Case study remains a foundation of past and present organizational communication scholarship. In this article, we show the value of supplementing traditional case-selection methods with positive deviance case selection (PDCS). PDCS is about identifying and investigating individuals, teams, and organizations whose communication is intentional, nonnormative, and honorable. PDCS supports the creation of analytic generalizations and transferable concepts that can be recommended or imitated to bolster communicative excellence and thriving in the workplace. The article explores the benefits of and techniques for PDCS and illustrates the unique strengths of PDCS with two recent examples in the organizational communication literature. Implications for method, theory building, and practice are discussed throughout the article.
This study examined conversation preferences in workplace meetings via a cross-sectional survey of working adults ( N = 217). Dialogue orientations from the argumentation literature were employed in conjunction with a typology of meetings proposed by the authors to examine communication and satisfaction in various types of meetings. Results revealed that three dialogue orientations (negotiation, information-giving, and eristic) predicted meeting satisfaction to a moderate degree. In addition, the use of several dialogue orientations differed depending on meeting type and an individual’s supervisory role. We discuss how these results can inform our understanding of dialogue opportunities and constraints during meetings, and recommend ways for improving meetings. These results are discussed in the context of organizational communication, including practical recommendations and theoretical implications.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.