Describes the development of a communication-based research project and plan to foster and maintain diversity within a large statewide public transportation agency and among its external constituents. Describes the organization structurally and historically, presents research methods and findings of a one-year organizational assessment, and…

Proposes a model for communicating change about diversity using a workplace-readiness approach. Discusses ways organizational change agents can assess the company's current interpersonal and social dynamics, use appropriate influence strategies, and create effective messages that will appeal to employees and help to achieve the desired acceptance…

Reviews three broad categories of research on cultural diversity in the workplace: general overviews, theoretical perspectives, and empirical research studies. Offers an explanation for the paucity of research on the topic, and suggests topics and methods for future research. (SR)

Presents some different perspectives related to the concerns raised regarding the current state of the business communication discipline. Suggests a plan to enhance the stability of business communication within higher education, one that the author hopes can also make professional lives more fulfilling. Suggests that business educators guard the…

Contributes to scholarship on communicative processes in employment interviewing and on cultural diversity. Discusses communication processes aligned with nondominant group membership. Presents a picture of the performance burdens that members of traditionally underrepresented groups may experience when attempting to meet traditional expectations…

Applies critical theory to the workforce's culture, language, and symbols, providing insight into a pattern of power agendas in the deep structural meaning that determines which issues will be open for debate and which are not. Argues that students must be taught to understand the distortion of communication to impose power and to respond to its…

Examines the perspectives of both employees and senior managers in one organization, finding a shared agreement among the majority of participants that communication between advisory panels representing diverse groups of employees and senior managers resulted in a shared understanding and commitment to diversity. Identifies positive effects of the…

Suggests two avenues of guidance for organizations adopting a multicultural approach: (1) businesses can profit from experiences in academia, where researchers have outlined areas of difficulty (for example, sharing power and valuing difference); and (2) industries' own team management theory (which dismantles hierarchical structures in favor of…

Documents communication and interpersonal problems commonly experienced by organizational members who are perceived as being dissimilar. Supports a two-pronged approach to fostering a more equitable workplace: using mentoring programs as a long-term strategy, and using discrete and consistent supervisory disclosures of task-relevant information as…