Workplace Analysis. Much as you would analyze an audience so as to tailor your messages to its members (as will be detailed in Chapter 14), you can analyze a workplace to reduce your uncertainty. In this way youll be better able to fit your messages to the organization, the hierarchy, and your coworkers. Here are five kinds of information you might focus on in your workplace analysis; for each, create an example of how this specific knowledge might help a worker new to the organization.

Cultural norms. All organizations have rules for interacting, beliefs about their mission, and values that they seek to cultivate. Discover whatthese are.

Communication pathways. Organizations have specific pathways that they expect communication to follow; for example, interns do not send messages directly to the CEO of a large corporation but may address them to other interns or to those who are supervising the internship program.

Grapevine. In most organizations, grapevines flourish; tap into the grapevine to learn about your workplace. The grapevine often will clue you in to what is going on in the organization and will provide the very information that you need to interact effectively with a wide variety ofindividuals.

Power. All members of organizations exercise power over those who work for them. Seek to understand who has power and what types of power are used. Ultimately, youll want to learn how to acquire such power yourself and to empower others.

Reward system. All organizations exercise control through a system of rewards (promotions, raises, bonuses, choice offices, and the like) and punishments (termination, no bonuses, undesirable offices, and the like). Seek to discover the behaviors that are rewarded and those that are punished as well as who controls the reward system.