bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Transportation Carrier Selection in Small Firms: A Study of the Perceptions of Shippers
Authors: Singh Parampal , Garcha Deepinder S.
Published: March 2007

A professionalised branded service by small carrier operators and quality consciousness on the part of the shipper are lacking in the Indian trucking industry. Most small carrier operators provide similar services and charge competitive prices. The services offered by them, however, leave much to be desired. Assuming that knowledge of what the customers expect from the carriers may help them to improve the quality of their services, this study explores the perceptions of small firm shippers selected from an Indian city. The study suggests that costs, completeness of service, and the reputation of the carriers and their services are uppermost in the minds of small firms when selecting afreight carrier.
Impact of Entrepreneurship Development Programmes
Authors: Saini J.S. , Bhatia B.S.
Published: March 2007

The beginnings of entrepreneurship development programmes (EDPs) can be traced back to the early 1960s. While the movement has gained consid erable momentum since then, attempts to evaluate their effectiveness and impact are being made only since the lastfew years. Not only are the studies directed to this end few in number, they by and large have assessed these programmes with reference only to the number of trainees launching their own enterprises. This, the authors claim, is too limited a criterion. They employ a more comprehensive framework to evaluate such programmes organised in a specific region of the country.
A Risk Assessment of Taiwanese Investments in China
Authors: Van Auken Howard E. , Su Changkae
Published: March 2007

This paper presents an analysis of the risks associated with direct invest ment in China from the perspective of a sample of 112 Taiwanese business owners with investments there. Ten risk factors, each associated with political as well as financial/economic issues, are evaluated. The two greatest risks identified are the likelihood of armed conflict and that of China nationalising Taiwanese investments. Other risk factors include the attitude of the Chinese people towards Taiwanese investments, the likelihood of not remaining competitive in the Chinese market, rising labour costs and worsening Chinese economic conditions. The study finds that the overall risk associated with political factors is slightly greater than that associated with financial/economic factors.
Financial Intermediation and Corporate Finance in India: Some Recent Experiences
Authors: Raja Kumar J. Dennis
Published: March 2007

The role of financial intermediation in promoting capital formation has been stressed in the development process of any economy. This paper examines the role of intermediaries in the Indian context with regard to the financing of the private corporate sector. It finds a strong dependence of the private corporate sector (PCS) on intermediaries in the 1980s and in the early 1990s. An increased dependence on the capital market is observed during 1993-94. The period was also marked by a reduction in their total use of funds for capital formation with a corresponding increase in finan cial assets. This paper argues that left to intermediaries the neglect of capital formation would not have taken place. The financial sector reforms, which are still underway, need to address issues related to the end use of funds so as to prevent the manufacturing sector from turning speculative.
Technology Export from the Indian Public Sector: Case Study of BHEL
Authors: Morris Sebastian
Published: March 2007

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, a large Indian public enterprise in the power sector, has been successful in judiciously blending technology imports and indigenisation. Through the mid-1970s and 1980s, it has progressively increased its ability not only to search for, bargain and purchase advanced technologies, but also to achieve design and engineer ing within its main business lines. However, it could not emerge as a major technology exporter despite some initial advantages. This case study probes deeper into the apparent failure of BHEL in the international market.
Growth Strategies of Medium-sized Firms in Kenya
Authors: Nelson Robert E. , Mwaura Muroki F.
Published: March 2007

Medium enterprises have largely remained invisible in scholastic inquiries, indicating a sectoral vacuum between the small and large sectors. In an attempt to understand the dynamics of the firms in this 'missing middle' in Kenya, the authors of this paper have developed a framework of analysis, the main components of which are the entrepreneurial profile, operating characteristics of the firm, stages of the growth of the enterprise and the strategies used at each of these stages.
Innovations in a Plantation Economy: A Study of the Barbadian Small Farmer
Authors: Khan Jamal , Knight Richard B.
Published: March 2007

This study examines innovations in small farm agriculture by looking at the extent of technological change in the plantation economy of Barbados. It seeks to establish that small farmer innovations in Barbados are not based on indigenous knowledge, but on imported technology and, as a result, the farming system has moved from a low external input and sustainable agriculture (LEISA) to high external input agriculture (HEIA). The authors observe a shift in small farmer entrepreneurship from the hawker system towards marketing cooperatives.
Aspects of Entrepreneurship in Primary Food-processing Industries in Punjab
Authors: Singh Sukhpal
Published: March 2007

Entrepreneurship in agriculture and primary processing activities is a relatively under-researched area. This paper looks at these activities as possible entry points of industrial entrepreneurship, and explores the nature, pattern and problems of entrepreneurship in two primary processing industries in Punjab. It also exam ines the pattern of investment of agricultural surplus and finds that the trading and merchant castes, which could earn considerable surplus in the foodgrain trade in the wake of the Green Revolution, dominate these industries in the state.
Some Aspects of Informal Sector Growth in Orissa
Authors: Samal Kishor C.
Published: March 2007

This paper portrays the profile of the informal sector around National Aluminium Company (NALCO), a formal sector establishment, in the economically backward state of Orissa. It is observed that though the direct backward and forward linkages of the informal sector with NALCO are negligible, there are significant indirect linkages. Further, migration of entrepreneurs to industrial centres, not necessarily urban centres, is prompted by both 'pull' and 'push' factors. The paper also finds that the benefits of growth of informal activities will not accrue to the local population displaced due to the establishment of the formal sector company, if the entrepreneurs are predominantly migrants.
Networking for Innovation: Anecdotal Evidences from a Large Sample Study of Innovative Enterprises
Authors: Manimala Mathew J.
Published: March 2007

Networks are very much part of entrepreneurs' lives as they have to constantly interact with the environment for accessing vital resources. It is hence redundant to ask whether entrepreneurs network or not. More pertinent questions are: what is the nature of entrepreneurial networks and how effectively they are used for achieving enterprise objectives? This article tries to find answers to these questions in the specific context of innovative entrepreneurs. This is done through illustrations of anecdotal examples from published stories of 164 enterprises. It is observed that the high innovators score substantially high on networking activities compared to low innovators in terms of intensity, variety, breadth and effectiveness. The illustrations clearly portray how the high innovators use networking to achieve various enterprise objectives.
Communities and Culture in Entrepreneurship Development in India
Authors: Bal Gurpreet
Published: March 2007

This article explores the various dimensions of the relationship between tradition and enterprise in the specific context of three distinct business communities in Punjab. It examines in detail the nature of entrepreneur ship, pattern of investment, range of business activities, participation of family members and skill formation processes in these communities with a view to derive common characteristics. The analysis suggests that the evolution of entrepreneurial culture involved primordial ties, social and kinship networks and use of informal and family resources. The article concludes that tradition and modernity should be treated as duality, and not as exclusive categories or dualism.
Racehorses or Rabbits? Are Entrepreneurs a Scarce Resource?
Authors: Holmström Mark
Published: March 2007

Why study entrepreneurs? Is the presence of a class of entrepreneurs, or entrepre neurial personalities, the critical scarce resource which makes development possi ble or inevitable? Or will entrepreneurs emerge anywhere, like rabbits, if conditions are right? The question is urgent in the context of India's liberalisation. This paper argues that the sources ofeconomic development are more complex. A wider range of institutions and political factors have to be considered: some are suscep tible to social engineering, planning, and political choice. This approach has been developed in recent research on institutional economics, business systems, and flexible specialisation, and shifts attention awayfrom entrepreneurship to the eco nomic, technological, moral, institutional, and political conditions for develop ment. Entrepreneurs are a valuable resource but not the critical resource which makes all the difference: not rare and valuable creatures like racehorses, nor common as rabbits, but useful animals like bullocks, which sometimes work best alone, sometimes in teams.
Karma: Electable, Immutable and Inexorable
Authors: Bhattacharya Pradip
Published: March 2007

The doctrine of karma is a vexed philosophical question and karmic law has often been confused with fatal ism. This article seeks to put forward the author's understanding of this complex concept. It is a cosmic law of action with its inevitable consequence and reaction. Narration of parables—metaphors pregnant with rich meaning—supplemented with instances from real life show a path out of the labyrinth, even the much- debated issue of determinism and free will. The thesis is that karmic law can provide the discerning intelli gence, cultivated through chitta-shuddhi, adequate guidance for making the choice that may help one—if one chooses to—in avoiding decisions for short-term gains that breed long-term misery.
Resolution of Ethical Dilemmas through Argumentative Dialogues in a Group
Authors: Suar Damodar
Published: March 2007

This paper justifies the need for argumentative dialogues in groups to resolve ethical dilemmas. Examining earlier work on argumentative dialogues, further evidence has been added to explain the process. A decision on an ethical dilemma during argumentative dialogue depends on: (a ) the dissemination of arguments related to facts, value judgements and reflective world-views to group members; (b ) access to new argu ments; and (c ) persuasive and self-generated arguments that favour a choice. For effective argumentative dialogues in a group, ethical imperatives are derived for: (a ) group composition; (b ) exchange of reasoned dialogues; and (c ) behaviour of group members. Differences between argumentative dialogues and group discussions are specified, and the superiority of the former process over the latter is stated.
Knowledge Management, Body-shopping and Frustrations: Search for Morality in a Postmodernist Era
Authors: Das Gupta Ananda
Published: March 2007

Knowledge management hinges upon the presumption that workers within an organization possess knowledge that can be converted into concrete business improvements if the information is harvested and disseminated to others to whom it could be of use. True knowledge management must involve capturing the internal knowledge generated by a firm—its best thinking on products, customers, competitors and processes—and sharing it. Insofar as organizations are concerned, postmodernists argue that one view that has been in appropriately privileged is that of the organization rather than the process of organizing. They draw our attention to the link between individual and collective identity. If there is a link between individual identity and how that individual behaves, there may also a link between collective identity and organizational action, for which a study on discourse ethics is essential. After considering the implications of knowledge management and the actual situation and work culture where the knowledge workers are in action, this paper raises and explores the questions wherein lies our individual identity and what its functional relation ship with the collective identity is. It has been envisaged in this article that through principles-driven cross-functional teams and innovative organizational mechanisms, sharing and conviction building need to be facilitated in modern organizations phasing out bureaucratic approaches and hierarchical power domination. Flexibility with a focused attitude is a must for organizations to adapt in a changing environment.
Rethinking the Politics and Ethics of Consumption: Dialogues with the Swadeshi Movements and Gandhi
Authors: Giri Ananta Kumar
Published: March 2007

This article attempts to create the space for rethinking the politics and ethics of consumption by initiating dialogues with Swadeshi movements and Gandhi in order to transform the spaces ofproduction transcending the concern for consumption choices. Analysing the history of Swadeshi movements in pre-independence India, especially Bengal, and drawing inspiration from Gandhi 's Swadeshi movement and his principles of swaraj and satyagraha, an attempt has been made here to provide an aesthetic, ethical and spiritual foundation for the present version of the Swadeshi drive in India, which is substantively immersed in the logic of market capitalism and mindless consumption. The article explores pathways of improvement of quality of life, experi ences in happiness and fulfilment, both individual and collective, by creating a culture of self-development, responsible consumption and community building efforts on the basis of sharing and concern for others.
Development Not as Freedom
Authors: Maiti Prasenjit
Published: March 2007

The idea of human freedom is essentially rooted in the concept of human development, according to Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen's 'Development as Freedom' thesis (which outlines an entitlement to the capacity- building process). And the idea of human progress is a construct that is designed around the axis offreedom. What is freedom? Is it only lack ofsocietal constraint, withdrawal of discipline and punish, willing suspension of the panoptic super ego that they address as the 'mainstream'? Or is freedom a concept much more fundamental, to be read into the texts of Rabindranath Tagore, Romain Rolland or Walden? Sociologists claim that civilization is what we are and culture is merely an arrangement of artifacts that we happen to use during the course of our politics of everyday life. Civilization, however, is also a system of values that is handed down generations as a movement of socialization that laymen identify as 'progress'.
Through Western Eyes: Managing the Earth-System
Authors: Harman Willis W.
Published: March 2007

This paper attempts to highlight the emergent threat posed by the Western materialistic worldview to a sustainable human civilization and draws a blueprint of ideas which can reverse this trend. In approaching this global problem from a whole-system perspective the author underlines the importance of the inseparability of environmental and other manmade problems facing humankind. He also ques tions some of the taken-for-granted assumptions of growth-based capitalism like competition, self- interest, progress and technological advance. Finally, the paper suggests that a shift in paradigm from the Western model of development to the more 'holistic' Eastern view is the need of the hour.
Human Values: An Australian Perspective in the Global Context
Authors: Andrews David J.
Published: March 2007

This paper is a reflection on the emergent directions of Australian culture and values in the context of the process of globalization. It views Australian society as a multi-cultural mosaic where aboriginal cultures coexist with the derived cultures of migrants from Europe, America and Asia. Adding that globalization has meant both greater confusion and conformity to intrusive American culture and practices, the author asks: Will we be able to find and clarify a changing set of shared values in this emergent society? Although Australia still finds itself in the mould of the acquisitive Western society, a transition to the stronger communitarian value system of the East is a distinct possibility. Drawing inspiration from an experiential workshop in India, the author concludes with the hope that ultimately the survival and enrichment of an edifying Australian culture and set of human values will depend on and flow from the hearts, minds and human creativeness of Australians in a continually changing world.
Workship and the Spirit of Action
Authors: Chatterjee Debashis
Published: March 2007

This paper identifies the field of work as an adventure of consciousness and uses a new phrase to describe it—WORKSHIP, work as worship. Based primarily on the classical psycho-philosophy of India, laid down in the vedantic literature, this model of workship attempts a shift in paradigm from the Greek concept of work as 'ponos' or pain to a liberating dimension of work, the ultimate aims of which are ananda (bliss) and mukti (freedom).

Examining the various elements that constitute workship, the author comes up with the fourfold paths of workship: discipline, righteousness, sacrifice and transcendence, and analyses them in detail. Finally, the paper argues that workship has the potential to unfold man's latent spirituality for a sustainable world order.

1. Rene Fonere; 'Krishnamurti and Modern Thought', in The Mind of J. Krishnamurti (New Delhi: Jaico Publishing House, 1971), p. 170.

2. Willis Harman and John Hormann; Creative Work: The Constructive Role of Business in a Transform ing Society (Indianapolis: Knowledge Systems, Inc., 1993), p. 13.

3. S.K. Chakraborty Management by Values (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 166.

4. Sri Aurobindo; 'Right Attitude in Work', quoted in All India Magazine (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Society, April 1991), p. 5.

5. Ibid., p. 32

6. 'The Meaning of Work', in Man, Work and Society, ed. William Nosow and William H. Form (New York: Basic Books Publishing Company Inc., 1962), p. 18.

7. Wayne W. Dyer; You Will See It When You Believe It (London: Arrow Books, 1989), p. 41.

8. 'The Meaning of Work' (see n. 6 above), p. 4.

9. Ibid., p. 35.

10. Swami Gambhirananda; 'Taitiriya Upanishad', in Eight Upanishads (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1977), Vol. 1, p. 392.

11. Jyoti Sobel and Prem; The Hierarchy of Minds—A Compilation from the Works of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Publication Department, 1991), p. 55.

12. Ibid., p. 69.

13. Ibid., p. 76.

14. Ibid., Introduction, p. XIII.

15. World Scripture: A Comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts, ed. Andrew Wilson (New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 1993).

16. Chakraborty, Management by Values (n. 3 above), p. 164.

17. Swami Vivekananda; Pearls of Wisdom (Calcutta: The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, 1988), p. 202.

18. The Selected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, ed. Shri man Narayan (Ahmedabad: Navajivan Trust, 1968), Vol. 4, Chapter 3.

19. Sri Aurobindo; The Message of the Gita (Pondi cherry : Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1977), p. 80.

20. World Scripture (n. 15 above), p. 638.

21. Ibid., p. 620.

22. Ibid.

23. Ronald Robertson; Globalization: Social Theory and Global Culture (London: Sage Publications, 1992), p. 93.
The Common Good and the Purpose of the Firm: A Critique of the Shareholder and Stakeholder Models from the Catholic Social Tradition1
Authors: Naughton Michael J. , Alford Helen , Brady Bernard
Published: March 2007

This paper is an insighful critique of the shareholder and stakeholder models of organizational purpose. The authors emphasize that both these models fail to serve as an adequate basis for explaining the purpose of an organization and are unable to capture a fuller meaning of living in an organizational community. The paper thus endeavours to introduce into the mainstream of discussion a third model, based on the idea of the common good which draws inspiration from the communitarian Catholic tradition. The first part of this paper traces the idea of common good as it relates to organizations. The second part engages the common good tradition with the shareholder and stake holder models. The paper goes on to describe common good within the organization through three propositions: fundamentality, excellence and integration. The authors reiterate, however, that the idea of the common good does not provide a micro-blueprint for managers, but rather an orientation or moral compass that directs organizational activity towards human development.
Spirit, Religion and Business Ethics: A Crossroads?
Authors: Porth Stephen J.
Published: March 2007

'Spirit, soul, and religion' are terms that are beginning to appear in the language of business. This development in language is part of a larger and worldwide trend which some have called 'a spirituality movement in the corporation' and others have labelled 'an internal revolution' among business people. The purpose of this paper is to explore these developments and to examine their implications for the advancement of the field of business ethics. The paper discusses the spirituality movement in business and defines several key terms. Evidence is provided to document the reality of the movement. Finally, the academic field of business ethics is examined in the light of these recent trends. A plea is made for focusing on questions of spirit and religion in the development of the field of business ethics.
Sharing, Giving and Friendship—The Forgotten Factors of Business Relationships
Authors: Kimber David
Published: March 2007

This paper reflects on a number of basic human value principles which underpin effective business practice and discusses how such elements have got lost in business education. It relates the concept of sharing to a business environment and reviews the implications of friendship and giving in business. Examples and illustrations are drawn from the author's experiences whilst undextaking teaching and research in India and China.
The Ethical Significance of Corporate Teleology
Authors: Singer Daniel D. , Smith Raymond
Published: March 2007

The most common corporate reaction to public concern over the ethics of their business practices and the sensitivity of their organization to social expectations is to promote policies and rules designed to bring about a set of socially responsive behaviours and actions. The result of this corporate deontological approach is to create a teleopathic culture that relieves decision makers from the personal responsibil ity for the consequences of their actions and widens the gap between how society expects business to behave and their actual behaviour. The corporate use of a deontological approach effectively allows the substitution of corporate conscience for the moral values of individual decision makers and thus weakens the linkage between individual personal values and behaviour.

The creation of teleopathological behaviour in an organization is explored through a juxtaposition of the parables of the Sadhu and the Good Samaritan. The consequences of teleopathic behaviour are then illustrated through an examination of Dow Corning's silicon gel product liability case.
Human Values in Management
Authors: Dasgupta R.K.
Published: March 2007

The essay begins by the author's recollections of his younger days when people were seldom worried about moral decline in society. Today, however, it has become a real concern. Literature, philosophy, spiritual works are all essentially a celebration of human values. The paper examines the issue of scale of graded values as against that of absolutist universal values. A scrutiny of English literature reveals that some key literary figures in eighteenth-nineteenth century England drew attention to the decline of human values accompanying increasing industrialization. The author discusses his own views on the management and role of human values in it, as also on human values and man's divine nature. He discusses the leader's role and an action programme for human values. The universality of Vedantic monism, and its triple idealism, is suggested as a basis for the regeneration of human values.
Hopes, Tensions and Complexity: Indian Students' Reflections on the Relationship of Values to Management Education and Future Career Options
Authors: Siememsara Fran
Published: March 2007

This case study was undertaken to explore the way postgraduate management students relate their personal values to their current education and future career aspirations. The research primarily focused on the per ceptions of students enrolled in an elective course offered by the Management Centre for Human Values, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIMC). Students' attitudes towards Western postgraduate man agement programme were elicited through interviews and group discussions. Their diverse attitudes are analysed under the themes of gender; personal identity; age and status; ethics, religion and spirituality; profit and wealth; as well as consumerism and environmentalism. The opinions of the students are quoted directly to illustrate their experience of tension and ambiguity, as they anticipated movingfrom an academic to a business role.
The Tradition of Non-violence: The American Experience and the Gandhian
Authors: True Michael , Datta Amlan , Chakraborty S.K.
Published: March 2007

On 27 February 1998, the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta and the office of the Fulbright binational educational exchanges (US Educational Foundation in India) in Calcutta jointly hosted a seminar on 'The Tradition of Non Violence: The American Experience and the Gandhian' at the Management Centre for Human Values (MCHV). There were two keynote presentations. The one on the American experience was by Michael True, Professor of English Literature at Assumption College, Massachusetts, who was teaching as Fulbright visiting lecturer at Utkal University, Bhubaneswar. The Gandhian case was presented by Profes sor Amlan Datta, economist and writer, also former Vice-Chancellor of Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan. The session was chaired by Professor Amitava Bose, Director, Indian Institute of Management. To close the discussions, a summing up was presented by Professor S.K. Chakraborty, Convenor, Management Centre for Human Values. The importance of discussions on the subject of non-violence and the Gandhian alterna tive cannot be overestimated in this year of the 50th anniversary of Indian independence and a nationwide soul-searching over these five decades. The US Educational Foundation in India contributed to the national discussion through this bilateral seminar and its comparative perspective.
The Eurasian Frontier After the First Millennium A.D.: Reflections Along the Fringe of Time and Space1
Authors: Gommans Jos
Published: March 2007

By focusing on the ecological Arid Zone of Eurasia after 1000 A.D., this article seeks to challenge some conventional paradigms of time and space. It was only after 1000 A.D. that western Europe became more and more immune from the uprooting influences of the Arid Zone. Hence, from this time onward it came gradually into its own as a well-marked spatial category. Actually by the expulsion of its free nomads, warriors and ascetics, Europe canted its former inner frontiers outward towards ever more rigid and sacred outer boundaries. On the other hand, from about 1000 A.D. South Asia became, more than ever before, part of that much larger Arid Zone which saw the rapid rise of new, more powerful, mounted warriors groups. Therefore, South Asia's inner frontier remained very much a wide, open-ended zone which gave free rein to the nomadic tribe, the warrior band and the ascetic sect. Moreover, it conditioned the ongoing inner dualism of Indic tradition.
Medievality and the Chinese sense of History
Authors: Brook Timotfiy
Published: March 2007

The concept of a medieval period is problematic for China. Europeans formulated it after the medieval period was over, to identify a past they felt they had transcended, whereas the Chinese did not regularly periodise the past in this way. A few writers made use of 'middle periods' to organise the past, but congruence between their and the European model is never more than coincidence. The approach taken in this article is, instead, to ask whether the Chinese, prior to the twentieth century, developed a sense of history capable of qualitatively discriminating between present and past in the way, or to the degree, that allowed Europeans to 'discover' their medieval period?

Using criteria inspired by Peter Burke's study of Renaissance historio graphy, this article notes that Chinese historians by the seventeenth century, and in some respects long before, met and even surpassed the standards that Burke sets for a self-conscious sense of the past, but without generating a medieval period. Critical skills in history improved over time, but they were not linked to the sort of transformation suggested for Renaissance Europe. That Chinese historians did not 'find' a medieval period indicates that the medieval may be little more than an ideological category in the service of the European teleology of the modern. It also signals the difficulty of establishing a specific category of medievality to which all parts of the world can be related. Rather than generalising the concept of medievality, comparative historians of the medieval period might be better advised to look outward from Europe and become conscious of synchronic trends and events elsewhere if they wish to build a more global understanding of what happened in medieval Europe and the world.
The Business Writer, the Law, and Routine Business Communication
Authors: McCORD ELIZABETH A.
Published: March 2007

Business communicators today risk legal liability as courts are increasingly holding writers and their employing organizations responsible for reasonable—although often unintended—interpretations of their routine writing. Research and pedagogy have not kept abreast of this change. Rhetorical theory, particularly a social perspective, provides a useful foundation for understanding judicial resolution of claims arising out of writing; however, theory must also account for factors not encompassed within extended audience analysis. Current texts offer general descriptions of the laws most likely to affect business writers; in addition, writing pedagogy must provide specific strategies for avoiding liability-prone prose.
The Epideictic Rhetoric of Science
Authors: SULLIVAN DALE L.
Published: March 2007

If science is conducted within a scientific culture, then the classical concept of epideictic rhetoric should be applicable to internal scientific discourse. A theory of epideictic rhetoric as the “rhetoric of orthodoxies” is presented, along with its five rhetorical functions: education, legitimation, demonstration, celebration, and criticism. Suggestions as to how these concepts might be applied to internal scientific discourse are given, with special attention given to studies of science already completed by philosophers, sociologists, and rhetoricians.
Visual Language
Authors: TEBEAUX ELIZABETH
Published: March 2007

Studies in the history of technical writing have only recently begun to study the development of technical writing. Pollard and Redgrave's Short-Title Catalogue, 1475-1640 contains a number of English Renaissance technical books that reveal that Renaissance printers and authors were aware of the need for readability and visual access in technical reference and information books. An examination of these books shows evolving use of many contemporary page design techniques: partition, clearly worded headings, visual aids, enumeration and listing devices, and choice of font for emphasis.
Men and Women on the Job
Authors: HALTERMAN CARROLL , DUTKIEWICZ JODY , HALTERMAN EVE
Published: March 2007

Because women are now the largest group entering the labor pool, it is important to know how sex and gender differences relate to communication, job satisfaction, and work performance. This research assessed how 800 organizationally experienced and work-oriented women and men rated the importance of the eight characteristics of effective work teams. Responses to the survey instrument were examined for gender differences. It was found that women rated the importance of (a) team members' job knowledge; (b) competent, respected, and fair leadership; and (c) team members' liking, trusting, and helping each other significantly higher than did men.
Renaissance Epistolography and the Origins of Business Correspondence, 1568-1640
Authors: TEBEAUX ELIZABETH
Published: March 2007

Business communication arose from the practical nature of the ars dictaminis and the merging of process-oriented humanistic epistolography with the medieval formulaic dictamen in writers such as Erasmus. Like the Italian church leaders and businessmen, medieval English gentry soon grasped the value of correspondence. English letter-writing guides and model books, which began to appear in 1568, mirror both Erasmus and the rigid models of the ars dictaminis. The increasingly utilitarian English commercial society of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries ultimately led to the demise of the rhetorical tradition that originally surrounded English letter-writing guides. Today's tendency to use a product (formulaic), rather than process (rhetorical), approach in developing business letters obscures the rich tradition surrounding the rise of epistolary method and reduces the effectiveness of the final product.
Beyond the Group Project
Authors: BELANGER KELLY , GREER JANE
Published: March 2007

As more business writing instructors begin implementing collaborative writing and learning in their classrooms, few descriptions exist that show how collaboration might work in the context of an entire course. This article describes a course that integrates individual and collaborative group assignments while requiring students to work through multiple drafting processes involving teacher and peer intervention. The course was designed to encourage students to become self-reflective, flexible writers who can make themselves aware of their writing processes and then adapt them to both individual and collaborative writing tasks. Along with outlining specific assignments and the rationales behind them, we address issues such as establishing collaborative groups, analyzing group dynamics and writing processes, and the roles teachers might play in a collaborative classroom.
Using Literature to Teach Ethics in the Business Curriculum
Authors: SHAW GARY
Published: March 2007

This article explores the problems and prospects of incorporating ethics education into the MBA curriculum and the business communication classroom. Although ethics is generally recognized as a crucial area of study, there is little agreement about how it should be included or taught. Moreover, these disagreements often reflect deeply different perspectives on basic pedagogy, the role of business schools, and the links between business and other disciplines. The author argues that literature provides a useful means of restructuring course work to provide ethics instruction and to forge needed links between business and the humanities.
Direct-Mail Letters
Authors: ROY SANDRA , ROY EMIL
Published: March 2007

This article uses a computerized style checker—RightWriter® 4.0—to analyze 14 direct-mail letters used to market books to a middle-class female audience. This study outlines methods for correlating stylistic traits with sales success. For this product and audience, letter effectiveness is enhanced by lowering readability levels, as well as by limiting the use of negative words and modifiers. In addition, writers for this audience should avoid words that are too easy or too difficult. However, no correlations emerged between success and letter length, strength of style, sentence length, or percentage of prepositions.
Rites and Ceremonials
Authors: THRALLS CHARLOTTE
Published: March 2007

Although communication is widely accepted as central to the construction of organizational culture, researchers in organizational theory and in rhetoric and professional communication have focused primarily on traditional spoken and written texts, overlooking the vital role that new technologies—especially film and video—are now playing in socializing members of organizations to organizational life. This article examines corporate videos as cultural texts and develops the claim that videos function as rites and ceremonials in modern organizations, facilitating organizational socialization. Drawing on videos produced by a major national financial services firm, the article defines and analyzes four types of rites: integration, passage, renewal, and enhancement.
Intimidation and Communication
Authors: MOORE PATRICK
Published: March 2007

At the urging of managers from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center on the night before the fatal launch of the Challenger, the managers at Thiokol reconsidered their judgment not to launch the next day. Although there were no new data, and although their engineers still objected, the Thiokol managers took off their “engineering hats” and put on their “management hats” and decided to launch anyway. The urging of Marshall management and pressure from other sources intimidated Thiokol management and at least one Marshall engineer to do what their superiors wanted them to do. Four conditions created the intimidation: (a) a fear of retaliation, (b) a lack of justice, (c) Marshall's tradition of discouraging the reporting of bad news, and (d) an objectionable act, that is, overruling the engineers on a life or death technical decision.
Design Options for a Desktop Publishing Course
Authors: MAYER KENNETH R. , NELSON SANDRA J.
Published: March 2007

Recommendations to the developer of an undergraduate desktop publishing course are given concerning scholastic level and prerequisites, purpose and objectives, instructional resources and methodology, assignments and evaluation, and a general course outline. By using desktop publishing, students gain experience in preparing documents that are professional in form and content. After students master the hardware and software, instructional emphasis shifts to page layout and graphic design principles that students apply to the development of documents commonly prepared in the workplace.
The Ethics of Teaching Ethics in Professional Communication
Authors: RUSSELL DAVID R.
Published: March 2007

The teaching of ethics in professional communication courses for non-English majors is problematic because teachers of those courses are usually trained in literary studies, a profession that has traditionally viewed with suspicion the ethical orientation of science, technology, and business professions. This article examines the history of this problematic, focusing on the “Engineering Publicity” program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the 1920s. The article suggests that students may be empowered to enter and transform their professions more through examining ethical critiques of science, technology, and business carried on within and among the professions they will enter than by examining ethical critiques from the profession of literary studies.
“The Gods must be Crazy”
Authors: WEISS TIMOTHY
Published: March 2007

Pedagogy and research in intercultural and international communication depend on an understanding of a framework of concepts: (a) the instability and ambiguity of cross-cultural signifiers, (b) culture as a changing construct, (c) culture as a plurality and mixture of cultures, and (d) cross-cultural communication as dialogic. We need to revise our notion of culture as acquisition, our transmission model of communication, and our pedagogy of presenting tips and fostering stereotypes about “foreign” peoples and places. We need to begin with concepts of intercultural/international communication and a discussion of faulty approaches and appraisals that engender miscommunication before taking a narrow focus on dos and don'ts in our exchanges with others.
The Way we do Things here
Authors: LEDWELL-BROWN JANE , DIAS PATRICK X.
Published: March 2007

Stories, often dismissed as irrelevant in traditional research interviews, can provide valuable insights into the culture or cultures that pervade the setting within which the research is conducted. Studies of conversational storytelling have demonstrated that narrators not only relate events and conditions but also indicate the significance of their stories by means of story evaluations; that is, they highlight the points of their stories in various ways, such as suspending the story, making overt comments about the importance of an event, and repeating certain key words or phrases. This article demonstrates how story evaluations can reveal a story's significance within an organizational setting by examining two narratives from research interviews that form part of the data in a study of readers' responses to writing in a marketing organization.
Managers as Writers
Authors: SMELTZER LARRY R. , THOMAS GAIL FANN
Published: March 2007

The argument is presented that managerial writing is performed within a unique context; consequently, it is important to review the extant research within that context to understand managerial writing. The literature is reviewed within the framework of writing context, process, and outcome. The paucity of research and the heavy emphasis on survey methodology expose the need for extensive research on managerial writing. Six general research questions are presented to guide future research efforts.
The Effects of Gender and Employee Classification Level on Communication-Related Outcomes
Authors: GRIFFETH RODGER W. , CARSON KERRY DAVID , CARSON PAULA PHILLIPS , RAGAN JAMES , WAN-HUGGINS VERONICA
Published: March 2007

We surveyed 1,152 employees of a midwestern telephone company to test the effects of gender and employee classification level on work outcomes. To determine whether gender differences in this organization were stable or context dependent, competing hypotheses were established from both structural and socialization perspectives. Significant main effects of gender and employee classification level were predicted and found by structuralist theory. Women reported lower job satisfaction and interaction as less desirable than men, whereas hourly workers reported lower supervisory support, teamwork, communication satisfaction, and accuracy of information than salaried workers. Structuralist theory also predicted and found significant interaction effects for satisfaction with communication, supervisory support, teamwork, and desire for interaction. However, both theories operated for employees' perceptions of information accuracy.
Teamwork
Authors: ROEVER CAROL , MULLEN DIANE
Published: March 2007

This article describes a team-based project developed for undergraduate students in both business communication and business statistics classes in a small, midwestern college. More than 94% of the students endorsed the usefulness of the project, which was designed to help them develop communication competencies in multiple areas: working in teams, writing collaboratively, participating in meetings, and giving and receiving constructive criticism. The project presents a model of collaboration between instructors in business departments.
Preferences for Sending Word-Processed versus Handwritten Messages
Authors: REINSCH N. L. , BESWICK RAYMOND W.
Published: March 2007

Workers at a Canadian industrial site read a vignette asking them to send a message to a co-worker and then rated their preferences for available message channels. We explored the respondents' preferences for either a word-processed or a handwritten message. The results indicate that (a) main effects and interactions involving hierarchical level, message length, message complexity, anticipated reaction, communication task, need for documentation, and communication across work shifts affect preferences for wordprocessed versus handwritten messages; (b) the cost control perspective can explain preferences for word-processed versus handwritten messages; and (c) scholars should distinguish between various types of written messages rather than grouping all written messages together in a single category.
Effects of Case and Traditional Writing Assignments on Writing Products and Processes
Authors: ROZUMALSKI LYNN P. , GRAVES MICHAEL F.
Published: March 2007

This study investigates the effects of case and traditional assignments on the writing products and processes of community college students. Specifically, each of 57 first-year business students in three sections of a business composition course wrote in response to either (a) two traditional assignments, (b) two short case scenario assignments, or (c) two lengthy, elaborated case assignments. Participants' letters were scored using a performance criteria rating scale for determining both overall quality and specific trait quality. Results indicate that the case assignments generally produced more effective writing products than did traditional paradigm assignments. Results also indicate that the elaborated case assignments generally produced better writing products than did the short case scenarios. However, results also suggest that the writing of participants who already possess business-related experience was not as affected by assignment type as the writing of inexperienced participants. Finally, qualitative measures suggest that the writing processes and attitudes of participants. completing the case assignments were highly sensitive to audience and context, whereas the processes and attitudes of participants completing the traditional assignments were highly sensitive to organization, format, and correctness.
Using Desing Principles to Teach Technical Communication
Authors: MARKEL MIKE
Published: March 2007

In teaching a technical communication course, I introduced document design principles before discussing traditional verbal rhetoric. A comparison of the writing of two students—a competent writer and a weak one—before and after the design discussion indicates that a basic understanding of design principles helped them improve document macrostructure. They saw the need to involve the audience, to provide an introduction and a forecast, and to organize and highlight information using headings. The design discussion, however, appears to have had little effect on document microstructure. Although more research needs to be conducted to better understand the relationship between verbal and visual rhetoric in technical communication, integrating document design principles early appears to be a promising pedagogical technique.
Preparing Business Students More Effectively for Real-World Communication
Authors: THOMAS SUSAN G.
Published: March 2007

This article explores the problems with most business communication courses today—the general lack of real-world applicability in the textbooks and approaches used to teach the subject. Based on many employers' concerns that students are not getting the kind of real-world preparation they need in the area of business communication, the article suggests some practical solutions and effective pedagogical techniques that will make the course more real-world oriented and, therefore, more useful for today's business graduate. It also suggests ways to prepare students more realistically and specifically for the kinds of communication tasks they will be expected to do in a corporate setting in their first jobs after graduation.