Communicating shared vision in a scientific research organization

A wide body of organizational and leadership literature suggests that individuals develop shared interpretations about organizational vision which facilitate shared attitudes and coordinated behavior. From an interpretive, communication perspective social interaction facilitates shared organizational meanings which underlie consensual attitudes and collective action. Within the context of a scientific research organization technical and project leadership, cohesive or structurally equivalent communication relationships, involvement in invisible colleges through professional activities, and shared demographic characteristics are essential for the development of shared meanings which stimulate unified attitudes and collaborative behaviors among professionals. This study adopts a semantic network approach and relies on observational, interview, and survey data collected from members of a European scientific research center to test the loci and outcomes of shared organizational vision. The first stage of analysis tests the loci of actual and perceived shared vision including leadership (positional, task, and visionary), communication (professional, personal, and external), professional activities (professional association memberships and journal readership), and demographic characteristics. The second stage of analysis tests the outcomes of shared vision and relates all the above factors to attitudinal outcomes (work group coordination and cohesion, organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and internal work motivation), and behavioral outcomes (joint projects, joint work produced, and multi-disciplinary work produced). The results indicate that although only external communication significantly influenced members' overall actual shared vision, a number of variables significantly influenced members' individual vision-themes of moving beyond French nationalism, engaging in interdisciplinary exchange and collaboration, doing parallel computing and supercomputing, and establishing a unique, state-of-the-art Center. Additionally, members' perceptions of shared vision were significantly influenced by format and task leadership, direct communication, professional activities, and work group membership. The results indicate that although the degree of actual shared vision did not significantly influence members' attitudes or behaviors, members' perceptions of shared vision significantly influenced their attitudes about work group coordination, work group cohesion, organizational commitment, pay satisfaction, social satisfaction, and supervisory satisfaction; as well as their collaborative behavior, including joint projects, joint works, and multi-disciplinary works produced. Finally, a number of other leadership, communication, professional activity, and demographic factors significantly influenced members' attitudes and behaviors.U of I OnlyETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permissio