Bernadine P. Branchaw

Topics for Business Communication Research

*Members of the Subcommittee were: John D. Pettit, Jr., Chair; Joel P. Bowman; Bernadine Branchaw; Howard Greenbaum; Leah Grubb; James M. Lahiff; John M. Penrose; William Sharbrough; Norman B. Sigband; Gretchen N. Vik; Morris P. Wolf; Mohan Limaye; Robert Insley; Lamar Reinsch; and Larry Smeltzer. This report combines efforts of the 1985, 1986, and 1987 Committees. ORGANIZATIONAL/MANAGERIAL COMMUNICATION

The Application of Behavioral Techniques to Business Communication Instruction

A review of the history of writing instruction reveals that current instructors face essen tially the same problems as did their counterparts in previous generations and that their complaints remain essentially the same as well. With the commonly used methodologies for writing instruction, many students fail to learn as much as their in structors expect, and composition classes are typically endured rather than enjoyed by student and instructor alike. This paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of several common methodologies for the teaching of writing and suggests that the tech niques of behavior analysis offer the best hope for developing instructional methodologies that will provide the best results for both writing students and their teachers. Students participating in a pilot study employing behavioral strategies showed a significant decrease in the frequency of errors between pre- and posttest letter samples. Similar testing across instructional methodologies may indicate consistently effective instructional techniques.

Business Communication: Its Process and Product.

our computers, for example, we composed on yellow legal tablets before typing the material in what we hoped would be final form. In many cases, composing was slow and painful because we tried to be pe~ fect with as little revision as possible. Now that we are working with computers, it’s an easy matter to begin with a germ of an idea and build on that by adding and rearranging hits and pieces until a final product results. Even though the physical process of writing with computers is similar for us, however, the Iln·atal process each of us goes through is diuerent. Branchaw approaches writing tasks in a methodical way, researching things she is unsure of and proceeding carefillly from start to finish. Bowman, on the other hand, writes intuitively, rarely checking sources and writing rapidly from start to finish. Is either one of these approaches a hetter process? And what is more important for the discussion here, could either be taught? From a personal perspective, Branchaw would not enjoy being forced to write Bowman’s way, nor would Bowman enjoy being forced to write Branchaw’s way. At its deepest level, the processes of writing and thinking intertwine. Some of those processes can be taught by illustrating productoriented techniques. We can teach people, for example, how to be more logical: how to subdivide a whole into parts, how to recognize a cause and its prohahle effect, how to distinguish between general principles and specific facts, and the like. These are product-based skills: we teach

Communication Training Programs for Business

tolerate and must convince the student that nothing is to be gained through deception. The Prison Environment May Be Threatening for The Teacher. For the average teacher the idea of teaching behind steel bars and undergoing security searches by armed guards may be disturbing. The security measures are constant reminders that the teacher is in a potentially dangerous environment. After a few weeks, however, most teachers become accustomed to the environment and to its physical manifestations. REWARDS