The Use of Equivocal Messages in Responding to Corporate Challenges

A framework is constructed to examine communication professionals’ views regarding the use of equivocal and nonequivocal messages for managing initial statements about corporate challenges. As predicted, equivocal responses were viewed as more appropriate to use and linked to a positive corporate reputation when the crisis situation contained avoidance–avoidance goal conflicts, whereas nonequivocal responses were viewed as more appropriate and linked to a positive corporate reputation when the crisis situation did not contain avoidance–avoidance goal conflicts. Communication professionals also judged nonequivocal and equivocal messages to be appropriate and linked to a positive corporate reputation when they believed the specific message would satisfy the multiple goals of the crisis situation. Implications for public relations practice are discussed.     

Books in review

THROUGH NAVAJO EYES: AN EXPLORATION IN FILM COMMUNICATION AND ANTHROPOLOGY. By Sol Worth and John Adair. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1972; pp. 286. $12.50.

VAGINAL POLITICS. By Ellen Frankfort. New York: Quandrangle Books, Inc., 1973; pp. 250. $6.95.

POWER AND INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS. By Wally D. Jacobson. Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1972; pp. 190. (paper) $3.50.     

History education in transit: where to for Kazakhstan?

This study examines the post‐socialist transition in the secondary education history programme in Kazakhstan from 1990 to the present. The article examines the influence of policy talk and action upon official educational policy, and how the deployment of a new national narrative is being used to construct a de‐Sovietized‐re‐Kazakhified national identity. Educational objectives in calling for de‐Russification and de‐Sovietization are considered in the light of two other objectives: to de‐politicize and de‐ideologize the curriculum following the break‐up of the Soviet Union. I argue that there are two parallel projects at work that both support a more Kazakhified history curriculum and counter‐balance an ethno‐nationalizing programme by developing the World History programme. This study is based on 10 months of in‐country fieldwork encompassing document review, interviews and classroom observations in Kazakh and Russian medium of instruction schools.     

Issues in Constructivist Early Moral Education

The authors address Goodman's critique of constructivist moral education as articulated by DeVries and Zan (1994) and respond to her proposal that constructivist education be blended with traditional moral education as advocated by Wynne (1991). The authors cite empirical evidence contrary to Goodman's assertion that preschool children are egocentric and incapable of moral reflection. This difference links to dramatically opposed views on the educational implications of Piaget's research and theory. Goodman advocates that teachers should “exploit the child's natural heteronomy” by giving children rules and demanding obedience. The authors cite empirical evidence showing that heteronomous regulation of children leads to a host of undesirable outcomes and that encouragement of children's autonomy leads to positive outcomes. The authors also point out a number of misconceptions of constructivist education as propounded by DeVries and Zan. They discuss Goodman's specific suggestions for blending constructivist and traditional moral education, and conclude that such a blending contradicts considerable research on child development and early education and eliminates critical components of constructivist early moral education.     

Foreign policies of U.S. higher education institutions: Accident or design?

Based on a content analysis of The Chronicle of Higher Education from 1984 to 1989, the authors find that current foreign policy decisions of higher education institutions are being made reactively within four policy arenas: research, students, investments, and academic programs. The authors conclude that a comprehensive foreign policy should be included in an institution's strategic planning process.He has served recently as Visiting Professor of Higher Education at the University of Georgia. Previously he was Director of the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education. Carolyn P. Griswold has a M.Ed. from Georgia State University and is a doctoral candidate in the Institute of Higher Education at the University of Georgia. Phyllis Wyatt-Woodruff is Director of Enrollment at Paine College and a doctoral candidate in the Institute of Higher Education at the University of Georgia. Patricia Gregg is on the staff of Clayton State College and is a doctoral candidate in the Institute of Higher Education at the University of Georgia.