Interpersonal and Small Group Communication Commons^™

It's More Than Self-Presentation: Mum Effects Can Reflect Private Discomfort And Concern For The Recipient, Jayson L. Dibble

Faculty Publications

Is the reluctance to share bad news (i.e., the MUM effect) motivated more by a public display or private concern, and does it benefit mainly the messenger or the recipient? An experiment (N = 309) that crossed good/bad news with three communication channels (face to face, text messaging, email) revealed that messenger reluctance was greatest under conditions of bad news and did not vary based on channel through which the recipient contacted the messenger. In contrast with earlier work, this MUM effect was more consistent with a private fear of distressing the recipient. Theoretical implications and limitations are discussed.

Safe, Patricia Lent

Occasional Paper Series

The first four sections of this essay chronicle her attempts to make sense of September 11 in the succeeding weeks and months. The final section—”Corn, Beans, and Squash”—was written to and for her students at the end of the school year.

Finding Meaning In The Resistance Of Preschool Children: Critical Theory Takes An Interpretive Look, Steven Schultz

Occasional Paper Series

Offers an analysis to resistant behavior of preschool children that goes beyond lack of socialization. This interpretation focuses upon the social and cultural meanings of individual and group behaviors. The article is concerned with the acts of the children that run contrary to, or simply outside of, the sanctioned school activities. This is an important vantage from which to analyze preschool resistance because some important behaviors can be identified at the point when they are first likely to occur; when young children, as members of a peer group, first meet figures of authority.

The American Pickers Demonstrates Communication Skills, Jeffrey Brand

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

This activity prepares students to identify persuasive communication practices in non-classroom environments and to view reality-based television programs as a learning platform for understanding communication theories and concepts. Using selected scenes or an entire episode from a popular reality-television program, American Pickers, students can observe how Mike and Frank establish a rapport with new customers, get to know them and their stories, negotiate sales, interact with each other as a team, and leave with a new relationship (client) and connection intact. The purpose of this exercise is to help students observe these initial contacts and relationships as they develop on …

Developing A Supportive Communication Climate For Virtual Task Groups, Brent Kice

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

This class activity places students in virtual teams to assess Gibb’s (1961) defensive or supportive behaviors as a means of reinforcing trust among virtual task-group members. A worksheet offering a fictitious online chat transcript is provided for group analysis; student directions for creating unique team names are also given. This activity helps students to establish positive climates for virtual task groups.

Simulated Creative Collaboration: Experiencing Challenges To Innovative Virtual Teaming In The Classroom, Brian C. Britt, Kristen Hatten

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

This activity provides students with in-depth experience working as part of an innovative virtual team, which will enable them to better understand the relative advantages and disadvantages of various approaches to creative collaboration in different contexts. Participants are divided into groups, which must then solve an assigned problem using a specified communication technology and creative process from the literature. The instructor will introduce a variety of obstacles to communication using each technology, which may inhibit students’ creative processes. Following the activity, the class will discuss these challenges, participants’ responses, and the range of experiences with different collaborative processes and technologies.

Using Social Lubricants To Increase Conversationality, Nathaniel Simmons

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

Responding to the epidemic of the dying art of conversation (Asha, 2014; Barnwell, 2014 April), this activity constructs a space in which students tap into social lubricants as a conversational, artistic tool to increase conversational skills. Inspired by Monahan & Lannutti’s (2000) social lubricant work, this study views social lubricants— any object or action that facilitates social interaction, such as a dog or a compliment— as a vital resource that merits pedagogical attention. After completing a role-play in which students tap into a social lubricant to achieve an assigned goal, students will be able to: (a) define social lubricants; (b) …

Social Justice Storytelling: Giving Our Students More Than Just An Education In Speech, Phillip E. Wagner

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

In an effort to highlight the practical and relevant applications of public speaking, this activity was designed to give students a safe space to discuss current social justice issues. Beginning with an open-ended narrative prompt, this activity requires students to take turns building upon a social justice narrative, giving them an opportunity to practice confident delivery and healthy dissent while also further enhancing public speaking skills and fostering a social-justice orientation.

Improving Interviewing And Conversational Skills Using "Speed Interviewing", Colleen Arendt

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

A great deal of research focuses on the importance of effective interviewing skills across professions and interpersonal settings. This activity, based on “speed dating,” is designed to improve students’ interviewing skills. Specifically, the activity develops listening and probing skills by having students conduct mini interviews without preparation. The lack of preparation forces students to rely only on their listening and probing skills instead of an interview protocol. To increase difficulty, the questions can be tailored to employment or internship interviews to help the interviewees prepare while their partners practice listening and asking probing questions. This activity can also be modified …

"I Don't Always Look At Memes, But When I Do, It's For A Class": Using Memes To Demonstrate Language Rules, Jocelyn M. Degroot, Hannah Coy

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

This activity uses Internet memes to demonstrate the pervasiveness of language rules and culture’s effect on language in online culture. Numerous introductory communication courses include a discussion on verbal communication that focuses on language rules and the effects of culture on verbal communication. The most relevant language rules for memes are the regulative rules that guide action and how we use language (Cronen, Pearce, & Harris, 1979). In this exercise, students analyze and evaluate language rules present in popular online memes. The students identify the language rule utilized in each of a pre-chosen set of Internet memes and generate at …

Facing Our Racial Biases Via The Implicit Association Test, Stacey A. Peterson

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

Classroom discussions around race and difference are often difficult and challenging. We all come to our social interactions as products of our cultural selves, race being one of a myriad of multi-faceted characteristics. Therefore, while many feel that race is something that is discussed ad nauseam, others feel that such discussions rarely scratch the surface. This exercise uses the Implicit Association Test on race to encourage students to reflect upon and examine their hidden biases and address the role those biases play in potential communicative interactions, decisions, actions, and even emotions that they, the students, likely have of people of …

Grandmothers As Child Caregivers: A Unique Child Care Arrangement, Kathy L. Reschke, Susan K. Walker

Occasional Paper Series

This paper draws attention to grandmothers who provide child care and the parents and children they serve, by sharing the results of a study of a group of employed mothers from rural, low-income families who used grandmother care on a regular basis. Although their experiences cannot represent those of all mothers who use grandmother care, they are valuable in understanding the perspective of many women with few feasible options who depend on this type of care.

Critical Risk Assessment And Management In Pharmaceutical Industry, Abida Zameer

Dissertations and Theses

Background

Proper implementation of principles of project risk management is well known to minimize the impact of threats to any project. However, the determination of critical success factors which threat the success of pharmaceutical projects at baseline are usually uncertain.

Methods

Data was collected using self-administered structured questionnaire generated solely for the purpose of the current research. The questionnaire was administered via e-mail to professionals employed in the pharmaceutical industry located in Boston area using www.surveymonkey.com. The introduction and purpose of the questionnaire was described in the message accompanying the questionnaire.

Results:

Out of the 14 critical success factors listed …

Team Performance And Project Success, Ijeoma Okoronkwo

Dissertations and Theses

Project Teamwork is a worthy objective aimed at accomplishing high level cooperation, productivity and success but often times this is not so. The level of performance applied towards a project work has a direct impact on the project success or failure.

Teams are the basic structure of how project activities and tasks are being organized and managed within companies and organizations. Therefore, the success or the failure of a project depends largely on the overall performance of the teams assigned to the project. This increased attention towards teams has forced many organizations to focus on improving the overall performance of …

Applying Agile Lean To Global Software Development, Piyansh Gupta

Dissertations and Theses

Although challenges of Global Software Development (GSD) are well known in the industry, practitioners and the organizations look for ways to improve results and overcome challenges. Companies have tried to implement many workable solutions possible to solve issues like poor communication, lack of trust, low morale and many other such issues prevalent in the distributed setting. With the success of agile, the methodology gained interest in leveraging its benefits to alleviate some of these challenges. Similarly, lean was also implemented in distributed software development to resolve issues. While each methodology provided some improvement in the results achieved in global software …

Exploring The Educational Potential Of A Video-Interview With A Shoah Survivor, Katalin Eszter Morgan

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

This article aims to establish what the education potential is of video-interviews with Shoah survivors that have been made available as historical sources for learners in secondary schools. It does so by looking at some of the learner tasks pertaining to one selected video-interview and by using empirical data consisting of masters students’ responses to the same interview. After contextualising the research within the intersecting field of video-testimony and Holocaust education, a brief overview of the DVD medium called “Zeugen der Shoah” (“Witnesses of the Shoah”) is presented. Thereafter the tool used for the analysis is explained. According to three …

Toward A Buddhist Theory Of Conflict Transformation: From Simple Actor-Oriented Conflict To Complex Structural Conflict, Tatsushi Arai

Peace and Conflict Studies

This paper presents a working theory of conflict transformation informed by Buddhist teachings. It argues that a Buddhist approach to conflict transformation consists of an integrated process of self-reflection on the roots and transformation of suffering (dukkha), on the one hand, and active relationship-building between parties, on the other. To overcome a deeply structural conflict in which parties are unaware of the very existence of the conflict-generating system in which they are embedded, however, Buddhist-inspired practice of conflict transformation requires building structural awareness, which is defined as educated consciousness capable of perceiving a complex web of cause and effect relationships …

Strategies To Improve Interdisciplinary Communication In An Acute Care Inpatient Pediatric Unit, Sarah Thompson, Haley Pelletier, Barbara Bush Children's Hospital-Inpatient, Maine Medical Center, Suneela Nayak, Ruth Hanselman, Stephen Tyzik

MaineHealth Maine Medical Center

Interdisciplinary patient rounding has been shown to improve patient and family satisfaction as well as reduce patient length of stay and readmission rates. In an acute care inpatient pediatric unit, baseline metrics demonstrated that 100% of the time, nursing was not included in these rounds thus resulting in sub optimal communication.

The goal of this performance improvement project was to attain increased nursing participation. Data collection demonstrated several reasons for lack of participation and corrective actions were instituted. After undertaking this KPI goal and utilizing operational excellence, 95% of the time, nurses were called to morning rounds with the medical …

Interdepartmental Rounding, Peggy Anderson, Carrie Strick, R3 Med-Surg Unit, Haley Pelletier, Suneela Nayak, Stephen Tyzik, Ruth Hanselman, Maine Medical Center Operational Excellence

MaineHealth Maine Medical Center

STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING COMMUNICATION BETWEEN DOCTORS AND NURSES IN AN ACUTE CARE HOSPITAL

Effective interdisciplinary communication is imperative for safe patient care in an acute care hospital environment.

A surgical unit used their HCAHPs scores to assess how often patients perceived there was good communication between different doctors and nurses during their hospital stays. The data demonstrated that this occurred 22% less often than the national average.

As a result of a root cause analysis, a number of countermeasures were initiated with the goal of achieving scores greater than the national average. Post KPI inception in the second quarter of …

Agile In Construction Projects, Chen Jin

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Communication And Family Identity: Toward A Conceptual Model Of Family Identity And Development Of The Family Identity Inventory, Kaitlin Elizabeth Phillips

Department of Communication Studies: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Families serve as a primary socializing agent in the lives of individuals (Soliz & Rittenour, 2012), and the first social identity individuals have in their lives. Given the complexity and importance of identity—and family identity specifically, the goal of this study is to identify the various dimensions of family identity that scholars and practitioners should account for in their work. Through a two-study exploratory sequential mixed-method design I investigate what constructs comprise a conceptual model of family identity, and I develop a corresponding inventory of Family Identity. Through this process, I will also assess the relationships among these communicative processes, …

Course Syllabus (Su17) Coli 331: “‘World-Traveling’: Alterity And Liminality In Spike Lee’S Do The Right Thing And Amiri Baraka’S Dutchman”, Christopher Southward

Comparative Literature Faculty and Student Scholarship

Course Description:

This semester, we’ll view Spike Lee’s 1989 Do the Right Thing and Shirley Knight’s 1966 cinematic production of Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman through the critical lenses of Maria Lugones’ notions of ‘worlds’ and ‘world-traveling,’[1] which she develops in Pilgrimages/Peregrinajes: Theorizing Coalition against Multiple Oppressions. Our task is to analyze a number of the problematics addressed in these visual works as discernible ‘world(s)’ of meaning and experience constituted by the libidinous investments, concrete practices, and ideological convictions of the human subjects who bear and circulate them.

[1] Maria Lugones, Pilgrimages/Peregrinajes: Theorizing Coalition against Multiple Oppressions, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, …

[Editorial]

Journal of the Adventist Theological Society

"The polarization is unique in that it is augmented by communication technologies (internet, twitter, facebook, etc.) that have not previously existed. Communication has exploded and there are more competing voices, messages, and claims for the “real truth” than ever before. The anonymity of these new technologies seems to foster less civility as voices compete for ears."

Sexual Violence, Consent, And Contradictions: A Call For Communication Scholars To Impact Sexual Violence Prevention, Katie D. Scott, Clint Graves

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee

The goal of this paper is to provide an overview of the conflicting findings from existing sexual violence and consent communication research with the intention of motivating communication scholars to study these areas. Generally, normative roles and alcohol add to the inherent complexity of consent communication. Moreover, contradictory findings in the literature make it difficult to define a practicable approach to the reduction of sexual violence across college campuses. This paper broadly reviews the current literature in this area of research with the ultimate goal of creating a guiding research agenda based in communication theory. Sexual violence prevention programming may …

Locking Eyes With Strangers, Jackie Kuehl, Kenitra Foote, Justin Ortt, Allison Larson

Concordia Journal of Communication Research

The topic of reactive body language and eye contact between strangers is necessary research because it differs from typical face to face relational interactions. Stranger interactions among genders and one’s eye contact are often avoided by most people, whether it’s due to the setting, awkward feelings, or one’s vulnerability. It seems like there is a common communicative trend found in Late Generation Y and Early Generation Z, is avoiding eye contact with strangers when outside of one’s comfort zone (Nemko, 2016). The lack of stranger interaction involving eye contact and its effect on society is considered in this study. The …

First Impressions, Cultural Assimilation, And Hireability In Job Interviews: Examining Body Language And Facial Expressions' Impact On Employer's Perceptions Of Applicants, Renee Cortez, David Marshall, Cydi Yang, Loc Luong

Concordia Journal of Communication Research

The purpose of this study was to discover what nonverbal facial behaviors are important in an interview setting. This was done by conducting interviews with eight current employers as well as four college age persons who have recently interviewed for a job. As a result, the data suggests that the two main facial behaviors sought by employers in the interview of the applicant were smiling and eye contact. Other nonverbal communication behaviors were analyzed as well. These findings will allow people to be better prepared and be more conscious of what they are displaying in the interview setting in the …

Rock The Runway Event Proposal, Jamie R. Foxen, Hayley Silva

Communication Studies

EVENT OVERVIEW

We will host a fundraiser to raise money for the non-profit Do It for the Love, by putting on a concert and fashion show. The concert and fashion show not only represent our passions, but will be an effective way to raise as much money as possible while making it an enjoyable experience for our guests. We will have 15-20 silent auction items for guests to bid on. Additionally, we hope to generate funds from the sale of Sextant wine by the glass at the event. This event will be a perfect and unique way to bring together …

Pilot Test Of Communication With A ‘Rapid Fire’ Technique, Desiree A. Díaz, Candace Pettigrew, Christine Dileone, Meredith Dodge, Deborah Shelton

Journal for Evidence-based Practice in Correctional Health

Abstract

An innovative communication training technique, ‘Rapid Fire’, was created to enhance communication and was incorporated into the debrief component of a simulation designed for correctional nurses to promote learning and engagement. The term ‘Rapid Fire’ was used to expose the critical time element that appears in the first five minutes of many crisis situations, where a quick relay of information and problem solving is essential; such as in a cardiac arrest or other rapidly deteriorating patient situations. This technique consists of a five-minute session prior to the structured debrief. During the ‘Rapid Fire’ portion of the debrief, all learners …

Bridges Out Of Poverty As An Anti-Poverty Strategy In Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, Katlyn M. Uhler

Capstone Collection

This paper explores the initial results of the Bridges Out of Poverty (“Bridges”) community framework as implemented by the organization Kennett Area Community Service in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. The aim of this research is to provide perspective on Bridges Out of Poverty’s contribution to the understanding of poverty in the United States and its potential as an antipoverty intervention. It does so first through an exploration of the historical and current discussion on poverty and anti-poverty interventions in the United States, followed by research on the Bridges model itself and its implementation in Kennett Square. This latter research includes content …

Digital Mindfulness: An Emerging Field Of Inquiry And Practice, Sherri Henderson

Mindfulness Studies Theses

This two-part paper explores digital mindfulness as an emerging field of inquiry and practice into the integration of technology and contemplative practices. The first part surveys the growing research on the effects of technology on health and well-being. Investigating Buddhist teachings leads to a more balanced and aware approach towards integrating mindfulness with the digital world. Digital mindfulness encourages meaningful engagement while online. It also encourages thoughtfulness, awareness and intention. Digital mindfulness also reshapes and encourages conversations in our homes, schools, and proposes digital responsibility and digital citizenship. The second part of the paper proposes a framework for a workshop …