1st Edition
The Business Communication Profession Essays on the Journeys of Leading Teacher-Scholars
This book provides a unique orientation to the present, past, and future of the field of business communication by collecting reflective essays from some of its most influential scholars, teachers, and leaders.
Through a series of essays that bridge personal narrative and critical analysis, this book mentors a new generation of students, teachers, and professionals as they encounter the challenges and opportunities of business communication and shape the future of the field. The authors—all influential figures and award winners—describe their personal histories with the field and discuss how major aspects have evolved over time. The essays examine the pathways through which scholars encounter the discipline, the professional challenges they face, the evolving content of the business communication curriculum, the development of business communication programs and institutions, the value of an entrepreneurial mindset for career development, and the relationships between research, teaching, and professional practice. They offer stories about a diversity of paths for achieving personal and professional success and invite readers to think about what lessons they can apply to their own career advancement and satisfaction. In total, this collection provides both a living history of the field and a series of real-world examples of business communication at its finest.
This book is essential reading for students and scholars of business communication and can be used as a supplemental text for courses in business communication, professional communication, and communication career preparation.
Chapter 1. Introduction, Janis Forman
Chapter 2. Take Two Xanax and Call Me in the Morning; or, Career Tension in Business Communication, Ronald Dulek
Chapter 3. Cultivating a Liberal Arts Perspective on Workplace Communication, Deborah C. Andrews
Chapter 4. "Only Connect" Between Personal Life and Professional Choice, Scholarship and Teaching, My Generation and the Next", Janis Forman
Chapter 5. Collaborative Networking for Better Teaching and Research, Peter W. Cardon
Chapter 6. To Summon the Future: Defining the Field and Deciding What to Teach, N. Lamar Reinsch, Jr.
Chapter 7. The Visual Expeditions and Related Adventures of a Teacher, Scholar, and Administrator, Charles Kostelnick
Chapter 8. Persisting in the Field of Business Communication: "There’s Really Something to It", Priscilla S. Rogers
Chapter 9. Selling My Soul: Moving from the Humanities to Business Communication, Daphne A. Jameson
Chapter 10. My Experiential Learning Journey as a Management Communication Teacher-Scholar, Gail Fann Thomas
Chapter 11. Developing from a Teacher to a Scholar Across Cultures: The Moves from the East to the West and Back Again, Bertha Du-Babcock
Biography
Janis Forman is Founding Director of the Management Communication Program at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Professor Forman has received academic awards from the Association for Business Communication and the National Endowment for the Humanities. She has published extensively on organizational storytelling, collaboration, corporate communication, and translation and consults for many organizations.
Recipient of the 2023 Distinguished Publication Award on Business Communication, awarded by the Association for Business Communication . The award “. . . recognizes an outstanding article, essay, or book that has made a significant contribution to the discipline. . . . . . . [The book] demonstrates originality of thought and careful investigation. . . is extremely well written, lucid, and engaging.”
"These fascinating, often humorous, essays trace how the personal and professional lives of leading teacher-scholars in business communication intertwined to shape their careers in this interdisciplinary field. Young teacher-scholars in business communication and related fields will extract compelling lessons for their own careers. A must-read for the field."
JoAnne Yates, Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management, Emerita Professor of Managerial Communication and Work and Organization Studies, MIT Sloan School of Management, USA.
"This is a truly inspiring collection of essays about that elusive, interdisciplinary venture called "Business Communication", a veritable treasure trove of personal narratives and intriguing advice on the exciting borderline between scholarship and teaching. What’s more, it’s a highly enjoyable read: these are some of the best writers in the field!"
Geert Jacobs, Professor, Ghent University, Belgium.
"Dr. Janis Forman had led the management communication program at UCLA with wisdom, clarity, purpose, and warm collaboration. In this volume she’s gathered many of the discipline’s senior, and founding, leaders to reflect and share their personal stories—which they do in beautiful prose, insight, and humor. It’s a love letter from one generation of the field to the next."
Patti Williams, Ira A. Lipman Associate Professor of Marketing, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, USA.
"These stories of how business communication scholars navigated complex professional tensions will encourage and support graduate students and young faculty in their own emerging scholarly journeys. The reassuring message of ‘You’re not alone! You can do it! We’ve set a trail for you!’ jumps off the page."
Stephen Carradini, Assistant Professor of Technical Communication, Arizona State University, USA.
"Senior faculty who serve as formal or informal mentors can match stories to the interests and aspirations of younger teacher-scholars. This book is an inspiration for a new generation to build on the discipline’s rich history and foster an innovative path to its exciting future."
Kathryn M. Rybka, Interim Executive Director, Association for Business Communication.
"Janis Forman ushers readers into a lively conversation among business communication’s leading thinkers about the development of the discipline and the ways that young faculty can find productive, satisfying work in the academy. Consider these highly personal stories as a guide and mentor to the new generation of scholars."
D. Joel Whalen, Associate Professor of Marketing, Driehaus School of Business/Kellstadt Graduate School of Business, DePaul University, USA; President, Association for Business Communication.
