Organizational Communication Commons^™

Ua51/1 Collections & Connections, Jennifer Wilson

Collections & Connections

This is the Fall 2013-Winter 2014 issue of the biannual newsletter of the Western Kentucky University Libraries. It headlines WKU Manuscript/Folklife Archives Coordinator Jonathan Jeffrey's collection of the remembrances of JFK's visit to Bowling Green in 1960 and an excerpt from Ann Denes Wagner's recollection of her father Nick Denes, head coach at Western Kentucky State during the 1960s. Other major events featured in this issue include the Libraries' co-sponsorship of the International Film Series, its participation in the university's homecoming activities, its continued effort in offering the Far Away Places speaker series and the SOKY Reads program, and the …

Extending Story Listening As A Practice Of Communal Formation At The Lake Orion Church Of Christ, Eric R. Magnusson

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This doctor of ministry thesis presents the results of a project that explores the potential for extending a practice of story listening as a way of forming community across social circles at the Lake Orion Church of Christ in Lake Orion, Michigan. The intervention involved guiding a group of six participant-researchers, each of whom had previous experience in story listening, through six sessions in the fall of 2011. Each phase of the project was informed by a participatory social Trinitarian theology. The first three sessions were designed to empower participant-researcher pairs to facilitate story listening groups of four to five …

Flavor Of Slo 2012: An Application Of Communication Principles In Event Planning, Allison Sasscer

Communication Studies

Flavor of SLO is a fundraising event put on by Cal Poly students to raises thousands of dollars to benefit the local non-profit United Way. In the almost year long process of planning and implementing the event, the basics of small group, persuasion, and organizational communication played a part of the shaping and execution of the event. This paper recounts how various aspects of the communication discipline played a part in making the event successful and how it contributed to achieving the goals of improving education, income and health for San Luis Obispo County.

A Lone Nut In Compton:Lessons In Community Engagement With Treepeople In South Los Angeles, Jason Schlatter

Capstone Collection

The following study was conducted as an exploration of the community engagement practices of the Los Angeles based nonprofit organization, TreePeople. The intention of this study was to foster a deeper understanding about the theories and practice of the “outsider” TreePeople’s community engagement initiatives in the region of South Los Angeles, with particular emphasis on the communities of Compton, Inglewood, and historic South Central. I attempted to synthesize a collective narrative about the way TreePeople interacts with its constituents and community partners by drawing upon the experiences and perceptions of TreePeople staff, community partners, and community members. The individual experiences …

The Initiation Of Growth-Focused Relationships Involving Healthy Accountability At The Carbondale Church Of Christ, Stephen Shaffer

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

After several years of transition, the Carbondale Church of Christ is in the early stages of becoming a spiritual growth-focused community. However, the emerging growth community appears to reflect the prevailing cultural assumptions that growth is a personal, private, and an individual task. To shape this emergent growth culture, this project initiated a group of congregational opinion leaders, organized in pairs, into the practice of growth-focused relationships involving healthy accountability. The initiation involved a theological orientation followed by a four-week healthy accountability praxis.

The theological framework of the project involved three main aspects. First, the project used the body image …

Art And Space: Impacting The Workplace, Erin V. Mccool

Senior Honors Theses

Art in its various forms and applications has always been a part of the human experience. Art can be intrusive, thought provoking, or simply beautiful. Although art comes in many different styles and forms, art continues to capture our imagination. The purposes of this thesis are to discover how art affects human activity in the workplace as well as the qualities that make artwork in the workplace successful. Based on the findings of this study, artwork will be created for the Center for the Advancement of Faculty Excellence at Liberty University in order to create a lively, creative environment. By …

Ua19/16/1 Volleyball Media Guide, Wku Athletic Media Relations

WKU Administration Documents

Athletic media guide for volleyball team.

Ua12/6 Diversity Programs - Publications, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Publications created by and about Diversity Programs.

Mapping Injustice: The World Is Witness, Place-Framing, And The Politics Of Viewing On Google Earth, Joshua P. Ewalt

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

Working from assumptions that inequality is often spatially informed, a set of interactive cartographies has recently proliferated on Google Earth. In this essay, I analyze one of those interactive cartographies: The World is Witness produced by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM). I read the map as an organizational rhetoric that frames place as "embedded injustice." I also argue that thorough analysis of the framing of local place on Google Earth must inherently question whether the map can create a disruption in the viewing subject. While the map presents vital information on excruciatingly despicable acts of injustice, and the …

Implementing A Discernment Phase For Those Nominated In The Shepherd Selection Process At The Cinco Ranch Church Of Christ, Aaron Walling

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This doctor of ministry thesis presents the results of a project that implemented a discernment phase for those nominated in the shepherd selection process at the Cinco Ranch Church of Christ. Occurring in the fall of 2010, this project involved nominees in a series of six one-hour, thirty-minute sessions designed to establish the theological foundations for shepherding and to explore its practical expression at Cinco Ranch. For the theological component, this project primarily utilized Ephesians 4:11-16, and for the practical side, it incorporated group interactions with those serving as shepherds along with the review of guiding leadership documents. The project‟s …

Crafting A Congregational Narrative For The College Church Of Christ In Fresno, California, Jason W. Locke

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes a ministry project in the College Church of Christ in Fresno, California. In this project I led the congregation through a narrative crafting process in order to clarify the church’s identity and increase its capacity for mission. In recent decades, the College Church moved away from some of its founding characteristics yet failed to clarify a new sense of identity. It subsequently had difficulty acting with a unified sense of purpose and instead moved increasingly toward fragmentation.

Data for crafting the new narrative came from three weeks of group interviews. My research team conducted these interviews in …

Discerning A Vocational Theology Of Marriage For The Smyrna Church Of Christ, Daniel F. Camp

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this project was to discern a vocational theology of marriage for the Smyrna Church of Christ in Smyrna, Tennessee. Through a group discernment process, the participants studied Genesis 1-3 and 2 Corinthians 5 as a basis for understanding God’s design for marriage at creation, the effects of sin on the vocational aspect of the marriage relationship, and the call of Christ for husbands and wives to participate in the resurrection life through the ministry of reconciliation. At the end of the discernment process, the participants articulated a theology statement for the church that examined our current context …

Communally Discerning A Covenant Of Hospitality For The Care Of Children At Westview Boys' Home, Ron Bruner

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This project addressed the lack of a covenant defining the practice of hospitality towards children for team members of Westview Boys’ Home. The purpose of the project was to facilitate the creation of such a covenant. The Westview ministry team already claimed hospitality as a strength; the hope was that reframing the ministry around this strength would improve the quality of care for children and the quality of life for the community. Invited into a communal discernment process (the methodology), the ministry team invested weeks in the examination of biblical texts, theological tradition, personal and communal narratives, cultural trends, psychological …

Facilitators And Obstacles Of Intercultural Business Communication For American Companies In China: Lessons Learned From The Ups Case, Hongmei Gao, Penelope Prime

Faculty Articles

This article analyzes how the execution of business strategy for global enterprises is shaped by the dual challenges of communicating in a different national culture and working in a changing economic environment. The article develops a framework from the UPS case in China to illustrate the key components of strategy for US companies operating businesses in China. The article proposes that Chinese-American communication effectiveness can be achieved through overcoming five obstacles: cultural multiplicity, relationship/ task orientation, time concept, business style difference, and language use, while utilizing five facilitators:pragmatism, gender equality, English, American pop culture, and a "big country mentality."

Totally Devoted: Developing A Holistic Spiritual Formation Course For Western Christian College, Stanley N. Helton

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This thesis reports research results from a learning community composed of faculty, support staff, ministry leaders, and students who collaborated in a professor’s development of a new course proposal in Christian spiritual formation at Western Christian College in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. The professor used qualitative research methods in the analysis and evaluation of the data produced by the group. The outcome of the project was ethnographic data that informed the creation of the course proposal that included new course application, course syllabus with course schedule, planned activities, bibliography, initial classroom assignments, and initial assessment tools.

Ua68/6/1 The Phoenix, Vol. 2, Wku English

WKU Administration Documents

Newsletter created by and about the WKU English department, includes information regarding courses and activities by faculty, staff, students and alumni.

Developing A Model For An Incarnational Ministry At The Webb Chapel Church Of Christ, L. Bert Alexander

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This doctor of ministry thesis presents the results of a project to promote the development of an incarnational ministry at the Webb Chapel Church of Christ. This intervention employed a team of Webb Chapel opinion leaders representative of various subgroups of the congregation. In the fall of 2008, this group met for eight sessions to discuss the self-emptying practices of Jesus and the need for his followers to emulate those self-emptying practices in their individual lives. Through interaction in the eight sessions, the group developed a model by which self-emptying practices could be implemented at Webb Chapel. Evaluation of the …

Liberal Arts 2.0, Bridget B. Baird

Convocation Addresses

The title, Liberal Arts 2.0., "stems from the term Web 2.0, which refers to the recent evolution of the Web as interactive, participatory, collaborative and collective. Web 2.0 includes blogs, wikis, user-generated media, social networking: like much of what it describes, the definition is amorphous and inexact." Baird believes that Web 2.0 and all that it implies will necessitate a revision of the way we do liberal arts and thus the title “Liberal Arts 2.0.”

Her premise: that a liberal arts college is a place where teaching and research are improved by digital tools, where students are taught to negotiate …

Ua1b3/3 Wku Faculty Athletics Mentoring Program, Draft, Wku Athletics Committee

WKU Administration Documents

Draft policy for the WKU Faculty Athletics Mentoring Program.

Ua1b3/3 Development Of A Faculty Athletic Mentoring Program, Wku Athletics Committee

WKU Administration Documents

Report of the subcommittee on faculty athletic mentoring programs.

Composition Heuristics And Theories And A Proposed Heuristic For Business Writing, Katharine Louise Peake

Theses Digitization Project

This work questions the usefulness of heuristic procedures, within composition in general writing in business in particular, as an effective aid to the generation of written, non-fiction discourse.

Ua77/1 Wku Spirit, Wku Alumni Relations

WKU Administration Documents

WKU's alumni magazine. Contents:

• Ransdell, Gary. President’s Letter
• Society of 1906 – Martha Lloyd
• WKU Announces Dorris Burchett Legacy Commitment for Business Gift is Third Largest One-Time Commitment to WKU
• Steve Eaton Makes New Commitment for Hilltopper Basketball
• Jessie Ball DuPont Fund Makes $150,000 Commitment to WKU-Housing Authority of Bowling Green Partnership
• WKU Names Clinical Education Complex’s Early Childhood Center in Honor of Long-Time Supporters – Dan Vitale
• WKU Health Services
• Former WKU Baseball Player Makes Lead Gift for New Baseball Clubhouse – Paul Orberson
• Ken McDonald Selected WKU Basketball Head Coach
• Online Masters Degree in Elementary Education Beginning Fall …

Motivation And Identification: A Burkean Rhetorical Analysis Of The Mission Statements Of A Class Of Higher Education Organizations, Mark Razor

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand higher education organizations as if they were texts and from that perspective to determine how motive was expressed and community was created through the mission statements of a class of higher education organizations. The mission statements of Carnegie comprehensive doctoral institutions of higher education with a medical and/or veterinary school were rhetorically analyzed and the results organized into groups much as chemists organized elements into the periodic table. In addition to rhetorical studies, organizational studies were employed, especially those that employed Identification Theory. This study provides a model for understanding complex institutions, …

Blessing And Sending The Church Into The World For The Sake Of The World, Using Congregational Blessings As A Missional Enterprise, Michael Harbour

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This thesis project equipped the elders to function as a community of men called and authorized by God to bless and send his people into the world for the sake of the world. They were equipped through seven sessions of theological reflection on Scripture and reflection on narratives of those who have offered pastoral blessings. The sessions also included an examination of templates and the opportunity to practice writing and speaking blessings. The elders have been speaking a shepherd’s blessing as the last liturgical act of the Sunday assembly. In this project, missional and textual focus was given to the …

Ua3/9/5 Special Unveiling Of Granite Panels On The Guthrie Bell Tower, Wku President's Office

WKU Administration Documents

Program and talking points used by WKU president Gary Ransdell at the unveiling of the granite panels on the Guthrie Bell Tower honoring WKU servicemen and veterans.

Living Waters: An Invitation To Contemplative Spirituality For The Quail Springs Church Of Christ, Wyatt E. Fenno

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This project addressed an acknowledged need for ministry action to promote and facilitate communal spiritual formation in the present and future life of the Quail Springs Church of Christ. The focus of the project was to present a model of contemplative spirituality determined to be accessible to the ministry context at Quail Springs. In addressing the problem of community fragmentation at Quail Springs, this model was offered as a means of grace to deepen faith and strengthen relationships in church life at Quail Springs. A pilot group of six women and six men served as the working group for this …

Ua61 Newsletter, Wku Health & Human Services

WKU Administration Documents

Newsletter created by and about the College of Health & Human Services.

• Bonaguro, John. Letter from the Dean
• WKU Clinical Education Complex Moves Forward
• College Welcomes New Associate Dean – Sylvia Gaiko
• Visiting Scholar from Bournemouth University, England – Mandy Rumley
• Partners Key to Successful Hispanic Health Fair & Screening Event
• Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) 4-H Program
• Hispanic Initiative Gets $700K in Funding
• American Humanics Program Implemented at WKU
• CHHS Focuses on Gerontology
• Gerontologist Dr. John Krout Visits WKU
• Rural Elderly Advocacy Program with Students (REAPS)
• Kentucky Emergency Medical Services Academy Offers EMS Management Workshops
• A Day to Give …

Ua3/9/5 Commemoration Ceremony Of September 11, Wku President's Office

WKU Administration Documents

Speech delivered by WKU president Gary Ransdell at the commemoration of September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC.

Ua3/9/5 Guthrie Bell Tower Dedication, Wku President's Office

WKU Administration Documents

Speech delivered by WKU president Gary Ransdell at the Guthrie Bell Tower dedication ceremony in honor of the Guthrie family and WKU's servicemen.

Ua1b3/3 Annual Report, Wku Athletics Committee

WKU Administration Documents

WKU Athletics Committee annual report for the 2000-01 school year.