To address the need for writing assessment tools, two analytic measures for evaluating managerial writing were used: the Analysis of Argument Measure based on Toulmin's (1958) elements of an argument, and the Persuasive Adaptiveness Measure, which draws on the Delia, Kline, and Burleson (1979) ranking system for scoring the degree of social…

Noting that there have been few papers or workshops which focus on designing/supervising independent study projects or internship programs, this short course explores the potential variety of independent study projects available in interpersonal and small group communication, rhetoric and communication theory, and organizational communication. The…

The meteoric rise of Multinational Enterprises (MNE's) and the concomitant increase in international trade and investment speak to the crucial need for a global perspective to be incorporated into the curriculum of the organizational communication course. The communication functions of MNE's are an increasingly important focus for students of…

Teacher-principal relations play an important role in creating a positive school climate. This paper describes findings of a study that sought to: (1) determine the reliability of the Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire--Rutgers Secondary (OCDQ-RS) in a South African context, and (2) measure the openness of the organizational climates…

This paper discusses the emergence and the establishment of new educational programs in universities by describing a theoretical approach and reporting an empirical study of the development of one interdisciplinary department (the Institute for Media and Communication) at the University of Oslo (Norway). It is argued that the emergence of new…

Awareness of the corporate cultural phenomenon of fast-tracking, a process whereby executives are advanced within and among organizations, should assist communication students and practicing professionals to become more effective corporate communicators. A critical distinction between self-directed fast-trackers and their corporately-sanctioned…

Findings of a 2-year study of school-community communications are presented in this report, which analyzes the content and style of district-to-community written communiques and offers suggestions for improvement. Methodology involved document analysis of 594 written communiques from the central office and one elementary, middle, and high school…

One of a series of practitioner-oriented newsletters, the document provides elementary school principals with strategies for stimulating greater community involvement in the schools. In light of the increasing numbers of community members without children in school (now about two-thirds of the population), the article describes an Ohio campaign…

A study investigated the conversational forms leaders employ, exploring the relationship between leaders' conversations and symbolic outcomes. It was hypothesized (1) that effective conversations by leaders would be characterized by coordinated management episodes, positive spirals, perfunctory rituals, and value expressive rituals, whereas…

The primary cause of difficulties in the implementation phase of planned change in business organizations is the lack of a parallel communication plan to facilitate the changes implied by new strategy. Planners usually concentrate on content (the strategy itself) to the neglect of process (how the strategy should be developed and implemented).…

Reflecting the ideas, suggestions, and criticisms offered by members of Pi Kappa Delta as to the organization's future role in the forensic community, these proceedings deal with organizational structure and processes; competitive and noncompetitive outlets; pedagogy and research; and inter-forensic organizational cooperation. The papers are as…

A study determined what constitutes an illegal pre-employment question, reviewed current laws and literature on the subject, and determined the prevalence of illegal questions asked by organizations. Except in the case of specific statutory law, there is no precise way to define what constitutes an illegal question; however, state and federal…

A study examined the creation of a new division within an organization, where members of management were primarily from an "immigrant" or regulatory culture, to determine the effects on management and professional satisfaction. Data were elicited through both a survey instrument and in-depth interviews with 26 current employees and 12…

Three instruments designed to evaluate the performance of work groups in organizations were analyzed with reference to a recently developed comprehensive model of the group problem solving process. Although each instrument measured nine or ten dimensions of group behavior, none of them measured more than seven of the 16 categories of variables…

This practicum addressed communication enhancement between classroom and substitute teachers by implementing a substitute teacher management program to improve the quality of information and materials teachers made available to substitutes. A systematic method by which substitutes learned school policies and procedures was also developed and…