John C. Sherblom

Direction, Function, and Signature in Electronic Mail

The present study performed a content analysis on 157 electronic mail files received over the course of several months by a middle level manager in a computer services depart ment of a large organization. The mail was coded and analyzed according to the direc tion of the communication through the hierarchy of the organization, the communication function of the mail, and whether or not the mail contained a redundant signature. Significant differences were found (chi-square=45.40, p< .001) in the communication function according to the direction of the communication. Vertical mail was more restricted in function than horizontally directed mail and was used primarily to exchange information. The presence or absence of a signature in the mail reflected the direction mail was sent through the organizational hierarchy. Subordinates and others signed mail signiftcantly more often than superiors (chi-square=18.62, p<.001). The present results describe the communication functions and paralanguage found in electronic mail in one organization. Based on these results, the impact of electronic mail use upon the organizational communication system is discussed.

Children's narrative productions: A comparison of personal event and fictional stories

Personal event narratives and fictional stories are narrative genres which emerge early and undergo further development throughout the preschool and early elementary school years. This study compares personal event and fictional narratives across two language-ability groups using episodic analysis. Thirty-six normal children (aged 4 to 8 years) were divided into high and low language-ability groups using Developmental Sentence Scoring (DSS). Three fictional stories and three personal event narratives were gathered from each subject and were scored for length in communication units, total types of structures found within the narrative, and structure of the whole narrative. Narrative genre differences significantly influenced narrative structure for both language-ability groups and narrative length for the high language-ability group. Personal events were told with more reactive sequences and complete episodes than fictional stories, while fictional stories were told with more action sequences and multiple-episode structures. Compared to the episodic story structure of fictional stories, where a prototypical ‘good” story is a multiple-episode structure, a reactive sequence and/or a single complete episode structure may be an alternate, involving mature narrative forms for relating personal events. These findings suggest that narrative structures for personal event narratives and fictional stories may follow different developmental paths. Finally, differences in productive language abilities contributed to the distinctions in narrative structure between fictional stories and personal event narratives. As compared to children in the low group, children in the high group told narratives with greater numbers of complete and multiple episodes, and their fictional stories were longer than their personal event narratives.

Tradition, tension, and transformation: a structuration analysis of a game warden service in transition

Independence and competence define the traditional characteristics of a game warden. External pressure to transform the game warden service into a more culturally and ethnically diverse state law enforcement agency, however, creates tensions surrounding these characteristics in the organizations structurationally defined agency and reflexivity of law enforcement; duality of structure in office memos and citation counts; social integration and institutional reproduction of law enforcement training, use of decoys, and search and seizure procedures; and time-space distanciation of working a 40-hour week or having complete responsibility for a territory. The present study examined how these tensions interact with the traditional assumptions of independence and competence to transform the meaning of these characteristics, and of the game warden service itself.

An Exploration of Why People Participate in Second Life Social Support Groups

The present study investigates why people participate in Second Life social support groups. Twenty-three participants in Alcoholics Anonymous and Cancer Caregiver groups that meet in Second Life were interviewed and asked how satisfied they are with those meetings, what influences their satisfaction, what they find most helpful, what they like the least, the nature of their relationships in the group, and what surprised them the most. Their responses identify the text-based anonymity, nearly synchronous communication, visual representation of avatars, and use of time and virtual space as influences that stimulate hyperpersonal relationship development in their Second Life social support groups.

Relational commitment and threats to relationship maintenance goals: Influences on condom use

Objective: The authors examined the effects of relational commitment (high commitment versus low commitment) and relationship maintenance goals (high threat versus low threat) on decisions to request the use of a condom. Methods: The authors conducted a 2-part study using a survey of responses to hypothetical scenarios and decisions in actual relationships. Results: Results indicated that people with high relational commitment were less likely to request a condom than were people with low relational commitment. People who perceived threats to relationship maintenance goals if a condom was requested were less likely to request a condom than were people who did not perceive threats to relationship maintenance goals. Conclusions: Findings from this study highlight the influence that relational threats and commitment levels have on condom use decision making.

Student Perceptions of the Instructor's Relational Characteristics, the Classroom Communication Experience, and the Interaction Involvement in Face-to-Face versus Video Conference Instruction

The present study examined student perceptions of the instructors relational characteristics, classroom communication experience, and interaction involvement in courses taken face-to-face and in a video conference context. MANCOVA results showed significant differences between these contexts, with more negative student ratings of instructor immediacy and receptivity; classroom communication connectedness/mutuality, satisfaction, and quality; and interaction involvement occurring in the video conference classroom context than in the face-to-face context. A path analysis modeled the relationships among these perceptions of instructor characteristics, classroom communication experience, and interaction involvement. Based on this model, suggestions for improving student perceptions of the instructor, classroom communication, and interaction involvement in video conference courses are offered.

Organization involvement expressed through pronoun use in computer mediated communication

Significant differences are reported in the use of the personal pronouns — “I”, “WE”, “YOU”, and “THEY” — in the electronic mail sent among members within an organization, and the mail sent into the organization from other offices. The communication function of the mail also had a significant effect on pronoun use.

Contextual influences on nurses’ conflict management strategies

Conflict management research has focused on the personal nature of strategies employed and paid little attention to the contextual influences upon those strategy choices. The present study investigates several contextual influences and reveals that conceptions of professional role and of situational and organizational contexts are good discriminators of the choice of a conflict management strategy. In situations involving conflict inherent in professional truth‐telling/deception dilemmas, characteristics of professional role, and organizational situation are important influences upon nurses’ choices of a conflict management strategy.

The What, the Whom, and the Hows of Survey Research.

words, and that restricts technical terms and acronyms. Asking respondents whether they use &dquo;DOS&dquo; or &dquo;Macs&dquo; is easier to understand than asking what &dquo;platform&dquo; or &dquo;operating system&dquo; they use. The DOS acronym itself, however, may not be equally intelligible to all respondents. The advent of Windows&reg; has further added to the ambiguity and uncertainty in many respondents’ understanding of &dquo;DOS.&dquo; Asking respondents to identify the particular brand of computer they use and whether they run Windows@ may actually obtain the most accurate and complete information. Questions need to be specific and direct. Does &dquo;income&dquo; mean individual or total family income; before or after taxes; from wages and salary only or including stocks, dividends, and bank interest; during the most recent pay period, or averaged over the past year? &dquo;Occupation&dquo; may be ambiguous for some respondents as well. Does it include seasonal or part-time work? How should a person respond who is currently unemployed, or who is out of work due to an extended injury or illness? A respondent with two or more jobs may also have a dilemma. When we ask for job responsibilities do we want the formal organizationally defined responsibilities of the position, or all of the informal roles that the person in the position performs as well? Be cautious of trying to elicit too much information from a single item. Items that ask for more than one thing are called double-barreled questions and should be avoided. We need to be particularly wary of compound sentences and of the word &dquo;and&dquo; in a question. For example, &dquo;How satisfied are you with your wages and hours at work?&dquo; needs to be asked as two questions, one about wages and a second about hours. Response bias can occur from the wording and phrasing of a question as well as from a leading question. Respondents tend to agree with plausible propositions unless they have a very firm opinion or alternatives are provided. Even when alternatives are present, there is a tendency to agree rather than to disagree with statements. Therefore, the survey’s sequence of statements should be phrased so a consistent attitude requires disagreement with some statements. When asking about behaviors, remember that respondents can only give us their perceptions. General perceptions provide poor predictors of actual future behaviors and are frequently not very accurate at describing present or past behaviors. Inquiring about the frequency of a behavior engaged in during some specific time period, such as yesterday, last week, or even over the past month can elicit more accurate perceptions of the past and present as well as better predictions of future behavior. Try to avoid potentially embarrassing questions. Since respondents often stop filling out a survey at the point that they find a question embarrassing, put such questions at the end of the survey if they are necessary to the purposes of the study. Potentially sensitive topic areas for respondents include business and personal ethics, practices, income, and even age. Embarrassment in responding to these areas can also be softened by providing general categories rather than asking for specific answers. Finally, be cautious interpreting responses. Within organizations different departments and work groups have different perceptions, orientations, expectations, cultures, and ways of talking about issues. Within the United States, regional and subcultural differences exist. Internationally there are diverse cultural understandings. All of these raise significant issues for the interpretation of and response to the language in a survey. One respondent’s mark on a scale indicating that he or she &dquo;strongly agrees&dquo; may not be exactly the same as another respondent’s &dquo;strongly agrees.&dquo; First, the respondent may not have interpreted the question in the same way. Second, even assuming a similar interpretation of the question, the same response may express a more or less strongly felt agreement. When survey responses are obtained from respondents in multiple cultures, the differences in possible meanings become even larger. A survey of the communication needs within one international business organization found a number of culturally based differences in expectations and understandings that affected the results (Lieberman & Poulsen, 1991). Questions such as &dquo;What is your job description?&dquo; elicited responses of very different lengths. US responses to this question averaged 11 words; Puerto Rican responses averaged 20 words; and Asian responses from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, averaged 25 words-all written in English. The US responses were not only significantly shorter but also more directly worded and less detailed. More importantly, reflecting the bias of the researchers, they &dquo;seemed the most clear and easiest to understand. Asian messages were more ambiguous and less clear&dquo; (Lieberman & Poulsen, 1991, p. 22). The US respondents also returned their surveys earlier and conformed more to the US researchers’ expectations of how respondents should behave. How many other cultural effects influenced these surveys is difficult to estimate. It is sufficient to note that cultural differences affect how respondents interpret survey questions, how researchers interpret the responses, and how both

The Influences of Optimal Matching and Social Capital on Communicating Support

The optimal matching and social capital perspectives frame present research expectations and interpretations of the network, esteem, informational, and emotional support communication of 3 computer-mediated communication social support groups, each having a different health-promoting purpose. Past research has shown differences in the support communication provided by different groups but has offered little explanation for these differences. The present study uses a comparative analysis of optimal matching and social capital influences to compare and analyze differences in the support communication provided by Alcoholics Anonymous, cancer caregivers, and transgender identity support groups. Results show different patterns of support communication enacted in each. These results provide support for optimal matching and social capital predictions, indicating that the life stressor and group structure affect the social support provided. However, results also demonstrate a need for greater refinement in interpreting the effects of these influences. Each group communicates network, esteem, informational, and emotional support somewhat differently in response to the life stressor and in enacting bridging and bonding social capital. The present comparisons provide a fuller analysis of the optimal matching and social capital influences upon the support communicated in groups than afforded by past research studies and suggests research opportunities for future research.