BUSINESS DISCOURSE and COMMUNICATION Seminar Worksheet Introduction Professional communication covers the use of written and spoken

n language in work-related contexts, between professionals, as representatives of an institution, or between professionals and lay persons, both parties being interested in fulfilling their practical tasks and goals. It follows that institutional communication is primarily purpose oriented. Therefore, asking the following questions when planning your communication will give it a better chance of success and make the task easier: - Why? (purpose) Why am I communicating? What am I hoping to achieve? - Who? (audience) Who exactly is my audience (personality, age, status)? What do they need to know? How are they likely to react to my message? - Where and When? The answers to these questions will help us find answers to What? (content) What exactly do I want to say? What do I need to say? What do they need to know? What information can I omit? What information must I include in order be clear, concise, correct, and complete? How? What tone and style should I engage to sound courteous and constructive?

I. Areas of business communication skills Business communication comprises four areas of competencies: (i) oral interpersonal skills, (ii) business writing skills, (iii) basic English skills, and (iv) other business communication abilities. The skills involved in effective business communication are specified in this table. Oral interpersonal skills - analyse the audience before, during, and after the interaction - listen effectively - maintain eye contact - use voice effectively and strategically for emphasis - establish rapport with the audience - use appropriate body actions in interpersonal communication - ask appropriate questions and give appropriate responses - use appropriate register conversational or formal - present information objectively - organise presentations, conduct and participate in meetings, interviews, and negotiations - use audio-visual aids professionally Basic English skills - spell and punctuate documents correctly - use correct grammar - use appropriate/correct business vocabulary Writing skills - write well clearly, concisely, correctly, completely - write naturally and on the readers level - organise info into effective sentences and paragraphs - provide effective transition between ideas - use subordination and emphasis techniques - write persuasively - use psychological factors in writing positive words, you concept, service attitude, goodwill - select an indirect or direct approach based on the situation - use jargon in appropriate situations - write routine letters order, acknowledgement, inquiry, etc. - write special types of letter sales, applications, complaints/grievances, business proposals, etc. - word process/compose at the keyboard Other business communication skills - apply ethics, and values in business situations to determine sociable responsible actions - understand personal values and show sensitivity to the values of others - assess own needs and behaviour - use principles of time management to organise work efficiently - locate outside sources of information to improve knowledge and skills - collect, classify, and analyse information about business situations - use creative thinking in developing solutions; select effective solutions - exhibit leadership by influencing and persuading - know the importance of feedback in the communication cycle - apply knowledge of intercultural differences to communication situations

II. Management functions of corporate communication Corporate communication is the total of a companys efforts to communicate effectively and profitably. It includes such management functions as: - public relations - investor relations - employee relations - community relations - advertising - media relations - labour relations - government relations - technical communications - management communications - crisis and emergency communications, etc. III. Developing a communication plan Whether planning your internal or external communication efforts, it helps a great deal to develop a communication strategy. Such a plan will contain these three stages: 1) Discover a) Study (organisation, people, communication systems) b) Discern critical issues c) Establish goals 2) Create strategy and implement it 3) Assess Consider the following questions and associate each with one of the three stages of the communication plan. a) Whats the best approach to reach each key stakeholder, including whom/how the message should be conveyed? b) To what key stakeholder do you want to convey the key message (e.g. consider employees, clients, community leaders, service providers, etc.)? c) How wil you know if you are reaching these stakeholders or not? d) What key messages do you want to convey? IV. Levels of corporate communication Separate recommendations (1-10) according to the direction of communication. 1) Ensure all employees receive yearly performance reviews, including their goals for the year, updated job descriptions, accomplishments, needs for improvement, and plans to help them accomplish the improvements. 2) Ensure all employees give regular status reports to their supervisors. Include a section for what they did last week, will do next week, and any actions/issues to address. 3) Ensure every employee receives a copy of the strategic plan, which includes the organisations mission, vision, values statement, strategic goals and strategies about how those goals will be reached. 4) Ensure all supervisors meet once a month with their employees to discuss how its going, hear any current concerns, etc. Even if the meeting is chitchat, it cultivates an important relationship between supervisor and emoployee. 5) Ensure every employee has a copy of their job descriprion and the organisation chart. 6) Use management and staff meetings to solicit feedback. Do a round table approach to hear from each person. 7) Act on feedback from others. Write it down. Get back to it if only to say you cannot do anything about the reported problem or suggestion. 8) Leaders and managers should have face-to-face contact with employees at least once a week. 9) Regularly hold management meetings, even if theres nothing pressing to report. 10) Ensure every employee receives an employee handbook that contains all up-to-date personnel policies

V. Linguistic conduct in workplace talk Discourse oriented to business settings involves recurrent patterns shaped by the contingencies posed by specialised sets of situated identities associated with particular tasks to be accomplished. Participants orientation to goal accomplishment with a particular organisation/institution is reflected in the linguistic resources they strategically use to act their work-related roles. a) Person reference 1 Consider the following emergency call between the desk officer (D) and a caller (C) and analyse the use of the pronouns highlighted. 1. Desk (D): Mid-city Emergency. (Pause) Hello? Whats thuh problem? 2. Caller (C): We have an unconscious, uh diabetic 3. D: Are they insideuv a building? 4. C: Yes, they are. 5. D: What building is it? 6. C: Its thuh adult bookstore? 7. D: Well get somebody there right away b) Lexical choice Consider the excerpt from a telephone conversation between an attendance clerk (AC) and a supposedly truant students mother (M) and father (F). Illustrate how delicacy or expressive caution in the name of neutrality may be a mark of institutional talk. Discuss how the institutional character of talk is embodied in the participants choice of descriptive terms from the general vocabulary. 1. AC: Hello this is Miss Medeiros from Redondo High School calling 2. M: Uh hu:h 3. AC: Was Charlie home from school ill today? 4. M: .hhhh 5. M: (off phone) Charlie wasnt home ill today, was he? 6. F: (off phone) Not at all. 7. M: No:. 8. AC: N[o? 9. M: [No he wasnt 10. AC: .hhh (.) Well he was reported absent from his thir:d an his fifth period classes tihday. 11. M: Ah ha:h, 12. AC: .hhh A:n we need him tcome in tthe office in the morning tclear this up. (In Drew and Heritage, 1992: 35)

Emilia Plcintar emilia.placintar@lingua.ubbcluj.ro