A communications professional explores the role of a women's resource network in a large corporation /
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(Published version)
Date
2008
Authors
Bird, Shelley,
Editors
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Volume Title
Type:
thesis
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Abstract
Corporations largely remain male-dominated organizational structures. While there are more women in the workplace than ever before, there continues to be considerable debate over the career advancement progress of women at all levels in corporate America and elsewhere. This protfolio services to document contemporary challenges confronting working women that manifest themselves in gender-role stereotypes and communication behavior. It explores communication leadership, and aims to provide insight relating to organizational life from a critical and interpretive feminist perspective.
The researcher as bricoleur draws from different disciplines and methods of inquiry, as well as from professional practice as a communications professional, to explore the role a women's resource network plays in supporting American and Japanese female employees as they negotiate the organizational context of a large, multi-national corporation. As a reflexive practitioner, the researcher did not set out to test a theory, but rather to explore an area of inquiry and allow theory to emerge as the research progressed. Through the action research model of inquiry, this interpretive ethnographic case study illuminates the interconnection and impact of storytelling in sensemaking, networking strategies, and leadership. Findings also suggest that participation in the women's resource network contributes positively to the socialization and identity construction of members, as well as their ability to deal with the competing demands of different life spaces.
Moreover, aligned with the action research participatory process of problem solving and the production of useful knowledge, collaboration between the researcher and the research participants extended the original project goals to include the exploration of communication as a leadership competency and the role of the communications professional from an autoethnographic perspective. Additionally, and in keeping with the goal of participatory action research to provide something of value back to the participants, a booklet, entitled Membership has its Rewards: Participating in a Women's Network, was developed from the project data and lessons learned during this collaborative effort. A further outcome is a draft manuscript, Turn up the Volume: Leading Through Effective Communication, based on the action research data and on the experience, research and applied practice of the researcher, and aimed at the corporate leader who works with communications professionals and the communications professionals themselves.
Hence, guided by the imperative of a professional doctorate to be application-oriented, this portfolio offers a collection of essays and documents that reflect the collaborative and pragmatic philosophy of action research and the iterative journey that took place in the construction of useful knowledge.
School/Discipline
University of South Australia. School of Communication.
School of Communication, International Studies and Languages
School of Communication, International Studies and Languages
Dissertation Note
Thesis (DCommunication)--University of South Australia, 2008.
Provenance
Copyright 2008 Shelley Bird. This work is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Australia 3.0 licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/)
Description
viii, 317 pages :
illustrations.
Includes bibliographical references
illustrations.
Includes bibliographical references
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506 0#$fstar $2Unrestricted online access