Georgianna Dogantzis

16 March 2017
Application Paper
Tiffany Dykstra

Many non-profit organizations have different, unique ways of addressing the

matter of poverty and homelessness. Often times, we can apply general ideas and theories
to these organizations, especially seen in Mon County. I will further exemplify how the
theories of ideology and Fotletts theory of organization have a predominant influence on
organizational daily service and activism. On a daily basis, organizations such as the
Salvation Army, Christian Help, Caritas House, and the Bartlett House, all located in
Morgantown, portray aspects of these particular organizational communication theories.

As stated in chapter 3, ideology and power are closely connected. Karl Marx
states the ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas (Mumby, 39). In
other words, individuals in power have an effect on how people experience life. We can
see ideology as establishing a relationship between meaning and power, as it acts as a
lens where individuals interpret what is good, bad, right, or wrong. It acts as a structure
for allowing people to construct what is possible in reality. A fundamental ideology in
contemporary America is the ideology individualism. Individualism can be seen as
emphasizing citizens freedom, allowing us to be independent and self-reliant. In
individualism, the individual is put before any one else, whereas in collectivistic
societies, the group/family has a main priority over individual freedom. As Mumby
exemplifies, individualism is highly interrelated with the free market and how our society
perceives the economic system (p. 164). Us as an individualistic society believe that
anyone who works hard and puts in effort has the potential to become successful. We
stress the importance of the individual to pursue a career and support themselves.
Individualism is seen as a positive entity in many aspects because of the freedom that
resides with it. However, in my opinion, individualism has a negative effect for the sake
of poverty in Mon County. With this ideology, if an individual falls into poverty,
homelessness, or unemployment, it is frowned upon and seen as putting the individual at
fault for failure. This puts a perception on the individual as lazy. However, there could
be many other factors that lead to poverty and homelessness, such as disability or
discrimination. However, since society unethically perceives them as lazy and
unmotivated, this gives the homeless little to no hope to ever succeed. It is an approach
to make them believe that they will stay in poverty for the rest of their lives, and there is
no coming out of it.

Chapter 7 further demonstrates the notion of employees being expected to

brand themselves as unique individuals who provide employees with a competitive
advantage over others (Mumby, 164). In todays society, finding a job is a very difficult
and competitive process. Since the process is so extensive and requires a great deal of
knowledge and experience, it is difficult for individuals with disabilities to get hired.
Many workplaces discriminate against the disabled, not allowing them opportunities for
employment. This has an effect on the many disabled individuals who are unemployed
and homeless in Morgantown. This also applies for homeless individuals trying to step
out of poverty and seek employment. Many jobs also discriminate against appearance,
which also is a contributing factor to preventing the hiring of the homeless. This
contemporary issue is exactly why non-profit organizations, such as the Bartlett House
exists. The Bartlett House, similar to many other non-profit organizations in
Morgantown, provides homeless individuals social casework and other services necessary
to assist with developing a plan for employment and permanent housing. Often times,
these organizations are aimed at assisting these people with assets that will help better
their lives. For instance, the Bartlett House allows for temporary housing to individuals
who are currently not able to afford shelter. Moreover, through Christian Help, there is a
career closet where the unemployed can find the attire they need to obtain employment.

Additionally, ideology can be seen as a communication phenomenon (Mumby,

164). Basically, ideology exist through formal and informal communication methods. To
myself, it is interesting how ideology shapes the way we view the world and socially
construct ourselves. In contemporary America, there is an ideological phenomenon of
race that is very controversial. In the US, our ideological views on the way we construct
race as a category shows how we perceive one another in our country. According to
chapter 7, whiteness is considered positive, exemplifying power and high standard
(Mumby, p. 166). This demonstrates a strong link between meaning and power. We have
a way of reflecting the ideas of the dominant group. White groups dominate ethnically or
racially different groups by the exercise of various types of physical, social or symbolic
control. Additionally, minority groups are systematically denied equal rights, such as
equal access to material or cultural resources, and equal opportunities in housing, work,
health care or education (Wodak, p. 203). With the ideology of whiteness as superior,
how can we as a society expect minorities to get ahead and find employment if they are
not provided the equal means to do so? Many statistics show that African Americans and
minorities are far more likely to become homeless and fall into poverty than whites.
Although racism is a large institutional issue in many organizations, there are also non-
profit organizations that exist to help. Organizations such as the Salvation Army do not
discriminate against race, ethnicity, gender, etc, and is open to any individual. The
Salvation Army would never deny an individual clothing or a free meal from the soup
kitchen because of racial disparities. Furthermore, the Caritas House in Mon County
helps clients of all races in assisting them with medical services and nutritional needs.

An additional negative aspect of ideology is that it has an issue of representing the

dominant group interest as universal (Mumby, p. 166). In other words, ideology
represents the interests of a particular group as representative of everyone in society. For
instance, in American society, capitalism can be seen as accepted for everyones best
interest. However, what about the poor and the homeless? Many of us would not see
capitalism as ideal, especially those who cannot even afford a roof over their heads. The
only individuals who are really benefiting from capitalism are private business owners.
Furthermore, in todays society, people dont challenge the fact that they arent able to
rise up and succeed because they lack awareness on how to do so. Society is
constructed for certain people to get ahead. One of the fundamental aspects of the Caritas
House in Mon County is that it provides individuals facing poverty some of the means to
get on their feet. In many instances, it gives people funding to start living on their own,
supporting their rent. It also provides social work, if an individual feels the need for
counseling. These organizations can be beneficial in addressing the problem of
homelessness, and sending out a message that these people deserve to be able to achieve
the means to succeed in life just like the rest of us.

Furthermore, ideologies can be seen as naturalizing power differences. But

according to Marxism, ideologies can be only partially successful for the fundamental
reason that people suffer under such conditions. Ideologies have perpetuated major social
inequalities (Donham, 1999). The ideological notion of inequality developed in the 19th
century in Europe with the emergence of the separation between nobility, and the
bourgeoisie. With industrialization, the proletariat was produced, and the rural poor
became working class individuals. This affected more than a third of the population, who
more than half were peasants ( Guillaumin, p. 33). Ever since the beginning of inequality,
it has become inevitable. There will always be individuals who seek pleasure in
exploiting the lower classes, such as the poor and homeless. However, on the contrary,
there are also those individuals who realize the negative effects of inequality and seek
social change. Many of these individuals participate in the development of these non-
profit organizations aimed at helping the homeless. For example, the Caritas House has a
particular ideology that humans are all equal and deserve equal opportunities for
employment, therefore assisting individuals in need with necessary essentials for
maintaining a job.

A final aspect of power and ideology in organizational communication is asking

the questions why dont workers work harder? and why do workers work as hard as
they do?(Mumby, p. 170). An efficient way to tie this back to non-profit organizations is
the concept of non-profit. For example, at the Salvation Army soup kitchen, most of the
staff are college students who are volunteering their time. Since these volunteers are
volunteering and are not paid for their service, they may not have an incentive to work as
hard as they would for a paid occupation. These individuals are aware that they are
unable to get fired for not working hard enough. However, these individuals are still
going to work hard based on the ideological reason of participating in service hours
aimed at helping out the community. This can bring about satisfaction in knowing that
this individual has contributed to helping people in need, even though they were not paid
for their service.

To sum up ideology, these non-profit organizations are aimed at social change,

and challenging the dominant ideology that there is a dominant group who has the means
of becoming successful. As racism and inequality are predominant ideologies in the 20th
century, many of these organizations exist to assist the victims of inequality, such as the
homeless. Everyone knows that homelessness and poverty is a major issue, however
everyone continues to avoid it going about their daily lives. These non-profit
organizations strive to raise awareness of these larger institutional ideological issues that
need more attention drawn to them, where social change needs to be brought about.
 Aside from ideology, another concept associated with non-profit organizations is
Folletts theory of organization as seen in chapter 4. Mary Parker Follett addressed
organizational issues such as leadership, control, communication, and power (Mumbuy,
p. 93). Follett was an activist who did not see organizations as the normal bureaucratic,
hierarchical structures that dominates society. In fact, she sought organizations as
nonhierarchical, which could empower people to improve their every day lives (Mumby,
p. 94). She aimed at reforming organizational structure to allow individuals to reach their
potential and improve their lives. This can be exemplified through the Caritas House,
where members of the community help the homeless in relocating and assisting people in
obtaining safe affordable housing. The Caritas house also allows their clients to reach
their potential by providing them with free social services. Folletts idea of allowing
individuals to reach their potential could have a huge impact with fairness in the work
place, and allowing disabled individuals and minorities the means to seek employment.

Follett conceptualizes the understanding of a circular response, which deals with

the communication process among people. She is interested in how individuals relate to
one another. She sees the communication process not as the scientific view of
communication solely for the purpose of commanding orders and getting the job done,
but as the dynamic relation between two communicators. She strived to have an impact
on organizing human relations (Tonn, pg. 1).

Furthermore, in Folletts theory of organization, she categorizes three ways of

dealing with conflict in organization; domination, compromise, and integration (Mumby,
p. 94). Domination occurs when one person asserts power and self-interest over all other
individuals. An example of this would be if one is discriminated against, and not taken
into the Bartlett House because of race, ethnicity, genet, etc. Furthermore, compromise
would occur where both individuals give up something in order to solve an issue. A prime
example of compromising can be seen in the Bartlett house. The Bartlett House exists to
provide homeless individuals a free place to sleep at night. There is an initial compromise
between the homeless and the staff at the Bartlett House. The Bartlett House organizes
their rooms, providing these individuals shelter, and allowing them to utilize their
property. Since they are given a place to sleep at night, the homeless must abide by the
curfew hours, and must even stay in the Bartlett House for all night, as they lock the
doors. Lastly, integration involves resolving an issue where neither side has to give up
something. In this example, we can see homelessness as a major problem in Mon County.
Often times, many residents of Morgantown complain that there are homeless individuals
in the downtown area begging for change, which ultimately makes them feel unsafe.
This is where non-profit organizations like the Bartlett House come into play. The Bartlett
House takes in the homeless individuals allowing them a free place to stay. This way, the
residents of Mon County do not need to give up their right to feeling unsafe walking
downtown at night. Additionally, the homeless individuals do not need to worry about
panhandling, or earning money for a place to stay.

Follett also has a view on workplace cooperation highly linked to power,

authority, and giving orders. In contemporary society, authoritarian rule and hierarchies
exist among many businesses and organizations. However, she foresees two forms of
power; power-over and power-with (Mumby, 95). Power-over can be seen as the
typical practice of power where managers assert dominance and power over their
workers. On the contrary, power-within can be seen as a jointly developed power, that
is not as coercive. In this view of power, any individual can bring expertise to a situation,
and there is little to no hierarchical structure. This form of power can be seen inside non-
profit organizations such as the Salvation Army. For instance, inside this organization,
power was distributed among all of the volunteers, as we each brought special skills in
order to prepare a hot meal for the homeless to enjoy. There was no direct authoritarian
having total control over us, as it was more of a mutual task. For example, we all came to
a collective decision on who would roll the silverware, who would make the coffee, etc.
In this situation, there was no form of coercion.

Follett theorizes the idea that when power and authority is depersonalized,
orders are followed not because of the authority of a manager but because everyone
relates and understands that this task should be completed. In the Salvation Army, the
authority was definitely depersonalized, as there were no bosses or managers.
The volunteers, including myself, all worked cooperatively for the purpose of helping the
homeless. We all collectively knew that the task of preparing dinner had to be done.
There was no authoritarian to exert complete control over us, however we all helped with
this task because we all shared a similar goal of helping the homeless. This can be seen as
a dynamic process of working together, as we recognize that the homeless need to be fed
and we all have a jointly developed sense of power. In conclusion, for Follett,
organizations should not exist to exert power over people, but allow individuals to
realize their potential. She can be seen as an activist who strived for the democracy of
organizations.

As we can see, Folletts theory is predominant in local non-profit organizations,

along with the theory of ideology. Folletts theory exists to have an impact on
organizational leader and control, and can be shown throughout Mon County. Moreover,
the theory of ideology can be seen as having a detrimental effect on the way things like
inequality shapes America. Many community organizations have contrasting ideologies
that differ from the typical belief of individualism and earned success through
employment. Overall, it is interesting to view how organizational communication theories
exist throughout every day life, especially in non-profit organizations.
 References

Mumby, D.K. (2013). Organizational Communication. A critical approach. Thousand

Oaks, CA: Sage.

Donham, D. L. (1999). History, Power, Ideology : Central Issues in Marxism and

Anthropology. Berkeley, Calif: University of California Press

Guillaumin, C. (1995). Racism, Sexism, Power and Ideology. London: Routledge.

Wodak, R. (1989). Language, Power, and Ideology : Studies in Political Discourse.

Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Tonn, J. (2003). Mary P. Follett: Creating Democracy, Transforming Management. Yale

University Press