Navigating Complexity: A Forum on Communication Research in High Reliability Organizations

This forum joins communication researchers who explore high reliability organizations (HROs) and teams to discuss the communicative foundations of HRO. We argue that organizational communication researchers can make meaningful contributions to present challenges in HRO research. These challenges include (1) HRO’s focus on organizations versus processes of organizing, (2) tensions in defining success and failure to create reliability, and (3) the privileging of rational thought patterns and communication over emotional and care-centered communication. The authors in this forum push boundaries around organization types, consider overlooked and obscured knowledge, and question the role of power and materiality in HROs. Together, the forum advocates for the unique contributions organizational communication scholars can make to the study of HRO and, just as significantly, what HRO theorizing can contribute to organizational communication.

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Publication Details

Journal
Management Communication Quarterly
Published
2025-04-15
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/08933189251334822
Citations
3
Primary Topic
Complex Systems and Decision Making
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
6.32
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article

Navigating Complexity: A Forum on Communication Research in High Reliability Organizations

Elizabeth A. Williams, Ryan S. Bisel, Kirstie McAllum, Arden C. Roeder et al.
3 citations
Management Communication Quarterly
Complex Systems and Decision Making
6.32
article

Navigating Complexity: A Forum on Communication Research in High Reliability Organizations

Elizabeth A. Williams, Ryan S. Bisel, Kirstie McAllum, Arden C. Roeder, Stéphanie Fox, Amber Lynn Scott, Trevor N Howard, Rebecca M. Rice, Jessica L. Ford, William T. Howe
article en
3 citations

Abstract

This forum joins communication researchers who explore high reliability organizations (HROs) and teams to discuss the communicative foundations of HRO. We argue that organizational communication researchers can make meaningful contributions to present challenges in HRO research. These challenges include (1) HRO’s focus on organizations versus processes of organizing, (2) tensions in defining success and failure to create reliability, and (3) the privileging of rational thought patterns and communication over emotional and care-centered communication. The authors in this forum push boundaries around organization types, consider overlooked and obscured knowledge, and question the role of power and materiality in HROs. Together, the forum advocates for the unique contributions organizational communication scholars can make to the study of HRO and, just as significantly, what HRO theorizing can contribute to organizational communication.

Management Communication QuarterlyVol. 39(3)
Texas Tech University (US), University of Nevada, Las Vegas (US), University of Kentucky (US), Baylor University (US), University of Canterbury (NZ), International Association of Wildland Fire (US), Université de Montréal (CA), University of Oklahoma (US), Colorado State University (US)
Openalex Percentile: Top 4%
Complex Systems and Decision Making
6.32
DOISourceOpenAlex
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