Business Communication
Definition
Today the term communication means practically anything to everything. We use the word communication in various ways. It is not just the process of transmitting, neither is it merely the message itself. Communication is not just a set of techniques. Finally it is not just a sense of staying in touch. Communication means all these things and more.
As we can observe communication is important in any human encounter. It plays a vital role in the sharing of information. The word “Communication” comes from the Latin word of communis, which means common.
According to Fred Luthans: Communication means “The flow of material information, perceptions and understanding between various parts and members of an organization.”
According to Mary Munter “Communication is the process of sharing by which message produces response.”
According to Murphy “Communication is the process of transmitting and receiving verbal and non-verbal messages”
If we look closely at the definition given by Munter we can see the details of communication. By Process she means that communication is not an end but in itself a process as a whole. By the phrase sharing she implies that communication is not just”sending” messages but sharing of ideas from both ends. The message indicates that communication is not only what is on a piece of paper but it is a lot more, it includes all ideas in the sender’s mind, how it is transmitted, how it is received and how it is perceived, meaning how it is understood, it also means that communication is not just verbal it is also non-verbal. The last part produces response means it is not just sending the information but getting a response from it and that too an effective one.
Importance
Murphy further states that Communication is the lifeblood of every organization. Here the importance of communication is implied. Let’s see why communication is important. As it has been mentioned that communication is vital to any human encounter, communication is important to human society and to organizations in general. The world of business is a world of action; Products are designed, made and sold. People are hired, services are rendered, policies are made, and jobs are learned and performed. Yet there is no practical way in which any of these events can take place without communication.
Although communication has always been important for business, it is especially important today as companies grow larger and larger, more mergers more departments more branches and international networks make it much complex for us to communicate within organizations and outside of them.
Effective Communication
Every one communicates in his/her own special way; we need to communicate to get our ideas across to others. What is then meant by effective communication when we can get our ideas across to others easily? Effective communication simply means to communicate in such a manner that we get our desired response from our audience. Audience means the receiver of our message. If we don’t get our desired response then our communication was not effective. Different messages and different situations have different responses or feedback. Some times we just require a simple nod of the head; sometimes we require a full page of written reply to our message. Whatever the case or condition may be if we get our required feedback then we have communicated effectively.
Types of languages with respect to Business communication
Formal Language
Informal Language
Formal language is used when we tend to business areas. The business affairs can be termed as some of the follows:
Sending letters to different people on behalf of the company
Placing orders for different products.
Hiring people
Preparing reports both oral and written
Writing memos to other employees
Applying for jobs
In addition to the above stated, all communication done in business affairs uses formal languages, we have to be careful while using formal language that we don’t get the wrong ideas across. We don’t use slang and words that might not be proper in this regard.
Informal language is used when we are not dealing with business areas such as private discussions, gathering with friends and family and sharing ideas. Informal language is often used to get ideas across rapidly; short form words are used and are supported by easily understandable slang.
Components of communication(Factors of communication / elements of communication or process of communication)
Context / Social environment
Sender
Message
Medium
Receiver
Feedback
Context
Every message whether oral or written begins with context, context is a broad field which includes country, culture, organization and other external and internal factors. What we communicate primarily depends on the social environment we are in, some things regarded as right might be otherwise wrong to other cultures or organizations. While communicating we have to be aware of this fact. If we neglect this fact our ideas might be misunderstood or the whole idea might be rejected.
Sender
When we send a message we are the encoder, the writer, speaker or presenter depending on the situation and whether our message is oral or written. We try to choose such language and words that are easily identifiable and comprehensive to others. If we use the wrong language or the wrong words we might not get our ideas across let alone get a favorable response.
Message
The message is the main idea we wish to communicate. It includes both verbal and non-verbal symbols. Our first task is to decide what our message is and what we are trying to convey. We try to focus on how our ideas will be decoded by the receiver will it be understood clearly or not. We have to consider the requirements of our message. Do we have to give any answers? Do we have to communicate any particular information? And do we need to get something done?
Medium
Medium is the way through which the message is transmitted; it can be the printed word, electronic mail or sound. The medium depends on the context factor discussed earlier. In other words we can say medium means whether we should speak or write and if we write in what manner or format. The written medium is preferred when the message is usually long, technical or formal in nature or should be documented. The oral medium is effective when the message is urgent or immediate feedback is required.
Receiver
Receiver is the person who decodes or deciphers our message. Receiver is the one reading or listening to our message. A lot of messages have more than one receiver. We know that no two people think in the same way. So it depends a lot on our receiver how the message is decoded and it might also cause the message to be taken in a different meaning as it was originally meant.
Feedback
In the end the receiver acts on the message received. Feedback may be oral or written; it may be a message or an action or simply silence. It can be either positive or negative; every message has a feedback or response. We cannot say that there was no response to our message even silence is a kind of feedback or response. Effective communication is where we get our required feedback or response.
Barriers of communication (Problems in communication)
(Why is Communication imperfect?)
We have seen that communication is a complex process, even if we try our level best in preparing, the receiver might take it differently or there may be other problems which might cause our communication to be distorted or problematic.
There are two sets of barriers to communication
Psychological barriers
Physiological barriers
Psychological barriers
We know that no two people think alike so there will be problems when our messages are taken differently from different people. Psychological barriers include peoples’ emotions, perceptions and selectivity.
Emotional
One possible psychological block is emotional. For example if you are announcing a new policy which you know will be unpopular you will be emotionally blocked, giving the first major presentation for your job, writing a letter to someone you dislike you will be emotionally blocked. The people we are communicating to may also have emotional blocks. They may feel indifferent or hostile towards our subject or can be biased against us or our subject.
Perceptual
Even if there are no emotional blocks every person perceives things differently. Communication involves perception and perception is never accurate. One perceptual problem is that people perceive things differently. Some people might look at a picture from a different angle and some might look at it from another angle. Imagine every person in the company reading an annual report. The accountant will only be reading the financial statements and their footnotes, the sales manager will only be interested in the sales volume and value and the public relation officer will only be interested in the quality of the paper. Also consider this: A father and his son are driving to work one morning when suddenly they’re involved in a terrible accident. The father is killed instantly and the son is badly hurt. He is taken quickly to a hospital where the nurse says we have to take him to the surgery room immediately or he will die; they rush him to the surgery room. The surgeon walks in takes one look at the boy, and says, “I can’t operate on him. He’s my son.” How can this be? There are a lot of answers which might pop up in the mind; it was a miracle, the father had super powers and a lot of other ones but the correct answer is that the surgeon was the boy’s mother.
Selectivity
A final set of psychological barriers exist because of competition for people’s time and attention. In our daily lives we are bombarded with a huge amount of information from different sources. We only remember the information which we have selected to remember which we think is important to us or is somehow connected to us. The rest of the information is discarded from the mind as garbage. Another thing is that we remember the extremes of everything and forget the moderate information.
Physical barriers
The second set of barriers exist because of the words we use or the way things look, in other words the language we use and our surroundings. These barriers can be summed up into semantic blocks and physical barriers.
Semantic blocks
Words as we know are symbols and therefore limited because they cannot have precisely the same meaning for everyone. Since words can mean different things, their different meanings may block communication. The study of word choice is called Semantics, so the barriers associated with use of words are known as semantic blocks. These arise due to denotation and connotation. Denotation means the dictionary meaning of a word and connotation is an implication of a word or a suggestion separate from the usual meaning.
Take the following examples: Cheap or inexpensive, heavy or weighty, divide and sever
Elevated and alleviated, proclaim and exclaim.
Physical barriers
Communication does not consist of words alone. Another set of barriers is caused by physical appearance, audience or the context of the document or presentation. For written communication take the examples of bad handwriting, unclear photocopies, water or tea spots, messy overwriting. Another set of barriers might be caused by the paper itself. For oral communication the examples are bad seating arrangements, loud noises inside and outside the room, slamming doors, ringing telephones.
The Seven (7) C’s of Effective communication(Principles of communication)
Completeness
Conciseness
Consideration
Concreteness
Clarity
Courtesy
Correctness
Additions:
Confidence
Conversational tone
Completeness
Your business message is complete when you have given everything that is required to induce a reaction from the audience (reader). Your message should be complete in all terms of data and facts. To accomplish this you need to follow this guideline:
Provide all necessary information
Answer all questions asked
Give something extra, if desired
This means you have to provide all the necessary information required to complete your message which means all the facts and all the details. Secondly if you are replying to a message make sure that you answer all questions asked in the request or message that you are replying to, in the last give a little something extra to the reader as this extra information might help the reader but only when desirable, be careful not to put in too much extra information.
Conciseness
Conciseness means to convey your message in the least possible words, meaning in a nut shell. While following conciseness do not in any case sacrifice the other principles of communication. To make your message concise follow this guideline:
Discard lengthy expressions
Only add relevant facts
Avoid unnecessary repetition
This means do not use lengthy sentences where short sentences can suffice just to make your message longer, secondly do not put in a lot of extra information in your message and in the last do not repeat things which the reader already knows or have already been mentioned.
Consideration
Consideration means to prepare messages considering the receivers of the communication, not yourself. Consideration means while preparing your message try to imagine yourself in place of the audience. Consider what there situation, problem or circumstances might be, then prepare the message. For consideration in communication the following guideline should be followed:
Focus on “You” instead of “I” or “We”
Show audience benefits
Focus on positive and pleasant information
By this it means that the message should use the word “You” in places of “I” and “We” and sentences should then be structured for the message. The audience will react more effectively if they see something of their benefit in your message and lastly no one likes bad ideas or bad news so try to be more positive and friendly.
Concreteness
Concrete basically means the mixture of cement and gravel used for construction purposes, concrete here means that your message should be strong and the ideas in that message should be well established. It means you should be precise and sure of what you are communicating not unsure or indefinite. In order to be concrete while communicating follow this guideline:
Use specific facts and figures
Put action in your verbs
Choose vivid and image-building words
Whenever possible use all facts and figures with exact information not vague ideas for example do not use some time ago use 3 days ago instead. Be precise about your facts. Try to use active voice instead of passive voice in your message as it relates to the readers and they can picture themselves in the message. Use words which the reader can relate to and make out like in real life. “The best story teller is the one who takes the reader to the place mentioned in the story and puts the reader in the main character.”
Clarity
It does not mean anything but that the message should be conveyed in a clear manner. The reader should not get confused after reading your message. You should be accurate in what you want to say. To achieve clarity use this guideline:
Choose concrete, easy and familiar words
Structure effective and easy paragraphs
Use words which convey precise information easily and the reader can easily read, don’t use words that are not common and are used rarely in only a few situations. Use paragraphs that are easy to read with small sentences and easy language, grammar and punctuation. This will help make your message much more effective.
Courtesy
Courtesy is basically being aware of other people’s values and feelings and respecting them, it does not only mean mere politeness such as words thank you or please but it means much more. Remember that a more courteous message will leave a good and lasting impression on your receiver. Courtesy means to have respect and concern for others. For courtesy in your messages the guideline is:
Be sincerely thoughtful and appreciative
Use sentences which show respect
Do not use discriminatory remarks
This means that you have to appreciate other people and use sentences which have a reflection of respect in them. No one wants to read or hear messages which offend them in any way whatsoever. Moreover you should not use any remarks or gestures that would normally offend other people like religion, race, color, gender etc.
Correctness
As the word suggests correctness is all about being correct in all terms in language as well as in facts and information. You should use proper grammar, punctuation, spelling and tone. Not only this, you have to check whether the information you are giving in your message is accurate or not. Guideline for correctness:
Use correct level of language
Verify accuracy of facts, figures and information
Use acceptable medium of messages
The correct level of language means you have to use the level that is most suited with your audience not the level you think is better because the message is intended for the reader not yourself. If you are giving any details in your message such as figures or facts check that they are correct and verify the sources you took the data from. Acceptable medium means use ways in which communication is usually done, do not attempt to discover new ways of communicating which would confuse your audience.
Confidence
Remember when you communicate you should show confidence in yourself because this will impact the receiver’s mind. As the case is when someone tells a truth half-heartedly and without much self-confidence people tend not to believe, but if the same person tells a lie with full confidence people usually believe what is being said. So the sender should always show confidence in one’s self. Do not use words which reflect that you do not have much confidence such as I hope, I believe, maybe, I think.
Conversational Tone
This means that you should prepare your message in such a way that the receiver is right in front of you. The reader should be reading as if talking to you face to face instead of just reading a piece of paper. This means that your message should be formal to a limit not over the edge formal, if this happens the reader will lose interest in the message and you might fail to get a desired response.
Seven principles to improve writing skills
(Guideline to improve writing skills)
1. Learn Grammar
Every language has its own grammar and knowledge of grammar is necessary to use that language accurately and effectively. Improve your grammar skills to make you writing more effective.
2. Enhance your vocabulary
Vocabulary means the collection of words you have at your disposal when writing or speaking, the more words you remember the better. Vocabulary can be mainly increased through reading English novels and newspapers and consulting dictionaries.
3. Keep a Dictionary
Always keep a standard dictionary in your reach because it improves your chances of being effective as you will get help not only in meanings of words but in pronunciation as well as spellings of different words.
4. Develop reading habit
Remember that the best writer is the one who reads the most as by reading you get more ideas and your grammar as well as vocabulary increases and develops. In order to become an effective writer you should become a frequent reader.
5. Develop writing habit
Effective writing not only comes from excessive reading but from writing as well. As it is said “Practice makes perfect”. Make it a routine to write something like stories, notes or anything else that you prefer. The more you write in a language the more your chances are of getting better in that language.
6. Develop your imagination
Imagination means the ideas that come to your mind while in the process of writing and speaking, great writers have a great imagination that is why they are able to write amazing stories and articles. Without good imagination perfect grammar and best vocabulary means nothing.
7. Improve knowledge of the subject
Knowledge of the subject means the knowledge of what you are writing, suppose you want to write something about Information Technology but if you do not even know what information technology is you cannot even write a single line. Increase your knowledge by various ways; read, listen and research.
Planning steps of communication
As the case is nothing is accomplished while thorough and steady planning. Planning makes everything more achievable and more goal oriented. So there is a need for planning in communication as well. The basic planning steps to communication are:
Identify your purpose
Analyze your audience
Choose your ideas
Collect your data
Organize your message
Identify your purpose
The first step when planning your communication is to determine your main purpose. You must know what you are trying to achieve. It may be sales, accepting proposals or granting or refusing requests, whatever the main objective the underlying purpose will be the creation of goodwill. This means that a message has two purposes first is the main idea and the second one being the creation of goodwill.
Analyze your audience
With the first step taken care of the next step is to visualize your receiver. Knowing the background of the receiver in all terms such as culture, organization, values and rank is essential. The age, qualification, education, status and technical abilities of the receiver are important as well.
Choose your ideas
Now that the purpose and objective for communication has been established and the receiver visualized your next step is to choose your ideas, which means you have to choose what will be included in your message according to the type of your message.
You should first make a draft where you should put down all your ideas then in the final letter you will list down your ideas according to importance and need.
Collect your data
Data is of key importance in your communication as it will support your message in a variety of ways. You must determine whether you need specific charts, figures or quotations to support your message. Also make sure to check on the sources from where you collect your data for accuracy as misrepresentation of data might prove fatal.
Organize your message
Before you prepare your message finally make an outline of the message in your mind and feel what might make your message more audience friendly and easier to understand it should not be messy or disorganized. This will require you to select on the different approaches of communication, the direct or indirect approach to communication.
In the end do not forget to revise and proof read your message as there is always room for corrections and perfection.
Legal aspects of communication
As the volume of business communication increases so does the risk of getting things wrong or saying what was not meant to be said. You have to be very careful while communicating as a single word might cause a case to be filed against you or your organization. To avoid these circumstances be honest and respectful to others while communicating. Speak or write to others as you would like others to speak or write to you. From a legal aspect remember even true sentences can lead to a legal action while some untrue words or sentences might go unnoticed or be harmless.
To avoid legal complications the following points should be kept in mind
Defamation
Invasion pf privacy
Misrepresentation and Fraud
Employment, credit and collections
Other areas of caution
Defamation
Defamation is the communication of a statement which tends to be false or harmful to an individual’s or organization’s character, reputation or fame. Defamation is the result of the following:
Slander is oral defamation which means it is spoken words, signs or gestures which defame a person in the eyes of others. Slander is also known as calumny.
Libel is written defamation which means that it is defamation through the written word. If you write something which might injure the reputation of someone he might sue you in the court of law.
Note that the key element in defamation is making certain information public. This statement leads to two legal terms: Publication and privilege
Publication means that you make some defamatory material public or communicate it to a third party. A private letter or conversation about a person regarding his/her inabilities is fine but if you communicate this information to a third party you are making this public whereby you are defaming. The same goes for making any other injurious information about a person public so even if there is no choice try your level best that you do not have to go public with such information.
Privilege is the legal right of a person or persons to communicate defamatory statements in certain conditions and situations. Privilege is divided into two parts (i) Absolute privilege, (ii) Conditional privilege
Absolute privilege is the right of a person due to his/her rank, position, nature or status in an organization or society, it is possible in three situations (a) Court proceedings, (b) Legislative proceedings, (c) Actions of important Government officials.
Conditional privilege arises from different situations where one has a temporary privilege in certain conditions. Suppose if someone inquires you about a person before hiring or granting a loan to that person and you think that person is not worthy reply in a true manner and do not mislead in this situation you have conditional privilege, but you also have to be careful if you give negative remarks and that person was indeed worthy of that job or loan you might be sued for damages.
Invasion of privacy
Every human being has the right to privacy, whenever someone intrudes into personal matters of an individual it is termed as invasion of privacy. In other words we can say whenever someone trespasses into another person’s private matters it would be invasion of privacy. According to this definition it means that one should be free to work in the work area without anyone trespassing into it. Same goes for land and confidential information. Everyone has the right to keep their information private from others. This information might include: a) someone’s personal disabilities, b) Personal facts and private matters. c) Past records, reports, data and results etc.
Misrepresentation and Fraud
Fraud basically means when we misrepresent material information or when we change facts and figures intentionally or when we hide some facts from someone. False representation whether in a direct or indirect manner leads to fraud. People usually provide false information or hide some facts for their own benefits in some manner for their own profit or use. Due to fraud people are deceived and act on that deception resulting in a loss of some sort.
Warranties
Warranties are basically an undertaking by the seller of a product that the product being sold is in a certain condition, state, nature and of a certain quality. Warranties may be express or implied.
Express warranties are those which are created by a seller’s direct statements regarding the product, its characteristics, its properties and its condition. If the product is later found to be in some other state than initially stated it would result in a fraud.
Implied warranties are those which are not directly stated by the seller but are rather implied even if the seller says nothing about them. They may arise out of an action of the seller or by an indirect statement by the seller.
Fraud can take up a lot of different forms including credit card fraud, computer fraud, sales of goods fraud, documentary fraud and many other forms of fraud. We have to be very careful while communicating that we do not commit some sort of fraud.
Employment, credit and collections
The employee has the right to some information regarding the personal and professional facts. We have to be careful when an enquiry is being made concerning a employee we have to be true and honest while recommending a former employee to an other company. As this information is crucial to the employee, the new company and your own company, we have to report the true facts and not withhold any information that would benefit the applying person.
But there is also another situation when we cannot recommend a person to some other company due to any reason; again we have to be careful and diplomatic. The non-recommendation should not be written and should be communicated to the concerned person only not in front of someone else. The name of the applying person or any other information identifying that person should not be included.
Other areas of caution
Computer data is very easily accessed, but some data is of confidential nature and we have to be careful while accessing such data. Copyright material such as books and software cannot be copied without permission of the owner. Confidential and prohibited documents should not be copied and we should be honest and fair with any type of communication. We should consult our lawyers in case of any confusion in these legal matters and furthermore we should be aware of our legal responsibility.
Channels of Communication
Channel of communication means how communication flows from one point to another point. It may be divided into the following types
Internal Communication
External Communication
Internal Communication
When the flow of communication is within an organization it is internal communication. It does not include outsiders. Internal communication helps people to interact in the organization to plan, organize, staff, lead and control. It is used by all people in the organization at every level. It is Intra-company communication. Internal communication can be further subdivided into the following parts or channels:
Horizontal communication
Downward communication
Upward communication
Horizontal Communication
It is the communication between people of the same department, or with other people of the same level in other departments. It is also called cross-wise communication. Horizontal communication helps in sharing information through meetings, chats, brain storming sessions and peer-to-peer talk.
Downward communication
When the flow of communication is from the superior level to a downward level it is called downward communication. When managers pass instructions to subordinates they are using the downward channel of communication. Downward communication helps in leading, giving policies and procedures, assigning tasks and controlling subordinates.
Upward Communication
When the flow of communication is from the subordinate to the upper level it is called upward communication. When subordinates submit reports and give information to managers they are using upward channel of communication. Upward communication helps in submitting reports, appeals, requests, sharing problems or asking for advice and guidance.
2. External Communication
In external communication the flow of information is outside the organization. It is Inter-company communication. It is used to communicate with vendors, suppliers, competitors, Government, Consumer groups and general public. In external communication special care and consideration has to be given as it is also important for the goodwill and image of the company. Legal aspects are also given special attention while communicating externally.
Organizational plans:
Organizational plans basically help us to organize our message so it can be effective when it is communicated. Murphy describes the Basic Organizational Plans in two ways