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Developing business communication skills: Leveraging stage versus global processes of change in skills improvement approaches

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Developing business communication skills: Leveraging stage versus global processes of change in skills improvement approaches

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Content D EV ELO PIN G B U SIN ESS C O M M U N IC A TIO N SKILLS: LEV ER A G IN G STA G E V ERSU S G LO BA L PR O C ESSES OF CH A N G E IN SKILLS IM PR O V EM EN T A PPRO A C H ES Copyright 2005 by G regory H all Patton A D issertation Presented to the FA C U LTY OF TH E G R A D U A TE SCHOO L U N IV ER SITY OF SO U TH ERN C A LIFO R N IA In Partial Fulfillm ent o f the R equirem ents for the D egree D O C TO R OF PH ILO SO PH Y (CO M M U N ICA TIO N ) A ugust 2005 G regory H all Patton Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 3196872 Copyright 2005 by Patton, Gregory Hall All rights reserved. INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. ® UMI UMI Microform 3196872 Copyright 2006 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. D ED ICA TIO N To Jennifer and Natalie and my parents, Ann and Walker Patton. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A successful research project inherently builds on the past and involves the help and support of many people. I was fortunate to benefit from the wisdom of a terrific committee and the leadership of Patricia Riley as my chair. The feedback and support from all three: Patricia Riley, Michael Cody and Tom (“King”) Cummings was invaluable and clearly led to a far better and more meaningful product. Completing a dissertation after being out of school for several years is always extra challenging and there is true irony in researching behavioral self-change processes while going through the process yourself. It was a “helping relationship” from a long-time friend, Daniel Cochece Davis that made the difference. He continually supported this effort, was available at all hours of the night for advice and it was Cochece who helped get me started during a breakfast conversation at NCA in Miami. This project also builds on the past by utilizing the skills and abilities I developed in the Annenberg School. Beyond my committee members, I am thankful to other faculty members: Randy Lake, Walt Fisher, Tom Hollihan, Peter Monge and Janet Fulk for their support and the sharing of their wisdom over the years. And also, of course, I was supported by Anne Marie who will no doubt miss my bi-annual calls for 794z departmental clearance. Within the Marshall School, the wisdom of Diane Badame to look to the marketplace for strategic direction, and then her trust and support as we created an MBA communication program that would “get results” was invaluable. The teamwork from Anne, Donna and Ellen to make the program happen and the regular support and friendship of Jeanette Christensen to enact the communication program was crucial. And Shannon iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Muir and Natalie Kaylor, from the program office in Orange County, provided the support that made the data collection seamless. Finally, none of this would have happened without the full support of you Jennifer. Together for more than 15 years, we have learned together, grown together and built a life together. You assisted me through the process while nurturing precious Natalie Jenna and I thank you especially. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iii LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF FIGURES viii ABSTRACT ix CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1 Theoretical Justification 2 Importance o f the Transtheoretical model 2 Towards a broader application o f the stages o f change model 4 Practical Justification 5 Significance o f communication training to success 6 The communication skills gap in the MBA graduate 1 The mooted response to the skills gap 11 Connecting MBA communication training to the processes and stages o f change 13 CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 14 The Transtheoretical Model 14 The Application o f the Transtheoretical Model 23 Application to the business and communication context 25 The Critics 27 Critiquing the stage model 27 Attacking the processes o f change 30 More Work Is Still Needed 31 Communication Skills in the Workplace 33 Managerial competencies and workplace appraisals 33 Workplace development o f communication skills 36 Research Questions and Hypotheses 38 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY 41 Research Design 41 Data collection 42 Measures and Instruments 44 Professional Communication Inventory (PCI) 44 Customized questionnaire 50 Participants 52 Analysis 55 CHAPTER IV: RESULTS 56 Demographics of Participants 56 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Impact of Course Faculty 57 Progression of Stages 57 Hypotheses One Through Five 58 Hypotheses Six & Seven 60 Research Question One 61 Research Question Two 62 S elf reported change from pre/post-tests 63 Supervisor reported change from pre/post-tests 66 CHAPTER V: DISCUSSION 70 Hypotheses One Through Seven 71 Hypothesis one 72 Hypothesis two 72 Hypothesis three 73 Hypothesis four 74 Hypothesis five 75 Hypothesis six 76 Hypothesis seven 11 Research Question One 77 Research Question Two 78 Progression of Stages 80 Theoretical Contribution 81 The processes o f change 83 Clear contextual application to the business/communication fields 89 Support fo r four processes in the business/communication context 91 Practical Application to Business Communication Context 92 Improved MBA and communication training results 93 Creating a clearer understanding o f the transfer o f training gap 95 Recognizing two views o f skill development 97 Understanding why leadership development processes work 99 Limitations & Qualifications 101 Directions for Future Research 104 Replicability 105 Extending the application in the business communication context 105 Investigation o f workplace factors 106 Further identify usable processes 106 Identify skill specific results 107 Identifying the actions o f leaders 107 CHAPTER VI: CONCLUSION 109 REFERENCES 111 APPENDIX A: Professional Communication Inventory (PCI) 120 APPENDIX B: Customized Questionnaire 125 vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Table 1 Table 2 LIST OF TA BLES Summary of Statistical Results: Hypotheses One Through Five Summary of Statistical Results: Hypotheses Six and Seven Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8 Figure 9 LIST OF FIG U RES Predictors of Behavioral Change, Global Level, Supervisor & Self Assessments 61 Predictors of Behavioral Change, Global and Action Levels, Self Assessments 63 Predictors of Behavioral Change, Action and Stage Levels, Self Assessments 65 Predictors of Behavioral Change, Global and Action Levels, Supervisor Assessments 67 Predictors of Behavioral Change, Action and Stage Levels, Supervisor Assessments 68 Summary of Participant’s Beginning and Ending Change Stage 81 The Refinement of the Processes of Change 84 Processes Effective Earlier in Self-Assessed Data: Business Communication Context 85 Processes Effective Later in Supervisor-Assessed Data: Business Communication Context 88 viii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. A B STR A C T This study examines the Transtheoretical Model forwarded by James Prochaska with a particular application to the enhancement of communication skills in a business context. Specifically, individual Processes of Change were sought, generally and within individual Stages of Change, which account for the greatest overall variance in targeted communication skill development. Five processes were examined (consciousness raising, self-reevaluation, commitment, social liberation and helping relationships). The current study incorporates a diverse sample of 67 managers and professionals, representing more than 50 corporations. Individuals were enrolled in an program that integrated individual processes of change into its communication curriculum. Longitudinal data, covering a 10 month period, was collected from participants, including the completion of multi-rater assessments using the Professional Communication Inventory (PCI). The present study suggests that up to 69 percent of the variance in communication skill development can be accounted for by usage levels of individual processes of change. The findings also suggest that targeted, individual processes of behavioral change, used in stage-based applications, are up to eight times more effective than traditional, global, non stage based approaches to communication skill development. Overall, four processes of change were supported in this business communication context (consciousness raising, self-reevaluation, commitment and helping relationships). Three additional findings related to supervisory assessments and training transfer were also found. First, the present study found the processes of change leading to self- and supervisor-identified skill enhancement are different. Next, when compared to traditional conceptualizations of the stage placement of processes, the processes of change in this ix Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. business context were accelerated for self-identified change and delayed for supervisor- identified change. Finally, a strong training transfer gap was identified suggesting that supervisor recognition of improvements serves as a trailing indicator of change activity. In the business context, and with an eye to training and development, the present study provides an initial roadmap for enhancing training effectiveness and gaining greater returns from MBA and employee-sponsored training programs. Based on these findings, far more attention is warranted to understanding these processes of change and their role as an accelerator in the skill-building process in communication and business applications. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. C H A PT ER I IN TR O D U CTIO N This investigation examines the effectiveness of individual processes of behavioral change and analyzes the degree to which skill development is promoted by these processes within the framework of a stage-based change model. Building on the research of James Prochaska (1979), this investigation uniquely applies these processes of change to a business context with a specific application to enhance communication skills. The investigation further seeks to examine the theoretical linkage of the processes of change suggested in the Transtheoretical model developed by James Prochaska. These processes, within the Transtheoretical model, have been identified as the least studied aspect of the model (Prochaska & Velicer, 1997a, p. 6) and an area that Prochaska and Velicer noted “need(s) more basic research” (Prochaska & Velicer, 1997b, p. 43). The specific application of this study, the enhancement of communication skills, was developed because of its relevance to business success. Communication skills have long been cited as the primary trait sought by college recruiters at both the undergraduate and graduate levels (Alsop, 2004; Corporate Recruiters Survey 2004; National Association of Colleges and Employers, 2005). Yet, a systemic communication skills gap has developed in MBA graduates. These students do not have the level of communication skills sought by the marketplace despite the prodding of recruiters to address the problem. The application of the Transtheoretical model to business communication holds the potential to close this skills gap while also testing the versatility and applicability of the model. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Theoretical Justification The Transtheoretical model has fundamentally transformed the behavioral health field over the last twenty years. Yet, several core constructs of the theory, like the processes of change, have received less attention and remain unsettled. Further, the transition of the Transtheoretical model to business and communication applications is in its infancy and despite the projected global applicability of the model, its true relevance and usefulness to the development of business and communication skills is unknown. Efforts to illuminate this approach to change, and its usage in the particular context of business and communication, would provide a significant advancement in the clarity and reach of the model. Below is a brief overview and analysis of the Transtheoretical model which serves as the theoretical framework for this study. This is followed by a short review of the broadening scope of its research applications. Importance o f the Transtheoretical model. The Transtheoretical model was synthesized by James Prochaska and is developed as a stage-based, temporal construct called the stages of change along with a group of behavioral change mechanisms referred to as processes of change. The theory is regarded as the most important theoretical development in the health promotion field of the decade (Samuelson, 1997) and the application of the stages of change approach to health promotion programs as the most important innovation of the same time period (O’Donnell 1997, p. 4). Currently, the model has become “the dominant model in the field” (Sutton, 2000 p. 207). The Transtheoretical model is conceptualized around the twin concepts of the stages of change and the processes of change. The stages consist of ordered, temporal categories that represent an individual’s readiness for behavioral change. The processes of 2 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. change are categories of techniques that alter an individual’s thinking, feelings or behaviors. These processes identity potential means by which individuals move through the stages of change to achieve the modification of problem behaviors or the acquisition of a positive behavior (Prochaska et al., 2002; Valier et al., 1998). Recognizing the difficulties and false-starts associated with behavioral change, the stages are presented graphically as a spiral where individuals may often recycle through the individual stages as they make repeated attempts to alter their individual behavior (Prochaska, Norcross & DiClemente, 1994). Since its origins in smoking cessation research, studies on individual behavioral change involving the Transtheoretical model have involved more than thirty thousand people and the model is now being used by the National Institutes for Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse, the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control, the American Lung Association, the American Cancer Society and the National Health Service of Great Britain. (Prochaska, Norcross & DiClemente, 1994). As O ’Donnell confirmed, the constructs in the transtheoretical model have now been supported and validated by empirical research “that involves tens of thousands of subjects” (1997, p.4). As Greene et al. (1999) explained, “the Transtheoretical model provides a theoretical framework for approaches to accelerate the rate of behavioral change in a population” (p. 676). One aspect of the Transtheoretical model, the stages of change, has received the most attention because of its results in applied research and its clinical efficacy. Health promotion programs based on this stage model approach can typically generate participation rates ten to 85 times higher than the participation rate of traditional 3 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. action-oriented programs (Prochaska, Norcross & DiClemente, 1994). This is a difference that quickly drew attention in the health promotion field during the 1990s. One of the real advantages of the Transtheoretical model is its applicability. “A substantial amount of evidence has accumulated regarding the usefulness of the Transtheoretical model in predicting health behavior change and in guiding development of preventative health interventions” (Jamner et al., 1997, p. 15). Moving beyond the stages of change, the Transtheoretical model also suggests processes of change that are drivers of self change efforts. These processes are crucial, yet the research in this area is unsettled (Prochaska & Velicer, 1997a) and more investigation is needed (Prochaska & Velicer, 1997b). Part of the lack of clarity over the processes of change is based on differing levels of consistency and support uncovered for individual processes across different contexts. Towards a broader application o f the stages o f change model. There is virtual unanimity that the Transtheoretical Model has become one of the most influential theoretical perspectives within the health psychology area over the last two decades (Green et al., 1999). Originally focused on smoking cessation, the behavioral change model has been successfully applied to many addiction-related topics and moved quickly to other health promotion areas. Prochaska and Velicer (1997b) noted that investigations and applications included “alcohol and substance abuse, anxiety and panic disorders, delinquency, eating disorders and obesity, high-fat diets, AIDS prevention, mammography screening, medication compliance, unplanned pregnancy prevention, radon testing, sedentary lifestyles, sun exposures, and physicians practicing preventative medicine” (p. 39). Efforts have also been made to take the model out of the realm of behavioral health. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. For example, it has been used in relational change efforts for married couples (Schneifer, 2003). The use of the Transtheoretical model, however, has not yet gained a significant foothold in the management or communication fields. More importantly, published results of efforts to effect behavioral skill change by using the stages and processes of change in the business or communication fields are scant. Most typical in the literature are articles that merely introduce the model as a potential tool (Grover et al., 2003; Jackson, 2001) or project its potential effectiveness (Prochaska, J. M. et al., 2001a; Prochaska, J. M. et al., 2001b) in a business context. The full application of the Transtheoretical model and the stages and processes of change to a business and communication context is overdue. Behavior change is sought not just in health promotion efforts, but also in a business context to develop and enhance the core business skills, like communication, that are necessary for career success. These core skills are often some of the most difficult to develop, yet the most valuable for the trainee once mastered. Even a small enhancement in training effectiveness as a result of the application of the Transtheoretical model would be invaluable to business schools and their students. More broadly, the application of the Transtheoretical model to the business and communication context would provide an important resource for those providing education and training services, part of the second largest sector of the U.S. economy. Practical Justification Aside from the need to investigate, test and develop more clarity in the processes of change, the past performance of the Transtheoretical model in the health promotion field holds out great promise for its immediate application to the development of 5 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. communication skills and the enhancement of graduate business education. In this section, the role o f communication skills in business education and in society more generally is recognized and the significance of this communication training is introduced and reviewed. Then, the communication skills gap in MBA programs is examined along with the muted response from most MBA programs. Finally, the connections between the development of communication skills by MBA students and the Transtheoretical model are explained. Significance o f communication training to success. The need to develop communication skills in individuals can be traced back more than 2400 years to ancient Greece. Concepts and techniques used to develop communication skills today can be found in the ideas of Corax and Tisias, Protagoras of Abdera, and Gorgias of Leontini. Today, communication departments are common in colleges and universities throughout the United States and the study of communication remains an important component in preparing students for success in society. The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), a leading source for information on the employment of college graduates, conducts an annual survey of employers to assess the relevance and importance of individual skills. In 2005, they again noted, for the seventh year in a row, that “good communication skills” were ranked by employers as the most important quality or skill a job candidate should possess (National Association of Colleges and Employers, 2005). The NACE data is consistent with earlier research conducted with members of the American Society of Personnel Administrators (ASAP) by Curtis, Winsor and Stephens (1989) who noted that communication skills were the most frequent factor cited as aiding college graduates in obtaining employment. Moving beyond organizational entry, the 6 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. research by Curtis et al. (1989) also reported the relative importance of factors/skills in successful job performance, and again found communication skills to top the list. The NACE and ASAP surveys are consistent with additional regional analysis. The Human Resources Management Association, for example, also found good communication skills ranking as the single most important characteristic that a recruit should possess (Higgins, 1999). Meanwhile, Stevens (2004) reported that employers were less than satisfied with recent college graduate’s communication skills. The communication skills gap in the MBA graduate. Despite the general awareness of the importance of communication skills and skill training, there continues to be a disconnect between the skills taught to graduate business students and the needs of the marketplace. This skill gap was confirmed in the Graduate Management Admission Council’s 2003-2004 Corporate Recruiters Survey (CRS) that reports the views of 1300 recruiters representing over 1000 companies that employ MBA graduates. The report includes a current gap analysis of MBA graduate skills and the identification of skills that graduates must have to succeed. In the gap analysis, the CRS identified six skills that recruiters found highly attractive yet deficient in MBA graduate. This set o f skills, seen as undeveloped and needing to be strengthened, had a strong communication focus as it included interpersonal skills, oral communication skills and written communication skills. Going further, the CRS also identified selection criteria used by recruiters in choosing MBA hires. In uncovering the factors that recruiters considered extremely important to their selection of recruits, the CRS sought to identify the “deal breakers” that recruits must have. Ranked Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. number one as the factor that recruits most needed, in a list of seventeen selection criteria, was “strong communication/ interpersonal skills” (Corporate Recruiters Survey 2004). The Wall Street Journal, in a 2002 Special Report, also investigated the question of what skills MBA graduates needed most to succeed. Supported by an extensive Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive survey of recruiters, the report recognized the importance and preference by recruiters of what the recruiters called “soft” skills like communication. In assessing a list of 24 potential attributes, recruiters showed both a clear desire and need for MBA graduates with well developed “soft” skills as they placed communication and interpersonal skills at the very top of the rankings of important attributes (Alsop, 2002). The Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive survey was replicated in 2004 with similar findings. The attribute of “communication and interpersonal skills” again took the number one spot, demonstrating the consistency of the relevancy and importance that recruiters place on communication skills (Alsop, 2004). The CRS and Wall Street Journal reports are consistent with earlier studies by Eberhardt, McGee and Moser (1997) who also sought to identify the types o f skills that corporations were seeking in MBA graduates. In their study, thirteen qualifications of MBA recruits were assessed and oral communication and interpersonal skills were again ranked as the most important. The consistency of these findings can also be seen across industries, as was identified in a study conducted at Darden in the 1990s that was disseminated by the Graduate Management Admission Council (Dowd & Liedtka, 1994). This study examined key traits sought by organizations hiring MBAs and noted that the most common trait or skill sought by MBA hiring organizations was in fact “communication.” Yet, the Darden 8 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. study went further, and found that overall and in each of the four industry areas identified: consulting, finance, manufacturing and consumer products, no criteria was ranked more important than communication in assessing a candidate’s suitability for a position. Other industry specific investigations have occurred, again finding that MBA graduates within individual industries face the same communication skills gap. In the case of finance, for example, a poll of finance managers by Robert Half International, one of the world’s largest specialized staffing firms, found communication skills to be the most important factor when hiring new finance staff (Financial Director, 2004, p. 15). Yet, a survey by CFO Magazine exposed the persistent skill gap in the field. When executives were asked to assess a grade to represent the communication skill level that MBA graduates display in the finance field, seventy percent of the executives awarded a “C’ or “D” grade (Barr & Harris, 1997, p.30). The reason for the high level of desire placed on communication skills, even across industries, appears to be focused on the associated level of organizational and career success related to individuals with stronger communication skills. Bennett and Olney (1986), focusing on Fortune 500 executives, discovered that 97.7 percent of the executives they surveyed “believed that communication skills had affected their advancement to a top executive position” (p. 15). They further found that communication skills had a major effect on advancement to top executive positions and the upward mobility of future executives. These results were similar to the findings of Margerison and Kakabadse (1984) who surveyed 711 chief executives in conjunction with the American Management Associations. Among their key findings was the need to pay more attention to factors like interpersonal skills and communication abilities in selecting potential top executives and 9 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. the ranking of communication as one of the most important activities needed in an executive role. The results by Bennett and Olney (1986) and Margerison and Kakabadse (1984) reinforce and amplify findings made more than forty years ago by Bowman (1964) who found the ability to communicate as the single most helpful skill for executive success. Working with the Harvard Business Review and surveying a cross section of nearly 2000 managers and executives, Bowman identified the ability to communicate as the top quality or skill in aiding business promotions. And as in the 1960s and 1980s, the results continually reappear as researchers and consultants reexamine the issue. Cook and Bemthal (1998), writing for Development Dimensions International (DDI), a top human resources and staffing consulting organization, identified the skills leaders should most focus on for success. Cook and Bemthal (1998) recognized that while other skills should receive attention, they singled out interpersonal communication skills as the one competency “critical” to success (p. 3) Recognizing the consistency of results across time and industries and the primacy bestowed on communication skills, an enhanced focus by MBA granting institutions on closing the communication skills gaps seems highly warranted. When further recognizing that it is the recruiters and hiring managers that are the end buyers of the MBA graduates that these institutions are producing, special attention to this key constituency of MBA programs seems justified. It would also appear that a highly focused and results oriented process to develop targeted communication skills would be the logical course of action. Such a process would necessarily enhance recruiter satisfaction and have a resulting impact on their perceptions of individual schools. Individual business schools able to close the 10 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. persistent communication skills gap in their graduates would be producing better prepared graduates, better satisfying recruiters and as a result, enhancing their program’s quality and rankings. The mooted response to the skills gap. As communication skills continue to gain recognition for their importance, initial efforts have been made at some top tier business schools, as in the case of Darden and Marshall, to integrate the topic into their programs and develop specific classes to enhance the communication skills of their students. Yet, many schools are not equipped, structurally and/or attitudinally, to address the need for communication skills development. Further, communication programs in most business schools, if they are offered, are usually short and peripheral to the MBA programs, making training transfer difficult and the results sub-optimal. While communication departments exist at many universities that offer graduate business education, and some of the communication departments offer communication management programs, it does not appear that collaboration has been wide spread. More than 15 years ago, Curtis, Winsor and Stephens (1989) called for business and communication departments to close ranks to address the needs of graduates, yet they were also cognizant of some of the attitudinal and structural barriers that have prevented this from occurring. So today, as the 2002 Wall Street Journal Special Report indicated, while business schools are successful at turning out graduates with analytical horsepower and a command of business basics, recruiters still find elusive the soft skills that they crave the most in graduates (Alsop, 2002). An AACSB Task Force in 2002 confirmed the systemic problem with the communication education in MBA programs when it noted that there were three 11 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. behavioral skills: interpersonal, leadership, and communication skills, that while perceived as “highly valuable,” were “often rated as the least effective components of business school curricula” (Management Education at Risk, p. 2). Pfeffer and Fong (2002) went further and suggested that there are substantial doubts about the relevance and centrality of the product currently produced by MBA programs. Suggesting that programs are teaching “the wrong things in the wrong ways” (p.79), they pointed to many problems, including a lack of focus on the development of interpersonal, leadership and communication skills. Alsop, writing for the Wall Street Journal in 2004, did note that some schools were taking communication skills more seriously, but also quickly noted some of the many structural and attitudinal challenges in developing communication skills in an MBA audience. As a result of the continuing skill gap, communication remains one of the top five training topics of employee-sponsored training programs (Galvin, 2003) and this type of training has become a key business priority (Hall, 2003). It is proposed here that the more effective the behavioral change efforts of communication courses become in MBA programs, the more quickly these efforts will be endorsed by business school deans not wanting to be left behind. The utilization of Prochaska’s processes and stages of change may now be able to serve as an accelerant to this process by serving as a multiplier to the effectiveness of MBA communication training efforts. Much like the processes and stages of change altered the behavioral health field, and particularly efforts at smoking cessation, a similar increase in communication training effectiveness would clearly be noticed. 12 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Connecting MBA communication training to the processes and stages o f change. Communication training in an MBA context is fundamentally an effort to enhance the skills of students through focused behavioral changes. Currently, however, there is little effort to ascertain the current change stage of individual students, nor to systematically apply processes of change ideally suited to their stage of development. It is believed that through the systematic application of the tenets of the processes and stages of change, that behavioral skill development can be effectively enhanced among MBA students studying communication. Five of Prochaska’s processes of change are of particular interest as they directly apply to a typical communication training course in an MBA context. By focusing on these five processes, the results of this study could be easily and effectively replicated into most MBA classrooms. In some cases only minor curriculum modifications would be necessary if they centered on the addition of the Transtheoretical model as a guiding architecture. Those five processes of change of particular interest to an MBA communication course include: a) consciousness raising, b) self reevaluation, c) commitment, d) social liberation, and e) helping relationships. Collectively, these five processes also cover each stage in an individual’s self transformation from precontemplation to maintenance as individuals progress through the stages of change (Prochaska, Norcross & DiClemente, 1994). 13 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. C H A PT ER II R EV IEW OF TH E LITER A TU RE This section provides an overview of the Transtheoretical model, examines the application and effectiveness of the model, acknowledges the critics of the approach and reviews the need for additional research in this area. Recognizing the application to the business context, this section also provides an overview of communication skill development in the workplace. The Transtheoretical Model The Transtheoretical model uses a temporal architecture, encapsulated in the central organizing construct of the stages of change, to integrate the many different processes of change from across the field of psychotherapy that have proven effective. It is from this integration of 18 major systems of psychotherapy, and in the context of a field with more than 300 theories of psychotherapy, that the model derives the name “transtheoretical” (McConnaughy et al., 1983; Prochaska & Velicer, 1997b). Thus, these processes of change in the Transtheoretical model are drawn from diverse approaches that include behavioral, cognitive, gestalt, humanistic and psychoanalytic theories, which represent often highly conflicting schools of thought in the widely fragmented field of psychotherapy. The origins of the Transtheoretical model lay in an initial investigation into how people intentionally change. Researching in the health promotion field and working on the particular problem of smoking cessation, Prochaska and DiClemente partnered early on with the National Institutes of Health (NIH). As they explained, 14 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The NIH wanted ultimately to discover why most professional smoking cessation programs do not work, so that they might institute programs that do work. It made sense for the NIH, therefore, to encourage researchers to find out how people were able to quit smoking on their own; it was hoped that the data would lead to a useful model of change that others could emulate. And that is exactly what happened (Prochaska, Norcross & DiClemente, 1994, p. 51). The Transtheoretical model is primarily comprised of the stages of change and processes of change. The stages of change are the temporal architecture of the Transtheoretical model with each stage represents a “specific constellations of attitudes, intentions, and behaviors related to an individual’s status” (Prochaska & Norcross, 2003, p. 519). Each stage also essentially represents “tasks” to be accomplished that are required for progression to the next stage. There are six stages of change: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance and termination. Although six stages had been proposed, the first five are the most relevant to behavioral change efforts, represent the current and most widely used version of the model and best represent the current conceptualization of the researchers (Norcross & Prochaska, 2002). As Sutton (2000) noted, “the number and names of the stages and their operational definitions have changed over the years” (p. 208), yet this was mainly a result of early refinement. A fast growing base of empirical studies allowed the researchers in the 1980’s to better align their theoretical model with the applied findings. The stages of change are now best visualized as a spiral where individuals may often recycle through the individual stages as they make repeated attempts to alter their individual behavior. When the stages of change were first identified, Prochaska and DiClemente began with a straightforward and linear conceptualization, but this was later adapted when a linear progression was found to be relatively rare and most individuals 15 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. were seen to recycle through the stages (Prochaska, Norcross & DiClemente, 1994). Most individuals, working to change their own behavior, do not successfully progress through all the stages on their first attempt, with most successful self changers going through the stages three or four times before completing the cycle (Prochaska, Norcross & DiClemente, 1994). As an example, smokers also typically average three or four attempts before they quit permanently (Norcross & Prochaska, 2002). When individuals do relapse, they also rarely regress back to the beginning. Generally they return to the contemplation or preparation stage and make plans for another attempt (Prochaska & Velicer, 1997b). The six stages are differentiated by the temporal architecture and have been well described by Prochaska, DiClemente and Norcross (1992), Prochaska, Norcross and DiClemente (1994) and Prochaska & Velicer (1997b). As they have explained, vrecontemplation is the stage where there is no intent to change a behavior, usually measured in the next six months. Individuals may be unaware or underaware a problem exists, in denial or hopeful that others around them will change instead. Contemplation is the stage where people are aware and acknowledge the behavioral problem. They begin to think seriously about doing something to overcome their problem yet often have indefinite plans. In this stage people are intending to change in the next six months. Preparation is the stage where individuals are planning to take action in the next month. Awareness of the behavioral problem is high and people often have a specific plan o f action. In earlier research this stage had been referred to as ‘decision making” (McConnaughy, Prochaska & Velicer, 1983). Action is the stage in which people overtly modify their behavior. It is in this stage that the change is most visible. Maintenance is the stage where people work to consolidate 16 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. their gains and prevent relapse. This is a long, difficult and on-going process and begins six months after the action stage and may last for five years or longer. Termination is the final stage where the problem behavior will present zero temptation and no threat. This stage may not be accessible for certain behavioral problems. In former alcoholics and smokers, this stage may be achieved by less than 20 percent of people seeking to change their behaviors (Prochaska, DiClemente & Norcross, 1992; Prochaska, Norcross & DiClemente, 1994; Prochaska & Velicer, 1997b). This final stage was not originally conceptualized in earlier versions of the model (McConnaughy, Prochaska, & Velicer, 1983). While now included, it is of nominal value and mainly useful to those focused on the removal rather that the creation of behaviors. The processes of change are the second element of the Transtheoretical model and represent the activities that people “engage in to alter emotion, thinking, behavior, or relationships related to particular problems or patterns of living” (Prochaska & Norcross, 2003, p. 516). These processes are the covert and overt activities that people utilize to progress through the stages of change and each of the processes of change represented a broad strategy that may include dozens or even hundreds of individual techniques (Prochaska, Norcross & DiClemente, 1994). These processes can also be thought of as the independent variables that people need to apply to obtain change (Velicer et al., 1998). Prochaska originally theorized that while major therapies disagreed widely on many aspects of a client, that the hundreds of theories of therapy could be summarized by a few essential principles of how change is effected. He saw these processes of change as “any activity you initiate to help modify your thinking, feeling, or behavior in a change process” (Prochaska et al., 1994, p. 25). The original processes o f change were therefore 17 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. theoretically derived from an analysis of principle theories and systems of psychotherapy and twelve different processes of change were initially identified. Prochaska noted that while not all of the processes are used in all the therapies, that all the therapies use at least two or more of these processes. (Prochaska, Norcross & DiClemente, 1994). While twelve were originally identified, ten have received the most theoretical and empirical support (Prochaska, DiClemente & Norcross, 1992). The processes of change have since been developed and continually refined by Prochaska and others over time with several iterations having been produced (Prochaska, Norcross & DiClemente, 1994; Prochaska & Velicer, 1997b; Prochaska & Norcross, 2003). Through basic research, the use and effectiveness of the processes were investigated and the understanding of the processes has evolved. In 1994, Prochaska, Norcross and DiClemente, were focusing on just “nine major processes of change” (1994, p. 27), yet by 1997, they had renamed several and added environmental reevaluation as a tenth process to better characterize the empirical support they were finding in their research. They also began to de-emphasize social liberalization (Prochaska & Velicer, 1997b). By 2003, the focus was down to eight processes with the removal of both social liberation and helping relationships (Prochaska & Norcross, 2003). The eight processes of change still at the forefront in 2003 include consciousness raising, dramatic relief, environmental reevaluation, self-reevaluation, self-liberation, contingency management, counterconditioning and stimulus control (Prochaska & Norcross, 2003). The processes have also been well described by Prochaska, DiClemente and Norcross (1992), Prochaska, Norcross and DiClemente (1994) and Prochaska & Velicer 18 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. (1997b). As they have explained, consciousness raisins may involve observations, feedback, education, confrontations and interpretations that allow a person to increase their awareness of the causes, consequences or cures of their behavioral problem. This was also found to be the most widely used change process across major therapies. Dramatic relief involves helpful, increased affective experiences that can be created as by role-playing or could be caused by a life event such as a friend being diagnosed with a disease. Environmental reevaluation is the process in which people deeply consider the consequences of the presence or absence of their behavior on their social environment, and often can focus on those closest to them that they care the deepest about. S elf reevaluation is values based and involves giving thoughtful reappraisal to the problem behavior, encourages values clarification to enable individuals to see how the behavior conflicts with an individual’s person values and supports an investigation of what type a person one would become upon changing the behavior. Self liberation is the belief that an individual has the ability to change their lives and then the act of making the commitment and re-commitment to act on that belief. Self liberation encapsulated items previously referred to as the change process of “commitment.” Contingency management refers to the use of consequences for taking action. The primary method is rewards rather than punishments. Contingency management encapsulated items previously referred to as the change process of “reward.” Counterconditioning involves learning about and using alternative behaviors that are healthier or more positive and focuses on substitutes. Counterconditioning encapsulated items previously referred to as the change process of “countering.” Stimulus control refers to the management o f events to allow for the presence or absence of 19 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. situations that can promote or discourage the problem behavior. Stimulus control encapsulated items previously referred to as the change process o f “environment control” (Prochaska, Norcross & DiClemente, 1994; Prochaska & Velicer, 1997b; Prochaska & Norcross, 2003) Also important to this study are two original processes o f change that were initially theorized, included in earlier published discussions of the processes of change, and had initially received strong empirical support (Prochaska, Norcross & DiClemente, 1994). Yet, these two processes, helping relationships and social liberalization, have increasingly been receiving less attention. These processes are unique from the eight processes presented above and in the list discussed by Prochaska & Norcross (2003) in that they are the only original processes truly externally derived and thus outside of the direct control of a person seeking to intentionally change a problem behavior. All eight of the processes above could actually be implemented by any solo self changer without any outside help or contact. The need for outside assistance inherent in helping relationships and social liberalization makes these change processes potentially of less value to a self-changer, yet extremely important to a formal program seeking to facilitate planned behavioral change in a group of individuals as this study investigates. Social Liberation involves “any new alternatives that the external environment can give you to begin or continue your change effort” (Prochaska, Norcross & DiClemente, 1994 p. 28). This may involve social opportunities or alternatives for positive behaviors. Helping relationships involves requesting and enlisting the assistance of another individual or group for support with altering the problem behavior. This relationship can also provide caring, understanding and acceptance and the importance of these relationships were noted 20 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. early as being of primary value to self changers (Prochaska, Norcross & DiClemente, 1994). The many processes of change have also been investigated for how they integrate into the stages of change and how they factor together. Prochaska, DiClemente and Norcorss (1992) suggested that “one of the most important findings to emerge from our self change research is an integration between the processes and stages o f change” (p. 1108). Particular processes of change tend to be the most useful and effective in individual stages. For example, consciousness raising is associated with moving individuals from the first stage of precontemplation to the second stage of contemplation. The processes, however, should not be thought of as necessarily unique to individual stages, as some processes, like commitment, have been seen to be useful in stages three, four and five as people prepare, take action and maintain their behavioral gains (Prochaska, Norcross & DiClemente, 1994). Research has also been conducted to examine how the different processes of change factor or clump together within the stages of change. This research has consistently found two main groupings: experiential processes (consciousness raising, dramatic relief, environmental reevaluation, social liberation and self reevaluation) and behavioral processes (stimulus control, helping relationships, counter conditioning, reinforcement management and self liberation) (Prochaska & Velicer, 1997b). Reporting a meta-analysis of 47 studies, Norcross and Prochaska (2002) noted that these experiential processes are most useful and best suited for the precontemplation and contemplation stages, while these behavioral processes are most useful and best suited for the action and maintenance stages. 21 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Investigations in the integration of the process and stages of change, however, have not yielded universal results. Rosen (2000) noted in a reanalysis of the 47 cross-sectional studies that while use of change processes do vary by stage, that “the sequencing of processes is not consistent across health problems (p. 593). Additionally, as the Transtheoretical model has been expanded into new areas, there has also been an ongoing awareness that the individual processes of change may play greater or lesser roles in each new context. Prochaska and Velicer (1997b) noted that “in some studies, we find fewer processes and occasionally, we find evidence for one or two more” and that “it is also possible that with some behaviors fewer change processes may be used” (p. 43). In a particularly relevant example, Rakowski, Dube and Goldstein (1996) adapted the Transtheoretical model to screening mammography and found important differences in the relevant number of processes of change that led to behavior modification. This application was particularly unique in its temporal aspect as the behavioral change sought was a single yearly action. In this application, only three of the ten processes of change found most useful in smoking cessation studies and earlier research were found to be relevant and effective in gaining behavior modification in the mammography setting. These three processes for gaining behavioral change for mammography screening were essentially consciousness raising, environmental reevaluation, and self liberation/commitment (Rakowski, Dube & Goldstein, 1996). While not all ten processes were supported in this new context, there was clear support for the use and need of both experiential and behavioral factors as the three processes do represent examples of both of these factors. 22 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. This content variant aspect to the effectiveness of the ten individual processes of change is one of the reasons that Prochaska and Velicer (1997b) have previously indicated the need for more basic research in this area and an acknowledgement that “some modifications have been required to reflect the unique aspect of the problem area” (Prochaska & Velicer, 1997a, p. 6). The Application o f the Transtheoretical Model The Transtheoretical model was initially applied successfully and extensively to smoking cessation, (DiClemente et al., 1991; Prochaska & DiClemente, 1983; Prochaska, Velicer, DiClemente & Fava, 1988) with many specific applications as in the case of pregnant smokers (Ruggier et al., 1997). It has also been applied to other addiction-related topics like alcohol (Werch, 1997) and numerous nutrition and dietary applications (Brug, Glanz & Kok, 1997; Green et al., 1999). By the late 1990s Prochaska and Velicer (1997b) noted that investigations and applications of the Transtheoretical model have now included “alcohol and substance abuse, anxiety and panic disorders, delinquency, eating disorders and obesity, high-fat diets, AIDS prevention, mammography screening, medication compliance, unplanned pregnancy prevention, radon testing, sedentary lifestyles, sun exposures, and physicians practicing preventative medicine” (p. 39). Branching even further into the larger health promotion field, the application of the model has broadened still further to include supporting research in the areas of exercise (Cardinal, 1997; Reed et al., 1997), dental hygiene care (Astroth et al., 2002; Tilliss et al., 2003), batterer treatment programs (Scott, 2004), relational change efforts in married couples (Schneifer, 2003), severe mental illness (Rogers et al., 2001), return to work readiness after injury (Mannock et al., 2002) and efforts to simultaneously impact multiple 23 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. health behaviors as in the case of workplace health promotion programs (Herrick, Stone & Mettler, 1997) and health risk behaviors in older adults (Nigg et al., 1999). Westley and Briggs (2004), studying Advance Care Planning, noted that the approach is particularly “useful and practical” when organizing interventions on this “difficult topic” for both healthcare providers and patients (p. 10). They successfully applied the model to Advance Care Planning in developing an aid for nurses to develop workable interventions to allow patient-centered discussions of future medical care. Similarly, the model has shown success in domestic violence applications where again, the initial conversations may be difficult, in this case for victims. An investigation by Zink et al. (2004) suggested that stage-matched interventions may help doctors more effectively manage cases of intimate partner violence leading to more effective responses. Efforts have also been made to discuss and apply the Transtheoretical model, with some success, to the more difficult arena of co-occurring disorders. Finnell (2003) looked at the interactive nature between mental disorders and substance-abuse disorders and studied 103 individuals enrolled in mental health treatment programs. Finding the results “promising,” Finnell (2003) found benefits to a stage and process based approach, while also noting that there was partial support for the ideas that individuals in co-occurring disorders are different from other populations in the applicability of individual processes of change (p. 14). Most important for this study, the beginning efforts to apply the model to organizational change efforts in the health field have also been undertaken (Prochaska, J. M. et al., 1999). 24 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Application in the Business and Communication Context. In the business and communication fields, awareness and application of the Transtheoretical model has been slow to develop. Efforts to introduce and apply the model by Jackson (2001) and Grover, et al. (2003) were primarily done to provide an applied tool for business consultants or to support the use of complementary approaches as in the case of a situational leadership model. In both cases, the focus is on the stages o f changes and the depth and value offered by the processes are either hidden or omitted. More encouraging is the efforts by Prochaska, J. M. et al. (1999), Prochaska, J. M. et al. (2001a) and Prochaska, J. M. et al. (2001b) that applied and then theorized the general usefulness and applicability of the model to organizational change. This choice to apply the model to organizational change was foreshadowed by Prochaska and Velicer (1997a) when they specifically labeled the area a clear future direction for research. Beginning with a case study of 31 university and staff administrators and focusing on an organizational change effort to move towards an integrated service delivery approach, Prochaska, J. M. et al. (1999), began to study the applicability of the Transtheoretical model in an organizational environment. While prospective in nature, Prochaska, J. M. et al. (2001b), articulated two years later how the “stages-of-change dimension can be generally applied by leaders to reduce resistance, increase participation, reduce drop out, and increase change progress among employees” (p. 247). Noting that leaders often impose action oriented change plans and then are surprised by the amount and depth of employee resistance, Prochaska, J. M. et al. (2001 b) suggest strong similarities between these organizational change efforts and the traditional, yet less effective, action-based approaches in the health promotion field that 25 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. failed to account for an individual’s stage of change and then match appropriate processes of change. By recognizing that many employees in an organizational change effort would be in the precontemplation or contemplation stage in which an action focus would be inappropriate, suggestions are made for improved organizational change efforts. Utilizing a more specific context again, Prochaska et al. (2001a) studied applications of the Transtheoretical model to organization change by agency and clinical staff. Driven by the recognition that in most organizations, less than 20 percent of the employees are prepared to make changes when an action oriented plan is imposed, they suggest that organizations can facilitate more effective change efforts by respecting and adapting to employees as they progress through each stage of change. This effort is again prescriptive and while providing a clear guide to the stages for change that a leader could utilize, it does not review an actual change event not provide empirical analysis. Another promising effort was undertaken by Levesque et al. (2001) that looked to apply the Transtheoretical model to healthcare organizations to increase physicians’ readiness for continuous quality improvement efforts. Surveying nearly 300 healthcare employees at 120 Veteran’s Administration hospitals, Levesque et al. (2001) sought to identity stages of change and processes of change to begin to suggest how the Transtheoretical model could guide stage matched interventions. Taken together, as of yet, there has been little empirical investigation of behavioral change using the Transtheoretical model in the business field and essentially none in communication skill development. Many of these initial efforts have focused on the stages of change and did not fully explore the true applicability of the model. A case study and survey data along with prescriptive applications to organizational change essentially make 26 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. up the constellation of the Transtheoretical model’s initial entry into the important business and communication contexts. The Critics Challenges to the Transtheoretical model have emanated from a small group of critics, although this has waned in recent years. Several of the critiques involved philosophical attacks, while others involved issues with the characterizations of earlier model components. Yet, even while attacking aspects of the model, critics widely concede the tremendous impact the research has had on practitioners. Sutton (1996) even begins his analysis by noting that commentators have been nearly unanimous in their praise and enthusiasm for the model, and noted that the model offers “immense intuitive appeal” (p. 189). More specifically, the attacks have generally centered on the appropriateness of the use of a stage model and the relationship of the “processes of change” to the individual stages. Critiquing the Stage M odel Much of the criticism of the Transtheoretical model stems from the utilization of a temporal, stage-based, model. Bandura (1997) notes that stage differentiation in the Transtheoretical model occurs “by gradation rather than in kind,” (p. 8) and essentially attacks the use of regularity or duration in determining stages rather than dichotomized factors. As a result, Bandura (1997) continually labels the stages of change “arbitrary pseudo-stages” (p. 8). The main attack by Bandura (1997) is largely philosophical in nature, as he argues that “human functioning is simply too multifaceted and multidetermined to be categorized into a few discrete stages” (p. 8), or “shrunk to a few discrete categories” (Bandura, 1998, p. 630). Bandura (1997) also suggests that the 27 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Transtheoretical model essentially “violates every major requirement o f a stage theory” (p. 8). In a similar analysis, Sutton (1996) notes that the stage model represents an “artificial categorization” (p. 193) with transitions between stages occurring at arbitrary locations. Sutton (2000) further points out that “respondents can, and do, score highly on more than one ‘stage’” which would be inconsistent with an assumption of discrete stages (p. 211). Sutton (2000) acknowledges that the standards set forth by Bandura are “unrealistic,” yet still suggests that “there remains a number of serious problems” with the stage model approach (p. 213). Sutton’s (1996) critique of the stage model approach is best contextualized by his conclusion that the Transtheoretical model should be thought of as “a model of ideal change” rather than how people actually change (p. 204). Looking at individual data sets, Sutton (1996) suggested that it may be more useful to think of “states” of change rather than “stages,” to remove any notion of ordering or sequence, and also proposes that there be “no necessary assumptions that people move along this continuum in one direction or through a sequence of discrete stages” (p. 203). Prochaska and Velicer (1997) begin their response by noting that the Transtheoretical model involves more than a dozen core constructs to account for the intentional change of behavior and all but one, the stages, are continuous. They note that the stages of change were not the starting point of the Transtheoretical model, but were empirically discovered later in studies of how people were applying the processes of change; the researcher’s initial focus (Prochaska & Norcross, 2003; Prochaska & Velicer, 1997). Far from being “arbitrary pseudo-stages,” (Bandura, 1997, p. 8) these stages represent the progression of actual self-changers. 28 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Given the history of the stages and their role in the broader conceptualization of the model, Prochaska and Velicer (1997) suggest that Bandura (1997) is making a common mistake of “equating stage with theory,” when “stage is a variable, it is not the theory” (p. 11). Prochaska and DiClemente (1998) further explain that the use of discrete stages is “a method to integrate and match continuous processes,” and that “the criticism only occurs when the stage variable is taken to equal the transtheoretical model” (p. 42). Despite Bandura’s (1997) challenges that the “stages of change scheme violates every major requirement of a stage theory” (p. 9), Prochaska and Velicer (1997c) disagree, noting that the critique is “based in part on the mistaken assumption that there are universal criteria for stage theories” (p. 11). Further, it is these alleged “violations” by the stage variable, like the failure of the stages to include nonreversibility, invariant sequencing and the applicability o f processes to single stages, that make the overall Transtheoretical model so effective at modeling the behaviors of patients, and make it so useful in a clinical setting. Reversibility is a normal and predictable aspect of behavioral health interventions and the usefulness of individual processes of change in multiple stages is consistent with successful behavioral change efforts (Prochaska, DiClemente, & Norcross 1992; Prochaska, Norcross & DiClemente, 1994). In practice, individuals seeking to modify their behavior are likely to regress repeatedly, return multiple times to previous stages and make a series of attempts before being successful in a process that is anything but a linear progression through the stages of change (Prochaska, DiClemente, & Norcross 1992). As a response, the stages of the Transtheoretical model began to be exclusively characterizes as a spiral rather than the original straightforward linear regression (e.g. McConnaughy et al., 1983) making it more 29 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. consistent with the long held recognition that linear progression was a “relatively rare phenomenon” (Prochaska, Norcross & DiClemente, 1994, pp. 47-48). This does not mean that a linear progression of stages could not exist. Nor does the seemingly chaotic nature of behavioral change indicate that there is not a systematic progression and regression across an ordered path of stages. The research would actually indicate that there is order within a very chaotic process (Prochaska, Norcross & DiClemente, 1994). Attacking the Processes o f Change. It is important to come away from Bandura’s (1997) critique of the stages of change with the awareness that the stages describe specific, temporal-based, behaviors rather than individual, dichotomized determinants. The result is that, in Bandura’s words, “the linkage of interventions to stages is rather loose and debatable rather than explicitly derived from the stages” (1997, p. 9). Sutton (1996) concurred as he also called into question the effectiveness of any stage match interventions when he argued that “there is no strong evidence that using particular processes in particular stages promotes movement to subsequent stages” (p. 203). To Prochaska and Velicer (1997c), these critiques are inaccurate and miss the greater point. One of the advantages of the Transtheoretical model is its integrative approach where the stage variable provides an integration of, yet is not a substitute for, processes. Individual processes are not discretely tied to stages, these processes may and do cross stages, and processes may be clinically effective in multiple stages (Prochaska, Norcross & DiClemente, 1994). This occasional effectiveness of processes in multiple stages does not in any way prevent stage-matched interventions from being successful. Nor does this extra effectiveness prevent stage progressions from occurring. Prochaska and Velicer’s (1997c) research “clearly demonstrates the advantages of tailored 30 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. interventions” (p. 11). Given a particular stage, there are individual processes that are much more or much less effective. There is now strong support for the ability of processes of change to promote movement between the stages. With the growth in empirical studies of the processes of change in the last two decades, there is also now growing evidence of the linkage between the use of individual processes of change and the ability to move people to the next stage across many different areas in the health promotion field (see DiClemente et al., 1991; Finnell, 2003; Prochaska et al., 1988; Rakowski et al., 1996; Ruggiero et al., 1997). Throughout his work, Prochaska repeatedly suggests that individual processes of change may occur and are successful across more than one stage. For example, commitment is one of the processes of change and has been found to be useful in three different stages: preparation, action and maintenance (Prochaska, Norcross & DiClemente, 1994). Far from a defect, the connection of stages and processes, while not dichotomized, does effectively match the findings in the clinical world and explains why health promotion practitioners find so much validity in the approach (e.g. O ’Donnell, 1997). More Work Is Still Needed Prochaska has a well established position of seeking additional research that will not just apply the Transtheoreical model, but also drive it forward. In his words, the model “should not be viewed as a closed model. Future research will no doubt result in additions, deletions, and modifications” (Prochaska & Velicer, 1997a, p. 6). And it has been noted that the Transtheoretical model is “best thought of as a work in progress” (Miller & Heather, 1998, p. 1). This approach has led to a wide range of additional research and, 31 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. more importantly, an ongoing effort to refine and better understand the stages and processes at work in individual behavioral change. Michael O’Donnell (1997), the former editor of the American Journal o f Health Promotion, noted that “we are just beginning to apply (the Transtheoretical) approach to behavior change in health promotion programs, and to conduct research and evaluation to test its effectiveness” (p. 4). This sense of still being at the beginning is even more true outside of the behavioral health field, where research has been scant and empirical investigations virtually non-existent. To date, the research theorizing and applying the Transtheoretical model has remained unnecessarily concentrated. First, by context, the research has remained primarily focused in the behavioral health field due to its early applications to smoking and other addictive behaviors. Next, by theoretical application, the research has been heavily concentrated on the stages of change concept to the exclusion of other theoretical components within the theory. To broaden the model and identify its greater potential, these concentrations will need to be joined by new research initiatives. Prochaska and Velicer (1997a) note this concentration as well and have argued that “future research should focus on those aspects of the model that have received inadequate attention” and specifically noted that it was the processes of change that have been the “least studied aspect of the model” (p. 6). Green et al. (1999) concurred noting that of the major dimensions of the Transtheoretical model, “the least investigated dimension is the processes of change (p. 673). Put simply, the processes are an area that “need[s] more basic research” (Prochaska & Velicer, 1997b, p. 43). 32 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The need for additional investigation, concentrated on the processes of change, has also been noted from researchers studying the model. For example, Herzog et al. (1999) examined smoking interventions and notes that although they largely replicated cross- sectional relationships, the critical links between stages and processes were not “adequately” supported and concluded that “[further research is needed to examine the prospective relationship between process and outcome measures in the [Transtheoretical model]” (p. 375). More specifically, to get the best data to develop a better understanding in this area, Herzog et al. (1999) argued that “more longitudinal cohort analyses are needed of process-to-outcome relationships to adequately test out theories” to both better identify mechanisms of action and to improve interventions (p. 375). Communication skills in the workplace The recognition of communication skills as an essential element in hiring, promotion, and career success, both generally and in particular industries, has been established earlier in this paper. Expanding further, this central role for communication skills in the business community has been recognized within organizations and acted upon. Today, communication skills continue to be viewed as crucial workplace competencies in which organizations make significant investments to identify, assess and develop within their employees. Managerial competencies and workplace appraisals. Parry (1996) noted that “thousands of organizations throughout the world have joined the quest for competencies,” often conducting lengthy competency studies to identify clusters of knowledge, attitudes and skills that then become the basis for hiring, training and promotions (p. 48). In also identifying the trend towards implementing performance management and identifying 33 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. managerial competencies in organizations, Abraham, Kams, Shaw and Mena (2001) noted that although there is some lack of convergence in the literature on the best definition of a competency, it basically includes “a panoply of the characteristics, behaviors and traits necessary for successful job performance” (p. 843). Byham (2004), writing for Development Dimensions International (DDI), a leading organization in the field of employment selection and development, similarly defines competencies (they also use the term dimensions) as “descriptions of clusters or groups of behaviors, motivations, and knowledge related to job success or failure under which data on motivation, knowledge or behavior can be reliably classified” (p. 2). Abraham, Kams, Shaw and Mena (2001), with the assistance of the Society for Human Resource Management, obtained responses from 277 senior human resource professionals in an effort to survey managerial competencies and identify if a particular set are currently being used by organizations as part of their performance appraisal process. Three areas of inquiry were specifically examined: (1) which of a list of managerial competencies were characteristics of highly successful managers and executives now working in their organization, (2) which competencies were viewed as “critical” and (3) which managerial competencies were actually used as appraisal criteria. In reviewing the characteristics of highly successful managers and executives cited by the senior human resource professionals, “good oral/written communication skills” ranked first with “interpersonal skills” fourth in frequency. In reference to “critical” competencies, a top tier of six competencies were identified that included “communication skills” with “interpersonal skills” ranking eighth. Finally, it was identified that nearly 70% of the organizations used “communication skills” and nearly 65% utilized “interpersonal 34 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. skills” as appraisal criteria (Abraham, Kams, Shaw & Mena, 2001). These results are confirmed in a worldwide study by Development Dimensions International (DDI), demonstrating that the competency of communication continues to be viewed in organizations as a critical core competency (Bemthal & Welline, 2003). While there is widespread recognition of communication skills as an essential managerial competency of organizations and communication is widely utilized as an appraisal criterion, there is far less convergence on what is included in the cluster or grouping of behaviors that comprise the category of “communication skills.” Parry (1996), for example, reviewed ten lists o f managerial competencies generated in separate studies. While each organization reviewed, from AT&T to Ford Motor Company, integrated communication and interpersonal competencies, their labeling was quite diverse with individual competencies including: communicating, oral and written communication, oral communications, presentation skills, giving clear information, order and clarity, keeping others informed, collecting and displaying data, persuasiveness, assertiveness, listening/discerning, listening and organizing, understanding people/groups, responsive communications, expressive communications, concern with relationships, interpersonal sensitivity and establishing positive relationships. A major explanation for the divergence in the categorization of communication skills across organizations is two-fold: the use by organizations of competing consulting organizations with their own unique sets of proprietary competencies to set up their selection, developmental and appraisal systems and the use of in-house teams that create unique customized competencies. Lominger’s Leadership Architect suite for example has 67 competencies, with nearly a third related to communication and relational skills. Some 35 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. of these competencies are more traditional (e.g. presentations skills, written communication, listening) and others are creative compilations (e.g. interpersonal savvy). The Lominger competencies “come from a content analysis of many sources” in the management and leadership field, as inherently do many other systems, yet each tends to have a unique number and categorization of behaviors, motivations, and knowledge related to job success or failure (Lombardo & Eichinger, 2000, p. i). This diversity in terminology precludes easy or standardized itemization, yet the importance of the skill cluster is well supported. Workplace development o f communication skills. The annual expenditure on employee-sponsored training in the United States now exceeds $51 billion (Dolezalek, 2004), an amount that exceeds the Gross Domestic Product of two-thirds of the world’s nations and is comparable to the entire GDP of Croatia, Ecuador and Uruguay (United States, 2005). Typical employee-sponsored training includes new hire orientation, computer training, technical training, management development and communication skills training with these five topics cited as the training most frequently provided in organizations (Galvin, 2003). Among the many types of training, soft skills training, like management development and interpersonal/communication skills, are no longer seen as “nice-to-have” and now top the list of key business priorities (Hall, 2003). O f the many types of employee training provided, “communication skills” is one of the most common types of training within organizations (Dolezalek, 2004). In measuring the frequency of 39 types of employee-sponsored training in the United States, “communication skills” has continually ranked among the top five (Galvin, 2002, 2003). 36 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. This prevalence of training activity in the communication skills has been occurring in organizations for over two decades. In 1982, in one of Training M agazine’ s first census and training reports, 26 types of structured training were ranked with “communication skills training” solidly in the top five (Who, 1982). Communication training often involves the development of a wide range of individual communication skills. The categorization of these communication skills can differ greatly across programs and organizations. Basic categorizations of communication skills in a work setting can be as simple as: writing, reading, speaking and listening (Guffey, 2005). Yet, more specific lists of skills are often developed from workplace investigations. Andrews and Baird (1992), for example, developed skill clusters necessary for management effectiveness in organizational settings. Within their communication skills cluster they identified six essential skills: motivating others, interacting in dyads, conducting meetings, listening, oral presentations and written communication. Earlier work to categorize necessary workplace communication skills have also led to more detailed lists. DiSalvo, Larsen and Seiler (1976), in their research, discovered nine key workplace communication skills that include listening, writing, presenting, persuading, advising, instructing, problem solving, human relations and leadership. Similarly, Lockwood and Boatman (as cited in DiSalvo 1977) looking to develop a list of career oriented communication skills from expert in the field, created eleven general categories that include small group facilitation, interviewing, problem solving, public relations, listening, persuasion, motivation, conflict resolution, speaking confidence, relationship building and questioning techniques. 37 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Given the importance and prevalence of communication training in organizations, some attention has also been focused on training techniques. Communication training is delivered in a wide-range of instructional methods, in part due to the variety of skills that the training category encompasses. Survey research by Training Magazine suggests that nearly two-thirds of the employer-sponsored communication skills training is done in traditional classrooms, one-third is blended and just two percent is technology based (Galvin, 2003). Research Questions and Hypotheses The present study is interested in identifying the dominant predictor variables within the processes of change and across the different stages of change in the business communication context. Among the processes explored (i.e., consciousness raising, self reevaluation, commitment, social liberation and helping activities), it is unclear whether these processes are highly correlated with behavioral change and in what specific stages these processes would be primarily effective in this context. In analyzing these linkages, this investigation also seeks to examine the theoretical linkage of the change processes suggested in the Transtheoretical model developed by James Prochaska (Prochaska et al., 1994; Prochaska & Velicer, 1997b; Prochaska & Norcross, 2003). The number o f processes and the relevance of individual context are not fully developed and continue to be actively researched. Research results (Radowski, Dube, & Goldstein 1996) have hinted that some processes may be more or less dominant in particular contexts and there is also recognition that some processes have received greater empirical support than others (Prochaska & Norcross, 2003; Prochaska, Norcross & DiClemente, 1994). Thus, two research questions are proposed in order to examine the 38 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. theoretical linkage of the processes of change to the stages of change and the predictive utility of this model in accounting for variance in targeted skill development. RQ1: Within the processes of change, what predictor variables account for the greatest amount of overall variance within the targeted communication skills criterion variables? RQ2: Within the processes of change, what predictor variables account for the greatest amount of variance within particular stages of change for the targeted communication skills criterion variables? In addition to understanding the linkages between the process of changes and stages of change in a business communication context, this investigation further examines the effectiveness of individual processes of behavioral change and analyzes the degree to which skill development is promoted through these processes. Building on the research of James Prochaska, this investigation applies these processes of change to a business context with specific application to the enhancement of communication skills. Hypotheses 1 -7 examine factors in the processes of change theorized as relating to behavioral change. H I: “Consciousness raising” activities are positively correlated with the development of a targeted communication skill. H2: “Self reevaluation” activities are positively correlated with the development of a targeted communication skill. H3: “Commitment” activities are positively correlated with the development o f a targeted communication skill. 39 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. H4: “Social liberation” activities are positively correlated with the development of a targeted communication skill. H5: “Helping” activities are positively correlated with the development of a targeted communication skill. H6: “Action” taking activities are positively correlated with the development of a targeted communication skill. H7: Self-reported change (awareness, efforts and skill) is positively correlated with the development of targeted communication a skill. In seeking to account for variance in targeted skill development and analyzing individual processes of change, this investigation seeks to examine the theoretical linkage of the change processes in a business communication context. 40 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. C H A PT ER III M ETH O D O LO G Y This study investigates a series of two research questions and seven hypotheses drawn from the framework of the Transtheoretical model proposed and refined by James Prochaska. To support the investigation, 110 working business professionals participated in a longitudinal, multi-rater skill assessment process and completed a customized questionnaire. The skill assessments were conducted with the Professional Communication Inventory (PCI) instrument, were completed by the participants and their supervisor, and were reassessed after ten months thereby proving pre and post assessment data. This information was combined with a customized questionnaire specifically designed to assess the utilization of the processes of change operationalized in communication skill development activities common in a business environment. Below is a review of the research design, measures and instruments, the participants and the analysis utilized in operationalizing this program of study. Research Design. The nature of the investigation and its participants restricts the ability of researchers to pull these participants out o f the real world and create a controlled environment where one group would be restricted in the tools provided to them to develop their own skills. The inability to control random sampling or assignment, or to have experimenter manipulation or control, creates an evaluation design best viewed as non- experimental or survey research. Therefore, rather than analyzing dependent and independent variables, the concern here is with criterion and predictor variables being identified to investigate the hypotheses. 41 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Data Collection. This study is conducted within the structure of a communication initiative originally implemented in 2002 in a part-time MBA program. The on-going communication initiative involves the use of assessments, skill-building sessions, support material and a reframing o f the development o f communication skills consistent with Prochaska’s Stages of Change (i.e., Precontemplation, Contemplation, Preparation, Action, Maintenance and Termination). The renewed focus on improving the development of communication skills in this MBA program in 2002 was in response to a growing recognition of the comparative advantage such a communication initiative offers students (Alsop 2002). The 2002 communication initiative built on a well established communication course that was taught by experienced faculty. This graduate communication course utilizes adult learning concepts to provide an active learning environment. In practice, this approach leads to an interactive classroom integrating conceptual frameworks with experiential skill development. Specific techniques include practice sessions, small group discussions, numerous skill building activities, demonstrations, video clips, experiential simulations, peer and faculty coaching and graded feedback, in addition to the more traditional faculty lectures and course readings. The course is also aided by the availability and utilization of a dedicated Experiential Learning Center (ELC) with a 25 year history of developing and facilitating focused experiential exercises. This course uses the ELC for delivering formal presentations in a small group setting, allowing for immediate video playback and coaching and also for facilitating a large group business simulation. 42 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Part of the new initiative, to further enhance the communication aspect of the graduate program, was the integration of multiple communication skill assessments at the start of the first year. The assessments enhanced the student’s awareness of their relative communication skill levels and to make them more cognizant of individual areas that could be strengthened throughout their MBA program. The primary assessment tool was the Professional Communication Inventory (PCI) developed by Pfaff and Busch (1992). The PCI generates multi-rater feedback on communication-related skills and allows individuals a greater awareness of skill strengths and weaknesses. The PCI is utilized to move participants from a precontemplation stage to a contemplation stage of skill development, facilitating greater overall awareness and effort toward communication skill development. PCI data gathering is implemented during a required “pre-fall” program that occurs over six days in the month prior to the start of regular courses. The PCI instrument is distributed and completed by participants as well as their supervisors. The results are then disseminated during the MBA program’s first term communication course. The use of the PCI was expanded to include a trial post-test type of data gathering after the completion of the participant’s first year of study. The PCI post-test is a four week process, from introduction to report dissemination, again involving participants and their supervisors. The fall 2003 incoming class completed the PCI pre-test in August 2003, and the post-test in June 2004. The results from this pre- and post-program assessment form two of the three key data elements for this study. Results of the pre/post assessments were obtained from the test publisher with participants’ permission. 43 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The third element of data is a customized questionnaire collected at the end of participants’ first year of study, in unison with the implementation of the PCI’s post-test. Data from the customized questionnaire was collected on-site, during a scheduled course period, after the PCI post-test process had begun. Data from the questionnaire was collected from participants prior to the time participants received their post-test results in the form of an integrated pre/post-test report. Measures and Instruments The current study utilizes the Professional Communication Inventory (PCI) developed by Pfaff and Busch (1992), as well as a customized questionnaire designed for the present study to assess participant utilization of the processes of change categorized by Prochaska et al. (1994). Professional Communication Inventory (PCI). The PCI was developed in the early 1990s to determine strengths and risk areas in a person’s communication practices (Pfaff, 1993). The instrument focuses on technical, professional and managerial employees, and to date, nearly 7,000 individual PCIs have been utilized by participants (L. A. Pfaff, personal communication, March 18, 2005). The widest use has occurred in the manufacturing, finance and healthcare fields. Organizations applying the instrument include Dow Chemicals, Baxter Healthcare, Upjohn (now Pfizer), First of America Bank Corp. (now National City), New England Telephone (now Verizon), Bronson Healthcare Group, and Borgess Health Alliance (L. A. Pfaff, personal communication, March 18, 2005). The inventory was intended to be practical and operational in nature, focusing on 12 key communication-related dimensions important in business environments (Pfaff, 44 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1993). These 12 dimensions are grouped into communication skills and relational skills. There are five factors classified as communication skills that are viewed as essential in the workplace (Pfaff, 1993). Their usage either enhances or inhibits an individual’s performance, and the performance of those around them. These five factors include speaking (the person’s ability to verbally communicate information to others), listenins (the person’s ability to hear and understand the words and ideas of others), writing (the person’s ability to communicate written information clearly and concisely), presenting to groups (the person’s ability to make formal presentations to groups of people), and conducting meetings (indicated by how well the person leads meetings) (Pfaff, 1993, p. PCI A2). There are also seven skills that are classified as relational skills that influence the implementation o f the “communication skills” and impact how an individual is perceived by others. These seven factors include approachability/acceptance (indicates whether the person is easy to talk to, friendly and accepting of others and their ideas), flexibility (reflects the level of adaptability and tolerance for the ideas of others), influencing others (indicated how well the person can persuade and motivate others to take action), cooperation (shows whether the person promotes collaboration and harmony within the work group), trust (reflects the extent to which the person promotes a climate to trust in the work group), support (indicates whether the person recognizes individuals for their contributions, and does so in a timely manner), and technical expertise (which is the general level of technical competence the person demonstrates) (Pfaff, 1993, p. PCI A3). The PCI instrument consists of 70 behavioral based descriptor items in five general sections. Participants use the inventory to rate skills, rather than personality characteristics, 45 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. and are asked to focus on how frequently a person actually does the behavior listed. To achieve this skills focus, the 70 items are “rated on a seven-point Likert type scale: ‘ 1 ’ means that the person virtually never does what the statement describes; ‘4’ that he or she does sometimes; and, ‘7’ that he or she does it virtually always.” (Pfaff 1993, p. PCI 1-1). After PCI data are collected, a report is generated, providing data from the different raters in data tables, charts and summary formats. The report also includes group norms and overall general population means for each of the 12 dimensions. This report is well-suited for coaching, individual assessments as part of skill training programs, and can be used as an outcome measure of training. The PCI was developed over a two year period with initial data collected from 623 individuals in the pharmaceutical, manufacturing, engineering and educational fields (Pfaff 1993; Blair 1993). The items were verified with three iterations of factor analysis, content validity was verified through a review of the business communication literature and a review by experts in the business communication field, and face validity has been confirmed by participants (Pfaff 1993; L. A. Pfaff, personal communication, March 18, 2005). The internal reliability o f the 12 factors was assessed using the initial 623 participants. The assessment process for internal reliability analyzes how consistent the participant results are on different items within the same construct for results obtained at the same time (Spector, 1992). This assessment o f the homogeneity of items is expressed in a reliability coefficient, with Cronbach's Alpha “probably used most often” (Pedhazur & Schmelkin, 1991, p. 922). Pfaff (1993) calculated the Alpha for each factor in the PCI instrument, leading to the following results: speaking (.84), listening (.85), writing (.80), 46 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. presenting to groups (.76), conducting meetings (.94), approachability/acceptance (.83), flexibility (.91), influencing others (.94), cooperation (.92), trust (.87), support (.91), and technical expertise (.88). The results of each of the 12 measures exceed the widely accepted rule of thumb of .70 to demonstrate internal consistency for a scale (Spector, 1992). While well applied across the business community, the PCI has not been actively utilized in communication or management research. Blair (1993) did utilize the instrument as part of an investigation into the relationship between communication skills of first-line nurse supervisors and employment stability. In this example, the PCI was used to measure communication skills as one of two factors examined. The only other known work utilizing the PCI instrument has been conducted by Pfaff and Busch to continually update the norming data. Despite its limited involvement with research in the communication and management fields, there are several distinct advantages of the Professional Communication Inventory as a tool to assess communication skills, support communication training efforts, and support the current research. First, the instrument is appropriate for MBA audiences. The PCI was specifically designed for employees in professional, technical and managerial positions to assist in evaluating and developing skills (L. A. Pfaff, personal communication, March 18, 2005). This is consistent with the usage in the current study with fully-employed professionals and managers in an MBA program. Second, the instrument has a proven track record of being utilized to assess and assist in the development of communication skills in a business context. With nearly 47 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. fifteen years of usage in the manufacturing, finance, service, education and healthcare fields, the instrument has been repeatedly deployed in business organizations as diverse as small engineering firms and Fortune 500 companies (Pfaff, 1993; Blair, 1993; L. A. Pfaff, personal communication, March 18, 2005). Third, the instrument is behaviorallv based and seeks to assess the frequency of both positive and negative behaviors rather than utilizing a satisfaction scale. The behavior-based approach allows raters to better isolate and evaluate the particular actions comprising a communication skill, leading to more accurate assessments. For example, in assessing listening skills, raters are asked to assess the frequency that the participant “displays interest in what is being said,” and “tries to understand the other person’s point of view,” rather than being asked to assess the degree s/he is a good listener (Pfaff & Busch, 1992, p. 2). Fourth, the PCI is designed as a multi-rater and multi-level instrument and does not rely exclusively on self reports. Research into self evaluation and multi-rater feedback suggests rather strongly that “it is important to simultaneously consider self-ratings and other ratings in explaining managerial effectiveness” (Atwater et al., 1998, pp. 593-594). More generally, in a review of 113 empirical studies on performance appraisals, evaluations and feedback, Wanguri (1995) concluded that multi-rater performance appraisals improved accuracy, fairness, and provides higher quality information for selection decisions. In many organizations, this multi-rater approach has become common practice as almost every Fortune 100 company is now doing multi-rater feedback (Rogers et al., 2002). The PCI instrument was specifically constructed and the computerized scoring 48 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. software was created to allow multi-rater feedback from supervisors, subordinates, peers and even evaluations from clients and customers to complement self-reports. All of this data can be represented on an individual’s customized feedback report making the results of the PCI superior. Fifth, the instrument is norm-based. This data norming allows for easier interpretations of results and more accurate comparison of individuals’ skill levels across factors. To provide clearer peer comparisons, feedback reports include an individual’s percentile ranking for each of the 12 communication skills in each rater category. Six, the PCI is communication focused (Blair, 1993; Pfaff, 1993). The instrument maintains a uniquely communication-based focus and brings unusual depth to the analysis of communication related skills in a business environment. The PCI was originally created by Pfaff & Associates to fit a market need not being met by the organization’s Management-Leadership Practices Inventory, a multi-rater assessment instrument of management and leadership skills. As such, the PCI was developed from the ground up with a singular communication focus (L. A. Pfaff, personal communication, March 18, 2005). This communication focus is unusual in multi-rater instruments. Popular multi rater instruments like Personnel Decisions International’s (PDI) Profilor and the Center for Creative Leadership’s (CCL) SkillScope do assess communication and relational skills, yet the focus o f these instruments are far more diverse. In the case o f the standard management Profiler from PDI, only two of the eight categories and six of the 24 competencies are communication and relationally focused (Personnel Decisions International, 2003). For CCL, six of the 15 core skills are communication and relationally 49 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. related, yet key areas like speaking, writing and listening skills are not differentiated (Center for Creative Leadership, 2004). Finally, the instrument is philosophically consistent with the Transtheoretical model utilized in the present research and originally proposed by Prochaska and DiClemente (1983). The PCI is primarily used as a platform to assess and coach individuals as a means of gaining behavioral change. To enhance this behavioral development, the PCI’s supporting material addresses the change process and introduces a highly compatible conceptualization of assessing the readiness of individuals to take action. For example, PCI debriefing material, in the consultants’ manual, introduces and utilizes a four stage framework for understanding change readiness that includes pre contemplation, contemplation, action, and maintenance (Pfaff, 1993). Customized questionnaire. A 34-item survey was created to capture demographic information on study participants, to assess perceived behavioral changes and to examine skill building behaviors in the ten months between the initial implementation of the PCI in August 2003 and its re-test in June 2004. The first section of the questionnaire, comprised of thirteen questions, asks participants to assess actions taken to enhance their communication related skills between the initial implementation of the PCI and the PCI re-test. Participants were specifically asked to identify their targeted skill for development, the degree to which they engaged in actions facilitating skill development (i.e., Processes of Change in Prochaska’s model) and for examples of action taken. The questions in this first section, focusing on actions facilitating skill development, provide an analysis of the utilization of the individual processes of change 50 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. that had been integrated into the communication program as a result o f the communication skill building initiative. Five of Prochaska’s processes of change were embedded into the program and identified as the primary processes all study participants had access to and were encouraged to undertake as part of the MBA program. Those five processes include: a) consciousness raising, b) self reevaluation, c) commitment, d) social liberation, and e) helping relationships and collectively cover each stage in an individual’s self transformation from precontemplation to maintenance. The questions in this section assess the skill building behaviors in the ten previous months and allowed for the identification of the targeted communication skill to better utilize the PCI results. The second section of the questionnaire, comprised of five questions, identifies the degree to which participants have experienced change in their awareness, efforts, skills and overall Stage of Change. The first three of these questions parallel the less visible outcomes resulting from taking action (i.e., “increases in awareness,” “efforts,” and “skills”) occurring in addition to actual behavior change. The final two questions in this section assess the individual’s overall communication skill development and progress within the stages of change. The third and final section contains 16 demographic and background questions. These questions primarily focus on traditional classifications (e.g., age, sex, etc.), investigate changes in the professional careers of the participants, and look at their leadership roles. The section also asks for a self-assessment of their current communication skills and their initial Stage of Change. These three sections in the customized questionnaire allow for an investigation of the processes of change related to the participant’s targeted communication skills, their 51 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. overall communication skill development and the theoretical linkage o f the processes and stages of change suggested in the Transtheoretical model. The researcher administered the customized questionnaire. Participants The participants for the study represent a convenience sample drawn from an MBA program for working professionals. Representing a broad cross section o f professional functions, organizations and industries, the participant population represents a large group of successful business professionals working in more than 100 organizations in the Southwestern United States region. Their commonality is participation in a part-time MBA program designed for working professionals. A primary purpose for their enrollment in the graduate program is educational with a one focus being skill development. This MBA program is at a large, private, research university located in the Southwestern United States. The program holds classes on weekday evenings and targets students wishing to remain fully employed while earning their graduate business degree. The program is continually ranked among the ten best part-time MBA programs in the nation. The typical work experience of individuals entering the part-time program is a mean of six years with a range of the middle 80% being 32 to 108 months (Part-Time MBA Profile, 2004). The mean age of entering students is 29 years old with the range of the middle 80% being 25 to 33 years old (Part-Time MBA Profile, 2004). This level of maturity and experience is ideal in that this population is consistent with many corporate training participants and vastly superior to the study o f undergraduate student or military populations that have been more heavily utilized in past research. 52 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Due in part to the generalist focus of the MBA program at this university, the population contains a high degree of diversity across individuals’ professional functions. Engineering is the largest single employment category, accounting for 13 percent, with other major categories include Information Systems (9%), Sales (9%), Marketing/Advertising (8%), Corporate Finance (8%), Operations Management (8%), Project Management (7%), Consulting (6%), Accounting (5%), and Financial Services (4%). More than a fifth of the individuals are in other professional functions that individually represent two percent or less of the overall population (Program Overview, 2004). This population represents the current and future leaders o f their organizations. Many have been encouraged to earn their MBA degree by their employers and others have decided on their own to earn the degree enabling further advancement and expanded responsibilities at their employer. Thus, this diverse population o f business professionals represents a group of individuals essentially self selecting to continue their professional education and develop further business skills. Typical of MBA programs, only thirty percent of this population is female making females underrepresented relative to the general population. Additionally, approximately eleven percent of the population is international, as defined as being from outside the United States (Part-Time MBA Profile, 2004). The first year of this three year, part-time MBA program is delivered in two geographic locations. The main campus is in a major southwestern city with a second campus located in a large business area approximately 50 miles to the South. This area is comprised of a cluster of large cities, a population of more than a million people and 53 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. includes a major international airport. Program statistics for the incoming, fall 2003, class do not indicate significant demographic differences between the two locations, and the faculty, courses, programming and class make-up are considered to be roughly equivalent. The present study draws participants from the 127 individuals at the slightly smaller Southern location. The sample represents nearly ideal diversity. Although a convenience sample, the breadth of organizations and industries represented, the diversity of professional functions and the maturity of the individuals in age and experience allow for results highly generalizable to the broader corporate environment. The sample avoids a focus on one company, industry or profession, is relatively large and is comprised o f individuals who are most typical of individuals seeking skill development within the corporate context. One hundred and twenty seven students were eligible to participate in the research project in the fall of 2003. To participate fully, students needed to have submitted on their behalf completed self and supervisor PCI assessment instruments in the fall of 2003, have submitted on their behalf the PCI assessment re-test of self and supervisor in the summer of 2004, complete the research questionnaire which was administered during the re-test process, identify their targeted communication skill, and grant permission for their involvement in the research project. O f the 127 potential participants, nine were unable to participate due to the termination of their enrollment in the MBA program resulting in the completion of 118 customized questionnaires. O f those individuals, thirty subjects did not participate in the initial PCI assessment process, ten failed to identify a target communication skill, eight chose not to participate in this particular study, and three had incomplete data. 54 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. A total of 67 subjects therefore met the requirements for at least partial inclusion in this project. Nine of these individuals were missing one PCI post assessment (self or supervisor), yet met all other requirements and were included in the category for which they had submitted post assessment data. O f these, 64 participants had complete pre- and post-PCI assessments for themselves and 54 had complete pre and post PCI assessments from their supervisor and met all other eligibility requirements. Analysis The multiple regression analysis uses behavioral enhancement in the targeted, primary communication skill as the criterion variable for the two research questions. This enhancement is reflected as the change in the pre- and post-Professional Communication Inventory (PCI) assessment scores for participants’ self-targeted communication skill. The five predictor variables are skill development behaviors operationalized from the processes of change. Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient analyses provided bi-variate results for the testing of the seven hypotheses. Behavioral enhancement in the targeted, primary communication skill again serves as the criterion variable. Five primary predictor variables are again skill development behaviors from the processes of change. One additional predictor variable is associated with the action stage of the stages of change where individuals overtly modify their activities and the final predictor variable is associated with the level of self-reported change that occurred in the targeted communication skill. The results were analyzed with SPSS (for Windows, vl2.0) in order to test the hypotheses and research questions. 55 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. C H A PT ER IV RESU LTS Results related to participant demographics, faculty involvement and the stage progressions of the participants are initially reported. Then the results of the seven hypotheses are reported in two sections. The first section reports the first five hypotheses that focus on the skill development behaviors from the processes of change, while the second section details the two final hypotheses that more generally focus on participant action and change efforts. The next two sections describe the results of the two research questions, initially reporting on the first research questions that details predictor variables accounting for the greatest amount of overall variance within the targeted communication skills criterion variables. Then, the second research question is examined that details the predictor variables within particular stages of change that account for the greatest amount of overall variance within the targeted communication skills criterion variables. Demographics o f Participants The participants were consistent with the demographic statistics representing the larger population of part-time MBA students at the University and reported in the participant section of the methodology. O f the 64 participants completing pre- and post- PCI assessments for themselves, the average age of the participants was 29.17 and the percentage of females was 29.7. O f the 54 participants submitting completed pre- and post-PCI assessments from their supervisor, the average age of the participants was 29.19 and the percentage of females was 33.3. Additionally, there were no significant differences between the demographic characteristics of those individuals that completed data sufficient 56 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. to be included in the subset utilized to examine the self or supervisor change in the PCI pre-test and post-test for their number one targeted skill and the 110 individuals who chose to participate in the present research. Impact o f Course Faculty Two different experienced, full-time faculty members taught the MBA business communication classes attended by the participants of this study. Both faculty members had previously taught the course several times, regularly coordinated their efforts across their different sections, had co-created the class schedule, and utilized the same syllabus, learning objectives, assignments, activities and general class structure. A correlation analysis was conducted examining the relationships between the two faculty members and the recorded change in pre and post PCI scores for targeted communication skills on both the self and supervisor results. No statistically significant results were found. Progression o f Stages Skill development in an individual is facilitated by their progression out of the initial three stages of change; precontemplation (SI), contemplation (S2) and preparation (S3), and into the action (S4) and maintenance stages (S5) where overt behavioral change occurs. Therefore, one key measure of initial success in a developmental effort is the ability of individuals to successfully progress within the stage framework. In the case of these participants, 46.6% of the participants progressed, 42.2% saw no change and 11.2% regressed across the ten month period. The regression is not unexpected as it is a normal part of the behavior change process where most self changers do not successfully progress through all the stages on their first attempt and where individuals desiring to modify their behaviors are likely to regress repeatedly, often taking three or four attempts to be 57 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. successful (Prochaska, Norcross & DiClemente, 1994). This regression does not imply a loss of skills, but rather a decrease or even termination o f their attention and actions focused on the change effort. Hypotheses One Through Five H1-H5 examine factors in the processes of change theorized to positively correlate with, if not lead to, behavioral change. Each hypothesis was tested against two measures of behavioral change. The first was the change identified in the #1 targeted communication skill in the pre and post PCI self assessments completed by the participants (referred to as “Self Change in PCI pre/post for #1 target” in Table 1). The second was the change identified in the #1 targeted communication skill in the pre and post PCI assessments completed by the participants’ supervisors (referred to as “Supervisor Change in PCI pre/post for #1 target in Table 1). In hypothesis one, consciousness raising activities were correlated with positive behavioral change recorded in the supervisor PCI assessments for the targeted communication skill. For the self assessments, there was no significant correlation with consciousness raising activities. For the supervisor assessments, a correlation of .310 exists that is significant (sig = .023). Hypothesis two correlates the positive behavioral change with self reevaluation activities. For the self assessments, a correlation of .342 exists that is significant (sig = .006). For the supervisor assessments, there was no significant correlation with self reevaluation activities. In hypothesis three, commitment activities were correlated with positive behavioral change. For the self assessments, a correlation of .323 exists that is significant (sig = .009). 58 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. For the supervisor assessments, there was no significant correlation with commitment activities. Table 1 Summary of Statistical Results: Hypotheses One Through Five Self Change in Supervisor Change in Process of Change PCI pre/post PCI pre/post for # 1 target for # 1 target Pearson Correlation .108 .310* HI: Consciousness Sig. (2-tailed) .397 .023 Raising N 64 54 Pearson Correlation .342** -.057 H2: Self Sig. (2-tailed) .006 .683 Reevaluation N 64 54 Pearson Correlation .323** .018 H3: Commitment Sig. (2-tailed) .009 .895 N 64 54 Pearson Correlation .183 .065 H4: Social Sig. (2-tailed) .149 .641 Liberation N 64 54 Pearson Correlation .049 -.045 H5: Helping Sig. (2-tailed) .700 .749 N 64 54 * = statistica ly significant result at the p = .05 probability of error level ** = statistically significant result at the p = .01 probability o f error level For hypothesis four. social liberation activities were correlated with positive behavioral change. For the self assessments and for the supervisor assessments there was no significant correlation with social liberation activities. In hypothesis five. helping activities were correlated with positive behavioral change. For the self assessments and for the supervisor assessments there was no significant correlation with social liberation activities. These findings are also reported in Table 1. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Hypotheses Six & Seven H6 and H7 examine two predictor variables associated with the action stage of the stages of change. This stage is where individuals most overtly modify their activities, and overt behavior change occurs. Each hypothesis was tested against the two measures of behavioral change discussed above (e.g. “Self Change in PCI pre/post for #1 target” and “Supervisor Change in PCI pre/post for #1 target). Findings are reported in Table 2. For hypothesis six, action taking activities were correlated with positive behavioral change. For the self assessments, a correlation of .329 exists that is significant (sig = .008). For the supervisor assessments, there was no significant correlation with action taking activities and behavioral change. In hypothesis seven. the level of self-reported change cited on the questionnaire is correlated with the positive behavioral change recorder through the PCI pre post-test mechanism. Table 2 Summary of Statistical Results: Hypotheses Six and Seven Self Change in Supervisor Change Action Variables PCI pre/post in PCI pre/post for # 1 target for # 1 target Pearson Correlation .329** -.042 H6: Action Taking Sig. (2-tailed) .008 .765 N 64 54 Pearson Correlation .191 .170 H7: Self-Reported Sig. (2-tailed) .130 .218 Change N 64 54 ** = statistically significant result at the p = .01 probability of error level For the self assessments and for the supervisor assessments there was no significant correlation between the self-reported change and the behavioral change recorded in the PCI assessments. These findings are also reported in Table 2. 60 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Research Question One The first research question analyzes the change in pre- and post-PCI scores for the number one targeted skill competency in conjunction with participants’ self-reported usage of individual processes of change. Specifically, five processes were examined (consciousness raising activities, self reevaluation activities, commitment activities, social liberation and helping behaviors) to determine their predictive value and to determine which processed account for the greatest amounts of variance. Data were gathered and analyzed from both participants and supervisors. Stepwise multiple regression was utilized with the change in behavior between the pre and post PCI assessments for the #1 targeted communication skill utilized as the criterion variable. Results can be seen graphically in Figure 1. Figure 1 Predictors of Behavioral Change, Global Level, Supervisor & Self Assessments Self PCI - All Participants P re /P o s t C h an g e #1 T arg et .103 .069 S elf R eev alu atio n C o n sc io u s n e s s R aising C om m itm ent Social Liberalization Helping R elatio n sh ip s .079 Supervisor PCI - All Participants P re /P o st C h a n g e #1 T a rg et (PCI S elf & S u p erv iso r P re /P o st C h an g e in #1 T a rg e t = Criterion V ariable; (R eg ressio n ) w / 5 P ro c e s s e s ) 61 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Beginning with the self assessment, two variables representing self reevaluation and commitment were entered into the regression model. The self reevaluation component entered first and had an adjusted R square of .103, followed by the commitment component which raised the adjusted R square to .172, or 17.2 percent of the overall variance in this variable was explained. Next, using the supervisor assessment data, only one variable representing consciousness raising entered into the regression model. The adjusted R square was .079, or 7.9 percent of the overall variance in this variable was explained. Research Question Two The second research question investigates what predictor variables account for the greatest amount of variance within particular stages of change. Rather than focusing globally on the processes of change, this question seeks an exploration involving the use of stages. Initially, the participants were divided into two primary categories with the presence or absence of overt action being the determining factor. Stages one through three definitionally assume no current action toward skill development while stages four and five assume ongoing effort. The “no action” category represents individuals in the first three stages of the stages of change (S1-S3) while the “action” category represents those in the later stages (S4-S5). In the next level of analysis, the stage level, each of the stages is examined individually for predictors among the processes of change. In both cases the research is looking specifically at five processes of change: consciousness raising activities, self reevaluation activities, commitment activities, social liberation and helping behaviors. 62 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Self-reported change from pre/post-tests. The findings of the self-reported behavioral change in the pre- and post-PCI are addressed initially (e.g. Self Change in PCI pre/post for #1 target). In the global level of analysis in Figure 1, where stage is not taken into consideration, the predictors were weak and concentrated in two areas: a) self reevaluation and b) commitment activities. Beginning with the self assessments, and where the participant is in a “no action” stage (S I-S3), one variable representing self reevaluation entered into the stepwise regression model. The adjusted R square was .336, or 33.6% of the variance was explained when examing participants in the no action category. This is considerably higher than the .103 seen in the global model for the self data. This can be seen in Figure 2. Figure 2 Predictors of Behavioral Change, Global and Action Levels, Self Assessments .103 .069 .336 .093 Self Reevaluation Social Liberalization Commitment C onsciousness Raising Helping Relationships All Cases (Self) PCI Self P re/P ost C hange #1 Target S1-S3 (No Action) Self PCI Self P re/P ost C hange #1 Target S4-S5 (Active) Self PCI Self Pre/P ost C hange #1 Target (PCI Self P re/P ost C hange In #1 T arget = Criterion Variable; (R egression) w/ 5 P rocesses) 63 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Continuing with the self assessments, and where participants’ fall in “action” stages (S4-S5), one variable representing commitment entered into the stepwise regression model. The adjusted R square was .093 or 9.3 percent of the variance was explained. At the global level, 6.9% of the variance was explained and that was susceptible to problems of colinearity. By looking at these two conditions (when participants are not taking action as in stages one through three and when participants are taking action in stages four and five) individually, the two previous predictors of self reevaluation and commitment activities are actually occurring at different aspects of the change process (see Figure 2), and their predictive value is stronger once the level of activity toward the enhancement of skills is known by determining their developmental stage of change. Moving to the next level of analysis, the stage level, where each o f the stages is examined individually, clear and specific linkages were found within three of the five stages, as can be seen in Figure 3. In stage one (Precontemplation), one variable representing self reevaluation is entered into the stepwise regression model. The adjusted R square was .243, or 24.3 percent of the variance was explained. In stage two (Contemplation), no variable was found to significantly predict the criterion variance. In stage three (Preparation), one variable representing helping relationships entered into the stepwise regression model, with an adjusted R square of .697, or 69.7 percent of the variance was explained. The process of helping relationships was not uncovered in the two previous levels of analysis, yet is a strong predictor (.697) of stage three behavioral change. In stage four (Action), one variable representing commitment entered into the stepwise regression model, with an 64 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Figure 3 Predictors of Behavioral Change, Action and Stage Levels, Self Assessments .093, .336 .697 .228 .243 Self Reevaluation Social Liberalization Commitment C onsciousness Raising Helping Relationships PCI Self Pre/P ost Change #1 Target S2 PCI Self Pre/P ost C hange #1 Target PCI Self P re/P ost C hange #1 Target PCI Self Pre/P ost C hange #1 Target PCI Self P re/P ost Change #1 Target S4-S5 (Active) Self PCI Self P re/P ost C hange #1 Target S1-S3 (No Action) Self PCI Self Pre/P ost C hange #1 Target (PCI Self Pre/P ost C hange in #1 T arget = Criterion Variable; (R egression) w/ 5 P rocesses) adjusted R square of .228, or 28.8 percent of the variance was explained. Again, this is considerably higher than the .09 seen in the action level analysis for the self data. In stage five (Maintenance), no variable was found to significantly predict the criterion variance. It can now be seen that self reevaluation is really providing significant predictive value only to stage one participants, and similarly, commitment activities provide significant predictive value only to stage four participants (see Figure 3) indicating a global application of these processes as hinted at by research question one may be misplaced. A global perspective would also miss the strong predictive value helping relationships have in stage three participants. 65 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Supervisor reported change from pre/post-tests. The findings o f the supervisor reported behavioral change in the pre and post PCI is addressed next (e.g. Supervisor Change in PCI pre/post for #1 target). In the first level of analysis, where stage is not taken into consideration, the predictor is weak and concentrated in only one area: consciousness-raising activities as was shown on Figure 1. Two explorations involving the stage level were again undertaken, beginning initially with the participants broken down into “no action” and “action” categories. Utilizing the supervisor assessments, and where the participant is in a no action stage (Sl- S3), no variable was found to significantly predict the results. This is logical as it would not be until stage four, when an individual took overt action, that a supervisor would begin to see the behavioral change necessary for them to rate the participant higher on a post-test instrument (see Figure 4). Continuing with the supervisor assessments and where the participant is in an action stage (S4-S5), two variable representing consciousness raising and commitment were entered into the stepwise regression model. The consciousness raising component entered first and had an adjusted R square of .163, followed by the commitment component which raised the adjusted R square to .311, indicating 31.1 percent of the variance was explained by the two variables. By looking at the categories individually, “action” and “no action,” consciousness raising can be seen as primarily occurring in the “action” stages, and its predictive value is stronger once the level of activity toward the enhancement of skills is known. Similarly, the emergence of commitment activity as a predictor of successful behavioral change occurs only when analyzing “action” stage participants (see Figure 4). 66 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Figure 4 Predictors of Behavioral Change, Global and Action Levels, Supervisor Assessments S 4 -S 5 (Active) S u p PCI Supervisor Pre/Post Change #1 Target S 1 -S 3 (No Action) S u p PCI Supervisor Pre/Post Change #1 Target All C a s e s (S up) PCI Supervisor; Pre/Post Change #1 Target (PCI Supervisor Pre/Post Change In #1 Target = Criterion Variable: (Regression) w/ 5 Processes) .079 .163 .148 Moving to the next level o f analysis, the stage level, each of the stages is examined individually for predictors among the processes of change. Clear and specific relationships were found between processes of change and behavioral change in only two of the five stages. As would be expected when looking at supervisorial assessments, the two stages were action and maintenance which both fall in the action category and would thus be visible to the supervisors. When examining data from the supervisor’s assessments, in stage one (Precontemplation), stage two (Contemplation), and stage three (Preparation), no variables were found to significantly predict criterion variance. In stage four (Action), two variables representing consciousness raising and self reevaluation entered into the stepwise 67 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. regression model. The consciousness raising component entered first and had an adjusted R square of .360, followed by the self reevaluation component raising the adjusted R square to .643, or 64.3 percent of the variance was explained by the two variables. In stage five (Maintenance), one variable representing commitment entered into the stepwise regression model. The adjusted R square was .242, or 24.2 percent of the variance was explained (see Figure 5). Figure 5 Predictors of Behavioral Change, Action and Stage Levels, Supervisor Assessments .163 .148 .360 .242 .283 Self Reevaluation Social Liberalization C onsciousness Raising Commitment Helping Relationships S2 PCI Supervisor Pre/P ost C hange #1 Target S4 PCI Supervisor Pre/P ost C hange #1 Target PCI Supervisor P re/P ost C hange #1 Target S3 PCI Supervisor Pre/P ost C hange #1 Target S5 PCI Supervisor P re/P ost C hange #1 Target S1-S3 (No Action) Sup PCI Supervisor Pre/P ost C hange #1 Target S4-S5 (Active) Sup PCI Supervisor P re/P ost C hange #1 Target (PCI Supervisor P re/P ost C hange In #1 Target = Criterion Variable; (R egression) w/ 5 P rocesses) Overall, in the first five hypotheses, three significant correlations were found between the processes of change and the development o f communication skills. In 68 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. hypothesis six, a significant correlation was also found between taking action and the development o f communication skills. Looking at the two research questions, four processes of change (consciousness raising, self reevaluation, commitment, and helping relationships) were identified as explaining significant variance in a participant’s development of skills. The differentiation of participants by their current level of action towards skill development and their individual stage of change allowed for a greater explanation of variance. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. C H A PT ER V D ISC U SSIO N This research project has important implications for the Transtheoretical model and particularly its stages and processes of change. This project also has important implications for the development of communication skills in MBA audiences and of skill development in a business context more broadly. The results indicate the Transtheoretical model’s stage-based architecture allows for the recognition of specific and targeted relationships accounting for as much as eight times more variance in communication skill development than a traditional global approach. Additionally, by leveraging a stage-based approach, up to three times as many processes of change were revealed as playing important roles in communication skill development. These additional processes accounted for significant and meaningful variance at individual stage levels that would have been missed in a global analysis. The results also provide important progress in further unraveling the applicability, effectiveness and contextuality of the individual processes of change. Within the business context, it was discovered that the change processes are occurring earlier and, in several cases, prior to when they have been previously conceptualized. Moving from the self assessment data to the supervisor generated data, there is an equally important story as the alignments of the processes o f change within the stages are again different from the traditional behavior health based conceptualizations. Yet, for the supervisor generated data, individual processes of change are producing skill development later in the change process than has been previously conceptualized or recognized. 70 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Finally, the results have significant and valuable implications for the development of communication skills in a business context like an MBA program. Progression o f the participants through the stages of change plays a key role in determining training effectiveness and the results were very strong. At least 77 percent of the participants in the “no action” stages progressed forward and had a mean advancement of over two stages. More remarkably, six months after the conclusion of their communication course, more than three-quarters of the participants were still consciously and actively developing their communication skills, indicating the stage-based, skill development process was effectively producing skill development long after the formal MBA communication program had ended. However, much of this change activity did not occur and was not seen at the workplace resulting in depressed post-test scores on the Professional Communication Inventory. Utilizing the greater opportunities and safety in the MBA program, relatively few participants developed and demonstrated their stronger skills in the workplace exposing a broad-based training transfer issue. Below is a complete discussion of the hypotheses, research questions and stage progressions followed by an analysis of theoretical contributions and practical applications from the project as well as limitations and directions for future research. Hypotheses One Through Seven The first five hypotheses operationalized the processes of change that this study targeted, seeking to identify correlations between their use and skill improvements recognized through improved post-test PCI instrument scores. Several correlations were identified, yet they have moderate predictive and practical utility. A different group of 71 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. processes were identified as correlated to skill improvements in the self versus supervisor generated data. Hypothesis one. This hypothesis uncovered a positive correlation between “consciousness raising” activities and the development of targeted communication skills. This hypothesis was supported in the supervisor-generated data, but not the self-generated data from the pre-post PCI assessments. It appears that the level of participant analysis of multi-rater feedback is a key component in determining the likelihood participants will, in the judgment of their supervisor, successfully enhance their skills. This has implications for 360 feedback tools and the value of receiving and analyzing feedback from a supervisor. At the global level, it was only those participants that sought to identify potential weaknesses in their skills and looked at their self and supervisor feedback that were correlated with positive changes in their supervisor’s perception o f their skills. The results also indicate that the analysis and identification of strengths and weaknesses did not correlate with enhancement of skill levels on self completed PCI assessments. It may be that many participants are already aware of their individual communication strengths and weaknesses and increased awareness alone does not link to additional skill development. Taken together, it appears that the supervisor component of the multi-rater results maybe most useful and by uncovering and encouraging participants to target skills sought by employers, the use and analysis of these types of assessments may be a key tool in career development and success. Hypothesis two. This hypothesis uncovered a positive correlation between the process of “self reevaluation” activities and the development of targeted communication skills in the self generated data. This hypothesis was not supported in the supervisor 72 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. generated data. In essence, the level of importance a person attaches to the enhancement of a particular skill is correlated with the development of that skill in the self generated PCI data. This follows as the more central a person feels the development of a particular skill may be, the more they would focus their efforts in that direction. The lack of support from the supervisor generated data for this process of change could be that this process is generally associated with early stages of change (as in Figure 3) and thus does not typically result in overt action the supervisor would recognize. There is also the possibility that the multi-rater data alone may not be sufficient to enhance the level of importance that individuals see in areas that the supervisor data suggests attention should be focused. Hypothesis three. This hypothesis uncovered a positive correlation between the process of “commitment” activities and the development of targeted communication skills in the self generated data. This hypothesis was not supported in the supervisor generated data. Essentially, the degree to which participants communicated the specific competency that they sought to improve with classmates, co-workers, supervisors or others was positively correlated with positive behavioral change in the self generated PCI data. This is consistent with the influence strategy of commitment and consistency and it follows that the more extensively that an individual publicly commits to developing a skill, the more likely they would achieve results. The lack of support from the supervisor generated data for this process of change is not unexpected given the opportunities outside of work that participants had to develop and practice their skills. With close-knit, year long study teams and a wide range of classes that called for and allowed the participants to develop their communication skills, many 73 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. saw these MBA program related opportunities as providing a safer environment with less downside risk than their workplace. Thus, commitments would less likely be made to workplace individuals and supervisors would not necessarily be aware of the participant’s efforts in their particular targeted skill area. The workplace environment and the supervisor in particular would also be less likely to be exposed to the initial skill gains that occurred. Hypothesis four. This hypothesis sought to uncover a positive correlation between “social liberation” activities and the development of targeted communication skills. This hypothesis was not supported in either the supervisor generated or self generated PCI data. In the case of this investigation, the social liberation activities were operationalized around the use of an action planner. This tool was designed as an external aid to assist the change efforts of individuals and specifically encourage consciousness raising, self reevaluation and commitment processes as well as serving as a tool to identify, plan and record the results of skill development efforts. In helping to facilitate action, it may have been successful indirectly as use of the planner was significantly correlated with consciousness raising activities (.249, sig .007), commitment activities (.433, sig .000), and helping relationship activities (.287, sig .002). As designed, the action planner may have been too broad to operationalize this factor alone and as it was introduced very early in the program, there may have been some resistant from those not yet in the action stage. It is also relevant to note that four self measures of skill development were included in the customized questionnaire that participants completed. Participants were asked if they had altered their awareness toward their target competency, their efforts toward their target competency, their target competency skills and their overall 74 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. communication skills. These questions are in line with types of progress that people experience when progressing through the stages of change. The level o f utilization of the action planner was significantly correlated with each of these four outcome variables: awareness (.207, sig .024); effort (.213, sig .020); skills (.273, sig .003) and overall skills (.293, sig .001). The social liberation activities operationalized in the action planner were correlated with self perceptions of skill development. However, these social liberation activities were not correlated with the skill development recorded in the PCI instrument that focuses on the actual workplace usage o f these behaviors, leading to an unsupported hypothesis. Hypothesis five. This hypothesis sought to uncover a positive correlation between “helping relationships” activities and the development of targeted communication skills. This hypothesis was not supported in either the supervisor generated or self generated data. Essentially, the degree to which participants received support or assistance from others in taking specific action to improve their skills was not correlated to behavioral skill development recorded in the self or supervisor generated PCI data. The results are surprising given that participants had a wide range of helping relationships available including study group members, classmates, faculty members, co-workers, supervisors and friends. It is possible that these resources were underutilized or that the participants did not feel they had the time to utilize them. Additionally, although helping relationships are normally seen as advantageous to those in the later stages o f skill development, the participant population was heavily weighted toward the action and maintenance stages, so again one would have expected to see more utilization and connection to skill development among these participants. 75 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. In the data, there is again a divergence between the four self measures of skill development included in the customized questionnaire completed by participants and the level of skill development recorded on the PCI instrument. The level of support received in taking specific action was significantly correlated with each of the four self-measured outcome variables: awareness (.206, sig .025); effort (.294, sig .001); skills (.327, sig .000) and overall skills (.367, sig .000). The helping relationship activities were correlated with these self perceptions of skill development. However, these helping relationship activities were not correlated with the skill development recorded in the PCI instrument that focuses on the actual usage of these behaviors in the workplace, leading to an unsupported hypothesis. Hypothesis six. This hypothesis sought to find a positive correlation between “action” taking activities and the development of targeted communication skills. This hypothesis was not supported in the supervisor generated data, but was supported in the self generated data. Action in this context is not a reference to a process of change but rather references a stage of the model where overt action occurs to support behavioral change efforts. An attempt was made to determine the degree to which participants undertook specific targeted action to develop a skill and its correlation with the development of that skill as recorded in the self and supervisor generated PCI data. It follows with the self data that the level of action an individual takes toward skill development is connected to the level of skill development. In the supervisor generated PCI data, there was no correlation between action taking behaviors and skill development. This could be occurring as the action taken and skill development efforts may not be in the workplace, it may be on skills not central to the 76 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. supervisor’s perceptions of areas needing development and if in the workplace, may not be in front of or noticed by the supervisor. It is also possible that for those seeking to enhance their reputation with their supervisor, a few well placed actions taken at work could have a much larger impact than many actions taken in private. Hypothesis seven. This hypothesis sought to uncover a positive correlation between self-reported change from the customized questionnaire (awareness, efforts and skill) and the development of targeted communication skills reported on the PCI. This hypothesis was not supported in either the supervisor generated or self generated data. This creates a dilemma as the level of skill development reported on the questionnaires does not match their workplace behaviors that they have also self-reported or the workplace behaviors reported by their supervisor’s. It is likely that both sets o f data are accurate and reflect both the positive and negative aspects of having such a safe environment within the MBA program to develop new skills. It is likely that individuals are developing skills, but they are doing it in the classroom and in their study groups and have not yet transferred those skills to the workplace. This disconnect with the workplace is likely caused by a high perception of workplace risk, low perceptions of reward and in some cases the absence of opportunity. Research Question One The first research question uncovered predictor variables accounting for the greatest amount of overall variance within the targeted communication skill criterion variables. In the self data, self reevaluation (.103) and commitment activities (.069), account for a small amount of variance, demonstrating weak predictive utility. For the supervisor-generated data, one weak predictor was found in consciousness raising (.079). 77 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. In both cases, the results, while statistically significant, would not have a great deal of practical use in the design or facilitation of a business or communication training program. From these results, one can see that the processes of change are having an impact, yet that impact is muted as the strong relationships between individual stages and processes are lost when the data is examined at the global level. It would follow that individuals analyzing mechanisms of behavioral change not using a stage-based approach are likely losing valuable and practical data pointing to important relationships. Likewise, the generalization of data that was found in the absence of a stage-based architecture would appear to generate poor “catch-all” approaches that would lull practitioners into misapplying what are believed to be “universal” mechanisms that are really only efficacious in particular stages. Research Question Two The second research question sought to uncover what predictor variables within the processes of change account for the greatest amount of variance within particular stages of change for the targeted communication skills criterion variables. When examining the participants from a classification of “no action” (S1-S3) and “action” (S4-S5), the processes of change become more predictive and precise. In the self data, two predictors (self reevaluation and commitment) are shown to each be clearly associated with only one of the two categories (no action with self reevaluation and action with commitment). In the supervisor data, an additional process (commitment) emerges as accounting for a significant amount of variance. In both cases, the self and supervisor data, the use of an action/no action classification to differentiate participants results in the associated processes of change accounting for greater variance. 78 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Moving to a stage-specific level of analysis, the data analyses suggest strong and specific relationships between stages and processes of change in both the self and supervisor data. The self data provides support for self reevaluation activities (in stage one), helping relationships (in stage three) and commitment activities (in stage four). The supervisor data provides support for consciousness raining and self reevaluation activities (in stage four) and commitment activities (in stage five). Only the social liberalization process of change, as operationalized in this study, was unsupported as a potential tool in gaining behavioral skills change in the business communication context. At the stage level, a much greater breadth of processes prove useful than would have been anticipated based on the results to the first five hypothesis which operate at the global level. The amount of variance explained was also far greater at the stage level resulting in more meaningful guidance to business communication educators. In fact, at the stage level of analysis, as much as eight times more variance in communication skill development was accounted for than at the global level. The predictive value of the individual processes of change to identify successful behavioral change was enhanced at each of the three levels of analysis, with strong relationships again being uncovered at the stage level that were hidden when viewed from the global perspective. Again, this study finds that the predictive value of the processes of change is strongest once the stage in which skill development activity is occurring is known (see Figures 3 & 5). There appears to be specific and strong predictive value in individual processes of change based on a stage model of participant development and training. The linkages and sequences of change processes were found to be dependent on the specificity of the stage 79 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. dimension. This is consistent with a narrow, yet deep, body of research in the health promotion field that builds on Prochaska’s model of self change. Progression o f Stages O f the participants, 46.6% progressed, 42.2% saw no change and 11.2% regressed across the ten month period. Looking deeper, it appears that the group of participants actually entered the process at far more advanced stages that would be expected for a typical at-risk population that has been much of the focus of research involving the Transtheoretical model. Prochaska and Velicer (1997b) have indicated that “(b)asic research has generated a rule of thumb for at-risk populations: 40% in precontemplation, 40% in contemplation, and 20% in preparation (p. 38). In the case of these participants, the breakdown was very different and this can be seen in Figure 6. Twenty-five percent were in precontemplation, 13.8% contemplation, 10.3% preparation, 20.7% action and 30.2 % maintenance. With over fifty percent of the participants already in an action-oriented stage (action or maintenance), the ability o f many of the participants to progress was quite limited. Focusing only on those participants that were in the precontemplation, contemplation and preparation stages (e.g. “no action” stages), 77.1% progressed, 17.5 saw no change and only 5.3% regressed across the ten month period. Focusing on the 77.1% that progressed, the mean movement was 2.12 stages forward. For those that regressed, this is again quite normal to regress in change efforts and does not imply a loss of skills, but rather a decrease or termination of thoughts and actions focused on the change effort. The ultimate goal of any skill development effort is to move participants to the action and maintenance stages. By the time of the retest, 76.3 of the initial participants 80 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. were in the action or maintenance stages as can be see in Figure 6. To create a system where 76.3 percent o f individuals in an MBA program were consciously and actively developing their communication skills six months after the conclusion of their communication course, with no grade or programmatic requirement and while studying other topics like accounting, finance and statistics is a true success. Figure 6 Summary of Participant’s Beginning and Ending Change Stage □ At Risk Population 1 Beginning Stage ■ End Stage Theoretical Contribution This investigation provides new insights into the role of the processes of change articulated in the Transtheoretical model, extends the contextual application of the model 81 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. to the development of business and communication based skills, and provides support for four specific processes of change. The alignment o f the processes of change within the stages was found to be consistent, yet different than previously conceptualized. Individual processes were found to be helpful earlier than in the more traditional behavior health applications and the constellation of effective processes were found to be more concentrated. A separate and unique pattern of change processes were uncovered associated with a supervisor’s perception of employee skill development, a new application for the model. The processes were again consistent, yet this time occurring later than typically conceptualized for self change efforts. Several processes were found to be effective in very late stages and occurring at times that had been previously unanticipated. The current investigation also extends the contextual application of the Transtheoretical model to the development of business and communication based skills. Primarily focused on health promotion efforts and the curtailment o f negative behaviors, the Transtheoretical model has a tremendous opportunity as its orientation is pivoted to the application of positive skill development and its attention is focused on business and communication applications. To gain the behavior change, the processes of change are the drivers that move participants through the stages. Based on the analysis of the data, there are four processes of change that are clearly effective in the business context in one or more of the stages of change. These processes can account for up to 69 percent of the variance in communication skill development. 82 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Below is a review of the theoretical contributions of this project that include the repositioning of the processes of change within the stage model, an extension of the contextual application of the model to the development of business and communication based skills, and the support for four specific processes of change. The processes o f change. A key component of this investigation is to address and refine the processes of change that are regarded to have received inadequate attention and are the least studied component of the Transtheoretical theory (Prochaska & Velicer 1997a; Prochaska & Velicer, 1997b). The processes of change have been increasingly enhanced, with Figure 7 reviewing the two main and clearest conceptualizations of the placement of the processes based on empirical data in the health promotion field. The horizontal lines in Figure 7 represent the initial review of data that really began this conceptualization process and demonstrates the “(s)tages of change in which particular change process are most useful” (Prochaska et al., 1994). Following a great deal of additional research in the health promotion field, the understanding of the processes have sharpened and the circles in Figure 7 comprise the “current empirical integration” of the “(s)tages of change in which change processes are most emphasized” (p. 43, Prochaska & Velicer, 1997b). The lack of a circle in the social liberation row is representative of the difficulty in placing this process and its recent deemphasis. The language is important as it has been well established that the processes o f change can and may be used at many different stages, yet the conceptualization is an attempt to determine the stages in which individual processes take on primary importance. Prochaska and DiClemente originally used “Mt. Change” as a metaphor for this process 83 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. noting that across stages the use of a process would increase dramatically before peaking and then dropping off (1986). Figure 7 The Refinement of the Processes of Change SI S2 S3 S4 S5 Consciousness Raising Self Reevaluation Commitment/Self Liberation Social Liberation Helping Relationship ♦ = Proc \zJ haska, et al. (1‘ ?94) O = Prochaska & ' ( ? /elicer (1997) The placement of processes within stages is a crucial component of understanding and applying the Transtheoretical model. It is the processes that enable the movement between the stages that then enables successful behavioral change. Proper placement of the processes is at the core of developing successful change attempt strategies. In the new business communication context, the empirical results suggest a different placement of the processes within the stages of change. 84 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Analyzing the self assessment data and the change in behaviors related to the self targeted communication skill, Figure 8 indicates that the change processes are occurring earlier and, in the case of self reevaluation and helping relationships, prior to when they have been previously conceptualized. It appears that in the business communication context that the alignment o f the processes of change within the stages is different and that individual processes may be helpful earlier than in the more traditional behavior health application. It also appears that a more focused constellation of stages are resulting in the progression between stages (see Figure 8). Figure 8 Processes Effective Earlier in Self-Assessed Data: Business/Communication Context Consciousness Raising Self Reevaluation Commitment/Self Liberation Social Liberation Helping Relationship ♦ — ♦ = Prochaska, et al. (1994) Q = Prochaska & V elicer (1997) S = S e lf Data 85 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. It is suspected that the addition of the business context and their immersion in corporate cultures in addition to the classroom experience of these participants are key reasons for these results. Beginning with self reevaluation, these participants regularly make practical and applied decisions often formally or informally applying a cost benefit analysis. Applied to personal decisions, this is especially true as they seek to balance a career, school and personal obligations. Deciding whether to commit effort to developing a particular business communication skill would be highly determinant on the perceived value of the improved skill that would result from that effort. Looking at helping relationships, this is another process that would be familiar and comfortable to many of the participants in the business contexts. The use of mentors, coaches, trainers and peers to develop skills is widely accepted and a common practice. It appears that the use of helping relationship was a key component o f the preparation stage rather than the action stage as previously conceptualized. This could again feed back to participants assessing whether they had the support necessary to actually take the risk of taking action to overtly develop their skills. A unique additional component of this investigation is supervisor generated assessment data from the multi-rater PCI instrument. Although a novel application for the self change based Transtheoretical model, its application to generating workplace results has enormous practical implications. “The superior-subordinate relationship is often described as the most important communication link in organizations” (Downs, 2004, p. 67). Supervisors in the role of the superior will often suggest the need for behavioral development from their subordinates as part of regular review and appraisal processes. 86 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Better understanding the interplay of the processes of change in gaining this behavioral development would be truly valuable. It appears that the processes of change that are most associated with positive self assessments of long term skill development in a business communication context are not entirely consistent with those processes of change most associated with a supervisor’s perception of positive long term skill development. It also appears that the alignment of the processes of change within the stages are different and that individual processes may be helpful much later than in the more traditional behavior health applications (see Figure 9). Initially, it does make intuitive sense that a predictor process of change would not be identified in the first three stages of the change model. In the first three stages (precontemplation, contemplation and preparation) the action of an individual is internal and a supervisor, co-worker, or employee would not see any overt acts necessary for an individual to demonstrate improved performance. In stage four, consciousness raising and self reevaluation account for significant portions of the variance in the level of skill developed in the supervisor assessments. Collectively, these two processes provide a direction and urgency for action. This appears sufficient to begin driving skill development that will be evaluated positively by a supervisor. Both of these processes are playing a dominant role at much later stages than previously reported. In stage five, where individuals have been developing their skills for over six months, it is the process of commitment, essentially public declarations, that serve a renewal function and keeps skill development progressing. 87 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Figure 9 Processes Effective Later in Supervisor-Assessed Data: Business/Communication Context SI S2 S3 S4 S5 Consciousness Raising Self Reevaluation Commitment/Self Liberation Social Liberation Helping Relationship © - & ■ & u 0 u ; Prochaska, et al. (1994 ) Q = Prochaska & V elicer (1997) U = Supervisor Data Earlier research (Prochaska & Velicer, 1997b) has suggested that different processes of change factor together within the stages of change. This research has consistently found an initial grouping of experiential processes which includes consciousness raising and self reevaluation. Norcross and Prochaska (2002) noted after a meta-analysis of 47 studies that these experiential processes are most useful and best suited for the precontemplation and contemplation stages (stages one and two). Yet, it is in stage four, the action stage that the experiential processes emerge as important predictors of variance in communication skills development when analyzing supervisor generated data. This indicates that there appears to be a separate and unique pattern of change processes 88 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. associated with a supervisor’s perception of employee skill development compared to a self perception of skill development. This difference may be related to factors in the workplace that include greater accountability, an appraisal system likely to include communication skills, training opportunities, and a strong external driver in the supervisor themselves. In the business communication context, the processes of change appear to operate differently than suggested in previous health promotion research. For individuals, the processes of change appear accelerated, with the processes delivering results in earlier than expected stages. When targeting a skill at work, and when seeking to gain awareness for positive skill development from a supervisor, the processes are delayed and occur in unanticipated stages. Clear contextual application to the business/communication field. The Transtheoretical model has been sparsely applied to the business and communication contexts, yet the results of this investigation indicate that there is no practical or theoretical reason for this drought to continue in the models’ business and communication applications. Further, there appears to be some unique commonalities between the health promotion field and the training of business communication skills that create a high degree of cross applicability. One of the clear connections between the health promotion field and developing business communication skills is the existence of large segments of the target population not aware, convinced or prepared to begin to undertake action to change related behaviors. In an MBA context, students typically enter a program to learn business strategy, quantitative and financial skills and marketing techniques and it is in these areas that they 89 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. primarily focus their efforts. MBA students do not typically focus on communication skills, even when it is offered. This attitude is very similar to those engaging in undesirable health behaviors like smokers who do not typically focus on smoking cessation program even when they are offered. Recognizing that nearly 50 percent o f the participants in this project began in a non-action oriented stage (S I-S3) where they were not aware, convinced or prepared to undertake action, a typical action oriented training program to develop business communication skills would have been inherently ineffective. This may actually explain why the AACSB 2002 Task Force found that communication skills were often rated as one of “the least effective components of business school curricula” (Management Education at Risk, 2002, p. 2). Taught through an action oriented approach, without regard for stage or stage matched processes, the results of communication training in MBA programs are virtually guaranteed to be disappointing. In the health promotion literature, the failure of action-based programs is well documented as is the understanding that programs based on the Transtheoretical stage model approach can generate participation rates ten to 85 times higher than the participation rate of traditional action-oriented programs (Prochaska, Norcross & DiClemente, 1994). Yet, in training business and communication skills, action-based programs are still seen as progressive compared to theory based efforts and there is little awareness of the role of stages and learning readiness. In addition to the applicability o f a stage approach to enhance training efforts, the processes of change also appear to play a focused and clearly identifiable role within the development of business communication skills creating clear applicability on a second 90 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. level. Four processes of change were found to account for meaningful and significant amounts of variance in skill development. Support fo r four processes in the business/communication context. Efforts to better understand the processes of change represent the next progression in the development o f the Transtheoretical model as these processes are a key area needing more basic research (Prochaska & Velicer, 1997a; Prochaska & Velicer, 1997b). However, the focus of many researchers is not on the processes of change, but remains on the temporal architecture, the stages of change, as that aspect o f the model is easier to immediately apply in clinical settings and far more straight forward to utilize in a new contexts. Inherent within the needed research on the processes of change are efforts to better understand their usage generally as well as particular applications to new contexts. As the Transtheoretical model has been applied to new areas of health promotion, there has been an ongoing awareness that the individual processes of change may play greater or lesser roles in each new context. Rakowski, Dube and Goldstein (1996), for example, suggested only three of the ten processes of change were relevant and effective in gaining behavior modification in a mammography setting with its unusual temporal aspects. More broadly, Prochaska and Velicer (1997b) have noted that “it is also possible that with some behaviors fewer change processes may be used” (p. 43). In this project, five processes of change were investigated. These particular five processes (consciousness raising, self reevaluation, commitment, social liberation and helping relationships) were chosen as they were thought to be highly relevant to skill development in a business communication setting. Additionally, each process of change 91 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. had already been operationalized within the MBA communication curriculum that each participant experienced, providing access and opportunity to utilize each of the processes. Four of the five processes examined were proven directly applicable to the business communication context as they each accounted for a significant and meaningful amount of variance in one or more of the stages of change. These four processes were consciousness raising, self reevaluation, commitment and helping relationships. While there were some indications that the fifth process investigated, social liberation, is correlated to the other processes and to participant change efforts, the results do not currently support its inclusion. At present it is unclear if any other processes of change, other than these four, would be capable of accounting for a significant and meaningful amount of the variance in the development of communication skills in a business environment. What is clear is that these four processes of change are effective in the business context and can account for up to 69 percent of the variance in communication skill development. It appears these processes and stages of change are applicable and useful in a business context where not previously applied. When assisting business professionals seeking to develop targeted communication skills, the present study’s findings suggest that the selection of specific change processes to assist change efforts are warranted. Additionally, just as particular processes may be highly effective, others do not appear to be significantly correlated with changes in workplace skills. Practical Application to the Business Communication Context The results of the present study contain clear, meaningful and practical applications that hold the promise of considerably enhancing the training of business and 92 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. communication skills. Specifically the application of the stages and processes of change provide tremendous potential in their direct and broader application to improved MBA and communication classrooms. From the perspective of a training and development practicitioner, the enhanced understanding o f the dynamics of training transfers and the differentiation between the participant and their supervisor in their perspective towards the development of behavioral skills provides both important insight and the potential to greatly boost training efforts. Finally, the present study also provides a great deal of explanatory power towards understanding the processes behind best in class leadership and management development efforts and a framework to guide future enhancements. Improved MBA and communication training results. The crucial role of communication skills in the work place has been repeatedly recognized by recruiters, human resource professionals, managers and executives across a broad range of industries and occupations for more than forty years. Yet, a communication skills gap has been allowed to develop and deepen in MBA programs as repeated feedback on the need for enhanced communication skill development has gone unheeded and the collective response from MBA programs has been uninspired. The present study offers three primary means of dramatically improving the effectiveness of communication curriculum in the MBA framework. First, the use of the Transtheoretical model as an program architecture and additionally, the awareness by participants of the model provides the support and understanding to create long term commitment and results from students. In this case, more than three-quarters of the participants were still consciously and actively developing their communication skill six months after the communication course had ended. 93 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The second opportunity that clearly emerges from the data is that individual processes exist that account for significant and meaningful amount of the variance in skill development. In some cases, up to 69% of the variance in skill development could be explained by an individual’s usage of a single change process. Yet unfortunately, many of these very processes are not integrated into most MBA communication curriculum and the potential for skill development is lost. For example, the use of multi-rater assessments, promoting a reevaluation of the importance of communication skills in the workplace, having students make commitments to their study teams, utilizing professional action planners and implementing peer coaches are all steps that could naturally be integrated into any communication program. And finally, the use of a stage-based approach, and faculty advocacy of using particular individual processes matched to the immediate developmental stage of individuals, appears to be up to eight times more effective than a traditional global approach. In the PCI self-reported data, for example, approaches that accounted for only seven to ten percent o f the variance on the global level can be replaced with targeted, stage specific strategies that accounted for up to 69% o f the variance in skill development. This stage-based approach demonstrates a means of increasing existing training effectiveness by helping to tailor training methods to an individual’s readiness fo r change. By tailoring the approach, all of the developmental effort can be targeted towards the particular processes that are able to produce significant change in the particular participant and away from those techniques that are unable to effect change. This greatly increases training efficacy, avoids the wasted time of misaligned efforts and can make existing training programs and learning strategies much more effective. 94 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Just as the application of the Transtheoretical model to the public health problem of smoking dramatically improved behavior change and led to greater cessation rates, so too can the model’s application to the development of communication skills in a business context lead to dramatically more successful skill attainment. Recognizing communication skills as the top skills sought by college and university recruiters at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, application of this research to communication training efforts seems especially warranted. Creating a clearer understanding o f the transfer o f training gap. The transfer from the training classroom into the work place of content knowledge and professional abilities is “of paramount concern for training researchers and practitioners” (p. 63) as it has been widely recognized that “there is a growing concern over the ‘transfer problem’” (Baldwin & Ford, 1988. p. 63). This core transfer problem is that classroom training all too often is not leading to improved work place performance To transfer knowledge, a training program needs to enhance the abilities of participants, these individuals then need the motivation to use the new behaviors or skills in their work place and these individuals also need to receive support from their work setting to actually be able to apply their enhanced abilities. The third of these conditions is equally important, yet often overlooked as individuals may not have regular opportunities to practice or demonstrate new skills, nor be allowed to by their supervisors. In practice, the level of training transfer can be quite small. A widely disseminated statistic is that only 10% of classroom content is reflected in workplace behavioral change (Baldwin & Ford, 1988). While this number is commonly referenced and has become industry folklore, it origins are not actually based on any study or research, but rather a 95 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. rhetorical introduction by a paper in the early 1980s (Fitzpatrick, 2001). That this ten percent number has been so often utilized and that the figure has such great fidelity with practicitioners is telling. To develop a more supportable number, Saks (2002), used data from practicitioners and concluded that “about 50% of training investments results in an improvement in employees and the organization” (p. 30). Using either number, there is a real need to enhance the efficiency of training efforts and the results from this project and the application of the Transtheoretical model provide insight to begin to bridge this training gap- The data from this project suggest that individuals regularly acquire knowledge and performance abilities and yet do not apply these enhanced abilities to the work place setting. Focusing on the participant’s targeted communication skill, 87.3% of participants reported being more skilled in the target area after ten months. Yet, only 37.5% of participants reported applying these associated behaviors and skills more often at their place of work. This would indicate that nearly 50% of the participants developed skills, yet did not actually apply them at work. In this particular case, it is believed that the skills were developed and applied in the MBA program, with study team members, and in other environments deemed safer than their workplace. These findings cited above have tremendous application to workplace skill development. While much of the training focus in organizations is on skill development, it may be far more important for training professionals to focus on the broader cultural environment in which they operate. Laird (2003) noted that “research consistently shows that the work environment can be a tremendous barrier to workers’ use o f knowledge and expertise” (p. 210). 96 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. This project begins to show just how crucial the work environment is as nearly half the participants developed their targeted skills and then chose not to apply them at work. By targeting this broader work environment for focused efforts, training transfer rates could be greatly enhanced, and in this particular case of communication skill development, enhanced as much as 133 percent. This broader environmental focus would promote the transfer to the workplace of the learned skills in nearly fifty percent o f the participants and such a focus offers greater rewards than targeting the one-eighth o f the participants that did not report skill enhancement. Recognizing two views o f skill development. The recognition that skill development was viewed different between the participants in this study and their supervisors is an important finding. In essence, the awareness of enhanced skills by a supervisor was a trailing indicator that change was underway, efforts were being exerted and skills were being developed. The data also suggested that the individual processes of change and the stage in which they account for significant amounts of variance in the perception of communication skill development were different based on who perceived the change: the participant or the supervisor. As the role of a supervisor is often to provide evaluations, determine raises and decide promotions, a disconnect between participant and supervisor perceptions of skill development is an important topic. This data suggests that determined efforts of participants to develop their skills, particularly if they are starting in one of the first three “no action” stages can easily go unrecognized, and unappreciated by their supervisors leading to differing perceptions of how serious, focused and responsive employees may be to feedback and career development. 97 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Looking at the processes that helped to explain significant and meaningful variance in communication skill development, consciousness raising appears as a key component for skill development as assessed by supervisors but not as assessed by the participants themselves. Attention to supervisor scores, which would be part of the consciousness raising effort, likely provides more unique insight for participant into how their supervisors perceive their skill set and leads to more focused efforts in areas that supervisors view as weaknesses. To the extent that participants use supervisor assessments as a compass, are driven to positively reevaluate the importance of behaviors and make commitments (preferably to their supervisor) to change by developing their skills, there would be a high expectation o f skill development from the supervisors’ perspective. Now examining the participants’ evaluation of their skill development, the consciousness raising process was not a key factor in success. It is likely that they already knew their core strengths and weaknesses. The key initial process here was self reevaluation and the level of belief that the targeted behavior was an important one. From there, helping relationships and commitment were key elements in preparing and taking action toward skill development. These differences in the effectiveness of individual processes of change between self and supervisor generated data also provide unique insight into the difference of how employees and supervisors see and experience skill development. This insight into the change process in the workplace, if applied, would allow both individuals and their supervisors to better understand the change process and the differences in perceptions that they should expect to experience as an individual begins the process of developing a targeted skill. 98 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Understanding why leadership development processes work. Leadership and management development, like the development of communication skills, fundamentally involves a change effort by participants as they seek to develop their abilities to be more effective in a targeted way. As Warren Bennis highlighted, “The primary responsibility for effective management development resides in the managers themselves. There are many things a corporation can do ... but only if the talent is there and willing and able to develop itself’ (McCall et al., 1988, p. x). Essentially, looking at leadership and management development, an individual is going through a self change effort. As such, insights taken from Prochaska and this project would hold the potential for direct application. The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) is one of the premier providers of executive education in the world today and is continually ranked at the very top for non degree executive and leadership education according to Business Week (Exec-Ed Rankings & Profiles: 2003). The leadership development model from the Center for Creative Leadership focuses on three primary development experiences: assessment, challenge and support. It is suggested that these three are “the elements that combine to make developmental experiences more powerful. That is, whatever the experience, it has more impact if it contains these three elements” (Van Velsor & McCauley, 2004, p. 3)'. The results of this project suggest that this conclusion is a considerable understatement and that it is these elements that actually create the learning impact. Breaking down the processes used in the three primaiy developmental experiences allows for a clearer understanding o f the learning process. The development experiences involve a feedback intensive program (consciousness raising), revisiting beliefs (reevaluation), goal letters and goal setting reports (commitment/self liberation), the 99 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. development of action plans (social liberation), formal coaching and support from supervisors, coworkers, family, friends, and others (helping relationships), hardships (reevaluation), and challenging experiences (social liberation). In short, the CCL takes participants through the stages of change by leveraging a core group of five change processes consistent with the strategies to develop communication skills utilized in the MBA communication program investigated here. The CCL process has developed in parallel to the work in the health promotion field by Prochaska and others, yet they provide clear validation for each other’s work. The methods utilized by the CCL would also lend support to the presupposition that there may be five primary processes of change at work when developing business and communication skills. Apparently underemphasized in the CCL approach is the stage-based recognition of participant readiness for action. CCL program participants may typically demonstrate more readiness for change making the issue less relevant. Yet, Chappelow (2004), when discussing CCL’s 360-feedback process, did note that “It is sometimes easy to overlook the importance of the individual’s readiness and willingness to take part” (p. 82) and that this was particularly true when it was part of a larger organizational initiative. The CCL provides a blueprint as to how the processes of change could be utilized in a broader leadership development process to effectively promote behavioral change. Meanwhile, there should also be recognition that the Transtheoretical model may be of value to organizations like the CCL as it provides a framework and explanatory power for why their procedures work and provides additional insight into how these elements interact and how they can successfully be enhanced. 100 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Limitations & Qualifications There are a number of potential limitations that may have impacted the present study. These are related to self-reported data, the selection of targeted skills by participants, the stage distribution of participants, the longitudinal nature of the study, the pre- post-test design, supervisor assessments and the operationalization of the processes of change. The present study relies on a great deal o f self-reported data to assess participant stage placement, participant usage of the processes of change, and the level of skill development occurring. Although Prochaska’s Transtheoretical model is fundamentally a self change model and the self-reported data may actually be more appropriate, there are always risks in this approach. Participants were also asked to identity the primary skill they targeted for improvement. With 12 skills to select from and differing levels of perceived importance across the communication skill areas, it was not surprising the distribution was unequal. The popularity of individual targeted skills generally fell into three tiers. The top tier, and standing alone with 40 participants, was “presenting to groups.” Then, four skills including “approachability” (15), “influence” (10), “listening” (10), and “writing” (9) make up the middle tier of popularity accounting for 44 participants. The other seven skills make up the bottom tier of popularity. Skills in this bottom tier were targeted by 1 -6 participants with most skills being worked on by only two or three people. The impact of this skewed distribution is that the resulting data may be best applied to the development of a core group of five communication skills rather than the original list of 12. There is no 101 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. particular reason to suspect that in this context the results would differ with a balanced distribution. However, it is a possibility and more research should be done in this area. Another skewed distribution was seen in the participant’s self assessed, initial stage of change. While 25% of the population fell into the precontemplation stage and 30.2% fell in the maintenance stage, only 10.3% fell into the preparation stage. Focusing on just those with complete pre and post PCI self assessments, the percentage of participants in the preparation stage fell to 7.8% and represented just 5 of the 64 participants. In this particular case a correlation between participants in this preparation stage and a particular change process was recognized and accounted for 69.7% of the variance (adjusted R square value). A less robust correlation may have gone unrecognized. This risk is also present in the pre- and post-PCI supervisor assessments. Only six participants began in the contemplation stage and only five in the preparation stage limiting the ability of this investigation to find possibly important, yet weaker correlations. Overall, the size of the sample was smaller than originally hoped for due to incomplete data sets. Another limitation is associated with the longitudinal nature of this investigation. Pre-test and post-test data were collected ten months apart. It would be ideal to follow up with the participants beyond the ten months to assess additional stage movement and skill development. For example, Herzog et al. (1999) were able to complete a 2-year follow up on a cohort of smokers as part of a workplace cancer prevention program and were able to assess longer term stage movements. Likewise it would also be valuable to do more interval assessments of the participants’ stage of change. During the ten month period, 38% of the participants moved more than one stage. For these individuals, the current 102 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. investigation would classify them in their initial stage even though they moved through multiple stages of change (forward 31% or backwards 7%). As they moved to different stages, the participants likely used different processes to further develop their communication skills making the observed relationships in their initial stage weaker than they really are. It is also possible, and in some cases likely, that there was progression and regression across the stages within the ten month period that was not captured on the beginning and end stage assessments. The utilization of a pre-/post-test research design and gain scores presents a series of issues to be acknowledged. In pre-/post-test research design, sensitization from repeat measurement could make participants more sensitive or responsive to developing their communication skills. Also, a response-shift bias in pre-/post-test research design could result in participants and supervisors recalibrating the internal standards they used for assessing the actions and behaviors evaluated on the Professional Communication Inventory. Meanwhile, the use of gain scores has a group of potential problems related to lower reliability, in part because the measurement errors of two tests are combined. A critique of the use of gain scores has been laid out in Cronbach and Furby (1970), although the approach has many practical applications (see Bond, 2005; Dimitrov & Rumrill, 2003). As part of the multi-rater assessment process, supervisors rated the workplace skills and abilities of participants. Yet, the length of the relationship and the quality of interactions between the participant and supervisor could also impact the ratings. Additionally, supervisor skill ratings could also be impacted by the number of opportunities participants have to demonstrate skills, the observational ability of their supervisor, and the inherent risks associated with tiying new skills in the workplace. 103 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. A final qualification is related to the creation of the customized questionnaire and the operationalizing of the processes of change. From the historical catalogue of ten initial processes and the revised version of nine offered by Prochaska, Norcross and DiClemente (1994), five were selected as being most relevant to communication skills development and as representative of processes in each o f the five stages of change. Actions that specifically represented each of these five processes were identified and incorporated into a communication development course in an MBA program. The operationalization of the processes of change involved: consciousness raising (analysis of the mult-rater PCI skill assessment results), self reevaluation (information on communication skills importance and self analysis of benefits for improved skills), social liberation (the introduction of a professional, customized action planner), commitment (classroom opportunities to communicate their targeted skill to classmates and study team members), and helping relationships (opportunities to receive support and assistance from peers and others in developing their communication skills). As this project only analyzes five processes, it is also possible that other processes of change may also be relevant and useful in generating communication skill development. Additionally, while each of the processes were central to the architecture o f the MBA communication course, it is possible that the operationalization of the processes could be enhanced. Directions fo r Future Research The clear applicability of the current results and the training effectiveness achieved in the present study justify a strong push for additional research into the broader application of the Transtheoretical model in management and communication related areas. 104 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Based on the findings of this study, more attention is also warranted to further understanding the processes of change and their role as an accelerator in the skill-building process. Future exploration would be especially beneficial by focusing on issues of replicability, extending the model’s applicability, integrating workplace factors, expanding the inquiry into more processes of change, seeking skill-specific results and also group- specific results as in the special case of leaders. Replicability. The applicability of the processes of change should be solidified along with confirming the relationships uncovered between the processes o f change and the stages of change. Further testing the location of the processes of change within the stages of communication skills development would also move the research forward. As DiClemente and Prochaska (1998) have suggested, a comprehensive model of change “must be able to provide a framework for change that establishes reliable and replicable relationships among constructs” (p. 5). To establish this reliably, more research is necessary. In addition to the relationship between the processes and stages, a meaningful investigation can also center on efforts to replicate the effectiveness o f stage versus global approaches in communication skills training. As the present study demonstrates, these stage approaches are up to eight times as effective as global approaches. Extending the application in the business/communication context. Based on the results of the current study, further extending the empirical analysis of the Transtheoretical model in the business and communication field offers great merit. Looking at other communication, business and training/development applications, the model seems to provide a natural fit with supervisor, managerial and leadership development efforts involving skill building. Through initial classification, the training process could be 105 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. greatly accelerated with a focus on the key processes at each stage. With such an approach, it would seem to especially prevent individuals in the pre-contemplation and contemplation stages from being left behind by action-based curriculum. Additional investigation in this area would be highly worthwhile and lead to direct and positive results for University and corporate training initiatives. Investigation o f workplace factors. The differing results obtained for self and supervisor evaluations for targeted communication skills merits investigation. Participants may be developing and using new skills, yet are also not utilizing those same skills in their workplace. Individuals may also lack the desire, confidence or opportunity to test and develop new skills in the workplace. A measure of workplace climate, as friendly or hostile, would be helpful, as well as evaluations of participants’ workplace skill-building opportunities. The two processes of commitment and helping relationships directly involve interaction with others. Identifying participants’ relationships with other persons (e.g., classmates versus co-worker) would also be insightful. Further, given the apparent propensity o f participants to develop skills within their classes and school study groups, peer evaluations, as part of the multi-rater process, may offer a highly effective means of more closely tracking behavior change. Further identify usable processes. The current study focused on only five competencies, leaving more uninvestigated. Other processes of change, not evaluated in the current study, could also help to explain the variance in skill development among participants in business communication settings. The two most likely processes for additional investigation are contingency management and stimulus control. Both may support communication skill development activities and they commonly occur within a 106 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. corporate climate. Within the initial five processes studied, an investigation onto the operationalization of the social liberation process and the impact of the action planner tool is necessary. Investigating the role of the tool, and the interplay with its support of consciousness raising and self-reevaluation, could also enhance understanding. Identify skill specific results. Twelve communication areas were evaluated, with participants selecting a targeted skill area in which to focus their behavioral development efforts. The current research looked to account for variance in the skill development, yet examined communication skills development generally. Differentiating the 12 skills to identify any unique relationships between the processes and stages for each particular type of communication skill development effort would be worthwhile. O f the 12 skills, the unbalanced distribution will make this future research effort a challenge. In the current study, nearly 40% of participants focused on “presenting to groups,” while half the skills being targeted were selected by less than 5% of the participants. Nonetheless, there may be important distinctions between the skills, processes and stages that would be worth exploring. Identifying the actions o f leaders. To date, researchers studying the Transtheoretical model have primarily sought to differentiate individuals by variables within the model, primarily focusing on the stages of change, and have not sought to strongly differentiate other demographic aspects. This is to be expected, especially given the health promotion context where researchers and clinicians are confronted with a general target population. In a business context, however, there is merit to investigations into the progress, actions and results of different groups of individuals; particularly those who would be classified as leaders. Leadership continues to be of acute interest as “people 107 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. are captivated by the idea of leadership, and they seek more information on how to become effective leaders” (Northouse, 2004, p. 1). This interest is particularly high in MBA program participants. As Peters (2001) indicated, “we’re going to see leadership emerge as the most important element of business - the attribute that is highest in demand and shortest in supply” (p. 126). Investigations into the actions of leaders as a sub-set of the larger group would be a welcome avenue of inquiry. 108 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. C H A PT ER VI CO N C LU SIO N The current study examines the Transtheoretical model with particular application to communication skills enhancements in a business context. The findings suggest that the targeted individual processes of behavioral change, used in stage-based applications, are up to eight times more effective than traditional, global, non-stage based approaches to communication skills development. From a theoretical perspective, the present study identifies specific processes of change that account for significant differences in business communication skill development, extending the applicability of the Transtheoretical model. Adding to the lightly researched area o f the processes of change, the results of the present study indicate the processes of change leading to self and supervisor identified skill enhancement are different. Further, processes identified as key to self development in this business communication context occurred in earlier stages than traditionally conceptualized, while processes identified as key to supervisors’ perception of development occurred in later stages than originally suggested (e.g. Prochaska, 1994; Prochaska & Velicer, 1997). The successful application of the Transtheoretical model and the processes of change to the business and communication fields is a step toward the wider utilization of the model beyond the health promotion arena and demonstrates its applicability to training and development in general. It also demonstrates the strong potential to frame future skill development initiatives with the model to produce enhanced results in educational and corporate environments. 109 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Enhanced efforts to improve targeted skills are especially important to those in the communication field, as communication skills have emerged as the key skill sought by college recruiters at both undergraduate and graduate levels (Alsop, 2004; Corporate Recruiters Survey 2004; National Association of Colleges and Employers, 2005). The present study suggests that up to 69 percent of the variance in communication skill development can be accounted for by usage levels of individual processes of change specified by the Transtheoretical model. In the business context, and with an eye to training and development, the present study’s results provide a clear roadmap for accelerating training effectiveness and gaining greater returns on the $51 billion invested annually in employee-sponsored training programs. For university programs, and especially for those seeking to develop communication skills in their students, the current research offers the potential for obtaining a significant competitive advantage in the MBA marketplace by better meeting the stated needs of recruiters, while also enhancing the workplace effectiveness and career success potential of their students. The current study incorporates a large and diverse sample of managers and professionals, representing more than 50 corporations. 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Further reproduction prohibited without permission. A PPEN D IX A PR O FESSIO N A L C O M M U N IC A TIO N IN V EN TO R Y (PCI) Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ...... Prn.*,-^.'.-?.:. . V ,."-.v;.i.;^!-;ot. f>,.ventory; This inventory is being completed about^ My relationship to tbs person named above is; (mark one) ' I s»«u H tt -> » <««lraj»,utt <*f O w p ftry o iy rtztmsi MARKffllO DIRECTIONS ♦ L:m? <««iy utfi N tw k 1s*h<I ?>.'«t'ii ?S<» ♦ E k ? f tO T u titi m f c » » v b » J J p * x t\t } H " t . ♦ M a H ? f t« s r t,v M $ < ? k M $ P k * ih v '« ^ o m p i^ fK ’ iy fa t . ♦ I r a ^ m y &m'k* yoti « ,lih t « I'hang'** « S 0 a^ym H ik^ $ a tn p h a M a rk s ■ ■ ■ * ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ?U_AS1 DO AtOTfciAfi*.!» ?Hf8 AftfcA 27821 121 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. 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Td< * » to ondt»mtAnd th*» oth«r poI»t of vkvc, ....................... wm IT, C a m m titiirtiif* <f'fffsr<m*i> < » t wnH'rtg:, , l y^ ' ' ,t J ??4 V ^''^ ’?i 1 1 % W tH o k in f t w xy'th n t k * .i a m : i t H t t sH ^ lto ‘ ih « * p o J jf tt« ''t''£ .'’ 'V '0CV '^ '? '* !:> ? :• :>0 NOT' WrtfTE tlM THIS AREA 122 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ft«nft«m l»»r; M ail* h 'dtiu.-;»'»‘Ct " ; ’ -?k v r ' 'T ' a iv ^ v ? ’ H^ftCid cm how. a e ru r a tr ty > , fooi) ;'. dc^cai^v® th e g»$?&>u wm $$h& n fn«3sl*s*l pNM U M ktattons t o § r & a p $ , t h i s p e r s o n ; ■ > / / / / / wm i i ■ i ■ ■ ■ i m & i ■ i i i i i i i wm '% *' », * ** v > ? I l i i wm wm '*„ 2 <£'/« t & y mm i i i i i l i U * l l i l M I * i l S::;^:SSS;[ mm wm ! T j 5 ' > V . . 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W W MB flC t& titnh'teim iin o^o ttd a to p v a rttjp a m ^ ’ <M'tnre tins m<rt»fjp$}> wm wm wm 1 I K 1 lii 1 1 I <fttfw 1 1 2 1 s ...*....?.-.>« J - ..... ■Bi - s i m u v W T jB M jj w < # }. fvum frm m u* jxtntiiN riu rift# 4lt*f»i*xffm&. mM m b H H H m k wm 1 i i l l ^ ^ M ^ ^ ^ ^ l l l l i M W I i ^ i B l i i i i i i l i i l l l l l l l i l i i i l l l i i l M l i i i M M l s® liiiS !i wm mm 1 wm l l l i l i ^ i l i i i i y l ^ ^ ^ M ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ M P ^ ^ ^ ^ M l l i i l l i l l l l l l i .a; ■ ■ • ; ; 5 3 ll | J l i ^ ^ p / / / wm wm wm ItlHHNHBliRf wm * ® ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ * i ^ | ^ S I ^ f l l | | | l i | | | i i : S l W l 9 l l l i l | : l & : : : ^ ^ f l ! l l l l l l ^ l ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ * ^ S I ^ wm ■ H M n i i H n wm wm 1 : wm wm “ ;... ........................................ 1 i u a i i H f i M W N a 5ft« ;$ < * t*JCimg to d o th m * ;* diifar* at?* i i i i ^ ^ * l l i ^ S •M wm c o n t i n u e o n t m : b u c k ( i . i ; ; . : | | | | ^ I \ DO NOT vYFHTE IM THIS AREA MB ■ ■ - 123 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. w m B e irc fc m n im r; M *fk < . - > ic h "i" • » T -N t;v t> n k t« w a c ic n ra ti'ly ? t m to H \ % d e s w rifo ^ r* p & fs o h n fu fc o tfl o n = . / * wm Utihwt* hrt$r*k$li&% w ith a th irst m gm veeah th te patterns ' J? • • '< £ ' ^ wm * £ * ^ . w m 5 - k F < m \ * n ? & ( t y - » n w < > ,« » h * n g y < > ? < 1 ,J L * ? J^ . < < < - l M __ w m 3 5 , Is m * ^ ■ ™ w w _ w ™ ~ w w „ ■ * '! ^; 3 / H - f ' ? ■ • . ^ ___ _ w m 5 - 8 . I lt- lp x p i- 8 > p l« g n H ? f e o j & s f H g r to#H jh lf tf f f f d o tt* % 'h e a tln u -» a y e to u % h > * .* \3 .v j> ■ *''7 — . I H f H i li m H H t H I i|i*MBl ■ 1 1 1 ilii§ iH ! J i l l g p f p |? i f l i 8 H . H e i ' p s . a p p r o p r i a t e m & t e y i a i o s m f i 4 e & t f e a i . is1 H H i m jtflfltoAta^% § p : : l j l H i aS* t t n # & I r e a l s & t h $ M % v l t f e a x s * * X ! « i . ■iiiliiii^au p 1 1 1 m ( |) M lIil||l!ll;O i|llllilliiS ii^ ^ ^^ ^ ^ ^^ ^ ^^ ^ w iil£ i;; l l l l ! l |E ! P I # l i I M i H H ! a iti 'l l ; ! H M M H I m S k m k t » & I ' m t o r f c t o m K U u » t o r h « l r » ! a < . | * p c t e t o S « a . i » * i * w t O ' k S ilS B H H P I I I 1 1 1 ■ K flfl « » i ^ S t H a n t h e a e - a s s s a r j f s & d h m e ' & i s k i l l s t $ f e e w l f ^ ^ v a s . ill*li*ilffil I f f t i l l m ip i f c - > 1 . . w n m 4 m m T O , K e e p # t t | » » t < M 3 p t « > « » t t ^ h H l r t t l f t o ^ e t o p m o M v i n b i V t o v s - f M t o H P ■ : < < |§ P u b lish ed by: i l i i M i i i i BB i M i ^ l l R ^i^ttB R E B l ■ ■■ ■ ■ ■■ ■■ 27821 t8 s s * ^ r» < b y t t C K W i M K t l i V i 124 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. A PPEN D IX B C U STO M IZED Q U ESTIO N N A IR E Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS DEVELOPMENT MBA.PM PROGRAM, USC DIRECTIONS The purpose of this survey is to better understand the actions individuals took to enhance their communication skills over the previous year and the results o f these actions. This information will help to improve how we promote communication skill development in future classes and programs and improve teaching effectiveness. Please think about your actual experiences since August, 2003 and accurately answer each of the following questions. There are 34 questions in three parts, each question will specifically ask you to either circle the single most appropriate answer or complete a short fill-in response. Your answers will be kept completely anonymous. When the survey is completed, please return it to the researcher. We appreciate your time and assistance QUESTIONS: Part I 1. To what degree did you analyze the Professional Communication Inventory (PCI) feedback you received in fall 2003 to identify potential weaknesses (circle one)?: none / minimal / moderate / extensive / very extensively 2. To what degree did the PCI increase your awareness o f your individual communication skill weakness (circle one)?: none / minimal / moderate / extensive /' very extensively 3. Based on an analysis of the Professional Communication Inventory (PCI) results, did you identify one or more communication related competencies to develop (circle one)? yes / no 4. Rank as number one, the communication related competency you primarily targeted for improvement. Rank up to two additional competencies (e.g. 2nd, 3rd) if you targeted more than one competency for improvement. Mark the bottom line if you did not target a competency for improvement. A pproachability/Acceptance Influencing Others .......... Support Conducting Meetings Listening _____ Technical Expertise Cooperation Presenting to Groups _____ Trust Flexibility Speaking (one-on-one) Writing I did not target an individual competency Professional Comm Skills Dev; Q Version 6; (Patton) I o f 5 126 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 5. After targeting an area for improvement, how important did you feel enhancing your skills in the targeted communication competencies to be (circle one)'?: extremely / moderately / slightly / neutral / slightly / moderately / extremely unimportant / unimportant / unimportant / / important i important / important not applicable 6. To what degree did you utilize the Communication Action Planner to begin or continue your efforts to enhance your communication skill development (Circle one)?: none J minimal / moderate / extensive i very extensively 7. To what degree did you utilize the Communication Action Planner or another means to record and track specific actions in improving your communication skills (Circle one)?: none / minimal / moderate / extensive / very extensively 8. Think about the degree to which you communicated to your classmates, co-workers, supervisor and others the specific communication competencies you planned to target in improving your communication skills. Choosing the one person you communicated with the most, to what degree did you communicate with that person about these targeted competencies (Circle one)?: none / minimal / moderate i extensive / very extensively 9. Think about the degree to which you communicated to your classmates, co-workers, supervisor and others about the specific actions vou planned to take in improving votir communication skills. Choosing the one person you communicated with the most, to what degree did you communicate with her/him about the specific actions you planned to take (Circle one)?: none / minimal / moderate / extensive / very extensively 10. Think about the degree to which you received support or assistance front your classmates, co workers, supervisor and others in taking specific action to improve vour communication skills. Choosing the one person that assisted you the most, to what degree did that person assist you in taking specific actions to improve your communication skills (Circle one)?: none f minimal i moderate / extensive I very extensively 11. To what degree did you undertake specific action to improve your skill level in your targeted competencies (Circle one)?: none / minimal / moderate / extensive / very extensively Professional Comm Skills Dev; Q Version 6; (Patton) 2 o f 5 127 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. J 2. Approximately, how many individual times in the last ten months did you take specific action to improve your skill level in your targeted competencies (insert a number)?: 13. What is an example of'a specific action you performed to enhance your communication skills in your targeted competency and what was the competency? QUESTIONS: Part II 14. Since August 1il 2003, how much do you feel you have altered vour awareness of the communication related competencies you targeted (Circle one)?: extremely / moderately / slightly / neutral / slightly i moderately / extremely less aware / less aware / less aware / / more aware / more aware /more aware 15. Since August 1s t 2003, how much do you feel you have altered vour efforts related to improving your skills in the communication related competencies you targeted (Circle one)?: extremely / moderately / slightly / neutral / slightly / moderately / extremely less effort / less effort / less effort / / more effort / more effort / more effort 16. Since August 1M 2003, how much do you feel you have altered vour skills related to the competencies you targeted (Circle one)?: extremely / moderately ! slightly / neutral / slightly / moderately / extremely less skilled / less skilled / less skilled / / more skilled'/ more skilled / more skilled 17. How much do you feel you have altered your overall communication skills since August 1* 2003 (Circle one)?: none / minimal / moderate / extensive / very extensively 18. Are you actively enhancing your communication skills (place an “x” next to the most appropriate statement)? f e , and I had been fo r more than 6 months Set and 1 had been fo r less than 6 months No, but 1 was planning to start in the next 30 days No, but I was planning to start in the next 6 months No. and I didn '1 plan to start in the next 6 months Professional Comm Skills Dev; Q Version 6; (Patton) • ? o f 5 128 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. QUESTIONS: Part III 19. Age: 20. Sex (circle one): female / male 21. Undergraduate M ajor:__________________________ 22. Length of time of full-time work experience: Years:_____ Months; ______ 23. What level of management responsibility do you currently have at your employer (circle one): Executive / Director / Manager / Supervisor / Lead / None 24. Are you with the same employer as you were on August Is' 2003 (circle one)?: yes / no 25. Compared to the position you held at your employer on August P1 2003, the management level of your current position at your current employer is (circle one)?: Lower / Equivalent / Higher 26. Did you have the same boss/supervisor complete the second Professional Communication Inventory' (PCI) assessment as the first one completed in Fall 2003 (circle one)?: yes / no 27. How many times prior to August 2003, have you participated in a formal, multi-rater (e.g. 360 type) feedback process in which you received formal feedback? ______ 28. Overall, to what degree do you experience fear or anxiety' associated with either real or anticipated communication with another person or persons? none / minimal / moderate / extensive / very extensive 29. Overall, how would you evaluate your communication skills (circle one)?: extremely /' moderately / slightly / neutral J slightly / moderately / extremely weak J weak / weak / / strong I strong / strong Professional Comm Skills Dev; Q V ersion 6; (Patton) 4 ot 5 129 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 30. Have you held a leadership position in Marshall Student Government while in the MBA.PM program (Circle one) ?: yes / no 31. What is the level of your leadership experience prior to entering the MBA.PM program (Circle one)'?: none / minimal / moderate J extensive J very extensive 32. How comfortable do you feel leading others (Circle one)?: extremely / moderately / slightly / neutral / slightly / moderately / extremely uncomfortable / uncomfortable / uncomfortable/ / com fortable/ comfortable / comfortable 33. What is the level of your anticipated leadership experience after leaving the MBA.PM program (Circle one)?: none / minimaI / moderate / extensive / very extensive 34. In August 2003, were you actively enhancing your communication skills (place an “x” next to die most appropriate statement)? Yes, and I had been fo r more than 6 months Yes. and I had been for less than 6 months No, but I was planning to start in the next 30 days No, but 1 was planning to start in the next 6 months _ No. and / didn'! plan to start in the next 6 months ****************************************************; Please clearly print your name:_____________________________________________________________ (We need this information to pair this survey with the PCI results. After the pairing is made, all names will be removed from the data and coding will be utilized to guarantee your anonymity) Thank you for your assistance. Please return the completed survey to the researcher Professional Comm Skills Dev; Q Version 6; (Patton) 130 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Patton, Gregory Hall (author)

Core Title Developing business communication skills: Leveraging stage versus global processes of change in skills improvement approaches

School Graduate School

Degree Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Program Communication

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag business administration, general,education, business,OAI-PMH Harvest,speech communication

Language English

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Advisor Riley, Patricia (committee chair), Cody, Michael J. (committee member), Cummings, Thomas (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c16-456595

Unique identifier UC11340173

Identifier 3196872.pdf (filename),usctheses-c16-456595 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier 3196872.pdf

Dmrecord 456595

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Patton, Gregory Hall

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA