1

The Technical Communicator as Knowledge Entrepreneur:

An Inquiry into Contributing Increased Value

in Today’s Workplace

by

Anthony A. Aveni

A Research Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirements for the Master of Science Degree

in

Technical and Professional Communications

Approved: Three Semester Credits

_______________________

Dr. Julie Watts

The Graduate School

University of Wisconsin-Stout

August, 2011

Julie Watts, PhD

Digitally signed by Julie Watts, PhD DN: cn=Julie Watts, PhD, o=University of Wisconsin-Stout, ou=MSTPC, email=wattsj@uwstout.edu, c=US Date: 2011.07.22 11:39:53 -05'00'

2

The Graduate School

University of Wisconsin-Stout

Menomonie, WI

Author: Aveni, Anthony A.

Title: The Technical Communicator as Knowledge Entrepreneur: An Inquiry into

Contributing Increased Value in Today’s Workplace

Graduate Degree/ Major: MS Technical and Professional Communication

Research Adviser: Dr. Julie Watts

Month/Year: July, 2011

Number of Pages: 55

Style Manual Used: American Psychological Association, 6th

edition

Abstract

Demand for workers who have a combination of technology and business skills is growing.

Employers have become more specific, looking for those with not only these skills but also

the ability to understand business processes to help drive their organizations forward. Technical

communication‘s traditional focus could be looked at as more about cultivating skills that bridge

the gap between the technical world and the world of non-expert user, more appropriate for

consulting, freelancing, and specialized employer departmental functions. The fast-paced, high

tech, global nature of today‘s business is creating new challenges to this singular role of

technical communication to evolve toward more multi-disciplinary emphasis with better-

rounded business acumen. The purpose of this study was to investigate and identify key business

competencies and communication attributes that technical communicators must develop to

better align their skills and expertise to add more employer value in light of these new workplace

realities and demands. Evidence shows a clear gap between employer needs and workforce

skills and this skill shortage is having a detrimental effect on business operations and

3

productivity. Findings indicate that a more innovative, entrepreneurial mindset by employees to

perform outside of their routine duties can greatly benefit career prospects and advancement

while adding critical needed value to employer competitiveness. This investigation forms a

theoretical competency framework in which a new definition of workplace entrepreneurship can

emerge, providing a redefined way of thinking and working that technical communicators can

employ to better contribute to today‘s business challenges.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, technical communication, business communication,

start-up documentation, knowledge management, knowledge leadership

4

Table of Contents

.................................................................................................................................................... Page

Abstract ............................................................................................................................................2

Chapter I: Introduction ....................................................................................................................5

Chapter II: Literature Review ..........................................................................................................8

Chapter III: Investigation ...............................................................................................................13

A. Employer needs and workforce skills: A critical dichotomy .......................................13

B. An entrepreneurial mindset in the workplace ..............................................................24

Chapter IV: Results ........................................................................................................................35

A. From idea to execution: Creating our entrepreneurial workspace ................................36

Recognizing opportunity ...............................................................................................36

Passion for one‘s idea ....................................................................................................39

Effective documentation ................................................................................................40

Integrity and values .......................................................................................................42

B. A new definition of technical communications entrepreneurship ................................ 44

The technical communicator as knowledge entrepreneur .............................................44

Chapter V: Discussion ...................................................................................................................47

Chapter VI: Conclusion and Areas for Future Research ...............................................................51

References ......................................................................................................................................53

5

Chapter I: Introduction

Demand for workers who have a combination of technology and business skills is

growing. "It's huge," said Aaron Ritchie (2011) managing director at Experis, the specialty

recruitment arm of ManpowerGroup that focuses on information technology, engineering, and

finance/accounting. ―We‘re seeing a lot of demand for it,‖ he states (para. 9, 11). Employers

can be more selective, holding out for those with not only these skills but also the ability to

understand business processes, demonstrate exceptional interpersonal skills, and fit well into

cultures to help drive their organizations forward.

Indeed, as Ritchie points out, in a recent survey of 40,000 employers in 39 countries,

89% cited a lack of people with exactly these skills sets—the ability to take technology and

marry it to business, either processes, or goals, or products. Essentially, the professional

workforce of the future must add better value for employers, and to do so, it must be better

rounded in its skill offering.

Specific to technical communication, our field‘s traditional focus could be looked at as

more about cultivating skills effective for consulting, freelancing, and more narrow specialized

employer departmental functions involved with bridging the gap between subject matter experts

and laypersons. In fact, a principle defining service of those within our profession specific to

this discussion according to the Society for Technical Communication website (2011) is

producing ―Functional specifications and proposals to help one group of technical experts

communicate effectively with other technical experts, speeding up development cycles, reducing

rework caused by misunderstandings, and eliminating risks associated with miscommunication.‖

Of course there is certainly value in performing this service as countless technical

communicators are ably doing so. However, if viewed in contrast with traits such as

understanding business processes to help drive organizations forward, this definition can be

viewed as somewhat narrow in scope.

6

Within our profession, there generally has not been much academic emphasis on

developing better-rounded business skills. A recent study by Meloncon (2009) overviewed

required, concentration, and elective courses offered in academic technical communication

programs. The only business course within the reviewed programs was management, and then

only 11% of programs required a general management course, 15% offered it as a concentration

course, and 14% offering an elective course (p. 142, 143). In addition, these management

courses were narrowly focused around writing and projects, with only a few examples of courses

coded as management defined as ―managing writing in organizations‖ and ―managing people and

projects.‖ No doubt there is value to such courses; however, their emphasis does not seem to be

on academic exposure to business from a broader standpoint.

Even a relatively recent study examining competencies/skills that all technical

communicators should have fails to acknowledge basic business principles as one of the

important ones. Kim and Tolley (2004) looked at the state of technical communication and the

need to keep up with rapidly evolving conditions in the field by forging better partnerships with

industry to ensure graduates remain current with workplace skills. The authors referenced

numerous scholars on the competencies they felt most important to graduate preparedness.

These remarks included broad-based grounding in rhetoric, procedural knowledge for better

adaptability and problem solving, technical competence and computer skills, and self-

management and analysis. This discussion is not intended to diminish the importance of these

competencies, but to point out the absence of any mention of better grounding in basic business

principles as also being important.

If there has not been much emphasis addressing business acumen more specifically in

our programs, it stands to reason there also would not be much emphasis on addressing technical

communicator skill set from the perspective of ―thinking outside the box‖ and business skill

versatility more akin to entrepreneurs. As we will see, those in our field can greatly benefit by

7

working more like entrepreneurs, more like business developers, and in turn, increasing our

value to employers and our profession.

The purpose of this paper is to examine issues and strategies that those working in our

field should consider for better aligning their skills and expertise towards these new more

rigorous demands of industry. The unifying question of this work is: What are the important

entrepreneurial business development skills and communication attributes that technical

communicators can cultivate to contribute better value, especially in light of today‘s workplace

realities?

This investigation aims to shed light on how taking a new entrepreneurial tack to our

profession can better align skill contribution toward the critical needs of employers operating in

an ultra-competitive, global business environment. This research provides technical

communicators—both those entering the workforce or already in professional endeavors—a

redefined vision of workplace entrepreneurship that, if embraced, increases employer

competitiveness, enriches our profession, and increases the likelihood of recognition and reward.

8

Chapter II: Literature Review

The purpose of this Literature Review is to summarize research work that has been

performed specific to the areas of workforce preparedness, entrepreneurship, and technical

communication competencies significant to the underlying assumptions of this paper. This

review illustrates how different research is related and provides context for these assumptions by

looking at what is already known in these areas, what the relationships are between key findings,

and where inconsistencies or shortcomings in our knowledge and understanding may exist.

A survey on the issue of workplace skill deficiencies and what employees can do to

proactively mitigate them reveals current, well-supported findings significant to this inquiry. All

those who examined this subject found clear deficiency in employee business acumen and that a

better-rounded skill set is essential. Beecher (2011), Lee (1999), Minton-Eversole (2009), and

Schoeff Jr. (2009) contrasted this need looking at various aspects of the challenging environment

under which today‘s businesses are operating. These conditions included the impact of rapidly

advancing technology as well as globalism. In essence, all authors drew similar conclusions

about clear deficiencies in workforce preparedness to augment these challenges. Most backed

their claims with recent surveys, as noted in Ritchie (2011), Beecher, and Minton-Eversole. In

the case of Lee, notable is that his remarks were made in 1999, inferring that many of these

deficiencies are fairly chronic in nature.

Whiteside's (2003) scholarship looked at needed skills specific to technical

communicators as they enter the workforce and as with the other authors, also found clear

competencies lacking, indicating opportunity for improvements to technical communication

curricula to improve graduate preparedness. Her study suggests areas where post-secondary

programs may need more emphasis on well-rounded preparation, including business operations,

project management, and problem-solving skills, along with additional scientific and technical

knowledge.

9

In a similar vein to Whiteside, Meloncon (2009) and Kim and Tolley (2004) noted a lack

of academic emphasis on also developing better-rounded business skills. Meloncon overviewed

required, concentration, and elective courses offered in academic technical communication

programs and found the only business course within the reviewed programs was management,

and generally, it was required in only a minority of programs. Furthermore, these management

courses were narrowly focused around writing and projects with little emphasis on exposure to

business from a broader standpoint. Kim and Tolley looked at the state of technical

communication and the need to keep up with rapidly evolving conditions in the field by forging

better partnerships with industry to ensure graduates remain current with workplace skills. The

authors referenced numerous scholars on the competencies they felt most important to graduate

preparedness. Their remarks identified many important competencies, but little mention of better

grounding in basic business principles as also being important.

Also similar to Whiteside (2003), Rainey, Turner, and Dayton (2005) and Hart and

Conklin (2006) study findings concluded that among the most important competencies for

technical communicators are skills in collaborating with both subject-matter experts and

coworkers, the ability to take the initiative (be a self-starter) and to evaluate one‘s own work and

the work of others. Relevant to this preparedness issue, based on this research and that of others,

the study recommended that technical communication programs find ways to develop students‘

interpersonal and collaborative skills and assure that technical communication majors

acquire project management skills and skills that contribute toward understanding of business

operations and their roles within the organization. Buttressing this argument, Hart and Conklin

found that the models and descriptors used to explain the role of technical communication as

having to do mainly with written communication are outdated and inaccurate. The contemporary

workplace, the study found, is experiencing the emergence of more inclusive management

practices and more collaborative and empowered work practices and that technical

10

communicators must adapt accordingly.

Williams (2010) argues that moving toward an ―interpretive‖ discourse expands the

values of technical communication to prepare students, but in a way that both retains existing

assumptions that the field remains rooted in an expedient, managerial, techno-rational discourse,

but also includes a new, more diverse focus on the ―complete person.‖ The author takes a

metaphorical approach placing responsibility on communicators for their activity within a

community or network of people, providing a postmodern technical communication view that

holds onto the past while not being a slave to it, essentially outlining a new value proposition for

technical communication.

An exploration of the unique competencies of the entrepreneurial mindset, aptitude, and

skills used in business building identifies key traits common with this research. Fillis and

Rentschler (2006, 2010), Vance (1986), Kawasaki (2004), and White (2002) all allude to the

same rapidly changing global forces being placed on businesses and how this is necessitating

rethinking new ways employees must contribute to their organizations than in the past.

Significant to these inquiries are more detailed tactics employees can deploy to augment these

new dynamics.

These authors, in addition to Amabile (1997) provide detailed definitions of

entrepreneurialism as it relates to creativity and also perspective on how more innovative

thinking can be leveraged to garner workplace value while providing employers with a

competitive edge within their industries. Vance makes points about shared responsibility

between employees being more proactive in conjunction with employers providing a more

nurturing environment and corporate culture that in turn, helps foster, promote, and reward

innovation.

Studies about business start-up ventures also address competencies needed to launch and

build a business idea that ultimately improves workplace productivity and innovation. Barringer

11

and Ireland (2008) take a comprehensive process-based approach to the subject of

entrepreneurialism and from their perspective, although each business launch is unique, indicate

common features to all launches. The authors provide a thorough introduction to the process

from the decision to become an entrepreneur to developing successful business ideas, principle to

Chapter 4 Section A. From idea to execution: Creating our entrepreneurial workspace herein.

Additional discussion includes moving from an idea to a start-up firm and managing and

growing such a firm successfully. The authors contend and research suggests entrepreneurialism

is a process, and that those interested in developing a business idea further and launching a

venture (either internally within their own organizations or as a bonafide start-up) seek to

understand the distinct phases of such launches and apply skills accordingly. The authors place

particular emphasis on the beginning of the entrepreneurial process, notably, opportunity

recognition and idea feasibility.

Similar to Barringer and Ireland, Turner (2006) also sees business development as a

process. The author remarks that business development is a continuum from idea to IPO (initial

public offering) and beyond, characterized into distinct phases of pre-seed, seed, start-up, early

stage, and expansion. Development through these phases needs to focus on building the requisite

company platform, creating the management structures and systems so that the distinctive

capabilities and strategic assets of the business can be fully exploited. A similar phased

contention can be drawn for those working within organizations contemplating launch of an

initiative themselves.

A point of Turner‘s investigation is that effective documentation must be a component of

successfully redefining a vision of entrepreneurialism, either as a start-up or internally. One of

the first considerations a company needs to move up the value curve should be the operating

business plan, the author remarks. This should be a living, working document that serves to

highlight strengths and weaknesses and be used as a guide to the action needed to develop the

12

proposition to a point where it is attractive to investors. Reinforcing the importance of

documentation, Brounstein, Bell, and Smith (2007) provide practical, fundamental business

communication concepts as their primary focus. The authors provide practical guidance for

mastering core competencies and skills such as audience analysis and crafting persuasive written

business communications such as proposals helping professionals avoid common mistakes and

succeed in business settings.

The evaluation of these works indicates important relationships between the various

authors while demonstrating clear and current relevance that validates the investigation herein.

However, there is a need for more research about how employees, especially technical

communicators working within corporate environments can tactically adopt and apply

entrepreneurial instinct, identify opportunities, and craft successful action plans that exploit these

opportunities. While many of the authors touch on this aspect of entrepreneurism, none tackle

this issue specifically, leaving an opportunity to study this more thoroughly. Nonetheless,

although there is not a clear confluence where these varied and diverse positions of scholarship

intersect, key determinants of workforce opportunity are most assuredly identified as existing,

and if addressed appropriately, can indeed mitigate the employer skill needs surveyed herein.

13

Chapter III: Investigation

The following investigation is divided into two sections illustrating the breadth and

complexity behind the issue of what seems to be missing in our workforce abilities today and

how technical communicators can fill these needs. Section A. Employer needs and workforce

skills: A critical dichotomy looks specifically at scholarship and numerous recent studies about

the changing dynamics of business at the turn of the 21st century and the new demands being

placed on both employers and workforce. Section B. An entrepreneurial mindset in the

workplace studies the concept of workplace entrepreneurialism within the context of mindset and

skill set, drawing from entrepreneurs different ways to think about one‘s place in the workplace.

This investigation forms a theoretical framework of common entrepreneurial competencies and

strategies needed to identify and build a structure around a business idea for sustenance and

follow through. In effect, there is much to be learned from entrepreneurs that can inspire

technical communicators to take their own risky yet rewarding plunges into building successful

internal enterprises. This combined evidence provides a generalized theoretical framework

technical communicators can incorporate in ways unique to their own personalities and strengths,

specific job functions, and workplace realities to better address the needs and challenges of

business today.

A. Employer needs and workforce skills: A critical dichotomy

If not me, who? If not now, when? These questions may be an axiom we would do well

to follow as our professional mantra. Help is needed in our workplaces as cited by numerous

recent studies about what is ailing U.S. business competitiveness. Employees need more of a

mindset of accountability towards finding innovative ways to contribute more workplace value.

Outside of immediate job functions, whose job is it to proactively seek out and make

improvements including a bright idea to make a product more usable, a method for quicker

14

response to customer complaints, or a system that streamlines supply channels? Such

improvements are just a few among a myriad of business functions that simply have to be better

for our companies to remain competitive.

Is it upper management‘s job to innovate since they get paid the big bucks? Is it the ISO

administrator‘s? It has always been the case that businesses must innovatively solve problems;

however, a major recession and a hypercompetitive global environment have shown a glaring

light on how critical this need has become. A survey of today‘s findings from numerous authors

indicate that contributing more innovation value both is and must be every employee‘s

responsibility.

A rather blunt assessment by Bill Lee (1999) stands as an example of the critical need for

employees to start thinking differently and do so soon. Frustrated that attendees to his

conferences constantly placed the onus on employers to pick up the tab for his relatively

inexpensive materials, Lee felt compelled to comment. The author remarked:

Employees wait for the organization to develop them. Entrepreneurs risk some

money up front for the possibility of return. Today's savvy employees develop

entrepreneurial habits. In this day of decreased job security, it is imperative that

you invest in your own career security. Believing that the company should and

will take care of you is dangerously out of touch with reality. Believing that it's

the company's responsibility to equip and professionally develop you is

characteristic of an outdated employee mentality. If you believe all you have to

do to survive and succeed in today's volatile workplace is to show up and do your

job, you are living in the past. (para. 3)

As Lee contends, ―entrepreneurial habits‖ involve both investment and risk. In this case,

investing is in one‘s self to increase employer value. The risk involved in spending time and

energy (and sometimes money) seeking out ways to have a bigger workplace impact is that the

15

effort may make little or no difference in one‘s career. However, attempting to do so is unlikely

to cause notable harm; therefore, this risk is fairly minimal. As Vance (1986) alludes, no

strategy is without risk, but the best defense is often a good offense (p. 122).

―Try thinking like a business owner, because that's what you really are,‖ Lee furthers.

―You are the president of You, Inc. You are the product. The person or organization that buys

your product is your customer. You are responsible for product development and quality control.

You must market your product, package it, and satisfy your customer. You must invest in capital

improvement—of yourself,‖ the author states (para. 10).

In Lee‘s remarks and those that follow, it is clear that today‘s employees would do well

to not leave their futures up to fate, considering that employers are depending on them to

constantly improve. In a way, it can be looked at as a Personal ISO Program of continuous

improvement where employees are their own program administrators.

Aside from personal accountability, recent surveys point out clear deficiencies in today‘s

workforce preparedness. Employers say a talent shortage has saddled their efforts to fill jobs,

according to the survey by ManpowerGroup (Beecher, 2011). More than 50% of U.S. employers

reported having difficulty filling "mission-critical" positions within their companies, up from

14% in 2010. Globally, employers reported a talent shortage about one-third of the time.

During the recession, employers learned to do more with less, Beecher remarks, placing

pressure on employees to perform outside of their duties and making employers more selective in

their hiring. ManpowerGroup is recommending that companies abandon the status quo and

focus on hiring people who are a "teachable fit," meaning those with the right soft skills who can

later be taught the technical skills needed to perform a job.

Indeed, a recent review of the Careers section of a leading Midwestern software firm

points toward higher priority with organizational drive and a mindset of personal accountability

rather than specific product experience. While stating, ―software experience not required – we

16

will train you to be an expert,‖ the onus on the new hire is clear: ―The most successful at our

company are those who can find new ways to do things and more importantly, drive them

through completion.‖ The firm posts that new hires can expect to be constantly pushed to

improve and expand their strengths in a culture that prizes and fosters ―intrapreneurship.‖

Clearly, those not interested in thinking outside the box (or cubicle) with a great deal of ambition

towards developing business innovations along with proactive and continual professional

improvement need not apply.

Minton-Eversol (2009) cites recent reports revealing how unprepared U.S. workers are to

compete in today‘s market and what must occur to boost workforce competence to be

competitive in the future. The first report is titled, Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce: Exploring the

Challenges of Employer-Provided Workforce Readiness Training, produced by Corporate Voices

for Working Families. The second report was written in conjunction with The Society for

Human Resource Management, the American Society for Training & Development, and The

Conference Board.

Essentially, the reports indicate that new workers lack basic and applied skills noting that

today‘s jobs, and those expected in the future, require mastery of more non-routine analytic and

interactive tasks, such as frequent use of mathematics and high executive functioning.

Interactive skills, such as effective communication and the ability to work with others are

important too (p. 18).

Drawing from responses, 217 employers surveyed in 2008 about their training of newly

hired graduates of high school and two- and four-year colleges, researchers revealed that

employer-sponsored readiness training is not correcting these deficiencies. The author mentions

that according to Donna Klein, executive chair of Corporate Voices for Working Families, ―It is

a losing strategy for employers to fill the workforce readiness gap on the job‖ (p. 19).

Presumably, if employers are going to be involved in addressing this gap, they would need to be

17

aggressively doing so much sooner.

The big question is if. The recession and resultant slowdown in business predictably has

driven many employers to scale back on employee development programs, which can erode

already shrunken revenues. Furthermore, with a bigger inventory of available displaced talent,

(presumably who have taken steps on their own with continuing education and the like)

employers have less incentive in the short-run to provide employee development. As for

employees, Melanie Holmes, vice president at ManpowerGroup remarks, "If you have the skill,

then you are in the driving seat, and that's a good place to be. If you don't have the skills – get

them" (p. 2).

Adding to the workforce readiness dilemma, Shoeff, Jr. (2009) remarks that companies

say they are having trouble finding qualified workers, adding that skill deficiencies of current

employees are dragging down productivity, according to a report by a major business

organization. Nearly two-thirds of employers—62 percent—said that they have "difficulty in

finding qualified applicants to fill vacancies," according to the report.

Even as they come up empty in their search for talent, employers anticipate that most of

their future job openings will require more education and training, according to a 2009 study

sponsored by the Business Roundtable, a Washington-based association of chief executives of

large companies. The skill shortage is having a detrimental effect on business operations, the

study found. More than half of employers—51 percent—indicated that at least 16 percent of

their workforces have a skill gap that affects productivity.

"The survey findings underscore the fact that we can and must do a better job of training

and developing talent in the United States," William D. Green, chairman and CEO of Accenture,

says in a statement (Shoeff, 2009). "With these findings, we can better understand the

challenges facing our workforce, and developing and implementing solutions to overcome them

is critical to ensuring America's future." Green is chairman of The Springboard Project, a

18

Business Roundtable commission that is developing recommendations on improving the U.S.

workforce.

Despite these deficiencies, demand for employee talent certainly exists, and it is

specifically being driven by skill set qualifications. Demand for workers who have a

combination of both technology and business skills is growing and again, as Ritchie (2011)

remarked, "It's huge, and we're seeing quite a large demand for it."

In a 2011 ManpowerGroup survey of 40,000 employers in 39 countries, 89% of those

surveyed cited a lack of people with exactly those skill sets – the ability to take technology and

marry it to business, either processes or goals or products, efficiencies, things of that nature,

Ritchie claims. "Employers have gotten more specific about the types of skill sets of people that

they are looking to bring in," the author adds. "Not only are they seeking those technical

capabilities in the job match, but they are holding out for the people that also have the ability to

understand business processes, interpersonal skills and a cultural fit that will help drive their

organizations forward."

Technology companies IBM Corp. and SAP AG will be teaming up with the University

of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Lubar School of Business to establish a data center that focuses on

bringing more technologically trained business graduates into the workforce. ―There is a

growing need for technology workers with a business background and no individual firm can

accomplish its goals alone,‖ remarks David W. Smith, (2011) an IBM vice president and the

company's senior state executive for Wisconsin. The center is intended to stimulate pools of

skilled people globally while analyzing best practices to ensure students are learning the skills

they need for the workplace. The course of study includes statistics, accounting, information

systems, marketing, production, finance, and humanities courses. The goal is having well-

rounded graduates who have studied business and also know their way around technology.

Specific to technical communication, dramatic economic changes are demanding

19

different skills sets from our workforce in business and industry, Whiteside (2003) remarks.

These changes progressed at such a rapid pace that it created a profound challenge for academia,

which grappled to balance pedagogical strategies and foundational critical thinking skills with

the specific skills that technical communication students need to be successful in business and

industry. Academic programs, like technical communication, have undergone intense research in

the past two decades to determine what employers want, what technical communicators need,

and what academia can and should provide. The challenge remains to learn how to communicate

with each other to benefit a whole new generation of students, the author states (p. 304).

Interestingly, Whiteside made these remarks almost a decade ago, inferring this need‘s chronic

nature as more recent surveys also validate.

Traditionally, the technical communicator in business and industry is the ―ambassador of

communication and knowledge‖ between the subject matter expert and the end user, or,

depending on your outlook, the technical communicator falls into the role of bridging the gap

between the technical world and the world of non-expert user, Whiteside reminds us (p. 304).

However, the global nature of today‘s business economy spreads to additional challenges for

technical communicators, according to Whiteside‘s study. The role of the technical

communicator is moving to one involving a number of interdisciplinary areas, including grant

writing, usability, educational technology, user interface design, multimedia design, and

knowledge management. This study suggests areas where technical communication students

may need more preparation before entering business and industry.

Whiteside‘s 2003 study involved helping technical communication advisors, technical

communicators, and managers understand what technical communication graduates need to

transition more easily and to succeed in the workplace. The study involved 12 schools and

analysis was limited to respondents working in a technical communication-related field or work

related to designing print- or electronic-based information for scientific or technical disciplines

20

(p. 306). Through the study, it was found that along with these aforementioned needs, other

skills important to develop curricula to support technical communication graduates making their

way into the working world include intercultural communication, interpersonal communication,

collaboration, information gathering techniques, project management, and ethics in technical

communication.

Sixty percent of technical communicators that graduated with an undergraduate degree in

technical communication between 1999 and 2001 felt initially uncomfortable with their

knowledge of business operations as they transitioned into business and industry, the study

uncovered. When asked what need was most important, one respondent suggested, ―Business

operations and correspondence so I would have a better grasp of how businesses operate.‖

Another stated, ―I had no clue as to what daily business activities involved.‖ Fully 33% of

respondents felt their project management skills needed more work.

Conversely, although over 50% of company managers surveyed felt that their new

technical communicators had a solid foundation in written communication, software tools, and

oral communication, this same percentage also rated project management, problem-solving

skills, and business operations knowledge as areas these employees lacked. Sadly, a few

managers also referred to their new technical communicators as ―not very good in people skills‖

or as needing ―interpersonal skills.‖

Perhaps the most important finding of this study according to Whiteside, is that both

recent graduates and managers strongly agree that technical communicators need more

preparation in business operations, project management, problem-solving skills, and scientific

and technical knowledge.

Williams (2010) argues that academics should move toward an ―interpretive‖ discourse

(where discourse is understood as the values that guide research, practice, and teaching) that will

expand the values of technical communication, but in a way that both retains existing

21

assumptions that the field remains rooted in an expedient, managerial, techno-rational discourse,

but also includes a new, more diverse focus on the ―complete person‖ (p. 429). The author takes

a metaphorical approach, drawing on the work of Lakoff and Johnson, Putnam et al. to argue that

―metaphors are more than ornaments that decorate language . . . [but rather] operate at multiple

levels of analysis to provide insights into how we understand organizational life‖ [10, p. 377].

From Williams‘ perspective, traditional technical communication favors the metaphors of

conduit and linkage. The conduit metaphor speaks to the field‘s belief in expedience about

moving information from here to there, connecting the novice user with the subject matter

expert. Conduit views communication as a container that channels the amount, type, direction,

and flow of information with transmission as its key focus. The linkage metaphor, on the other

hand, views communication as a connection among individuals, where the act of communicating

connects people with a focus on bridging or bonding (p. 432, 433).

Williams points us towards adding the alternative metaphors of performance and symbol,

the former which casts communication as interaction where individuals work together in

negotiated roles focusing on process and activity rather than product or outcome, placing

responsibility on communicators for their activity within a community or network of people.

The symbol metaphor views communication as a substitute for something else, where stories, or

rituals or artifacts have shared and negotiated meanings with the focus of essentially attaining

deeper meaning in our work (p. 433). Such a combination of these metaphors place

responsibility on the communicator for their activity within a community or network of people.

In doing so, the author gives us a postmodern technical communication view that holds onto the

past while not being a slave to it (p. 439) essentially outlining a new value proposition for

technical communication.

The Rainey, Turner, and Dayton study (2005) was part of an ongoing effort to determine

the core competencies that technical communication managers seek most in new employees.

22

Similar to Whiteside, this project's findings concluded that among the most important

competencies for technical communicators are skills in collaborating with both subject-matter

experts and coworkers, the ability to take the initiative (be a self-starter), and to evaluate one‘s

own work and the work of others.

Relevant to this preparedness issue, based on this research and that of other scholars, the

study recommended that technical communication programs find ways to develop students‘

interpersonal and collaborative skills and assure that technical communication majors

acquire project management skills and other skills that contribute toward understanding of

business operations and their roles within the organization (p. 323). The study predicted

that competencies for technical communicators will continue to undergo transformation as the

field expands into new areas demanding new knowledge and skills.

North and Worth (2000) looked at patterns in job advertisements and noted that the high

technology demands of today‘s job market seem to be declining while interpersonal skills are

becoming increasingly important (p. 378). In 1998, the rate at which interpersonal skills were

requested in job advertisements rose to 38%, falling behind technological skills by only 12%.

From this study, skills pertinent to this discussion, which can ensure good technical

communication work in the long run involve:

Organizational and interpersonal skills for gathering information from domain experts

and learning new products

Analytical skills for discerning how much information users need or don‘t need, and for

reframing information in understandable ways

Writing skills for producing technically sound documents that meet standard English and

company formatting requirements

23

Clearly, the emphasis on technical communicators over the last decade has been to broaden skill

set offering, well past that of the traditional mindset. Interpersonal skills are not only needed to

sharpen information gathering, but to work more effectively and on more broader terms than we

have in the past. It can be construed that these skills are necessary to build alliances to foster

new initiatives that better leverage knowledge value to build tangible business growth outcomes.

According to another study performed by Hart and Conklin (2006) the models and

descriptors (for example, ―writer‖) that explain the purpose and role of technical communication

as having to do mainly with written communication are ―obviously outdated and inaccurate.‖

The contemporary workplace is experiencing the emergence of more inclusive management

practices and more collaborative and empowered work practices (p. 395).

Reporting on the results of a survey of managers that sought to identify the most

important technical communication competencies, Rainey, Turner, and Dayton argue that

―collaborative competencies‖ and ―people skills‖ are vital to technical communication success,

while communication skills are generally seen as ―a given‖ (332–333). These conclusions echo

earlier statements from researchers who have declared that technical communication is shifting

―from a product focus to a performance focus‖ (Hughes 2004) and that recent advertisements for

technical communication jobs increasingly stress the importance of ―interpersonal skills‖ (North

and Worth 2000).

In a study of management and leadership opportunities for technical communicators,

Wick (2000) argued that technical communicators should broaden and define themselves by the

competencies they use to create, rather than by the products that they create (p. 524). Supporting

Whiteside‘s inclusion of knowledge management as a critical area for new technical

communication competency, in Wick‘s discussion of this subject, the author remarks that

technical communicators likely think of knowledge management more from a document-

centered perspective, placing primary emphasis on extracting knowledge from individuals,

24

analyzing it, synthesizing it, and developing it into documents that make it easier for others to

understand and apply. However, knowledge management has gained a broader and heretofore

wider recognition over the past decade because executives and professionals have begun to

realize the value of capturing, synthesizing, distributing, and reusing knowledge on a broader

scale, (essentially) a value on which the field of technical communication was built (p. 521).

It is an opportunity for technical communication to grow beyond its product-centered role

in organizations and knowledge management toward a competency-based role that lets us

capitalize on emerging business drivers. In effect, the author remarks, these core competencies

will position technical communicators as facilitators of knowledge management and thus

promote higher wages and opportunities for advancement.

The need for employee well roundedness seems to be either directly stated or implied by

almost all these authors, backed with empirical data from numerous recent surveys. Without

question, it can be assumed that those with more versatile skills are succeeding with rapidly

advancing careers in technical communication, and if they choose to change employers, they are

receiving multiple job offers indicating a scarcity of talent with better-rounded skills.

Assuming that being well rounded is at least a part of an entrepreneur‘s skill repertoire,

what does it mean to think entrepreneurially, as Lee states? How can those of us, reporting to

work everyday and doing our work in various technical communication areas, think and work

differently and in ways that increase our value and contribution to our employers? An

investigation of entrepreneurialism and the unique way entrepreneurs seem to be wired sheds

some important light on and helps answer these fundamental questions. We would be well

advised to reflect on how they can apply to each of us.

B. An entrepreneurial mindset in the workplace

An old saying can be used with entrepreneurs in that they are hard to define, but we know

25

one when we see one. They are just different. What is the formal definition of an entrepreneur?

According to Webster, it is one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or

enterprise. Here again, the term risk arises, although as it relates to an entrepreneur, notable is

that risk is managed, and in so doing, risk is managed through organization.

A fundamental trait of all those starting businesses (including this author) is to control

what is controllable and trust that that which cannot be controlled can at the least be mitigated

with good management and organization using a well thought out and realistic plan. Knowing

that risk is an inherent part of building a business endeavor, naturally, both faith and fate will

always play a part—it is the price of being on one‘s own attempting to make a business dream

come true.

Suffice it to say that entrepreneurialism is a very broad topic. The intent of this essay is

to investigate the subject within the context of mindset and skill set, drawing what we can from

entrepreneurs (and those who study them) to change the way we think about the technical

communicator‘s place in the workplace. In a way, this discussion is less about being an

entrepreneur and more about thinking like one. In so doing, the following evidence surely points

out that we can greatly improve our contribution and value to our employer who as noted earlier,

needs more from us than ever to remain competitive and succeed.

Barringer and Ireland (2008) state that the essence of entrepreneurship is creating value

and then disseminating that value to customers. Value in this context refers to worth,

importance, and utility or measure of usefulness to customers that they would not have otherwise

(p. 16). We can apply this same measure of value to ourselves as technical communicators in

our workplaces. We are more valuable and important if the ideas we generate increase our worth

and usefulness to our employer that otherwise our employer would not have.

The economy has changed, moving from knowledge-based activities to creativity,

innovation, entrepreneurship, and imagination, according to Fillis and Rentschler (2010).

26

Increasing globalization and technology effects have resulted in more business opportunities but

the marketplace has also become more crowded and competitive, the authors state (p. 50).

Creativity enables the entrepreneur to act on these opportunities in ways that can result in

competitive advantage for organizations. It can provide the basis for innovation and business

growth.

The authors define entrepreneurship as the process of creating value for business and

social communities by bringing together unique combinations of resources to exploit economic,

social, or cultural opportunities in an environment of change (p. 50). In this context, notable is

that value is created by innovatively bringing together resources that generate more than the sum

of their parts. This can be particularly poignant during times when the status quo is in flux, thus,

generating better opportunity for entrepreneurial thinking and actions to thrive.

Whether in the workplace or within a start-up, the authors contend, entrepreneurship has

three central underlying dimensions: innovation, risk-taking, and proactiveness (p. 52).

Innovation is the manner in which the entrepreneur searches for new opportunities, or the way in

which ideas are brought to a profitable conclusion. The test of innovation lies in its success in

the marketplace of ideas, rather than in its novelty alone. Risk-taking refers to the manner in

which innovation is embedded in the organization, society, or community. It also relates to the

willingness of people to commit significant resources to opportunities that are calculated to

succeed. Lastly, proactiveness is concerned with making things happen by perseverance,

adaptability, and by breaking with the established ways of doing things in a creative manner.

A notable point that reinforces Barringer and Ireland‘s contention comes to light on a

more personal manner. This author has worked at both ends of a broad business spectrum, from

a global corporation with annual revenues nearing $1 billion to a start-up just finding its way in

the world. The difference in the dynamics between the two, of course, could not be more

pronounced. Whereas the impetus for proactive risk-taking and innovation in larger corporations

27

is diminished (in fact, somewhat discouraged) due to structure, protocol, and processes long in

place; conversely, within the start-up, the lack of structure could sometimes be practically

maddening. For example, numerous times, I was told a process was not in place to handle my

request, but I was free to develop and implement it on my own. I had just come from an

organization where I had a secretary who brought me my coffee.

Suffice it to say, going from one environment immediately to the other took incredible

adaptability and a good deal of patience and fortitude. I did, however, come to enjoy the

creativity that came with a fresh start to build business in a manner more suited to my personal

aptitude and style. Ultimately, I stayed for 17 years, becoming a partner, generating millions of

dollars in sales, and helping transition the firm from a specialized supplier of graphic services for

ad agencies to a full service regional provider of integrated marketing communications

capabilities for mid-sized businesses. Risk taking, innovation, and proactiveness all played a

significant role in making such a career change successful, and in fact, the absence of any one of

these aspects likely would have significantly impacted the outcome.

Links have been made between creativity and entrepreneurship for some time (Whiting,

1988; Lee et al., 2004). Whiting states, self-confidence, perseverance, high energy levels,

calculated risk taking, and the need to achieve are seen as the top five characteristics of the

relatively more entrepreneurial individual (p. 53). An additional viewpoint is that

entrepreneurial creativity has been defined as the generation and implementation of novel,

appropriate ideas to establish a new venture (Amabile, 1997).

Amabile furthers that a number of other contributing internal and external factors impact

entrepreneurial thinking in organizations. Entrepreneurial creativity requires a combination of

intrinsic motivation and certain kinds of extrinsic motivation—a motivational synergy that

results when strong levels of personal interest and involvement are combined with the promise of

rewards that confirm competence, support skill development, and enable future achievement.

28

Encouraging an element of entrepreneurial thinking in business also contributes to the

enhancement of motivation, the author remarks (p. 55). Entrepreneurial characteristics such as

flexibility, visualization, and imagination all play a part in an individual‘s ability to see new

ways of applying past experiences and constructing alternative strategic directions. Conversely,

the working conditions within the enterprise need to foster and in turn, reward being flexible to

allow for individual and group creativity and in turn thinking entrepreneurially, as Amabile

alludes. Certainly in this author‘s case, once free of the structures of corporate life, using past

experiences in new ways to visualize and construct new business capabilities within the start-up

venture I joined came to be immensely motivating, gratifying, and ultimately, very well

compensating.

Fillis (2007a) identifies a set of creative entrepreneurial competencies and philosophies

which appear stable over time and which could be incorporated into the entrepreneurial decision

making process. These factors include self-belief and ambition, utilization of creative business

networks, high motivational levels, intuition, strong communication skills, ability to visualize

problems, flexibility, and the ability to break down physical and perceptual barriers. Other

contributing factors include the adoption of a variety of problem solving styles and divergent

thinking (p. 61).

It can be proposed that entrepreneurs are more likely to actualize their creative potential

than their more conservative counterparts because of their predisposition to seek out new

opportunities. Important to this are entrepreneurial competencies such as vision, judgment,

curiosity, and opportunity recognition. Fillis (in fact, numerous authors) implies that these

factors, in combination, help enable the organization to leverage its workforce to achieve

competitive advantage. Simply stated, the innovatively savvy organization gets more out of its

people than other enterprises—precisely the personnel objective alluded to in the job description

referenced earlier.

29

In his keynote address to management on renewing and revitalizing the organization,

speaker Michael Vance (1986) remarked that the key to renewal is people reaching their true

potential in the work setting and themselves becoming creative. Innovation is necessary to keep

organizations competitive in tomorrow‘s increasingly turbulent social and economic

environments (para. 1). It is notable that Vance‘s remarks were made 25 years ago yet the issue

of workforce creativity and the need for more of it still resonates to this day.

Placing some of the onus for fostering an environment of entrepreneurialism on

management, what is needed, Vance believes, is an ―enriched‖ work setting that encourages

continuous learning and energizes people to seek novel solutions to emerging organizational

problems. Developing work systems that draw out people‘s innate sensitivity to others help

them understand their own potential, and raise their awareness as to what needs to be done in the

organization is important. Management should encourage organizational members to be curious

about the unknown and refuse to allow them to become obsolete. Vance sees this as a proactive

process where individuals are motivated to change before the need is evident (p. 122). Without

question, we have seen time and again examples of what can happen to those in our workplace

who were not motivated to change their spots and find ways to increase their value before it was

too late.

The desire to establish a competitive edge in the new global economy has led, in many

organizations, to staff downsizing, high stress on productivity, and an emphasis on product

innovation to stay "ahead of the pack." In order to gain from these moves, Vance concludes, the

remaining staff will need to be exceptionally able, flexible, and inventive (p. 123).

Overall, if organizations are to cope with the turbulent conditions they are likely to face

in the future, Vance believes their executives must, "Have the ability to establish standards and

manage a creative climate where people are self-motivated to master organizational goals in a

participative environment consistent with personal (and corporate) values. Ordinary people

30

given appropriate conditions can do extraordinary things" (para. 10). This will require a new

approach, he concludes, involving better understanding of human values and development of a

learning-based enriched environment which he terms, a "Kitchen for the Mind.‖

All of us would do well not to wait to follow our employer‘s lead and begin now creating

our own kitchens of the mind. A good part of doing so surely involves proactively looking with

a sense of determined inquiry for the ―what-if‘s‖ that are always around us but can only be seen

and acted upon with the right outlook and frame of mind. Therein lies the essence of

entrepreneurship.

Guy Kawasaki made his mark in the 1990‘s helping Apple Computer (its corporate name

at the time) cultivate a worldwide following of technology evangelists, ultimately leading Apple

to global tech dominance. Apple continues to be considered among the top business innovators

today, as evidenced by its ongoing product and service launches and market leading position in

personal computers and hardware, smart phones, portable music devices, online music and other

content retailing, and as of late, ―cloud‖ content storage, allowing access to our digital lives

virtually anywhere on earth via a multitude of devices over the internet. Kawasaki (2004)

provides some business development advice and insight for entrepreneurs on ways to use their

knowledge and determination to create either internal or start-up organizations that succeed.

Kawasaki remarks that although it may seem unusual, a large number of entrepreneurs

currently work for big companies. Like all entrepreneurs, they dream of creating innovative

products or services and wonder if this can be done internally. His answer is yes. ―Internal

entrepreneurs too must innovate, position, pitch, write business plans, bootstrap, recruit, raise

capital, partner, establish brands, make rain, and be mensches‖ the author says (p. 19). But there

are special recommendations that apply to those working within organizations rather than on

their own.

Creating a new product or service within an organization is not necessarily easier, the

31

challenges are just different, Kawasaki remarks. He alludes to the great innovative mind of

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and his unique design talents, attention to detail, and infectious

personality, and were it not for these and his ability to rise to the challenges of innovating

internally, the Macintosh may not exist as it does today.

While Mr. Jobs is a unique case, Kawasaki states that ―visionary thinking is in short

supply in any business and anyone with guts, vision, and political savvy should be able to set up

an ‗entrepreneurial outpost‘ in any established business‖ (p. 20). For those of us questioning

just how to go about taking our idea the next step within our organizations with the best luck of

succeeding, Kawasaki offers a few notable recommendations (p. 20-23) specific for internal

entrepreneurs:

Put the company first – One‘s sole motivation should be for the betterment of the

company

Stay under the radar – Try to keep a project quiet until it is too far along for the company

to ignore or the rest of the company recognizes that it is needed

Find a Godfather – Look for assistance from those who are safe from petty politics and

have the attention and respect of top management

Anticipate, then jump on, tectonic shifts – Structural changes are a good thing for internal

entrepreneurs, such as changes in personnel or the market, or unveiling new products.

Shifts in business climate create opportunities for forward thinkers

Much of Kawasaki‘s interpretation of workplace entrepreneurial outposts fits well with Fillis and

Rentschler‘s findings in that entrepreneurial characteristics such as flexibility, visualization, and

imagination all play a part in an individual‘s ability to see new ways of not just applying past

experiences and constructing strategic directions but finding ways to work the system to succeed.

32

This is particularly resonant when the winds of change are blowing and creating opportunity for

those prepared to seize it.

White (2002) provides perspective and a roadmap to the places where innovation comes

from with insight into how our heads create the ideas that transform businesses and lives. New

ideas not only raise people above mediocrity and crowds but are also the only thing that will

solve any current problems they face and lift them out of the ditches they are in, the author states.

―In good times or bad, it is always a good time to develop another perspective of the world

around you and another glimpse of the future,‖ White says (p. 3).

Innovation has become a lot more important to corporate leaders, in the last decade in

particular, because of changes in the business environment brought on by increased

technological capabilities, speed, hypercompetition, and faster rates of diffusion enabled by

greater connectivity, contends White (p. 4). Making innovation happen is cited as the biggest

challenge today for organizations and as times get tough for whatever reason, innovation is the

only way to a better time, the author states. Suffice it to say, when innovation is a key goal,

creative talent is the most precious resource. Does it take courage to be innovative? It surely

does, White says, but most innovators are too driven and absorbed to make much light of risks

and in fact, it is through this drive that innovation happens.

White alludes to truly innovative folks, remarking that these types of individuals are

seemingly unconscious or unconcerned with personal failure or critical opinion. ―The truly

innovative are so absorbed in the act of creating that they shoot past patterns that the rest of the

world is locked into and in turn, create spaces, both actual and virtual, where ideas spark and

inspired geniuses are free to roam unexplored territory,‖ White says (p. 5).

Every successful innovation in business, the arts, science, and daily living results from

someone finding the ―perfect‖ problem to solve by asking the right questions in the right places,

the author remarks (p. 39). Even innovations that come by chance or by luck come from

33

someone stumbling upon the right question or problem or solution set. Questions often appear to

address what one thinks they want to know. But what one might not know is that he or she

might want to know something else. White furthers that it is important to be looking for

opportunities, not just to say you have done something different to solve the problem, because

innovative answers are most often going to come from a place where you have not been looking

for them (p. 41). White is keen to remind us that creativity is not a discrete event but more a

dynamic state of mind with no endpoint and more a way of living one‘s profession.

Many innovative firms have developed new insights and approaches to valuing new ideas

and enterprises. They begin with the relationship between vision and value. The term ―vision‖

includes foresight, dreams, imagination, mental images, and goals—in essence, one‘s view of

what will happen and try to make happen, whether it be in the next second, the next year, or the

next decade. The word ―value‖ should be taken in its broadest sense, including ideals, ethics,

and priorities—in essence, the ultimate gauge of what we hold dear.

It is indeed through these human ―value‖ resources—these driven employees—that

innovative companies can build strength during slowdowns and downtimes and come out of

them with broader product lines, stronger channels, greater market share, and a bigger jump-start

on recovery. There is no magic formula to being such a person as we have seen. Any one of us

can be this type of contributor to our organization. In fact, we must.

It is less about reinventing ourselves based on what we know and more about what we do

with that which we already know. An example on a broader scale helps make this point. In a

recent article in Time magazine about innovation (2011, June 13) author Fareed Zakaria remarks

that innovation encompasses more than scientific or technological breakthrough. Again, Apple,

which dominates almost any list put together of innovative companies, falls far from the top in

path-breaking science, inventions, and patents. As a percentage of its revenue, Apple spends less

than half of what the typical computer and electronic company does and in fact, only a fifth of

34

what Microsoft spends (p. 32).

Apple‘s innovations are powerful and profound, Zakaria says, but they are often in the

realms of design, consumer use, and marketing—elements (and value-add) that come after the

breakthrough that leverages off of them. Another example: As Eric Schmidt of Google says,

money was not made from the advancements of search, it was only after building a new model

for advertising sales that revenue begin to flow.

What can be taken from Apple and Google for technical communicators on a personal

level? No need to reinvent the wheel. Step outside our self imposed status quo and find ways to

leverage off what we already know to create better processes that are faster, more accurate,

and/or save more money. That is essentially the definition of innovation—and likely by doing so

we will create better value for our employer and in turn, recognition and reward for ourselves.

35

Chapter IV: Results

How do we go about creating an entrepreneurial outpost within our workplaces that

Kawasaki refers to? The place where we can step outside our regular routines and innovate—

Vance‘s "Kitchen for the Mind.‖ After all, many of us know what we want (or need) to do but

do not quite know how to go about it. Looking into a bit of entrepreneurial wisdom and tactics

about how to give ideas life and sustenance can provide us with some direction. From this, a

framework emerges that technical communicators can employ as a new definition of workplace

entrepreneurship—essentially a redefined way of thinking and working as technical

communicators to better contribute to today‘s business challenges.

A. From idea to execution: Creating our entrepreneurial workspace

To be sure, one can be forgiven for having a perception of entrepreneurship as all about

intuitive ―ah-ha‖ moments, bright ideas, and flying by one‘s seat of the pants without framework

or structure. From afar, entrepreneurs might appear this way. In fact, this was essentially my

perception of entrepreneurs before I became one – in two different businesses. It can seem like

intuition and framework are paradoxical, incompatible concepts where a bright idea cannot take

place within the confines of structure. The following suggests differently, that reality is far from

this notion and framework in practice fosters powerful ideas and increases the likelihood that

these ideas grow into successful solutions.

Opening our minds to this inquiry can inspire and energize us to get in touch with our

own ―inner entrepreneur‖ to seek novel solutions to emerging organizational problems and to

find new ways of doing things that can have a transformative impact on our workplace value, not

to mention personal pride and satisfaction of accomplishment.

Generalizing about what each of us should do in our own particular endeavors is as

misguided as it is fruitless. Each of us brings our own skills, aptitudes, psyches, outlooks, and

36

experiences to our profession, to say nothing of the unique dynamics of every workplace

environment and need. That said, the following narrative, based in good part on this author‘s

experience as a career technical communicator in both corporate and start-up business

environments, backed by business authorship, can offer value as insight – a glimpse of how

entrepreneurial mindset and tactics can be applied in our own way towards career and workplace

success – whether it be for new technical communication graduates or those already established

in their profession.

Recognizing opportunity

Some people are naturally alert, and when they recognize ideas for new products or

services, they have a desire to see those ideas realized. For true entrepreneurs, Barringer and

Ireland (2008) remark, it is less about existing or potential money to be made and more about the

thrill of building a business and seeing the success of one‘s initial idea (p. 8). A notable example

of opportunity recognition is illustrated by this author‘s initial conversation with a client whom I

eventually partnered with to develop and bring a product to market:

―What‘s this thing?‖ I asked David, picking up a 12‖ square piece of plastic on his office

shelf. I was a supplier at the time on a visit to talk about marketing services of which his firm

was a client. He looked up and replied:

Oh that. If you‘re in a car race and crash and need to jack your car up on soft

infield grass, everyone typically uses beat-up old pieces of plywood or 2x4‘s to

stabilize the jack. What you have there is a prototype for a jack stand pad and I‘m

making one for rolling jacks too. I‘ve showed it to people at the track and they all

think it‘s a great idea, never saw anything like it. Think about it, a half million-

dollar racecar and you‘re using plywood under it. Problem is, I haven‘t found a

way to make them at an attractive price point. And then I get too busy to fool

37

with it, but one day…

―What do you call it?‖ I asked him. He shrugged. I said, ―I think you should call this

thing a MasterJacker.‖ ―Yes, that‘s it,‖ he practically screamed. ―That‘s a great name. Maybe

that‘s what it needed. Okay, I‘ll move it off the back burner again and try to find a better way to

make it. Want to help?‖

There is something unique about how each entrepreneurial venture is launched, Barringer

and Ireland say. However, there are some common features to all launches, including the fact

that one or more entrepreneurs have recognized an opportunity and developed a plan for shaping

the opportunity into a viable business venture. From the authors‘ perspective (p. 38), an

opportunity is a favorable set of circumstances that creates a need for a new product, service, or

business.

In the case of a close associate Linda Mulholland, opportunity arose in the form of a

whisper in her head, she says. Dinner guests had always gushed about her specialty – made from

scratch gourmet enchiladas. The convergence of two dynamics: friends wanting (and willing to

pay for) her enchiladas for their own dinner parties and her husband being downsized from his

corporate job (and could become her partner) was the catalyst to take the entrepreneurial plunge.

Today, her three year-old business, Cocina DeLeon Gourmet Enchiladas, is a successful

enterprise offering a wide variety of products with a growing staff and expansion plans in the

works.

―It‘s important to understand that there is a difference between an opportunity and an

idea,‖ Barringer and Ireland further (p. 39). An idea is a thought, an impression, or a notion. An

idea may or may not meet the criteria of an opportunity. This is a critical point because many

ventures fail not because the entrepreneurs did not work hard to succeed, but rather because there

was no real opportunity to begin with. Before getting too excited about a business idea, it is

crucial to understand whether the idea truly fills a need.

38

Taking stock of our own opportunities around us, it is important to be critical and look

for the four essential qualities to any opportunity: It is (1) attractive, (2) durable, (3) timely, and

(4) anchored in a product, service or business that creates or adds value for its buyer or end-user,

Barringer and Ireland remark (p. 39). Furthermore, specific to being timely, the window of

opportunity (buyer, market, internal business need) must be open for its acceptance, say the

authors. Mulholland said that once it became clear that a true opportunity existed for producing

gourmet enchiladas, remarkably, the doors just kept opening for her continued success.

Alluding to White‘s remarks, we have to be looking for opportunities, not just to say you

have done something different to solve the problem, because innovative answers are most often

going to come from a place where you have not been looking for them, the author says (p. 41).

In the case of our MasterJacker product, my partner, (an avid amateur car racer) was simply

tuned into the need for a jack stand pad from jacking cars himself while competing against others

faced with the same challenges, and seeing no viable alternative with better value than our

product.

We as technical communicators apply an opportunity-recognizing entrepreneurial

mindset when we embrace unconventional ways of observing our work and workplaces using

competencies we may not typically use. As Williams alludes, our mindset must extend beyond

just a concern for efficiency and cognition; we need to employ a holistic approach to our work

using our physical selves, feelings, thoughts, social relationships, and values as well (p. 442). By

doing so, we avoid being mired in our typical day-to-day functions and open our minds to seeing

opportunity and acting upon it – shooting past patterns that the rest of the world is locked into, as

Williams contends (p. 5). Entrepreneurial characteristics such as flexibility, visualization, and

imagination as Fillis and Rentschler remind us, all play a part in how technical communicators

see new ways to apply past experiences (and knowledge) in finding and constructing innovative

strategic direction.

39

Passion for one’s idea

The number one characteristic shared by successful entrepreneurs is passion for their

business, whether it is in the context of a new firm or an existing business, Barringer and Ireland

remark (p. 8). Passion typically stems from the entrepreneur‘s belief that the business (or idea)

will positively influence people‘s lives. This is particularly important because although

rewarding, the process of launching an idea into a business is very demanding. Entrepreneurship

is not for the person who is only partially committed. In fact, Mulholland, the enchilada lady

says, as an entrepreneur, she has to absolutely love what she is doing or she would never make it,

since she works on average sixteen hours daily in her business.

Another reason that passion is important is that in many instances it motivates

extraordinary behavior where one‘s internal skills and talents can thrive often leading to huge

amounts of effort to ensure their business idea‘s healthy functioning and continued success, the

authors say (p. 8). Most effective business ideas take hold when one‘s passion is consistent with

one‘s skills and is in an area, as we have learned, that represents a legitimate business

opportunity. After all, any business idea, no matter how good, innovative, or beneficial still has

flaws and risks.

It is this author‘s contention observing friends and associates in their own business

endeavors, that if we did not have an unwavering passion and commitment towards success in

what we are doing and felt our work was truly beneficial, being in business would be a lot less

fun and a lot more of a challenge to persevere during times of inevitable struggle. Is patience

required? Absolutely. In coach-speak, the cumulative effect of moving men around the bases or

moving the ball down the field in small increments is not nearly as sexy as going for the big play,

but it often yields results late in the game.

For example, our search for a suitable manufacturing process for MasterJacker took

years, in fits and starts, with travel from UW-Stout‘s Product Development Lab to various

40

facilities throughout the state and beyond. Although representatives at virtually all the

companies we visited were enthusiastic about our product‘s potential, none could offer a solution

acceptable for a start-up. Without both passion and perseverance, it surely would have been easy

to conclude our product could not be economically produced and we would have been justified

in giving up our search and business idea. It was only through yet another road trip to

investigate one more alternative that we found a process and manufacturer to work with in an

economically suitable arrangement. From first-hand experience, without sustained passion,

perseverance is mighty difficult.

To be knowledge entrepreneurs, technical communicators must apply this same passion

in being as White alludes, ―unconscious or at least unconcerned with personal failure or critical

opinion to create spaces, both actual and virtual, where ideas spark and inspired geniuses are free

to roam unexplored territory‖ (p. 5). Any workplace surely can be our domain in this light if we

are committed toward the success of an idea backed with sustained passion. Furthermore,

passion has a way of being infectious and those who feel our passion become likely allies in

assisting with our cause.

Effective documentation

Throughout our search, we were performing as Wick (2000) references, knowledge

management, extracting process engineering knowledge from those whom we visited, then

analyzing, synthesizing, and documenting what we learned as we moved through our

investigation. With each subsequent meeting, we could talk about manufacturing on a higher

level based on the accumulated and documented knowledge from previous meetings. Ultimately,

the more we learned and took note, the more efficient knowledge extraction became.

This went far when we eventually started meeting with attorneys and bankers. Of course

they wanted to hear our story and feel our passion and commitment to succeeding as a business.

41

However, they were also very interested in seeing our product research homework, which had

grown to include engineering drawings, a virtual prototype animation, prototype samples and

application photos, manufacturing process field reviews, business plan summary including sales

forecast, logo design, sample ad/flyer, and web site concept that we had documented throughout

our travails. Our compiled materials lent a lot of credibility toward our idea‘s viability,

illustrating that we knew what we were talking about.

As Turner (2006) remarks, effective documentation, including a clear and simple

business plan is imperative for successful business development and growth (p. 26). A basic

operating plan should be a living, working document that serves to highlight (opportunity)

strengths and weaknesses and be used as a guide to the action needed to develop the proposition

to a point where it is attractive to investors, Turner contends. In Mulholland‘s case, getting

details like future product offerings and sales goals on paper (along with a simple operating plan)

seems to make goals more likely to happen because she is more mindful of them. Her plan is

both flexible and constantly updated and changing, she remarks.

The credibility that comes with detailed documentation instills confidence in those

contemplating a partnering arrangement, be it for financing, insuring, or investing. The same can

be said for furthering a plan or initiative within an organization. Good documentation connotes

credibility and we have always operated with this foundation as technical communicators.

As a technical communicator used to translating subject-matter expert detail into that for

layperson understanding (in the case of MasterJacker, ourselves) the importance of careful

listening, good note taking, getting one‘s ideas down on paper, and creating convincing support

pieces in a professional presentation cannot be overemphasized. For ―intrepreneurs‖ within their

own organizations, an idea is not likely to go far with the higher ups without the confidence that

good documentation garners.

As Brounstein, Bell and Smith (2007) remark, good writing is a powerful tool, and allows

42

one to focus ideas and present them clearly and deliver them with impact. Good writers stand

out in the business world, the authors say (p. 101) and those who master the challenges of

effective business writing are both sought after and considered key players in the success of an

organization. This remark sounds a lot like increasing one‘s value. Professional presentation of

a business concept places it in a context that commands respect and attention and increases the

likelihood of success. Keeping note of all our research helps ensure that when time comes to

present, we are anchored in solid knowledge.

Integrity and values

Efforts in getting MasterJacker off the ground involved numerous meetings with

manufacturers, attorneys, and bankers, as said. In each of these meetings, my partner and I

surely were being scrutinized about our integrity – whether we were who claimed to be and that

we upheld ethical values as businesspersons who could be counted on as a good risk for credit –

and not a small amount of it. All those with whom we met liked our product idea and its

potential, but doing business ultimately comes down to trust.

It is likely that all employers of technical communicators have some sort of written code

of ethics to ensure that employees act in a responsible manner. In our professional activities we

have ethical standards. A synopsis of the Ethical Principles from the Society for Technical

Communication (2011) website includes the following statements: To the best of our ability, we

provide truthful and accurate communications. We respect the confidentiality of our clients,

employers, and professional organizations. We endeavor to produce excellence in our

communication products. We negotiate realistic agreements with clients and employers on

schedules, budgets, and deliverables during project planning. Then, we strive to fulfill our

obligations in a timely, responsible manner. We evaluate communication products and services

constructively and tactfully, and seek definitive assessments of our own professional

43

performance. Lastly, we advance technical communication through our integrity and excellence

in performing each task we undertake.

On a personal level, we also live by a code of ethics and values. Although unlikely by

most of us to be clearly written out as with our employers and Society, most fellow employees

get a sense of our personal beliefs and values through our day-to-day actions and judge our

integrity and us accordingly.

According to Barringer and Ireland, a code of conduct (or code of ethics) is a formal

statement of an organization‘s values on certain ethical and social issues (p. 193). The advantage

of having a code of conduct is that it provides specific guidance to managers and employees

regarding what is expected of them in terms of ethical behavior, the authors state. Having a

strong code of conduct in place is an important element in establishing a strong ethical culture in

a firm (p. 195). In turn, by applying the same approach on a personal level, our code of conduct

establishes our ethics as businesspersons.

Integrity and credibility are important in the entrepreneurial mindset of technical

communicators because to make change, we have to influence change. In an organization, of

course, influence means not only attracting others for buy-in to help our cause, but also

convincing them to believe that we can follow through on our ideas. Often times, we as

technical communicators can be perceived as having relatively less power within our

organizations and part of this may be due to our inability to garner appreciable credibility among

our peers. Others must feel we have integrity and if we do not, we do not possess the credibility

and in a sense, power to achieve what it is we are setting out to accomplish.

Ultimately, a manifestation of all these qualities—capitalizing on an opportunity with

passion, integrity, and good documentation, and nurturing it through to viability, while helping

ensure our success as technical communicators, also uniquely defines leadership within our

profession. And without question, leaders are more valuable and important because the ideas

44

they generate increase worth and usefulness that otherwise our employers would not have.

Leaders respond to new challenges and embrace new ways of thinking. They are more likely to

be multi-disciplinary contributors with better-rounded business acumen, well suited to fast-

paced, high tech, global business. As we will see, how we evolve from more singular roles of

technical communicators to more entrepreneurial, multi-faceted knowledge leaders, in fact,

should not be an unfamiliar path for us.

B. A new definition of technical communications entrepreneurship

The technical communicator as knowledge entrepreneur

Technical communication in its classic form can be entrepreneurially replicated. This

author, and surely many others have done so. How? Traditionally, we research and perform an

inquiry, record our notes, synthesize our findings for laypersons to understand, publish our work

in an easy-to-digest format, then, with feedback, we improve, and repeat. If we really think

about this, it is not far fetched to ascertain we can replicate this very process to find ways and

places to improve our workplace functionality and our value within it. We are adept at

researching, identifying, documenting, and publishing. Broadly speaking, we already know how

to do what needs to be done, since, for the majority of us, we have been doing it our entire

careers—albeit on a different scale for different functions and outcomes.

The survey data from the 2006 Hart and Conklin study, as pointed out, suggests a

continuing emphasis on deliverables for end-user audiences; however, this emphasis is now

―competing‖ with other demands that are being placed on technical communicator talents (p.

405). Technical communicators are being called on to create a broader range of documents (and

value) intended to support business goals. True to our name, we still work on highly technical

materials but findings show an increasing emphasis on broader business concerns.

The onus is on all of us to look past not just the dynamics of broadening our employer

45

skill offering from documenting knowledge and working better within collaborative work

environments, but in addition, finding innovative ways to drive business in our workplaces. To

do so requires a new entrepreneurial way of thinking that embraces the study findings described

herein and further these conclusions with the urgency brought on by the Great Recession of the

last number of years. After all, this unprecedented business downturn has redefined workplace

realities down to essential core values, including a critical assessment of each and every

employee‘s contribution.

As Kawasaki is keen to say, shifts in business climate create opportunities for forward

thinkers, and visionary thinking is and will always be in short supply in any business. Certainly

the remarks and surveys herein point out that we are in a remarkably shifting business climate

and visionary thinking could not be more in demand. Anyone with guts and vision should be

able to set up an entrepreneurial outpost in any established business and with passion and

persistence, attract all the elements needed to succeed. After all, for visionary thinkers, there is

always opportunity. Does it take courage to be innovative? It surely does. But most innovators

as White says, are too driven and absorbed to make much light of risks and it is through this

drive that innovation happens, ultimately attracting success towards our endeavors.

Hart and Conklin study participants talked about their values, about thinking

strategically, and about finding ways to be more influential on development teams (p. 406). The

authors‘ impression was that these technical communicators are looking for ways to contribute,

to have an impact, and to make (more) use of their talents. If this is the case, perhaps it is more

about finding meaningful ways to contribute and coming across to employers with convincing

evidence of being capable of doing so. It is time to prove we can do it.

As we have seen, it is less about reinventing ourselves based on what we know and more

about what we do with that which we already know. We do not need to reinvent the wheel to do

so. It is time to find ways to leverage our knowledge to create better processes that are faster,

46

more accurate, and/or save money than what exists right now. After all, we are in the knowledge

business.

If we distill the thinking within this narrative and read between the lines of contributors,

it comes down to this: A new definition of technical communication must embrace the axiom,

See More, Do More, and Be More. Our time has come to not only manage knowledge, but to

create it by proactively looking with a sense of inquiry and determination for the ―what-if‘s‖ that

are always around us, but can only be seen and acted upon with the right outlook and frame of

mind. Therein lies the essence of technical communication entrepreneurship as well as the value

of knowledge leadership needed today.

Seeing more means looking both within and outside ourselves – within to leverage the

unique set of technical communication skills, talents, and experiences we bring to our

workplaces and outside for the opportunities our employers are counting on us to recognize.

Doing more means responding to new challenges and embracing new ways of thinking – acting

upon new opportunities with passion, integrity, and attention to documentation detail our

employers have come to expect from us. It is through seeing and doing more, our value

proposition naturally increases and we ultimately evolve into being more – more innovative,

valued, and truly unique among our peers and in the eyes of our employers.

As Williams aptly states, innovators bring real, quantifiable value to their organizations

that—speaking pragmatically—cannot be outsourced. Adopting a fluid practice means that we

are not just in the ―user advocacy‖ or ―editing‖ or ―document design‖ business. We are also in

the marketing, management, fiscal planning, space allocation, discovery, and invention business

(p. 443). By stepping outside our boundaries and expanding our mindset, we can use these new

practices to find innovative answers that tackle pressing workplace issues. We naturally become

entrepreneurs and we take a step towards becoming the knowledge leaders absolutely essential to

drive technical communications forward into the future.

47

Chapter V: Discussion

Many works cited herein made strong cases about the need for change within our

profession. For example, the 2006 Hart and Conklin study indicated that technical

communicators are being called on to create a broader range of value to support business goals

and although we still work on highly technical materials, there is an increasing emphasis on

broader business concerns. Another example is White‘s (2002) insight showing that innovation

has become a lot more important to corporate leaders and making innovation happen is cited as

the biggest challenge today for organizations. In this vein, the literature addresses the broader

range of value and increased innovation that those in our profession would do well to embrace.

What is missing is specific guidance for taking technical communication the next step on the

evolutionary ladder to true entrepreneurial knowledge leadership.

The evolutionary process of technical communication seems to end in the literature where

practitioners have moved from the traditional mindset of gap bridging between subject matter

experts and laypersons into more multi-disciplinary endeavors involved with knowledge

management. Without doubt, this is an important transformation and may have sufficed pre-

Great Recession. However, very recent post-recession employer surveys are finding clear and

pressing demand for more workforce risk-taking and innovation, likely due in no small part to

the recent downturn. According to Wick (2000) knowledge management has gained a broader

and heretofore wider recognition over the past decade because executives and professionals have

begun to realize the value of capturing, synthesizing, distributing, and reusing knowledge on a

broader scale (p. 521). Optimizing this value proposition and going beyond it is the next phase

in our evolution—where knowledge managers ultimately become more entrepreneurial

innovators based on their acquired knowledge.

There seems to be a dichotomy between that which employers are saying they want and

that which technical communicators without embracing change are prepared to offer, based on

48

the evidence this author parsed. I believe the reasons behind this are twofold.

First, generally speaking, we tend to be more risk-adverse by nature and also, a particular

inertia and acceptance of the status quo may be more the norm in our workplaces. These

dynamics were certainly a part of my corporate environment and they are difficult hurdles to

overcome in any economy. The mindset of the typical technical communicator, our DNA, is

more as observers and documenters. Our truths are about what we observe, what can be

documented—and what is over a cliff is not that. We are by nature wired more towards lower

risk taking. Add to this the inertia of the average corporate work environment and the making of

change resistance versus management crying out for more from us is cast. From a PR

standpoint, it likely does not help our case that we are typically not naturally the stuff of

gregarious, high profile personalities, which may make it more challenging to project ourselves,

and our value in the fray.

Secondly, technical communication graduates could stand to be better prepared to think

entrepreneurially. Exposing students to academics and experiences in entrepreneurialism and

both risk assessment and managing risk can help graduates be more attuned with change

innovation so that once opportunities present themselves professionally, they are more proactive

and comfortable in doing so. Whiteside‘s 2003 study queried employees about what important

workplace skill need they wished academia better prepared them for. One respondent suggested,

―Business operations and correspondence so I would have a better grasp of how businesses

operate.‖ Another stated that as a new hire, ―I had no clue as to what daily business activities

involved.‖ If technical communication students could be better prepared for the realities of

complex, fast moving global business environments by being exposed to more academic

business-like experiences, future surveys may indicate less of these types of graduate responses,

to say nothing about better employer satisfaction than over 50% of managers surveyed saying

that employees lacked project management acumen, problem-solving skills, business operations

49

knowledge, and interpersonal skills.

Williams (2010) looked at how a selective genealogy of information design demonstrates

that technical communication is taught (incorporating) what communication studies would call a

normative discourse that operates from a conduit metaphor with an emphasis on information

channeling (p. 443). The author points us toward an alternative view that combines with this

discourse and extends our emphasis on practical action by inserting interaction as the core

metaphor rather than action. The point Williams makes is that technical communication requires

a ―discursive diversity‖ that it does not currently possess in any substantial way and in building

that diversity, our primary value propositions change. Rather than being driven by the normal

science that enables us to find better and better ways of doing the same thing—communicating

expediently—our new value proposition should be to place methods, ideas, and values in

dialogue, the author remarks. The point is not so much to get the job done as it is to enable

interaction. With interaction as our primary goal rather than looking toward products, we

experience a whole different way of looking at the world that creates for technical

communicators a new set of common sensations, concepts, images, ideas, and attitudes, Williams

says. Exposing our students to this refined and evolved way of looking at their profession places

a whole new light on the contribution expectations they will soon be encountering and better

prepares them for excelling once there.

Addressing these issues is how we as technical communicators better prepare ourselves

for the new challenges that lie ahead. This is the way we move into the next phase in our

evolution—where knowledge managers become more entrepreneurial innovators leveraging their

knowledge to better contribute to today‘s business challenges. We need to take stock of our

skills, aptitudes, psyches, outlooks, and experiences that we bring to our profession and

workplaces and apply a bit of entrepreneurial insight and tactics to identify opportunities, unique

to each of us to achieve. With passion and persistence, our ideas will take life and grow. The

50

evidence herein surely points out the high degree of success in doing so considering that the

economy has changed, moving from knowledge-based activities to creativity, innovation,

entrepreneurship, and imagination, as Fillis and Rentschler aptly point out.

As we have seen, opening our minds to this inquiry can inspire and energize us to get in

touch with our own ―inner entrepreneur‖ to seek novel solutions to emerging organizational

problems and to find new ways of doing things that can have a transformative impact on our

workplace value, not to mention personal pride and satisfaction of accomplishment. Through

such an inquiry, the direction we need to go, our evolution in this process will surely become

apparent. As any entrepreneur will likely allude, with the right mindset, opportunities have a

way of finding us. We need to be prepared to act when it inevitably happens since the winds of

change are blowing, creating opportunity for those prepared to seize it.

51

Chapter VI: Conclusion and Areas for Future Research

I began this exploration on applying an entrepreneurial point of view to workplaces after

coming across numerous articles describing employee preparedness issues in an economy

undergoing fundamental change. As a career technical communicator and an entrepreneur

myself, I was interested in attempting to identify key traits of what such a mindset might entail

specific to the deficiencies outlined in these articles and how it correlated to others in our

profession. From my experience, I determined what I thought were key attributes, then

examined literature in the areas of entrepreneurialism, business communication, innovation, and

of course technical communication, not just as stand-alone subjects, but looking at whether there

was a common convergence thread between them that backed the attributes I identified.

I hypothesized that if there was a confluence where these varied and diverse positions of

scholarship intersect, I would have validated key determinants of workforce opportunity where,

if addressed appropriately, could indeed mitigate and satisfy very specific, current employer skill

needs. Such a place was not found where all the literature definitively came together to this end.

Therefore, an opportunity exists for more research about how specifically to apply

entrepreneurial instinct and craft action plans to implement ideas for those employed in corporate

circumstances. While many of the authors touch on this aspect of entrepreneurialism, none

tackle this issue specifically. Admittedly, there is a huge challenge in doing so due to the myriad

ways entrepreneurialism can be successfully applied to business circumstances. Nonetheless, in

light of survey findings emphasizing the importance of this subject, the need for broader,

continuing study of this facet of business and technical communication appears to be both

important and significant.

Despite the lack of clear convergence in the findings, I believe the intent of this paper has

been satisfied in that through this exploration, readers gain a definitive understanding of

employer workforce needs based on very current survey data. A distinct connection has been

52

made between these needs and entrepreneurial business development strategies those in technical

communication can employ for better aligning their skills and expertise towards more rigorous

demands of industry. Furthermore, directives have been identified about how a better-rounded

employee entrepreneurial mindset can capitalize on emerging business drivers and greatly

increase value to employers. Research on both workplace and start-up entrepreneurship provide

detailed insight into what thinking and working innovatively means and how applying such a

mindset to day-to-day responsibilities greatly benefits both employer and employee alike.

The realizations herein indeed shed important light on how taking a new tack to our

profession can better align skill contribution toward the critical needs of employers, providing

technical communicators—both those entering the workforce or already in professional

endeavors—a redefined vision of workplace entrepreneurship that, if embraced, improves

employer competitiveness, enriches our profession, and increases the likelihood of recognition

and reward.

Although these findings may provide useful and important detail to this end, they are

only a start towards addressing the next evolutionary step in our profession where academia,

employer, and employee alike advance today‘s knowledge managers into ultimately becoming

true entrepreneurial knowledge innovators and leaders. Once this is achieved, for the time being,

all those associated with our profession will benefit.

53

References

Amabile, T. (1997). Entrepreneurial creativity through motivational synergy. Journal of Creative

Behavior 31(1):18–26.

Barringer. B, Ireland, D. (2008). Entrepreneurship: Successfully launching new ventures (2nd

ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

Beecher, S. (2011). ManpowerGroup survey: Talent is getting harder to find. Retrieved May 19,

2011 from JSOnline website, http://www.jsonline.com/business/122201984.html

Brounstein, M., Bell, A. H., Smith, D. M. (2007). Business communication. Hoboken, NJ: John

Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Defining Technical Communication. (n.d.). Retrieved July 9, 2011, from Society of Technical

Communication website, http://www.stc.org/about-stc/the profession-all-about-technical

communication/defining-tc

Ethical Principles. (n.d.) Retrieved July 14, 2011, from Society of Technical Communication

website, http://www.stc.org/about-stc/the profession-all-about-technical

communication/ethical-principles

Fillis, I., Rentschler, R. (2006). Creative Marketing: An Extended Metaphor for Marketing in a

New Age. Basingstoke, Hampshire, England: Palgrave Macmillan.

Fillis, I., Rentschler, R. (2010). The role of creativity in entrepreneurship. Journal of

Enterprising Culture, 18, 49-81. doi: 10.1142/S0218495810000501

Hart, H., Conklin, J. (2006). Toward a meaningful model for technical communication.

Technical Communication. 53(4) (November 2006): 395-415

Kawasaki, G. (2004). The art of the start. London: Penguin Books Ltd.

Kim, L., Tolley, C. (2004). Fitting academic programs to workplace marketability: Career paths

of five Technical Communicators. Technical Communication. 51 (3). 377

54

Lee. B. (1999, Aug. 9). In today‘s job market, you must invest yourself. San Diego Business

Journal. Retrieved from http://www.sdbj.com

Lee, S. Y., Florida, R. & Acs, Z. J. (2004). Creativity and entrepreneurship: A Regional analysis

of new firm formation. Regional Studies 38(8), 879–891.

Meloncon, L. (2009), Master‘s programs in Technical Communication: A current overview.

Technical Communication, 56 (2), (May 2009): 142-143

Minton-Eversole, T. (2009, Sept). Skill deficiencies threaten United States Workforce

competence. HRMagazine 54 (9), 18-18. Retrieved from

http://www.shrm.org/Publications/hrmagazine/Pages/default.aspx

North, A. B., and Worth, W. E. (2000). Trends in entry-level technology, interpersonal, and basic

communication job skills: 1992–1998. Journal of technical writing and communication

30:143–154.

Rainey, K.T., Turner, R.K., and Dayton, D. (2005). Do curricula correspond to managerial

expectations? Core competencies for technical communicators. Technical

Communication, 52 (3), 323-352.

Schoeff Jr. M. (2009, Oct. 19). Companies report difficulties finding qualified employees.

Workforce Management 88 (11), 14-14. Retrieved from http://www.workforce.com

Turner, R. (2006). Developing fast growth companies [company strategic planning].

Engineering Management, 16, 24-25. doi: 10.1049/em:20060105

UWM announces new IBM data center. (n.d.). Retrieved May 22, 2011, from JSOnline website,

http://www.jsonline.com/business/122395584.html

Vance, M. F. (1986). Innovation and entrepreneurialism: Bringing the future into the present.

Paper presented at the National Human Resource Planning Society Conference on

Human Resource Planning in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Human Resource Planning. 9 (4),

p. 121 – 124.

55

White, S. P. (2002). New ideas about new ideas: Insights on creativity from the world’s leading

innovators. Cambridge: Perseus Publishing.

Whiteside, A. (2003). The skills that technical communicators need: An investigation of

Technical Communications graduates, managers, and curricula. Journal of Technical

Writing & Communication; 2003, 33 (4) (Fall 2003) 303-319

Whiting, B. G. (1988). Creativity and entrepreneurship: How do they relate? Journal of Creative

Behavior 22:178–183.

Wick, C. (2000). Knowledge management and leadership opportunities for Technical

Communicators. Technical Communications. (Nov. 2000). 47 (4), 515-540

Williams, S. D. (2010). Interpretive discourse and other models from communication studies:

Expanding the values of Technical Communication. Journal of Technical Writing and

Communication, 40 (4) 429-446. doi: 10.2190/TW.40.4.d

Zakaria, F. (2011, June 13). Innovate better. Time 177 (24), 30-32.