Shared Leadership in a Community Theater Group: Filling the Leadership Role

In contrast to research in which an individual leader is assigned or expected to emerge, musical theater productions provide an opportunity to explore how leadership is shared among the director, assistant director, music director, choreographer, and stage manager in a naturally occurring group. This ethnographic study explores how one community theater group managed the sharing of leadership roles when the primary director assumed a passive or ineffective role. The study explores the communication and affective responses of the secondary leaders and cast members when they perceived that the primary leadership failed to function and then examines how secondary leaders and cast members communicated to share the leadership to produce successful theatrical performances. The results have implications for other groups with shared leadership structures.     

Shared Leadership in a Community Theater Group: Filling the Leadership Role

In contrast to research in which an individual leader is assigned or expected to emerge, musical theater productions provide an opportunity to explore how leadership is shared among the director, assistant director, music director, choreographer, and stage manager in a naturally occurring group. This ethnographic study explores how one community theater group managed the sharing of leadership roles when the primary director assumed a passive or ineffective role. The study explores the communication and affective responses of the secondary leaders and cast members when they perceived that the primary leadership failed to function and then examines how secondary leaders and cast members communicated to share the leadership to produce successful theatrical performances. The results have implications for other groups with shared leadership structures.     

Communication and Social Exchange Processes in Community Theater Groups

This study explores the communication experiences of two volunteer groups involved in the production of community theater musicals. Based on social exchange theory, it examined what group members perceived to be the positive benefits (primarily meeting people and having an opportunity to perform) and the negative costs (primarily disorganization, lack of coordination, and time issues) of participating in the groups. The study found that peer support and opportunity for social interaction, along with positive audience response, were the best predictors of positive reactions to their experiences and commitment to the show and community theater in general. These results provide insight into social exchange theory in group settings and can be applied to other community theater groups, as well as other volunteer organizations.     

“It’s about respect!” college-athlete activism and left neoliberalism

This essay offers a critique of left neoliberalism with reference to certain tendencies in cultural studies, antiracist politics, disparity discourse, and college sports. Where the dominant tendency in cultural studies has been to produce complex analyses of identity-based oppression, this article insists on a conception of class politics that, on the one hand, calls for more attention to exploitation and, on the other, de-emphasizes the “working-class identity” model. By examining two recent episodes of athlete activism in college sports—namely, the much-admired “strike against racism” at the University of Missouri in 2015 and the widely condemned (and ultimately unsuccessful) effort by Northwestern University football players to form a union in 2014—the article contends that the commitment to eliminating racism and indifference to ending exploitation in these contexts reflects the broader commitments of a “left-wing” neoliberalism that devotes itself to ending inequality without redistributing wealth.     

The Active Citizen's Information Media Repertoire: An Exploration of Community News Habits During the Digital Age

Digital technologies have reconfigured how active community members know about local news. Sampling one Midwest community's most engaged citizens—collectively, a “community of practice”—this research formalizes one emerging media-information repertoire around the issue of homelessness. Components of this repertoire include motivations, structuring conditions, norms of usage, and perceived consequences for media-source selection. Commenting, sharing, and other information exchange become “acts of news” for individuals involved in communities of practice. Through shared information-exchange practices, citizens can not only advocate their social causes but also reinvigorate their own affiliations to the community of practice and to the city itself. The use of this media repertoire by these individuals reconstitutes and amplifies their role in the pursuit of fostering a civil society focused on homelessness. The findings illuminate the process of how community activists work as an informal organizational form and, as a result, build a stronger commitment to civic action.     

Toward a communication theory of group dialectics: an ethnographic study of a community theater group

A dialectical perspective recognizes that there are tensions between oppositions in human interaction such as the need for independence and the need for dependence. This approach has been instrumental in exploring the dialectical tensions and coping strategies individuals use in interpersonal contexts. This ethnographic study utilized a dialectical perspective to examine group communication in a community theater group. The results revealed 11 specific dialectical tensions within the group that represent four more global issues for the group as well as a number of communication strategies that group members use to manage those tensions. These issues provide a framework for further development of a communication theory of group dialectics.     

A descriptive investigation of the possible communication‐based reasons for effective and ineffective group decision making

The present study sought to compare the nature and content of interaction within a number of “effective” and “ineffective” decision‐making groups in an effort to identify consistent differences which might account for the differences in the quality of their group decisions. The goal of the investigation was to generate data which will help us better understand the communication‐based reasons for “effective” and “ineffective” group decision making. Using basically a qualitative approach, six “effective” groups and five “ineffective” groups were compared. The study found that the discussions of those two sets of groups can be distinguished on the basis of at least four communication‐related characteristics: (1) The manner in which the groups examined opinions and assumptions advanced by group members; (2) The manner in which the groups evaluated alternative choices; (3) The nature of the premises which served as the basis for the groups’ decisions; and (4) The nature of influence exerted by the most influential members of the groups. These four differences are discussed in terms of specific empirically‐testable propositions regarding the relationship between group interaction and quality of group decision making.     

Imagining transformative spaces: the personal–political sites of community archives

Although much has been written about formal archival spaces, little scholarship has addressed the physical spaces of community archives. This paper asks: How do community members imagine the physical spaces that steward identity-based community archives? Based on focus groups with more than 54 community archives users at five different community archives sites across Southern California, this paper examines how members of marginalized communities conceive of the physical space inhabited by community archives representing their communities. The sites explored range from a prominent location on a university campus, to storefronts, strip malls, and small cinderblock buildings. Yet across sites, users spoke about community archives spaces as symbolic and affectively moving locations. Many users described their community archives site as a “home-away-from-home,” marked by intergenerational dialog and a profound sense of belonging. For other users, community archives sites were described as “politically generative spaces” which foster dialog and debate about identity, representation, and activism and enable the community to envision its future. And yet, while the very existence of community archives is political, many participants felt that the full political potential of these sites is not yet realized. By listening to the voices of the communities represented and served by community archives, our research both indicates that a shift is warranted in archival metaphors of space and reveals how community archives are personally and politically transformative spaces for the communities they represent and serve.     

Scheidel and Crowell revisited: a descriptive study of group proposal sequencing

In a landmark study, Scheidel and Crowell (1964) found evidence of two previously undescribed group discussional phenomena, “reach-testing,” or short sequences in which group members make, discuss, and evaluate a single proposal before moving on to another, and “spiraling,” or re-appearances later in discussion of proposals that had received positive evaluations when first discussed. The goal of the study reported here is to evaluate the generality of spiraling in a set of 87 group discussions. The results showed large variability among groups. Many groups spiraled little or not at all. A few groups spiraled substantially more than Scheidel and Crowell's model would suggest. These findings suggest that, as with the linear phase model, what was once considered to occur in all group discussions is in fact only valid for some. In addition, group discussion patterns were not associated with critical group output variables, providing evidence that the content of discussion matters much more than the order in which this content appears in discussion.     

An experimental study of the relationship between opinionated leadership and small group consensus

This study examined the relationship between the opinionated quality of leaders’ statements and small group consensus. Confederates trained to exhibit differing levels of opinionatedness served as “appointed” leaders of policy‐making groups. Groups with unopinionated leaders came closer to total consensus than groups whose leaders exhibited deliberately opinionated communication behavior. In addition, unopinionated leaders were rated more competent and more objective by their group members than were opinionated leaders. Findings relating opinionated leadership to maintenance of influence and member satisfaction were inconclusive.     

Identifying Dominant Group Communication Strategies: A Phenomenological Study

Through this study I attempt to extend cocultural theory toward a dominant group theory. I offer an exploratory account of the many ways dominant group members have responded to the concerns of cocultural group members. That is, dominant group members tend to engage in strategies that produce four themes: (a) using dominant group membership for reinforcement of privilege, (b) coming to a dominant group awareness, (c) using dominant group membership for support of cocultural groups, and (d) using dominant group membership for disrupting practices of oppression. When taken together, cocultural theory and a dominant group theory afford researchers, teachers, and practitioners another tool to explore intersectional communication.     

COLLABORATION,CONSENSUS, AND CONFLICT

Wikinews began in November 2004 as a collaborative online journalism project and sister project of Wikipedia, the well-known collaborative online encyclopedia. This article explores how Wikinews members have defined “news” and the ramifications of that definition for how they have been able to produce news collaboratively. One of the defining characteristics of Wikinews is a dedication to the neutral point of view (NPOV) policy, which was adopted from Wikipedia. NPOV serves as a structuring device for defining news, but also conducts a great deal of organizational work and is in turn structured by the discourses and debates of NPOV in stories. Further, a commitment to an organizational culture of consensus and collaboration, although not without handicaps in a news production environment, is a laudable achievement among Wikinews participants and could be a precursor to the way that citizen journalists will become more involved in news production in a sustainable way.     

Delivery to the Sharp End of the Spear: Responding to the Need for Library Support to the Deployed and Downrange Military Community

ABSTRACT

Libraries that support military patrons often face unique challenges. One of the most traumatic is the temporary transfer, or sudden deployment of members of the university community, often in the middle of an academic term, sometimes without notice or adequate preparation time. Not too long ago such an event would almost certainly have interrupted if not altogether halted students’ academic progress until they could return to the parent institution. Technology now in place has allowed many of these students to continue their education regardless of their physical locations, and libraries will have to improvise with regard to the delivery of resources and materials to the “sharp end of the spear.”     

The politics of representation in the US national statistical system: origins of minority population interest group participation

The United States is an “interest group society” and federal statistical policy, like all other aspects of contemporary American political life, is dominated by well-organized interest groups. The public review to revise the “Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity,” formerly known as “Statistical Policy Directive 15,” was notable for the significant presence of minority population interest groups. The politics of representation in the national statistical system during the 1970s is the subject of this article. The first part of the article summarizes the role that interest groups played in the recent debates on revising Statistical Policy Directive 15. The second part of the article discusses the origins of national statistics on minorities and their efforts during the 1970s to achieve inclusion in the body politic through representation in the federal statistical and administrative reporting systems.     

Persuasion in social conflicts: A critique of prevailing conceptions and a framework for future research

It is argued here that students of rhetoric and communication, along with scholars in other disciplines, have tended to reflect “Establishment” biases in treatments of persuasion in social conflicts. As a result, we have often failed to come to grips with the nature of conflict, the needs of “OUTS” and “HAVE‐NOTS,” and the utility of conflict for societies. In the place of prevailing “system orientations,” a “dual perspective” is proposed—one which would examine persuasion in conflicts from the viewpoint of both the actors attempting to maximize their interests in conflict situations and the system attempting to regulate conflict in the collective interest. The concept of “coercive persuasion” is introduced, and several suggestions for research are offered.     

Students' Perceptions of Classroom Group Work as a Function of Group Member Selection

Course: Small Group Communication

The purpose of this assessment was to examine whether differences exist between students who self-select their classroom work group members and students who are randomly assigned to their classroom work groups in terms of their use of organizational citizenship behaviors with their work group members; their commitment to, trust in, and relational satisfaction with their work groups; and their self-reports of affective learning and cognitive learning. Participants were 126 students enrolled in a small group communication course. While students who self-select their group members and students who are randomly assigned to their groups do not differ in their use of organizational citizenship behaviors with their classroom work group members, students who self-select their classroom work group members do report higher levels of commitment, trust, and relational satisfaction, as well as more affective learning and more cognitive learning, than students who are randomly assigned to classroom work groups.     

Communication,Uncertainty, and Volunteer Membership

Approximately 25% of Americans volunteer annually (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2011). As organizational members, they face uncertainty concerning their roles, their relationships, and their organizations (Kramer, 2004). Volunteers likely face different uncertainty management issues than employees who have been the focus of most previous research. Volunteers have a different psychological contract and different motivations than employees (Rousseau, 1990). This study examined issues of uncertainty management of volunteer members in a particular setting, a community choir. In particular, it found that supervisor and peer communication and other internal factors, such as more preparation time and less difficult tasks, were associated with higher levels of certainty for members of a community choir. In addition, higher levels of certainty and additional external factors such as family support for participation and lack of conflicts were associated with higher levels of satisfaction and identification and a greater willingness to recruit for the organization. Results have implications for improving communication to increase volunteers' certainty and increasing their voluntary participation in organizations.     

Managing Conflict of Interest

When a journalist returns to political reporting after working as a political media adviser it can trigger concern about conflict of interest based on a suspicion of partisanship. Despite this, there is little discussion in the journalism literature about how reporters should manage this type of conflict when it arises. This paper reports on a selection of findings from wider inductive, qualitative research into the career transition from journalism to political media advising and back again. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews conducted with 21 journalists who had moved between the two roles revealed that the media advisers took four main routes back to journalism in an attempt to manage the possible conflicts: “Escape”; Being “laundered”; Going “straight back in”; and “Cooling-off”. Based on these findings, this paper argues that a uniform approach to managing the transition from political advising to journalism could be useful in easing public concern about conflicts of interest.     

我国社群档案建设的意义、困境与路径

社群档案是具有共同身份特征的特定社群成员所形成的、记录社群历史的文件集合。加强社群档案建设,可以满足人民群众的精神文化需求,推动社会进步,促进社会多元发展,拓展档案工作职能。但是,我国社群档案建设面临着物理困境、文化困境、理念困境和身份困境。国际档案界对于社群档案认知的变化启示我们：在社群档案的建设过程中,社群成员的主动构建至关重要,档案学者的“过程向导”与“前端指引”愈发关键,社群档案价值形态与社会包容度息息相关,应积极倡导合作。因此,在当前国内环境下进一步建设社群档案,应立足于社群档案记忆价值的实现,打造社群档案“联合体”,追求学科融合发展,发掘中国特色的社群档案。     

Mourning “Men Joined in Peril and Purpose”: Working-Class Heroism in News Repair of the Sago Miners’ Story

Initially promising to replicate the story of the 2002 rescue at the Quecreek mine in Pennsylvania, news coverage of the January 2006 coal mine accident in Sago, WV, went terribly wrong when journalists incorrectly reported the miners’ “miracle” survival. Analysis of 761 newspaper, newsmagazine, and broadcast news reports illustrates how journalists corrected a mishandled story, and offers a glimpse into their broader role in constructing politically affirming national mythology. The final story of Sago was one of a rural community with class pride, distinct gender roles, and other “traditional” values presumed lost—a nostalgic parable of blue-collar patriotic sacrifice.