Organizational Communication: Challenges for the New Century

Organizational communication covers an eclectic mix of approaches, theories, and methodologies, developed within organizational settings or applied from other areas. The authors start their assessment of recent literature with 6 challenges for the field that have been delineated in previous reviews: (a) to innovate in theory and methodology, (b) to acknowledge the role of ethics, (c) to move from micro- to macrolevel issues, (d) to examine new organizational structures and technologies, (e) to understand the communication of organizational change, and (f) to explore diversity and intergroup aspects of communication. All 6 challenges implicate the importance of considering the intergroup level of analysis as well as the interpersonal and organizational levels, to undertake multilevel research in context, and to consider the role and place of voice in organizations. Finally, researchers must make their research ethical and consequential.