Describes three types of communication assessment: structural assessment; functional assessment; and process assessment. Contends that these traditional approaches are inappropriate for assessing organizational change. Proposes that complexity theory explicitly focuses on evolutionary processes and thus is a more appropriate foundation for…

Based on a review of all organizational communication research published in 33 professional journals between 1966 and 1978, this essay describes the current status of the investigation of organizational communication. The first part of the essay is organized around Elwood Murray's model of a discipline and employs the typologies suggested by G.…

As part of a project investigating how communication within hospital systems differs from communication in other types of organizations, the employees of a 40-bed hospital were surveyed for their attitudes on perceived uncertainty, internal patterns of communication in the hospital, and worker satisfaction. Variables that were studied included…

Recent reviews of the literature demonstrate that there is little research providing insight into the nature of hospital communication. Using the model of the sociology of communication, five specific research questions can be generated about hospital communication: (1) How is information processed? (2) What communication is satisfying? (3) What…

A large government agency had been experiencing a variety of changes. The new head of the agency approached communication researchers about doing analyses of the effectiveness of communication in the agency. The researchers conducted two studies: a qualitative one to identify organizational and organizational communication themes, and a…

Most speech communication curricula have room for only three organizational courses: (1) business and professional speech communication (B and P), usually offered to freshmen and sophomores; (2) an introduction to organizational communication, presented to sophomores and upper-class students; and (3) a seminar in organizational communication, for…

A large state agency had been experiencing a variety of changes. The new head of the agency approached communication researchers about doing analyses of the effectiveness of communication in the agency. The researchers conducted two studies: a qualitative one to identify organizational and organizational communication themes, and a quantitative…