College of Arts & Humanities

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/1611

The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations.

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Subject: search.filters.subject.Business Administration, Management

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Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Computer Mediated Communication and Negotiation: Effects of Media and Power on Relationship Development
    (2007-08-07) Cronin, Daniel Andrew; Cai, Deborah; Communication; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The dissertation examined the cues filtered out and Social Information Processing (SIP) approaches to relationship development in an intra-organizational dyadic negotiation by comparing the use of face-to-face (FTF) and e-mail channels. The study further examined the effect of power difference on dimensions of relationship development such as dominance, trust, affect, depth, formality, and task/social orientation. Individuals in organizations use technology based tools such as e-mail to perform a variety of communication tasks. The dissertation provides a test and expansion of SIP with regard to the effects of time on relationship development by testing the theory within a highly social process like organizational negotiation where there is mixed channel use. This dissertation also provides a test of e-mail's unique characteristics and their effects on the development of relationships in an intra-organizational environment. The hypotheses were tested using a dyadic data analysis technique know as the Actor-Partner Independence Model (APIM). One hundred and forty-eight students (74 dyads) participated in the study and negotiated three times. For the first negotiation, all participants used FTF to establish a baseline relationship measure and for the next two negotiations half of the participants used e-mail and the other half FTF. For the last two negotiations, a power difference also was introduced so that in half of the dyads in each group the seller had greater power than the buyer. The study produced results in three main areas related to negotiation and computer mediated communication: (1) interpersonal relationships develop over lean media like e-mail; (2) the characteristics of e-mail affect relationship development when compared to FTF; and (3) the preference to use e-mail for future negotiations is affected by prior e-mail negotiation experience with one's partner, computer mediated communication comfort, and the level of dominance one's partner exhibits in e-mail negotiations. With regard to interpersonal relationships and negotiation, the study suggests that individuals learn to manage their interpersonal relationships via e-mail because it can be a useful tool for managing one's persona. Bargaining power and bargaining role were only of limited influence on the development of interpersonal relationships when e-mail was used to negotiate.
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    Effective government affairs in an era of marketization: Strategic issues management, business lobbying, and relationship management by multinational corporations in China
    (2005-12-07) Chen, Yi-Ru Regina; Grunig, Larissa A.; Communication; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Little public relations research on government affairs has been conducted. Even less research of this kind has yet been conducted in a non-western context. The purposes of this study were to explore how public relations professionals in multinational corporations (MNCs) in China practice government affairs activities at different levels of Chinese government and to develop a normative theory of strategic government affairs. Government affairs in this dissertation refers to the organizational function that encompasses issues management, policy formation, and relationship management. I applied the perspectives of public relations and political economy to examine the MNCs' management of government affairs. I conducted 27 long interviews with executives or managers responsible for government affairs from the China offices of 25 MNCs. The MNCs cover several industries and three business entry modes. I also conducted a two-phase document review and informal interviews with Chinese journalists and public relations scholars and practitioners. My data suggested that with China's socialist market economy and authoritarian political system, MNCs must interact with the government to strategically manage opportunities and threats in their environments. I found that government affairs performs six functions. Government affairs contributes to organizational effectiveness by participating in the MNCs' strategic management processes through four roles, managing issues, and cultivating the MNCs' relationships with key stakeholders through communication and corporate behaviors. My data showed common political strategies and consistent patterns of political involvement of the MNCs. MNCs selected their political strategies based on factors such as economic conditions and organizational characteristics. Only a few MNCs evaluated their government affairs practices based on goal achievement. Drawing on the results, I developed three models that construct my theory of strategic government affairs. These models apply general public relations theories to the context of government affairs. The model of strategic management of government affairs identifies government affairs' participation in an organization's strategic management and the strategic nature of government affairs programs. The situational theory for government affairs allows professionals to separate active publics from stakeholders. The model of effective government affairs provides a framework for the development of government affairs programs that reflect long-term strategic management.
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    The Effects of Organization-Public Relationships on Organizational Reputation From the Perspective of Publics
    (2005-05-13) Yang, Sungun; Grunig, James E; Communication; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    In recent years, organizations have demanded evidence that public relations is effective. Consequently, professionals and scholars alike have looked for the key concepts to establish the value of public relations. The terms "relationships" and "reputation" have emerged as the focal concepts in explaining the purpose and value of public relations. The concepts of organization-public relationships and organizational reputation can be integrated within a theoretical framework of public relations effectiveness. When those concepts are integrated in a model, the role of public relations can be captured more clearly than when there is a separate focus on each of the concepts. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the link between organization-public relationships and organizational reputation. In particular, the dissertation examined how organization-public relationships affect organizational reputations in a causal model. Survey research was used to collect data, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to empirically test the causal effects of organization-public relationships on organizational reputation for four South Korean-based organizations. In the causal model, organization-public relationship outcomes and types of relationships (communal and exchange relationships) predicted organizational reputation, taking into account the exogenous influences of communication behaviors of publics, experience, and familiarity with the organizations studied. The hypothesized structural equation model had tenable data-model fits for all organizations studied, supporting the hypotheses proposed in the study. More specifically, the research produced the following important results. First, this study found a significant positive effect of organization-public relationship outcomes on organizational reputation for all organizations studied. Secondly, this study found significant effects of types of organization-public relationships on organization-public relationship outcomes and organizational reputation. Third, it showed the relevance of key antecedents of organization-public relationship outcomes and organizational reputation. Fourth, the study found a stronger effect of communication behaviors on the quality of relationship outcomes than the effect of familiarity. Finally, it found a different distribution of cognitive representations for profit and nonprofit organizations. The final causal models for all organizations studied showed three distinct routes to organizational reputation, based on significant causal relationships in the models: a communication-based route, a communitarian route, and a familiarity-based route. An unexpected result was a differential effect of types of organization-public relationships on organizational reputation for profit and nonprofit organizations: Exchange relationships had more of a negative effect for nonprofit than for profit organizations. Finally, the results for one of the organizations showed that familiarity can have a negative effect on organization-public relationship outcomes. Overall, the results of this study show that public relations has value to an organization and to society in general when it cultivates quality relationships with publics and that favorable reputation can be obtained through the development of quality organization-public relationships.
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    THE EMPLOYEE-PUBLIC-ORGANIZATION CHAIN IN RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT: A CASE STUDY OF A GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION
    (2004-04-30) Rhee, Yunna; Grunig, James E; Communication
    This dissertation examined the critical roles that employees play in an organization's relationship-building process with its publics. By conducting an in-depth case study of a government organization's exemplary community relations programs, the researcher explored links among three focal concepts: employee-organization relationships, employee-public relationships, and organization-public relationships. Field research was conducted over the course of seven weeks. Data were collected through long interviews, participant observations, and document analysis. Based on the findings of this study, a normative public relations theory of integrative internal and external organizational relationship management was proposed. The findings suggest that employees who have positive employee-organization relationships (i.e. employees who have high level of commitment) and those who are capable of using symmetrical cultivation strategies contribute significantly to the development of positive organization-public relationships. The study also found that when the external publics have positive interactions and develop trusting individual relationships with employees, they tend to evaluate the overall organization positively. In other words, when employees have positive employee-organization relationships and employee-public relationships, external publics who interact with those employees tended to develop positive organization-public relationships. The study also found that employee empowerment can occur through employees' participation in public relations programs for external publics. Employees in this study believed they were acting as "the ears" of the organization and that they were contributing to the betterment of the organization and the community at the same time. Employees also developed personal networks with other employees through participating in public relations programs, which contributed to the building of an internal community. The study showed that public relations programs that tap into the intersection of internal and external publics contribute to the simultaneous development of positive relationships within and between both arenas. Visible leadership, continued dialogue, listening, face-to-face communication, and educational communication were newly identified as significant strategies effecting the development of positive organization-public relationships. In conclusion, this dissertation proposes that in order for public relations to enact its role as an integrated relationship management function for both the internal and external publics, it should be organized according to the principles outlined by the excellence theory and practice symmetrical communication.