Selected characteristics affecting the collaborative writing of Administrative Management Society members in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska

Interest in the ways in which business writers work with their peers in producing written documents is increasing as business communications instructors and corporate trainers realize the potential of teaching students to write collaboratively. This realization has led researchers to examine collaborative writing in the business world. With this information, instructors will be able to provide realistic classroom experiences for future business writers. This study was designed to provide descriptive information about collaborative writing and to examine how selected characteristics affect collaborative writing. Based on a review of literature, ten research questions were generated as a means of gathering information on the collaborative writing practices of business writers. A researcher-designed instrument was administered to 439 Administrative Management Society (AMS) members representing the total memberships of five AMS chapters in the states of Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri. After the initial mailing and two letter follow ups, the overall response rate was 59.7%. The usable number of questionnaires, 170, represented a 38.7% return rate. A descriptive analysis was made of questionnaire items that used Likert scales or categorical responses; content analysis was used to look at the open-ended questions; and ANOVAs and a Tukey post hoc test were used to examine the relationship between the variables. This information was reported in a series of tables interpreted by written narrative. The study indicated that collaborative writing is more common at the revising stage than at the prewriting or drafting stages. Generally, as the length or complexity of the document increased, the amount of collaboration also increased. Respondents preferred to work with one other person rather than with larger groups. Seven recommendations concerning the teaching of business writing and using groups in the classroom are made based on the findings and on the review of literature