In this paper the author introduces the concept of various viewpoints (process, practitioner, and disciplinary) and describes how theories of communication can be used to understand business processes from the point of view of communication and coordination. This paper serves the dual purpose of being an introduction to a panel of the same name, while providing an argument concerning the significance of theories of communication in "process" orientation. In serving the second purpose, the discussion will employ literature and examples from systemic functional linguistics and social semiotics; these are used for illustrative purposes only and the reader is invited to consider their own preferred theories and approaches to these issues