The Positive Politeness Strategy on Ordering and Requesting Speech Acts in Japanese Companies

Abstract

Politeness is a rule of behavior that is determined and mutually agreed upon by a certain community so that politeness is also a prerequisite for social behavior. This study aimed to determine politeness strategy in Japanese communication, especially the use of positive politeness strategy in Japanese companies. The data were focused on the utterances that accommodate positive politeness strategy in 'ordering' speech act (meirei) and 'requesting' speech act (irai) in the communication frame in Japanese companies. The method in this study were a case study, literature studies, focus group discussion, and interviews of 22 workers of Japanese companies in Indonesia, with various positions from staff to manager. The results showed that the practice of the directive speech act on ordering (meirei) and requesting (irai), with the positive politeness strategy used by work partners in Japanese companies. The results also showed the merit of using the positive politeness strategy on 'ordering' and 'requesting' speech acts to streamline the communication process at work. The findings of the study have some pedagogical implications, especially to overcome the difficulties faced by Japanese language learners regarding politeness strategy on ordering (meirei) and requesting (irai) speech act. In addition, this study made an effort to improve and streamline the communication skills of Japanese language learners, especially for the purpose of developing communication skills in Japanese companies.