Research

The strength of MCOM is in the high calibre of its staff and in its international connectedness. This is evident in the string of international and national awards staff members have received, the high quality of publications they have produced and continue to produce, and the prestigious research grants they have secured.

 

Staff members have proven research expertise in management communication; public relations; advertising; interpersonal communication processes and competencies; organisational communication; organisational change and leadership; political communication; science, technoscience and communication; sustainability and corporate social responsibility; stakeholder engagement.

 

Other areas of expertise are: culture, diversity, and communication; media communication; social impacts of information communication technologies; critical management studies and communication; management practices and fashions; strategic communication; business, environmental, and organisational futures; business, technical, and professional writing, workplace wellbeing; action research and learning methodologies; international development and NGOs; and global activism and globalisation.

 

Another major strength of the department is its international profile and its collaborative links with some of the most distinguished scholars in the fields of organisational communication and public relations, and with communication departments across the globe.

 

In keeping with its standing as one of the foremost centres of communication scholarship in the world, the department has attracted a number of eminent visitors to teach and research here.

 

Two of these visitors, Professors George Cheney and Sally Planalp, among the best-known international scholars in the fields of organisational communication and interpersonal communication, respectively, have gone on to assume Adjunct Professor positions in the department and supervise doctoral students.

 

Several staff members also have ongoing international collaborations with international scholars and institutions (see our visitors and News and events page). Some of the most recent books authored by staff have been collaborative endeavours with scholars in other parts of the world.

 

Similarly, a large number of ongoing projects are being carried out in conjunction with researchers in institutions such as the University of California Santa Barbara, University of Utah, University of North Carolina, University of Michigan, University of Cincinatti, Colorado State University, Boise State University, and Southern Illinois University, in the US; University of York, and Leeds Metropolitan University, UK; and University of British Columbia in Canada.

 

As active scholars, a large number of department staff members have been involved with a range of international refereed journals as editors and reviewers. Ted Zorn edited the Management Communication Quarterly, a top journal in the field, from 2001-03.

 

Journals whose special issues have been guest edited by staff include Public Relations Review, Australian Journal of Communication,  Business Communication Quarterly and PRism. Staff members also sit on the editorial boards of a wide range of communication journals.

 

In the last five years, MCOM staff produced four highly-acclaimed authored research books, four edited volumes, and about 90 refereed journal articles. In recognition of the very high quality of their outputs and their contribution to their respective fields of scholarship, department staff members have consistently been awarded prizes by top organisations such as the International Communication Association (ICA) and the US-based National Communication Association (NCA).

 

Some of the top international awards in 2007 include:

 

 The Frederic M. Jablin Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Organizational Communication Division of the ICA  to Ted Zorn;

 

The Book of the Year Award (edited category) of the NCA's Organizational Communication Division to Steve May, George Cheney, and Juliet's Roper's edited volume on The Debate over Corporate Social Responsibility (Oxford University Press);

 

The PRIDE Award for the Outstanding Book of the Year awarded by the NCA's Public Relations Division to David McKie and Debashish Munshi's research book Reconfiguring Public Relations: Ecology, Equity, and Enterprise (Routledge).