Business and Professional Communication Quarterly

The importance of being fluent in a foreign language has been well docu mented and highlighted in academic texts. So has the importance of being fluent in another culture, a need documented as early as the 1950s. How have organizations in the UK and Ireland responded to these needs?A survey of members of ALECS (Association of Language Excellence Centres) in the UK and language training providers in Ireland assessed the level of language and cultural awareness. The results indicate that the percentage of British and Irish companies carrying out an internal foreign language audit is disturb ingly low. The number of companies wishing to become culturally fluent is even lower. Companies as well as training organizations are thus overlooking a number of opportunities.

The accounting profession has called for increased attention to communica tion skill development in accounting curricula. Since independent accountants rely extensively on client communications when gathering evidence during external audits, identifying and minimizing communication barriers with clients can improve audit efficiency and effectiveness. This study evaluated client perceptions of the seriousness and frequency of potential communica tion barriers in external audits. Factor analysis revealed both a credibility/background factor and hostility/conflict factor to be the most seri ous barriers. Subjects perceived personality differences, "know-it-all" attitude, "either-or" thinking, resistance to change, and jumping to conclusions as occurring most frequently.

Faced with a crisis, what can a business say? Crisis communication literature tends to focars on what to do before and after a crisis and on the kinds of crises corporations face. Less attention is given to the options available within mes sages about a crisis. The theory of image restoration provides a useful key to composing such messages. This article applies the theory to one case study in image repair discourse: USAir's response to media coverage of the crash of one of its aircraft in Pittsburgh in 1994. Introducing such case studies in the classroom helps students to understand the basic tenets of persausion in the highly charged context of repairing a corporate reputation after an attack.

Althoteoh researchers have studied extensively the workplace writing of col lege-degreed professionals, less is known about the writing habits of those without such degrees. This study examined the on-the-job writing of one such group—60 front-line supervisors in a Midwest steel manufacturing plant. Responses to a questionnaire, interviews, and an analysis of 246 documents produced information about the frequency, type, purpose, and length of writ ing produced along with the challenges the supervisors faced as writers on the job. This information will help business communications instructors enhance their understanding of writing on the front line.

Business commmtmication often has significant legal consequences. Students thus need to learn how to avoid legal liability in their writing. Teaching such skills provides a practical and interesting application of key business commu nication principles and encourages students to improve their ability to analyze audiences by looking at the language of business messages "through the eyes of the prosecution."

This article encourages regional conference organizers to include business practices panels-in keeping with the call of theABC Committee on Business Practices-by describing the Business Practices Panel of the 1996 ABC West ern Regional Conference. Four representatives of Boise area businesses partic ipated on the panel. After describing the process for organizing the panel, the article summarizes the panelists' comments on such topics as cross-cultural communication, the Internet, diversity, channels of communication, messages to employees, messages to the media and other external publics, communica tions training and evaluation, and interviewing.