Importance of Communication Within “The Office”
A beloved American version of the original British sitcom, “The Office” quickly gained support as it developed into a popular, relatable comedy series. With a documentary-style format, the sitcom aired from 2005–2013. The show is set at a paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where the cast members make up the employees of Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. The characters really mold the show into what it is- identifiable and familiar. It highlights the humor that is seen in mundane, everyday routines, as well as the awkward encounters that are only conceivable in the context of our banal lives. There is something for everybody to relate to in “The Office,” and that is why is has had so much success over the years.
Among the many personalities introduced, there is the untraditional boss, Michael. The likable salesman, Jim. The bizarre co-worker, Dwight. There are many more people that develop into a sort of “family” over the course of the show. The connections among the characters begin as simple workplace friendships, but over time, they become valuable relationships. There are so many theories behind how communication throughout “The Office” had an impact on the lives of the characters. Below, you will find the six most important theories that explain how the functions of communication are seen within “The Office,” and why this is relevant to our lives today.
The Expectancy Violation Theory
As we fall victim to the norms of society and the workings of the public, we innocently develop expectations for how people should act in certain situations. The Expectancy Violation Theory (JK Burgoon, 1960) states that when people behave differently than expected, we are often left feeling slightly uncomfortable. Michael Scott, regional manager of Dunder Mifflin Paper, is anything but a traditional boss. Contrary to most managers, he frequently discourages productivity by annoying his employees. He tends to be immature and irresponsible and he often engages in activities that are inappropriate for the workplace, such as dressing up in characters or making tasteless comments. By breaking these expectations that our society has created for how someone should behave in his position of authority, he is breaking what is known as the prescriptive expectations.
However, the employees in the office come to understand that Michael’s immaturity and insensitive jokes are just part of his personality. However uncomfortable his jokes may be, the people with whom he spends everyday with begin to expect this sort of behavior from him. So, when Michael acts responsibly and spends the day hard at work rather than engaging in silly activities, he is violating the predictive expectations. This is what we call the expectations we have for specific relationships in our lives. When Michael is carrying out the normal roles of a manager, the predictive expectations that Michael’s colleagues have for him often leave them wondering what is causing him to act so out of character.
Small Group Communication is Vital
Among the many different tasks forces that help the office function (the sales team, the accountants, upper management, etc.), the powers of communication are seen nowhere better than in the Party Planning Committee. The Party Planning Committee is a small group that meets to organize and to throw entertaining parties for the employees of the office. A Small Group is defined as “interaction of three or more interdependent people working toward a common goal” (Engleberg, 2007). In the office, the Party Planning Committee is made up of volunteers and is in charge of planning birthday parties, holiday celebrations and any other noteworthy events that take place in the office. When there is an event to be planned, the small group of four or five people meet in the conference room and brainstorm ideas for the upcoming party. Having a small number of people working on a specific task allows for maximum participation of those involved. It also allows the Party Planning Committee to use the creative powers of more than one mind to come up with the best ideas and to use all extended resources that are available to the members of the group. On the other hand, working in a small group tends to lead to conflict of interest among the committee, and usually causes distress. Things such as what flavor of cake to buy and how they are going to decorate for the party are usually disagreed on. This causes tension in the office, and is a disadvantage of working in small groups.
Relational Development Model seen in the Workplace
Apart from mere workplace relationships, romantic relationships also unfolded in “The Office.” Over the nine seasons the show aired, the audience was given a first hand view at the entire Relational Development Model through watching the inspirational relationship between Jim and Pam evolve. The Relationship Development Model says that there are three phases to each relationship: coming together, maintaining the relationship, and coming apart (Knapp, 1984). Jim, a likeable salesman in the company, and Pam, the sweet receptionist, started off as nothing more than simple co-workers. Over time, it becomes obvious to the audience that they are more than friends, even if the two of them don’t realize it at first.
Eventually, the coming together phase comes to an end as the two begin dating and begin the relational maintenance phase. This is where Jim and Pam grow together; they get married, have kids, and are role models for how a healthy and happy marriage should be. Unfortunately, as the development model predicts, the two started to drift. Jim took another job, and because of this, tensions arose. They were in the coming apart phase. At this point, according to the development model, a relationship either terminates or finds a way to save itself and turn around completely. The latter was the case for Jim and Pam. The two of them realized that the relationship they shared was more important than anything else. They put their differences aside and became good models of a healthy marriage.
Rhetorical Style
Because of the many different personalities involved in “The Office,” there are a lot of different Rhetorical Styles used. A Rhetorical Style refers to the way a specific speaker uses language (Aristotle). In the clip below, Kevin, who is an accountant with the reputation of being a little slow, develops a strategy in which he thinks he is being efficient with his time. He seems to believe that by only using the bare minimum of words to get a message across is adequate for conversation. However, his coworkers try to explain this is a ridiculous assumption.
In addition to Kevin’s rather silly idea, Andy, his superior at the time, attempts to relate to Kevin through the use of a metaphor. Andy explains that using full sentences should be as basic and necessary as wearing underwear in the workplace. This use of a language strategy in this situation is a smart and effective way to communicate a message.
Apologia
There are various genres of speech, or groups of rhetorical artifacts that take on a recurring form, that help convey messages to audiences. One genre, apologia, is a speech of self defense that is designed to defend one’s character in response to public criticism (Ware, Linkugel, 1973). Apologias are often used to publicly apologize for mistakes. People often find sympathy and respect for a powerful apologia, which would include taking full responsibility for one’s actions and admitting they were in the wrong. But an apologia that tries to further distance the blame from oneself is often seen as too defensive in the public’s eye and does not gain any respect.
In this clip, quirky manager Michael Scott is being interviewed after he hit one of his employees, Meredith, with his car. Meredith went to the hospital but suffered no injuries. However, the employees in the office continued to blame Michael for such a catastrophe. Michael, who felt guilty, was more worried about how he would be reprimanded by upper management. Here, we see his apologia, defending his actions. He claims that everyone makes mistakes and since he does not hit people with his car often, he should not be held accountable for a rare mistake such as this one. He is defending his character and working to shift the blame from his lack of responsibility to the mere human nature of mistake making. This may be a useful tactic in some situations, but hitting someone with your car, is not one of them.
The Rhetorical Appeal
“The Office” is a comedy sitcom that takes the format of a nine year “mockumentary.” Through the use of Rhetorical Appeals, the fictional documentary wanted to convey a message of what the true American workday really consisted of. What they really captured was much more than this. They filmed not only the mundane activities of the average office job, but they captured how the little things are what make life special. They emphasized that our relationships with the ones around us are really the most important part of our lives. Rhetorical Appeals are the credibility (ethos), logical (logos) and emotional (pathos) aspects of a message that is being sent. Through the use of ethos, logos and pathos, the documentary conveyed the message that extraordinary can be found within the ordinary.
Ethos is created through the subject matter the documentary chooses. What better way to show what the American workplace is like than filming a real American workplace in its natural state? Also, choosing a very typical office to film creates credibility that what is found in this office may be similar to what is found in other American workplaces.
The documentary uses logos to convey their message as well. Using a documentary format rather than a fictional movie, for example, is logical because it provides raw and relatable content for the audience to see.
Finally, the documentary uses pathos to present their message by pulling on the heartstrings of the audience. Getting an inside look at the lives of others gives the audience a chance to develop a sense of relatable familiarity and intimacy with the series. This creates connections between the characters of the documentary and the audience. The documentary is making its point of the importance of the relationships in our lives by making the audience feel a certain way about the relationships in the documentary.
Communication Impacts the Everyday
When life seems to be repetitive, and maybe even insignificant, it is important to take a step back and remember the important things. NBC’s “The Office” does a great job of portraying that everything happens for a reason, and that regardless of circumstances, it is up to us as individuals to keep the important things in perspective and make the best of every situation.
Communication among the employees at Dunder Mifflin allowed for growth in their relationships. These relationships are what made the mundane, everyday routines of the office so worthwhile and meaningful in the end. By taking elements of communication to levels of the absurd, the Office does a great job in showing us the reality of how vital proper communication is on an everyday basis. (Word Count: 1798)
Works Cited:
Burgoon, J. K. (1993). Interpersonal expectations, expectancy violations, and emotional communication. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 12(1–2), 30–48.
Bays, A. M., Engelberg, R. A., Back, A. L., Ford, D. W., Downey, L., Shannon, S. E., … & O’Connor, K. (2014). Interprofessional communication skills training for serious illness: evaluation of a small-group, simulated patient intervention. Journal of palliative medicine, 17(2), 159–166.
Rubin, R. B. (1986). Relationship Development. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Braet, A. C. (1992). Ethos, pathos and logos in Aristotle’s Rhetoric: A re-examination. Argumentation, 6(3), 307–320.
Ware, B. L., & Linkugel, W. A. (1973). They spoke in defense of themselves: On the generic criticism of apologia. Quarterly Journal of speech, 59(3), 273–283.
Higgins, C., & Walker, R. (2012, September). Ethos, logos, pathos: Strategies of persuasion in social/environmental reports. In Accounting Forum (Vol. 36, №3, pp. 194–208). Elsevier.