C ommunication is an ancient discipline which has evolved considerably. Throughout this evolutionary process, effectiveness has been a central concern. In the fifth century BC, for instance, Corax, one of the first teachers of human discourse, suggested the need for speakers to &dquo;produce an effect in listeners&dquo; (Hinks, 1940;Kennedy, 1959 (1973) suggests that theory construction in the future should &dquo;focus on a new set of variables and employ a new set of analytic techniques&dquo; (p. 16).

This paper looks at three hypotheses: that regardless of the financially good or bad years of a corporation, the communication in the annual letters to the stockholders will be predominantly positive; that negative words are less frequent in a financially good year than a bad year; and that German readers also tend to accept the same preferred, positive words as Americans. All hypotheses were sustained after viewing 12 annual letters to stockholders in 1975 and 12 letters in 1977. The Pollyanna Hypothesis provides a fertile area for further research: into business letters, business speeches, or other areas which fall into the genre of written or oral business communication.

This article revieios research leading to a Competing Values Model for Management Communication and provides instruments for evaluating managerial writing and speaking based on that model. Developed through empirical research by Quinn, Hildebrandt, Rogers, and Thompson (1991), the Competing Values Model for Communication illustrates the interplay between contrasting qualities in management messages. Instruments based on this model allow users to analyze the extent to which these qualities characterize their written and spoken presentations. By collecting analytical data from superiors, subordinates, and peers, a manager may compare his/her self‐assessment with the assessments of others. Methods for interpreting the data include suggestions for developing action plans. The article concludes with a discussion of other potential applications of the instruments to communication research and pedagogy in managerial contexts. © 1993 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

No abstract

Questionnaire and interview data were gathered on 150 People's Republic of China female managers who were contrasted with their counterparts in the U.S. and Southeast Asia. Chinese female managers have little job mobility, pursue careers appraised by the Party and influenced by central government planning, work the most hours per week, and recommend the political/ideology path as the fastest route to the top. They are comparatively less educated, progress under a patrilineal tradition, recommend business courses as a means of preparation for managerial responsibilities, and slowly are gaming opportunities in fob selection.

No abstract

No abstract

This paper aims to compare the Greek and Chinese rhetorical traditions and explore their influences on today’s business and marketing communication across relevant cultures. In particular, it uses the Aristotelian persuasive orientations as reference points to introduce the Chinese rhetoric, and interpret cultural differences in persuasion from a historical and sociocultural perspective. It has been found that Greek and Chinese rhetoric and persuasion were developed to meet the needs of the social and cultural environments and this rule still applies to today’s business communication. The logical approach has been emphasised in the English rhetorical tradition while both qing (emotional approach) and li (logical approach) are the focus of persuasion in the Chinese tradition. This difference is also the root of cultural differences in modern business communication. Findings from both English and Chinese texts and data are examined to substantiate our focal argument.