Literature, Business, and Social Change
Literature offers wide variety of genre depending on the context and expression. It gives fictional and non-fictional attack to its audience that magnifies the society. We use literature to inform the public in whatever objective and intention it may be. According to some literature scholars and professors, literature is the mirror of the society. It gives voice to those who are voiceless, it gives life to the lifeless, and it gives hope to the hopeless. Literature is mostly about the goodness of the society, of the earth.
However, because literature is the mirror of the society, some writer attempted to write or describe the flaws of life and weaknesses of humanity to justify both sides of mortal and immortal life. Different kinds of literature vary from different shapes and sizes. All aspects of living are literature – any kind of communication is literature, graffiti is literature, gossip is literature, writing is literature. Therefore, “almost” everything is part of literature. Different societal factors used literature to broaden the knowledge of public towards their institution.
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Other reason is that using literature can be a form of social change. It may not manifest today, there is hope that it will change the future negative situation and strengthen the positive situation of the institutions. Because of the wide variety of literature, different bodies of society used literature and its branches to acknowledge their importance and virtues for the reason that literature brings life to past, present, and future – business culture is one of those. Several books and articles have been written on the intersection between literature and business and/or business ethics.
Still, it is one thing to claim that literature can contribute to our understanding of business conduct, but yet another to claim that literature can contribute to the related goal of improving moral conduct in business. (Michaelson, 2005) Past and Present Situation Business through Literature Like any other institutions, the world of business also uses literature to attract customers. The business culture also has its business literature that is used to inform their customers about their products and service. Some of the business literatures are brochures and newsletters.
However, questions may be asked about the connection of core literature to the culture of business. Does literature show the history of business? There are different kinds of literature about business like the Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare, The Pit by Norris Frank, Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy, and the most familiar literature about business is the Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. The Death of a Salesman is a play in 1949 that described the life of having “American Dream”. The story of this play substantiates the life of being successful in the world of business along with different conflicts and dilemmas.
The main character’s perception towards his dream triggers his life to an end. It implies that there is no problem in believing and reaching your goals but you must take the course of problems and pains. In the case of the main character, he takes the course of success in a complex situation that put his life into the grave. This kind of literature in the past show that business will always be business, some win while some lose. However, does this kind of attack in creating a story about business is still necessary in this present times?
Many fictional short stories depict business culture and tradition in different aspects. Fables about greed and envy also manifests in the business culture. One example of fable on business is, “The Dog and The Bone”. A dog held a juicy bone in his jaws as he crossed a bridge over a brook. When he looked down into the water, he saw another dog below with what appeared to be a bigger juicier bone. He jumped into the brook to snatch the bigger bone, letting go his own bone, He quickly learned of course that the bigger bone was just a reflection, and so he ended up with nothing. (Phillips, n.
d. ) This example shows that greed, envy, selfishness, and being self-centered still exist from the past until today. Even if it does not deliberate or used human to describe the situation, it insists that the actions of the dog can be obtained by human in their workplace. However, literature helps us define the changes of business from the past, the present, and the future. It can be seen through the details and collaborations of different stories and essays about business. Past writings about business stated the dream and aim of a person or group of people in the world of business.
Present writings show the situation, life, and dilemmas in the workplace. Future writings will soon cover the examples of great businesspersons who monopolized and conquered the business world. One instrumental function of literature is to imitate life, thereby expanding our vision beyond our parochial interests; to see literature merely as a didactic instrument to serve business interests misses the point that literature should expand understanding, our sense of what in addition to business is interesting and valuable.
(Michaelson, 359) Business somehow depends on the factor of literature because here is where the culture of business relies – its history, flaws, weaknesses, and strength that might help to overcome the future circumstances. That is why even companies need a story to survive. Genre Specificities in Literature of Business As according to the examples above, genres vary on the context of each scenario or case in the workplace. There are sites like businessballs.
com who share their stories, fables, and analogies on business using both human and non-human to be their characters in order to both entertain and acknowledge the potentials and characteristics of the employees as well as the owners when it comes to their career. According to one of the articles of New York Times entitled “The Media Business: Revenge of the Underlings Becomes a Literary Genre”, different forms of literary genres was used in different forms of writings about business.
However, the best literary genre that suits the culture of business is realistic fiction as what the play “The Death of Salesman” implies because through this kind of genre, people can relate to the literary piece and could acquire those lessons to their workplace. Through this, social change within the workplace will be more necessary and trivial for the reason that there are people became dependent towards literature especially during these modern times where a wide variety of literature are available in the market, which brings sociological impact not only to the doer but also to the people around him or her.
Literature as a Form of Change in Business Culture In every form of reading, it is the audiences’ responsibility to take action towards what they read whether it is for the better of their individuality or not. In business culture, literary pieces played a big role to help business perceive the history, the present and the future of their institution. However, because literature is the mirror of the society and it caters a wide range of genres and context, it should be said that not only good things are shown while negativities of this societal body was hidden.
Literature is transparent in everyway; it gives what the public needs to know in order to be informed as one of the purpose of literature. Business literatures are often used to negotiate and close the deals between companies and clients. In this aspect, literature did a great job in participating to the business culture as seeking information and justifications on its products and services. Through this, changes in the business world from its employees up to its owners will manifests in a positive way wherein they could provide much services and accurate details to their customers.
Literature and Business Audience When business leaders or even employers and employees read the story of “The Trench-Digger”, they would realize that despite of circumstances and struggle, a person would do all things just to get a job. Most of the time, we put ourselves in the shoes of other people especially when we are reading a story or watching a movie. When the story ended as what we expect, we will mold ourselves according to the story and will soon act as the main character in order to survive the circumstances that are related to the tale.
Through these manifestations, change will occur based on the result of interpretation and observation of the situation of the text. For example, when you read the “The Trench-Digger”, you will realize that in every work or job, a person should be worth it in a way that he or she must have his or her capabilities from his or her previous jobs. Because experience is one of the most important when finding a job, even a hard task will be done if the person is willing to learn and have an optimistic point of view towards success.
As the reader took his of herself to the story, he or she also made a decision for change. Once he or she believed in a certain narrative or writings, it means that he or she is willing to do some actions in his or her workplace. However, it is hard to make a change alone, that is why people who read a story, essay, or anything about change and optimism, they will make their friends or officemates to be enlightened by reading the same text. In this case, change will come from a group of individuals who wanted clarity and sensibility to their workplace.
Literature and the Main Purpose of Business We all know that business is a business. It was established to have profit. The main purpose of business is to motivate its people to have income in a way of establishing different strategies and ideas. These issues are already accepted by the society – it cannot be changed. Meanwhile, literature is an implication of transformation. Therefore, these issues of business opposed the essence of literature. We all know that the main purpose of literature is to inform the public about the situation in the society, it also gives data and evidence of history.
In this case, literature also implicates negativities and affirmative construction towards the bodies of society. Business’s main purpose was being attacked by literature if it implies teachings that are below the belt like envy, greed, and self-centered perspectives just because they want to earn profit. Literature understands the goal of business as it is but the people or actions behind this body could not be hidden from the mirror of the society. Aside from this, change will be depending on the readers alone because literature held its stand in whatever struggle it may be.
Literature, Business, and Social Change Each author has their own perspective on what they write. They also deal with the problems of their writings as it conquers the visions of its audience. In the case of business culture, author used ideas that are relevant to the issue that will give information to the public on its essence, importance, as well as its weaknesses. Through this, the desire of the author to change the social environment of the business audience will still depend on its attack and impact to the readers.
Authors lay their stand and evidences towards the issues; it is the responsibility of the readers to take the solution as a threat or enlightenment. This paper tells from the beginning up to its end that literature is a way of informing and applying its perspectives to its audience. It brings great social change in business culture because business relies on the ideas and creativity of literature in order to build relationship between the company and its clients. Literature teaches its business audience to deal with the sociological standards of life.
It brings sociological impact if the reader will make its life as what the text stated but literature will be senseless if the reader could not do some necessary changes to its workplace because she is afraid to do it or treat literature as insignificant fictional entity of the society. As a whole, literature and business are interrelated factors that mould the society in different level or perspective. We assumed that business is one of the biggest factor to maintain our economic growth, and from this paper, we knew that literature contributed to its evolution and development.
In this case, business would be paralyzed in some aspects of expansion without the help of literature. Aside from this, social change in workplace were introduced because of literature as it reveals the situation, cases, and issues of business culture from the past, present, until the future. Therefore, it can be said that business, literature, and social change are interconnected that have certain process of attachment to conduct greater sense of knowledge and responsibility not only in the business culture but also in society as well.
References Business Literature. (n. d. ). Encyclopedia of Small Business. Retrieved October 18, 2007, from Answers. com Web site: http://www. answers. com/topic/business-literature Chapman, Allan. (1995). Stories and analogies: Illustrations and analogies for motivation, inspiration, learning and training. Businessballs. com. Retrieved on October 19, 2007 from http://www. businessballs. com/stories. htm#dog_and_the_bone_story Columbo, R. (n. d. ).
The trench-digger story (initiative, self-development, making things happen, career advancement, how to get a job requiring experience when you have none). Businessballs. com. Retrieved on October 19, 2007 from http://www. businessballs. com/stories. htm#dog_and_the_bone_story Michaelson, C. (2005). Dealing with Swindlers and Devils: Literature and Business thics. Journal of Business Ethics. Retrieved on October 19, 2007 from http://www. springerlink. com/content/x1041j786u456g18/ Miller, A. (1976).
Death of Salesman. Penguin Paperbacks Philips, J. (n. d. ) The dog and the bone story (be content with what you have, greed and envy seldom pay). Businessballs. com. Retrieved on October 19, 2007 from http://www. businessballs. com/stories. htm#dog_and_the_bone_story Stanley, A. (2002). The Media Business: Revenge of the Underlings Becomes a Literary Genre. New York Times. Retrieved on October 19, 2007 from http://query. nytimes. com/gst/fullpage. html? res=9504E6DF163CF931A25755C0A9649C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2
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Literature, Business, and Social Change. (2016, Jul 14). Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/literature-business-and-social-change/
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