A study investigated the perceptions workers had of labor unions. Affiliation behavior and gender differences were employed as independent variables with respect to workers' attributions of trustworthiness in labor unions and their messages, as measured by the three dimensions of character, expertise, and dynamism of the Giffin Trust Differential…

In the 20 months that Isabel Peron served as the first female chief of state of a South American country, the mass media in Argentina underwent extreme stress. The Montoneros, a militant leftist organization, called for mass demonstrations against the orthodox Peronist people in their tabloid "La Causa Peronista." The tabloid's…

The purposes of this study were: (1) to test several social decision schemes to obtain plausible explanations of different group processes in solving different disjunctive tasks; and (2) to study both dyads and tetrads solving a eureka and a non-eureka disjunctive task. Social decision schemes theory assumes that a group decision is a joint…

This handbook reviews several methods for conducting a needs assessment, including surveys, observation, testing, public hearings, spatial analysis, and conferences. A detailed section on the development of questionnaires is provided, and the appendices include samples of questionnaire information handouts, a nominal group process technique,…

The third of four related manuals describing the goals and methods of an established developmental theatre project at the University of Colorado, this manual presents practical guidelines for producing a touring drama. With the audience as the focus in all of the suggested techniques and concepts, the manual discusses financing, casting, the…

This learning guide, structured into two sections, was developed to facilitate the learning of cognitive and social skills of individuals working within a group organization. The first section deals exclusively with knowledge about organizational structure, and is oriented towards developing recall and comprehnsion. This section seeks to highlight…

Network theory has recently been suggested as providing a useful framework for developing a change strategy by which the federal government can induce educational reform. In this paper the potential contributions of network theory are assessed by showing its close relationship to group theory. Then three critiques of group theory and…

According to Fiedler's Contingency Model of Leadership Effectiveness, group performance is a function of the leader-situation interaction. A review of past validations has found several problems associated with the model. Meta-analytic techniques were applied to the Contingency Model in order to assess the validation evidence quantitatively. The…

An inservice course to improve skills in interpersonal effectiveness in classroom and group situations is described. It is designed for teachers, administrators, and counselors from the elementary level through college. Practical application of the principles of interpersonal influence is stressed. Contained in this descriptive report on the…

This study is the last in a series of explorations, conducted during the period from 1969 through 1972, into the applicability of group training to theatre at the University of Utah. The experimental group, which consisted of the 1971 and 1972 University of Utah Shakespeare Players, were compared to two control groups. Two personality measures…

This study examines the impact of one important task characteristic for the process by which groups solve problems. The principal comparison is between a generative problem and a choice task, and whether or not the differences between these types of tasks affect the group's methods for arriving at a decision. Two types of analysis are conducted of…

This study sought to refine the concept "procedures" in small group communication. Two categories with eight corresponding properties were delineated and incorporated into a Likert-type scale designed to assess a person's preference for procedural order in task-oriented groups. The instrument was checked for reliability and then…

This paper presents a new mathematical approach, fuzzy mathematics, for defining, classifying, and analyzing concepts within communications. Fuzzy mathematics is based on the premise that real world phenomena contain characteristics that overlap any artifically created category system or classification rules. Therefore, set membership is…