Date of Graduation

8-2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Communication (MA)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Communication

Advisor/Mentor

Myria Allen

Committee Member

Kasey Walker

Second Committee Member

Matthew Spialek

Keywords

boundary spanning, chief resilience officer, community resilience, interorganizational collaboration, leadership, social network analysis

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore, in some depth, the functions of interorganizational collaboration (IOC) by analyzing the Chief Resilience Officer (CRO) role in 5 US cities. The CRO can act as a key network collaborator or boundary spanner – managing relationships, communication and strategic responses within and across organizations. This study researches the IOC and leadership functions of CROs operating in the social network of 100 Resilient Cities to better understand their boundary spanning roles. This study explores how CROs create and maintain IOC, characterizes their leadership functions and role, and examines the boundary spanning role as reticulist, entrepreneur and innovator, and a leader. This study aims to describe the role of a CRO in the social construction of IOC in a social network context, providing a composite IOC network of a CRO and detailing the nature of their communication (frequency, mode, content) in a composite IOC network.

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