Communications Survey for the GRAN COMITE

8/9/2019 Communications Survey for the GRAN COMITE

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Introduction

Through communicating, we create shared views of organizational life.

Until people start talking about their organization as an organization,

noorganization really exists.- Charles Conrad & Marshall Scott Poole (p.9)

The Gran Comit is essentially a Civil-Military/Public-Private Security Steering

Committee, chartered by the founding organizations, under the guidance of a US

advisory team and a similar structure based out of the office of President Uribe in

Bogota.

It is an emergent virtual organization, and one for which the quotes above

have particular meaning. The importance of the organization is not in dispute, only

whether such a diverse membership of multi-governmental, multi-agency, military-

police, and public-private partnerships can actually work in any semblance of

harmony.

The overriding purpose of this eclectic collection of organizational entities is

the termination of a 43 year old Marxist insurgency which has morphed into

possibly the worlds largest criminal narcotics organization. Certainly, after four

decades of military conflict with the state of Colombia, it is the most organized and

efficient, operating as a non-state actor in regional political and diplomatic affairs.

The public and private representatives of the legal state have been pushed

by this challenge to their authority to enact many remarkable reforms. Chief

amongst these have been the extension of participative democracy into all corners

of rural Colombia. As participative political processes emerged in the Department of

Caquet, an new enemy arose; that of bureaucratic sectarianism and interagency /

intergovernmental infighting.

It is against this new enemy that the Gran Comit of Western Caquet was

founded to confront. Its prognosis for success is entirely dependent upon the goodwill and communicative abilities of its members and their willingness to create a

shared meaning of their organizational life and its challenges.


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Gran Comit

Communications Survey ReportTable of Contents

The Purpose of the Organizational Study 4

Description ofGran Comit de Cooperacin 4

The Communication Survey Project

Methodology 6

Communication Strategies1). Overall Communication Strategies 82). External Communication Strategies 8

a. Channels of External Communication

b. Methods of External Communication3). Internal Communication Strategies 11

The Focus GroupListening to what was said 12Core Communication Expectations 13Communications Quality & Clarity 14

Ethnographic ObservationsObserving what was done 16Internal Communication Performance

Forming Consensus: Protecting the Dairy Industry 17

External Communication PerformanceCoordinating Action: Resettling La Union Peneya 18

Summary of Findings and Recommendations 20Recommendations for External Communications Methods 20Recommendations for Internal Communications Methods 21

References 22

AppendicesA. Security Services Survey Instrument 23B.

Intergovernmental Survey Instrument 24C. Interagency Survey Instrument 25

D. Gran Comit Communication Survey Instrument 26E. Gran Comit Survey Summary Diagram 27F. GranComit bulletin 28


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THE PURPOSE OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNI CATION AND THE GOALS OF THE GRA N

CO MIT

The nature of governing processes is rapidly changing to reflect a global

society with its attendant communication considerations. These changing processes

are characterized by evolution from hierarchical structures to networks of

interagency and intergovernmental cooperatives representing the best value for the

citizen consumer.

The goal of this communication survey is to understand and offer insight into

the initial success or failure of an experimental governmental organization. This

experimental organization, called the GranComit, was established by public and

private leaders of an emerging rural democracy in southern Colombia in an effort to

finally put an end to their Departments participation in a 43 year old civilinsurgency. The audit outcomes will offer understanding and insight into the

following communication objectives of the GranComit:

Identify the internal and external communications objectives of the GranComit, and compare their overall effectiveness.

Identify the internal and external expectations of the member agencies of theGran Comit and their ability to create a common understanding of major

policy direction and the supporting resource acquisition and allocation.

Determine the degree of success in constructing an organization based solelyupon formal and informal communication of a shared objective.

Provide recommendations for additions and enhancements to their currentorganizational structure and future internal and external communications.

DESCRIPTION OF THE GRA N COMI T DECOOPERACI ON

The GranComit de Cooperacin of western Caquet (hereinafter called the

Gran Comit), a department (or state) of the Republic of Colombia, is an

intergovernmental, interagency, public-private cooperative

organized to strengthen and protect civil society from the

ravages of a lingering narcotics-trafficking insurgency.

This cooperative was formed in January 2007 as a result

of the bombing of the Nestle Milk Processing Plant in El


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Doncello by the Colombian Armed Forces Revolutionary Front (FARC). The action

by the insurgents occurred as a direct challenge to the legitimacy of the legal

governing structure.

The governing structures charged with dealing with this attack included 3

levels of government (Town, County & Department), supported by

national level military and police security services

assigned to the department of Caquet. Added to the

confusion was a national level social-service

coordinating agency (Accin Social) which leads a

number of public and private social security and nation building

programs in the area. Thus, the three main functional areas of governance trying

to respond to the challenges posed by the insurgency are as follows: Security Services Elected Governmental (State, County & Village) Inter-Agency Social Security / Development (Public & Private)

As each agency within these groupings attempted to deal with the challenge to the

legitimacy of the Colombian state, organized disorder,

miscommunication and mismanagement worked

successfully to counteract their efforts. By the time of

the Nestle Plant bombing, several of the national and

international corporations began announcing their intent

to downsize or eliminate their operations in Caquet due to the

obstacles to successful legal operations.

The Gran Comit was thus borne out of an immediate requirement to

organize the efforts and operations of the many different organizations working

over and across each other with the best of intentions, but marginal effectiveness.

The Gran Comit continues to be an emerging virtual organization, whose

membership is composed of leaders or representatives of the participating

organizations. During the initial process of the ethnographic study, it became useful

to create models or caricatures of the groupings of organizations which were

attempting to work together.


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The public commitment of this coordinating group poses an important

challenge to the Southern Block leadership of the FARC. If this Gran Comit is

successful (real or perceived) then FARC Inc will find itself with a diminishing

resource base from which to satisfy production, security and transportation demand

as well as safe havens from which to launch military operations.

The GranComit faces obstacles to its success based upon cultural resistance

to participation in non-hierarchical organizational structures characteristic of

modern interagency, intergovernmental, public-private partnerships. The cultural

dependence on hierarchy is deep rooted in their Spaniard Weltanschauung of the

individual as strong man as savior paradigm. This puts the leaders of the many

agencies at odds as they struggle for influence and control in the inter-

organizational process of cooperation.Often, the key to success has been the careful selection of appropriate

attendees who do not conflict with the groups status quo, or lead to a competition

over who is in charge. Other barriers to success of government effectiveness are

the relative maturity of government employees versus the requirements of their

positions. In the complicated environment of war-torn southern Colombia,

seasoned, experienced government leaders would have a difficult time with the

interagency, intergovernmental challenges presented here.

THE COMMUNICATION SURVEY PROJECT

Methodology

The methodologies used to survey the communication of the GranComit included

both ethnographic observations and focus group interviews. These two

methodologies were relied upon exclusively because of the cultural and linguistic

barriers between the researcher and the organization. The models throughout this

report were created for the survey in order to graphically describe the virtual

organizations, their interaction within and amongst each grouping as they

interacted in the Gran Comit. The survey utilized Eric Eisenberg & Harold

Goodalls Organizational Communication: Balancing Creativity and Constraint,

Appendix: A Field Guide to Studying Organizational Communication, (pages 365-

374) to navigate the difficult cross cultural communications obstacles inherent in


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such an inquiry. Ethnographic participant-observer studies were mixed with focus

group interviews to determine the pathways of organizational communication of the

Gran Comit.

1). Ethnographic Observations: The survey both began and ended with the

naturalistic observation of the various groupings and their interaction within the

GranComit. As a foreign advisor to this emerging organization, the survey author

assumed a participant-observer role which allowed for interviews and interaction in

order to collect stories, accounts, and explanations for the events and episodes

observed.

This observation permitted the survey researcher to frame the GranComit

and its actions in the historical and psychological culture from which it emerged.This historical/cultural/sociological framework permitted the development of key

questions, problems, and issues to pursue through observations and interactions

with the members.

The development of this modeling of historical/cultural/sociological

framework also allowed for the introduction of similar organizations in the national

or international community to the membership for comparison and contrast of their

performance.

2). Focus Group Interviews: In order to drill down to underlying beliefs and

attitudes which affect the success or failure of the Gran Comit, the survey

expanded upon the modeling above and extended the use of graphical

communication surveys to obtain clarification and confirmation of the initial

ethnographic studies. The use of graphical interface survey tools eliminated the

built in biases of humor, sarcasm and innuendo during the communication survey

process.

An example of this process was organizing pre-meetings of the GranComit

for each of the three groupings in order to help them determine their common

understandings and positions on the greater interaction demanded by the Gran

Comit, as well as discuss resource base issues and their own internal sub-group

relationship. During these sub-group pre-meetings, the survey researcher was able


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to use the graphical interface diagrams to solicit opinions and attitudes on the

relationships, communication techniques & relative success within and without the

sub-groups.

The use of focus groups to identify opinions and attitudes had the potential

for biasing during group conversations. Our concern for this biasing was

ameliorated during the initial ethnographic study however, as most of the members

would disagree just to disagree. Thus, if the survey (during a focus group session)

found agreement, then it was probably genuine.

Communication Strategies

1). Overall Communication Strategies.

In large part, the simplest purpose of the Gran Comit is to communicateacross boundaries. These boundaries are both cultural and legal distinctions.

These boundaries constitute social and governmental safeguards for the Colombian

system which distribute both power and responsibility for producing, protecting and

propagating an interrelated set of Colombian Social Identities. Without the Gran

Comit, the system would continue to inhibit the reduction of social conflict.

In this sense, the Gran Comit is a microcosm of Colombian life in western

Caquet. Logically, if this Comit cannot communicate across its own legal and

cultural boundaries, then neither will the society it represents, and the civil conflict

will continue for additional generations. The strategy of creating the Gran Comit is

to teach Colombian society to communicate internally and externally so as to

develop common understandings of how things are, why they are that way, and

what to do about it. Put another way, as a reflection of the society from which it is

drawn, the Comit must learn to create, sustain and manage a shared meaning of

Colombian society.

2). External Communication Strategies

a. Channels of External Communication

From each member back to their respective agency The Gran Comitorganization is an amalgamation of representatives from 3 levels of


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government, including police, military and a host of aid and humanitarian

agencies, plus private sector trade, business and industry groups and non-

governmental organizations, both local, national and international which

operate in the Department of Caquet, Southern Colombia. Each

participatory agency sends one or more members for the monthly meetings

and any sub-committee meetings held regarding more specific topics in

greater detail.

From the Gran Comit to each member agency/organization/ level ofgovernment The decisions agreed to can have a tremendous effect on the

life or structure of those organizations participating. Decisions to merge

functions or activities can alter the composition of participating agencies or

organizations causing institutional stress or non-compliance. From the Gran Comit to each sector of the population

(business/professional/farmer) At its zenith, the GranComit will be closely

watched for leanings towards or favoring one group over another. Thus,

each step taken by the group will have interpretations of its intentions or

motives towards the many sub-cultural groups which make up its

constituency. Each sub-cultural group will use all the types of

communication listed below to determine the legitimacy of the actions or

direction of the GranComit.

From the Gran Comit to the Insurgency threatening to undermine thedemocracy As the Gran Comit progresses into maturity, the Southern

Block of the Colombian Armed Revolutionary Front (FARC) (which is fighting

for an independent portion of Colombias territory with which to establish an

international narcotics trade protected by the legitimacy of a sovereign state)

will use its assessment of the Gran Comit potential for success in

determining its attack strategy to prevent major losses in its recruiting,

resource, mobility or financial base of operations.

From the GranComit to the population represented as a whole The GranComit is a vehicle of Colombian Society and Governance, established with

purpose to defend and build society to a level which eliminates armed

political and social challenges to the Colombian society. The populace in


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general will use the overall communication (both the communication of

actions and words) of the Gran Comit as an indicator of the relative

legitimacy of the government and the society it supports and defends.

b. Methods of External Communication

Formal announcements under the name of the Gran Comit a rare methodof communication given that the primary purpose of this organization is

coordination and integration of efforts. Still, formal announcements would

normally be information beyond dispute by all legal entities operating in the

society.

Formal Gran Comit bulletin / newsletter as a newly emergentorganization, the membership of the GranComit decided that they needed a

forum to communicate new ideas in advance of monthly meetings as well as

past progress and future agendas. The Gran Comit bulletin provides a

professional forum for pictures and words showing success or outlining

challenges. Members of the GranComit volunteer to staff the bulletin and

solicit articles of interest each month. (an example of the bulletin is included

as Appendix F)

Press Conferences because of the ongoing war, and its everyday impact onsociety, every monthly conference ends with a press conference which is an

easy way for journalists to find 30-40 representatives of public and private

organizations at one location and grill them about the future of Southern

Colombian society in a war zone.

Rumors and leaks of sensitive information long considered an integral partof public communication, attempts by Comit members or blocks of members

to influence the internal debate by leaking information to the public for an

expected reaction one way or another occurs especially around sensitiveissues.

Evolving structure and membership of the organization As the GranComitevolves in its membership and the predominant locations in which it is held,

observers will interpret these often subtle changes as evidence of the

direction of the Comit. At times, this communication of direction can be


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more clarifying than any other communication by the Comit, and can even

signal future direction to the members themselves long before they have

gained consensus in their internal meetings.

Levels of attendance and quantity / quality of decisions, agreements andplans created Observers of the Comit will watch carefully for signs of a

faltering effort by the level of attendance, number of monthly meetings

cancelled or postponed to signify the importance of the organization. Key

organizational leaders who lose interest in the Comit may signal a

diminishing importance in that interagency process and cause smaller less

influential groups to abandon it as well given their relative lack of available

organizational resources.

3). Internal Communication Strategies. The Internal Communication of the Gran

Comit occurs both internal to, and external to, their monthly meetings.

a. During their monthly meetings, their internal communication can consist of

reasoned debate, passionate outbursts, angry name calling, rationalized greed,

shifty protection of their individual organizational interests, etc. During meetings,

they use various tools to project their narrow viewpoints and inflict boredom pain

on each other such as complex and overly long power point presentations, long

rambling speeches, and archaic financial or social models stolen out of National

Geographic. Of course, agreeing on the definition of meaningless commentary was

difficult in a culture attenuated by professional bombast. One of the most important

innovations involved forcing each meeting to follow the published agenda, and

placed time limits on each section/subsection/sub-subsection/etc/etc so as to limit

the exercises in creative oratory.

b. During the period in between their monthly meetings, much of the real

work was done as individual members met, built consensus during face to face

meetings, negotiated over future agendas, alignments of the committee, make up

of sub-committees, etc. So for instance, pursuing an invitation to the World Bank

versus the USAID might mean that a new airport would be asked for (helping the

flower growing industry) as opposed to USAID building new highways to be used for


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the dairy farmers and military / police security. Methods of communication in

between meetings include the newly created newsletter, email for those that have

it, the ubiquitous cellular telephone and personal visits.

THE FOCUS GROUP

Listening to what was said

Working in a cross cultural environment provides both cultural and language

barriers to effective solicitation of communication attitudes, ideas and opinions. To

overcome the cultural and language barriers,

this inquiry used graphical representations of

communications intent, methods and

outcomes as survey instruments in a power

point presentation format. The survey used

initial ethnographic and participatory

observations to design the format and

content based upon the structure of their

organization and several months of meetings. The follow-on focus group meetings

with the three groups illustrated in the models were intended to elicit the following

information:

Verifying the perceived or understood structure of theirorganization.

Determining the channels of communication within orientation groups,between orientation groups and the GranComit as a whole.

Determining the communicationExpectations of each sub-

organization, each orientation

group in relation to other

groups and the GranComit.

Determining the perceivedmethod and quality of

communication within, between


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and amongst the sub-groups, orientation group and the GranComit.

Determining the success in building consensus for interpretingproblems and developing solutions across legal and cultural

boundaries.

Core Communications Expectations

The methodology of soliciting this information used personal presentations

and question & answer sessions where the observer-participant acted as facilitator,

filling in the blanks to better understand the

communication process of their Gran

Comit. The sessions were designed to free

flow as much as possible in order to capturedata from the participants on their

perceptions, opinions and connectedness to

the organization and its goals.

Starting with the earlier models created

to visualize the make up of the many

organizations which make up the Gran Comit; the survey used the focus group to

articulate questions regarding the purpose and expectations of the Gran Comit.

As the focus group sessions evolved, patterns emerged regarding each sub-groups

understanding of the issues they faced, the resources they possessed to deal with

these problems and available solutions to deal with these problems.

These patterns corresponded to their expectations of what they anticipated

to communicate outward to other groups and how they interpreted others

messages back to them. By sub-group, the main themes which emerged showed

how the members created shared meaning within their own sub-group, but then

struggled to merge their understanding in the larger forum of the Gran Comit.

Below are some of the themes captured by the focus group interview process:

Security Service Subgroupo Justice & Securityo Culture of Disciplineo Population & Resource Control


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o Focus is on capturing and killing the insurgents who are enemiesexternal to the state.

Intergovernmental Subgroupo Legitimacy of Governanceo Growth of domestic society, concentrating on economic and

public infrastructure

o Order & Loyaltyo Cultural acclimatization & accommodation within competing sub-

cultures

o Focus is on growth & legitimacy as a means of rehabilitating theinsurgents who are enemies internal to the state.

Interagency Subgroup

o Stability of society with emphasis on social infrastructureo Alleviation of hunger & povertyo Diminishment of unemploymento Growth of economyo Human rightso Focus is on social development and insurgents are indicators of

poor social, cultural & economic conditions

Communications Quality & Clarity

The themes from the three sub-groups can be seen as a continuum, where

the intergovernmental sub-group is the center, and the remaining two are its

opposite poles. The fundamental purpose of the Gran Comit was to apply this

continuum against the challenge presented by an alternative form of government

competing for legitimacy amongst a rural population.

A final factor which emerged was how the three groups (security,

intergovernmental & interagency) internalized measures of progress. The security

services for instance, self identified factors such as control of the area and enemy

killed in action as important indicators of success against the insurgency. But other

groups, most notably the interagency group resisted those definitions considering

them to be sustaining what they saw as the underlying causes of the insurgency;


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namely the root social causes which fueled support and recruits to the insurgency.

The intergovernmental group was most often torn between supporting both

concepts, as they understood that their first reason for existence was to control

domestic violence.

This then, led to the surveys focus on the quality of communications and the

groups ability to create a common shared understanding of the challenges they

were facing. In their text, Strategic Organizational Communication, Charles Conrad

and Marshal Poole write that there is a key tension within cultural strategies of

organizing (p.178). These three subgroups to the Gran Comit constitute an

organization of cultures which must be successfully managed to bring about their

necessary cooperation. Central to this cooperation is creating shared meaning and

communication of a common world view regarding social life and its economic,governance and security components.

This key tension between the subgroups was self identified by each of the

groups as they debated their competing agendas. Many of the participants related

during the focus sessions that they were unsure of the other groups intentions or

stated abilities to follow through with commitments. At one point, citing poor

communications quality, members of the security sub-group attempted to exclude

the Gran Comit to elected officials from the Department and Municipalities. They

explained their reasons in private that the politicians just talk too much, and take

up all the committees time

with public policy speeches.

Finally, they succeeded in

creating and enforcing time

limits upon the general

membership, where

everyone was restricted to

questions or answers not

more than one minute in

length. This appeared to

rectify the problem.


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ETHNOGRAPHIC OBSERVATIONS

Observing what was done

Eisenberg & Goodall write that[w]hat people say and do are the substance of whothey are (p.369) within the Gran Comit, and thus what is said and done is central

to this survey. As the models above and below illustrate, there are similarities and

general working arrangements within each grouping of agencies, but there is no

generally agreed upon method for interacting between the groups. The GranComit

was designed to serve as an

institutional forum for

identifying problems and

solutions, ongoingcollaboration and

cooperation and as an

engine for the growth of

society. Each of the three

main groupings of

participants (security

services, intergovernmental,

& interagencies) would

contribute to the whole in a manner different than the others. More importantly,

each grouping understands the insurgency from a different perspective and offers

solutions to it vastly different in their scope and approach.

As a participant observer of many of the full and sub-group meetings, I was

able to observe the strengths & areas of opportunity within the three sub-groups

and the Gran Comit. The various focus group sessions illustrated much of how the

Gran Comit operates by illustrating the attitudes and perceptions of its member

components.

The groups demonstrated a natural affinity for operating in their sub-groups

where their understanding of the world about them was not subjected to question.

The intergovernmental group appeared to demonstrate a gender bias with respect

to which other sub-group they most agreed with. Males seemed to better


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understand the requirement for the security services definition of success than that

of the interagency. Female members of the intergovernmental sub-group more

often gravitated to the interagencys definition of success, and were more likely to

cross attend meetings based upon gender preference of the other sub-groups in the

Gran Comit.

The work of the organization is focused on internal communication within the

membership as it forms consensus on overarching goals and objectives which lead

to the termination of conflict. For those areas that consensus is reached, the Gran

Comit then acts as a coordinating body which provides multi-agency direction to

achieve a common purpose. Thus, the success of the Gran Comit as vehicle for

shared communication can be observed in how effectively it accomplishes these two

functions. Over the past two months, two major issues have dominated theattention of the Gran Comit; the FARC attack upon the dairy industry and the

resettlement of La Union Peneya. The former involves an as of yet unsuccessful

attempt at forming internal consensus on defining the problem and supporting

solutions, and the latter involves supervising an agreed upon strategy for resettling

and rebuilding a partially destroyed village.

Internal Communication Performance

Forming Consensus: Protecting the Dairy Industry

The attack upon the Nestle Milk plant which sparked the formation of the Gran

Comit was part of a series of attacks against the milk production capacity of

western Caquet. These attacks by the 3rd Front and the Teo Filo Mobile Column

have been systematically breaking down the milk collection, transportation, storage

and processing functions of the dairy system of Caquet. At the point of this

survey, dairy production is at less than 50% of capacity, and the overall dairy

industry for Caquet constitutes 80% of its economy. The impact of this challenge

to the economy of the department has motivated leaders from several sectors of

Caquet to use the Gran Comit to take on the issue for resolution.

The initial sub-committee meetings held to discuss the attacks on the dairy

system resulted in a great deal of frustration as the members tried to find common

ground for the cause and effect. It is in these types of discussions that the


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members perspectives become critical to reaching consensus. As shown in the

models, the nature of the insurgency is understood differently by each of the major

groups, with the security and interagency teams occupying opposite poles of

understanding. The intergovernmental team is split between the two, and many

meetings are hopelessly mired in communication disagreement.

On the surface the discussion is easy. The insurgents are attacking the dairy

system to drive the farmers out of the milk production business and into the

business of producing coca base, the first step in the illicit production of cocaine. All

three sub-groups of the Gran Comit agree this is a bad thing and something must

be done. It is at this point that the agreement ends, and cultural biases take control

of the communications process. The security services blame the dairy farmers for

not resisting despite the threats against them. The intergovernmental sub-groupsees its voter base eroding, and is on the fence with action that may hurt or help

the farmers. The interagency sub-group (which includes the chamber of commerce,

dairy farmer associations and other banking and business concerns) senses

impending disaster as the multi-national companies are looking at relocating to

other departments better protected by the overall governmental services and

cooperation.

Until the Gran Comit can construct a shared meaning of the problem, its

causes and solutions, no resolution is forth-coming outside of a presidential edict

from the capital city of Bogota, which may yet happen with American political

intervention. The American advisory team to Colombia would take such action

reluctantly, and only as a last resort, as doing so marginalizes the shared

production of meaning already constructed by the many groups of the Gran Comit.

External Communication Performance

Coordinating Action: Resettling La Union Peneya

Once the Gran Comit does manage to construct a shared meaning of problems

confronting the departmental leadership, and work through the allocation of

resources and responsibility for solutions, observers have recorded amazing

progress and accountability.


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The village of La Union Peneya (formerly of

approximately 2000 inhabitants) in western Caquet

was abandoned in January of 2004 when

government troops from the 12th Brigade and

FARC Forces fought for control of the

town. During fierce fighting between

government forces and insurgents

using the town as a base of support

and operations, significant portions of

the town sustained damage including

the hospital clinic, church, both the elementary and high schools as well as many of

the residents homes. As the fighting grew, the inhabitants (led by the townscatholic priest) who were not active members of the FARC insurgency relocated to

homes of relatives in nearby villages and municipalities. After eliminating FARC

resistance in the Municipality of Montanita where La Union Peneya is located, the

military forces assigned there established a company sized outpost in the hills

overlooking the town. For the next three and half years, the village of Union Peneya

remained abandoned as it lay; guarded by government forces. There was never

any evidence of looting by government forces, but the town suffered serious

deterioration over the years with no one to maintain it. This past January 2007, the

Gran Comit began supervising the return of the towns inhabitants.

The first returnees arrived in La Union Peneya in a two day extravaganza

where a host of Federal, Department, and Municipal agencies as well as Colombian

Military and Police forces provided a wide range of services such as Orthodontic and

dental care, medical diagnostic and vaccinations, clothing and shoe repair, haircuts,

child nutritional supplements, and of course, typical Colombian entertainment with

the 6th Division Band & Musical Group.

The real communications and coordination test occurred during 8 hours of

hard negotiating between members of the Gran Comit coordinating team led by

the Governor of Caquet and President Uribes Accin Social director supported by

the representatives from all major participants of the Comit. In an atmosphere

that ranged from conciliatory to accusatory, the parties argued the relative merits


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of the suffering and hardship endured against the backdrop of scarce funding,

limited resources and the ever present threat of hunger and attacks by the FARCs

15th Front which operates in the area.

Having first framed the issue confronting them with the resettlement of La

Union Peneya, and developing a shared understanding of what was possible, they

Gran Comit negotiating team was able to work with remarkable agility as they

organized the return, coordinated for basic services and negotiated with the

returnees to balance self interest with the greater public interest. The Gran Comit

now fields several sub-committees to continue the process of resettling the town.

Some of these sub-committees involve settling land titling of homes and farms,

establishing cooperatives of female heads of households, obtaining lines of credit

for newly formed farm cooperatives, etc. For each sub-committee, the Gran Comitselects members who fulfill the basic roles to complete the internal-to-external

communication cycle of issue definition, solution development, and project

supervision.

Summary of Findings and Overall Recommendations

Organizational Operations is Organizational Communication; the one does

not exist without the other. The Gran Comit was able to succeed in the latter case,

but not the former precisely because the member constituents did not share a

common reality of the situation around them. Many factors lead to how the

members of the Comit communicate, or build their shared meaning of what is

important, why its important and what they should do about it.

Recommendations for External Communications Methods

As seen in the vignettes, once decided, the Comit has the ability to operate

quite effectively with remarkable results compared with previous performance

standards. One external communications requirement which remains to be

resolved is the strategic communication between the Gran Comit and the populace

which it attempts to work on behalf of. Surveys have shown the Comit that

attitudes amongst the populace continue to reflect negatively upon the perception

of corruption and transparency of governance. Thus far, the Comit has been


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unable to articulate successfully to the general populace the selfless service

performed by the vast majority of public and private service leaders in the

Department of Caquet. This communication failure has tremendous consequences

for the future success of the Gran Comit. Even as the Comit continues to plan

greater services and capital outlays of public and private infrastructure support,

complaints from villagers unfamiliar with participatory democracy inflame tensions

between the Comit members who take personal affront at the desperate

accusations of corruption and or incompetence by a war weary public.

Recommendations for Internal Communications Methods

Little more can be said about the ongoing problems of internal

communications or the deliberative process during Gran Comit general meetingsor its many sub-committee working groups. As the models indicate, the primary

sub-groups approach their views of organizational life using different lenses and

therefore see and communicate different images.

Their ability to understand and accept that the other sub-groups in the Gran

Comit have equally valid points is rooted in an ability (or lack thereof) to respect

the existence and role of those other groups. This ability to respect the roles and

substance of other (possibly competing for resources) sub-groups is rooted in their

acceptance and understanding of their own organizations role in civil social life and

development of a common accord of the future of modern Colombia.


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REFERENCES

Conrad, C., & Poole, M. S., (2005), Strategic Organizational Communication in a

Global Society, (6th Ed), Belmont, CA: Thompson Wadsworth.

Eisenberg, E., & Goodall, H., (2003), Organizational Communication; Balancing

Creativity and Constraint, (4th Ed), Bedford, MA: St. Martin's Press.

Palmer, P.J. (1998). Leading from within. In L.C. Spears (Ed.), Insights on

leadership: Service, stewardship, spirit, and servant-leadership (pp. 197-

208). New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.

Pelias, R.J. & Pineau, E.L., (1994). Organizational Performance: Playing the

Field. Retrieved April 1, 2007, from

http://jesuitnet.blackboard.com/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bi

n/common/course.pl?course_id=_517_1

Spears, L.C. (1998). Tracing the growing impact of servant-leadership. In

L.C. Spears (Ed.), Insights on leadership: Service, stewardship, spirit, and servant-

leadership (pp. 1-14). New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.


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APPENDIX A(Security Services Survey Instrument)


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Appendix B (Intergovernmental Survey Instrument)


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Appendix C (Interagency Survey Instrument)


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Appendix D (Gran Comit Communication Survey Instrument)


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Appendix E (Gran Comit Survey Summary Diagram)


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Appendix F (GranComit bulletin)

Documents

Communications Survey for the GRAN COMITE