This case study of three university departments was designed to generate substantive theory about decision-making in academic departments. Homans' social systems theory was used as a framework, and it is shown that the rate of interaction affects the crystallization of norm structures and processes of influence and decision-making. (Author/LBH)

Researchers, teachers, and administrators involved in educationally innovative projects in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland were questioned concerning problems in curriculum innovation. The author states that curricular changes are dependent on sociodynamic processes and concludes that social and subject-specific consultation and interaction…

Suggests various academic and organizational goals and objectives for training women for managerial roles. (MH)

Discusses business communication problems and the development of communication skills in bank management personnel. (RL)

Describes how school media specialists may function as change facilitators through indirect leadership, operating on the basis of expertise rather than organizational position, and illustrates four communication strategies used to accomplish this function. (CLB)

Reports on a national study of one segment of the professional services market: the accounting profession. Benchmark data on CPA firms' attitudes toward and uses of public relations are presented and practical and theoretical/research issues are discussed. (JC)

Categorizes communication dimensions used by new academic administrators to aid in defining their role-making experiences. Reveals how new chairpersons use communication to learn the tasks they need to perform, establish and maintain relationships, structure and respond to the behavior of others, and initiate new ways of doing things. (MS)

Evaluates structural influences on perceived communication adequacy in a multi-branch banking organization. Uses a communication audit to determine which groups within the banking system were experiencing dissatisfaction with received communication. Finds that part-time employees were significantly less satisfied than hourly workers. (MM)

Discusses why listening is important in school communication. Provides an overview of common barriers to effective listening and a synthesis of what can be done to improve listening skills. (SRT)

Schools have concentrated on school-community communication in public relations programs and have tended to shortchange school-employee communication systems. Discusses research on employee communication systems (the grapevine is a primary source) and the implications the findings delineate. For employees to function with commitment,…

Lists the initial readings to be codified in the public relations body of knowledge. Categories include foundations of public relations, organizational and managerial context, the communication and relationship context, public relations processes, elements and functions of professional practice, and contexts for professional practice. (MM)

Studies the communicator styles of superiors and subordinates who rank high in argumentativeness and low in verbal aggressiveness. Claims that corporate productivity is enhanced when organizations nurture employee independent-mindedness, and that an argumentative, low verbally aggressive organizational communication climate creates the freedom…

Analyzes the rhetoric of the chief executive officer (CEO), Lee Iacocca, during the crisis at Chrysler, using the management roles proposed by H. Mintzberg. (SRT)

Presents a review of research on the influence of computing on government and politics. States that computing has increased information power, efficiency, and centralized control within the political world. Concludes that even though there is little current evidence that computing has revolutionized politics, the emerging impacts of advanced…

Describes an in-house technical writing course that can test theories about the teaching of writing, reveal factors within the workplace that affect writing tasks, and define objectives for future research in organizational communication. (SRT)