Abstract
This paper looks at examples of symptoms of dysfunction within a company such as indirect communication, alliances, a loss of corporate memory and a lack of friendship among professional colleagues. It examines different models of organization such as the structural model, the deterministic model and the computational model to determine which are useful in solving the problem of dysfunction within a company.

From the Paper
"Another model of organization is the competency model. A competency model identifies skills, knowledge and the characteristics necessary to perform a job. These models have been in use for more than three decades. In the last five years, interest in them and their potential to help staffing and development efforts has increased dramatically. This interest will continue to grow over the next few years due to three key, related trends: intensified competition, aggressive cost management and downsizing, and the proliferation of a feedback system."

Tags:deterministic, model, computational, structural, competency

Abstract
This paper introduces discusses, and compares communication, miscommunication, and dysfunctional communication in "American Son," by Brian Ascalon Roley, "Tortilla Curtain," by T. Coraghessan Boyle, and "Day of the Locust," by Nathanael West. The paper touches on the issue of cultural differences as a cause of miscommunication.

From the Paper
"While all the stories have different themes, they all share a common thread, and this thread is the lack of communication of the characters, along with a tendency to miscommunicate who they really are. Each story deals with its own miscommunication, in that the characters in effect lie about who they are, they miscommunicate about who they are to observers. Tomas appears to be Mexican, and does not deny it. Mossbacher appears to be a "do-gooder" left-wing nature freak, but in reality, he is a racist snob who buys off a Mexican because he can. In "Day of the Locust" everyone is someone they are not, they all pretend to be important, prominent people when they are not."

Tags:Mexican, gangsters, Tomas, Gabe, Mossbachers, Candido, America

Abstract
In this article, the writer notes that the family is the most important unit of society. The writer discusses that a family's health may be impacted positively or negatively by the support received from the environment. The writer maintains that if the environment in which the family lives in is in good economic standing and the family has the available resources required for living, the family will experience healthy family functioning. When the environment in which the family lives in is deprived and threatening the family may experience negativity and will be at risk for problems with health, either physically or psychologically. In this paper the writer debates the impact of the environment on families and its effect on family function versus dysfunction.

Outline:
Positive Impact of Environment on Families
Negative Impact of Environment on Families
Conclusion

From the Paper
"Positive environmental factors allow families to socialize and learn more about each other thus teaching the children the need for friends, love, and respect for all. Socioeconomic status of families also helps neighborhoods grow because of the education, income, and other affiliations of parents. These parents are better able to contribute to schools, churches, and other organizations so that their children can be provided with the highest educational achievements and safe recreational areas. The health centers are able to provide adequate healthcare to the members of the community, as families are able to contribute and pay for the services because of their income."

Tags:environment, support, system, community

Abstract
This essay first examines a scenario with a teammate dating the ex-girlfriend of a second teammate to illustrate an example of a dysfunctional conflict, in which the conflict's consequences are ultimately detrimental to all concerned parties. The paper then uses a dispute amongst coworkers to illustrate an example of a functional conflict, in which both parties grow and benefit from the communication that ensued from the initial conflict.

From the Paper
"In the second scenario, the process conflict supports the interactionist view as it functionally brings about a positive improvement for the organization (Robbins, 2005, p. 424). Even though the employee and the supervisor are engaging in conflicting moments, they are still willing to investigate each other's solutions to finding new ways to increase production time. The presence of the conditions that will give rise to the conflict in Stage I are the circumstances that the employee wants to show his supervisor new ways to increase production, and his supervisor, after being a machinist for thirty years, feels inclined to proceed as usual."

Tags:conflicts, cognition, personalization, psychology, interactionism, communication

Abstract
This paper explains that organizational behavior focuses on the study of behavior within the organizational construct, concentrating on how an individual, group, and structure affect the behavior within the organization. The author points outs that learning from the Challenger Disaster required the NASA organization to look carefully at (1) forces contributing to the flawed decision, (2) reasons for the decisions and behavior that contributed to them, and (3) organizational shortcomings that affected the outcome. The paper stresses that communication can lead to misunderstanding, but so does lack of action; people within the chain of command at NASA did not act upon information that may have changed the outcome.

Table of Contents
Introduction
The NASA Challenger Disaster
Recommendations
Conclusion

From the Paper
"In exploring the history behind the Challenger disaster, one discovers, as the Presidential Commission did, that information threatened the "can-do" ideology of the space agency was routinely suppressed by managers at the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center. When Thiokol's engineers raised their concerns a full six months before the disaster, the information they provided was distorted as it made its way up the organizational chain of command, primarily to suit the career interests of Center managers eager to please NASA headquarters. Bosses were told what they wanted to hear and not what they needed to know. Ultimately, Thiokol's engineers were told, in effect, to "sit down and shut up" the night before the launch because the final decision would be made by management."

Tags:accountability, ethics, structure, miscommunication, investigation

Abstract
This essay compares two case studies, one on the Chemplus (B) firm, and one on Puck Stop, an informal group formed to win a trivia championship at a local bar. The paper compares the case studies and uses the text provided to show the problems in communication, their relation to perceptions, and how this ultimately resulted in behavioral dysfunctions and a failure to achieve their goals.

From the Paper
"In both the Chemplus (B) and Puck Stop cases, communications problems and allow behavioral dysfunctions to deepen. Underlying feelings of inequity, basic human behavioral natures, take center stage and hinder the performance of the groups involved. Similarities in communications problems exist despite each group having quite a different organizational structure. Chemplus is a formal corporate organization with a division of labor and a hierarchy of authority. Harry Barlow is a manager who appears to manage with a wide span of control. The Puck Stop case has an informal association of people organized into a group by Puck Stop patrons Hannah Kurtzmann and Mike Colangelo."

Tags:perceptions, communication, behavior

Abstract
The paper considers three ways to improve communication among a dysfunctional team, three ways to improve team performance, and a team-building activity.

From the Paper
"This research considers three communication tools, three performance tools and a team-building activity to enhance team performance. For the purposes of this exercise, it is assumed that the team is relatively small, having eight members, that all members are located in the same physical facility but come from different departments.
"The first communication strategy is to minimize the use of e-mail. While an effective communication tool in many instances, e-mail messages lack the nonverbal cues that can lead to misinterpretation and can require several..."

Tags:leadership, team building, organizational communication, team performance

Abstract
The paper discusses how bureaucratic dysfunctions within the organization include a lack of communication throughout the organization, as most dysfunctional communication "flows downward" as described by Lunenburg and Ornstein (2004, p. 42).

Tags:education, administration, teaching

Abstract
This paper reviews two plays that portray the ideal way in which families should communicate. This satirical presentation is made from a psychological perspective. The families that are described are dysfunctional families that are behaving correctly.

From the Paper
"In his play "What I Meant Was," playwright Craig Lucas depicts in a satiric way what members of a dysfunctional family might say if they were really as open and communicative as a therapist might want. The sorts of confessions offered at this dinner table are offered quite matter-of-factly, without the anger and recriminations one might expect for accompaniment. Underlying this sort of conversational series of revelations are the expectations of the audience based on years of theater, television, and films showing the interplay of the generations and specifically conflicts in American society over many of the non-majority populations and communities mentioned in this conversation, references that could usually be counted on to start a fight between parent and child, but here serving only to produce apparent understanding and acceptance. The fact that the son is gay would be a source of embarrassment and shame for the conservative parents of the 1970s, but in the play, they"

Tags:plays, cultural, differences

Abstract
This paper discusses New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina, and states that it has turned into the ideal example of the type of dysfunction that can develop when opposing forces, such as local and federal government agencies continuously prove themselves counter-productive. This dysfunction occurs because, while the Federal Emergency Management Agency or FEMA is adamant about adhering to its antiquated rules dictating the agency is only obligated to rebuild a system to its former state, the city of New Orleans is adamant about not only rebuilding the system, but modernizing it at the same time. Furthermore, the author argues that the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the ongoing comedy of errors that is dominating the city, reveals a completely dysfunctional state where neither proposition nor counter-proposition is resulting in a sort of solution or synthesis.

From the Paper
"More often than not, organizations or entities that find themselves in negative situations such as catastrophic infrastructure failure as in New Orleans, attempt to cover up the crisis and shift responsibility from the organization or official entity or to someone or something else. In this case, FEMA itself proved a contradiction since it is supposed to be the lead agency in an emergency but during and since Katrina it has clearly failed to act on this responsibility. Often, the deciding factor in opting for this strategy is based on the organization in question's revenues or reputation. This is the worst of reasons to deal negatively and irresponsibly with a crisis and hardly ever pays dividends in the long-term. Additionally, dialectics informs the relevant parties that its contradictions should result in innovative solutions and augment creative energy that results in ideas and insights that compensate for areas that are weak or unresolved (Unfolding 286). For its part, the City of New Orleans seems to have failed to provide that creative spark necessary to develop solutions to its problems. It seems to have simply settled on the contradictions within dialectics without recognizing any resulting solution."

Tags:FEMA, government, agency, solution, dysfunction, communication