Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Start Making Sense! Introducing Students To Karl Weick’S Principles Of Organizational Communication, John S. Seiter, Deborah Dunn

Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

Although rambunctious school children throwing paper airplanes are often credited as the premier creators of chaos in classrooms, we recommend that instructors turn the tables. Specifically, we suggest that professors, armed with their own paper airplanes, create chaos in their classrooms as a means of teaching students about Karl Weick's principles of organizational communication. In keeping with Weick's notions that communication and organizing are required to reduce uncertainty, and that members of organizations are interdependent, this exercise presents students with an ambiguous problem that requires communication, organizing, and sense-making to solve.