Blackwell Reference Online

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Most generally, globalization is defined as “the widening, deepening, and speeding up of worldwide interconnectedness in all aspects of contemporary social life” ( Held et al. 1999 , 5). Globalization is produced and maintained through communicative action. Political, cultural, social, and economic events are no longer bound by time or space. The free flow of goods, services, money, and ideas, facilitated by emerging technologies, strongly influence and are influenced by organizational communication practices. No longer circumscribed by socio-geographic borders, organizational identities transcend nation-states. The complexity of contemporary issues such as AIDS, global warming, and terrorism implicates organizational interdependence. No matter what their mission, structure, or physical location, all types of organizations must address the complexities of operating within a multicultural communicative, legal, moral, and social context (→  Globalization Theories ). Although the word “globalization” first appeared in Webster's dictionary in 1961, it was not until the mid-1990s that globalization became a noteworthy concept in organizational communication studies. Until that time, organizational communication scholars primarily addressed issues of structural convergence (exploring how organizations were becoming more similar), or organizational divergence (focusing on cultural variability) ... log in or subscribe to read full text