Introduces the notion of "choice-based" writing, an approach which examines the range of writing options available in any given managerial context. Illustrates the benefit of a choice-based approach that recognizes contextual complexities and explores writing choices that managers find functional. (MS)

Presents a content analysis performed on 157 electronic mail files received over the course of several months by a middle level manager in a computer services department of a large organization. Suggests that computer mediated communication changes communication function and context in certain specific ways, which are reflected throughout the…

Assesses the spelling skills of 439 college business students using a 50-word conventional spelling test. Finds they scored higher than previously established high school norms, although a substantial number demonstrated skills below ninth grade level. Offers recommendations to business educators regarding spelling skills. (SR)

Finds that respondents (working in a medium-sized federal government agency) reading high-impact reports did not make significantly better decisions than those reading bureaucratic reports. Shows that context factors (perceived work roles, job design, organizational structure, report genre expectations, and organizational language norms) caused…

Responds to a 1993 article in this journal. Places that article's general conclusion (that profitable corporations have more readable narrative texts than unprofitable ones) within the broader context of the readability research and corporate reporting literature. (SR)

Finds that managers were more likely to recommend that environmental remediation proposals receive priority for funding when they read proposals written in candid language than when they read proposals written in legally defensible language. Shows that threats and a negative tone are highly persuasive in internal environmental compliance reports.…

Compares American and French business correspondence with regard to format, organization, tone, and style. Argues that many of the differences result from cultural and value differences, French letters tending to be more formal and formatted differently. (RAE)

Analyzes the communicative activities of a project team in a large corporation in the computer industry, exploring the relationship of written text and authority. Discusses how written text is used in a number of specific ways to maintain group authority. (SR)

Examines how instructors may motivate students to improve their writing skills. Compares goal- and punishment-based grading systems for students. Tests two exemplary systems to determine their effect on students' performance and perception. Finds that, although both systems improved students' writing, they were perceived differently and the…

Examines the development of sales genres in mainland China in the pre-reform period (1949-78) and the reform period (1978 to the present). Discusses how all the sales genres are related to the three larger genres in Chinese written discourse: the superior writing to the subordinate, the subordinate writing to the superior, and equals writing to…

Discusses open systems thinking as a new lens to use when exploring written business communication--a lens that integrates task, organizational structure, control, and technology into the analysis of written business messages. Explores the influences these subsystems have on written communication and then develops these systems and subsystems into…

Investigates differences in writing styles between males and females who wrote persuasive request letters, sales letters, and collection letters in an undergraduate business communication class. Results indicate significant differences by letter but not by gender, with no significant interaction between letter and gender. (RAE)

Presents a 30-month case study of how one business writer made decisions concerning audience. Suggests that audience theory does not adequately describe the cognitive and social decisions writers make in real-world professional contexts, with intrinsic internal factors such as writer's creditability, financial rewards, and promotions affecting…

Responds to an article in this same issue (which commented on these authors' 1993 article in the same journal). Suggests cultural context as another possible factor that may have caused results in the various studies under discussion to be different. (SR)

Shows how compliance-gaining theory (more accurately than the "bad news formula") can help to explain the content and style of two kinds of memos that deliver bad news from managers to subordinates. Finds that features of compliance gaining governing message production explicate the power base, verbal strategies and tactics, and…