Publish or Profit?

As an assistant professor in organizational communication and as a new blogger, one of the things that I am trying to do more of is look at blogs about communicating in the workplace. I’ve found a number of really good sites recently although I am waiting to list them in my blogroll until I see a little more about how and what they write. One blog caught my eye. I’m not going to identify or link to it because I am still uncertain about how I feel regarding this blog. Coming from a Research 1 PhD program, I feel like I was socialized to believe that research should be done, published (mostly in academic journals), and then those results should be shared with people in such a way as to improve whatever you were studying. For example, if you were studying the ways in which nurses manage their emotions, you would conduct the research, publish it in an academic journal, and help to improve the quality of the nurses’ workplace experiences. Approaching research from this perspective tends to distance oneself from consultants. It’s not that I’m against consulting, it’s just that I was “raised” to appreciate academic research over consulting.

So earlier this week, I was reading this blog that got me really excited. I was completely ready to post a link to this blog as the author talked about dissenting in the workplace, a topic that is closely related to what I research. And then I read the end. The blogger was kind enough to be available for telephone consultation for the modest fee of $75 for a half hour. Part of me was immediately indignant. “Use your research to help people” part of me screamed. But then, part of me thought, “$150 per hour? I must be in the wrong profession.” And then that part felt guilty for thinking that. Like I said, I haven’t decided how I feel about this blog, but it just seems wrong on some level.