The importance of business communication:
- Process of making contacts
- Actual physical movements of items or people (transfer of messages from a person/place to another)
- Computers play an important part in communication
- Communication is vital in businesses to make contacts with customers, suppliers and internal elements.
4 elements of communication: the transmitter, the message, the medium & the receiver.
- The transmitter – a person/an organisation who/which sends the communication,
- The message – is the information that is to be communicated,
- The medium – is the method to be used (letter or telephone) and
- The receiver – is the person for whom the message is intended.
Effective communication requires all the elements to be clear and precise to operate efficiently and to create a good public good image.
Expensive aspect of a firm’s operation, need to decide the most effective method (used in economic manner).
External Communication
- Communication between a firm and other sites – use postal communication and telecommunication.
- Other means are advertising & transport.
- Advertising is the method by which a business makes potential customers aware of the products and services it offers.
- Transport is a mean of making contact between two distant points – workers go to and from work, to carry raw materials to the products and to distribute finished products.
Internal Communication
- It is very important because it plays a crucial part in the smooth and effective running of the organisation
- The purpose is to inform, organise, direct, motivate and negotiate
- Keep informed of the activities of other sections to different parts of the organisation to achieve the aims of the firm
- Motivating employees or dept is a major element to get maximum benefit form their efforts.
- To avoid conflicts of interest, management have to make formal discussions and interviews but often through formal business meetings.
Three methods of internal communication
1. Written
- Letters – one of the most common forms of written comm. Not used internally, used for formal comm. E.g. notices of appointment, promotion and dismissal
- Memorandum – used between members of the same firm, e.g. brief notes and standard printed form.
- Minutes – written summary of what has taken place at a meeting, e.g. records of attendance
- Reports – individuals or groups who solve a problem, they put in writing and circulate to other members
- Notices – to inform employees about firm’s development, safety notices and social or welfare information
2. Oral
- Spoken – the most common & direct form of comm.. e.g. instructions by supervisor carried out face to face
- Interviews – useful for individual discussions. E.g. selecting new staff and promotion
- Meetings – communication between groups of people when individual discussions are not convenient
- Telephone, intercom and paging – contact made between members and sections of the firm when face to face is not convenient
3. Visual
- Communicate info by using picture, to make it interesting, using charts and graphs, use colour and shading
E.g. pie chart, bar chart, histogram, line graph and pictogram
Effective communication skills will:
- Increase confidence, credibility and competence
- Reduce misunderstandings and confusion
- Save time for everyone
- Help you better defend your positions on project and budget matters.
When you know how to communicate effectively, you are able to:
- Develop and express ideas and opinions
- Listen for and accurately repeat what others say
- Choose the correct words for your listeners and put feelings
The non-verbal element speaks as loudly as the verbal element.
Managers should understand other’s non-verbal cues and learn to use these cues to maximise the effectiveness of communication.
IMPACT OF NON-VERBAL CUES ON COMMUNICATION PROCESS
Non-verbal cues can affect the communication process by:
1. Confirming a verbal message – when a person to an object while mentioning it in a conversation
2. Replacing – replace spoken words. E.g. negative nod replacing a verbal negative response.
3. Contradicting – give element of confusion, non-verbal cues are more reliable. E.g. facial expressions in pain, but he is feeling fine
4. Emphasising – support the verbal message, e.g. slowing down in speech and pounds the podium to stress the key words.
The most common way is through body language, paralanguage and proxemics & time.
a. Body Language - gesture, posture, facial expression, eye contact & touch
Gesture – cues about emotional state; occurs with certain facial expressions, e.g. as people become more excited, their gestures tend to become more expansive.
Anger & hostility – signalled through clenched fists
Nervousness – finger & foot tapping
Uneasiness or disinterest – folding one’s arms across the chest
Openness & receptivity – opened arms & hands
Head nodding – affirmative & negative nod from the listener shows agreement & disagreement with the speaker’s message and signals.
Posture – signals about individual mood
Facial expressions – face is the most expressive.
Anger – through jaw, lips, eyes & forehead
Happiness – through lips & eyes
Disgust – through lips, eyes & forehead
Sadness & fear – through eyes & forehead
People often use facial expressions to hide their true feelings. Facial expressions inconsistent with the message add an element of confusion. Therefore it’s difficult to believe the verbal or the non-verbal.
Maintain eye contact – signals the channel is open & continue listening
Touching – handshake when greeting people, a pat on the back indicates solidarity, approval & support.
b. Paralanguage
The way people express themselves. It gives more meaning than verbal.
Range - speaking in a monotone gives impression of disinterest, while more variable range give impression of commitment & enthusiasm
Rate of speaking – change in rate is used to emphasise the importance of ideas & thoughts.
Pitch - high-pitched signals excitement & enthusiasm while low-pitched signals seriousness.
Volume - the loudness & softness of voice
Pauses - indicates contemplation & recapture the listener’s attention.
Intrusions - “ah” or “um” signal tension, a feeling of pressure or lack of certainty.
c. Proxemics
It is the way people structure their territory & space. When their space is inhibited, employees tend to become less comfortable & more inhibited. E.g. when a boss wants to discuss with an employee, find a neutral place. Informal conversation is better done in the office rather than around manager’s desk.
Warm & cheerful room creates more cordial communicating atmosphere.
Cold & unfriendly ambience may detract
Nature of the seating arrangements – sitting beside one another makes communication more difficult than those sitting across one another.
d. Time
Provide insight into the importance of the message. E.g. Late for an appointment – is the negative non-verbal message interpreted as undependable, unreliable & unorganised.
What are barriers to effective communication?
1. Taking certain things or people for granted. E.g. we thought that a person can solve problem because he has the background, actually he knows very little & vice versa.
2. Mistakenly believe. E.g. subordinates are believed reluctant to interact with their superiors, actually subordinates have all the time to see the supervisors.
3. Downward communication (management to subordinates) Uncertain whether the message was received, understood or interpreted correctly. What management believes is a reasonable rationale for a certain course of action, subordinates may think that management wants to manipulate them.
4. Upward communication. E.g. they tend to transmit only the information that enhances their standing with their superiors. Subordinates provide information they believe the management wants to hear.
5. Semantics – words mean differently to different people. E.g. Tomorrow means tomorrow to the US businesspeople but it means some time in the future to the Arabs.
6. Other communication barriers:
