Philip Tompkins and George Cheney

Philip Tompkins and George Cheney are researchers who have developed a new and useful approach towards organizational communication.  In the 1960's, Tompkins was recruited by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) because of his theories in organizational communication; his research and observations in the program later led to his theories of organization identification and concertive control.  According to Tompkins and Cheney, control, an important aspect of organization, is exerted in four ways: simple (direct, open power), technical (use of machinery), bureaucratic (procedures and formal rules), and concertive (interpersonal relationships and teamwork).  The fourth is most interesting for Tompkins and Cheney, for they see that in concertive control, discipline is accomplished by normalizing behaviors.  Also arising from interaction in organizations is personal identity and ultimately an identification with the organization; because their personal identity is shaped from their identification with the group, they will begin to acquire the values and ideals of that organization.  Thus, concertive control is needed because it manages multiple identities and embraces a collective identity (Littlejohn, 2002).