Some management scholars argue that academic literature is becoming less and less relevant to practicing managers. Thomas posits that the same will be true for business communication if scholars do not venture into the field and connect with those who “do” business communication. As organizations shift from manufacturing to service jobs, expand their operations overseas, manage “talent” more strategically, and alter traditional bureaucratic structures, business communication is becoming increasingly intercultural, virtual, horizontal, strategic, and change focused. Yet it is not clear that the business communication literature is keeping pace. Examples of Thomas's work in interagency collaboration, electronic mail overload, and strategic communication demonstrate possibilities for gaining access and studying communication dilemmas that face practicing managers. Bridging the academic-practitioner gap is a way to build face validity in the business world as well as help academics to develop better theories about workplace communication.
Abrahamson, E.
(1996).
Management fashion
. Academy of Management Review, 21,
254-285
.
2.
Ashkenas, R.
,
Ulrich, D.
,
Jick, T.
, &
Kerr, S.
(1995). The boundaryless organization: Breaking the chains of organizational structure.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
.
3.
Boden, D.
(1994). The business of talk: Organizations in action .
Cambridge
, UK:
Polity
.
4.
Brafman, O.
, &
Beckstrom, R.A.
(2006). The starfish and the spider: The unstoppable power of leaderless organizations.
New York: Portfolio
.
5.
Campbell, J.P.
,
Daft, R.L.
, &
Hulin, C.L.
(1982). What to study: Generating and developing research questions.
Beverly Hills, CA: Sage
.
6.
Charles, M.
(2007).
Language matters in global communication
. Journal of Business Communication, 44,
260-282
.
7.
Friedman, T.
(2005). The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century.
New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux
.
8.
Galbraith, J.
(2002). Designing organizations: An executive guide to strategy, structure, and process.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
.
9.
Gergen, K.
(1995).
Postmodern psychology: Resonance and reflection
. American Psychologist, 50,
394
.
10.
Gerzon, M.
(2006). Leading through conflict: How successful leaders transform differences into opportunities.
Boston: Harvard Business School Press
.
11.
Gibson, C.B.
, &
Gibbs, J.L.
(2006).
Unpacking the concept of virtuality: The effects of geographic disperson, electronic dependence, dynamic structure, and national diversity on team innovation
. Administrative Science Quarterly,51,
451-495
.
12.
Hocevar, S.P.
,
Thomas, G.F.
, &
Jansen, E.
(2006). Building collaborative capacity: An innovative strategy for homeland security preparedness. In
M. M. Beyerlein
,
S. T. Beyerlein
, &
F. A. Kennedy
(Eds.), Innovation through collaboration (Vol. 12, pp. 255-274).
New York: Elsevier
.
13.
Jarvenpaa, S.L.
, &
Leidner, D.E.
(1999).
Communication and trust in global virtual teams
. Organization Science, 10,
791-815
.
14.
Johns, G.
(1993).
Constraints on the adoption of psychology-based personnel practices: Lessons from organizational innovation
. Personnel Psychology, 46,
569-592
.
15.
Kirkman, B.L.
,
Rosen, B.
,
Tesluk, P.E.
, &
Gibson, C.B.
(2004).
The impact of team empowerment on virtual team performance: The moderating role of face-to-face interaction
. Academy of Management Journal, 47,
175-192
.
16.
Kotter, J.P.
(1996). Leading change.
Boston: Harvard Business School Press
.
17.
Lewis, L.K.
,
Schmisseur, A.M.
,
Stephens, K.K.
, &
Weir, K.E.
(2006).
Advice on communicating during organizational change: The content of popular press books
. Journal of Business Communication, 43,
113-137
.
18.
Lipnack, J.
, &
Stamps, J.
(2000). Virtual teams: People working across boundaries with technology (2nd ed.).
New York: John Wiley & Sons
.
19.
Montoya-Weiss, M.M.
,
Massey, A.P.
, &
Song, M.
(2001).
Getting it together: Temporal coordination and conflict management in global virtual teams
. Academy of Management Journal, 44,
1251-1262
.
20.
Mowday, R.T.
(1997).
1996 Presidential address: Reaffirming our scholarly values
. Academy of Management Review, 22,
335-345
.
21.
Nickerson, C.
(2000). Playing the corporate language game: An investigation of the genres and discourse strategies in English used by Dutch writers working in multinational corporations.
Atlanta, GA: Rodopi
.
22.
O'Toole, J.
, &
Lawler, E.
(2006). The new American workplace.
New York: Palgrave MacMillan
.
23.
Packer, G.
(2006, December 18).
Knowing the enemy: Can social scientists redefine the “war on terror”
? The New Yorker, pp.
60-69
.
24.
Rynes, S.L.
,
Bartunek, J.M.
, &
Daft, R.L.
(2001).
Across the great divide: Knowledge creation and transfer between practitioners and academics
. Academy of Management Journal, 44,
340-355
.
25.
Rynes, S.L.
,
Colbert, A.E.
, &
Brown, K.C.
(2002).
HR professionals' beliefs about effective human resource practices: Correspondence between research and practice
. Human Resource Management, 41,
149-164
.
26.
Shrivastava, P.
, &
Mitroff, I.I.
(1984).
Enhancing organizational research utilization: The role of decision makers' assumptions
. Academy of Management Review, 9,
18-26
.
27.
Smeltzer, L.R.
(1993).
Emerging questions and research paradigms in business communication research
. Journal of Business Communication , 30,
181-198
.
28.
Sproull, L.
, &
Kiesler, S.
(1991). Connections: New ways of working in the networked organization.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
.
29.
Suchan, J.
, &
Charles, M.
(2006).
Business communication research: Past, present, and future
. Journal of Business Communication, 43,
389-397
.
30.
Thomas, G.F.
(2007, March).
Strategic communication
. Presented at the Navy Corporate Business Course, Monterey, CA.
31.
Thomas, G.F.
,
Hocevar, S.P.
, &
Jansen, E.
(2006, September 25). A diagnostic approach to building collaborative capacity in an interagency context (Acquisition Research Sponsored Report Series).
Monterey, CA: Naval Postgraduate School
.
32.
Thomas, G.F.
, &
King, C.
(2006).
Reconceptualizing e-mail overload
. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 20,
252-288
.
33.
Thomas, K.W.
, &
Tymon, W.
(1982).
Necessary properties of relevant research: Lessons from recent criticisms in the organizational sciences
. Academy of Management Review, 7,
345-352
.
34.
Turner, J.W.
, &
Reinsch, N.L.
(2007).
The business communicator as presence allocator: Multicommunicating, equivocality, and status at work
. Journal of Business Communication, 44,
36-58
.
35.
Varner, I.
(2000).
The theoretical foundation for intercultural business communication: A conceptual model
. Journal of Business Communication , 37,
39-57
.
36.
Zimbardo, P.G.
(2002).
Going forward with commitment
. Monitor on Psychology, 33,
955-958
.
