Compares communication apprehension (CA) levels of people exposed or not exposed to visualization (a desensitization technique to assist people in coping with CA) after four months and after eight months. Finds that those exposed to visualization reported significantly lower CA levels at the end of both time periods than those not exposed to…

Argues that issues management is a robust contribution to the public relations discipline. Offers additional rationale for empowering public relations practitioners by involving them in strategic planning, making them responsible for issue scanning and monitoring, integrating their advice into standards of corporate social responsibility, and…

Identifies the lack of a common conceptual grounding in education, theory, and ideology as three critical factors missing in issues management. Suggests this lack leads to the failure of organizations to communicate readily how they and their leadership stand on crucial concerns. (KEH)

Argues that an understanding of the cyclical development of an issue is critical to effective issues management. Illustrates how an issue evolves in a predictable manner, originating from trends and developing through four identifiable stages. Emphasizes the organization's advantages in systematically managing its response to this process. (KEH)

Replies to Jeffery Bineham's critique of intersubjectivist rhetoric (presented in a previous article in this issue). Argues that rhetoricians must (1) examine world views and more particularly views of human nature which are presumed by rhetorical theories; and (2) come to a better understanding of what is entailed by a spiritual dimension to…

Discusses consensus ontology and contrasts it with alternatives. Responds to four previous articles in this issue (by D. Tukey, J. Hikins, R. Scott, and D. Zarefsky) by discussing the nature of rhetoric, the possibility of nonsocial influence, and the possibility of ethical judgment. (KEH)

Probes the contradictory philosophical reception of mass communication in the social thought of Charles Horton Cooley, John Dewey, Walter Lippmann, Robert Park, and Josiah Royce. Shows how these progressive intellectuals conceived of mass media as an integral part of a social order whose scale and mass require systematic means of…

Refines phase development in conflict literature by examining divorce mediation sessions to uncover differences in the communicative sequences of agreement and no-agreement mediation. (SR)

Utilizes the socio-environmental perspective to compare feelings of communication apprehension and perceived loneliness between nursing home and non-nursing home residents. Finds that communication apprehension consistently and significantly predicts perceived loneliness for non-nursing home residents, but fails to predict perceived loneliness for…

Examines how consumers, corporate bodies, and employees communicate about quality. Presents eight summary statements about quality based on descriptions, derived definitions, and interpretations given by consumers, corporate histories, and personnel employed in a variety of corporate settings. (MM)

Examines city government managers' metaphorical language, documenting differences in number, type, intensity, and imagery of metaphors used. Identifies several organizational metaphor categories. Suggests that members of an organization share metaphorical meanings, and that there is an association between managers' metaphor use and subordinates'…

Examines the effects of a technology's implementation characteristics (its transferability, organizational complexity, and divisibility) on tactics managers use to implement an innovation, such as: involving users, managing sponsorship, and managing organizational change in concert with technical change. (SR)

Identifies and describes the features of spoken discourse that native speakers of English consider to be indicative of level of intellectual functioning. Discourse criteria include detail, coherence, story construction, storytelling performance, and metacomments. (SR)

Argues against Thomas O. Sloane's allegation that John Milton's "Artis Logicae," a commentary on Pierre de la Ramee's "Dialecticae libri duo," manifests antihumanism characteristics of Milton and Ramus. Reexamines Milton's account of probability, the links between Ramus and Cicero, and the roles Ramism played in sixteenth- and…

Tests Walter R. Fisher's claim that all forms of discourse can be viewed as types of narrative by applying the narrative paradigm to three works that cannot traditionally be considered stories. Finds that the narrative approach is of little use when applied to discourse that does not tell a story. (SR)