Betsy Wackernagel Bach

Socialization turning points: An examination of change in organizational identification

This report identifies a gap between theory and research which plagues two areas of organizational inquiry, describes a method through which these concerns may be addressed, and describes a study which employed this method. Specifically, recent conceptualizations of organizational socialization and organizational identification view individuals as active participants in their relationships with organizations. Yet, research in both areas has over‐emphasized the organizations perspective and under‐emphasized the individuals. Turning point analysis is a method through which researchers may nisten” to participants’ points of view. It was used in a study reported here in order to help round out the relevant bodies of research. Retrospective interviewing was used to reconstruct the history and process of individuals’ socialization experiences over an eight‐month period. Fifteen types of turning points were identified. The results derived from turning point analysis are compared with conceptualizations of soci...

Are Mentor Relationships Helping Organizations? An Exploration of Developing Mentee-Mentor-Organizational Identifications Using Turning Point Analysis.

This study employed turning point analysis to examine developing mentor relationships and the association between mentor relationships and individual‐organizational relationships. Graduate students from three communication departments reported turning points which they experienced during the early development of their mentor relationships. Findings indicated that many turning points occurred of which have previously been assumed to occur in later stages of relationship development. Some types of turning points were associated with greater changes in identification with the mentors. Others were associated with greater changes in identification with the departments. Results call broad phase models of mentor relational development into question. Secondly, results indicate that mentor relationships are not necessarily associated with individual‐organizational relationships. Mentor relationships, then, should not be assumed to benefit organizations.

Constructing family: A typology of voluntary kin:

This study explored how participants discursively rendered voluntary kin relationships sensical and legitimate. Interpretive analyses of 110 interviews revealed four main types of voluntary kin: (i) substitute family, (ii) supplemental family, (iii) convenience family, and (iv) extended family. These types were rendered sensical and legitimated by drawing on the discourse of the traditional family. Except for the extended family, three of four voluntary kin family types were justified by an attributed deficit in the blood and legal family. Because voluntary kin relationships are not based on the traditional criteria of association by blood or law, members experience them as potentially challenging, requiring discursive work to render them sensical and legitimate to others.

An Explication and Test of Communication Network Content and Multiplexity as Predictors of Organizational Identification.

Communication network research has been criticized for being based on an atheoretical method with little explanatory power. Research on organizational identification (OI), although theoretically rich, has been criticized for the paucity of research which examines the relationship between identification and communication. This research used OI as a theoretical framework from which to study communication networks. Incoming graduate students from three communication departments specified the content and patterns of their communication with members of their respective departments and indicated their organizational identification at three points in time during their first academic year. Results indicate that (a) multiplex communication relationships are positively associated with OI; (b) these respondents specified an array of ten content topics rather than the three traditionally used by network researchers; and (c) OI is related to specific conversational content. Academic talk during initial interactions wa...

The effect of multiplex relationships upon innovation adoption: A reconsideration of Rogers' model

This study investigates the relationship between shared communication links and the process of organizational innovation. It was hypothesized that the nature and content of an individuals communication links with others could predict individual innovation adoption. Seven different communication link types containing single (uniplex) and multiple (biplex, multiplex) message contents (e.g., uniplex innovation, uniplex social, uniplex work, biplex work/social, biplex work/innovation, biplex social/innovation, and multiplex work/social/innovation) were identified as predictors of individual innovation adoption. Adoption of an innovation was measured by recording both time of initial adoption and extensiveness of adoption over a 90‐day time period. Results of a regression analysis provided no support for the hypotheses. The findings suggest a reconsideration of Rogers’ (1983) adoption framework.

The Organizational Tension of Othering

In this paper narratives submitted to this issue are reviewed and critiqued using the feminist lenses of othering and organizational irrationality. Four emergent themes in the narratives are identified and discussed, with the themes and the feminist critique of them used to provide a set of recommendations for developing researcher-IRB working relationships.

NCA Program Review Standards: Background, Application, and Data

Academic program review has become a consistent and integral part of the life of a Communication Department. Nationally, program review began as part of the assessment movement, and has taken its place as a regular feature in higher education. Program review generally has two purposes—to demonstrate program effectiveness and to serve as data for department planning. The National Communication Association initiated the development of program review standards for communication departments. After the National Communication Association approved an initial draft, a task force was formed to finalize the standards, to develop supporting material, and to gather departmental data to be used for comparison purposes. This article describes the background for the standards, discusses the application of the standards, presents the data gathered, and suggests application of both the standards and the data.