With our core focus on teaching and scholarship, business communication teacher-scholars are well placed to become leaders in the international Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) movement. In this article, SoTL is defined and contextualized, three SoTL research approaches are introduced, and disciplinary research projects are suggested. A…

The increasing availability of recording technologies makes it easier to include usability testing projects in business communication courses. Usability testing is a method of discovering whether people can navigate, read, and understand a print or electronic communication well enough to achieve a particular purpose in a reasonable time frame.…

Most business communication textbooks treat "unfavorable" communications as written documents--denials of credit, collection requests, rejections for employment, inability to meet deadlines, etc. These written "unfavorable" documents are no longer actually written by most employees. In fact, many of these communications are computer generated and…

Most communication research on bad news messages focuses on crisis communication, where attention is often limited to image repair strategies. The authors argue that a key indicator of an organization's effectiveness in communicating "bad news" messages is its organizational culture. Developing an organizational culture that values positive…

Within the last 12 years, email has emerged as the most commonly used form of written communication in the corporate workplace. Several factors have contributed to the widespread use of email. This form of communication is generally rapid, is more economical than distributing or mailing printed documents, and permits simultaneous communication…

Suggests business communication faculty will benefit from an understanding of three areas related to Institutional Review Board (IRB) review of class projects involving human subjects research: (1) whether their institution requires such class projects to be reviewed by the IRB; (2) how they can adapt classroom activities, materials, and…

Describes the author's ongoing research which surveys World Wide Web authors and analyzes their Web productions to explore the strategies and the rhetoric for a personal presence (that of ordinary citizens) on the Web. Finds that individuals on the Web often put on the appearances of organizational status. Calls this use of institutional…

Surveys corporate use of voice message systems by interviewing employees in four different companies. Finds that all four companies viewed their voicemail systems as a supplement to personal contact (not a replacement) and provided training, but had no formal method to assess customer satisfaction with their system. Suggests business communication…

Offers an overview of Canada's business-communication research efforts. Describes its definition and scope; issues facing Canadian researchers (gaining an institutional presence, creating Canada as a viable research site, and creating a Canadian research focus); disseminating research in Canada; and expanding Canadian business-communication…

Contributes to scholarship on the relationship between workplace documents and workplace practices by examining the history and practice associated with one volunteer ambulance squad's preprinted report forms. Argues that preprinted forms that enable workers to reflect on their actions play a crucial role in their development as professionals and…

Examines over 14,000 clip art images for gender bias. Finds that only 4% of images depicted women and that those images present women in stereotypical roles, such as secretaries, nurses, teachers. Notes the irony that communication instructors expend much effort persuading students that gender-free prose is the new model--while visually still…

Describes the Research Think Tank of the Association for Business Communication: its history, 1996 focus and participants, and its process. Notes that key ideas emerging from this process focused on international communication, communication technology, connecting international communication, and implications for researchers. (SR)

Explores why researchers have been drawn to genre-based research. Notes that this approach to studying professional communication offers a way of understanding the role of texts in the social ordering of communication in organizations by drawing attention to patterns of repetition and variation in the habits of workplace professionals. (SC)

Examines whether the preference or abhorrence of various communication topics might be related to personality type. Finds no statistically significant correlation between business communication students' personality types and their preferred topics in business communication. (SR)

Describes the author's research to identify and describe effective and satisfying pedagogical designs to provide guidance in making technological delivery choices for professional communication distance education. Reviews research questions asked and describes her use of both qualitative and quantitative methodologies to compare two Internet-based…