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The purpose of this paper is to present an evaluation of a programme of training and support provided to staff, which aimed to encourage supported communication environments for people with learning disabilities.

Training, monitoring and support for communication, specifically augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) strategies, was provided by speech and language therapy staff to two residential services over 46 weeks. Staff and service user communications were observed pre- and post-intervention.

In one provision there was an increase in service user initiations and the use of some AAC strategies by support staff. In the other provision there was no change in service user initiations and a decrease in the range of AAC strategies used. It appears that some forms for AAC remain challenging for staff to implement.

This evaluation explores ways of using specialist support services to improve communication environments for people with learning difficulties. Possible reasons for differences in the outcome of the intervention are discussed. Future research into the types of communication interactions experienced by people with learning disabilities across the range of communication styles may be useful so that support staff can be better helped to provide sustained and enriched communication environments.

This article reports the outcomes of a study on communication support, commissioned to develop a borough‐wide strategy in 2003 by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.The research stems from a recognition of communication as a key to successful delivery of public services and enhancement of a multicultural community.The focus is on ‘communication’ (rather than ‘language’), since it captures issues beyond the exchange of information through words: interpersonal interactions and relationships, techniques and modes of organising information exchange. Language is a key component within the broad ambit of communication mechanism and skills. Hence interpretation and translation are perceived as models of communications support alongside advocacy, integrated team, multilingual professional team, family/friends and minors, supported language, symbols and signs, and Plain English.While engaging in the debate and highlighting some of the broader issues concerning communication support services, the focus is on the following main issues:• policy frameworks and guiding principles in communication support• methods and techniques for needs assessment, monitoring and evaluation of communication support• communication support provision in Tower Hamlets including quantifying need, actual state of provision and users' perceptions.Probably among the first of its kind, the strategy draws on existing knowledge and good practice to develop a common framework for public services in Tower Hamlets. It is believed that it will serve a pioneering role in co‐ordinated existing and developing coherent approaches to communication support.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the role of management support in a lean implementation. The impact the lean implementation made on communication within the organization is also examined.

Qualitative methods were used to study the relationships between management support, organizational communications, and a lean manufacturing implementation. A case study was conducted in an electronics manufacturing company in the northwestern USA. Data were collected over a three‐month time period. The data were coded using an evolving coding scheme and analysis was performed on the resulting data set.

Evidence was found to support the supposition that management support does play a role in driving a lean manufacturing implementation. Management support impacted the lean manufacturing implementation both negatively and positively. The research also found moderate support for improved communication in the organization attributable to the lean implementation.

The organization studied was in the early stages of implementing lean manufacturing practices and principles. Future research should include multiple organizations with a longer history of lean manufacturing.

The research findings identified management support and communications as important variables in a lean manufacturing implementation. Furthermore, there is evidence that these variables are critical in not only the implementation of lean manufacturing practices and principles, but also in the ongoing planning and deployment efforts of organizational leaders.

This research provided empirical evidence for the role of management support and communication in an organization's lean implementation. The findings highlight the importance of studying organizational phenomenon within real‐world settings. As a result of the methodology used, both positive and negative implications were identified. The research design has enabled the uncovering of a complex set of relationships that existed between two sociocultural variables and an organization's effort to improve performance through the implementation of lean practices.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the personal factors for both the students and the lecturers that support intercultural communication in library and information science (LIS) e-learning. Research was conducted to explore the factors supporting intercultural communication in LIS e-learning.

Using case study, the opinion of students of two LIS curricula about the factors that support intercultural communication in e-learning has been determined. The data have been collected using e-interviews and document analysis. Document analysis and constant comparative analysis method were used for analysing collected data.

Intercultural communication in the e-learning of LIS curriculum was supported by pedagogical, personal, cultural and technological factors. In this paper, the personal factors are emphasised. These factors are the supporting characteristics of the students and lecturers, their motivation, similarities between co-students and the competence of the students.

Results of the research project are necessary to improve the curricula and to plan and conduct learning process. The results explain possibilities for supporting the students in international e-learning.

The results of the present study concerning the personal factors and their respective support differed – when compared to previous studies – in the following aspects: LIS students brought forward the characteristics that support intercultural communication in e-learning, were willing to gain extra knowledge and skills and considered information literacy and knowledge about written communication important but, at the same time, less-often mentioned the problems emerging from lags.

Hospitality is one of the industries severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is vital to comprehend how to help the workforce in this service sector grow resilient through such a crisis. This paper aims to unpack the role of employer event communication in promoting hotel workers’ resilience.

The data were garnered from 462 hotel workers who were on unpaid leave or layoff during the hotel shutdown.

The results unfolded the positive link between employer event communication and hotel workers’ resilience, for which core beliefs examination served as a mediation mechanism. Family support was found to moderate the effect of employer event communication on core beliefs examination.

The findings indicate to hospitality organizations that in face of a crisis such as the COVID-19, their employee resilience can be activated if they implement event communication activities. They should further realize that their support should go hand in hand with family support in fueling employee resilience from the crisis.

This study advances the understanding of how and when to promote resilience among hotel workers during a pandemic crisis.

The purpose of this paper is to describe specific features of a Victorian (Australia) state-wide hub and spoke model of speech pathology provision established for adults with complex communication needs (CCN). Two case studies highlighting successful examples of services developed to enhance community inclusion will be described and the challenges discussed.

The route to community inclusion is described through a case study illustration of one communication accessible community site and one disability service study. The disability service research involved focus groups, survey and interview data and demonstrated the efficacy and sustainability of a support worker training model.

Sustainable change in the community and in disability services can occur through partnerships, training, and long-term commitment. Support workers who can facilitate interactions for people who have cognitive and communicative disabilities are an essential component of building the capacity of communities to include people with CCN. Collaboration between community members, specialised supports and people with disabilities enhances active community participation.

This innovative, state-wide model has the capacity to be replicated elsewhere. On-going speech pathology services are integral to support adults with CCN providing both short-term individualised services, sustainable staff training and community engagement.

Teleworkers need to use information and communication technology (ICT) to communicate and collaborate with their team members, however, when new and complicated information systems should be used, this can lead to stress. Receiving adequate information and emotional support from team members could reduce the stress caused by technological complexity and subsequent work and occupational strains.

Participants (N = 400) teleworked at least half of their working hours and were employed in organizations with a minimum of 250 employees. Data from the online survey were analyzed using structural equation modeling.

Results demonstrate that aspects of informational and emotional communication contribute to perceived social support from team members, with emotional communication explaining more variance. Stress from technological complexity is mitigated by both supportive team communication and the extent of telework. Perceived stress from technological complexity, however, still increases work and occupational strains.

The findings emphasize the importance of supportive internal communication to foster a collaborative telework environment. Practitioners in internal communication need to encourage teleworkers to help each other with adequate information and provide also emotional support to overcome the negative effects of complex ICT.

The study shows that supportive communication among team members is important for teleworkers to reduce work and occupational strains, especially when facing difficulties with complex ICT.

This research investigates whether and how the quality of vertical communication implemented by airline industry management can reduce perceived job insecurity of flight attendants during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

The sample of this research covers 322 flight attendants from five domestic airlines based in Thailand. An online questionnaire survey was used for data collection, and a partial least squares structural equation model was used for data analysis.

The results support the negative association between the quality of vertical communication and perceived job insecurity; moreover, this association is partially mediated by perceived role ambiguity. When considering the moderating effect of perceived organizational support on the direct linkage between the quality of vertical communication and perceived job insecurity, the quality of vertical communication only has a negative association with perceived job insecurity among employees who exhibit high levels of perceived organizational support. For those who exhibit low levels of perceived organizational support, the quality of vertical communication does not have a negative association with perceived job insecurity.

This study advances prior communication research by showing that in order for communication to effectively lessen the perceived job insecurity of employees, it needs to be backed by high-quality organizational support.

This study is aimed at revisiting the supply chain (SC) of a company, highlighting how communication supports SC management, emphasising how SC relationship-based processes are fostered by communication flows, and exploring how SC performance may be enhanced through coordinated management of interpersonal and internet-mediated communication forms.

The study follows a two-step qualitative methodological approach encompassing the building of a preliminary conceptual mapping, and preliminary testing, integration and revision of the conceptual mapping.

The findings highlight communication's primary role in identity management and image building of the SC, and its supporting role enhancing strategic and operational SC processes. Communication seems to act as a “cultural glue”, a “trade-off and compensation”, a “knowledge creation and dissemination”, a “relationship development and maintenance”, and an “alignment and integration” activity along the SC, fostering knowledge, managerial, relational and competitive SC performance dimensions.

The combination of SC and corporate communication academic knowledge with field SC managerial expertise allows the proposal of a preliminary conceptual framework illustrating the potential links among SC processes, communication and SC performance. The study provides also a set of research propositions to guide both future research and managerial practice in communication management along the SC.

This study offers a first exploratory “communicational view” of the SC, which beyond analysing communication in the corporate locus of the typical communication function explores the value of communication that is embedded in manufacturing processes and routines at the basis of corporate performance by developing a cross-functional communication approach.

Looks at new communications technologies, such as videoconferencing systems, which have enabled the creation of “virtual organizations” and “virtual teams”. Investigates the hypotheses that both “social presence” and “media richness” associated with a communication medium used to support geographically‐dispersed software development teams, will have a significant impact on team productivity, perceived interaction quality, and group process satisfaction. Results supported the predicted superiority of the face‐to‐face setting over the videoconferencing setting with regard to team productivity. They also indicated that a communication medium characterized as high in both “media richness” and “social presence” can engender a greater sense of interaction quality. There were no significant differences between the face‐to‐face and videoconferencing settings for group process satisfaction.