Michael W Kramer
Biographic Data
| ID | 175829 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Michael W Kramer |
| GIVEN NAMES | Michael W |
| FAMILY NAME | Kramer |
| SIGNATURE | KRAMER M W |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Missouri |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8666-8631 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 23 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 86 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1993 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Communicating Cultism in the Media: Discursive Sense-Giving of Cult Status
The term cult has been variously applied to contemporary groups and organizations, marking them as unusual or frightening. Scholarly literature has yet to settle on a concrete conceptualization of cults and reveals little about the communicative processes by which the stigmatizing name becomes attached to certain groups. This study utilizes a constant comparison method to assess qualities associated with groups regularly labeled as cults in the p…
Managing “Who I Am”: An Exploration of Chinese Employees’ Identity Tension Management Strategies in MNCs
This exploratory qualitative study aims to examine Chinese employees’ identity tensions in multinational companies (MNCs) in China, more specifically, how Chinese business professionals communicate to organize various identities while managing identity tensions from a cultural insider’s perspective. Guided by a grounded theory approach, 20 in-depth individual interviews with Chinese employees in MNCs revealed four identity tensions: work-life ide…
“We Work in International Companies”: Affordances of Communication Media in Chinese Employees’ Organizational Socialization
This research examined how Chinese employees in international companies perceived and enacted affordances of communication technologies, including social media, during organizational socialization. An analysis of interview data from 25 Chinese employees working in international companies in China revealed that social media affordances contributed to diversification of Chinese newcomers’ organizational learning and deepened as well as constrained …
Social media affordances in entry‐level employees’ socialization: Employee agency in the management of their professional impressions and vulnerability during early stages of socialization
This study examined how entry‐level employees interacted with social media during three stages of organizational socialization. They navigated between four different media affordances (persistence, editability, visibility, and association) while experiencing them as both enabling and constraining in different socialization stages. Qualitative interview data analysis revealed during anticipatory socialization, job applicants realized visibility an…
Leadership in an interorganizational collaboration: A qualitative study of a statewide interagency taskforce
The increased reliance on interorganizational collaborations (ICs) has created new challenges for leaders. They must attempt to apply leadership theories and behaviors developed primarily for leading within one organization or group to leading collaborations of multiple organizations and stakeholders. To provide insight into this issue, this study examines leadership behavior in an IC developing a strategic plan to promote changes to address publ…
Scaling up to institutional entrepreneurship: A life history of an elite training gymnastics organization
This organizational life history documents how the founder of an elite gymnastics training organization led her organizational members to resist what she deemed to be unethical institutional influences prior to working toward changing those institutional practices. The study contributes the idea that institutional resistance leadership at the team and organizational levels can precede disruptive institutional entrepreneurship activities at the in…
Volunteering and Communication – Volume 2: Studies in International and Intercultural Contexts
Case Studies of Nonprofit Organizations and Volunteers
Toward a Communication Model for the Socialization of Voluntary Members
Because most socialization/assimilation research focuses on employment as the primary membership role in groups and organizations, the accompanying models have failed to consider the unique characteristics of voluntary membership. In addition, those models have been criticized for being too linear and based on concepts of organizations as containers. Using principles of the bona fide group perspective and a case study, this paper develops a model…
It Depends on Your Criteria
Additional informationNotes on contributorsMichael W. KramerMichael W. Kramer serves as chair of the Department of Communication, University of Oklahoma
Language Convergence and Meaning Divergence: A Meaning Centered Communication Theory
Some communication theories have explored the processes of language convergence, but comparatively little attention has explored the ways meaning systems diverge while converging on the same set of symbols. To examine this process, a grounded theory study of social-sexual behavior in the workplace was conducted. The Language Convergence/Meaning Divergence (LC/MD) theory emerged from the analysis. LC/MD processes identified in the analysis include…
The Year of the Newborns: A Department Chair's Reflections
In September 2006, a newly hired tenure track faculty member informed me that she was expecting a child in March. During the next few months, three more faculty members told me that they were expecting in May, June, and August. Fully two-thirds of the faculty women were pregnant at the same time. We jokingly wondered if it was the water. I understood the importance of supporting these faculty members during this time. Research suggests that a com…
We Do Babies! The Trials, Tribulations, and Triumphs of Pregnancy and Parenting in the Academy
The most awkward moment at that faculty meeting occurred when a certain senior colleague in the department replied, Well, when my wife was pregnant, she gave birth during spring break and didn't miss a day of class. Despite backstage reassurances that these were unrealistic expectations, those who were pregnant experienced an unspoken pressure that failure to minimize the interference of impending parenthood on their careers threatened public imp…
Reflections on a Century of Living: Gendered Differences in Mainstream Popular Songs∗
The study of popular music developed in part to correct the elitist dismissal of the popular and to validate popular music as a legitimate object of inquiry. Despite this, there is little popular music research that focuses on the most mainstream popular music. In this study we call for a return to the examination of the most mainstream popular songs and music videos through a preliminary investigation of two concurrent hits from the Adult Contem…
Communication in a Fund-Raising Marathon Group
Journal Article Communication in a Fund-Raising Marathon Group Get access Michael W. Kramer Michael W. Kramer 1Michael W. Kramer (PhD, 1991, University of Texas at Austin) is an associate professor and chair of the Department of Communication at the University of Missouri Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of Communication, Volume 55, Issue 2, June 2005, Pages 257–276, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2…
Managing Uncertainty During a Corporate Acquisition: A Longitudinal Study of Communication During an Airline Acquisition
This study examined pilots' (N at T1 = 140; N at T2 = 126; N at T3 = 104) reactions to communication and uncertainty during the acquisition of their airline by another airline. Quantitative results indicate that communication helped to reduce uncertainty and was predictive of affective responses to the acquisition. However, contrary to expectations, reductions in uncertainty did not lead to more positive affective responses. In addition, while pi…
Toward a communication theory of group dialectics: An ethnographic study of a community theater group
A dialectical perspective recognizes that there are tensions between oppositions in human interaction such as the need for independence and the need for dependence. This approach has been instrumental in exploring the dialectical tensions and coping strategies individuals use in interpersonal contexts. This ethnographic study utilized a dialectical perspective to examine group communication in a community theater group. The results revealed 11 sp…
A response to criticisms of organizational socialization research: In support of contemporary conceptualizations of organizational assimilation
This essay is a response to a growing body of literature that is critical of tradition conceptualizations of organizational socialization (Bullis, 1993; Clair, 1996; Smith & Turner, 1995). First, it examines how these critics have failed to adequately appreciate conceptual distinctions made by contemporary socialization and assimilation researchers. While recognizing that these scholars have made contributions, it then points to problems in their…
A reply to Bullis, Turner, and Clair
A Longitudinal Study of Peer Communication During Job Transfers The Impact of Frequency, Quality, and Network Multiplexity on Adjustment
This longitudinal research examines the impact of peer communication on transferees moving from one location to another within organizations. Based on uncertainty reduction theory, it examines the impact of the frequency of peer communication, the quality of peer communication, and network multiplexity on transferees'adjustment to their new positions. Results suggest that the quality of peer communication is associated with positive adjustment af…
A Longitudinal Study of Superior-Subordinate Communication During Job Transfers
Based on an assimilation perspective and leader-member exchange model, this study explores superior-subordinate communication during job transfers. Using a longitudinal research design of questionnaires and brief interviews, the study examines the impact of supervisor communication on transferees during their first year at new locations. Results suggest that supervisor relationships have a significant impact on the feedback and social support tra…
Communication and uncertainty reduction during job transfers: Leaving and joining processes
Based on uncertainty reduction theory and a job transfer model, this longitudinal study explores the process by which communication facilitates the adjustment process for employees who transfer to new locations in the same organizations. Content analyses of interview data provided descriptions of the communication processes transferees use as they loosen relationships with coworkers at their old locations and develop relationships with coworkers …
Communication After Job Transfers: Social Exchange Processes in Learning New Roles
Journal Article Communication After Job Transfers: Social Exchange Processes in Learning New Roles Get access Michael W. Kramer Michael W. Kramer 1Michael W. Kramer is Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Missouri— Columbia Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Human Communication Research, Volume 20, Issue 2, December 1993, Pages 147–174, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.1993.tb00319.x P…
A Longitudinal Study of Superior-Subordinate Communication During Job Transfers
Based on an assimilation perspective and leader-member exchange model, this study explores superior-subordinate communication during job transfers. Using a longitudinal research design of questionnaires and brief interviews, the study examines the impact of supervisor communication on transferees during their first year at new locations. Results suggest that supervisor relationships have a significant impact on the feedback and social support tra…
Toward a communication theory of group dialectics: An ethnographic study of a community theater group
A dialectical perspective recognizes that there are tensions between oppositions in human interaction such as the need for independence and the need for dependence. This approach has been instrumental in exploring the dialectical tensions and coping strategies individuals use in interpersonal contexts. This ethnographic study utilized a dialectical perspective to examine group communication in a community theater group. The results revealed 11 sp…
Communication and uncertainty reduction during job transfers: Leaving and joining processes
Based on uncertainty reduction theory and a job transfer model, this longitudinal study explores the process by which communication facilitates the adjustment process for employees who transfer to new locations in the same organizations. Content analyses of interview data provided descriptions of the communication processes transferees use as they loosen relationships with coworkers at their old locations and develop relationships with coworkers …
A response to criticisms of organizational socialization research: In support of contemporary conceptualizations of organizational assimilation
This essay is a response to a growing body of literature that is critical of tradition conceptualizations of organizational socialization (Bullis, 1993; Clair, 1996; Smith & Turner, 1995). First, it examines how these critics have failed to adequately appreciate conceptual distinctions made by contemporary socialization and assimilation researchers. While recognizing that these scholars have made contributions, it then points to problems in their…
We Do Babies! The Trials, Tribulations, and Triumphs of Pregnancy and Parenting in the Academy
The most awkward moment at that faculty meeting occurred when a certain senior colleague in the department replied, Well, when my wife was pregnant, she gave birth during spring break and didn't miss a day of class. Despite backstage reassurances that these were unrealistic expectations, those who were pregnant experienced an unspoken pressure that failure to minimize the interference of impending parenthood on their careers threatened public imp…
Social media affordances in entry‐level employees’ socialization: Employee agency in the management of their professional impressions and vulnerability during early stages of socialization
This study examined how entry‐level employees interacted with social media during three stages of organizational socialization. They navigated between four different media affordances (persistence, editability, visibility, and association) while experiencing them as both enabling and constraining in different socialization stages. Qualitative interview data analysis revealed during anticipatory socialization, job applicants realized visibility an…
Scaling up to institutional entrepreneurship: A life history of an elite training gymnastics organization
This organizational life history documents how the founder of an elite gymnastics training organization led her organizational members to resist what she deemed to be unethical institutional influences prior to working toward changing those institutional practices. The study contributes the idea that institutional resistance leadership at the team and organizational levels can precede disruptive institutional entrepreneurship activities at the in…
Toward a Communication Model for the Socialization of Voluntary Members
Because most socialization/assimilation research focuses on employment as the primary membership role in groups and organizations, the accompanying models have failed to consider the unique characteristics of voluntary membership. In addition, those models have been criticized for being too linear and based on concepts of organizations as containers. Using principles of the bona fide group perspective and a case study, this paper develops a model…
Communication After Job Transfers: Social Exchange Processes in Learning New Roles
Journal Article Communication After Job Transfers: Social Exchange Processes in Learning New Roles Get access Michael W. Kramer Michael W. Kramer 1Michael W. Kramer is Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Missouri— Columbia Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Human Communication Research, Volume 20, Issue 2, December 1993, Pages 147–174, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.1993.tb00319.x P…
Leadership in an interorganizational collaboration: A qualitative study of a statewide interagency taskforce
The increased reliance on interorganizational collaborations (ICs) has created new challenges for leaders. They must attempt to apply leadership theories and behaviors developed primarily for leading within one organization or group to leading collaborations of multiple organizations and stakeholders. To provide insight into this issue, this study examines leadership behavior in an IC developing a strategic plan to promote changes to address publ…
Language Convergence and Meaning Divergence: A Meaning Centered Communication Theory
Some communication theories have explored the processes of language convergence, but comparatively little attention has explored the ways meaning systems diverge while converging on the same set of symbols. To examine this process, a grounded theory study of social-sexual behavior in the workplace was conducted. The Language Convergence/Meaning Divergence (LC/MD) theory emerged from the analysis. LC/MD processes identified in the analysis include…
Reflections on a Century of Living: Gendered Differences in Mainstream Popular Songs∗
The study of popular music developed in part to correct the elitist dismissal of the popular and to validate popular music as a legitimate object of inquiry. Despite this, there is little popular music research that focuses on the most mainstream popular music. In this study we call for a return to the examination of the most mainstream popular songs and music videos through a preliminary investigation of two concurrent hits from the Adult Contem…
It Depends on Your Criteria
Additional informationNotes on contributorsMichael W. KramerMichael W. Kramer serves as chair of the Department of Communication, University of Oklahoma
A Longitudinal Study of Peer Communication During Job Transfers The Impact of Frequency, Quality, and Network Multiplexity on Adjustment
This longitudinal research examines the impact of peer communication on transferees moving from one location to another within organizations. Based on uncertainty reduction theory, it examines the impact of the frequency of peer communication, the quality of peer communication, and network multiplexity on transferees'adjustment to their new positions. Results suggest that the quality of peer communication is associated with positive adjustment af…
Communication and uncertainty reduction during job transfers: Leaving and joining processes
Based on uncertainty reduction theory and a job transfer model, this longitudinal study explores the process by which communication facilitates the adjustment process for employees who transfer to new locations in the same organizations. Content analyses of interview data provided descriptions of the communication processes transferees use as they loosen relationships with coworkers at their old locations and develop relationships with coworkers …
Communication After Job Transfers: Social Exchange Processes in Learning New Roles
Journal Article Communication After Job Transfers: Social Exchange Processes in Learning New Roles Get access Michael W. Kramer Michael W. Kramer 1Michael W. Kramer is Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Missouri— Columbia Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Human Communication Research, Volume 20, Issue 2, December 1993, Pages 147–174, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.1993.tb00319.x P…
A Longitudinal Study of Superior-Subordinate Communication During Job Transfers
Based on an assimilation perspective and leader-member exchange model, this study explores superior-subordinate communication during job transfers. Using a longitudinal research design of questionnaires and brief interviews, the study examines the impact of supervisor communication on transferees during their first year at new locations. Results suggest that supervisor relationships have a significant impact on the feedback and social support tra…
A Longitudinal Study of Peer Communication During Job Transfers The Impact of Frequency, Quality, and Network Multiplexity on Adjustment
This longitudinal research examines the impact of peer communication on transferees moving from one location to another within organizations. Based on uncertainty reduction theory, it examines the impact of the frequency of peer communication, the quality of peer communication, and network multiplexity on transferees'adjustment to their new positions. Results suggest that the quality of peer communication is associated with positive adjustment af…
A response to criticisms of organizational socialization research: In support of contemporary conceptualizations of organizational assimilation
This essay is a response to a growing body of literature that is critical of tradition conceptualizations of organizational socialization (Bullis, 1993; Clair, 1996; Smith & Turner, 1995). First, it examines how these critics have failed to adequately appreciate conceptual distinctions made by contemporary socialization and assimilation researchers. While recognizing that these scholars have made contributions, it then points to problems in their…
A reply to Bullis, Turner, and Clair
Managing Uncertainty During a Corporate Acquisition: A Longitudinal Study of Communication During an Airline Acquisition
This study examined pilots' (N at T1 = 140; N at T2 = 126; N at T3 = 104) reactions to communication and uncertainty during the acquisition of their airline by another airline. Quantitative results indicate that communication helped to reduce uncertainty and was predictive of affective responses to the acquisition. However, contrary to expectations, reductions in uncertainty did not lead to more positive affective responses. In addition, while pi…
Toward a communication theory of group dialectics: An ethnographic study of a community theater group
A dialectical perspective recognizes that there are tensions between oppositions in human interaction such as the need for independence and the need for dependence. This approach has been instrumental in exploring the dialectical tensions and coping strategies individuals use in interpersonal contexts. This ethnographic study utilized a dialectical perspective to examine group communication in a community theater group. The results revealed 11 sp…
Communication in a Fund-Raising Marathon Group
Journal Article Communication in a Fund-Raising Marathon Group Get access Michael W. Kramer Michael W. Kramer 1Michael W. Kramer (PhD, 1991, University of Texas at Austin) is an associate professor and chair of the Department of Communication at the University of Missouri Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of Communication, Volume 55, Issue 2, June 2005, Pages 257–276, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2…
Reflections on a Century of Living: Gendered Differences in Mainstream Popular Songs∗
The study of popular music developed in part to correct the elitist dismissal of the popular and to validate popular music as a legitimate object of inquiry. Despite this, there is little popular music research that focuses on the most mainstream popular music. In this study we call for a return to the examination of the most mainstream popular songs and music videos through a preliminary investigation of two concurrent hits from the Adult Contem…
The Year of the Newborns: A Department Chair's Reflections
In September 2006, a newly hired tenure track faculty member informed me that she was expecting a child in March. During the next few months, three more faculty members told me that they were expecting in May, June, and August. Fully two-thirds of the faculty women were pregnant at the same time. We jokingly wondered if it was the water. I understood the importance of supporting these faculty members during this time. Research suggests that a com…
We Do Babies! The Trials, Tribulations, and Triumphs of Pregnancy and Parenting in the Academy
The most awkward moment at that faculty meeting occurred when a certain senior colleague in the department replied, Well, when my wife was pregnant, she gave birth during spring break and didn't miss a day of class. Despite backstage reassurances that these were unrealistic expectations, those who were pregnant experienced an unspoken pressure that failure to minimize the interference of impending parenthood on their careers threatened public imp…
Language Convergence and Meaning Divergence: A Meaning Centered Communication Theory
Some communication theories have explored the processes of language convergence, but comparatively little attention has explored the ways meaning systems diverge while converging on the same set of symbols. To examine this process, a grounded theory study of social-sexual behavior in the workplace was conducted. The Language Convergence/Meaning Divergence (LC/MD) theory emerged from the analysis. LC/MD processes identified in the analysis include…
It Depends on Your Criteria
Additional informationNotes on contributorsMichael W. KramerMichael W. Kramer serves as chair of the Department of Communication, University of Oklahoma
Toward a Communication Model for the Socialization of Voluntary Members
Because most socialization/assimilation research focuses on employment as the primary membership role in groups and organizations, the accompanying models have failed to consider the unique characteristics of voluntary membership. In addition, those models have been criticized for being too linear and based on concepts of organizations as containers. Using principles of the bona fide group perspective and a case study, this paper develops a model…
Volunteering and Communication – Volume 2: Studies in International and Intercultural Contexts
Case Studies of Nonprofit Organizations and Volunteers
Scaling up to institutional entrepreneurship: A life history of an elite training gymnastics organization
This organizational life history documents how the founder of an elite gymnastics training organization led her organizational members to resist what she deemed to be unethical institutional influences prior to working toward changing those institutional practices. The study contributes the idea that institutional resistance leadership at the team and organizational levels can precede disruptive institutional entrepreneurship activities at the in…
Social media affordances in entry‐level employees’ socialization: Employee agency in the management of their professional impressions and vulnerability during early stages of socialization
This study examined how entry‐level employees interacted with social media during three stages of organizational socialization. They navigated between four different media affordances (persistence, editability, visibility, and association) while experiencing them as both enabling and constraining in different socialization stages. Qualitative interview data analysis revealed during anticipatory socialization, job applicants realized visibility an…
Leadership in an interorganizational collaboration: A qualitative study of a statewide interagency taskforce
The increased reliance on interorganizational collaborations (ICs) has created new challenges for leaders. They must attempt to apply leadership theories and behaviors developed primarily for leading within one organization or group to leading collaborations of multiple organizations and stakeholders. To provide insight into this issue, this study examines leadership behavior in an IC developing a strategic plan to promote changes to address publ…
“We Work in International Companies”: Affordances of Communication Media in Chinese Employees’ Organizational Socialization
This research examined how Chinese employees in international companies perceived and enacted affordances of communication technologies, including social media, during organizational socialization. An analysis of interview data from 25 Chinese employees working in international companies in China revealed that social media affordances contributed to diversification of Chinese newcomers’ organizational learning and deepened as well as constrained …
Managing “Who I Am”: An Exploration of Chinese Employees’ Identity Tension Management Strategies in MNCs
This exploratory qualitative study aims to examine Chinese employees’ identity tensions in multinational companies (MNCs) in China, more specifically, how Chinese business professionals communicate to organize various identities while managing identity tensions from a cultural insider’s perspective. Guided by a grounded theory approach, 20 in-depth individual interviews with Chinese employees in MNCs revealed four identity tensions: work-life ide…
Communicating Cultism in the Media: Discursive Sense-Giving of Cult Status
The term cult has been variously applied to contemporary groups and organizations, marking them as unusual or frightening. Scholarly literature has yet to settle on a concrete conceptualization of cults and reveals little about the communicative processes by which the stigmatizing name becomes attached to certain groups. This study utilizes a constant comparison method to assess qualities associated with groups regularly labeled as cults in the p…
Psychology (19 works) · Social Psychology (14 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Political science (11 works) · Social Psychology (9 works) · Computer Science (7 works) · Public relations (6 works) · Law (5 works) · Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering (5 works) · Perspective (graphical (5 works)