Sustaining a competitive edge in today’s business world requires innovative approaches to product, service, and management systems design and performance. Advances in computing technologies have presented managers with additional challenges as well as further opportunities to enhance their business models. Advances in Data Communications and Networking for Digital Business Transformation is a critical scholarly resource that examines transformative technologies from the perspective of data communication and networking and research challenges faced by the industry and research and development laboratories. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as routing protocols, network visualization, and corporate social responsibility, this book is geared towards executives, managers, academicians, researchers, and students.

Most of Indonesian population live in rural areas, and the majority of poor people also live in rural areas, namely 13.47% in rural and 7.26 in urban. In the past decades, rural communities as well as the ecology have changed fundamentally. Many factors contribute to this transformation: development programs from the government as well as from private and NGOs; the diffusion of information technology; the development of transportation facilities; the rise of education and health levels, interaction with "outsiders", and so on. A main driving factor for rural development has been agrarian liberalization. This can be seen in the development of transnational plantations, which trigger land grab and rise of land demand. Development trough liberalization also had a negative impact, since the development of modern and industrialized agriculture affected the environment, and the expansion of plantations caused changes in the agricultural systems of villages and the life orientation of local communities. Interventions in villages by private companies, intermediary institutions no doubt have brought a structural transformations in rural live: local institutions, livelihood systems, population structures, ecosystems, and relation to the land. Unfortunately, the social, economic, cultural, and ecological transformation of the rural community not always produces improvement of quality of life for the rural community. At the same time, information and data related to rural transformations are scarcely available at research institutions, universities, NGOs, private enterprises. Rural Socio-Economic Transformation: Agrarian, Ecology, Communication and Community, Development Perspectives discusses many aspects of the social, economic, cultural, and ecological transformation of rural life in Indonesia, and is of interest to academics and policy makers interested or involved in these areas.

Building on their past work in race and family communication, Rhunette C. Diggs and Thomas J. Socha gather in this volume contemporary theory and research concerning ways that families use communication to transform inherited cultural legacies for the better (Communication 3.0). The book expands the field of communication’s understanding of the life-long impact that family communication has on the managing diverse and clashing cultural relationships, identities, meanings, and communication practices. It spotlights the economically disenfranchised alongside the economically secure, the systematically oppressed next to beneficiaries of Whiteness, and those actually or metaphorically killed and or threatened by violence and hateful systems outside of home. Together, the contributions address omissions of diverse family contexts in family communication research and reconsider qualitative and quantitative approaches that bring respect and equality to the participant-researcher relationship. This book is suitable as a supplementary text for courses in family communication, family studies, race and ethnicity in communication, and intergroup communication.

Central to a transformational approach to conflict is the idea that conflicts must be viewed as embedded within broader relational patterns, and social and discursive structures—and must be addressed as such. This implies the need for systemic change at generative levels, in order to create genuine transformation at the level of particular conflicts. Central, also, to this book is the idea that the origins of transformation can be momentary, or situational, small-scale or micro-level, as well as bigger and more systemic or macro-level. Micro-level changes involve shifts and meaningful changes in communication and related patterns that are created in communication between people. Such transformative changes can radiate out into more systemic levels, and systemic transformative changes can radiate inwards to more micro- levels. This book engages this transformative framework. Within this framework, this book pulls together current work that epitomizes, and highlights, the contribution of communication scholarship, and communication centered approaches to conflict transformation, in local/community, regional, environmental and global conflicts in various parts of the world. The resulting volume presents an engaging mix of scholarly chapters, think pieces, and experiences from the field of practice. The book embraces a wide variety of theoretical and methodological approaches, as well as transformative techniques and processes, including: narrative, dialogic, critical, cultural, linguistic, conversation analytic, discourse analytic, and rhetorical. This book makes a valuable contribution to the ongoing dialogue across and between disciplines and people on how to transform conflicts creatively, sustainably, and ethically.

The impact of transformational leadership styles, management strategies, and communication for organizational effectiveness and employee performance within organizations cannot be overemphasized. Leadership as a concept has evolved over the years based on situations, practices, and change management approaches in organizations. The evolution of transformational leadership in organizations is imperative to examine in order to motivate and encourage others to collectively support and work to achieve organizational effectiveness or vision and mission. Leadership needs a paradigm shift to influence opportunities and challenges in organizations such as organizational behavior, motivation, communication, and management functions. Transformational Leadership Styles, Management Strategies, and Communication for Global Leaders aims to provide relevant theoretical, conceptual/procedural, and the latest empirical research findings frameworks that critically examine the areas of leadership, leadership styles, management studies, and communication for leaders globally. It is designed for multi-sectoral interests in business and educational organizations, chief executive officers, executive members, team leaders, industry leaders, human resource directors/personnel, leadership and management leaders, and practitioners.

Communication creates organizations, and the ways individuals communicate determines the functions and processes of organizations. Understanding communication challenges is necessary in order to understand organizational successes and organizational change. Transformative Practice and Research in Organizational Communication is an essential reference publication featuring the latest scholarly research on the practice of organizational communication. The chapters cover a range of topics such as business expertise, social media, and capitalism. This book is ideally designed for academicians, students, professionals, and managers seeking current research on organizational communication practices.

With the popularity of the Internet on the rise, more and more people are turning to their computers for health information, advice, support and services. With its information based firmly on research, The Internet and Health Communication provides an in-depth analysis of the changes in human communication and health care resulting from the Internet revolution. The contributors, representing a wide range of expertise, provide an extensive variety of examples from the micro to the macro, including information about HMO web sites, Internet pharmacies, and web-enabled hospitals, to vividly illustrate their findings and conclusions.

The fourth edition of Inviting Transformation continues to offer an innovative approach to presentational speaking at a very reasonable price. The authors introduce readers to invitational rhetoric, teaching speakers to clarify ideas and to work to achieve understanding for all participants in an interaction. A primary goal of presentational speaking is to create an environment in which growth and change can occur for both the audience and the speaker. The text highlights four external conditions affecting transformational environments: safety, openness, freedom, and value (honoring the intrinsic worth of all individuals). To reflect respect for the diversity of the world, Sonja Foss and Karen Foss include options from many speaking traditions and practices to foster creativity. Discussions of all the processes of presenting— selecting a speaking goal, organizing ideas, elaborating on ideas, and delivering the presentation—emphasize inclusive speaking practices. Sample presentations provide clear and contemporary examples of the best invitational speaking practices. The authors recognize readers as competent communicators and encourage them to think about and systematize their approaches to presentational speaking. The exceptionally accessible writing style is an aid to readers in thinking through strategies for meeting their interactional goals. Readers learn to design and deliver effective presentations for any speaking situation.