Proposes ethnomethodology as a theoretical approach for resolving the structure-agency binary and for treating the activities of writers in organizations as simultaneously embedded in and constitutive of organizational context. Illustrates the value of ethnomethodology with data from a study examining the social practices that surrounded the…

Describes three types of communication assessment: structural assessment; functional assessment; and process assessment. Contends that these traditional approaches are inappropriate for assessing organizational change. Proposes that complexity theory explicitly focuses on evolutionary processes and thus is a more appropriate foundation for…

Proposes a theoretical framework identifying how work group members' experience of time is created and sustained through task-related communication structures. Discusses how the model incorporates the complex interplay among cultural, environmental, and individual factors as well. Offers testable propositions intended to guide future research. (SG)

Examines the role of rhetorical strategies in repairing damaged corporate relationships. Demonstrates the utility of an integrated model (multiple-publics concept and strategies of apologia) to corporate public relations through a case study of Union Carbide's justification of the Bhopal gas leak. (KEH)

Advocates of reform in college athletics have been too ambiguous and too timid. Higher education must admit the value and contributions of intercollegiate athletics, be willing to demand and accept the dramatic changes needed, devise fair and realistic new rules, communicate them widely, and not tolerate those who ignore them. (MSE)

A "devil's advocacy" approach is proposed for the management of higher education conflict and ultimate improvement in the quality of decisions. Research supporting the value of active questioning of a preferred plan or strategy is summarized and its application is described. (DB)

Discussion of ways to provide media support in college classrooms highlights the design of media-equipped classrooms. Topics discussed include choice of classrooms; classroom design; support staff; communicating to encourage media use; and specifications for equipment in media-equipped classrooms at the University of Colorado at Boulder. (LRW)

Organizations sometimes find themselves doing things they don't really choose due to: (1) action anxiety, (2) negative fantasies, (3) fear of separation, and (4) reversal of risk and certainty. Application is made to psychoeducational testing in the field of learning disabilities. (DB)

Examines stories about organizations to view how conversants define their organizations' character and their own roles within the organizations. Finds that stories exhibit two kinds of conversational markers (action and constraint markers), and that their sequential juxtaposition is an effective thematic device for analyzing conversational…

Some Kansas school administrators are spending less time in meetings and accomplishing more by (1) asking if a meeting is necessary; (2) being punctual; (3) stating the focus of the meeting; (4) limiting meetings to five to seven participants; (5) providing minutes; and (6) using team-based management. (MLF)

Investigates the relationship between shared communication links and the process of organizational innovation, finding no support for the hypothesis that the nature and content of an individual's communication links with others could predict individual innovation adoption. (SR)

Discusses four organizational components that can be used to evaluate the health of a campus housing organization. Examines the areas of goals, organizational structure, communication, and climate. Concludes with a set of 14 questions which housing officers can respond to in assessing the health of their organizations. (NB)

Analyzes managers' responses to employee event accounts to explore how managers ascribe meaning to employees' conduct. Suggests that accounts are assessed against a background of prior problematic events, accounts, and evaluations. (RAE)

Provides an examination of management and employee values as influential for organizational rule formation. Demonstrates that management values are directly related to employee values but indirectly influence the evolution of organization rules. Supports a view of rule emergence based on management and employee values. (HB)

Five suggestions are made for moving the college public relations program toward more personal communication: (1) study the communication successes and strategies of others; (2) reassess current communication methods; (3) begin building a small-scale constituency-relations program; (4) establish a contact database; and (5) put the best principles…