Session 4 BUSINESS COMMUNICATION AND DIRECTIONS

WHAT IS BUSINESS COMMUNICATION AND EXAMPLES

Business communication involves everything you do on a daily basis. Whether you are
sending memos to employees regarding changes in procedures or buying commercial ad space
on your local radio station, the communication says something about your business. Once
businesses understand the large scale of communications activities, they can choose the tools
most effective for their product and audience.
For example, employees of the HR department of an organization prepare an attrition report
and communicate the same to the HR Manager. The attrition report consists of information on
the monthly or annual employee turnover of an organization and reasons for the same. This
helps the HR Manager to understand the cause of attrition and to take corrective measures on
time to reduce employee turnover.

Definitions
Different scholars have given different definitions of Business Communication. Few of them are
mentioned below:

According to Ricks and Gow defined Business Communication as a system that is

responsible to affect change throughout the whole organization.
According to W.H. Business Communication is exchanging business-related different views,
ideas, and news within the related parties.
Prof. J. Haste stated that when the communication occurs between either two or more than
two business people for the purpose of effective organization and administration of business
then it is considered as Business Communication.
Effective business communication is the way employees and management communicate to
achieve organizational goals. The objective is to improve organizational efficiency by reducing
mistakes. Business Communication includes different aspects like marketing, public relations,
customer relations, corporate and interpersonal communication, etc.
Basic elements of Business communication:
 Sender
 Business information
 Receiver
 Feedback

For example, employees of the HR department of an organization prepare an attrition report

and communicate the same to the HR Manager. The attrition report consists of information on
the monthly or annual employee turnover of an organization and reasons for the same. This
helps the HR Manager to understand the cause of attrition and to take corrective measures on
time to reduce employee turnover.
The above elements indicate business communication as a process in which information or
news related to business is exchanged between different business parties like customers,
suppliers, business clients, employees, etc. for the purpose of effective administration of the
business.

Moreover, it involves a regular flow of information and feedback is considered as a crucial and
important aspect of business communication. Due to different levels of hierarchy and
involvement of a huge number of people, business communication plays an important role in
different management functions i.e. planning, coordinating, organizing, directing, and controlling.

The communication model consists of five components:

1. Stimulus – an event that creates within an individual the need to communicate. This stimulus
can be internal or external. Internal stimulus is simply an idea that forms within your mind.
External stimuli come to you through your sensory organs- your eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and
skin.

2. Filter – An individual’s unique perception of reality. Based on a person’s experience, culture,

emotions at the moment, personality, knowledge, socioeconomic status, and other variables
influence an individual’s perception of reality. If everyone has the same assumption of reality,
communication would be easier. Since not everyone has the same idea of reality,
communication can be interpreted in different ways. Once the brain receives the message, it
begins to interpret the stimulus to derive the meaning from it so that a person would know how
to react on it. Whether an individual would respond or choose not To respond.

3. Message- This is the totality of how a person delivers the information. Success at
communicating depends not only on the purpose and content of the message but also on how
skillful the person is in communicating; how well one knows the person; and how much you hold
in common with the audience.

4. Medium- Once the sender has encoded a message, the next step in the process is to
transmit that message to the receiver. At this point, the sender must choose the form of
message to send. Common forms of medium are: oral, written, and non-verbal. Oral
communication happens in a meeting, personal conference, telephone conversation, voice mail,
press conference, etc. Written may be in the form of a memo, report, newsletter, email, letter,
contract, manual, etc. Non- verbal communication may be observed in facial expressions,
gestures, and body language.

5. Destination– The message is transmitted and then enters the sensory environment of the
receiver, at which point control passes from the sender to the receiver. Once the message
reaches the destination, there is no guarantee that communication will actually occur. Every
individual has their own perception on reality and the communication they received may be
interpreted either the way the sender intends or the other way around. Ideally, the process ends
with feedback to the sender, although feedback is not necessary for communication to take
place.

STORY

Stimulus
David had received a stimulus: which was when he received the memorandum from the head of
R&D.
Filter – David filters the stimulus
David then interprets the memo to mean that IC has no interest in his invention.
Message – David forms a message
David decides to relay this information to his brother.
Medium – David selects a medium (telephone/verbal communication) He telephones Marc.
Destination – David was able to reach his brother Marc via the medium (telephone). His
brother receives the call.
Feedback – Marc provides feedback
Marc listens and gives Dave his reaction.

For any business organization to be successful, communication must follow two directions:
• Formal Communication Network- transmission of information through official channels within
the organization. The communication follows a hierarchical chain of command which is
established by the organisation itself. In general, this type of communication is used exclusively
in the workplace, and the employees are bound to follow it while performing their duties.
Example: Requests, commands, orders, reports etc. Academic and scholarly writing such as
essays, dissertations, research papers, theses, various types of published studies, etc.
- Press releases and similar statements that are issued for public relations purposes.

• Informal Communication Network- which is also called as grapevine. It transmits information

through non-official channels within the organization. This type of communication moves freely
in all directions, and thus, it is very quick and rapid. In any organization, this type of
communication is very natural as people interact with each other about their professional life,
personal life, and other matter.
Example: Sharing of feelings, casual discussion, gossips, etc. A simple coffee break is an
example of a non-official channel. Whenever people in the organization get a chance to talk to
someone (may it be meeting at the corridor, or meet while waiting for the photocopier to finish
the task, simple talk, etc) or wherever co-workers come together, they are likely to hear and
pass information about possible happenings in the organization.

4 TYPES OF FORMAL COMMUNICATION

a. Internal (Upward) Communication: This type of internal communication involves the bottom
to the top management approach. Here, the information flows from subordinates to managers or
any person that is on the upper in the hierarchy level.
The characteristics of upward internal business communication include:
 It includes bottom to top approach i.e. subordinates to superiors.
 Its nature is participative.
 The main purpose is to provide timely feedback, suggestions, making requests,
escalating any issues or concerns, etc. to superiors.
 The flow of the information is from the lower level to the upper level.

b. Internal (Downward) Communication: In downward communication, the information flows

from the top-level management to the employees in an organization. This information is related
to passing on instructions to subordinates or employees to do their respective tasks. Downward
communication is being used by managers to communicate different goals, procedures and
policies, guidelines, decisions, instructions, etc. to their subordinates.

The process of downward communication in business includes passing on messages from the
top level to the lower level through the chain of hierarchy. This type of communication can be in
oral or written form. The written form includes different notices, manuals, news display in
electronic form, etc. whereas, the oral form of downward communication includes different face-
to-face conversations, telephonic communication, meetings, etc.
For example, the top-level management may instruct managers of different departments on
certain new rules and regulations in the work area that need to be carried out in routine activities
of different departments. Like there may be a change in the office working hours or office
timings by the management and the same is communicated to employees by circular or notice
or through the e-mail system.
The characteristics of downward internal business communication include:

 It includes top to bottom approach i.e. superiors to subordinates.

 Its nature is directive.
 Main purpose is to communicate organizational objective, plans and procedures,
instructions, etc. to subordinates.
 The flow of the information is from the upper level to the lower level.
C. Horizontal Communication
When communication takes place between people at the same level of the organization, like
between two departments or between two peers, it’s called horizontal (or lateral)
communication. Communication taking place between an organization and its vendors,
suppliers, and clients can also be considered horizontal communication.
Communication within a team is an example of horizontal communication; members coordinate
tasks, work together, and resolve conflicts. Horizontal communication occurs formally in
meetings, presentations, and formal electronic communication, and informally in other, more
casual exchanges within the office.
D. Cross Channel Communication
Cross-channel communication is primarily transactional. Customers start their experience on
one channel and complete it on another. For example, a customer might receive a credit card
offer in an email but complete the application on paper and mail it in.
Another customer might start a mortgage application on a smartphone but complete it online
using a web browser. When the changes between channels are invisible, it’s a cross-channel
experienced.

*grapevine is used to refer to the circulation of rumors and unofficial information.