This investigation explored the dialectic of communication competence from an historical prospective and successfully identified seven common threads in competence theory. Communication skills and skills classifications were linked to competency issues. A content analysis of the 452 page leading national skills level communication text identified 185 skills behaviors along with their associated communication competencies. Skills were described in twelve categories; however, no consistent definition or treatment of communication skills was in evidence. Implications of the findings were discussed.

The transformation of the United States Army to a combat force capable of operating successfully on future battlefields requires the leveraging of digital communication capabilities to support distributed battle command. The purpose of this study is to investigate collaborative command group planning performance in traditional face-to-face (collocated) and geographically dispersed group (distributed) conditions. The Reactive Planning Strategies Simulation (REPSS) system was developed to provide a realistic group planning task supporting empirical estimates of planning process and performance outcome success, measured in this context as delivery rate of humanitarian supplies. Results indicate that synchronization scores were not significantly different between conditions; however, they were highly correlated with command group humanitarian supply delivery rates when collapsed across both collocated and distributed' conditions. Furthermore, collocated command groups delivered humanitarian supplies at a higher rate than did distributed command groups. This difference was primarily due to the cumulative effect of poor decision making across the multiple decision points required of the command groups during the exercise.

Aligned with socio-constructivist views of learning, small groups are being adopted as a viable and valid instructional technique with increasing enthusiasm. Previous research has shown that learning outcomes for students who have participated in small groups is inconsistent at best, and that small groups function differently even when working on identical tasks within the same classroom. Consequently, researchers continue to try and tease apart the ways in which effective small groups function and how small group participation influences individual learning. In this study, I explored the nature of listening within a small group learning context with the purposes of understanding how listening behaviors in the group were related to individual learning outcomes and gaining further insights into small group functions. This qualitative study was embedded within a college level history course for which the instructor had assigned students to permanent teams diverse in terms of gender, degree major, and class rank (i.e., freshman to senior status). Data collection and analysis focused on a subset of these teams and centered on group discussions that took place across two class days just past the semester’s midpoint. Data sources included: observational field notes, individual interviews, individually-written essays, synchronized audio/video recordings of team discussions, and team activity sheets. Data analysis was progressive, inductive, and micro-analytical in nature, using discourse analysis of the discussions and topic analysis of the essays to derive themes and code ideas. As indicated by individual interviews as well as an analysis of what individuals said and did during the small group discussion, listening indicators included verbal and nonverbal responses. A systematic analysis of the individually-written essays alongside a coded transcript of the team discussion revealed that topics included in the essay were ideas discussed by the group and were aligned with indicators of listening. Analyses of all data showed that listening contributes to the way the groups functioned, helping to explain the differences in team interactions. / text

Based upon limited findings dealing with nonverbal behavior and personality traits as they relate to communication apprehension, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of communication apprehension with proxemic establishment, self-esteem, and dogmatism. The study analyzed these variables utilizing subjects who were statistically either high or low communication apprehensives. Interesting results were attained. An inverse relationship between apprehension and proxemic establishment was revealed, such that dyads containing low-low members established greater interpersonal distance than dyads containing high-low members who established greater interpersonal distance than dyads containing high-high members. Communication apprehension overrode the sex variable with relation to spatial usage. Subjects high in self-esteem were low in communication apprehension, while subjects low in self-esteem were high in communication apprehension, thus indicating a negative or inverse relationship. Finally, subjects high in apprehension were high in dogmatism while those low in apprehension were low in dogmatism. Implications of the study are of interest to both researchers and those instructors who teach communications. The need for further research with regard to these variables is most apparent.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of small group communication, investigate to what extent small groups communicate within their minibusiness areas within a mining group. The communication role and the influence it has within an organisation, and what structure it takes within the bigger scheme of the organization were also investigated. Many people and organisations form small groups to perform certain jobs, but they do not have a clear understanding of what constitutes a group, essentially what is it that a group can and cannot do. Small groups are always present and employees are always members of one or more small groups. Establishing a precise definition of a small group that is generally accepted by everyone has proven to be a challenge as most scholars come up with different interpretations and definitions of small group communication. A quantitative research method was used for this study as it was deemed suitable for this type of research, but one of the shortcomings of this method is that the data obtained through this method of research is not suitable for generalisations to any population. It is therefore emphasized that it is not the objective of this research to generalise the results of the study, but that it is applicable to the small group communication within the mining group investigated. The sample and data collected were small. A total of 150 questionnaires were sent to two De Beers' mines, Venetia Mine in Limpopo Province and Voorspoed Mine in the Free State Province, requesting employees via their supervisors and line managers to participate in the small group communications survey. The survey revolved mainly around the company's overview of its Continuous Business Improvement (CBI) business system which involved small group initiatives and communication. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of small group communication, investigate to what extent small groups communicate within their minibusiness areas within a mining group. The communication role and the influence it has within an organisation, and what structure it takes within the bigger scheme of the organization were also investigated. Many people and organisations form small groups to perform certain jobs, but they do not have a clear understanding of what constitutes a group, essentially what is it that a group can and cannot do. Small groups are always present and employees are always members of one or more small groups. Establishing a precise definition of a small group that is generally accepted by everyone has proven to be a challenge as most scholars come up with different interpretations and definitions of small group communication. A quantitative research method was used for this study as it was deemed suitable for this type of research, but one of the shortcomings of this method is that the data obtained through this method of research is not suitable for generalisations to any population. It is therefore emphasized that it is not the objective of this research to generalise the results of the study, but that it is applicable to the small group communication within the mining group investigated. The sample and data collected were small. A total of 150 questionnaires were sent to two De Beers' mines, Venetia Mine in Limpopo Province and Voorspoed Mine in the Free State Province, requesting employees via their supervisors and line managers to participate in the small group communications survey. The survey revolved mainly around the company's overview of its Continuous Business Improvement (CBI) business system which involved small group initiatives and communication. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

This study addresses individual and group-level effects of jury deliberation and decision making. Using a real case, this study tests pretrial publicity (PTP) effects over time, starting in the pretrial phase and evaluating for media effects throughout the mock-jury decision making process. The sample was composed of mock-jurors (N = 49 deliberating groups of five/six persons). Results address (1) a primacy effect of PTP exposure over time and general perceptions associated with the PTP exposure, (2) attributions of individual cognitive story and verdict preference confidence, and (3) juror- and jury-level characteristics associated with deliberation and communicative influence. Results reveal that the order in which participants saw PTP had differing effects on individual pre-deliberation decision making, but had no significant differing effects on final verdict decisions across groups. The only juror characteristic that had significant effects on the deliberation were perceived communicative influence, perceived participation, need for cognition, and motivation to process and discuss case evidence. In terms of discussing PTP in the deliberation, the only aggregated group effect on the verdict was trust in the jury system. Past research suggests that juries are formed to make unbiased decisions (Gastil, 2008), and in this case, jury deliberation potentially attenuated the presence of media bias.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of small group vocabulary instruction above and beyond whole group, read aloud vocabulary instruction, on second grade students' expressive vocabularies.  This experimental study reflected a between-subjects design as three treatment groups were compared using a pretest, posttest within subjects variable methodology.  A small group instructional intervention was administered to a treatment group in addition to the whole group, read-aloud based vocabulary instruction that the alternative treatment group received.  Data was collected over an eight week intervention period.  Results indicated that small group vocabulary instruction led to greater gains in second grade students' expressive use of target words than did read aloud-based instruction or no instruction (control).  Additionally, students who received small group instruction retained more target word knowledge over time than students who did not receive small group instruction.  Implications for practice and future research are included. / Ph. D.

In a secondary school in a southeastern state a large number of overage students who are at least 2 grade levels behind where they should be in academic terms, have struggled with academic performance and have often dropped out of school. Educational researchers have found that the implementation of instructional interventions is important in meeting the learning needs of these students. The purpose of this bounded case study was to determine educators' perspectives of possible intervention strategies to improve the academic performance of overage students in grades 9 and 10 at the school. Constructivism was used as the conceptual framework. The research questions were focused on what teachers, counselors, and administrators viewed as the best possible intervention for improving the academic performance of overage students at the school. Interviews were conducted with 4 classroom teachers, 2 counselors, and 2 administrators who had worked with overage students at the school. Interview data were coded and analyzed for common themes. Participants identified small group instruction as the best possible instructional intervention to support constructivist learning for overage students. Using study findings, a policy white paper was created for local school officials and administrators, which included the recommendation that small group instruction be used for overage students along monitoring student progress by a school leadership team. Implementation of the recommendations may help overage students at the study site improve their critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision making skills which may result in positive social change as they experience academic success and become productive members of the school and larger surrounding community.

This study is focused upon an investigation of observable interactive behaviors which might be characteristic of reticence. A reticent individual is defined as one for whom apprehension about participation in oral communication consistently outweighs the projection of gain from the situation. Previous research in the area of reticence has been focussed on an analysis of the reticent student's attitudes toward communication relying primarily upon subject self-reports via journals and the in-depth interview. This in turn has provided possible areas in which observable reticent behaviors might evidence themselves in face-to-face small group communications with other reticents and non-reticents. An answer to the following question was sought: In what ways and to what extent are the interactive profiles of task groups with reticent members similar to each other in the amount and distribution of task and social-emotional acts, and to what extent are they different from the groups with no reticent members? Twenty-four subjects, six reticent and eighteen non-reticent, were selected from the population of students enrolled in Fundamentals of Speech at Portland State University, Spring Term, 1971. Prior to the study, the reticent subjects were identified according to performance on a paper-and-pencil test designed to expose speech fears, and a preliminary interview. Subjects were divided into six four-person groups. Three of the groups consisted of two reticent and two non-reticent members, while the remaining three groups were composed of four non-reticent subjects. Each group participated in a single fifty-minute discussion. Data from the group interactions were subjected to statistical interpretation based upon the twelve categories established by Robert F. Bales in his Interaction Process Analysis system. The hypotheses tested, and the principal findings, are as follows: Hypothesis I: The groups with reticent members will have a significantly smaller total of all acts initiated than will the groups with no reticent members. This hypothesis failed to be confirmed. No significant differences were revealed in the total number of acts initiated. Because of this result, a test was made for differences in the amount of talking initiated by reticent and non-reticent subjects. No significant differences were found. It was therefore ascertained that no differences exist in the number of acts initiated by reticent and non-reticent subjects, nor are their differences in the total number of acts initiated by the groups in which they interact. Hypothesis II: Within the groups with reticent members, the reticents will address significantly more acts to non-reticents than to other reticicents. This hypothesis was also unsubstantiated. The reticent person initiates the same number of acts to other reticents as to non-reticents. Hypothesis III: In a comparison of groups with reticent members and groups with no reticent reticent members, there will be no significant differences in the acts scored in the various categories of the interaction analysis. Significant differences were found in the distribution of total acts and acts scored in the "task and social-emotional” areas. A further breakdown of the task categories revealed differences in the area "questions and attempted answers." The distribution of acts in the “positive and negative" categories of the social-emotional area revealed no significant differences between the two types of groups. In short, although the interaction analysis successfully discriminated between the groups with reticent members and groups with no reticent members, the differences are subtle enough to make it impossible to ascertain which students are truly “normal" and which are merely masking the more serious reticent symptoms. It is therefore concluded that, precisely because the reticent student is unrecognizable from his peers, pedagogies applicable to the reticent student should be implemented in the traditional speech classroom. Further research in the area of reticence is needed in the following four areas : Delineation of similarities and differences between those reticents characterized by their silence and those characterized by their verbosity. Determination of the incidence and nature of reticent problems in the elementary and secondary school populations. Development of pedagogies applicable to the reticent population. Development of standardized measuring instruments for "reticence" and "attitudes toward communication."