Department Chairs' Perceptions of the Importance of Business Communication Skills SERVICE COMPONENT of most colleges of business in

The purpose of this investigation was to determine business department chairs' rat-ings of topics typically covered in the business communication course. A sample of 280 chairs provided administrative information about the business communication courses at their institutions, rated the importance of 34 topics typically covered in the course, and assessed the need for the course in their programs. Results indicate that department chairs perceive writing skills to be more important to business communication courses than other communication skills, such as speaking, tech-nology-mediated communication, interpersonal communication, team/group com-munication, listening, and cultural literacy skills. Implications for business com-munication curriculum and research are offered. 1 SERVICE COMPONENT of most colleges of business in the US, the business communication course, taught primarily at the sophomore and junior levels (Wardrope, 2002), is usually a core business course and fulfills mandates set by accrediting agen-cies, such as the AACSB-Intemational (AACSB, 2001). A series of studies on the business communication course by Bayless and Wardrope (1998) and Wardrope and Bayless (1999, 1999a, 1998) reveals that while the course covers a wide range of accreditation-specific topics like cultural diversity, technology, and team skills, its emphasis is on written communication. This focus has histori-cally included such topics as basic composition skills (Nelson, Luse, & DuFrene, 1992), report writing (Quible, 1991), and letter and memo writing (Wiggs, 1993; Bennett & Olney, 1987). The characteristics of the contemporary workplace suggest that topics other than writing may be equally important for the busi-at LEDUCACIO PSICOL VIRGILI on March 17, 2016 bcq.sagepub.com Downloaded from