Managerial decision making frequently takes place under less than optimal conditions. “Fish or Cut Bait …” reflects an actual decision-making situation in Subsidiary X of Corporation Y. The department heads responsible for implementing, or rejecting, a newly developed process were inhibited by unknown risk factors and had difficulty qualitatively organizing known data. With the benefit of both hindsight and detachment, the author suggests what decision should have been made on the basis of all then-known data.

Of graduating seniors, businessmen assume basic writing skills. Graduates of business administration curriculums are assumed to have, additionally, not only basic language competence but also some expertise in report writing. Experience, both in the classroom and with personnel in formal organizations, bears out that neither students nor practitioners have a real grasp of organization, rhetorical techniques, and reader devices. Consumerism in Communication suggests what is being done in the College of Business Administration's undergraduate communications course to prepare students to meet realistically, confidently, and competently the expectations of their employers. Based on both research and experience, the course design pragmatically aims at reducing frustration on the part of employers who are dismayed at the verbal deficiencies of college graduates.