News/ Media

Use concepts from class to discuss a news story or other item shown in the media.



I watched a recent episode of NBC’s The Office and applied relevant organizational communication concepts to what I saw. The episode was titled Fun Run and it originally aired on September 27, 2007. While the plot of this particular episode was humorous and enjoyable, there were plenty of organizational concepts discussed.

The basic plot of the episode was that the company’s boss, Michael Scott, hit an employee with his car in the parking lot. The employee’s injuries were minor but she was hospitalized for a pelvis fracture. Though the injury was not a positive event, the injured woman was able to get a necessary rabies vaccine while she was in the hospital. She needed it because a raccoon and other animals bit her previously. This made the hospitalization not such a bad thing because if she were not hospitalized, she would end up with rabies from the animal bites she experienced.

Some important concepts present in the series, The Office, are informal organizations and teamwork in the office. The entire office dresses business casual when they come to work. Employees look comfortable, while still professional enough for the workplace. The overall environment of the office that they work in is very informal. One reason for this comfort in both their attire and their attitudes is the teamwork that occurs between the entire staff. Michael Scott is the boss of the office though he is always willing to listen to his employees. They work together more as an entire team rather then having a boss with lower level employees. This informality of the office allows for better communication between all of the employees.

In addition to enjoying the causal atmosphere, many of the employees work together on separate committees. For example, in this episode the party planning committee is discussed when all of the office goes to visit the injured worker in the hospital. The party planning committee takes care of all the social events that occur in the office. A party planning committee is very important in the office for many reasons. It allows the employees to enjoy their office more than if they were working all of the time. The short amount of social time encourages worker communication and friendship. When friendships are present in an office environment, the teamwork model works very well.

The show The Office exhibits a workplace democracy as well as an informal work environment. The teams are a part of this democracy. In addition, quality information is distributed to all of the employees. This was evident when Michael first hit the woman in the parking lot and he came inside to tell all of the other employees. Information is shared between everyone in the office. Though Michael is the boss of the office, all of the employees are treated fairly. They seem to focus on having a solid base structure rather then working from the top-down. Also, the employees vote many of the events that happen in the office. This further encourages worker participation and involvement. The Office represents this workplace democracy very well.

Worker relationships are very important in the show as well. A few of the employees are actually dating each other. This allows for a very interesting workplace environment. However, friendly relationships are encouraged for all of the workers. One way that Michael Scott tries to encourage positive relationships is by having mid-day meetings with his employees. If something is not going well in the company, he will sit everyone down to discuss it. In addition, if he is very excited or happy about something else, he will also have a meeting to discuss it. These spontaneous meetings allow all of the employees to be a part of the decisions and activity of the company.

A final noteworthy point in this episode is that Dunder-Mifflin is concerned with its public image. After Michael Scott hit his employee, she ended up in the hospital. Though her pelvis was fine, doctors were concerned about her recent animal bites. They gave her rabies shots and Michael felt the company should support her battle with rabies. He planned a 5K run for all of the employees to participate in with the money going to charity. Though many of the employees decided not to attend the run, he was still interested in the company’s philanthropic endeavors.

This episode of The Office covered many of the topics that have been discussed in Organizational Communication. I believe that the most important points are the company’s informal atmosphere, worker involvement, workplace democracy, and the communication and relationships between employees. The episode was extremely entertaining and humorous and it represented many of the key features of successful companies.



Please refer to the Additional Information label on the right hand side of the screen for links about NBC's The Office.