war
devastates global economies
 U.S. companies operate in a
less competitive period with
fewer consumer options
 Design and build products they
see a need for at a quality level
they deem satisfactory
 Can better tolerate
inefficiencies, slower decision-
making and full employment
 ‘Need to know’ became a
dominant communication
theme

10. Old Economy Internal Communication
(‘45 - ‘70 Playing a Solo on a House
Organ)
 Reactive and heavily
filtered communication of
organizational events
 Top-down paternalistic
communication style with a
heavy emphasis on ‘need to
know’
 Communication of a strong
sense of the company as a
family--the live babies, dead
fish school of
communication
 ‘Home on the range’ view of
life--where never is heard a
discouraging word...

11. Old Economy Communication--the ‘50s to
the mid-60s
 “The Organization Man”
era: “The Man in the Gray
Flannel Suit” (1955)
 Economic education;
‘Boulwareism’; anti-union
propaganda
 The benevolent company
 Defending the company
against ‘outside agitators’
 Company as a closed
community of loyalists

12. What that World Felt Like ’50s to Mid-’60s
 A white male’s world
where women and
minorities faced limited
roles
 An Old Boys’ Network that
held power closely and
demanded conformity
 A conservative mindset
where ‘Vote Republican’
was the norm
 Where loyalty was the
ultimate value and where ‘9
to 5’ prevailed

13. 14
What That World Sounded Like: the
Communicator’s theme song in that Era
The approval tango:
Accentuate the Positive
Eliminate the Negative
Latch on to the Affirmative
Don’t mess with Mr. In-
between

14. Transitional Communication: the Mid-60s
 Anti-institutionalism seen as a
threat
 Organization men begin to question
their own lives and values (‘The
Man in the Gray Flannel Suit’
syndrome)
 Women begin entering the all-male
corporation mostly as secretaries
 Communication professionals
consider playing role of internal
journalists, flirt with investigative
reporting
 Industrial Communication Council
is organized in 1964 to meet the
needs of communication executives

15. The Dawning of the Revolution: the early 70s
 Vietnam War ends and
global competition begins
 Energy crisis rocks the
economy
 Inflation runs rampant
 Communication staffs
reflect public media styles,
become bolder in telling the
truth
 Even experiment
unsuccessfully with
corporate btoadcast TV

16. The Revolution Begins in Earnest: the late
‘70s
 Global competition begins
its impact
 Cost becomes a major
issue
 Technology seen as a
competitive weapon
 Quality and customer
service demanded
 Shareholders demand
accountability

17. The Revolution Begins in Earnest: the late
‘70s
 Western companies caught
by surprise
 US and European
companies downsize
 Billions spent on robotics,
computers
 Massive quality and
customer initiatives
 Short-term results become
the priority, and CEOs
become seen as rain
makers deserving of huge
payoffs

18. New Economy Communication: the
‘80s
 Communication
professionals begin the
long struggle to re-invent
their role
 Face pressures to justify
their value
 From SOS communication
tactics to strategy
 From craft orientation to
business orientation
 The struggle continues to
this day

19. New Economy Leadership Demands
 People become a ‘capital asset’
rather than merely a cost of
doing business
 Lean workforces of talented
people use technology to
create innovative products and
services
 Brands are rediscovered as
corporate assets
 Employee engagement
becomes a critical value

20. The 90s: the Revolution Takes Hold
 Downsizing becomes a profitability
strategy
 Workplace technology grows
explosively; information overload
emerges as a problem
 Print is largely replaced by cheaper
and faster digital media
 Communicators begin to
experiment with new media
 Global competition leads to
outsourcing, intense cost pressures
 The Internet fuels and enables the
emerging phenomenon of social
media

21. The Usual Unintended Consequences
Follow
 Like it or not, companies
and institutions become
naked, transparent
 Paternalism and the social
contract crumble
 Virtual work and Me, Inc.
become realistic
possibilities with access to
technology
 And even a survival
strategy with ongoing
downsizing

22. New Economy Communication: the
‘90s into 2000 and beyond
 Availability of e-mail, voice mail
and wireless technology
 Internet serves as inspiration
for communication
professionals, requires soul-
searching regarding
communication vision and
mission
 Provides unprecedented
access to information
 Technology forces intense
learning curve to keep up

23. Mobile Devices…So simple even a baby…
 Tablets present new
opportunities
 Create ‘a communication
bubble’ around users
 24-hour connectivity
diminishes ‘places to hide’
 Add to impersonal digital
experience—at expense of
face-to-face communication
 Technology relegates
managers to communication
bystanders

24. The Big 21st
Century Trends and
Aspirations…so far
 From independent contribution to
collaboration and teamwork
 From top-down communication to
two-way dialogue and social media
 From need to know to tentative
openness and transparency
 From autocracy and bureaucracy to
greater corporate democracy
 From SOS approach to
communication process and
problem-solving
 From closet technophobes to
cyber-utopians

25. A Looming Audience Disconnect and Risk
 As the economy morphs
into knowledge-based
work:
 What happens to the
unskilled and unprepared?
 Robotics and automation
require fewer workers and
new skills; alienate blue
collar workers
 Cost-cutting, outsourcing
and downsizing cut job
opportunities sharply
 Will our strategies help
create an elite workforce
with limited opportunity for
unemployed minority?
 How do we cope with
inequality?

26. The Opportunity
 “For the first time since the dawning of the industrial age, the
only way to build a company that’s fit for the future is to build
one that’s fit for human beings as well. This is your
opportunity to build a 21st
century management model that
truly elicits, honors and cherishes human initiative, creativity
and passion…Do that, and you will have built an organization
that is fully human and fully prepared for the extraordinary
opportunities that lie ahead.”
 Gary Hamel “The Future of Management”

27. A Blinding Flash of the Obvious
 We have come a long way from the house editors of the
‘50s with a very long and puzzling road still to travel
 In a Revolutionary World, to be relevant, we need to
carve out a role that is intimately related to the business
of the business
 That will require us to educate ourselves to the
priorities and issues of our organizations as well as the
marketplace and the larger society—all the while
reinventing our work
 The ride will be bumpy, exciting and for those who
figure it out-- richly rewarding