Spotlight on a Thought Leader in Business Communication: Joanne Yates—Business Communications’ Own Standard-Bearer

Abstract

When asked to write a feature article about a business communication thought leader, I knew immediately whose work I wanted to review; however, the idea of writing this essay (and keeping it within two to three pages) was daunting. JoAnne Yates’s scholarly work is well-renowned across business communication, organizational and management studies, and business history, and her impact on the way we understand communication in organizations has put her in a category with few peers. JoAnne Yates is the Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management, Emerita and Professor Post Tenure of Work and Organization Studies and Managerial Communication at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, where she was responsible for the development of MIT Sloan’s Managerial Communication curriculum. A founder of Management Communication Quarterly, Yates is a talented scholar, teacher, and administrator, and her body of work continues to make an enormous impact on the professional endeavors of members of the Association. With over 25 scholarly articles (many award winning), 6 books, and countless other publications I cannot possibly highlight all of Yates’ extraordinary body of scholarly work in this essay, so instead, I offer a highlight of the ways that Yates’ work on genre provides a valuable perspective on the nature of norms and conventions—and more formally standards—in business communication. Through her interdisciplinary and collaborative body of research, Yates has created a space to explore the how of communicative interaction in organizations through a socio-cultural lens. She has provided a theoretical and methodological foundation for