by Dana P Skopal, PhD
People need to communicate at work.
Workplaces are held together by communicative practices. (Sarangi & Roberts, 1999, p. 1)
We have job descriptions and roles to play in the workplace, all of which are conveyed through words. Yet we hear of miscommunication in the workplace and managers struggling to write effectively. Is it the words that confuse us or the different meanings that individuals place on those words? This may be the case when our message involves mainly abstract nouns – words describing the concepts that you cannot physically touch. For example: table is a concrete noun and concept is an abstract noun.
Do you and your colleagues agree on the meaning of the following terms: management, risk, scope, project, and resources? Are you on the same page? Does risk refer to financial risk or credit risk? You may assume that your colleague thinks the same as you do, but if the concept is important, perhaps check that you all agree on the meaning and boundaries of the concept.
Sarangi, S., & Roberts, C. (1999). The dynamics of interactional and institutional orders in work-related settings. In Sarangi, S., & C. Roberts (Eds.), Talk, Work and Institutional Order. Discourse in Medical, Mediation and Management Settings (pp. 1-57). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
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