Rules of Business Communication
Rules of Business Communication: Delivering Messages Appropriately
Vincent McCaffrey vincent@thevilla.cz MBA 505 Business Communications Dave Griffin Research Paper Dec 14, 2009
Rules provide a guide for individuals’ behavior and a means by which to predict the behavior of others, and they are a vital part of the social contracts that exist among individuals and between the individual and the group. According to Geertz (1973, cited in Schall 1983), culture can be described by listing a set of rules systematically, which if followed can enable one to pass for a native. One definition of culture describes it in terms of “sets of standards for perceiving, believing, evaluation, communicating and acting; those who share a set of cultural rules of social conduct, share a culture” (Goodenough, cited in Schall, 1983, p 558). Knowledge of rules is an essential step for successful interaction within a culture. The task of identifying general rules of business communication is a complex one, given that “organizational culture is characterized by universality and uniqueness” (Schall, 1983). A recent paper on the philosophical foundations of business ethics by Dresp-Langley (2009) considers ethical business communication from a social contract theory position, and seeks to identify a set of universally accepted ground rules for ethical communication in modern business contexts. Dresp-Langley proposes an extension of the social contract in the form of a contract for business communication, complete with ten ground rules, which are binding for all participants. Violations of these clauses may have results which impact on the satisfaction of the participants at the outcome of the communication event (e.g. meeting) – see figure 1.
[pic]
Figure 1: The Communication Contract. Source: Dresp-Langley, 2009, p420)
1. Sincerity – all partners should communicate information honestly and to the best of their knowledge, and not
Vincent McCaffrey vincent@thevilla.cz MBA 505 Business Communications Dave Griffin Research Paper Dec 14, 2009
Rules provide a guide for individuals’ behavior and a means by which to predict the behavior of others, and they are a vital part of the social contracts that exist among individuals and between the individual and the group. According to Geertz (1973, cited in Schall 1983), culture can be described by listing a set of rules systematically, which if followed can enable one to pass for a native. One definition of culture describes it in terms of “sets of standards for perceiving, believing, evaluation, communicating and acting; those who share a set of cultural rules of social conduct, share a culture” (Goodenough, cited in Schall, 1983, p 558). Knowledge of rules is an essential step for successful interaction within a culture. The task of identifying general rules of business communication is a complex one, given that “organizational culture is characterized by universality and uniqueness” (Schall, 1983). A recent paper on the philosophical foundations of business ethics by Dresp-Langley (2009) considers ethical business communication from a social contract theory position, and seeks to identify a set of universally accepted ground rules for ethical communication in modern business contexts. Dresp-Langley proposes an extension of the social contract in the form of a contract for business communication, complete with ten ground rules, which are binding for all participants. Violations of these clauses may have results which impact on the satisfaction of the participants at the outcome of the communication event (e.g. meeting) – see figure 1.
[pic]
Figure 1: The Communication Contract. Source: Dresp-Langley, 2009, p420)
1. Sincerity – all partners should communicate information honestly and to the best of their knowledge, and not
References: Babcock, J., & Waltz, J. (1993). Power and violence: The relation between communication patterns, power discrepancies, and.. Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology, 61(1), 40. Dresp-Langley, B., (2009) The Communication Contract and Its Ten Ground Clauses. Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 87 Issue 3, p415-436 Schall, M. S., (1983) A Communication-Rules Approach to Organizational Culture. Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 28 Issue 4, p557-581