Business Communication

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
MODULE – 1
INTRODUCTION
Role of Communication
Helps us understand:-
 What factors are relevant to this situation.
 Objective -
What do I want to accomplish in this situation.
 Approach -
Which is the Better way of doing it.
 Technique -
What specific methods should I use to solve it.
Communication Defined
 “Communication is interchange of thoughts ,
opinions, information, by speech, writing or signs”
- Robert Anderson
(Professional Selling)
 “Purposive interchange, resulting in workable
understanding and agreement between the sender
and receiver of a message”
- George Vardman
(Effective Communication of Ideas)
Business Communication Defined
 “Business communication is any communication

used to build partnerships, intellectual resources,
to promote an idea, a product, service, or an
organization – with the objective of creating value
for your business.”
Internal and External Communication
 Business Communication encompasses a huge
body of knowledge both internal and external for
any business.
 Internal communication includes communication

of corporate vision, strategies, plans, corporate
culture, shared values and guiding principles,
employee motivation, cross pollination of ideas
etc…
 External communication includes branding,
marketing, advertising, customer relations, public
relations, media relations, business negotiations,
etc.
 Whatever form it takes, the objective remains the
same – to create a business value
Major Classifications:-
 Can be classified on basis of..…..

 A) number of persons/ receivers to whom message is addressed:-
 i) Intrapersonal:- talking to one’s own self.
E.g. Dramatic works.
 ii) Interpersonal :- exchange of messages between two persons.
E.g. conversation, dialogue, an interview, some other cases like…
an author, a letter etc.
 iii) Group:- Can be among small groups like organization, club, class
rooms where all individuals retain their individual identity.
 iv) Mass:- occurs when the message is sent to large groups of
people
E.g. news paper, radio, T.V etc.
B) On basis of medium employed……

 i) Verbal:- means communicating with words, written or spoken
 ii) Non verbal :- includes using of pictures signs, gestures and
facial expressions for exchanging information between persons
 E.g. personal space, touch, eyes, sense of smell and time.
 iii) Meta communication:- the speaker’s choice of words
unintentionally communicates something more than what the
actual words state.
Purpose of communication
 We generally communicate to :
 Inform – directed by desire to expose, develop, and
explain the subject
 E.g. A simple statement intending to convey the
information like an ad on face creams etc.
 Persuade – the focus is on the receiver and not the

message
 E.g. Home loans ad by banks.
 The purpose of communication is to get your
message across to others clearly and
unambiguously.

 Involves effort from both the sender of the message
and the receiver.
 Is a process that can be fraught with error, with
messages often misinterpreted by the recipient.
 When not detected, it can cause tremendous
confusion, wasted effort and missed opportunity.
Process of communication
 The Linear Model:-

 Involves 5 basic questions – who?, says what?, on which
channel?, to whom?, with what effect?
 One way process
 Intended to control and manipulate the receiver.
 Assumptions that no distortions while the message passes
sender media receiver action

 Shannon Weaver Model :-
 First to point that messages can change or be blocked
 Brought in the concept of noise
 Introduced feedback as corrective to noise which may again not
be an integral part of communication process
 Viewed as another act of communication
 Two Way Communication Process:-
 Concept is more contemporary

 Receiver also acts as sender of feedback to complete the two way
flow of communication
 Also known as transactional communication
message transmitter
receiver
Communication Communication
channel symbols
 Common Problems in Two way communication:
 No perceived benefit to the audience

 Noise, disturbances-hard to hold attention
 Variations in listening skills
 Complexity of subject matter/message
 Time restraints
 Personal biases, hostility
 Responding to difficult questions
 Sidestepping sensitive issues
 Barriers to Communication
 Noise
 Selective perceptions
 Filtering
 Information overload
 Loss by transmission
 Poor retention
 Poor listening
 Emotions
 Lack of planning
 Unclarified assumptions
 Semantic problems
 Cultural barriers
 Socio psychological barriers
 Goal conflicts
 Offensive style
 Time and distance
 Abstracting
 Slanting
 Inferring
 Characteristics of successful
communication
 Candidness
 Clarity
 Completeness
 Conciseness
 Concreteness
 Correctness
 Courtesy
Importance of communication in
management
 Communication skills constitute an important
aspect of effective management.
 Some important functions of managing are -
forecasting , planning , organizing, instructing,
coordinating, controlling.
 Communication is the system by which these
operations are led and coordinated and the results
fed back
 Need for communication in management :-
(Advantages)
 To increase job performance and effectiveness

 To promote employee commitment
 To effect changes smoothly
 Inform and persuade employees regarding certain
decisions and reasons behind.
 To help understand role of an individual in an
organization
 To update employees information about the
developmental activities
 Reasons facilitating need for corporate communication:-
 Size of an organization
 New developments in IT
 The concept of human capital
 Need to learn corporate etiquette - how to greet, shake
hands, dress for success, listen converse with seniors,
clients, ladies etc…
Hence the need for man power equipped
with these skills are necessary.
 Why managers need communication skills
 To perform the following roles-

 Interpersonal role
 Informational role
 Decisional role
All these functions are performed with

the knowledge of human needs
 Communication structure in an organization
 Vertical -
Board of directors
Managing directors
Senior mgmt
Middle mgmt
Senior spvsr
Line managers
 Communication can be divided into two types:
 I) Formal:
 a) Line relationship-
Line of authority sets down the path of
communication ( general indication can be “through
proper channel” etc..)
 b) Functional Relationship-
Occurs when departments inform work
and related organizational matters to each other
 c) Staff relationship:-
 Supports line management, marketing, and production. For
e.g. communication relating to personnel, public relations,
administration etc.
 II) Informal :-
 Usually flows through ----
 Chat :-
 Grapevine:- can be attributed to a reliable source
 Merits of informal communication:-
 Uniting force
 Speed
 Creation of ideas
 Good personal relations
 Limitations:
 Rumors
 Inadequacy
 Changing interpretations
Crisis Communication
“A crisis is unpredictable
but not unexpected”
- Timothy Combs
Communication in crisis
 Definition of a Crisis
 Any situation that…
– Threatens the operations of an organization
– Negatively impacts the reputation of an organization
– Affects the lives of beneficiaries, employees or other
stakeholders
 Can be a natural or man-made disaster
– Weather-related, terrorist attacks, arson, IT theft, etc.
Overview
Pre-crisis Crisis Post - Crisis

•Scanning
•Detecting •Following -up
•Assessing situation
•Designing Tools & •Shaping
Systems
•Containing memories
•Monitoring •Recovering •Assessing
effectiveness
Learning
Nature of Crises
 Incident is brief, but its impact is devastating

 Long recovery periods
 Response involves:
– Reputation repair/communication
– Disaster recovery
– Continuation of business operations
Pre-crisis Planning
 Objective - prevent or lessen the negative

outcomes of a crisis and thereby protect the
organization, stakeholders, and/or industry
from damage
– $ loss
– reputation loss
– identity altered
Scanning
 Definition - Looking out for potential sources

of crises
 Industry-wide issue analysis
 Organization specific issue analysis
 Risk assessment (“implicit issues”)
 Stakeholder relationships
 Issue Sources  Risk Assessment Sources
– Newspapers – Safety/accident records

– Business Magazines – Ethical climate surveys
– TV News – Financial audits
– Trade Journals – Liability exposure
– Public Opinion Polls – Workers Comp.
– Medical/Science – Product tampering
Journals
– On-line (web pages,
– Risk audits (70-80%)
newsgroups, etc. – Sexual harassment
exposure
Assessing situation
 Evaluate issues in two dimensions

– likelihood
– impact
 Evaluate risks with risk mgt. grid
 Evaluate relational threats
– Power(Leverage)
– Legitimacy (Value driven)
– Willingness (Desire for action)
Designing Tools & Systems
 Select Crisis Management Team

 Select Spokespersons
 Develop Crisis Management Plan
 Prepare Crisis Communication System
Crisis Communication Mission
 Act in a decisive and timely manner

 Educate those affected with accurate, up-to-date
information (Proactive Approach)
 Involve senior management
 Manage reputation of organization
 Establish Crisis Communication Team

Business Communication

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BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

 What factors are relevant to this situation.

 “Business communication is any communication

 Internal communication includes communication

 Can be classified on basis of..…..

B) On basis of medium employed……

 Persuade – the focus is on the receiver and not the

 The Linear Model:-

sender media receiver action

 Concept is more contemporary

 No perceived benefit to the audience

 To increase job performance and effectiveness

 To perform the following roles-

All these functions are performed with

Pre-crisis Crisis Post - Crisis

 Incident is brief, but its impact is devastating

 Objective - prevent or lessen the negative

 Definition - Looking out for potential sources

– Newspapers – Safety/accident records

 Evaluate issues in two dimensions

 Select Crisis Management Team

 Act in a decisive and timely manner

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