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Group communication scholarship has flourished in recent years and several insightful and valuable perspectives have been articulated. This chapter will review theories and perspectives on group communication that have emerged after 2000 (group participation, processual communication networks, communication and teamwork, leadership and communication, sequences and cycles in decision making and problem-solving processes, interventions to improve group performance). Some of these have been articulated formally as theories, while others are more loosely stated and present a point of view on group communication. Classical theories of group communication, including functional theory, symbolic convergence theory, structuration theory, and developmental theories were reviewed in Poole (1999) and are not covered here.

Research on organizational teamwork is increasingly highlighting the patterned nature of the relational processes (e.g., communication, backup behavior) and psychological states (e.g., trust, shared cognition) that underlie team effectiveness. However, studies of teams often rely on methodologies that do not explicitly assess the underlying patterns of relational processes and states. Social network approaches offer an appealing alternative to the typical methodologies used in team research given that network approaches provide both the theory and methodology necessary to conceptualize and investigate patterns of interactions among group members. Despite the advantages of social network approaches, many team researchers are unfamiliar with the network paradigm and its associated methodologies. The purpose of this chapter is to clarify how networks can be leveraged to answer key research questions related to the study of team functioning and effectiveness. We begin by discussing the evolution and eventual convergence of team research and network approaches. Then, we examine the current state of the literature at the intersection of teams and networks in order to identify key takeaways and remaining questions. We conclude by highlighting opportunities for the future of team network science.

Group communication as an area of intellectual interest had its beginnings in communication pedagogy with the goal of helping students to become more effective decision makers. A by-product is that group decision making became and remained a central research focus for many years. In the last 20 years, group communication research has facilitated the development of theory, research methods, and technology. Since 2000, group communication scholars have developed research lines on (1) virtual/digital team communication; (2) information sharing, hidden profile, and transactive memory systems; and (3) group participation. This chapter also explores the way in which group communication scholars have become connected with other disciplines that study groups and teams. The chapter concludes with current research methods trends, including interaction analysis, multilevel modeling, and qualitative methods.

This chapter conceptualizes computational methods across three related, yet distinct approaches: (1) Social Simulation, (2) Data Science, and (3) Big Data. Group communication research is then situated and reviewed along these three lines of research. Although some areas have considerable visibility (e.g., network analysis, text mining), some areas are less visible in group communication research (e.g., Social Simulation, Big Data designs). The chapter concludes with suggestions for issues regarding reliability, validity, and ethics.

Group interaction networks are networks whose relations are defined by who engages with whom in communication, coordination, or other forms of joint activity. These interaction networks represent the patterns of action that unfold between members of a group and have the potential to inform research on how groups communicate, how psychological states inform, and how communication patterns can impact team performance. Interaction networks are unique in that they can be defined in terms of both structure and temporality; each interaction can be coded as an event that occurs at a specific point in time. Accordingly, interaction networks are well suited for process theories and methods. Further, the growing availability of fine-grained digital trace data makes it easier for researchers to study these networks in depth. In this chapter, theories of structure and time are reviewed in relation to group networks and interactions. A process-oriented relational event-based paradigm for studying group interaction networks is introduced as a possible alternative to prior methods. The chapter concludes with a comparison of relevant social network approaches, as well as a discussion of potential future research.

This chapter provides a definition of group as used by group communication scholars or inferred by articles published by group communication scholars. The chapter considers group size, group identity, group member interdependence, group goal, and group structure as fundamental to groups. Additionally, the chapter examines the distinction between the use of the group and team labels, and the role of context in defining groups.

This commentary describes (1) the role of group communication research in Communication Departments and (2) reflects my personal experiences in conducting group and team research with international and interdisciplinary group scholars. I describe the challenges associated with research funding, research space, participant pools, and research technology. Additionally, I address international and interdisciplinary influences (i.e., team science, university/government/industry collaboration) on communication research. This chapter concludes by identifying interdisciplinary contexts for group and team communication research including children and teens' groups, healthcare teams, and robot–human teams.

A proposal in favor of a meta-theoretical approach to the study of group communication is advanced, which offers novel questions on group communication scholarship: the study of the bounded rationality of groups and teams. The chapter focuses on methodological implications of the bounded rationality perspective for group communication research. The notion of bounded rationality comes with an invitation to analyze group communication from the vantage point of an adaptation process that involves the communication processes that are employed by groups along with characteristics of the environments in which groups are situated. The general concept of bounded rationality is introduced and several promises that this meta-theoretical lens offers to group communication scholarship are described. Three methodological signature characteristics are highlighted: the development and test of process models, the analysis and description of the ecological and social environments of groups, and the development of representative designs in the study of groups.

This paper focuses on academic, scientific publishing, as a form of documentation and communication of scientific findings in the changing world of converging information and communication technologies. It assesses the current state of technologies and forms of publishing electronically, and future trends and possibilities. This is linked to a discussion of the nature of the publishing industry, its form in relation to economic issues in demand and supply within publishing and specifically electronic publishing in this area. The paper suggests that the recent policy document from the European Commission, Strategic Developments for the European Publishing Industry towards the Year 2000 may present a number of difficulties for the scientific publishing industry. This strategy outlines a number of possibilities for increasing the extent of electronic publishing. These possibilities conflict with the particular situation of scientific publishers, which are generally small businesses with limited resources and expertise, and without the financial stability to be able to set up or initiate electronic publishing. The analysis of the policy suggests that the publishing industry and its representatives may need to work more closely with small publishers, so that the infrastructure may be developed to overcome these problems for these exciting new technologies, and methods of utilising them for electronic publishing, exchange of information and communication, to be fully utilised.

This study provides a comprehensive framework of adaptation in triadic business relationship settings in the service sector. The framework is based on the industrial network approach (see, e.g., Axelsson & Easton, 1992; Håkansson & Snehota, 1995a). The study describes how adaptations initiate, how they progress, and what the outcomes of these adaptations are. Furthermore, the framework takes into account how adaptations spread in triadic relationship settings. The empirical context is corporate travel management, which is a chain of activities where an industrial enterprise, and its preferred travel agency and service supplier partners combine their resources. The scientific philosophy, on which the knowledge creation is based, is realist ontology. Epistemologically, the study relies on constructionist processes and interpretation. Case studies with in-depth interviews are the main source of data.