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4-1-2003

Applied Research in Managerial Communication:The Critical Link between Knowledge and PracticeJudi BrownellCornell University School of Hotel Administration, jlb18@cornell.edu

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Recommended CitationBrownell, J. (2003). Applied research in managerial communication: The critical link between knowledge and practice. Cornell Hoteland Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 44, 2, 39-49.

Applied Research in Managerial Communication: The Critical Linkbetween Knowledge and Practice

Abstract[Excerpt] Why are some of your colleagues more successful than others? Why do some managers seem tomake all the right decisions while others flounder? You might at first assume the successful ones are lucky, orcan attribute their success to intelligence, personality, or even the environment in which they grew up. Whatmight not be readily apparent is that successful practitioners have acquired specific knowledge thatcontributes to their high performance. While requisite knowledge can be gained in a number ofways—experience, training, and education, for instance—powerful insights and reliable guidance forhospitality leaders come from applied research in hospitality management. Principles drawn from researchconstitute a reliable knowledge base that enables practitioners to gain competitive advantage. Findings fromapplied research in the field of managerial communication, as I explain in this article, facilitate the applicationof principles from all management disciplines to drive high performance.

Keywordsmanagerial communication research, communication behavior, language and diversity, leadership,communication competencies

DisciplinesBusiness and Corporate Communications | Interpersonal and Small Group Communication

CommentsRequired Publisher Statement© Sage. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

This article or chapter is available at The Scholarly Commons: http://scholarship.sha.cornell.edu/articles/975

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MANAGERIAL COMMUNICATION FOCUS ON RESEARCH

© 2003, CORNELL UNIVERSITY

Applied Research in

ManagerialCommunication:

The Critical Link betweenKnowledge and Practice

Applying the lessons of managerial communication studies can help managers become moreinfluential and effective in their daily activities.

BY JUDI BROWNELL

Why are some of your colleagues more successfulthan others? Why do some managers seem to makeall the right decisions while others flounder? You

might at first assume the successful ones are lucky, or canattribute their success to intelligence, personality, or even theenvironment in which they grew up. What might not bereadily apparent is that successful practitioners have acquiredspecific knowledge that contributes to their high performance.

While requisite knowledge can be gained in a number ofways—experience, training, and education, for instance—powerful insights and reliable guidance for hospitality lead-ers come from applied research in hospitality management.Principles drawn from research constitute a reliable knowl-edge base that enables practitioners to gain competitive ad-vantage. Findings from applied research in the field of mana-

gerial communication, as I explain in this article, facilitatethe application of principles from all management disciplinesto drive high performance.

Managers’ failure to heed research findings can be detri-mental to an organization, especially when such managersoperate under misconceptions that reduce their effectivenesson the job. For instance, a recent study pointed out sevencostly mistakes that human-resources professionals frequentlymake because they lack familiarity with current research find-ings.1 Included in this list were the beliefs that conscientious-ness is a better predictor of employee performance than intel-ligence, and that integrity tests are unreliable becauseemployees are likely to lie on them.

1 S. Rynes, K. Brown, and A. Colbert, “Seven Common Misconceptionsabout HR Practices: Research Findings vs. Practitioner Beliefs,” Academyof Management Executive, Vol. 16, No. 3 (2002), pp. 92–103.

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40 Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly APRIL 2003

EXHIBIT 1

Integrated model of managerial communication research

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Findings from Applied Research:Produces principles and guidelines

ManagerialGoals:

Generated

from all

functional

areas

Decisions informedby research

Communicationbehavior:

What you do

CulturalOrientation

E.Q. (emotional quotient): Sensitivity tofilters affecting managerial communication

PersonalStyle

Attitudes andValues

PastExperiences

OrganizationalRole

�� � �

Knowledge gained through applied research,however, is valuable only to the extent that man-agers can effectively implement the ideas andprinciples that they have acquired. Knowledgealone is insufficient to improve performance. Forsuccess, managers must be able to put knowl-edge to use. This critical task is accomplishedthrough managers’ language and behavior—thatis, through their communication practices. Alltoo frequently, talented managers with expertisein their field are unsuccessful because they lackthe ability to communicate effectively. A mar-keting manager who has innovative ideas abouthow to capture more business travelers, for in-stance, will be passed over if she is unable to makeher suggestions clear and compelling. Manystrategic plans may never be implemented dueto lack of communication savvy.

Applied managerial communication researchinforms practitioners’ daily decisions about howbest to get things done. In this article I demon-strate the critical role that findings from appliedcommunication research play in providinga sound foundation on which to base decisionsthat direct language and behavior. Increasedmanagerial communication effectiveness, in turn,enables practitioners to realize the benefits offunctional area expertise as they work to improveindividual and organizational performance.

I begin by discussing an integrative model thatillustrates the critical relationship between ap-plied research and managerial practice. Back-ground information is presented to provide acontext for understanding the origins and inter-disciplinary nature of communication studies.Selected projects in the two major research areasof concern, language and behavior, are then re-viewed to illustrate the usefulness of applied com-munication research in addressing practical is-sues and in achieving management goals. In eachcase, the value of managerial communicationresearch for improving performance should bereadily apparent.

Applicable Research:An Integrated ModelWhile the focus of this paper is on research inmanagerial communication, the model presentedhere provides a framework for understandinghow the results of applied research in all fields

Alignwords

andaction

Language:

What you say

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can affect decision making and, consequently, in-crease effectiveness in the workplace. In this case,however, this integrative model (Exhibit 1) drawsattention to the importance of applying knowl-edge generated from applied communication re-search to make better decisions about what tosay and what to do to get desired results. In otherwords, effective communication is neither afunction of trial and error nor is it a matter ofdoing what comes naturally. Effectiveness re-quires that you establish clear goals and thenapply principles and insights to make wisechoices about your language and behavior. Mymodel also emphasizes that communicationeffectiveness directly affects managerial success,regardless of the scope or specific area of re-sponsibility. Whether you are in accounting,finance, food and beverage, marketing, humanresources, or other functional areas, puttingyour knowledge to use and achieving your goalsrequires the appropriate application of mana-gerial communication principles.

Consistency. Language and behavior com-bine for maximum positive effect when theyare consistent and aligned. Employees’ percep-tions of consistency between words anddeeds—what Simons has termed behavioral in-tegrity—is essential for establishing credibil-ity and trust.2 Regardless of how skilled a com-municator you might be, the ability to walkthe talk is a critical success factor. While forconvenience and clarity this discussion ad-dresses language and behavior separately, it isessential that what you say and what you dopresent a consistent and unified impression.For instance, articulating a concern for employ-ees’ opinions but then never making yourselfavailable, or talking about your belief in sharedresponsibility but refusing to allow employeesto participate in decision making, will reduceyour credibility and effectiveness.

In addition to applying principles developedfrom a solid knowledge base, successful manag-ers also depend on emotional quotient (EQ), adimension that captures the subjective, personal

2 T. Simons, “Behavioral Integrity: The Perceived Align-ment between Managers’ Words and Deeds as a ResearchFocus,” Organization Science, Vol. 13, No. 1 (2002),pp. 18–35.

evaluations used to make decisions at work.3 Thatis, skilled communicators are sensitive to the sub-jective and emotional aspects of a situation andrespond accordingly. If you’ve looked at an em-ployee and immediately realized that he’s had abad day or that cultural differences were respon-sible for someone’s reluctance to speak up, thenyou’ve used your EQ. This element of personaljudgment (i.e., social sensitivity) is always a fac-tor in decision making and influences commu-nication outcomes. Therefore, a box in the modeldraws attention to the filters that may color one’sjudgment and perceptions.

The full benefit of disciplinary research canbe realized only if practitioners themselves be-come effective communicators by making in-formed choices about what they say and do. Asan editor for Harvard Business Review recentlylamented, “The wrong words, the wrong tone,the wrong expression—out of such everyday mis-cues come many of the world’s problems, bothsmall and large. In the world of business, the re-sults of miscommunication are plain and pain-ful: organizational strife, management paralysis,missed chances.”4

Regardless of your specific content area, find-ings from managerial communication researchprovide information that can be used readily toincrease your effectiveness as you apply your ex-pertise to workplace situations. Accountants whoneed to make an effective presentation to theexecutive committee, human-resources profes-sionals who must motivate employees duringdownsizing, information-technology managerswho are responsible for the smooth introductionof new computer systems, and food and bever-age managers who want to ensure quality cus-tomer service are all more likely to accomplishtheir goals when they consider the results ofmanagerial communication research.

3 See: R.E. Boyatzis, E.C. Stubbs, and S.N. Taylor, “Learn-ing Cognitive and Emotional Intelligence Competenciesthrough Graduate Management Education,” Academy ofManagement Learning and Education, Vol. 1, No. 2 (2002),pp. 150–162; and D. Goleman, R.E. Boyatzis, and A.McKee, Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of EmotionalIntelligence (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2002).

4 S. Wetlaufer, “Can We Talk?,” Harvard Business Review,Vol. 80, No. 3 (2001), p. 12.

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42 Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly APRIL 2003

Managerial CommunicationResearch: BackgroundFor the purpose of this discussion, I distinguishmanagerial communication from other similarfields, such as organizational or business com-munication, by its level of analysis and by its fo-cus of concern (Exhibit 2).

The discipline of communication can be stud-ied as an art that emerges from the humanities-based study of rhetoric or as a social science withfoundations in such fields as psychology, sociol-ogy, and anthropology. This difference in theo-retical background has implications for the typesof questions researchers ask and the methods theyuse to study their subjects.

Humanistic approaches. Scholarly commu-nities find comfort in categorizing all things, in-cluding research methods. Theory and criticismin the humanities (typically the study of lan-guage) can be characterized as using primarilycritical or analytical methods to gain insight intoparticular cases. Researchers might examineclosely one particular document or a series ofmeetings to uncover principles that then can beapplied to other similar situations. Commonmethods include discourse analysis (of both oraland written communication), narrative, oral his-tory, ethnography, and participant observation.Such research generates theories that then canguide decision making and subsequently influ-ence the way managers communicate and imple-ment their ideas in the workplace.

Social Science approaches. Research in the so-cial sciences (typically, the study of human be-

havior), by contrast, usually tests hypotheses anddevelops generalizations based on quantitativemethods. Social-science researchers may send outa survey to test hypotheses regarding trust in thepurchaser-vendor partnership, for instance. Con-clusions would be reached from analyzing theresponses of a substantial number of participants.Depending on the nature of the questions ad-dressed, methods might also include focusgroups, interviews, and, somewhat less frequently,experimental designs.

In some instances social scientists also applyinterpretive approaches to the study of humancommunication. They may observe interactionsand then construct an interpretation that makessense of the experience.

While such distinctions between humanities andsocial sciences can be useful, the best managerialcommunication research seeks to combine meth-ods from both traditions and bring them to bearon timely and relevant hospitality-managementconcerns. Managerial communication researchsupplies the principles and insights that help prac-titioners to apply knowledge derived from allother disciplines as they seek to increase their ef-fectiveness.

Effective Use of Language:What You Say CountsHospitality research spans a broad array oftopics, from marketing and finance to propertydesign and information systems. The applicationof research findings to improve managementpractice requires that practitioners communicatenew directions, new methods, or new ideaswith clarity and impact. Success depends on theskilled use of language. The relationship betweenlanguage and thought has intrigued researchersfor decades. Do the words we use shape andconstrain our thoughts? Can we think at all with-out language to express our ideas? A major chal-lenge for researchers has been to explain howlanguage works—that is, why particular wordsin a particular sequence elicit a particular responsefrom another person. Managerial communica-tion researchers today explore the use andeffects of symbols in daily organizational life.Unless you use language effectively, the knowl-edge you acquire cannot be put to use in accom-plishing your goals.

EXHIBIT 2

Definition of Managerial Communication

1 Managerial communication is an applied, interdisciplinary field focusingon language and behavior within an organizational context.

2 Managerial communication focuses on the individual manager as itsunit of analysis.

3 Managerial communication research focuses on communication acrossvarious contexts—interpersonal, group, organizational and, in some instances,mediated.

4 Managerial communication includes all relevant forms and channels ofcommunication that managers may select in accomplishing their purposes,including written, oral, nonverbal, and mediated.

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Language and DiversityGiven increasing specialization and growing or-ganizational diversity, listeners do not alwaysshare a speaker’s language or cultural background.For example, new insights into marketing can-not really translate into improved practice with-out considering the context in which the targetaudience operates. The problem can be amus-ing, such as when General Motors discovered thatNova meant “no go” in Spanish; when the Chi-nese interpreted the slogan “Pepsi Comes Alive”as “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from thegrave”; or (as the story is told) when the Scandi-navian manufacturer Electrolux used “Nothingsucks like an Electrolux” in its American vacuum-cleaner ad campaign.5

The usefulness of applied research is also threat-ened when technical terms and jargon are used asthough everyone had a similar background. Whensubject matter is technical, abstract, or complex,translating research into practice becomes increas-ingly difficult as the “terminology of finance, ac-counting, information technology, and otherbusiness fields befuddle readers who lack the spe-cific technical background and vocabulary” of thecommunicator.6 In her rhetorical analysis,Jameson explores how effective writers put tech-nical content into forms that are accessible tomultiple readers, each of whom may approachhis or her task from a different perspective. Herfindings provide guidelines for others who findthemselves confronting similar challenges. Inpart, journals like Cornell Quarterly address thisissue by charging authors with making the prac-tical application of their research findings clear.7

Accomplishing your goals through commu-nication becomes particularly complicated whendocuments are designed for multiple audiencesor addressed to one audience but intended forothers as well. Huettman’s study of hospitalityconsultants’ reports over a two-year period, forinstance, revealed that the writers’ choices regard-

ing language, structure, content, and other fea-tures were influenced by organizational politicsand personal rewards, as well as by an assessmentof the client’s specific needs.8 Obviously, identi-fying and minimizing confounding factors pro-vides a better product for the client.

Have you ever heard the expression, “mean-ings aren’t in words; they’re in people”? Even aseemingly simple concept like “office party”might mean different things to those from dif-ferent cultures or even to those with past experi-ences in different organizations.9 Your idea of anoffice party might be a modest celebration of yourteam’s accomplishments, while your new assis-tant manager may have in mind a gourmet ban-quet with a live band.

Whether at the corporate or unit level, decisionmaking is potentially flawed by managers’ as-sumptions and misconceptions about the mosteffective channels, sources, and language to em-ploy in accomplishing their goals. It is commonfor the employees in an entire department to bepeople for whom English is a second language.In such contexts, managers must engage in de-liberate communication planning to ensure thattheir intended meanings are accurately under-stood.10 The need for careful communicationplanning was highlighted in a study conductedat a luxury hotel, where surveys, focus groups,participant observation, and structured interviewswere used to explore how service employees cameto understand the meaning of “quality service”at their property.11 The main research questionasked, “How do employees develop their under-standing of what an appropriate response mightbe to a particular service situation?”

5 See: www.essentialaction.org/tobacco/intro/funny.html.

6 D. Jameson, “Telling the Investment Story: A NarrativeAnalysis of Shareholder Reports,” Journal of Business Com-munication, Vol. 37, No. 1 (2000), p. 7.

7 Michael C. Sturman, “Writing for Cornell Quarterly: WhatI Look for in a Submission,” Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Ad-ministration Quarterly, Vol. 44, No. 1 (February 2003), p. 1.

8 E. Huettman, “Writing for Multiple Audiences: An Ex-amination of Audience Concerns in a Hospitality Con-sulting Firm,” Journal of Business Communication, Vol. 33,No. 3 (1996), pp. 257–272.

9 M. Gallivan, “Meaning to Change: How Diverse Stake-holders Interpret Organizational Communication aboutChange Initiatives,” IEEE Transactions on Professional Com-munication, Vol. 44, No. 4 (2001), pp. 243–266.

10 A. Fox, “Mission Possible: Southern Hospitality Assimi-lates Hispanic Workers,” HRMagazine, Vol. 45, No. 12(2000), pp. 56–58.

11 J. Brownell and D. Jameson, “Getting Quality Out onthe Street: A Case of Show and Tell.” Cornell Hotel andRestaurant Administration Quarterly, Vol. 37, No. 1 (Febru-ary 1996), pp. 28–33.

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The study found that the sources (such asnewsletters, supervisors, peers, and guests) andcontexts (such as meetings, training programs,and one-on-one discussions) that managers usedto communicate service expectations were dif-ferent from the sources and settings that the em-ployees relied on for that information. Culture,gender, and other variables affect both employ-ees’ expectations and their information-seekingpractices. The bottom line is that managers toooften put considerable effort into communica-tions that are missing their target audience com-pletely. By developing increased sensitivity to lan-guage, you will be able to communicate wiselyin an environment where failing to consider in-dividual differences may result in unanticipatedconsequences.12

The Language of LeadershipLanguage is crucial in directing the course ofhuman affairs. Public blunders in how thoughtsare expressed, for instance, attest to the profoundconsequences of miscommunication. Recall thecommunication miscues of former vice presidentDan Quayle, for instance, when he said “the fu-ture will be better tomorrow,” or “I love Califor-nia; I practically grew up in Phoenix,” and “if wedon’t succeed, we run the risk of failure.” Hiswell-meant, but misdirected comments almostcertainly damaged his credibility.

Vision. On the other hand, the skilled use oflanguage instills confidence in listeners and cre-ates images that motivate and inspire. For in-stance, the story is told of two masons, bothworking on the same project. When asked whatthey were doing, one says, “As you can see, I amcutting stones.” The second, however, looks upfrom his work and replies, “I am building a greatcathedral.” Today’s global hospitality leaders re-quire the “language of leadership” as they createcathedrals, seeking images that will build cohe-siveness and communicate their vision.

Once research findings are understood, achiev-ing meaningful change requires both communi-cation skills and leadership ability. Thus, there is

also a growing emphasis on what has been termed“executive values.”13 Executive values are prin-ciples that are developed, owned, and driven bythe senior manager and his or her leadershipteam. To create a vision and inspire employees,leaders must avoid confusion, be consistent intheir messages, and gain credibility with internaland external stakeholders.14 Cornell’s HotelSchool, for example, has framed a portion of itsvision as addressing “four Rs”—namely, rigor,relationships, relevance, and reach.15 The mes-sage is effective with multiple stakeholders be-cause its language is simple, clear, and consistent.

Studying leaders’ language provides insightsinto their thoughts and actions.16 Strong leadershave a point of view that they clearly articulatein a way that motivates employees to action andmobilizes resources. Through language, execu-tives describe a highly desirable and compellingworld view. Success in translating applied researchto actual practice thus depends on the leader’sability to articulate central messages in a vividand memorable manner.17 Let’s look at an ex-ample of how this might be accomplished.

Suppose that you have recently been to anexecutive-education seminar and that you haveacquired new ideas and methods that you thinkcan help improve your business. You might wantto bring up such new insights at a meeting of

12 E.L. Kirby and L.M. Harter, “Speaking the Language ofthe Bottom Line: The Metaphor of Managing Diversity,”Journal of Business Communication, Vol. 40, No. 1 (2003),pp. 28–49.

13 S. French, “CEO Values Replace Corporate Values,”Canadian HR Reporter, Vol. 15, No. 7 (2002), pp. 5–8.

14 See: C.K. Barnett and N. Tichy, “How New Leaders Learnto Take Charge,” Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 29, No. 1(2000), pp. 16–32; P. Parker, “I Have a Dream: Communi-cating a Vision Helps Managers become Leaders,” Pharma-ceutical Executive, Vol. 21, No. 7 (2001), pp. 28–30; andC. Hardy, “Researching Organizational Discourse,” Inter-national Studies of Management and Organization, Vol. 31,No. 3 (2001), pp. 25–47.

15 David W. Butler, “Looking Ahead,” Cornell Hotel andRestaurant Administration Quarterly, Vol. 41, No. 4 (Au-gust 2000), inside front cover.

16 I. Cunningham, “The Impact of Leaders: Who They Areand What They Do,” Leadership and Organization Devel-opment Journal, Vol. 13, No. 2 (1992), pp. 7–15.

17 See: L. Heracleous and M. Barrett, “OrganizationalChange as Discourse: Communicative Actions and DeepStructures in the Context of Information-technology Imple-mentation,” Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 44, No.4 (2001), pp. 755–778; and C. Copinath and T. Becker,“Communication, Procedural Justice and Employee Atti-tudes: Relationships under Conditions of Divestiture,” Jour-nal of Management, Vol. 26, No. 1 (2000), pp. 63–83.

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your top managers. Think about how informa-tion has typically been communicated in suchmeetings in the past. Most likely, after a few in-troductory remarks, facts and figures were pre-sented on graphs while the speaker offered anoutline of specific findings. This rational, fact-based approach is typical of how managers tradi-tionally have prepared their speaking assignments.

Now, however, think of yourself as a “mean-ing maker.”18 Instead of focusing on the details,what would happen if your emphasis was on avision that would inspire listeners and capturetheir imaginations? Perhaps you could say, “Weare redefining the service experience so that whentravelers think of luxury, they will imagine them-selves transported to our tropical paradise.” Youmight use metaphors to make your points vividand compelling, as Kenneth Blanchard does, forexample, when he asks, “Are you an eagle, or areyou a duck? Do you soar high in the sky withlofty goals and visions, or do you run around incircles, quacking?”19

Obviously, communications of that type havestrong emotional elements. The effectiveness ofemotional appeal in motivating and creating posi-tive attitudes has been documented in a range ofstudies.20 The skilled use of language has helpedorganizations successfully handle any number ofpotential crises21 and should be critical for com-municating a wide range of new practices andideas. When perceptions of legitimacy are en-hanced, credibility is increased and the way iscleared for crisis recovery.22

In their efforts to apply what they learnthrough communication research, managerswould be wise to consider the symbolic functionlanguage plays and the strong impact it has onperformance. Leaders of healthy organizationalcultures are “symbolic managers,” strategically ap-plying language to create a compelling vision andto accomplish their highest priorities.

Create Organizational Culturethrough LanguageIn addition to using language to clarify and in-spire, leaders also use language to understand,develop, and maintain cultures—in this case,organizational cultures. For instance, Palmer andLundberg studied the metaphors and mentalimages employees held of their companies in thebelief that metaphors both shape and reflect or-ganizational reality.23 When employees were askedfor examples of how they conceptualized theirworkplace, the images included “a mutinous pi-rate ship,” “a big family,” and “a sailboat in a calmbreeze.”24 These researchers concluded that suchmetaphors had an influence on employees’ jobperformance, and that by uncovering those meta-phors managers would be in a better position toincrease morale, reduce turnover, identify trainingneeds, and uncover other critical informationthat could be used to improve the organizationalpractices.

Another method of shaping perceptions andcreating and reinforcing organizational cultureis through the stories you tell. Stories create,maintain, and perpetuate central organizationalvalues. Through storytelling, your employeescome to share a common emotional involvementand commitment; they develop similar attitudesbecause they are shown how to structure experi-ences in a meaningful, and common, manner.

An example of how a story conveys “the waywe do things here” comes from a theme restau-rant in a medium-size hotel. The food and bev-erage manager orients his new servers with anaccount of Katie and the button, and few of them

18 J.A. Conger, “Inspiring Others: The Language of Lead-ership,” The Executive, Vol. 5, No. 1 (1991), pp. 31–45.

19 K. Blanchard, The Heart of a Leader: Insights on the Artof Influence (Massapequa Park, NY: Honor Books, 1999).

20 See: A. Mattila, “Do Emotional Appeals Work for Ho-tels? An Exploratory Study,” Journal of Hospitality and Tour-ism Research, Vol. 25, No. 1 (2001), pp. 31–45; and S. Foxand Y. Amichai-Hamburger, “The Power of EmotionalAppeals in Promoting Organizational-change Programs,”Academy of Management Executive, Vol. 15, No. 4 (2001),pp. 84–95.

21 M. Keleman, “Too Much or Too Little Ambiguity:The Language of Total Quality Management,” Journal ofManagement Studies, Vol. 37, No. 4 (2000), pp. 483–498.

22 J.E. Massey, “Managing Organizational Legitimacy:Communication Strategies for Organizations in Crisis,”Journal of Business Communication, Vol. 38, No. 2 (2001),pp. 153–183.

23 I. Palmer and C. Lundberg, “Metaphors of HospitalityOrganizations: An Exploratory Study,” Cornell Hotel andRestaurant Administration Quarterly, Vol. 36, No. 3 (June1995), pp. 80–90.

24 Ibid., p. 85.

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ever forget his message. As the story goes, a couplehad come into the restaurant for dinner and asthe woman removed her coat a button came off.She quickly placed it in her pocket and thenchecked her coat with Katie, the hostess. Havingnoticed the incident, Katie found the appropri-ate materials and sewed the button back on thecoat before the meal was over.

Taking a slightly different approach, Jamesonstudied a management team that collectively con-structed stories to make sense of the past and to

problem solve. After extensive observation of thegroup’s dynamics, she concluded that good storybuilders were “creative thinkers who used imagi-nation and intuition to transform experience andknowledge into influence.”25

Research on Behavior:What You Do CountsThe editors of Harvard Business Review have iden-tified what they referred to as “provocative con-cepts” that will be shaping effective managementpractice in the future. The first of these was whatthey called execution, the “hard and unglamorouswork” of translating a strategy from language toaction.26 Managerial communication research gen-erates principles that help you in this critical task.

Communication is a high-leverage activity.That is, you receive large payoffs from small im-provements in performance. Communicationpractices are, therefore, among the most potenttools for improving organizational effectivenessand implementing the ideas you have gained fromapplied hospitality research. The following are

examples of research projects in managerial com-munication that have generated principles andfindings that contribute directly to increased in-dividual and organizational performance.

Communication Competenciesand Career DevelopmentIt would be useful to know what specific com-munication skills are correlated with manage-rial effectiveness, especially in conjunction withsuccession planning. Identifying future leaderswho possess those characteristics required tomeet the challenges of change and uncertaintyis critical to corporate survival. Managerial-communication scholars, primarily using sur-vey research, engage in projects aimed to iden-tify these key competencies.27

Listening, managing conflict, and leadingteams are examples of skills that were perceivedby general managers as being among the mostessential requirements for those preparing forleadership at the unit level. In fact, in a studyI recently conducted regarding the ingredientsfor success as a general manager, the ability tocommunicate effectively was ranked first of 23broad leadership competencies.28 Respondentsrealized that, whether they were dealing withan employee grievance or trying to get approvalfor additional resources, their effectivenessdepended on their communication ability.

Communication competence is often con-text specific—that is, behavior that producesdesired results on a casino floor may not beeffective in an island resort setting. The par-ticular skills and personal traits required forsuccess in specific industries such as healthcare,29 food service,30 and cruise ships recently

25 D. Jameson, “Narrative Discourse and ManagementAction,” The Journal of Business Communication, Vol. 38,No. 4 (2001), p. 508.

26 “The 2001 HBR List, Breakthrough Ideas for Today’sBusiness Agenda,” Harvard Business Review, Vol. 79, No. 4(2001), pp. 123.

27 See: J. Moody, B. Stewart, and C. Bolt-Lee, “Showingthe Skilled Business Graduate: Expanding the Tool Kit,”Journal of Business Communication, Vol. 65, No. 1 (2002),pp. 21–36; and D. Williams, “Communicate our Leader-ship Agenda,” Executive Excellence, Vol. 18, No. 12 (2001),pp. 10–15.

28 Study results have not yet been published.

29 J. Williams, F. DiMicco, and E. Shafer, “Attributes forSuccess in Health Care,” Journal of Hospitality and TourismResearch, Vol. 24, No. 1 (2000), pp. 36–48.

30 D. Reynolds, “Attributes for Success in Food Service,”Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, Vol. 24, No. 1(2000), pp. 92–103.

Communication practices areamong the most potent toolsfor improving organizationaleffectiveness.

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have been studied. As managerial profiles aredeveloped in each category, this research streamshould prove particularly valuable in enhanc-ing employee selection and development ac-tivities.

Personal style. Taking yet another approachto the question of critical personal competencies,a number of researchers have investigated the ef-fects of an individual’s style preferences on per-formance. One of the most well-known and reli-able assessments used for studying personal styleand the fit between an individual and a job is theMyers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).31

The MBTI assesses an individual’s preferenceson four scales, including how they acquire infor-mation (by intuition or investigation), how theyprocess information (thinking versus feeling),how they relate to people (finding renewal inpersonal interactions or from being alone), andtheir approach to time (needing a defined sched-ule or content to let events flow as they will). Anexamination of on-site food-service managers, forinstance, concluded that this particular group ischaracterized by extroversion (gathering strengthfrom personal interaction), thinking, and judg-ing (which is the MBTI term for an individualwho prefers scheduling and planning).32

To relate the MBTI profile to communica-tion behavior in this case, one could concludethat individuals most likely to succeed in a food-service environment would prefer face-to-facecommunication over written memos, enjoy groupinteraction, prefer to be brief and concise, talkin terms of purpose and direction, and (in meet-ings) focus on the task at hand.

Say, for instance, that you are a food and bev-erage manager who has read research on custom-ers’ tipping habits, and you wish to help youremployees increase tips so that they will be lessinclined to quit their jobs. You note from the

study that servers who smile and touch their cus-tomers not only are perceived as friendlier, butalso receive larger tips.33 Your task is to encour-age your servers to change their behavior in keep-ing with those findings. Given the profile de-scribed above, it is likely that you would call ameeting of your employees rather than send outa memo. Your session would be short and to thepoint, with the clear goal of helping servers tounderstand the principles involved and to im-plement relevant research findings to improveperformance.

Assessing Managers’ CommunicationCompetenciesIdentifying the competencies and characteristicsassociated with managerial effectiveness will en-able you to identify those employees who arelikely to advance in your organization. This goalleads logically to a related research concern, per-formance assessment. Before you can make sounddecisions about what type of training or devel-opmental activities your employees need, youmust identify their current profile and skill lev-els. Fortunately, a substantial amount of researchhas focused on how critical communication andleadership skills are assessed and developed.

Assessment centers. One of the most power-ful tools for assessing managerial talent is the as-sessment center. Research has established the va-lidity of assessment-center methods, which applymultiple situational exercises both to evaluateindividuals’ current job performance and also todetermine how well they are likely to handle newor expanded assignments.34 Through theassessment-center experience you not only judgehow an individual handles his or her current re-sponsibilities, but you can gain reliable insightsinto how a candidate might perform new tasks

31 For example, N.S. Graves, “Personality Traits of Success-ful Managers as Perceived by Food and Beverage Human-resources Executives and Recruiters,” Hospitality ResearchJournal, Vol. 20, No. 2 (1996), pp. 95–112; and W.L.Gardner and M.J. Martinko, “Using the Myers-Briggs TypeIndicator to Study Managers: A Literature Review and Re-search Agenda,” Journal of Management, Vol. 24, No. 1(1996), pp. 45–83.

32 J. Brownell, and D. Reynolds, “Personal Style of On-siteFood-service Managers,” FIU Hospitality Review, Vol. 18,No. 1 (2000), pp. 1–18.

33 M. Lynn, J. Mykal Le, and D. Sherwyn, “Reach Out andTouch Your Customers,” Cornell Hotel and RestaurantAdministration Quarterly, Vol. 39, No. 1 (February 1998),pp. 137–149.

34 For example, see: A. Tziner, S. Ronen, and D. Hacohen,“A Four-year Validation Study of an Assessment Center ina Financial Corporation,” Journal of Organizational Behav-ior, Vol. 14, No. 3 (1993), pp. 225–237; and A. Engelbrechtand H. Fischer, “The Managerial-performance Implicationsof a Developmental Assessment-center Process,” HumanRelations, Vol. 48, No. 4 (1995), pp. 387–404.

FOCUS ON RESEARCH MANAGERIAL COMMUNICATION

48 Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly APRIL 2003

in the future. Assessment centers also have beenused to assist in career planning, to develop spe-cific management skills, or to determine anindividual’s value orientation.35

An advantage of the assessment-center ap-proach is that it accommodates individual dif-ferences and provides a clear profile of eachperson’s developmental needs regardless of herbackground, experience, or skill level. The assess-ment experience itself has been found to improveemployee morale and increase motivation by

emphasizing the fact that people grow and changeover time.36 In addition, employees feel valuedwhen they realize that they are being observedand carefully evaluated by senior executives.

The communication-based challenges used inassessment centers can be tailored to a particularcompany’s specific managerial requirements andvalues. The process of developing an assessmentcenter might unfold in the following manner.First, documents generated by senior managersare collected and examined. Structured interviewsare then conducted with key employees, and fromthis investigation a list of core communicationcompetencies is developed. Participants, oftenselected by corporate representatives, engage ina series of activities in which they demonstratetheir writing, presentation, group-process, andleadership skills. In the course of the assessment-center exercises, participants might be asked towrite a letter in response to a guest complaint,

make a difficult group decision that calls for valuejudgments, or deliver a presentation to new em-ployees on safety procedures. This multi-facetedevent enables assessors, who often are corporateexecutives, to judge and provide feedback to as-sessment participants.37

Findings from research on managerial assess-ment can guide the difficult decisions regardingemployee selection and development. Such re-search helps to identify individuals who can adaptto change, respond to crises, facilitate innovation,develop supportive cultures, or handle othertwenty-first-century leadership challenges.

Service Behavior and GuestSatisfactionCommunication is critical in service encounters.Exchanges between customers and employeesaffect such things as guests’ perceptions of satis-faction, judgments of quality, and long-term loy-alty. In short, good service improves your bot-tom line.38 Because of the service encounter’simportance, scholars have taken a variety of ap-proaches to examining communication behav-ior during this interaction. They have used criti-cal incidents, done content analysis, conductedinterviews, and surveyed guests, among othermethods. Several examples of recent researchprojects should clarify the expected contributionsof studies in this area.

Restaurant guests who reported specific com-plaints were surveyed and a content analysis oftheir responses was performed to understand thespecific factors most likely to have caused dissat-isfaction.39 Researchers following this approachshould be able to tell the manager of the “Come

It is through effective managerial com-munication practices that ideas gener-ated by applied hospitality researchare translated into best practices.

35 See: R. Klimoski and M. Breckner, “Why Do AssessmentCenters Work? The Puzzle of Assessment-center Validity,”Personnel Psychology, Vol. 40, No. 3 (1987), pp. 243–260;and R.G. Jones and M.D. Whitmore, “Evaluating Devel-opmental Assessment Centers as Interventions,” PersonnelPsychology, Vol. 48, No. 1 (1995), pp. 377–388.

36 R.A. Cook and J. Herche, “Assessment Centers: An Un-tapped Resource for Global Sales-force Management,” Jour-nal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Vol. 62, No. 3(1992), pp. 31–38.

37 F. Berger and J. Brownell, “Leadership: The LoewsAssessment Center, Designed to Nurture Potential Manag-ers, Meets with Success,” Lodging, Vol. 22, No. 2 (1996),pp. 54–58.

38 M.D. Haring and J. Mattsson, “A LinguisticApproach to Studying the Quality of Face-to-faceCommunication,” Service Industries Journal, Vol. 19, No. 2(1999), pp. 28–48.

39 See: A. Susskind, “Efficacy and Outcome ExpectationsRelated to Customer Complaints about Service Experi-ences,” Communication Research, Vol. 27, No. 3 (2002),pp. 353–379; and L.J. Harrison-Walker, “E-complaining:A Content Analysis of an Internet-complaint Forum,”Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 15, No. 4 (2001),pp. 397–412.

APRIL 2003 Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly 49

MANAGERIAL COMMUNICATION FOCUS ON RESEARCH

Again Restaurant,” for instance, that 15 percentof her guests thought that the seats were uncom-fortable, 5 percent thought that the coffee wastoo strong, 60 percent felt that the service wastoo slow, and another 20 percent were convincedthat an odor of garlic pervaded the room.Such information enables managers to addresskey problems and directly improve the serviceexperience.

Given the inevitability of dissatisfied guests,it may also be useful to know when such cus-tomers will choose to confront the service pro-vider with their problem and when they will justwalk away. Researchers have identified the fac-tors that influence this decision, providing prac-titioners with information that will enable themto obtain more guest feedback and better addressissues of service recovery.40

Along that line, a manager can understandwhy a customer is disgruntled when the food isbad or when the server is slow or disorganized,but what about when everything seems to havegone well and the guest is still dissatisfied? Ford’sstudies on the customer-service exchange havedistinguished settings where guests expect gra-cious, personalized service from those where ef-ficiency is valued.41 While customers in all situa-tions value service employees for their effectivelistening and clear explanations42 and guests gen-erally appreciate efficient service,43 there are spe-cific situations where satisfaction is related di-rectly to service providers’ ability to adjust theirpace and interaction to meet guests’ particularneeds.44 Making an important service distinction

of that type could clear up numerous frustrationsand provide your organization with a clear com-petitive advantage.

ConclusionIt is through managerial communication prac-tices—what you say and what you do—that youtransform the ideas generated by applied hos-pitality research into best practices for your or-ganization. It is one thing to acquire insightsfrom research findings in various functional ar-eas, and quite another to realize the potentialof those ideas by implementing them in the hos-pitality workplace.

A wide range of industry concerns can be ad-dressed by applying the principles of managerialcommunication drawn from studies such as thosedescribed in this paper. As has been emphasized,communication research takes many forms. Re-gardless of the specific methods or approach, find-ings have the potential to improve managementactivities in all functional areas. It is throughongoing applied research that critical questionscan be answered, significant problems addressed,and cutting-edge practices brought to bear toimprove individual and organizational perfor-mance. Managerial communication is too impor-tant to take for granted, and hospitality environ-ments are too dynamic and complex to rely onyesterday’s guidelines and strategies. �

40 A. Susskind, “Efficacy and Outcome Expectations Re-lated to Customer Complaints about Service Experiences,”Communication Research, Vol. 27, No. 3 (2002), pp. 353–379.

41 W.Z. Ford, “Customer Expectations for Interactions withService Providers: Relationship versus Encounter Orienta-tion and Personalized Service Communication,” Journal ofApplied Communication Research, Vol. 29, No. 1 (2001),pp. 1–29.

42 W.Z. Ford, “Communication and Customer Service,”Communication Yearbook, Vol. 22 (1999), pp. 341–375.

43 M. Nikolich and B. Sparks, “The Hospitality ServiceEncounter: The Role of Communication,” HospitalityResearch Journal, Vol. 19, No. 2 (1995), pp. 43–56.

44 W. Samenfink, “A Quantitative Analysis of Certain In-terpersonal Skills Required in the Service Encounter,” Jour-nal of Hospitality Research, Vol. 17, No. 2 (1994), pp. 3–16.

Judi Brownell, Ph.D., is aprofessor at the Cornell

University School of HotelAdministration (jlb18@

cornell.edu). The authorthanks Cornell professors

Daphne Jameson andCraig Snow for their valu-able comments on earlier

versions of this paper.