Ethnographic Facilitation as a Complementary Methodology for Conducting Applied Communication Scholarship

This essay presents a methodological approach, ethnographic facilitation (EF), through which applied communication scholars (1) employ ethnographic practices to develop a rich, nuanced understanding of communication within and constitutive of groups, organizations, and/or communities; (2) intervene into communicative practices using group facilitation processes to promote change or development for the group, organization, community, and/or its members; and (3) report their findings to scholarly and relevant practitioner communities. The essay explains how EF draws on, yet differs from, and extends related methodological approaches, such as ethnography, critical ethnography, discourse tracing, and participatory action research, and integrates traditional facilitation practices with ethnography. Implications of the methodology are discussed regarding site selection, researcher conduct and relationships, techniques used to describe and facilitate communication, facilitation assessment, and dissemination of research findings. To illustrate the principles that inform this methodology, examples are included from a case study conducted with a church leadership team.     

Emergent Team Roles in Organizational Meetings: Identifying Communication Patterns via Cluster Analysis

Previous team role taxonomies have largely relied on self-report data, have focused on functional roles and have described individual predispositions or personality traits. Instead, this study takes a communicative approach and proposes that team roles are produced, shaped and sustained in communicative behaviors. To identify team roles communicatively, 59 regular organizational meetings were videotaped and analyzed. Cluster analysis revealed five emergent roles: the solution seeker, the problem analyst, the procedural facilitator, the complainer, and the indifferent. In terms of meeting outcomes, solution seekers were beneficial to idea longevity, whereas complainers were harmful for meeting satisfaction and idea longevity. Future research directions and managerial implications are highlighted.     

Family Communication Patterns and Difficult Family Conversations

Difficult conversations among family members can impact the health and structure of familial relationships. The reported study investigated potential antecedents and outcomes of difficult family conversations. Perceived consequences of, reasons behind, responses to, and results of difficult conversations were considered, and the family communication patterns (FCP) framework guided the examination. Although the majority of respondents feared negative consequences prior to conversations, most reported positive results. The type of response received from conversational partners was associated with the eventual result. Counter to predictions, data analysis found no relationships among the family communication styles proposed by FCP and the antecedents and outcomes of difficult family conversations. These results suggest that the need for engaging in difficult conversations may outweigh family communicative norms and potential family consequences. Practical implications of the findings, including how therapists or counselors might communicate the benefits of discussing difficult topics generally and of avoiding negative reactions during such conversations, are considered.     

Protean places: teams across time and space

Proteanism is about the simultaneous disruption of place and the seeking of a new sense of place. These metaphorical concepts of the fluid yet grounded, the shape shifting and consolidation, and the evolving creation of a sense of place are applied to a discussion of changing organizational forms and communicative processes. These new formings within ever-changing forms are referred to as Protean Places. The protean concepts of sequentiality, simultaneity, and sociality are examined within the context of what we know about changing organizational forms, major communicative processes, and the history of a virtual customer service team organized across time and space. Finally, the metaphor of Protean Places and the case study are utilized to provide direction for future research, theory building, and practical application in organizational communication.     

Striving to Be King of Mobile Mountains: Communication and Organizing Through Digital Fitness Technology

This study considers fitness-tracking applications as settings for communicative performances. Qualitative interviews and observations with 41 users of a cycling-focused fitness application revealed communicative themes of qualifying, social sharing, and withholding. Users also assessed other members through social-group comparing and upward comparing. This study develops theory by revealing how individuals use the technology to communicate about their physical acts, and how the context of use facilitates organizing processes. We argue that use of this fitness application extends our understanding of how communication can constitute a community of practice (CoP; Brown & Duguid, 1991; Lave & Wenger, 1991). Primarily, the hybrid online/offline nature of Strava complicates the traditional understanding of communication and CoPs.     

Protean places: teams across time and space

Proteanism is about the simultaneous disruption of place and the seeking of a new sense of place. These metaphorical concepts of the fluid yet grounded, the shape shifting and consolidation, and the evolving creation of a sense of place are applied to a discussion of changing organizational forms and communicative processes. These new formings within ever-changing forms are referred to as Protean Places. The protean concepts of sequentiality, simultaneity, and sociality are examined within the context of what we know about changing organizational forms, major communicative processes, and the history of a virtual customer service team organized across time and space. Finally, the metaphor of Protean Places and the case study are utilized to provide direction for future research, theory building, and practical application in organizational communication.     

Communication in Emergency Medicine: Implications for Patient Safety1 This study was funded by a generous grant from the National Patient Safety Foundation.

Emergency medicine is largely a communicative activity, and medical mishaps that occur in this context are too often the result of vulnerable communication processes. In this year-long qualitative study of two academic emergency departments, an interdisciplinary research team identified four such processes: triage, testing and evaluation, handoffs, and admitting. In each case, we found that narrative rationality (the patient's story) was consistently subjugated to technical rationality (actionable lists). Process changes are proposed to encourage caregivers to either reconsider their course of action or request additional contextual information. A heightened awareness of the bias for technical over narrative rationality and a better recognition of uncertainty in emergency medicine communication are important first steps toward anticipating potential failures and ensuring patient safety.     

Instructional Communication Competence: Lessons Learned from Award-Winning Teachers

Responding to calls for more holistic views on instructional communication, this study used interpretive methods to examine award-winning instructor's communicative practices to assess and to refine a definition of instructional communication competence. After observing and interviewing recipients of the Central States Communication Association Outstanding New Teacher Award, we describe how these award-winning teachers (a) understand the ebb and flow of the classroom, (b) use a wide repertoire of communication skills, (c) create relationships with students, and (d) effectively manage their classroom climates.     

Communication between Grandparents and Grandchildren in Geographically Separated Relationships

This study examined grandparents' reports of their use of three media—face-to-face, telephone, and email—in geographically separated relationships with grandchildren. Grandparents used telephone and email more frequently than face-to-face communication. There were no sex differences in frequency and satisfaction with the three media. Email use was examined in depth due to the dearth of research on its use. Grandparents who reported that they and their grandchildren were equally likely to initiate email were more satisfied with its frequency and quality than those who reported primary responsibility for email communication. Satisfaction with telephone communication predicted relational quality.     

科研团队学术交流与学科服务设计

以研究所科研用户为调查对象,通过问卷调查了解科研团队内学术交流现状、存在的问题、影响因素和需求。调查结果显示,目前科研用户均有强烈的交流意愿,能利用网络工具有效地获取信息,使用多种交流工具,但是团队交流仍然是采用比较传统的组会和面对面的方式,在信息共享和存储上较少利用有效的网络工具。学科馆员可以在团队许可下,介入科研团体的学术交流,发挥信息服务的优势,担当信息中介人,帮助构建科研信息环境平台,有针对性地提供各类科研资讯,从而促进团队科研交流的深化。     

虚拟团队中知识提供者的知识共享动机及其激励机制研究

指出完整的知识共享过程包括两个方向的活动:即知识提供者贡献知识和知识接受者查找、利用和吸收知识。认为对于虚拟团队的知识共享来说,如何根据知识提供者的知识贡献动机来激励其知识贡献行为更为重要。根据计划行为理论,从外在动机和内在动机视角,基于PLS的结构方程模型构建虚拟团队知识提供者的知识贡献行为动机模型,并进行实证研究。最后,根据实证分析结果提出虚拟团队知识共享的激励机制。     

Communication Skills,Social Support,and Burnout among Advocates in a Domestic Violence Agency

Intimate partner violence affects millions of lives annually. Domestic violence advocates work to alleviate this problem; yet the nature of the work leaves them vulnerable to negative outcomes such as burnout. This study examined the relationships between communication anxiety, communication competence, perceived social support, and feelings of burnout among domestic violence advocates. Results from a survey of 69 individuals recruited from a US domestic violence agency show the combination of communication anxiety, communication competence, perceived emotional support, and perceived informational support accounted for approximately 13% of the variance in advocates' emotional exhaustion and 21% of the variance in advocates' experiences of reduced personal accomplishment. Responses also differ with the advocate's position in the agency. The following recommendations are offered: develop scenario-based communication skills training programs to reduce communication anxiety and increase communication competence, hold regular debriefing meetings to help advocates process their experiences and to receive peer support, and develop formalized mentoring programs that can provide social support for new workers.     

Contradictions in surgical work teams

Teamwork and communication are essential to effective work groups in health care. This project investigated how an impending technology change spurred the staff in an ophthalmological surgical department to improve their teamwork and communication processes. Data were gathered using focus groups, key informant interviews, and workplace observations involving 56 employees. Qualitative, interpretive analysis indicated that lack of communication impacted team processes and job satisfaction. Participants indicated that sharing knowledge and developing policy knowledge were problematic, especially as those processes concerned job duties. Results were interpreted using structurating activity theory. Analysis identified system-level and structural-level contradictions that hindered activity accomplishment. Several practical implications of findings are offered, including using the experience of work team contradictions as opportunities to transform practices, implementing ongoing inter-professional training for work teams, and providing opportunities for work team members to be reflective about their team experiences. Future research suggestions are offered for extending findings.     

The Ethnographer of Communication at the Table: Building Cultural Competence,Designing Strategic Action

Ethnographers of communication are increasingly working within interdisciplinary teams to address social problems in communities, corporations, and governments. This special forum brings together ethnographers of communication to reflect on the opportunities, tensions, and challenges involved in using the ethnography of communication to seek workable solutions to social problems with fellow scholars, practitioners, and community members. Through empirical case studies, contributors demonstrate how the ethnography of communication is used to build cultural competence and design strategic action.     

Enhancing Communication Interventions and Evaluations through Communication Design

Communication design is first and foremost about creating, engineering, or critiquing approaches to communication that achieve specific goals or values. A design approach acts as an integrative perspective for finding the relevance of theory to a specific site of intervention. Communication design processes are illustrated through work on ombuds processes and organ donation campaigns. This research highlights four propositions related to communication design. First, design should be about both creation and critique. Second, design is complementary to, and strengthens, theory (and vice versa). Third, design can be both unique to an intervention or context and iterative from previous designs. Finally, design helps us uncover unexpected and unintended consequences, uncovering hidden properties of communication and leading to opportunities for modifying and correcting communication practices. These unintended consequences and other design successes and failures provide opportunities for learning and creating better systems. In these ways, a commitment to design processes strengthens both our research and our practice of communication across a variety of communication contexts and across different levels of communication.     

跨越文化 寻求共识——从文化与认知的视角重新审视向世界传播中国文化的方式

在吉尔兹(Clifford Geertz)所开创的跨文化传播研究中,传统的研究者们始终将目光聚焦于发现不同种类文化间的差异,并在了解差异的基础之上,实现相互理解。这一经典的研究方法所存在的一个最重要问题就是它假设了全人类没有一个共通的认知共性,从而导致文化与认知之间相互循环论证的解释悖论。在本文中,作者将另辟蹊径,试图结合近年来文化心理学与认知心理学的前沿成果,在发现人类认知共性的基础上,寻找跨文化传播中的共识,并重新审视中国文化走出去战略中的核心问题。     

The Relationship Between Counseling Self-Efficacy and Communication Skills of Volunteer Rape Crisis Advocates

This research examines the relationships between communication competence, communication anxiety, and five subdimensions of counseling self-efficacy. The sample consists of volunteers trained at two rape crisis centers (n = 63) over a one-year period. As hypothesized, communication anxiety was negatively related and communication competence positively related to the subdimensions of counseling self-efficacy. Results suggest that training programs need to be aware of how personality characteristics may affect a volunteer's ability to become an efficacious counselor. Implications for how rape crisis centers can integrate these communication issues into their training programs and improve the self-efficacy of their advocates are discussed.     

Communication Channel,Sex, and the Immediate and Longitudinal Outcomes of Verbal Person-centered Support

This study extended research on verbal person-centered (VPC) support by studying VPC in conversations, examining perceptions of support providers and receivers, testing the influence of different communication channels, and evaluating longitudinal outcomes. Two hundred fifty-five dyads composed either of two men, two women, or one man and one woman interacted in a laboratory wherein channel and level of VPC were manipulated. Evaluations of support were gathered from support providers and recipients, and recipients also reported outcomes three weeks later. Perceptions of support differed between channels, such that men providing high VPC support were evaluated more positively when using CMC, and women communicating low VPC support were evaluated more negatively online. Effects of level of VPC, channel, and provider's sex on receivers' outcomes persisted three weeks later.     

Practically Perfect in Every Way: Communication Strategies of Ideal Relational Partners

This study utilized social exchange constructs to examine communication strategies used by self-defined ideal relational partners when initiating dating relationships. Two hundred forty-four participants generated 1183 communication strategies they would use to initiate relationships if they believed themselves to be ideal partners. A content analysis revealed 15 categories of communication strategies enacted by ideal relational partners. These categories included initiation, emotional disclosure, direct inquiry, impression management, shared activities, supportive behaviors, information gathering, gift giving, compliments, other-initiated behaviors, assistance from others, self-acceptance, pickup lines, bragging, and use of humor. Implications for interpersonal communication research are discussed.     

Philosophy of Communication: Qualitative Research,Questions in Action

Qualitative research meets and gathers insight and information, commencing with the particular. Qualitative research moves us from reductive and abstract engagement to experience of the subject matter before us. Philosophy of communication, understood as qualitative research in action, centers inquiry on questioning, reading, writing, editing, thinking, and interpretation. These five qualitative acts of inquiry are not isolated categories, yet they are simultaneously distinct characteristics within philosophy of communication scholarship. I contend that these five coordinates facilitate the performative engagement of philosophy of communication inquiry. I offer a story centered on five research coordinates, explicated with scholars repeatedly referenced in philosophy of communication literature. I engage these scholars in a manner akin to Walter Benjamin’s (1968) “pearl diving,” seeking insight from selected parts of their copious contributions. Their collective insights function as threads with which I weave a story about the doing of philosophy of communication.