Rhetoric, and therefore persuasion, can be utilized to impact society in profound ways. These communication devices can also be used for more sinister and nefarious purposes that can leave black marks on any society’s history. For the purpose of this rhetorical analysis, I thoroughly investigated three artifacts used by the Monsanto Corporation. This project attempts to show how Monsanto utilizes rhetoric and persuasion to convince consumers their products are safe to purchase, although there is no scientific consensus regarding that safety to humans and the environment. Through an examination of these artifacts, I was able to examine how Monsanto used apologia as image restoration during or after crises

This study examines the connection between organizational crisis communication and sensemaking. In particular, the research focuses on messages of instructing, adjusting and reputation management and the use of social media in distributing these messages through and by the Tokyo Disney Resort during the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear crisis that hit Japan in 2011. Case study methods are used to analyze news coverage, Twitter and YouTube videos, informed by personal interviews and documentation related to the crisis and the Tokyo Disney Resort. The analysis found that the Tokyo Disney Resort provided messages of instructing, adjusting and reputation management in order to effectively foster the sensemaking process, which was corroborated by personal communication with cast members. Messages of instruction were delivered regularly through a park-wide speaker system and cast members who also provided instruction to minimize harm. Adjusting information was evident in effectively taking care of guests’ physical and psychological needs through provision of food, water, blankets, etc. and by keeping them updated about the status of the outside world. Finally, messages of reputation management were apparent in the Resort’s willingness to put people above profit by sacrificing food, products and money to help victims of the disaster.

While diversity is widely discussed throughout management literature, the impact of diversity management on diverse organizational members remains exceedingly sparse. Furthermore, the present case study uses a communication centered approach to address how diverse faculty member’s organizational experiences with diversity align with an academic institution’s publicly stated values of diversity. Through a critical interpretive lens, 15 semi-structured, in-depth interviews of diverse faculty members were conducted at a medium sized, Southern university (“Southern U”). Findings suggested that contradictions were heavily embedded into Southern U’s diversity communication resulting in a host of paradoxical tensions for diverse faculty members. This study explored the communicative constitution of organizations and how organizations constrain and enable diversity through communicative enactment.

On September 11, 2001, terror attacks in New York City, Washington, DC and Somerset County, Pennsylvania, initiated a new global awareness and fear among citizens of the United States as well as others around the world. In this context of a flattening and fearful world described by Thomas Friedman in his two post 9/11 books, organizational communication has been responding to and participating within a widening scope of change and fear. In recognizing this tumultuous time, there's a desire to find a constructive way forward and to consider possible theorists from other historical moments who might guide our way. This dissertation examines the life and work of Mary Parker Follett who offers meaningful insight for ethical practice in such a time as this within organizational communication.<br> Follett's life can be understood through both her experiences and her writing along with the frameworks and trajectory that created context for her writing. In chapter two, a biographical sketch makes connections between the significance of Follett's work and the timeline and people of her life. The chapter looks at four sections. The first section features her early years and life in Quincy, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston. The second section looks at Follett's engagement at Cambridge with the Harvard Annex. The third section explores her work with neighborhood center movements, rooted in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood, but eventually taking Follett into a larger national scene. The last section looks at Follett's engagement with marketplace realities on both sides of the Atlantic that takes the narrative up to her abrupt death in 1933.<br> Chapter three explores the historical moment through six primary philosophical movements. Following in the tradition of Mary Parker Follett who moved across academic discipline boundaries, the chapter pulls from a variety of academic perspectives including philosophy, sociology, economics, politics and religion. Beginning with postmodernity, the chapter also looks at feminism and postcolonialism as broader critiques within the field of organizational communication. Lastly, post-industrialism, post-Christendom and post-Americanism, which are situated in particular fields and contexts, are explored as manifestations of the other movements. Underlying all of these areas is Thomas Friedman's assertion from his books that the world has become increasingly interconnected and accessible.<br> Chapter 4 explores Follett's writing along with the fusion of horizon with organizational communication. Mary Parker Follett was a Gestalt theory advocate believing that there was an invitation to understand things as a whole without diminishing the parts. The dissertation explores both the parts and whole of Follett's work.<br> The books and posthumously published lectures offer a glimpse of her life and engagement. Follett's first book The Speaker of the House of Representatives was published when she was a student in 1898. The second book The New State was published in 1918 in the midst of the Great War. The third book Creative Experience arrived six years later. Two posthumous books were published in the 40s: Dynamic Administration and Freedom and Coordination. These mostly featured her late-in-life lectures from after Creative Experience among business leaders.<br> The last chapter explores the fusion of horizons or intersectionality of the work of Mary Parker Follett for today's historical moment. In what ways can her “saintly” way be understood? The chapter investigates particularly where Follett intersects with popular scholarship updates in organizational communication. The dissertation then moves toward cultivating a "conscientization" of Follett for organizational communication. Lastly, the research looks for ways that Follett might be able to illuminate a little ethical way forward. The conclusions explore some of the reasons for Follett's relative hiddenness in organizational communication, then turns toward finding some of those reasons to serve as significant insights and impetus as to why Follett might be engaged. / McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts; / Communication and Rhetorical Studies / PhD; / Dissertation;

O objetivo de construir possíveis soluções para a crise ambiental mobilizou diferentes setores da sociedade e gerou demandas por atitudes sustentáveis e transparência no tratamento de informações por parte das organizações. Frente esse cenário, cresce a participação do empresariado no debate sobre o futuro do planeta. É nesse contexto que surge a Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), em 1997. Dada a importância assumida pelos relatórios de sustentabilidade, em especial pelo modelo GRI, revela-se fundamental compreendê-los como espaço em que as organizações se definem com relação aos seus públicos (BALDISSERA, 2008b). Nessa direção, a presente dissertação tem como objetivo geral problematizar os sentidos de diálogo atualizados pelo GRI-G4, em perspectiva da comunicação organizacional. Isto é, a intenção é evidenciar a potencialidade do diálogo para desdobramentos e implicações nesse contexto sociocultural. Dessa forma, adotamos, como referencial metodológico, a Hermenêutica de Profundidade (HP), proposta por Thompson (1995), que sugere a utilização de três dimensões de análise: análise sócio-histórica, análise formal ou discursiva e reinterpretação. A fim de compor a fase de análise sócio-histórica (THOMPSON, 1995), iniciamos nossas reflexões sobre diálogo a partir de Buber (2001; 2009) e Bakhtin (1992; 1999). Ao entrarmos no contexto organizacional, partimos dos estudos de Bohm (2005) para pensar as possibilidades do diálogo nas organizações Na sequência, discutimos a conformação da noção de sustentabilidade (LEFF, 2008) e a necessidade de mudança para a compreensão da sustentabilidade em sentido complexo (CAPRA, 2006). Utilizamos a técnica de Análise de Conteúdo (AC), proposta por Bardin (2011), para cumprir com a etapa de análise formal ou discursiva e analisar os relatórios publicados pela Alcoa, Fibria, Itaú e Natura, selecionados conforme critérios que serão apresentados no capítulo seis. Os resultados dessas diferentes dimensões de análise foram cruzados a fim de fazerem emergir novas percepções sobre os relatórios modelo GRI, atendendo à dimensão de reinterpretação (THOMPSON, 1995). Considerando os resultados encontrados, vimos que, de forma geral, há interesse das organizações em estabelecer relações com seus públicos, entretanto, as únicas formas possíveis de contato não permitem que sejam estabelecidas conversações e, muito menos, situações dialógicas. Além disso, atentamos para o fato de que, com base nos autores que acionamos em termos de comunicação organizacional, diálogo, e diálogo nas organizações, o diálogo – no sentido que adotamos nesta pesquisa – pouco se materializa no âmbito organizacional. / The objective of building possible solutions to the environmental crisis mobilized different sectors of society and generated demands for sustainable attitudes and transparency in the treatment of information by organizations. Facing this scenario, the participation of business people in the debate about the future of the planet grows. It is in this context that the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) arises in 1997. Given the importance of sustainability reports, especially the GRI model, it is fundamental to understand them as a space in which organizations are defined in relation to Its audiences (BALDISSERA, 2008b). In this direction, the present dissertation has as general objective to problematize the (s) the senses of dialogue updated by the GRI-G4, in perspective of the organizational communication. That is, the intention is to highlight the potential of the dialogue for unfolding and implications in this sociocultural context. As a methodological reference, we use the Hermeneutics of Depth (HP), proposed by Thompson (1995), which suggests the use of three dimensions of analysis: socio-historical analysis, formal or discursive analysis and reinterpretation. In order to compose the socio-historical analysis phase (THOMPSON, 1995), we began our reflections on dialogue from Buber (2001; 2009) and Bakhtin (1992; 1999) When we enter the organizational context, we start with Bohm's (2005) studies to think about the possibilities of dialogue in organizations. In the sequence, we discuss the conformation of the notion of sustainability (LEFF, 2008) and the need to change to the understanding of sustainability in a complex sense (CAPRA, 2006). We used the Content Analysis (CA) technique, proposed by Bardin (2011), to comply with the formal or discursive analysis stage and to analyze the reports published by Alcoa, Fibria, Itaú and Natura, selected according to criteria that will be presented in chapter six. The results of these different dimensions of analysis were cross-referenced in order to create new perceptions about the GRI model reports, given the reinterpretation dimension (THOMPSON, 1995). Considering the results found, we have seen that, in general, there is an interest of the organizations in establishing relations with their public, however, the only possible forms of contact do not allow to be established conversations, and still less, dialogical situations. In addition, we take into account the fact that, based on the authors that we operate in terms of organizational communication, dialogue, and dialogue in organizations, dialogue - in the sense we have adopted in this research - does not materialize at organizational level.

The research conducted in ‘The Internal podcast’ aims to answer how podcast could be used for internal communication in organizations and what its weakness and strength is. The study has gathered theories such as storytelling, affordance and sensemaking and combined them into a unique framework for this study. Based on multimodal analysis we have studied three podcasts content and content design to help answer the questions of the study. The three podcasts: Kackellackan, Fast forward and Radio Samhall all have their coworkers as the primary target group. From these podcasts the study analyzed at a total of 60 episodes (20 from each podcast). The results showed that all three podcasts have different content design that suggests multiple possibilities for organizations to form the content for their own needs. Because of its intimate and close character, it also suggests a usefulness for sensemaking in organizational changes. But one of the weaknesses that the result pointed at is the lack of interaction between producer and listener, because one key part in empowerment is the possibility for feedback.

During this session, participants will reflect on the pivotal points in their own educational process and select moments of clarity or misunderstanding which shaped the course of their academic or professional career. Whether positive or negative, these teachable moments made us who we are, and remain relevant to understanding how and what we teach. As a group, we will share some of our personal stories and discuss how to incorporate them into specific courses, how they demonstrate empathy in a relatable way, and what we hope to evoke in our students through this exchange. The handout for this session will serve as a template for participants to refer to, and build upon. This presentation relates directly to the conference theme of validating emotion as an intrinsic component of the educational process and specifically, to the concept of self-disclosure in Chapter 3 of Dr. Cavanagh’s book, The Spark of Learning.

Most formal training programs in librarianship do not stress the nuts and bolts of leadership and professional development. Understanding this process is essential for current managers as well as those interested in pursuing a management path. Using empathy as a starting point, I will discuss the simple, sequential steps of performing a self-assessment of strengths and skills, how to identify and remedy weak areas, and how to promote yourself in a reality-based, practical way which will benefit your community. This process is applicable to librarians of all types and all levels of experience.

This is the story of a financial literacy endeavor that sputtered, surged, and then died. While it did not succeed at my institution, I share the story and the resources in the hope that its successes and failures might be of use to others. Although I had already been a professional librarian for seven years when I took my new position as Graduate Research and Instruction Librarian at East Tennessee State University near the beginning of fall semester 2014, I had never worked in public services. Fortunately, I had been a teacher, received professional training in pedagogy, and was comfortable with the instruction piece of my job. “Outreach” was a little more difficult. For my first effort, I chose something I believed would appeal to a wide diversity of students: money.

Finding a mentor who works well for you can be both challenging and frustrating. Mentor-mentee matching programs are a great idea and work beautifully for some librarians in specific contexts. What happens when you outgrow, mismatch or need specialized or temporal mentoring? How do you understand the scope of your need? How do you get to the "why" behind building this relationship? In this program, audience members will assess their resources and needs, develop a short list of possible mentors for those needs, identify their personal goals and what they hope to provide a mentor through this relationship. Further, audience members will consider how to build an effective relationship with both accountability and an assessment plan to help both the mentor and mentee understand if goals have been met. Finally, time will be given to ensure audience members consider how best to share the skills and understanding they acquire through this relationship.