Patterns of performance feedback communication were studied using laboratory simulations. The data indicate that a consistent relational communication pattern, or script, was associated with feedback sessions on poor performance. However, managers' initial attributions of effort or ability as the reason for subordinates' poor performance influenced how they defined their role within the script and thereby controlled the flow of interaction. The nature of the control patterns dyad members used was related to the degree of change in initial attributions, salary decisions, and performance assessments.

In this laboratory study of interaction patterns within leader-subordinate goal setting dyads, the hypothesis of role differences was supported. Leaders showed resistance to and subordinates showed compliance with each others' attempts to control the relationship. Leaders exercised multiple relationship options, in contrast with the subordinates' more structured responses.

A specific communication methodology for the study of organizational behavior at the level of the interpersonal relationship it presented. The model for analysis uses the transaction, patterned as probabilistic recurring sequences, as the basic unit of analysis and analyzes these stochastic processes using a Markovian framework. Exemplary applications of the methodology are presented, with discussion of methods to identify differences in interaction patterns both within a group and across groups.

Many formerly controlled economies have undergone discontinuous transformations in their approach to markets, institutional environments, and the role of government in economic activity. We study the factors that affect venture survival in a transitional economy through a two-stage study of private ventures in Hungary. We find that ventures survive under uncertainty, even without significant government support. Industry experience, networking activities, and the strategic orientation of the firms predict survival. Contrary to our predictions, SOE experience, access to infrastructure, and differentiation strategies do not significantly differentiate survivors.