Communication, Relationships and Practices in Virtual Work: (Advances in Human Resources Management and Organizational Development)

Organizations are rapidly shifting the way that individuals conceptualize, participate, and engage in work. A significant change is how organizations are coordinating, arranging, and organizing the activities of their employees for the accomplishments of organizational goals. Communication, Relationships and Practices in Virtual Work characterizes the nuanced communication, relational, and practical dynamics that characterize virtual working in contemporary organizations. This reference work addresses virtual teams, peer relationships in virtual work, mentoring, vertical mobility, diversity in the virtual workspace, productivity and the postmodern aesthetic, and the communication practices and processes of dispersed work configurations.

About the Author :
Shawn D. Long (Ph.D., University of Kentucky; M.P.A., Tennessee State University) is Chair of the Department of Communication Studies and former Director of the Communication Studies Graduate Program at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is currently Associate Professor of Communication Studies and Associate Professor of Organizational Science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. An organizational scholar with numerous peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Long’s teaching and research spans organizational communication, organizational science, virtual work, diversity communication, virtual- team assimilation, and socialization, and health communication. Dr. Long studies the utility and development of communication practices and processes in virtual work. He has consulted several organizations on communication, technology, culture, diversity, and structure. He has written, presented, and published several peer-reviewed papers around issues of organizational technology, diversity, virtual work in organizations, health communication, and organizational culture. He has appeared as a featured guest on several media outlets including the National Public Radio and the Canadian Broadcast Corporation. His most recent research appears in Communication Monographs, Journal of National Medical Association, Clinical Transplantation, Health Communication, Journal of Health Psychology, Journal of Health Communication, Communication Teacher, Health Communication, Information and Science Technology, The Encyclopedia of Organizational/Industrial Psychology, Case Studies for Organizational Communication: Understanding Communication Processes , and Virtual and Collaborative Teams . His book, Communication, Relationships and Practices in Virtual Work (2010) was nominated for two Outstanding Book Awards in two divisions of the National Communication Association. He is currently guest editor of a special issue of the Journal of Information Technology Research. He serves on a number of journal editorial boards. Dr. Long is immediate past-Chair of the African American Communication and Culture Division of the National Communication Association. Prior to arriving at UNC-Charlotte, Dr. Long was a Southern Regional Educational Board Doctoral Scholar and Lyman T. Johnson Doctoral Scholar at the University of Kentucky. He has been recognized with several professional awards including the 2011 Southern States Communication Association Outreach Award, 2009 Organizational Science Outstanding Service Award, 2010 Southern States Communication Association Minority and Retention Award, Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Teaching at the University of Kentucky, The Multicultural Summer Fellowship at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Outstanding Teaching Assistant in the College of Communication and Information Studies at the University of Kentucky, Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant recognized by the International Communication Association, and Who’s Who Among American Teachers.