Communication of research work can be directed towards various readers. Research on organizations may be of interest to three particular kinds of readers: researchers, managers and other members of the organization, and, to a lesser extent, the general public. The same research project may then need to be adapted to different target audiences – and for this the text will need to be encoded. This encoding is the subject of the first part of this section, while the second part identifies the requirements of different audiences. The third and final part will examine the particular case of communication media destined for a readership made up of other researchers.
1. Encoding
Encoding is the process of producing a message according to an appropriate system of signs – a code. This message will then be decoded by the recipients, as long as they share, or know, the code used. If the message is to be understood, it is important it conforms strictly to the code.
What concerns us particularly is that the code has a bearing on the form of the text, and indicates to the readers what type of message it is: research, summary, popularization, etc. For this reason, in encoding a text for a scientific purpose researchers generally include a section on methodology, direct the reader to appropriate references and avoid what Daft (1995) calls an amateur style and tone – such as exaggerating the importance of the project, over-insistence (for example by using exclamation marks) or expressing an overly negative attitude towards previous studies.
Such encoding might seem constraining to the writer of the text, in so far as the form of the text is to a large degree imposed from above. If one considers, however, the ‘Instructions to Contributors’ provided by all academic journals, the importance of encoding is tangible. A text that disregards this encoding will be seen as deviating from the norm, and it will be more difficult to have it accepted for publication. In some cases an article can be rejected without thorough evaluation, simply because its form betrays the fact that the author has not tried to adapt the work to the journal’s editorial policy. However, the strictness to which certain criteria are applied depends very much on the people at the top of the system: the gatekeepers (the publication’s editor and reviewers).
Although the code is generally shared across different publication media within the scientific genre, particular publications often have their own lesser conventions that should also be respected. For example, Administrative Science Quarterly and the Academy of Management Journal share the same scientific code, but one can easily tell, on reading an article, from which of these journals it has been taken.
2. Target Readerships
The three kinds of possible readerships can be classified according to their exposure to different forms of communication. First, researchers form the principal audience. Managers may be interested, to a lesser degree, in accordance with the theme of the study or the industry being studied, and particularly in the application aspects of the research. Finally, it is only rarely that the general public has any contact with research. For these reasons, we will not broach here the question of adapting research to a very large readership. Richardson (1990), however, provides a good analysis of an example of adaptation for the general public.
Research can be communicated through five general types of publications: research articles, managerial articles, books, conference papers and reports. To these can be added, although generally only once in the life of a researcher, a doctoral dissertation. There is an amount of consistency between the two principal readerships – researchers and managers – and the different publication media, as is shown in Table 17.1.
Other researchers are interested in most publication media, but their expectations can vary in line with the medium in which they are seeking information. They may look for specific results in an academic journal, but use a management journal to find examples to use in illustrating a course. Unfortunately, managers are less concerned with research, apart from, of course, applied studies they have commissioned, and which are to be the subject of a report. Managers can, however, ensure the success of some books as far as sales are concerned, or turn to practitioner-oriented journals to keep themselves informed.
As these different readerships have different expectations, the content of the text must be adapted accordingly, keeping within the encoding norms appropriate for the intended medium. Table 17.2 presents encoding rules as a function of the intended readership.
It is sometimes difficult to apply these encoding rules, as the same text can have various readerships.
As an example of the adaptation of research articles for a public consisting of managers, The Academy of Management Executive has since 1993 provided ‘research translations’ – presentations of research articles that have appeared in other journals. These presentations are often much (two pages) shorter than the original article, are not referenced and are written in a direct style, with emphasis on the implications of the research.
3. Media for Researchers
Before we look at research articles, the principal medium in which research work is written, let us look briefly at the various possible means of communicating with colleagues in the field.
We can distinguish between oral communication methods, such as conference presentations, and written methods, such as articles. Within these two groups we can also distinguish works based on data from those that are purely conceptual.
Conference presentations generally do not go beyond 20 minutes. It is important to observe this time limit, so as to leave room for discussion with the audience. Speakers must therefore plan their presentation carefully beforehand, and select the points to develop. One recommends a quick presentation of the fundamental theoretical concepts and the main lines of development of the research. The accent should always be placed on the results and on their contributions to the field, both practical and theoretical.
As for written media, the differences between them depend more on the presence of data than on the type of document. A conceptual article or a literature review will necessarily be presented differently than an empirical article. Methodology and results will be absent, with the emphasis placed on theoretical implications and on future research. To see the differences between empirical and non-empirical articles, I refer you to the Academy of Management Journal, which publishes only empirical articles, and to the Academy of Management Review, which publishes only conceptual articles.
Source: Thietart Raymond-Alain et al. (2001), Doing Management Research: A Comprehensive Guide, SAGE Publications Ltd; 1 edition.
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