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Despite their centrality to organizing – acknowledged by several theorists – unplanned conversations are often marginalized in organizational theory. To remedy this oversight, we recenter attention on this understudied aspect of organizing. We draw on the affordances perspective to elaborate on the spatial and temporal factors influencing unplanned conversations.

This conceptual paper integrates multidisciplinary literature on unplanned conversations to identify a range of spatiotemporal factors influencing unplanned conversations. Our approach emphasizes how various situational factors afford or hinder opportunities for unplanned conversations among organizational members.

Unplanned conversations were precisely defined as opportunistic or spontaneous conversations, characterized by the absence of pre-planning, that can be work or non-work-related. Then, the characteristics of unplanned conversations (emergent, episodic and brief, interrelated, convenient, and improvisational) were outlined, indicating their distinct organizing and structuring capabilities. The spatial (i.e. spatial proximity, visibility, legitimacy, and psychological safety) and temporal (i.e. work time pressure, work history, work expertise, and work routineness) factors identified in the study both afford and constrain individuals’ unplanned conversations. The empirically testable propositions offered in the study have significant theoretical and practical implications.

This study enriches our understanding of unplanned conversations by offering a precise conceptual definition, outlining their essential characteristics, and underscoring their theoretical and practical significance in organizing. The study highlights the need for organizations to consider the spatiotemporal factors that influence unplanned conversations.

During everyday work, individuals often engage in unplanned conversations that help them develop relationships, share information and coordinate tasks. Unfortunately, the work-from-home mandates issued due to the pandemic have reduced the frequency of unplanned conversations among employees. So, as businesses reopen, organizations are considering post-pandemic workplace solutions that can facilitate unplanned conversations. To aid these efforts and move research and theory on unplanned conversations forward, this study proposes and tests a multi-factor model of the antecedents of unplanned conversations.

This study adopted a multi-methodological approach and collected data using automated sensing technology, structured observations and cross-sectional survey methods. A total of 5,297 unplanned conversations among 61 employees were recorded using the custom mobile application and structured observations. Cross-sectional survey data about these employees' work contexts were also collected.

The study results showed that the model significantly predicted the frequency of unplanned conversations. Notably, technical expertise, perceived time pressure and team psychological safety significantly predicted the frequency of unplanned conversations. The study findings have both theoretical and practical significance.

Previous research studies have primarily focused on the influence of workplace designs on unplanned conversations. However, this study demonstrates that several other factors facilitate unplanned conversations. This research theorizes and empirically tests the relationship between unplanned conversations and several individual, team and organizational factors.

This paper discusses the communicative process of messy talk that enables collaborative problem-solving and tacit knowledge sharing among interdisciplinary team members. The paper aims to (1) trace relevant literature and lay out the conceptual and operational definitions of messy talk, (2) highlight messy talk as an enacted communication competence and (3) discuss the antecedents of messy talk and offer empirical propositions to guide future research.

This conceptual paper traces and integrates relevant literature from the construction, management and organizational and group communication disciplines to promote and foster research on messy talk.

Based on extant research on messy talk, the paper first provides clear conceptual and operational definitions of the messy talk construct. Second, using practice perspective, messy talk is presented as an enacted communication competence that focuses on the ongoing demands of the context and the situated practices of organizational members. Third, several factors including team members' technical expertise, task routineness, team history, time pressure and information sharing systems that influence the amount of messy talk conversations in teams are discussed. Lastly, the paper underscores the key implications of considering messy talk as an enacted communication competence on the performance and training of knowledge workers.

The presentation of messy talk as an enacted communication competence is a deliberate consideration of knowledge as an emergent, intersubjectively negotiated phenomenon that is deeply rooted in practice.

The central focus of this chapter is the mutually constitutive relationship between time and group interaction. Groups shape individuals' experiences of time and individuals' experiences of time enable and constrain their group interactions. The chapter begins with a brief history of time in groups to situate early concerns which still shape many contemporary investigations, and then examines several theoretical perspectives as well as midrange frameworks and constructs which inform research on time and group communication. The chapter concludes with a summary and directions for future research in the area.