Download Introduction to business Communication

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
Communication is the process by which a message or information is
exchanged from a sender to a receiver. For example a production manager
(sender) may send a message to a sales manager (receiver) asking for sales
forecasts for the next 6 months so they can plan production levels. The sales
manager would then reply (feedback) to the production manager with the
appropriate figures.
This is an example of internal communication, i.e. when communications
occur between employees of a business. Communication therefore links
together all the different activities involved in a business and ensures all
employees are working towards the same goal and know exactly what they
should be doing and by when. Effective communication is therefore
fundamental to the success of a business.
A business will of course need to communicate with people or organisations
outside of the business. This is known as external communication. For
example a marketing manager will need to tell customers of a new special
pricing offers or the finance director may need to ask banks for a loan.
Receivers of Messages
Internal
 Workers
 Directors
 Managers
External
 Customers
 Local community
 Suppliers
 Shareholders
 Government
 Banks
The importance of good communication
Good communication has many advantages for a business: strong
communication:
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
Motivates employees – helps them feel part of the business (see
below)
Easier to control and coordinate business activity – prevents
different parts of the business going in opposite directions
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

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Makes successful decision making easier for managers– decisions
are based on more complete and accurate information
Better communication with customers will increase sales
Improve relationships with suppliers and possibly lead to more
reliable delivery
Improves chances of obtaining finance – e.g. keeping the bank upto-date about how the
The main barriers of communication are
Noise
Distortion
Gender difference
Non-verbal communication
Problems in the message
Lack of communication skills
Information overload
Noise refers to the interference or distraction that is in the environment in
which the communication is taking place.
Distortion refers to the loss of meaning of the message in handling. This
largely occurs in the encoding and decoding stages of communication.
Gender differences are a common barrier of communication. Men and
women communicate for different reasons with different styles.
Non-verbal communication is a very important barrier as oral
communication is always accompanied by non-verbal cues that have a great
tendency of encumbering the right message.
As for problems in the message, the message could be incorrect, irrelevant,
unsuitable, incomplete or difficult to understand or decipher.
Also the encoder or decoder may lack communication skills, which becomes
a barrier of communication.
Lots of information that is also termed as information overload can also be a
big hindrance in effective communication
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Communication involves many considerations. Before it is being carried, it
is essential that the manager responsible for executing the message gets fully
prepared about how, when and by what means to execute.
We often develop certain practices that appear as a major handle to smooth
flow of communication. Such practices may be termed as barriers. The
barriers are as follows:
1. Poor organization of ideas, awkward structure in adequate vocabulary,
empty words and phrases in a confusing manner.
2. Message flows from higher level to lower level and back. In course of its
flow it often passes through different levels of organization structure. This
happens sue to carelessness on the part of those responsible for
communicating it.
3. Even the most properly worded message may fail to serve its relevant and
important, although it is not the case. Such act is known as assumption
without clarification as specific reason. It is termed as unclarified
assumptions.
4. Sometimes, a subordinate assures something believing that it is relevant
and important, although it is not the case. Such act is known as assumption
without clarification as specific reason.
5. Message involving some basic changes in person or other things must
give time to the person for whom they are meant to adjust for the change
We have to understand the communication first it could be defined as.
The transfer of information, ideas or attitude from one person to another.
The person who is transferring information is source and the person who is
receiving information is receiver. This process is called communication.
In this process three things are important source, receiver and message other
wise there will be no communication.
Source à Message à Receiver.
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There are few things which should be kept in mind during a communication
campaign, and if neglected could cause barrier in communication.
1. Communication skill.
2. Knowledge of audience.
3. Attitude.
4. Social cultural context of receiver.
5. Selection of communication channel.
6. Receiver oriented message.
If we don't have proper communication skill, it is the biggest barrier in
communication.
Then comes the knowledge of audience, while communicating we should
have full awareness of knowledge of our audience, we should know how
much our audience know about the message we want to convey. If we keep
on conveying our message without knowing the knowledge or awareness of
audience chances are there they will not understand the proper meaning of it.
We should have full awareness of attitude of out targeted audience, about the
message we are conveying, how they are reacting towards it, and
communicator should also have a good attitude while dealing with audience.
Social cultural context of the targeted audience is a very important thing. If
we are communicating something in a manner which is against their society
or culture then audience will show a severe reaction towards our message.
No society accepts anything which is against their culture or religion.
While keeping in mind our targeted audience we should select a proper
communication channel, if our audience is educated and working and have
limited time and we are conveying our message for them on T.V then there
are vital chances, that message is not conveyed. News paper would be the
best channel. Just like that youngsters watch T.V more then they read news
paper. Radio will be the best channel for the people who don't have access to
T.V, i.e farmers etc.
Message should be receiver oriented should have easy language, should be
short which convey the full meaning and understandable.
If any of these things neglected, it will be the barrier in communication.
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Why you need to get your message across
Effective communication is all about conveying your messages to other
people clearly and unambiguously. It's also about receiving information that
others are sending to you, with as little distortion as possible.
Doing this involves effort from both the sender of the message and the
receiver. And it's a process that can be fraught with error, with messages
muddled by the sender, or misinterpreted by the recipient. When this isn't
detected, it can cause tremendous confusion, wasted effort and missed
opportunity.
In fact, communication is only successful when both the sender and the
receiver understand the same information as a result of the communication.
By successfully getting your message across, you convey your thoughts and
ideas effectively. When not successful, the thoughts and ideas that you
actually send do not necessarily reflect what you think, causing a
communications breakdown and creating roadblocks that stand in the way of
your goals – both personally and professionally.
In a recent survey of recruiters from companies with more than 50,000
employees, communication skills were cited as the single more important
decisive factor in choosing managers. The survey, conducted by the
University of Pittsburgh’s Katz Business School, points out that
communication skills, including written and oral presentations, as well as an
ability to work with others, are the main factor contributing to job success.
In spite of the increasing importance placed on communication skills, many
individuals continue to struggle, unable to communicate their thoughts and
ideas effectively – whether in verbal or written format. This inability makes
it nearly impossible for them to compete effectively in the workplace, and
stands in the way of career progression.
Being able to communicate effectively is therefore essential if you want to
build a successful career. To do this, you must understand what your
message is, what audience you are sending it to, and how it will be
perceived. You must also weigh-in the circumstances surrounding your
communications, such as situational and cultural context.
Communications Skills – The Importance of Removing Barriers
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Problems with communication can pop-up at every stage of the
communication process (which consists of the sender, encoding, the
channel, decoding, the receiver, feedback and the context – see the
diagram below). At each stage, there is the potential for misunderstanding
and confusion.
To be an effective communicator and to get your point across without
misunderstanding and confusion, your goal should be to lessen the frequency
of problems at each stage of this process, with clear, concise, accurate, wellplanned communications. We follow the process through below:
Source...
As the source of the message, you need to be clear about why you're
communicating, and what you want to communicate. You also need to be
confident that the information you're communicating is useful and accurate.
Message...
The message is the information that you want to communicate.
Encoding...
This is the process of transferring the information you want to communicate
into a form that can be sent and correctly decoded at the other end. Your
success in encoding depends partly on your ability to convey information
clearly and simply, but also on your ability to anticipate and eliminate
sources of confusion (for example, cultural issues, mistaken assumptions,
and missing information.)
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A key part of this is knowing your audience: Failure to understand who you
are communicating with will result in delivering messages that are
misunderstood.
Channel...
Messages are conveyed through channels, with verbal channels including
face-to-face meetings, telephone and videoconferencing; and written
channels including letters, emails, memos and reports.
Different channels have different strengths and weaknesses. For example,
it's not particularly effective to give a long list of directions verbally, while
you'll quickly cause problems if you give someone negative feedback using
email.
Decoding...
Just as successful encoding is a skill, so is successful decoding (involving,
for example, taking the time to read a message carefully, or listen actively to
it.) Just as confusion can arise from errors in encoding, it can also arise from
decoding errors. This is particularly the case if the decoder doesn't have
enough knowledge to understand the message.
Receiver...
Your message is delivered to individual members of your audience. No
doubt, you have in mind the actions or reactions you hope your message will
get from this audience. Keep in mind, though, that each of these individuals
enters into the communication process with ideas and feelings that will
undoubtedly influence their understanding of your message, and their
response. To be a successful communicator, you should consider these
before delivering your message, and act appropriately.
Feedback...
Your audience will provide you with feedback, as verbal and nonverbal
reactions to your communicated message. Pay close attention to this
feedback, as it is the only thing that can give you confidence that your
audience has understood your message. If you find that there has been a
misunderstanding, at least you have the opportunity to send the message a
second time.
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Context...
The situation in which your message is delivered is the context. This may
include the surrounding environment or broader culture (corporate culture,
international cultures, and so on).
Removing Barriers at All These Stages
To deliver your messages effectively, you must commit to breaking down
the barriers that exist within each of these stages of the communication
process.
Let’s begin with the message itself. If your message is too lengthy,
disorganized, or contains errors, you can expect the message to be
misunderstood and misinterpreted. Use of poor verbal and body language
can also confuse the message.
Barriers in context tend to stem from senders offering too much information
too fast. When in doubt here, less is oftentimes more. It is best to be mindful
of the demands on other people’s time, especially in today’s ultra-busy
society.
Once you understand this, you need to work to understand your audience’s
culture, making sure you can converse and deliver your message to people of
different backgrounds and cultures within your own organization, in your
country and even abroad.
The first skill that you'll learn in this communications skills section of
MindTools.com is 'How to Make a Great First Impression": This is essential
if you're going to have the chance to communicate your message. To read
this, click 'Next article' below. (You can learn over 50 more, equally
powerful techniques in our members area
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