JoAnne Yates

JoAnne Yates is the Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management, Emerita and Professor Post Tenure of Work and Organization Studies and Managerial Communication at the MIT Sloan School of Management. She developed MIT Sloan's Managerial Communication curriculum starting in 1980 and served as Deputy Dean for programs from 2007-2012. Her research spans historical and contemporary studies, including coauthored works on global standard setting and communication systems in American management. Yates has also explored the use of communication technologies in organizations and collaborates on initiatives to improve academic performance for underrepresented minority students.

JoAnne Yates is a scholar specializing in business history, history of technology, and the use of communication technology in organizations. Her research explores how communication technologies shape organizational practices and how voluntary consensus standards influence global governance. Yates investigates the structuring of communicative practices through genres and the implications of digital tools on professional work. Her work highlights the role of technology in shaping organizational communication, temporal structuring, and boundary relations. She has examined the impact of electronic markets, mobile email devices, and intelligent information systems on knowledge professionals. Her research also includes the history of life insurance technology and the evolution of international standard-setting organizations like ISO.