Benjamin Garner

Teaching Soft Skills to Business Students An Analysis of Multiple Pedagogical Methods

Recent reports have suggested that many employees in the workforce today lack essential soft skills. This research analyzes the effectiveness of multiple classroom assignments for teaching soft skills in a Business Communication course. Five distinct pedagogical strategies were used in an effort to teach soft skills, including a self-analysis, an interview, a guest lecturer, a journal article, and a soft skills video. Results offer insights into students’ perceptions of the most helpful pedagogical approaches for teaching soft skills.

iPod use and the perception of social introversion

The recent proliferation of Apple iPods begs the question: what effect does iPod use have on society and social interaction? An experimental research design was utilised to examine iPod use and degree of extroversion on the perception social interaction. At a small Christian university in the south, 105 college students participated in this study, first completing a personality inventory and then answering questions based on one of two scenarios. The first hypothesis was that participants would view iPod users as less likely to engage in social interaction. The second hypothesis was that extroverted participants would perceive iPod users as less socially engaging than would introverted participants. The results support the hypothesis that people view iPod users as less likely to engage in social interaction than non-iPod users. Participants rated iPod users as less likely to engage in social behaviours such as making eye contact. The results did not support the hypothesis that extroverted participants would view iPod users differently than introverted participants. However, this may merely illustrate that the perception of iPod users is more universal than previously thought and transcends personality characteristics.

Illustrating an integrated typology of meaning reconstruction in discourse: grief-related disclosures.

A typology of meaning reconstruction in grief-related discourse is offered as an extension to extant approaches to meaning making as a factor in relieving distress. Sensemaking, acceptance or resignation without understanding, realization of benefits via positive reappraisal, and realignment of roles and relationships are advanced as the 4 types of meaning reconstruction that are formed by the 4 intersections of Parks (2010) categorical distinctions in meaning making (i.e., searching for comprehensibility/searching for significance and assimilation/accommodation). Interpretive analysis of grief-related texts from an emotional disclosure study reveals 25 themes across the 4 types. Related theoretical insights and practical implications are discussed.

Student Perceptions of a Revise and Resubmit Policy for Writing Assignments

Effective writing is a soft skill that is highly in demand in today’s workforce. This qualitative study examines student perceptions of a revise and resubmit policy aimed at increasing student engagement with an instructor’s writing feedback and ultimately improving students’ writing skills. Students across three business communication courses were offered bonus points if they made revisions and documented those revisions. The findings suggest that students were willing to complete a revision even if given only a small grade incentive. While some expressed negativity toward the extensive feedback, others viewed the revision option as a rare but valuable opportunity.

Communication at Farmers’ Markets: Commodifying Relationships, Community and Morality:

Consumers are increasingly using their purchasing power to enact their politics and activism. I examine how consumption at farmers’ markets fits into this trend. The consumption of local and organic food and the number of farmers’ markets have drastically increased in recent years. This research examines the ways interpersonal relationships, community ties and morality (ethical consumption) relate to commodification at local farmers’ markets. Specifically, this research is framed through Marx’s understanding and critique of capitalism, including his concept of commodity fetishism. Using Radin’s (1996) indicia of commodification, I explore the degree to which relationships, community and morality either are commodifiable or resist commodification. Using a combination of extant literature as well as interview and observational data from a 2011–2012 market study, I discovered that relationships and community ties resist commodification but morality is commodifiable in this space. Specifically, I argue that the contingent and voluntary nature of human communication as a two-way process is one of the key reasons that interpersonal relationships and community ties resist commodification.