Developing Policies About Uncivil Workplace Behavior    

Workplace incivility, including aggression and bullying, is a troubling phenomenon. Uncivil behaviors not only harm individuals but also diminish employee performance and sometimes result in legal action against companies. Thus, it behooves organizations and management to become vigilant and responsive to such behaviors. Yet the evidence shows that with the recent exception of attempted legislation in Hawaii (Chiem, 2007), few companies or jurisdictions in the United State have policies and procedures aimed at addressing uncivil behavior. This article outlines some points to consider when developing policies to counteract uncivil behavior in the workplace. In the process, we incorporate the views of two corporate representatives (a diversity manager at Georgia Power, a human resource manager at PepsiCo) and an attorney with the U.S. military. Developing a Policy About Uncivil Behavior Any organization wishing to develop a policy about uncivil behavior should establish a task force or committee representing various categories of employees. These members may serve as liaisons to their units. Here are some points for the group to consider in creating the policy: Define Uncivil Behavior There will likely be much discussion as committee members try to develop a definition, but this is necessary to create a policy.

Bandow, Diane and Debra Hunter. Business Communication Quarterly (2008). Articles>Business Communication>Policies and Procedures>Workplace

The Development of Transitional Writers: The Role of Identification Strategies in Workplace Writing Competence  

Studies of transitional writers (between the classroom and workplace) in nonacademic settings.

Wegner, Diana. Rhetor (2004). Articles>Business Communication>Rhetoric

The Digital Debate: Should CEOs Blog?

A debate continues to rage about how important and influential media such as blogs, podcasts and social networking sites really are. At the heart of this debate is the question, Is the blogosphere really an appropriate place for executives and others in positions of power who have everything to lose?

Cody, Steve. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Articles>Management>Business Communication>Blogging

Directives Do Right: Writing for the "Mounties"  

Coates's job as a senior writer and editor for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is full of variety and challenges.

Coates, Melanie. Intercom (2006). Careers>Business Communication>Case Studies

Disciplinary Style Manuals as Reliable Guides to Scientific Discourse Norms    

Style manuals sponsored by professional associations in various scientific disciplines have received virtually no scholarly attention. These manuals, however, specify many disciplinary discourse norms that writers need to follow in publishing scientific research. Consequently, these manuals provide an important and reliable source of information about how communities of working scientists conceptualize, construct, and publish their scientific texts. The disciplinary norms that these style manuals promulgate derive both from general scientific research practices and from the practical demands of scientific publishing. Because of their unique normative nature and their connection with scientific practice, disciplinary style manuals should be categorized separately from other types of scientific style manual, and the material they contain can reliably be used in technical writing and editing.

Hagge, John. Technical Communication Online (1997). Articles>Scientific Communication>Style Guides

Distinguishing Characteristics of Medical Writing  

Medical writers and editors need to understand medicine as a discipline, its nature as a science, its humanitarian rather than commercial goal of alleviating pain and suffering, the sensitive nature of some subjects, and the reduced or distorted cognitive abilities of some patients. They need to understand medical terminology, the nature of truth, the scientific method, the primary research paper, numbers, probability, risk, statistical significance, and some specific language issues.

Zoll, Mary. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Scientific Communication>Biomedical

Diverse Voices and Alternative Rationalities: Imagining Forms of Postcolonial Organizational Communication    

Argues that the subdiscipline or community of organizational communication scholars is also imagined, as much organizational communication scholarship conducted within the global context is performed and interpreted from the dominant Euro-American intellectual tradition, privileging those concepts as well as particular voices and traditions and often ignoring inequality and exploitation within the scholarly community. This forgetting and the imagined scholarly community it creates continue to reify and legitimate a particular form of rationality and, in practice, lead to further colonization, subordination, and oppression of native/indigenous/other forms of understanding and organizing within our disciplinary field.

Broadfoot, Kirsten J. and Debeashish Munshi. Management Communication Quarterly (2007). Articles>Workplace>Organizational Communication>Ethnographies

Divide a Sales Letter Into Hook, Line and Sinker

A writer/sales trainer tells how to structure effective sales letters and avoid common mistakes. Many sales letters fail not because of content but because of poor structure.

Writing that Works (2003). Articles>Business Communication>Correspondence

Do the Right Project!  

Offers an approach to achieving 'Quality of Service' that emphasizes the importance of understanding your customer's business problems, soliciting active customer involvement, and employing prototyping techniques to create cost-effective solutions. A new definition of quality has also emerged.

Zwaska, Bob. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Business Communication>Quality

Documentation for Sarbanes-Oxley

In the financial end of business, more work is being done with documentation, thanks to Sarbanes-Oxley and financial accountability.

KeyContent.org (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Documentation

Documentation Methods for AACSB Learning Assurances  

In 2003, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) redefined their accreditation and reaffirmation standards to move from a traditional outcome-based system to a systematic process-based review. Documentation is required to assure student learning in several core areas, including communication. This paper outlines the data collection procedures and documentation methods used to document one university’s business communication learning assurances.

Gueldenzoph, Lisa E. Association for Business Communication (2008). Articles>Documentation>Education>Business Communication

Does Time Equal Money in the Business Case?

The most frequently used calculation in business case analysis is the 'Time = Money' equation, where Benefits = (time saved) * (the cost of labor). Using this equation blindly, however, can result in seriously overstated benefits.

Solution Matrix (2005). Articles>Business Communication>Business Case

Does Your CEO Have Spokesperson Deficit Disorder (SDD)?

It's an all-too-common ailment, a not-so-silent killer of corporate reputation—often going undiagnosed even when the symptoms are evident. Early symptoms include negative or weak media coverage, "misquotes" and interviews that go off track. Although it can strike at any level within an organization, Spokesperson Deficit Disorder, or SDD, is perhaps most damaging if left untreated at the CEO level. So what can you do if your CEO suffers from this dreadful condition?

Gibson, Barbara. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Articles>Business Communication>Management

Doin' That Old Two-Step: A System for Getting Your Writing Right

Here's an awful question: "What is good writing?" When we run writing workshops for businesspeople, we often begin by asking for the characteristics of good writing versus bad writing. The first list typically contains words like simple, clear, accessible, concise, lively and conversational. The second list is on the flip side of the coin, with participants describing bad writing as complex, wordy, confusing, illogical, full of jargon and having no clear purpose.

Canavor, Natalie and Claire Meirowitz. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Business Communication>Writing

Don't be a Researcher: Be a Finder!

One of the fascinating things about science is just how many breakthroughs have come from mixing the knowledge provided by entirely different disciplines, and I suspect that this lesson has yet to be learned in our own discipline of scientific communication. Technical writers have been grappling with the issues of rhetoric, audience analysis, and usability testing for years, and have developed effective solutions and techniques for addressing these issues. Scientific communicators have largely ignored these breakthroughs and clung to our familiar models of communication.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Geoff-Hart.com (1998). Articles>Scientific Communication

Dos and Don'ts of Branding

Corporate brands are built by countless interactions between people - customers and clients, suppliers and distributors, shareholders and communities, and one another. If your brand does not reflect your people in a way that makes them proud and passionate, they will not deliver the brand experience in the marketplace. Some do's and don'ts for corporate branding.

Riese, Tracey G. Communication World Bulletin (2003). Articles>Business Communication>Marketing

Drawing to Learn Science: Legacies of Agassiz    

The use of visual representation to learn science can be traced to Louis Agassiz, Harvard Professor of Zoology, in the mid-19th century. In Agassiz's approach, students were to study nature through carefully observing, drawing and then thinking about what the observations might add up to. However, implementation of Agassiz's student-centered approach has struggled with the conflict between science as a form of developing "mental discipline" in which mastery of scientific facts is the goal and science learning as a socially situated activity with an emphasis on the process of learning, not merely its products. Present-day attempts to have students draw to learn science often succumb to these same conflicts, limiting their full realization.

Lerner, Neal. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2007). Articles>Scientific Communication>Technical Illustration>History

Drug Information Association: XML Resources for Life Sciences Pro

The Drug Information Association (DIA) has compiled a series of useful articles designed to help you understand XML and related technologies. Don't worry! You don't have to be an IT guru to understand XML. The resources provided are written in laymen's terms and geared towards life sciences professionals, but may prove beneficial to professionals in other industries and vertical markets.

Rockley, Ann. Rockley Group, The (2004). Articles>Content Management>Scientific Communication>Biomedical

Dumbing Down vs. Simplicity

Never assume that describing something in basic, simple, fundamental terms will annoy your audience. Dumbing down is a form of distortion and possibly deception. Simplifying and clarifying are forms of altruistic communication. Find out more about the differences between "dumbing down" and simplifying and clarifying...and how to decide how simple an explanation should be.

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

E-Communication Resource Links

E-Communication is quickly becoming the primary avenue for many individuals and businesses to distribute and access information. Understanding the legal and practical applications of e-communication is essential for maximizing the use of this emergent trend. Below are links related to various aspects of e-communication, including legal issues, e-marketing and spam.

Grundland, Tamara. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Resources>Business Communication>Online

E-Mail is Dead

What did the kids say? Email is dead. It's hanging on as a mode of communication for adults (that's us) and within businesses. Kids will even use it to communicate with adults. But for the majority of kids, email has been replaced by two things: text messaging and social networks.

Lentz, Michelle. Write Technology (2007). Articles>Business Communication>Correspondence>Email

E-tiquette: Rules of the Road  

Hay-Roe presents nine rules for writing clear, concise e-mail messages.

Hay-Roe, Hugh. Intercom (2001). Articles>Business Communication>Correspondence>Email

Easy Public Relations with Online Tools

Shoestring-budget heroes, rejoice. The Internet offers many inexpensive opportunities to deliver better public relations results in our broadband-driven universe. No doubt, emerging concepts such as corporate blogging, podcasting or immersive web content (like "advergames") can produce their fair share of angst. But let's not forget to explore simple web-based tools available to large and small organizations alike.

Heule, Nandy. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Public Relations>Online

Edelman's Perfect (Blog) Storm

In early March, The New York Times ran a story with the headline "Wal-Mart enlists bloggers in PR campaign." While the story itself is of interest as an example of how some PR agencies increasingly see blogs as legitimate communication channels, it is of greater interest to look at what the Edelman PR agency did in this specific case acting on behalf of their client—what went right and, more important, what didn't.

Hobson, Neville. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Blogging>Case Studies