ABSTRACT
Due to its rich theoretical grounding and some insightful empirical work, structuration theory has been identified as one of the most influential small group communication theories to develop during the 1980s. However, as the discipline enters the twilight of the 1990s, it becomes important to reevaluate the progress of situated approaches to structuration theory and to identify key issues that these approaches currently face. Consequently, this essay reviews four situated approaches to structuration theory—the multiple-sequence model of small group decision development, the distribution of valence model of group influence, an area that examines “arguments as structures,” and adaptive structuration theory—and raises some questions regarding these approaches in order to point out some of the potential hurdles that researchers in this area must overcome. The first part of this essay introduces the principles that have generally guided M. Scott Poole and his colleagues’ application of the theory and reviews the areas in small group communication research that Poole and his colleagues have examined from a structurational perspective. Next, it focuses on two key issues that Poole, Seibold, and McPhee (89) believe good structurational theories must address and provides an in-depth analysis of how well Poole and his colleagues have been able to address them. The closing section identifies two key implications of these issues for future research in the area.
