Finds that, although call-in poll participants are generally similar in socio-demographics to the population as a whole, they are more opinionated than are telephone survey respondents. Confirms that call-in polls and surveys of the population do not necessarily produce similar information concerning public opinion. (SR)

Addresses how universities frame their managerial discourse regarding sexual harassment, which often perpetuates the bureaucratization, commodification, and privatization of sexual harassment. Offers a poststructuralist critique and deconstruction of the policies and brochures developed by the Big Ten universities to reveal oppressive and/or…

Examines relative effects of cognitive expectation and actual communication behavior of undergraduate students on communication outcomes. Manipulates expectations (pleasant versus unpleasant communication) and communication (high or low involvement). Examines individual and combined influence on affective outcomes, evaluations, and interaction…

Hypothesizes that a positive self-feeling compliance-gaining message would be more effective in producing target compliance among undergraduate student subjects than would a direct-request message when the target felt guilty, but that the opposite relationship would hold when the target was not feeling guilty. Finds that the data are, in the main,…

Shows that 22 managers indicated a clear preference for obtaining information about popular management ideas through seminar attendance rather than through reading books. Identifies the semiotic code shaping this preference, charts its regularities and inconsistencies, and uncovers several ironies on how this code is used and understood. (SR)

Contributes to research on speech acts, power, and the negotiation of shared meanings. Argues that a primary off-record purpose of ostensible lies and of ostensible speech acts in general is to assert or affirm a status or power difference between speaker and addressee. Shows how ostensible lies are speech acts that flout the rules governing the…

Develops questions, hypotheses, and models to test (1) the effect of gender and knowledge of relational stage and relationship type on prediction of next-occurring actions in development of a romance between undergraduate students; and (2) use of compliance-gaining strategies intended to advance a relationship to the next stage. Reveals effects…

Challenges and revises politeness theory by analyzing potential implications for both parties' face when the logical preconditions for seeking compliance are framed by specific influence goals. Tests undergraduate students' imagining asking favors, giving advice, and enforcing obligations with same-sex friends. Finds perceived face threats varied…

Uses conversation analysis to examine how doctors' and patients' practices of gaze and body orientation organize interaction such that doctors routinely initiate the sequence wherein patients disclose their chief complaint. Finds doctors use gaze/body orientation to communicate they are preparing but not yet ready to deal with complaints--while…

Explores beliefs about the vocal style that 40 young, 40 middle-aged, and 40 older adults would use in addressing two older targets--one fitting a negative and one a positive stereotype. Reveals a greater tendency to use patronizing talk with the negative than with the positive. Finds the context and age of the communicator also affected messages.…

Examines whether self-reported scores on a measure of self-monitoring would be related to leader emergence in student groups working on realistic, sustained projects. Reveals a low but significant correlation between self-monitoring and leader emergence and a negligible relationship in the overall sample but a significant moderate correlation in a…

Examines the relationship between argumentativeness and women's supervisory level in organizations. Finds no simple relationship between supervisory level and argumentativeness for women, but indicates that moderation in argumentativeness increases with supervisory level. Notes implications for pedagogy: would-be female executives should be…

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)

Examines and describes the pragmatic uses of the "nuclear winter" metaphor in the original "Science" article and its subsequent use in "Foreign Affairs." Analyzes conditions of the metaphor's birth in the former and its development and use as a conventional metaphor in the latter. Shows that the metaphor became a…

Seeks to determine the kinds of communicative knowledge and skills that are most associated with communicatively competent members of Thai organizations. Suggests that Thais who are perceived to be communicatively competent know how to avoid conflicts with others; control their emotions; display respect, tactfulness, modesty, and politeness; and…