bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Dirty Work
Authors: Makkawy Amin , Scott Cliff
Published: March 2017

Dirty work is a socially defined classification of labor perceived as physically, socially, and/or morally undesirable. The construct is defined in depth and discussed in the context of taint management, employee identity, employee health, and a social constructionist perspective on work. Understanding the experience of dirty workers may provide valuable insight regarding other aspects of organizational communication, including employee identity management, the use of humor at work, and managing social stigma in the workplace. Directions for future research and the potential benefits of critical and postmodern perspectives in understanding and investigating dirty work are also presented.
Discrimination and Discriminatory Practices
Authors: Pompper Donnalyn
Published: March 2017

Discrimination and discriminatory practices in organizations are organizational communication problems that emerge in conjunction with uneven power distribution between majority social identities and those who represent minority social identities. The latter may become marginalized and otherwise negatively affected due to lower status and lack of communication privilege. Key concepts of social identity intersectionalities, enduring ‐isms and ‐phobias, and legal protections are examined. Overall, mindsets forged outside porous organization walls seep into workplace environments and take the form of bullying, covert activities and microaggressions, glass ceiling and glass cliff phenomena, and stereotypes. These outcomes are examined in a framework of attempts to perpetuate social homophily, as well as debates about languages and about affirmative action and reverse discrimination.
Dissent
Authors: Kassing Jeffrey W.
Published: March 2017

Organizational dissent, or the expression of disagreement or contradictory opinions about workplace practices and policies, has evolved from a focus on employee resistance to one of message exchange. From a message exchange perspective several research trajectories have developed. These include to whom dissent messages are directed both within and outside of organizations, what factors dictate or contribute to the choices employees make regarding where to direct their dissent, how employees structure, coordinate, and practice the expression of dissent, and how others in the organization respond to and make sense of dissent.
Embodiment in Work
Authors: Lockwood Harris Kate
Published: March 2017

Because organizational communication has a closer relationship to critical theories than related fields in management, organizational communication has produced a significant amount of research about how bodies, difference, and power operate in organizations and through organizing. Importantly, organizational communication research on embodiment in work offers varied theories of how the relationship between physical and symbolic worlds can and should be conceptualized.
Emotion and Work
Authors: Riforgiate Sarah E. , Komarova Maria
Published: March 2017

Despite frequent characterizations of work as a rational enterprise that discourages emotion to enhance efficiency, emotions are a prominent feature of work. Emotions are highly communicative and rely on verbal and nonverbal communication for interpretation and transfer. Scholars are particularly interested in the ways that communication organizes emotions and how emotions are experienced in organizational contexts. This entry discusses pertinent research over a broad array of studies pertaining to emotion and work. Theories such as emotional intelligence, emotion labor, and work–life boundaries are explained. Further, emotion experiences in the workplace are discussed in terms of five categories: (1) emotion labor – emotions performed for the benefit of the organization; (2) authentic feelings experienced through doing work; (3) emotions from workplace relationships; (4) emotions from outside sources that spill into the workplace; and (5) emotions about work.
Empowerment
Authors: Garner Johny T.
Published: March 2017

Empowerment is the process of restructuring an organization to distribute power to employees and enabling those employees to see how they can overcome obstacles in their workplace. Empowerment comes out of the human resources movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Research has demonstrated a number of benefits to the organization if employees feel empowered. Consequently, research has also explored how to increase employee empowerment. Organizational communication scholars have recently broken from earlier ideas to study the paradoxes and contradictions inherent in empowerment.
Environment
Authors: Valentini Chiara
Published: March 2017

The term “environment” refers to the internal and external context in which organizations operate. For some scholars, environment is defined as an arrangement of political, economic, social, and cultural factors existing in a given context that have an impact on organizational processes and structures. For others, environment is a generic term describing a large variety of stakeholders and how these interact and act upon organizations. Organizations and their environment are mutually interdependent, and organizational communication is highly related to the environment. This entry examines the origin and development of organization–environment interdependence, the nature of the concept of environment, and its relevance for communication scholarship and activities.
Expertise
Authors: William Treem Jeffrey
Published: March 2017

Research on expertise examines ways that actors identify, assess, and utilize exclusive knowledge and abilities. Organizations value expertise both as a resource that can provide a competitive advantage, and as a practice that informs decision making and problem solving. It is through communication that expertise is expressed and evaluated, and the meaning of expertise can vary significantly across organizational contexts. Different epistemological stances, theories, and methodologies can be applied in examining issues related to expertise depending on whether the focus is outcomes, processes, or performances.
Family Owned Business
Authors: Belanger Krista N.
Published: March 2017

The interdisciplinary study of family business is of interest to academic researchers, consultants, and practitioners around the world due to the prevalence of family business as an organizational form, an employer, and a contributor to gross domestic product. Family businesses are characterized by the founding family's involvement in the business through vision and control mechanisms and the reciprocal relationship between family and business systems which creates unique resources and capabilities. From an organizational communication perspective, family businesses communicatively construct meanings and processes which strategically integrate and separate family and organization within cultural and environmental contexts which shape family business strategies and experiences. Family business research can be divided into four distinct levels of focus: environmental/societal, organizational, group/interpersonal, and individual.
Feminist Approaches
Authors: Dougherty Debbie S. , Lockwood Harris Kate
Published: March 2017

Feminist research has played a key role in the development of organizational communication theorizing. This entry explores the history of feminism in organizational theorizing, placing a particular emphasis on the hidden influence of feminism on the broader field. Different forms of feminism are discussed, followed by examples of feminist organizational communication theorizing. The final section of the entry looks at topics that have benefited from feminist theorizing as well as emerging areas of feminist research.
Frame/Framing
Authors: McNamee Lacy G.
Published: March 2017

The study of frames and framing has a long history within and outside of communication studies that has variously influenced its integration into the subfield of organizational communication. This entry summarizes the intellectual foundations of this topic ranging from cognitive science to anthropology, and it synthesizes two overarching approaches to frames/framing research that have emerged from these fields of study. Contemporary applications of frames/framing research to five areas relevant to organizational communication studies are also highlighted, as well as opportunities for the continued development of organizational framing studies.
Gender and Organizing
Authors: D'Enbeau Suzy
Published: March 2017

Gender and organizing concerns the study of how gender, organization, communication, and power intersect. The study of gender and organizing has transitioned over time from a gender as variable approach to one that articulates how gender and organizing are co‐constitutive. A vast majority of the scholarship about gender and organizing takes a feminist approach. Gender and organizing includes a focus on women in management, gendered organizational processes, and the intersections of gender with other social identities, including masculinity.
Globalization/Internationalization
Authors: Rooney David , Chavan Meena
Published: March 2017

A significant shift has occurred in the world economy. National economies are increasingly interreliant in a global economic system. The speed of communication and economic exchange, the complexity and size of the networks of international trade, and the associated risks have grown markedly in recent decades. This process is known as globalization. Internationalization is the process in which businesses develop strategies and operational systems to work with businesses and people around the world to garner sustained competitive advantage. This entry discusses the nature and characteristics of globalization and internationalization, their histories, characteristics, risks, and benefits, and research about them related to organizations and communication.
Government Organizations
Authors: Krause Hansen Hans , Salskov‐Iversen Dorte
Published: March 2017

This entry is concerned with demonstrating the increasingly important interface between government organization and communication. Government organization can be approached in terms of state centrism, where the emphasis is on government organization understood as state authority and power, with clearly defined boundaries between the public and private; and in terms of polycentrism, where power and authority are seen as dispersed among state and nonstate organizations, including business and civil society organizations. Globalization and new media technologies imply changes in the relationship between power, communication, and organizational forms, and suggest the usefulness of viewing government organization in terms of polycentrism, highlighting communication and organizing processes in a wider perspective. The entry focuses particularly on two major strands of literature: deliberative democracy and the public sphere; and discourse approaches to studying the intersections of government, organizational change, and information and communication technology.
High Reliability Organizations
Authors: Jahn Jody L. S.
Published: March 2017

High reliability organizations (HROs) regularly operate in unforgiving circumstances for long periods of time while facing emerging environmental conditions and/or technological complexity. These organizations are considered “highly reliable” because they manage to consistently avoid large accidents and fatalities even though the conditions they face make such events likely. This entry provides an overview of what makes HROs unique organizations, including the sources of complexity they face, organizational structures that enable and constrain adaptive action, and resilient activities by which members manage complexity. Special attention is paid to ways communication mediates HRO processes through (1) HRO cultures, (2) processing information and making sense, and (3) participation and voice.
Human Relations/Human Resources Perspectives
Authors: Sheer Vivian C.
Published: March 2017

The human relations/human resources (HR) perspective concerns primarily the process of utilizing employee abilities and talents and improving work efficiency in achieving desired organizational and individual outcomes. This entry describes the historic evolution of the HR perspective and its dominant influence on organizational communication research prior to the 1990s. The key areas of HR‐guided research include transmission based communication processes, communication evaluation, communication climate, organizational culture, organizational socialization, performance feedback, supervisor–subordinate interaction, leadership communication, and group communication and decision making. Directions for future development of HR based functionalist communication theories and research are discussed.
Identification, Organizational
Authors: Larson Gregory S.
Published: March 2017

Identification involves the symbolic linkage of an individual to another person, group, or organization. Identifications factor into the development of individual identities, as defining a unique self is often accomplished through identification with a unique set of affiliations. In organizational communication, the study of organizational identification is particularly relevant as people often develop close associations with the organizations they work for, volunteer at, or participate in. When individuals highly identify with an organization, they see themselves as one with the organization and make decisions that support the best interests of the organization.
Identity, Individual
Authors: Cruz Disraelly
Published: March 2017

Identity is defined as the definition of the self that encompasses perceived similarities and differences to others; however, individuals pull from various sources in the process of developing a self‐definition. Identity may be comprised of personality factors, demographic factors, group memberships, and the roles one engages in. Identity is also influenced by social and organizational discourses. These influences include social interactions at work, social and organizational discourses about expected and ideal employee behavior, and organizational rhetoric. However, each element that plays a part in the building of social identity is subject to being shaped and reshaped by society and, although sometimes identity is perceived as fixed, it is in a constant state of reconstruction.
Organizational Image
Authors: Frandsen Sanne
Published: March 2017

Organizational image is a contested concept in interdisciplinary research, drawing upon organizational communication, corporate communication, organization, marketing, and public relations studies. As such, organizational image is seen as the impression of an organization that exists among both external stakeholders as well as organizational members themselves as “construed external images” and “desired images.” This entry discusses the relationship between organizational image and organizational identity at both the collective and individual level, and outlines current debates around the linkages between image and “reality.” It concludes by highlighting current practices and problems of image management.
Jamming
Authors: Goodier Bethany , Eisenberg Eric M.
Published: March 2017

Jamming is a concept borrowed from musical improvisation that has been applied to groups of people in organizations working together at peak performance. What makes jamming unique is that it can occur even when the collaborating individuals have little or no knowledge of each other as unique persons. Research on jamming shifts our attention away from viewing successful collaboration as the result of deepening, ever more disclosive relationships over time and toward the idea that – under the right conditions –transcendent and effective collaboration is possible in the absence of cognitive alignment and mutual self‐disclosure.
Informal Communication
Authors: Bielenia‐Grajewska Magdalena
Published: March 2017

Informal communication plays an important role in organizational settings. Different forms of nonformal interactions may serve to create, enhance, sustain, as well as destroy various aspects of the organization. Since informal communication is a complex phenomenon itself, research on the topic of informal communication is supported with the presentation of interdisciplinary theories and their application in studies on nonformal organizational interactions. Additionally, such notions as characteristics, functions, and types of informal communication are presented and discussed.
Information Processes
Authors: Whitbred Robert
Published: March 2017

This entry applies the general concept of information processes to a variety of organizational communication theories. It defines information, with an emphasis on the processing limitations of humans. Next, it discusses information processes in relation to social information processing theory, media richness theory, contingency theory and organizational structure, sensemaking, and employee information seeking behaviors in assimilation.
Innovation
Authors: Leonardi Paul M. , Bailey Diane E. , Cristea Ioana C.
Published: March 2017

Innovation is a communicative process involving the movement of information in communication networks. Networks that facilitate the acquisition and recombination of information from diverse sources help individuals to generate ideas. If those ideas can be sold to particular innovators and early adopters through persuasive appeals in dense networks, they are deemed to be “good” and become innovations. Communication networks are crucial in the diffusion and adoption of innovations as well because organizational members learn about new innovations from their work colleagues and form opinions about those innovations based on those interactions. To the extent that the information the innovation provides is misaligned with the communication networks into which it is implemented, people may choose to appropriate the innovation in ways that reinvent or modify it in the process of use. In this way, communication, networks, and innovation are closely linked in the generation, sale, diffusion, and appropriation of ideas within organizations.
Institutional Theory Approaches
Authors: Lammers John C. , Garcia Mattea A.
Published: March 2017

Institutional theory seeks to explain organizational communication in terms of shared pre‐existing rules, beliefs, and norms in the external environment of organizations. While its sociological origins rest on the concepts of legitimacy, rational myths, and isomorphic forces in organizational fields, communicative institutionalism emphasizes forms of discourse, such as rhetoric, framing, messages, vocabularies, tropes, narratives, slogans, metaphors, idioms, and selective grammatical styles to show how communication has the force to alter cognition and thus social institutions.
Multicommunicating
Authors: Stephens Keri K.
Published: March 2017

Now that organizations and their members use many different information and communication technologies (ICTs), their communication options have expanded. A key way that people use multiple ICTs simultaneously is through the practice of multicommunicating. Thus far, this growing body of research has examined multicommunicating in contexts like online organizational meetings, in‐person meetings, general work practices, and across cultures. Research suggests that multicommunicating is necessary in many organizations because it increases people's availability to others, can improve decision efficiency, and allows people access to more resources. Multicommunicating can also be problematic because it increases cognitive demands, impacts work quality, and affects working relationships.
Interviews/Interviewing
Authors: Berkelaar Brenda L. , Murphy Melissa L.
Published: March 2017

An interview is a purposeful, coordinated conversation between two or more people designed to gather information about an individual or topic. Researchers and practitioners interested in interviewing seek to understand how different factors such as communication competency, interview structure, question design, interview setting, information technologies, and individual characteristics influence various interview outcomes including effectiveness. A primary goal of interview research is to develop best practices for interview design, implementation, and evaluation across various settings. This includes considering how to assess and develop interviewer and interviewee communication and information skills and competencies. In describing three common types of interviews – employment or job interviews, research interviews, and clinical or medical interviews – attention is given to bias; question types; structured, semi‐structured, and unstructured interviews; and triangulation. Given the wide acceptance of interviewing and interviews in contemporary society, future research can add insight into pre‐and post‐interview behaviors; interviewees' role and characteristics; and the effects of different communication media.
Management
Authors: McKenna Bernard
Published: March 2017

Although the management communication subdiscipline is marginalized in research largely because it is seen as skills based, it is nonetheless responding to relevant issues such as new technologies, new modes of communication, and changing social values. Its content is also impacted by increasing globalization and political economy as evidenced by concerns about international collaborations. Traditional concerns such as internal, interpersonal, spoken, group, and written communication continue to be researched, but often in discipline‐specific journals. Increasing regulatory pressure for fuller disclosure and greater scrutiny by media and social media are producing concerns about legitimation and image management. As a result, the theory and practice of management communication is widening to incorporate media studies, digital literacies, and stakeholder theory, as well as critical and discourse theories and psychological notions such as trust. The reputation of management communication as an undertheorized, skills based discipline is being replaced by relevant research and practice across a number of disciplines.
Management Fashion/Fad
Authors: Zorn Theodore E.
Published: March 2017

This entry describes the conceptualization of, and research trends apparent in, the study of management fads and fashions. These concepts focus on the diffusion or spread of management tools, theories, ideas, programs, and practices and the social construction of knowledge about management. The intellectual and social context of the relevant research is outlined, followed by a discussion of major trends in the research.
Meaningful Work
Authors: Zorn Theodore E.
Published: March 2017

This entry describes the conceptualization of and research themes surrounding meaningful work. Although definitions vary, meaningful work may be seen as an endeavor requiring mental or physical effort that is subjectively experienced as significant and holding positive associations for the individual. The intellectual and social context of the relevant research is outlined, and is followed by a discussion of major trends in the research and future research opportunities.
Media Choice/Use in Organizations
Authors: Stephens Keri K. , Mandhana Dron M.
Published: March 2017

Communication options in organizations have expanded considerably in the past 50 years. Whether these options are called media choice/use, information and communication technology (
ICT
) choice and use, or computer mediated communication, reaching others is filled with choices. This entry traces the evolution of organizational media selection theories and presents them in three theoretical waves of thinking. The first wave sets the foundation for understanding that communication media have the ability to convey different meaning – in the form of media richness or social presence – and, thus, matching task with media is prudent. The second wave introduces social influence models and discusses how environmental factors, media related experiences, and media's physical capabilities affect media selection. The final wave recognizes that people often multicommunicate, use media sequentially, or combine different media and
ICTs
to communicate. Now media and
ICT
use are considered multiple media use, combinatorial
ICT
use, and part of a communication media repertoire.
Memorable Messages
Authors: Steimel Sarah
Published: March 2017

Memorable messages are messages received by an individual that the individual remembers for a long time and that the individual perceives had a major influence on the course of his or her life. As a distinct unit of communication, memorable messages have been used to understand how these brief, memorable, oral injunctions shape our individual and organizational identities as well as our familial and organizational socialization.
Mentoring
Authors: Kalbfleisch Pamela J.
Published: March 2017

Mentoring occurs through communication between mentors and protégés. Mentors are more experienced than protégés and are helpful in teaching, guiding, and coaching protégés in the development of skills and knowledge. Mentoring enactment theory predicts message use in initiation, development and maintenance, and repair of mentoring relationships and the likelihood of success in these relationships. Additional message strategies are used by mentors to prompt protégé performance.
Mergers and Acquisitions
Authors: Drury‐Grogan Meghann L.
Published: March 2017

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are a type of corporate restructuring. M&A is the general term describing the consolidation of two companies, a significant change with communication implications. Research in this area spans a variety of disciplines and focuses on five main areas: (1) types of M&A; (2) motivations; (3) process and risks; (4) implications for change management and communication; and (5) key success factors. This entry describes each of these five areas in some detail. It also examines existing gaps in the M&A research and makes recommendations for future research.
Message Flow
Authors: Miller Vernon D. , Levine Kenneth J. , Mandhana Dron M.
Published: March 2017

The flow of messages is central to organizing, coordinating individual and unit actions, exerting influence, creating meaning, and developing a common purpose among organizational members. Messages flow upward, downward, and horizontally through formally structured pathways and emergent networks. Of particular importance are the modes by which messages are conveyed and the structural, information system and related information technologies, and network contexts wherein messages are created, processed, and interpreted. Major theoretical perspectives pertaining to message flow include information richness, transmission models, Likert Systems 1–4, contingency theory, information processing theory, communicative constitution of organizations, and activity coordination.
Metaphors
Authors: Krone Kathleen J. , Turner Paaige K.
Published: March 2017

As linguistic devices, metaphors help make the abstract more concrete, but they also can be viewed as sociosymbolic constructions that create a way of seeing and being in the world. Organizational communication scholars have turned to metaphor as a theory building resource and as a language and meaning centered method of analysis. This entry describes the nature of metaphor and metaphor analysis, and the uses of metaphor to theorize organizations and organizational communication and to analyze the social construction of organizational culture and of leadership, and the management of organizational change. Metaphor offers the field of communication a means for reflecting upon itself and organizational practices in an increasingly complex and networked world.
Mixed Methods
Authors: Myers Karen K. , Powers Samantha Rae
Published: March 2017

This entry describes mixed methods research in organizational communication scholarship, delineating what constitutes mixed methods research, providing background about its development, discussing its advantages, and giving an overview of mixed methods research designs. The integral role of integration in mixed methods research, including potential barriers to achieving integration and ways to overcome them, is discussed.
Paradigms
Authors: Nicotera Anne M.
Published: March 2017

This entry explains the metatheoretical assumptions underlying the three major paradigms in the field of organizational communication: Post‐positivism, interpretivism, and critical‐interpretivism. It is explained that the term
critical theory
, as it is used in the field of organizational communication, is an extension of the interpretivist paradigm. The fundamental differences between deductive and inductive reasoning are explained. Metatheory and its branches (ontology, epistemology, axiology, and praxeology) are defined and explained. Several metatheoretical questions under each are presented, and the assumptions made by each paradigm are detailed.
Popular Culture and Organizations
Authors: Mitra Rahul , Fyke Jeremy P.
Published: March 2017

Popular culture is the representation of a society in artifacts, symbols, and rituals of everyday life – represented through media such as television, radio, news, books, movies, and music. Studying popular culture thus offers organizational communication scholars an understanding of fundamental workplace and organizing processes, as evident to ordinary people through everyday life. Four broad areas of scholarship on the intersections of popular culture and organizational communication may be identified, pertaining to organization–society relationships, the nature of everyday work, building leadership, and social difference. Future research should focus on developing theoretical frameworks that better examine the intersections of everyday organizational practice and popular culture, adopting varied quantitative and qualitative methods to study popular culture representations of organizing, and examining different geographical contexts as well as broader organizational issues.
Post‐Positivist/Functionalist Approaches
Authors: Bisel Ryan S. , Adame Elissa A.
Published: March 2017

Post‐positivism is a label for a set of research assumptions that underlie some organizational communication scholarship. Post‐positivistic assumptions entail beliefs about reality, knowledge, and value in research. Ontology, or the philosophical study of being and reality, is one way to describe the unique assumptions of post‐positivism. Post‐positivistic research assumes that social reality is
out there
and has enough stability and patterning to be known. Social reality is conceived as coherent, whole, and singular. Epistemology, or the philosophical study of knowledge and knowing, is another way to describe the unique assumptions of post‐positivism. Post‐positivistic research assumes that social reality is measurable and knowable, albeit difficult to access. Together, the ontological and epistemological assumptions undergirding post‐positivistic organizational communication research are rarely, if ever, described explicitly in research reports. Those assumptions, however, are the philosophical ground on which data are collected and analyzed and on which this kind of research is sensible as an intellectual enterprise with logical coherence. This entry reviews the major assumptions of post‐positivism and its history and explains and illustrates several ways of identifying post‐positivist approaches to contemporary organizational communication research.
Public Relations
Authors: McKie David , Sriramesh Krishnamurthy
Published: March 2017

Public relations – both as a scholarly domain and as professional practice – is involved with ways to understand, inform, and intervene to adjust relationships between ideas, individuals, groups, and societies. As an interdisciplinary field, it seeks to influence the building, maintenance, and restoration of reputation through such methods as public affairs and issue management, risk and crisis communication, community building and corporate social responsibility, and rhetorical advocacy, thereby attempting to contribute to organizations and society at large. Looking to the future, public relations scholarship is evolving from its relatively restricted geographical beginnings in a few Western regions to a more robust and diverse global effort.
Publications
Authors: Eadie William F. , Goret Robin
Published: March 2017

This entry examines the academic and scholarly publications by organizational communication scholars since the 1960s, beginning with an examination of early seminal books on the subject. Next we turn to the Library of Congress subject headings for organizational communication books and textbooks. However, the headings found (“Organizational communication” and “Communication in organizations”) also include a significant number of entries not related to what communication scholars view as “organizational communication.” The entry goes on to describe journals sponsored by US scholarly societies such as the National Communication Association (NCA), the International Communication Association (ICA), and regional communication associations, as well as
Management Communication Quarterly
(MCQ), which is considered to be the leading journal for organizational communication scholarship. We conclude with the listing of works chosen for the NCA Organizational Communication Division Awards.
Queer Approaches
Authors: Dixon Jenny
Published: March 2017

Queer theory is a critical, postmodern paradigm that seeks to destabilize taken‐for‐granted identities and categories that exist within social systems (including the workplace and other organized groupings). Used primarily to problematize binary notions of gender, sexuality, and desire, queer theory adds complexity to “normal,” socially constructed categories through the use of intersectionality. Though relatively new to the organizational communication discipline, queer theory serves to destabilize individual identities, organizational norms, and broader social structures that work recursively with organizational frameworks.
Race and Organizing
Authors: Gist Angela N. , Goldstein Hode Marlo
Published: March 2017

Race is a complex, socially constructed category of difference that impacts all facets of social life. The organizational communication discipline has been critiqued for the absence of efforts to incorporate race into literature regarding pedagogy, theory, and research. Early attempts to address race did so in a historical and decontextualized ways, resulting in the marginalization of race in epistemological practices. Eventually scholarly efforts to incorporate race more fully sought to understand how race influences and manifests in organizational phenomena such as affirmative action policy, tokenism, leadership, decision making, and organizational performance. These efforts have resulted in the extension and development of communication theory. Emerging literature is taking strides to mark whiteness by calling attention to white supremacy and privilege in communication processes. The entry concludes with directions for future research and suggested readings
Recruitment
Authors: Baker Colin R.
Published: March 2017

Competitive organizations recognize the strategic value in developing and nurturing both human and social capital. Firms can meet these strategic initiatives through the recruitment and selection of talented employees who complement and supplement organizational strengths. Recruitment is a social influence process whereby the organization attracts job candidates, then influences them to apply for a position, maintain their status as an applicant through the decision making process, and ultimately to accept an offer of employment. Simultaneously, job candidates utilize a variety of information sources to learn about the organization and persuade the employer to hire them. Recruitment message content, timing, media, and sources are discussed as well as pre‐hire outcomes such as number and quality of job applications and post hire outcomes such as performance and attrition.
Resilience Processes
Authors: Doerfel Marya L. , Harris Jack L.
Published: March 2017

Resilience processes, for organizational communication, are communicative phenomena reliant upon strong ties, latent ties, and shared meanings which enable individuals, groups, and organizations to respond effectively to and bounce back from system disruptions such as crisis and disaster. Resilience is a process of integrated recovery that is dependent upon communication and interaction at individual, group, and community, and organizational and interorganizational levels. It involves the entanglement of personal ties with supra‐organizational processes at multiple levels of interaction. While resilience is often thought of as an individual trait, organizational communication scholarship underscores its relational, networked, organizational, and communicative qualities.
Resistance
Authors: Remke Robyn V.
Published: March 2017

Resistance is focused on the ways in which organizational members consciously attempt to challenge or act against an oppressive force, usually with the goal of creating change. Resistance includes a number of oppositional workplace practices and ranges from intentional, visible, and collective actions to more subtle, covert, and individual actions such as sabotage, workplace theft, absenteeism, and work slowdowns. Resistance can even include behaviors and attitudes such as cynicism, disengagement, humor, and opting out. An organizational communication perspective defines resistance as a heuristic tool that elucidates the complex nuances of organizational struggle. This entry includes an overview of the disciplinary roots of resistance research, which will highlight topological attempts to differentiate the types of control and resistance, the impact of the linguistic turn on organizational research and resistance, and an alternative metaphor – struggle – as a way of capturing the dynamic, contradictory, and ongoing relationship between power and resistance in organizations.
Satisfaction
Authors: Kelly Stephanie
Published: March 2017

Satisfaction in the organizational communication discipline is typically studied in the contexts of job and communication satisfaction. Satisfaction in any context influences one's personal and work life. Job satisfaction in particular is a central variable in a number of models and theories. An overview of general satisfaction is first presented, followed by a more detailed overview of communication satisfaction and job satisfaction. Future research is also discussed briefly by highlighting the existing problems within the literature.
Skills
Authors: Wackernagel Bach Betsy , Wilson Charmaine E.
Published: March 2017

Whether individuals work in for‐profit organizations, nonprofit agencies, government offices, or international corporations, effective interpersonal skills are crucial. Interpersonal communication focuses on the interactions between people, and involves the continuous, complex, and collaborative process of making meaning, whether it be face to face, over the telephone, via email, or through other mediated channels. The most effective organizational members are those who are skilled interpersonal communicators. In this entry, an overview is provided of the interpersonal communication skills considered to be most important in an organizational context. These include the ability to communicate with superiors and subordinates, listen well, provide feedback and social support to coworkers, conduct interviews, understand the nuances of nonverbal communication, and manage workplace conflict.
Social Capital
Authors: Mize Smith Jennifer , Payne Holly J.
Published: March 2017

Social capital is a resource of connections and general good will that is cultivated through social relations and can be mobilized to action. Social capital is accumulated through reciprocal exchange relationships marked by trust and cooperation. The ensuing social networks vary along continuums of bonding (internal) and bridging (external) capital, as well as personal (informal) and associational (formal) linkages. Research on social capital spans interpersonal, organizational, community, and societal levels and is connected to economic development, social norms, political participation, and charitable behavior. Communication scholars have examined social capital in computer mediated communication, health contexts, and public relations campaigns, particularly how network connectedness influences relationship development, health behaviors, and organizational identification. Communication research should further refine social capital measurements and identify organizational practices that strengthen social capital.
Structuration Theory
Authors: Canary Heather E. , Tarin Carlos A.
Published: March 2017

This entry summarizes main elements of structuration theory (ST). The summary begins with an overview of the purpose and scope of ST, including selected comparisons with other social theories. Main theoretical constructs of the duality of structure and agency are described, specifically as they relate to organizational communication research. Three broad lines of organizational communication research are briefly discussed in terms of how ST has been used to analyze organizational communication phenomena. Several adaptations and extensions of ST have emerged in organizational communication due to its broad application. These theoretical adaptations are summarized before future directions for research are proposed.
Surveillance
Authors: Walker Kasey L.
Published: March 2017

Workplace surveillance is the act of perceiving and evaluating an organizational member's behavior with regard to established rules and performance targets. As a fundamental feature of control in modern organizations, workplace surveillance has been investigated in a number of intellectual domains from a wide variety of theoretical perspectives – from functional to critical. Workplace surveillance employs a number of techniques, quickly taking advantage of advances in technology, and has both positive and negative impacts for organizations and organizational members alike.
Systems Theory
Authors: Lai Chih‐Hui , Huili Lin Sapphire
Published: March 2017

Systems theory has influenced and spawned theory and research development in organizational studies since the 1960s. Seeing a parallel between biological and human social systems, systems theory places dual emphases on organizations' relationships and interdependence among the components of the system as well as the organization–environment relationships. The structure and patterns and relationships of a system emerge from interactions among components, thus each system is unique. Systems have common defining properties, such as hierarchical ordering, coupling, permeability, holism, emergence, equifinality, and homeostasis. Representing the broader systems perspective are several specific theories and perspectives, such as Weick's theory of organizing, communication network perspectives, ecological and evolutionary perspectives, and self‐organizing systems theory. Systems theory has been extensively applied in research areas ranging from communication design and adoption of technology use in organizational operations to professional communication, health campaigns, and public relations.
Telework
Authors: Fay Martha J.
Published: March 2017

Teleworker (telecommuter, remote/distributed/distance worker) communication deals with the study of how people communicate to achieve individual and organizational goals when they, or their coworkers, work away from a central office. Telework researchers seek to understand and improve the communication experience of those who telework and those who work with teleworkers and to find effective ways to resolve the challenges presented by this context. Communication research on telework has focused on individual and organizational processes and outcomes that are altered and/or challenged given the spatial and temporal variations that differentiate remote from colocated work arrangements. Major conceptual areas of work include computer mediated communication, work/family balance and boundary management, isolation and relational challenges, management challenges, and outcomes including job satisfaction, organizational identification and commitment, performance/productivity, and turnover.
Transactive Memory
Authors: Palazzolo Edward T.
Published: March 2017

Transactive memory (TM) theory describes how two or more people come together to develop a collective memory. TM theory explains the ways in which people collectively and collaboratively encode, store, and retrieve information as a system. In its simplest form, a TM system is made up of two people, their perceptions of who knows what, and the communication between them. Behaving as a system, the team can collectively store more information than the people can individually store, and the team members can leverage each other's knowledge for more effective decision making.
Turnover
Authors: Apker Julie
Published: March 2017

Turnoverrefers to the frequency of personnel, such as employees, leaving an organization and requiring replacement. Turnover results from multiple forms of exit: voluntary, involuntary, planned, and unplanned. Decades of organizational scholarship reveal a range of turnover antecedents and outcomes. Much of this research considers service professions such as health care, social assistance, education, professional and retail services, and entertainment and hospitality. Findings show such occupations experience high rates of turnover due in part to high communication demands (e.g., stressful, intense, frequent, constant interactions) as well as challenging working conditions. Organizational communication researchers have primarily explored problematic communication behaviors and patterns that contribute to and result in turnover. Scholars investigate: (1) ways in which employees experience communication phenomena that exacerbate turnover; (2) how turnover affects individual and organizational communication outcomes; and (3) communication that may minimize and/or prevent turnover.
Whistle‐Blowing
Authors: Richardson Brian K.
Published: March 2017

Whistle‐blowing occurs when an organizational member reports wrongdoing to someone for the purpose of stopping the unethical behavior. This entry describes how whistle‐blowing is situated within the organizational communication discipline, including its relation to dissent, resistance, and crisis, and explains its key dimensions. It also examines a history of research into whistle‐blowing and offers suggestions for future research into the topic, with particular focus on how social media might affect whistle‐blowing processes.
Workplace Dignity
Authors: Lucas Kristen
Published: March 2017

Workplace dignity is the self‐recognized and other‐recognized worth acquired from engaging in work activity. Grounded in philosophy and sociology, workplace dignity is a multifaceted phenomenon that reflects multiple and overlapping meanings: dignity as recognition of inherent human value, respect, autonomy, contribution, and status. These different meanings are called upon in current research that addresses problematic workplaces, responses to dignity threats, and vulnerable populations. Organizational communication researchers are uniquely poised to contribute to this growing body of knowledge because of the central role micro‐, meso‐, and macrolevel messages play in affirming and denying workplace dignity.
Action Research
Authors: Kristiansen Marianne , Bloch‐Poulsen Jørgen
Published: March 2017

Organizational action research is an interdisciplinary collaboration between two groups of professionals – managers and employees as well as researchers – who co‐create practical, organizational changes (action) and new theoretical and methodological concepts (research). Ideally, during a project, the partners co‐decide what they want to obtain, how the process is going to be designed, and the results to be evaluated. This entry presents a definition, a short historical outline, and some challenges of organizational action research.