Communication and organizational social networks : a simulation model

Recent management research has evidenced the significance of organizational social networks, and communication is believed to impact the interpersonal relationships. However, we have little knowledge on how communication affects organizational social networks. This paper studies the dynamics between organizational communication patterns and the growth of organizational social networks. We propose an organizational social network growth model, and then collect empirical data to test model validity. The simulation results agree well with the empirical data. The results of simulation experiments enrich our knowledge on communication with the findings that organizational management practices that discourage employees from communicating within and across group boundaries have disparate and significant negative effect on the social network’s density, scalar assortativity and discrete assortativity, each of which correlates with the organization’s performance. These findings also suggest concrete measures for management to construct and develop the organizational social network.

Project 27 : insights into a production-centred study on art direction and love

This paper offers insight into the development of a PhD in advertising art direction. For over half a century art directors within the advertising industry have been adapting to the changes occurring in media, culture and the corporate sector, toward enhancing professional performance and competitiveness. These professionals seldom offer explicit justification about the role images play in effective communication. It is uncertain how this situation affects advertising performance, because advertising has, nevertheless, evolved in parallel to this as an industry able to fabricate new opportunities for itself. However, uncertainties in the formalization of art direction knowledge restrict the possibilities of knowledge transfer in higher education. The theoretical knowledge supporting advertising art direction has been adapted spontaneously from disciplines that rarely focus on specific aspects related to the production of advertising content, like, for example: marketing communication, design, visual communication, or visual art. Meanwhile, in scholarly research, vast empirical knowledge has been generated about advertising images, but often with limited insight into production expertise. Because art direction is understood as an industry practice and not as an academic discipline, an art direction perspective in scholarly contributions is rare. Scholarly research that is relevant to art direction seldom offers viewpoints to help understand how it is that research outputs may specifically contribute to art direction practices. There is a need to formally understanding the knowledge underlying art direction and using it to explore models for visual analysis and knowledge transfer in higher education. This paper provides insight into the development of a thesis that explored this need. The PhD thesis to which this paper refers is Strategic Aesthetics in Advertising Campaigns: Implications for Art Direction Education.

Say goodbye to the fries : graduate careers in media, cultural and communication studies

This article addresses the paucity of systematic data on graduate careers in the arts and humanities in the broader context of enduring public and policy debates about the benefits of education to society, the relation between public and private good that is derivable from education, and the specific disciplinary angle that can be brought to bear on these questions from media, cultural and communication studies. We report findings from a survey of ten years of graduates from Queensland University of Technology’s courses in media, cultural and communication studies which indicate very high employment levels and generally positive accounts of the relevance of courses to working life. A major insight that can be drawn from the research is that media, cultural and communication studies deliver capabilities, skills and orientations which are themselves strongly aligned with the kinds of transferable generic attributes which facilitate transition into the workplace.

Using information communication technologies to develop dynamic curriculum frameworks for diverse cohorts: a case study from event management

This article investigates the role of information communication technologies (ICTs) in establishing a well-aligned, authentic learning environment for a diverse cohort of non-cognate and cognate students studying event management in a higher education context. Based on a case study which examined the way ICTs assisted in accommodating diverse learning needs, styles and stages in an event management subject offered in the Creative Industries Faculty at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, the article uses an action research approach to generate grounded, empirical data on the effectiveness of the dynamic, individualised curriculum frameworks that the use of ICTs makes possible. The study provides insights into the way non-cognate and cognate students respond to different learning tools. It finds that whilst non-cognate and cognate students do respond to learning tools differently, due to a differing degree of emphasis on technical, task or theoretical competencies, the use of ICTs allows all students to improve their performance by providing multiple points of entry into the content. In this respect, whilst the article focuses on the way ICTs can be used to develop an authentic, well-aligned curriculum model that meets the needs of event management students in a higher education context, with findings relevant for event educators in Business, Hospitality, Tourism and Creative Industries, the strategies outlined may also be useful for educators in other fields who are faced with similar challenges when designing and developing curriculum for diverse cohorts.

Corporate social responsibility and communication

Corporate activities are increasingly scrutinized for their effect on society and the environment. It is unthinkable that a corporation today will declare publicly that its only goal is to make money for its shareholders. Instead, corporations typically claim to balance the needs of society and the environment against the need to make a profit. That is, corporations say they practice corporate social responsibility (CSR). This edited volume explores the complexities of this seemingly simple claim.As such it is an essential resource to complement the latest academic thinking from management and communication research on how corporations communicate about CSR This chapter presents an overview of the book.

An intelligent network control system for plug-in electric vehicles and the associate communication mechanism

The development of an intelligent plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) network is an important research topic in the smart grid environment. An intelligent PEV network enables a flexible control of PEV charging and discharging activities and hence PEVs can be utilized as ancillary service providers in the power system concerned. Given this background, an intelligent PEV network architecture is first developed, and followed by detailed designs of its application layers, including the charging and discharging controlling system, mobility and roaming management, as well as communication mechanisms associated. The presented architecture leverages the philosophy in mobile communication network buildup

Quantitative approaches to comparing communication patterns on Twitter

To date, the available literature mainly discusses Twitter activity patterns in the context of individual case studies, while comparative research on a large number of communicative events and their dynamics and patterns is missing. By conducting a comparative study of more than 40 different cases (covering topics such as elections, natural disasters, corporate crises, and televised events) we identify a number of distinct types of discussion that can be observed on Twitter. Drawing on a range of communicative metrics, we show that thematic and contextual factors influence the usage of different communicative tools available to Twitter users, such as original tweets, @replies, retweets, and URLs. Based on this first analysis of the overall metrics of Twitter discussions, we also demonstrate stable patterns in the use of Twitter in the context of major topics and events.

Notes towards the scientific study of public communication on Twitter

Twitter is now well-established as an important platform for real-time public communication. Twitter research continues to lag behind these developments, with many studies remaining focused on individual case studies and utilizing home-grown, idiosyncratic, non-repeatable, and non-verifiable research methodologies. While the development of a full-blown “science of Twitter” may remain illusory, it is nonetheless necessary to move beyond such individual scholarship and toward the development of more comprehensive, transferable, and rigorous tools and methods for the study of Twitter on a large scale and in close to real time.

Ideal victims in human trafficking awareness campaigns

Amidst a proliferation of bestseller books, blockbuster films, television documentaries and sensational news reports, public awareness campaigns have claimed their place in a growing chorus of concern about the crime of human trafficking. These campaigns aim to capture the public’s support in efforts to eliminate a ‘modern slave trade’ in which individuals seeking a better life are transported across borders and forced into exploitative labour conditions. Constrained by the limitations of primary campaign materials (posters, print ads, billboards) typically allowing for only a single image and minimal text, it is unlikely that these awareness campaigns can accurately convey the complexity of the trafficking problem. This chapter explores how the depictions of trafficking victims in awareness campaigns can exclude those who do not fit a restrictive narrative mould. Nils Christie’s pivotal work on the construction of society’s ideal victim is the lens through which this paper examines the literal ‘poster child’ of the anti-trafficking movement.

Factors influencing caregiver : care receiver communication and its impact on the well-being of older care receivers

Examined communication between frail older people and their caregiving spouses (CGSs), and its relation to well-being in older care receivers. 53 community residing spousal dyads completed questionnaires about their well-being, relational satisfaction, and communication patterns. Conversations between the dyads were also videotaped and analyzed. The type of communication used by the CGSs was influenced by their sex, their earlier relationship with their spouse, and their level of well-being. CGSs who used an overly directive communication tone with their spouse were likely to be wives and CGSs who had a high degree of autonomy in their earlier relationship with their spouse. Low levels of life satisfaction and high affect balance in CGSs were associated with CGSs using a more patronizing tone. The well-being of care receivers was also related to their perceptions of their CGSs' communication. Care receivers who perceived their CGSs' communication as patronizing reported low levels of affect balance and high levels of conflict in the relationship. Findings suggest that certain characteristics of CGSs are related to the type of communication they use when conversing with their partner, although the relations are not always as expected.

Communication predicaments of older health care consumers : what can 'we' do about it?

Focuses on the importance of communication to the well-being of older people in Australia. Role of communication for the design, delivery and evaluation of health services for the elderly; Impact of aging on communication; Importance of communication between health care providers and nursing home residents.

Perceptions of over-accommodation used by nurses in communication with the elderly

The aim of the study was to determine how aspects of communication between nurses and the elderly were perceived by elderly people, future nurses, and uninvolved observers. Respondents (elderly women and nursing and psychology students) rated videotapes of interactions between a nurse and an elderly woman on three dimensions: patronizing, status, and solidarity. Three communication strategies and their combinations were represented in the vignettes. Because the strategies presented were perceived as patronizing by all three groups, no group effect was found for the patronizing dimension. The results show clear group differences particularly between the nursing students and the elderly, with the elderly rating many of the strategies more positively than did the nursing students. The results are discussed in relation to previous evaluations of overaccommodation, and implications of the different perceptions are considered.