25.2267, Review: Applied Linguistics; Discourse Analysis; Pragmatics: Zajac (2013)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-25-2267. Thu May 22 2014. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 25.2267, Review: Applied Linguistics; Discourse Analysis; Pragmatics: Zajac (2013)

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Date: Thu, 22 May 2014 20:35:22
From: Zsuzsanna Zsubrinszky [zsubrinszky at freemail.hu]
Subject: Communication in Global Corporations

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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/24/24-4646.html

AUTHOR: Justyna  Zajac
TITLE: Communication in Global Corporations
SUBTITLE: Successful Project Management via Email
SERIES TITLE: Warschauer Studien zur Germanistik und zur Angewandten Linguistik - Band 8
PUBLISHER: Peter Lang AG
YEAR: 2013

REVIEWER: Zsuzsanna Zsubrinszky, Budapest Business School

SUMMARY

The volume investigates issues in professional email discourse conducted in
Business English as a lingua franca (BELF) by specialists working in
international teams within the field of project management. It discusses
aspects of team language and team culture in professional international
environments, taking into consideration the tenets of anthropocentric
linguistics. Justyna Zając’s book is particularly useful for people who are
already involved or perhaps will be involved in international projects. The
book is divided into two parts: the first part (Chapters 1, 2 and 3) focuses
on conventions applied by project team members, whereas the second part
(Chapters 4 and 5) is devoted to the illocutionary acts relevant to
communication during the execution of global projects. In the last chapter
(Chapter 6), the author summarizes the main findings of her work.

Chapter 1, “Model of Specialist Communication. Anthropocentric Approach”, is
oriented toward the different aspects of human communication (i.e., language,
knowledge, culture) as defined by the anthropocentric linguist, Professor
Franciszek Grucza (2010). He argues that human language does not exist
independently of the social world, but rather it is an intrinsic part of it,
or a set of operational rules that form the basis of which human beings
produce, send, receive and understand information. Therefore, knowledge of
these rules about the world, communication experience and culture are of vital
importance. In the second part of the chapter, the characteristic features of
specialist communication, such as the specialist and his knowledge of
specialist language, culture, text, discourse and internal and external
contexts, are elaborated. The author believes that the analysis of specialist
communication should always begin with the observation of real specialists
rather than with the formulation of general conclusions on communication.
Consequently, the effectiveness of specialist communication depends on the
skills of the specialists who display these skills in particular textual
interactions.

Chapter 2, “Communication in Global Corporations”, provides theoretical models
(e.g., Menz & Stahl, 2008; Mast, 2008) for studying specialist internal and
external communication in global corporations, which are supplemented with
intercultural and interlingual aspects. Zając points out that that in recent
years, the companies’ staffing policies, their tight collaboration with the
subsidiaries, as well as the directions, patterns and networks of their
communication have all contributed to the success of various projects in
Europe and Asia. In describing the process of corporate communication, the
author suggests that specialists within a company form groups, which she calls
‘communities of practice’, where members communicate within formal and
informal networks to achieve a certain goal. In doing so, they develop a
common language, a ‘specialist polylect’, and they generate a shared culture,
called a ’third culture’, which may constantly change due to technological
development or engagement of new employees.

Chapter 3, “Communication in Global Virtual Teams”, describes electronic tools
(e.g., email, communicator, audio/video conferencing) and Web 2.0 tools (e.g.,
wiki, discussion forums, microblogs), which enable members of global virtual
teams to communicate in business contexts. There is no doubt about the
influence of these technological advancements on modes of corporate
communication; however, apart from the tools and techniques applied, it is
argued that the success of a project very much depends on the communicative
competencies of the project team members. Team language (‘polylect’) is
reconstructed on the basis of the members’ basic idiolects (i.e., ethnic
idiolects and English as a lingua franca idiolects), as well as their
specialist idiolects (i.e., Business English as a lingua franca idiolects).
While working together, team members also develop a so-called ‘team culture’,
which can be considered as a collection of the members’ idiocultures.

Chapter 4, entitled “Email communication in Global Virtual Teams from a
Linguistic Point of View”, presents the research methods and the main findings
of the email texts subjected to analysis. The author first provides
information about the company, named Global Company, which made authentic data
available for the purposes of research, and then discusses the data collection
procedure, the main characteristic features of specialist emails (i.e.,
informative and expressive speciality) and their discourse patterns. In
analysing the emails, Zając uses a number of research methods: qualitative
methods (e.g., interviews, analysis of specific situations), ethnographic
research (i.e., the researcher being a member of the virtual team), Speech Act
Theory (e.g., illocutionary acts, politeness), corpus-based analysis (i.e.,
creating a corpus of authentic emails), genre analysis (i.e., investigating
the major genre-specific characteristics) and oral and written discourse
analysis (e.g., initiating, closing, addressing, allocating and titling
emails, as well as intertextuality in emails). In the last section of the
chapter the author concentrates on selected illocutionary acts in the emails,
namely, ordering, reminding, argumentation and politeness strategies like
asking and thanking.

In Chapter 5, “Application”, Zając proposes possible ways to plan and prepare
training sessions on specialist email communication, which should, in the
first place, consider organisational and content-related issues, such as
collecting authentic data, focusing on communicative difficulties, selecting
various communicative activities, emphasising intercultural and interlingual
features, providing detailed description of the project’s execution, and, last
but not least, describing the formal, pragmatic and linguistic issues related
to the emails in question. In the second part of the chapter, the author
discusses the implications of her study for tertiary education. She argues
that teachers in tertiary education should first gather professional
experience before preparing curricula for subjects relating to professional,
intercultural and interlingual communication.

The book closes with a brief summary of the preceding chapters, where Zając
expresses her hope that she managed to contribute to the expansion and
intensification of research on specialist communication in global virtual
teams, especially those of continental Europe.

EVALUATION

One of the major strengths of the book is that it provides a very thorough
literature review of corporate communication, which will surely be valued by
academics interested in communication at work. The transitions between
chapters flow smoothly, thus enhancing the
information presented in previous
chapters while inviting the reader to explore new aspects of communication in
the business context. However, the proportion of theory and its application in
practice seems to be a bit unbalanced. In addition, the huge amount of
resources sometimes does not tend to follow a logical sequence. For instance,
after the first three theory-driven units, in the fourth empirical chapter,
Zając devotes another section to the theory of specialist email communication
(see section 4.1.3.), which perhaps would have been better placed in the
previous chapter.

As far as the methodology of the research is concerned, the explanation for
the selection criteria for the emails does not appear to be clear: “Eventually
I obtained the ‘emails from a selected project’, which can be labelled
representative of the corporation in question” (p. 132). It is not quite clear
on what basis these emails are representative of the corporation? Also, the
data collection procedure and the participants (pp. 131-132) could have been
given separate headings, and a sample analysis of an email would have been
very useful for the reader. Another weakness of the volume is that in the
summary sections (e.g., p. 56) and in some other places (e.g., 3.1.1.2.
Project management), the requirements of academic style are not fully met.

What makes Zając’s book stand out from previous research is the fact that it
aims to formulate pedagogical implications for teaching specialist email
communication in tertiary education. To sum up, despite the few weaknesses
indicated above, the book makes important contributions to the field of
corporate communication. It adds to the rather limited body of studies on
email communication. This book is recommended for researchers who are
interested in corporate communication, in general, and business email, in
particular.

REFERENCES 

Grucza, F. (2010). Od lingwistyki wyrazu do lingwistyki tekstu I dyskursu: o
wielości dróg rozwoju lingwistyki i kryteriów jego oceny. In: Aleksandra
Waszczuk-Zin (ed.), Publikacja jubileuszowa III (z okazji 10-lecia Katedry
Języków Specjalistycznych Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego). Lingwistyka stosowana
‒j

Mast, C. (2008). Unternehmenskommunikation. Ein Leitfaden. 3rd ed., Stuttgart:
Lucius & Lucius.

Menz, F. & Stahl, H. K. (2008). Handbuch Stakeholderkommunikation. Grundlagen
–Sprache − Praxisbeispiele. Berlin: Erich Schmidt Verlag.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Zsuzsanna Zsubrinszky is Associate Professor of English Linguistics in the
English Department at Budapest Business School, College of International
Management and Business. Her research interests include discourse analysis,
intercultural communication and English for Specific Purposes. She has
published on business communication, intercultural communication and
politeness issues in business emails.








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