Unsettling assumptions and boundaries: Strategies for developing a critical perspective about business and management communication

Abstract

This article describes how a collaborative class strategy and an introductory activity were used to develop students’ thinking about business and management communication. The article focuses on teachers who want to integrate critical perspectives about business communication into their classes. A course ethos, learning groups, and an introductory activity were used to develop students’ thinking about business and management communication. These strategies encouraged collaborative peer learning in a large bicultural/multicultural lecture environment and developed learning relationships typically found in a small class context. In addition, the activities produced ongoing lecture learning groups in which business students could question their “trained incapacities,” boundaries, and assumptions gained from their experiences of communicating and managing relationships during these activities.