Doris A. Graber - The Power of Communication: Managing Information in Public Organizations

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The Power of Communication

The Power of Communication

Managing Information in Public Organizations

Doris A. Graber
University of Illinois at Chicago

CQ Press
1255 22nd Street, N.W., Suite 400
Washington, D.C. 20037

(202) 729-1900; toll-free, 1-866-4CQ-PRESS (1-866-427-7737)

www.cqpress.com

Copyright 2003 by CQ Press, a division of Congressional Quarterly Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.

Printed and bound in the United States of America

06 05 04 03 02 5 4 3 2 1

Typeset by Picas Rule, Baltimore, Maryland
Cover design by Naylor Design, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Graber, Doris A. (Doris Appel)
The power of communication : managing information in public organizations /
Doris A. Graber.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-56802-211-5 (alk. paper)
1. Communication in public administration.
2. CommunicationPolitical aspects. 3. Communication in organizations.
4. Government information. 5. Administrative agenciesInformation services. I. Title.
JF1525.C59 G728 2002
352.384 dc21

2002012871

To my intellectual godfather and role model,
Arnold J. Lien

Contents

Tables, Figures, and Boxes

Tables

Figures

Boxes

Preface

C ertain classic communication questions burst into the news again and again when major shortcomings in government performance surface: What did the president, the governor, the FBI director, and others know about a major civilian or military disaster? When did they know it, and what preventive or remedial action did they take? Such questions become especially poignant in the wake of catastrophes like the terrorist assaults on the United States on September 11, 2001, that killed thousands and laid waste to the World Trade Towers and parts of the Pentagon.

When disaster strikes, investigators and the public focus on how well or how poorly information has been managed. They examine the structure of message systems and the content of the messages transmitted before the disaster. But when the crisis has passed, officials and the public soon abandon their vigilance. That lapse in attention is a serious mistake: Information management is a perennial challenge that requires constant attention.

Communication has become a tougher challenge than ever before in all types of organizationsprivate and publicfor many reasons. Government agencies now administer more controversial programs that affect ever-larger numbers of people. The messages that need to be disseminated are increasingly complex at a time when audiences speak different languages and are less in tune with the dominant American culture than they were when rapid acculturation was prized.

Sound information management is more crucial than ever to politicsand more challenging. The flood of data that the government must process is overwhelming. For example, the National Security Agency, which is responsible for intercepting and analyzing electronic messages that might spell danger to the United States, collects more than two million messages every hour from satellites and listening posts around the world. Many of these messages are in code or in any number of foreign languages. How can such a flow be monitored? It is critical that we find answers to such questions because the governments handling of such information affects the security and welfare of every American.

Most studies of information management focus on communication within business organizations. Organizational communication in the public sector has largely been ignored, even though it poses unique problems and the number of public organizations that provide essential services is huge. In fact, few private organizations match the largest government organizations in size, volume, and overall significance of activities. If public organizations are to benefit from research findings about information management, these findings must be adapted to public sector conditions and needs. The mission of this book is to explain how communication works in the public sector and how research findings can help government officials meet their unique challenges.

The Power of Communication has a dual focus. Using scholarly perspectives, it presents current theories and analyses of organizational communication and information management. It also emphasizes practical aspects of communicating in public agencies. It shows how an understanding of organizational communication can contribute to designing institutions in which well-formulated messages circulate in a communications-friendly environment that enhances the organizations performance. Because the subject matter is interdisciplinary, the book blends findings from the literature of organizational behavior and decision making in sociology, communication, and, above all, political science.

presents a brief overview of the importance and distinctiveness of organizational communication and the theories that have guided investigations in the field. It explains why the complexity of communication in the public sector will always create major problems of information management. It also shows that careful attention to such problems can ease or even resolve many difficulties.

begins the dissection of common information management problems. It analyzes the typical challenges officials face when they select information. How do they judge the quality of information? How do they know what is important and requires immediate attention and what can wait or be ignored? How can they collect the information they need to make informed decisions when the people who control the data guard them tightly?

Securing good information is only the first step in information management. The second step requires the structuring of organizations so that information flows smoothly to the places that need it. focuses on networking, one aspect of the quest for effective structures. How should people and structures be connected so that they can share essential information? What leads to the development of complex communication networks and what configurations are most useful?

Effective communication also requires knowing the cultural environments that affect senders and receivers of messages as well as the climates of opinion prevailing at the time. explains the impact of these crucial contextual factors that shape the meanings of messages and affect the reactions they produce. It also analyzes the changes in culture and climate that can be expected when established message transmission technologies are melded with new ones.

Among the perennial communication challenges facing government, none is more pervasive and important than managing information to produce shows what bearing the issues in the first five chapters have on the ability of government to make decisions that cope with problems fairly and efficiently. The chapter presents decision-making models and their underlying theories. It points out common decision-making errors that lead to costly mistakes and suggests remedies to prevent them.

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