Andrew Herrmann | East Tennessee State University (original) (raw)

Books by Andrew Herrmann

From the beginning of Buffy to his recent foray into the world of Marvel, Joss Whedon’s examinati... more From the beginning of Buffy to his recent foray into the world of Marvel, Joss Whedon’s examination of how organizations work – and don’t work – and how individuals within their spheres of power are affected can be enlightening, even if obscured by the fact that his critique is couched in the fantastical realms of pop culture, with vampires, “actives,” superheroes, Scoobies, as well as regular people going about their daily business. It is my hope this book will help unpack and reveal what his portrayals tell us, not only about businesses and organizations, but ourselves as well from an organizational communication perspective.

Organizational Autoethnographies, 2017

I offer a narrative approach to interrogate the Exit-Voice-Loyalty-Neglect (EVLN), the psycholog... more I offer a narrative approach to interrogate the Exit-Voice-Loyalty-Neglect (EVLN), the psychological contract, and how organizational scholars conflate various issues in their research. What is like to live the process of quitting? And what can autoethnographic perspectives tell us about quitting, organizational trust, and the psychological contract between organizations and employees? This is a layered account of my workplace reality as an information technology professional (ITP) for a private university in the Midwest, a position I held for five years.To protect the innocent and the guilty (including me), all the names have been changed.

This text takes a new approach to autoethnography by using personal narratives to analyze our wor... more This text takes a new approach to autoethnography by using personal narratives to analyze our work across multiple disciplines and subdisciplines. These stories feature authors working at the intersections of autoethnography and critical theory within a given organizational context. Organizations are not simply entities, but systems of meaning. As such they are sites of cultural practices and performances, and of domination, resistance and struggle.? Working at the intersection of organizational studies and autoethnography, this book explores the ability of autoethnographic and personal narrative approaches to generate important, innovative, and empowering understandings of difference, discourses, and identities, while attending to the various powerful dynamics that are at play in organizations. These are stories of work, at work, and help to finally bring theory and direct exemplars together.

Popular culture helps construct, define, and impact our everyday realities and must be taken seri... more Popular culture helps construct, define, and impact our everyday realities and must be taken seriously because popular culture is, simply, popular. Communication Perspectives on Popular Culture brings together communication experts with diverse backgrounds, from interpersonal communication, business and organizational communication, mass communication, media studies, narrative, rhetoric, gender studies, autoethnography, popular culture studies, and journalism. The contributors tackle such topics as music, broadcast and Netflix television shows, movies, the Internet, video games, and more, as they connect popular culture to personal concerns as well as larger political and societal issues. The variety of approaches in these chapters are simultaneously situated in the present while building a foundation for the future, as contributors explore new and emerging ways to approach popular culture. From case studies to emerging theories, the contributors examine how popular culture, media, and communication influence our everyday lives.

In the early 21st century we are now at a point beyond “new” media. The theories that have domina... more In the early 21st century we are now at a point beyond “new” media. The theories that have dominated our thinking and research about media do not adequately describe our relationship to the interrelated complexity that technology, mobility, and media(ums) play in our everyday lives. While their backgrounds are diverse - spanning interpersonal communication, media studies, organizational communication, instructional design, rhetoric, ethnography, gender studies, popular culture studies, and journalism - in this collection, the contributors debate the relative applicability of existing theories and set out to develop a new approach: polymediation.

Table of Contents:

Introduction: The Beginnings: #WeNeedaWord - Adam W. Tyma, Andrew F. Herrmann, and Art Herbig

Chapter 1: I am you and you are we and we are all…me? Understanding Media and/as Context (The Road to Polymediation) - Adam W. Tyma

Chapter 2: Polymediation: The Relationship between Self and Media - Michelle Calka

Chapter 3: Rhetoric and Polymediation: Using Fragments to Understand the Relationship between “Text” and Discourse - Art Herbig

Chapter 4: Communicating, Sensemaking and (Dis)Organizing: An Existential Phenomenological Framework for Polymediating - Andrew F. Herrmann

Chapter 5: Ipsedixitism, Ipseity, and Ipsilateral Identity: The Fear of Finding Ourselves in Catfish - Jimmie Manning

Chapter 6: Polyreality - Robert Andrew Dunn

Chapter 7: Hashtagging Feminism: Tetradic Polymediated Activism - Danielle M. Stern and Chelsea Henderson

Chapter 8: Technology as Engagement: How We Learn and Teach while Polymediating the Classroom - Katherine J. Denker, Andrew F. Herrmann, and Michael D. D. Willits

Conclusion: Concluding a Book and Opening a Discourse - Art Herbig, Andrew F. Herrmann, and Adam W. Tyma

Papers by Andrew Herrmann

Journal Of Autoethnography, 2023

As editors of the Journal of Autoethnography, we spend much of our time critiquing and evaluating... more As editors of the Journal of Autoethnography, we spend much of our time critiquing and evaluating manuscripts. In this piece we offer some general insights about the evaluation process. We clarify the criteria for what we consider good autoethnography. We also include ideas and guidance for narrative writers. This is an OPEN ACCESS editorial.

Journal of Autoethnography, 2020

In this introduction, we begin by offering a brief history of autoethnography. We then explore wh... more In this introduction, we begin by offering a brief history of autoethnography. We then explore what autoethnography is and does. We conclude by offering helpful guidance for those who might be interested in submitting to the journal, beyond what you’ll find in the official submission guidelines. We do not want to be prescriptive about what autoethno- graphy is or how to do it—only to offer some ideas about the characteristics that distinguish autoethnography from other methods for, and orientations to, social research.

Journal of Organizational Ethnography, 2018

Introduction to the special issue of Journal of Organisational Ethnography on organizational auto... more Introduction to the special issue of Journal of Organisational Ethnography on organizational autoethnography. This introduction reviews the history as well as various forms, formats, and types of organizational autoethnography. It also examines dilemmas and future of doing personal and autoethnographic research in organizational contexts.

Journal of Organizational Ethnography, 2018

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to examine the rituals and communicative practices that simu... more Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to examine the rituals and communicative practices that simultaneously create community, out-groups and perceptions of stigma at a local comic book retail organization through autoethnography. As such this piece explores personal identity, comic book culture and how this comic book shop acts as important third place as defined by Oldenburg. Design/methodology/approach-Autoethnography allows for the simultaneous research into self, organizations and culture. As a layered account, this autoethnography uses narrative vignettes to examine a local comic book retail organization from the first person perspective of a collector, a cultural participant and geek insider. Findings-The term geek, once brandished as an insult to stigmatize, is now a sense of personal and cultural pride among members. Various rituals including the "white whale" moment and the specialized argot use help maintain community in the comic book shop creating a third place as categorized by Oldenburg. However, these shared communication practices and shared meanings reinforce the hegemonic masculinity of the store, leading the author to wonder if it can maintain its viability going forward. Originality/value-This autoethnography was performed at a local comic book shop, connecting communicative and ritual practices to organizational culture, hegemonic masculinity, geek culture and personal identity. It also argues that one need not be an embedded organizational insider to perform organizational autoethnography.

Political decisions about higher education and organizational decision-making within higher educa... more Political decisions about higher education and organizational decision-making within higher educational institutions reflect the acceptance of academic capitalist discourse, placing financial burdens on students, stress upon faculty, and the obliteration of trust between faculty and administration. In this critical layered narrative account, a tenure-track faculty member examines the impacts and influences of academic capitalism, including how this neoliberal discourse disregards the idea of higher education as a public good, creates an atmosphere of fear among faculty, and affects faculty-student relationships. This account illustrates how academic capitalism, with its emphasis on money and power, influenced decisions regarding a partnership with a software company, and of course, a rebooted football program.

International Encyclopedia of Organizational Communication, May 1, 2017

In an organizational communication context, hegemony denotes the consent of subordinated groups t... more In an organizational communication context, hegemony denotes the consent of subordinated groups to dominant organizational ideologies. For example, hegemony is created when the organizational policies developed by top management are adopted and enforced by employees at lower levels of the hierarchy, even if those organizational policies are adverse for the employees themselves. As such, hegemony is intricately related to power, ideology, and struggle.

This project expands root-metaphor analysis by examining the closure of a once popular social net... more This project expands root-metaphor analysis by examining the closure of a once popular social networking site, advancing critical interrogation of ownership vs. the idea of online spaces as “communities.” Participants used private sphere root-metaphors of home, family, and community constituting a space of intimacy, camaraderie, and care. The closing exposed previously unseen power differentials between participants and the company. Participants reacted by using the metaphor of war and violence to frame the actions of the company

Using complexity and chaos theory, this chapter explores polymediation through Weick’s model of s... more Using complexity and chaos theory, this chapter explores polymediation through Weick’s model of sensemaking. The sensemaking model connects existentialism and phenomenology, interpersonal and organizational communication, and the systemic and cultural paradigms of communication research. Weick’s theory of sensemaking is a promising tool for examining the complexity of polymediation. Analyzing the authors’ own Facebook conversations about ‘polymediation,’ this chapter shows how sensemaking works as an online organizational process.

In this chapter, we present the instructional principles that inform the design and implementatio... more In this chapter, we present the instructional principles that inform the design and implementation of a polymediated classroom. We describe instructional principles that guide the appropriate and effective use of media in a polymediated space and illustrate these principles via case studies. Finally, we present various methods of assessing learning and engagement in the polymediated classroom.

Modern stories are the product of a recursive process influenced by elements of genre, outside co... more Modern stories are the product of a recursive process influenced by elements of genre, outside content, medium, and more. These stories exist in a multitude of forms and are transmitted across multiple media. This article examines how those stories function as pieces of a broader narrative, as well as how that narrative acts as a world for the creation of stories. Through an examination of the polymediated nature of modern narratives, we explore the complicated nature of modern storytelling.

This narrative articulates the advantages of long-term autoethnographic logotherapy. I explore ho... more This narrative articulates the advantages of long-term autoethnographic logotherapy. I explore how the practice of long- term autoethnographic logotherapy led me to the point where I was prepared for my father’s death, and how that allowed me to let him go before he actually died. I propose that long-term personal narrative and autoethnographic writing are not merely a form of therapy and healing. Rather, it is a practice aligned with existential psychologist Victor Frankl’s conception of logotherapy, literally “healing through meaning.” Using vignettes, I interrogate canonical narratives about father–son relationships, especially focusing on troubled relationships, and examine standard notions of bereavement.

We ex􏰍amine the evolution of 􏰊the character Xander Harris over the duration of Buffy the Vampire ... more We ex􏰍amine the evolution of 􏰊the character Xander Harris over the duration of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and how his character􏰋's depiction of masculinity itself is an interrogation of the rhetorics and discourses of masculinity. 􏰊Xander is a male character who struggles with being a man in a world where being 􏰔the man􏰕 is not an option. 􏰊Xander Harris presents us with a depiction of masculinity that must manage how cultural conceptions of masculinity and femininity are linked to discourses of power and individuality.

Quest narratives are one of our most popular forms of entertainment, on television, in movies, an... more Quest narratives are one of our most popular forms of entertainment, on television, in movies, and in literature. Quests, inevitably it seems, mean returning home, whether that home is an actual physical place or a metaphysical one. All quests have an endpoint. We, however, no matter how we narratively understand our lives, are not embedded in works of literature. Our unified life narratives are fragments. They consist of the stories others told, and will tell, about us. They are created from the fragmented bits and pieces of our own memories. They are fragmented by and through the various roles we play in postmodern society. Our past is changed, and revised, and fragmented by the present. In a world where identities are fragmented, perhaps that disavowed and disgraced idea of modernity, the existential subject – one who acts, and thinks, and moves, and creates – is a useful fiction after all.

Departures in Critical Qualitative Research, Aug 4, 2015

In the life of Danish philosopher Sören Kierkegaard “the instant” had two distinct meanings. The ... more In the life of Danish philosopher Sören Kierkegaard “the instant” had two distinct meanings. The first use of the phrase “the instant” is the point of intersection of time and eternity. It is the split second of decision, and the flash of a personal revolutionizing vision: a decisive “glint of an eye” to live in the existential moment. However, The Instant was also the title of a broadsheet Kierkegaard published at the end of his life that directly attacked “Christendom” and the idea of a Christian Nation. Through a layered account using narrative vignettes, I examine how “instants” and The Instant by Kierkegaard impacted my ideas of identity, community, and Christianity, leading me to a place of exile.

Organizational Autoethnographies, 2017

Table of Contents:

Introduction: The Beginnings: #WeNeedaWord - Adam W. Tyma, Andrew F. Herrmann, and Art Herbig

Chapter 1: I am you and you are we and we are all…me? Understanding Media and/as Context (The Road to Polymediation) - Adam W. Tyma

Chapter 2: Polymediation: The Relationship between Self and Media - Michelle Calka

Chapter 3: Rhetoric and Polymediation: Using Fragments to Understand the Relationship between “Text” and Discourse - Art Herbig

Chapter 4: Communicating, Sensemaking and (Dis)Organizing: An Existential Phenomenological Framework for Polymediating - Andrew F. Herrmann

Chapter 5: Ipsedixitism, Ipseity, and Ipsilateral Identity: The Fear of Finding Ourselves in Catfish - Jimmie Manning

Chapter 6: Polyreality - Robert Andrew Dunn

Chapter 7: Hashtagging Feminism: Tetradic Polymediated Activism - Danielle M. Stern and Chelsea Henderson

Chapter 8: Technology as Engagement: How We Learn and Teach while Polymediating the Classroom - Katherine J. Denker, Andrew F. Herrmann, and Michael D. D. Willits

Conclusion: Concluding a Book and Opening a Discourse - Art Herbig, Andrew F. Herrmann, and Adam W. Tyma

Journal Of Autoethnography, 2023

Journal of Autoethnography, 2020

Journal of Organizational Ethnography, 2018

International Encyclopedia of Organizational Communication, May 1, 2017

Departures in Critical Qualitative Research, Aug 4, 2015

International Review of Qualitative Research

When I first began hearing ghost stories at ETSU, I realized something: the undead are bridges. T... more When I first began hearing ghost stories at ETSU, I realized something: the undead are bridges. The undead – those ephemeral beings in their multiple variations – are bridges between the seen and the invisible, the known and the unknown, the understood and the unexplained, mystery and science. A ghost tale can hold us together in the communal bliss of fear around a campfire. They can also pit us against one another. The undead are simultaneously the persons they used to be, as well as the apparitions they are now. They connect the past with the present. They – like the past – are dead, but very much alive in the present as they haunt places and people. They are somewhere “in-between,” having never completely crossed the threshold into whatever lies beyond. I realized my autoethnographic work is similarly haunted. Ghosts haunt the narrative and autoethnographic work of others too. Haunting, however, is not one-sided. Autoethnographers are not only haunted; they haunt as well.

Storytelling Self Society, Sep 2014

In the latter half of 2012 the communication discipline lost two pioneering scholars when H. L. “... more In the latter half of 2012 the communication discipline lost two pioneering scholars when H. L. “Bud” Goodall, Jr., and Nick Trujillo died within months of each other. That comes across as blunt, but we want to honor both men, who tended toward
existential truths, not obfuscation. They would appreciate the starkness. At the ages of fifty-nine and fifty-six, respectively, Bud and Nick died too soon, and we are still attempting to make sense of their lives, their work, their impact, and their deaths. It is an ongoing process. As new ethnographers, however, our impetus is to write stories about them, with them, for them, for each other, for ourselves, and for you.

On (Writing) Families: Autoethnographies of Presence and Absence, Love and Loss, Mar 1, 2014

According to Goodall (2005) a narrative inheritance “provides us with a framework for understandi... more According to Goodall (2005) a narrative inheritance “provides us with a framework for understanding our identity through” the stories of those who preceded us in our families (p. 497). Their stories provide context and continuity to help us understand our lives. Ballard and Ballard (2011) supplement the concept of narrative inheritance with the idea of “narrative momentum,” suggesting that family identity moves forward into the future through the narratives the family tells (p. 80). In this layered account, I question the hegemony of both concepts.

Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management, 2012

""Purpose - The purpose of this article is to explore narratives in a new nonprofit arts center. ... more ""Purpose - The purpose of this article is to explore narratives in a new nonprofit arts center. It includes the macro-, meso-, and personal narratives that keep the center organized in the midst of the chaotic everyday activities. It advocates the explanatory force of narrative as an alternative to organizational life cycle theory for understanding organizational startups.

Design/methodology/approach - This narrative ethnography involved participant observation, full participation, and narrative interviews over a three-year period. Using grounded theory, narratives were examined to discover how they engendered and maintained order.

Findings - This paper contributes to the understanding narratives as a constitutional organizing and sensemaking process, including the narratives of "Do It Yourself," and economic production, family and home, and personal narratives that constitute community, community boundaries, and identity, adding to our knowledge of organizing.

Research limitations/implications - The research examined only one local nonprofit arts center, therefore the findings are specific to this site and the same types of narratives may not necessarily be found in other nonprofits.

Originality/value - This paper examines a nonprofit during start-up. It validates support for the examination of organizations through narrative ethnography and narrative interviewing. It purports that narratives constitute social identity, rather than being the evidence of social identity.""

Qualitative Inquiry, 2012

""Failure, says academic culture, is anything other than achieving the ultimate goal of a tenure-... more ""Failure, says academic culture, is anything other than achieving the ultimate goal of a tenure-track professorship. More specifically, the epitome of success is a tenure-track job at a major research university. You're still successful, albeit to a lesser degree, if that job is at a liberal-arts college, and even less so if it's at a community college. But a nonacademic career, well, that's just unacceptable” (Kajitani & Bryant, 2005, ¶ 3).

Through a Foucaudian lens it examines the academic success narrative, and the discourses of success and failure in academe. This multi-layered personal narrative delves into the bi-polarity of emotions on the academic job market, and the consequences of using technologies of the self upon the job-seeking subject. Finally, it is a reminder that as much as we want control over the process, we have little, and must live within ambiguity.""""

Popular Culture Studies Journal, Oct 9, 2013

Nearly everyone I know has a relationship with something in popular culture, whether it’s Buffy t... more Nearly everyone I know has a relationship with something in popular culture, whether it’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer, amassing The Astonishing X-Men comics, or collecting every version of every Star Wars movie. Relationships and pop culture: couldn’t that make an autoethnography? This is a short version of my relationship with a band, Daniel Amos. I am not in Daniel Amos. I don’t know the members of the band (although I am Facebook friends with them now). I first heard them in 1982 serendipitously. Or maybe it was destiny. Either way, they opened my eyes to the wonders, doubts, and excesses of my life, critiqued my faith, and brought me joy. I feel like I know them, and they me. Thirty-one years after first hearing them, I realize our relationship is one of the longest I’ve had. We grew up and are growing older together.

Otherworldly dramas – from The X-Files, to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, to Supernatural – are now a ... more Otherworldly dramas – from The X-Files, to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, to Supernatural – are now a mainstay of popular culture. One show that preceded all of these by approximately twenty years was Kolchak: The Night Stalker. While there is a lot of lip service given to Kolchak, remarkably little has been written about the show’s enduring influence. Jeff Rice, by combining the distinctiveness and tropes of horror and detective fiction, created what is now referred to as the supernatural drama genre. Although the Kolchak franchise consisted of only two made-for-tv movies and one season, it set the standard for supernatural drama. This paper is an examination of Kolchak’s influence, as well as changes in the genre since its inception.

While the advent of backchanneling is a relatively new phenomenon thanks to the proliferation of ... more While the advent of backchanneling is a relatively new phenomenon thanks to the proliferation of new media, there is a long history of communication as play and subversion. This paper examines the history of such play and subversion through a number of theoretical lenses important to the communication discipline. As a thought piece it examines backchanneling as polyphony. In doing so it frames backchanneling through the related lenses of dialectic theory, bricolage, and carnival. It explores the relationship between the backchannel and the organizational grapevine. Finally, it theorizes the backchannel as another aspect of media convergence through active participation where the delineation between media consumer and media producer become blurred and sometime indistinguishable.

It is a well-known fact that Sören Kierkegaard critiqued official Christendom in mid-nineteenth c... more It is a well-known fact that Sören Kierkegaard critiqued official Christendom in mid-nineteenth century Denmark. Unfortunately, this attack is misunderstood, often seen as a either a quirk, or as an ineffectual theme in his opus. In this paper I suggest that the attack on Christendom was not only not a quirk, but a decisive discursive attempt to understand how we are to live in the existential moment of decision. Through narrative vignettes, I examine how the interrogation of Christendom by Kierkegaard reflects and impacts ideas of identity, community, and the church in contemporary America.

Scholars are reexamining the philosophy of existentialism and the manner in which it relates to o... more Scholars are reexamining the philosophy of existentialism and the manner in which it relates to organizational ethics and leadership. While this recombination is needed, two important communicative concepts are overlooked: Kierkegaard’s leveling and Heidegger’s falling. Kierkegaard and Heidegger considered certain forms of communication (idle talk, gossip, chatter, etc.) as important to the processes of leveling/falling, whereby the individual accepts taken-for-granted objective definitions of the self. This article examines the leveling/falling processes and how they interact with communicative and organizational socialization processes. The imperative for leaders is to recognize how everyday organizational norms can constrain employees and how an existentialist ethic engenders the opportunity for employees to act authentically in business.

Organizations and organizing play a critical role in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in regards to the ... more Organizations and organizing play a critical role in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in regards to the series plot and as lessons in morality. Using organizational communication perspective, this paper analyzes the various ways Whedon portrays, interrogates, and dissects types of organizations and organizational processes in BtVS. It includes an analysis of The Initiative and Watcher’s Council as exemplars of hierarchical and bureaucratic organizations. It contrasts these with the style enacted by the Scooby Gang (and to a lesser extent “The Whirlwhind”: Angel, Spike, Darla & Drusilla), which is a feminist, participatory, networked manner of organizing, and how Whedon uses The Scoobies to interrogate organizational power.

In “The Question Concerning Technology” Heidegger understands the concept and implementation of t... more In “The Question Concerning Technology” Heidegger understands the concept and implementation of technology as essentially linked to the question of the existence of the human individual (Dasein). The question for Heidegger isn’t one of dualistic thinking, but thinking about how we exist in the world. Media scholars examining social media, computer-mediated communication, etc., continue to utilize the devices of the great divide: orality, literacy, and secondary orality. In their attempts to understand new communication technologies, they have even come up with new terminology to explain this new reality: secondary literacy, tertiary literacy, computer-mediated orality, etc. All of these terms miss the point Heidegger makes by continuing the divide by dividing the pie into more exacting distinctions.

Southern States Communication Association …, Jan 1, 2005

“A view of identity as multiple and dynamic is more in line with the experience of living today (... more “A view of identity as multiple and dynamic is more in line with the experience of living today (Eisenberg, Building 540). Punk for me is not a type of music, a way to wear clothing, or a scene. My musical tastes have changed since the 1980’s. I own the Sex Pistols and Steely Dan, Johnny Cash and Francis Albert Sinatra, and yet I still consider myself punk. Punk is one of my primary identities, as it includes some of the most compelling and meaningful experiences of my life (Krizek 148). For me there is something to being punk that exists beneath the surface in all the various roles I find myself performing. There is a primeval energy, a disciplined ferocity and a restrained power in me that is satisfied only when I accomplish tasks on my terms. It is not, however, nihilistic, or violent. The DIY ethic is also ingrained within my identity. Punk comes through as a contentious debater, the need to be creative, the drive to produce something of value, to affect positive change, and my obstinacy when told by others what I cannot accomplish. It is not that I am into punk, but that punk is into me.

The managerial and the communicative dimensions of organizational socialization for new employees... more The managerial and the communicative dimensions of organizational socialization for new employees are widely recognized. However, aspects that move beyond the current and highly critiqued concepts managerial psychology call for further explication. To address the pressing issues within organizational socialization practices, we move toward a view of organizational positions and the socialization into these roles as constructions of Imaginary or Symbolic orders through a Lacanian lens. Lacan provides a unique critical examination of organizational socialization through both communicative and psychoanalytic understandings. This article proposes an interpretation of organizational socialization through the Lacanian orders of the Imaginary, the Symbolic, and the Real. This approach posits that the processes and outcomes of new employee socialization will undoubtedly fail as long as they remain idealized through language.

Central States Communication Association Convention

Employee workplace dissatisfaction is the subject of innumerable interdisciplinary studies. Curre... more Employee workplace dissatisfaction is the subject of innumerable interdisciplinary studies. Current research suggests that employee dissatisfaction is directly related to communication within the organization. According to current theoretical frames, workplace dissatisfaction is expressed by four distinct behaviors: exit, voice, loyalty, or neglect (ELVN). These models, though useful, do not attend to relational dialectics found in interpersonal relationships. Employees are often caught in relational tensions with managers. In this review, I will examine the current literature on ELVN and relational tensions between superiors and subordinates.

Central States Communication Association Convention, Jan 1, 2007

(This is a draft of the chapter Herrmann, A. F. (2015). Communicating, sensemaking, and (dis)orga... more (This is a draft of the chapter Herrmann, A. F. (2015). Communicating, sensemaking, and (dis)organizing: Theorizing the complexity of polymediation. In A. Herbig, A. F. Herrmann, & A. W. Tyma (Eds.), Beyond new media: Discourse and critique in a polymediated age (pp. 61-82). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.)

Researchers across disciplinary boundaries find Weick’s concept of sensemaking fundamentally important for understanding both individual and organizational activity. Sensemaking is the process by which message equivocality is reduced temporally through the communicative accomplishment of the double-interact. Unfortunately the methods of investigation into sensemaking activity often represent these processes as static, rather than as fluid. I analyze sensemaking through the lens of existential phenomenology, a philosophical basis which recognizes the individual as embedded in everyday activity. As such, sensemaking needs to be examined methodologically through narrative and auto/ethnographic research, which improve existential understandings of individual and organizational processes temporally.

Social Network Site (SNS) scholars claim identity and community are two important facets of resea... more Social Network Site (SNS) scholars claim identity and community are two important facets of research, asserting these online communities are in fact a form of Oldenberg’s ‘third place.’ Often overlooked, however, is SNS are major corporations, or subsidiaries of thereof. This problemetizes the concept of online community, or internet homes as third places for both researchers and SNS members. Through a root metaphor analysis, this paper examines the experiences of Yahoo! 360° members just prior to its closing. Yahoo! 360° participants used the metaphors of home, neighborhood, family, and community, which is at odds with terms used by Yahoo! such as strategy, service, and customers, reinforcing the business metaphor.

Educational scholars often use survey-based and statistical analysis to investigate how individua... more Educational scholars often use survey-based and statistical analysis to investigate how individuals are socialized into academe. This discursive and narrative project focused on intricate, detailed and lived aspects of academic socialization. Using narrative interviewing, this project reveals new faculty negotiating strategically ambiguous situations, self-disciplining to become “good” academics, and the consequences of the pursuit of prestige by universities on new faculty agendas.

Voluntary organizational exit is the least studied reaction to workplace dissatisfaction. Studies... more Voluntary organizational exit is the least studied reaction to workplace dissatisfaction. Studies that do exist are often based on organizational exit interviews, providing dubious results and overlooking the storied experiences of individuals who voluntarily exit. Using post–exit narrative interviews, this project examined the epiphanies and trigger events that led to information technology professionals’ decisions to quit.

Employees perceived breaches in the relational dimension of psychological contracts, including disconfirmation, perceived lack of trust by management, and loss of trust in management. An analysis of the narratives illustrates participants gave explanations, rather than accounts, suggesting quitting was not seen as a failure event. Speech act theory, the conflation of the term ‘employer,’ and how the concept of the psychological contract implicates power issues as future research possibilities and limitations are discussed.

Kierkegaard, Organizational Socialization and HRM 1 Running head: KIERKEGAARD, ORGANIZATIONAL SOC... more Kierkegaard, Organizational Socialization and HRM 1 Running head: KIERKEGAARD, ORGANIZATIONAL SOCIALIZATION AND HRM Kierkegaard, Organizational Socialization and HRM: Edifying Employees through the Communication of Capability Kierkegaard, Organizational Socialization and HRM 2 Kierkegaard, Socialization and HRM: Edifying Employees through the Communication of Capability Abstract This paper reviews HRM and organizational socialization theory, practices and research.

Popular Culture Studies Journal

A review of Reading Joss Whedon, edited by Rhonda V. Wilcox, Tanya R. Cochran, Cynthia Masson, an... more A review of Reading Joss Whedon, edited by Rhonda V. Wilcox, Tanya R. Cochran, Cynthia Masson, and David Lavery. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2014.

Reading Joss Whedon is not simply for those interested in Whedon or those interested in popular culture. It is an exemplar of how scholars can tackle the multi-variant works of one creator in our polymediated age.