This study examined the participation styles of nine parents while attending Individual Educational Program (IEP) meetings for their children. The nine parents consisted of three parents from a suburban school district, three parents from a rural school district, and three parents from an urban school district. Data collection through videotaping…

Compares decision processes of consensus and devil's advocacy within an additive task, a disjunctive task, and a conjunctive task structure. Finds that high-conflict decision processes such as devil's advocacy enhances decision making in disjunctive tasks, retards decision making in additive tasks, but has no effect on decision making in…

The conflict resolution communication attempts practiced by a food cooperative were studied to determine if they revealed the primary ideals of the counterculture philosophy. To highlight the findings, the study also examined the conflict resolution communication attempts of a fraternity--a representative of the dominant culture philosophy. Data…

A study investigated whether the interaction patterns of high consensus groups differed significantly from the patterns of low consensus groups in the final stage of a decision-making task. Eighty-four college students placed into 19 groups were told to select a social problem, investigate it, and develop a solution. At the end of the three-week…

Analyzes how a new computer technology, Group Decision Support System (GDSS), affected how group decisions developed over time. Contrasts decision paths in groups using the GDSS with groups using GDSS procedural structures manually and with groups using no procedural structures. Finds that decision paths varied and were related to consensus…

Communication scholars have addressed a number of theoretical issues concerning the basis of knowledge and reality. They have not, however, accompanied their theories with parallel empirical studies. Given the important implications such work might have for the interpretation and generalizability of observer accounts, two studies were conducted…

Based on existing theory and research on cooperation and competition and on process studies of group decision making, a two-part study was conducted on the communication patterns in four groups of college students. In the first part of the study groups one and three were induced to behave competitively and groups two and four were induced to…

Compares the Group Valence Model (GVM) to several derived versions of the Valence Distribution Model (VDM), as they relate to the group problem-solving process. Suggests that, not withstanding predictive accuracy, the VDM seems generally inferior to the GVM, which consistently accounts for more of the decision-making phenomenon. Discusses…

A study explored the relationship between creative problem solving and group decision making techniques as measured by the outcome variables identified in earlier studies. Subjects, 46 undergraduate students enrolled in communication courses at 2 midwestern universities, were divided into 3 groups, a Nominal Group Technique (NGT), Unstructured…

Three group processes--regular face-to-face interacting groups, the nominal group technique (NGT), and Delphi procedures--were compared in terms of their ability to facilitate the quantitative and qualitative productivity of a decision making group. The results unequivocally supported the superiority of the Delphi procedures. Findings also tended…

Organizational studies traditionally take the position that the more people involved in group decision making the more ideas will be generated. Recent studies demonstrate that people have a tendency to "loaf" in group situations and thus decrease the level of effort exerted by individual group members. This paper first reviews the…

An investigation of the communication styles of five groups of university students in China, Japan, Korea, Guam, and Hawaii involved 1,818 students. The students each completed the Communication Style Measure, which contains 51 items that gauge nine communicative behaviors as independent variables: (1) dominant, (2) friendly, (3) attentive, (4)…

A study compared the communication styles of Filipino and Malaysian administrators of public and private organizations devoted to information, education, and communication about family planning and population control. Sixty-nine administrators were interviewed in the two countries. Results indicated that there was no overall preference for either…

An examination of the rhetoric of two social movements in the United States--the proslavery movement of the pre-Civil War Period and the anti-feminist movement of the 1970s--reveals that both contain a common theme, paternalism, and that both use similar rhetorical strategies to explicate the theme through a familial metaphor, Father. Examples of…

This study examined differences in individual influence and decision quality across communication media. Participants were 64 introductory psychology students. Results showed that influence for dominating participants remained stable across three media conditions (telephone, computer, and face-to-face). Less dominating participants had higher…