This study explored the extent to which the quality of leader-member exchange (LMX) affects subordinates' perceptions of communication satisfaction in multiple contexts. Findings indicate that the quality of LMX strongly influences subordinates' communication satisfaction in interpersonal (personal feedback and supervisory communication), group (co-worker communication and organizational integration in the workgroup), and organizational contexts (corporate communication, communication climate, and organizational media quality). Further, subordinates' LMXs with their superiors are tightly coupled with larger group and organizational contexts with respect to communication satisfaction. However, the strength of coupling decreases as the "sphere of influence" becomes more distanced and less direct. n essential premise of leader-member exchange (LMX) theory is that leaders and supervisors have limited amounts of personal, .A. , and the three anonymous reviewers for constructive comments and suggestions. s 220 characterized by increased levels of information exchange, mutual support, informal influence, trust, and greater negotiating latitude and input in decisions. Lower-quality LMXs are characterized by more formal supervision, less support, and less trust and attention from the leader.LMX theory has enhanced our understanding of the leadership communication process between superiors and subordinates. In particular, earlier research explicated how the quality of LMX affects subordinates' and superiors' communication in areas such as discourse patterns, upward influence, communication expectations, cooperative communication, perceived organizational justice, and decision making practices (e.g., review of the related research reveals an important omission in LMX-related studies ; that is, LMX research has not explored communication satisfaction as a meaningful dependent variable. Hecht (1978a) argued that &dquo;an understanding of communication outcomes such as satisfaction is a prerequisite to an integrative explanation of communication behavior&dquo; (p. 350).LMX between superiors and subordinates constitutes a social system that operates within larger systems of the workgroup and networks. As such, LMX exists not in isolation, but embedded within such systems (Jablin & Krone, 1994). Thus, the LMX is not only influenced by, but also influences such larger systems (Euske & Roberts, 1987). Based on sys-. tems perspective, Graen and Uhl-Bien (1995) argued that research involving LMX theory should examine impacts of the dyadic LMX relationship on larger systems of groups and organizations (i.e., &dquo;group and network levels&dquo;). For instance, they recommended that scholars should explore how the LMX dyadic relationship affects communication attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions in larger collectives of workgroups and organizationwide networks. To date, communication satisfaction has been considered in three distinctive contexts: interpersonal, group, and organization (e.g., Clampitt & Downs, 1993;Hecht, 1978a). The...

In a series of two studies, this research (a) identifid strategic situations in which superiors and subordinates felt the need to maintain their relationships, (b) delineated communication tactics and strategies that supervisors and subordinates consciously enacted to maintain their relationships, and (c) investigated how superiors and subordinates in different kinds of relutionship exchanges employed maintenance communication behaviors and activities in strategic maintenance situations. Findings indicated that upptoximately 50% of the maintenance situations that respondents ldent$ed concerned deteriorating interactional contexts, 25% concerned escalating situations, and 25% concerned routine situations. In addition, results suggested that although there may be similaritles ucross situations with respect to the overall strategies that superiors andsubordinates use to maintain their relationships, how they enact those strategies is fairly unique depending on the situation and the quality of the leader-member relationships (us perceived by subordinates). elationship maintenance is an inherent part of relationship trajectory. As Wilmot (1981) claimed, human dyadic relation-R ships (social systems) progress through "stages of initiation, maintenance, and dissolution" (p. 90). Moreover, as Dindia and Baxter (1987) argued, it is likely that people spend most of their time in the process of maintaining, rather than developing or terminating, relationships. Thus communication scholars have recently engaged in exploring the process of relationship maintenance (e.g. Pearson, 1986). As an emerging area of research, however, the study of relationship maintenance has been explored mostly in nonwork relationships (i.e., relatively intimate or close social relationships; Waldron, 1991). In brief, Iaesub Lee is an assistant professor of communication at the University of Houston. Fredric M. Iablin is E. Claibome Robins Chair in Leadership Studies in the Jepson School of Leadership Studies at the University of Richmond. A previous version of this article was presented at the 1994 annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Sydney, Australia. The authors would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.

This study examined the extent to which (a) the quality of leader-member exchanges (LMXs) affected perceptions of distributive and procedural organizational justice and (b) perceptions of organizational justice influenced cooperative communication in the work group. Findings indicated that subordinates in low-quality LMXs perceived less distributive and procedural fairness than their peers in high-quality LMXs. Furthermore, as subordinates perceived greater fairness in distributive outcomes and procedures, they tended to believe that communication in the work group was more cooperative.

This study explored effects of differential quality of leader-member exchange on cooperative communication among members of work groups. Findings suggest that the nature of an individual's own exchange with his or her leader and his or her leader's upward leader-member exchange have significant impact on perceived use of cooperative communication among coworkers. Furthermore, results of this study provide evidence of a tight linkage between vertical dyads and horizontal relationships with respect to cooperative communication.

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