From Text to Context: An Open Systems Approach to Research in Written Business Communication

Abstract

This article examines open systems thinking as a new lens for the field's researchers to use when exploring written business communication. The transfer or conduit model that the field has traditionally used to describe how communication occurs has, of course, determined what the field knows. An open systems model provides a new way of looking at the field, a lens that integrates concepts Ron DulekThe University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa k host of organizational researchers contend that business is in the x\ midst of a revolution equal in importance to the industrial revolution (Drucker, 1988(Drucker, ,1993Handy, 1996;Wheatley, 1992). Forces causing the revolution include massive changes in technology, a global marketplace, and constant, intense internal and external competition that has taken the notion of operating efficiency to a new level of meaning. In response to these changes, managerial roles have changed dramatically, organizational structures have become more flexible, and workers'job tasks have, of necessity, become more fluid. In short, many managers, particularly senior-level leaders, find themselves in a unique business context that Vaill (1989) describes as a "permanent white-water environment" (p. 2). Change and turbulence are the norm.Management theory has quickly responded to these radical changes in the business environment. Many of the mechanistic dictums that guided management theory in a relatively stable manufacturing environment are no longer viewed as applicable to service Eind technology-based enterprises. Thus, Chandler's (1962) strategy-structure thesis (strategy changes precede and lead to changes in structure), French and Raven's model of power (1959), and Herzberg's (1968) theory of motivation have been modified by theories such as boundary spanning (Boyett, 1995), business eco-systems (Moore, 1996), empowerment and intrinsic task motivation (Thomas & Velthouse, 1990), and learning organizations (Senge, 1990). Unfortunateiy, the same degree of responsiveness to changes in the business environment has not characterized business communication theory, particuiariy research in written business communication. As Cross, David, Graham, and Thraiis (1996) point out, "much research in business communication has been conducted according to an objectivist, or empiricist, narrative" (p. 106). The epistemological assumption behind this view is that the externai worid is stabie, objective, and abie to be divided into smaii, quantifiabie units for study. As a resuit, research designs faii to account for the compiex organizationai contexts managers operate in and thus faii to provide knowiedge usefui for researchers or business peopie.This articie expiores a deeper, richer, more compiex theoreticai framework than that usualiy empioyed within business communication research. Tiiis framework, iabeied open systems thinking, can provide a new iens for the fieid's researchers to use when examining how communities of workers perform their communication tasks, particularly written communication, within vari...

“Hej Seppo, Could You pls Comment on This!”—Internal Email Communication in Lingua Franca English in a Multinational Company

“…Drawing on organizational theory, Suchan & Dulek (1998) adapted open systems thinking in the social constructionist view of business communication in corporate context. As their model of Business Communication Systems Framework examines the forces at play in the complex corporate environment affecting business communication, it was considered suitable to investigate email communication in the case company.…”

“…-Suchan & Dulek's (1998) Business Communication Systems Framework situates business communication (both written and spoken) into the context of an organization, in which a number of forces are at play in the organizational system itself and in the surrounding environment; a system is a set of interrelated elements that forms a whole and cannot be understood by dissecting only one element.…”

Endnote: Business discourse and language teaching

“…Beyond this Special Issue, the excellent book-length study by Boden (1994), provides an accessible account of how organizations in fact bring about action through the business of talk. Other studies that also focus on the organizational context include Driskill (1989), Suchan and Dulek (1998) and Van Nus (1999). When working with students, it is vital that we work towards raising their awareness of the particular organizational contexts within which they are already working, or are likely to work.…”

The Titanic, Volkswagens and collaborative group work: Remaking old favourites with new learning technologies

“…Lankshear (1997) Suchan & Dulek, 1998) The group learning system model (Figure one) underlying this project presents learning as a multi-directional, dynamically negotiated, multiply influenced process that occurs within and across groups of learners. In this 'experiential learning cycle', group processes transform learner planning, interactions, assessment methods as well as individual expectancies.…”