PERSONAL, REFLECTIVE WRITING IN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION AND MANAGEMENT A Dissertation Presented by PAMELA H. LAWRENCE Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May 2007 English UMI Number: 3275795 3275795 2007 UMI Microform Copyright All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. © Copyright by Pamela H. Lawrence 2007 All Rights Reserved PERSONAL, REFLECTIVE WRITING IN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION AND MANAGEMENT A Dissertation Presented By PAMELA H. LAWRENCE Approved as to style and content by: ____________________________________ Anne Herrington, Chair _____________________________________ Charles Moran, Member _____________________________________ Linda LaDuc, Member _____________________________________ Joseph Bartolomeo, Department Chair Department of English DEDICATION To my amazing family without whose support I would not have completed this dissertation. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my chair, Anne Herrington, who has carefully and thoughtfully guided me through this tremendous test of strength. I also must thank my committee member Charles Moran, who always made it possible for me to give him yet another draft. And to my third committee member Linda LaDuc, many thanks for providing me both the time and encouragement I needed to get this dissertation behind me. I also want to thank all of my colleagues who participated in this project, those I surveyed and interviewed as well as those who offered professional and scholarly insight. An additional thanks to my colleagues in the Isenberg School’s Business Communication Program for continuing to cheer me on. And to my colleague Sharon Desmond Paradiso, thank you for the hand holding, pedagogical and intellectual debates, and the many laughs over the years. To my family and friends, I cannot cover here how much help and support I have gotten from each of you. You have made completing this dissertation a reality. To each of you I owe a special and loving thanks. To my husband, Terry, to my children, Isabelle, Spencer, and James and to my parents, my big brother, and my dear friend Heather, thank you. v ABSTRACT PERSONAL, REFLECTIVE WRITING IN BUSINESS COMMUNICAITON AND MANAGEMENT MAY 2007 PAMELA H. LAWRENCE, B.A., GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY M.A., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Anne Herrington This project is designed to examine and, therefore, hopefully understand how and why personal, reflective writing is used in business communication classes. Personal, reflective writing is treated differently in business communication classes than it is in management classes, yet management theory is greatly influential in the development of business communication as an academic field. In management courses, mostly those with a leadership focus, personal, reflective writing is used as a way to help students identify personal values and goals and then connect those personal discoveries to professional values and goals. In leadership textbooks especially, evidence of personal, reflective writing exercises, such as the personal mission statement, is extensive, suggesting that personal development is integral to professional development, to becoming a manager and leader. Trade books designed to help readers improve and grow as managers and leaders also confirm this, as most books from the genre include personal, reflective writing exercises that are similar to those found in textbooks. However, in business communication textbooks personal, reflective writing exercises are different. To vi understand better how personal, reflective writing exercises are used in business communication as well as in its affecting discipline of management, this dissertation project has three research foci. They are: a content analysis of business communication and management textbook and business/leadership trade book personal, reflective writing exercises; a brief survey of Association of Business Communication members about their uses of using personal, reflective writing exercises in their classes; and, last, interviews with instructors of management in the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts about their uses of personal, reflective writing in their classes. Results of each study and their implications are discussed. vii CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS v ABSTRACT vi CHAPTER I. PERSONAL, REFLECTIVE WRITING IN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION AND MANAGEMENT 1 Defining Personal Reflective Writing 4 Negotiating the Field of Business Communication 5 The Discipline of Management 10 The Relationship of Management and Leadership 12 What I Meant by Effectiveness 15 Personal, Reflective Writing in the Classroom 19 Organization of Chapters 23 II. SCHOLARSHIP AND PERSONAL, REFLECTIVE WRITING 27 Introduction 27 Management and Leadership Scholarship 27 Experiential Learning Theories 28 Humanistic Psychology 32 Personal, Reflective Writing 34 Composition Scholarship 36 Humanistic Psychology and Expressivism 37 Experiential Learning and Reflection 41 Business Communication Scholarship 45 Using Personal Experience and Personal Knowledge 46 An Outcomes-based Approach 47 Critical Pedagogy 49 Conclusion 56 III. APPROACH TO RESEARCH 57 viii Introduction 57 Qualitative Methodology 58 Analyzing Survey and Interview Data 59 Data Management 60 Methods and Processes for Textbook and Trade Selection 61 Shared Review Criteria of Textbooks 61 Selection of Business Communication Textbooks 62 Narrowed Results 64 Selection of Management/Leadership Textbooks 67 Making Final Selections 68 Selection of Business/Management Trade Books 71 Methods of Survey Study 76 Rationale for Email Survey-based Study 76 Benefits and Complications of Emailed Survey 77 Survey Participant Information 77 Descriptive Data 79 Organizing Survey Data 80 Methods for Interview Study 81 Rationale for Interview-based Study 81 Interview Participant Information 82 Organization of Interview Data 84 Role as Researcher 85 IV. ANALYSIS OF EXERCISES IN TEXTBOOKS AND TRADE BOOKS 88 Introduction 88 Exercises in Business Communication Textbooks 88 ix [...]... analyzing personal, reflective writing exercises in business communication and management textbooks and in business/ management trade books Furthermore, because discussion of personal, reflective writing exercises is limited in business communication and management, theories from composition on the pedagogy of personal, reflective writing exercises are helpful to understanding the uses of personal, reflective. .. differences and similarities of personal, reflective writing exercises in management and business communication courses, I have devised the following three-part study: analysis of personal, reflective writing exercises in business communication and management textbooks and also in business/ management trade books; analysis of surveys administered to business communication educators about their use of personal,. .. handles personal, reflective writing differently To understand more about the differences – and possible similarities – in the uses of personal, reflective writing exercises in business communication and management courses, this dissertation project includes three parts: 1 Analysis of personal, reflective writing exercises in business communication and management/ leadership textbooks and management/ leadership... informing the use of personal, reflective writing exercises in composition and management are not widely discussed in the business communication scholarship This difference in the use of personal, reflective writing between business communication and its affecting disciplines of composition and management is a significant part of my investigation Scholarship in management and composition indicates educators... 130 On Using Personal, Reflective Writing Exercises .132 On Not Using Personal, Reflective Writing Exercises 140 Personal, Reflective Writing Exercises in the Literature .144 VI PERSPECTIVES OF MANAGEMENT INSTRUCTORS 147 Introduction 147 Interview Findings 147 Discussion of Management Instructor Perspectives .150 x Personal, Reflective Writing Exercises and Assignments... why personal, reflective writing is used in business communication classes Questions about personal, reflective writing began for me when I realized that I was using personal, reflective writing exercises in my business communication classes in a way that was consistent with management and specifically leadership pedagogy yet was 1 not necessarily consistent with pedagogical practices in business communication. .. purposes of personal, reflective writing exercises in business communication and management courses? • How are personal, reflective writing exercises in business communication different from those in management? How are they alike? • What theories influence the use of personal, reflective writing exercises? • What theoretical constructs from composition and management are helpful in analyzing the exercises... engaged in some personal, reflective writing of my own Yet these questions run throughout this dissertation because what business communication is and how something like personal, reflective writing fits into a business communication curriculum and into business communication research is at the heart of my project This dissertation project is designed to examine and, therefore, hopefully understand how and. .. USED IN INTERVIEWS WITH MANAGEMENT FACULTY OF THE ISENBERG SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AT AMHERST 178 BIBLIOGRAPHY 179 xi CHAPTER I PERSONAL, REFLECTIVE WRITING IN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION AND MANAGEMENT What is business communication? Why do I teach something called management communication when I “live” in a business communication program? Why is personal, reflective. .. writing exercises in business communication and management 11 This study is designed to shed light on the use of personal, reflective writing exercises in business communication and management courses, focusing on how and why educators from the two fields use personal, reflective writing This study attempts to answer the following primary research questions: • What are the pedagogical purposes of personal, . I. PERSONAL, REFLECTIVE WRITING IN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION AND MANAGEMENT 1 Defining Personal Reflective Writing 4 Negotiating the Field of Business Communication 5 The Discipline of Management. REFLECTIVE WRITING IN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION AND MANAGEMENT What is business communication? Why do I teach something called management communication when I “live” in a business communication. Herrington This project is designed to examine and, therefore, hopefully understand how and why personal, reflective writing is used in business communication classes. Personal, reflective writing