Cynthia L. King

Reconceptualizing E-Mail Overload

This study explores social processes associated with e-mail overload, drawing on Sproull and Kieslers first and second-order effects of communication technologies and Bodens theory of lamination. In a three-part study, the authors examined e-mail interactions from a government organization by logging e-mails, submitting an e-mail string to close textual analysis, and analyzing focus group data about e-mail overload. The results reveal three characteristics that contribute to e-mail overload— unstable requests, pressures to respond, and the delegation of tasks and shifting interactants—suggesting that e-mail talk, as social interaction, may both create and affect overload.

Emergent Communication Strategies

Communication strategy is often defined as planned actions to achieve desired results; however, strategies emerge regardless of writer/speaker intent. This paper defines an emergent communication strategy as a communication construct derived from the interaction between reader/hearer response, situated context, and discursive patterns. The definition is based on the work of Mintzberg (1988) on emergent business strategies, Jeffrey Goldstein (1999) on emergence in organizational complexity theory, and other communication theorists (e.g., Boden, 1994; Taylor & Van Every, 2000), who take a constructionist view of organizations. Additionally, the paper draws from Burke (1945, 1955, 1968) to examine reader response, Burke (1955) and ethnography of communication (Carbaugh, 2008; Gumperz & Hymes, 1972; Hymes, 1962; Philipsen, 1992) to explicate situated context, and discourse analysis to derive discursive patterns. To illustrate emergent communication strategies, a sample analysis of a letter issued in response to TA unionization at University of Washington is provided.

Federal Personnel Management Reform From Civil Service Reform Act to National Security Reforms

In what ways are current civil service reform efforts similar to and different from the qualities that characterize the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 (CSRA)? These issues are explored by examining the new personnel authorities granted to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and to the Department of Defense (DoD) in the National Security Personnel System (NSPS). In many respects, current reforms preserve some of the ideas behind CSRA or they derive from the authorities included in the CSRA. In other respects, current reform departs from the CSRA model and new ideas related to enactment, design, and implementation of civil service reform have emerged. Furthermore, a new argument emerged in DHS and NSPS that had never before appeared in any public discourse on personnel management reform: the link between federal personnel management policy and national security.

Leaders’ Behaviors During Radical Change Processes: Subordinates’ Perceptions of How Well Leader Behaviors Communicate Change

This research asked 252 upper-, middle-, and first-line-level managers in organizations experiencing radical change to assess the effects of their own leaders’ communications and behaviors on their perceptions of the change process. Results indicated that the frequency of exhibition of most behaviors by leaders positively affected subordinates’ perceptions of change. For three types of behaviors, soliciting upward feedback, driving change, and providing resources, the importance of these behaviors to the subordinates’ moderated perceptions of the change process. Discussion of these results and their implications conclude the study.

Reverse Outlining: A Method for Effective Revision of Document Structure

Problem: One of the biggest problems with student and novice writing is that it often lacks clear organization and a coherent structure. However, it is difficult for newer writers to conceptualize a clear structure prior to writing a first draft. Thus, there is a need for an effective process to help writers revise early drafts with a particular focus on organizational clarity. Key concepts: Two concepts underlie this issue. The first is revision, which is the process of changing text to better achieve the writers goals and serve the readers needs. Two general categories of revision exist: a comprehensive edit (a thorough review of content, organization, visual design, style, illustrations, accessibility, and reuse to best serve readers) and a copyedit (a review of proper adherence to accepted language standards, which includes attention to grammar, spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure). The second is organizational structure (the arrangement and relationship of ideas), which is critical to help readers understand and use the information in the document. Key lessons: A reverse outline-a process that helps improve document structure and organization from an early draft-was developed to help writers make the organizational structure of an existing document to assess and improve the structure in a subsequent revision explicit. Reverse outlining has four steps: (1) identifying and listing discourse topics from a written draft, (2) arranging the discourse topics into an outline, (3) assessing the structure for appropriateness to audience and purpose, and (4) creating the new structure, modifying content where necessary, and adding headings, bullets, overview statements, and other advanced organizers. The reverse outlining process has been used extensively in the classroom and in the workplace.