Dear Colleagues:
I am excited to announce a call for submissions for an innovative Open Education Resource (OER) project that aims to create a comprehensive collection of case studies in business and professional communication with a strong emphasis on social justice issues.
The edited collection, Business and Professional Communication Case Studies, will offer contributions from committed educators in the fields of business, technical, and professional communication. This project presents a valuable opportunity to share your expertise, create accessible education content, and make a significant teaching contribution to the field of business and professional communication.
Once published, the final collection of case studies can be used by anyone teaching business and professional communication courses to supplement core course concepts and class activities. This OER project seeks to develop a dynamic repository of case studies that address the intersection of business and professional communication with social justice concerns. As an OER, Business and Professional Communication Case Studies will be freely available to instructors around the globe for downloading and remixing under a Creative Commons license.
The case studies for the OER edited collection will stem from current events and important social justice issues which real organizations routinely face. Recent events offer a unique intersection of theory and practice by illustrating how business and professional communication principles function in the professional world. This innovative resource aims to provide students with a deep understanding of how effective communication strategies can address and promote social justice in diverse professional contexts.
BACKGROUND
Case studies as a lens for scholarly and teaching inquiry of the professional world in the field of business and professional communication are not new. They routinely appear in almost every volume of Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, the International Journal of Business Communication, and the Journal of Business and Technical Communication Quarterly. The call to use case studies in business and professional communication classrooms date to as early as 1984 (Catron, 1984). Scholars have argued for case studies to be used in the classroom to encourage students’ metacognitive skills (McEachern, 1999), to narrow the gap between the classroom and the professional world (Dorn, 1999), to improve international business communication training (Zhao, 1996), and to challenge students’ responses to multicultural issues (Sharp, 1995). Case studies in the classroom can enhance awareness of real and complex business-world problems (Umble, Umble, & Artz, 2008), improve students’ critical thinking and analytical skills (Carter, Burke, & Hughey, 2019), and help students connect course concepts to workplace settings (Gettings & Meluch, 2021).
The case studies for Business and Professional Communication Case Studies will originate from current events and situations which real organizations have faced or are experiencing. Current events offer an avenue to illustrate business communication principles at play in the professional world every day. These events can serve as a vehicle for engaging discussions in the classroom and for generating different types of writing assignments stemming from the case. In addition to core business communication concepts, case studies bring to the forefront concerns of ethics, values, and morals—challenging issues in our current splintered society.
This OER edited collection of business and professional communication case studies will highlight scenarios where organizations take a stand but must consider multiple stakeholders and may face backlash for their decisions. Situations where choices that businesses make may advance, diverge, or challenge the collected wisdom offered to students in traditional business and professional communication textbooks. Introducing students to professional world social justice issues will broaden their perspectives and help to close the knowledge gap between their college and working lives.
AUTHOR GUIDELINES
The goal of the case studies is to provide college students with scenarios that not only enhance their understanding of communication principles in professional contexts but also engage them in thoughtful reflections on ethical decision-making, diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Original case studies should be drawn from or connected to current events that explore various dimensions of business and professional communication while highlighting social justice issues. The cases should be designed for college students and can cover a wide range of topics, including but not limited to ethical decision-making, inclusive communication for diverse workplace environments, communication challenges in socially responsible business practices, artificial intelligence and the amplification of stereotypes, crisis communication and social justice consequences, the use of AI for conducting employee surveillance without consent, intersectionality and leadership, AI’s lack of transparency with (biased) decision-making, navigating power dynamics and privilege in professional settings.
The case studies should enable students to analyze, evaluate, and apply various business and professional communications strategies and provide valuable insights into the complexities of effective communication in professional settings.
A case study should be 400-1400 words, depending on the complexity of the case. Each case study submission must contain a title, the case, and 2-3 discussion questions and/or sample writing prompt(s). Please also include your name and university affiliate on the submission.
All submissions should be sent to Dr. Christopher Toth via tothc.
TIMELINE
Submission due date: March 15
Acceptance notification: April 19
Editor correspondence and revision requests: May/June 2024
Final release of collection: July 2024
Thank you for your commitment to advancing professional communication education and advancing social justice issues. Please share this call for submissions with any colleagues who may be interested. I look forward to receiving your insightful contributions to this OER project between now and March 15!
Best,
Christopher Toth, PhD
Professor of Writing
Grand Valley State University
1 Campus Drive
326a Lake Ontario Hall
Allendale, MI 49401
616-331-3367
tothc