Organizational Communication: Men in Blue

Cricket and The Indian Cricket Team have a symbolic status in Indian subcontinent, where cricket is a passion and the players are idolized. The Indian Cricket Team (the group of employees) selected by Board of Control for Cricket in India (the organization) internationally represent the country. India is bursting with cricket fanatics and I myself am guilty of being one of them. A cricket match is never complete without a bunch of friends meeting over drinks.
In this blog entry, I will be speaking about the hierarchical structure of the Indian cricket team and how the Men in Blue work together to accomplish their goal i.e. VICTORY!!! I will focus on how communication flows through the team and how power is distributed and used.
"Team India” is interdependent and the actions and emotions of the players are interconnected. They all share a common fate irrespective of individual airs. India's smart mouthed, top spinner spun his way into a 3 game suspension. Harbajan Singh's sharp tongue has come at a heavy cost to the Indian team.

The Indian cricket team is also hierarchical i.e. it is divided into orders and ranks. Though status and powers are not equally divided, each team player plays his role depending on his position in the team. Team India exhibits a very clear chain of communication and players are rewarded based on their performance.

Hierarchical structure of the Indian cricket team:

Opening Batsmen
Gautam Gambhir
Virender Shewag
Robin Uthappa

Middle-Order Batsmen
Sachin Tendulkar
Rahul Dravid
VVS Laxman
Yuvraj Singh
Suresh Raina
Rohit Sharma
Wicket Keeper
MS Dhoni (Captain)

All Rounders
Irfan Pathan
Yusuf Pathan

Seamers
Zaheer Khan
Ishant Sharma
Sreeshant

Spinners
Harbhajan Singh
Pragyan Ojha

Coach: Gary Kirsten
Bowling Coach: Venkatesh Prasad
Fielding Coach: Robin singh

The organizational structure of the “Men in Blue” is more upward and horizontal communication. Irrespective of your position is in the team, opinions are heard as it could be high quality information crucial to organizational decision making. The Captain MS Dhoni along with the Indian Cricket Coach makes it a point to consider ever suggestion. But at the end of the day it is important for him to take the final decision as he and coach Kristen have to report to the BCCI which shows an upward flow of ideas or upward communication. The BCCI has done a swell job in establishing a climate of trust and openness to increase upward flow of ideas.

When information flows between people at the same level of an organization horizontal communication is being used. The Indian team players have developed a very unique mode of communicating with each other on the field. Technical jargon's unknown to other international players provides them with an added advantage. On the field while playing the game the players display a fiery sense of horizontal communication without which playing the game would be impossible. The video demonstrates this.....

The Indian Team seem to be doing everything right from their communication strategies to they personal appearances. They are role models to little kids all over India. Lets hope they remain loyal to their job;

knowing that they are there to WORK....

aptly managing their responsibilities...

puttig aside personal feeling and focusing on the game....

learning to manage disagreements and accept criticism....

Computer-Mediated-Communication: Google Earth & Twitter Spreads Terror??

November the 26^th was perhaps the most baffling and horrendous night of my life. I still remember; I was all tucked in ready to sleep when I was woken up at 2am to the ruthless Mumbai terror attacks. I was stupefied at the intensity of these attacks as I watched the news. Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the Oberoi Trident, the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Leopold Cafe, Cama Hospital, the Orthodox Jewish-owned Nariman House, the Metro Cinema, and a lane behind the Times of India building and St. Xavier's College??

"MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY COULD BE THERE!!!!"

I had no way of contacting them as all the phone lines were jammed. With the death toll ever increasing, I was angry and worried. The Islamic terrorists took the Indian authorities by surprise with their use of sophisticated weaponry and familiarity with modern technology. The act was remarkably planned and lasted for a deadly 60 hour period.

Reports state that the attack was planned using sources like Google Earth as also Internet and Satellite phones.Terrorist organizations today use new media technologies to transmit messages more freely than through other means of communication. The network of computer mediated communication (CMC) has proven to be ideal for terrorists as it is decentralized, it not subjected to any restriction or censorship, and it allows quick access to anyone who wants it.

Terrorists groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Al Quida use CMC for recruitment, training, commanding and controlling focused intra-group communication. They use it for devising propaganda and for communicating amongst members of the "group" and to provide to isolated individuals the groups "game plan"; this has give rise to cyber terrorism. Computer Mediated Communication by terror groups provides “lost souls” who crave for acceptance a sense of belonging.

CMC is also used by terrorists groups as a channel through which they express and present their "public face". They establish their identity as a group by specifying group goals and justifying their action, objectives and demands. They also use sites like Twitter, You Tube and Second Life as a medium to propagate new ideas, raise funds and propagate hero-worship of their group’s martyrs. The benefits of "using a mobile phone camera to monitor the enemy and its mechanisms.", the benefits of the Nokia 6210 Navigator, and how its GPS utilities could be used for "marksmanship, border crossings, and in concealment of supplies." - (ABC News)

The main objective of online terrorist groups is to highlight positive issues like freedom of speech and political prisoners. These terrorist groups also use CMC to spread multi-targeted messages, to raise support and understanding among Muslims countries and issue threats. This is done via blogs, bulletin boards and e-mails.

CMC has infiltrated aspects of social life like religion. These terrorists often fight in the name of Religion. The Mumbai terror attacks hold religion as a key factor that initiated this uncalled for brutality.

This leads us to a very basic yet vital question.

How safe is the internet if terrorists are now benefiting from it??