Styles of business communication as a model: the phenomenon of style, approaches, research, open questions. Part 1

Research into styles in psychology (from the 1950s to the 2000s) has undergone a kind of life cycle - from styles being widely studied to those falling into oblivion. Further constructive study of this problem requires creation of new R&D (research and development) programs, generalization of the experience gained in various schools of thought. The paper aims to provide a historical and theoretical analysis concerning the results of research on the phenomenon of «style» in Russian psychology; the research subject is the phenomenon of style (individual style of activity, styles of activity, styles of business communication). Hypotheses: 1. Regular reproduction of the same standard approaches in research and development does not promote constructive progress in the study of a scientific problem. 2. The study of the phenomenon of «style» based on the model of business communication styles allows us to emphasize several aspects in the evolution and functioning of style that were not distinguished when studying styles on other models (educational, sports, work). The article critically analyzes the history and results of studying the problem of style (individual style of activity, styles of activity) in Russian psychology (particularly within the Perm school), the use of the concept of «system» in Russian psychology, attitudes towards scientific opponents, trends in R & D within one school of thought, etc. The conditions for further constructive studies of the phenomenon of style are discussed (using new models that contribute to the discovery of new properties of style, making it possible not to attribute but to study its systemic properties as a unique psychological system; raising questions about the place and role of different styles in the processes of a phenomenon's formation-development-functioning- disintegration, about the unity and difference of styles in the «chain» of their manifestations, about their structural and functional unity, about the self-similarity of their organization, etc.). Use of the model of business communication styles is believed to contribute to solving relevant scientific problems