SAGE Series in Interpersonal Communication – serie

Recipient of the 1988 Outstanding Book Award from the International and Intercultural Division of the Speech Communication Association "The integration is impressive, and the book is a 'must' for those interested in this and related topics. . . . I think this book is likely to become 'the bible' of graduate students preparing for qualifying examinations for their doctorate in interpersonal communication, particularly if cultural variables are included in such preparation. Professionals in this area will, of course, want to have it. It is recommended to all readers of this journal." --Harry Triandis, International Journal of Intercultural Relations "This book provides a welcome addition to the literature on human interaction. . . . The coverage of most areas is impressive. The authors have amassed a considerable volume of material and have managed to compress a very detailed discussion into a comparatively small space. The material is logically organized and succinctly presented throughout . . . a valuable reference source. . . . A thoroughly researched and tightly written book which contributes significantly to the corpus scholarship in both interpersonal and intercultural communication. It is highly recommended as a reference source for anyone interested in these increasingly imporatnt areas of research." --Canadian Journal of Communication "The authors have integrated an impressive array of literature. . . . This book is timely and will help give direction to culture and communnication research over the next decade. . . . Clearly structured and the material is well organized. . . . The writing is easy to read and the material generally well integrated." --Contemporary Sociology "Offers a very useful grounding and integration of work in this area so far." --Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology

What are the secrets of successful teams? Why do some teams achieve remarkable success while others fail or are consigned to mediocrity? To find the answers, Carl E. Larson and Frank M. J. LaFasto conducted a three-year study of teams and team achievement. Interviewing a wide range of teams, including the space shuttle Challenger investigation team, executive management teams and a championship football team, Larson and LaFasto discovered a surprising consistency in the characteristics of effective teams. In Teamwork, they explore the eight properties of successful teams: a clear, elevating goal; a results-driven structure; competent team members; unified commitment; collaborative climate; standards of excellence; external support and recognition; and principled leadership. A final chapter examines the priority of the steps that lead to the building of a high performance team. The authors strive to make the concepts concrete, coupling solid theory with straightforward, practical advice on how to apply it and with lively, fascinating anecdotes. The volume will appeal to practitioners, scholars, and advanced students in the areas of organization studies and management, as well as interpersonal communication. "We believe it is an important book that will be very useful to the sport psychology community. Its brief and readable nature makes it an ideal supplementary text for courses in the social psychology of sport or sport-related group dynamics. It could also be used in research methods courses to provide insight into qualitative data collection procedures. In addition, coaches and mental skills consultants will find much valuable information here about the evaluation and enhancement of team functioning. Finally, researchers will be intrigued by Larson and LaFasto's eight-category framework and their brief description of a rating-scale instrument designed to assess these dimensions of team effectiveness. Given this diversity of potential uses, we urge our colleagues to examine Teamwork for themselves." --The Sport Psychologist "(A) superb effort conducted by the authors. . . . A must read." --HR Planning Newsletter "Teamwork attempts an ambitious goal in a small number of pages and succeeds quite well. . . . The authors have useful and interesting things to say--things that fit well with what other studies and authors have concluded and with what the teams they studied experienced and concluded. A prime audience for this book would be managers and team members with a modest 'academic bent' who want guidance on how to make their teams work more effectively and who are willing to listen to the reasons why the authors make their suggestions and how they reach their conclusions. Students and academics who are looking for a wise and balanced attempt to capture what we seem to be learning about what works in groups should also find this refreshingly short volume valuable." --Journal of Management "Larson and LaFasto provide a brief, efficient, and well-focused checklist of principles for managing group processes. The authors report on the results of a relatively systematic, 3-year program on in-depth interviews with participants from 'successful teams'--e.g., a Mount Everest expedition; DeBakey-Cooley cardiac surgery teams; a Notre Dame championship football team; several business executive and project management teams; Presidential cabinets; and disaster response teams--to come up with some '. . . distinguishing features of effectively functioning teams. . . .' Practicing managers should have no difficulty identifying with anecdotes described in this book. A list of characteristics parallels the chapter outlines of this good organizational behavior textbook written from a management process perspective. . . . It is hard to imagine a more efficient way to capture the fundamentals than the way Larson and LaFasto have done it. Newly appointed supervisors without a formal organizational behavior and management process course--and any practicing manager who could use a quick brushup--will find this guidebook useful." --Human Resource Planning "Teamwork [is] one of the best and most concise handbooks on team management around. No one interested in teamwork should miss reading this guide." --The Learning Edge

What are the secrets of successful teams? Why do some teams achieve remarkable success while others fail or are consigned to mediocrity? To find the answers, Carl E. Larson and Frank M. J. LaFasto conducted a three-year study of teams and team achievement. Interviewing a wide range of teams, including the space shuttle Challenger investigation team, executive management teams and a championship football team, Larson and LaFasto discovered a surprising consistency in the characteristics of effective teams. In Teamwork, they explore the eight properties of successful teams: a clear, elevating goal; a results-driven structure; competent team members; unified commitment; collaborative climate; standards of excellence; external support and recognition; and principled leadership. A final chapter examines the priority of the steps that lead to the building of a high performance team. The authors strive to make the concepts concrete, coupling solid theory with straightforward, practical advice on how to apply it and with lively, fascinating anecdotes. The volume will appeal to practitioners, scholars, and advanced students in the areas of organization studies and management, as well as interpersonal communication. "We believe it is an important book that will be very useful to the sport psychology community. Its brief and readable nature makes it an ideal supplementary text for courses in the social psychology of sport or sport-related group dynamics. It could also be used in research methods courses to provide insight into qualitative data collection procedures. In addition, coaches and mental skills consultants will find much valuable information here about the evaluation and enhancement of team functioning. Finally, researchers will be intrigued by Larson and LaFasto's eight-category framework and their brief description of a rating-scale instrument designed to assess these dimensions of team effectiveness. Given this diversity of potential uses, we urge our colleagues to examine Teamwork for themselves." --The Sport Psychologist "(A) superb effort conducted by the authors. . . . A must read." --HR Planning Newsletter "Teamwork attempts an ambitious goal in a small number of pages and succeeds quite well. . . . The authors have useful and interesting things to say--things that fit well with what other studies and authors have concluded and with what the teams they studied experienced and concluded. A prime audience for this book would be managers and team members with a modest 'academic bent' who want guidance on how to make their teams work more effectively and who are willing to listen to the reasons why the authors make their suggestions and how they reach their conclusions. Students and academics who are looking for a wise and balanced attempt to capture what we seem to be learning about what works in groups should also find this refreshingly short volume valuable." --Journal of Management "Larson and LaFasto provide a brief, efficient, and well-focused checklist of principles for managing group processes. The authors report on the results of a relatively systematic, 3-year program on in-depth interviews with participants from 'successful teams'--e.g., a Mount Everest expedition; DeBakey-Cooley cardiac surgery teams; a Notre Dame championship football team; several business executive and project management teams; Presidential cabinets; and disaster response teams--to come up with some '. . . distinguishing features of effectively functioning teams. . . .' Practicing managers should have no difficulty identifying with anecdotes described in this book. A list of characteristics parallels the chapter outlines of this good organizational behavior textbook written from a management process perspective. . . . It is hard to imagine a more efficient way to capture the fundamentals than the way Larson and LaFasto have done it. Newly appointed supervisors without a formal organizational behavior and management process course--and any practicing manager who could use a quick brushup--will find this guidebook useful." --Human Resource Planning "Teamwork [is] one of the best and most concise handbooks on team management around. No one interested in teamwork should miss reading this guide." --The Learning Edge

Family communication is a topic of central interest in a large number of fields across the social and behavioural sciences - for instance, in the domains of language acquisition, cognitive development and socialization. This concise, readable book is the first to offer an interdisciplinary integration of current research on parent-child interaction in the `traditional' family structure.

Examining the important variables of self-control, self-concept and communication competencies in childhood, this volume functions as a research heuristic and a vehicle for conversation between theorists, researchers and practitioners.