Reading David Hare's Stuff happens with business majors

Reading literature in the original is multifunctional. First, it is a great way to develop almost all important language skills. Students can enrich their vocabulary; also they get exposed to the authentic use of language which ultimately contributes to the development of their writing skill and improves their grammar, syntax, punctuation, and the style of speaking and writing. Besides, interpreting the meaning fosters critical thinking and reasoning. Reading literature widens outlook, boosts creativity, and increases empathy as well. What is more, thoughtful attentive reading and interpretation can enhance professional competencies required of future specialists.

Due to these reasons, the English syllabus in Baikal International Business School includes home reading, and 12 hours of English per week allow us to do so. Some student groups show a good command of English and are exposed to authentic literature. However, taking into account their major, teachers have to be very selective when choosing books. Last year, 2^nd-year students read Stuff Happens to expand on their Business English course . Even though the book is not about business, it proved to be a good choice as it describes the characters and events of the recent past that students know about; it is short and easy to read, and it enabled us to compare decision making in business and politics.

Before describing the experience of reading the play with business majors, let us give an overview of the book under discussion. Stuff Happens is a political play featuring the events preceding the war in Iraq in 2003. In particular, it focuses on how the American establishment headed by the-then President George Bush made a decision to bomb Iraq and how Bush managed to get the European support to start a war. Showing diplomacy in action, the play is an interesting

source not only to explore different viewpoints but also to discuss different ways of managing and manipulating people.

Apparently, the skills most important for future managers are social skills, and persuasion discourse is a medium for developing them. Persuasion involves the use of argumentation to convince another person to perform an act or accept the point of view desired by the persuader. While analyzing the book, the students examined various arguments that the War Cabinet gave to justify or refute invasion. It was interesting to compare arguments in terms of ethos, logos and pathos. As a follow-up, sophomores were asked to produce persuasion discourse on their own. They were supposed to strengthen arguments by adding the missing part (ethos, logos, or pathos). Besides developing argumentation skills, this activity helped the students to remember the characters and their viewpoints better.

Another topic relevant for the discussion with business students is negotiations. The students can evaluate the talks from the point of view of outcomes (win-win, lose-lose or win-lose), strategies that negotiators use and mistakes they make. It is also interesting to trace at what point of the talks some participants start losing. There are several scenes here worth paying attention to. For example, we analyzed Scene 10 when Blair privately meets with Bush at the latter’s ranch and tries to convince him to get UN support before invading Iraq. The students believed that Blair made a mistake having revealed how shaky his position at home was (‘I’m in rough water’). To expand, students acted out negotiations trying to avoid mistakes and achieve a win-win result. Later the class summarized how compromises could be achieved both in politics and business and whether a compromise was possible under the circumstances. One more episode useful for negotiation analysis is Scene 15 where Powell meets some members of the UN to discuss Iraq and Saddam. This scene might also be used for the examination of arguments.

Ethics in decision making was another favorable topic we debated with business students. Having considered the concept of fair play both in politics and business, the class moved on to discussing how far people can go in reaching their goals, to what extent partners can exert pressure on each other, and whether all means are justified. It was a relief to hear that Bush’s position ‘You know, Colin, finally this is a war on terror. And at some point we may be the only ones left. That’s fine with me.’ was irresponsible, cruel, and unacceptable.

What is more, the students enjoyed solving Powell’s dilemma how to save face at the UN and obey the President at the same time. It turned out to be a real brain-teaser. While debating, the students remembered real stories when famous companies faced ethical issues and how they handled them. Another ethical dilemma concerned interaction with allies: should you keep relationships or get rid of the partners after you took advantage of them? Cheney’s recipe for dealing with Blair ‘… we don’t need him. And at this moment he’s bringing us nothing but trouble. It’s good rule. When the cat shit gets bigger than the cat, get rid of the cat’ caused heated discussions.

While focusing on achieving compromise, we also dwelled on ambiguity in official announcements and documents. In some cases, this ambiguity is intentional. Rumsfeld’s opinion ‘I liked what you said earlier, sir. A war on terror. That’s good. That’s vague. … That way we can do anything’ explains how useful ambiguity can be. Ambivalence in documents can also give some leeway to abuse power. There is an episode in Scene 15 when the parties argue about the wording in the UN resolution which shows how important it is to choose the right words in documents or contracts to express the meaning clearly and explicitly. Discussing these instances, the students gave examples demonstrating how dangerous uncertainty in business contracts can be and what it can result in. However, some sophomores argued that ambiguity can sometimes be a way out as it might help parties move up if they are stuck in negotiations.

Furthermore, the class considered whether decision making in politics and business differed. Comparing various political and business talks, the students arrived at the conclusion that methods and techniques of decision making are universal although topics are different. In fact, they emphasized distribution of power as an important factor influencing both political and business decision outcomes.

Reading the book also gave us a chance to practice public speaking skills. To conclude and summarize the issues discussed, the students were supposed to choose a topic related to the play and prepare a poster presentation. They were not limited to any topics in particular, and it was up to them to decide what aspect of the play to analyze. The choices were different. For instance, the sophomores studied Halliburton’s involvement in the conflict and Cheney’s role in it. They also tried to understand whether George Bush was an idiot or an experienced manipulator. Besides, one of the presentations dealt with survival and longevity in politics and business. Having compared the behavior of Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell, the students came to the conclusion that survival greatly depends on your relationships with the boss: if you agree with him or her, you have more chances to stay in power longer. Another strategy that can ensure political longevity, according to the student, is neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

Thus, Stuff Happens proved to be a valuable addition to Business English course enabling us to expose students to contemporary British prose, further develop their language skills and professional competencies, and interpret the book from a new perspective.