Date of Award

8-1-2023

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Communication

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Nicolas Bencherki

Committee Members

Teresa Harrison

Keywords

diversity, high reliability organizations, organizational communication, ostracism, social identity, workplace humor

Subject Categories

Communication

Abstract

This qualitative study that analyzed data from interviews, observations, texts, and artifacts sought to answer the following questions: What qualities and characteristics are most valued in HROs such as fire departments? How are bonding, trust, and cohesion observably accomplished in high reliability organizations (HROs) such as fire departments? How do informal communicative practices unique to fire departments participate in this accomplishment at interpersonal and organizational levels? How do these informal communicative practices contribute to fostering diversity or perpetuating exclusion? The results of the study were that fitting in socially was a key determinant of successful assimilation. Additionally, as HROs, fire departments require bonding and trust among members to function effectively, but some of the mechanisms of bonding and trust formation (social identity processes for creating and reinforcing ingroups) have unintended, and sometimes intentional, adverse outcomes especially for women, minorities, and other marginalized groups. The processes are usually informal forms of social control but can communicate messages of exclusion and hostility to uninitiated outsiders. It was also found that fire departments are permeated with unwritten rules, a situation which is disadvantageous to newcomers who lack pre-occupational socialization or a mentor. This situation would be detrimental to any type of organization because they could not reap the benefits of diversity and inclusion and, in the case of some volunteer fire departments, threatens their continued existence because they no longer attract sufficient volunteers from their traditional populations and are not attractive to women and minority volunteers due to their historically exclusionary and hostile environments. The flow of the study begins with a review of the history of race and gender relations in fire departments. Then the literature review invokes the traditional lens of HRO literature to understand fire department culture and links the exigencies of bonding and trust to the mechanisms described in social identity theories. The literature on diversity and inclusion are used to highlight why lack of diversity and inclusion are counterproductive. Lastly the literature review focuses on communicative tools of workplace humor and ostracism to highlight phenomena revealed in the data relating to ubiquitous and outwardly benign practices of pranks and silent treatment in fire departments and their adverse effects.

Download

Included in

Communication Commons

Share

COinS