Papers by Cristin Compton
SAGE Publications Ltd eBooks, 2024
Human Resource Development Review
As employee preferences change and organizations adapt and transform as a result of the Covid-19 ... more As employee preferences change and organizations adapt and transform as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, new research opportunities are present for HRD scholars interested in training and development, organizational behavior, job design, change management, the creation of healthy and productive workplaces, and more. In the face of new opportunities for research, we discuss the value of revisiting grounded theory methodology as a resource for generating theory in HRD contexts. As a methodology, grounded theory is a useful tool for exploring processes and building theory grounded in data. In this paper, we examine the potential of grounded theory to contribute meaningfully to the research and practice of HRD by discussing the historical development of grounded theory, the current state of grounded theory research in HRD, and the implications of grounded theory work on the future of HRD scholarship.
University of Missouri--Columbia, 2016
Journal of Applied Communication Research, 2022
Journal of Applied Communication Research, 2018
Sexual harassment remains a persistent workplace problem. The 2017 #Metoo movement and what-have-... more Sexual harassment remains a persistent workplace problem. The 2017 #Metoo movement and what-have-come-to-be routine news stories about sexual hostility, sexual assault, and sexual harassment in American organizations have opened wounds and reinvigorated public commentary. Although the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sets forth guidelines for organizations to follow, questions remain about what counts as sexual harassment, and what is an organization's responsibility in maintaining a harassment-free workplace for its employees. At the invitation of the editor, seven organizational communication scholars responded to a series of questions addressing seven issues related to sexual harassment. These are: sexual harassment policy and training; the responsibilities of bystanders of sexual harassment; organizational culture that provides more support to the harasser than the harassed; the intersection of race with sexual harassment; same-sex harassment and female-to-male harassment; and what can be learned from public movements (e.g. #Metoo). The co-authors' responses describe sexually harassing situation with which they are familiar.
Sex and sexuality are a core part of the human experience. What has been socially constructed as ... more Sex and sexuality are a core part of the human experience. What has been socially constructed as "normal" sexuality (e.g., acts, behaviors, preferences, conversation topics, vocabulary, etc.) has changed dramatically over time. Because sex and sexuality are fundamentally acts of power (Foucault, 1978/1990), human sexuality is a highly regulated construct that people organize around. This is particularly true in the context of the workplace, where policies and daily practices both explicitly and implicitly regulate performances of and communication about sexuality. This dissertation explores the process of co-sexuality: how "normal" sexuality is communicatively constructed in the modern Midwestern workplace as well as how people organize around the constructed norm. Participants identifying with a variety of sexualities, genders, and professions drew on the master narrative of the Midwest, the expectation of aggressive sexuality, and acts of silence/ing to describe the process of co-sexuality. Participants also described feeling simultaneously pulled toward and pushed away from the "normal" sexual center and the complex identity work needed to remain effective in the workplace. Implications for theory, sexuality scholarship, and political implications are also discussed.
Journal of Homosexuality
ABSTRACT Human sexuality is a highly regulated but fluid construct that people communicatively or... more ABSTRACT Human sexuality is a highly regulated but fluid construct that people communicatively organize around. What has been socially constructed as “normal” sexuality (e.g., preferences, rights, vocabulary, etc.) has shifted dramatically over time, and differently between communities and geographic boundaries. In workplace contexts, where policies and daily practices explicitly and implicitly regulate performances of and communication about sexuality, regional and cultural sexual “norms” can affect how people of diverse sexualities understand and experience their jobs. The Midwestern United States is a particularly complex and diverse region when considering sexual equality in the workplace. Using the lens of co-sexuality, this study explores how people identifying with varying sexual, gender, and professional identities in Midwestern workplaces explained their perceptions of “normal” sexuality and how it affected their workplace experiences. Participants drew on the master narrative of the Midwest, composed of perceived Judeo-Christian norms and a cultural discomfort with difference, and described feeling simultaneously pulled toward and pushed away from cultural sexual “norms” in their day-to-day work environments.
Management Communication Quarterly
Gay bars have historically functioned as communal spaces for the LGBTQ+ community. Because of neo... more Gay bars have historically functioned as communal spaces for the LGBTQ+ community. Because of neoliberalism, LGBTQ+ acceptance continues to rise as “post-gay’’ discourses, coupled with the inclusion of heterosexual audiences, have repositioned gay bars as inclusive spaces. In this study, we explore how the meaning of “gay bar” is communicatively negotiated. Specifically, we employed a co-sexuality lens with spatiality to understand how the “gay bar brand” is constructed and perceived. We used ethnographic methods including observation, 25 semi-structured interviews, and documents at two gay bars in a Midwestern college town. We demonstrate how gay bars, through neoliberal branding, reopened the meaning of gay bars as spaces for “all” sexualities. Three tensions emerged: (1) who gay bars are for (queer or general communities); (2) sexual autonomy (contested meanings around “safety” and “being yourself”); and (3) viable marketing (tension between “community” and “commodification”). Th...
Gender, Work & Organization
Management Communication Quarterly
The organizational landscape is changing for sexual minorities in U.S. workplaces. A dramatic inc... more The organizational landscape is changing for sexual minorities in U.S. workplaces. A dramatic increase in organizational policy protections reflects a broader societal shift toward social acceptance of sexual diversity. However, as participant narratives demonstrate, discrimination and bias are still present in contemporary organizations. As such, sexual minority employees must manage their sexual identities in a changing environment that is rife with mixed messages. In this study, 20 employees from across the United States in a variety of occupations described policies and communication with coworkers as influential to their sexual identity management. Using the framework of the communication theory of identity, gaps between communal frame communication (organizational policy) and relational frame communication (coworker communication) resulted in mixed messages participants had to discursively navigate to manage their sexual identities. Implications for practitioners and scholars are discussed.
Uploads
Papers by Cristin Compton