Business and Professional Communication Quarterly Jun 2023

Feature on Teaching and Technology: Teaching MBA Students Business Report Writing Using Social Media Technologies

Payal Mehra

Abstract

Data-driven decision making has now moved beyond its traditional domains—operations research, business economics, computer sciences, and business statistics—to “softer subjects,” such as human resource management, organization behavior, and business communication. In this context, teaching with technology encourages students to systematically apply domain knowledge to communicate across a wide variety of stakeholders. In the era of multimodal forms of communication and multiple data sources, management students must be analytical when writing compelling reports and giving persuasive presentations. They should be well versed in using both quantitative and qualitative techniques for report writing and presentation. Drawing on authentic user-generated comments on social media, this article presents two case studies on (a) crisis communication by 30 CEOs and (b) culture shock experienced by foreign tourists sojourning in India, China, and the United Arab Emirates, to demonstrate how master’s in business administration (MBA) students could derive insights from the online comments to make strategic decisions for organizational benefit and make reports based on those findings. The article asserts that this could help to cultivate a data-analytic mindset among the students by preparing them to communicate small (and big) data-driven analysis to relevant stakeholders. It attempts to suggest ways to develop MBA students’ ability to analyze their potential audiences as well as to generate meaningful insights from the available information on social media websites. Finally, it hopes to nudge business communication instructors to embrace multidisciplinary perspectives for planning a technology-based business communication assignment involving the social media landscape. Instructors can not only use the two case studies to illustrate ways to integrate technology with teaching but also create their own mini cases to improve the decision-making, report-writing, and business report presentation skills of their students.

Journal
Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
Published
2023-06-01
DOI
10.1177/23294906231165569
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Topics
writing across the curriculum multimodality social media race and writing multilingual writers place and space affect and writing

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (4)

  1. Sharma et al. (2025)
    A Decade of <i>Business and Professional Communication Quarterly</i…
    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  2. sharma (2025)
    Teaching Social Media Content Creation Through a Client-Based Project
    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  3. Sharma (2024)
    Teaching Professional Use of Social Networking Sites Through a Hypothetical Cas…
    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  4. McDowell et al. (2024)
    The Importance of Topoi in the Business and Professional Communication Classroom
    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly

Cites in this index (2)

  1. Sharma (2022)
    Making Meaningful Connections and Learning Workplace-Like Business Writing Thro…
    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  2. Sapkota et al. (2018)
    Social Media Acceptance and Usage by Business Communication Faculty
    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
Also cites 19 works outside this index ↓
  1. 10.1002/abc.21107
     ↗
  2. 10.1080/10510979509368441
     ↗
  3. 10.1111/j.1460-2466.2008.00404.x
     ↗
  4. 10.1080/23796529.2015.11674729
     ↗
  5. 10.5465/amle.2013.0044
     ↗
  6. 10.5688/ajpe7510207
     ↗
  7. 10.1080/08832323.2011.576280
     ↗
  8. 10.1111/j.1365-2729.2010.00387.x
     ↗
  9. 10.1016/j.chb.2015.05.030
     ↗
  10. 10.11124/JBIES-20-00559
     ↗
  11. 10.1007/s10551-016-3301-9
     ↗
  12. 10.1016/j.ijme.2021.100588
     ↗
  13. 10.1016/j.bushor.2009.03.002
     ↗
  14. 10.1177/0149206315614372
     ↗
  15. 10.28945/2164
     ↗
  16. 10.1016/j.jretconser.2020.102427
     ↗
  17. 10.1145/2487788.2488038
     ↗
  18. 10.1016/j.chb.2015.01.015
     ↗
  19. 10.2147/MB.S60563
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 6 View in citation network →

Related Articles

  1. Research in the Teaching of English Nov 2018
    Where Do We Go from Here? Toward a Critical Race English Education ↗
    Lamar L. Johnson
    qualitative research multimodality social media race and writing multilingual writers affect and writing
  2. Communication Design Quarterly Mar 2017
    The social help desk ↗
    Chris Lam; Mark A. Hannah
    writing across the curriculum empirical research multimodality social media technical communication multilingual writers place and space
  3. Poroi Dec 2024
    Viral Denial: Pandemics, Chiropractic, and the Persuasive Power of Invisibility ↗
    Julie A Homchick Crowe
    multimodality social media race and writing multilingual writers
  4. Philosophy & Rhetoric Sep 2024
    Rhetoric Is Dead? The Fear of Stasis Behind Post-Truth Rhetoric ↗
    Eric S. Jenkins
    multimodality social media race and writing affect and writing
  5. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly Mar 2024
    The Rhetorical Function of Corporate DEI Reports ↗
    Josephine Walwema; Jennifer Bay
    multimodality race and writing multilingual writers affect and writing