Showing papers in "International journal of business communication in 2015"

The Hype and Reality of Social Media Use for Work Collaboration and Team Communication

Abstract: This article describes the growing adoption of enterprise social networking platforms by organizations in an attempt to foster better team communication and collaboration. To examine current views of these social networking tools, survey results from 227 business professionals are presented that address three areas: frequency of use of social networking for team communication compared to other communication channels, perceived effectiveness of social networking tools for team communication compared to other communication channels, and attitudes toward social networking for team communication. Generally, the results show that traditional communication channels are used more frequently and considered more effective for team communication. However, the results also indicate that Gen X and Gen Y business professionals are quite likely to consider that social networking tools will be the primary tools for team communication in the future. The article concludes with recommendations for how business communicatio...

Strategic Vision and Values in Top Leaders’ Communications: Motivating Language at a Higher Level

Abstract: This study extends motivating language theory (MLT) to clarify how top leaders can construct and transmit strategic vision communications and related values messages to improve organizational perfo...

Corporate Social Responsibility Communication Through Corporate Websites: A Comparison of Leading Corporations in the United States and China

Abstract: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a discourse constructed through the constant dialogue and negotiation between corporations and their different stakeholders. This article examines how leading corporations in the United States and China discuss the rationales, themes, and practices of CSR on their corporate websites through a quantitative content analysis. The results, based on data collected in 2008, indicate that leading U.S. companies demonstrate a higher level of comprehensiveness and standardization in their CSR communication, while Chinese companies in different industries take distinctive approaches to CSR. However, the differences between the CSR discourses of leading Chinese and U.S. companies have greatly diminished since 2008. Updated data collected in 2012 show that the Chinese companies have adopted an all-inclusive and homogeneous approach in CSR communication, which is very similar to the approach taken by their U.S. counterparts. Such convergence is attributed to the process of inst...

Internal Crisis Communication Strategies to Protect Trust Relationships: A Study of Italian Companies

Abstract: Crisis communication has emerged as a hot topic after the global financial crisis that started in the second half of 2008. A survey of 61 Italian companies examined internal crisis communication strategies and the characteristics of that communication in order to understand the role of communication in safeguarding relationships of trust with employees. The main results show that companies have used poorly internal communication as a strategic lever to develop employee commitment and have adopted a broadly defensive approach that may undermine their intangible assets. The study offers implications for practice and suggestions for future research.

Supervisor–Subordinate Communication Competence and Job and Communication Satisfaction

Abstract: In contrast to the predominant business and organizational communication research on supervisor influence, this article examined communication competence, communication satisfaction, and job satisfaction differences within and between groups in the supervisor–subordinate relationship. The study also examined the relationship among the three communication and satisfaction phenomena. Two survey questionnaires were completed by 152 subordinates and 20 supervisors/managers at a public utility in the first phase. A third survey questionnaire was completed by 32 supervisors/managers in the second phase. The results indicated no support for hypothesized differences in ratings of communication competence, and job and communication satisfaction within and between subordinate and supervisor groups, but positive and significant relationships among the variables. The significance of the results is discussed in terms of the implications for the dyadic and interactive nature of supervisor–subordinate communication and ...

The Use of Visualization in the Communication of Business Strategies: An Experimental Evaluation

Abstract: An experiment was conducted to gather empirical evidence regarding whether the use of visualization is better than text in the communication of a business strategy. A total of 76 managers saw a presentation of the strategy of the financial services branch of an international car manufacturer. The visual representation of the strategy was chosen as the independent variable, and the effects on the audience were measured. Three types of visual support were chosen as conditions: bulleted list, visual metaphor, and temporal diagram. Each subject saw one representation format only. Subjects who were exposed to a graphic representation of the strategy paid significantly more attention to, agreed more with, and better recalled the strategy than did subjects who saw a (textually identical) bulleted list version. However, no significant difference was found regarding the understanding of the strategy. Subjects who were exposed to a graphic representation of the strategy perceived the presentation and the presenter ...

Women Doing Leadership Leadership Styles and Organizational Culture

Abstract: Although women in the United States make up about half of the workforce, only 14.6% of executive officer positions in the Fortune 500 and 16.9% of Fortune 500 board of director seats in 2013 were held by women, numbers that have remained flat for the past decade. Decades after the so-called “feminist revolution,” women are still struggling to be seen as leaders within organizations even though many have put in place hiring and recruitment policies to help eliminate this problem. Our study examines this disparity by observing how leadership emerges and is negotiated in discourse among male and female participants in decision-making groups in a masculine organizational culture. First, it identifies whether female participants randomly assigned to mixed-gender groups emerge as leaders. Second, it analyzes the discourse of those competing for leadership positions in mixed groups to identify the effects of leadership style on leader attribution by others. Of the 22 mixed-gender groups (N = 110) that took part ...

An Application of Motivating Language Theory in Mexican Organizations

Abstract: The purpose of the current study was to extend organizational communication scholarship by examining the influence of culture on the use of motivating language by supervisors in Mexican organizatio...

The Role of Employee Identification and Organizational Identity in Strategic Communication and Organizational Issues Management about Genetic Modification

Abstract: This article examines the organizational identities and strategic communication of two New Zealand primary export organizations as they managed intense public debate surrounding the potential impacts of genetic modification. We examine the similarities and differences in identifications at multiple levels in these organizations, illustrating the value and, by implication, policy positions held simultaneously by individual organizational members, groups, and the organizations as collective entities. These positions also serve as points of reference in public discourse about genetic modification. Our empirically grounded, critical interpretive analysis reveals the roles played by employee identification and organizational identity formation in strategic communication and organizational issues management about controversial public policies. In these ways, the analysis makes important connections between “the organizational voice” typically represented in issues management and individual members’ identificati...

On the Dark Side of Strategic Communication

Abstract: 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.

An Introduction to Strategic Communication

Abstract: The article of record as published may be located at http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2329488414560469

Leveraging Social Networks for Strategic Success

Abstract: Increasingly unpredictable and competitive organizational environments have put pressure on leaders across all industries to better manage change. Key to successful change management is the ability to both: (1) communicate the desired change in ways that create line of sight; and (2) develop regular sources of feedback that measure the extent to which the change has diffused throughout the organization. Social Network Analysis provides this type of useful feedback. By allowing leaders to visualize the informal communication networks in their organizations, social network analysis can help organizations continuously assess and evaluate the effectiveness of their change strategies. Social Network Analysis is gaining in popularity today due to the convergence of interest in performance dashboards and in social media. Organizations investing in social network analysis are doing so now because it helps them to identify individuals who are critical to the organization’s communication flow as well as opportuniti...

It’s Not What You Say, It’s The Way That You Say It The Mediating Effect of Upward Influencing Communications on the Relationship Between Leader-Member Exchange and Performance Ratings

Abstract: The quality of relationships between supervisors and their subordinates has been found to be predictive of subordinate performance A number of explanatory mechanisms have been proposed, and the frequency and nature of dyadic communication have been posited as contributory To further explore this potential mechanism, the authors tested the hypothesis that upward influencing communications mediate the relationship between relationship quality, as measured by leader-member exchange (LMX), and supervisor ratings of subordinate performance In a study involving 107 supervisors, LMX was positively associated with reported frequencies of upward influences delivered as rational argument and negatively associated with ingratiatory and assertive communications LMX was also positively associated with performance ratings, but this relationship was fully mediated by the frequency of upward influencing tactics, with rational argument being positively predictive of performance ratings and assertiveness being negative

Who wants to be the leader? The discursive construction of emerging leadership in differently gendered teams

Abstract: Increasingly, scholars are contesting the value of grand theories of leadership in favour of a social constructionist approach that posits the centrality of language for ‘doing’ leadership. This article investigates the extent to which the linguistic enactment of leadership is often gendered, which may have consequences for the career progression of women business leaders. Drawing on a UK-based study of three teams with different gender compositions (men-only; women-only and mixed gender), I use an Interactional Sociolinguistic framework to compare what leadership ‘looks and sounds like’ during the course of a competitive, leadership task. My findings show that the linguistic construction of leadership varies considerably within each team although not always in conventionally gendered ways. The study potentially provides linguistic insights on the business issue of why so few women progress from middle management to senior leadership roles.

Information Sharing and Citizenship Behaviors: Mediating the Roles of Empowerment, Procedural Justice, and Perceived Organizational Support

Abstract: This study aims to evaluate the mediating roles of empowerment, procedural justice, and organizational support in the influence of top-down and bottom-up information sharing on citizenship behaviors. In line with our hypotheses, we found that top-down practices primarily reinforce a sense of empowerment, whereas bottom-up practices primarily reinforce the perception of procedural justice. Finally, we found that information-sharing practices significantly influence citizenship performance in all three exchange mechanisms studied.

Organizational disruptions and triggers for divergent sensemaking

Abstract: In recent years, scholars and practitioners alike have sought to better understand the emergent communicative processes involved in the implementation of strategic organizational initiatives. In response, this article builds on sensemaking and sensegiving theory to understand the interactions that developed between internal and external stakeholders in response to a post-9/11 change in the Maritime Transportation Security Act. A detailed, emergent account of a failed initiative was derived from public comments in the Federal Register, transcripts from public meetings, newspaper articles, and semistructured interviews with key internal informants. In-depth analysis of these data allowed us to examine a divergent sensemaking process and identify four critical triggers that led to a communication breakdown: (a) unidirectional and parsimonious communication, (b) multifaceted understandings of organizational identities, (c) misaligned cues, and (d) an emergence of interorganizational sensemaking. A first-order...

Defining Distinctiveness The Connections Between Organizational Identity, Competition, and Strategy in Public Radio Organizations

Abstract: Because of disruption stemming from digital media products and services, radio stations across the country are enacting organizational changes to provide digital content while maintaining a strong ...

Dialogue in Strategy Practice A Discourse Analysis of a Strategy Workshop

Abstract: Strategy workshops are frequently used by executive management to formulate strategy but are underresearched and underreported in the academic literature. This study uses a form of discourse analysis to identify a dialogic pattern of talk in an executive management strategy workshop. The group’s dialogue in the workshop discourse displayed an emphasis on achieving shared understanding rather than winning a debate. Affirmation, Topic Expansion, Productive Difference, and Reflexive Observation were derived from the dialogue literature as particular features of dialogical interaction and were used in this analysis to identify spontaneously occurring dialogue in the strategy workshop. The study thus proposes a basis for identifying dialogue in naturally occurring strategy discourse and for understanding its potential contribution in that setting.

A Preliminary Examination of Perceptions of Social Influence in Group Decision Making in the Workplace

Abstract: Theory and research on social influence in groups indicate that normative influence can be detrimental to important group outcomes, whereas informational influence tends to have positive effects. However, much of the research providing these results consists of experimental studies conducted in laboratory settings. We examine how normative and informational influences are perceived in decision-making groups in the workplace. We find, in a survey of 197 individuals involved in group decision making in their workplaces, that the use of informational influence is viewed as enhancing group decision-making effectiveness and group cohesiveness. In contrast, normative influence has a negative effect on perceptions of decision-making effectiveness. Flirting as a form of idiosyncratic influence in the workplace is also considered and is found to have negative effects on perceptions of decision-making effectiveness and cohesiveness.

Facework in Responding to Unethical Communication

Abstract: Unethical communication occurs fairly frequently in organizations, yet confronting someone about an ethical transgression is a politically sensitive interaction that challenges people’s identities. This study integrates a social confrontation approach and politeness theory to identify politeness strategies people perceive as effective and socially appropriate for expressing disapproval of ethical transgressions. To examine the extent to which the selection of politeness strategy was related to the type of unethical communication and power in the relationship, participants evaluated hypothetical scenarios based on Redding’s proto-typology of unethical communication. The type of unethical communication influenced perceptions of the appropriateness and effectiveness of three politeness strategies and the power relationship influenced perceptions of two politeness strategies.