BUSINESS COMMUNICATION – WEEK 1

Communication is the transmission of information and meaning from one individual or group to
another. Communication establishes relationships and makes organizing possible. Every message
has a purpose or objective. The sender intends -- whether consciously or unconsciously -- to
accomplish something by communicating. In organizational contexts, messages typically have a
definite objective: to motivate, to inform, to teach, to persuade, to entertain, or to inspire. This definite
purpose is, in fact, one of the principal differences between casual conversation and managerial
communication. Effective communication in the organization centers on well-defined objectives that
support the organization's goals and mission. Supervisors strive to achieve understanding among the
parties to their communications.

Why Effective Communication Skills are Essential in Today’s Business Environment

1. Globalization & increasing diversity in the business environment
2. Greater competition in the global & local marketplace – need for enhanced flexibility,
tolerance, persuasive & research skills
3. Growing importance of business information – knowing strengths & weaknesses of
competitors, understanding customers’ needs, researching & providing information about
government regulations, industry standards, etc.
4. Downsizing & fewer management layers (“Flatter” organizational structures) – everyone
responsible for creating and communicating information at some level
5. Creation of team-based management structure – each team member responsible for
receiving, analyzing and sending information – communication skills needed: listening,
critical thinking, writing, persuasive, expressing ideas, collaboration, negotiation,
interpersonal.
6. Continuing innovations in communication technology – e-mail, fax, voice-mail, intranet,
electronic presentations, web-based meetings, videoconferencing, web-based journaling
(blogs), wireless networking, short messaging service (SMS), voice recognition, virtual
agents, etc. Technological tools must be used wisely, productively and appropriately.
7. New work environments – telecommuting, “open offices” with unassigned work stations,
small work cubicles, working from home
8. The “Information Age” – wealth creation is now based on the development, processing and
exchange of knowledge; the modern worker MUST be an effective communicator of words,
figures & data.

Effective Business Communication is:

 PRACTICAL – useful to the receiver
 FACTUAL – concrete; specific; clear; accurate; reliable; convincing; ethical; opinions,
conclusions, and recommendations are supported by evidence
 CONCISE – relevant details are emphasized; use of categorization and summarization
strategies
 EXPRESSES EXPECTATIONS WITH CLARITY – generates specific responses from
specific recipients
 PERSUASIVE – states the benefits recipients will gain by responding to the communication;
offers recommendations
7 Basic Business Communication Skills:

 Ability to organize information coherently

 Ability to express and present ideas effectively
 Effective listening
 Ability to communicate effectively with others of different backgrounds
 Appropriate and efficient use of technology in communication
 Courtesy and respect in communication
 Ability to make ethical choices when communicating

Goals of Business Communication

There are four goals in business

communication:
 To ensure receiver understanding

 To ensure receiver response

 To ensure a favorable relationship

between sender and receiver

 To ensure organizational goodwill

Organizational communication establishes a pattern of formal communication channels to carry

information vertically and horizontally. (The organization chart below displays these channels.) To
ensure efficient and effective accomplishment of objectives, information is exchanged. Information is
passed upward from employees to supervisors and laterally (horizontally/diagonally) to adjacent
departments. Instructions relating to the performance of the department and policies for conducting
business are conveyed downward from supervisors to employees. The organization carries
information from within the department back up to top management. Management furnishes
information about how things are going, notifies the supervisor of what the problems are, and
provides requests for clarification and help. Supervisors, in turn, keep their employees informed and
render assistance. Supervisors continually facilitate the process of gaining necessary clarification and
problem solving; both up and down the organization. Also, supervisors communicate with sources
outside the organization, such as vendors and customers.
 Types of Conflicts

There are two main types of conflicts, Constructive/ Cognitive/Functional conflict and
Destructive/Affective/Dysfunctional conflict.

Constructive conflict focus on various issues and is considered healthy and functional. It arouses
discussion and stimulates creative thinking. It forces important issues into the open, increases the
involvement of team members as they get involved in examining, comparing and reconciling their
differences. It promotes acceptance of a team decision.

Destructive conflict aims not at issues but at feelings and personalities. It is disruptive and
dysfunctional; diverts energy from important issues, destroys the morale of team members, or
polarizes or divides the team. It may result in name calling and can become highly emotional. It
focuses on people and not on substantive matters. Destructive/affective conflict can lead to a win/
lose or a lose/lose outcomes, in which one or both sides lose to the detriment of the team.

The Communication Process

Communication is the process of passing information and understanding from one person to another.
The communication process involves six basic elements: sender (encoder), message, channel,
receiver (decoder), noise, and feedback. Supervisors can improve communication skills by becoming
aware of these elements and how they contribute to successful communication. Communication can
break down at any one of these elements.
 Sender formulates an idea & encodes a message

The sender initiates the communication process. When the sender has decided on a meaning, he or
she encodes a message, and selects a channel for transmitting the message to a receiver. To
encode is to put a message into words or images. The message is the information that the sender
wants to transmit.

The channel or medium

The medium is the means of communication, such as print, mass, electrical, and digital. As a sender,
the supervisor should define the purpose of the message, construct each message with the receiver
in mind, select the best medium, time each transmission thoughtfully, and seek feedback. Words can
be verbal - written and spoken. Words are used to create pictures, and stories (scenarios) are used
to create involvement.

Written communication should be used when the situation is formal, official, or long term; or when the
situation affects several people in related ways. Interoffice memos are used for recording informal
inquiries or replies. Letters are formal in tone and addressed to an individual. They are used for
official notices, formally recorded statements, and lengthy communications. Reports are more
impersonal and more formal than a letter. They are used to convey information, analyses, and
recommendations. Written communications to groups include bulletin-board notices, posters,
exhibits, displays, and audio and visual aids.
Communication and the need to exchange information are no longer constrained by place and time.
Email, voice mail, and facsimile have facilitated communications and the sharing of knowledge. Email
is the computer transmission and storage of written messages. Voice mail is the transmission and
storage of digitized spoken messages. Facsimile (fax) is the transmission of documents.

Verbal or spoken communication includes informal staff meetings, planned conferences, and mass
meetings. Voice and delivery are important. Informal talks are suitable for day-to-day liaison,
directions, exchange or information, progress reviews, and the maintenance of effective interpersonal
relations. Planned appointments are appropriate for regular appraisal review and recurring joint work
sessions. Planning for an appointment includes preparing, bringing adequate information, and limiting
interruptions. Telephone calls are used for quick checkups and for imparting or receiving information.

Teams using information technology have access to information, share knowledge, and construct
documents. Meetings take place electronically from multiple locations, saving the organization's
resources in both the expenses of physically bringing people from different locations together, and
the time lost by employees traveling. Teleconferencing is simultaneous group verbal exchanges.
Videoconferencing is group verbal and visual exchanges.

Nonverbal Communication

Nonverbal Communication includes facial expressions, tones of voice, gestures, eye contact, spatial
arrangements, patterns of touch, expressive movement, cultural differences, and other "nonverbal"
acts. Research suggests that nonverbal communication is more important in understanding human
behavior than words alone--the nonverbal "channels" seem to be more powerful than what people
say.

Nonverbal messages include images, actions and behaviors used to communicate. Images include
photographs, film, charts, tables, graphs, and video. Nonverbal behaviors include actions, body
language, and active listening. Actions and body language include eye contact, gestures, facial
expressions, posture, and appearance. The effective communicator maintains eye contact for four to
five seconds before looking away. Gestures should be natural and well timed. Grooming and dress
should be appropriate for the situation. Listening requires good eye contact, alert body posture, and
the frequent use of verbal encouragement.

The channel is the path a message follows from the sender to the receiver. Supervisors use
downward channels to send messages to employees. Employees use upward channels to send
messages to supervisors. Horizontal channels are used when communicating across departmental
lines, with suppliers, or with customers. An informal channel is the grapevine. It exists outside the
formal channels and is used by people to transmit casual, personal, and social interchanges at work.
The grapevine consists of rumors, gossip, and truthful information. The supervisor should pay
attention to the grapevine, but should not depend on it for accurate information.

Receiver decodes the message & responds with feedback to sender

Information technology is revolutionizing the way organizational members communicate. Network

systems, electronic links among an organization's computer hardware and software, enable members
to communicate instantaneously, to retrieve and share information from anyplace, at anytime. The
receiver is the person or group for whom the communication effort is intended. Noise or a barrier is
anything that interferes with the communication process. At any point in the communication process a
barrier can occur. Barriers keep us from understanding another’s ideas and thoughts. Barriers/noise
can appear at any point of the communication loop. There are two types of barriers—internal and
external. Examples of internal barriers are fatigue, poor listening skills, attitude toward the sender or
the information, lack of interest in the message, fear, mistrust, past experiences, negative attitude,
problems at home, lack of common experiences, and emotions. Examples of external barriers include
noise, distractions, e-mail not working, bad phone connections, wrong time of day, sender using too
many technical words for the audience and environment, errors in the message, or the selection of
the wrong medium. Barriers keep the message from getting through.

Other obstacles to successful communication include the following:

 Bypassing occurs when meanings of words and statements are misunderstood. For
example, “as soon as possible” might mean now, tomorrow, or next week; “helping” might
mean sharing some of the work, doing most of the work, or making sure the project gets
done (see examples in the reading below) Avoid miscommunication by listening effectively
and being on the alert for vague words or words with multiple meanings (“good”, “bad”,
“possibly”). Paraphrase and make sure the meanings of terms are clear to both sender and
receiver. When possible, use more than one channel for delivering a message, like a follow-
up memo after a meeting, or a phone call after an e-mail has been sent.
 Differing frames of reference between sender and receiver can also result in
miscommunication because people’s experiences, education, cultures, expectations,
personalities, perceptions, attitudes, prejudices, are never the same. Successful
communicators pay attention to the ways that their frames of references and those of others
can affect the messages they send and receive.
 Poor language skills, such as an inadequate vocabulary, a lack of knowledge of basic
grammar, mechanics and usage rules, weak written and oral expression, can seriously affect
the effective transmission of a message and the appropriate response to it.
 Unethical business & communication practices. Everyone has certain moral obligations to
meet. An individual’s professional obligations generally include those

 To himself/herself
 To his/her discipline and profession
 To his/her academic institution
 To his employer
 To his colleagues
 To his/her clients/associates
 To the public

Ethical behavior involves the principles of honesty, integrity, fairness, and concern for others. These
principles lay a firm foundation of trust in the relationships among those who have to communicate
with each other in the workplace. Successful communication depends heavily on this trust. In the
workplace, many are tempted to violate ethics in order to achieve their personal or business goals,
and many rationalize that certain unethical practices are necessary or justified. Common violations
include:
  Producing poor quality goods or services
 Covering up mistakes, problems, or incidents
 Abusing or lying about sick leave
 Deceiving customers, subordinates, or supervisors
 Taking the credit for other people’s ideas

These all involve fallacious communication in business relationships and partnerships generally.
Specific to the communication process itself, are unethical practices that are deliberately designed to
distort the information and impressions the audience receives:

• Plagiarism and theft of intellectual property

• Deliberately imprecise or ambiguous language, including exaggerations, half-truths,

distortion of facts

• Manipulation of numerical information (misuse of statistical data)

• Use of misleading illustrations; presenting illustrations unfairly

• Promotion of prejudice; lack of objectivity

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Why is each of these unethical? Aren’t these common practices? Isn’t
the responsibility of verifying information accuracy left to the audience?

Ideally, however, assuming that the sender is completely ethical in his/her delivery, Feedback
ensures that mutual understanding has taken place in a communication. It is the transfer of
information from the receiver back to the sender. Senders should encourage feedback by asking
pertinent questions, avoiding information overload, streamlining the focus of the message, and
sending the message at the appropriate time. The best feedback is descriptive rather than evaluative
or judgmental. The receiver decodes or makes out the meaning of the message. Thus, in the
feedback loop, the receiver becomes the sender and the sender becomes the receiver.

Adapted from Supervision (Management Modern) © Gemmy Allen, 1998; Business Communication
Today, Bovëe & Thill, 2005; and Business Communication: Process and Product, Guffey, 2003