This thesis set out to evaluate and compare two communism cation channels at Southland, the company magazine and the grapevine. Data were obtained through a survey in the Summer, 1975, magazine. Following an introduction, explanation of data-collection procedure of the survey, overview of communication in formal and informal organizations, and analysis of the survey data, conclusions were drawn that the magazine is an effective formal communication tool, but that it cannot serve all the formal communication needs of the company, and that expansion of the company's formal communication program is needed. Even so, the formal communication tool, The Southland Family, remains a more effective channel of.communication than the grapevine.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine communication issues which are most frequently identified as the concerns of u.s. managers who work with culturally and ethnically diverse workforces, and skills which are identified as useful in dealing with those issues. This thesis used a qualitative method of data collection. Information was generated through a review of literature in the fields of communication, management, and organizational behavior to determine frequently occurring themes concerning intercultural communication issues in the workplace. Following the review, three case study interviews were conducted with managers in the Portland metropolitan area to determine what they perceive as communication issues frequently encountered in a multicultural workforce and skills needed to effectively address these issues. Themes in the literature are compared with what the managers report are communication issues in managing a multicultural workforce. Interview results indicated that there are both differences and similarities between what the manager reports and the literature themes. The similarities chiefly concerns the importance of nonverbal behavioral differences as a cause of intercultural communication differences. Differences between the themes in the literature and the interview results chiefly concerns the number of additional factors which could affect intercultural communication between manager and employee. More themes are suggested in the literature as sources of communication difficulty than in the interview results. These results suggest that language differences were more often the type of intercultural communication difficulties that managers encounter than is indicated by the literature.

Listening is a critical skill for those who lead. Research indicates that leaders significantly influence followers through their listening practices; however the relationship between leadership styles and listening is assumed but not conclusively proven (Kouzes and Posner 2002). The purpose of this current study was to determine if a relationship exists between leadership style and listening practices of International Mission Board (IMB) overseas team leaders (Burns 1978, Bass 2004). The population for this research was overseas team leaders of the IMB serving in this position for more than six months with a team of four or more team members. A total of 145 of 391 team leaders participated in this study with a response rate of 37%. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) was used to measure transformational, transactional, and passive/avoidant leadership style and the Listening Practices Feedback Report-360 (LPFR) assessed listening practices of attention, empathy, memory, open mind, respect, and response. A correlational analysis using Pearson r was conducted between leadership styles and listening practices. Further analysis was conducted to determine which leadership style was most significantly correlated with each of the six listening practice subscales. The subscale of open mind was not significantly correlated with any leadership style. The findings indicated that transformational leadership had a statistically significant and moderately positive correlation with the total LPFR score and on five of the six listening practices subscales. Transactional leaders also had a moderately positive correlation with total LPFR score and significant correlations on empathy, memory, and response subscales. Passive/avoidant leadership style had a significantly moderate negative correlation with LPFR and with empathy, memory, respect, and response subscales. Transformational leadership scored highest on the LPFR total listening score. Passive/avoidant leaders' showed the lowest total listening scores and were rated ineffective listeners. This study shows that transformational and transactional leadership styles have a statistically significant and moderately positive relationship with listening dimension scores as measured by the LPFR and supports transformational leadership theory.

published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

This study attempted to discover perceptions held by public relations counsels and corporate attorneys regarding their professional relationship and whether demographics help determined perceptions. A Q-Sort mail survey asked participants to rank 52 statements. Statements were classified into six subject areas: day-to-day and corporate policy, crisis situations, communications, management, perceptions, and orientation. Five demographic questions were asked. A total of 148 surveys were mailed; 62 (41.9 percent) were returned.Q-Sort rankings, when subjected to factor analysis (Quanal), typed people with similar or dissimilar views. Quanal produced two types--Team Players and Communicators. Team Players were positive about their perception of each other, management, and communications. Communicators felt more strongly about crisis situations and day-to-day activities, especially deadlines.This study found a positive professional relationship between the two groups. Satisfaction with the relationship was indicated. Roles in the corporation were understood. Demographics did not influence perceptions in this study. / Department of Speech Communication

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2007. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Thesis (D.B.A.)--University of Western Australia, 2006.

Thesis (M.A.)--Marshall University, 2002. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 38 p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 35-38).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Syracuse University, 2007. / "Publication number: AAT 3295523."

Thesis (M. Ed. (Education))--Rhodes University, 2006.