Karlene H. Roberts

Bio: Karlene H. Roberts is an academic researcher from University of California, Berkeley. The author has contributed to research in topics: Organizational communication & Organization development. The author has an hindex of 46, co-authored 109 publications receiving 13937 citations. Previous affiliations of Karlene H. Roberts include General Dynamics & University of California.

Collective mind in organizations: Heedful interrelating on flight decks.

Abstract: We acknowledge with deep gratitude, generous and extensive help with previous versions of this manuscript from Sue Ashford, Michael Cohen, Dan Denison, Jane Dutton, Les Gasser, Joel Kahn, Rod Kramer, Peter Manning, Dave Meader, Debra Meyerson, Walter Nord, Linda Pike, Joe Porac, Bob Quinn, Lance Sandelands, Paul Schaffner, Howard Schwartz, Kathie Sutcliffe, Bob Sutton, Diane Vaughan, Jim Walsh, Rod White, Mayer Zald, and the anonymous reviewers for Administrative Science Quarterly.

Some Characteristics of One Type of High Reliability Organization

Abstract: This paper is concerned with defining organizational processes necessary to operate safely technologically complex organizations that can do great physical harm to themselves and their surrounding environments. The paper first argues that existing organizational research is little help in understanding organizational processes in such organizations. It then identifies nuclear powered aircraft carriers as examples of potentially hazardous organizations with histories of excellent operations. The paper then examines a set of components of “risk” identified by Perrow (1984) and antecedents to catastrophe elucidated by Shrivastava (1986) and discusses how carriers deal with these factors to lessen their potentially negative effects. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research.

The Incident Command System: High-Reliability Organizing for Complex and Volatile Task Environments

Abstract: The incident command system (ICS) is a particular approach to assembly and control of the highly reliable temporary organizations employed by many public safety professionals to manage diverse reso...

Handbook of Organizational Communication: An Interdisciplinary Perspective

Abstract: PART ONE: THEORETICAL ISSUES Editors' Overview Communication Theory and Organizational Communication - Kathleen J Krone, Fredric M Jablin and Linda L Putnam Multiple Perspectives Evolving Perspectives in Organization Theory - Nancy Euske and Karlene H Roberts Communication Implications Translating Organizational Theory - Phillip K Tompkins Symbolism Over Substance Theorizing About Organizational Communication - Karl E Weick PART TWO: CONTEXT: INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENTS Editors' Overview Information Environments - George P Huber and Richard L Daft Corporate Discourse - George Cheney and Steven L Vibbert Public Relations and Issue Management Communication Climate in Organizations - Raymond L Falcione, Lyle Sussman and Richard Herden Organizational Culture - Linda Smircich and Marta B Calas A Critical Assessment Cross-Cultural Perspectives - Harry C Triandis and Rosita D Albert PART THREE: STRUCTURE: PATTERNS OF ORGANIZATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS Editors' Overview Emergent Communication Networks - Peter M Monge and Eric M Eisenberg Superior-Subordinate Communication - Fred Dansereau and Steven E Markham Multiple Levels of Analysis Formal Organization Structure - Fredric M Jablin Information Technologies - Mary J Culnan and M Lynne Markus PART FOUR: PROCESS: COMMUNICATION BEHAVIOR IN ORGANIZATIONS Editors' Overview Message and Message Exchange Processes - Cynthia Stohl and W Charles Redding Power, Politics and Influence - Peter J Frost Conflict and Negotiation - Linda L Putnam and Marshall Scott Poole Message Flow and Decision-Making - Charles O'Reilly, Jennifer Chatman and John C Anderson Feedback, Motivation and Performance - Louis P Cusella Organizational Entry, Assimilation, and Exit - Fredric M Jablin

Social Capital, Intellectual Capital, and the Organizational Advantage

Abstract: Scholars of the theory of the firm have begun to emphasize the sources and conditions of what has been described as “the organizational advantage,” rather than focus on the causes and consequences of market failure. Typically, researchers see such organizational advantage as accruing from the particular capabilities organizations have for creating and sharing knowledge. In this article we seek to contribute to this body of work by developing the following arguments: (1) social capital facilitates the creation of new intellectual capital; (2) organizations, as institutional settings, are conducive to the development of high levels of social capital; and (3) it is because of their more dense social capital that firms, within certain limits, have an advantage over markets in creating and sharing intellectual capital. We present a model that incorporates this overall argument in the form of a series of hypothesized relationships between different dimensions of social capital and the main mechanisms and proces...

Managing Legitimacy: Strategic and Institutional Approaches

Abstract: This article synthesizes the large but diverse literature on organizational legitimacy, highlighting similarities and disparities among the leading strategic and institutional approaches. The analysis identifies three primary forms of legitimacy: pragmatic, based on audience self-interest; moral, based on normative approval: and cognitive, based on comprehensibility and taken-for-grantedness. The article then examines strategies for gaining, maintaining, and repairing legitimacy of each type, suggesting both the promises and the pitfalls of such instrumental manipulations.

Organizational Learning: The Contributing Processes and the Literatures

Abstract: This paper differs from previous examinations of organizational learning in that it is broader in scope and more evaluative of the literatures. Four constructs related to organizational learning knowledge acquisition, information distribution, information interpretation, and organizational memory are articulated, and the literatures related to each are described and critiqued. The literature on knowledge acquisition is voluminous and multi-faceted, and so the knowledge acquisition construct is portrayed here as consisting of five subconstructs or subprocesses: 1 drawing on knowledge available at the organization's birth, 2 learning from experience, 3 learning by observing other organizations, 4 grafting on to itself components that possess knowledge needed but not possessed by the organization, and 5 noticing or searching for information about the organization's environment and performance. Examination of the related literatures indicates that much has been learned about learning from experience, but also that there is a lack of cumulative work and a lack of integration of work from different research groups. Similarly, much has been learned about organizational search, but there is a lack of conceptual work, and there is a lack of both cumulative work and syntheses with which to create a more mature literature. Congenital learning, vicarious learning, and grafting are information acquisition subprocesses about which relatively little has been learned. The literature concerning information distribution is rich and mature, but an aspect of information distribution that is central to an organization's benefitting from its learning, namely how units that possess information and units that need this information can find each other quickly and with a high likelihood, is unexplored. Information interpretation, as an organizational process, rather than an individual process, requires empirical work for further advancement. Organizational memory is much in need of systematic investigation, particularly by those whose special concerns are improving organizational learning and decision making.

A review and meta-analysis of the antecedents, correlates, and consequences of organizational commitment

Abstract: In this article, we summarize previous empirical studies that examined antecedents, correlates, and/or consequences of organizational commitment using meta-analysis. In total, 48 meta-analyses were conducted, including 26 variables classified as antecedents, 8 as consequences, and 14 as correlates.

The effects of feedback interventions on performance: A historical review, a meta-analysis, and a preliminary feedback intervention theory.

Abstract: the total number of papers may exceed 10,000. Nevertheless, cost consideration forced us to consider mostly published papers and technical reports in English. 4 Formula 4 in Seifert (1991) is in error—a multiplier of n, of cell size, is missing in the numerator. 5 Unfortunately, the technique of meta-analysis cannot be applied, at present time, to such effects because the distribution of dis based on a sampling of people, whereas the statistics of techniques such as ARIMA are based on the distribution of a sampling of observations in the time domain regardless of the size of the people sample involved (i.e., there is no way to compare a sample of 100 points in time with a sample of 100 people). That is, a sample of 100 points in time has the same degrees of freedom if it were based on an observation of 1 person or of 1,000 people. 258 KLUGER AND DENISI From the papers we reviewed, only 131 (5%) met the criteria for inclusion. We were concerned that, given the small percentage of usable papers, our conclusions might not fairly represent the larger body of relevant literature. Therefore, we analyzed all the major reasons to reject a paper from the meta-analysis, even though the decision to exclude a paper came at the first identification of a missing inclusion criterion. This analysis showed the presence of review articles, interventions of natural feedback removal, and papers that merely discuss feedback, which in turn suggests that the included studies represent 1015% of the empirical FI literature. However, this analysis also showed that approximately 37% of the papers we considered manipulated feedback without a control group and that 16% reported confounded treatments, that is, roughly two thirds of the empirical FI literature cannot shed light on the question of FI effects on performance—a fact that requires attention from future FI researchers. Of the usable 131 papers (see references with asterisks), 607 effect sizes were extracted. These effects were based on 12,652 participants and 23,663 observations (reflecting multiple observations per participant). The average sample size per effect was 39 participants. The distribution of the effect sizes is presented in Figure 1. The weighted mean (weighted by sample size) of this distribution is 0.41, suggesting that, on average, FI has a moderate positive effect on performance. However, over 38% of the effects were negative (see Figure 1). The weighted variance of this distribution is 0.97, whereas the estimate of the sampling error variance is only 0.09. A potential problem in meta-analyses is a violation of the assumption of independence. Such a violation occurs either when multiple observations are taken from the same study (Rosenthal, 1984) or when several papers are authored by the same person (Wolf, 1986). In the present investigation, there were 91 effects derived from the laboratory experiments reported by Mikulincer (e.g., 1988a, 1988b). This raises the possibility that the average effect size is biased, because his studies manipulated extreme negative FIs and used similar tasks. In fact, the weighted average d in Mikulincer's studies was —0.39; whereas in the remainder of the