Exploring the relationship between workplace freedom of speech,organizational identification,and employee dissent

The purpose of this study was to examine how subordinates' perceptions of workplace freedom of speech related to their levels of organizational identification and their strategies for expressing dissent. Full‐time working adults from various organizations in the Southwest completed self‐report survey instruments. Results indicated that organizational identification as well as the expression of articulated dissent and latent dissent varied as a function of workplace freedom of speech.     

What Library Managers Should Know about Emotional Labor

This article presents emotional labor in a library context and offers library managers strategies to minimize the negative effects of emotional labor on both staff and users. The components of emotional labor are explained and a framework of response levels is presented with strategies targeted to each response level: incident, training, supervision, human resources, and organizational culture. The strategies offer library managers some ideas for effectively managing emotional labor in their organizations. Understanding the effects of emotional labor and developing the tools that can offset potential negative outcomes can create a more positive work climate and better customer service.     

Alignment 2.0: Strategic use of new internet technologies in government

This paper challenges the view that strategies for using Web 2.0 should primarily be based upon technological characteristics. The value of the organizational strategic alignment approach for developing specific operational Web 2.0 strategies for government organizations is explored both theoretically and empirically. On the basis of a review of the literature we conclude that there are no a priori reasons why the idea of a fit between IT strategy and business strategic orientation cannot be applied to the development of operational Web 2.0 strategies for government organizations. The empirical exploration based on intervention research at the Dutch Department of Education results in the identification of five configurations: organizational transparency, organizational interactions, policy sector transparency, policy sector interactions and process and policy innovation. These configurations are logically consistent with the strategic orientations of the three directorates of the Department of Education. This overview does not pretend to be exhaustive but validates the idea that an alignment approach leads to differences in operational strategies. The configuration approach provides organizations with useful a starting point for developing their Web 2.0 strategies.     

Management view,power use,and affinity‐seeking: Effects on college student employee identification

This study investigated the effects of management view, power use, and affinity‐seeking on employee organizational identification in organizations that hire part‐time college students. Most managers were identified as manifesting a Theory Y view of management. Manager coercive and expert power were significantly related to employee organizational identification. Results indicated that manager view and affinity‐seeking were significantly related to employee organizational identification. Significant differences in affinity‐seeking and in employee organizational identification were found for Theory X and Theory Y managers.     

Interorganizational networks: The convergence of cooperative Competitors

This paper extends organizational communication research by considering external organizational issues. It analyzes the interorganizational network of real estate companies and the relationship of their network positions to organization‐level perceptions about the system. The network is divided into: (1) one group of organizations that were sparsely connected, and (2) stand‐alone organizations that were isolated from the prevailing group and each other. This interorganizational network analysis is grounded in institutionalization and resource dependence theory, vis‐à‐vis overlapping perceptions of the system, elicited by answers to open‐ended interviews. Results indicate institutionalized perceptions occurred for the group‐member organizations through indirect exposure to information in the environment. Specifically, organizations who shared similar roles in the network have convergent interpretations. These data support Mizruchi's (1993) theory that prominent organizations are more similar than those who have more peripheral roles in a network.     

Challenging Assumptions Underlying the Metamorphosis Phase: Ethnographic Analysis of Metamorphosis Within an Unemployment Organization

Organizational communication scholars have grappled with assimilation processes and expanded the theoretical conceptualization of each phase. This article joins in conversation with organizational communication scholars by identifying and problematizing the assumption that reaching metamorphosis is always a positive experience. Through the ethnographic analysis of empirical data collected from an unemployment support organization, the author argues that being an established organizational member is sometimes counter to organizational objectives. While traditional organizations attempt to maintain and grow their membership, some alternative organizational formats aim to minimize membership. This premise challenges the assumption that achieving metamorphosis is always a desirable state of organizational membership. Furthermore, this study reveals how communication changes when it is undesirable for service recipients to reach metamorphosis.     

The “Free Press” of Unionized Journalists and Students

This paper outlines a history of the union organizing of the American Newspaper Guild at Thomson Newspapers’ Peterborough Examiner in Canada from 1968 to 1969. It examines the communication tools that union members used to facilitate this labor organizing and “bite back” at the profitable Thomson chain. Peterborough newsworkers went on strike from November 1968 to April 1969 over union recognition. During the strike, the union members built an unprecedented alliance with Ontario university students, collaboratively launching a strike newspaper called the Peterborough Free Press. Expanding on the concept of temporary labor convergence, this paper considers how strike newspapers can be seen as a form of alternative journalism that newsworkers use as a campaigning tool to communicate their struggles to the public and put pressure on news corporations to bargain with them. This case study is situated in the local institutional contexts of labor relations at the Peterborough Examiner and the news industry in Peterborough, where Thomson Newspapers had a media monopoly. It is based on labor standpoint and signal juncture analyses of union archival documents and newspaper content. The research ultimately suggests that newsworkers should not only focus on communication tools but also build bridges with community members.     

Organizational Dissent as a Function of Organizational Justice

This study examined the relationships between perceptions of organizational justice and enacting organizational dissent. Participants were 107 full-time employees working in various organizations. Results indicated that employee perceptions of distributive and interpersonal justice negatively predicted latent dissent, while perceptions of informational justice positively predicted latent dissent. Perceptions of interpersonal justice were the strongest predictor of latent dissent. Perceptions of justice were not related to articulated or displaced dissent. Future research should continue to explore triggering agents of dissent in organizations.     

Utilization of CSR to build organizations’ corporate image in Asia: need for an integrative approach

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been found to be a strong predictor of a favorable corporate image [Gray, 1986. Managing the corporate image: The key to public trust. London: Quorum Books]. Websites have become an essential communication platform [Dawkins, 2004. Corporate responsibility: The communication challenge. Journal of Communication Management, 9(2), 108–119]. This study aims to investigate how CSR can be used in enhancing organizational corporate image. Content analyses of 150 corporate websites of organizations in Asia headquartered in Singapore were conducted, followed by in-depth interviews with public relations (PR) practitioners to examine the motivations behind their CSR engagement. Findings showed that organizations utilized CSR as a means to enhance corporate image via four ways: Engaging in two-way conversations with stakeholders, adopting an inside-out communication approach with employees, recognizing the relevance of other CSR communication channels, and communicating CSR with authenticity. However, some organizations hesitate to use CSR communication to enhance their corporate image because they wanted to avoid being seen as using CSR as a promotional tool.     

Promoting collaboration: the role of relational multiplexity in an interorganizational health justice network

Organizations need to collaborate to achieve complex goals. Although interorganizational relations often take the form of multiplex ties, our understanding of how multiplexity itself may facilitate interorganizational collaboration is limited. We use dynamic network analysis (SIENA) to test the role of relational multiplexity – specifically, relationships involving communication outside of coalition meetings and expertise-seeking – in promoting collaboration in a health justice coalition over three years. The results offer strong support for the role of multiplexity in the formation of interorganizational collaboration, indicating that having multiple ties between organizations facilitates collaboration, and that certain types of ties (i.e. communication relationships outside of coalition meetings) are more influential than others. We conclude that coalitions hoping to support successful interorganizational collaboration will benefit from offering opportunities for member organizations to communicate outside of group meetings, because such small acts of dyadic interaction can build into deeper levels of engagement. Additionally, our study demonstrates how network analysis can help organizational coalitions to track and suggest potential partnerships between member organizations.     

Organizational newcomers: Temporary and regular employees,same‐sex and mixed‐sex superior‐subordinate dyads,supervisor influence techniques,subordinates communication satisfaction,and leader‐member exchange

This study examined the relationship between newly hired employees’ characteristics (i.e., temporary vs. regular employee, superior‐subordinate gender‐dyad combinations), supervisors initial tactics of influence, subordinate communication satisfaction, and quality of leader‐member exchange. Results from 148 (71 temporary) new hires indicated (a) employee characteristics were not significantly related to the leader‐member exchange, (b) supervisors initial use of prosocial influence tactics were significantly and positively related to the quality of leader‐member exchange, and (c) subordinates’ satisfaction with communication was significantly and positively related to the quality of leader‐member exchange.     

Paradoxes of Strategic Renewal in Traditional Print-Oriented Media Firms

This article continues and extends the emerging scholarship of strategic media management by examining the day-to-day challenges that media managers face when managing strategic renewal in traditional print-oriented media firms. The aim, in particular, is to shed light on the tensions and paradoxical situations that middle managers need to deal with in contexts where taken-for-granted industry recipes and well-established business practices have become problematized as a result of industry-wide technological and cultural change. Based on an empirical case study, the article identifies and elaborates on three interconnected paradoxes, rooted in the history of the company and past decisions of its top-management: (1) balancing employees’ needs for stability with organizational needs for change; (2) bridging employees’ needs for security and tradition and the organizational need for learning and taking risks; as well as (3) reconciling employees’ needs to “focus on themselves” with organizational needs to collaborate for collective success. Theoretically, the article contributes to the literature by working toward a new paradox perspective on managing strategic renewal in media organizations. This theoretical perspective is offered as an interpretive framework for empirically exploring and critically examining the dynamics and complexities of strategic media management in the continuously changing business environments of the industry.     

An analysis of the dynamic vocabulary of junior college students∗

In organizational communication studies, empowerment has come to connote flatter structures, participation programs, and other techniques thought to enhance member competence and control through increased self-direction. We contend that this model-and, arguably, organizational communication studies more broadly-presumes a particular employment contract. We report a study of a different contract: staff-volunteer relations at a nonprofit organization. Our results indicate that, while volunteers prioritized the role of social support in accomplishing empowerment, staff members treated volunteers as pseudo-employees to be empowered through enhanced authority and participation. Ironically, the staff's model impeded volunteer empowerment. We use the case to mark the contingent character of empowerment, and specifically, (a) its contextual and intersubjective nature, (b) its relational and emotional aspects, and (c) the importance of members' temporal investment in the organization. We conclude that attention to diverse membership contracts and contexts can complicate and enrich empowerment theory.     

The Communication Glue that Binds Employees to an Organization: A Study of Organizational Identification in Two Thai Organizations

Organizational communication scholars have paid scant attention to the motivations of people who choose careers in social service organizations. This study examined organizational identification in the context of two Thai social service organizations: government-run Community Development Department (CDD) and non-governmental Population and Community Development Association (PDA). The degree to which CDD members identified with CDD and PDA members identified with PDA was assessed by using the Organizational Identification Questionnaire constructed by George Cheney (1982 Cheney , G. (1982) . Organizational identification as process and product: A field study . Unpublished master's thesis , Purdue University . [Google Scholar]). Comparison of CDD and PDA scores on Cheney's OIQ provided findings that mirror those of previous studies of organizational identification. Specifically, the level of organizational identification among employees who work for the non-governmental privately-run social-cause organization (PDA) was significantly higher than for employees who work for the government organization (CDD). Thus, the non-governmental organization appears to be more effective than the government organization in fostering employee identification. Interestingly, a factor analysis of Thai responses to the Cheney instrument revealed three dimensions that were different from the three dimensions theorized by Cheney (1982 Cheney , G. (1982) . Organizational identification as process and product: A field study . Unpublished master's thesis , Purdue University . [Google Scholar]). While Cheney's conceptualization of identification included employees sense of membership, similarity, and loyalty to their organization, the Thai dimensions reflected life values (‘pride in membership’), social values (‘fit with organization’), and personal values (‘comfort zone’). These findings hold important implications for communication scholars who study employee motivation in non-Western organizational contexts.     

Science and policy: scientific expertise and individual participation in boundary management

Boundary theory has assumed that two distinct organizations—scientists and policy-makers—can interface with one another via an external boundary organization, yet boundary management contexts often call for different strategies where a neutral third party is not involved. Recent scholarship has highlighted alternative models for boundary organizations, including the emergence of boundary organizations within universities. Most of these studies have taken an organizational perspective, yet as universities increasingly fulfill the role of boundary organizations by direct engagement with policy-makers, we need a deeper understanding of the roles scientists should play within this context. This study highlights the need to understand context before designing and implementing boundary management strategies, and considers the complexities of direct engagement between scientists and policy-makers. We draw from a case study conducted in Maine to argue that there are contexts in which scientists need to manage and span the science–policy boundary. The complexities involved in preparing scientists to engage more thoroughly in policy activities and the challenges in garnering institutional support for advancing the participation of scientists in boundary-spanning activities are explored.     

Communicative Reconstruction of Resilience Labor: Identity/Identification in Disaster-Relief Workers

Drawing from the structurational theory of identification [Scott, Corman, & Cheney, 1998] and resilience theory [Buzzanell, 2010], our inquiry provides insight into the sustainability of disaster-relief worker involvement and the discursive processes whereby workers overcome emotional and physical challenges to create resilience labor. Analyzing 23 semi-structured interviews with disaster-relief workers of a non-profit organization, we define resilience labor as the dual-layered process of reintegrating transformative identities and identifications to sustain and construct ongoing organizational involvement and resilience. The identification frames align with familial, ideological, and destruction–renewal network ties that empower individuals to construct their identities in transformative ways. The frames can guide non-profit managers and volunteers working in extreme contexts characterized by societal conflicts or disruption to sustain themselves as they construct resilience labor.     

Organizational assimilation and communication technology use

Studies of organizational members' assimilation information seeking have focused on traditional channels for uncertainty reduction (e.g., face‐to‐face communication and traditional technologies like employee handbooks) and on the experiences of newcomers. This investigation extends organizational assimilation research by examining a variety of socialization experiences (not just those of newcomers) and by considering Advanced Communication and Information Technologies (ACITs) as an additional channel for obtaining assimilation‐related information. Data from 405 employees of four organizations were utilized to explore the relationship between three channels for information seeking (face‐to‐face communication, traditional media, and ACIT) and perceived socialization effectiveness. Predictors of employee selection and use of ACITs also were examined, including perceptions of media richness and social presence, and user responses to their experiences using ACITs for assimilation. Results indicate that face‐to‐face communication is the most important predictor of assimilation effectiveness, followed by ACIT use. Least important are traditional technologies. Media characteristics, as elucidated in two prominent theories of organizational communication technology use, predicted individuals' selection and use of ACITs. Finally, a typology of members' behavioral responses to feedback regarding their ACIT use was derived, which revealed that users respond by continuing current practices, supplementing the channel, discontinuing use, expanding use, learning new uses, or by implementing a variety of these strategies.     

Embracing Hybridity: The Merged Organization,Alt/Ac and Higher Education

ABSTRACT

This article is based upon a decade of experience as the director of a merged organization. It includes the author's insights he has gained while working as Dean of the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) Postdoctoral Fellowship in Academic Libraries and as a founding member of the CLIR/CIOs group. The article suggests ways to think about the ecology of higher education in a digital age and what role libraries and allied departments in a college or university might play. It proposes that useful steps forward include inviting differently positioned and credentialed individuals into the world of libraries and working together with computing organizations to create temporary structures within which to revise ideas and approaches to our work.     

Electronic publishing: trends and responsive strategies

Corporate publishing organizations face a major practical task in deploying electronic publishing systems (EPS), with little strategic guidance. In response, this discussion focuses on large-scale trends at work in electronic publishing, their impact in a corporate environment, and strategies to address those trends. Specifically, the discussion begins by defining electronic publishing; continues with trends affecting document workflow, components of a situation analysis, and three potential organizational responses to the situation; and ends with a responsive strategy to compete for business in five dimensions: cost, convenience, timeliness, quality, and capability. Jay E. Gillette has worked as a senior technical planner at Bellcore since 1987. Previously he was a consultant in documentation and technical planning and served on the technical communication and humanities faculty of the Colorado School of Mines. He holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of California, Berkeley.