Communication science: An integral part of business and business studies?

Communication is at the center of any business transaction. Unfortunately until recently, communication has rarely been assigned its proper relevance in traditional business studies at German universities. This paper attempts to demonstrate why communication science can and should be an integral part of all business studies. Without understanding the pertinent communication principles, it will not be possible to fully understand specific business relationships. With understanding, more effective and efficient use of communication in business relationships will become possible. This paper, therefore, briefly outlines the role of communication in some areas of business and then proceeds to sketch a succinct communication model to illustrate how communication affects business relationships. The paper ends with a concrete example, namely that of the TU Bergakademie Freiberg, of how communication science may be integrated as a distinct subject into the curriculum of business studies. -- Kommunikation stand schon immer im Mittelpunkt jeder Wirtschafts- und Geschäftsbe-ziehung. Leider wurde der Kommunikation bis vor kurzem jedoch keine eigenständige Rolle in wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Curricula an deutschen Universitäten zugesprochen. Dieses Arbeitspapier versucht darzulegen, warum Kommunikationswissenschaft ein integraler Teil aller wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Curricula sein sollte. Denn ohne ein wahres Verständnis der relevanten Prinzipien der Kommunikation ist es nicht möglich, viele Wirtschafts- und Geschäftsbeziehungen tiefgreifend zu verstehen. Demzufolge beschreibt dieses Arbeitspapier in knappen Zügen die Bedeutung der Kommunikation für einige Bereiche der Wirtschaft, um dann im Rahmen einer kurzen Beschreibung des Kommunikationsmodells darzulegen, wie die Kommunikation diese Beziehungen beeinflusst. Anhand des Beispiels der Fakultät für Wirtschaftswissenschaften an der TU Bergakademie Freiberg wird abschließend erläutert, wie die Kommunikationswissenschaft in ein wirtschaftswissenschaftliches Curriculum integriert werden kann.Business Communication,Intercultural Communication,Communication Process,Business English Curriculum,Wirtschaftskommunikation,Interkulturelle Kommunikation,Kommunikationsprozess,Wirtschaftsenglisch Curriculum

Intercultural communication in business ventures illustrated by two case studies

The information and communications revolution has hastened the process of globalization in today's world of business. Consequently, businesses, even small and mid-sized companies, are confronted with cultural diversity when these companies become internationally active. Yet only few businesses are well prepared for a culturally diverse global market. Indeed, many business ventures fail not for a want of superior products and/or services, but due to a lack of intercultural competence. Disregarding the cultural component in a business transaction can and will lead to mistakes due to cultural misunderstandings which are the result of miscommunication. Because not much intercultural research exists for German American business ventures, this paper focuses on two German corporations, Buderus and Bayer, who are actively engaged on the American market to determine how they are coping with the cultural differences and measures they have adopted to surmount the cultural gap. -- Die Informations- und Kommunikationsrevolution hat den Globalisierungsprozess in der heutigen Geschäftswelt beschleunigt. Folglich werden Unternehmen, sogar kleine und mittelständische Unternehmen, plötzlich mit einer größeren kulturellen Verschiedenheit beim Verkauf ihrer Produkte und Dienstleistungen im Ausland konfrontiert. Bislang sind nur wenige Unternehmen gut vorbereitet auf diesen kulturell vielfältigen globalen Markt. Viele Unternehmen schlagen nicht fehl, weil hervorragende Produkte und / oder Dienstleistungen gewünscht werden, sondern aufgrund eines Mangels an interkultureller Kompetenz. Ein Nichtbeachten der kulturellen Komponente in geschäftlichen Transaktionen kann und wird zu Fehlern führen, hervorgerufen durch Missverständnisse basierend auf einer ungenügenden Kommunikation. Weil es nicht viele Forschungsergebnisse auf dem Gebiet der interkulturellen Kommunikation für deutsch-amerikanische Unternehmungen gibt, konzentriert sich dieses Arbeitspapier auf zwei deutsche Unternehmen, Buderus und Bayer, welche auf dem amerikanischen Markt aktiv sind. Außerdem wird aufgezeigt, wie diese beiden Unternehmen kulturelle Unterschiede bewältigen.Intercultural Communication,Globalization,Business Ventures,Interkulturelle Kommunikation,Globalisierung,Business Ventures

Good internal communication increases productivity

Internal communication has become an important factor in today's business world. The increased use of electronic media can, despite their obvious advantages, cause communication problems, i.e. information overload. By avoiding communication problems, the productivity of a company can be increased. The relation between internal communication and productivity has been subject of a number of surveys. Although different survey approaches have been used, all found that there is a positive impact of communication on productivity. Since different communication dimensions have a different impact on an employee's perceived productivity, effective and efficient internal communication has to be managed, therefore, in accordance with the situation of each company and its employees. -- In der heutigen Geschäftswelt gewinnt interne Kommunikation als Wettbewerbsfaktor eine zunehmende Bedeutung. Die vermehrte Anwendung von elektronischen Medien kann jedoch trotz ihrer Vorteile auch zu Kommunikationsproblemen, speziell zu Informationsflut, führen. Indem Kommunikationsprobleme vermieden werden, ist es möglich im Unternehmen die Produktivität zu erhöhen. Dieser Zusammenhang ist Gegenstand verschiedenster Studien, die trotz unterschiedlicher Ansätze alle einen positiven Einfluss von Kommunikation auf die Produktivität herausstellten. Aufgrund verschiedener Stellencharaktere und der damit verbundenen Nutzen bestimmter Informationen, beeinflussen vielfache Arten von Kommunikation die Produktivität von Angestellten unterschiedlich. Ebenso sind Unterschiede zwischen den Angestellten und verschiedenen Unternehmenstypologien zu verzeichnen. Folglich ist das Management von interner Kommunikation auf das spezielle Unternehmen und seine Mitarbeiter zuzuschneiden.Productivity,Internal Communication,Communication Methods,Communication Problems,Information Overload,Produktivität,Interne Kommunikation,Kommunikationsmethode,Kommunikationsprobleme,Informationsflut

Business and intercultural communication issues: Three contributions to various aspects of business communication

This paper describes psychological contracts and how they are created. Even though the phenomenon of the psychological contract can be observed in a variety of relationships, this paper solely discusses psychological contracts in business settings. The paper discusses in particular how psychological contracts affect the employee/employer-relationship.The findings will then be applied to the example of IBM in the early 1990s, when IBM decided to lay off employees despite its no-layoff policy. Finally, suggestions are made as to what could have been done to prevent the negative effects of psychological contract violation at IBM. -- Der Aufsatz definiert die Eigenschaften eines psychologischen Vertrages und erklärt sein Zu-standekommen. Obwohl psychologische Verträge in vielen Situationen auftauchen, konzent-riert sich diese Arbeit auf psychologische Verträge in Arbeitsverhältnissen. Besonders wird betrachtet, welchen Einfluss psychologische Verträge auf das Arbeitnehmer-/Arbeitgeber-verhältnis haben. Die Ergebnisse werden dann auf das Beispiel von IBM in den 90er Jahren übertragen. IBM entschied zu diesem Zeitpunkt, Arbeitnehmer trotz eines Arbeitsplatzsicherheits-Grundsatzes zu entlassen. Letztendlich werden Vorschläge unterbreitet, wie die negativen Effekte der Ver-letzung des psychologischen Vertrages bei IBM hätten verhindern können.Psychological Contracts,IBM,Workplace Relationship,Psychologische Verträge,Arbeitsplatz-Verhältnisse

INTERCULTURAL MISUNDERSTANDINGS: CAUSES AND SOLUTIONS

Intercultural misunderstandings involve a number of complex causes which can easily escalate into conflicts. Since conflicts are also complex, it is not easy to find solutions because there is no one solution for all problems. Systems Theory, transdisciplinarity, and the social ecological model take a holistic approach in investigating complex phenomena. They permit the creation of a theoretical framework based on previous empirical research and theories across scientific disciplines to identify the relevant elements of complex phenomena and to understand the interrelationship of these elements. Intercultural misunderstandings and conflicts are very complex phenomena because they include culture, perception, identity, ethnocentrism, relationships, trust building and conflict management as well as intercultural commu-nication competence which entails cognition, metacognition, and social metacognition. Since most em-pirical studies focus on isolated, individual elements in specific contexts, this article describes the theoretical framework of how the various findings and theories developed in different scientific disciplines can be used to form a cohesive framework to help circumvent intercultural misunderstandings and conflicts. In so doing, it follows the general principles of Systems Theory, transdisciplinarity, and the social ecological model

ANNINE-6plus, a voltage-sensitive dye with good solubility, strong membrane binding and high sensitivity

We present a novel voltage-sensitive hemicyanine dye ANNINE-6plus and describe its synthesis, its properties and its voltage-sensitivity in neurons. The dye ANNINE-6plus is a salt with a double positively charged chromophore and two bromide counterions. It is derived from the zwitterionic dye ANNINE-6. While ANNINE-6 is insoluble in water, ANNINE-6plus exhibits a high solubility of around 1 mM. Nonetheless, it displays a strong binding to lipid membranes. In contrast to ANNINE-6, the novel dye can be used to stain cells from aqueous solution without surfactants or organic solvents. In neuronal membranes, ANNINE-6plus exhibits the same molecular Stark effect as ANNINE-6. As a consequence, a high voltage-sensitivity is achieved with illumination and detection in the red end of the excitation and emission spectra, respectively. ANNINE-6plus will be particularly useful for sensitive optical recording of neuronal excitation when organic solvents and surfactants must be avoided as with intracellular or extracellular staining of brain tissue

Thermal Fluctuations of Elastic Filaments with Spontaneous Curvature and Torsion

We study the effects of thermal flucutations on thin elastic filaments with spontaneous curvature and torsion. We derive analytical expressions for the orientational correlation functions and for the persistence length of helices, and find that this length varies non-monotonically with the strength of thermal fluctuations. In the weak fluctuation regime, the persistence length of a spontaneously twisted helix has three resonance peaks as a function of the twist rate. In the limit of strong fluctuations, all memory of the helical shape is lost.Comment: 1 figur

Fluctuating Filaments I: Statistical Mechanics of Helices

We examine the effects of thermal fluctuations on thin elastic filaments with non-circular cross-section and arbitrary spontaneous curvature and torsion. Analytical expressions for orientational correlation functions and for the persistence length of helices are derived, and it is found that this length varies non-monotonically with the strength of thermal fluctuations. In the weak fluctuation regime, the local helical structure is preserved and the statistical properties are dominated by long wavelength bending and torsion modes. As the amplitude of fluctuations is increased, the helix ``melts'' and all memory of intrinsic helical structure is lost. Spontaneous twist of the cross--section leads to resonant dependence of the persistence length on the twist rate.Comment: 5 figure

The response function of a sphere in a viscoelastic two-fluid medium

In order to address basic questions of importance to microrheology, we study the dynamics of a rigid sphere embedded in a model viscoelastic medium consisting of an elastic network permeated by a viscous fluid. We calculate the complete response of a single bead in this medium to an external force and compare the result to the commonly-accepted, generalized Stokes-Einstein relation (GSER). We find that our response function is well approximated by the GSER only within a particular frequency range determined by the material parameters of both the bead and the network. We then discuss the relevance of this result to recent experiments. Finally we discuss the approximations made in our solution of the response function by comparing our results to the exact solution for the response function of a bead in a viscous (Newtonian) fluid.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure

Primer to Voltage Imaging With ANNINE Dyes and Two-Photon Microscopy

ANNINE-6 and ANNINE-6plus are voltage-sensitive dyes that when combined with two-photon microscopy are ideal for recording of neuronal voltages in vivo, in both bulk loaded tissue and the dendrites of single neurons. Here, we describe in detail but for a broad audience the voltage sensing mechanism of fast voltage-sensitive dyes, with a focus on ANNINE dyes, and how voltage imaging can be optimized with one-photon and two-photon excitation. Under optimized imaging conditions the key strengths of ANNINE dyes are their high sensitivity (0.5%/mV), neglectable bleaching and phototoxicity, a linear response to membrane potential, and a temporal resolution which is faster than the optical imaging devices currently used in neurobiology (order of nanoseconds). ANNINE dyes in combination with two-photon microscopy allow depth-resolved voltage imaging in bulk loaded tissue to study average membrane voltage oscillations and sensory responses. Alternatively, if ANNINE-6plus is applied internally, supra and sub threshold voltage changes can be recorded from dendrites of single neurons in awake animals. Interestingly, in our experience ANNINE-6plus labeling is impressively stable in vivo, such that voltage imaging from single Purkinje neuron dendrites can be performed for 2 weeks after a single electroporation of the neuron. Finally, to maximize their potential for neuroscience studies, voltage imaging with ANNINE dyes and two-photon microscopy can be combined with electrophysiological recording, calcium imaging, and/or pharmacology, even in awake animals