bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Recontextualizing Knowledge: An Epistemological Ambiguity
Authors: Bagchi Jyoti Prakash
Published: March 2007

The encounter of the cognitive apparatus with the phenomenal world had led to the emergence of independent thought processes either based on scientific method of enguiry or on meditative experiences. In the course of time these have developed into a systematized body of knowledge. They purport to provide peace and happiness, but when seduced by power a distorted value structure has been legitimized. The plethora of evidences suggest the 'self' has been incapacitated for long. The scientific experiences have been given supreme status. The paper stresses the need to attain a beginner's mind so that looking within and looking without no longer remain intangible goals of education. The naodalities have been discussed to escape the bonds of conceptual limitations. Finally, it is suggested that this constructive role of optimizing the oppor tunities for formation of intellect, which moves beyond conventional intellectualism, will evolve into a com passionate world-serving intellect, and pave the way for peace and harmony in this turbulent world.
Leadership in the East and West: A Few Examples
Authors: Chakraborty Debangshu
Published: March 2007

The author has attempted to explore historical evidence to seek insights into differences in temperament and ethos between the Eastern and the Western leadership styles. In the process a comparative study of eight personalities (five each from the East and West), comprising nation builders, businessmen, entrepreneurs and politicians, has been done. These leaders have been selected in terms of their social milieu, standing the test of time, having given a sense of direction to their organizations and their leadership qualities, instead of just skills. It has been observed that the Eastern leaders have a spiritual underpinning with varying intensity. On the contrary, leaders from the West in comparable fields do not appear to show any inclination towards reconciliation of spiritual values with material goals. This also vindicates the hypothesis that the Eastern ethos is dominantly 'feminine-intuitive' whereas the Western ethos is primarily 'masculine-rational'.
The Ethics of Modernity in Indian Politics: Past and Present
Authors: Van Bijlert Victor A.
Published: March 2007

Max Weber has shown that the informing spirit of Western capitalism originated from the Christian Reformation. The capitalist spirit can be regarded as a stand-in of Western modernity as a whole. Western modernity was initially the outcome of the theology of Calvinism. Calvinist modernity inspired political revolutions that since the seventeenth century irreversibly transformed Western feudal societies into bourgeois democratic nation-states. Something comparable happened in India in the nineteenth century with the rediscovery of Vedanta. Rediscovery, reinterpretation and public dissemination of Vedanta constituted the Indian version of a Reformation. In the beginning of the twentieth century this Vedantic Reformation inspired the revolutionary political movement, which sought to free India from foreign domination. Vedanta was regarded as informing the spirit of Indian modernity because Vedanta emphasizes individual emancipation. This same emancipation was to imply collective emancipation from the bonds of colonialism and tyranny. These values of Vedantic modernity remain an important source of inspiration for the socio-political emancipation of the whole of the Indian population.
Does Ethical Climate Influence Unethical Practices and Work Behaviour?
Authors: Suar Damodar , Khuntia Rooplekha
Published: March 2007

This study examines whether ethical climate influences managers' unethical practices and work behaviour. The sample comprised of 340 middle-level executives from twa private and two public sector companies. Irrespective of the nature of the organization and the age of the managers, while a caring and professional climate reduced only the manipulative behaviour of managers, an individual-centred climate consistently fostered unethical practices of manipulation, cheating and violation of organizational norms. On work behaviour, a caring and professional climate was conducive for increasing managers' performance, involvement, affective commitment, predominant intrinsic job satisfaction, extrinsic job satisfaction and taking initiative; while an individual-centred climate was unfavourable for continuance commitment to the organization.
Business and the Future: Towards a New Paradigm Based on Yoga
Authors: Srinivasan M.S.
Published: March 2007

Business is a representative institution of our times; it represents the spirit of our age. Modern business in general has displaced a remarkable ability to change. But the change yet to come will be something unprecedented. What is the nature of this change? What is the type of vision and sirategy that will help business as a social institution, and the organizations that are part of it, to navigate this evolutionary transition successfully? Or, in other words, what is the nature of the paradigm shift needed to manage future change? These are the main questions business leaders and managers will be facing in the future. This article examines these questions in the light of Sri Aurobindo's vision.
Values in the Indian Ethos: An Overview
Authors: Chatterjee Champak
Published: March 2007

This paper endeavours to present systematically the essential components of human values and their evolution through various socio-religious movements in the Indian history. The first part of the paper examines the principal values that represent the Indian ethical system. Tyaga (renunciation), dana (liberal giving), nishtha (dedication), satya (truth), ahimsa (non-violence) and upeksha (forbearance) are examined as the keynotes of the Indian values system. The second part looks briefly at the historical context of the evolution of this values system. Enumerating the broad gamut of ideas which emanated in the upanishadic age and underlining the contributions made to the sustenance of human values in India by the various reform movements in the five thousand years of Indian history, the paper unearths the richness and resilience of Indian ethos. The paper concludes that for the perpetuation of the Indian values system, the Indian concept of dharma has acted as a sustaining principle through the ages.
Values in Search of an Identity
Authors: Sheth N.R.
Published: March 2007

This paper makes an attempt to examine the various facets of human values in the background of the widely shared popular beliefs about erosion of values. A random sample of elite opinions on the nature of decline of values brings out the difficulties involved in identifying values for social analysis. Values are an integral part of the religious, spiritual and governmental spheres of social behaviour within a culture. It is argued that the problem of erosion of values is shared across cultures and has existed throughout the history of human society. It is suggested that material and spiritual values follow a dialectical process of coexistence and conflict. The current wave of concern over degeneration of values is explained in relation to the unprecedented complexity of today's global society and the socio-economic challenges posed by this complexity for the individual and the society at various levels. This discussion is followed by a brief review of the recent contributions of social sciences to the concept of values and their decline in modern society. Finally, some thoughts are expressed, from a sociologist's vantage point, regarding the multi-dimensional problem of values in the emerging global culture.
Conscription and Nation-Building in Singapore: A Psychological Analysis
Authors: Nair Elizabeth
Published: March 2007

In an earlier study by Nair,1 undergraduate national servicemen were interviewed regarding their perceptions on their conscript experience and nation-building. The present study examines the congruent perceptions of military commanders in the context of social psychological theory and research. Twenty senior military commanders were selected to represent a cross-section of formations and appointments in the army. They were individually interviewed with particular reference to their recall of policies, procedures and practices in conscript service that might have a bearing on nation- building. Verbatim transcriptions of each interview were scrutinized and responses coded and tallied. There was clear identification of the unifying effect of common barracks and training regimes across economic, ethnic and religious differences. The findings provide converging evidence for the presence of the psychological effects of superordinate goals,2 the minimal group paradigm, 3 and the contact hypothesis,4 serving to build a cohesive nation. There were also recurrent and converging attributions of the military experience resulting in national servicemen with the qualities of discipline, responsibility, team spiritedness and physical fitness. It was perceived that these acquired positive qualities were carried over to civilian life and characterized the Singapore workforce.
Chinese Values in Work Organization: An Alternative Approach to Change and Development
Authors: Kao Henry S.R. , Sek-Hong NG
Published: March 2007

This paper explores the salient features of Chinese social and workplace values in offering an alternative to the established Western approach to the notion and practice of organizational devel opment. The authors argue that the emphasis of the Chinese traditional values on trust, fidelity, altruism and unspecified obligations of reciprocity norms is an important source of strategic advantage which gives a Chinese firm its resilience and flexibility to cope with change. The paper thus goes on to examine the cultural disposition of the Chinese mentality as it applies in the context of such East Asian economies as Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong for the organization of the workplace and its 'reformation'. With the help of organizational data the authors trace out a corporate approach to 'national harmony' in the Confucian domain in the big Chinese enterprises. The paper also reflects on the organizational practices in the small Chinese firms and explores the 'nexus' of informality and personalized trust in these firms. Finally, the authors contend that the propensities of the Chinese communities to transfer the features of traditional governance within the family milieu to the domain of business organizations have instigated a Western academic consciousness to search for Oriental inspiration in order to overcome the sterility of their post-industrial syndrome.
Bridging the East and the West in Management Ethics: Kyosei and the Moral Point of View
Authors: Goodpaster Kenneth E.
Published: March 2007

In this article two broad ideals or 'umbrella' concepts in management ethics—one Eastern and one Western—are examined, with an eye toward explaining their fundamental similarities. Beyond ques tions of meaning and conceptual analysis, however, are questions of implementation. Institutional izing an ethical orientation—Eastern or Western—is the theme of the last part of the article. Different approaches to institutionalization are discussed and a strategy is suggested for making the 'umbrella' concepts part of the operating systems of organizations.
The Spiritual Poverty of Material Economy
Authors: McDonald Ross A.
Published: March 2007

The spread of free-market doctrine across the globe is a discouraging sign for the col lective well-being of humanity. Central to the problems posed by modern economy is its inability to rise above the simplistic assumptions of the Enlightenment and its idealistic purification of rationality. The following paper discusses the limitations of modem economy and its unfortunate tendency to ignore and destroy the immaterial values that cannot be contained within its own nar row measures of human well-being. Any adequate reduction in its potential for ulti mate harm will require nothing less than a radical reconsideration of the dispirited and limited western worldview from which it emanated.
Rising Technology and Falling Ethics?
Authors: Chakraborty S.K.
Published: March 2007

The paper highlights the alienation and separation produced by science—technology between man and nature, and between man and man. The principal thesis in this paper is that such separative mentality is the root cause of the deterioration in ethics even in unexpected quarters. Warnings about this were foreseen by a number of Indian livers (those who live the thought) and thinkers during the early twentieth century. Their prophecies seem to be unfortunately coming true. After sharing this sample of opinions, several recent cases of vicious unethicalities all over the world have been presented. This is followed by a brief survey of Western thought over the past six decades which too was mature enough to caution us about the blind onslaught of technology. The paper concludes by arguing for a complete overhaul of the vocabulary of modern discourse from the objective to the subjective.
Interdependence: A Basic Assumption for the Building of Human Values
Authors: Barbosa J.A.F.
Published: March 2007

The paper discusses the critical importance of interdependence and team development for the devel opment of human values, humane organizations, and sustainable earth management. The paper accords priority to the cultivation and nurturance of this spirit over TQM, reengineering, strategic management and the like. While not denying the practical need for hierarchy, specialization and discipline, the paper argues that it is the one-sided emphasis on such features which has aggravated fragmentation in organizations, militating against interdependent teamwork.
Inner Peace: Towards Health Care via Health Realization
Authors: Madigan Marsha Milburn
Published: March 2007

The paper makes a strong plea for the health care system itself to strive for better health. It argues that a growing weakness of the health care system is high level psychological stress. This, in turn, is caused by the overuse of memory-linked analytical process thinking in managing the affairs of health care organizations. The author strongly recommends a shift towards a greater use of natural flow thinking which is more supple, spontaneous, creative and stress free. She argues for this shift on the basis of several years of personal engagement with and learning of flow thinking practices in different parts of the world, including India.
Energy, Society and Morals
Authors: Wall Goran
Published: March 2007

The present trend of resource depletion and environmental destruction is related to a lack of morals in society. Available tools like exergy, ecology and democracy are ignored. This not only makes us unaware of reality but also of the possibilities of avoiding a catastrophe. Instead, economics and politics are often based on myths. The most dangerous threat to humankind is new, unknown diseases, fostered by environmental pollution. This knowledge is suppressed. The author concludes that too much attention has been given to the body of society, that is, its metabolism. Therefore, the focus should now be directed to the soul of society, especially morals and love.
Review Essay : Structural Adjustment, Industrialisation and Technological Capabilities in Africa 1
Authors: Hewitt Tom , Albu Michael
Published: March 2007

After nearly two decades of structural adjustment programmes in Africa, this paper exam ines the state of African industrialisation and efforts to build or rehabilitate technological capabilities. It is argued that industry and, even more, technology have been largely ignored in nearly two decades of structural adjustment and that there is a serious mismatch between policies being pursued in the region and measures that are needed to (re-)build industrial and technological capabilities. As a result, there is a process of unlearning in African industry. The paper explores ways in which this process may be reversed in the context of the current reforms and suggests areas for fruitful future research.
Medieval: Another Tyrannous Construct?
Authors: Reuter Timothy
Published: March 2007

This article examines how far the use of the term 'medieval' restricts or distorts our understanding of the period conventionally termed so. The tripartite ancient—medieval—modern scheme entered historical writing in the seventeenth century, but the term soon took on its own life outside historiography. Within historiography, the tripartite division has remained the dominant periodisation, even though plausible alternatives have been offered. However, those working as European medievalists only rarely see themselves as forming a group studying a coherent and discrete socio- cultural formation: apart from anything else, Europe itself is as problematic a notion as the Middle Ages. The term, within academe, is now largely a conventional one. This appears also to be the case for the use of the term in extra-European contexts: it denotes either a post-classical age or a feudal society (here as in non-academic usage, medieval and feudal are often synonymous). The temporal limits vary, though there are broad similarities. The article argues that the term is too conventionalised to be of much use in any dialogue between medievalists of different parts of the globe: it does not clearly define either a social formation or a stage of development.
China and the Redundancy of the Medieval
Authors: Barrett T.H.
Published: March 2007

This article takes as its starting point the 'Naito hypothesis' which postu lates an end to the Chinese Middle Ages about 1000 A.D., and suggests that it may have been inspired by a Japanese Buddhist division of history which has had some influence in the West, and which uses an identical periodisation. Other non-Buddhist schemes with similar dates are then considered, and finally the arguments voiced against them in eighteenth century Japan and China are used to introduce a discussion in a compara tive context of some of the rhetorical features allowing divisions to be imposed upon the continuity of China.
The NCR-USC Document Validation Laboratory
Authors: RIVERS WILLIAM E. , CARR DIANE ROSE
Published: March 2007

This article first describes the NCR-USC Document Validation Laboratory, its corporate background, the mutual benefits it offers to National Cash Register (NCR) and the University of South Carolina (USC), and the validation procedure used therein. The article then goes on to discuss three common problems discovered in NCR's manuals and the reasons for these problems. The laboratory's success is then illustrated by presenting and analyzing excerpts from two documents that were validated in the laboratory and subsequently revised by NCR's writers before being revalidated.
Computer-Supported Collaborative Writing
Authors: DUIN ANN HILL
Published: March 2007

With the advent of electronic networking, writing pedagogy has moved into the arena of computer-supported collaborative writing, using collaborative writing as an instructional means to promote a more social view of the writing process. Therefore, as business and technical communication researchers and instructors, we need to ask the following questions: What kinds of software have been developed to aid computer-supported collaborative writing in the workplace and in the writing classroom? What benefits and problems have resulted from the design and use of this software? What research issues should be addressed as we approach the next decade of computer-supported collaborative writing? In this article the author explores these questions, highlighting five computer-supported collaborative writing systems from the workplace and five such systems from the writing classroom.
Managing the Technology in a Desktop Publishing Course
Authors: DOBBERSTEIN MICHAEL
Published: March 2007

Developing a course in desktop publishing is a technological, as much as a pedagogical, undertaking. Although a background in layout, document design, and typography is necessary, teaching these subjects with computers inevitably means teaching a particular combination of hardware and software. Students with little prior experience using computers must receive training in computer basics. Thus considerable familiarity, not only with desktop publishing software but also with personal computers, is necessary to teach a desktop publishing course.
Language Skills
Authors: LIMBACK E. REBECCA
Published: March 2007

The study demonstrates the language skills value added by business writing instruction. Descriptive Tests of Language Skills of the College Board (DTLS) covering sentence structure and usage were administered as a pretest/posttest assessment to students enrolled in two business writing courses. Instruction in business writing resulted in improved language skills as measured by the DTLS.
Participative Appraisal of Student Performance + Effective Communication Skills = Long-Run Success
Authors: LEHMAN CAROL M. , TAYLOR G. STEPHEN
Published: March 2007

People need clear, direct feedback about their performance if they are to improve their communication skills. This need is as true for students as it is for employees. Unfortunately, many evaluators—including classroom instructors—find it very difficult to provide such feedback. This article briefly discusses a performance appraisal system specifically designed for classroom use, including a discussion of communication techniques appropriate for providing feedback about students' performance.
Gender Issues in Technical Communication Studies
Authors: ALLEN JO
Published: March 2007

This article presents an overview of research and unanswered questions related to gender issues in technical communication. Specific issues affecting our profession, our research, and our pedagogical philosophies and assignments are presented. The article addresses the consequences of the feminization of technical communication, the avenues for research on gender differences in communication—specifically those differences that affect technical communicators—and the means for encouraging a more gender-balanced view of business and industry within our technical communication classrooms by giving students a chance to practice writing about gender-related issues.
Who Owns this Work?
Authors: BRUNNER DIANE D.
Published: March 2007

This article raises questions about the social, cultural, and political assumptions embedded in the concept of authorship. The discussion occurs within the framework of social-constructionist theories and is based on a feminist critique of science and composition. This critique challenges us to remember that we and our students operate within a culture, that we and our students are located within gendered categories and along class and race lines, and that each of us has a history and a system of beliefs or worldview. Additionally, the author suggests strategies for infusing personal understandings with professional/academic writings.
Gender Scripts in Professional Writing Textbooks
Authors: CARRELL DAVID
Published: March 2007

A script-based semantic theory is used to examine selected professional writing textbooks published during the 1930s through the 1950s to show how they reflect and perpetuate sexual stereotypes. In these textbooks women are portrayed as subservient, emotional, and frivolous. Men, on the other hand, are portrayed as decisive, logical, and strong. These stereotype-based scripts suggest that men are more suited than women for positions of authority within the business world and have played an important role in relegating women to low-level positions.
Writers at Work
Authors: POMERENKE PAULA J.
Published: March 2007

This study is the result of personal interviews with 17 writers in four departments at a major insurance corporation. The writers, most of whom began as journalists, share their frustrations and challenges in working for a large corporation. They explain why they rarely collaborate, why they do not need written standards for each department's writing, and their document approval process. Because these writers may have an audience of 50 million readers at a time, the experiences they share about writing in the workplace should be of interest to anyone who teaches professional writing.
Reactions to Lexical, Syntactical, and Text Layout Variations of a Print Advertisement
Authors: MOTES WILLIAM H. , HILTON CHADWICK B. , FIELDEN JOHN S.
Published: March 2007

Despite intense research efforts by both advertising and communication researchers, there is no definitive answer to the question of what makes a print advertisement successful. Yet, common wisdom contends that lexicon, syntax, and text layout have much to do with how readers perceive advertisements. This study, an extension and refinement of two of our previous studies, tests this assertion by assessing reader reactions to a broad range of lexical, syntactical, and text layout conditions, both in isolation and interactively. Our results suggest that in affecting readers' perceptions, the role of each of these elements independently is not quite as critical as perhaps assumed. Nonetheless, this research does suggest that certain perceptions are significantly affected by specific lexical, syntactical, and layout combinations, which indicates that creating effective advertisement text requires tailoring the copy to the target audience and thinking of the text as a synergy of both language and text layout elements.
Aristotle's Rhetoric, Hitler's Program, and the Ideological Problem of Praxis, Power, and Professional Discourse
Authors: KATZ STEVEN B.
Published: March 2007

Technical-professional communication as praxis, or social action, is extended beyond skill or amoral art into the realm of phronesis, concerned with reasoning about ends rather than means. However, praxis and phronesis are sociologically constructed and, like social-epistemic rhetoric, ideologically defined in the political context by the ethic of expediency enabling deliberative rhetoric. Hitler's use of propaganda to construct praxis and define phronesis in Nazi Germany is examined in terms of the rational but open-ended nature of Aristotle's political-ethical thought, and the implications for our understanding of Aristotelian praxis is discussed. Finally, the failure of professional discourse surrounding the siting of a low-level nuclear waste facility to create a persuasive reality and yet ideologically construct praxis is examined, raising questions concerning the possibility of a deliberative technical rhetoric in U.S. democracy.
Sense and Sensibility in Technical Documentation
Authors: SAUER BEVERLY A.
Published: March 2007

This article analyzes postaccident investigation reports from a feminist perspective to show (a) how the conventions of public discourse privilege the rational (male) objective voice and silence human suffering, (b) how the notion of expertise excludes women's experiential knowledge, (c) how the conventions of public discourse sanction the exclusion of alternative voices and thus perpetuate salient and silent power structures, and (d) how interpretation strategies that fail to consider unstated assumptions about gender, power, authority, and expertise seriously compromise the health, safety, and lives of miners—and in a broader sense—all of those who are dependent on technology for their personal safety.
Power Relations, Technical Writing Theory, and Workplace Writing
Authors: RICHARDSON MALCOLM , LIGGETT SARAH
Published: March 2007

Technical writing theory and research about communication in large organizations mostly ignore from-the-top control of rhetoric. The usual emphasis on an individual writer negotiating with a known audience and generally free to decide on matters of style, organization, and so on can hide the ways that power relations often silently control internal rhetoric. Conclusions are based on two case studies: In the later Middle Ages, professional letters had to conform to a rhetorical format that necessarily foregrounded unequal power relations. In a contemporary nuclear power station, similar power relations purposely obscure writer and audience while procedures dictate format and content.
Copia Rerum
Authors: DILLON W. TRACY
Published: March 2007

This article describes a method for motivating second-language (L2) business communicators to increase their English proficiency through the use of double translation. The lesson is explained and illustrated in light of current research on both L2 pedagogy and intercultural communication theory. Examples of double translations are offered, along with anecdotal observations concerning the positive effects of the lesson. These data support the notion that teaching methods that empower L2 communicators while involving them in ideas are preferable to traditional grammar and syntax exercises.
Techniques of Developing Forecasting Statements
Authors: MARKEL MIKE
Published: March 2007

Although the research has clearly established that reading comprehension improves when the writer forecasts the discussion in an introductory or transitional passage, technical writing textbooks offer little guidance on how to construct effective forecasts. The most common pattern, in which the items to be discussed are listed, is boring and can leave unanswered some critical questions that can prevent the reader from paying full attention. This article describes techniques, based on four of the journalistic prompts (what, where, why, and how), that can help writers create contexts for their readers, thereby improving readers' comprehension and enlisting them in the creation of the discourse.
The Technical Communication Internship
Authors: LITTLE SHERRY BURGUS
Published: March 2007

Experiential learning theory provides a theoretical foundation for studying technical communication internships. This study explores, through the perspective of the experiential learning cycle model developed by David Kolb, internships in technical communication. Participants in technical communication internship experiences were asked to provide, from their different perspectives, information that described the experience. Program directors, industrial supervisors, and student interns provided different views of what they had experienced, illustrating that most had entirely different perspectives on their level of participation in creating, supervising, and evaluating this form of educational experience. Besides describing technical communication programs in the United States more comprehensively, the results of this study raise questions about how the respondents perceived their experience and how the “reality” of these perceptions often conflict. When these findings are explored within the epistemology conceptualized by Kolb's experiential learning theory, a framework is established for more systemic procedures and standards that will enhance the internship as a credible learning experience.
A Contextual Theory for Business Writing
Authors: BRADY LAURA A.
Published: March 2007

What is the role of conventions in business writing? Too often, textbook samples of business writing are removed from their original contexts. If we invite students to analyze these models for specific textual features, we teach them methods of formalist evaluation, but we fail to teach them ways in which they can learn to analyze and respond to specific contexts, see the subtle ways in which texts are inflected with many voices, and actively participate in the cultural conversation of the business community. This article moves from a critique of conventions to theories of context and intertext; these theories are applied to case studies of both professional and student business writing practices to analyze how rhetorical exchanges shape conventions and communication.
Preparing Students for the Behavioral Job Interview
Authors: MASCOLINI MARCIA , SUPNICK ROBERTA
Published: March 2007

Preparing students for the behavioral description, or situational, job interview that is becoming common in business requires two components. In addition to (a) improving students' cognitive skills (learning about the company, preparing questions and answers) and affective skills (dress, composure, delivery), it requires (b) developing students' ability to answer behaviorally based questions. Most textbooks focus on the first component. This article suggests ways to take typical interview questions, translate them to behavioral questions, and prepare illustrative responses.
Electrical Connections
Authors: BAZERMAN CHARLES
Published: March 2007

When the New York Sun reported that Thomas Edison had solved the problem of incandescent lighting, that purported invention generated immense excitement across many segments of the American population. The letters sent to Edison in the days following the September 16, 1878, story reveal the many discursive worlds that Edison's work touched on and had meaning for. They indicate how a technological accomplishment is also a multiple, complex social and communicative accomplishment, creating place and meaning for the new technology within the many discursive systems by which people assign value, identify uses, and create goals incorporating the technology. Edison's ability to connect with each of these meaning systems paved the way for the development of the technology, providing financial and social resources for Edison that his competitors did not enjoy.
The Effects of Race and Ethnicity on Perceptions of Human Resource Policies and Climate Regarding Diversity
Authors: KOSSEK ELLEN ERNST , ZONIA SUSAN C.
Published: March 2007

This study shows that race/ethnicity significantly explained differences in attitudes toward human resource policies fostering diversity held by faculty at a large public university in the midwestern United States. Overall, whites' attitudes were less positive regarding diversity programs and other human resource policies relevant to women and minorities than Black's, Hispanic's, and Asian's attitudes were. We also found that individual race and ethnicity significantly explained differences in attitudes toward diversity programs to a greater extent than the demography of the organizational work unit.
United States Versus Mexican Perceptions of The Impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement
Authors: NICHOLSON JOEL D. , LUST JOHN , MANZANERA ALEJANDRO ARDILA , RICO JAVIER ARROYO
Published: March 2007

U.S. and Mexican managerial attitudes concerning the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) process on the United States are explored. Over 1,500 managers, professionals, and upper-division business students in the United States and Mexico responded to a survey developed in both countries. Issues examined include general knowledge concerning NAFTA and perceived effect on a number of socioeconomic concerns. Differences in Mexican and U.S. attitudes concerning the issues are discussed.
Risk Communication, Metacommunication, and Rhetorical Stases in the Aspen-EPA Superfund Controversy
Authors: STRATMAN JAMES F. , BOYKIN CAROLYN , HOLMES MARTI C. , LAUFER M. JANE , BREEN MARION
Published: March 2007

This article explores the relationship between current theoretical definitions of risk communication, the unique national role that EPA plays in defining health and environmental risks, and possible explanations for EPA's inability to persuade the city of Aspen, Colorado, to accept its plan for a massive cleanup of toxic lead mine wastes. Many explanations for the reversal of EPA's cleanup plan at Aspen could be advanced, but we concentrate on the definition of risk communication upon which EPA's internal risk communication guidelines are based—guidelines that its field representatives are invited to follow. In particular, we now explore ownership messages conveyed through metacommunication conflict with EPA's risk communication guidelines.
Survival Skills for Communicators within Organizations
Authors: SOPENSKY EMILY , MODREY LAURIE
Published: March 2007

Formal classroom instruction and literature in the field never replace the learning that occurs from actual experience in the workplace. Recognizing this, the authors—two senior technical communicators—identify several typical, but not predictable, organizational problems that involve technical communicators and present them in a how-to, anecdotal fashion.
The Report for Decision Making
Authors: RUDE CAROLYN D.
Published: March 2007

The report for decision making shares some common ground with the proposal, the report of scientific experiment, and even the persuasive essay, yet these genres differ. Recognizing these differences is necessary for effective inquiry, pedagogy, and decision making. The genres are means of solving different types of problems: practical, empirical, and theoretical. They serve different aims: action, demonstration, and conviction. The proposal, like the report, may solve practical problems, but the proposal advocates, whereas the report inquires. These genres all embody assumptions about problem solving and inquiry in their forms. Applying the problem-solving goals and methods of the proposal, experimental report, or essay to the report for decision making compromises the quality of the inquiry and of the resulting decision. Complex problems for decision making require a rhetorical method of inquiry based on Aristotle's special topics. The report genre reflects the invention heuristics and analysis in its form.
Teaching Interviewees Employment Interviewing Skills
Authors: RALSTON STEVEN M.
Published: March 2007

Instructors of business and technical communication courses continually search for ways to improve their classroom and professional training exercises. Toward that end, this investigation examines two methods of conducting an employment interviewing training exercise for interviewees. Specifically, instructor-facilitated and peer-facilitated interviewing exercises are compared. Data collected from interviewing classes show that students preferred the instructor-facilitated over the peer-facilitated training exercise. Advantages and disadvantages of the instructor-facilitated exercise are discussed, and suggestions for further examination are offered.
Using Journals to Improve Listening Behavior
Authors: JOHNSON IRIS W. , BARKER RANDOLPH T. , PEARCE C. GLENN
Published: March 2007

This article describes a study of journal keeping to focus business students' attention on their listening behaviors and the need for improvement. Guided by an instructor, 42 students wrote daily observations of their listening behaviors for 10 weeks. These observations were arranged into 10 prescribed general listening categories. Using content analysis procedures, two trained decoders identified content themes that were observed by more than half the students in 7 of the 10 general categories. The results demonstrated that the journal, combined with content analysis procedures, can be used successfully to identify students' listening behavior problems so that a targeted training regimen can be designed to address these deficiencies.
Logic, Rhetoric, and Legal Writing
Authors: GALE FREDRIC G.
Published: March 2007

Training in legal writing is a vital part of a lawyer's education both because it is a skill required by the successful practitioner and because learning to write as a lawyer is an integral part of the process that turns laypersons into lawyers. As writing teachers we find that paying attention only to process obscures an important lesson: No rhetoric is effective except to the extent that it is devised for a particular audience and occasion. The author discusses James Kinneavy's suggestion that we offer students the broader version of process implied in Heidegger's concept of “forestructure” and suggests that students be given a context in which to write, a context that contains strong clues as to audience and purpose.
Extending the Boundaries of Rhetoric in Legal Writing Pedagogy
Authors: BRITT ELIZABETH C. , LONGO BERNADETTE , WOOLEVER KRISTIN R.
Published: March 2007

In the study of law, postmodernism's interpretive turn has given rise to a wealth of scholarship analyzing the relationship of law's rhetoric to its social, cultural, and political contexts. This shift has influenced some teaching of “substantive” law school courses. At the university level, the interpretive turn has prompted composition scholars to reconsider how the teaching of writing is implicated, but no similar shift has occurred in legal writing pedagogy. Instead, those teaching legal writing largely teach as they were taught, emphasizing the use of rhetoric as a tool for successful lawyering. Legal writing professors must move beyond this narrow conception of rhetoric to help students become adept at the discourse of the legal community and capable of critically evaluating it.
Communicating Risk in a Cross-Cultural Context
Authors: SAUER BEVERLY A.
Published: March 2007

This article analyzes how culture influences the rhetorical strategies writers employ to represent expert knowledge in the workplace and the underlying values and assumptions in a culture that enable readers to understand and evoke the knowledges represented as visual and verbal narratives. The study examines the problems of risk communication in a cross-cultural context at three levels: (a) the technical problems of representing safety information in an uncertain and hazardous environment, (b) the translation problem of multiple representations and cultural understandings in a cross-cultural environment, and (c) the rhetorical problem of defining a rational basis for argument about what constitutes safety in an economic and political context. This article expands upon previous notions of cross-cultural communication as the translation processes necessary to mediate cultural difference or translate from one culture to another. In examining risk communication within a larger global context, this article analyzes the problems writers face in applying generalized models of communication practice to solve technical problems in a culturally and politically complex global economy.
The Alignment of Global Management Strategies, International Communication Approaches, and Individual Rhetorical Choices
Authors: LEININGER CAROL
Published: March 2007

The international strategies of an organization—ethnocentric, polycentric, geocentric, heterarchic—are reflected in its international communication. The discussion presented here, based on Hedlund's application of Perlmutter's categorization of management strategies, focuses on the alignment of an organization's goals and market positions with its international communication approaches. The categorization implies that an organization's global management strategies should be aligned with its international communication practices. As such, an organization that seeks a larger role in the international market yet takes an ethnocentric stance in its communication strategies may be less successful than one with a more polycentric, geocentric, or heterarchic approach to international communication. Thinking about international communication within such a framework enhances not only consulting practice but teaching as well.
Media Use and Disuse by State Legislators
Authors: MAYO CHARLES M. , PERLMUTTER DAVID D.
Published: March 2007

This study explores the adoption of new media among an elite, powerful group: state legislators. The case study investigates how five information sources are used by a sample of Louisiana state legislators to meet nine different information needs. These research questions were posed: (1) What roles do the various sources available to legislators play in helping them make voting decisions, and does the importance of these information sources vary with different information needs? (2) How does new information technology fit into the information sources state legislators use in making voting decisions? and (3) Do characteristics such as the officeholder's age, tenure, and education influence how these information sources are used? The legislators in this sample indicate a preference for interpersonal communication channels, specifically statehouse insiders. They do not consider new media to be important sources for information. Their age, tenure, and education have little influence on how they use information sources.
Predicting Computer Anxiety in the Business Communication Classroom
Authors: HEMBY K. VIRGINIA
Published: March 2007

The purpose of this study is primarily twofold: (1) to determine what factors, if any, are predictors of computer anxiety among business communication students and (2) to explore alternative teaching strategies suggested by the literature to effectively reduce computer anxiety in business communication classrooms. Participants consisted of 431 students enrolled in business communication courses during the 1995 spring semester at three state-supported universities in three southern states. Statistical analyses revealed that gender, keyboarding skill, age, socioeconomic status, and self-directedness are adequate predictors of computer anxiety in business communication students. Teaching strategies for reducing or eliminating computer anxiety in business communication classrooms are discussed.
Meeting Minutes as Symbolic Action
Authors: McEACHERN ROBERT W.
Published: March 2007

Postmodern assumptions employed by some organizational theorists recognize that “administrators' greater power lies not in their ability to control resources but in their ability to manipulate symbols—the ceremonies, rituals, images, and language of the organization” (Graham and David 9). Thus, even a genre that is often considered neutral and objective, such as meeting minutes, can become a tool of managerial control. This article presents data from an ethnographic case study that describes how an administrator in a theater organization manipulated language by using the minutes from a board of directors meeting to influence board members to vote to disband the organization.
Rhetorical Practices in Technical Work
Authors: WINSOR DOROTHY A.
Published: March 2007

Engineers' use of rhetoric differs from that of scientists because of the material objects engineers work with and the material conditions under which they act. For engineers, “publication” takes the form of releasing a marketable object, not a refereed article. Thus, they have less need than scientists do to create written theoretical work and can instead build knowledge by group discussion of instrument traces that they tie directly to the object. The fact that they usually work in hierarchical, for-profit organizations also affects their rhetorical practices, as they must shape the actions of those both below and above them in the corporate hierarchy.
Organizing Features of Hypertext
Authors: TOVEY JANICE
Published: March 2007

Hypertext is presented and understood as an intricate, open web of interrelated information, both intertextual and interactive, as reader and writer work together to create the text. However, it may be driven by an organizational metaphor that limits the users' access and may not be open to the free associations it implies. Organization is important in hypertext, just as it is in print documents, both rhetorically and practically. Metaphors, links, and buttons aid users in identifying the organizational patterns, allow users to access information successfully, and provide connections that users may not make on their own.
The Value of Technical Documentation as an Aid in Training
Authors: LOGES MAX L.
Published: March 2007

This article examines the value added to the United States Lighthouse Service by the operator's manuals, which were issued to the lighthouse keepers by the Light-House Board in 1852. Subsequent reports of the board to Congress conclusively show that the manuals resulted in a significant savings in the operating costs of the service. In addition, annual reports of district superintendents show that the instructional information improved the appearance and reliability of the lights. Furthermore, the manuals helped to reduce significantly the number of marine disasters along America's shores in the years following the board's decision.