Communicating in Business and Professional Settings

Rating:
Summary: Helpful with problem-solving
Review: Contrary to the other review, I find this book very helpful. I haven't gone yet to look at the reliability of the studies cited in the book, however there is a point to the "nude" chart on page 79. It is to point out that people respond consciously and unconsciously to differently to certain body types and whether people want to admit to it or not, it is true. I found the information they gave on how to problem-solve very helpful and ways in which to talk with others for effective group discussions or meetings. Although I am in the field of education, it is helpful for teachers in that we meet with parents, other educators, and other professionals all the time, making effective communication very important, especially with difficult parents.

Rating:
Summary: Helpful with problem-solving
Review: Contrary to the other review, I find this book very helpful. I haven't gone yet to look at the reliability of the studies cited in the book, however there is a point to the "nude" chart on page 79. It is to point out that people respond consciously and unconsciously to differently to certain body types and whether people want to admit to it or not, it is true. I found the information they gave on how to problem-solve very helpful and ways in which to talk with others for effective group discussions or meetings. Although I am in the field of education, it is helpful for teachers in that we meet with parents, other educators, and other professionals all the time, making effective communication very important, especially with difficult parents.

Rating:
Summary: Communicating in Business and Professional Settings
Review: This is a horrible book, and I encourage professors looking for serious organizational communication texts to look elsewhere. The book is dominated by unintentionally hilarious "studies", superfluous instruction on how to be politically correct, redundant space-wasting charts, and confusing self-contradiction. The authors, two Professors of Communications from the University of South Alabama, see fit to include such valuable learning tools as a drawing entitled, "several body shapes" (pg 79) which depicts 4 nude women from the back, each with a different degree of body fat, and Exhibit 4.7 (pg 86) which cites a "study" to show us that Native, Asian, African, and Hispanic Americans favor "Harmony with the nature and environment" while Whites favor "Mastery over nature and the environment" Ignoring the deep dubiousness of this point, I think that most of this book is a waste of time, unfit for any higher learning. In fact, I find this book intellectually offensive.

Rating:
Summary: Communicating in Business and Professional Settings
Review: This is a horrible book, and I encourage professors looking for serious organizational communication texts to look elsewhere. The book is dominated by unintentionally hilarious "studies", superfluous instruction on how to be politically correct, redundant space-wasting charts, and confusing self-contradiction. The authors, two Professors of Communications from the University of South Alabama, see fit to include such valuable learning tools as a drawing entitled, "several body shapes" (pg 79) which depicts 4 nude women from the back, each with a different degree of body fat, and Exhibit 4.7 (pg 86) which cites a "study" to show us that Native, Asian, African, and Hispanic Americans favor "Harmony with the nature and environment" while Whites favor "Mastery over nature and the environment" Ignoring the deep dubiousness of this point, I think that most of this book is a waste of time, unfit for any higher learning. In fact, I find this book intellectually offensive.