Business and Professional Communication Quarterly

The ability to work in groups is vital for today's workforce, yet the existence of the necessary skills among students is questionable. Although group activities are now common, specific classroom instruction in effective group participation skills is not. Moreover, students recognize the need for such instruction. Content analysis of students' self-descriptions identified ten categories of deficiencies: conflict avoidant, public speaking anxiety, leadership, shy, oral skills, lack motivation, brainstorm ing, impatient,-intolerant, dislike groups. These weaknesses were addressed by a vuriety of pedagogical exercises including individual presentations, type or tem perament identification, an enhanced understanding of argument and brainstorm ing, and ways to encourage substuntive, but not procedural or affective, conflict. Student-perceived improvements were found in all categories, with the largest improvement in public speaking anxiety.

Since the inception of its predecessors in the 1930s, Business Communication Quarterly has evolved from a duplicated, newsletter-type publication into a glossy, professional, refereed journal. During this evolution, hundreds of authors and more than a dozen editors have contributed to BCQ's progress. Articles on a broad variety of topics have provided pedagogical support to new and experienced teachers alike. Presented here is a brief history of BCQ, a glimpse at BCQ's most popular manuscript topics, and a listing of its editors and most prolific authors. Frequency of topical coverage by decade is also included. Veteran ABC members and new members alike should find interesting the topical publishing trends throughout the sixty-plus year history of the Association and the Business Communication Quarterly.

In many business communication courses students must write a business report. This study compared what business communication instructors believe their stu dents learn and what writing skills they improve by completing the assignment with what students believe they learn and what writing skills they believe are improved. Data were gathered from members of the Association for Business Communica tion and from students who have completed a business report. Instructors see greater improvement in student writing skills than do students. To close this gap, faculty should offer more explicit explanations of the assignment and of the con cepts to be learned and the skills to be improved. They should also explain the cri teria for evaluation and help students assess their writing skills and set personal goals for improvement. Questionnaires are provided so instructors can compare their own perceptions with those of their students as well as with the instructors and students from this study.