Communication Management Strategies Research Articles

Identity management in HIV-positive prisoners in Russia: a case study

Identity management is a salient issue for all human beings. However, identity management is profoundly complicated among multiply stigmatized individuals, such as incarcerated diseased criminals. The current study represents a first to examine stigma management communication (SMC) among HIV-positive prisoners who consider themselves members of the Russian criminal underworld. Twenty-five HIV-positive ‘black’ inmates were interviewed and observed in a Russian prison. Data were interpreted using Goffman's [1961. Asylums. Essays on the social situation of mental patients and other inmates. Chicago, IL: Aldine.] concept of the total institutions and Meisenbach's [2010. Stigma management communication: A theory and agenda for applied research on how individuals manage moments of stigmatized identity. Journal of Applied Communication, 38(3), 268–292] SMC theory. The study revealed a number of salient communication management strategies in the lives and interactions of HIV-positive Russian inmate population. Adherence to the criminal code represented an SMC strategy for identity regulation. Adherence to the criminal code reduced stigmatization during incarceration, but prevented prisoners from early or conditional release.

Relative Risk Perception for Terrorism: Implications for Preparedness and Risk Communication

Terrorism presents a significant risk that is often approached at public policy, infrastructure, or emergency management level. Public perceptions of the likelihood of terrorist events, and how this may relate to individual preparedness, are not always extensively examined. The tendency to think that negative events are less likely to happen to oneself than to the average person is known as optimism bias. Optimism bias is relevant to perceptions of terrorism, because it is thought to be related to a reduction in precaution use. Using an online survey of 164 participants, this study aimed to determine whether Sydney residents thought they had a lower likelihood of experiencing terrorist events than other Australians. Significant optimism bias was observed for witnessing terrorist events, but not for personally experiencing terrorist events. In addition, Sydney residents tended to think that terrorist attacks were more likely to occur in Sydney than another major Australian city in the next five years. At the same time, household and workplace preparedness for terrorism was quite low, as was awareness of emergency strategies in the central business district. Perceptions of high likelihood of terrorism happening in one's own city, yet low preparedness present a challenge for risk communication and emergency management strategies. The diversity of possible terrorist targets, and the simple plans that can moderate the effects of a disaster may need to be emphasized in future anti-terrorism initiatives.

E-Learning change management and communication strategies within a HEI in a developing country: Institutional organisational cultural change at the University of the Western Cape

The paper attempts to report on the strides that UWC has achieved in the adoption of eLearning among the campus teaching community, namely the academics from across different faculties, in order to supplement their traditional face-to-face instruction. The qualitative approach was predominantly used. The case study methodology was uniquely applied in this paper because it was used in collaboration with documentary analysis to highlight the achievements and challenges encountered in the adoption and implementation of the existing home-grown Open Source eLearning system. A multi-dimensional non-coercive eLearning implementation approach was used highlighting the various communication and change management strategies that the institution has employed in its endeavours to achieve broad eLearning buy-in within a resistant environment. A generic Instructional Design Model was developed to portray a continuum in the support for a changing organisational culture. The results indicated that the institution has realised a 26% success rate of academics who have managed to have experienced a paradigm shift towards the use of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in supplementing their teaching practices.

The Leader as the Face of a Crisis: Philip Morris' CEO's Speeches During the 1990s

This research investigated Philip Morris' crisis communication management strategies during the 1990s through the study of its CEO's speeches. This analysis explored the company's maneuvers to camouflage controversies in acceptable social expectations. Pairing framing theory with centering resonance analysis, this research found 3 distinct frames: profitable multinational (1994–1996), litigation target (1997–1998), and corporate good citizen (1999–2001). Avoidance of talk about health issues indicated the company's strategic adaptation to a shifting legal and public opinion climate, as it sought to authenticate its right to do business by reframing the notion of corporate responsibility away from healthy products and toward high-price philanthropy.

Fire and Fuel Management Communication Strategies: Citizen Evaluations of Agency Outreach Activities

ABSTRACT Wildfire impacts have increased in recent years. In response, public agencies have undertaken measures to reduce forest fuels and improve forest health conditions. To be successful these programs require a supportive local constituency. Research has identified a relationship between public understanding of, and support for, fuel and fire management activities. Correspondingly, in many areas federal agencies have focused their communication strategies on fuel management programs. This article draws on research in adult learning to develop a framework to evaluate citizen reactions to 11 different outreach programs at study locations in Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, and Utah. Few differences in citizen reactions were found among study locations, but results suggest interactive formats were more effective than unidirectional methods and are also more consistent with principles of adult learning. However, people were less likely to have participated in interactive activities. Contributions of learning theory principles and the efficacy of individual formats are discussed.

Electronic Mail Communication—Management Strategies

Electronic communication has come a long way in the past 30 years. It will no doubt continue to improve and remain the primary communication vehicle for businesses. Occupational health nurses, like other business professionals, must use email to their advantage to improve their practice. However, electronic mail communication must be managed in the same manner as records and documents produced in any form or media.

Australian telecommuting: management communication strategies

This paper reports findings on the significance of management communication strategies to telecommuting, based on a survey of telecommuters at IBM Australia. With increased adoption of telecommuting, many strategies have been proffered to ensure that telecommuters have appreciable levels of job satisfaction. Low levels of job satisfaction can lead to unduly rapid employee turnover that is detrimental to business operation. The objective of this paper is to ascertain the perceptions of telecommuters at IBM Australia on a number of telecommuting practice measures, and to suggest how job satisfaction can be improved and maintained at high levels by giving greater attention to particular communication management strategies in Australia. Although the management communication strategies proffered in the literature appear to apply generally, this study concludes that a few aspects are distinctively applicable to the Australian environment. Those aspects should be specifically noted by those interested in benefiting from telecommuting practice.

Mental health correlates of aggression in nursing home residents with dementia.

Aggression continues to challenge caregivers of persons with dementia, and identification of foci for effective interventions is needed. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of (a) the resident characteristics of depression, communication, and cognition and (b) behavior management strategies on aggression in a group of older nursing home residents (N = 405) with evidence of dementia. This cross-sectional correlational study examined the association of resident characteristics and behavior management strategies with bivariate aggression, physical aggression, and verbal aggression, using hierarchical regression. Main findings are that impaired communication is associated with all forms of aggression, depression with physical aggression, and disorientation with verbal aggression. A 3-month prior pattern of antipsychotic drug use was consistently associated with all forms of aggression and physical restraint use with physical aggression. Most of the explained variance was attributable to antipsychotic drug use. The separate explanatory models for physical and verbal aggression indicate that these may be unique entities with different foci for treatment. These results provide evidence that aggression persists despite antipsychotic drug use and that further mental health interventions might be targeted at compensating for impaired communication and the treatment of depression to improve the mental health of nursing home residents with dementia.

Management communication strategies determine job satisfaction in telecommuting

The aim of this article is to examine the relationships between several management communication strategies and the job satisfaction of telecommuters. A review of the literature revealed that several management communication strategies directly influence job satisfaction of telecommuters. However, this claim has not been objectively tested on Australian telecommuters. Hence, a sample of 43 telecommuters, mostly from IBM Australia, were surveyed and the results analysed using Pearson’s product‐moment correlation. Eleven aspects of the strategies were found to have significant influence on the job satisfaction of telecommuters: communicating job responsibilities; goals and objectives; deadlines and job expectations; communicating freely and regularly; providing appropriate equipment; training and career development; and reviewing work and salary regularly. This article concludes that cultural, economic and social contexts may have a distinct part to play in the impact of management communication strategies on the job satisfaction of telecommuters.

The Distal Impact of Two First-Grade Preventive Interventions on Conduct Problems and Disorder in Early Adolescence

In this article, we examine the impact of two universal, first-grade preventive interventions on the prevalence of conduct problems and disorder and mental health service need and use in early adolescence. The classroom-centered (CC) intervention was designed to reduce the risk for later conduct problems and disorder by enhancing teachers' behavior management in first grade, whereas the Family-School Partnership (FSP) intervention targeted improvement in parent-teacher communication and parents' child behavior management strategies. At Grade 6, or age 12, CC and FSP intervention children received significantly lower ratings from their teachers for conduct problems than control children. CC and FSP children were also significantly less likely than control children to meet diagnostic criteria for Conduct Disorder and to have been suspended from school in the last year. In addition, the CC intervention was associated with significantly lower rates of child mental health service need and utilization. Overall, the CC intervention appeared to be the more effective of the two in reducing the prevalence of conduct problems and disorder at age 12 and in reducing mental health service need and utilization. Nevertheless, future studies may show that the combination of CC and FSP interventions produces additive or even synergistic effects.

Conducting geriatric dental research with cognitively impaired adults.

A growth in research focusing on the oral health of older adults has been evident in recent years. However, there are new and complex challenges for geriatric dental researchers studying the increasingly functionally dependent and cognitively impaired older adult population. Many geriatric dental studies have under-reported oral disease prevalence and incidence by excluding adults who are cognitively impaired and/or behaviourally difficult. To ensure representative samples of older adult populations are studied, traditional oral epidemiological protocols in studies with cognitively impaired adults, require additional components detailing: (1) communication and behaviour management strategies for cognitively impaired adults; and (2) methodologies to facilitate the completion of dental examinations. A description of such additional protocol components is presented, along with a discussion of the use of cognitive testing tools by dental researchers.

A facilitative agenda setting for the evolutionary strategies of the XXI century

What kind of communication management strategies are more adequate in the age of risk, chaos, complexity and unpredictable chancemaking? Revising and systemizing the fundamental six concepts of communication and the main strategies of the past, propaganda and persuasion, and of the present, as facilitative campaigns, the paper offers an attempt to discuss the role of chancemaking, risk, nonlinear thinking, magic and creative chaos (rhizome) as a chance to develop what Ervin Laszlo defines the evolutionary strategy for the 21st century. This research project is systematically illustrated in a paradigm of strategic communication which describes the main features of the propaganda campaigns, of the persuasion campaigns and the facilitative agenda settings and of the social, cultural, economic, psychological and historical scenarios in which they emerged. Moreover this work sketches out—as the third variant—the facilitative communication management as the strategically most adequate for the evolutionary strategies of the third millennium.

Challenges and Solutions to Adaptive Computing and Seamless Mobility over Heterogeneous Wireless Networks

Recent years have witnessed the rapid evolution of commercially available mobile computing environments. This has given rise to the presence of several viable, but non-interoperable wireless networking technologies – each targeting a niche mobility environment and providing a distinct quality of service. The lack of a uniform set of standards, the heterogeneity in the quality of service, and the diversity in the networking approaches makes it difficult for a mobile computing environment to provide seamless mobility across different wireless networks. Besides, inter-network mobility will typically be accompanied by a change in the quality of service. The application and the environment need to collaboratively adapt their communication and data management strategies in order to gracefully react to the dynamic operating conditions. This paper presents the important challenges in building a mobile computing environment which provides seamless mobility and adaptive computing over commercially available wireless networks. It suggests possible solutions to the challenges, and describes an ongoing research effort to build such a mobile computing environment.

A management communication strategy for change

Examines the issue of communicating strategically during significant organizational change. In the author’s experience, differentiated communication tactics during different phases of organizational change can have an important impact on the level of acceptance of that change by organizational participants. Enumerates and discusses empirically supported principles of effective communication and then applies them to several stages of organizational change. Draws examples from cases with which the author has had personal research and/or consulting experience. Offers general communication strategies together with specific tactics as possibilities to help facilitate change.

Management Communication Strategy in Case Assignments: The Double-Message Approach

Case studies, used extensively in business communication classes, offer an advantage by presenting students with real-life situations to which they can respond using writ ten business genres. Cases, however, limited by their cryp tic and condensed nature, may not fully communicate the context of the event. Understanding context has become increasingly important as issues of race, gender, and mul ticultual communication have emerged in the workplace. The double-message approach offers a solution by asking students to write a context memorandum along with their response to the case protagonist.