The Relationship Between Perceived Supervisory Communication Behaviors and Subordinate Organizational Identification Scott A. Myers Jeffrey W. Kassing McNeese State University St. Cloud State University This^study examined the relationship between subordinate perceptions of supervisor communication skills (Le., communicator competence, communicative adaptability, interaction involvement) and.jt^ordiriatejevel of organizational identification. Participants were 135 undergraduate college students who reported on their summer work experience. Results indicated that (a) supervisor communication competence is the only significant predictor of subordinate organizational identification and (b) subordinates mth high levels of identification view their supervisors as being more competent communicators and more involved in interactions than subordinates unth moderate or low levels of identification. According to the theory of unobtrusive control (Tompkins & Cheney, 1985), modem organizations control organizational environments through subtle and systematic manipulation of the rhetorical envirorunent That is, organizations bias employees towards making organizationally favorable decisions by inculcating decision premises in the decision maker(s). This type of control emerges primarily through intense face-to-face interactions that occur within the microphenomena of the superior-subordinate relationship (Tompkins & Cheney, 1985). Organizational identification (Cheney, 1983a) is the primary construct researchers use to assess unobtrusive control in organizations. Tompkins and Cheney (1985) suggested that identification "leads the decision maker to select a particular alternative, to choose one ScoH A. Myers (Ph.D., Kent State University, 1995) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Speech and Theatre Arts, McNeese State University, Lake Charles, LA 70609-0420. Jeffrey W. Kassing (Ph.D., Kent State University, 1997) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Speech Commimication, St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN 56301. A version of this paper was presented at the 1996 Western States Communication Association convention in Monterey, CA. COMMUNICATION RESEARCH REPORTS, Volume 15, Number 1, pages 71-81