publications . . .

This card index provides information about scholarly publications available on this site. Click on any tab to see the complete publication title, a link to the PDF version, citation information, and a brief abstract.

Bribery and Public Relations

PDF format: A Vexing Conundrum: Bribery and Public Relations

Originally titled "A Vexing Conundrum: Bribery and Public Relations,"this article first appeared in The Challenge of Change: Managing Communications and Building Corporate Image in the 1990s. Proceedings of the Second Conference on Corporate Communications, May 24-25, 1989. Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University, V1-V20.

Abstract

This paper examines bribery as a moral, legal, cultural, and socioeconomic phenomenon. For public relations practitioners, who, by the very nature of their work, often confront bribery, this paper clarifies the dynamic of the bribing situation, focusing in particular upon the definition of bribery, the obligation between a bribe-giver and a bribe-taker, and the difference between a bribe and a gift. The last half of the paper examines the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act to demonstrate the difficulties involved in legislation designed to curb bribery. The paper concludes that bribery, especially international bribery, should be recognized as merely symptomatic of deeper underlying political and socio-economic causes. Laws and corporate codes of behavior, while often effective in combating the symptoms of bribery, are largely ineffective in eliminating its fundamental causes.

Communication Databases

PDF format: Selecting Communications and Public Relations Database Media: Online, CD-ROM, and Paper

Originally titled "Selecting Communications and Public Relations Database Media: Online, CD-ROM, and Paper," Global Communications: Applying Resources Strategically. Proceedings of the Third Conference on Corporate Communications, May 23-24, 1990. Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University, 1990, 115-135.

Abstract

Communication managers in the nineties confront a bewildering array of possibilities in accessing, maintaining, and promulgating information. Planners in charge of developing and accessing communication databases must appraise their needs across all the information storage media currently available, but especially in paper and electronic modes. Many of today's communication databases are in fact evolving into complex interactive systems that incorporate text, graphics, sound, and video. Managing this multimedia technology will demand that communication professionals move cautiously as they analyze the factors affecting cost, personnel, materiel, space, availability, ease of use, portability, and timeliness. This paper focuses on these concerns in examining three communication database publishing media: computer online, computer CD-ROM, and paper.

The Communication Professional: Reality or myth

PDF format: The Business Communication Professional: Reality or Myth?

Originally titled "The Business Communication Professional: Reality or Myth?" Global Implications for Business Communications: Theory, Technology, and Practice. 1988 Proceedings of the 53rd Annual and 15th International Convention of the Association for Business Communication. Sam J. Bruno, editor. Houston, TX: University of Houston, 1988, 279-293. 

Abstract

When can the communication specialist in business rightly be considered a professional? What is the difference between a mere practitioner and a true professional? Before these questions can be answered, the term "professional" must be clearly defined. Thus, the first half of this paper briefly explores the historical evolution of the professions in America. The second half then examines the communication occupations against this historical backdrop and suggests four conditions necessary to upgrade the practice of communication in business as a profession. Communication academics and practitioners, through associations like the PRSA, IABC, STC, and the ABC, must, one, establish the larger perspectives of communication as a profession; two, concentrate on curricular design; three, provide occupational guidance; and four, carefully frame clear and concise professional codes of ethics.

Deciphering Codes of Ethics

PDF format: Deciphering Codes of Ethics

Originally titled "Deciphering Professional Codes of Ethics," IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Transactions on Professional Communication, June 1989, 62-68. The essay was first published in Proceedings of the Conference on Corporate Communications: Issues and Practices. Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University, 1988, pp. 13-31.

Copyright © 1989 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Reprinted, with permission, from IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Transactions on Professional Communication, June 1989, 62-68. This material is posted here with permission of the IEEE. Such permission of the IEEE does not in any way imply IEEE endorsement of any of Bentley College's services. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution must be obtained from the IEEE by sending a blank email message to info.pub.permission@ieee.org. By choosing to view this document, you agree to all provisions of the copyright laws protecting it.

Abstract

Operating essentially as a social contract that outlines group values, norms, and responsibilities, a professional code reinforces an occupation' s claims to unique social utility. Yet, many codes, which should be beacons of guidance, are in fact "encoded." This paper focuses chiefly on the Code of Professional Standards for the Practice of Public Relations, deciphering the two most important aspects of this or any professional code: implicit and explicit attitudes toward the public and toward the truth. Confronted by ethical dilemmas in these areas, professionals should be able to, but usually cannot, find clear direction in the official code. Thus, to function truly as a legitimizing document, the code must be expository, analytical, and evaluational, constructed according to the six recommendations offered in this paper's conclusion.

Dissolving the Granite Complex

PDF format: Dissolving the Granite Complex

"Dissolving the Granite Complex," from Communication Training and Consulting in Business, Industry, and Government. William Buchholz, editor and contributor. Urbana-Champaign, IL: Association for Business Communication (ABC), University of Illinois, 1983, 290 pages.

Abstract

For many people, one of the most terrifying experiences in life is sitting down to a blank piece of paper. Before they get up again, they want that blank page full of facts, thoughts, opinions--all perfectly expressed. These writers, if they can get words to come at all, are almost compulsively driven by a need to put the words down flawlessly the first time. They behave as though they are hammering their words everlastingly into granite: the first word they find, the first sentence they cast, the first paragraph that haphazardly builds itself--these bits and pieces are chiseled into stone, largely because the writers are afraid. Their fear of writing has made them victims of the writing anxiety syndrome.

Open Communication Climate

PDF format: Open Communication Climate

"Open Communication Climate," appeared originally as a guest lecture in the teaching materials for Boone and Kurtz's Contemporary Business Communication, Prentice-Hall, 1993.

Abstract

Communication climate can be defined as the internal environment of information exchange among people through an organization's formal and informal networks. Communication climate is open when information flows freely; closed when information is blocked. Open communication is characterized by supportive, participative, and trusting behaviors. While open communication climate may make formidable personal demands, such openness ultimately rewards both the individual and the organization in providing an environment where people thrive and enterprise flourishes.

Punctuation: The Dynamics of Obscure Marks

PDF format: Punctuation: The Dynamics of Obscure Marks

"Punctuation: The Dynamics of Obscure Marks.," Phi Delta Kappan, November 1979, 234, 227.

Abstract

Power. Everybody wants power — lawyers, teachers, business executives, politicians — everybody wants to exert control over others. One way to seize this control, at least in writing, is through punctuation dynamics: the subtle power to awe, even to cow, the reader into submission through adept placement of punctuation. Certain punctuation marks, if used well, signal whether the writer is a power figure. Any aspiring person, therefore, must learn to recognize the dynamics of these marks. To that end, the following analysis of parentheses, dashes, semicolons, and colons throws light upon punctuation as one of the ultimate manifestations of power.

Truth & Taste

PDF format: Truth & Taste: Revisiting High Ethical Standards for Communicators

"Truth and Taste: Revisiting High Ethical Standards for Communicators" (original title) was most recently published in Corporate Communications: Theory and Practice with Essays from the Conference on Corporate Communication, State University of New York (SUNY) Press, Albany, 1994, Michael Goodman, editor. This collection joins more than twenty-five scholarly books in the SUNY series in Human Communication Processes, Donald Cushman and Ted Smith, series editors. The on-line version of this article originally appeared in Communication in Uncertain Times. Proceedings of the Fifth Conference on Corporate Communications, Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University, 1992.

Abstract

In all professional codes, the duty to adhere to the "highest standards" of truth the central ethical charge from which every other precept emanates. This paper examines the notion of such standards,focusing in particular upon the manner in which we communicate truth and the consequent standards of "behavioral" taste or aesthetics. Knowledge of the relationship of "truth" and "taste," philosophically linked since classical antiquity, offers insight into the high ethical standards mandated by communication codes of ethics. Because the normal engine of these codes is driven by "enlightened" humanistic philosophy, he works of those writers who have explored the notions of "taste" and "truth," as these affect conduct, provide historical perspective and philosophical insight into the highest standards of truth. Some of these notions and heir ramifications are then applied to a twentieth-century problem of truth-telling and ethical behavior.

Writing in Business and Manufacturing

PDF format: Writing in Business and Manufacturing

"Writing in Business and Manufacturing," the lead chapter (pp. 1-36, 292-294) for The Practice of Technical and Scientific Communication: Writing in Professional Contexts, "a twelve-chapter book designed to give readers an overview of technical and scientific communication as it is practiced in various environments."Edited by  Jean A. Lutz and C. Gilbert Storms of Miami University, this book is volume 4 in the ATTW Contemporary Studies in Technical Communication. AblexPublishing Corporation, Stamford, CT, 1998.

Abstract

What do all these areas of manufacturing, selling, and service have in common? Communication. Throughout the entire economy,hundreds of thousands of people are employed as communicators. They document operations, draft illustrations, write technical reports and manuals, prepare speeches, produce films and videos, photograph products, and create advertising. They communicate important financial, technical, marketing, and public relations information. They plan extensive campaigns to persuade various publics of the beneficial relationship between the corporation and the community. And they advise top management and corporate policy makers about the needs, opinions, and desires of the public, to ensure that the corporation is socially responsible. In short, because products, services, markets, and people must all be linked through human relationships, business and manufacturing simply cannot exist without communication: written, visual, multimedia, and oral.

Ontology Defined

“Chapter 7.12 Ontology,” in M. Jennex (Ed.), Knowledge Management: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications (pp. 3058-3069). New York, Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference, 2007. This article is under strict copyright at the moment; no PDF is available.

“Ontology,” in D. Schwartz (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Knowledge Management (pp. 694-702). Hershey, PA: Idea Group, 2006. This article is under strict copyright at the moment; no PDF is available.

Abstract

This article discusses the philosophical origins and modern practical implementations of ontology. For easier understanding, approaches to ontology building are divided into formal and informal. Formal ontologies are explained, focusing in particular on specifying concepts by establishing relationships through is-a and part-of approaches. The other components of a formal ontology are briefly mentioned. Informal ontologies are defined and contrasted with formal ontologies. Finally, issues, controversies, and problems in the implementation of ontologies are briefly explored. Ontologies will continue to play an important role in the development of large-scale, computer mediated, and global Knowledge Management projects. Communicating knowledge within an organization, and among organizations worldwide, will be facilitated by ontologies, as they create a knowledge layer critical to the automated sharing and reuse of essential explicit knowledge.