OC Communication professor to speak at two academic conferences in 2021
In the past year of living with a pandemic, the communication of organizational leaders has been more important and scrutinized than ever before. For Oklahoma Christian University Associate Professor of Communication Josh Watson, the last year has presented fascinating opportunities for academic studies. In 2021, his research on leadership communication was accepted for presentation at two out-of-state academic conferences.
Watson, who has a doctorate in organizational communication from the University of Oklahoma, previously worked full-time in public relations at McNeely Pigott and Fox Strategic Communication in Nashville, Tennessee. His first conference presentation this year was held in the same town.
Some of the nation’s top thought-leaders focusing on the theme “Recovery of Hope” were among more than 400 scholars and faith leaders representing nearly 100 universities from around the country at the 41st annual Thomas H. Olbricht Christian Scholars’ Conference. It hosts scholars from a variety of disciplines in the liberal arts, sciences and professional schools to develop their academic research and to reflect on the integration of scholarship and faith. Participants and presenters come from the nation’s top universities including Yale, Notre Dame, Cornell, Duke and Harvard.
Watson’s presentation for the event was titled "The Conscious Competence Model of Startup Leadership: From a Sunday School Class in Georgia to a Staple of Silicon Valley and the Stanford Graduate School of Business." With this topic, he discussed how using the model could help professors and consultants teach and practice ethical business leadership. Watson was intrigued by the model’s creation in the 1970s by a leadership trainer who also taught adult Bible classes in churches of Christ.
“The concept is elegantly simple, but it is not necessarily widely known ,” Watson said. “I was truly impressed how conscious competence does help people better teach and lead in business and church.”
Watson’s second conference presentation will be at the 107th annual National Communication Convention, held in Seattle, Washington, in November. This year's theme is "Renewal and Transformation." NCA is the nation’s top academic communication organization; it exists to study all forms, modes, media and consequences of communication through humanistic, social, scientific and aesthetic inquiry.
Watson's NCA presentation is titled "Discursive Resources Used by an Institutional Resistance Leader in News Media.” He will speak on his research on organizational communication practices used to both resist and acquiesce to institutional pressures. Watson gathered this research while completing his dissertation.
“This study examined a sports leader who makes decisions based on data analytics ,” he said. “My findings showed how important storytelling was to successfully persuading followers to trust data that went against an industry’s status quo.”
Brian Simmons, chair of the Communication Program at OC, commented that Watson has proved his dedication to teaching mass communication by pursuing research and scholarship beyond the classroom.
“The presentations that Dr. Watson is giving are scholarly presentations based on his research and expertise in his field,” Simmons said. “He is contributing to what people know about his field, and by doing that he is going above and beyond in his role as a professor.”
To learn more about OC’s degree in Public Relations and Social Media, which Watson oversees, visit OC’s website here.