Leadership Communication as Citizenship

John O. Burtis · Paul D. Turman

Nov 2009 · SAGE Publications

About this ebook

Leadership Communication as Citizenship explains the communication skills you need to help construct effective experiences for an organization, team, or community, whether in the role of doer, follower, guide, manager, or leader. It articulates the important role that communication plays in helping to co-construct group, organizational, or community direction. Effective leadership communication is explored in the context of citizenship, emphasizing the opportunities and responsibilities we each face for helping groups that matter to us, whether a business, a religious institution, or a government entity.

Throughout the book, authors John O. Burtis and Paul D. Turman relay a compelling, readable story about how to create more successful organizations and communities through direction-giving stories, regardless of one′s role in the group.

Key Features

• Explains the daily interplay between communication, citizenship, and direction-giving, thus challenging readers to realize the power they have to give direction in their own team, organization, or community
• Focuses on common communication skills involved across seemingly disparate leadership contexts—from working in teams to communities to social movements or elsewhere—to help people succeed in the setting in which they find themselves
• Explores times of crisis and use of leadership vision, discussing how direction-giving approaches may require adjustment in these times of extreme opportunity, threat, or change.

Intended Audience: Leadership Communication as Citizenship is appropriate for anyone who wants to make a difference in their team, organization, or community, and for such courses as Leadership, Organizational and Group Communication, Industrial/ Organizational Psychology, Persuasion, and Management.

About the author

John O. Burtis (Ph.D., University of Minnesota) is a Professor in the Communication Studies Department at the University of Northern Iowa. He has taught courses in leadership, management, group communication, argumentation, persuasion, and communication theory at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He has been a consultant, trainer, and speaker on related subjects in both the private and public sectors. He has been the director of the Concordia Leadership Center and of the West Central Minnesota Leadership Program and the head of the Communication Studies department at the University of Northern Iowa. He has been the Director of Forensics at Kansas State University and Concordia College, where students in the programs won numerous individual and team championships in speech or debate including more than twenty national championships.

Paul D. Turman (PhD, University of Nebraska) is the Vice President for Research & Economic Development for the South Dakota Board of Regents. His scholarly research focuses on the role of communication in the coach-athlete and parent-child relationship within a sport context. Prior to his time with the Board of Regents, he taught courses in communication and sport at the University of Northern Iowa. His scholarly work has been published in journals such as Communication Education, the Journal of Applied Communication Research, the Journal of Family Communication, and Communication Studies.