Organizational Communication: Balancing Creativity and Constraint

Learn to balance creativity and constraint as Organizational Communication helps you become a better ogranizational commmunicator, particularly within conversatioms related to diversity, technology, ethics and the global economy.

Eric M. Eisenberg is Professor of Communication and since 2007 has served as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of South Florida.  Eisenberg graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Rutgers University in 1977 and received his doctorate in Organizational Communication from Michigan State University in 1982.  Dr. Eisenberg twice received the National Communication Association award for the outstanding research publication in organizational communication, as well as the Burlington Foundation award for excellence in teaching.  Dr. Eisenberg is the author of over 70 articles, chapters, and books on the subjects of organizational communication, health communication, and communication theory. As Dean of the largest college at USF―with nearly 600 faculty, 18,000 students, and a budget of nearly $100M-- Eisenberg has sharpened the focus of faculty work through the creation of 3 interdisciplinary schools, 11 interdisciplinary centers, and the identification of 5 areas of research excellence.  Even in the most difficult of economic times, he has been successful in recruiting world class faculty talent.  In addition, he has played a major role in the university’s strategic efforts to measurably improve student success through transformed pedagogy.  Working closely with faculty, staff, and academic advisors, he has successfully applied a combination of policy and process changes, course redesign, and intrusive advising to significantly impact rates of progression, graduation, and employment. Angela Trethewey is Professor of Communication and since 2014 has served as the Dean of the College of Communication and Education at California State University, Chico. Trethewey graduated, suma cum laude, from Chico State in 1988 and received her doctorate in communication, with a specialty in organizational communication, from Purdue University in 1994.  Before returning to her Alma Mater to serve as Dean, she was on the faculty at University of Washington and later served as Professor and Director of the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication at Arizona State University.  There, she was a founding and active member of the Project for Wellness and Work life and the Center for Strategic Communication. She has devoted her career to the study and teaching of communication, particularly as it impacts our individual, organizational and national identities.  As a scholar, she is the author of thirty articles and book chapters and three books.  As a leader, Trethewey routinely draws upon her training in organizational communication theory and critical research methods to help her analyze problems and opportunities, cultivate a culture of innovation, inclusion and participation, and foster the leadership potential of faculty and students.  Marianne LeGreco is Associate Professor of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. LeGreco graduated from Bradley University in 2000 where she competed for the national champion Bradley Speech Team. She received her Master’s and Doctorate from Arizona State University in 2002 and 2007, respectively. Dr. LeGreco is the 2013 recipient of the Service Engagement Award from the Organizational Communication Division of the National Communication Association. Her work focuses on food systems, discourse analysis, and community engagement, and her research has appeared in journals including the Journal of Applied Communication Research and the American Journal of Public Health. LeGreco has also played a key role in organizing the Guilford Food Council, the Mobile Oasis Farmers Market, and the Warnersville Urban Farm – all in an effort to promote vibrant local food communities. In both 2014 and 2015, she presented talks for TEDxGreensboro chronicling these experiences.The late H. L. (Bud) Goodall, Jr. (PhD, Penn State) was Professor of Communication in the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication at Arizona State University, where he also served as a Senior Fellow in the Consortium for Strategic Communication and as an affiliated faculty member in the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict.  He was the author or coauthor of many books and articles on organizational and strategic communication, narrative, and ethnography, Counter-Narrative: How Academics Can Challenge Extremists and Promote Social Justice (Left Coast Press, 2010), and with Jeffry Halverson and Steven R. Corman, Master Narratives of Islamist Extremism (Palgrave/Macmillan, 2010).  With coauthors Steven R. Corman and Angela Trethewey, their volume Weapons of Mass Persuasion: Strategic Communication to Combat Violent Extremism won the Best Book award from the Applied Communication Division of the National Communication Association in 2009, and his autoethnographic memoir, A Need to Know: The Clandestine History of a CIA Family won the Best Book award from the Ethnography Division of NCA in 2007. Goodall worked as an organizational consultant for over thirty years.  His clients included high technology organizations, educational institutions, and U. S. military, intelligence, and diplomatic services.  He was listed in Who’s Who in the Social Sciences and was the recipient of the Gerald M. Phillips lifetime achievement award in applied communication scholarship from the National Communication Association in 2003.