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Since 1985, the field of professional communication has grown in size and reputation while maintaining a space within its primary disciplinary home of the English department. This article relies on historical evidence to examine how a field that was once evenly divided between business communication and technical communication is now technical communication-centric, almost to the exclusion of business communication. The authors pose questions about the field of professional communication and how faculty who consider business communication to be their primary discipline (regardless of their disciplinary home) might play a role in future discussions related to disciplinarity and domains of knowledge.

This study investigates Polish expatriates’ stories of encounters with local personnel in a Chinese subsidiary of a Western multinational company. A narrative analysis of the stories produced important insights into Polish-Chinese communication in an intra-subsidiary context. Low proficiency in the host language was a serious obstacle to expatriate socialization and a source of expatriates’ exclusion and social isolation in the workplace, which often led to stress, frustration, and negative attitudes toward collaboration with local personnel. Language-related issues prevented the expatriates from acquiring information from Chinese superiors, learning about problems within a team, and participating in decision-making. The findings of this case study relate to communication challenges in the Chinese subsidiary, expatriates’ accounts of how they overcame communication difficulties, and their reflections on what fostered and hampered intercultural communication.

Private corporations that do not normally interact with, nor regularly communicate with, the public often do not perceive the public as a relevant or active stakeholder. The public may not view themselves as a stakeholder, particularly when they are unaware of, have no direct dealings with, or do not have any problems associated with such a corporation. The current study, utilizing a national survey of the United States public (N = 424) found that through directed strategic communication activities of a private spaceflight corporation, utilizing social and new media tools, a latent public can perceive a corporation and its mission in a positive manner, and transition it towards a status of an aware public and possible active public. Positive perceptions were found regarding corporate credibility, brand awareness, public engagement, communicating a corporate mission, educating the public, and influencing public opinion.

This article presents a corpus-based analysis of stance in a specialized corpus of annual and corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports. It investigates how companies use stance expressions to construct and promote a positive corporate identity in order to gain the trust of the stakeholder groups that these texts target. The results show that companies profile distinct identities in annual and CSR reports. In annual reports, they use stance resources to portray themselves as unbiased, rational, and competent decision makers. In CSR reports, they present themselves as committed, honest, and caring corporate citizens. These discursive identities are interpreted as strategic self-representations that optimize the persuasive appeal of the reports by addressing the specific expectations of the target readerships. This study sheds some new light on the identity work performed by companies in their public discourse. It also provides novel insights into the impression management strategies used by companies in annual and CSR reports. Finally, it provides both linguists and business communication scholars with a robust descriptive basis for critically assessing financial and CSR reporting.

In the highly multicultural workplace of today’s multinational corporations (MNCs), translating across different cultures becomes a crucial issue. But what precisely counts as culture in the global workplace of the MNC? What does it exactly mean to be able to translate across cultures under the regimes of evaluation adopted by MNCs? In this article, I consider these questions through a discussion of the corporate discourse of diversity management, in which the cultural diversity of the workforce is understood as a resource for maximizing profit. Based on a critical review of diversity management literature and a study on Korean managers working for non-Korean MNCs in Singapore, I first show how diversity management’s claim of openness and inclusivity actually works to reproduce unequal relations in the workplace. I then argue that attention to the politics of translation, where the ideological nature of evaluations of cultural (in)commensurability is highlighted, is needed for applied linguists’ engagement with language and communication in the multicultural workplace.

© The Author(s) 2018. As a communication tool, the creative brief should seamlessly blend business goals with creative vision. This article investigates the role the creative brief plays as an internal communication tool between account and creative teams. Two data sets were collected. Two open-ended e-mail surveys gathered responses from 33 agency account management members and 42 creative and art directors, asking about their perceptions of the creative brief. Based on the two data sets, we offer pedagogical suggestions to advertising professors for ways to embed more discussions of communication and teamwork into creative brief assignments.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports are becoming a widespread corporate discourse practice and are often considered corporate image-building documents. The present study examines forward-...

This article analyses the presence of influencer marketing in business communications strategies in the new economy, based on the results of an exploratory investigation carried out in accordance with the methodology of the Grounded Theory. The categorisation of the information, obtained from the elaboration of the case studies of three digitally native brands (Wallapop, Westwing and Fotocasa), shows that influencer marketing actions are part of their 360º communications strategy. Actions with influencers are developed in a synergistic way with other advertising and public relations actions, both on and offline. In terms of their approach, they follow Marston's strategic planning model, which consists of four phases: research, planning, execution and evaluation. In this sense, its particularities include the decision-making based on data, as well as the empowerment of the user and the brands' agents.

There is an ongoing tension for scientists when deciding to engage with the public about their research as many scientists view direct participation as peripheral to their role. Pressures of time, lack of support by management and a lack of communicative skills are identified by scientists as reasons for not committing to communicative initiatives. We aimed to explore and explain the organizational culture of a research community that activity communicates with the public and has an international research culture. The Centre for Brain Research (CBR) was identified as a model and was analyzed using the concept of Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS). Twelve participants (scientists (8), clinicians (1), community liaison people (2)) and an identified director of the organization were interviewed. Direct quotes from interview were used to provide examples of the characteristics of CAS for example a variety of agents interacting, adapting the learning within the organization, non-linear dynamic behavior tha...

This paper examines the importance of reading the body language signals in business negotiations and business meetings. By observing the physical changes of the human body, gestures, can lead to a more or less realistic impression about opponent, feelings of the other person, his mood, thoughts, expectations, intentions, and their changes. In non-verbal body language are very much important things : human posture, dress, accessories, gestures, eye contact, facial expressions, smile, voice intonation, laughter, eye contact, eye signs, the distance between the communicators, touch, clap, dance, and physiological responses - sweating palms, forehead, paleness, resulting in acute facial, neck redness and others. Part of nonverbal communication signs, or in other words the body language signals are sent consciously (natural or play signs, signals), and the other part of the body signals is emitted into the environment unintentionally, when to the information received response is made immediately, instantly, instinctively and without thinking. Body language signals in business negotiations or business meetings are important in several aspects:- reveal the other person’s, the opponent's physical and emotional state as well as its evolution;- complement, reinforce or weaken the spoken language;- allows those who are able to read nonverbal communication signs, to determine more or less accurately whether oral language is true.

This paper firstly examines the literature on the linguistic devices of rhetoric in financial disclosure. Secondly, it suggests avenues for future research on the value of executive financial discourse by regarding language as an asset. Using an exploration of the business communication and business discourse literature on financial disclosure over 15 years, it discusses the language issues identified in the literature on the CEO's letter to shareholders and the annual report from a linguistic perspective. Two linguistic devices offer further insights into the value of executive financial discourse: metaphorical expressions and discourse markers.

The paper presents the results of a questionnaire based research conducted on how firms made communication on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Romania. The objective was to study how communication is performed inside and outside the company. Another objective was to determine how they communicate with the main stakeholders theirs durable development and CSR projects. The research took place between September 2013 and November 2013 and had in view a population of 50 Romanian best companies. A total of 27 enterprises completed questionnaires was obtained and processed. Some of the findings of the research are demonstrate where communication problems are, which components are satisfied through communication and where there should be improvements.

This paper probes into authentic CMC business complaints and disagreements by offering a discourse-pragmatic analysis of complaint negotiation e-mails written by French- and German-language customers. The analysis focuses on an identification and description of complaint and disagreement strategies, and on the presence of internal and external modifiers. Our data, gathered ethnographically at the sales department of a Belgian multinational, shows how the customer’s discourse evolves from more neutral, problem-oriented, routinized formulations in first complaints towards more confrontational, person-oriented, ad hoc formulations in disagreement e-mails as reactions to complaint refusals. This discursive change goes hand in hand with an increase in the use of direct speech act realizations and upgraders. As it appears, in the course of the complaint negotiation, face-threat to the speaker outweighs consideration of the addressee’s face needs. The most notable cross-cultural difference we found between German- and French-speaking customers is a more explicit style in German and a more confrontational style in French, with cross-cultural differences gaining weight at the expense of international communicative norms in less routinized messages. Finally, the results of our study urge us to reassess concepts of directness, and on a societal level, they serve to promote intercultural awareness in business contexts.

Through the framework of source credibility, this study examines the impact of quoting a company executive versus a customer testimonial in a business communication context. A 2 (spokesperson) × 7 (media channel) full factorial experiment ( N = 514) showed partial support for enhanced perceived credibility of information conveyed by a customer testimonial compared to a company spokesperson in independent and controlled media channels online. When evaluated through a measure of media credibility, a customer spokesperson rates higher than a company spokesperson. In addition, a product is viewed more positively by an audience receiving information quoting a customer spokesperson rather than a company spokesperson. An audience with low business expertise considers both types of spokespersons as more trustworthy than a high-expertise audience; however, a customer is considered more trustworthy than a company spokesperson. The study provides public relations professionals with insight in determining the use of spokespersons when communicating to businesspeople.

How to improve internal communication within our own organization and stimulate employees to perceive a company in which they work as their own and strive for joint success? In order to achieve effective internal communication, it is important to involve employees in all company‘s actions and give them a chance to express their views and opinions. It is necessary to listen to the individual needs of people and continuously work to improve internal communications. Business communication is a very important part of business, and refers to the transmission of messages, exchange and processing of information and contacts with business partners and the public. The communication within the organization involves all employees, while communication outside the organization involves only few. Vertical communication takes place within the organization from higher to lower organizational levels (authoritative atmosphere) or in other case upward from subordinates to superiors. This kind of communication is not command and contains feedback. Horizontal and lateral communication among employees involves exchange of views and information from the private sphere. This communication has a significant influence on attitudes and behavior of employees, work ethics and productivity.

Effects of issues in business news on corporate reputation are often assumed, but less often put to a test. To study these effects, this study combines a recent extension of agenda-setting theory - the second level of agenda setting - with issue ownership theory. A content analysis of business news is linked to a panel survey to measure corporate associations and corporate reputation. The results provide empirical evidence both for the second level of agenda setting and for issue ownership, thereby showing that theories from the field of political communication are valuable for understanding the effects of issues in business news. © 2006 International Communication Association.

Horizontal communication between subsidiaries of the same multinational corpo ration (MNC) is a Problem faced by staff as the demands for communicating across borders are pushed downwards in the organizational hierarchy. Although the choice of English as the common corporate language alleviates some of the hor izontal communication problems, it does not solve them all-particularly not when many subsidiaries are located in non-English speaking countries. In that situation, horizontal communication between subsidiaries can be a significant casualty.In a study of communication within a Finland-based MNC, Kone Elevators, interviews with staff globally revealed problems not only for non-native speakers, but also for native speakers of English. Illustrative interview data suggests that cor porate training schemes should focus on the broad spectrum of international com munication rather than on increasing a systematic knowledge of any one language.

This article addresses the role of language use in international business. It argues that the impact of linguistic differences on the daily workings of international business activities and communication is shaped by the way in which these differences intersect with the social and professional structures of international firms. Thus, the analysis of management across linguistic variation requires an understanding of the character of the social and professional ties in which international business is embedded. The intensity of cross-linguistic challenges in international management is not given by the formal character and structure of linguistic differences only. While the daily practices of language use in an international firm are shaped by its social and professional structure, linguistic practices may also strengthen the social and professional ties shaping the dissemination of information. The role of linguistic differences in everyday business communication both shapes and is shaped by the character of social and professional groupings and networks in an international firm. For management, this means that handling linguistic variation and challenges also requires a consideration of the specific social as well as professional structure of a given international firm. The dynamics between language use and the social structures in which information and resources are embedded and communicated are multidirectional. This is especially clear in an international context. The article is informed by material obtained through an ethnographic fieldwork in a Saudi-Arabian subsidiary of a multinational corporation.

Introduction The gaining of compliance is unquestionably among the most important acts of human communication insofar as its performance may determine the future of an interpersonal relationship. Just consider the police officer attempting to persuade demonstrators to disband peacefully, the doctor trying to dissuade a patient from smoking, or the married couple having a heated argument about the distribution of household chores. Not surprisingly, the significance of persuasion to most interpersonal exchanges, private or professional, has caused scientists in various research fields to investigate the nature of requestive behaviour at all levels from macro to micro. In some communication research, the focus is moved from the verbal encounters of naturally occurring situations to the carefully planned production of persuasive messages characteristic of, for example, written business communication. The correct and effective delivery of requests is a recurring and perhaps even the most central activity of professionals producing discourse intended for consumption in a business environment. When business partners exchange written messages, their main objective is usually to induce a change in either the behaviour, the attitudes, or the opinions of one another. In other words, a business operator’s principal concern is nearly always to gain the compliance of the recipient of the message in furtherance of a particular objective.

This article is concerned with the teaching of pragmatic functions when training stu-dents for a future career in intercultural business communication. Having outlined six important constellations likely to result in success or failure, we focus on strategies for the successful handling of customer complaints seen in comparison with responses to complaints in everyday interactions. It is suggested that transfer of behaviour con-sidered suitable in everyday face-to-face interaction to business interaction may lead to unsuccessful processing of customer complaints.

La comunicación estratégica se ha convertido en un ámbito de trabajo académico y profesional de gran relevancia. Sentar las bases de la formación de los futuros profesionales de la comunicación que decidan trabajar en la comunicación estratégica supone, por una parte, delimitar la problemática subyacente en torno a este ámbito de trabajo teórico y profesional. Por otra parte, supone abundar en la necesidad de enmarcar el trabajo del profesional de la comunicación estratégica en el ámbito de la gestión de la comunicación empresarial.

This article reveals that a company’s perceptions of crises have a profound effect on primary crisis management activities. Although briefly reviewing the technical aspects of crisis management, the research examines the effects that threat and opportunity constructs have on crisis planning. The article concludes with some recommendations concerning the communication of a crisis’s dual nature before, during, and after a crisis situation. John M. Penrose is professor of business communication and chair of the Information and Decision Systems Department in the College of Business Administration at San Diego State University.

Increasingly, scholars and practitioners are defining public relations as the management of relationships between organizations and publics. Because relationships can be difficult to measure, public relations practitioners often have struggled to demonstrate the influence that public relations activities have on consumer perceptions, evaluations, and behaviors. The current investigation sought to examine key public members’ perceptions of the personal, professional, and community relationships they have with a bank and to relate those perceptions to evaluations of satisfaction. The results show that key public members’ perceptions of their personal and professional relationships significantly influence evaluations of overall satisfaction with the organization, accounting for 75% of satisfaction variation. A discussion of the implications these findings hold for the study and practice of public relations are provided, a management framework, SMART Public Relations, is suggested, and areas of examination for future research are presented. Dr. Bruning is an associate professor and Dr. Ledingham is a professor of communication at Capital University, Columbus, Ohio.

Public relations specialists and lawyers are given many opportunities to work together, but the collaboration may not always be a “marriage made in heaven.” In times of crisis, that collaboration may be more of a “shotgun wedding,” with two very different professional perspectives forced into a quick merger. What is born of that crisis depends in part on what each specialist contributes to the management of the crisis. We explored the intersections and differences between lawyers and public relations specialists as they address a crisis situation. The differences fall into these four categories: (1) understandings of time and timing, (2) traditions and strategies, (3) audience relationships, and (4) approaches to message construction. Specific differences between the two fields and approaches were then examined in Texaco’s initial responses to the “jelly bean” crisis of 1996. On November 4, 1996, The New York Times reported tape transcripts in which Texaco executives allegedly made racist remarks and considered destroying evidence. Texaco’s immediate responses to the story resulted from intricate combinations of advice from the legal and public relations members of the crisis management team. The combinations are so interwoven that it would be difficult to see the advice of one profession dominating the advice of the other. Beth Hoger is an assistant professor of Business Communication at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Lisa Swem is a partner at Thrun, Maatsch, and Nordberg in Lansing, Michigan.

This commentary is intended as an amendment to Argenti's (1996) viewpoint, published in Volume 10, Issue 1, of Management Communication Quarterly. Van Riel provides an overview of research in corporate communication, focusing on achievements found in the international academic literature in both communication and business school disciplines. In the author's opinion, there are three key concepts in corporate communication research: corporate identity, corporate reputation, and orchestration of communication. International corporate communication research actually is richer than one might conclude by reading the Argenti article. It requires an interdisciplinary approach to find adequate answers to questions vital for both corporate communication practice and academe.

Visual persuasion in constructing buildings is often a part of business strategy. Architects, for instance, try to link corporate goals with management's desire for company buildings to represent, for instance, the mission, goal, and even the power and strength of the company. When one analyzes covert visual persuasion, it is clear that modern visual strategy mirrors ancient rhetorical concepts of persuasion. As oral persuasion takes into account source, medium, audience, and content, so too does the visual strategist. In the following statement, we link visual rhetoric with classical rhetoric, look at banks and shopping malls as exemplifying visual rhetoric, and conclude with several declaratives.

Περιέχει τη περίληψη The introduction of Information and Communication Technologies in the print media industry has changed considerable the work process but it has also offered new paths for delivering its content. But trends in the worldwide media industry have clearly shown that in order to guarantee long-term success with audience in the future, it will be vital to change from a single product oriented to a multimedia content and user-oriented approach. This paper examines the use of transmedia reporting in news articles.

As U.S. public relations professionals observe the dramatic changes taking place in the world market, they must consider the impact of globalization on their practices. There is much speculation that the increasing participation of American companies in foreign markets will create an unprecedented demand for public relations advisors with international capabilities. Although the sophistication of American practitioners would seem to position them as leaders in the market, there are questions as to the general preparedness of U.S. professionals to negotiate the business, social, cultural, economic, and political complexities inherent in international public relations. If true, U.S. public relations professionals may be at risk of losing their leadership position in the industry, as well as opportunities for business and career development. This study attempts to provide an assessment of the impact of globalization on U.S. public relations professionals and examines their preparedness for practice in an international setting.

The Information Superhighway, known today as the Internet, will open up new channels of communication between individuals of every nationality, culture, and religion. The impact of these changes will be manyfold, and not all the changes will be welcomed by the relevant authorities. However, the greatest and most immediate impact will be on business culture, as the interlinking of business communications leads inevitably to the shrinking of the business world into a truly global village. Businesses small and large alike will thrive on the new international markets created by the widespread adoption of Internetworking technologies both in the region and the world.

An organizational survey of the nation's business communicators reveals that an attractive field does exist, that journalists are drawn to it, and that their training enables them to succeed in business communications. This descriptive study shows why educational ad- ministrators and advisers should emphasize business communication training in their curriculum.

A study of 436 Chinese (People's Republic of China) managers suggests two conclusions concerning managerial communication: (1) formality dominates Chinese managers' daily interchanges through prescribed channels; (2) oral and written communication courses are among the least important, in the opinion of Chinese managers, for their managerial preparation. Reasons for these communication perceptions include a continuing tradition of Chinese and British formality; a preponderance of Communist party and central government planning that diminishes time for managerial level discussion; a cultural heritage of being orally passive within the home, an attitude which is reflected in the classroom; and a reflection of all of these results in a degree of quiet acceptance within the world of work.

The research described in this article should be useful in helping organizations arrive at some decisions about selective mailing of releases. The author's conclusions should help readers' relationships with news media who are critical of a deluge of publicity, and can serve as a guide to others who might want to see if the same sort of acceptance pattern occurs in their states. One might even look at a national campaign with these guidelines in mind. Linda P. Morton is administering Carl Albert Junior College's extension site in Sallisaw, Okla., and is presenting seminars for public relations practitioners through the University of Oklahoma.

Industry works in a skeptical, if not hostile, atmosphere, and public relations Professionals must learn how to understand the problems of corporate reputation or the problems of a corporation's interface with any given public. That problem calls for public relations research, which, in the opinion of Harry O’Neill, is nothing more, or less, than survey research, and it is an area of research more important today than ever before, he says.

In this research, two persuasion models—McGuire's information-processing theory and cognitive response analysis theory—are suggested for research to identify “givers”—those who are likely to contribute money and resources to charities, and/or to volunteer to aid philanthropic organizations. In this study, the giver tends to belong to community and other civic organizations, is a parent, has a fairly high level of knowledge about charitable concerns, values volunteer work highly, tends to have more than a high school degree, and is not as great a user of either television or radio as is the nongiver. The authors are at the University of Florida, Gainesville. This article is adapted from a paper delivered at the annual PRSA convention in Detroit, Mich., November 1985.

One hundred major corporations, selected through a systematic random sampling technique, were surveyed to identify current practices in international business correspondence. A questionnaire was constructed to determine the foreign countries with which American companies correspond, the languages used in international business letters, the techniques used in translating foreign languages, the differences in letter formats and writing styles, and the communication skills needed by business people who correspond with foreign companies. In addition, samples offoreign business letters received and sent by these firms were analyzed to verify questionnaire responses and to determine technical differences between foreign correspondence received and sent. Sixty-six percent of the questionnaires were returned. Sixty-eight letters were analyzed.Information elicited from the questionnaires was grouped into the following three categories: language, writing style, and skills needed by foreign correspondents. Letter sa...