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Presents a case for a written code of ethics and shows how this can be instituted in a company. Discusses implementation, communication and enforcement of a code.

Today’s manager must be knowledgeable of the Japanese culture. Understanding the differences between the Japanese and American cultures’ non verbal communication systems is necessary for successful friendships and thus successful business transactions. Americans must learn how to comprehend the significance of important Japanese traditions; e.g., the bow, business card exchange, different meanings of eye contact, facial expressions, typical body gestures, tactile aspects, and time concepts.

In this article, we examine the demographic changes in the American population and look at communication and culture to make cross‐cultural communications more effective by resolving the problems that occur when communicating between co‐cultures. Therefore, for comparison purposes, we will look at the three major co‐cultures (African American, Asian American, and Hispanic American) as they relate to communication and what is considered the majority culture, European American, and their respective communication patterns. Finally, the authors present guidelines for training programs.

Corporate universities are not new, but have experienced tremendous growth during the last ten years. Predictions are that corporate universities will outnumber traditional colleges and universities within the next ten years. Reasons for the rapid growth are profiled in this article along with implications and challenges for both corporations and traditional universities. As an illustrative case, a partnering example between a corporate university and a traditional university is profiled. Costs and issues to consider in planning a corporate university are included. Changes underway at traditional universities and future implications conclude the article.

Distance education and the concept of the virtual classroom is an area of considerable interest to educators and trainers alike. Charts the develop‐ment of a distance learning provision in an undergraduate School of Business Administration and discusses how the new teaching and learning strategies are now firmly part of the school. Discusses the mix of traditional teaching and distance learning and provides suggestions on how to use the technology in a broader context of training and professional development. Concludes with a discussion of the ways to overcome the barrier that students are taught rather than helped to learn. By relying almost exclusively on the case method of instruction, students or participants are forced to move from dependency to engage in problem solving, critical thinking, and experiential group exercises that will help them make decisions not only in the classroom session but also in business settings.

Chronicles the evolution to an integrated MBA at the University of Tennessee and relates a view of the team teaching experience and integration of technology. The cross‐functional teaching experiences illustrate the issues in working in a team while later sections summarize suggestions for duplication and implementation in other MBA programmes. Explores problems, issues, and barriers are along with grading and evaluation suggestions. Finally, compares student and faculty benefits and stresses the importance of administrative support to facilitate implementation.

Total quality management (TQM) programs have been popularized for changing the culture and performance of service and manufacturing firms. These ubiquitous techniques have also been applied to educational settings to improve administrative processes but have found little success in improving the quality of faculty teaching, research, and service. Some colleges and universities have faced difficulties implementing TQM in these areas because of strong tenure systems in place. This article will review the history of tenure and post‐tenure review, the theory of TQM, the role of TQM in higher education, and finally how TQM can be implemented and even supported by tenure and post‐tenure programs. The article concludes with suggestions and changes educational institutions can adopt so tenure, post‐tenure review and TQM can work compatibly together.

We argue that the United States has experienced a decline of economic, political, and military power since the 1970s, and that this decline can be attributed in part to the fragmentation of the American corporate elite. In the mid-twentieth century, this elite – constrained by a highly legitimate state, a relatively powerful labor movement, and an active financial community – adopted a moderate and pragmatic strategy for dealing with the political issues of the day. The “enlightened self-interest” of corporate leaders contributed to a strong economy with a relatively low level of inequality and an expanding middle class. This arrangement broke down in the 1970s, however, as increasing foreign competition and two energy crises led to spiraling inflation and lower profits. In response, the corporate elite waged an aggressive (and ultimately successful) assault on government regulation and organized labor. This success had the paradoxical effect of undermining the elite’s own sources of cohesion, however. Having won the war against government and labor, the group no longer needed to be organized. The marginalization of the commercial banks and the acquisition wave of the 1980s exacerbated the fragmentation of the corporate elite. No longer able to act collectively by the 1990s, the corporate elite was now incapable of addressing issues of business and societal-wide concern. Although increasingly able to gain individual favors from the state, the elite’s collective weakness has contributed to the political gridlock and social decay that plague American society in the twenty-first century.

Michael Holquist (1990), one of the commentators on Mikhail Bakhtin’s monumental work, stated flatly that “human existence is dialogue,” and Ivana Markova (2003) declared that “dialogism is the ontology of humanity.” Bakhtin (1985;1986) himself said that such dialogues are conducted by using “speech genres.” From another angle Kenneth Burke asked, “What is involved when we say what people are doing and why they are doing it?” and claimed – and showed – that this question can be best answered by using what he called the “grammar of motives,” which consisted of a hexad of terms: act, attitude, scene, agent, agency, and purpose. In this chapter, I examine, by using various examples, how the Burkean grammar is used in the construction of one speech genre or the other to achieve rhetorically effective dialogic communication.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Term. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.