Pub Date : 2023-02-28DOI: 10.1177/08933189231159386
Robert J. Razzante, Michael Hogan, Benjamin J. Broome, Sarah J. Tracy, Devika Chawla, Donna M. Skurzak
In this research methods essay, we describe Interactive Management Research (IMR), a participatory action research methodology with extensive applications in organizational settings but new to organizational communication research. IMR offers possibilities as a participant-centered methodology that is particularly well suited for complex organizational design situations requiring a systems perspective. We detail two versions of IMR, an interview-based method (IMRi) and a group-based method (IMRg), using a case study of each method to illustrate their application to organizational communication research. We believe IMR is an approach to participatory action research that can provide unique insights into the systems thinking and communication that shapes organizations and organizing.
{"title":"Interactive Management Research in Organizational Communication","authors":"Robert J. Razzante, Michael Hogan, Benjamin J. Broome, Sarah J. Tracy, Devika Chawla, Donna M. Skurzak","doi":"10.1177/08933189231159386","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08933189231159386","url":null,"abstract":"In this research methods essay, we describe Interactive Management Research (IMR), a participatory action research methodology with extensive applications in organizational settings but new to organizational communication research. IMR offers possibilities as a participant-centered methodology that is particularly well suited for complex organizational design situations requiring a systems perspective. We detail two versions of IMR, an interview-based method (IMRi) and a group-based method (IMRg), using a case study of each method to illustrate their application to organizational communication research. We believe IMR is an approach to participatory action research that can provide unique insights into the systems thinking and communication that shapes organizations and organizing.","PeriodicalId":47743,"journal":{"name":"Management Communication Quarterly","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2023-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45844925","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-17DOI: 10.1177/08933189231158282
Chengyu Fang, J. Wilkenfeld, Nitzan Navick, Jennifer L. Gibbs
The implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) in work is increasingly common across industries and professions. This study explores professional discourse around perceptions and use of intelligent technologies in the legal industry. Drawing on institutional theory, we conducted 30 semi-structured interviews with legal professionals and semi-professionals in varying roles including lawyers, law librarians, legal staff (paralegals, document clerks), and law students. Their discursive accounts provided evidence for three institutional logics—expertise, accessibility, and efficiency—that guided their understanding and use of AI. Our analysis further revealed that legal professionals and semi-professionals held contradictory attitudes towards intelligent technologies and invoked contradictory institutional logics. These findings contribute to theory on institutional logics and digital transformation, providing insights into how occupational roles and institutional logics shape professionals’ discursive construction of intelligent technologies, and how discursive tensions are redefining professional boundaries and contributing to institutional change in knowledge-intensive work.
{"title":"“AI Am Here to Represent You”: Understanding How Institutional Logics Shape Attitudes Toward Intelligent Technologies in Legal Work","authors":"Chengyu Fang, J. Wilkenfeld, Nitzan Navick, Jennifer L. Gibbs","doi":"10.1177/08933189231158282","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08933189231158282","url":null,"abstract":"The implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) in work is increasingly common across industries and professions. This study explores professional discourse around perceptions and use of intelligent technologies in the legal industry. Drawing on institutional theory, we conducted 30 semi-structured interviews with legal professionals and semi-professionals in varying roles including lawyers, law librarians, legal staff (paralegals, document clerks), and law students. Their discursive accounts provided evidence for three institutional logics—expertise, accessibility, and efficiency—that guided their understanding and use of AI. Our analysis further revealed that legal professionals and semi-professionals held contradictory attitudes towards intelligent technologies and invoked contradictory institutional logics. These findings contribute to theory on institutional logics and digital transformation, providing insights into how occupational roles and institutional logics shape professionals’ discursive construction of intelligent technologies, and how discursive tensions are redefining professional boundaries and contributing to institutional change in knowledge-intensive work.","PeriodicalId":47743,"journal":{"name":"Management Communication Quarterly","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2023-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46032372","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-09DOI: 10.1177/08933189231156126
Rong Wang, Jieun Shin
Guided by institutional theory, this study examines how homophily and institutional power influence the tie formation and dissolution of interorganizational collaboration networks. The analysis focuses on longitudinal network data collected from 174 international non-governmental organizations and inter-governmental organizations (IGOs) whose mission and main activities revolved around HIV/AIDS and other related health topics such as substance use, alcohol use, and smoking. This study conceptualizes collaboration as an affinity communication network and uses Separable Temporal Exponential Random Graph Modeling to investigate the effects of organizational and sector level attributes. The results reveal the important role that homophily plays in terms of geolocation and topic alignment. Furthermore, the results show IGOs’ role in driving these global partnerships. Implications on how to sustain global health alliances are discussed.
{"title":"Determinants of Alliance Formation and Dissolution Among International Health Organizations: The Influence of Homophily and Institutional Power in Affinity Communication Networks","authors":"Rong Wang, Jieun Shin","doi":"10.1177/08933189231156126","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08933189231156126","url":null,"abstract":"Guided by institutional theory, this study examines how homophily and institutional power influence the tie formation and dissolution of interorganizational collaboration networks. The analysis focuses on longitudinal network data collected from 174 international non-governmental organizations and inter-governmental organizations (IGOs) whose mission and main activities revolved around HIV/AIDS and other related health topics such as substance use, alcohol use, and smoking. This study conceptualizes collaboration as an affinity communication network and uses Separable Temporal Exponential Random Graph Modeling to investigate the effects of organizational and sector level attributes. The results reveal the important role that homophily plays in terms of geolocation and topic alignment. Furthermore, the results show IGOs’ role in driving these global partnerships. Implications on how to sustain global health alliances are discussed.","PeriodicalId":47743,"journal":{"name":"Management Communication Quarterly","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2023-02-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46198288","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-22DOI: 10.1177/08933189231153869
Yeunjae Lee, Enzhu Dong
The purpose of this study is to examine the role of transparent internal communication from multiple communication entities within organizations—CEO, supervisors, and peers—in employees’ internal and external advocacy, respectively, with a consideration of the two mediators: employee-organization relationship (EOR) and employee empowerment. Results of an online survey with 403 full-time employees in the United States suggested that transparent communication from direct supervisors was positively related to employee advocacy via heightened EOR and empowerment. In addition, positive associations between CEOs’ transparent communication and employees’ external and internal advocacy via a favorable EOR were found, while transparent peer communication was positively related to employee advocacy through empowerment. Theoretical and practical implications for strategic internal communication are discussed.
{"title":"How Transparent Internal Communication From CEO, Supervisors, and Peers Leads to Employee Advocacy","authors":"Yeunjae Lee, Enzhu Dong","doi":"10.1177/08933189231153869","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08933189231153869","url":null,"abstract":"The purpose of this study is to examine the role of transparent internal communication from multiple communication entities within organizations—CEO, supervisors, and peers—in employees’ internal and external advocacy, respectively, with a consideration of the two mediators: employee-organization relationship (EOR) and employee empowerment. Results of an online survey with 403 full-time employees in the United States suggested that transparent communication from direct supervisors was positively related to employee advocacy via heightened EOR and empowerment. In addition, positive associations between CEOs’ transparent communication and employees’ external and internal advocacy via a favorable EOR were found, while transparent peer communication was positively related to employee advocacy through empowerment. Theoretical and practical implications for strategic internal communication are discussed.","PeriodicalId":47743,"journal":{"name":"Management Communication Quarterly","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"65254403","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-22DOI: 10.1177/08933189231153847
Luisa Ruge-Jones, William C. Barley, Sam R. Wilson, Chandler MacSwain, Lauren Johnson, Jack Everett, M. S. Poole
Current studies of diversity in teams and organizations highlight the importance of examining activated, rather than just dormant, differences on a team. In this study, we contribute to organizational diversity theories by arguing that the activation of differences is a communicative process whereby how teams talk about their differences matters in how the activated differences affect team outcomes. Drawing on an in-depth qualitative study of real-life scientific teams, we examine the relationship between how team members activate and frame differences and how those communicative frames affect the team’s collective work. We find that how teams frame their differences affects the relationship between activated differences and team outcomes. We give practical and theoretical recommendations for the communicative management of differences on teams and in organizations.
{"title":"Activated Differences: A Qualitative Study of How and When Differences Make a Difference on Diverse Teams","authors":"Luisa Ruge-Jones, William C. Barley, Sam R. Wilson, Chandler MacSwain, Lauren Johnson, Jack Everett, M. S. Poole","doi":"10.1177/08933189231153847","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08933189231153847","url":null,"abstract":"Current studies of diversity in teams and organizations highlight the importance of examining activated, rather than just dormant, differences on a team. In this study, we contribute to organizational diversity theories by arguing that the activation of differences is a communicative process whereby how teams talk about their differences matters in how the activated differences affect team outcomes. Drawing on an in-depth qualitative study of real-life scientific teams, we examine the relationship between how team members activate and frame differences and how those communicative frames affect the team’s collective work. We find that how teams frame their differences affects the relationship between activated differences and team outcomes. We give practical and theoretical recommendations for the communicative management of differences on teams and in organizations.","PeriodicalId":47743,"journal":{"name":"Management Communication Quarterly","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45111975","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-17DOI: 10.1177/08933189231152454
S. Blithe
The complex process of work-life management combined with social and economic demands have created difficulties for many working mothers. Although ideologies about “good mothers” suggest that mothers should be constantly available for care work responsibilities, most mothers must also engage in paid work for family sustainability. Using what I call work-friendly child spaces, some privileged mothers have found locations that cater to both parenting and work, which enable them to sustain their careers while also engaging in the early years of parenting. Based on participant observation and interviews, I argue that although work-friendly child spaces accommodate work arrangements that are flexible and mobile, they ultimately reify deep structural inequalities and leave care work as primarily the responsibility of women.
{"title":"Work-Life Balance and Flexible Organizational Space: Employed Mothers’ Use of Work-Friendly Child Spaces","authors":"S. Blithe","doi":"10.1177/08933189231152454","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08933189231152454","url":null,"abstract":"The complex process of work-life management combined with social and economic demands have created difficulties for many working mothers. Although ideologies about “good mothers” suggest that mothers should be constantly available for care work responsibilities, most mothers must also engage in paid work for family sustainability. Using what I call work-friendly child spaces, some privileged mothers have found locations that cater to both parenting and work, which enable them to sustain their careers while also engaging in the early years of parenting. Based on participant observation and interviews, I argue that although work-friendly child spaces accommodate work arrangements that are flexible and mobile, they ultimately reify deep structural inequalities and leave care work as primarily the responsibility of women.","PeriodicalId":47743,"journal":{"name":"Management Communication Quarterly","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46377239","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-09DOI: 10.1177/08933189221151177
W. Coombs, Elina R. Tachkova
This study uses moral outrage to create a triadic appraisal of crises for situational crisis communication theory (SCCT). The addition of moral outrage improves the theory with an eye toward enhancing its application to the practice of crisis communication. The authors argue that adding moral outrage resulted in a needed reconceptualization of the preventable crisis cluster in SCCT identified by earlier researchers. Moral outrage becomes a third factor stakeholders utilize to assess crisis threats along with (1) determining if the situation is negative and (2) evaluations of crisis responsibility. The results of the study indicate that the preventable crisis cluster should be treated as three distinct sub-clusters. We argue that this triadic appraisal of crisis threat improves SCCT theoretically and has implications for the practice of crisis communication.
{"title":"Integrating Moral Outrage in Situational Crisis Communication Theory: A Triadic Appraisal Model for Crises","authors":"W. Coombs, Elina R. Tachkova","doi":"10.1177/08933189221151177","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08933189221151177","url":null,"abstract":"This study uses moral outrage to create a triadic appraisal of crises for situational crisis communication theory (SCCT). The addition of moral outrage improves the theory with an eye toward enhancing its application to the practice of crisis communication. The authors argue that adding moral outrage resulted in a needed reconceptualization of the preventable crisis cluster in SCCT identified by earlier researchers. Moral outrage becomes a third factor stakeholders utilize to assess crisis threats along with (1) determining if the situation is negative and (2) evaluations of crisis responsibility. The results of the study indicate that the preventable crisis cluster should be treated as three distinct sub-clusters. We argue that this triadic appraisal of crisis threat improves SCCT theoretically and has implications for the practice of crisis communication.","PeriodicalId":47743,"journal":{"name":"Management Communication Quarterly","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43698240","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-25DOI: 10.1177/08933189221144993
Ashley Jones-Bodie
This article explores the discourse of nonprofit wrongdoing through a thematic analysis of over 450 texts, including media coverage and organizational responses, surrounding four cases of nonprofit wrongdoing. These cases include theft, mismanagement of funds, lying about 9/11, and administering unintentional yet lethal doses of medication. The findings extend prior work on organizational rhetoric and propose the notion of granted utility – an assumed foundational view of the usefulness and underlying benefit of nonprofit organizations – as key for understanding nonprofit rhetoric. The findings suggest that recognizing granted utility allows organizations to focus on answering responsibility-focused questions of organizational legitimacy while maintaining utility-focused messages that reinforce granted utility when wrongdoing occurs.
{"title":"Granted Utility, a Proposal for the Rhetoric of Nonprofit Wrongdoing","authors":"Ashley Jones-Bodie","doi":"10.1177/08933189221144993","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08933189221144993","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores the discourse of nonprofit wrongdoing through a thematic analysis of over 450 texts, including media coverage and organizational responses, surrounding four cases of nonprofit wrongdoing. These cases include theft, mismanagement of funds, lying about 9/11, and administering unintentional yet lethal doses of medication. The findings extend prior work on organizational rhetoric and propose the notion of granted utility – an assumed foundational view of the usefulness and underlying benefit of nonprofit organizations – as key for understanding nonprofit rhetoric. The findings suggest that recognizing granted utility allows organizations to focus on answering responsibility-focused questions of organizational legitimacy while maintaining utility-focused messages that reinforce granted utility when wrongdoing occurs.","PeriodicalId":47743,"journal":{"name":"Management Communication Quarterly","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2022-12-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45324477","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-22DOI: 10.1177/08933189221145001
Elaine Schnabel
Religious communities have long affirmed the agency of their sacred texts and their God/gods, providing a unique site of study for research on ventriloquizing authority, textual agency, and the power of incorporeal figures like values or principles. This paper uses PraiseMoves, an Evangelical organization selling a “Christian alternative to yoga,” as a case study to develop the concept of deific agency. Deific agency is the agential power of incorporeal projections of moral authority. These projections mediate text-human relationships both in and beyond particular organizational contexts by imbuing visibly-privileged human bodies with moral authority. Deific figures can thus overwhelm textual agency by bonding with visibly-privileged bodies and thereafter organizing perceptions of moral authority in and beyond organizations in ways that disproportionately benefit physically-privileged human beings. This paper concludes by articulating the value of believing bodies for research and suggesting future avenues of inquiry.
{"title":"Deific Figures and Human Bodies: Creating Hierarchies of Difference through the Incarnation of Moral Authority","authors":"Elaine Schnabel","doi":"10.1177/08933189221145001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08933189221145001","url":null,"abstract":"Religious communities have long affirmed the agency of their sacred texts and their God/gods, providing a unique site of study for research on ventriloquizing authority, textual agency, and the power of incorporeal figures like values or principles. This paper uses PraiseMoves, an Evangelical organization selling a “Christian alternative to yoga,” as a case study to develop the concept of deific agency. Deific agency is the agential power of incorporeal projections of moral authority. These projections mediate text-human relationships both in and beyond particular organizational contexts by imbuing visibly-privileged human bodies with moral authority. Deific figures can thus overwhelm textual agency by bonding with visibly-privileged bodies and thereafter organizing perceptions of moral authority in and beyond organizations in ways that disproportionately benefit physically-privileged human beings. This paper concludes by articulating the value of believing bodies for research and suggesting future avenues of inquiry.","PeriodicalId":47743,"journal":{"name":"Management Communication Quarterly","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2022-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41291383","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-19DOI: 10.1177/08933189221146186
Alaina C. Zanin, Ryan S. Bisel
This study investigated dissent strategy selection as a product of structurational divergence (SD) and individuals’ lay theories of leader and follower roles. A survey of working adults (N = 338) revealed that employees who reported experiencing structurational divergence in their workplace were more likely to engage in circumvention, threatening resignation, and defensive silence. Analysis also indicated that employees with an active followership mindset were more likely to report engaging in prosocial and repetition dissent strategies. Meanwhile, they were less likely to report engaging in circumvention, threatening resignation, and defensive silence. Importantly, perceptions of SD were negatively associated with members’ implicit belief that a good follower is an active follower. Implications for structurational divergence theory, implicit theories of followership, and organizational dissent conclude the paper.
{"title":"Structurational Divergence, Implicit Orientations to Active Followership, and Employees’ Selection of Upward Dissent Strategies and Silence","authors":"Alaina C. Zanin, Ryan S. Bisel","doi":"10.1177/08933189221146186","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08933189221146186","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigated dissent strategy selection as a product of structurational divergence (SD) and individuals’ lay theories of leader and follower roles. A survey of working adults (N = 338) revealed that employees who reported experiencing structurational divergence in their workplace were more likely to engage in circumvention, threatening resignation, and defensive silence. Analysis also indicated that employees with an active followership mindset were more likely to report engaging in prosocial and repetition dissent strategies. Meanwhile, they were less likely to report engaging in circumvention, threatening resignation, and defensive silence. Importantly, perceptions of SD were negatively associated with members’ implicit belief that a good follower is an active follower. Implications for structurational divergence theory, implicit theories of followership, and organizational dissent conclude the paper.","PeriodicalId":47743,"journal":{"name":"Management Communication Quarterly","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2022-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41443610","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}