Minutes of 11-1-01
MINUTES
The National Communication Association’s
Group Communication Division
2001 Annual Business Meeting
Atlanta, November 2, 2001
1. Welcome and Call to Order (Joann Keyton)
The third annual meeting of the Group Communication Division was called to order by the chair, Joann Keyton.
2. Approval of Minutes for November 10, 2001 (Lisa Millhous)
A motion was passed to accept the minutes as distributed.
3. Chair's Report (Joann Keyton)
Joann Keyton attended the Legislative Council meetings on behalf of the Division. There is going to be a dues increase: although the association is in good financial health, the dues increase will help fund advocacy roles for NCA and will help address inflation. A new journal has been approved for cultural studies. Isa Engelberg will be the next second vice-president of NCA. There are constitutional revisions that will be brought before the membership. Details will be made available to NCA members soon.
The current size of the division is 340 members. Our budget (which is based on membership size) is $350.
4. Vice-Chair's Report (Dennis Gouran)
A total of 9 panels were sponsored by the Division at the Atlanta Convention. A total of 18 papers (6 student and 12 faculty) and 6 panel submissions were received. Sixteen papers (4 student and 12 faculty) and 5 panels were competitively selected.
The Division would like to thank Sunwolf, Jane Macoubrie, Mary Ann Renz, Walid Afifi, Sean Limon, Jim Query, Sandra Ketrow, and Geoff Leatham for their diligent work as reviewers.
The Top Student Paper Award was awarded to Dan Ryan (Texas A & M University) for "Decision-Making Norms: The Crux Of Groupthink."
The Top Paper was awarded to Joseph A. Bonito (University of Arizona) for "An Information-Processing Approach to Participation in Small Groups."
Top Four Paper also was awarded to Tammie J. Ulrich, Mike Allen, and Edward A. Mabry (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) for "A Meta-Analysis of Decision Quality in Computer-Mediated and Face-to-Face Groups."
Top Four Paper also was awarded to Michael W. Kramer (University of Missouri-Columbia) for "Community Theatre as a Bona Fide Group: Role Management in a 'Third Place' Group."
Top Four Paper also was awarded to Kelby K. Halone (University of Tennessee) for "Explaining (In)Competent Group Decision Making: (Re)Conceptualizing Social Loafing as an Interactive Outcome of Communication Competence and Group Leadership."
5. Vice-Chair Elect's Report (Renée Meyers)
The Divison awards committee was chaired by Carolyn Anderson. The 2000 Dennis Gouran Research Article/Book Chapter Award was awarded to Tim Kuhn (University of Colorado at Boulder) and Scott Poole (Texas A & M University) for "Do Conflict Management Styles Affect Group Decision Making? Evidence from a Longitudinal Field Study," published in Human Communication Research in October 2000.
The 2000 Ernest Bormann Research Book/Monograph Award was awarded to Joann Keyton for the special issue of Small Group Research titled "The Relational Side of Groups" published in August 2000.
The 2000 Laura Crowell Dissertation Award was awarded to Kristin Doleman Charles, "Goal Coordination in Decision-Making Groups: An Evaluation of Group Argument Effects on Group Goals."
There was some discussion about how to increase nominations. Ideas included submitting announcement to SPECTRA, add thesis award, send an e-mail to members listed on website, and encourage self-nominations.
The 2002 convention will be planned by Renée Meyers for our division and by Judy Pearson for NCA. It will be around the 25th of November at the New Orleans Marriott and Sheraton. Pearson says that there will be about the same number of panel slots available. We should encourage submission from division members, including thinking about new ideas for panels and possibly co-sponsoring with other divisions. The deadline for the division will be Feb. 1, 2002.
6. Election of Officers for 2000-2001 (Larry Frey)
The Nominating Committee presented a slate of candidates for open positions and accepted nominations from the floor. The following slate of candidates was voted by the membership:
Vice Chair Elect: Randy Hirokawa
Awards Committee: Ed Mabry
Paper Readers for the 2002 Conference: Renée Meyers (as Vice Chair), Randy Hirokawa (as Vice Chair Elect), Dawna Ballard, Michael Holmes, Tim Kuhn, Charles Pavitt, and Sunwolf.
Webmaster: Lisa Millhous
7. Old Business: None
8. New Business
Scott Poole reported on a interdisciplinary conference designed to advance theory about group communication. This group has included scholars such as Joe McGrath, Janet Fulk, Larry Frey, and Andrea Hollingshead. There was a conference about 2 weeks ago and the consensus was that the effort should move forward. They are planning a book and perhaps a scholarly organization (e.g., The Society for the Study of Groups). There is a listserv for anyone interested: am-groupresearch-L@listserve.tamu.edu . Contact Scott Poole for more information.
Larry Frey will be a candidate for second vice-president for NCA. If elected, he would become vice-president in the following year, and president in the third year. He would plan the Chicago conference in 2004.
It was suggested that we have a committee to review and recommend changes in the by-laws. Joann Keyton will chair the committee. Carol Barbato, Carolyn Anderson, and Rick Sline will serve on the committee.
No other new business noted and the meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Dale Brashers, secretary (term to 11-02)
University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign,
dbrasher@uiuc.edu