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Relationship development is required for any group working together. As members coordinate to accomplish tasks, some level of relationship is created through interaction between group members. However, most group development models focus on task accomplishment and may briefly address relational concerns. Communication research has furthered our understanding of group relationship development based on communicative changes that demonstrate emerging relationships among members. This chapter summarizes research on relationship development in groups. First, the chapter reviews research on group relational messages and relational outcomes. Second, the chapter outlines a framework for explaining group relationship development based on group interaction and development research. Four progressive stages (investigating, initiating, integrating, and interconnecting) are presented that show the communicative changes in group relationship development. Investigating focuses on testing boundaries and getting to know members, while initiating highlights how members become more direct about individual goals and handle conflict. During integrating, members shift to a group mind and tentatively form relationships with members, whereas interconnecting is a sense of we-ness among members and the use of shared group symbols. Future research directions for relational development and the four stages are presented at the end.

This study aims to understand the role of technology in relationship maintenance among romantic partners.

It takes a qualitative, inductive approach and collected data from in-depth interviews with 20 individuals who are married or in cohabiting relationships.

This study supports the extension of relationship maintenance typology derived from face-to-face relationship studies to technology-mediated communication, but highlights how technology use transforms the implementation of maintenance behaviors. Technology helps couples coordinate tasks and keep in touch with friends and families. Although technology-mediated communication cannot replace face-to-face interactions in relationship talk and sharing in-depth feelings, it plays an important role in redefining the ways in which couples interact positively, maintain mutual understanding, and secure the future of the relationship. Moreover, this study identifies a new maintenance behavior, communication coordination. These maintenance behaviors reflect a tension between maintaining connectivity and managing the boundary between work and home and between the public and private spheres.

This study builds on previous work on technology use and relationship maintenance, but takes a different qualitative, inductive approach to address the limitations in the survey research dominant in the literature. It helps us understand the advantages and challenges in maintaining relationships in the digital age and also explores the factors that influence the patterns of technology use in relationship maintenance.

This chapter examines how leader–member dyadic communication in the Malaysian workplace operates at the leader–member dyadic level in the context of cultural norms. We propose a model of leader–member dyadic communication based on the cultural norms of budi bicara, which in turn influences the perception of workplace mentoring in Malaysia. The model is tested by using hierarchical multiple regression with data obtained from a sample of 510 employees in three Malaysian organizations. Results show that leader–member dyadic communication in the workplace is linked with the career mentoring perceptions. These findings partially validate our proposed model and provide empirical support for the central roles of communication exchange processes in mentoring.

Work groups and teams are common across all types of organizations. After providing both practical and scholarly definitions, this chapter examines work team processes common across groups (groupthink and bullying) that largely constrain group work both in and out of meetings. The chapter concludes with attention to work team evaluations (satisfaction with group process and continuity), meeting evaluations, and an overview of relational byproducts of task accomplishment.

Contemporary emphasis on language and communication in mental health research and practice establishes the need for a communication model that addresses the variety of contexts – institutional, social, and cultural – in which attribution of mental disorders, treatment, and recovery occur. A ‘triadic’ approach to communication considers sufferers’: (1) transactions with environmental circumstances; (2) interpretive engagement with symbolic/discursive resources; and (3) relational interactions with others. Foundations for the model derive from pragmatism, systems theory, and theories of dialogue. A brief case study of depressive illness illustrates the value of the model. Implications for the organization of professional expertise in mental health fields are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to explore how mothers with an ADHD child living in the household experience, perceive, and manage family communication.

A qualitative research design study was employed where in-depth interviews were conducted amongst nine married mothers who have an ADHD child.

Three themes emerged from the interview data: managing internal relations, managing stigma, and difficulties in managing the communication process. Mothers communicate with their ADHD child differently than their non-ADHD children, as conversations with the ADHD child are often unpredictable, negative, and erratic. They specifically experience these conversation patterns when giving directions, during times of discipline, and when the child acts impulsively or cannot focus.

Mothers are not always open about their child’s ADHD with nonfamily members as they are afraid of the stigma that is attached to the condition. Mothers recognize the difficulties in the communication process as they spend a considerable amount of time on their child’s ADHD issues, and their time given to others in the family may be compromised. They also recognize that because of the amount of stress and emotional burnout they feel from having an ADHD child, they need emotional and pragmatic support from family, friends, and professionals. The mothers who receive the least amount of emotional support from their spouses also feel the highest amounts of stress.