Research
Kuhn Vitae_May_2019.pdfFor any of the papers below, I'd be happy to provide access--just click to request ...
The Work of Communication: Relational Perspectives on Working and Organizing in Contemporary Capitalism revolves around a two-part question: "What have work and organization become under contemporary capitalism—and how should organization studies approach them?" Changes in the texture of capitalism, heralded by social and organizational theorists alike, increasingly focus attention on communication as both vital to the conduct of work and as imperative to organizational performance. Yet most accounts of communication in organization studies fail to understand an alternate sense of the "work of communication" in the constitution of organizations, work practices, and economies. This book responds to that lack by portraying communicative practices—as opposed to individuals, interests, technologies, structures, organizations, or institutions—as the focal units of analysis in studies of the social and organizational problems occasioned by contemporary capitalism.
Rather than suggesting that there exists a canonically "correct" route communicative analyses must follow, The Work of Communication: Relational Perspectives on Working and Organizing in Contemporary Capitalism explores the value of transcending longstanding divides between symbolic and material factors in studies of working and organizing. The recognition of dramatic shifts in technological, economic, and political forces, along with deep interconnections among the myriad of factors shaping working and organizing, sows doubts about whether organization studies is up to the vital task of addressing the social problems capitalism now creates. Kuhn, Ashcraft, and Cooren argue that novel insights into those social problems are possible if we tell different stories about working and organizing. To aid authors of those stories, they develop a set of conceptual resources that they capture under the mantle of communicative relationality. These resources allow analysts to profit from burgeoning interest in notions such as sociomateriality, posthumanism, performativity, and affect. It goes on to illustrate the benefits that investigations of work and organization can realize from communicative relationality by presenting case studies that analyze (a) the becoming of an idea, from its inception to solidification, (b) the emergence of what is taken to be the "the product" in high-tech startup entrepreneurship, and (c) the branding of work (in this case, academic writing and commercial aviation) through affective economies. Taken together, the book portrays "the work of communication" as simultaneously about how work in the "new economy" revolves around communicative practice and about how communication serves as a mode of explanation with the potential to cultivate novel stories about working and organizing.
Aimed at academics, researchers, and policy makers, this book’s goal is to make tangible the contributions of communication for thinking about contemporary social and organizational problems.
Porter_Kuhn_Nerlich_in_press.pdfPorter, A. J., Kuhn, T. R., & Nerlich, B. (2018). Organizing authority in the climate change debate: IPCC controversies and the management of dialectical tensions. Organization Studies, 39(7), 873-898. doi: 10.1177/0170840617707999
Kuhn_2017_Working-Organizing-Social-Problems_Org_Comm_Domain.pdfKuhn, T. (2018). Working and organizing as social problems: Reconceptualizing organizational communication’s domain. In P. Salem & E. Timmerman (Eds.), Transformative practice and research in organizational communication (pp. 30-42). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
Kuhn_counternarrative_ch2.pdfKuhn, T. (2017). Communicatively constituting organizational unfolding through counter-narrative. In Frandsen, S., Kuhn, T., & Lundholt, M. (eds.), Counter-narratives and organization (pp. 17-42). New York: Routledge.
Kuhn_communicative_imagination_OC_domain.pdfKuhn, T. (2017). Developing a communicative imagination under contemporary capitalism: Organizational communication as a mode of explanation. Management Communication Quarterly, 31, 116-122.
McDonald_Kuhn_Occupational_Branding.pdfMcDonald, J., & Kuhn, T. (2016). Occupational branding for diversity: Managing discursive contradictions. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 44, 101-117.
Kuhn_review_of_When_Org_Fails.pdfKuhn, T. (2016). Review of When Organization Fails: Why Authority Matters, by J. R. Taylor and E. J. Van Every. Organization, 23, 611-614.
Kuhn_Schoeneborn_CCO_pedagogy.pdfKuhn, T., & Schoeneborn, D. (2015). The pedagogy of CCO. Management Communication Quarterly, 29, 295-301.
Koschmann_Kuhn_Pfarrer_XSP_value.pdfKoschmann, M., Kuhn, T., & Pfarrer, M. (2012). A communicative framework of value in cross-sector partnerships. Academy of Management Review, 37, 332-354.
Cooren_Kuhn_Cornilessen_Clark.pdfCooren, F., Kuhn, T., Cornelissen, J. P., & Clark, T. (2011). Communication, organizing, and organization: An overview and introduction to the special issue. Organization Studies, 32, 1149-1170.
Kuhn_Porter_heterogeneity.PDFKuhn, T., & Porter, A. J. (2011). Heterogeneity in knowledge and knowing: A social practice perspective. In H. Canary & R. McPhee, Communication and organizational knowledge: Contemporary issues for theory and practice (pp. 17-34). New York: Routledge.
Kuhn_materiality_intro.pdfKuhn, T. (2011). Introduction: Engaging materiality, communication, and social problems. In T. Kuhn (ed.), Matters of communication: Political, cultural, and technological challenges to communication theorizing (pp. 1-10). New York: Hampton Press.
Kuhn_Burk_spatial_design_proofs.pdfKuhn, T., & Burk, N. (2014). Spatial design as sociomaterial practice: A (dis)organizing perspective on communicative constitution. In F. Cooren, E. Vaara, A. Langley, & H. Tsoukas (eds.), Language and Communication at Work: Discourse, Narrativity, and Organizing (pp. 149-174). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kuhn_Putnam_Handook_ch18.pdfKuhn, T., & Putnam, L. L. (2014). Discourse and communication. In P. Adler, G. Morgan, P. DuGay, & M. Reed, Oxford Handbook of Sociology, Social Theory and Organization (pp. 414-446). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kuhn_response_to_Cooren_Sandler.pdfKuhn, T. (2014). Extending the constitutive project: Response to Cooren and Sandler. Communication Theory, 24, 245-251.
Thought_Leadership_Micro_Macro_Divide.pdfKuhn, T. (2012). Negotiating the micro-macro divide: Thought leadership from organizational communication for theorizing organization. Management Communication Quarterly, 26, 543-584.
Aakhus_et_al_comm_and_materiality.pdfAakhus, M., Ballard, D., Flanagin, A., Kuhn, T., Leonardi, P., & Mease, J. (2011). Communication and materiality: A conversation from the CM Café. Communication Monographs, 78, 557-568. (Coordinated by Kuhn & Leonardi; Authors listed alphabetically)
Seeger_Kuhn_Proofs_C011.pdfSeeger, M., & Kuhn, T. (2011). Communication ethics and organizational contexts: Divergent values and moral puzzles. In G. Cheney, S. May, & D. Munshi, Handbook of Communication Ethics (pp. 166-189). Lawrence Erlbaum.
Annals, final in print.pdfAshcraft, K. L., Kuhn, T., & Cooren, F. (2009) Constitutional amendments: “Materializing” organizational communication. The Academy of Management Annals, 3, 1-64.
Positioning_Lawyers_published.pdfKuhn, T. (2009). Positioning lawyers: Discursive resources, professional ethics, and identification. Organization, 16, 681-704.
Kuhn_comm_theory_of_firm_OS_2008.pdfKuhn, T. (2008). A communicative theory of the firm: Developing an alternative perspective on intra-organizational power and stakeholder relationships. Organization Studies, 29, 1227-1254.
accomplishing_knowledge.pdfKuhn, T., & Jackson, M. H. (2008). Accomplishing knowledge: A communicative framework for investigating knowing in practice. Management Communication Quarterly, 21, 454-485.
McDaniel_Kuhn_Deetz_Democratizations.pdfMcDaniel, J. P., Kuhn, T., & Deetz, S. A. (2008). Voice, participation, and the globalization of communication systems. In J. V. Ciprut (Ed.), Democratizations: Comparisons, confrontations, and contrasts (pp. 281-300). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
meaningful_work_published.pdfKuhn, T., Golden, A., Jorgenson, J., Buzzanell, P., Berkelaar, B., Kisselburgh, L., & Cruz, D. (2008). Cultural discourses and discursive resources for meaning/ful work: Constructing and disrupting identities in contemporary capitalism. Management Communication Quarterly, 22, 162-171.
Kuhn_Deetz_CSR_Cynical_Reasoning.pdfKuhn, T., & Deetz, S. A. (2008). Critical theory and corporate social responsibility: Can/should we get beyond cynical reasoning? In A. Crane, A. McWilliams, D. Matten, J. Moon, & D. Siegel (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility (pp. 173-196). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
cra_hcr_published.pdfCorman, S. R., Kuhn, T., McPhee, R. D., & Dooley, K. J. (2002). Studying complex discursive systems: Centering resonance analysis of communication. Human Communication Research, 28, 157-206.
Kuhn_Alta.pdfKuhn, T. (2005). The institutionalization of Alta in organizational communication studies. Management Communication Quarterly, 18, 618-627.
Kuhn_subjectivity_encyclopedia_of_identity.pdfKuhn, T. (2010). Subjectivity. In R. L. Jackson (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Identity (Vol. 2, pp. 800-803). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Kuhn_demented_work_ethic_published.pdfKuhn, T. (2006). A “demented work ethic” and a “lifestyle firm”: Discourse, identity, and workplace time commitments. Organization Studies, 27, 1339-1358.
Kuhn_Ashcraft_corporate_scandal_theory of the firm.pdfKuhn, T., & Ashcraft, K. L. (2003). Corporate scandal and the theory of the firm: Formulating the contributions of organizational communication studies. Management Communication Quarterly, 17, 20-57.
re-engineering identity.pdfKuhn, T., & Nelson, N. (2002). Reengineering identity: A case study of multiplicity and duality in organizational identification. Management Communication Quarterly, 16, 5-39.
Jackson et al.pdfJackson, M. H., Poole, M. S., & Kuhn, T. (2002). The social construction of technology in studies of the workplace. In L. Lievrouw & S. Livingstone (Eds.), Handbook of new media: Social shaping and consequences of ICTs (pp. 236-253). London: Sage.
theory-practice.pdfKuhn, T. (2002). Negotiating boundaries between scholars and practitioners: Knowledge, networks, and communities of practice. Management Communication Quarterly, 16, 106-112.
Engaging Networks of Practice.pdfKuhn, T. (2005). Engaging networks of practice through a communicative theory of the firm. In J. L. Simpson & P. Shockley-Zalabak (Eds.), Engaging communication, transforming organizations: Scholarship of engagement in action (pp. 45-66).
Corman_Kuhn_socio_egocentric.pdfCorman, S. R., & Kuhn, T. (2005). The detectability of socio-egocentric group speech: A quasi-Turing Test. Communication Monographs, 72, 117-143. (Lead article; Recipient of Dennis Gouran Research Award from Group Communication Division of NCA)
nldpls.pdfDooley, K. D., Corman, S. R., McPhee, R. D., & Kuhn, T. (2003). Modeling high-resolution broadband discourse in complex adaptive systems. Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology and Life Sciences, 7, 61-85.
knowledge_structures.pdfKuhn, T., & Corman, S. R. (2003). The emergence of homogeneity and heterogeneity in knowledge structures during a planned organizational change. Communication Monographs, 70, 198-229. (Recipient of “Article Award” from Organizational Communication division of NCA; runner-up award for best published article from the Organizational Communication and Information Systems division of the Academy of Management)
conflict_HCR_2000.pdfKuhn, T., & Poole, M. S. (2000). Do conflict management styles affect group decision-making?: Evidence from a longitudinal field study. Human Communication Research, 26, 558-590. (Recipient of Dennis Gouran Research Award from Group Communication Division of NCA)
genre.pdfKuhn, T. (1997). The discourse of issues management: A genre of organizational communication. Communication Quarterly, 45, 188-210.