Association for Business Communication

Assurance of Learning: Implementing a Uniform Assessment Process Across Multiple Sections of a Managerial Communication Course

This case study documents how two business school professors worked together to design and implement a process for uniformly assessing learning outcomes across all sections of a managerial communication course. The study demonstrates and provides examples of the answers to the five questions in the school’s assurance of learning process model. The study also provides prescriptive tips for administrators and instructors on how to avoid the typical pitfalls of implementing an assurance of learning process.

Business Etiquette: New Day, New Time

Business etiquette including communication, ethics, and teamwork has changed considerably over the years. Core values of companies are evolving. Companies now want to be the "place to work". Issues that were once taboo in the business world are no longer. This can be observed in an employee's appearance for example. The once standard business suit has been replaced with casual dress. The normal peer to peer communication has been replaced with upward and downward communication throughout the business organization.

Communicating with the Press Release: Teaching Undergraduates the Basics

Communicating with stakeholders is a concern for every organization. The press release allows firms to convey a message to the public without exorbitant advertising fees and has greater impact than a paid ad because it appears less one-sided. As undergraduates leave academia for the workplace, they become more valuable to employers if they have had practice composing clearly written press releases that achieve the goals of an organization. Teaching the press release allows business communication instructors to reinforce key writing skills such as audience awareness, purpose, clarity, and conciseness. It can be integrated into the syllabus as part of a unit on persuasive writing or taught as a separate genre. Instructors who teach the press release will need to address its core elements: the concept of newsworthiness; conveying the company's main message in the headline and first paragraph; composing in the "inverted pyramid" style typical to journalism; creating compelling quotes for attribution; and designing the document. Classroom activities and assignment ideas are provided.

Communication Strategies for Implementing Organizational Change

This work advances a stronger conceptual and empirical understanding of two broad, conceptual communicative treatments for implementing change: programmatic and participatory. These theoretical approaches are elucidated respectively through established communication models, activities, and strategies advanced by previous scholarship within the communication and business disciplines. In addition, conclusions are drawn about the supposed limitations and benefits of using these change implementation approaches in applied settings. This article concludes with potential strategies for advancing for research in this arena.

CSR Communication: A SME-Oriented Approach

A case study of Danish SME managers’ understanding of CSR and CSR communication conducted in the beginning of 2007 concluded that CSR communication in SMEs is a practice rather than a corporate strategy.

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.

Gender Differences in Employees’ and Students’ Knowledge of Office Politics

Office politics goes on in most work environments. Learning the rules of office politics helps employees of both genders reap the rewards to which they are entitled. As future employees, students must become knowledgeable about office politics to be successful in the world of work.

The Impact of EQ Training on Collaborative Professional Writing

Over the course of each semester, students in 300-level business communication courses can expect to produce a number of various types of messages and reports with emphasis on the psychological development of the message. Although education has traditionally demanded an individual approach to most writing tasks in order to assess student performance, most practitioners in the field of business communication recognize the importance of collaborative writing as a necessary skill in preparing students to enter the job market where teams rather than individuals are the primary work unit.

A Rhetorical Tool and a Link to Composition: The Appeals of Narrative in Professional Writing Pedagogy

Narrative is a valuable genre to use in composition classes to help students understand their own identity, develop writing skills, including understanding how to structure and use personal experience with a rhetorical purpose in an essay or argument. Once they get to upper division writing courses, however, students are exposed to writing that places less emphasis on that personalized, subjective genre and moves toward the impersonal. Such writing limits the use of narrative, which is generally perceived as highly personal and subjective because it generally conveys only the narrator’s perspective. Narrative includes precise details of an event that occurred in the past which are reported in the same order in which they occurred, as well as an observation or evaluation of the information by the narrator.

A Transformative Typology of Pragmatic and Ethical Responses to Common Corporate Crises: Interaction of Rhetorical Strategies, Situational Contingencies, and Influential Stakeholders

Scandals, accidents, product problems, criminal activity, deception or fraud, misconduct, harassment, discrimination, financial or regulatory improprieties, malfeasance, misappropriations, or ethical breaches can not only damage the reputation of corporate executives but can reek financial havoc on the value of a company’s brand 'assets.' When companies face these types of crises they are compelled to act quickly and decisively in order to limit their brand and image losses and seek to repair the 'black eye' to their corporate 'face' as effectively as possible. Although companies will attempt a wide range of actions and messages as symbolic appeals to that organization’s constituent publics, there is little certainty about what types of actions and messages are persuasive.

Uncertainties and Resistance to Change

This paper aims to fill a gap between knowledge and practice about the effectiveness of rhetorical strategies in the communication of change inside large private organizations.

Word Power: Implications for Minority Managerial Candidates

Diversity literature suggests training programs are short term whereas education and development involves a long term comprehensive approach. Proponents of diversity training programs contend that understanding the importance of a diverse workforce creates productive environments in which everyone feels valued, where their talents are used and organizational objectives are met. Critics contend that there is not enough evidence to adequately measure whether implementation of diversity training programs increase organizational financial success.

Identity and Cross-Cultural Communication

In this project special attention is given to legal, commercial, political and institutional discourse used in specific workplaces, analysed from an intercultural perspective. In particular, through an exploration of the international ‘image’ suggested by major social and economic actors, our project aims to improve the understanding of identity-forming features linked to ‘local’ or professional cultures, as communicated by contemporary English in various specialised domains among native and non-native speakers.

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.

Promoting Ethical Practices within Institutions of Higher Education

The public is continually bombarded with cases of wrongful practices in the work environment. As a result, the public has lost confidence in the ability of corporations and institutions of higher education to train individuals to behave in an ethical manner. Ethical practices in corporate America have resulted in institutions of higher education revisiting their ethical practices, which includes creating a learning environment where students develop the necessary skills to become ethical leaders and citizens. Many colleges and universities have adopted codes of ethics that emphasize core ethical principles and standards for their employees.

Some Philosophical Underpinnings for Communication: Western and Eastern Foundations as seen in Commonplace Principles

This paper focuses on one area of Western and Eastern philosophical underpinnings for communication, namely, the use of Commonplaces. However, it needs to be pointed out that we mainly focus on the Western tradition, while making some preliminary references to the Chinese rhetorical tradition since Chinese culture has very rich sources of foundation of rhetoric and communication. However, to our knowledge, ‘Commonplaces’ is a research topic that has been embarked on because of its rich traditions. In particular, we visit this singular concept of Commonplaces in two cultures: First, a brief view of the Western rhetorical tradition relating to definition/theory behind the use of Commonplaces as used in the Classical, Medieval, and the Renaissance world as the basis for communicating either orally or in written form. Second, we will briefly trace some Chinese rhetorical underpinnings of using Commonplaces, philosophies, points of view that mankind could use to communicate better, get along with people in order to achieve both informative and persuasive ends.

Electronic Portfolios: For Assessment and Job Search

Electronic portfolios have slipped silently into colleges and universities as effective assessment tools of student work.

Multilingual Websites with Open Source Content Management Systems

Open source content management systems can be installed free of charge on an entity's servers or web hosting account, and provide a way for organizations to develop multilingual web sites. There are some challenges in finding a good open source content management system, but there are several that can fit a variety of needs. An example CMS is Plone, which has strong support for different languages, and which also integrates tools for managing the translation of content.

The Challenge of Plagiarism Control in Universities and Colleges

The Challenge of Plagiarism Control in Universities and Colleges discusses the complex issues involved with plagiarism such as defining the term and responding to the act of plagiarism. The paper also includes data detailing who is plagiarizing and why. Finally, the paper addresses university protocol and potential for uniformity in the tracking and response of universities and colleges. The perils of not finding a way to limit or eradicate plagiarism further endanger the authenticity of a college degree.

Improving MBA Students’ Communication Proficiency: An Orientation Pilot Study That Incorporates Technology and Plagiarism Issues

This paper describes the progress of an original pilot program that used surveys and reported results from students and faculty concerning student improvement in writing and presentation skills from a convenience sample of courses. Based on the responses to these surveys a pre-test writing instrument and a presentation assessment instrument were designed for and administered to incoming students during their MBA orientation session. Also included in the orientation session were two modules that focused on plagiarism issues and the use of web-based technology for research. This program will be expanded to include post-writing critiques and portfolio communication evaluations.

Juror Information on the Web: A Usability and Design Study of Hispanic Populated Counties in Texas

In response to the initiative of providing juror education materials online, this study proposes that unless Web sites are designed in a usable fashion, initiative could fail to enhance jury response and further aggravate the problem of under-representation by minorities. This study suggests that all online juror information Web sites be analyzed for “usability” if they are to be an effective education tool. Specifically, this study focused on online materials that will reach primarily Hispanic jurors. The state of Texas has 254 counties, of which 187 have Web sites or addresses. For this study, we selected all the counties with a Hispanic population of 50.1% or higher (34 counties). Of those 34 counties, 24 had actual Web sites. Of the 24 counties with Web sites, only five had juror education materials online and so were selected for this study. Prospective jurors were selected from each of the identified counties and were asked to evaluate the Web sites for usability. Participants were asked to visit each of the five Web sites and then complete both an evaluation instrument modified for this study but based on the work of Jonathan Palmer and a checklist of basic Web design guidelines modified for this study but based on the work of Jakob Nielsen. The resulting data will further contribute to the literature for future Web design by counties with a large percentage of Hispanic potential jurors that intend to implement No. 2188.

Predicting Intended Unethical Behavior of Business Students

What is the likelihood that our students will perform unethical behavior in the work environment? This study measures students’ intended behavior for four hypothetical unethical situations by investigating the following determinants: attitude toward the behavior (belief), subjective norm (pressure), perceived behavioral control, perceived personal outcome (benefit), and perceived social acceptance by others. Using the Fishbein model of planned behavior, belief was consistently the most powerful predictor of intent in all four situations. Perceived behavioral control, perceived personal outcome, and perceived social acceptance by others were moderately good predictors of intent. Subjective norm was the weakest predictor of intent.

Teaching Business Communication: Ethical Issues

There has been a growing awareness of unethical practices being utilized by corporate CEOs, managers, and other members of upper management for gain of income or power. Advances in information technology have contributed significantly when making the public aware of wrong doings. Emerging from these real world cases are opportunities to prepare business communication students with transferable communication skills designed to circumvent technological mishaps and/or unethical practices. This paper will discuss how an assignment focusing on ethics and information technology can be used to help students develop their code of ethics regarding professional communication and behavioral practices.

Theory Meets Practice: Using The Potter Box To Teach Business Communication Ethics

This paper introduces the Potter Box, a grounded and easy to use method of ethical decisionmaking. The rationale for this technique is seen in the current crisis in business ethics and education in ethical behavior. The Potter Box was developed by Dr. Ralph Potter, Harvard University theologian, grounded in the work of sociologist Talcott Parsons. This device has been used in assessing journalistic and public relations decisions, but can readily be used in the practice and criticism of business communication. The four portions of the Potter Box are explained in terms of eight explicit steps. A case study is presented for use in the classroom.

This Just In---Managing Corporate Crises in an Electronic Age

Shortly after Martha Stewart was accused by the government of lying to cover up her sale of Imclone stocks, she set up a web site www.marthatalks.com to tell her side of the story Firestone/Bridgestone and Ford took the same step in the wake of their crisis. These corporations and many others use their web sites to tell their own side of the story in a climate where competing news outlets in their rush to be the first to break a story, may sacrifice accuracy. In this paper, we examine the Internet, both as a crisis “activator” as well as an effective tool in crisis management and communication. We use relevant case studies to support the assertion that if used properly, the Internet can be an effective and proactive crisis communication tool.

Work Environment: An Organization's Intangible Asset

Researchers have long proposed that work environment can play an important role in business and organizational communication. A properly designed work environment supports positive communication and therefore relationships among a company’s constituencies and contributes to a satisfied work force and customers. Work environment will ultimately affect the bottom line of the company through its impact on the constituencies. Unfortunately, the impact of the work environment and communication on the financial performance of a company is often overlooked by scholars and practitioners. This paper aims to arouse people’s attention to the impact of work environment on a company’s healthy development by proving that work environment is an essential organizational intangible asset. In this paper, we focus on the intangible value of the work environment, i.e. the tone it sets in a company which either fosters or retards communication, productivity, and job satisfaction. It is incumbent upon communication scholars and practitioners to understand this untapped area of research.

Communication Ability as a Predictor of Job Satisfaction in Managerial and Nonmanagerial Positions

This paper examines the connection between communication ability and job satisfaction. The Social Skills Inventory and the Job Descriptive Index were administered to sixty-eight participants. The mean age of participants was 26.5 (SD=8.84) and mean duration of current employment was 3.89 years (SD=5.67). The results showed a significant correlation between overall social skills and overall job satisfaction. This study also examined how managers and nonmanagers differ when examining the connection between social skills and job satisfaction. The results showed a significant correlation between nonmanager’s ability to interpret verbal and nonverbal messages and their overall job satisfaction.

Evaluating Faculty Research in the Electronic Age: Business School Deans' Perceptions of Publication Formats

Perhaps the most obvious example of innovation in faculty performance is the adoption of new technologies for research. Both administrators and faculty have expressed concern about the role that electronic publications play in their research evaluation systems, particularly in Business Schools, where scholarly publication is often emphasized over other activities. Yet, there appears to be no empirical evidence for the way that electronic journals, conference proceedings, and abstracts are evaluated compared to printed paper versions. Therefore, this study sought to determine how Business School Deans regard the physical form in which their faculty are publishing.

FACE Considerations in Upward Influencing in an Indian Workplace

This study is a first attempt at using Speech Act Theory (SAT), as a way to analyze and explain how upward influence (UI) strategies are performed. Based on SAT and considerations of face, as explained by Brown and Levinson (1987), this study tries to explain UI strategies used by members within an Indian workplace. We carefully selected six examples of UI to demonstrate how SAT can be useful in analyzing UI strategies. We found that even the slightest change in the anticipated degree of willingness or receptivity of the receiver necessitates a change in the strategy to be adopted. Violations of sincerity conditions and/ or inappropriate threats to face create infelicitous conditions and may lead to failed attempts at UI.

From Sentence to Bullet: How to Style a One-Page Résumé for Traction

The one-page MBA résumé has become, in graduate management education, the self-representational document of choice. Sentences are out, bullets are in, details remain. The key is how to detail the bullet to describe, define, and deliver, in non-narrative form, professional achievements and accomplishments. In this paper, I examine samples of raw quasi-narrative descriptions and suggest restyled improvements for single-line bullets that more clearly, precisely, and effectively represent how authors describe their achievements. The raw data come from a data set of some 400 résumés submitted as a task in a studio-based broadcast course on business communication. The authors are mid-level managers in Latin America enrolled in a global MBA program. The paper examines the content and form of the objective, summary, and professional experience sections of the résumé and provides a set of tips for written language use in the résumé.

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.

Our Students' Audiences: What Do Employers and Faculty Really Want?

Business communication courses teach written and oral communication skills with an emphasis on using technology. This study asks 221 South Texas employers and 212 faculty members of a regional university to rate employees’ and students’ communication skill competencies. The survey asked 12 questions—four about written competencies, five on verbal, and three on technology skills. Employers consistently rated employees higher than faculty rated students. The ratings offer implications for the business communication course—basic grammar and punctuation need to be emphasized.

The Power of PowerPoint: Providing MBAs a Leadership Edge

Edward Tufte (2003) argues that PowerPoint is so flawed that it is impossible to communicate anything meaningful using it. The medium is not flawed; the users are. Instead of condemning PowerPoint, we owe it to the MBAs to teach them how to use this powerful communication tool. Knowing how to use PowerPoint effectively can give MBAs a leadership edge. This article discusses what we should be teaching the MBAs to allow them to take advantage of PPT and use it to deliver powerful presentations.

Change Agents or Followers: Analyzing Genres in the Business Writing Classroom

Asking business students to perform a rhetorical analysis of generic conventions may help students gain the confidence to modify those conventions. Research shows that while generic conventions impose constraints, experienced writers also learn they have the agency to modify those conventions to meet the exigency of the rhetorical situation. The article reviews both traditional conceptions of the nature of genre as well as recent research, and describes an assignment which uses genre analysis as a means of teaching students the social nature of generic structures.

The Corporate Web Site as an Image Restoration Tool: The Case of Coca-Cola

In this study, the communication tactics Coca-Cola uses on its Web site to mediate the negative publicity generated by the 1999 Ingram, et al. vs. The Coca-Cola Company lawsuit are examined. Drawing upon Benoit’s theory of image restoration and the metanarration construct of Venette, Sellnow, and Lang (2003), this study analyzes how Coca-Cola uses its Web site to create a secondary narrative that revises the derogatory primary narrative created by the independent media during the lawsuit. The case of Coca-Cola indicates that corporate Web sites can be an especially effective communication tool in the image-restoration phase of a crisis communication campaign.

Critical Inquiry and the Internet: The Urban Legends Assignment

The Internet is quickly becoming the dominant communications medium in this country. As such, it warrants the same type of critical examination as television and the news media. This paper explores integrating urban legends as a critical thinking component in communication courses that focus on electronic media.

A Critique of Grammatical Coverage in Business-Communication Textbooks

Business English (BE) and business communication (BC) overlap. English handles linguistic mechanics and style, whereas communication holistically discusses the movement of a message from one person to another. The BC discipline, unfortunately, allows language basics into its pedagogy like a statistics course teaching fundamental mathematics. From the other side, some English courses teach BC before their students are able to handle that material. A subject teaches prepared students. If they are deficient, they are either kept out or the subject matter suffers.

The Emerging Role of Emotional Intelligence in Business Communication Classes

Communication is a major component of emotional intelligence models. While we teach persuasive writing, presentations, bad news, good news, and you orientation in our business communication classes, to date we have not looked at the effects emotional intelligence has on our teaching. Emotional intelligence encompasses all areas that we teach in business communication. The purpose of this paper is to show how emotional intelligence is a part of what makes some people good business communicators and others poor ones. If we knew which students had a high-level or which had a low level of emotional intelligence, hypothetically that information could help us teach business communication concepts more efficiently in our classrooms.

Enhancing Competence, Cooperation, and Confidence by Strengthening Communication Skills of Diverse Workers

This article explains how strengthening communication skills of our diverse workers could enhance competence, cooperation, and confidence in the workplace. A study focusing on language barriers was used to emphasize how variations in communication can, if not handled properly, escalate into conflicts in the workplace. Findings from the study that negatively affect productivity: lack of adequate training, lack of awareness of the culture of diverse groups and the perception that some were being subjected to racism and stereotypes are discussed.

Forming Perceptions of Entrepreneurial Discourse: The Effectiveness of Oral or Transcribed Communication

This paper explores the possibility that trained business communication professionals might perceive differentially the quality of the identical entrepreneurial presentations, depending on whether they are in audio or print form. By conducting a comparative analysis of heard and read versions of these speeches, we uncovered evidence which frames the following discourse. Results point to the variables which shape either (1) oral communication with an immediately- present audience, or (2) written transcripts with a distanced or imagined set of readers. This has aided us in identifying the funding for new ventures.

Meeting the Challenges of Grading Online Business Communication Assignments

Marking and grading assignments submitted in an online environment require the use of different methods than the traditional on-campus counterpart. The best method to accomplish this marking and grading depends on personal preference and the accessibility of various hardware and software choices. These choices include printing and hand marking papers, using word processing software, Adobe Acrobat software, or specialty software designed specifically for marking writing assignments. Each of the choices has advantages and disadvantages.

Merging Business Communication with Technology: Developing Successful Multimedia Modes for Distance Delivery

Learning no longer has to depend solely on text resources when learners have access to multimedia resources and developing technologies. The lecture is now encapsulated and available for replay and, like a novel, provides the user with direction not just destination. This paper highlights how technology adds value to the academic learning experience/environment for business communication with a focus upon televised courses, streaming videos, instant messaging and Web-based resources. Implications for the learning experience are: (1) oral and written language use become more dynamic; (2) learner outcomes are audience- and message-centered; and, (3) content instruction is analytical.

Topic-Raising in Tutoring Sessions Involving Writing Tutors and Engineering Students

The paper examines whether writing tutors control the subject matter discussed in tutoring sessions with engineering students, topic-raising in six tutoring sessions was analyzed. Over 81% of the topics were raised by tutors, suggesting tutors control subject matter. To examine the subject matter that tutors and students focused upon, topics were categorized by type. Over 55% of the topics raised were related to sentence clarity, conciseness, and mechanics. Tutors and students also raised topics related to content, rhetorical situation, and textual organization and formatting. Writing tutors and engineering students focus on sentence-level issues even though students might benefit from more attention to discourse-level issues.

Using Customer Loyalty as a Platform for Teaching Written, Oral, and Team-Based Business Communication

For many students, their role as customers is their most significant interface with the business world. They understand, at some level, the organizational importance of building customer loyalty for the success of companies. Building on that understanding can provide a context that amplifies their knowledge of business and reinforces the value of effective communication. Using the organizational goal of building customer loyalty as a framework for class discussion and activities gives instructors a real-world rationale that brings the world of business into communication courses. This fresh approach shows you ways to focus student writing, presentations, and group process assignments around the theme of evaluating and improving customer loyalty.

Web Development: A Missing Link in Business Communication Textbooks?

This paper compares the treatment of Website development in business communication textbooks to that in technical communication textbooks. Compared to technical communication textbooks, those in business communication give relatively little attention to Website development. We suggest that graduates of business communication courses may require some background in Website development in order to perform or oversee Website development activities effectively once they enter professional positions. Given these situations, we outline core concepts and competencies related to Website development for students in business communication.

ABC Intercultural Committee

The Intercultural Committee of the Association for Business Communication is a resource for the members of the organization: to promote awareness of intercultural and international differences and similarities; to foster excellence in intercultural business communication research; to honor and celebrate cultural diversity in classrooms, in businesses, and in corporations; and to allow for different culture-driven communication styles.

BizCom Discussion Group

The BizCom Discussion Group focuses on issues and concerns related to business communication research, pedagogy, and practice.

Business Communication Quarterly

Business Communication Quarterly is a refereed journal devoted to the teaching of business communication, which is a broad, interdisciplinary field. It is also international, and thus the journal aims to present the field from that international perspective.

Association for Business Communication

The Association for Business Communication (ABC) is an international organization committed to fostering excellence in business communication scholarship, research, education, and practice.