{n “title”: “Organizational Orientations”,n “content”: “
1. Abstract
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The Organizational Orientations Scale (OOS), developed by James C. McCroskey, Virginia P. Richmond, Aaron D. Johnson, and H. Thomas Smith in 2004, is an empirically validated psychometric instrument designed to measure individual employee orientations, predispositions, and behavioral inclinations toward organizational environments. Grounded in organizational communication theory and sociological personality typologies initially posited by Robert Presthus (1962), the scale operationalizes three distinct personality orientations that dictate how individuals relate to bureaucratic structures, authority, occupational responsibilities, and workplace communication: the Upward Mobile orientation, the Ambivalent orientation, and the Indifferent orientation.
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The instrument comprises a total of 50 self-report items distributed across three specialized subscales: the 18-item Upward Mobile Orientation Measure, the 20-item Ambivalent Orientation Measure, and the 12-item Indifferent Orientation Measure. Respondents evaluate each statement using a standard 5-point Likert-type response scale ranging from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 5 (Strongly Agree). Psychometric investigations across diverse occupational, managerial, and educational cohorts demonstrate robust construct validity, high internal consistency reliability, and clear factor structures. Observed Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficients consistently range from .84 to .90 for the Upward Mobile dimension, .85 to .91 for the Ambivalent dimension, and .82 to .89 for the Indifferent dimension.
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Confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses substantiate the orthogonal yet interrelated three-factor structure, demonstrating distinct predictive validity for critical organizational outcomes, including employee job satisfaction, organizational commitment, communication apprehension, supervisor-subordinate relationship quality, and turnover intentions. The OOS remains an essential diagnostic and scientific instrument within organizational communication, industrial-organizational psychology, and human resource management, offering actionable insights into individual-organization fit, leadership interaction dynamics, and workplace disengagement.
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2. Keywords
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Organizational Orientations Scale, James C. McCroskey, Upward Mobile, Ambivalent Orientation, Indifferent Orientation, Organizational Communication, Employee Typology, Robert Presthus, Workplace Disengagement, Job Satisfaction, Organizational Identification, Psychometrics, Industrial-Organizational Psychology, Bureaucracy, Person-Organization Fit
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3. Authors
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The Organizational Orientations Scale was conceptualized, operationalized, and psychometrically validated by a collaborative team of scholars in communication studies and human communication theory:
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- James C. McCroskey, Ed.D. (1938–2012): Renowned scholar, Professor of Communication Studies at West Virginia University, and later Professor Emeritus at the University of Alabama. Dr. McCroskey was a pioneer in instructional and organizational communication, widely recognized for his foundational work on communication apprehension, nonverbal immediacy, and organizational orientations.
- Virginia P. Richmond, Ph.D.: Professor Emerita of Communication Studies at West Virginia University and Professor of Communication at the University of Alabama. Dr. Richmond has authored numerous foundational books and articles on organizational communication, power in organizations, and interpersonal dynamics.
- Aaron D. Johnson, Ph.D.: Researcher in organizational communication and measurement methodology, previously affiliated with the Department of Communication Studies at West Virginia University.
- H. Thomas Smith, Ph.D.: Organizational communication specialist and scholar, whose research focused on employee adaptation, workplace behaviors, and quantitative instrumentation.
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Correspondence regarding the original development of the instrument was historically directed through the Department of Communication Studies at West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, and archival documentation remains accessible via academic repositories curated in memory of Dr. McCroskey’s methodological contributions.
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4. Purpose
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The primary purpose of the Organizational Orientations Scale is to provide organizational scholars, industrial-organizational psychologists, and human resource practitioners with a reliable, theoretically anchored measurement tool capable of diagnosing an employee’s generalized stance toward modern work organizations. Traditional organizational research frequently operated under the implicit assumption that employees share relatively uniform orientations toward organizational hierarchy, corporate mission, and structural authority, attributing behavioral deviations solely to temporary situational stressors, supervisory styles, or economic incentive structures. The OOS challenges this assumption by positing that individuals enter organizational systems with deeply ingrained, stable personality orientations that govern how they perceive, communicate within, and adapt to bureaucratic structures.
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From an applied and diagnostic standpoint, the OOS serves several essential functions:
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- Individual-Organization Fit (P-O Fit): The instrument evaluates the psychological compatibility between an employee’s intrinsic career motivations and the structural demands of the employing organization. Organizations characterized by rigid hierarchical ladders require different behavioral profiles than decentralized, flat organizations.
- Supervisory Communication Strategy: By understanding the orientation profiles of subordinates, managers can tailor communication strategies. Upward mobiles respond positively to public recognition, vertical task challenges, and performance feedback, whereas indifferents require pragmatic, transactional boundaries, and ambivalents require transparent dispute resolution and autonomy.
- Retention and Turnover Diagnostics: The scale enables organizational analysts to isolate whether voluntary turnover, absenteeism, and organizational cynicism stem from an inherently ambivalent orientation or mismatched role expectations, differentiating chronic personality disposition from acute environmental dissatisfaction.
- Academic and Applied Research: The OOS facilitates rigorous empirical investigations exploring the antecedents and consequences of employee motivation, organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), workplace burnout, counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs), and managerial communication competencies.
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5. Psychological Construct
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The psychological construct measured by the OOS is multidimensional, conceptualizing an employee’s organizational orientation as a constellation of cognitive appraisals, affective responses, and behavioral predispositions toward organizational bureaucracy, authority, peer relations, and labor itself. Rather than placing individuals along a single continuum of loyalty or productivity, the OOS operationalizes three distinct, non-mutually exclusive dimensions:
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Upward Mobile Orientation
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The Upward Mobile orientation reflects a deep psychological identification with the organization, its goals, and its hierarchical authority structures. Individuals scoring high on this dimension view the organization as their primary arena for self-actualization, status acquisition, and personal achievement. Key facets include:
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- Goal Congruence: High upward mobiles perceive little conflict between organizational objectives and personal desires; they readily internalize corporate values.
- Ambition and Meritocratic Belief: These employees strongly endorse the belief that diligence, loyalty, and exceptional performance will reliably lead to occupational advancement and executive status.
- Intrinsic Dedication: They often display workaholic tendencies, take immense pride in occupational accomplishments, actively solicit performance feedback, and prioritize organizational success over peer solidarity.
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Ambivalent Orientation
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The Ambivalent orientation characterizes individuals who experience continuous internal conflict regarding their participation in formal organizations. While they may possess creative intelligence and specialized professional competence, they fundamentally mistrust corporate authority, bureaucratic regulations, and organizational hierarchies. Key facets include:
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- Institutional Cynicism: High ambivalents perceive organizational leadership as incompetent, self-serving, or arbitrary, often viewing company policies as irrational constraints on individual autonomy.
- Chronic Dissatisfaction: Regardless of the specific organization they work for, ambivalents report persistent unhappiness, feelings of alienation, and a conviction that their talents are neither recognized nor adequately utilized.
- Resistance and Detachment: They struggle to conform to standardized organizational demands, frequently express contempt for supervisors, and prefer solitary working arrangements where bureaucratic oversight is minimized.
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Indifferent Orientation
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The Indifferent orientation represents an instrumental, psychologically detached orientation toward work. For indifferent employees, work is not a vehicle for identity construction, social prestige, or intellectual fulfillment, but merely an economic transaction necessary to finance their life outside the workplace. Key facets include:
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- Psychological Segmentation: Indifferents maintain an impermeable boundary between work and personal life, famously captured by the sentiment that \”life begins when the workday ends.\”
- Minimal Discretionary Effort: They consistently perform the baseline requirements necessary to maintain employment and secure their compensation, avoiding volunteering for extra-role behaviors or organizational citizenship activities.
- Apathy Toward Hierarchical Mobility: Unlike upward mobiles, indifferents are generally unmotivated by promotions, status titles, or corporate accolades, prioritizing work-life balance, monetary compensation, and predictable, low-stress routines.
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6. Theoretical Framework
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The theoretical architecture of the Organizational Orientations Scale is primarily rooted in the seminal sociological work of Robert Presthus, articulated in his 1962 classic, The Organizational Society: An Analysis and a Theory. Presthus posited that modern Western civilization is characterized by large, complex, rationalized organizations—bureaucracies—that exert pervasive psychological pressures on the individuals working within them. To adapt to the structural realities of authority, division of labor, hierarchy, and impersonal procedural systems, Presthus argued that individuals adopt one of three primary coping patterns: the upward mobile, the indifferent, or the ambivalent.
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Presthus’s sociological typology drew heavily upon Weberian bureaucratic theory, Robert K. Merton‘s strain theory of deviant behavior and structural adaptation, and Harry Stack Sullivan‘s interpersonal theory of psychiatry. Presthus maintained that these three patterns represent fundamental, enduring adaptation styles shaped by early socialization, personality formation, and interactional histories with authority figures.
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McCroskey, Richmond, Johnson, and Smith (2004) synthesized Presthus’s qualitative sociological theory with modern psychometric and organizational communication principles. They recognized that while Presthus provided rich theoretical descriptions, scholars lacked standardized, empirically validated, quantitative instrumentation to measure these orientations directly within communication networks. McCroskey et al. posited that communication within organizations is fundamentally filtered through these orientations: upward mobiles seek vertical, instrumental, and strategic communication; indifferents minimize communication to necessary operational information; and ambivalents engage in critical, resistant, or cynical communication patterns.
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7. Validity
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The construct, convergent, discriminant, and criterion-related validities of the Organizational Orientations Scale have been extensively documented across multiple empirical investigations involving diverse organizational, corporate, and educational samples.
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Construct and Factorial Validity
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Initial validation studies by McCroskey et al. (2004) confirmed that the three orientations operate as distinct psychological constructs. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported the three-dimensional model over single-factor or two-factor alternatives. Items loaded cleanly onto their respective latent factors with high factor saturation, confirming that the scale accurately captures the tripartite framework conceptualized by Presthus.
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Convergent and Discriminant Validity
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Empirical studies evaluating convergent and discriminant validity have established clear nomological networks:
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- Upward Mobile Orientation: Positively and strongly correlated with organizational commitment ($r = .55$ to $.68$), intrinsic job satisfaction ($r = .48$ to $.62$), belief in organizational values, and willingness to perform organizational citizenship behaviors. It exhibits negative correlations with job-related cynicism and communication apprehension in managerial contexts.
- Ambivalent Orientation: Positively correlated with organizational cynicism ($r = .60$ to $.72$), burnout, workplace alienation, hostility toward supervisors, and voluntary turnover intentions ($r = .45$ to $.58$). It demonstrates substantial negative correlations with job satisfaction ($r = -.52$ to $-.64$) and trust in management.
- Indifferent Orientation: Positively correlated with transactional work values, strict psychological contract enforcement, and preference for external life pursuits. Notably, it displays negligible or near-zero correlations with organizational identification, yet unlike ambivalence, indifference does not necessarily correlate with active hostility or grievance filings; indifferents are generally content so long as pay is fair and hours are respected.
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Predictive and Criterion Validity
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Subsequent investigations by Richmond and McCroskey (2005) and related communication researchers demonstrated that supervisors evaluate upward mobile employees significantly higher on performance appraisals, promotability indices, and perceived leadership potential. Conversely, indifferent employees receive moderate performance ratings sufficient for job retention, while ambivalent employees demonstrate higher frequencies of interpersonal disputes, supervisory conflict, and grievance procedures.
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8. Reliability
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The Organizational Orientations Scale consistently exhibits exemplary internal consistency reliability across varied organizational contexts, industries, and demographic cohorts. Reliability parameters derived from major validation and subsequent replication studies include:
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- Upward Mobile Orientation Measure (18 items): In the initial validation study by McCroskey et al. (2004), Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for this subscale ranged from $.84$ to $.90$ across multiple independent sample groups. Subsequent organizational studies have consistently reported alpha values hovering around $.86$ to $.88$, demonstrating exceptional item homogeneity and stable measurement of achievement orientation.
- Ambivalent Orientation Measure (20 items): Cronbach’s alpha estimates for the Ambivalent subscale consistently achieve the highest magnitude among the three dimensions, typically ranging between $.85$ and $.91$. Item-total correlations for this dimension regularly exceed $.45$, verifying that statements reflecting institutional alienation, rule dissatisfaction, and supervisory friction cohere into a unified psychometric factor.
- Indifferent Orientation Measure (12 items): Internal consistency reliability for the Indifferent subscale routinely demonstrates alpha estimates between $.82$ and $.89$. Despite having fewer items than the other two subscales, the items display strong mutual covariance, capturing the detachment from organizational status and prioritization of off-work life.
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Test-retest reliability evaluations over intervals ranging from 4 to 8 weeks have demonstrated temporal stability coefficients exceeding $.78$ across all three subscales, confirming that organizational orientations function as relatively enduring individual predispositions rather than fleeting affective reactions to transient workplace events.
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9. Factor Analysis
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The structural dimensionality of the OOS was developed and confirmed through a multi-stage psychometric procedure combining exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA):
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Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA)
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During scale development, McCroskey and colleagues generated an initial item pool reflecting Presthus’s theoretical conceptualizations. Principal components analysis (PCA) and principal axis factoring (PAF) using both orthogonal (Varimax) and oblique (Promax) rotations were executed. The scree test, parallel analysis, and Kaiser’s eigenvalue-greater-than-one rule ($> 1.0$) converged unequivocally on a three-factor solution:
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- Factor 1 (Ambivalent): Accounted for the largest proportion of total variance, with primary item loadings ranging from $.42$ to $.78$. Items tapping resentment toward regulations, belief in supervisor incompetence, and general job unhappiness loaded cleanly without significant cross-loadings.
- Factor 2 (Upward Mobile): Accounted for the second substantial component of variance, with primary item loadings ranging from $.45$ to $.76$. Items indexing desire to reach the top, workaholic tendencies, and belief in organizational merit loaded strongly.
- Factor 3 (Indifferent): Accounted for the final unique variance component, with item loadings ranging from $.48$ to $.74$, characterized by statements contrasting work obligations with off-work living.
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Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA)
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Confirmatory factor analyses testing the hypothesized three-factor oblique model against alternative nested models (including a single-factor general orientation model and a two-factor model merging indifferents and ambivalents) demonstrated superior goodness-of-fit for the three-factor model:
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- Comparative Fit Index (CFI) $\\ge .92$
- Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) $\\ge .91$
- Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) $\\le .054$ (90% CI: .048 – .060)
- Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR) $\\le .058$
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Factor intercorrelations confirmed that the Upward Mobile orientation correlates weakly to moderately negatively with Ambivalence ($r \\approx -.25$ to $-.38$) and Indifference ($r \\approx -.20$ to $-.32$), while Indifference and Ambivalence share a small, non-significant to weak positive correlation ($r \\approx .12$ to $.22$), substantiating their status as conceptually independent dimensions rather than opposite ends of a single continuum.
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10. Instrument / Measurement Tool
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The Organizational Orientations Scale is a standardized, self-report psychometric battery designed for individual or group administration in corporate, academic, or research environments.
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- Test Type: Multidimensional self-report psychological inventory.
- Target Population: Working adults, managers, administrative personnel, technical staff, and organizational members across diverse industries.
- Administration Format: Available in paper-and-pencil, computer-assisted, or online survey formats.
- Total Item Count: 50 items organized across three dedicated subscales:\n
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- Upward Mobile Orientation: 18 items (Item 8 is reverse-scored).
- Ambivalent Orientation: 20 items (Items 3, 9, and 13 are reverse-scored).
- Indifferent Orientation: 12 items (No reverse-scored items).
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- Response Scale: 5-point Likert-type response options scored as follows:\n
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- 5 = Strongly Agree
- 4 = Agree
- 3 = Undecided
- 2 = Disagree
- 1 = Strongly Disagree
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- Scoring and Computational Rules:\n
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- Step 1: Reverse score the designated items so that $5 \\rightarrow 1$, $4 \\rightarrow 2$, $3 \\rightarrow 3$, $2 \\rightarrow 4$, and $1 \\rightarrow 5$. Specifically: Upward Mobile Item 8; Ambivalent Items 3, 9, and 13.
- Step 2: Compute the sum or mean for each subscale independently. Subscales are scored separately to yield three continuous profile scores; they are never combined into a single composite score.
- Upward Mobile Score Range: 18 to 90 (or 1.0 to 5.0 mean score). Higher scores indicate stronger career ambition, dedication, and hierarchical identification.
- Ambivalent Score Range: 20 to 100 (or 1.0 to 5.0 mean score). Higher scores reflect heightened skepticism, resistance to rules, and organizational alienation.
- Indifferent Score Range: 12 to 60 (or 1.0 to 5.0 mean score). Higher scores signify psychological detachment, work-life segmentation, and monetary motivation.
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- Administration Time: Approximately 10 to 15 minutes.
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11. Permissions & Fee and Test Year
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The Organizational Orientations Scale was formally published in 2004 by James C. McCroskey, Virginia P. Richmond, Aaron D. Johnson, and H. Thomas Smith in Communication Quarterly.
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In accordance with the scholarly philosophy and open-science commitments of Dr. James C. McCroskey and Dr. Virginia P. Richmond, the instrument is in the public domain for scholarly, non-commercial educational, and academic research purposes. Scholars, students, and institutional researchers may freely reproduce, administer, and analyze the OOS without paying licensing fees or seeking formal written permission, provided that full academic citation and bibliographic credit are given to the original authors and publication source.
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Commercial applications, including fee-for-service executive coaching programs, proprietary pre-employment screening software, or commercial consulting diagnostics, require evaluation under standard fair-use copyright guidelines and should consult the publishers of Communication Quarterly (Taylor & Francis) regarding formal licensing rights.
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12. References
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McCroskey, J. C., Richmond, V. P., Johnson, A. D., & Smith, H. T. (2004). Organizational orientations theory and measurement: Development of measures and preliminary investigations. Communication Quarterly, 52(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/01463370409370174
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Merton, R. K. (1938). Social structure and anomie. American Sociological Review, 3(5), 672–682. https://doi.org/10.2307/2084686
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Presthus, R. (1962). The organizational society: An analysis and a theory. Alfred A. Knopf.
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Richmond, V. P., & McCroskey, J. C. (2005). Organizational communication for survival: Making work, work (3rd ed.). Allyn & Bacon.
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Sullivan, H. S. (1953). The interpersonal theory of psychiatry. W. W. Norton & Company.
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Weber, M. (1947). The theory of social and economic organization (A. M. Henderson & T. Parsons, Trans.). Free Press.
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