Improving MBA Students’ Communication Proficiency:

An Orientation Pilot Study That Incorporates Technology

And Plagiarism Issues

Barbara E. Alpern, David C. Odett, and Richard Pietila

Walsh College

Abstract

This paper describes the progress of an original pilot program that used surveys and reported
results from students and faculty concerning student improvement in writing and presentation
skills from a convenience sample of courses. Based on the responses to these surveys a pre-test
writing instrument and a presentation assessment instrument were designed for and administered
to incoming students during their MBA orientation session. Also included in the orientation
session were two modules that focused on plagiarism issues and the use of web-based technology
for research. This program will be expanded to include post-writing critiques and portfolio
communication evaluations.

Background and Rationale

An assessment of writing and presentation proficiencies of incoming MBA students revealed the
erroneous assumption that MBA students come into the program with strong presentation and
writing proficiency. In reality, the assessments revealed some students need help with
understanding their roles as business communicators and the methods that are appropriate for
delivering their message. Research and feedback from faculty and students supported this
premise – MBA students require support to strengthen their communication competencies in
both areas.

These responses led to the initial pilot study (2001) in which students and instructors were
surveyed about their perceptions of student writing and presentation skills. More data and
surveys were analyzed, and the results indicated a discrepancy among student and faculty
perceptions. Class assignments were used to assess communication skill sets. Students self-
reported stronger writing and presentation proficiencies than did faculty on the same
assignments. These results indicated a need to identify and improve student communication
competencies in the following areas: presentations, writing, research, and the use of technology.

Bovee, Thill, & Schatzman (2003); Guffey, (2003); and Zaremba, (2003), are among the many
business communication professionals who emphasize the importance of a speaker
understanding the audience and the message he or she wishes to be received. This concept
applies to both written and oral presentations. Students are often at a loss as to how they can get
their message across because they have not been given the tools (strong writing background,
research skills, and presentation tips) to help them.

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There is a direct link between academic preparedness and performance in the business
environment. As an example, Zaremba (2003), cited Gamble and Kelliher’s (1999) study that
assessed the effectiveness of short briefing sessions, a common communication mode used in
most businesses today. The results of the study indicated that only one of the nine managers had
any previous presentation skills training and that there was almost no correlation between what
the employees assumed was the message received and what the managers reported was the
message sent. In addition, the use of technology, especially Power Point in presentations has
become an issue.

Research indicated there has been controversy among the advocates and critics as to the
effectiveness of PowerPoint for several years. Jacobson (1992) referred to integrating Quick
Time support for slide-show applications using PowerPoint 2.0; she cautioned the reader about
the limitations imposed by the difficulty of learning the technology and the few technical
resources that were available. PowerPoint was not mentioned when Munter (1998) discussed
several presentation options: flipcharts, electronic and non-electronic boards, handouts, still
projectors, and multimedia large-screen projectors. Her advice about using the most appropriate
technology emphasized paying attention to one’s audience and the message being conveyed. The
topic, the overuse/misuse of PowerPoint, was the focus of a recent (March 2004) Business
Communication Quarterly issue. Blokzijl and Naeff (2004) surveyed students about their
opinions of the use of PowerPoint in lectures. The results indicated that the majority of students
preferred some use of PowerPoint, but rejected use of sound effects and animation. Shwom
(2003) states, “…a bad PowerPoint presentation is a symptom of the writer’s failure to employ
simple slide design, principles, basic communication skills, and – most importantly –
fundamental rhetorical techniques” (p. 2). In the span of less than twelve years, the use of
PowerPoint mushroomed like the atomic cloud: positively, it brought new opportunities for
presenters to deliver their messages, and negatively, it became the primary focus of the
presentation, not the intended message of the presenter.

Equally important in the communication equation is the ability of the student to write well. Clear
and effective writing rests on the foundation of organization. Regarding speeches, Guffey (2003)
states that organization and repetition are powerful tools that can enhance an audience’s ability to
easily understand and remember the message. She states that this strategy works surprisingly
well for speeches, but it is just as effective for writing purposes. A critical part of assessing a
student’s ability to learn how to write effectively is to be able to track the student’s writing
progress through a variety of methods, (i.e., pre-post testing, portfolio analysis). However, the
literature reveals a dearth of research available involving such issues. Zhao and Alexander
(2004) reported they found no studies that assessed students’ long-term outcomes in business
communication-related courses. They recommended that longitudinal studies be undertaken to
assess the short- term impact of communication-related classes beginning with sophomore year
and ending with long-term learning outcomes at the end of their senior year.

A pervasive issue appearing in research and in the classroom is plagiarism. Some students lack
confidence or have poor time-management skills and resort to short-cuts: plagiarism abounds
(Sutherland, 2004). Technology, as a research tool, is a double-edged sword. The literature
reveals that while it is a boon to researchers seeking quality information, it also provides an
opportunity to usurp ethical behavior (Born, 2003; McKerral, 2004). Indeed, there appears to be

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no limits to what lengths even academics will go to take credit for work that is not their own
(Lanegran, 2004). However, in the case of students, many have not been taught what constitutes
plagiarism and how to avoid it (Lester & Lester, 2002).

Because of the issues mentioned in the literature above, and based on Walsh College’s initial
MBA pilot study (2001), the need was recognized to identify and improve MBA student
communication competencies: hence the pilot MBA orientation program was born.

MBA Orientation Program

The intent of the MBA orientation program is to uncover potential problematic areas concerning
students’ abilities in oral presentation, writing, research/plagiarism, and technology use. The
program has yielded partial results because not all of the areas are completely developed.

Presentation Segment

To bring this message home to the new MBA students, the help of current MBA students was
enlisted to write and present a skit in which they culminated their “what-not-to-do-in-a-
presentation list” for the MBA orientation program. The audience was not told the purpose of the
presentation, only that this group of MBA students wanted to show them what might be done in
class. Some of the new students looked aghast at the presenters as they stumbled through their
disorganized presentation with their backs to the audience – reading PowerPoint slides that were
extremely dense with little distinction between color background and text, using uneven font
sizes, acronyms without explanation, and showing no team cohesiveness. The total lack of
content cohesiveness was apparent.

As part of the fall 2003 presentation, the new students were asked to orally critique the skit.
Their criticism was accurate as to poor construction and delivery techniques. They expressed
good awareness about a speaker’s role in properly organizing and delivering a presentation with
appropriate graphic support and in meeting audience expectations. This exercise also brought to
light the importance of involving an audience in the presentation. The feedback obtained from
this MBA orientation presentation validated the need to involve all MBA students in critical
assessment and to provide them with support materials.

Beginning in fall 2004, the MBA orientation program will incorporate written (surveys) and oral
feedback from the students. Additionally, a discussion of presentation content and delivery
techniques will include the use of visual aids, and handouts will be distributed that identify basic
presentation concepts and resources. The use of student self-assessments and instructor
assessment surveys developed in the previous pilot study (2001-2002) will continue to be used in
randomly selected classes to track presentation proficiency.

Walsh College’s new student MBA Association members, who have strong presentation skills,
proposed a peer-to-peer presentation pilot program that will begin in fall 2004. This tutorial
approach provides MBA students with the opportunity to practice their presentations and receive
constructive criticism before they actually present in class. The program and the data obtained
will provide another avenue students can access to improve their presentation competencies.

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Writing Segment

For the writing aspect of the program, students were asked to write an essay providing their point
of view regarding one of three possible topics. These topics can be viewed in Appendix 1.

Students were given forty-five (45) minutes to write their essays and were informed that the
essay should be in the 250 to 300-word range. The essays were handwritten, and the students did
not have the use of supportive tools such as dictionaries, spell checkers, etc. while writing the
essays.

The essays were evaluated utilizing three modes of assessment. The first mode consisted of
specific assessments in the areas of organization, content, clarity, and grammar and mechanics.
Each of these areas contained sub-categories whereby students’ essays were evaluated as
excellent, good, fair, or poor. The second mode consisted of a broad assessment of the students’
overall writing skills. In this mode, essays submitted by students were categorized as either
exceeding criteria (above average), meeting criteria (average), or below criteria (below average).
Finally, comments focusing on the writers’ strengths and/or weaknesses were provided in the
form of written feedback by the evaluator of the essays. A sample feedback form used in the
evaluation of the student essays can be found in Appendix 2. An explanation concerning each
mode of essay assessment appears in Appendix 3.

Sixty-four incoming MBA students submitted essays. Of these 64 essays, 28 were evaluated as
“exceeding criteria,” 31 essays were judged as “meeting criteria,” and 5 essays were “below
criteria.” While it would appear that these results are quite good, it must be remembered that
“exceeding criteria” means that the essay is “above average” and “meeting criteria” connotes an
“average” essay. Evaluator feedback was provided to each student based on the above criteria so
that students could focus on specific areas that need improvement.

Based on the initial essays, the students appear to have good content awareness, but need more
intervention in the areas of organization, grammar, and mechanics. These results are only
preliminary. They will be more meaningful once the students finish the MBA program at Walsh.
At that time, the students must write a post-test essay. The post-test essays will be evaluated
using the same criteria as the initial pre-test essays, and comparisons will be made between the
two to see if any changes in students’ writing occurred. A point by point comparison in the areas
of organization, content, clarity, and grammar and mechanics between the two sets of essays will
be made with the view of determining whether students’ skills in these areas improved, remained
the same, or declined. These comparisons will provide the basis for evaluating the effectiveness
of using the MBA orientation essay questions as an indicator of students’ writing abilities and
will be vital in determining if changes need to be made in the MBA orientation program and
curriculum of the MBA program.

Plagiarism Segment

Sutherland (2004) and McKerral (2004) are just two among many authors who suggest that easy
access to electronic information sources has escalated the concern for faculty and administrators

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about the increased use of plagiarism; Walsh College is no exception. Over the past several
years, there has been a concerted attempt to curtail plagiarism through focused intervention
methods. Diligent efforts to identify and reduce plagiarism across the undergraduate and
graduate curricula have been undertaken by the College. Faculty development seminars,
newsletters, required readings, and specific College policies that relate to student conduct are
representative of some of these efforts.

Students are made aware of their responsibilities not to plagiarize. Student orientation
presentations, College catalog, and course syllabi all identify the problem and disciplinary
actions that will result if a student plagiarizes. Instructors integrate plagiarism issues into
assignments, so students practice correct citation methods throughout the term. Currently, the
Academic Dean handles cases of students who violate College policy regarding plagiarism. The
final determination concerning the penalty for plagiarizing is made in conjunction with the
specific department chairman and course instructor.

Born (2003) suggests that playing detective will not eliminate or substantially reduce the number
of plagiarizers. Instead, he recommends that a proactive approach be considered: treat a paper as
a process not a product, assign group activities, and educate the students. This approach is
aligned with the objectives of the MBA program. Current efforts in detecting plagiarism include
faculty development seminars, new student orientation, policy statement included on every
syllabus, library handouts, and in individual class assignments. The Communications faculty,
library staff, and MBA faculty are working collaboratively on related initiatives.

The pilot MBA orientation program begins and focuses on educating the students. This proactive
approach is only intended to raise awareness of plagiarism and promote correct citation usage. It
does this by focusing heavily on plagiarism in the following ways: ethical research
methodologies, college policies regarding plagiarism, and instruction on appropriate citation
format. A resulting development regarding the plagiarism issue has been applied within Walsh’s
MBA program.

In MBA 501, Organization and People, the instructor discusses plagiarism, provides a lengthy
handout that defines plagiarism and how to cite documents in correct American Psychological
Association (APA) format. (See Appendix 4) In advance of the students writing a research paper,
the instructor uses a citation exercise that requires the students individually and in groups to read
a short article, write a brief paragraph discussing the article topic, and provide within the
paragraph:

• One direct quotation from the article, with an APA textnote citation
• One paraphrased citation from the article, with an APA textnote citation
• A reference citation as it would appear on the Reference Page of a report

The collaborative effort by the library staff has resulted in an electronic citation format handout;
this unified approach to improve student communication outcomes really provides students and
faculty with “one voice”. This approach is being customized for other MBA courses with
emphasis on improving research and writing skill proficiency, in particular, avoidance of
plagiarism.

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As this is a pilot MBA orientation program, definitive results are not yet available; however, the
groundwork has been laid to measure, either qualitatively or quantitatively, the improvement of
research methodologies and, hence, the reduction in plagiarism.

Future outlook

Several moves are underway!

• Provide students with electronic portfolios. Our college has acquired outside funding for
each student to have a Plumtree Corporate Portal 5.0.2 portfolio. This electronic media
will provide students space to showcase their personal and professional activities, for
example: research papers, presentations, résumé or vita, etc.
• Continue and expand faculty development focusing on presentation skills and plagiarism
issues.
• Monitor and provide support for peer-to-peer presentation pilot program.
• Continue long-term assessment of communication proficiencies from orientation through
graduation.

As a result of the pilot study and MBA orientation program, it is believed that even the mildest
intervention can have positive results. Therefore, continuous improvements are planned as
feedback and data are gathered from faculty and each orientation session. This data will be
analyzed and ongoing changes implemented as indicated.

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Appendix 1

MBA Orientation

Writing Sample

Please select a topic from one of the options below and write a 250-300 word (2-3 pages) essay that
expresses your point of view. You will have 45 minutes to complete the essay.

1. What made you select Walsh College for your graduate degree?

2. In August, 2003 the Detroit area experienced a power blackout. How are you preparing for future
blackouts either as an individual or as a businessperson?

3. Have you ever faced an issue concerning ethical behavior or cultural diversity? How did you
resolve it?

This writing sample is for assessment purposes only.

Your essay will be reviewed and returned to you with comments using the Walsh College Standard
Criteria for Assessing Writing Assignments. Your writing will be assessed in terms of organization,
content, clarity, grammar, and mechanics.

[insert date]

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Appendix 2

MBA/MSM/MMO Writing Sample Assessment

Student

Assessment Excellent Good Fair Poor

Criteria

Organization Logically presented

Content Accurate
Sufficient
Appropriate

Clarity Understandable

Grammar & Spelling

Mechanics
Punctuation
Sentence Structure
Word choice

Overall Assessment of Writing Skills

ˆ Exceeds Criteria ˆ Meets Criteria ˆ Below Criteria

Comments:

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Appendix 3

Assessment Mode #1 (Assessment Criteria)

Organization

An assessment was made as to whether the essay was presented logically. Readers should be given an
introduction that previews the main points of the written piece, a body that develops and discusses those
main points, and a conclusion that briefly summarizes the main points. However, if a student provided an
introduction that stated the importance of the topic area, and then proceeded to discuss fully the main
points of the area, and concluded with a brief point of view, the essay was considered “excellent” with
regard to organization.

Content

Evaluations were based on whether the content of the essay was accurate, sufficient, and appropriate.
Students were evaluated on whether or not the information they provided in their essays was accurate.
The sufficiency criterion was used as a means of assessing how well the students explained, discussed,
and/or developed the main points of the essay. While the introduction is a wonderful vehicle to preview
main points, it is the body of the essay that enlightens the reader. Some writing instructors would label
this as “relevancy”. Lordeon and Miles (1991) explicate relevance by explaining that a writer should
make sure that the information being presented “has a direct connection with the report’s main topic and
with the writer’s main objectives” (p. 83). With this concept in mind, the students were evaluated on their
ability to back up their statements, to explain the main points fully, and/or to discuss the
meaning/importance of the main points. Finally, for the “appropriate” category, the evaluation was based
on whether the supporting material used by students to elaborate on their main points actually “fit” the
main points being discussed. For example, if a student emphasized the importance of a main point, he/she
should have supported that main point with material that coincided with his/her purpose.

Clarity

The sole criterion was whether the essay was understandable. Here, the focus was on the flow of the
essay. The quality of how well the essay flowed was determined by the use of transitions, “signposts”,
and a good mix of simple, compound, and complex sentence structure that prevented a choppy ride
through the essay. Other areas considered for this category included the use of bullets (if used, whether
they were used well and meaningfully), the use of jargon (if used, whether the terms were defined or not),
and to a lesser degree, spelling, and punctuation (excessive errors impede the flow of the essay).

Grammar and Mechanics

This area contained four sub-categories: spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, and word choice. The
first two sub-categories are vitally important for effective writing. Excessive errors in either spelling or
punctuation can serve to damage the credibility of a writer (Guffey, 2003). Students were evaluated in
these areas based on the number of spelling and punctuation errors contained in their essays. Even though
it could be argued that a time constraint could have a negative impact in this area, an equally effective
argument can be made that good writers will be more conscientious in the areas of spelling and
punctuation. Words had to be spelled correctly. The primary focus of the punctuation evaluation

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centered on whether students used apostrophes correctly, semi-colons to prevent comma splices, and
question marks where appropriate. The misuse of commas, although to a lesser extent, was also a focal
point of the evaluation.

Regardless of the simplicity or the complexity of a writing sample, style can be thought of in terms of a
writer’s choices in sentence structure and word choice (Lordeon and Miles, 1991, p. 13). Again, even
though a time constraint can have an impact on these two areas, a conscientious writer should make the
effort to write clearly and to use words correctly. For sentence structure, student essays were evaluated
based on the use of complete sentences, avoiding the use of run-on sentences, and whether the sentences
that were used were used effectively. With regard to word choice, the focus of evaluation was on whether
words were used correctly, whether there was agreement in areas such as noun-pronoun relationships or
verb tense situations, and whether basic rules of grammar were followed by students in writing their
essays.

Assessment Mode #2 (Overall Assessment of Writing Skills)

Student essays were evaluated as exceeding criteria, meeting criteria, or as below criteria. The category
of overall assessment of writing skills was based on how well a student fared in the first mode of
assessment. For example, if a student received an excellent in all the categories contained in the first
mode of assessment, the student would receive a rating of exceeding criteria in the overall assessment of
writing skills. If errors occurred in the criteria contained in the first mode of assessment, the student
would receive a rating of “meeting criteria” in this mode of assessment. There was no “magic number” of
errors that would determine whether a student received a rating of meeting the criteria or a rating that was
below criteria. If errors occurred, and the student exhibited strength in areas such as organization,
sufficient content, clarity, and grammar and mechanics, the student easily attained a rating of “meets
criteria”. If a student had excessive ratings of fair or poor in the first mode of assessment, the student’s
rating in this second mode of assessment would be below criteria.

Assessment Mode #3 (Comments)

Finally, in this mode of assessment, students were given feedback about their essays in the form of
specific comments concerning elements in the first two modes of assessment. The feedback included
comments regarding the strengths of the writer pertaining to all areas. Areas of deficiency exhibited by
the writer were pointed out in the written feedback provided by the evaluator, and brief explanations
about the importance of correcting those deficiencies were provided. This feedback was provided so that
students could learn from any mistakes they made, and possibly improve in any future writing endeavors.

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Appendix 4

Citation Exercise
In an effort to not only increase the students’ awareness of the APA format required for the research
paper, but also to make them aware of exactly what constitutes plagiarism, the Citation Exercise was
developed. An additional intended outcome of the assignment is the opportunity to provide a level base,
across the entire class, on which to assess the students’ final research paper.

With assistance from the Communications Department Chair, an exercise was developed to include the
following points:

¾ An understanding of the use of published information to support a research paper

¾ A discussion of what constitutes plagiarism, and the Walsh College and criminal penalties
associated with this practice
¾ Information on the specifics of citing and documenting a data source
¾ Examples of directly quoted and paraphrased citations, with the corresponding reference
documentation
¾ Dynamic links to additional reference sources, where students can find additional information
on their own

For their assessment, students were given a short article and asked to provide a brief paragraph discussing
the article topic and provide within the paragraph:

¾ One direct quotation from the article, with an APA textnote citation
¾ One paraphrased citation from the article, with an APA textnote citation
¾ A reference citation as it would appear on the Reference Page of a report.

These assignments will be graded and students will be given feedback on any citations or references that
were improperly stated. The exercise is worth at total of 5 points (out of a course total of 680), with
points awarded for the completion of the exercise, not the accuracy. The greater underlying purpose of
the assignment is the opportunity for students to gather the needed skills for the research paper – where
points are deducted and the rules of academic misconduct are now able to be enforced on a consistent
basis. An additional outcome of the exercise is a skill set the students will take with them, from the first
course of their MBA program through the rest of their degree.

References

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Born, A. (2003). How to reduce plagiarism. Journal of Information Systems Education, 14(3), 223. Retrieved June
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NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Gamble, P.R., & Kelliher, C.E. (1999). Imparting information and influencing behaviour: An examination of staff
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Guffey, M. E. (2003). Business communication: Process and product (4th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western.

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Jacobson, L. (1992). Corporate presentations come to life with music and sound. MacWeek, 6(27), 54+. Retrieved
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McKerral, G. (2004). Only the methods of stealing are new. The Quill, 92(4), 4. Retrieved June 21, 2004, from
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Shwom, B. L. (2003). “The great man has spoken. Now what do I do?” A response to Edward R. Tufte’s “The
cognitive style of PowerPoint”. Communication Insight, 1(1), 2-16.

Sutherland, T.E. (2004). Defining and avoiding plagiarism: The council of writing program administrators’
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BARBARA E. ALPERN, Ph.D., is professor and chair of the Communications and

Marketing Department at Walsh College in Troy, Michigan. With Dave Odett, she co-designed the pilot MBA
Orientation Program. She also is a corporate consultant and trainer. Barbara received her B.A. and M.A. in
Communications and her Ph.D. in Higher Education from the University of Michigan

DAVID C. ODETT, Ph.D., is professor and chair, Management and QM Department and director of the MBA
program at Walsh College, Troy, MI. He co-designed the pilot MBA Orientation Program. Dave received his B.A.
from Madonna University, M.A. from Central Michigan University, M.B.A. form University of Notre Dame, and
Ph.D. from Wayne State University.

RICHARD PIETILA, ABD, is currently an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Communications at Walsh College. He
earned his B.S. from Northern Michigan University, his M.A. from the University of Michigan, and is currently
ABD at the University of Michigan. Richard serves as the evaluator for Walsh College’s MBA pre-and post- writing
essays.

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