The Lack of Annual Report Analysis on a Social, Political and Historical Basis

One area of rhetorical analysis of business writing that seems to be neglected is the analysis of annual reports on the social, political, and historical level. An admittedly-brief four hour review of on-line technical journals and academic articles on the subject of annual report analysis failed to produce a single article directly related to this subject. The only articles that I did find dealt with the analysis of contemporary annual reports on a financial basis. However, my research did uncover an article on the teaching of the conventions of business writing, such as annual reports, and an article on reconstructing the image and narrative in distressed organizations.

Remali, Peter. Michigan Tech University (1998). Articles>Business Communication>History

A Lack of Coordination is Why Technical Support Isn't Working  

Technical support relies heavily on users' abilities to perform tasks, and we're all more than familiar with the difficulty involved with assisting inexperienced computer users. Most widespread worms and viruses take hold and spread due to poorly maintained systems, commonly home systems found on broadband networks.

Yarden, Jonathan. TechRepublic (2003). Articles>Business Communication>Collaboration>Help

Learning the Intricacies of Effective Communication Through Game Design    

As many teachers of communication come to realize, students often operate under the misconception that the effective use of language consists primarily of memorizing and applying the rules and regulations of grammar. Even worse, some students believe that they must inherit a talent for language and that without a genetic predisposition, they can never learn to use language well. Demonstrating otherwise isn't easy, but because good communication skills are crucial to success in a professional environment, teachers must attempt to do so. In Introduction to Technical and Scientific Communication, a course I teach at James Madison University, I have students complete a fairly traditional assignment in a somewhat nontraditional way, one that highlights the intricacies of effective communication in a context that students find accessible. A typical assignment for an introductory-level technical communication class requires students to write a set of instructions for a procedure they know well. This straightforward assignment is useful but rather uninspiring, not only because students have difficulty realistically defining the audience they're addressing but also because it's much too easy to tap into the already existing sea of instructions available on the Internet. I remembered an assignment from my days as a graduate student teaching freshman composition. The assignment, based on the rhetorical mode of process analysis, required students to create and explain a game generically called 'Student.'

Bednar, Lucy. Business Communication Quarterly (2008). Articles>Education>Business Communication

Learning to Love Whistleblowers

Darren Dahl explains why some businesses that once feared whistleblowers are now giving workers new ways to report wrongdoing.

Dahl, Darren. Inc. Magazine (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Management

Legal Communication in Technical Communication Programs: Worth Thinking About?    

What, if anything, should technical communication programs teach their students about the nature of law and the production of legal discourse? When is technical writing also legal writing, and vice versa; when is legal writing (really) technical? Are there distinctions worth maintaining and dissolving here? Do lawyers' relationships to, and problems with, legal writing contexts and processes parallel in important ways technical writers' relationships to, and problems with, technical writing contexts and processes? If they do, is a conversation between the disciplines worth institutionalizing, at least experimentally, in each other's programs?

Stratman, James F. CPTSC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Business Communication>Legal>Technical Writing

Legal Consequences of Employer Discharge Procedures    

The employment contract is sometimes misunderstood by both employees and employers. Drafters of employee manuals, policies, and procedures should be aware that the nature of the at-will employment relationship can be transformed into a binding employment contract by the words and phrases chosen. Just imagine the following scenario: On his first day as an Otis Accounting firm employee, Eric was provided an employee manual outlining all firm policies and procedures. Eric was not provided a written employment contract. Despite exemplary work performance at Otis Accounting for more than 2 years, Eric was fired because his supervisor, who belonged to one political party, discovered a bumper sticker for a candidate from the opposing party on Eric's car. Devastated by the unexpected dismissal, Eric sued for wrongful termination. To determine its potential liability, Otis Accounting must first ascertain the nature of its employment relationship with Eric.

Joseph, Stephanie. Business Communication Quarterly (2008). Articles>Business Communication>Policies and Procedures>Contracts

Legal Issues Involved in Monitoring Employees' Internet and E-Mail Usage

Many employers have determined that there is a need to monitor employees' computer usage. According to a 2003 survey by the American Management Association, more than half of U.S. companies engage in some form of e-mail monitoring. Often, this is in addition to monitoring work-related communications and activities—including reviewing Internet usage, videotaping the work-site or recording employee telephone calls. More and more employers are engaging in some form of monitoring. Unfortunately, without a full understanding of the risks, employers may open themselves up to potential lawsuits. In addition, such techniques may result in low morale among employees who resent being told that they cannot use e-mail for personal messages and feel that their every move is being monitored.

Towns, Douglas M. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Articles>Business Communication>Legal>Email

Lessons Learned in the Corporate Blogosphere

As the publisher of CEO Blog Watch, I pay close attention the evolution of corporate communication, especially as it pertains to blogging. In fact, the mission of CEO Blog Watch is to chronicle the continued rise of corporate and CEO blogs. As someone who monitors CEO blogging, I can tell you that the most commonly asked question on the subject is, "Should a CEO blog?" Here's my take on the subject.

Cornett, Brandon. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Articles>Business Communication>Management>Blogging

Linguistic Politeness in Professional Prose    

Consonant with a trend toward investigating professional writing in naturalistic settings, this discourse-analytical study of a corpus of 'suggestion letters' written in a Big Eight accounting firm demonstrates how auditors use negative politeness strategies to meet the complex demands of potentially threatening interactional situations. The study substantiates Brown and Levinson's claim that politeness is a linguistic universal by showing that the same politeness strategies found in speech also occur in written communication. Analysis of negative message strategies in ten leading textbooks shows that business communication pedagogy needs to modify strictures on the use of passives, nominalizations, expletive constructions, and hedging particles in light of research on the exigencies of real-world linguistic interaction.

Hagge, John and Charles Kostelnick. Written Communication (1989). Articles>Language>Business Communication

The Link Between Leadership Style, Communicator Competence, and Employee Satisfaction    

The current study examined the influence of supervisor communicator competence and leadership style on employee job and communication satisfaction. Participants were 220 individuals (116 men and 104 women) working full-time for a variety of companies in the Midwest. The findings indicated a strong relationship between supervisors' communicator competence and their task and relational leadership styles, with supervisor communicator competence being a stronger predictor of employee job and communication satisfaction. More specifically, the findings indicated that supervisor communicator competence accounted for 68% of the variance in subordinate communication satisfaction and nearly 18% of the variance in subordinate job satisfaction. More important, these findings provide an association between communication, leadership, and employee job and communication satisfaction.

Madlock, Paul E. JBC (2008). Articles>Management>Business Communication>Workplace

Long or Short Copy? Part 2

Why doesn't everyone determine copy length based on the needs and expectations of his site visitors?

Usborne, Nick. ClickZ (2001). Articles>Writing>Business Communication

Lying Is Good For You

If I told you lying was good for you, you probably wouldn’t believe me. But trust me--I’m not lying.

Rose, Lacey. Forbes (2005). Articles>Communication>Business Communication

Maintaining Staff Writing Skills

Use these five tips to reinforce the use of good writing strategies at work.

ULiveandLearn.com (2005). Articles>Writing>Business Communication

Make Your Internal Communications Memorable with Strategic Storytelling

Jean-Paul Sartre said, “We understand everything in human life through stories.” I believe that is true. We comprehend better when a message is related in story form, and we also feel a stronger rapport with the person telling the story. Why not use these memorable stories in your internal communications? When you cram too much information into a communication, training session or presentation, you’re doing a data dump on your listener. Nothing sticks. Yet, if you’ve ever had a supervisor tell a story to illustrate a point, you learned the lesson and probably enjoyed the learning process, too.

Stevenson, Doug. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Articles>Business Communication>Workplace>Rhetoric

The Making of a Successful Entrepreneur: Tapping into Drive, Direction, and Common Sense

When Christopher Gergen talks about what it takes to be an entrepreneur, he speaks as someone who's been there, done that, and is still doing it today. In 1994, he left the security of a burgeoning career as a writer for CNN Headline News to move to Santiago, Chile, where he opened a restaurant and bar. That proved to be the first of many business ventures.

Steigman, Daria. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Management

Making Research Actionable: An Introduction to Design Criteria

What happens when people want a company’s product, but are frustrated by the process of trying to get it? Obviously it should be reworked — but doing so can be easier said than done. When we’re asked to redesign a process, we often start by exploring the problem space with in-context research, which generates a large amount of data. That data tends to point teams in the direction of a number of possible solutions. But how should the team decide which direction is the right one? In such cases, I’ve found that Design Criteria — a set of rules a design team can follow — can be a key tool so when a design team creates or reworks a service or product, everything it does supports the user.

Nelson, Sarah B. Adaptive Path (2008). Articles>Research>Design>Business Communication

Making Social Responsibility a Strategy for Business Perpetuation

With intense competition and demands from shareholders, customers and employees, companies need to find ways to stand out from the crowd. Many companies are looking to corporate social responsibility, as a way to do this—by both protecting and enhancing their reputations. Some CSR practitioners are driven by a belief in the company mission and vision, others by top executives, and others see it as public relations and marketing opportunity.

Vale Marques, Juliana. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Public Relations>Case Studies

Making the Business Case for Single Sourcing  

Discusses ways to communicate the financial benefits, customer value, learning and growth opportunities, and internal process improvements made possible by single sourcing.

Hackos, JoAnn T. and Tina Hedlund. ComTech Services (2004). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing>Business Communication

Managing PR to Save Time and Money—While Increasing Results

Public relations tactics are supposed to be cost-effective, but all too often, programs seem to come at a high price tag with questionable returns. This is often due to the fact that too many public relations functions are inefficient and too many programs are not targeted.

Cohen, Ephraim. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Public Relations

Marketing Experiences: The New Event Frontier

Today's audiences are jaded about marketing and savvy about messaging, making it harder than ever for marketers to earn an audience's undivided attention and create a meaningful bond between brand and individual. Whether you're talking about a 10,000-person corporate sales meeting or a multi-city mobile marketing program for consumers, you are more likely to hear words like integration, engagement and participation as criteria for marketing success than terms like impressions and eyeballs.

Domine, Tom. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Marketing

Marketing to Different Generations: Choose Your Message Wisely

There has been a lot of buzz lately about the dynamic created by having four generations in the workforce at once. Dozens of experts, myself included, have spent hours with businesses worldwide to help management better understand how to connect with employees by learning how a generational perspective can color the world and affect business relationships.

Marston, Cam. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Articles>Business Communication>Marketing

Marketing Writer’s Survival Guide  

Marketing writers face project demands and challenges that are different from those in other forms of technical communication. This session will be a highly interactive discussion between the presenters and the participants, sharing tips and techniques for surviving as a marketing writer in all aspects of a marketing communication project.

King, Janice M. and Lawrence D. Kunz. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Business Communication>Marketing

Marketing Writing for Technical Products  

This workshop will examine the types of marketing materials that can give you creative experience. You'll learn how to adapt your skills and subject matter knowledge to these projects, how to plan and develop different types of materials, and how to identify opportunities for new types of communication.

King, Janice M. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Business Communication>Marketing>Technical Writing

Measure Your Reputation Effectively

A good reputation, particularly in an increasingly competitive world, is a must for all companies and organizations. Reputation is a company asset and should always be taken seriously—lose your reputation and you often lose a lot more besides. A good reputation is essential in crisis situations and can help to reduce the impact of negative events and press.

Grant, Nicholas. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Business Communication>Marketing

Measuring Integrated Marketing Communication from Start to Finish

Many companies have taken a limited view of the impact that marketing communication can have on overall corporate objectives, reducing their understanding of the value of marketing communication. One reason for this resistance is that the value of IMC can be complex to measure in a world where marketing usually moves at a dynamic pace and is driven by a changing competitive landscape and seemingly unpredictable shifts in customer attitudes. The potential revenue and customer satisfaction benefits of implementing an IMC program can be so dramatic that companies shouldn't ignore the movement any longer.

Woods, Julie. Communication World Bulletin (2003). Articles>Business Communication>Marketing>Assessment