Meeting Student Needs by Incorporating a Career Planning Lab into a Managerial Communication Course: A Case Study  

This case study documents how a small business school, as part of a strategic planning initiative to improve career services, added a career planning lab to an existing managerial communication course. The lab guides students through a series of self-directed activities such as reading assignments, worksheets, Internet site visits, and completion of instruments. The process results in a summary document and a targeted resume that are reviewed during a one-on-one meeting with the school’s academic advisor and graded for course credit. The study includes a summary of student evaluations along with reflections on lessons learned.

May, Gary L. Association for Business Communication (2005). Articles>Education>Business Communication

Members' Tips for Writing a Compelling White Paper  

It takes time and a strong focus to create a solid white paper, according to TechRepublic members who shared tips and insight about white paper creation. Find out what should be your first step and your last for a successful effort.

Mottl, Judith N. TechRepublic (2003). Articles>Business Communication>Writing>White Papers

Memos

A memo is a concise document that conveys essential information about your accomplishment(s). All memos at Ohio University should be written in third person.

Young, V.L. and K.J. Sampson. Ohio University (2004). Articles>Writing>Business Communication>Technical Writing

Mentally Correct Product Promo Priorities

Use reponsivity to command or coax customers into acting on your offer.

Streight, Steven. Blogger.com (2004). Articles>Business Communication>Marketing

Messy Problems and Lay Audiences: Teaching Critical Thinking Within the Finance Curriculum    

This article investigates the critical thinking difficulties of finance majors when asked to address ill-structured finance problems. The authors build on previous research in which they asked students to analyze an ill-structured investment problem and recommend a course of action. The results revealed numerous critical thinking weaknesses, including a failure to address the client's problem, use analytical tools systematically, construct rhetorically useful graphics, or translate finance concepts and methodologies into lay language. The present research aims to understand more deeply why students struggle with ill-structured problems. Using think-aloud protocols, audiotaped interviews, and other strategies, the authors explore causes of finance students' difficulties and suggest strategies for addressing them. The results suggest that the homework tasks typically given them, such as quantitative problem sets using algorithmic procedures, do not prepare them to confront ill-structured problems requiring disciplinary arguments aimed at specified audiences. Research further suggests that teaching audience adaptation--especially for nonexpert audiences--is helpful in promoting critical thinking.

Carrithers, David, Teresa Ling and John C. Bean. Business Communication Quarterly (2008). Articles>Education>Financial>Business Communication

Mirror, Mirror

A few months ago, I read with interest an article that indicated that executives are influenced more by the court of public opinion as a catalyst for making positive behavior changes than they are by even a court of law. So what contribution do we make to this discussion, as public relations and media relations practitioners? Do we shove our heads in the sand and say, "It's not up to us to influence the ethical behavior of our internal and external clients"?

Bergman, Eric. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Public Relations>Ethics

The Mission Statement: A Corporate Reporting Tool With a Past, Present, and Future    

This article discusses a comprehensive study of the mission statements of Fortune 1000 higher-performing and lower-performing firms to assess the current state of the mission statement. After content analysis of these firms' mission statements, the components included for these two groups of firms were compared. The higher-performing firms included eight of the nine recommended components more often than did the lower-performing firms, and the differences were significant for three of those components. Also, using textual analysis methods, this study identified strategies employed by these firms to create a strong identity--or internal ethos--and image--or external ethos. The two groups used somewhat similar strategies for building corporate identities and images but differed in the values they emphasized and the goodwill recipients they targeted.

Stallworth Williams, Linda. JBC (2008). Articles>Business Communication

More Than Just Finding Policy Documents

Corporate policy documents have had a long and difficult history within many organisations. While much effort has been put into creating and maintaining them, they are often more ignored than followed. This briefing looks at the role of corporate policies within an organisation, and the need to better communicate their message to staff.

Robertson, James. Step Two (2004). Articles>Business Communication>Policies and Procedures

Mythmaking in Annual Reports    

Annual reports produced today increasingly include elaborate photographs and graphics in the narrative section. Financial analysts and many scholars have judged these reports on their clarity, accuracy, and honesty. Because the narrative invites interpretations, such criteria are not sufficient, and additional standards need to be constructed. A semiological analysis of the textual and visual elements allows for the discovery of the techniques used by document designers to promote their companies' values. Artistic images may encourage positive readings of annual reports, which, combined with similar messages in other media and repeated over time, invoke cultural myths. By definition, myths are broadly accepted commonplaces that conceal details of their subject, and communicators must expose the missing details and judge the myth within a specific context. This kind of analysis, acknowledging the constraints of the rhetorical situation of a single report, can identify effective criteria for judging the narrative's ethics.

David, Carol. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2001). Articles>Business Communication>Reports

The Myths and Methods of Reputation Measurement

If you are concerned about your reputation and want to measure its health, here's what to do. Get the communication people in your organization together in a room and get consensus on what you want to measure and which constituencies are your top priorities. Determine how a good relationship with each of those constituencies benefits your organization. Your success is measured by achieving those benefits. Figure out what you will be measuring and what benchmarks you will be measuring against. Undertake the appropriate research and voila, you'll have the answers you need.

Paine, Katie. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Business Communication>Public Relations>Assessment

Narrativity and Professional Communication: Folktales and Community Meaning    

Narrative has been neglected in the education of professionals. The persuasive power of narrative is essential to all the sense-making activities that govern the lives of professionals, for in sense making, they are regularly using narrative. The central example here is the O. J. Simpson legal defense that was organized within the narrative frame of Simpson's story. The authors compare his story with a famous Norwegian folktale to illustrate the role narratives play in amplifying the values of a community. Using Propp's structural analysis of the folktale, they deconstruct the Simpson trial, which reveals implications of the narrative paradigm for the professional.

Kelly, Christine and Michele Zak. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (1999). Articles>Business Communication>Community Building

The Nature, Classification, and Generic Structure of Proposals    

A study of forty current business/technical/professional writing textbooks suggests that little disciplinary agreement exists about what proposals are and how they differ from some kinds of reports; how the various types of proposals should be classified; and what structural features characterize the genre. Though many texts blur the distinction between proposals and internal recommendation reports, the two are never the same. The textbooks present a bewildering array of classification systems, often failing to distinguish between situation and function. A function-based system could divide all proposals into two categories - analytic (research proposals, R&D proposals, and consulting proposals) and service/product, with bids representing a special case. The lack of disciplinary agreement also makes it difficult for textbook users to internalize a generic structure that will serve for all proposal-writing tasks. Such a structure would include the following: situation, objectives, methods, qualification, costs, and benefits. The major advantages of such a generic structure are its slots, which make it like a schema; its event sequence, which makes it like a script; and its ability to help writers and teachers understand the relationship among the macropropositions that exist explicitly or implicitly in all proposals.

Freed, Richard C. and David D. Roberts. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (1989). Articles>Business Communication>Proposals>Genre

Nearly Everyone Uses It, and So What?

Occasionally a prospective client comes to me very enthusiastic about getting publicity and declares that she envisions coverage in every major newspaper in the country and on every network broadcast. After all, her logic runs, our product is something everyone uses. "Whoa!" I reply. "That's not enough of a reason for the media to do a story. Nearly everyone uses a toothbrush and a wallet of one sort or another, but how often do you see stories about either of those items in the papers or on the nightly news? Prevalence doesn't mean interesting or timely. So let's brainstorm about what would entice the media to consider something about your item 'newsworthy.'"

Yudkin, Marcia. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Articles>Business Communication>Public Relations

Negotiation Techniques

Most of us are involved in negotiating in some form or other on a daily basis. Here is a look at the process of negotiation and tips you can use to improve your technique as you progress through the process.

Harris, Kerri. Writing Assistance (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Collaboration>Workplace

New Disclosure Regulations May Spur Better Communication With Employees

Within the past five years, two significant pieces of legislation have created new challenges for communicators: Regulation Fair Disclosure and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. While these laws were enacted only in the U.S., their implications for communicators worldwide are worthy of discussion.

Matalucci, Paul. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Business Communication>Financial

The New Email Law and You

If you are using email to market your small business, here's what you need to know about the new spam law, the CAN-SPAM Act, which went into effect on January 1st.

Benun, Ilise. Creative Latitude (2004). Articles>Business Communication>Email

New Media Answers Old Questions for CEOs

How do you scare a CEO? Whisper the words "new media" and wait for the trembling to begin. But new media can also help CEOs address old issues in their role as chief communicators for their organizations.

Furiga, Paul. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Articles>Management>Business Communication>Social Networking

Old Claims with a New Twist: E-Harassment in the Workplace

Many companies carry out portions of their business via an intranet or the Internet. Other companies grant access to the Internet to some, if not all, employees. The ease with which these systems allow employees to communicate with each other and with the outside world presents obvious business advantages. Unfortunately, employers now realize that the advantages gained by these technologies bring with them the risk of a new wave of harassment claims based on the alleged misuse of these modes of communication. In order to reduce these claims, or at least attempt to minimize exposure to such claims, employers will have to adjust to meet the new dynamics of a changing workplace.

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

Organizing for Effective Communication During a Crisis

Little of existing risk communication advice addresses the management of the communication function during a crisis as opposed to before a crisis. Drawing from my own career experiences, I think it important to address the former.

Freimuth, Vicki S. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Risk Communication>Crisis Communication

An Outline for a Course in Report Writing for Company Executives    

A case study about a continuing education course in Report Writing for company executives.

Chapdu, Robert E. Business Communication Quarterly (1969). Articles>Business Communication>Reports

Overcoming Barriers in Developing Conversation Skills: A Pedagogical Perspective  

This paper examines the relevance of culture to language learning, the meaning and the structure of conversation, the obstacles in developing good conversation skills, the impact of these obstacles on students’ communication skills in the first part of the paper. The second part describes the class-room based project carried out during the spring semester 2007, and reports the findings.

Inguva, Meena Lochana. Association for Business Communication (2007). Articles>Education>Business Communication

Paper at Its Peak: The Myth of the Myth of the Paperless Office

Anyone who writes for a living can, like me, describe a long love-hate relationship with paper as the conveyer of the written word. There's something physically appealing about putting pen to paper, as there is about picking up and reading a well-produced bound document.

Garrison, Ronald W. Carolina Communique (2007). Articles>Workplace>Business Communication>Paper

Paradigm Dissonance: A Significant Factor in Design and Business Problems

Identifying paradigm dissonance as a source of problems isn't new, but creating a framework for dealing with this problem in a business and design environment moves this idea in a new direction.

Withrow, Jason and Mark Geljon. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Articles>Business Communication>Rhetoric

A Paradox in Shaping Corporate Reputation

Why are some companies regularly recognized as the nation’s most admired even when their across-the-board performance is inconsistent? Why are other companies that demonstrate solid, consistent performance often ignored? In two words, the answer is awareness and performance. Wal-Mart ranked at the top in a number of corporate reputation lists, yet the company was dogged by the discovery of undocumented workers in their stores. How does a company such as Wal-Mart succeed in light of such news?

Weiner, Mark. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Articles>Business Communication>Public Relations>Marketing

The Perception of Communication Related Value-Added Educational Activities: A Survey of Graduate Business Students    

The purpose of this article is to evaluate value-add methods and activities applied to organizational communication college-level course work. Graduate organizational communication faculty are aware that their classes serve as direct preparation for students entering business and professional careers. The knowledge learned and the skills acquired in these communication classes are abilities that students take with them to the career marketplace. As such, instructors look for ways to extend the boundaries of the classroom beyond the text and traditional instruction. Faculty believe that each method selected adds value to the educational experiences of students. However, do these methods and activities truly add value to the educational experience as the instructors hope they will? Furthermore, are specific programs more valuable than others?

Barker, Randolph T. and Robert H. Stowers. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2007). Articles>Business Communication>Education