Language-Based Communication Zones and Professional Genre Competence in Business and Organizational Communication: A Cross-Cultural Case Approach

To facilitate the study of business and organizational communication in a global environment, useful models and frameworks are essential. The current study further extends previously established language-based communication zones models by integrating professional genre competence within the framework of a more recently developed language-based communication zones model (see Babcock & Du-Babcock, 2001). It is hoped that by adding professional genre competence dimensions to this theoretical framework a more comprehensive framework can be identified, and thereby better represent the dynamic and multiply-influenced processes integral to international business communication. Research-based empirical data from the US, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and mainland China (where language-based communication zones make up the communication networks) were collected and analyzed. Building upon previously established theoretical models, the current study reconfigures eight language-based communication zones by redrawing Babcock and Du-Babcock’s (2001) model to take account of the professional genre competencies of interactants. Eighteen parallel and non-parallel patterns are developed within the language-based communication zones. Cases are provided to illustrate key concepts of the reconfigured language-based communication zones.