Spoken business communication in the digital age: Face-to-face and computer-mediated communication in dialogue

Panel convenor: Almut Köster

The rapid development of digital media over the last 10 years has resulted in a growing body of research on various forms of commuter-mediated communication, including email, instant messaging, twitter and video-conferencing (e.g. Lockwood, 2015; Darics, 2016; Lutzky, forthcoming). At the same time, spoken face-to-face business encounters have continued to be widely researched (e.g. Handford and Koester, 2019; Kim and Angouri, 2019). However, a question that has received less attention is what role face-to-face communication continues to play in relation to these newer forms of communication. In written business communication, email has undoubtedly largely replaced the traditional business letter, but it is less obvious which, if any, forms of virtual communication have replaced face-to-face or telephone interaction.

While a number of studies do specifically examine the relationship between face-to-face and computer-mediated communication in the workplace (Kupritz, 2011; Turnage et al., 2016), this remains an under-researched area. The panel seeks to explore this relationship by addressing questions such as:

• What proportion of communication in the workplace happens face-to-face compared to other channels, in particular digital media?

• What kinds of communication are more likely to occur face-to-face? Which typically occur via the digital channel?

• Does face-to-face communication play a special role or fulfill a particular purpose compared to computer-mediated communication?

• What are users’ preferences regarding communication media for particular workplace activities and interactions?

This panel invites contributions that address this interplay between face-to-face and computer-mediated communication in some way. The focus of individual papers may be on face-to-face interactions, telephone calls, various forms of virtual communication or on a comparison of different media. The aim of the panel is to explore and discuss the relationship between these different media with a special emphasis on the role of face-to-face communication compared to virtual forms of communication.

References:

Kim, K. and Angouri, J. (2019). ‘We don't need to abide by that!’: negotiating professional roles in problem-solving talk at work. Discourse & Communication, 13 (2),172-191

Darics, E. (2016). Writing Online: A guide to effective digital communication at work. New York, NY: Business Expert Press.

Handford, M. and Koester, A. (2019) The construction of conflict talk across workplace contexts: (towards) a theory of conflictual compact. Language Awareness 28(3): 186-206.

Kupritz, V. W. and Cowell, E. (2011). Productive management communication: Online and face-to-face. The Journal of Business Communication 48(1), 54–82.

Lockwood, J. (2015). Virtual team management: what is causing communication breakdown? Language and Intercultural Communication 15(1),125-140

Lutzky, U. Forthcoming. The Discourse of Customer Service Tweets. London: Bloomsbury.

Turnage, A. K. and Goodboy, A. K. (2016). E-Mail and face-to-face organizational dissent as a function of leader-member exchange status. International Journal of Business Communication 53(3), 271–85.