Traditionally the unit of analysis in marital research has been the individual spouse. More recently the marital relationship has often been defined as a process of interaction and dynamic exchanges such that spouses have autonomous needs as well as corporate needs for interdependence. Thus modern systems theory heightens the importance of both…

Proposed is a comprehensive instructional design model which (1) suggests a systems-based approach to preparing, implementing, and evaluating instruction at the program syllabus, course syllabus, and instructional unit levels; (2) subsumes those various dimensions of a mastery learning strategy which encompass preconditions, operating procedures,…

Six papers address issues regarding services for families with handicapped members. An initial paper on "Family Awareness" by D. Darnell reviews the systems approach, notes the structure of family systems, and discusses characteristics of healthy families. D. Hutchison and D. Darnell follow with an analysis of "Families of Handicapped Children,"…

This manual is a guide for those who are planning preventive/restorative family service programs to provide alternatives to placing children in state foster care systems. Chapter I briefly discusses the rationale for family-centered social services. Objectives, characteristics, and advantages of these services are listed. Planning and…

Media historians have been criticized for their inability to ask substantive questions, for ignoring underlying conditions in media's past, and for their failure to relate the narration of technological developments to existing social and cultural tensions. One problem media historians confront is the scope of their research--many media histories…

This paper discusses the metaphor "organizations as organisms" as conceived of by Garith Morgan (1997, 1998) in the books "Images of Organization" and "Images of Organization: The Executive Edition." It applies the metaphor to adult and in particular distance education management and organizations in an attempt to…

This course of study involves the description of foreign policy behavior and its domestic determinants for a variety of countries with respect to sixteen post-World-War-II issues. This descriptive process amplified by reading and class discussion culminates in a comparative analysis embodied in a formal research paper. (JH)

The current academic interest in interpersonal communication is noted and a rationale and technique for mapping the self-disclosure patterns of adolescents is presented. An attempt is made to link the study of interpersonal communication to the mainstream of the ecological systems approach to the behavioral sciences. (Author)

The author presents an instructional design model for teachers that evolves around a teacher-manager concept which recognizes management functions of: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. (EA)

The level of human support services provided by large manufacturing companies is not related to employee characteristics but to certain system variables, suggesting that services occur in response to system characteristics rather than to worker needs. (Author)

Reports on one effort to help teachers utilize their local community resources in the educational programs of the local schools. From a list of over 400 participating business and industrial firms and individuals, teachers receive only those names for which they have immediate curricular need. (Author/WM)

The author (1) explains a system analysis approach developed by the Sports Institute for Research through Change Agent Research (SIR/CAR) for working with government, business, and service organizations in sport-related areas; (2) examines the distinction between professional athletics and amateur sport; (3) discusses conflict resolution by…

The first part of this four-part dissertation reviews conceptual and operational approaches to human communication systems. A new conceptual model for studying communication, General Algorithm for Studying Structuring in Complex Systems (GASSICS), is developed in the second part, and an operational method for applying GASSICS is presented in part…

Advocates an integrated approach in the formulation of speech communication curriculum. Published by the Association for Communication Administration Bulletin, Staff Coordinator, ACA 5205 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041, $25.00 annual dues. (JW)