This study examined pilots' (N at T1 = 140; N at T2 = 126; N at T3 = 104) reactions to communication and uncertainty during the acquisition of their airline by another airline. Quantitative results indicate that communication helped to reduce uncertainty and was predictive of affective responses to the acquisition. However, contrary to…

Human Communication in Organizations (HCO) is an introductory college course at Ithaca College, typically taken in the freshman year, in which students from a wide variety of majors examine the basic concepts, issues, and uses of organizational communication including communication theory, superior-subordinate and peer relationships, leadership,…

It is argued widely that the academy today is in the process of significant change--in the institutional assumptions of what constitutes the university and the construction of knowledge and in its relations with the city and the world. This article addresses the evolution of the modern university in the context of the discourses of contemporary…

Significant research over the last decade has built a strong case for the value of arts learning. Major summaries, including "Schools, Communities, and the Arts" (1995); "Champions of Change" (2000); "The Arts in Education: Evaluating the Evidence for a Causal Link" (2000); "Critical Links" (2002); and now "Critical Evidence: How the Arts Benefit…

When learning about a phenomenon, one must directly experience it in order to fully understand it (Kolb, 1984). So how may an instructor of introductory organizational communication ensure that students "directly experience the phenomenon" of organizing? The author describes an activity he developed to enable students to share a direct experience…

As governors move this important STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) policy agenda forward, they may find that some of their constituents have yet to be persuaded of the need for improvement. Some citizens and stakeholders may fail to grasp the strong link between high-quality STEM education and economic development in the…

Professional communicators are often called upon to announce changes at places of business and to implement them in a timely fashion. One approach that works (and minimizes confusion) is to plan carefully to achieve three key objectives: Understanding, Support, and Action (USA). To promote understanding, those who have decided on the change should…

The Student Conservation Association (SCA) runs backcountry programs in wilderness settings, providing both an educational experience for participants and badly needed conservation work on public lands. As part of its risk management efforts, SCA has developed an emergency response system that ties resources in the field to all the resources of…

A study examined upward-communication practices (from lower levels to higher levels in an organization) in American industry. Seventy-five large top-ranked companies responded to a survey concerning their upward-communication programs, for a response rate of 39%. Forty of the completed surveys included materials describing their…

Traditional scholarship on social movements has emphasized external rhetoric and the role of the leader, rather than the internal dynamics of social movement organizations. This paper is an argument for the integration of experiences and meanings related to membership. Belle Edson's feminist critique of social movement studies provides a framework…

To examine methodological issues of managerial gender communication, a study conducted a meta-analysis of the primary research of managerial gender communication. The study addressed the following four issues: (1) the inconsistent findings in managerial gender communication research; (2) the potential influence of male and female stereotypes on…

Arguing that the issue of organizational decision making and bureaucratic responsibility in the use of technologies with potential for creating social harm should concern everyone, this paper explores the ethical issues raised by organizational decisions concerning the launch of the space shuttle "Challenger." The paper first describes a…

Critical approaches to the study of society and organizations tend to favor theories and models that stress the complexity and multiplicity of social factors and processes and the relations between them. In conceptualizing the relationship between social structure and human agency, critical theorists have attempted to walk a fine line between…

The mind as organization metaphor asserts an optimistic and multi-faceted foundation for the examination of intrapersonal communication. Definitions of intrapersonal communication have not been developed without debate and controversy. As with many other ambiguous terms and definitions in the field of communication, an operational definition of…

This paper presents a simple model of the communication process and discusses the transmission of meaning from the sender to the receiver of a message. The model is applied to the library organization, and problems which may arise from various interpretations of messages are considered. The relationship between information and meaning is then…