Gail Fann Thomas

The Central Role of Discourse in Large-Scale Change: A Social Construction Perspective

This article reconceptualizes the change process from a rational planning perspective to an interpretive perspective emphasizing the social construction of meaning. Discourse is viewed as the core of the change process through which our basic assumptions about organizing are created, sustained, and transformed. To illustrate the dynamics of meaning systems, examples are provided of organizations shifting from mechanistic assumptions to become more adaptive, responsive, quality-oriented organizations. Implications for researchers and managers are included.

Reconceptualizing E-Mail Overload

This study explores social processes associated with e-mail overload, drawing on Sproull and Kieslers first and second-order effects of communication technologies and Bodens theory of lamination. In a three-part study, the authors examined e-mail interactions from a government organization by logging e-mails, submitting an e-mail string to close textual analysis, and analyzing focus group data about e-mail overload. The results reveal three characteristics that contribute to e-mail overload— unstable requests, pressures to respond, and the delegation of tasks and shifting interactants—suggesting that e-mail talk, as social interaction, may both create and affect overload.

Conflict styles of men and women at six organization levels

Purpose –This study used a relatively large, carefully designed sample to provide a more detailed examination of the way conflict styles vary by organization level and gender. Design/methodology/approach – We drew a stratified, random sample from a national data base on the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument, selecting 200 fully-employed men and 200 fully-employed women at each of 6 organizational levels—from entry-level positions to top executives. This design allowed us to test for linear and curvilinear relationships between style and organization level, as well as to compare gender differences in styles across organization levels. Findings – Results showed moderate effect sizes for both organization level and gender, with negligible interaction effects. Assertiveness (competing and collaborating) increases monotonically at progressively higher organization levels, while unassertive styles (avoiding and 1 Portions of this paper were presented at the 2006 Academy of Management meetings, Atlanta, GA. The authors are indebted to Jenny Merriam and David Donnay for their work on an earlier analysis of these data, and to Dennis Hocevar for his statistical expertise on the current paper.

How Can We Make Our Research More Relevant? Bridging the Gap Between Workplace Changes and Business Communication Research

Some management scholars argue that academic literature is becoming less and less relevant to practicing managers. Thomas posits that the same will be true for business communication if scholars do not venture into the field and connect with those who “do” business communication. As organizations shift from manufacturing to service jobs, expand their operations overseas, manage “talent” more strategically, and alter traditional bureaucratic structures, business communication is becoming increasingly intercultural, virtual, horizontal, strategic, and change focused. Yet it is not clear that the business communication literature is keeping pace. Examples of Thomass work in interagency collaboration, electronic mail overload, and strategic communication demonstrate possibilities for gaining access and studying communication dilemmas that face practicing managers. Bridging the academic-practitioner gap is a way to build face validity in the business world as well as help academics to develop better theories ...Some management scholars argue that academic literature is becoming less and less relevant to practicing managers. Thomas posits that the same will be true for business communication if scholars do not venture into the field and connect with those who “do” business communication. As organizations shift from manufacturing to service jobs, expand their operations overseas, manage “talent” more strategically, and alter traditional bureaucratic structures, business communication is becoming increasingly intercultural, virtual, horizontal, strategic, and change focused. Yet it is not clear that the business communication literature is keeping pace. Examples of Thomass work in interagency collaboration, electronic mail overload, and strategic communication demonstrate possibilities for gaining access and studying communication dilemmas that face practicing managers. Bridging the academic-practitioner gap is a way to build face validity in the business world as well as help academics to develop better theories about workplace communication.

Building Collaborative Capacity: An Innovative Strategy for Homeland Security Preparedness

Recent events such as the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 against the United States and the national disaster of Hurricane Katrina demonstrated the acute need for interagency collaboration. Using a semi-inductive method, we conducted two studies with senior homeland security leaders to learn more about organizations’ collaborative capacity during the early planning stages. In study One, we used an interorganizational systems perspective to identify factors that create or deter effective collaboration. Study Two elicited vignettes from a second group of senior homeland security leaders to gain further insights into the ways in which their organizations are successfully building collaborative capacity.

Communication Apprehension, Interpretive Styles, Preparation and Performance in Oral Briefing

This paper introduces the constructs of interpretive styles from the empowerment literature. It proposes these styles as cognitive variables that shape communica tion apprehension (CA). We report an empirical study of oral briefings by naval officers. Results show that CA was linked to two interpretive styles: it was posi tively linked to deficiency focusing (the tendency to focus on what is wrong, can go wrong, and is wrong with oneself) and negatively linked to envisioning suc cess (the tendency to build mental images of succeeding). Results also show that CA diminished performance on the briefing, and that greater preparation was not an effective way of coping with apprehension.

Crowdsourcing Strategizing Communication Technology Affordances and the Communicative Constitution of Organizational Strategy

Disruptive environmental trends are forcing organizations to be more innovative in their approaches to organizational strategy generation. Rather than using a traditional top-down approach, some organizations are turning to open strategizing, which involves a large number of stakeholders who communicate in transparent, virtual environments. This study used a case analysis to explore one organization’s use of crowdsourcing technology in a move from a traditional to an open strategizing approach. Drawing on technology affordance and communicative-as-constitutive perspectives, we identified individual and collective crowdsourcing technology affordances for strategizing. Subsequently, we explored how the technology affordances influenced organizational strategizing. Results showed that crowdsourced strategy was constituted as multivoice, divergent, egalitarian, and inclusive.

Managers as Writers A Metanalysis of Research in Context

The argument is presented that managerial writing is performed within a unique context; consequently, it is important to review the extant research within that context to understand managerial writing. The literature is reviewed within the framework of writing context, process, and outcome. The paucity of research and the heavy emphasis on survey methodology expose the need for extensive research on managerial writing. Six general research questions are presented to guide future research efforts.

An Introduction to Strategic Communication

The article of record as published may be located at http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2329488414560469

Organizational Disruptions and Triggers for Divergent Sensemaking

In recent years, scholars and practitioners alike have sought to better understand the emergent communicative processes involved in the implementation of strategic organizational initiatives. In response, this article builds on sensemaking and sensegiving theory to understand the interactions that developed between internal and external stakeholders in response to a post-9/11 change in the Maritime Transportation Security Act. A detailed, emergent account of a failed initiative was derived from public comments in the Federal Register, transcripts from public meetings, newspaper articles, and semistructured interviews with key internal informants. In-depth analysis of these data allowed us to examine a divergent sensemaking process and identify four critical triggers that led to a communication breakdown: (a) unidirectional and parsimonious communication, (b) multifaceted understandings of organizational identities, (c) misaligned cues, and (d) an emergence of interorganizational sensemaking. A first-order analysis presents data from an in-depth case analysis, and a second-order analysis uses the analysis to develop a divergent sensemaking conceptual model. From a strategic communication perspective, our findings demonstrate the importance of taking a broad perspective of the legitimate participants in a sensemaking process, as well as reconciling sensemaking trajectories to avoid contradictions between perspectives. We offer implications for theory, future research, and practice.