Here’s a report I wrote summarizing my Business School (herein known as “DESB)‘s views on Writing. I based it off a recent post that briefly discussed this issue. I also submitted it recently to my History of Writing professor, but I nevertheless felt like “putting it out there,” so feel free to let me know what you think at any time (and thanks for stopping by!). I’d also be happy to give you a list of the references I used.
– NOTE: The pseudonym “Stacie” was used in place of the name of a real student on this post only– just in case.
– NOTE #2: The events described below have been accounted for according to what was discussed during the interviews. (Read: I’m not responsible if there happens to be disagreements over them)
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Introduction
Writing and the Business School
In 2006, MSNBC (Associated Press) reported on the negative impact of the “need for speed” on Business communications. Apparently, efficiency is trumping quality, and all those e-mails and instant and text messages may in fact be worsening written communication skills within companies. “Wary of the trend,” the article states, “not just businesses but business schools across the country are working harder to eschew obfuscation, [so some] have added or expanded writing programs in recent years; others use corporations’ faux pas as case studies in hopes their students will learn to avoid them.”
Fortunately, the DESB [at the University of Utah] is not lagging too far behind in this mission. Yet although the programs it has implemented to combat lamentable current writing skills only seem to be making progress, they are somehow not met with favorable perceptions regarding their efficacy. Considering this dilemma, I had first hypothesized that the Business School does not make enhancing students’ writing skills a priority. But a closer look at the School’s programs somewhat contradicted my hypothesis and instead led me to find that its good intentions do not currently align with [the measures it has implemented to make us better writers].
Methodology
Available Literature
My original intention was to assess popular business journals to determine the standards it held submitters, writers, and educators involved in the field to. However, the lack of information on this topic instead influenced my reliance on the interviews I conducted and almost four years’ worth of a Business education.
Individual Interviews
Originally, I wanted to know the opinions of both the Business School and the Writing Program, given that together they are actively pursuing our writing abilities’ improvement. Unfortunately, though I was able to interview a representative from the Writing Program, both Business School representatives declined to comment. My other interview was of a Business School student.
Personal Experience
I have been a Business student at the DESB for three years and I will base some of my findings off my experience as a “customer” of the programs put forth by it and the Writing Program.
Research Results
Natalie Stillman-Webb, University Writing Program Associate Professor, was the person in charge of devising a solution to a dilemma the DESB introduced her department a few years back: What could be done to improve students’ writing and better prepare them for the future? At the time, the University already had a Professional Writing class, but the DESB sought to implement a writing class that specifically met its specific needs, and thus WRTG 3016, better known as Business Writing, was born. Some time later, upon realizing that students needed more assistance, the DESB once again asked the Writing Program for help. And after performing an extensive needs analysis, the department found the answer in a new program called the Writing Initiative, which was organized with the collaboration of Marketing Professor Gary Grikscheit. (He declined to comment.)
Overview of the Current Measures Instituted Through the Writing Program-DESB
Partnership:
WRTG 3016, as was said above, is the DESB’s specialized alternative aimed at “[preparing] Business majors for writing in the business world, [emphasizing] argumentation and linguistic precision” (University Class Schedule, 2010). However, not all Business majors have to take WRTG 3016 (e.g. honors students who did not take the honors equivalent of WRTG 2010 must take HON 3200, the upper-division honors writing class).
The more recently established Writing Initiative designates two classes per DESB major as “writing-intensive,” meaning they require more writing than the average Business class and involve the participation of Writing consultants, provided by the Writing Program, to assist students on their papers.
Teaching Vs. Editing
Professor Stillman argues that until [organizations, including] the DESB and its students (and even some of the writing consultants involved in the Writing Initiative) realize that “it’s a teaching thing– [not] an editing thing,” the Initiative will continue to receive mixed reactions. In other words, those engaged in the teaching and learning of writing must realize that edits alone will never result in better communicators or writers per se, but only in better papers, which ultimately can not be applied to real-life business problems.
Business Administration major Stacie* could not agree more. Stacie is a charismatic University senior who, despite being able to depend on scholarships to fund her education, still is responsible for all her living expenses. The way she sees it, the Writing Initiative is more expensive (it costs every Business student about $30 to cover the consultant’s fees) even though she saw the consultant’s input as the least relevant to her overall grade. “[The consultant’s help] wasn’t connected to [my Marketing Management] class,” she says. “I feel like I did worse in her grading than [my professor’s] so I often ignored her feedback.” Her professor was Grikscheit, who Stacie felt was more concerned with students’ case study analyses than their writing. “It would be better for the instructor to say, ‘here’s where you’re screwing up or not communicating effectively; go talk to X to remedy it.”
Beyond Finding Solutions
Another point Professor Stillman brought up is that what business writing education is lacking is the development of critical thinking, analytical, and problem solving skills. She states, “Students should not just read a case and find a solution, but also think through the various other solutions” to learn to better match future employers’ expectations. In fact, according to the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU), four out of five (81%) employers want colleges to place more emphasis on critical thinking and analytical reasoning, and three out of four (76%) employers want institutions’ focus to be on complex problem-solving skills.
Is the Business School addressing these concerns? And if so, how? Professor Stillman suggested I also talk to Rachel Hayes, an Accounting Professor at the DESB, who would be instrumental in answering that question. Professor Hayes is also involved in both designing the DESB curriculum and selecting what courses qualify as Upper-division Communication and Writing courses at the University. However, she, too, declined to comment.
Discussion
The AACU also discovered that nearly nine in ten (89%) employers want colleges to place more emphasis on written and oral communication, which can be said to contradict businesses’ inherent need for speed, ease, and efficiency because, as I mentioned above, becoming better writers can be a lifelong process. And according to the MSNBC article, “it’s no longer just the inability to string clear, coherent thoughts together that poses the biggest risk. Rather, it may be clicking the ‘Send’ button too hastily…” and even relying too much on text and instant messaging to produce seemingly formal communications.
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[If] the spread of technology has made it possible to share almost everything with each other in as few characters as possible, then I see the business community and academia’s desire to raise writing-education standards to be almost an endangered idea. (It is a valuable endeavor that is nevertheless not meeting its worth.) Taking this into consideration, I also see the DESB as not practicing what it advocates and its actions as not matching its good intentions: The consultants participating in the Writing Initiative do not teach—they edit our papers and grade us (according to peers) on minor, subjective details; WRTG 3016 has not been made a required course for all Business majors; and the School even also passes along rather noteworthy updates to its Twitter “followers” and Facebook fans (so are these tools used to entertain or for convenience/speed’s sake?).
… I could also make the case that some businesses’ “need for speed” and profit-only mentalities are equally as harmful to an organization that wants to train better Business communicators. Speed and efficiency … help one save paper and produce fast results …, but not communicate better holistically ….
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Unfortunately, despite its well-intended efforts, the DESB does not seem to understand that neither students nor most instructors are convinced of the importance of writing and neither party seems to be making an effort to better appreciate its value. … [Until] it is more broadly recognized that merely suggesting edits for students’ papers will not constitute teaching them good writing and composition skills (especially in those 12-week Summer classes), the DESB will continue to be ranked within the top hundreds or thousands, instead of within the top dozen, ten(s), or handful(s).