The impact of a communication intervention on work‐unit productivity and employee satisfaction

This study investigated the impact of a 10‐week program, designed to communicate job‐specific and general company information, on levels of worker satisfaction and work‐unit productivity. Data were collected from assembly line workers in a large health care industrial plant. Differences between scores on a general satisfaction measure administered before and after the program were observed suggesting that attitudes about the organization did improve after the program. When compared with a control period, work‐unit productivity also improved after the program. Implications of these findings for future organizational communication research were discussed.     

Parental control in Latino families: an integrated review of the literature

Using social information processing and cultural change models as explanatory frameworks, this article reviews the literature on Latino parental control and its implications for child development. It is argued that the use of parental control in Latino families may have motivational roots in cultural childrearing goals such as familismo (familism), respeto (respect), and educación (moral education). Consideration of these underpinnings, in conjunction with psychological and methodological issues, helps to explain variability in the use of Latino parental control and its effect on child development. Recommendations for future research include refinement of control and acculturation instruments, and attention to both contextual and individual variables.     

Intentional Teaching,Intentional Scholarship: Applying Backward Design Principles in a Faculty Writing Group

Backward design is a course creation method that encourages teachers to identify their goals for student understanding and measurable objectives for learning from the outset. In this article we explore the application of backward design to the production of scholarly articles. Specifically, we report on a writing group program that encourages group goal setting and the acquisition of skills required to achieve these goals. We discuss the relationships between backward design principles and the development of scholarship for publication as well as offer suggestions of best practices for academic writers.     

Playin’ farmer: leisure experiences in a craft-based community of practice

The study applies situated learning and communities of practice concepts to an ethnographic study of volunteer farm work. In contrast to a traditional conceptualization of education for leisure, participation in farm work activities is understood as a form of education taking place in a leisure context. Analysis reveals that participation in volunteer farm labor may also be understood as participation in a craft-based community of practice. The Farm’s community of practice exhibits the use of embodied knowledge, intimate communication, a dialectic of innovation and preservation, and a hierarchical social structure. Differences between employment and leisure-based communities of practices are explored. Situated learning and communities of practice conceptualizations promise to expand both the analysis and practice of leisure education, thereby expanding its relevance in contemporary society.     

Film History

Colin Shindler, Hollywood Goes to Wars Films and American Society, 1939-1952 (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979 – $20.00)

Barbara Zheutlin and David Talbot, Creative Differences: Profile of Hollywood Dissidents (Boston: South End Press, 1978– $5.40 paper)

The Adventures of Robin Hood, edited and an introduction by Rudy Behlmer, 235 pages

The Green Pastures, edited and an introduction by Thomas Cripps, 206 pages.

High Sierra, edited and an introduction by Douglas Gomery, 189 pages.

Our Lady Cinema by Harry Furniss (originally London: Bristol, 1914—reprint $16.00)

Jew Suss by Arthur Rawlinson and Dorothy Farnam (originally London: Methuen, 1935–reprint $18.00)

Marcia Blitz, Donald Duck (New York: Harmony Books/Crown, 1979— $12.95)