In 1978, the historic Camp David Peace Accords between Egypt and Israel were signed in a ceremony broadcast from the White House. The ceremony may be seen as a member of a rhetorical genre informally called the Presidential Parasocial Broadcast Announcement, but with a new twist. The genre has its roots in the Fireside Chats of Franklin D.…

To describe the conflict management training practices in 10 large American organizations, a study gathered descriptive data through interviews with organizational personnel responsible for training and development, a review of written materials where available, and observations of the delivery of conflict management training programs. The…

One hundred thirty-eight college communication departments responded to a survey to assess the status of intercultural communication instruction. The questionnaire was designed to identify the demographic characteristics of institutions that offer introductory courses in intercultural communication, the type of students taking such courses, class…

To provide a theoretical base for investigating the influence of inferential error on group decision making, current literature on both inferential error and decision making is reviewed and applied to the Watergate incident. Although groups tend to make fewer inferential errors because members' inferences are generally not biased in the same…

How people organize sensory data is influenced not only by their role as actor observer; the extent of their empathy for other actors; and the vividness, availability, representativeness, and negative impact of the data; but also by the culture from which it springs. To determine how the attributions people make are affected by culture, which can…

In her model of opinion formation, Elizabeth Noelle-Neumann postulates a spiral of silence: to avoid isolation, people holding minority views either alter their ideas to conform to the majority's stance or remain silent, thus increasing the impression of the majority view's dominance. While providing a helpful integration of disparate ideas in…

A study examined the behavior patterns of patrons arriving at theatres that showed both "X" rated and "PG" rated movies. The study was undertaken to update the findings of the President's Commission on Pornography and Obscenity, which conducted similar research in 1970 and 1971. Patrons entering the theatre's X and PG rated…

An ethnographic study explored to what extent Trial Practice facilitates interpersonal skill development. Subjects, nine third-year law students enrolled at a large midwestern university law school, were observed over the course of a semester. Data collection included personal observations, informal interviews, fieldnotes, tape-recordings of…

A case study examined employee perceptions of the communication climate within a newspaper. Using qualitative and quantitative techniques, data were collected from 150 employees in 7 departments of a small newspaper organization, "Southwestern Newspapers". Results indicated that this newspaper can improve its communications climate by…

Communication between parents and staff was observed in 16 proprietary day care centers during morning and afternoon transition times when parents dropped off children and picked them up. Results revealed large, stable differences among centers in the frequency and usefulness of these exchanges. About two-thirds of transition time opportunities…

A performance appraisal interview is a primary and important context for the supervisor and employee to work together to achieve superior performance. A survey of the research literature reveals that the appraisal interview functions to provide feedback on performance, to counsel and provide help, to discover what the employee is thinking, to…

A study examined whether teacher efficacy affects the relationship between the teachers' perceptions of the school principal and the perceived communication conflict strategies teachers use when they disagree with the principal. To test this relationship, 830 questionnaires were distributed to public school teachers in six school districts across…

Arguing that state and local political issue campaigns warrant increased attention from communication scholars, this paper presents a rationale for analysis of issue campaigns, develops a framework for organizing and analyzing such campaigns, and applies the framework to an analysis of the 1986 campaign for the sale of liquor "by the…

A study was conducted to test a model of relational competence that consisted of three components: motivation, knowledge, and skill in interaction for both participants in a conversation. The model is based on the assumption that the additive combination of these components for both participants will be significantly predictive of several…

A three-phase study spanned five areas of interest: (1) the school as organization and social system, (2) roles and role behavior in organizations, (3) communication structure in organizations, (4) network analysis concepts, and (5) Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation-Behavior (FIRO-B). In phase one of the study, staff members listed…