Kathleen Krone | University of Nebraska Lincoln (original) (raw)
Papers by Kathleen Krone
The International Encyclopedia of Organizational Communication
The International Encyclopedia of Communication, 2008
Annals of the International Communication Association, 2002
A large volume of research on emotions in organizations has been produced in the last number of y... more A large volume of research on emotions in organizations has been produced in the last number of years. This important body of literature has one major limitation: There is no recognized framework from which the literature can be viewed in a holistic manner. This article creates such a framework by reconceptualizing emotional intelligence using a communication orientation. To accomplish this task, we discuss the strengths and limitations of current conceptualizations of emotional intelligence, propose a new model of emotional intelligence, and then place the current literature on emotions in organizations within that model. In this way, both the constructive and destructive possibilities of emotional intelligence are explored.
Communication Studies, 2005
This paper began as a keynote address delivered at the 16th annual Organizational Communication M... more This paper began as a keynote address delivered at the 16th annual Organizational Communication Mini-Conference hosted by Western Michigan University. In it, I identify topical trends in organizational communication research, noting ways in which these trends are flexible, enduring, diverse, and problem-centered. I go on to invite current doctoral students to join us in developing these trends further. Specifically, I discuss how we might engage research in ways that sustain the vitality of the discipline as well as our own personal vitality. I conclude by offering a list of key articles that could serve as starting points in the ongoing conversation centered around organizational communication.
Culture and Organization, 2021
ABSTRACT The authors adopt a Tibetan cultural perspective (Buddhist core philosophy ‘nonduality’)... more ABSTRACT The authors adopt a Tibetan cultural perspective (Buddhist core philosophy ‘nonduality’) on the concept of organised dissonance and the four flows model of community organising. Working within the political and technological discourse of Tibet, we map out multiple dimensions of organised dissonance to explore how digital communication technology sustains the niamles. Our analysis highlights how niamle members live a nondual unity of the tension-filled four flows: (1) bureaucratic and technological negotiation of membership, (2) a hybrid, self-organising structure, (3) latent coordination of activity, and (4) contradictory institutional positioning. The study extends the interdisciplinary field of organisational and communication scholarship by examining grassroots organising in a culturally and politically complex international context.
Engaging Theories in Family Communication: Multiple Perspectives Engaging theories in family communication: Multiple perspectives
Page 313. 19 Structuration Theory: Promising Directions for Family Communication Research Kathlee... more Page 313. 19 Structuration Theory: Promising Directions for Family Communication Research Kathleen J. Krone Paul Schrodt Erika L. Kirby Editors' Note: Structuration theory originates in sociology. The theory sits at the border ...
Management Communication Quarterly, 2009
Journal of Applied Communication Research, 2017
The present study contributes to the growing body of research on workplace bullying by examining ... more The present study contributes to the growing body of research on workplace bullying by examining the advice targets receive along with their interpretations of its usefulness. Based on an analysis of interviews with 48 individuals from a variety of occupations, we identified a paradox of workplace bullying advice where targets described themselves as offering the same advice to other targets they had received, even though they believed following the advice either would have made no difference or made their own situations worse. We address the paradox by considering the possibility that urging individual targets to 'remain calm' and 'stay rational' overestimates the difference a single individual can make, downplays the significance of strong emotional responses to bullying, and constrains the ability to think and act with greater freedom.
Management Communication Quarterly, 2014
This study examined narratives targets of workplace bullying told about their difficult work expe... more This study examined narratives targets of workplace bullying told about their difficult work experiences along with how co-workers were framed in these narratives. Three different narrative types emerged from their accounts: chaos, report, and quest narratives. Co-worker responses of support or lack thereof were related to the construction of various narrative forms and the level of narrative agency evident in target accounts. The study has important implications for the difference co-workers can make in a target’s ability to withstand bullying and narrate his or her experience.
Southern Communication Journal, 1994
This research examined the effects of centralization of authority on employees' perceptions of th... more This research examined the effects of centralization of authority on employees' perceptions of the likelihood of attempting upward influence and their perceptions of supervisory trust and leadermember exchange. Three hundred and sixty-two employees from five different organizations responded to a questionnaire that assessed perceptions of centralization, attitudes toward upward influence, leader-member exchange, and supervisory trust. Consistent with earlier formulations, centralization was operationalized as perceptions of participation in decision making and job autonomy (Hage, 1980; Hage & Aiken, 1967). Results revealed that both job autonomy and participation in decision making significantly affect subordinates' attitudes toward attempting upward influence and the levels of trust and leader-member exchange they report concerning their supervisory relationship. The results are used to support the argument that centralization of authority acts as a structuring process in organizations to the extent that it constrains and most likely sustains variation in supervisory relational quality and attitudes toward attempting upward influence. My biggest problem is getting my employees to tell me what they think.-Middle-level manager, IBM In puzzling over why her employees resist sharing thoughts and opinions when invited, this manager is revealing that a supervisor who intends to be participative may still have difficulty acquiring needed information. Simply because employees are invited to participate in organizational decisions does not mean that they will do so. The privately held
New Directions for Student Services, 1982
Assessment can play an important role in student development progrumming ejorts, and the student ... more Assessment can play an important role in student development progrumming ejorts, and the student services professional must recognize when, how, and why assessment can be used in designing more ejectiue student service programs.
Women's Studies in Communication, 2000
In this study we interviewed 30 women managers to better understand ways in which they experience... more In this study we interviewed 30 women managers to better understand ways in which they experience gendered values and behavior in organizational leadership and their responses to those experiences. The results, based on a constant comparison, thematic analysis, indicate the emergence of surprisingly strong and similar perceptions among the 30 women that there are distinct feminine and masculine power orientations in leadership communication with corresponding sets of gendered values: (a) open/closed and (b) supportive/intimidating. Their most common responses were: (a) rejection of masculine power, (b) self-doubt and blame, (c) competence, (d) confrontation, (e) isolation, and (f) resignation. These women judge masculine values to be harmful, overpowering, and ineffective and view feminine values much more favorably, yet they see themselves as isolated in both their values and numbers. Focusing on this sense of isolation, we suggest renewed discussion of ways in which women managers can connect through support for one another, and we offer to that discussion a suggestion for action-oriented networking. Organizations do not exist in a vacuum, nor do their gendered practices. An organization produces, reflects, and perpetuates "the gendered arrangements of the material and semiotic world in which it resides. .. [and the] dominant cultural understandings of women and men" (Ferguson, 1994, p. 90). That is, the underlying hierarchical relationships between men and women in organizations reflect the broader socio-historic patriarchal system (Marshall, 1993; Mumby & Putnam, 1992; Sheppard, 1989). Values such as competition, control, and independence, which have been idealized and associated with men, play the same dominant role in organizations as they do in the larger culture (Marshall, 1993). Feminine values such as collaboration, sharing, and connection, however, define helper or subordinate (Ferguson, 1994). 1 Patriarchy, then, "promotes a particular understanding of gendered relationships, knowledge structures, and male domination in organizations" (Mumby and Putnam, 1992, p. 466), an environment that results
Women's Studies in Communication, 2000
Feminist standpoint theories are seldom used by researchers. One possible reason is the ongoing d... more Feminist standpoint theories are seldom used by researchers. One possible reason is the ongoing debate between postmodern theorists and feminine standpoint theorists. The debate has been constructed in bipolar terms such that the issues are perceived as mutually exclusive. However, bipolar assumptions are damaging to women, both in general and in organizations. We contend that feminist standpoint theories should theorize similarities, material reality, and communal agency while being sensitive to differences, multiple realities, and individual agency. A study of academic women is used to illustrate how standpoints can develop around similarities while respecting differences. Using a creative narrative, participants' organizational standpoints were developed around the common experiences of invisibility, overvisibility, isolation, energy dissipation, and a desire for community. Cultural differences, idiosyncratic differences, and differences in the evolution of a consciousness of oppression are discussed. Recently, several researchers in organizational communication have called for research using feminist theories in general (Fine, 1993; Marshall, 1993), and feminist standpoint theories more specifically. For example, researchers have argued that feminist standpoint theories could be used to understand and to change the nature of conflict in organizations (Putnam, 1990), to better understand the organizational experiences of women of color (Allen, 1998), to rethink organizational socialization (Bullis, 1993), to explore alternative organizational themes (Buzzanell, 1994), and to provide a better understanding of sexual harassment in organizations (Wood, 1994). With so many prominent researchers calling for the use of feminist standpoint theories to guide organizational research, it is disappointing and perplexing to find few research projects utilizing feminist standpoint theories. Allen's (1998) article analyzing her own ex
Women's Studies in Communication, 2000
In this study we interviewed 30 women managers to better understand ways in which they experience... more In this study we interviewed 30 women managers to better understand ways in which they experience gendered values and behavior in organizational leadership and their responses to those experiences. The results, based on a constant comparison, thematic analysis, indicate the emergence of surprisingly strong and similar perceptions among the 30 women that there are distinct feminine and masculine power orientations in leadership communication with corresponding sets of gendered values: (a) open/closed and (b) supportive/intimidating. Their most common responses were: (a) rejection of masculine power, (b) self-doubt and blame, (c) competence, (d) confrontation, (e) isolation, and (f) resignation. These women judge masculine values to be harmful, overpowering, and ineffective and view feminine values much more favorably, yet they see themselves as isolated in both their values and numbers. Focusing on this sense of isolation, we suggest renewed discussion of ways in which women managers can connect through support for one another, and we offer to that discussion a suggestion for action-oriented networking. Organizations do not exist in a vacuum, nor do their gendered practices. An organization produces, reflects, and perpetuates "the gendered arrangements of the material and semiotic world in which it resides. .. [and the] dominant cultural understandings of women and men" (Ferguson, 1994, p. 90). That is, the underlying hierarchical relationships between men and women in organizations reflect the broader socio-historic patriarchal system (Marshall, 1993; Mumby & Putnam, 1992; Sheppard, 1989). Values such as competition, control, and independence, which have been idealized and associated with men, play the same dominant role in organizations as they do in the larger culture (Marshall, 1993). Feminine values such as collaboration, sharing, and connection, however, define helper or subordinate (Ferguson, 1994). 1 Patriarchy, then, "promotes a particular understanding of gendered relationships, knowledge structures, and male domination in organizations" (Mumby and Putnam, 1992, p. 466), an environment that results
The Handbook of Communication Science
The International Encyclopedia of Organizational Communication
The International Encyclopedia of Communication, 2008
Annals of the International Communication Association, 2002
A large volume of research on emotions in organizations has been produced in the last number of y... more A large volume of research on emotions in organizations has been produced in the last number of years. This important body of literature has one major limitation: There is no recognized framework from which the literature can be viewed in a holistic manner. This article creates such a framework by reconceptualizing emotional intelligence using a communication orientation. To accomplish this task, we discuss the strengths and limitations of current conceptualizations of emotional intelligence, propose a new model of emotional intelligence, and then place the current literature on emotions in organizations within that model. In this way, both the constructive and destructive possibilities of emotional intelligence are explored.
Communication Studies, 2005
This paper began as a keynote address delivered at the 16th annual Organizational Communication M... more This paper began as a keynote address delivered at the 16th annual Organizational Communication Mini-Conference hosted by Western Michigan University. In it, I identify topical trends in organizational communication research, noting ways in which these trends are flexible, enduring, diverse, and problem-centered. I go on to invite current doctoral students to join us in developing these trends further. Specifically, I discuss how we might engage research in ways that sustain the vitality of the discipline as well as our own personal vitality. I conclude by offering a list of key articles that could serve as starting points in the ongoing conversation centered around organizational communication.
Culture and Organization, 2021
ABSTRACT The authors adopt a Tibetan cultural perspective (Buddhist core philosophy ‘nonduality’)... more ABSTRACT The authors adopt a Tibetan cultural perspective (Buddhist core philosophy ‘nonduality’) on the concept of organised dissonance and the four flows model of community organising. Working within the political and technological discourse of Tibet, we map out multiple dimensions of organised dissonance to explore how digital communication technology sustains the niamles. Our analysis highlights how niamle members live a nondual unity of the tension-filled four flows: (1) bureaucratic and technological negotiation of membership, (2) a hybrid, self-organising structure, (3) latent coordination of activity, and (4) contradictory institutional positioning. The study extends the interdisciplinary field of organisational and communication scholarship by examining grassroots organising in a culturally and politically complex international context.
Engaging Theories in Family Communication: Multiple Perspectives Engaging theories in family communication: Multiple perspectives
Page 313. 19 Structuration Theory: Promising Directions for Family Communication Research Kathlee... more Page 313. 19 Structuration Theory: Promising Directions for Family Communication Research Kathleen J. Krone Paul Schrodt Erika L. Kirby Editors' Note: Structuration theory originates in sociology. The theory sits at the border ...
Management Communication Quarterly, 2009
Journal of Applied Communication Research, 2017
The present study contributes to the growing body of research on workplace bullying by examining ... more The present study contributes to the growing body of research on workplace bullying by examining the advice targets receive along with their interpretations of its usefulness. Based on an analysis of interviews with 48 individuals from a variety of occupations, we identified a paradox of workplace bullying advice where targets described themselves as offering the same advice to other targets they had received, even though they believed following the advice either would have made no difference or made their own situations worse. We address the paradox by considering the possibility that urging individual targets to 'remain calm' and 'stay rational' overestimates the difference a single individual can make, downplays the significance of strong emotional responses to bullying, and constrains the ability to think and act with greater freedom.
Management Communication Quarterly, 2014
This study examined narratives targets of workplace bullying told about their difficult work expe... more This study examined narratives targets of workplace bullying told about their difficult work experiences along with how co-workers were framed in these narratives. Three different narrative types emerged from their accounts: chaos, report, and quest narratives. Co-worker responses of support or lack thereof were related to the construction of various narrative forms and the level of narrative agency evident in target accounts. The study has important implications for the difference co-workers can make in a target’s ability to withstand bullying and narrate his or her experience.
Southern Communication Journal, 1994
This research examined the effects of centralization of authority on employees' perceptions of th... more This research examined the effects of centralization of authority on employees' perceptions of the likelihood of attempting upward influence and their perceptions of supervisory trust and leadermember exchange. Three hundred and sixty-two employees from five different organizations responded to a questionnaire that assessed perceptions of centralization, attitudes toward upward influence, leader-member exchange, and supervisory trust. Consistent with earlier formulations, centralization was operationalized as perceptions of participation in decision making and job autonomy (Hage, 1980; Hage & Aiken, 1967). Results revealed that both job autonomy and participation in decision making significantly affect subordinates' attitudes toward attempting upward influence and the levels of trust and leader-member exchange they report concerning their supervisory relationship. The results are used to support the argument that centralization of authority acts as a structuring process in organizations to the extent that it constrains and most likely sustains variation in supervisory relational quality and attitudes toward attempting upward influence. My biggest problem is getting my employees to tell me what they think.-Middle-level manager, IBM In puzzling over why her employees resist sharing thoughts and opinions when invited, this manager is revealing that a supervisor who intends to be participative may still have difficulty acquiring needed information. Simply because employees are invited to participate in organizational decisions does not mean that they will do so. The privately held
New Directions for Student Services, 1982
Assessment can play an important role in student development progrumming ejorts, and the student ... more Assessment can play an important role in student development progrumming ejorts, and the student services professional must recognize when, how, and why assessment can be used in designing more ejectiue student service programs.
Women's Studies in Communication, 2000
In this study we interviewed 30 women managers to better understand ways in which they experience... more In this study we interviewed 30 women managers to better understand ways in which they experience gendered values and behavior in organizational leadership and their responses to those experiences. The results, based on a constant comparison, thematic analysis, indicate the emergence of surprisingly strong and similar perceptions among the 30 women that there are distinct feminine and masculine power orientations in leadership communication with corresponding sets of gendered values: (a) open/closed and (b) supportive/intimidating. Their most common responses were: (a) rejection of masculine power, (b) self-doubt and blame, (c) competence, (d) confrontation, (e) isolation, and (f) resignation. These women judge masculine values to be harmful, overpowering, and ineffective and view feminine values much more favorably, yet they see themselves as isolated in both their values and numbers. Focusing on this sense of isolation, we suggest renewed discussion of ways in which women managers can connect through support for one another, and we offer to that discussion a suggestion for action-oriented networking. Organizations do not exist in a vacuum, nor do their gendered practices. An organization produces, reflects, and perpetuates "the gendered arrangements of the material and semiotic world in which it resides. .. [and the] dominant cultural understandings of women and men" (Ferguson, 1994, p. 90). That is, the underlying hierarchical relationships between men and women in organizations reflect the broader socio-historic patriarchal system (Marshall, 1993; Mumby & Putnam, 1992; Sheppard, 1989). Values such as competition, control, and independence, which have been idealized and associated with men, play the same dominant role in organizations as they do in the larger culture (Marshall, 1993). Feminine values such as collaboration, sharing, and connection, however, define helper or subordinate (Ferguson, 1994). 1 Patriarchy, then, "promotes a particular understanding of gendered relationships, knowledge structures, and male domination in organizations" (Mumby and Putnam, 1992, p. 466), an environment that results
Women's Studies in Communication, 2000
Feminist standpoint theories are seldom used by researchers. One possible reason is the ongoing d... more Feminist standpoint theories are seldom used by researchers. One possible reason is the ongoing debate between postmodern theorists and feminine standpoint theorists. The debate has been constructed in bipolar terms such that the issues are perceived as mutually exclusive. However, bipolar assumptions are damaging to women, both in general and in organizations. We contend that feminist standpoint theories should theorize similarities, material reality, and communal agency while being sensitive to differences, multiple realities, and individual agency. A study of academic women is used to illustrate how standpoints can develop around similarities while respecting differences. Using a creative narrative, participants' organizational standpoints were developed around the common experiences of invisibility, overvisibility, isolation, energy dissipation, and a desire for community. Cultural differences, idiosyncratic differences, and differences in the evolution of a consciousness of oppression are discussed. Recently, several researchers in organizational communication have called for research using feminist theories in general (Fine, 1993; Marshall, 1993), and feminist standpoint theories more specifically. For example, researchers have argued that feminist standpoint theories could be used to understand and to change the nature of conflict in organizations (Putnam, 1990), to better understand the organizational experiences of women of color (Allen, 1998), to rethink organizational socialization (Bullis, 1993), to explore alternative organizational themes (Buzzanell, 1994), and to provide a better understanding of sexual harassment in organizations (Wood, 1994). With so many prominent researchers calling for the use of feminist standpoint theories to guide organizational research, it is disappointing and perplexing to find few research projects utilizing feminist standpoint theories. Allen's (1998) article analyzing her own ex
Women's Studies in Communication, 2000
In this study we interviewed 30 women managers to better understand ways in which they experience... more In this study we interviewed 30 women managers to better understand ways in which they experience gendered values and behavior in organizational leadership and their responses to those experiences. The results, based on a constant comparison, thematic analysis, indicate the emergence of surprisingly strong and similar perceptions among the 30 women that there are distinct feminine and masculine power orientations in leadership communication with corresponding sets of gendered values: (a) open/closed and (b) supportive/intimidating. Their most common responses were: (a) rejection of masculine power, (b) self-doubt and blame, (c) competence, (d) confrontation, (e) isolation, and (f) resignation. These women judge masculine values to be harmful, overpowering, and ineffective and view feminine values much more favorably, yet they see themselves as isolated in both their values and numbers. Focusing on this sense of isolation, we suggest renewed discussion of ways in which women managers can connect through support for one another, and we offer to that discussion a suggestion for action-oriented networking. Organizations do not exist in a vacuum, nor do their gendered practices. An organization produces, reflects, and perpetuates "the gendered arrangements of the material and semiotic world in which it resides. .. [and the] dominant cultural understandings of women and men" (Ferguson, 1994, p. 90). That is, the underlying hierarchical relationships between men and women in organizations reflect the broader socio-historic patriarchal system (Marshall, 1993; Mumby & Putnam, 1992; Sheppard, 1989). Values such as competition, control, and independence, which have been idealized and associated with men, play the same dominant role in organizations as they do in the larger culture (Marshall, 1993). Feminine values such as collaboration, sharing, and connection, however, define helper or subordinate (Ferguson, 1994). 1 Patriarchy, then, "promotes a particular understanding of gendered relationships, knowledge structures, and male domination in organizations" (Mumby and Putnam, 1992, p. 466), an environment that results
The Handbook of Communication Science