- College of Business
Massey University
Private Bag 102904, North Shore
Auckland 0745
New Zealand - +64 9 414 0800, ext 9558
Theodore Zorn
Massey University, Communication, Journalism and Marketing, Faculty Member
- Massey University, College of Business, Department Memberadd
- Organizational Communication, Social study of ICT, Meaningful Work, Organizational Change, Managing Change, Change Implementation, and 11 moreMulticultural, Change Resistance, Readiness for Change, Coping With Change, Communication, Involvement, Middle Management, Case Study, Change Factors, Intercultural Management, and Change agentsedit
Extant literature suggests that when information and communication technologies (ICTs) are adopted by employers, they may have a variety of impacts on work and workers. Most of the documented and suspected impacts on the quality of work... more
Extant literature suggests that when information and communication technologies (ICTs) are adopted by employers, they may have a variety of impacts on work and workers. Most of the documented and suspected impacts on the quality of work life (QWL) are negative: Work becomes ...
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Extant literature suggests that when information and communication technologies (ICTs) are adopted by employers, they may have a variety of impacts on work and workers. Most of the documented and suspected impacts on the quality of work... more
Extant literature suggests that when information and communication technologies (ICTs) are adopted by employers, they may have a variety of impacts on work and workers. Most of the documented and suspected impacts on the quality of work life (QWL) are negative: Work becomes ...
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The purpose of the present study is to explore the ways that individuals in organizations respond to negatively emotive emails. Specifically, we are interested in the communication strategies that individuals use in response to such... more
The purpose of the present study is to explore the ways that individuals in organizations respond to negatively emotive emails. Specifically, we are interested in the communication strategies that individuals use in response to such emails and the sources from which they derive ...
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New Zealand Science Review Vol 62 (3) 2005 90 To promote greater social discussion of science, bringing to-gether scientists and members of the public in face-to-face dia-logue might seem like an obvious idea. However, for many people... more
New Zealand Science Review Vol 62 (3) 2005 90 To promote greater social discussion of science, bringing to-gether scientists and members of the public in face-to-face dia-logue might seem like an obvious idea. However, for many people science is a complicated subject ...
the CEO and staff of the organisation studied for their gracious assistance in the research. He would also like to acknowledge the assistance of Margaret Richardson in
Stephen Tindall is founder and CEO of The Warehouse, the most successful department store in New Zealand. From humble beginnings with just one store and three employees in 1982,The Warehouse has grown to about 90 stores in New Zealand in... more
Stephen Tindall is founder and CEO of The Warehouse, the most successful department store in New Zealand. From humble beginnings with just one store and three employees in 1982,The Warehouse has grown to about 90 stores in New Zealand in 2001. In 2000 the company expanded into Australia by buying a chain of 130 stores that are being re-branded to The Warehouse’s name and design. Growth and profits are impressive. The company increased its net profit 30% to NZ$70 million in the most recent fiscal year. Average annual sales growth since 1997 has been 20% and its net earnings growth 26%.As a dramatic illustration of its success, New Zealand’s total department store sales increased by about $94 million in 1998, of which $93 million came from The Warehouse. Tindall was chosen as the Deloitte/Management Executive of the Year in 1998, and The Warehouse as the Deloitte/Management company of the year in 2000.
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ABSTRACT In societies where the use of computers is pervasive, individuals who resist using the technology are often studied in order to determine how susceptible their views might be to change. This research takes a different approach,... more
ABSTRACT In societies where the use of computers is pervasive, individuals who resist using the technology are often studied in order to determine how susceptible their views might be to change. This research takes a different approach, focusing not on the non-use of computers as a problem but as an opportunity to explore how the proponents of such views make sense of computers and computer use and to accord respect for, rather than dismissal of, their views. Underpinned by a narrative sense-making approach, the investigation examines older non-users' discursive performances of rejection and the ways in which they draw on and position themselves in relation to dominant and emerging socio-cultural narratives of technology and the ways in which those performances are circumscribed by particular value systems or choice behaviours. Participants drew on three prominent socio-cultural narratives in making sense of computers and in performing rejection: computers benefit older people; society discriminates against non-users; and don't need computers, don't want computers. These three narratives work together to enable non-users to justify their rejection of computer use. The study makes a contribution to the literature by highlighting dimensions of older people's relationships with computers not previously identified, including an appreciation for the complex and often tension-filled process by which determinations of rejection are made.
Extensive commentary cautions about the consequences of poor email etiquette, including emotional miscommunication and conflict escalation at work. This research considers the role of the receiver in negative email exchanges. Participants... more
Extensive commentary cautions about the consequences of poor email etiquette, including emotional miscommunication and conflict escalation at work. This research considers the role of the receiver in negative email exchanges. Participants identified examples of negatively perceived emails received from coworkers, provided the text of these emails, and reported their perceptions and accounts of the messages. Results document a negative intensification bias in receiver perceptions of emails. Receivers perceived the emails more negatively than did observers, and receiver ratings had only weak relationships to characteristics of messages, including negative language and flaming. Negative intensification bias occurred more in poor communication climates and among individuals in subordinate positions. Qualitative results highlight the potential for ambiguous emails to be perceived in multiple ways leading to unanticipated consequences.
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... Login to save citations to My List. Citation. Database: PsycINFO. [Journal Article]. Willy Loman's lesson: Teaching identity management with Death of a Salesman. . Zorn, Theodore E. Communication Education, Vol 40(2), Apr 1991,... more
... Login to save citations to My List. Citation. Database: PsycINFO. [Journal Article]. Willy Loman's lesson: Teaching identity management with Death of a Salesman. . Zorn, Theodore E. Communication Education, Vol 40(2), Apr 1991, 219-224. doi: 10.1080/03634529109378843. ...
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... Anastasia Higgenbotham, for example, begins the collection with her essay, "Chicks Goin' at It," displaying her own brand of courage ... Just 70 pages later, however, Abra Fortune... more
... Anastasia Higgenbotham, for example, begins the collection with her essay, "Chicks Goin' at It," displaying her own brand of courage ... Just 70 pages later, however, Abra Fortune Chernik's sometimes fragile nature stands in direct contrast to Higgenbotham's confrontational style. ...
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ABSTRACT First, I’d like to congratulate MCQ on its 20th birthday, and thank the founding editors, JoAnne, Christine, and Paul, for conceiving of the journal and getting it started. I have subscribed to the journal since its first issue... more
ABSTRACT First, I’d like to congratulate MCQ on its 20th birthday, and thank the founding editors, JoAnne, Christine, and Paul, for conceiving of the journal and getting it started. I have subscribed to the journal since its first issue and ever since have considered it one of the first choices for publishing my own research and finding research that is closest to my interests. That it has grown and flourished 20 years on is a credit to the founding editors and to the community of scholars who have supported it. In considering the current editors’ request that we former editors reflect on our experience of editing the journal and how our experiences reflected our particular slice of the journal’s history, I looked back at what I wrote in my editor’s introduction (Zorn, 2000) in my first issue (Volume 14, Number 1) as well as perused the articles and forums for the three volumes that I edited (14 to 16). What emerged for me were several tensions or challenges that I grappled with at the time. Some of these certainly reflect my idiosyncratic values, biases, and interests, but I also think that to some degree they have something to say about the history of the journal and of the study of management/organizational communication at the time. I will organize my essay around four such tensions.
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This study explores the mutual influences of friendship development and organizational assimilation processes among first-year male medical students. Interviews and observations were used to examine the ways students constructed and... more
This study explores the mutual influences of friendship development and organizational assimilation processes among first-year male medical students. Interviews and observations were used to examine the ways students constructed and enacted their friendships with male classmates during the process of assimilating into medical school. The study also examined how the male friends viewed the influence of their friendships on their assimilation into medical school and how the assimilation process simultaneously influenced their developing friendships. Thematic analysis revealed that although the men perceived their medical school friendships as "not yet close," the friendships provided them with valuable tangible and socio-emotional support during the rigorous assimilation process and that the assimilation process paradoxically facilitated as well as hindered the development of friendships. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.
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... DOI: 10.1177/135050840501200609 2005 12: 947 Organization Theodore E. Zorn Book Review: Critiquing the ... in Strategy and Change' is a clear introduction to strategy theories and ... Morgan, G. and Sturdy, A. (2000) Beyond... more
... DOI: 10.1177/135050840501200609 2005 12: 947 Organization Theodore E. Zorn Book Review: Critiquing the ... in Strategy and Change' is a clear introduction to strategy theories and ... Morgan, G. and Sturdy, A. (2000) Beyond Organisational Change: Structure, Discourse and ...
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14 Communication in Top Management Teams THEODORE E. ZORN, JR. ... & Hardesty, 1992), and (c) the control processes concomitant with team-based structures (JR Barker ... for their individual, group, and organizational identities and... more
14 Communication in Top Management Teams THEODORE E. ZORN, JR. ... & Hardesty, 1992), and (c) the control processes concomitant with team-based structures (JR Barker ... for their individual, group, and organizational identities and for the organiza-tional vision or strategy. ...
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The objective of this study is to understand key aspects of contemporary discourse surrounding telecommunications development in Aotearoa New Zealand after the privatization of telecommunications in the late 1980s. We identify various... more
The objective of this study is to understand key aspects of contemporary discourse surrounding telecommunications development in Aotearoa New Zealand after the privatization of telecommunications in the late 1980s. We identify various characteristics of global discourse on competition and telecommunication and trace how a range of actors in the debate about broadband development employed competition discourse as a rhetorical resource to achieve economic, political and cultural goals. In particular, we argue that a race metaphor undergirded discussions about competition in broadband development. The race metaphor itself was raced inasmuch as it tapped into national anxieties about Aotearoa New Zealand’s place in the “developed” world in order to motivate action on broadband policy. We also found that competition discourse in relation to broadband policy exhibited inherent contradictions in both promoting control, in the form of increased regulation, while simultaneously promoting freedom, in the form of “unbundling.” Implications for understanding broadband growth as well as competition discourse itself are discussed.
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In this study, nonprofit organizations (NPOs) in New Zealand were surveyed to explore influences on adoption and use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). We sought to extend existing research by considering... more
In this study, nonprofit organizations (NPOs) in New Zealand were surveyed to explore influences on adoption and use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). We sought to extend existing research by considering “institutional” influences alongside organizational and environmental features and by examining how institutional forces affect optimal use of ICTs. Findings suggest that NPOs adopting and using ICTs tended to be self-perceived leaders or those who scanned the environment and emulated leaders and tended to have organizational decisionmakers with the expertise to enable adoption and use. Furthermore, optimal fit of ICTs tended to be spurred by institutional forces if accompanied by self-perceived leadership and appropriate organizational resources. Implications for practice and theory are explored.
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There is potential for nonprofit organizations to increase effectiveness by mobilizing social media to help achieve goals. However, the sector is only just becoming aware of the possibilities for social media and lags behind other sectors... more
There is potential for nonprofit organizations to increase effectiveness by mobilizing social media to help achieve goals. However, the sector is only just becoming aware of the possibilities for social media and lags behind other sectors in its use. We report a New Zealand initiative to enhance the capability of nonprofit organizations through action research that has implications for nonprofit organizations elsewhere. Borrowing from resource mobilization theory, we introduce the concept of resource mobilization chains to explain the requirements for and obstacles to taking advantage of social media. A survey and two in-depth case studies found that nonprofit organizations demonstrated extremely limited familiarity with and use of social media. Participants were enthusiastic about the potential of mobilizing social media to achieve organizational goals, but struggled to take concrete steps to implement their aspirations. Lack of resources was a key obstacle identified in both survey and case study research.
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Dialogue as a science communication process has been idealized in both practitioner and scholarly literature. However, there is inconsistency in what is meant by dialogue, the forms it should take, and its purported consequences.... more
Dialogue as a science communication process has been idealized in both practitioner and scholarly literature. However, there is inconsistency in what is meant by dialogue, the forms it should take, and its purported consequences. Empirical research on the experienced benefits of dialogue is limited. The present study addresses this gap by examining attitudinal changes among laypeople and scientists in dialogue on the topic of human biotechnology (HBT). We found that, as a result of participation in dialogue, laypeople’s attitudes toward scientists were more positive and scientists’ and laypeople’s attitudes toward HBT tended to converge. Additionally, laypeople reported increased communicative self-efficacy after the dialogue experience. However, effects in some cases differed by dialogue format. Implications for practice and research are discussed.