A study to determine the communication needs and activities of a variety of organizations was conducted by interviewing representatives of ten organizations ranging in size from a staff of two to an international staff of 25,000 persons. The in-depth interviews were designed to gain information about the nature of the organization and the…

Two studies were undertaken to obtain information about the communication behavior of older and newer organizations. In the first study, data were collected from 216 organizations in the Washington, D.C./Baltimore, Maryland, area that had designated public relations specialists. Among other factors, data were collected on the frequency with which…

Section one of this paper describes the history and development of the "communicaton audit," a system for assessing communication effectiveness in organizations, by the International Communication Association. Section two describes the 16 audits conducted so far and the overall demographic characteristics of the current survey data bank.…

Previous research is reviewed in which a multi-systems theory of communication behavior has been used to explain communication behavior of individuals and of several organization-related systems and subsystems. Recent research is then summarized which sought to develop conditional probabilities that communication behavior will occur in each of 16…

This study explored the implications of communication and information flow in relation to various organizational concepts (particularly social service referral and delivery) of 91 social service agencies. Representatives at each hierarchical level within all of the agencies were interviewed and completed a questionnaire. In addition, the perceived…

This paper argues that people who interact regularly and repetitively among themselves create a conjoint information space wherein common values, attitudes, and beliefs arise through the process of information transmission among the members in the space. Three major hypotheses concerning informal communication groups in organizations were tested…

This study reports on two investigations designed to determine the generalizability of source credibility scales for immediate superiors across organizational contexts. Semantic differential-type scales that have been found to load on factors of course credibility in previous studies were combined to provide an item pool for this investigation. In…

Grunig's decision-situation model is proposed as a comprehensive framework under which various public-relations-related theories may be subsumed. The decision-situation model postulates three dimensions which, taken together, may predict the course of communication behavior: level of involvement, problem recognition, and structural constraints.…

After reviewing the literature relevant to motivation and perception of communication climate, a study of 65 supervisory-managerial personnel from two large manufacturing companies is reported. Subjects completed an intrinsic/extrinsic motivation scale and a communication-climate questionnaire. Analysis of results indicated partial support for the…

The papers included in this document represent most of the papers presented at the 1976 conference of the Southwest American Business Communication Association and deal with various aspects of business communication. Topics of papers are nonverbal aspects of business communication; four problems relating to awareness of metacommunication in…

The literature on organizational climate is reviewed, with particular emphasis on associated conceptual issues. The first section of the paper presents an overview of research that has assessed the ability to explain organizational behavior on the basis of perceived climate. The second section focuses on five major conceptual issues that…

Recent studies in communication theory are outlined and briefly discussed. Categories of research included are information systems, interpersonal communication, mass communication, organizational communication, intercultural communication, political communication, instructional communication, and health communication. Except for the area of health…

Management and trainees often view training programs as threats to their security. Sometimes they are openly defensive, more often, silently resistive. Ways in which managers feel threatened when their employees are selected for training and reasons trainees may resist training are discussed. Methods for coping with resistance are described.…

This schedule, a month-by-month list of communication activities, is intended to assist the school communicator in strengthening school-community relations. The communicator must reach all school constituents (parents, staff, citizens) with his program. (DS)

The term "organization development" (OD) encompasses techniques developed to facilitate communication and collaborative problem solving in work groups. This discussion focuses on defining OD, describing its current use in mental health and human service organizations, and assessing potential payoffs and disadvantages of implementing OD programs in…