Film audience research complements institutional research, verifying scholarship on the meanings films have to viewers and providing broad-based explanations of film images. Most important, such research focuses on the decision and motivation processes people use before they set foot in the movie theater, thereby helping to construct a context…

A study was conducted to examine the relationship between three employee variables--perceived job satisfaction, ambiguity tolerance, and locus of control--and an employee's propensity to participate actively in the organization's communication network (network propensity). Relevant data were gathered from 108 members of an engineering firm who…

A study was designed to develop an empathy training program for health professionals that would (1) improve selected predictive, behavioral, and achieved empathetic communication skills for a sample group of registered nurses; (2) evaluate the effectiveness of the training program in attaining its stated goals; and (3) develop a program that could…

A study examined the relationship between organizational communication systems and organizational culture and between culture and two human relations-based outcomes--satisfaction and commitment. Subjects were 26 college students who were assigned positions in one of two simulated, bureaucratic organizations that functioned for four class periods.…

Concerned with imprecision in researchers' use of the word, "interpretive," this report draws from the work of Max Weber to describe the characteristics of an interpretive science of organizational communication and then briefly lists some advantages of following the interpretive approach. First examining the role of subjective meaning…

Triangulation, the combination of methodologies in the study of the same phenomenon, can be used to address a number of concerns arising in organizational communication research. This approach was used in a study of organizational culture by employing qualitative interview research to help interpret or place in context the results of statistical…

To explore the relationships among three sets of variables--social status, communication, and energy conserving behavior--405 respondents from a highly educated, upper income, largely white collar community and 333 respondents from a predominantly lower-middle and working class city were interviewed over the telephone. Questions were designed to…

Analysis of speech communication studies reveals a number of themes in the arts. A central concern in studies dealing with oral interpretation is what should be the focus in the oral interpretive act. The shifting priorities parallel the shift in emphases occurring in speech communication as a whole: performer/delivery; text/message;…

Communication technology (CT), which involves the use of computers in private and group communication, has had a major impact on theory and research in organizational communication over the past 30 years. From the 1950s to the early 1970s, mainframe computers were seen as managerial tools in creating more centralized organizational structures.…

A study investigated the relationship between students' communication apprehension levels and their attitudes toward the use of video recording in a basic speech course. A communication apprehension measure and a questionnaire on perceptions of videotape use in class were completed by 230 undergraduate basic speech students. The findings…

One theoretical approach to self-awareness is the study of introspective writing. Among the characteristics of intrapersonal communication that can be explored through memoirs and journals are selective memory and chronology revision. From the reflections of writers like Lillian Hellman, Dag Hammarskjold, and May Sarton comes confirmation that…

In a study conducted to examine the impact of language choice on cognitive complexity (the number of constructs in a person's interpersonal construct system), 93 undergraduate students completed a role category questionnaire that asked each subject to write a description of two people they knew. In one case that description was to be of a…

A special section of a public speaking class at the Universtiy of Tennessee was developed in the spring of 1977 for speech anxious students. The course was designed to incorporate the basic spirit of the regular classes and to provide special training in techniques for reducing nervousness about speaking and in methods for coping with the…

In order to determine whether organizational communication (OC) had matured as an academic field, a study examined the course structure, course content, and teaching practices of a variety of OC courses. A 19-item questionnaire was sent to 762 OC professionals, 73 of whom indicated that they actually taught OC courses. Results showed that the…

A study examined the influence of physical attractiveness and trait argumentativeness as predictors of responses to an argumentative situation. Subjects, 152 college students identified as either high or low in trait argumentativeness, were randomly assigned to one of two treatment conditions: attractive or unattractive anticipated adversary. A…