In case you have a question . . .
Issues with the readings for the first class session
As you look at the readings for the first class session, you may have this question running through your head: "Why is he giving us this weird stuff to read? I thought this was a class in business communication, not ancient history. Is this what this class is going to be the whole way through? How can this stuff help me on my job and how does it fit into this class?"
Good questions. I’m glad you asked. Normally, for a class that meets for 9 weeks, I would answer these questions on the first night of class when I passed out these readings. But since you’re getting them early, before you’ve even had a chance to meet me, I thought it would be a good idea to put my answer in writing.
First of all, let me assure you that not all of the class readings will be dusty old texts like these. We will cover a variety of different kinds of texts. These simply set the stage for some first principles for our later discussions. We will move on to other readings that you will recognize as more traditional business texts.
Also, even though these texts may strike you as strange, a lot of people in the business community recognize the connection between texts like these and modern business. For example, Sun Tzu’s The Art of War has become a popular reference for business strategy that pops up in many management book titles and even in consulting ads. Your reading these texts will let you know what these authors are talking about.
My reasons for having you read these texts follow the general objectives for this course: 1) A practical objective of improving students’ personal communication skills across various media and 2) a theoretical objective of providing students with a fundamental and analytical understanding of human communication as it affects and defines business operations.
Reading these texts accomplishes the first objective by getting you to think strategically about your communication. You must manage your words as you would any other resource, meting them out deliberately with a definite purpose in mind. Certainly some communication that is casual and off-the-cuff does not require this kind of planning, but careful words will serve you well in most communication situations, even those that appear to be innocuous.
I want you to begin this class with this sense of cunning speech. I want you to see these ideas outside the typical business world so they will sneak up on you and catch you off-guard--so you will see how ubiquitous these ancient principles are in all human affairs.
The persistence of these themes leads me to the second purpose for the class and for these readings. I want you to see by way of these readings that the essential issues of communication theory are in some essential ways the same as they were 3 millennia ago. The fundamentals of human behavior and interaction are more or less constant despite feverish change in technology and business methods. This persistence bears significant implications for the very nature of theory itself by showing that we need not abstract theory from practical circumstances as we Westerners tend to do. It also points to the fact that much of what passes for the latest business theory is often simply a fad and that good managers have always practiced careful communication no matter which letter of the alphabet labeled the hottest management theory.
I want you to learn from these readings. I want you to have fun with these readings—to play with them. Put aside, for a moment, your expectations of what a business communication course should be, and explore what these texts have to say about people, strategy and words. Use the questions I provided with the syllabus to guide your explorations. I look forward to hearing your findings when we meet for the first class session.