Responds to an article in an earlier issue of this journal. Discusses the state of theorizing in the field of organizational communication. (SR)

Makes three main points in response to their critics. Suggests multiple methodologies are appropriate for the study of almost any communication phenomenon and that organizational assimilation is akin to or encompasses many issues that have been stated as outside its parameters. Identifies with disagreements in the use of several concepts. (SC)

Explores the idea of a crisis of representation in the context of organizational communication studies. Suggests that this notion should be the leitmotif for critical organizational theory and research across the next 10 years. (RS)

Argues and empirically demonstrates that a model based on S. Feld's focus theory validly describes the activity structure of a local church, and that this activity structure is significantly related to communication links among the membership, organized by a latent hierarchy of activation. Finds relationships between activation and personal…

Investigates the effects of power and status on the content characteristics of communicative behavior directed upward in a hierarchy. (MH)

Focuses on communication and organizational socialization, first briefly describing common assumptions. Discusses several assumptions that undergird extant socialization models, taking an ambivalent stance toward their value for future research. (RS)

Explicates Michel Foucault's perspective on "discipline," and demonstrates its usefulness for organizational analysis in a case study of the corporate specification of an employee value system. Articulates four aspects of discipline in contemporary organizational life. (SR)

Investigates the impression management strategies embedded in the external discourse of an organization in crisis. Shows ingratiation to be the primary strategy. Finds that intimidation was used with special interest groups and that denouncement strategies were embedded in messages to competitors, special interest groups, and suppliers. (SR)

Identifies key elements in a Florida university's year-long search and selection process for a provost. Highlights three narrative views of the process as integrated, differentiated, and fragmented. Concludes that search-committee members used differing interpretations as rhetorical resources for performing arguments to various audiences. (SR)

Uses A. Giddens' theory of structuration as a framework for studying the deeply layered social interactions within the world's largest and most successful group of Alcoholics Anonymous. Finds the organization to be a "disembedding mechanism," in which structures from the global organization are disembedded by the founder, transformed,…

Investigates what differences, if any, exist between the communicative behaviors exhibited by male and female supervisors in organizations. Indicates several dimensions of communicative behavior where differences exist and suggests that female managers supervise more effectively than male managers. (JMF)

Contributes to scholarship on organizational communication by tracing how voluntary cooperative standards were developed for the semiconductor industry through reflexive communication processes initiated by the SEMATECH consortium. Analyzes seven pivotal incidents that show how increased communication produced new provinces of meaning, actions,…

Defines "spiraling" as a reappearance later in discussion of proposals that had received positive evaluation when first discussed. Evaluates the generality of spiraling in a set of 87 group discussions among undergraduate students. Shows large variability among groups. Notes many groups spiraled little or not at all and a few groups…

Examines the potential for augmenting women's influence in male-dominated groups by increasing women's internal status (demonstrated competence). Suggests the use of internal status variables to alter patterns of interaction between men and women in decision-making contexts. (JMF)

An analysis of the operation of CBS News's political coverage of the 1976 campaign and election, from the perspective of organizational communication theory, explains much of the distortion of network television news. Aspects of the control system responsible for the distortion are revealed. (JMF)