<p> Do communication professionals fill the role of negotiators and conflict resolvers within their organizations? Some scholars (Dozier, Grunig, &amp; Grunig, 1995; Plowman, 2007) have claimed this role theoretically, but little research evidence has verified the negotiator role in practice. To gather empirical evidence, I conducted a qualitative research study (Corbin &amp; Strauss, 2008; Miles, Huberman, &amp; Salda&ntilde;a, 2014) using in-depth interviews and critical incident technique with thirty-one public relations professionals who had an average of 18 years of experience in a variety of organizations across the United States and overseas. Data analysis included open and axial coding and integration with prior research. Validity and reliability were enhanced through member checking, triangulation of data, and peer review of findings. Researcher bias was minimized through bracketing and audit trails. Findings showed that practitioners experienced most conflict within teams and other internal audiences, practiced conflict avoidance rather than conflict engagement, understood individual level factors as major contributors to conflict, and avoided digital channels in conflict resolution. A model of practitioners as transformers of organizational conflict is proposed. This exploratory study leaves an important question unanswered: Can communication practitioners play a recognized role in transforming organizational conflicts rather than negotiating solutions? A quantitative survey with random sampling could be a next step in verifying the extent of conflict resolution in communication practice and how practitioners can engage workplace conflict more effectively. However, communication practitioners in my sample strongly recommended conflict training and activism to promote conflict transformation as an official role for public relations professionals. </p><p> <i>Keywords:</i> negotiation, public relations, communication professionals, conflict management, conflict transformation, grounded theory, digital conflict resolution</p>

<p> Twenty five percent of individuals diagnosed with autism are nonverbal and need to learn to communicate using alternative means (National Research Council, 2001) in order to build functional spontaneous communication. Joint attention behaviors are critical for communication development (Mundy &amp; Newell, 2007). This study introduces a video calling intervention to target the joint attention behaviors, eye gaze, verbalization and gestures. The purpose of this study was to discover what relationship exists between video calling and joint attention in nonverbal children with autism and to explore the perspectives of parents and their communication interaction with the child. This case study of two children is a quantitative ABA withdrawal design and a qualitative narrative design. The ABA design uses seven-inch Prestige 7 Connect tablets and Skype, video calling software program to communicate during game, reading and discussion activities. Observing and recording procedures were used to collect the data and visual analysis was conducted using graphs, tables. The narrative design used parent interviews and questionnaires to build themes. The findings indicate that video calling had a positive impact on eye gaze and verbalization behaviors during discussion and game activities. From the narrative analysis emerged a theme of engagement and focus. The conclusions indicate that video calling has impact on some joint attention behaviors and increases engagement in nonverbal children with autism. Implications for this study include using video calling in the classroom for peer interactions and skill building. Further study is needed to increase the generalizability of these findings. </p><p> Keywords: joint attention, video calling, nonverbal, autism, engagement </p>

<p> VitalSmarts^&reg; Crucial Conversations^TM general program theory might be a possible countermeasure addressing organizational culture and communication factors affecting quality and safety. This practice inquiry reports: a VitalSmarts^&reg; Crucial Conversations^TM general program logic model, a major medical center's Crucial Conversations^TM historical implementation program logic model, a clinical exemplar central line associated blood stream infection program logic model; and, findings that describe the fidelity of the major medical center's Crucial Conversations^TM historical implementation and clinical exemplar central line associated blood stream infection program logic model to the VitalSmarts^&reg; Crucial Conversations^TM general program logic model. The results demonstrated there was no fidelity between the major medical center's Crucial Conversations^TM program logic model and the VitalSmarts^&reg;^&reg; Crucial Conversations^TM general program logic model. The clinical exemplar CLABSI program logic model and VitalSmarts^&reg; Crucial Conversations^TM general program logic model fidelity differed in intended outcomes. The results might suggest that program adaptability along with program fidelity are factors that influence program strength, and these factors must be uniquely balanced within organizational dynamics to realize intended outcomes. The formative evaluation and program logic model might be a feasible methodology and applicable tool for exploring quality and safety within complex adaptive systems, such as organizational culture, where constraints possibly could exclude more rigorous scientific methodologies until factors are more understood</p>

<p> This dissertation is theoretical study of horse-human relationship, addressing the topics of communication, learning and cognition in the context of the cybersemiotic model developed by philosopher of science S&oslash;ren Brier. This study found significant gaps in the literature with respect to how horses and humans communicate and learn together, and is an attempt to develop an integral conceptual model grounded in communication and learning theory. </p><p> The overarching theoretical platform is the cybersemiotic model, which is a transdisciplinary research platform that addresses knowledge creation from an objective and subjective vision of reality. The center of knowledge in this model is semiosis, the sign system and spheres of signification through which living beings create meaning and make sense of the world. The cybersemiotic model is inclusive of non-human languaging systems, grounded in the biosemiotic view that extends sign systems to the life world of animals. The analysis of horse-human communication is performed using Bateson's theories of non-verbal communication and learning, based on the second-order cybernetic science view. Likewise, the topic of the role of inner life and consciousness in horse-human interaction is analyzed through the phenomenological, pragmaticist philosophy of Charles Sanders Peirce and his triadic conception of semiosis. </p><p> The results of this theoretical and philosophical exploration point to the need to begin constructing serious, scientifically grounded conceptual frames that can inform equestrian activities across a wide variety of disciplines such as competition and entertainment, leisure, horse training, and equine-facilitated psychotherapy/learning (EFP/L). These disciplines are fairly divided in their view of horses, especially when it comes to communication protocols, equine intelligence, and the use of a shared language to describe horse-human interaction. </p><p> Besides starting to lay theoretical groundwork for conceptualizing how horses and humans communicate and learn together, this dissertation also addresses the fundamental issue of personal safety and ethics in horse communities. The horse industry is a billion dollar industry in the U.S. and other Western nations, with most horses living in captivity in human-controlled environments. As the horse industry grows, so do the number of related accidents, making equestrian sports one of the most dangerous. An understanding of ethologically grounded communication principles is essential in ensuring greater safety for horse handlers and the wellbeing of horses. It is also key in addressing the larger question of ethics in the relationships of humans to non-human others and the ecology of the Earth at large.</p>

<p> This dissertation explores the role soft control plays in the relationship between the television industry and short forms of digital media. Following James Beniger and Tizianna Terranova, I define soft control as the purposive movement by the television industry towards shaping audience attention toward predetermined goals through a range of interactions where development happens somewhat autonomously, while being interjected with commands over time. I define such things as media environment design, branding, and data collection as soft control practices. I focus on television as a way to understand how an industry historically patterned around more rigid forms of audience control deals with a digital media environment often cited for its lack of control features. And while there is already a robust discussion on the shifting strategies for the online distribution of shows, there is less of a focus on the increasing importance of shorter forms of digital media to the everyday operation of the television industry. Shorter forms of media include digitally circulated short videos, songs, casual digital games, and even social media, which is itself a platform for the distribution of shorter forms of media. I refer to all these forms of short media as "micromedia" and focus my interest on how various television companies are dealing with media environments saturated with it. </p><p> To do this I look at, for instance, how television companies use the data available on Twitter and appropriate the user-generated content of audiences, as well as how standard digital communication interfaces are utilized to more easily retrofit previous audience retention practices into new digital environments. Through the investigation of how television creates and appropriates micromedia as a way to reconfigure practices into the everyday lives of participatory audiences, I argue that we can see soft control elements at work in structuring the industry-audience relationship. These soft control features call into question the emancipatory role attributed to participatory audiences and digital technologies alike. If we think about media forms in their specific contexts, making sure to focus on their intermedial connections and their materiality, we can complicate ideas about what the categories of audience or industrial control mean.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-02, Section: A, page: 0544. Adviser: Andrea Golato. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 163-183) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-02, Section: A, page: 0498. Advisers: Gary Cziko; Kim McDonough. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 84-90) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-11, Section: A, page: 4550. Adviser: Noshir Contractor. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 147-160) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-11, Section: A, page: 4544. Adviser: Daena J. Goldsmith. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 177-193) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-11, Section: A, page: 4545. Adviser: Noshir S. Contractor. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 138-160) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.