Missing from extant conflict literature is an examination of both symmetric and asymmetric conflict ties. To address this void, network analysis was utilized to examine the responses (both symmetric and asymmetric conflict ties) of 140 employees and managers in four divisions of a large agency of the Federal Government. The study was limited to conflict over scarce resources. Conflict management methods were examined as well as the perceptions of how respondents both cope with and feel about conflict. The results indicate that when two people in a conflict setting are structurally equivalent they both report actions and feelings that are opposite from those of- the other person. This finding, an inverse contagion effect, has been termed diffusion resistance.

La información es un conjunto de datos que sirve para construir un mensaje, pieza clave de la comunicación. La enorme cantidad de información ahora es una realidad. Esto implica en nosotros una ventaja en procesarla; porque se tiene acceso al conocimiento, pero es también un desafío, pues puede generar problemas de orden y falta de habilidades para asimilar los datos. En ese sentido, nos hemos encontrado con la masificación de la información debido a la tecnología, dando pie a encontrar una forma eficaz de gestionar la avalancha del conocimiento. Asimismo, en el aspecto laboral, dicho fenómeno no es menos importante, debido a que la comunicación en las organizaciones genera bienestar en los empleados; sin embargo, en la última década, la búsqueda e implementación de herramientas de comunicación está desvirtuando su objetivo y generan un exceso de información innecesaria. Sobre esto, los trabajadores necesitan autogestionar la información que reciben para hacerla más práctica de llevar, aplicando estrategias oportunas que permitan contrarrestar esta tendencia; mientras tanto, muchos continúan conectados a sus responsabilidades laborales en horarios fuera del tiempo de trabajo, ocasionando problemas debido a que los pocos usuarios no cuentan con capacidad para atender varias labores en simultáneo. De hecho, resulta insuficiente contrarrestar sus deficiencias en la organización del conocimiento. En ese sentido, se proponen estrategias de gestión de la información, pasando de ser usuarios cautivos de la avalancha de información a realizar una adecuada administración del conocimiento para la mejora del clima laboral y satisfacción laboral de los colaboradores, contrarrestando el fenómeno antes descrito como infoxicación. / Information is a set of data used to build a message, an important piece of communication. The huge amount of information is now a reality, this implies an advantage in processing it in our lives; because not only that you have access to knowledge, but it causes problems of order of the lack of skills to manage the data. In that sense, we have found that the mass of information due to technology, push us to find an effective way to manage that. Furthermore, in organizations, this phenomenon is relevant, because the communication in the organizations generates despite other things, well-being in the employees; however, in the last decade, the search and implementation of communication tools is distorting its objective and generating an unnecessary excess of information. On this, workers need to self-manage the information they receive, to make it more practical to process, applying timely strategies to counteract this trend; meanwhile, the amount of employees to continuing be connected to their work responsibilities during non-working hours is growing, causing problems because fewer ones do have the capacity to attend several tasks simultaneously. In fact, it is insufficient to counteract their deficiencies in the organization of knowledge. In that sense, the information management strategies are proposed, moving from being captive users of the information avalanche to manage knowledge for the improvement of the working environment and job satisfaction of the collaborators, counteracting the phenomenon described above as infoxification. / Trabajo de Suficiencia Profesional

Though often seen as a panacea for organizational objectives, nonprofits must be judicious in deploying social media, particularly due to resource limitations. Nonprofits deploy many types and styles of digital texts, including social media. Classical rhetorical appeals can be effective means for achieving positive impact in that context. When used correctly, these ‘digital texts’ can be leveraged for maximum engagement with audiences. This study examines both a large, national organization – the National Sexual Violence Resource Center – and a small, regional one – Branch House Family Justice Center – for not only what sort of digital texts are utilized, but also how rhetorical appeals play into building narratives. A census of postings is taken, categorized, and organized. Findings suggest these appeals can and are used for strategic effect in nonprofit contexts. In addition to ethos, logos, and pathos, Kairos is drawn upon to construct organizational narrative in the pursuit of organizational goals.

In today’s complex society, organizational change is crucial for organizations’ survival. Previous research regarding organizational change has studied restructuration, mergers and cultural change. However, a research gap was identified in understanding a planned organizational change through the theoretical framework Four Flows. Therefore, a qualitative case study was conducted at an organization that recently changed from a flat to a hierarchical structure. The aim of the study was to create an understanding through Four Flows for how communicative flows at a digital agency, Digitalbyrån, changed in connection to the implementation of a new organizational structure. The methods used in the study were semi-structured interviews in combination with a qualitative content analysis. An organizational document was also collected for background information. The theoretical framework applied consisted of Robert McPhee and Pamela Zaug’s (2000) CCO theory Four Flows, and selected notions from Anthony Giddens’ (1984) Structuration theory. The results from the study showed that communicative flows at Digitalbyrån changed to a certain degree when comparing the communicative flows pre- and post-restructuring. More specifically, a moderate change was found in the flows membership negotiation, self-structuring and activity coordination and a significant change was found in the flow institutional positioning. Furthermore, the study showed that implemented change in an organization and change in communicative flows do not always change accordingly. Thus, the study demonstrated that actual change is constituted through the communicative flows, rather than being the result of the implemented change per se.

abstract: In this study, I used critical, qualitative methods to explore how the material and symbolic dynamics of milk banking complicate expectations of organizing and (in)effective lactation. Guided by theories of alternative organizing, in/voluntary membership, the structuration of d/Discourse, and corporeal commodification, I conducted document analysis, fieldwork, and interviews with hospital and milk bank staff and maternal donors and recipients. Results trace the (her)story and protocols of the milk banking industry and examine the circumstances of donation and receipt; the d/Discourses of filth, suspicion, and inadequacy that circulate the lactating, maternal body; and the presence or resistance of commodification within each organization. Milk banking occurs when mothers provide excess breastmilk to parents with low supply or compromising medical conditions. “Milk banking” is used as an umbrella term for different ways of organizing donor milk; organizing evolved from wet-nursing to a continuum of in/formal markets. Formal markets include for-profit and non-profit milk banks that pasteurize and/or sterilize breastmilk for Neonatal Intensive Care Units. Informal markets involve self-organized exchanges online that are driven by monetary ads or donation. Both formal and informal markets elicit questions regarding flows of capital, labor, reproductive choice, and exploitation. However, current research resides in medicine, law, and popular press, so we know little about how milk banking happens in real time or how participation affects maternal identity. My analysis makes four contributions to organizational communication theory: (1) alternative organizing punctuates the construction of and conflicts between in/formal markets and shows why such theories should be represented as cyclical, rather than linear; (2) membership in milk banking is unintentional and distinct from in/voluntary membership; (3) the obscured organization is a necessary alternative to Scott’s (2013) hidden organizations; and (4) d/Discourses of “safety” are used to discipline and indict, not just represent operational differences. Social-rhetorical implications reveal how milk banking operates as an affective economy (Ahmed, 2004) and mark where privileges and inequalities are present in the absence of data; practical implications suggest consideration of policy changes. Methodologically, this study also offers insight into crystallization (Ellingson, 2009) and participant witnessing (Tracy, forthcoming) and challenges the hegemonic underpinnings of fieldwork. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Communication Studies 2019

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the rituals and communicative practices that simultaneously create community, out-groups and perceptions of stigma at a local comic book retail organization through autoethnography. As such this piece explores personal identity, comic book culture and how this comic book shop acts as important third place as defined by Oldenburg. Design/methodology/approach: Autoethnography allows for the simultaneous research into self, organizations and culture. As a layered account, this autoethnography uses narrative vignettes to examine a local comic book retail organization from the first person perspective of a collector, a cultural participant and geek insider. Findings: The term geek, once brandished as an insult to stigmatize, is now a sense of personal and cultural pride among members. Various rituals including the “white whale” moment and the specialized argot use help maintain community in the comic book shop creating a third place as categorized by Oldenburg. However, these shared communication practices and shared meanings reinforce the hegemonic masculinity of the store, leading the author to wonder if it can maintain its viability going forward. Originality/value: This autoethnography was performed at a local comic book shop, connecting communicative and ritual practices to organizational culture, hegemonic masculinity, geek culture and personal identity. It also argues that one need not be an embedded organizational insider to perform organizational autoethnography.

This study investigated the relationships between organizational structure of client serving organizations and the job satisfaction of the members. The exploration of these relationships was conducted using a three dimension model of job satisfaction and seven dimensions of organizational structure. Data was gathered using interview and survey research techniques from 428 service providers within 42 social service agencies serving elderly clients.

The Group Process Questionnaire (GPQ), a 55-item rating scale, was developed by Richard Wollert in 1981 to assess perceptions of the frequency of processes occurring in self-help groups (SHGs). The GPQ was first employed by Wollert, Eakins, and Dixon (Note 1) as the primary data collection instrument in an ongoing investigation of urban SHGs. This investigation is one of a small number of empirical studies which have attempted to specify the range of SHG activities. Due to the relatively recent emergence of SHGs as topics of research, and the unique obstacles to research presented by the independent character of these groups, previous discussions of their methods of operation have been primarily theoretical and impressionistic in nature.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The US weather enterprise includes academia, the private weather industry, and government-funded forecasting, research, and dissemination agencies. While not an organization in its own right, the enterprise behaves like an organization of organizations. This thesis applies the communicative constitution of organizations, and McPhee and Zaug’s four flows model in particular, to the US weather enterprise. Each organization in the weather enterprise behaves like individual members of an organization would, which extends this theory to a conceptualization of organization that increases innovation, collaboration, and coordination. The weather is a constitutive force which calls the US weather enterprise into being. Finally, CCO is extended to other collaborative, coordinated efforts among the public and private sectors, indicating the possibilities of CCO as an attractive answer to the great organizational questions of the 21st century and beyond. Future research areas are considered, including how the US weather enterprise manages the unexpected and reduces uncertainty organizationally. Also, considerations as to how CCO can be applied to the incident command structure, often called forward during high-impact weather events, will be made.

The purpose with this essay is to understand what happens with the organizational identity at a Swedish municipality when employees work partly from home. The municipality we are focusing on is Uppsala kommun. Our research question concerns how Uppsala kommuns organizational identity maintains and recreates when employees partly work from home. The theoretical framework we apply to this essay is the CCO-perspective based on the Montreal School. We also use the theory of organizational identity and a theory that describes the concept of place. The method to gather data is qualitative semi-structured interviews with six employees at Uppsala kommun.  The results show that the employees at Uppsala kommun maintain the organizational identity through the valuebase, sense of belonging to the organization, how they compare Uppsala kommun with other organizations and how they communicate. Furthermore, non-human actors such as place maintain the organizational identity. These places were Teams, the home office and city hall that maintain the organizational identity. Finally, the results show that human and non-human actors recreate the organizational identity through booking meetings, trust, effective work and hybrid solutions. They create different ways of communicating, working and using the digital channels due to distance work. This contributes to society by gaining a greater understanding of how distance work impacts organizational identity. Partly by the importance of an office, but also its effects on coordinating organizations.