Ongoing research programs conducted at General Motors Institute are motivated by the practical objective of improving the company's organizational effectiveness. Computer technology is being used whenever possible; for example, a technique developed by Herman Chernoff was used to process data from a survey of employee attitudes into 18 different…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 12 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: communication and perceptions of organizational climate; perceptions of communications between federal and local educational agencies; intraorganizational conflict…

The study described in this paper illustrates how key features of rhetorical analysis can be operationalized to apply to the study of therapeutic transactions. After a discussion of psychotherapy as an influence process, the paper describes the methodology used in an analysis of tape-recorded discourse between three therapist/client dyads in an…

A study investigated communication apprehension in the Philippines and compared its incidence there with that in populations in the United States, Australia, China, Japan, Korea, and Micronesia. The Personal Report of Communication Apprehension for College Students (PRCA) was administered to 312 students in Manila, as well as to comparable numbers…

A study of the use of "proteksia," a system of securing personal influence in Israel, is discussed in this article and is related to concepts of intercultural ethics. The information on the study is taken from an article "On Proteksia," by B. Danet and H. Hartman, focusing on "proteksia" as it relates to bureaucratic…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 31 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) American drama between the world wars; (2) an emotion theory of stage fright; (3) the female androgyne in tragic drama; (4) creating and directing a musical…

The research reported in this book was based on the belief that Australian schools should develop the speech communication as well as the reading and writing skills of their students. The book is designed to provide educators and researchers with guidelines for future work on oral language assessment and on curriculum development. The first…

Research reports on the nature of speech, instrumentation for the investigation of speech, and practical applications of research are included in this status report for the July 1-December 31, 1980, period. The 19 reports deal with the following topics: (1) the structuring of language; (2) whether movements are prepared in parts; (3)…

This paper provides an overview of relevant oral communication theory, research, and practice from a variety of sources, such as the fields of linguistics, psychology, speech communication, and education. It describes the nature of oral communication skills, including the similarities and differences between oral and written communication. It…

The interpersonal needs of inclusion, affection, and control were explored among a sample of 151 college students in Guam. The students were administered a scale to measure the strength of their interpersonal needs. The results revealed that the students' needs were average or low, most likely typifying a population that, living at home with the…

A study was undertaken to clarify the inconsistent research findings on the effects of the sex of the evaluator and the sex of the speaker in classroom speech criticism by examining the effects of the sex role identification and the sexism of the evalutor. One hundred twenty-three college students enrolled in a basic public speaking course…

A study was undertaken to provide a base of knowledge concerning managerial roles at the corporate level in the television industry. Specifically, the study sought to determine (1) the amount of time consumed by corporate television executives in different managerial roles, (2) the importance of different managerial roles as perceived by the…

A study was undertaken to explore the relationship between ethnic identity and close friendship communication patterns in Chinese-American college students. Specifically, the study investigated intergenerational differences, proximity to Asian or Caucasian groups, frequency of communication, friendship network size, perceived similarity to Asians…

In human communication research today, two fundamental issues must be addressed. The first issue concerns the need for study of communicative relationships as events that change over time. The second issue involves the nature of the data currently gathered in such research and its adequacy in providing information concerning change. In order for…

In the context of reciprocity theory (in which disclosure by one person elicits self-disclosure by another person), personal space preferences of three-, four-, and five-year-old children were examined. Equal numbers of each age group and sex (N=120) were either given or not given material rewards and were either touched or not touched by the…