Download Chapter 1: Excellence in Business Communication - siwah-usk

1.1
Chapter 1
Understanding Business
Communication
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
1.2
Chapter 1 Objectives
 Explain why effective communication
is important in organizations and how
it can help you succeed in business.
 Discuss four changes in the
workplace that are intensifying the
need to communicate effectively.
 Describe how organizations share
information internally and externally.
 List and define the six phases of the
communication process.
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
1.3
Chapter 1 Objectives
continued
 Identify four types of communication
barriers.
 Discuss four guidelines for overcoming
communication barriers.
 Differentiate between an ethical dilemma
and an ethical lapse.
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
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Effective Communication
Communication is the process of sending and
receiving messages.
It is effective only when people
 understand each other
 stimulate others to
take action
 encourage others to
think in new ways
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
1.5
Organizational Benefits
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Increase productivity
Anticipate problems
Make decisions
Coordinate workflow
Supervise others
Develop relationships
Promote products
Shape impressions you make
Understand needs of stakeholders
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
1.6
Why Good Communication?
 Increases chances for career success
Good communication skills are the
number one predictor of promotion and
success in the work world.
 Helps you adapt to today’s changing
workplace
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To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
Adapting to the
Changing Workplace
Technology
Advances
Globalization
Age of Information
Team-based groups
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
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1.8
So what?
 To improve communication skills, you
need to:
 Practice
 Gain experience
 Make the most of the opportunities
presented in this course
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
1.9
Communicating in Organizations
 When you join an organization, you
become a link in its information chain: you
have information that others need, and
they have information that you need.
 Internal communication is the exchange of
information and ideas within an
organization.
 Effective internal communicators use both
formal and informal channels.
 Formal internal communication channels
are defined by the official chain of
command
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
Formal Internal
Communication Network
Downward
Upward
Supervisor
Supervisor
Staff
Staff
Horizontal
Department
Department
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
1.10
Quick
Quiz
Upward or Downward
Communication?
 Weekly accident report from line
supervisor to personnel manager
 Memo from department supervisor to
staff members telling them of
upcoming departmental meeting
 Meeting between marketing team and
production team
1. Upward
2. Downward
3. Horizontal
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
1.11
Informal Internal
Communications
 Informal internal communication channels:
Reflect the organizations actual
communication practices
 Have no set hierarchical path
 Are often called the grapevine
 The grapevine is:
 Used by savvy managers to spread and
receive informal messages
 Minimized by sophisticated companies by
making certain that the official word gets out
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To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
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External Communication
 External communication is the exchange
of information and ideas with outsiders.
 External communication can be in the
form of a letter, a Web page, a phone call,
a fax, an e-mail, a videotape, a face-toface meeting, etc.
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
1.14
External Communication
Customers
Venders
Investors
Company
Distributors
Competitors
Journalists
Community
Representatives
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
1.15
Outside Communication
Formal
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Press statements, investor letters,
advertisements, price changes, and litigation
updates
Usually prepared by marketing or public
relations team
Informal
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Employees create an impression of the
organization and gain information when they
interact or network with the outside world.
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
1.16
Communication Process
Sender
has an
idea
Receiver
gives
feedback
Sender
encodes
idea
Receiver
decodes
message
Sender
transmits
Receiver
gets
message
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
1.17
The Communication Process
 The six phases of the communication
process are repeated until both parties
finish expressing themselves.
 Communication succeeds only when the
receiver understands the message the
sender intended.
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
Recognizing Communication
Barriers
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 A communication barrier (or noise) is any
interference in the communication process
that distorts or obscures the sender’s
meaning.
 Perceptual Differences
 Restrictive Environments
 Distractions
 Deceptive Tactics
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
Traits of Good
Communicators
Perceptive
Precise
Congenial
In Control
Credible
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
1.19
Guidelines to Becoming a
Good Communicator
1. Adopt an audience-centered approach.
2. Foster open communication.
3. Create clean, efficient messages.
4. Be ethical in your communications.
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
1.20
Audience-Centered
Approach
 Always make your message meaningful
to your audience.
 Learn all you can about your audience.
 Use common sense and imagination to
project yourself into the audience’s
position.
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
1.21
Climate of Open
Communication
 Make sure information flows freely
down, up, and across the
organization.
 Encourage candor and honesty.
 Reduce the number of levels in the
organizational hierarchy or the
number of steps in the
communication chain.
 Facilitate feedback from others.
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
1.22
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Lean, Efficient Messages
 Deleting unnecessary information
 Making necessary information easily
available
 Trying to give information meaning (rather
than just passing it on)
 Setting priorities for dealing with overall
message flow
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
1.24
Ethical Communication
 Ethics are the principles of conduct that
govern a person or group.
 Ethical Communication includes all
relevant information, is true in every
sense, and is not deceptive in any way.
 Commit to ethical communication.
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
1.25
Ethical Communications
 An ethical dilemma involves choosing
among alternatives that are not clear-cut:
 Two conflicting alternatives that are both
ethical and valid
 Two alternatives that lie somewhere in
the vast gray area between right and
wrong
 An ethical lapse involves making a clearly
unethical or illegal choice.
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
1.26
Ethical Communications
 How to test whether a message is ethical:
 Is it legal? Does it comply with the law?
 When the law does not apply, consider the
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moral implications of the message.
Is it balanced? Is it fair to all concerned?
Figure out who it will benefit or harm.
Find out how much benefit or harm it will do.
Is it a message you can live with? Does it make
you feel good about yourself?
Ask how you would feel if a newspaper
published it.
Ask how you would feel if your family knew
about it.
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall
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The End
To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e , Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall