Measuring Business and Professional Communication Skills

Abstract

Understanding the expectations of employers contributes to the relevancy of business and professional communication (BPC) courses. Studies that bridge the gap between course content and workplace expectations support this process. This article presents findings from a scale development procedure to analyze BPC skills using a multimodal perspective. Employers ( N = 260) were asked what skills they perceive to be communication and how proficient they expect a recent college graduate to be to better understand the expectations that graduates face when entering the job market. The findings have implications for course design, curriculum selection, and program organization.

Habilidades gerenciales no técnicas necesarias para el directivo empresarial

“…Por otro lado, los resultados revelan que existen cinco habilidades relevantes pero difíciles de desarrollar, como el manejo de conflictos (Conine y Leskin, 2016), la comunicación (Coffelt et al, 2022), ganar, poder e influencia (Guillén et al, 2018), la delegación (De Paola y Scoppa, 2007) y el manejo del estrés (Berger y Czakert, 2022). En particular, se destaca la debilidad percibida en la habilidad de delegación, lo que coincide con investigaciones anteriores (Argenton et al, 2022;De Paola y Scoppa, 2007;Goodale, 2005), quienes sugieren la necesidad de un mayor enfoque en el desarrollo de esta habilidad.…”

The Challenges and Opportunities of AI-Assisted Writing: Developing AI Literacy for the AI Age

“…We sampled from a large group of business communication instructors. Business communication instructors are an ideal group of instructors to survey because of their expertise in aligning teaching with contemporary business practices (Clokie & Fourie, 2016; Coffelt et al, 2022). Over the years, we have compiled a list of 1,800 business communication instructors.…”

Communication Apprehension in the Workplace: Focusing on Inclusion

“…Some research suggests Gen Z individuals are more likely to experience communication apprehension in interpersonal situations because of heavy use of mobile phones (Allred & Atkin, 2020). Regardless of the causes of higher apprehension in interpersonal communication, the need to address interpersonal communication is crucial since employers value interpersonal communication skills more than other communications skills (such as presentations) (Choudaha et al, 2021; Coffelt et al, 2022). Although interpersonal communication skills are more essential to professional success for early-career professionals, most business communication curricula appear to prioritize presentations and public speaking over interpersonal communication skills (Coffelt et al, 2022; Kleckner & Butz, 2022; Moshiri & Cardon, 2020).…”

“…Some research suggests Gen Z individuals are more likely to experience communication apprehension in interpersonal situations because of heavy use of mobile phones (Allred & Atkin, 2020). Regardless of the causes of higher apprehension in interpersonal communication, the need to address interpersonal communication is crucial since employers value interpersonal communication skills more than other communications skills (such as presentations) (Choudaha et al, 2021;Coffelt et al, 2022). Although interpersonal communication skills are more essential to professional success for early-career professionals, most business communication curricula appear to prioritize presentations and public speaking over interpersonal a % Agree refers to the percentage of participants who selected "agree" or "strongly agree" on the survey.…”

“…To some extent, this indicates the percentage of participants who reported apprehension for the item. communication skills (Coffelt et al, 2022;Kleckner & Butz, 2022;Moshiri & Cardon, 2020).…”