An Analysis of Text Genres Belonging to Bilateral Commissive Text Types Used in the Management of Multinational Corporations for Communication Purposes

The aim of this article is to present and analyse text genres of the bilateral commissive type that are mostly used in management communication for attaining objectives of a particular corporation. This paper aims at providing a linguistic analysis of the text. Materials which have been used for the analysis of text genres and text types are based on theoretical principles of text linguistics. The literature and research related to the link between corporate discourse and corporations' ideologies will not be taken into consideration in this paper. This topic will not be considered as important for this research. Text genres are dealt with in this paper as implementations of texts in communication. Their communicative function is the most important classification parameter. The analysis of text genres belonging to bilateral commissive text types that can be found in the corpus, aims at showing that management uses a specific vocabulary, grammatical structures and syntax in the communication by means of bilateral commissives and that text genres which have been analysed according to their micro structural and macro structural features make up a specific communication model that management uses in a given communicational situation.


INTRODUCTION
This paper analyses text genre belonging to bilateral commissive text types which are used in management for communication purposes and for attaining objectives in multinational corporations.The assumption is made that every interaction that drives things, actions, processes and people in the corporation can be interpreted as communication which is realised by means of linguistic and non-linguistic signs and which serves as a means of message transfer.An interaction, in which linguistic symbols are used respectively, is called linguistic communication 1; p.11.Various means and ways can be used for and in communication.The text is a product of language and communication performance which tries in its representation and model to be receptioned in every place and time no matter of its genesis 2; p.17.
The corpus for this study includes examples of texts which are used for communication purposes and organizational processes of achieving goals in middle and top management of the corporations UNILEVER Belgium-Croatia and INA Naftaplin d.d.Croatia, the Croatian Gas Association (HSUP), the company INTEGRA and the Croatian Chamber of Economy-County Chamber Rijeka (HGK-ŽKR).Therefore, an analysis of communication within companies, corporations and institutions, abbreviated as CCI, is conducted in this paper.
The corpus includes 1142 text samples.For research purposes 76 texts of the bilateral type have been selected from this abundant corpus.This paper analyses communication by means of bilateral commissive text types, as well as the role and function of bilateral commissives for attaining objectives of a particular corporation.

TEXT AND TEXT GENRES AS A COMMUNICATION TOOL IN MANAGEMENT
Texts and text genres are tools used by the management of any modern corporation for achieving goals in accordance with the particular corporate ideology.It is very important to see in which ways such a text is understood and used in management; i.e. in which genre of communication such texts are used.Therefore, the vertical aspect of communication, horizontal, symetrical and asymmetrical are aspects of communication in corporations which are being looked into in this paper.The aspects of interprofessional, intraprofessional and extraprofessional communication are taken into consideration as well as the aspects of internal and external communication.With regard to the environment and communicative interaction of the enterprise with the environment, we distinguish between internal and external communication within an environment.All the social forces that affect the business, communication and attaining of objectives in CCI indirectly are part of the external environment.External communication in relation to the environment branches into general or social environment and business or task environment 3; p.29.General or social environment is also called macro environment.It includes all events and situations outside the corporation; events the corporation has no influence upon, but must respond to.Business or task environment is also called microclimate of the corporation, and is made up of all subjects involved in the immediate environment of CCI, thus affecting the ability of the corporation to provide services to the environment.This means that task environment communication is frequent and that it takes place in everyday interaction.Internal communication is the communication within the framework of the internal environment, i.e. within the environment of CCI.This means that such communication can be completely influenced.Such communication is always present in management, and management tries to control it completely.Any changes in the function of internal company alert the management.External and internal communication therefore depends on a variety of phenomena in the CCI environment, since a company is an open system that is in constant communication with these developments, which depend upon the changing of the environment of the corporation and its complexity, the competitive forces as well as rate of change of the environment 4; p.93-97.All these aspects of communication appear in the corpus of this work.
An analysis of communication methods and genres found in the corpus has shown linguistic idiosyncrasies in the vocabulary and syntax of various text genres used by the CCI.
Text genres in management unite organized activities, whereby such activities become a part of the social system.Text genres enable communication in management by means of modifying behaviour.Text is only a theoretical construct that is organized according to text genre and can only be perceived as such 5; p.6.Furthermore, the text is any entity that can be assigned to some text genre.
Text genres are links between cognitive, communicative and active aspects.They are one method of social practice.Text genres also represent models that facilitate participants' orientation in a particular communicational situation.
The question which is argumented in this paper is: what is the role of the bilateral text genres in the communication process of a corporation or institution?Which features do such texts exhibit on the micro and macro structural level?

CLASSIFICATION AND ANALYSIS OF COMMISSIVES
Text genres in this paper are classified as bilateral commissives according to Brinker's classification of texts into text types (which includes five text genres; informative, appellative, obligative, contactive and declarative 6; p.39-43.Brinker furthermore analyses each texts (regardless of the text type) within three levels.These levels are taken over in this paper as description levels of each text type in the corpus, thus resulting in: 1. communicativepragmatic level, 2. thematic level and 3. languge-stylistic level.
In communication with commisive text types the text producer (sender) is commited to the behaviour which is determined in the text and already accepted 7; p.262.
Commissives belong to text genre with an illocutionary function.This means that they compel the sender to perform or not to perform a particular activity (attain objective or realise profit) in the corporation.Communication is directed here from the world towards particular words.The senders attitude expresses his intention to perform a particular activity 5; p.73.By using commissive text genres, the sender is committed to perform an activity, to fulfil a promise.Commissives must primarily act bindingly, where the sender agrees to perform an action, and well normatively, where the sender agrees that he, in extra-linguistic reality, will act in accordance with the standards.According to the direction of obligation in text genres we distinguish 5; p.73: 1) unilateral commissives or obligatives, and 2) bilateral commissives (found in this corpus as text genre application forms in HGK-ŽKR, INA and INTEGRA and as text genre notice of readiness and contract in the communication of Naftaplin and HSUP).
This paper will continue analysing only bilateral commissives found in the corpus.
Bilateral commissives serve to gain mutual identic behaviour and commitments 7; p.2699, or realisation of identic corporational and institutional goals made by two parties involved in the communication (with bilateral commisives).

TEXT GENRE: APPLICATION FORM
In the corpus of HGK-ŽKR 76 application forms for participation at various seminars, round tables, presentations, etc. have been found.Reasons for placing the application form in a bilateral genre commissives are as follows 8; p.538: (i) Communicators are the sender which has already, through the announced text of training, given basic information about education or has already lured the recipient through directive and obligation statements.So both the sender and the recipient have access to basic information about the education, and confirm their participation and interest by filling out the application form, (ii) application's primary purpose of communication is to establish a binding relationship of the recipient towards the sender and vice versa; obligations set forth in the application form are expected to be met, (iii) fundamental communication process of the application form is declaration and commitment, (iv) communication situation using the application form is to set the arrival and participation and therefore the payments, and so to guarantee a place and the necessary materials for the seminar, and to prepare an invoice statement for education, and (v) communication subject is the consummation of the education content.
Engel distinguishes non-typified and typified application form 9; p.135, though does not recognize non-typified application forms as particular text genres, but categorizes them as business or private letter text genres.
HGK-ŽKR uses a standardized and schematic application form at macro-and microstructure of the text.The text is entitled "Application for participation in the seminar or workshop".
It is followed by the name of the topic of education as well as allegations of time and place.That part still belongs to the introductory part of the text, e.g.: "Pay system and monitoring work performance, on Wednesday, April 16th 2008, 09:00 am, HGK-ŽKR, Bulevar oslobođenja 23, Rijeka (large hall, ground floor)".This is followed by a binding statement which guarantees the participation, which represents the central part of the text.Graphics include a box in which the communicator, using the cross sign, indicates his willingness to participate, followed by a binding statement in the form of a statement: "YES, I apply to participate at the seminar".Both partners expect the fulfilment of commitments or promises after signing this statement.
Informative table follows, stating the basic information about the communication partner who has committed to participate in the seminar, i.e. company name, activity, position, title, address, fax, e-mail and telephone number, date and signature of the attendee.Statement that has an informative function as well as functions to orient and register, serves as an implicit binding statement, since in a case of attempted manipulation, the recipient has the basic information of the senders and vice versa, and may require settlement of possible sanctions in both cases -the sender and the recipient.
Final part of application form is a form of notes which instructs recipients and notes that the application is time-limited, i.e. that the recipients may apply until a fixed date in order to participate the event.This statement is entitled "Note", for example: "Note: Please send filled application form via e-mail or fax no later than April 14th 2008 so that we can provide you a spot.Thank you!" After this final formula there is no salutation formula or signature of the organizer.
In Introductory signals follow in a form of an announcement of the meeting type or similar, together with the topic and title; it is also common to state the time and place of the meeting.This is followed by a graphically separated section listing the information about the recipient, name, company, e-mail, fax, address, registration number of the company, stamp and signature of the recipient.
Formulation that has commissive function serves as an introduction into the above mentioned, e.g.: "Yes, we accept the organizers' propositions and register for the / participation in the ..." After that, some of the terms and propositions of participation are cited, such as Registration fee, what is included in registration fee (e.g., lunch, promotional materials, or something else).
If registration fee or any other form of payment was mentioned, then a statement from the directive function follows, for example: "... please pay the registration fee to the account of HUM-CROMA no ..." Some applications even have notes, e.g.: "… Number of participants is limited due to capacity of the hall so please book your spot at the latest ... because the hall will be booked according to the order of registration ..." Such statements have an instructive function since they give an advice to the recipient and, if he accepts it and fills in the application form, this goes in his favour.
Final signals again have directive function since they usually refer to the filling in and sending the application form, followed by the statement that the sender is at one's disposal for further information.
In the INTEGRA communication 41 applications were found and all applications are, as in HGK-ŽKR, standardized and schematized, at the micro and macrostructure.Title states: ...Registration for the seminar…and unlike the application forms of HGK-ŽKR, INA and HSUP do not state the topic of the seminar time or venue as the introductory signal, but the prices of seminars for companies and individuals, for example: "COMPANY: 1 application per person = 980,00 kn ..., INDIVIDUALS: private persons (pay in cash) = 650,00 kn ..., etc." Main reason lies in the fact that such applications are attached to the invitation or announcement of seminars, and it is not necessary to quote the title or the topic of seminar once again.This statement, which specifies the cost function, is informative.
Later on, we obtain further information about the discounts that can be obtained.Application continues with the directive statement which indicates the fee payment: "... Registration fee will be paid in before the seminar opening, to the INTEGRA account no ..." This formulation is in the 1st person plural, which is quite unusual for management text genres, since such a statement has a dose of "patronizing" behaviour, i.e., the manager of INTEGRA patronizes the recipients as if they were a group that has to be guided and taught.At the lexical level in the introductory section and in the text subject, occurrence of noun application forms is confirmed in all the analyzed corporations.Central part of the text presents numbers that show the time and venue of the event, and they were detected in the final section of text that indicates the cost of the event as well, e.g.: "April 16th 2008 at 09:00 pm or 1 application per person = 980,00 kn etc." Nominal phrases from the language of education organization and symposia were detected in all cases, e.g.seminar, workshop, symposium, conference, participation, registration fee, conditions of participation, deadline for registration for a seminar or a conference, etc.
In addition, frequent use of the verb report has been detected, which points to the need for filling out the application form and booking the event.Final section of the text, with the instructions on how to apply, shows payment and cost of events, e.g.price of the seminar, price for private persons, price for companies, registration fees, payment of registration fees, company bank account, prepayment etc. Dependent clauses prevail at the syntactic level.

TEXT GENRE: CONTRACT
In text linguistics theory, a prototype for bilateral commisive is the text genre contract which is very important for the function of the corporation.
"A contract is a mutual pair of commitments made by two contracting parties.Party A promises to do something for party B in return for which party B promises to do something for party A. The two commitments are not independent; in a genuine contract one is made in return for the making of the other.And this gives rise to the standard doctrine of the quid pro quo element of contracts" 10; p.197.
Contract is a text genre that has rather often been tackled with in text linguistics, and it is stated that a contract is an agreement between two or more parties, which confirms what has previously been agreed, or has been the subject of a debate in oral form, and usually seeks legal mediation through third parties (lawyers) who, in written form, lay out what has been agreed between the two parties and whose agreement is the subject of the contract 11, 12.
The aim of the contract is an attempt to coordinate various interests on the basis of mutual trust and the parties alone can devise the content of the contract and may, through legal regulations, legally define that content to suit their goals.Reasons for classifying a contract as a genre of bilateral commissive are as follows 8; p.538: (i) communicators are the sender that, using directive and obligative statements tries to "force" the recipients onto a certain mode of behaviour.Both the sender and the recipient demand fulfilment of certain agreements determined by legally formulated regulations, (ii) primary communicative purpose of the contract is to establish a binding relationship between the sender and the recipient and vice versa, obligations set forth in the contract are expected to be fulfilled, (iii) fundamental communication process of the contract is bounding according to the contract regulations, (iv) communication situation of the contract is to determine the behaviour mode, and (v) communication subject is consummation of the contract content.
Contract as text forms represent a unique blend of general and specialized knowledge, projected to the language 8; p.535, where general language is used in statements that describe and state goal of a contract and specialized language is used in legal provisions (and this is the part that is usually determined by third parties, i.e. a lawyer).Nineteen contracts were found in INA and HSUP, and they are generally sponsorship contracts.Thus, here we are talking about external, symmetrical, interprofessional communication.
At the macrostructure level, this text genre is divided into paragraphs or articles preceded by an introductory signal, i.e. names, registration numbers, addresses, their legal representatives and their positions and parties of the contract.This is followed by the formulation: "... on the day ... they have signed the following SPONSORSHIP AGREEMENT ... in Zagreb ..." Mandatory formulation of the contract, which also falls into the introductory signals category, is the contract number and contract subject.
Full text of the agreement is divided into articles (e.g.Article 1 -Article 9), whereas each article is a separate text section and a separate unit.Text parsing facilitates understanding of the entire contract as well as understanding of individual articles.At the same time, commissive function is to engage both communicators to fulfilment of actions and it can be seen as dominant, while the content of any specific article is subsidiary.
Each article is entitled, i.e. presents an opening signal and formulations that determine each article as whole or as a separate topic, for example: article 2 Acting party obligations article 3 Employer obligations, article 4 Service price ... etc.
Moreover, function of each article of the contract supports the function of the entire contract.
Coherence of individual articles or text sections is achieved by denotative "invocation" to acting parties 8; p.536, or the denominations acting party and the principal within deadlines.Pragmatic coherence is achieved by explicit or implicit repetition of the subject or content regulated by the agreement, and semantic coherence through nouns or verbs of the same semantic field, i.e. nouns: acting party, principal, contract disputes, agreement, rules of the profession, etc., or verbs: maintain, perform, publish, ensure, acknowledge, deliver, pay, etc.
If we consider the lexical level of text, frequent repetition of nouns, verbs and phrases such as: "... acting party, principal, obligations, is due to, is obliged to, etc. ..." indicates the use of terminology from the field of legislation, and we can say that the contract language is on the verge of legislative language, for example: "... Acting party obligations: Principal is obliged to ensure production of promotional materials and promotional messages, according to Article 2 of the contract and deliver it forehand ... etc. ..." Last or the last but one article of each contract is entitled "Final regulations", and the statement that follows has a declarative function, e.g.: "This contract comes into effect and becomes effective when signed by the authorized representatives of both parties, and is applicable from ... to ..." Final signal of the contract usually refers to the number of copies: "This Agreement is made in 4 (four) copies, of which the acting party retains 2 (two) and principal 2 (two) copies." Signatures of the recipient and the sender follow (when talking about contracts it is better to call them communicators): "For acting party ... and ... for principal ..." Signature has a directive and obligative function, since the directive function is manifested in signature in the case of conformity with the provisions of the contract and obligative function is reflected in the necessity of fulfilling the provisions of the contract signed.Fundamental purpose of this communication is to oblige the text communicators to sign the contract, and in a later phase, to implement an act or a service.Notice of readiness is a form of pre-contract.Reasons why notice of readiness is classified as a genre of bilateral commissive are as follows 8; p.538: (i) communicators are the sender that, using directive and obligative statements, attempts to force the recipient to the behaviour that is later fixed through a contract.Both the sender and the recipient demand the fulfilment of certain agreements that will be determined through legal formulations of the contract, (ii) primary communicative intent of the notice of readiness is to establish a binding relationship between the recipient and the sender and vice versa, in terms of signing a binding contract that follows, (iii) fundamental communication process of notice of readiness is binding in accordance with the agreement, (iv) communication situation of notice of readiness is to determine the behaviour modes, and (v) communication subject acts in accordance with the provisions of the notice of readiness.
The aim of the notice of readiness is to try to establish mutual trust between the sender and recipient in order to, at a later stage, communicate through means of contract; hence notice of readiness already determines the future provision of the contract.
Realisation of some corporate affairs does not exceed the notice of readiness, i.e. does not proceed onto a next level -the contract, therefore, business is performed in agreement with the notice of readiness' regulations, so this text genre can be characterized as an agreement rather than a notice of readiness.
Introductory signals of the notice of readiness are the same as in contract, (information about the sender and the recipient, addresses, registration numbers, etc.), followed by the formulation that expresses the content or objective of the notice of readiness.Later on, there is a statement: "The parties agree to the following: ...", followed by the formulation of commissive function for the sender and the recipient, entitled as Sender's obligations and the recipient's obligations.
Unlike contracts, notice of readiness does not articulate the global structure through articles or paragraphs, but descriptively states commitments of both parties.Final formula is the same as in the contract: "This notice of readiness is made in 2 (two) identical copies, each party retains one, and all changes and additions must be presented in written form and is be signed by both parties ..." This final formula has a directive function, as well as the signature of both parties which has directive and obligative function, as is the case with the contract.
At macro-structural level, notice of readiness shows the following elements: INTRODUCTION Corporation data Formulation of content description CENTRAL PART Notice of readiness content CONCLUSION Formulation on the number of copies of the contract Signature At the linguistic-stylistic level, use of verbs that in some way bind to performing or not performing an action is evident, therefore verbs commonly used are: must, sign, agree, committed, be bound, be obliged, prepare, do, etc. Frequent use of nouns and phrases, whose function is to emphasize the obligations after signing the notice of readiness, is also evident, such as: obligation, agreement, obligations of the recipients, obligations of the senders.
Phrases from legislation are also present, e.g.: parties, identical copies of notice of readiness, must be signed by both parties, must be presented in written form, etc.
Abbreviations or anglicisms are not used in such texts, which is logical in the case of abbreviations since ambiguity should be avoided, therefore all data is cited in full.As for the functional style, administrative-business style which borders with scientific style prevails in notice of readiness.

CONCLUSION
Commissives from the corpus of this study are represented by subtype bilateral commissives in HGK-ŽKR communication (application form), INA and HSUP (contract, notice of readiness and application form) and INTEGRA (application form), while UNILEVER communication does not provide a single text of this subtype.
Bilateral commissives from this corpus serve external communication (INTEGRA with application form, INA with contract, notice of readiness and application form, HGK-ŽKR with the application form), as well as internal communication.These texts serve as horizontal (application, notice of readiness) and vertical (sometimes contract), and intraprofessional communication.
At the macro structural level, contracts and notices of readiness show great similarities, since they contain the same elements, namely: subject of the contract, terms and signatures of both communication partners.Application forms of INTEGRA and HGK-ŽKR also exhibit some similarities (in the opening and closing part of the text), while other texts show rather great differences at all levels (see commissives' analysis).
The text is mainly divided into sections, articles, or clauses (e.g. in a contract and notice of readiness) in the corpus examples.
Commissives from the corpus use the following textual-linguistic means: formulations which, in case of failure to comply with the conditions mentioned in the text, indicate legal consequences (e.g. in contract or notice of readiness), time restrictions (e.g. on the application forms as limits for application deadlines, or in notices of readiness as time limit allowed for duties' task completion), price and discount is often specified (e.g. in contract), formulation of detailed description of the text subject is often used (especially in contract and notice of readiness), when specifying obligations of both parties, verbs are in passive form, numbers (e.g.prices) and other symbols are stated, (e.g. in contract), abbreviations, acronyms, and anglism rarely appear (especially in notice of readiness and contracts) since ambiguity or wrong interpretation should be avoided.
Sentences are generally clear and explicit, mostly dependent clauses are used, terminology used mainly belongs to language of legislation (in the contract or notice of readiness), language of the education organization (in examples of HGK-ŽKR and INTEGRA application forms) or oil and gas technology, graphics are not used within text.
Bilateral commisives used in the communication of corporate and institutional management according to their structure and inventory belong to a certain management communication tool, which enables successful implementation of corporational and institutional philosophy and ideology.This ideology enables the achievement of institutional and corporational goals and profit.
Contract serves to communicate between INA and HSUP corporations, and at macro structural level contains following elements: INTRODUCTION Corporation data Signing the contract formulation CENTRAL PART Contract content CONCLUSION Formulation on the number of copies of the contract Signature TEXT GENRE: NOTICE OF READINESS Notice of readiness is used in INA and HSUP communication.This text form is, in structure, very similar to the contract.Eleven notice of readiness were found in the corpus, and at the level of macrostructure they are schematized and standardized (at least in the case of INA and HSUP), and thus guarantee the communication stability and the communication result.
the communication of HGK-ŽKR, text genre that has the function of bilateral commissive is the application form (for education, organized by HGK-ŽKR), represented with 76 examples.Three text genres with the function of bilateral commissives have been noted in the communication between INA and HSUP: contract (19 texts), notice of readiness (11 texts) and application form (7 texts), while the communication of INTEGRA notes only application forms for seminars (41 examples).No examples of bilateral commissives have been found in UNILEVER communication since UNILEVER has not obtained approval for publicizing these text genres due to data protection and confidentiality within the corporation.
communication of INA and HSUP, application form also appears as a mean of communication.It is interesting to note that examples of texts obtained for review in this study were sent from public to INA and HSUP.Seven application forms, generally containing the same elements, have been analyzed.However, it cannot be noted that the application forms in INA are strictly schematized and standardized as in the HGK-ŽKR, since they do not show stability, such as a code of ethics nor a calendar of working hours in INA.
The reason for this relationship probably lies in a long lasting cooperation of INTEGRA with a specific group of translators and with the same recipients always.Commissive statement that obliges the recipient to participate is also the central part of the text.This is a graphically separated part which specifies the recipients' data, i.e. their names, company names, registration numbers, addresses, phone numbers, e-mail address, place of registration, date and signature of the person liable.Continuation gives a directive statement which indicates where to send the application form (e-mail, fax, address).This is followed by an interesting formulation that is not found in the application forms of HGK-ŽKR and INA, and HSUP: "General conditions of participation in seminars" and this indirect directive statement has the function of informing the recipient what to do, at the same time, not giving him a choice, for example: "... Phone application for individuals (also by fax, mail or internet) with payment in advance ..."Final signal of the INTEGRA application form is signature of the organizer, followed by the company stamp and the date.Application form is used for external communication in organizations.Applications are mostly standardized and schematized.They have the