Public speaking procrastination as a correlate of public speaking communication apprehension and self‐perceived public speaking competence

In the present study, the relationship between public speaking procrastination and communication apprehension, and the relationship between public speaking procrastination and self‐perceived public speaking competence were investigated. A significant, positive correlation was found between public speaking procrastination and communication apprehension. A significant, negative correlation was found between public speaking procrastination and self‐perceived public speaking competence. The implications of public speaking procrastination for students and their instructors are discussed along with “anti‐procrastination “ pedagogical strategies.     

Take This Job and … : Quitting and Other Forms of Resistance to Workplace Bullying

Adult bullying at work is an unbelievable and, at times, shattering experience, both for those targeted as well as for witnessing colleagues. This study examines the narratives of 30 workers, some of whom where targeted and all of whom saw others bullied. Their responses paint a complex picture of power in bullying situations that reframe the “power-deficient target” into agents who galvanize a variety of resources on their own or others’ behalf but also place them at considerable risk. In some cases, employees evaluate the abusive situation and quickly resign. Others protest but, if resistance fails to stop abuse, they also leave organizations. The paths of resistance, case outcomes, and dialectic nature of resistance and control are discussed.     

Females’ (Non)Disclosure of Minority Sexual Identities in the Workplace From a Communication Privacy Management Perspective

In this study, communication privacy management theory (CPM) provides a theoretical framework for investigating the development of privacy rules and strategies for females disclosing a minority sexual identity (MSI) in the workplace. Analysis of in-depth interviews indicated that participants’ rules were influenced primarily by role and relational risk evaluations. Findings nuance CPM’s conceptualization of role risk to identify 3 variations: risk to employment status, professional image, and ability to complete tasks. In addition, connections between workplace relational and role risks and how gender identities influence risk assessments and disclosure are demonstrated. Despite risk, participants disclosed personal information at work and often did so utilizing implicit disclosure strategies in everyday interactions to test confidants’ reactions and normalize their MSI in the workplace.     

I’m New…Again: Reconceptualizing the Socialization Process Through Rotational Programs

Communication scholars have studied how organizations socialize new employees in breadth, but we know less about how employees adapt to multiple roles rather than just one position. With the rise of rotational programs, which introduce newcomers to several different jobs within a brief time, socialization theory should be expanded. This study focused on people’s experiences in rotational programs to provide a more accurate picture of this complex socialization process. Longitudinal, qualitative data from employees during their first and second job rotation revealed that such employees’ socialization differs from traditional employees’ experiences. The results suggested a Model of Rotational Socialization that more accurately portrays the socialization process by accounting for the contrast between role and organizational socialization.     

The Message Design Logics of Organizational Change

This study investigated the influence of context in the production of messages by stakeholders about organizational change. We analyzed messages produced in response to hypothetical organizational change scenarios. The message production task was implemented within a 2×2 experimental design (N = 1,205) fielded at three different organizations. We included multiple replications for each manipulation, and multilevel structural equation modeling allowed for analysis across scenario replications. Results indicated that perceptions of change and context do influence message design mediated by intensity of beliefs about a change. The study extends message design logics theory and contributes to a conceptualization of stakeholder interaction during organizational change as a problem of communication design.     

Connection,Restructuring, and Buffering: How Groups Link Individuals and Organizations

Research examining the individual–organization relationship has largely ignored the linking role of groups. Grounded in Scott, Corman, and Cheney's (1998) structurational model of organizational identification, we analyzed data obtained from members of groups embedded in a large religious organization. Results revealed three primary ways groups link individual members and the organization via identification. The connection function provides members with local copresent linkages to the organization and an environment in which to express their connection/relationship to the organization. The restructuring function enables members to restructure conflicting individual and organizational identity structures. The buffering function enables members to disidentify with a portion of the organizational identity and still maintain a sense of organizational identification.     

“Cool” Communication in the Classroom: A Preliminary Examination of Student Perceptions of Instructor Use of Positive Slang

This study explored participants' perceptions of instructor use of positive slang (e.g., “cool,” “awesome,” “sweet”) and its perceived impact on the classroom environment and teacher's credibility, as well as the rules governing its usage. Participants viewed a video of a positive slang-using teacher and then responded to several open-ended survey questions. The results demonstrate that students generally appreciate teacher use of positive slang and cite the potential benefits of its usage. Implications of teacher use of positive slang are discussed.     

Workplace Relationship Quality and Employee Information Experiences

This study examined the extent to which the amount and quality of work‐related information employees received was associated with the quality of their relationships with peer co‐workers and their immediate supervisors. Results indicated that supervisor–subordinate relationship quality was positively related to both the amount and quality of information employees received from their immediate supervisor. In addition, employees’ proportions of information peer relationships were negatively related, and their proportions of collegial peer relationships were positively related, to the quality of information they received from their co‐workers. Regression analyses also indicated that the quality of information employees received from their supervisors and co‐workers was positively related to their job satisfaction and commitment to the organization.     

The Assimilation of In-Laws: The Impact of Newcomers on the Communication Routines of Families

Although our popular culture stereotypes relationships with in-laws as problematic, these relationships have largely been overlooked by communication researchers. In contrast to existing studies focusing on dyadic relationships, this study looked at how in-laws are assimilated into the family group as newcomers, using structuration theory to examine how routines are reproduced in families. In personal interviews, participants described how their families had assimilated newcomers or how they themselves were received into their spouse's families. A thematic analysis revealed specific communication routines that had to be adjusted upon entry of newcomers, including conversational topics, expected amount of interaction, use of joking, and conversational styles. Adjustments to these routines, although difficult to negotiate because they were not openly discussed, helped to transform the family of childhood into the family of adulthood. Structuration theory would suggest that the perceived stress in relationships with in-laws occurs because newcomers upset the comfort of families by disrupting their communication routines.     

被经验的中介和被中介的经验——从传播理论教材的译介看传播学在中国

本文以国外传播理论教材的译介作为视角,考察了欧美传播理论话语在中国的诠释和变异,研究了西方客观经验主义的大众传播理论如何被潜移默化地等同于传播学的过程,同时以《传播理论导引:分析与应用》为例,对我国目前传播学的教学与研究中存在的一些问题进行了探讨,提出应该进一步开阔视野、注重研究范式、重新思考传播理论的教学与应用。     

“We Do It, but They Don't”: Multiple Categorizations and Work Team Communication

The present study adopted an intergroup approach to information sharing and ratings of work team communication in a public hospital (N = 142) undergoing large-scale restructuring. Consistent with predictions, ratings of communication followed a double ingroup serving bias: while team members reported sending about the same levels of information to double ingroup members (same work team/same occupational group) as they did to partial ingroup members (same work team/different occupational group), they reported receiving less information from partial ingroup members than from double ingroup members and rated the communication that they received from partial ingroup members as less effective. We discuss the implication of these results for the management of information sharing and organizational communication.