M. Scott Poole

Professor

Education: Ph.D., University of Wisconsin

Research Interests: Group communication; Communication and collaboration; Organizational communication; Communication, change and innovation; Communication technologies; Information systems; Communication theory and theory construction; Research methodology.

Current Research: One strand of Professor Poole's research focuses on two aspects of communication and information technologies. He is interested in how people interact with communication and information technologies. Current studies include research on perception of and emotional responses to web pages, persuasive aspects of web pages, personalization, user readiness to interact with information systems, and context aware computing. Professor Poole also studies how people interact through communication and information technologies. He is currently involved in studies of virtual teams, learning in telemedicine networks, collaboration technologies, and how groups appropriate and use group support systems. A second strand of Professor Poole's current research concerns change processes in groups and organizations. He is conducting a study of how communication in work units and teams mediate individual responses to major organizational changes such as quality improvement programs. He is also writing a paper on theory and methods for process research in communication. Finally, Professor Poole is writing a book on cultivating social scientific theory which explicates various types of social scientific theory and canons for constructing and combining the types, i.e., a rhetoric of theory construction.

Representative Recent Publications:

Poole , M. S. & Garner, J. (2006). Perspectives on workgroup conflict and communication. In J. Oetzel & S. Ting-Toomey (Eds.) The Sage handbook of conflict communication: Integrating theory, research, and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA : Sage.

Chae, B., & Poole , M. S. (2005). The surface of emergence in systems development: Agency, institutions, and large scale information systems. European Journal of Information Systems, 14, 19-36 .

Deng, J., Poole , M. S., Miller-Scheideman, C. & Brown, H. (2005). Learning through telemedicine: Case study of a wound care network. International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management, 6 , 368-380.

Poole , M. S., & Hollingshead, A. V. (Eds.) (2005). Theories of small groups: Interdisciplinary perspectives . Thousand Oaks , CA : Sage.