Colleen E. Mills

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Colleen E. Mills
Alma materUniversity of Canterbury
Scientific career
Fieldsorganisational change and development, communication and sensemaking
InstitutionsUniversity of Canterbury
Thesis

Colleen E. Mills is a New Zealand management academic specialising in communication and sensemaking in times of disruption. She is currently a professor of management at the University of Canterbury.[1]

Career[]

Mills' first career was in teaching and teacher education. She did a Masters of Education with a thesis entitled The nature and variability of tertiary students' learning approaches and test outcomes when learning from text in 1991[2] before changing her career focus to organisational behaviour and completing a PhD entitled Taikyoku: a theory of sensemaking about workplace communication in 2000. Both qualifications are from the University of Canterbury where she subsequently joined the staff and rose to full professor. She is now also an international faculty affiliate (FIA) at Audencia Business School in France.

Mills' research examines organisational processes and stakeholders' sensemaking about these processes, particularly during periods of heightened ambiguity and uncertainty such as during CEO succession, organisational change, business start-up, and natural disasters. For example, she examined how middle managers can implement a company strategy – "materialize a strategic discourse" – by creating physical structures, texts, and tools for workers.[3][4]

Selected works[]

  • Mills, Colleen. E. (2021). "What’s the story? Using narrative for workplace inquiry." In J. Crossman and S. Bordia (Eds.), (pp. 157-175). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
  • Mills, Colleen. E. & Burlat, Claire. (2020). "An 'ideological fantasy': How market discourses confuse, obscure and deflect consumers’ attention away from the science of energy conservation." Communication Research and Practice 6(4): 312-330. https://doi.org/10.1080/22041451.2020.1885110
  • Mills. Colleen. E. (2019). "Negotiation." In O. Hargie (ed.) (pp. 399-422) London, UK: Routledge.
  • Zhao, Xiao, & Mills, Colleen. E. (2019). "Reconciling multiple realities in an international joint venture: A case for deliberately fostering communication hybridity at the interfirm interface." Communication Research and Practice 5(1): 57-72.
  • Burlat, Claire. & Mills, Colleen. E. (2018). "Power to the People? How an energy company’s strategic texts constitute the company-consumer interface working against collective action." 21(2): 736-770.
  • Mills, Colleen. (2018). "Grappling With the Challenges of Start-Up in the Designer Fashion Industry in a Small Economy: How Social Capital Articulates with Strategies in Practice." In Higgins, D., Jones, P. and McGowan, P. (eds.) , Vol. 9A), Emerald Publishing Limited, pp. 129-155. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2040-72462018000009A008
  • Mills, Colleen.E. (2018). "Creating Meaningful Dialogic Spaces: A Case of Liberation Management." In Dhiman S., Roberts G., Crossman J. (eds.) Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. (pp. 773-793) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61929-3_27-1
  • Mills, Colleen.E. (2017). "Activity Theory." In C. R. Scott and L. Lewis (eds.) : 10–18. Malden, MA.
  • Mills, Colleen.E., and Francois Cooren. (Eds.) (2016).[[Discursivity, relationality and materiality in the life of the organisation: Routledge.
  • Rogers, Peter., Judith Burnside-Lawry, Jelenko Dragisic, and Colleen E. Mills. (2016). "Collaboration and communication: Building a research agenda and way of working towards community disaster resilience" 25(1): 75–90.
  • Arnaud, N., Colleen E. Mills, Celine Legrand, and Eric Maton E. (2016). "Materialising strategy in mundane tools: The key to coupling global strategy and local strategy practice?" British Journal of Management 27: 38–57
  • Arnaud, Nicolas, & Colleen E. Mills. (2012). "Understanding Inter-Organizational Agency: A Communication Perspective." Group & Organization Management 37(4): 452–485.
  • Mills, Colleen E., and Kylie Pawson. (2012). "Integrating motivation, risk-taking and self-identity: A typology of ICT enterprise development narratives." International Small Business Journal 30(5): 584–606.
  • Mills, Colleen E. (2011). "Enterprise orientations: A framework for making sense of fashion sector start-up." 17(3): 245–271.
  • Mills, Colleen E. (2010). "Experiencing gossip: The foundations for a theory of embedded organizational gossip." Group & Organization Management 35(2): 213–240.
  • Mills, Colleen E. (2006). "Modeling sensemaking about communication: How affect and intellect combine." Southern Review 38(2): 9–23.
  • Mills, Colleen E., and Kylie Pawson. (2006). "Enterprising talk: A case of self construction." 12(6): 328–344.
  • Lips-Wiersma, Marjolein, and Colleen Mills. (2002). "Coming out of the closet: Negotiating spiritual expression in the workplace." 17(3): 183–202.
  • Fleming, Neil D., and Colleen Mills. (1992). "Not another inventory, rather a catalyst for reflection." 11: 137–155.

References[]

  1. ^ "UC Research Profile - University of Canterbury - New Zealand". The University of Canterbury. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  2. ^ Mills, Colleen (1991). The nature and variability of tertiary students' learning approaches and test outcomes when learning from text (MEd). University of Canterbury.
  3. ^ Arnaud, Nicolas; Mills, Colleen E.; Legrand, Céline; Maton, Eric (2016). "Materializing Strategy in Mundane Tools: The Key to Coupling Global Strategy and Local Strategy Practice?". British Journal of Management. 27: 38–57. doi:10.1111/1467-8551.12144. S2CID 114087228. SSRN 2717773.
  4. ^ Arnaud, Nicolas; Mills, Colleen E. (2016). "Middle managers play an essential role in executing change". LSE Business Review. Retrieved 1 April 2020.

External links[]

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