HUE UNIVERSITY INFORMATICS AND OPEN INSTITUTE ASSIGNMENT ON LANGUAGE AND CULTURE TOPIC: DISCOURSE COMMUNITY OF SALE COMPANY Lecturer: NGUYỄN VĂN TUẤN Student: NGUYỄN THỊ LAN ANH Class: HCM5 Tp HCM, 30/7/2023 I Introduction The concept of business discourse is a way of communicating within business, professional, and commercial disciplines Business as a discourse is often deemed to be of a different category from professional or commercial discourse For our purposes, business discourse is the use of written and spoken word in all relevant media to convey meaning and to accomplish the tasks of a business endeavor The common goals of retail stores are to promote sales, make money for the company, and provide excellent customers service that will make the customer want to return So they like to keep the store feeling laid-back and care-free Although retail jobs are usually loathed and feared by many, the community has always been one that makes workers want to come back and be excited for their shifts The managers offer a positive, rewarding, and calm attitude This should not be fooled for being lazy and something to take advantage of They manage to be laid-back while still enforcing rules and encouraging their workers to work hard and complete their tasks Workers are always encouraged to approach customers with a smile and to offer help to anyone and everyone II Content Discourse community of sale company A discourse community is a group of people who share certain characteristics and interests and, as a result of ongoing communications within that group, share language practices for communicating the group’s goals” [1] Our daily lives are being constantly ran through discourse and discourse communities without us even realizing it We have daily discourse with our families, peers at school, professors, or even just random people on the train Although discourse and speech between peers and others is a common, daily practice, most people belong to specific discourse communities in which they share thoughts and ideas The discourse community often uses both verbal and textual communications on the daily basis Surveying employees found that while they each believed that both both verbal and textual discourse were imperative to our community, their final answers on which was used more depended exactly on what position they work in the store 1.1 Verbal communications Brand reps, or sales associates, are the ones who believe they use verbal communication more often at work, mainly between other associates and coworkers Sales associates who jobs such as folding clothes, helping customers and managing cash registers believe that verbal communication is more commonly used in the store because they are almost always at the front of the store to talk to customers Workers will continuously receive feedback from their manager during a briefing with one of the managers at the end of the shift During these meetings, there is a discussion about their recent in-store performance, what they are doing right, and what could be improved 1.2 Textual communications There is an associate text message group chat in which each of the store associates joins when they start working with the store In this group chat, associates ask their peers for coverage for shifts, or even just general questions about the job or their schedule The group chat was created for there to be an easy, laid-back discourse between associates in order to have their problems solved before taking it up with a manager As for verbal, associates are almost constantly speaking with others at the job They speak within their own discourse community when talking to managers or other associates But since this community is found in a retail job, associates are always engaging in discourse with the customers of the store; another discourse community of its own Lastly, there is a “Company Corkboard” hanging up in the back of the store inside of the stock room On this board, there are multiple papers up in order to keep associates informed on how the store is doing, if there are any upcoming corporate events, or even “if there was an alternation of mall hours”[2] Associates who work primarily in the warehouse, performing tasks such as loading clothes in the warehouse, vetting outbound boxes, and preparing for the updated store floor say they use written communication more copies This is directly caused by the fact that they spend most of their shifts alone in the warehouse 1.3 Change with the times The expansion of technology has changed discourse communities, however, because a much broader set of members can now participate in them Contemporary research has begun to explore how technology-mediated discourse communities form and change, as well as how they serve educational and other social functions There are advances in and the challenges of conducting research on discourse communities established through social media [3] Six key criteria in defining a discourse community John Swales has came up with six key criteria in defining a discourse community He writes, “he defining characteristics of a discourse community might be (1) communality of interest, (2) mechanisms for intercommunication between members, (3) survival by providing information and feedback, (4) development of genre-specific discoursal expectations, (5) possession of an embedded dynamic towards an increasingly shared and specialized terminology, and (6) a critical mass of members with a suitable degree of relevant discoursal and content expertise.” (Swales) Sale companise have a common interest, which is primarily to make the company money and to promote a positive environment for ourselves and our customers The text message group chat is a main mechanism for “intercommunication between members” [4] As workers, they are constantly receiving feedback from their managers during meetings, which are short meeting with one of the managers during the end of their shift In these meetings, there is a discussion about their performance at the store recently, what they are doing right, and what could use improvement Some companies have developed specialized speech as well, instead of calling people sales associates, they call them brand reps They have specific words for specific tasks, such as back stock, taking a lap, and standardizing The role of discourse community of sale company 3.1 Increase labor productivity and team spirit bonding “ Employee engagement is an emotional state in which employees feel passionate, energetic and committed to their work Employees are committed to working with heart, spirit, mind and hands to bring high performance to the organization ” The sales force is constantly mobile and most of the time is not in the company, so aligning them with the organization is also one of the challenges of the manager However, businesses that build a good corporate culture linking sales to the organization, the sales team is always more passionate and combative The truth is that when we love something, we tend to talk about it with much more positive and engaging energy In the same way, the more salespeople love the organization, the more confident they will be to fight So how does a Sales Manager make that happen? There are a few ways that can be applied such as: regularly reminding them of the Company's mission and values, proposing to recognize the achievements of sales staff, collective activities, sending letters of congratulations and encouragement, engage and learn more about your employees, get their opinions on upcoming plans at the Company… 3.2 Contribute to building a solid corporate culture Good communication makes it easier for employees to connect and interact with colleagues If new employees join the organization and feel the working environment is fun, sociable, leaders and colleagues talk friendly and close, they will quickly integrate into the company culture At the same time, they will not feel lonely, there is a distance in the department in which they work 3.3 Help effective internal communication By promoting multi-way communication between the organization and its members, between colleagues, internally communicating information helps the team have a common voice, individuals will not miss important announcements As a result, employees will work harder, be more responsible and productive, and reduce staff leave.The internal communication department can organize collective programs at a fixed time of the week such as creating mini games for all employees through the unlimited Zoom feature built into the system Some problems arise One of the problems that arise when communicating in the workplace is that they easily get caught up in talking to other associates, which distracts them from their work Leads to customers complaining about incompetence and lack of focus While employees have a positive work environment when they are comfortable talking to their managers and colleagues about any issues, we should take care of the customer first and then pass it on to us![5] The most important activity for a salesperson is consulting and selling To perform well at this stage, you need to be prepared Learn and grasp the benefits and features of the company's products, services, and sales policies to be able to advise the right plan for customers If during the consultation process you yourself not understand the information of the product, it is easy for customers to feel distrustful and judge you as an unqualified salesperson In this stage, you need to reach out to customers to introduce the product as well as convince to buy Salespeople can this through phone calls or face-to-face meetings You should call to find out the customer's needs first and then make an appointment to meet in person once the customer wants to find out That is often the most effective approach for salespeople In order to increase the rate of closing orders, it is important that you listen and understand the needs of your customers properly so that you can offer solutions to help overcome their problems Depending on staff capacity, negotiation skills of each salesperson, you have the opportunity to perform upselling, cross-selling, etc and increase sales for the business III Conclusion Communication plays a very important role and is likened to an emotional bridge between people In business, communication is like a ladder to bring an organization closer to its customers and more successful According to Forbes magazine, effective communication skills are needed to break down barriers and promote more successful cooperation between businesses In summary, it is important to see how the discourse community of sale company It is crucial in shaping how all other retailers create a safe, fun, and supportive work environment for their workers The leaders treat them with respect while still making sure they don’t hate coming to work every shift They give everyone opportunities to get involved with the surrounding communities REFERENCES Gilstein, Julia “Discourse Community.” Salem Press Encyclopedia, January EBSCOhost, login.proxy.libraries.rutgers.edu/login?url=http://search.ebsc ohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=90558295&site=edslive Chen, Amanda Personal Interview 10 March 2017 Kim, D., Vorobel, O (2017) Discourse Communities: From Origins to Social Media In: Wortham, S., Kim, D., May, S (eds) Discourse and Education Encyclopedia of Language and Education Springer, Cham Blanchard, Collin Personal Interview March 2017 Flanagan, Ali Personal Interview March 2017