University of Toronto Organizational Communication Discussion

Think About and Report on the “Four Flows” of a Particular Organization

You will recall our discussions about The Four Flows School. This school of thought is associated with the communicative constitution of organizing (CCO) approach. From the perspective of this school of thought, four interrelated flows “interface to give rise to the organization” (Putnam, 2022, p. xxxiii). You will recall that these four flows are: membership negotiation, reflexive self-structuring, activity coordination, and institutional positioning (as identified by McPhee & Zaug, 2000). This activity aims to get you thinking about what these four flows might look like in a real-life organization of your choice. Choose an organization with which you have some familiarity and produce two small discussions about any two of the four flows identified. Discuss how the organization is partially constituted by the processes and communications associated with these two flows.