What Do We Do When We Discuss? A Micro‐genetic Analysis of Couples’ Conflict

This article focuses on dialogic discursive dynamics present in couples’ conversations about unresolved conflicts. The phenomenon of conflict is addressed as a semiotically mediated process of co‐construction of the self and the relationship. The purpose of this article is to report on patterns of meaning construction in couples’ conflict, with the identification of strategies that promote or hinder resolution. A qualitative exploratory approach was used to focus on the interactional process at the micro‐processing level. Eight married couples participated in the study. The procedure considered asking the couple to discuss unresolved conflict. Recorded data of couples’ dialogues were transcribed to text and assessed through semiotic analysis using a microgenetic protocol (Molina, Del Río, & Tapia, 2015). The results document the use of strategies for conflict regulation such as psychological distancing, opposition, and generalisation on the border between protecting the bond and regulating tension. The dynamics of non‐resolution manifested in polarisation and rigid patterns with increased tension. The ‘in‐motion’ nature of dialogue about conflict is pushed by the semiotic tension that induces variations in subjective positions manifested in speech and actions.     

What Do We Talk About When We Talk About Performance? Dialogue Theory and Performance Budgeting

This article examines the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART)in the federal budgeting process. The early evidence on PARTprompts the search for a theory of budgeting that accepts thatperformance information will influence decisions but will notbe used in the same way from decision to decision, as the espousedtheory of performance budgeting suggests. Dialogue theory emphasizesthe ambiguity of performance information and related resourceallocation choices. An exploratory test of dialogue theory isundertaken through an experiment involving graduate studentsassessing PART evaluations. The results illustrate a varietyof ways in which different individuals can examine the sameprogram and, using logical warrants, come to different conclusionsabout performance and future funding requirements.     

How Can We Train Leaders if We Do Not Know What Leadership Is?

Views of leadership that focus on the traits andbehaviors of the leader are commonly used to developtraining programs. Although these leadership trainingprograms have some application, they suffer from several problems. First, there is no reasonableagreement on what traits or behaviors are leadershiptraits or behaviors. Second, there is no way todifferentiate what makes a good leader from what makes an effective manager or an effective person.And third, people who emerge from these trainingprograms rarely become what anyone might define as goodleaders. A view of leadership as a community development process is explored as an alternative totraditional leadership approaches, and its implicationsfor training and education are discussed.     

Education Assistance to Africa: We Can Do More and Better

Based on the problems of Global Education Assistance to Africa (GEAA), and combined with China’s rationale and practice of Education Assistance to Africa, this paper proposes a vision and assumption to improve the GEAA, that is, using the assistance rationale of ‘Africa-based’, ‘equal-relationship’, and ‘mutual-benefits’, through ‘multi-stakeholders cooperation’, ‘multi-modes operation’, and ‘multi-goals achievement’ to build one ‘harmonious world’.     

Portrait of the Scholar: Notes on Irwin Deutscher's What We Say/What We Do

Book Reviews are in this Articles.
What We Say/What We Do: Sentiments and Acts. By Irwin Deutscher.     

Do We Have Tb Do This? The Children Act 1989 and Obtaining Children's Views in Early Childhood Settings

How do professionals working with young children seek not only to listen to them, but to identify what the children are really saying and to assess their opinion on matters of importance to them? This paper seeks to help people working in early years settings, looking at the evidence from research and day-to-day practice - both organisational and direct contact. Though the orientation is towards educators, other professionals will see common issues for their communication with young children.     

Schooling and Globalization: What Do We Tell Our Kids & Clients? What Are We Being Told?

SUMMARY

With the effects of globalization everywhere, what should we say to our children and grandchildren about globalization and education? What are the print media–the books and magazines–telling us about globalization and education? This article examines what a person may take from the print media to talk with their children about effects of globalization and education. Let the reader beware!     

Feminist Phase Analysis in Public Relations: Where Have We Been? Where Do We Need to Be?

Feminist phase theory provides a classification system for analyzing any evolution in our thinking about women across the disciplines. The 2-fold purpose of this article is, first, to suggest further avenues through which to apply Tetreault's (1985) groundbreaking work and, second, to propose a sixth stage relevant to public relations research. Feminist phase theory defines 5 phases of such research: male scholarship, compensatory, bifocal, feminist, and multifocal. Now, 6 years into the new millennium, I propose adding a sixth, integrative phase. That stage, I argue, will conceptualize women and men in public relations not only as communication professionals, but as human beings often struggling to integrate their work, family, and community lives.     

Why Digital Tools Have Not Yet Revolutionized Adolescent Health Research and What We Can Do

The promise of digital tools and devices for spurring new discoveries in adolescent health research is enticing. This special section draws attention to many of the advantages that mobile and wearable devices offer for ambulatory assessment research, which have now been realized. Despite such progress, digital tools have not yet delivered on their predicted revolution of adolescent health research. I offer four reasons for why digital devices have fallen short of this predicted promise. For each barrier, I suggest parallel strategies for ensuring adolescent research benefits from Ambulatory Assessment advances. To avoid missing out on opportunities to support young people, adolescence scholarship must develop in time with innovations in digital devices and platforms and move past what has, to date, been an overwhelming focus on fears about their usage.