Necessity of Oral Communication Skills; A collaborative project by:

Rikki A. Price & Joeseph Ramsey

Strategic Communication

Dr. Robert Whitbred

February 28, 2017

Executive Summary:

This report provides summary results of a survey completed in September of 2016 that was part
of an ongoing project involving students and faculty in the School of Communication at
Cleveland State University. Students were brought in to a research facility and were asked
whether or not they knew the mission statement at Cleveland State University. They were then
asked to write it down if they knew the mission. The remaining student sample were asked to
either view a video recording of President Berkman or read a document on presidential letterhead
containing the University Mission Statement. Students were then surveyed on levels of presence
(immersion into the message), identification with the university, and source credibility; as well as
current and future behavioral questions (see methods section).

The majority of this report summarizes the results of the mission statement experiment. A
comparison of the differences in source credibility between video and text versions of the
mission statement show that those who read the text found the source more credible overall.
These results suggest that President Berkman may be lacking in certain oral communication
skills necessary to persuade an audience. In order to be seen as more credible a source needs to
be influential and persuasive. By using message framing as well as smiling, using eye contact,
using voice inflection, and speaking slowly and clearly, a source may be seen as more credible.
These skills can be learned in an oral communication course during students undergraduate
experience. The report concludes with a summary of particular arguments of why all students
should be required to take an oral communication course as part of their general education
requirements at Cleveland State University.

Introduction:

This white paper discusses how a public speaking course should be a requirement of all
undergraduate students which will lead to the attainment of successful careers that will create a
surge in monetary donations and positivity towards CSU in the alumni community. Oral
communication skills are in demand and essential for professional success. Not only do people
spend considerable time communicating, communication skills are essential to personal,
academic, and professional success (Emanuel, 2010 p.1).
The success of Cleveland State graduates is important to administration because those
students will have a positive outlook of their education and will be more likely to give back to
the CSU community. According to Emanuel (2010) both the National Leadership Council for
Liberal Education and Americas promise, as well as the U.S. Department of education rate oral
communication as an essential skill that will help prepare college students for twenty-first
century challenges (pg. 4). If oral communication is in-demand and a desired skill or the current
workforce, Cleveland State should require that all students take a public speaking course in order
to cement these skills for future graduates.

Background/Problems:
 A recent study was conducted using Dr. Ronald Berkman as the spokesperson of the
Cleveland State University Mission Statement. Students viewed either a video of Dr. Berkman
presenting the message, or students read a text version of the mission statement on presidential
letterhead identifying Dr. Berkman as the source for the material.
A total of 182 students participated in this study, of these participants 38.5% (n = 70)
reported being male and 61% (n = 111) reported being female, .5% (n = 1) did not report gender.
Participants mean age was 26.8 years (SD = 10.04). The majority of participants reported being
white (n= 107, 59%) followed by Black or African American (n = 47, 26%), Asian (n = 6, 3.3%),
and 1.5% reported being Hispanic, 6.5% reported Other, and 3.3% did not report any race.
Participants were randomly assigned to one of six computer stations and Survey Monkey
was used to collect data. The monitor first displayed the question Do you know the University
Mission Statement? If a participant responded Yes, then he or she was asked to provide the
mission statement in the space provided on the screen. A researcher then brought up either the
video or print condition and asked the participant to read or view the introduction. Those viewing
the video were given headphones. After viewing or reading the introduction, a researcher then
pulled up the outcome survey which participants completed in Survey Monkey.

Measures.

Current Behavior. Participants were asked to answer a number of questions including

current behavior at Cleveland State, such as I currently attend university sporting events, I
regularly wear university clothing, When I talk about Cleveland State University to my friends
I say mostly positive things, and I generally say positive things about Cleveland State. These
items were measured on a 7-point Likert scale (1= strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree). Higher
values indicate greater endorsement of each variable (=.87).

Future Behavior. Participants future behavioral intensions were measured on a 7-point

Likert based scale and included items such as I will donate money to Cleveland State in the
future, After I establish myself in a career I will donate money to Cleveland State, In the
future I will support other Cleveland State graduates through providing internships, and In the
future, I will hire other Cleveland State graduates (=.87).

Personal Involvement Inventory. Zaichkowskys (1985) 20 item semantic differential

scale with seven points between bipolar items was utilized to indicate participants arousal or
interest in the message as well as message relevance. Examples of the items include Important-
Unimportant, Trivial-Fundamental, and Boring-Interesting (=.97).

Source Credibility. McCroskeys 12-item Semantic Differential Scale with seven points
between the anchors of each item was used to measure credibility. Authority and character
dimensions of credibility are measured with 6 items each. Sample items from the authority
dimension include Reliable-Unreliable, Intelligent-Unintelligent, Qualified, Unqualified.
Sample items for the character dimension include Pleasant-Unpleasant, Selfish-Unselfish,
and Valueable-Worthless. In this particular dataset, both dimensions were highly
intercorrelated so all items were averaged to measure overall credibility (=.93).

Identification. Organizational identification can be defined as a feeling of belonging or

the possession of particular attributes that define an organization (Dutton, Dikerich, and
Harquial, 1994). For the purposes of this study, organizational identification with the university,
was measured with 25 seven-point Likert scales. Participants were asked how strongly they
agreed or disagreed with statements such as I am very proud to be a student at Cleveland State
University, and I try to make decisions by considering how the outcomes of my actions reflect
upon Cleveland State University, where No! indicated they strongly disagree and Yes!
indicated they strongly agree. Participants evaluation of organizational identification was
calculated by averting these 25 items (=.94).

Results.

An Independent Samples t test was performed to assess whether means differed

significantly for a group of 182 participants who were exposed to a mission statement as text
(group 1) or as a video (group 2). The mean of overall source credibility differed significantly,
t(169.33) = 5.43, p < .001, two-tailed. Mean for the text group on overall credibility (M= 6, SD =
.82) was .75 greater than the mean for the video group (M= 5.25, SD 1.03). This study suggests
that reading the mission statement may significantly increase overall source credibility.
These results can also mean that Dr. Berkman had poor oral communication skills
when addressing the students in the video. Rather than reading from a prompter for his
lines he should have memorized them and spoke to the students in a more engaging way.
Pearson correlations were performed to assess whether levels of mission involvement,
and identity could be predicted from the overall credibility of the message source. Both mission
involvement and identity were significantly correlated with overall credibility. Overall credibility
predicted a strong positive relationship with mission involvement, r(182) = .41, p < .001.
Additionally, overall credibility predicted a significant positive relationship with identity, r(182)
= .33, p <.001.
These results suggest a strong relationship of involvement and identity with overall
credibility, meaning that if we want Cleveland State University students to be more
involved and have a strong identity within the alumni community, then our representative
of our university mission statement should be seen as credible. These results also suggest
the importance of oral communication skills, the more credible the source is perceived the
more students will identify with the Cleveland state community and become more involved.
Pearson correlations were performed to determine whether monetary donations could be
predicted from overall credibility of message source. Both monetary donation items I will
donate money to CSU in the future and After I establish myself in my career, I will donate
money to CSU were significantly correlated with overall credibility of the source. Overall
credibility predicted a strong positive relationship with I will donate money to CSU in the
future r(182) = .22, p <.01, and After I establish myself in my career, I will support CSU
students r(182) = .21, p<.01.
 These results suggest that perceptions of credibility are related to students future
behavior, primarily future monetary donations which is important to the continued success
of Cleveland State University.
Pearson correlations were performed to determine whether monetary donations could be
predicted from mission involvement. Both monetary donation items I will donate money to
CSU in the future and After I establish myself in my career, I will donate money to CSU were
significantly correlated with overall credibility of the source. Overall mission involvement
predicted a strong positive relationship with I will donate money to CSU in the future r(182)
= .47, p <.001, and After I establish myself in my career, I will support CSU students r(182)
= .50, p<.001.
These results suggest that those who are highly involved when viewing the mission
statement will be more likely to donate to CSU in the future. Again, reinforcing the
importance of public speaking for presentation and influence.
Pearson correlations were performed to determine whether monetary donations could be
predicted from identity. Both monetary donation items I will donate money to CSU in the
future and After I establish myself in my career, I will donate money to CSU were
significantly correlated with identity. Overall identity predicted a strong positive relationship
with I will donate money to CSU in the future r(182) = .64, p <.001, and After I establish
myself in my career, I will support CSU students r(182) = .66, p<.001. These items were
combined to create a scale called Donations =.94.
These results suggest that CSU students who identify as part of the Cleveland State
community will be more likely to donate to Cleveland State in the future.
A Pearsons correlation found that items related to career opportunities In the future I
will support other CSU graduates through providing internships were positively related to
source credibility r(182)= .16, p<.05, mission involvement r(182)= .25, p<.001, and identity
r(182)= .40, p<.001. In the future, I will hire other CSU graduates were positively related to
source credibility r(182)= .26, p<.001, mission involvement r(182)= .23, p<.001, and identity
r(182)= .39, p<.001. These items were combined to create a scale called Opportunity =.87.
These results suggest that the more credible the source, student involvement while
viewing the mission statement, and students identification as part of the Cleveland State
University community will result in career opportunity benefits for future CSU students.
A Pearsons correlation found that items related to positivity about CSU When I talk
about CSU to my friends, I say mostly positive things were positively related to source
credibility r(182)= .23, p<.01, mission involvement r(182)= .39, p<.001, and identity r(182)= .
71, p<.001. When I talk about CSU to my family I say mostly positive things r(182)= .25,
p<.001, mission involvement r(182)= .42, p<.001, and identity r(182)= .69, p<.001. I generally
say positive things about CSU was positively related to source credibility r(182)= .26, p<.001,
mission involvement r(182)= .33, p<.001, and identity r(182)= .70, p<.001.These items were
combined to create a scale called Positivity =.95.
These results suggest that current behavior such as positivity about Cleveland State
are related to source credibility (while reading or viewing the mission statement),
involvement in the reading or viewing of the mission statement, and identity as part of the
campus community. From these results we can say that a more powerful speaker would
create more positivity about the campus community.
Finally, a Pearsons correlation found that items related to student involvement at CSU I
consider myself to be very involved at CSU, both inside and outside the classroom were
positively related to r(182)= .34, p<.001. I participate in extracurricular activities at CSU
identity r(182)= .19, p<.01. These items will be dropped from the study due to their
insignificance with source credibility and mission involvement.
As correlations are bi-directional, a number of multiple regression analyses were
conducted to see if a linear relationship existed among credibility, involvement, and identity that
would predict students future donations, providing future opportunities, and current positivity
about CSU. The overall multiple regression to predict positivity about CSU from credibility,
involvement, and identity, R =.74 and R2= .55. That is, when credibility of source, involvement
in source material (mission statement), and identification with Cleveland state where used as
predictors, about 55% of the variance in positivity about Cleveland state could be predicted. The
adjusted R2 was .54. The overall regression was statistically significant, F(3, 178) = 71.77, p < .
001. It was found that identity significantly predicted positivity when credibility and mission
involvement were statistically controlled t(178) = 12.16, p < .001. The slope to predict positivity
from identity was approximately = 1.15; in other words, there was over a point increase in
positivity for each one-point increase in Cleveland state community identity.
A secondary regression analysis was conducted to see if a linear relationship existed that
could predict future opportunities for CSU students from the predictors or source credibility,
involvement, and identity. The results of the regression indicated the three predictors explained
17.3% of the variance R2=.173, F(3,178) = 13.65, p < .001. That is, when credibility of source,
involvement in source material (mission statement), and identification with Cleveland state
where used as predictors, about 17% of variance in future opportunities could be predicted. It
was found that identity significantly predicted future opportunities for CSU students t(178) =
4.81, p < .001. The slope to predict opportunity from identity was approximately = .53; in other
words, for every one-point increase in Cleveland State identity there was a half point increase in
future opportunities for Cleveland State students.
A tertiary regression analysis was conducted to find if source credibility, mission
involvement, and identity could predict future donations for Cleveland State. The overall
multiple regression to predict future donations from current CSU students from credibility,
involvement, and identity, R =.68 and R2= .46. That is, when credibility of source, involvement
in source material (mission statement), and identification with Cleveland State where used as
predictors, about 46% of the variance in future donations for Cleveland State could be predicted.
The adjusted R2 was .45. The overall regression was statistically significant, F(3, 178) = 51.25, p
< .001. It was found that identity significantly predicted monetary donations when credibility
and mission involvement were statistically controlled t(178) = 8.38, p < .001. The slope to
predict future donations from identity was approximately = .97; in other words, there was
nearly a point increase in predicted future donations for every one-point increase in Cleveland
State community identity. Involvement in the mission statement significantly predicted future
monetary donations when credibility and identity were statistically controlled for t(178) = 2.04, p
< .05. The slope to predict future donations from mission statement involvement was
approximately = .18; in other words, for each one-point increase in mission statement
involvement, predicted future monetary donations increase by .18.
Results from these analyses suggest that current positivity about Cleveland State,
and future donations and opportunities for Cleveland State students are significant
outcomes for a strong identity with the Cleveland State community and high involvement
while either reading or viewing the mission statement. Source credibility is also important
when included in the overall predictor model.
So what is the problem? If you recall, students rated the text as significantly more
credible than the video of the mission statement. Students were also more involved in the
mission statement while reading the text (M = 5.17, SD = 1.33) than the video (M = 4.97, SD =
1.31), and had identified with the Cleveland State community after reading the mission statement
(M = 4.69, SD = 1.05) over viewing the video of the mission statement (M = 4.46, SD = .90).
Although these differences are not significant, the mean scores are higher for those who read the
text over who watched the video. Oral communication is an important employability skill.
According to Emanuel (2010) studies show that at least a third of a normal work environment is
spent in meetings or working in teams and that communication skills are ranked more important
than technical skills in some jobs. For student success in the job market I am proposing an oral
communication (i.e. public speaking) course as a general education requirement for all students.
This will make Cleveland State University students more employable in the job market and will
lead to future donations and opportunities for future Cleveland State students.

Solution:

According to the Ohio Department of Higher Education, an oral communication course

emphasizes effective communication, increases competence in analysis and logical arguments
(critical thinking and logical analysis), introduces students to the methods of inquiry a number of
fields, including the natural sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities. Outcomes of an
oral communication course also include an understanding of a global and diverse culture as well
as engagement in our democratic society (Ohio Department of Higher Education). If we want to
prepare students for successful integration into the workforce students should be required to take
an oral communication course as part of their general education requirements. A national survey
of 1,000 human resource managers identified oral communication skills as valuable for both
obtaining employment and successful job performance (Emanuel, 2010).
Cleveland State University students who viewed or read the mission statement both
provided the responses that they will give back to the CSU community by either providing
monetary donations or future job opportunities to Cleveland State students. WE should be
providing these students with the best education possible, and for the current job market
communication skills are in demand. Therefore, all students, not just communication majors,
should be required to take an oral communication course.

Conclusion:
 The purpose of this white paper is to advise current CSU administration that a general
education requirement of an oral communication course is necessary for student success in our
current job market. Results from analyses of student response to the CSU mission statement
suggested that involvement in the mission statement, credibility of the source of the statement,
and a sense of identity in the Cleveland State University community stemming from the mission
statement predicted the outcomes of students willingness to provide future monetary donations
or career opportunities for Cleveland state. The above predictors also influenced general
positivity about CSU in students communication to friends, family, and other non CSU
individuals.
If CSU wants to compete in the academic market, we need to give students the best
chance at future employment possible. Therefore, students should be required to take an oral
communication course as part of their general education curriculum. Oral communication skills
increase students ability to logically analyze arguments, and create persuasive content. Oral
communication courses may also decrease students communication apprehension. These skills
are necessary in the current job market and should be offered to all students. Students have
affirmed that they will give back to the CSU community once they have stability in their careers,
and therefore they should be afforded the best chance possible to succeed in the current job
market.

References:
Andrews, J., & Higson, H. (2008). Graduate employability, soft skills versus hard business
knowledge: A European study. Higher education in Europe, 33(4), 411-422.

Emanuel, R. (2011). Critical Concerns for Oral Communication Education in Alabama and
Beyond. Education Research International, 2011.

Fallows, S., & Steven, C. (2000). Building employability skills into the higher education
curriculum: A university-wide initiative. Education+ training, 42(2), 75-83.

Ohio Department of Higher Education Ohio Transfer Module (OTM) Oral Communication,
https://www.ohiohighered.org/sites/ohiohighered.org/files/Ohio%20Transfer%20Module
%20Oral%20Communication_2.pdf

Appendix A: Model & Correlation Tables

Model A.

Source:__ Variables: Actions:___________________________________

Text Overall Credibility #7 & #11: Monetary Donations

#23 & #24: Career Opportunities

Video Mission Involvement #13, #14, & #21: Positivity towards CSU

Identity

As Model A indicates, results from a t-test indicating that text was higher in credibility than
video. Correlation analyses show that credibility, mission involvement, and identity are all
related. Overall credibility, mission involvement, and identity are all related to future monetary
donations, future career opportunities, and current positivity towards Cleveland State University.
This table shows how persuasive speech can impact a message and the results of its delivery.
Text was found to be considerably more credible and credibility is related to future donations,
future career opportunities, and current positivity towards Cleveland State. Thus, it may be
beneficial for students of all majors to participate in an oral communication course to learn
elements of persuasive speech in order to be seen as more credible in their prospective careers.

Appendix B: Regression Tables