Stories about the oil and gas industry are made for drama; these are tales of unimaginable wealth, unimaginable power, and oftentimes, unimaginable deeds. But what should we make of an oil and gas narrative without a blood feud or villain? This is the story of the Norway Model, a unique system of natural resource management responsible for this country’s transformation since 1969 when massive oil reserves were discovered on the North Sea continental shelf. After centuries of foreign occupation, the Norwegian government has built a thriving petroleum sector to fund its social welfare system beyond even the highest expectations; somehow, this nation of five million people grew from a poor maritime society to a global leader in environmentally conscious energy production with the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world. Despite these results, this oil economy faces new challenges in the coming years; as North Sea production declines, Norway increasingly looks north for fossil fuels in the Arctic and how these resources are discovered, produced, and regulated will require new innovations to ensure the sustainability of this welfare state. Thus, the next chapter of the Norwegian success story remains to be written and this dissertation explores how narratives about the past, present, and future of the Norway Model will shape the course of natural resource management policies. In presenting the case of Norway’s success from a narrative perspective, this research breaks new ground in both applied and theoretical territories. As perhaps the most successful system of its kind in the world, scholars and policy makers alike have much to learn from studying this model. But when it comes to understanding the dynamic connections between energy management, international policy, and global warming, positivistic models for prediction and causality have fallen short (Smil, 2005). In contrast, narrative can communicate nuanced meanings in complex systems of organization. Therefore, this research explores the connections between narrative and complexity, as well as the communicative applications of narrative for understanding and organizational decision-making. Overall, conceptualizing this model’s evolution as a narrative offers tangible entry points for understanding how one country’s story can change the world. / text

Diss. Uppsala : Univ., 2007.

Diss. Örebro : Örebro universitet, 2007.

The present study investigated the influence of receiver sex on supervisor’s feedback message choice, and the influence of the interaction between receiver sex and feedback message type on employees’ subsequent behaviors and attitudes. Participants (N = 45) included a representative sample from a reputable organization in the southeastern United States. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected using a survey methodology. This mixed-methods approach revealed that while participants in this study rated the overall atmosphere of the performance evaluation as positive and informal, the interaction between receiver sex and feedback message type did have a statistically significant influence on their perceived utility of the feedback message, retention of the feedback message, and motivation to implement the feedback. In addition, women in this sample reported receiving significantly different types of feedback than did men. Therefore, supervisors should ensure that both men and women receive more task performance related feedback messages in order to increase employees’ perceived utility of the feedback message, retention of the feedback message, and motivation to implement the feedback.

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.

This study investigated the experience of involuntary membership in U.S. and Norwegian prisons. The purpose of the study was two-fold: 1) offer a comprehensive understanding of the construct of membership, and 2) develop a substantive, mid-range theory of involuntary membership (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Merton, 1968; Weick, 1974). The research questions posed were designed to clarify the experience of involuntary membership and included: What facets comprise involuntary membership?, In what ways do individuals describe the experience of involuntary membership?, and In what ways does Norwegian involuntary membership differ from U.S. involuntary membership in a prison setting? In order to answer these questions, I conducted 62 in-depth interviews in the United States and Norway with incarcerated individuals (n = 41), correctional officers (n = 10), wardens (n = 3), and prison teachers (n = 8). The interviews were dispersed across four separate prison facilities. I took a grounded theoretical approach to the data and used the constant comparative method in my analysis. Participants spoke about involuntary membership in relation to 10 distinct facets: Activities, Belongings, Body, Communication, Mind, Organizational Boundary Management, Space, Sound, Relationships, and Time. In addition, the participants in the study described their experience with involuntary membership in relation to their 1) responses to, and 2) outcomes of the phenomenon. Similarities and differences in the experience of involuntary membership between the United States and Norway were also discussed. The three-macro themes in this study came together to create a substantive, mid-range theory of involuntary membership in prisons. In order to explicate this theory, I offered a Process Model of Involuntary Membership and subsequently elucidated the theory using a structurational ontology (see Banks & Riley, 1993; Kirby & Krone, 2002) or worldview (Kilminster, 1991). This study contributes to communication research and theorizing by illuminating and addressing the limitations of previous scholarship. Theoretical implications and future research directions are also discussed. / text

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.