Yuping Mao

Relating Intercultural Communication Sensitivity to Conflict Management Styles, Technology Use, and Organizational Communication Satisfaction in Multinational Organizations in China

This research examines intercultural communication sensitivity in relation to other organizational communication factors in China branches of multinational corporations. We found minor differences existed between Chinese employees with overseas living experience vs. those without any overseas living experience with respect to their intercultural communication sensitivity, conflict management style, technology use, and organizational communication satisfaction. Chinese employees with a higher level of intercultural sensitivity were more satisfied with their organizational communication, tended to use control and solution-oriented conflict management styles, and used different communication technologies in organizational settings.

Content analysis: Canadian newspaper coverage of homelessness

__Abstract__ The printed media are an influential voice for informing the society, framing opinions and drawing attention to homelessness issues. The crucial players in the development of health public policy are influenced by the media. These include policy makers, policy influencers, the public whose opinion will ultimately affect the adoption of policies, and health and social service professionals and media personnel who influence both policy makers’ and the publics understanding of and attitude toward homelessness. Thus, it is important that we research how homelessness is framed in media to understand how it is addressed by political decisions. This case study reflects on the methodological processes and challenges of a study that documents and analyzes the printed news medias interest in homelessness in six Canadian newspapers over a 20-year period. This case study addresses media analysis processes such as criteria to sample the newspapers, process to ensure a representative sample, development of coding system, training of coders, process to ensure reliable and valid data, usefulness of variables collected, and data analyses. We provide practical recommendations for students who are interested in applying this method in their own research.

Learning and Practicing Organizational Culture with a Handbook

With the development of organizational communication as an academic field, and the increasing demand for research in this area from different organizations, more and more research has been done and there have been many excellent books on organizational culture. Dr Keyton’s new book, Communication and Organizational Culture: A Key to Understanding Work Experiences , is one of the best publications in this field. It successfully depicts organizational culture from a communication perspective, and it is a good example of combining academic and practical approaches. The book is written in a clear and concise manner, illustrating concepts and theories with real cases from different types of organizations including universities, multicultural companies, and so on. The author, Dr Keyton, is a professor in communication at the University of Kansas and she has been teaching courses in organizational communication for many years. In this book, she employs her previous work experiences in a bank, her access to different organizations, and students’ questions. Thus, this book can be a significant manual for people who are interested in organizational culture from both academic and practical perspectives, and it is also a suitable textbook for courses in communication, business, management, and other related disciplines.