Business Communication and the Natural Environment: Using Traditional and Contemporary Perspectives to Understand the Connections

Abstract

Although organizational practices are clearly the strongest contributor to environmental problems humans face, business communication scholarship has not attended to the natural environment. One reason for this omission may be that theories of communication are grounded in Western cultural assumptions. Communication theorizing assumes that human symbol use differentiates humans from nature. Nature is defined as hierarchically beneath human symbol use and therefore ignored. Organizational scholarship has theorized business as it relates to the natural environment but has not thoroughly understood how communication functions in this relationship. Because organizational practice cannot ignore the natural environment, and business communication focuses on business problems, business communication is situated to fill this gap by draw ing on past approaches to business communication and by adopting a Gaian perspective from which to consider alternative business and organizational arrangements.

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