Introduction to special issue on organizational culture and organizational identification.

This chapter presents how we developed our initial list of business communication theories, expanded the list, and what outside advice we drew upon to finalize the list. We developed the initial list from our own knowledge and examining theories presented by major business communication journals. We then expanded the list by examining other sources (such as communication texts that included our initial theories) and adding relevant business communication theories that these texts listed. Finally, we canvassed notable business communication experts for their input on any theories we had missed through these other methods.

This chapter introduces contemporary and emergent business communication theories which our survey and scholarly polling may have overlooked, especially due to some being relatively new. We humbly acknowledge that our choices are not all inclusive. We may have missed some high-quality contributions. Nonetheless, these exciting developments were selected for their capacity to transcend the boundaries of a particular discipline, move the field of business communication forward, and with the guidance of an expert, multi-disciplinary panel. The chapter begins by explaining our decision criteria and then explores theoretical innovations which are rooted in the theories from our catalog. We next present more novel business communication theories, including those which have been adapted from other fields.

This chapter includes major theories about how communication is or is not transmitted, received, and interpreted, including actual barriers to conveyance of meaning and transparency. With the exception of genderlect theory (Tannen Gender and conversational interaction. Oxford University Press, 1993, You just don't understand. HarperCollins, 2013), all of the theories in this group put message senders in principal roles, even when they are non-human entities. Theories in this group address such issues as the ability to communicate effectively, the costs and benefits of message transparency, the factors that promote transparency, the reduction of message ambiguity, the promotion of message attentiveness, and eliciting trust in message senders. Going further, these theories also raise intriguing questions for scholars. What rewarding partnerships can be forged between these theories with those in other complementary categories such as flows and patterns, organizational structures and cultural characteristics and influences, and motivation and persuasion? Lastly, what ethical opportunities and challenges are posed by the channels and barriers theories?

This chapter looks at business communication theories about processes that we use to better understand ourselves and our purpose at work. Unlike most business communication theories, those in this chapter examine what communication processes shape views of ourselves and our environment. As such, the phenomena these theories examine can influence a person's core being and understanding. These theories give us powerful insights into how communication changes and even creates personalities and social dynamics.

Theories in this chapter look at how communication flows between parties and what obstacles can impede or prevent this flow. Most of these theories give us insights into the transmission of information rather than the impetus for or effects of communication. However, theories such as Latour’s Actor-Network Theory examines the effects of disrupted communication links. Theories in this section also give us insights into how communication flows can develop into long-standing patterns that create communication structures.

Motivation and persuasion are at the heart of most organizational communication. In fact, many business communication theories are linked to rhetoric, a key theory in this category. Simply stated, motivational and persuasive messages guide how we get things done in organizations. Just as important, these same messages impact the well-being of organizational stakeholders—employees, and customers included of course. Yet there are different paths to modeling these processes within business communication theory, and this chapter captures some major approaches. We also touch upon some compelling issues for scholars and managers here. Have we fully considered and taken action about relevant ethical implications? And, have we effectively partnered theories in this category with pertinent ones from cultural characteristics and organizational structures to better explore organizational communication behaviors and their meaningful outcomes?

This chapter looks at the various disciplines that business communication has drawn from to collectively construct its unique identity. Understanding these traditions helps stakeholders in the field to better access the underlying assumptions that our theories incorporate. This knowledge also guides our awareness of where and why various theories may fall short, and signals directions that we can pursue to extend and refine the theories in business communication.

Typologies help us by grouping related items together into sensible groupings. With theories, a typology can help us to better understand where theories have similarities and where they complement each other. This chapter presents a typology of business communication theories that categorizes theories based on how researchers use them. For our typology, we created seven categories: channels and barriers, cultural characteristics and influences, flows and patterns, meaning-making and discovery, motivation and persuasion, organizational structures, and reasons and representations.

This chapter presents how we classified the business communication theories drawing on judges’ feedback. The judges rated the theories based on their importance, scientific support, application in business settings, and how well known the theory is. Based on the ratings in these four areas, we classified the theories into core theories (theories with a high score in all four areas), major theories (those that scored highly in two or three areas), focused (theories that scored highly in one area), and notable theories (theories that scored low in all areas, but were recognized by the judges).

This chapter presents theories that examine how organizational structures (such as organizational hierarchies and physical items) influence organizational communications. The chapter also presents the influence organizational communications have on organizational structures. Most of the theories presented in this chapter have at least an implicit proposition that organizational communication and structures will mutually influence each other.