“Nowadays to become a truly successful business person a solid and flexible grasp of the effective uses of language is absolutely essential – discuss”
When looking at such a statement it is crucial to both sides of the argument that we establish what we measure success in terms of. Naturally, the first and foremost thought that comes to mind is money, although the late Anita Roddick would have had a different case to argue. A business person or a business success in terms of the companies/individuals ethics and morals changes the argument. The answer which seems most appropriate is that success is a measure of many qualitative and quantitative factors such as money, morals and ethics.
We saw in lecture 2 with Jonathan the use of extremely effective language in the report given by the Chief Exec of Marks and Spencer. It was evident throughout the report that Stuart Rose employs various rhetorical strategies as a tool of persuasion for his audience. Consider this report without the juxtaposition, reification and strategic ambiguity. It is safe to assume the report would do little in convincing the board of directors, investors and other potential audiences of the success achieved in the company over the last quarters. This leads me to ask the burning question, do rhetoric strategies and similar tools of persuasion have to be exploited in company reports to mask company failures? Or do these same techniques have to be used to ‘sex up’ reports? If the answer is yes to either of these questions we have an answer to our statement. Clearly the argument is not as straightforward as this....