Notes that corporate documents of a women's clothing company changed in one season from relatively outdated designs to more updated, professional layouts but the content changed very little. Contends that the document redesign indicates a move to a more feminist outlook for the company. Describes how the document design represents a slow change…

Finds that, due to insufficient communication and poor planning, new organization members (in a post-merger culture after a friendly merger) did not receive information necessary for assimilation, and developed different meanings for organizational messages, and different values and beliefs. Concludes that to preserve an organizational culture…

Explores both the promise and the danger of applying new science concepts (i.e. chaos theory, complexity theory) to organizational behavior and communication. Examines a case in which such concepts are being used in a hospital to revamp nursing structures and practices. Describes the case, then discusses it in terms of lessons it can provide. (PA)

Discusses the need for school districts to practice active community relations in order to positively influence information flowing to the community. Addresses performing a communications audit and ways to disseminate information to the public. (EV)

How a camp responds to a crisis may determine whether it can survive financially. Effective risk management requires total commitment from ownership and management, and staff involvement. Steps in formulating a risk management plan include identifying all potential crises and their frequency and severity potential, developing responses,…

Describes organizational blockages to self-knowledge in universities and shows how self-assessment might alleviate them within the context of a communication department. Presents findings from a multi-method, student-faculty project that examined communication undergraduates, recently graduated students, and professors. Notes that these groups…

Explores the possibilities of expanding the historical descriptions of the origin story of organizational communication as an academic discipline beyond the W. Charles Redding legacy. Considers S. Deetz's recent challenge to the legacy of G. Burrell and G. Morgan's metatheoretical model and discusses whether Deetz's model integrates or segregates,…

Considers a two-dimensional model of public relations that combines the two-way symmetrical and asymmetrical models. Proposes frame analysis as a strategy important for both public and organizational influence. Employs framing to show how sex education can be promoted more effectively within public schools. Notes that the concept can be employed…

Examines the changing role of the technical communication professional in the rapidly evolving environment of organizational life. Presents five principles that serve as an initial step in laying a foundation for the preparation of technical communicators for the challenges and opportunities awaiting in contemporary organizations and the…

Describes how the authors developed a course in intercultural communication and, with a majority of non-Western students, adapted critical pedagogy to address the Western biases in the text. Discusses how the course textbook portrays ethnic specimens and subaltern cultures, and built information basis for commercial gain. Notes how other readings…

Pursues the development of a theoretical framework that explains interactive learning between innovator firms and external actors in both the knowledge infrastructure and the production chain. Analyzes models in four sectors with distinct technological dynamics as distinguished by Pavitt. (DDR)

Illustrates one of the earliest American public relations debacles (ending in the dissolution of the Standard Oil Trust in 1911). Presents background on Standard Oil and offers an overview Ida Tarbell's influential "History of the Standard Oil company." Argues that Standard failed to respond to these accounts adequately, reinforcing…

Suggests the field of communication studies is substantially marked by a nearly exclusive emphasis on culture that risks ignoring a powerful class antagonism between workers and employers. Notes that current literature in the field emphasizes voice, identity, and cultural microstrategies in the workplace rather than on labor's agency in winning…

This article describes a case study relating to an internal communication audit conducted in a large academic library that assessed existing information channels during a period of organizational change in order to recommend improvements. A communications task force developed and administered a survey instrument and then analyzed data and reported…

This article explores how principals and teachers view their organizational communication processes, in successful and less successful schools. By dividing the organizational communication process into three dimensions--information, affirmation, and interpretation--different actions and expressions are visualized. To meet organizational needs, all…