Organizational Communication and Technology in the Time of Coronavirus Ethnographies from the First Year of the Pandemic

The pandemic has created a crisis that has no equivalent in recent history, leading to a wide range of disruption across various social strata, highlighting and reinforcing inequality, and leading to profound organizational shifts. In this book, organizational communication scholars grapple with the implications of the pandemic for work and organizations, examining the immediate impact on their personal lives in an ethnographic narrative, but also theorising what the long term implications of COVID-19 will be. The book also explores the devastating impact of the virus on healthcare workers, on BIPOC entrepreneurs, and on people in developing economies. 

A timely, innovative work, this book will appeal to academics studying organizational communication, organizational responses to crisis, ethnographies, and alternative research methods. 

Chapter 1 Organizational Communication and Technology in the Time of Coronavirus: Ethnographies from the First Year of the Pandemic, Larry D. Browning, Jan-Oddvar Sørnes, Peer Jacob Svenkerud

Section I Theorizing the Present: This is How to See it Now.

Chapter 2 Pandemicracy and Organizing in Unsettling Times, Barbara Czarniawska, Josef Pallas, and Elena Raviola Chapter 3 The Mysteries of Iconic Leadership on Zoom, Barry Brummett

Chapter 4 Organizational Communication in Crisis: Beyond Academic Civility, Karen Lee Ashcraft

Section II Self-Organization a Response – Beyound Academic Utility

Chapter 5 The COVID-19 Pandemic: Self-Organizing at the Edges of Chaos and Stability, Keri K. Stephens

Chapter 6 Digital Teaching During Covid, Tine Viveka Westerberg

Chapter 7 Through the Looking Glass in a Pandemic:  Inside of a Global Comms Corporation, Navigating COVID-19 on Top of Structural Change, Sarah A. Parker

Chapter 8 Chaos: International Sourcing of PPE and the Covid-19 Pandemic, Frode Soelberg

Section III Communication Philosophy: Apprehending Opportunity in the Time of Crisis

Chapter 9 The Fellows and a Book:  Unexpected Opportunities for Practice and Theory, Jean M. Bartunek

Chapter 10 Mindful Management of the (Un)Expected, June Borge Doornich

Chapter 11 Compassion, Burnout, and Self-Care during COVID-19: On the Collective Impact of Self-Soothing Super Highways, Sarah J. Tracy, Brianna  L. Avalos, Laura Martinez, B. Liahhna Stanley, Sophia Town, Alaina C. Zanin

Chapter 12 Improvisation in Public Diplomacy During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Susan Szmania. Section IV Techno-Ethnography: Using Social Science Methods to Study the Virus

Chapter 13  Internal Communications During the Pandemic: Challenges and Implications, Martin N. Ndlela and Jens Petter Madsbu

Chapter 14 The Impact of Trust in Time of Covid-19: Trust in Crises Management and Crisis Communication in Inland Norway University of A[[lied Sciences, Åse Storhaug Hole and Bjørn Tallak Bakken

Chapter 15 The Role of Communication, Institutional Trust & Reputation to Health Advice Adherence: Lessons from a Case Study of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic, Prosper Ameh. Kwei-Nar, Leif Rydstedt.- Section V Understanding the People at Risk

Chapter 16 A Mosaic of Researcher “Back-Stories” and Oral History “Front-Stories”: COVID-19 and Metro Detroit BIPOC Entrepreneurs’ Resilience, Rahul Mitra, Allison Lucas, Sheryl Johnson-Fambro, Claire Van Raaphorst and Shelby Lasky

Chapter 17 Even Heroes Need Help: The Impact of COVID-19 on Physicians Already at Risk for Burnout, Ana M. Aquilar and Dawna I. Ballard

Chapter 18 Applied Scholarship in Extreme Contexts:  Emotion, Meaning, and Risk in Pandemic Response, Rebecca M. Rice

Chapter 19 Identity Interruptions: Organizational and Occupational Identification during a Global Health Pandemic, Luke A. Dye and Stephanie L. Dailey

Chapter 20 The Perpetually Conditional Citizen, Kerk Fong Kee.- Chapter 21 Review: A Grounded Theory of Organizational Communication and Technology (OCT) of Covid-19 Before Delta and the Vaccine, Larry D. Browning, Jan-Oddvar Sørnes and Peer Jacob Svenkerud.

Larry D. Browning is Professor Emeritus at the Department of Communication Studies, the University of Texas at Austin, in the USA, and Adjunct Professor at Nord University Business School. 

Jan-Oddvar Sørnes is Professor of Organizational Communication and Management at Nord University Business School, Norway, and Adjunct Professor at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences.   

Peer Jacob Svenkerud is the Rector and Professor at the Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway, and Adjunct Professor at Nord University Business School.