Kim Sydow Campbell

Peer versus Self Assessment of Oral Business Presentation Performance.

Pedagogical practice related to oral business presentations has received little research attention despite the pervasiveness of oral presentations in business class rooms and their perceived importance to workplace success. This study collected data on three groups (self, peers, and instructor) to address four research ques tions related to (a) the usefulness of self and peer ratings as substitutes for instruc, tor evaluation of oral business presentations and (b) the relationship between vari ous content and non-content factors on overall perceptions of presentation quality. Data from this study suggest that (1) both holistic and analytical peer assessments are reasonable substitutes for instructor assessment when raters are trained; (2) self assessment does not closely reflect either peer or instructor assessments; and (3) peer assessment of delivery characteristics, command of material, and content strongly predict peer ratings of overall presentation quality.

Leader-Member Relations as a Function of Rapport Management

Leader-member interaction is important to organizations. Unfortu nately, such exchanges can also be a leading cause of employee dis tress. Recent Research calls for leaders to develop higher quality rela tions with their members, which in turn will increase communication satisfaction. Scholars have also suggested additional research that focuses on interaction between leaders and members to better under stand how leaders can and should manage such relationships. How ever, there is considerable evidence that leaders and members do not agree about the quality of their relationship. In this article, we address how leaders can build better relations with their members. Specifically, we explain how leaders might improve the quality of their relationship with members by focusing on interpersonal communication strategy. First, we focus on a competing values framework to clearly establish the importance of relationship building in effective management. Second, we define communication strategies for building better leader- member relationships by borrowing concepts from rapport management in sociolinguistics. Finally, we demonstrate how our model of leader ship communication (based on a synthesis of competing values and rapport management theory) explains the quality of leader-member exchanges.

Rapport Management during the Exploration Phase of the Salesperson–Customer Relationship

Trust in the salesperson is one of the primary antecedents of customer satisfaction. However, trust is a function of time and is virtually nonexistent during the exploration phase of the buyer–seller relationship. The link between trust and conflict within the sales context has a long history. During the exploration phase of the relationship, buying objections are obvious sources of conflict between sales representatives and prospective customers. Success in managing rapport during such conflict means the sales representative moves the relationship forward. Failure undermines the future relationship. Our goal in this paper is to focus specifically on the critical role of sociolinguistic behaviors described by the theory of rapport management for allowing sales representatives to move beyond the exploration phase in relationships while overcoming customer objections. The result is a simple yet powerful basis for sales training and a theoretically motivated basis for future personal selling research.

Research Methods Course Work for Students Specializing in Business and Technical Communication

Research activity is an integral component in the formation of professions. Evidence shows that business and technical communication specialists conduct research in both academic and practitioner career fields. In other disciplines, course work has been recognized as the primary means for preparing students to conduct and consume research. Yet, no publications document the status of research methods course work for U.S. students specializing in business and technical communication. This study provides a descriptive basis for assessing three areas in those courses: research methods topics, required readings, and teaching or assessment methods. An analysis of the results leads to a proposed agenda for preparing students specializing in business and technical communication for their future work roles in both academe and industry.

Necessary Evils, (In)Justice, and Rapport Management:

Building from K. S. Campbell, White, and Johnsons 2003 model of rapport management, the authors explain how employee perceptions of justice and emotional responses of anger may result from the interpersonal communication behavior of organizational leaders. The authors ground the discussion of theory in the analysis of narratives written by subordinates to recount incidents in which they felt angry with their manager. Based on these narratives, propositions about the relationship between a managers acknowledgement or violation of rapport management norms and employee perceptions of (in)justice are developed. Thus, the authors demonstrate the value of rapport management theory for explicating the relationship maintenance behaviors that are crucial in the effective performance of necessary evils by organizational leaders.

On the Dark Side of Strategic Communication

Although clarity holds a privileged place within the field of business/management/corporate communication, adopting a strategic perspective suggests that ambiguity, and even deception, may be appropriate choices, depending on strategic intent. This article builds a framework for analyzing the dark side of strategic communication from both a strategic perspective and a linguistic perspective and then applies it to four business scenarios involving corporate finance; three involve public pronouncements from executives about future stock offerings, while the fourth involves a private statement made by a CEO to an important client and reported to the authors in an interview. The analysis of these scenarios leads the authors to propose that the intentional use of strategic ambiguity occurs along a continuum better represented by multiple shades of gray than a single hue of black.

Flipping to Teach the Conceptual Foundations of Successful Workplace Writing

Flipping originated in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields, where didactic transmission of conceptual knowledge has been the standard pedagogy. Flipping has resulted in additional focus on procedural knowledge within class meetings. This article argues that business and professional writing pedagogy, which already focuses largely on procedural knowledge within class meetings, would benefit from flipping because it could create an additional focus on conceptual knowledge outside of the classroom. The article explains why we need to teach conceptual foundations, why video is a good choice for that teaching, and what challenges we face in creating those instructional videos.

Rhetorical Move Structure in High-Tech Marketing White Papers

White papers are commonly produced by for-profit organizations to market high-tech products and services and are often created by technical writers. But writers of this genre have little evidence-based research to guide them. To fill this void, the authors tested a rhetorical move structure with a sample of 20 top-rated marketing white papers and found that, despite the lack of industry standards for white papers, those written for marketing purposes display similar rhetorical moves: introducing the business problem, occupying the business solution niche, prompting action, establishing credibility, and providing disclaimers or legal considerations. Based on the results of this study, the authors advance guidelines for writers of this genre and suggest areas for future research.

Exploring the social identity threat response framework

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore what individuals perceive as social identity threats, the sources of the threat, individuals’ responses, and the consequences of the threat. Design/methodology/approach – Narratives from 224 individuals were collected. A sample of 84 narratives were analyzed in depth using a qualitative content analysis approach. Findings – Initial support for identity threat response theory was found. Three new distinct threat responses – constructive action, ignore, and seek assistance – were uncovered. Additionally, harm/loss appraisals were found to be perceived and reacted to similarly to Petriglieri-defined identity threats. Originality/value – This study contributes to identity scholarship by shedding further light on the “theoretical black box” associated with identity threat. Such insight is necessary in further enhancing our understanding of the impact that identity threat has at the individual and organizational level.

Responding to Hostility: Evidence-Based Guidance for Communication During Planned Organizational Change

Hostile challenges to planned organization change are common and challenging to deal with effectively. Little research has explained successful responses to such stakeholder hostility. To address this gap, we use the concept of readiness to characterize the content of hostile challenges. We also use rhetorical strategies based on speech act theory to describe options for responding to those challenges. Because change agents must choose among multiple strategies, we continue a line of research investigating relative preferences among them. Ultimately, our aim is to offer six lessons for change agents who face hostile challenges based on evidence from research.