5390 – Week 6 TELLING AN ORGANIZATION’S STORY
TELLING AN ORGANIZATION’S STORY
As noted in Chapter 9 of Communication in Our Lives, organizations have historically been run by men. Consequently, many organizations developed and continue to use language and stories more related to men’s traditional interests and experiences than to women’s. This can exclude women and others who experience the world differently. Since organizational culture is composed of shared meanings, the use of more inclusive language helps create a stronger and more equitable organizational culture.
What organizations say about themselves—the stories they tell such as their mission and vision statements, and history—can also provide clues about their culture. Some of this information can weaken the organization’s culture. Used strategically, stories can also be used to build a desired culture. Some examples of gendered language could be, but are not limited to, policeman versus police officer, stewardess versus flight attendant, mankind versus people or humanity, work force or employees versus manpower, or fostering versus fathering. Similar examples can be found for other aspects of diversity such as culture, race, religion, and sexual orientation.
In this assignment, you will analyze and assess the stories that a human services organization tells about itself.
Visit the website of a human services organization you are familiar with (PLEASE RESEARCH THE AMERICAN RED CROSS) . Look at the content on the website, paying particular attention to what that content tells you about the organization. This may include the organization’s history, mission statement, vision statement, values statement, client’s testimonials, as well as photographs or images used.
Then complete the following:
• Analyze the use of vocabulary, testimonials and images on the website and what they suggest about the organization’s culture and views about diversity.
o Are there areas that show a lack of diversity or possible biases?
o Support your analysis with scholarly literature within the past 5-7 years.
• Analyze the organization’s history, mission, and vision statements and what they tell about the organization, staff and clients, especially in regards to being inclusive and open to diversity.
o Support your analysis with scholarly literature.
• Rewrite a section of the website to remove bias and better serve a wider range of clients by telling a more inclusive story.
o Include an explanation of how your suggested revisions help to create a more welcoming and inclusive story.
• Support your recommendations with scholarly literature.
• Format your paper, including resources and citations, according to current APA style and formatting.
• Adhere to the rules of grammar, usage, and mechanics.
• Written communication: Written communication should be free of errors that detract from the overall message.
• Length: 3-4 pages, plus a cover page and references page. An abstract is not required.
• APA formatting: Assignment should be formatted according to current APA style and formatting.
• Number of resources: Include 3-4, peer-reviewed journal articles within the past 5-7 years.
• Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12-point font or other APA-compliant font.