The program of research reported here was concerned with what makes difficult face-to-face communication in work settings difficult. A framework for analysing this problem was developed by bringing together the disparate literatures of communications theory and cognitive appraisal theory. The framework identified the outcome of an instance of face-to-face communication at work as a function of features of the situation, the appraisal that the worker makes in the situation, and the response strategies selected for dealing with the situation. The research program was directed to operationalising these constructs and studying their interrelationship. The first two studies reported in the thesis (Studies 1 and 2) revealed the types of communication encounters that are most difficult to manage at work, and offered insight into why these situations are difficult. Qualitative and quantitative data were gathered and the quantitative data analysed using multidimensional scaling techniques. The results provided a taxonomy of difficult communication situations in the workplace. The next two studies (Studies 3 and 4) focused on the development of measures of primary and secondary appraisal, and on a taxonomy of response strategies applicable to work settings. A new measure of primary appraisal was developed from qualitative data pertaining specifically to the domain of difficult communication contexts. Principal components analysis was used in the development of the response strategies instrument. Study 5, the final study, reported the results of the application of cognitive appraisal theory to the context of difficult communication at work. In this study, the theory was applied to four difficult communication situations identified in Study 1, and the relationships among appraisal, response strategy, and outcome were investigated using principal components analysis and, subsequently, hierarchical regression analysis. The results indicated that, as the appraisal of the context varies, so too does the choice of response strategy, lending support to the transactional model. Appraisal contributes significantly to response strategy choice and to the outcome of the situation over and above that offered by response strategies alone. In addition, the findings revealed that appraisal of the situation differ across situations and according to the status of the other person in the encounter. The findings of the series of studies reported here point to the value of viewing difficult communication situations in the workplace in terms of the interrelated constructs of situations, appraisals, strategies rather than, as more commonly, in terms of characteristics of ‘difficult’ persons. Some situations are inherently more difficult than others, appraisals alter the difficulty level of situations, and the availability of response strategies influence outcome. Appraisal is, however, a construct of central importance, in much the same way it is in the research context from which it was appropriated, viz stress research. Appraisal contributes significantly to choice of response strategy and directly to outcome over an above the contribution of response strategy. The research program was not without its shortcomings, among them the reliance on retrospective reports of participants about their behaviour, and these need to be addressed in future research. The findings as they stand do, however, point to more useful ways of conceptualising difficult situations at work and devising methods of intervention that will ensure better outcomes, in a significant area of life in the modern workplace.

"Rumination" and "Silencing the Self" have both been theorised to explain women�s greater vulnerability to depression. Rumination (Nolen-Hoeksema, e.g., 1987, 1991) refers to a passive focus on mood and symptoms, while Silencing the Self (Jack, 1991) refers to the socially-based belief that, broadly speaking, one should actively suppress one�s negative emotions and thoughts within romantic relationships. This thesis proposes that frequent suppression of negative emotional material within romantic relationships (self-silencing) makes that material more likely to be a target for rumination, resulting in greater depressed mood and depressive symptoms. It seems paradoxical that the more one tries to suppress one�s thoughts, the more one thinks about them. Wenzlaff and Luxton (2003) have demonstrated that frequent suppression may make material more accessible and a more likely target of rumination. Study 1 was a pilot investigation. It was found that self-silencing (the broad construct) and thought suppression (a narrower construct) were related, and that both were positively correlated with rumination. Furthermore, thought suppression contributed to the relationship between self-silencing and rumination for women. It was hypothesised that the more women suppress their negative feelings in romantic relationships (what Jack, 1991, describes as "Silencing the Self"), the more they will ruminate about these feelings and experience symptoms of depression. In Studies 2 and 3, the correlations among rumination, self-silencing and depression in adults and high school students were investigated. There were positive correlations among all the measured variables for adults and teenage girls, supporting the hypotheses. Regression analyses showed that for female adults and teenagers, rumination and self-silencing made unique, additive contributions to the prediction of depressive symptoms. In Studies 4 and 5, the causal relationship among self-silencing, rumination and depressed mood was investigated. Participants were asked either to write about a sad event that had happened in their relationships, or a typical (neutral) event. In Study 4, participants were also instructed to write either factually about these events, or to write in a ruminative way about them. Participants� chronic tendencies to self-silence were measured and they were classed as "high" or "low" self-silencers based on a median split. Female participants who chronically self-silenced more frequently and who ruminated experienced the most dramatic decrease in mood. In Study 5 participants wrote factually or suppressed their feelings about sad or neutral events and their tendency to ruminate was measured. Participants were divided into "high" and "low" ruminators based on a median split of their rumination scores. There was no support for the alternative hypothesis that chronic ruminators who suppressed would report depressed mood. Study 6 confirmed that in women, the combination of both chronic self-silencing in romantic relationships and acute rumination resulted in more severe symptoms of depression. Participants were e-mailed daily for one month about their self-silencing, rumination and negative mood. Chronic self-silencing, rumination and depressive symptoms were measured at the start and end of the month. Again, the combination of chronic self-silencing and acute rumination emerged as a better predictor of depressive symptoms than either variable alone. The six studies reported in this thesis support the hypothesis that self-silencing and rumination together explain short term negative mood as well as depressive symptoms even after one month. These studies explain why certain women are more likely to experience depressed mood in the context of romantic relationships. In particular, the combination of being a high self-silencer and ruminating makes one especially vulnerable to depressed mood and depressive symptoms. Clinically, there are already interventions targeted at rumination that are effective in reducing distress. However, the current research demonstrates that self-silencing may also be a promising target for intervention. Self-silencing is based on a wider understanding of the social context of depression. By targeting self-silencing, as well as rumination, depression may be more effectively treated.

This project builds a theory of the presence and practice of grace in intimate interpersonal communication utilizing the writings of C.S. Lewis and his intellectual mentors. Lewis, who wrote extensively on the theory and practice of love, offers a compelling approach to understanding human relationships from a Christian philosophical perspective. <br>The first chapter begins with major questions and themes in the interpersonal literature concerning human discourse, relation, and action. Lewis frames human relationships in a robustly theoretical and practical manner, characterizing the conditions of our discursive relational selves as difficult yet joyful. He argues that the work of intimate interpersonal relationship building is in need of the presence and practice of grace. <br>The second chapter expands upon Lewis's response to his historical moment. Lewis's Christian theism lends him a compelling scholarly and pragmatic standpoint amongst the other critics of modernity. He is writing and living within the cusp of historical change. Accordingly, the chapter discusses key texts in which Lewis articulates the problematic trends within modernity concerning presuppositions of human discourse and relation. Together, these texts speak to the presence and practice of grace in intimate interpersonal communication. <br>Chapters Three, Four, and Five outline the major metaphors which build a theory of grace in intimate relationships: sentiment, will, and responsiveness. Lewis's work suggests that we as scholars and practitioners should consider intimate interpersonal communication as a matter of sentiment understood philosophically, will understood phenomenologically, and responsiveness understood ontologically. These metaphors frame intimacy as heartfelt choice, loving labor, and responsiveness to form. Each of these metaphors build upon the other, and each chapter concludes with specific implications for interpersonal communication theory and practice. <br>Chapter Six discusses current discursive and practical trends concerning intimacy development. The project argues that adolescents and young adults meet challenging moments of relational development with incongruent beliefs and practices, often rendering them ill-prepared for intimacy. In a culmination of the major metaphors of this project, the concluding sections discuss approaches to teaching young adults about how to feel, will, and respond in intimate contexts in a manner which leads to good and gracious love. / McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts / Communication and Rhetorical Studies / PhD / Dissertation

While deception is a common strategy in interpersonal communication, most research on interpersonal deception treats the sex as irrelevant in the ability to detect deceptive messages. This study examines the truth and deception detection ability of both male and female receivers when responding to both true and deceptive messages from both male and female speakers. Results suggest that sex may be an important variable in understanding the interpersonal detection probabilities of truth and of lies. An interaction of variables including speakers’ sex, receivers’ sex, and whether the message is truthful or deceptive is found to relate to detection ability. Both women and men were found to be significantly less accurate than chance in judging the veracity of statements made by men, especially when those statements are lies. On the other hand, both women and men were significantly more accurate than chance in judging the veracity of statements made by women, especially when those statements are truthful. This may suggest that men are better deceivers than women, while women seem more transparent in exhibiting feelings about their messages whether being truthful or deceptive. In recalling real life deceptions discovered previously, women reported that they discovered significantly more lies from female sources than from men they knew. This finding may reflect the previous finding that discovering lies told by women is more likely than is discovering lies told by men.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Att lyckas som platschef i anläggningsbranschen Eva Karlsmyr  Bygg- och anläggningsnäringen brottas med lägre produktivitets­utveckling än andra industribranscher och utveckling av ledarskapet ses ofta som en väg framåt. Kunskap saknas dock om vad effektivt ledarskap i denna specifika kontext är. Denna studie avser bidra med sådan kunskap genom att i en tematisk analys med kvalitativ ansats studera ledarskap ur effektiva platschefers perspektiv i ett svenskt rikstäckande anläggnings­företag. Utifrån menings­koncent­rering av sju intervjuade plats­chefers berättelser har gemensamma aspekter av ledarskapet identi­fierats som respondenterna upplever avgörande för att lyckas i rollen. Studien har även undersökt hur dessa platschefer behöver påverkas av andra för att kunna utöva ett effektivt ledarskap. Analysen resulterade i sex aspekter avseende ledar­beteenden och tre aspekter avseende påverkan från andra som samtliga respon­denter nämnde. Dessa nio teman tolkades som avgörande för ett effektivt ledarskap i organisationen och ansågs ha relation till tre över­gripande teman, intresse för människor, kommu­nikation och relationer. Identifierade teman kunde också på ett tydligt sätt knytas till organisa­tionens ledarmodell och till trans­formativa ledarbeteenden. Studien bidrar därmed med kunskap om effektivt ledarskap, med betydelse för organisationens arbete med att rekrytera, utveckla och behålla denna kärn­kompetens i verksamheten samt förståelse för transformativa ledar­beteendens inverkan på ledarskapets effektivitet i bygg- och anläggnings­branschen. Keywords: Leadership, Transformational leadership, Interpersonal relationships, Interpersonal communication, Construction industry / To Succeed as a Site Manager in the Construction Industry Eva Karlsmyr The construction industry has a long history of lower productivity than other industries, and leadership is generally seen as one important path to improve efficiency. However, the knowledge of leadership in this context is modest at best. This study’s aim is to contribute to the field of research through a thematic analysis with a quality focused approach towards leadership challenges from a site manager’s perspective. For the purpose of identifying commonalities in management success, seven site managers of a nationwide Swedish construction company have given their views on the factors that improve their leadership efficacy. The result of the study focuses on six aspects concerning leadership behavior and three aspects concerning input from others. The nine aspects of leadership that are the focus of this paper have in common the themes of interest in a people-focused approach, interpersonal communication and interpersonal relationships. These themes for successful leadership imply a clear relationship with the company’s overall leadership policy and newer theories of transformational leadership. The study contributes to the body of research on transformational leadership in the construction industry and improves the strategic knowledge on how to recruit, develop and retain personnel with core competence in the organization. Keywords: Leadership, Transformational leadership, Interpersonal relationships, Interpersonal communication, Construction industry

Abstract Department Stores are highly interpersonal communicated in the service industry. Products and services should be delivered through the service employees. In the process of interaction with customers , service employees could deliver the expertise of products and services , discover what is customers need , offer them appropriate services and then build the long term relationship with them. So service employees play very important roles in building long term relationship with customers. In reviewing literatures about relationship marketing and purchase intension, previous researches use¡urelationship quality¡vas the mediator mostly to discuss the relationship between relationship marketing and purchase intension, or In the surveys of this study, this research study wants to find how service employees expressions affecting the customers perceived relationship benefits and reach the purposes as below: 1.Discussing the salespersons¡¦ expertise could positive affect the customers perceived relationship benefits. 2.Discussing the interpersonal communication between service sales and customers could positive affect purchase intension. 3.Discussing the customers perceived relationship benefits could positive affect purchase intension. 4.Discussing if relationship benefits play as the mediator between interpersonal communication ¡Bsalespersons¡¦ expertise and purchase intension. Structural Equation Modeling is used in this research. The followings are four points of conclusions¡G 1.Salesperson¡¦s expertise positive affect the confidence benefit and social benefit. 2.Interpersonal communication between service employees and customers positive affect confidence benefit¡Bsocial benefit and special treatment benefit. 3.Confidence benefit and social benefit positive affect customer¡¦s purchasing intension. 4.Confidence benefit¡Bsocial benefit are mediators between interpersonal communication¡Bsalespersons expertise and customers purchasing intension. The conclusions of this research could offer department stores to develop appropriate customer relationship strategies and have great improvement in their business.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 175-192).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Open University.

Thesis (EdD)--Open University.