The utility of small talk in business relationships

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The utility of small talk in business relationships is written by Natasha Knauer and published by GRIN Verlag. It's available with International Standard Book Number or ISBN identification 3638685373 (ISBN 10) and 9783638685375 (ISBN 13).

Small talk is a peripheral mode of talk which subsumes gossip chat while it is not possible to determine final definitions on such generic labels. We encounter small talk on a daily basis in noumerous ways and situations, many of which take place at work or in conversations related to business. Small talk is often shrugged off as a waste of time especially in business relationships because it is not related to the intention of work and is not perceived as important. In this paper I want to state that small talk is not a waste of time. It has its own function which will be proved to be a general function by comparison of the perception of small talk in different cultures. In order not to be classified as a waste of time small talk must provide utility. Utility is a measurement for the ability of a good to satisfy the need of an interactor (www.wikipedia.org “utility”). Hence small talk must have a certain general function which is able to satisfy a common need in business relationships. Communication is mostly referred to as an exchange of information between two or more people (www.wikipedia.org “interpersonal communication”). It is therefore foremost relevant whether small talk does have a function already in the information that is exchanged.