Management Communication Quarterly

Organizations have been diversifying their workforce to better respond to fast-changing environments. However, research has indicated that the effects of diversity can vary by a number of contextual influences. This study examines the differential impacts of functional, geographical, and hierarchical diversity on expertise awareness, knowledge transfer, and knowledge acquisition during a large-scale organizational change. The analysis of full network data (N = 211) collected from a multinational high-tech organization demonstrated that (a) geographical diversity was negatively associated with expertise awareness and knowledge sharing, (b) functional diversity was negatively related to expertise awareness, (c) hierarchical diversity had a positive effect on knowledge acquisition and expertise awareness, and (d) emotionally close ties contributed to expertise awareness and knowledge sharing. The findings indicate that hierarchical diversity and emotional closeness can promote knowledge sharing when members face new demands in the midst of organizational change.

This ethnographic study describes how authority figures may unwittingly invite and co-create a team’s collective resistance in response to their actions. The study documents two pivotal organizational communication episodes experienced by two separate teams within a Collegiate Division I Athletic Department. A positioning analysis of the episodes revealed how a specific speech act (what we label “managerial inquisition”) partially facilitated athletes’ collective resistance to coaching staff. Our analysis suggested that coaches’ directives implicated team members’ identity needs and moral obligations to one another, which either encouraged or discouraged collective resistance to emerge within the unfolding discourse. This essay contributes to the team and organizational resistance literature by documenting how resistance can be co-created by management during control attempts.

As the number of workplace health initiatives grows, so does the variety of programming. This study examines a fitness apparel company’s attempts to promote a fitness culture through a particular brand of “extreme” fitness known as CrossFit. CrossFit is an intense fitness regimen that has generated controversy with a cult-like reputation. We looked at the evangelical promotion of CrossFit as a new corporate wellness initiative. Based on interviews and participant observations, we used a critical-interpretive lens to understand employee reactions to the extreme wellness initiative. The evangelical introduction of this program by management led to high rates of participation, influencing employee perceptions of health, fitness, and identity. Yet, we also found that employee resistance emerged, which helped to mark the limits of this managerial intervention in workplace fitness. Ultimately, the study advocates for more co-construction of workplace wellness initiatives.

Crisis communication research has largely focused on investigating crisis response strategies applied by a single organization when aiming to protect its reputation among key stakeholders. Little research has explored the interorganizational dimension of crises, crisis management, and crisis communication, in casu, the role of trade associations. Based on Rhetorical Arena Theory, this article examines two research questions: (1) How do trade associations prepare for crises that may arise for their member organizations and/or for themselves? and (2) How do trade associations communicate during a crisis involving one or more of their members and/or themselves? Do they speak with “one voice,” or do they pursue different strategies? The empirical basis for this research is a case study of how four Danish trade associations representing the clothing industry intervened communicatively when one of their members, Bestseller, faced a double crisis in 2011.

Multistakeholder issue networks have been characterized as power-free, egalitarian forms of corporate–civil society engagement. Using a communication-centered conceptualization of power, our study finds that potential sources of power subtly manifest through communication and interaction patterns in multistakeholder issue networks. Our results indicate that organizations’ institutional status and resources are significant predictors of network power.