Behind every successful organization across the globe, there is one person who is responsible for motivating employees, providing final decisions, and ensuring success; this person is given the title of Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Within a company, CEO's are in charge of overseeing almost every aspect of the company all to ensure that one goal is achievable: generate a large profit margin for the company. The one question that I am most interested in however, is what genres do CEO's use to effectively communicate to an activity system (employees/staff). For a company to succeed, communication through an organization is critical as a company must always be on the same page; what canons will a CEO incorporate in order to deliver a pathos-driven speech? These are the crucial points I intend to cover.
As I continue with my research, three questions I am looking for feedback on proceed as followed: Should focus on one of the one specific question (the one I introduced in the introduction) or write to more then one as I'm also interested how this informtion from the CEO is perceived as well. Secondly, are there any additional key points from Bazerman/Selzer’s texts that I could use that I may have missed? Finally, am I using the scientific discourse terminology correctly throughout my analysis? As this brief introduction doesn’t provide a tremendous amount, I invite you to read my first draft and provide comments there as well.
1 Comment
In Bazerman’s “Patents as Speech Acts and Legal Objects”, there are many analytical tools incorporated for the reader to analyze, as they are used to clarify text and establish a flow of ideas. One section that stood out to me the most, however, was “Some Issues in Speech-Act Theory”, as Bazerman provides specific examples of difficulties one may face when testing the speech act theory. As Bazerman goes on to present multiple difficulties, one that I was able to connect with stated “the second difficulty act is the polysemousness of speech acts. Any speech act may be uttered and interpreted with a variety or a multiplicity of intentions and frameworks for attributing meaning. Any utterance may serve different functions for different utters and different auditors, and these multiplicities of functions and meanings may be operating simultaneously (Bazerman, 15-16). To me, this quote meant that various people will interpret what you’re saying in various ways, so it is important to make sure you always get your point across in a clear and professional manner.
With the analysis of difficulties in speech acts, I believe incorporating these tools and avoiding the common mistakes Bazerman discusses will enable me to establish an effective preliminary analysis. For example, when Bazerman goes on to discuss how the “formalization of speech acts can best characterize a dominant appearance in a multiple acts” (Bazerman, 16), this technique will be critical when conducting an interview for major assignment one. Conducting an interview on a topic that I’m vocal and passionate on will display confidence, and full conceptualization of the material discusses. As for my current idea for our upcoming major assignment one, I remain interested in researching the various genres CEO’s use within an organization to control a workforce, as well as manage it. Some additional questions that can be formulated after reading “Patents as Speech Acts and Legal Objectives” could be: Can a CEO remain effective even if he falls victim to these difficulties in speech acts, or what role do speech acts ultimately play in a work environment as far as connections and relationships go. Also, as I strive to gather as much information as possible during the interview, I may ask to borrow texts to refer to throughout my research to strengthen ethos. These books would include Leadership Indexes, Organizational Behavior Textbooks and even anything that has to do with running a successful business. As there are many variables that go along with speech acts within an organization, I am committed to identifying the role they play as I will take the difficulties of speech acts into consideration when conducting research. After reading “Speech Acts, Genres, and Activity Systems: How Texts Organize Activity and People” by Charles Bazerman, I was able to develop a strong connection between our major assignment one, and the prime points Bazerman touches on in his piece. In the opening paragraph, Bazerman introduces analytical concepts, a technique he relied on to “suggest how people using text create new realities of meaning, relation, and knowledge” Bazerman, 309). These concepts consist of social facts, speech acts, genres, genre systems and activity systems. The two concepts that I found most important when considering my discourse community and writing our preliminarily analysis were speech acts and social facts.
Social facts are defined as anything that people believe to be true can be used to define a specific situation. In most context, however, social facts are mainly used in terms of social understands, as one can determine if someone truly possess power, or can be considered for a leader role. One example that I liked from Bazerman’s writing is where he compares social facts to a teacher’s syllabus, and how if all students understand what is required, it could be considered an analytical concept. However, if they student interpreted the information in a different way than what the teacher anticipated, they will have their own opinion on what is right from wrong. Speech acts, on the other hand, can be defined as how our words carry significant meaning, and could also justify our actions. Social facts can also be used to identify what is true, or even false within your selected discourse community. One situation that Bazerman created that can link to my discourse community it how he explains taking loans out of banks and how the speech act from the bank is simply saying that your loan has been approved. This comparison can be linked to scientific discourse because Bazerman is using an example to which most people experience daily, which establishes credibility, and he also is using a logical example to explain his point, which is the appeal of logos. One final aspect of Bazerman’s chapter that I analyzed was how he defined activity systems and how genre ties into it. On page 319, Bazerman states, “Considering the activity system in addition to the genre system puts a focus on what people are doing and how texts help people do it, rather than on texts as ends in themselves. In educational settings, activity puts the focus on questions such as how students build concepts and knowledge through solving problems, how instructional activities make knowledge and opportunities for learning available, how instructors support and structure learning, and how and for what purposes student abilities are assessed” As stated, activity systems work with genre systems to determine what people are doing and how they rely on texts to do it. With this being said, one question that is related to my discourse community that I may focus on would be: what can an investor do to get a step-ahead when determining the price of stocks and which way they are going to climb. Also, as a business major, one other question that I’ve been considering what styles of leadership could an executive use in order to generate a more positive work atmosphere. These relate to scientific discourse because they both can identified through research by using appeals, incorporation canons such as delivery, style, and invention, and finally by setting a rhetorical situation, such as context and purpose. As I continue to research and adjust my focus point, some potential interviewees could be one of my management professors, a finance teacher in the School of Business, or even a writing professor to help guide me in which direction I should turn my attention to. When rhetorically analyzing a text, it is critical to visualize what the author is trying to explain in his passage, as well identify where canons and appeals are added as they amplify the overall message. In science writing, the three appeals that an author can use to enhance is writing are ethos (credibility), pathos (appeal to emotion) and logos (logic). As far as cannons, the five major ones consist of invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery.
The journal article that I decided to focus on for this analysis came from a New York Times magazine and its titled It’s a 401(k) World”, by Thomas Friedman. To this date, this has been one of the hardest articles for myself to analyze, as Friedman is very persuasive, but covers it up through his article with figurative language, and his unique style of deep description. For example, in Thomas’ opening paragraph, he states “so let me try to put my finger on it: We now live in a 401(k) world – a world where everyone needs to pass the bar exam and no one can escape the most e-mailed list” (Friedman, Pg. 1). Now as a reader, if you came across this sentence in the introduction paragraph, you would have no idea what this man is talking about. The way Friedman wrote his article was he presented his thesis statement in the opening paragraph and then went into the body paragraphs to explain this meaning. Now, I understand that this may seem like the traditional way to write an article, but Friedman’s arrangement is what threw me off. As he talks about the most emailed list in his introduction, he is really referring to the way data is collected based on reviews that stories get, and how they get ranked based on viewership. With this arrangement, he also offers his opinion about his overall message, which is that world we live in today is no longer about working for a profit, but working for a retirement plan and how your contribution defines your specific outcome; what you put in is what you will get out. Toward the end of his article, he writes “I find a lot of this scary. We’re entering a world that increasingly rewards individual aspiration and persistence and can measure precisely who is contributing and who is not. This is not going away, so we better think how we help every citizen benefit from it”. I found this interesting because not often do you see an author give a reflection in a persuasive/informative article, but then again, this goes back to his unique style and delivery as he is persuading his audience with his own opinion. As far as the appeals of scientific discourse, I was only able to identify logos. Logos, being the appeal to logic and can be used to enhance your persuasion, can be found numerous times throughout Friedman’s article. One line, however, that stood out the most stated I’m always struck that Facebook, Twitter, 4G, iPhones, iPads, high-speech broadband, ubiquitous wireless and Web-enabled cellphones, the cloud, Big Data, cellphone apps and Skype did not exist or were in their infancy a decade ago when I wrote a book called “The World Is Flat.” All of that came since then, and the combination of these tools of connectivity and creativity has created a global education, commercial, communication and innovation platform on which more people can start stuff, collaborate on stuff, learn stuff, make stuff (and destroy stuff) with more other people than ever before” Not only does Friedman share his opinion on what technology is doing to our world, but he explains the potential impacts it could have too, tying back in his unique style of writing. This is an appeal to logic because he pointing out actual threats in our world today and connecting them to being one of the reasons 401(k) and retirement plans are being more important than ever before. It's a 401(k) World Article Link |
Nick GrayAlways looking for comments, questions and concerns. Please do not hesitate to comment! Archives
April 2018
NotesTo comment, click the title of my blog and once the page loads, scroll to the bottom and leave a response! |