The Spurious Paternity of Business Communication Principles

We measured objective and subjective characteristics of 99 memoranda and derived indices of selected message characteristics (positive emphasis and youattitude) and message reinforcers (benefits and threats). Employed business practitioners reacted to the memoranda as though the messages had been received at work and reported perceived message tone, commitment to comply with the message, and reader satisfaction. We used regression analysis to test several relationships predicted from a stimulus-response model.The study (a) provides some of the first empirical support for the concepts of positive emphasis and you-attitude; (b) supports the stimulus-response model developed in the paper, suggesting that it might merit additional research; (c) raises questions about current academic conceptions of positive emphasis and you-attitude; and (d) suggests additional research questions concerning, for example, the virtues of brevity and the effects of message organization.

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Positive Emphasismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Positive Emphasismentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Positive Emphasis and You-Attitude: An Empirical Study

Shelby

Reinsch

1995

“…There is a recognition that formulaic, prescriptive approaches alone are insufficient. Halpern (1988) Hagge (1989) believes pedagogy &dquo;ignores the real complexities of how writers actually get texts to cohere in the real world.&dquo; Similarly, Huckin and Hutz (1987) conclude that the rules of the plain English movement lack a solid empirical base of support because they fail to depict how language is actually used.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Competing Values Framework for Analyzing Presentational Communication in Management Contexts

Quinn

Hildebrandt

Rogers

et al. 1991

C ommunication is an ancient discipline which has evolved considerably. Throughout this evolutionary process, effectiveness has been a central concern. In the fifth century BC, for instance, Corax, one of the first teachers of human discourse, suggested the need for speakers to &dquo;produce an effect in listeners&dquo; (Hinks, 1940;Kennedy, 1959 (1973) suggests that theory construction in the future should &dquo;focus on a new set of variables and employ a new set of analytic techniques&dquo; (p. 16).

“…The organization held its first convention in December 1937 and elected its first President in 1938. Additional historical information is available in Damerst (1973), Hagge (1989), Pettit and Bruno (1985), and Weeks (1985).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethics Research in Business Communication: The State of the Art

Reinsch

1990

This paper surveys treatments of business communication ethics in Association forBusiness Communication (ABC) Publications for the last 30 years. Pedagogical papers reveal an almost unanimous opinion that business communication is inherently a moral subject and that ethics has a place in the classroom. Consensus on how to teach or to evaluate moral behavior has not, however, been achieved. Nonpedagogical papers have usually been conceptual or descriptive, and have rarely been part of programmatic research. Consequently a unified body of knowledge that could guide future research or provide a basis for moral instruction does not exist. Future research in both pedagogical and nonpedagogical areas is recommended. he expression &dquo;business ethics&dquo; is used so frequently that even Tscholars may sometimes forget how vast is the range of moral issues so designated. Most North Americans participate in economic transactions almost daily and a corporation of even moderate size produces many explicit and implicit moral effects; &dquo;business ethics&dquo; is, therefore, an umbrella used to cover a diverse multitude.