Business discourse: Old debates, new horizons

Abstract

The aim of this introductory article is twofold: (1) to locate business discourse in the context of some of the most salient debates within its cognate discipline, i.e., business communication, thus acknowledging epistemological and methodological indebtedness; and (2) to encourage the discussion around a distinct paradigm for business discourse as a new Þeld of study by sketching out a Þrst analytical framework that draws on multidisciplinary research and promotes multimethod research. The article argues that the Þrst step towards a future multidisciplinary identity for business discourse depends on the operationalization of partnership research, i.e., collaborative research across associated disciplines. Old debates: A Þeld in search of identity?In our earlier work, we deÞned business discourse as "talk and writing between individuals whose main work activities and interests are in the domain of business and who come together for the purpose of doing business" (BargielaChiappini and Nickerson 1999a: 2). We further pointed out that the interactants' status was the decisive element that distinguishes professional from business discourse, in that the former but not the latter, would involve a lay person. Moreover, business discourse refers to spoken and written communication that usually takes place within a corporate setting, whether physical (e.g., a manufacturing organization) or virtual (e.g., telework).Within the remit (and word limit) of a position article, it is our intention to discuss the relevance of a business discourse approach to the analysis of communication in business settings. The signiÞcance of this move is best understood against the background of some of the ongoing debates within the broad Þeld of business communication, such as the related issues of disciplinary deÞ-nition and disciplinary boundaries and the discussions surrounding the plethora of methodological approaches that characterize the Þeld. We will be arguing Brought to you by | Radboud University Nijmegen Authenticated Download Date | 4/13/15 3:20 PM Francesca Bargiela-Chiappini and Catherine Nickersonhere for a discourse approach to business communication that seeks to reconcile discourse as product and discourse as action, represented in Figure 1 by two discrete discourse units of different orders of magnitude, i.e., generic discourses and typiÞed actions, respectively sequences and nodes in the corporate communication web. We both have a long-standing interest in the Þeld, which stems from a combination of research and language teaching and training experience in corporate settings over a period of ten years. Field research in The Netherlands, Italy and Britain has brought us into direct contact with the textual and non-textual realizations of communication that constitute corporate life. Hence, we understand business discourse as a web of negotiated textualizations, constructed by social actors as they go about their daily activities in pursuit of organizational and personal goals. It is therefore language as social ...

Playing in the academic field: Non-native English-speaking academics in UK business schools

“…Among extant writings, there is a strand of literature focusing on the use of English in contemporary organizational contexts (e.g. Bargiela-Chiappini and Nickerson 2002;Ehrenreich 2010;Lauring and Selmer 2010; 'little attention has been paid to the experiences of international academic staff' (emphasis added).…”

Digital Business Discourse

“…Business interaction and the rhetorical features used in international business letters have been studied by such authors as Bargiela-Chiappini and Nickerson (2002), Bremmer (2008), Carrió-Pastor and Muñiz-Calderón (2010a, 2010b, Flowerdew and Wan (2010), Nickerson (2005), Okamura and Shaw (2000), Pinto dos Santos (2002), and Yeung (2007). Although business communication has been the focus The study of the rhetorical moves undertaken by Indian businesspeople when communicating digitally in English as a foreign language is addressed here to show that the linguistic backgrounds of the speakers play an important role in communication.…”

Ingroups and Outgroups in Complaints: Exploring Politic Behaviour in Nurses’ Discourse

“…those instances in which only institutional members (and not patients) are involved (Bardovi-Harlig & Hartford, 2005). Interestingly, this constitutes one of the most common workplace activities in which nurses engage, sometimes on a daily basis (Bargiela-Chiappini & Nickerson, 2002). Seen as an "interactional joint achievement" (Asmuß & Svennevig, 2009: 3), meetings are sites where nurses work together to accomplish not only transactional goals, for instance, reporting and reviewing protocols, but also relational goals, for instance, building workplace relationships (Coupland, 2000).…”