Chapter 10 of our book was on the topic of Business
and Professional Communication Ethics. I
found this chapter interesting, as well as the last chapter on Intercultural
Communication Ethics, because I am tying the two of these topics together for my
Literature Review at the end of the semester.
I really like how this book has laid the foundation of concepts in the earlier chapters and seems to tie everything together. This chapter is broken down into three
sections: business and professional communication, the dialectic of change and direction,
and public testing. Business and
professional communication is defined as, “the study of communication within
particular business and professional settings, defined by participation in the
public square of competitive economic exchange,” (p. 174). I think that all of us in our class can
relate to this chapter because most of us want to get a job when we graduate
and knowing these things can put us ahead of the game. Another quote that I found interesting in
regards to this portion of the chapter was that, “Business and professional
communication ethics assumes no one recipe for long-term success, only one
truism – a business must embrace a unity of direction and change in the
actualizing of the communicative goods of survival and competitiveness if it
hopes to last,” (p. 176). This quote
could not be truer; because we are in a time that is so fast-paced and quick to
change, businesses have to be ready to change their plan of action in order to
be successful.
Throughout high school I worked at Archiver’s which
was a photo memory store, and we did crafts-the main one being
scrapbooking. However, as times have
changed, people began to scrapbook digitally because it takes half the time and is a lot more convenient for those that want to get scrapbooks done
immediately. Unfortunately, Archiver’s
is now closing its’ stores nationwide.
As the book says, “To keep a company going requires attention to the
ongoing dialectic of direction and change; they work together as a unified
guide for communication ethics action,” (p. 174). I’m sure if many companies only read into the
way things might go in the future, there could have been a lot less harm to the
employees and the like. Can you guys
think of any other examples as to when businesses should have changed their
route, or did change their route and it worked for them?
I think Archivers is a good example of a company that was not ready for change with their business direction and plan. I think is has been hard for companies to change and adapt because of the surge of new technology and for something like scrapbooking, it would not be an easy transition for the company. However, they could have been able to make changes that could have possibly helped with longevity. Archivers should have pinpointed that the new technology was the main cause for their business changes and they should have altered their plans. If they would've, maybe they would have been able to survive the change and saved their employees from disruption is their lives.
ReplyDeleteI think that if you look at businesses, it is easy to see how some companies change their direction when other necessary. For instance, Applebees started to 2 for 2 menu and it was incredibly popular and considered to be a great deal. All of a sudden, this new deal was cutting into similar restaurants business, like Chilis and Ruby Tuesdays. Those restaurants, in order to survive the change, started to create similar deals to help keep their business strong and in order to compete with Applebees. Another example is how Walmart has that deal that if you can find a better deal at a different store, Walmart will match the price. All these deals are a way that these companies are re-directing to help survive and thrive in times of change. Like the book says, when a company is open to change and changes direction, they will be successful and we can see examples of that.
Hey Kathryn! To answer your question, I blogged earlier about the troubles that Target is currently experiencing with their expansion to Canada. I work for Target, and they are really making an effort to try and keep their recent failures in Canada quiet to the public because they are afraid it will hurt their image. While I have seen several stories mentioning their struggles, the news we get from corporate to employees makes the situation sound much more severe. Target's failure in Canada mainly stemmed from lack of homework on their part. They thought they could use the same tactics and approaches to roll out stores in Canada that they used in the U.S. They were unable to recognize how they needed to tailor and adapt their approach.
ReplyDeleteWhen you were working at Archiver's, did you ever get the feeling that business may eventually dwindle as virtual scrapbooks and photo sites increased in popularity? Also, I would be curious if Archiver's ever informed their employees of their sales struggles before they announced going out of business? I feel like the amount of information that is shared between corporate and employees really varies from company to company.
I remember 6 or so years ago that Archiver's seemed to be doing well, but I can totally see where online sites are probably cheaper and more efficient. It's kind of sad, because I wonder what will happen to stores like JoAnn's and Michael's. They sell a wider variety of items, but I feel they are also loosing out. I was trying to purchase some fabric yesterday to make some UMD logo pajama pants for my sister, but when I figured out the cost of all the materials, it would be cheaper to buy her pants already made from the UMD store website. Not only do I feel our generation lacks the skills to actually create things (make clothing, etc), it seems cheaper to just go out and purchase them. Saves time, effort and money. I hope these stores can manage to last, but I can definitely see it may be difficult for them unless they make some changes which reflect current times.