Business Communication Curriculum Research Articles

Back to basics – grammar focus in teaching business negotiations

Negotiations are generally acknowledged as a phenomenon pertaining to all aspects of life. Whether in relation to power and persuasion, to culture and non-verbal communication, falling into various categories, depending on their nature or purpose, negotiations will probably never cease to be a core topic in any Business Communication curriculum. Nonetheless, grammar focus has been rather overshadowed by LSP specialists’ growing interest in fluency, culture and emotional intelligence-related aspects. The aim of this paper is to mark a return to the importance of grammar in teaching negotiation skills by identifying some means to integrate it within the curriculum and to ensure its successful acquisition among business students.

Feature on Teaching: Bringing an Entrepreneurial Lens to the Business Communication Course

Instructors face myriad competing demands for topical coverage in their courses, while navigating pressure to teach in varied modalities and meet employers’ expectations for graduates. Starting from a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning framework, this article contributes to the bridging-the-gap literature by addressing local employers’ needs and proposing an entrepreneurship-based approach to business communication curriculum.

Low-Resource Digital Video: A Pedagogical Necessity for Modern Business Communication

Despite its ubiquity across business contexts, video creation is a rarity in business communication curricula. This article is intended to offer the field of business communication education both a rationale and mechanism by which to better align with modern business communication practice. Part 1 provides a comprehensive demonstration of the pervasive uses of video in business, including statistical evidence, genre examples, and analysis of the medium’s communicative value. Part 2 (and subsequent appendices) then empowers the business communication educator to implement the change suggested in Part 1 by way of a turnkey assignment easily adaptable across business courses.

Hiring Managers’ Impressions of Business Communication’s Legitimacy

Data from a survey of 864 executives and managers with hiring authority suggest that business communication has external legitimacy regardless of program sponsorship and that hiring managers favor courses that comprise the business communication curriculum, such as public speaking, leadership, business management, and interpersonal communication. Findings from the study can give students guidance when selecting coursework electives and writing résumés, guide faculty in making curricular and advertising decisions, and support the legitimacy of the business communication curriculum.

Consequences of Sharing Invisible Chronic Health Conditions at Work: Implications for Business Communication Education and Training

Objectives: The present investigation sought to identify whether there was a need to add health diversity training into business communication curriculum and workplace trainings. Methods: Individuals in the United States with chronic invisible illnesses, lifelong illnesses which are concealable, were surveyed to understand their experiences disclosing their health conditions at work. Qualtrics was used to obtain a random sample and distribute the online questionnaire. This method of solicitation resulted in 298 participants. Results: Nearly half of the participants (48.99%) reported negative experiences, ranging from social faux pas to bullying, after disclosing their health condition to a colleague. This paper provides a typology of eight negative experiences these individuals were subjected to after the disclosure of their health condition. Further, statistically significant patterns were identified that revealed that women and individuals with “other” invisible chronic illnesses were most likely to experience resentment from coworkers after their condition became known, individuals with musculoskeletal conditions were likely to experience an unwanted reduction of work, individuals in the medical field were more likely to experience bullying and social withdrawal by colleagues, and individuals in sales were more likely to have their abilities questioned. Conclusions: The data suggests the need to add health diversity training into business communication courses and workplace training. In particular, it seems that there is a need to train individuals on the management of coworkers’ health information and the treatment of individuals who have revealed an illness.

Simulation Rhetoric and Activity Theory: Experiential Learning in Intercultural Simulations

In the field of intercultural business and technical communication, intercultural communication has been a regular topic in curriculum for decades; various teaching approaches exist for developing students’ cultural awareness and helping them achieve a theoretical understanding about the concept of culture, cultural differences, and cultural conflict. But quite often teaching and learning are limited in the classroom context, although it is true that study abroad programs are available for a small group of students. As a result, students do not have enough opportunities to interact with members of other cultures, which limits students’ potentials for gaining intercultural competence. This study explores the rhetorical nature of simulations, defines the perspective of using activity theory as a framework to understand the learning process occurring in simulations, and provides an intercultural simulation example to explain how instructors can incorporate simulations into the business and technical communication curriculum.

Trends in Business Communication Research, Teaching, and Academic Societies in Korean Higher Education

Objectives This paper investigates the contemporary academic trend in business communication in Korea. It tries to address the question of whether Korean business communicators are teaching business communication, and if they are, which kinds of business communication they teach, which traditions they follow, and how the teaching trend is projected to research trends in business communication in Korea. Methods This study first examines web content on business communication curricula and then conducts a content analysis of the websites of Korean communication associations as well as related qualitative interviews with professors whose academic interest is related to business communication in order to address some particular research questions. Results This study shows that business communication education in Korean universities (in communications departments) has a lack of variety (i.e., a predominance of organizational communication and media studies) and that actual business communication education (with an emphasis on language use in business contexts) is not done in courses titled Business Communication. Conclusions Nevertheless, interviewees expect a bright future for Korean business communication in both teaching and research (i.e., increasing the number of business communication courses to conduct a government-funded research project; establishing academic associations focusing on business and professional communication).

Social Justice in the Business and Professional Communication Curriculum

Social Justice in the Business and Professional Communication Curriculum

Understanding and Using the Relationships Between Business and Professional Communication and Public Relations

Aspects of research and pedagogy from the public relations discipline can benefit the business and professional communication instructor seeking new dimensions for the business and professional communication classroom. Elements of public relations (PR) found in Association for Business Communication articles and journals may be incorporated in the business and professional communication curriculum, but we lack a systematic overview of the overlaps between PR and business communication theory and practice. This article is a practical guide for instructors wanting to add PR content to their curriculum. It presents respective theoretical origins, media reliance similarities, common perspectives, overlaps of academic challenges for legitimacy and respectability, and potential classroom applications.

The compatible modelling of teaching business communication in Indian B-schools: a framework

The significance of communication is unanimously accepted and universally acknowledged. The business practitioners have also realised the cardinality of strong communication to run and flourish a business successfully. Even for students of management, a strong communication skill is a foremost prerequisite. The reputed B-schools are propelling best of their efforts through constant up gradation of its business communication curriculum to prepare the workforce which can match today’s corporate communicational requirement. The present paper, as an outcome of perpetual study and research in the area of business communication, suggests conceptual models to facilitate the training on communication which will be imperatively benefiting to the facilitators who teach business communication in the management colleges and also to the panels who revise and plan the syllabus of this subject and this will surely lead to make the teaching of business communication more focused as needed and desired.

Exploratory Study of Most Critical Business Communication Skills

It has been observed that business communication plays a crucial role in the corporate world. The corporate executives need to demonstrate exceptional communication skills while performing their job roles, which helps them in reaching a sovereign position in this competitive business environment. The main intendment of this paper is to identify the essential attributes for business communication skills so that B-Schools can develop business communication curriculum and teaching methodology for their students which is most suited to contemporary corporate aspirations and anticipations. For the identification of the most significant attributes on communication skills, we formed an expert panel by taking senior corporate executives from the industry. We selected those attributes which were categorized as critical or important by more than 60% of the panel members. As a result we were able to finalize a list of 41 Business Communication attributes that are valued by the corporate executives. With these findings, B-Schools and their faculty members will have a clear view of the corporate expectation / requirements of business communication skills. Academicians can integrate these attributes and develop the course curriculum accordingly so that it can be benchmarked with corporate expectations. Students can also have a clear cut understanding on what communication skills are required in the corporate world so that they can prepare themselves with the desired attributes.

A Picture Speaks a Thousand Words

In the last issue of Business Communication Quarterly, my editorial was entitled “We All Like to Hear Stories.” For this issue, my theme is “A Picture Speaks a Thousand Words.” Those of us who are in the business of persuading audiences know the value of visuals, and how one picture can effectively capture an entire problem. Photographs, for example, have become iconic representations of major historical events. Who can forget Huỳnh Cong Ut picture of Kim Phuc, taken some 40 years ago, showing a 9-year-old girl crying and running after a napalm attack? This photograph, which won a Pulitzer prize, became an emblem for how civilians, especially children, suffered through the war in Vietnam. The photographer and his subject today have reunited and have told their story all over the world; she started the Kim Foundation International, whose mission is “healing children of war” (http://www.kimfoundation.com/). Given the power of visual representations, it is not surprising that many scholars have recently turned their attention to graphic narratives, which can become remarkable sites of pedagogical inquiry. These forms of writing can help learners and writers become more active participants in their discourse communities. Our first article this issue explores the potential of graphic novels to produce positive learning outcomes. The authors suggest that they are powerful but underutilized tools for teaching business and professional communication. We would like to see more research in this area, especially since the results to date are so promising. Our second article examines students’ reactions to a contemporary simulation infused in the business communication curriculum. I actually experienced the authors’ simulation at a conference in Philadelphia, and I can report that it is an excellent learning experience. The first part of the article presents the design and implementation of a business communication simulation, and the second part describes and analyzes students’ reactions. Continuing a focus on real-world practice, our third article describes a successful simulation project focused on a university crisis. Students were expected to apply communication and linguistic theory to manage communication in a crisis situation; students reported that they learned a great deal and appreciated the opportunity to apply what they were learning in a corporate communication class. Surprisingly, very little is known about how students respond to these kinds of simulations, so these two articles advance knowledge in this area.

A Contemporary Simulation Infused in the Business Communication Curriculum

This research examines students’ reactions to a contemporary simulation infused in the business communication curriculum. Results show that students indicated the experience helped them learn how to work better as a team, how to maintain composure, how the business world works, and how to improve their communication. Students also verified the validity of the simulation, stating that it prepared them for the business world by providing them with a challenging yet positive experience to demonstrate learned business communication principles. Details about the pedagogical framework of the business communication simulation and possible explanations and implications behind the findings are discussed.

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

ion and generalization. The second continues a focus on self-reflection by 1Montclair State University, USA 356 Business Communication Quarterly 75(4) teachers and students, as the authors recommend that teachers use more active, inductive instruction in the classroom and a student-centered approach, using classroom examples implemented in a required, college-level business communication course. The approach described required students to reflect metacognitively about communication, first in writing and then by visually depicting the process. Our third article reports the results of exercises in which members of a dysfunctional multicultural class were assigned to teams and given a task to perform in an anonymous, virtual-team setting, as well as in a real-team setting, with the result that students contributed in a much more balanced manner. Our final feature article describes research on organizational and supervisory apologies, demonstrating how an offense committed by an organization is perceived to be more egregious than an offense committed by a friend or supervisor. The themed section in this issue addresses interpersonal communication in the workplace, which is described as a “largely unexplored region”; the articles in this section suggest that organizations have not developed methods for measuring the long-term value of training in interpersonal skills. The section editor concludes that business communication curricula at the baccalaureate and postbacalaureate level would be well served by including an interpersonal skills component. We are at the end of another volume, and so I would like to take this opportunity to formally recognize all those who have helped contribute to another successful year of BCQ: Section Editors Marilyn Dyrud, Sam DeKay, Joel Whalen, and Rebecca Worley; Editorial Assistant Jim Maciukenas; and Book Review Editor Patty Keefe Durso; ABC headquarters staff and Publications Board; and everyone on the SAGE team. Our reviewers are to be commended for the phenomenal work they have done in providing the superb reviews for which BCQ is well known, thereby helping all our present and future authors. Finally, I want to offer special thanks to our Production Editor Erin Walsh, who has been enormously helpful at every stage of the editorial process, from manuscript to print.

Strategies for Teaching Social and Emotional Intelligence in Business Communication

Incorporating social and emotional skills (EI) training into the business communication curriculum is important for preparing students to function effectively in a global workplace with its complex informal networks, intercultural issues, team emphasis, and participatory leadership. EI skills enhance communication behavior in work groups and improve the quality of student responses to various business scenarios. Scientific research indicates that modeling social and emotional behavior is key to acquiring competency in these skills. This article describes four classroom strategies for developing EI skills in business communication courses.

Introducing Plain Language Principles to Business Communication Students

In response to current federal mandates requiring selected businesses and government agencies to use plain language (PL) when reporting information to the public, this article advocates the introduction of PL principles into current business communication curricula. Despite recent PL mandates and advances, many current business textbooks and curricula omit PL principles. Students must become familiar with PL principles in their business communication courses in order to apply PL effectively in the workplace. To accomplish this goal, the author focuses on defining PL, outlining the history and recent developments of PL, and listing the resources and exercises instructors can use to incorporate PL principles into business communication courses.

Experiential Learning About Intercultural Communication Through Intercultural Communication: Internationalising a Business Communication Curriculum

This paper reports on a rich, qualitative research study that aimed to discover how undergraduate and culturally diverse students experienced a collaborative, international, online, experiential project to learn about intercultural communication. Student participants in the study endorsed experiential learning in culturally diverse groups about intercultural communication through intercultural communication. The data revealed how participants made sense of and responded to intercultural communication amongst team members by juxtaposing personal experience of working in the online international learning group, their own cultural heritage and the literature available to them. The author concludes that experiential learning is a powerful tool for learning about intercultural communication through intercultural communication in the context of online, international and culturally diverse teams working on business case studies. It is also recommended as an activity that serves the process of internationalising a business communication curriculum and some of the broad aims of global citizenship.

Constructivist Pedagogy For The Business Communication Classroom

Business education and learning has become formidable and challenging over the last few years. A traditional learning environment is bereft of active learning where students only try to memorise terms and concepts and is unable to apply them to the real corporate world. It was found in the business communication classes that students fail to comprehend basic business terminology and communication practices and concepts related to organizational administration and functioning. In such a state of nescience, there was a need to enable the students to maximise learning through knowledge construction in authentic environments that employs the context in which learning is relevant. A suitable teaching method which needs to be dependant on variables such as target audience and content (Gulbahar, 2006) was designed for the business communication classroom that undergrids the theory of constructivism (Piaget, 1963). Constructivism lends to learning that is action-based where learners construe or make interpretations of their world through interactions in the real-world. Students were actively engaged in making sense of different concepts and terms through workplace interactions and observations. This paper therefore describes an example that builds a dichotomy between knowledge and “learning by doing” which was integrated into the business communication curricula in a tertiary educational system of Oman. Qualitative paradigms, such as semi-structured interviews with students, employee feedback, student portfolios were used to evaluate student’s cognitive domain.

Visual Rhetoric in the Curriculum

A survey of BizCom listserv subscribers suggests that visual rhetoric receives relatively little attention within business communication curricula. Results indicate that programs typically do not require a course in visual rhetoric, and on average, 20% or less of teaching in undergraduate courses is dedicated to visual communication. The findings suggest that business communication curricula may not adequately prepare students for the multimodal communication tasks they are likely to encounter in the workplace, particularly those tasks that rely on knowledge of visual rhetoric. Possible solutions include adding courses, integrating visual communication more deeply into existing courses, contextualizing existing design projects to ensure they are more than software exercises, and incorporating visual communication into other typical course projects.

Correlating Students' Personality Types with Their Rating of Topics Covered in Business Communication Classes

For years, students, faculty, and, most important, employers, have recognized the need for improved communication skills. The university business communication curriculum is filled with topics that lead to improving communication skills. A per centage of students find some topics to be boring, unimportant, intimidating, and/or nonessential. However, other students find these same topics to be interest ing, significant, challenging, and vital. For example, college students fear giving oral presentations more than writing papers. Could the preference or the abhor rence of various business communication topics be related to personality type? To answer this question, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), combined with a Likert Scale, was used to study the relationship between business communication students' personality types and their preferred topics in business communication.