Provides a cross-cultural test of J. Bavelas's situational theory of equivocation. Questions students from the United States and Japan about hypothetical scenarios, altered to create either an avoidance-avoidance situation or a nonconflict situation. Finds strong support for the theory--students produced messages exhibiting substantial…

Describes the historical, cultural, and mythic contexts that infuse the territorial exclusionary practices of surfers. Analyzes surfers' rhetorical responses in letters published in surfing magazines, describing how rhetors use economic and religious metaphors to position ideologies that both reproduce and mediate cultural myths of perfection…

Investigates differences between expressed attributions that adolescents and young adults offer for academic success and failure when interacting with peers. Explores the perceptions adolescents and young adults associate with such interactions. Finds that young adults had a significantly larger repertoire of attributional expressions at their…

Surveys 250 university students to examine the relationship between perceptions of parent-child communication and family ritualization. Finds that family commitment to ritualizing correlated positively with conversation-orientation for both Euro-American and Asian American samples, with conformity-orientation for the Euro-American sample. Finds…

Applies fantasy theme analysis to Richard Nixon's "Checkers" speech. States that three major themes emerge: Nixon as Moral Model, Nixon as the American Dream, and Nixon as Patriot. Points out that each issue responds to allegations of dishonesty that were leveled against him at the time. Argues that Nixon's speech was accepted and…

Studies use of a restricted language, Simplified English (SE), to write procedural documents for specific audiences. Examines the effect of type (SE versus non-SE), passage (A versus B), and native language on the comprehensibility, identification of content location, and task completion of procedure documents for airplane maintenance. Suggests…

Discusses the core concepts embedded in the total quality management approach. Considers the potential value of bringing these core concepts (customer focus, leadership, communication, the use of data, organizational assessment, and continuous improvement) to higher education communication classes. Offers suggestions for applications in…

Finds that, due to insufficient communication and poor planning, new organization members (in a post-merger culture after a friendly merger) did not receive information necessary for assimilation, and developed different meanings for organizational messages, and different values and beliefs. Concludes that to preserve an organizational culture…

Analyzes differences and conflicts in intercultural business communication between Israeli and Indian businesspeople, also analyzing their communication sources and strategies. Finds that communication problems between international managers are better explained by focusing on differences between their discourse systems rather than global…

Examines the effects of process structuration by means of a training video on maintenance behavior and outcomes in 55 student virtual decision-making groups. Finds that trained groups had higher levels of social support, greater participation rates, and greater satisfaction with the group; wasted less time and energy; and made significantly more…

Explores both the promise and the danger of applying new science concepts (i.e. chaos theory, complexity theory) to organizational behavior and communication. Examines a case in which such concepts are being used in a hospital to revamp nursing structures and practices. Describes the case, then discusses it in terms of lessons it can provide. (PA)

Surveys the field of audience studies, noting common concerns. Identifies models of the audience: audience as mass, audience as outcome, and audience as agent. Recommends exploiting the interdisciplinary potential, employing an enlightened empiricism, considering audiences as collectives as well as individuals, abandoning the active/passive…

Considers how many students walk into the class with an array of technical communicating perspectives that open the door for practical experiences. Believes that a technical communicator employs the ethnographic process for the purpose of creating technical documents. Presents an ethnographic framed assignment that requires a collaboratively…

Examines the role of imagined interactions in moving through the cognitive stages of spontaneous second language acquisition. Reviews the findings as a cognitive construct for processing social experience. Introduces a cognitive skill stage model of second language acquisition. Discusses potential applications of the construct of imagined…

Presents a review of selected relational communication studies that indicates the relevance of humility, wisdom, industry, faithfulness, and self-control. Indicates that self-control is related to believability, trustworthiness, and marital satisfaction. Argues that the inclusion of personal virtue and vice as communicator characteristics would…