Analysis of instructor (n=1) and student (n=61) postings on an electronic forum during a one-semester undergraduate phonetics course found students wrote about 340 topics in 143 postings, and the instructor wrote about 124 topics in 23 postings. Analysis of topics identified four interactive communicative categories that show interaction trends…

Cultural and organizational issues arising in university-industry partnerships are explored, outlining benefits and risks to both parties. A short-term partnership between Southern Illinois University and the high-tech Hewlett Packard Company is examined, including its origins, the nature of the contract, communication between cultures, time…

Analyzes the proposal-writing environment, the characteristics of proposals, and the practices of seven engineers at a Silicon Valley engineering firm that does government defense work. Finds that engineers write proposals collaboratively and have a highly structured composing process. Describes how the firm's Proposal Writing Center dramatically…

Presents a survey of English usage for various communication purposes in different types of Brazilian business organizations. The objectives of the survey are to identify the major uses of business English/Portuguese in international/national settings, to identify the varieties widely used in transactions, and to study the types of documents used…

The performance review process used for faculty evaluation at Nene College (England) was assessed by surveying appraisers, appraisees, and senior administrators. Most appraisees and appraisers thought that appraisers should be line managers rather than peers, and that classroom observation should be included. Opportunity for staff to communicate…

Suggests that, although customized training programs are often at the cutting edge of education and technology, they are not always fully integrated into the mainstream of colleges' internal operations. Discusses the role of internal marketing in promoting respect for community and adult education programs within community colleges. (MAB)

Arizona State University has developed a model for managing declining resources in administrative service functions. A variant of Total Quality Management, it involves clarification of administrative unit functions, unit self-examination, establishment of program priorities, environmental scanning, creation of an infrastructure to manage change,…

A survey of 300 college faculty across disciplines suggested that many faculty encounter conditions that hinder collegiality concerning undergraduate teaching issues. These difficulties include faculty isolation and fragmented communication, constrained resources, and inappropriate evaluation and reward systems. Results also suggest ways in which…

Establishing a marketing and public relations program to improve community perceptions of public schooling involves identifying community expectations, determining whether "inequalities of exchange" are occurring between the school and the community, gaining support of both students and staff, deciding what needs to be communicated to…

Five college and university board chairs discuss briefly the two most important strategic goals they have set for their institutions, and how they ensure that the board addresses issues and priorities in the context of those goals. Institutions represented include Alma College (Michigan), the Montana University system, Maricopa Community College…

The professional discipline of strategic public relations offers many benefits to organizations. It helps them prevent and mitigate crises. It allows them to identify and manage issues that may interfere with their goals and objectives. It also leads them in building and maintaining quality relationships with strategic publics. However, can the…

This paper describes findings of a study that examined several dimensions of school functions--policy making, decision making, structure building, and relation building--to determine how they contributed to or hindered the development of a caring culture in a suburban middle school in a large midwestern city. The study also examined four arenas or…

Focusing on academia as an organizational entity, this paper discusses feminist standpoint epistemology (FSE)--defined as the idea that the world looks different depending on the individual's vantage point--and offers tools to transform teaching and research endeavors in organizational communication. It also offers extended excerpts about the…

Researchers who view schools as cultural organizations have tended to assume that they are monocultural entities. This paper presents a view of complex secondary schools as multicultural organizations. It discusses findings of a year-long study that examined the professional culture within two high schools in Washington State as each attempted to…

Two years prior to a 1995 comprehensive evaluation visit by the North Central Association, Iowa's Hawkeye Community College initiated a self-study process and began developing a strategic plan to effect a transition from a technical institution to a comprehensive community college. Staff involvement and open communication were identified as…