RHETORICAL SENSITIVITY AND MANAGERIAL SUCCESS (FLEXIBILITY, COMMUNICATION, ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR).

Abstract

Managers spend 75-80% of their time communicating interpersonally. Ironically, communication skills are consistently listed as a major weakness of today's managers. Furthermore, management theorists contend that management students have been mis-educated for the job of managing. This study focuses on the relationship between attitudes toward communication and managerial success. Communication attitude was measured by Hart, Carlson and Eadie's RHETSEN Scale. Success was measured as promotions in relation to years worked and salary in relation to age. The hypothesis was that the Rhetorically Sensitive manager will be most successful. Two three-way analyses of variance were performed to assess this relationship. The results indicated no significant difference in success level for the Rhetorically Sensitive manager. The exploratory research suggested several directions for future research. Implications of these findings and recommendations for future research are noted.