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Organizational communication operates at two levels:

1. Organizations typically have goals that need to be serviced through deliberate communications. There are communication disciplines within organizations, such as knowledge management and public relations, that are operational aspects of organizational communication.
2. Through the lens of social science and the humanities, we try to understand observable behaviour while trying to behave better. This approach considers matters, such as leadership and decision-making, that are softer and more difficult to act on. How and for what specific purposes is leadership expressed? How is decision-making and authority dispersed so that it can promote trustworthy and useful autonomy of individuals?

The thing that most don't understand about organizations is that they don't merely have culture; they are culture. (See the section titled Communication and culture of my Main Page.) They exist as a consequence of communication taking place yet, reciprocally, they enable it. This means that organizations are not invariably created and managed deliberately but can emerge spontaneously and persist without anointed leadership.

My working definition of organization is “a group of people, bound by purpose or circumstance, who are, at least, somewhat aware of each other.”