Why can\u27t business school graduates communicate effectively in spite of the fact that most programs offer a course in business communication? A survey of 112 business executives and personnel managers illustrates our concern and suggest potential solutions. A proposed new course in business communication/research is offered

Babb, Harold W.

Maxwell, LIttleton M.

English

University of Richmond

University of Richmond UR Scholarship Repository Robins School of Business White Paper Series, 1980-2011 Robins School of Business 1981 Business Communication Courses: Continued Problems and Potential Solutions Harold W. Babb University of Richmond LIttleton M. Maxwell University of Richmond, lmaxwell@richmond.edu Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.richmond.edu/robins-white-papers  Part of the Business Commons Recommended Citation Babb, Harold W. and Littleton M. Maxwell. "Business Communication Courses: Continued Problems and Potential Solutions." E.C.R.S.B. 1981-8. Robins School of Business White Paper Series. University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia. This White Paper is brought to you for free and open access by the Robins School of Business at UR Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Robins School of Business White Paper Series, 1980-2011 by an authorized administrator of UR Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact scholarshiprepository@richmond.edu. BUSINESS COMMUNICATION COURSES: CONTINUED PROBLEMS AND POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS E.C.R.S.B. 1981-8 Harold W. Babb, Ph.D. E. Claiborne Robins School of Business University of Richmond, Virginia 23173 Littleton M. Maxwell E. Claiborne Robins School of Business University of Richmond, Virginia 23173 Harold W. Babb, Assistant Professor of Marketing at the E. Claiborne Robins School of Business, University of Richmond, rec~lved his Ph.D. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He recently chaired a special committee developed specifically for the purpose of restructuring the business communication area at the University of Richmond. He has served as a consultant for a number of businesses and has authored or co-authored seve~al journal articles and proceedings for professional meetings. Littleton M. Maxwell is Librarian of the E. Claiborne Robins School of. Business at the Uni,versity of Richmond. He has served in that position since 1972. He received his undergraduate degree from Randolph-Macon College and an M.S~ in Library Science at the University of Kentucky. Why can ' t business school graduates communicate effectively in spite of the fact that most progra ms offer a course i n business communication? A survey of 112 business executives and personne l managers il •lustr~tes our concern and suggest .potential solutions . A proposed new course in business communication/research is offered . ijUSINESS COMMUNICATION COURSES: CONTINUED PROBLEMS AND POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS Publications are currently focusing on emphasizing the criticism that business schools ar.e graduating students with poor communication s_kills. In a recent study of undergraduate business education, An Assessment of Undergraduate Business Education in the United States, it was stated that pe rsonnel executives of America's largest corporations report that, "under-graduate businjss students were perceived ... very weak in communications, especially written, skills. This view was reflected in the selection of writing skills as the number one priority for additional training by the executives. 111 Other research has shown that even for schools that do offer a business communication course , a great deal of time is spent in _reviewing basic writing skills that should have been perfected in a freshman English course. 2 This continued problem should be surprising given th e fact that written and oral communication skills are so vital to initial job employment and long-range success. Allen Blitstein repo rted in his research that "oral communica-tion skills are even more important i n succeeding on the job and receiving promotions. 3 His finding s are supported by similar research completed in 1980 4 by Hunger and Wheelen. It is disappointing that even with an increased emphasis by business schools in communications (one study reported that over 76% of the AACSB schools surveyed offered at least one business communications course), executives are still finding unsatisfactory work by their employees. In the study by Glassman and Farley, the authors concluded that students simply need more practice, but with the increased class size due to tight budgets and an increasing empha~is on scholarly research, instructors are less likely to assign written projects or use essay exams . 5 This places an even greater burden on business communication courses. However, the content of most of these courses is not sufficient to provide a student with the necessary skills and/or the instructor is often not qualified to teach "business Engli .sh. 116 We cannot, in this paper, solve the problem of large classes or unqualified instructors . 'They are questions of priority, which are determined by indivi-dual universities. The purpose of this research i s to develop an undergraduate business communication course, structured around the needs of the business community as viewed by business executives . This course design will hopefully alleviate some of the problems discussed earlier. METHODOLOGY To determine what communication skills are most important in the business world and thus are deemed most appropriate for study in an under-graduate business communications course, 112 executives were questioned through a telephone survey. These executives, each representing different companies, were either personnel directors or vice presidents. Representative industries - banking, retail, manufacturing, insurance, utilities, and service - were covered, although there was no attempt at random sampling. Each firm had at least one office located in a larg e metropolitan city in the southeast and employed over 100 people. 3 FINDINGS It was felt that the best format for presenting the data would be to list the results by question and include any discussion necessary under each category. This presentation would be followed by a proposed _busin _ess communi-cation/ r esearch syllabus structured around the findirigs of the survey and previous scho lar ly research. 1. In your opinion, how do recent undergraduates in busine~s ~ompare with the undergraduates of 1970 with respect to their ability to communicate properly? (Oral and written) Reseonse A. Worse B. About C. Bette r Table f970 Gradua tes' Ability to Communicate Properly vs Recent Graduates Frequencies Perc ent 72 64 the same 16 1 5 19 1 7 D. Can't evaluate .5 4 TT2 100% The purpose of this question was to ascerta i n t he overall feeiing ex~cutives in this survey had toward their employees ' abi l ity to communicate . The results strongly support that of other research and again point out the problem that still exists in this area, even with our increased _emphasis in communications . 4 2. What types of subject matter do you think should be covered in a business communications/research course? Response Letter writing Memo writing Oral skills Reporting writing Instructions Proposals Research skills Evaluations Out l in.es Table 2 Subject Matter Speeches/presentations for others Frequen c ies 107 105 92 51, 48 47 38 ?.7 24 .J 9 Percent 96 94 82 48 43 42 34 24 21 16 (There were others cited, but all had a percent less than five. 3. Using a SGale of 1-10 with 10 being very i mportant , what importance do you place on an employee's ability to write or present: Table 3 Relative Importance Rating a) written proposals b) reports c) letters d). memos e) outlines f) speeches g) in st ructions and procedures h) vi s ua l a i ds i) oral presentations j) himself well in group sett ings k) non-verbal communication properly (body language) l) basic secondary resea rch skills Average Rating 5.7 7. 1 9.2 9.4 4.8 6.7 7.2 6. 1 8. 1 9. 1 8.7 6.7 Question 3 was based primarily on respon ses from quest io n 2 although they did not appear in that order during the survey. Lettei and ~emo writing received a very high rat ing which is not surprising coniidering r, the number of employees who would be employed in such an activity. However, oral and non~verbal communication skills also received high ratings. · Thus, while it may be necessary for business communication courses to emphasize written communication, it should not preclude the learning of a number of verbal and non-verbal skills such as conflict resolution and group interaction. Such skills are also implied by AACSB curriculum standards. Another area which received much attention and yet i s often over-looked in our business communication courses js the ability to display basic secondary research skills whether it be library, in dust ry, or in-house mate rial. This presents a pa .rticular problem because "faculty assigi;ied to· business writing for the first .time are generally unacquainted ' with business research tools. 117 A suggestion here is that this portion of the course be team taught, utilizing the services of the business librarian. This would facil i tate the lear n i ng of the students as well as the instructor. 4. What writing skills do you consider most important? Response Simplicity Rrevity Organization Grammar Logic Spelling Vocabulary Sentence structure Table 4 Import ant Writing Skills Frequencies 87 72 48 34 21 20 19 1 1 (Others cited had a percentage response less than five.) Percent 77 64 43 30 19 1 8 16 10 6 What writ in g problems do you see most often? Response Sentence structure Clarity Grammar Organization Spelling Repetition Table 5 _Writing Problems lack of supporting referen ce Frequencies 63 · 53 40 38 38 21 18 (Others cited had a percentage response less than five.) Percent 56 47 36 34 34 19 16 Business executives seemed to agree that the two most important writing skills an employee can have are simplicity and brevity. It a l so seems that they are not pleased with the performa nce of their employees, noting that sentence structure and clarity were two of the main problems they encounter in writing skills. 6. What percentage of your worke r s' time is spent in v1ritten communication? Ora 1 communication? . Table 6 Time Spent in Oral and Written Communication Response Oral communication Written communication Average Response 44o/. 27% This finding supports further the contention that more time should be spent . in the area of teaching oral communication skil l s. It must be recongnized that even though more time is spent on written subject mat ter in the classroom, and executives list written skills as most important (Tables 2 and 3) , it is appa r ent that business professionals spend far more time in the art of verbal and non-verbal communication . 7 7. What oth er suggestions do you have for improving present undergraduate business communication/research courses? The two responses repeated most often to this questions 1-Jere: "Make it more r igorous," and "Requi re it during the junior year so they can apply it in their senior classes and du-ring internships. 11 PROPOSED COURSE This course proposal attempts to bring together three s kills which rest at the foundation of successful business activity as related by the executi~es in this sur¼ey - - research, writing, and speaking. As an upper-level, required course for the business major, it should be seen as more advanced and specialized in its approach to research and writing than the core uni-versity requirement in English composi t ion . As an introduction to the t heory and practice of oral skil l s, it should providi a brief look at techniques that could be dealt with more ful ly in discrete upper-level speech cou rse s . This course does not attempt to approximate in theoretical study or extensive practice the kinds of courses offered in programs which approach businesss communications as a di sci pl lne rather than a service course, and should, therefore, be uniformly incorporated in the junior year business courses. Components The proposed course comprises seven fairly discrete units: Research in Business Business Correspon dence Job-Search Writing Formal Report Writinq Interpersonal Oral Communication Small-Group Oral Communication Public Communicat·ion 8. Wherever possible, however, it is assumed that ti~e efficiency and liveliness of presentation will be achieved by the instructors demonstrating the inter-relatedness of the vario •us skills t hrough the arrangement of course topics. The following pl an is but one possibility of many; it might be useful, however, to represent · t he general conception of the course. Syllabus Week Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 \./eek 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10 Week 11 Week 12 Week 1 3 Week 14 Introduction to Course: Business Communication Theory Introduction to Business Correspondence; Direct Request; Business Correspondence: Good News;Business Correspondence: Bad News Business Correspondence: Persuasion; Intro duction to Task Force and Formal Report Assignmeni (Weeks 8-10); Introduction to Interpersonal Communication and Job-Search Writing Introduct ion to Methods of Research in Ausiness (team taught wit h business librarian ); Methods of Research in Economics and Accounting Methods of Research in Financ e , Marketing and Management (with business librarian) Oral Exercises: Role-Playing, Intervie wing (For mal Correspon-dence Unit Due) Oral Exercises; Resume Job Application Letter; Introduction to Small Group Communication Oral Exercises: Task Force, Panel Discussion, , Brainstorming; (Formal Job Unit Due) Oral Exercises (Forma 1 Report Due); Introduction to Public Communication Speech Manuscript and Proposal Preparation Presentat ion s Pre sentations q CONCLUSION The need for better middle management communication skills is implicit and it is the partial responsibility of schools of business to prepare their ~tudents in this area. Underst~ndably, it is difficult to give students a full measure when oral and written skills must be covered in a semester course. Most universities schedule only one required course in business communication. Therefore, it becomes necessary to structure it as tightly as possible. It is hoped that the results of this research and the proposed course structure will ~id other univer~ities in their endeavor to ·better prepare their students to meet the .communication challenges that will face them as they enter their professional career. NOTES AND REFERENCES 1. J. David Hunger and Thomas L. Wheelen, An Assessment of Undergraduate Business Education in the United States (Charlottesville, VA: McIntire School of Commerce Foundation, 1980). p. 29. 2. Myron Glassman and E. Ann Farley, Business Communication Courses," No. 3 (1979), pp. 41-4 8. "A.A.CSB Accredited Schools' .A.pproach to The Journal of Business Communication, 16, 3. Allen · Bl itstein, "What Employers Are Seeking in Business Graduates," The Collegi.ate Forum, Winter 1980-81, p. 7. 4. Hunger and Wheelen, pp . . f-74. 5. Glassman and Farley, p. 47. 6. The reader .might · wish to turn to the following articles for a further discussion of these problems: Karen Davis, Kay Rsaza and Merrill Whitburn, "Three Hours in the Library Now, Or Th ree Weeks in the Library Later," The A[lCA Bulletin, l1l, No. 3 ( 1978), pp. 29-32. James Suchan and Craig Snow, "Library Research for Business Writing Students: A Model," TheABCA Bulletin, 44, No. 2 (1981), pp. 33-37. 7. Suchan and Snow, p. 33. 

Business Communication Courses: Continued Problems and Potential Solutions

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Business Communication Courses: Continued Problems and Potential Solutions

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