Browsing by Subject "Organizational Communication"
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Item Dispositional reflections(Texas A&M University, 2005-02-17) Brummans, Boris H. J. M.In this dissertation, I explicate how scholars implicate themselves in the subfield of organizational communication studies by engaging in antinomic language-games which make the conduct of research (and textwork in particular) possible. My analysis suggests that the studied scholars enact these games to understand a more or less common object of knowledge, but also to constitute a more or less identifiable position in this given social space. Reflection on the ontological complicity between these position and subfield occurs uncommonly, however. I illustrate, in turn, that this lack of reflexivity hinders discussion about the way academic research practices induce breaks with the social realities which these scholars are trying to understand. In light of this argument, and based predominantly on a translation and extension of Pierre Bourdieu?s ideas, this dissertation thus illustrates how the language-games of scholars in organizational communication studies sustain a limited practice of reflexivity and considers its effects on their production of knowledge.Item The Constitution of Highly Reliable Practices: Materializing Communication as Constitutive of Organizing(2012-10-19) Spradley, Robert TylerNational and international crises in the early 21st Century, whether natural, technological or man-made, emphasize the need for highly reliable organizations (HROs) to conduct emergency response in a relatively error-free way. Urban search and rescue units provide a pivotal intermittent role in these high-risk environments. Traditional HRO research focuses on a concept known as "collective mind" -- heedful interactions of responders that accomplish reliability. Rather than focusing on collective mind, this study uses a practice-based communication approach to examine the material interplay of bodies, objects, and sites using ethnography and grounded theory. In-depth interviews, participant observations, and organizational documents were coded and contrasted to find patterns in material interplay. More specifically, this study examines how these material features interact to orchestrate reliable practices through ecological coherence, a bonding of multiple forces to construct meaning and improvisation. The study has implication for HRO theory through focusing on the role of the body rather than emphasizing cognitive judgment in collective action. Collective body shifts the discussion of mindful processes to embodied practices and offers insights into the ways responders enact safety and perform responses in dynamic, high-risk environments.Item When Sugar Turns to Sh%&: Immediate Action Decision Making and Resilience in High Reliability Teams(2012-02-14) Wesner, Bradley ScottOrganizational scholars have long been interested in organizations which exemplify high reliability. While such organizational studies have provided valuable clues to the ways in which such organizations form and function, this paper argues that a more nuanced study of high reliability processes within team contexts is warranted. This study focuses on organizational teams which are faced with the challenges of maintaining high levels of reliability. Of particular interest is how teams manage adverse events which disrupt the team's process and how they make adaptations immediately to restore their functionality. In my dissertation, I: (1) explore the existing literature surrounding high reliability organization and resilience, (2) present a qualitative analysis of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams to explore and identify factors surrounding adaptation within the critical moment, and (3) discuss the implications of these factors in the theory and research surrounding high-reliability teams. The findings of this study find strong connection with the work of Weick and serve to advance and clarify previous characteristics associated with high reliability organizing; however, by using the small group as the unit of analysis for the study additions to concepts traditionally associated with high reliability organizing can be noted: (1) controlling variability during team function, (2) accepting the value of the unexpected, (3) continuous forward motion, and (4) the role of tacit and explicit knowledge.