Buzzwords and specialized vocabulary used by businesspeople
Corporate jargon (variously known as corporate speak, corporate lingo, business speak, business jargon, management speak, workplace jargon, corporatese, or commercialese) is the jargon often used in large corporations, bureaucracies, and similar workplaces.[1][2] The language register of the term is generally being presented in a negative light or disapprovingly. It is often considered to be needlessly obscure or, alternatively, used to disguise an absence of information. Its use in corporations and other large organisations has been widely noted in media.[3]
Marketing speak is a related label for wording styles used to promote a product or service.
Corporate speak is associated with managers of large corporations, business management consultants, and occasionally government. Reference to such jargon is typically derogatory, implying the use of long, complicated, or obscure words; abbreviations; euphemisms; and acronyms. For that reason some of its forms may be considered as an argot.[2] Some of these words may be neologisms or inventions, designed purely to fit the specialized meaning of a situation or even to "spin" negative situations as positive situations, for example in the practice of greenwashing.[4] Although it is pervasive in the education field, its use has been criticized as reflecting a sinister view of students as commodities and schools as retail outlets.[5]
The use of corporate jargon is criticised for its lack of clarity as well as for its tedium, making meaning and intention opaque and understanding difficult.[6] It is also criticized for not only enabling delusional thoughts, but allowing them to be seen as an asset in the workplace.[7] Corporate jargon has been criticized as "pompous" and "a tool for making things seem more impressive than they are".[3]Steven Poole writes that it is "engineered to deflect blame, complicate simple ideas, obscure problems, and perpetuate power relations".[8]
Marketing speak is a related label for wording styles used to promote a product or service to a wide audience by seeking to create the impression that the vendors of the service possess a high level of sophistication, skill, and technical knowledge. Such language is often used in marketingpress releases, advertising copy, and prepared statements read by executives and politicians.[citation needed]
Many corporate-jargon terms have straightforward meanings in other contexts (e.g., leverage in physics, or picked up with a well-defined meaning in finance), but are used more loosely in business speak. For example, a deliverable can become any service or product.[9]
The word team had specific meanings in agriculture and in sport before becoming a ubiquitous synonym for a group spanning one or more levels in a corporate organisation.[10]
The phrases going forwardormoving forward make a confident gesture towards the future, but are generally vague on timing, which usually means they can be removed from a sentence with little or no effect on its overall meaning.[11]
In order to obfuscate or distract from unpleasant or unwanted news, filler such as the phrase "at this time" or overly complicated grammatical constructions – e.g. usage of the present progressive – is frequently used at the beginning of a sentence despite its clear redundancy. Examples include "At this time, we have decided we are not going to move forward with your application" when "We have decided not to move forward with your application" would suffice.[12]
Some systems of corporate jargon recycle pop ethics with terms such as responsibility.[13]
Corporate speak in non-English-speaking countries frequently contains borrowed English acronyms, words, and usages.[14]Russian-speakers, for instance, may eschew native constructions and use words such as лидер (literally: lider for 'leader') or adopt forms such as пиарщик (piarshchik for 'PR specialist').[citation needed]
Jargon, like other manifestations of language, can change over time; and management fads may influence management-speak. Thus the much-maligned use of the term empowerment[15] may have peaked about 2004 before declining.[16][original research?]
^Brians, Paul (19 May 2016). "Going forward". Common Errors in English Usage and More. Retrieved 29 July 2022 – via Washington State University.
^John, Bortman (25 February 2024). "Common Errors in English Usage and More". Common Errors in English Usage and More. Business Terms and Business Jargon explained. Retrieved 25 February 2024 – via Trinity College.
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Owen, Jo (3 October 2020). "Responsibility". The Leadership Skills Handbook: 100 Essential Skills You Need to be a Leader (5th ed.). London: Kogan Page Publishers. p. 9. ISBN9781789666700. Retrieved 19 March 2023. Responsibility is massively abused in management speak. Most people's hearts sink when responsibility comes into the conversation: it is rarely a positive development.
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Korczynski, Marek; Hodson, Randy; Edwards, Paul K., eds. (2006). Social Theory at Work. Oxford University Press. p. 40. ISBN9780199285976. Retrieved 19 March 2023. ...what in managementspeak is 'empowerment' is more accurately described as degradation. ...
Bryan Garner (2011). Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage. Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0195384208., regarded as an authoritative guide to legal language, and aimed at the practicing lawyer.
Maria Fraddosio, New ELS: English for Law Students (Naples, Edizioni Giuridiche Simone, 2008) is a course book for Italian University Students.
