Rebecca M. Rice is an Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Her work examines interorganizational collaboration related to emergency and reliability organizing and has appeared in publications such as the Journal of Applied Communication Research and Management Communication Quarterly.
This book brings much-needed attention to one of the most difficult yet important concepts for inter-organizational collaboration - the notion of authority. The communication perspective articulated here offers valuable insights that enhance the literature on organizational communication and collaboration. Matthew Koschmann, Associate Professor, Department of Communication, University of Colorado Boulder, USA In some corners of organization studies, the investigation of authority has been gradually supplanted by attention to power. In this book, Rebecca Rice expertly reinvigorates the study of authority by making the notion intrinsically communicative—in a most sophisticated way. Based on a detailed two-year ethnographic study of an emergency management collaboration, Rice unfolds the notion of cumulative authority, which shows how intensely interorganizational collaborations wrestle with complexity, materiality, and expertise, even when governmental influence would appear dominant. With its fascinating case study, its theoretically rich engagement with communication, and its compelling contributions to practice, this is the book that will inspire innovative lines of investigation in interorganizational collaborations. Timothy Kuhn, Professor and Chair, Department of Communication, University of Colorado Boulder