BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

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1.0 BASIC PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNICATIO

1.1 The Interrelationship of Communication and Business

Management
As a student, an employee or business man, whatever your
academic classification or your job title, you participate or engage in the
coordination of resources and objectives. Thereby you participate in
management the continuing process of achieving order efficiently through
intelligent decision that govern an organisation. Simultaneously you
participate in communication, the reciprocal process of sharing information
through symbols, principally words. Communication, the word itself,
denotes the exchanging of ideas and, since man is emotional as well as
rational, the sharing of feelings, awareness of ideas and feelings is
necessary to sound judgement. Therefore, communication is essentially to
sound business management. The success of your business career
depends upon management; management and communication are
inseparable; therefore, you need to apply communication principles and
skills to achieve the profitability objective of the business. Your success as
a student, as an employee and as a businessman depends largely upon
your success as a communicator; upon your ability to issue, transmit, and
fulfill messages; upon your attaining proficiency and profit through words
that produce appropriate actions. Therefore, without effective writing,
speaking, reading and listening, even the best decision may result in the
worst action. And perhaps you have discovered also that often the most
exasperating employee is the person who thinks well but who does not
share his potentially profitable ideas, through efficient language, with his
co-workers and his company. But you should be clearly understand that in
the context of business communication, the approaches, purposes, and
functions are associated with communication and management for the
attainment of objective.

1.2 System Approach and Behavioural Science Approach to

Business Communication
A “System approach” to management emphasizes the belief that a
business organisation consists of interdependent, interacting parts.
According to this approach, therefore, the isolated study or use of one
such part for example, accounting alone or marketing alone – is often less
realistic and less profitable at advancement levels of decision making than
in the study of that whole part and others as they interact with one another
and with the total organisation. Within a systems approach context,
therefore, accounting, marketing and similar specializations function
largely as information processes that need to be integrated so that
management can achieve its purpose of unifying goals and resources,
including the important resources of human behaviour. The work of notable
behavioural scientists including Mason, Rensist Likert, Abraham Maslow
and Douglas McGregor, has encouraged modern managers to focus more

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attention not merely upon things but also upon people associated with one
another through systems that produce and distribute things. Business
communications are increasing their use of insights derived from the
behavioural sciences – from physiology, knowledge of how stimuli affect
the human body; from psychology, guidance about how people learn a way
to be stimulated to use new learning, from sociology, data about the
actions of groups as compared and contrasted with actions of individual
people; from anthropology, facts about man’s adaptability to his
environment. Reflecting this behavioural science impact, business
communication – like business management – is a process that has
interdependent, interacting parts, none of which is complete in itself.
Effective communication today is a system of efforts to perceive, reason, to
measure, to evaluate and to associate profitably with fellow creatures and
with environment through words, other symbols and actions.

1.3 Definition of Communication

Communication is a two-way process in which there is an exchange
and progression of ideas towards a mutually accepted direction or goal.
For this process to materialize, it is essential that the basic elements of
communication be identified. These elements are:
(1) Sender/Encoder/Speaker
(2) Receiver/Decoder/Listener
(3) Message
(4) Medium
(5) Feedback.
Communication is derived from the Latin word “Communis” which
means “to share”, that is, sharing of ideas, concepts, feelings and
emotions. The science of communication is almost as old as man himself.
From time immemorial, the need to share or to communicate had been felt.
The importance of communication can be gauged from the fact that we
communicating in some form or the other almost every moment of our
lives. Whether we are walking, talking, playing, sitting, or even sleeping, a
message is being formulated and transmitted. Man, who is a social animal,
is constantly interacting with other individuals. For him it is necessary to
understand the art of communication and apply or modify it in a suitable
manner. Man possess the ability to communicate, which is much more
than a composition of certain physical attributes, vocal chords, articulators,
and so on. He has the ability to symbolize or to understand concepts in
terms of images or symbols. It is this ability that helps him to communicate.
Communication then, it may be stated, is much more than an
understanding of the spoken or written language. It is a composite of
symbols, gestures, and illustrations that accompany either the spoken or
the written word. Whatever, the size of an organization, it must inevitably
communicate with the outside world. Without some form of communication,
no organisation can for long survive. It is indeed one of the strategies an
organisation has to put in place to watch itself grow in the turbulent

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environment that is the corporate world. Communication is the exchange of
meanings between individuals through a common system of symbols. The
Chambers English Dictionary defines, the word “communicate” as “to give
a share of, imparts; to reveal; to bestow – to have something in common.
Communication has been described as the process of meaningful
interaction among human beings McFarland, (1974). It may further be
described as a process of sending and receiving symbols with meaning
attached to them which must be understood by the parties involved.

1.4 Business Communication

It is impossible not to communicate in a business establishment. The
whole structure of an organization itself is planked on the possibility of
communication. The 21st century is knowledge based and is driven by
competition, instantaneity or spontaneity is a recognized norm of the
century. Thus, organizations must communicate far field in their guest for
growth and survival. Business communication can therefore be defined as
the process by which information is possessed between an enterprise and
its various publics through varied media. It is both an internal and external
activity. Business organizations are linked internally by various channels of
communication between the employer and employees, superiors and
subordinates, employees and fellow workers. Externally, an organization
depends for its daily functioning on an intricate web of communication
network which has grown up and become complex as a result of
competition and the convergence of information and communication
technology. The purpose of communication in business goes beyond the
desire to ensure understanding. There should be clearly defined objective,
without which the communication would be fruitless and lead to frustration
or disappointment. Without effective communication, an organization would
be static. If Manager are to cause action, get things done or make things
happen, there must be something to communicate and there must be
someone or group of people to communicate with. Communication in
business is to effect change. The company makes and keeps contact with
those whose interaction or relationships affect its life image and growth. In
its broadest sense, the purpose of communication in an enterprise is to
effect change and influence action towards the welfare of the organisation.
Business requires information about prices, competition, technology,
finance as well as information about the business cycle and government
activities.
According to James et’al (1990) “in business and industry,
communication helps to orient workers to one another and to the goals of
the organisation, and it is the means by which such goals can be pursued,
attained, sustained and improved”. No matter how brilliant and idea may
be, if it is not communicated it is as good as not being initiated. There is
the need to realize that communication is a continuous process in action. It
integrates the managerial and supervisory actions. Workers of identical
levels do receive and give out information to coordinate or effect certain

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action. The process of communication is designed to gather, study and
analysis data. This makes it possible for managers and workers to carry
out effectively the complex nature of coordination and effective functioning
of organisation through policy and procedures transmitted to the workers.
The objective of business communication is on productivity and nothing
more.
Communication must be carried out to secure desired action by the
workers. Workers with participatory roles are well informed in advanced of
changes and this aids their output tremendously in a positive ways. Once
communication is used as a weapon to discover the needs and feelings of
workers, labour unrest will be drastically reduced, peace, and progress will
definitely reign in such an organisation.

2.0 NATURE OF COMMUNICATION IN ORGANIZATIONS

2.1 Nature of Communication in Organizations

Signs and symbols are basic and acceptable signals drawing the
attention of the audience in communication words are other forms of
symbols, the meaning of which we must agree upon as a medium of
expression to stimulate actions in desired manner. More often, oral and
written words are put into operation in any work situation. For
communication to take place, in an organisation, it involves people, people
are of different background, different disciplines and above all different
status in the organisation hierarchy.
Those at the top management level must communicate with those at
the low management level through the middlemen, known as managers.
The process is complex in nature and requires special communication
skills and techniques. Understanding communication involves trying to
understand how people relate to each other especially at work. They must
be willing to operate on the agreed terms in conformity with the company’s
policies. Employees are to view the company’s goal as their ultimate goal
which must be achieved. The reason for communicating in business is to
intimate the recipient about certain information, ideas, requests et cetera.
Among the question to be raise is the consent which can be required in
offering a job or turning down a request. It can be to order a product or to
find out why certain goods were not delivered on schedule.
The aim of communicating with the respondent must be well
determined. The receiver of the message must be considered getting to
know or learning about the audience is a major factor, if the
communication is to yield the desired results, when learning about the
audience, attention drawn to how he will perceive the message, that is
whether the idea meant to be communicated is well represented in relation
to the receiver’s sense of understanding. There should be a way of getting
the idea cross without filtering away it’s purposeful contents. These days

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an organization required faster flow of information than ever before. There
is the need for organizational problems to be communicated quickly for the
right actions to be taken. The amount of information flowing in and out of
the organisation when put together does constitute a great burden. The
relevant information should be treated promptly, getting rid of the
undesirable one as quickly as possible to give the way forward. This finally
brings us to the discussion on the kind of information the manager should
process for effective decision making inform of policies, rules, operative
instructions, and general guidelines.

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3.0 SKILLS IN WRITING LETTERS, MEMOS, REPORTS,
PROPOSALS, APPLICATIONS AND RESUME

3.1 The Importance of a Business Letter

A business letter is one of the very powerful elements which may be
employed for transaction in any corporate organization. The workers in
these organizations who must compose letters on behalf of the enterprise
and follow them up promptly are likely to optimize the profits of the
business and strategically situate it as one of the market leaders in the
industry in which it operates.
It is trite to state that business correspondence is used extensively
by firms to gain competitive edge over one another. Anyone who is poised
for a successful business career ought to be aware of the benefits which
naturally come as a consequence of good correspondence.
Writing a letter which is friendly in tone and has the right sequence
of ideas ranks no less in importance than other business assets which an
enterprise must inevitably possess. To be effective, a letter is usually
written with a sense of what might be termed as “reader impact”. It must
convey the intended message without wasting words and should be well
punctuated and follow the rules of correct grammar.
There is no gain saying the fact that a letter is a mirror through which
an organisation project or reflects itself to the outside world. It is the silent
‘Ambassador’ which helps to convince potential customer to patronize the
products of the organisation. It is the invisible ‘persuader’ which assure
existing customers that the enterprise is second to none in making
available quality products at reasonable prices with value added. It is
possible that a crucial order is secured through a letter which was well
written by the writer while another one may drive customers away and
thereby cause a tremendous loss of profits to business because of the
carelessness of the writer.
Any organisation which is geared toward attracting, maintaining and
retaining its customers or consumers would ultimately not leave the task of
writing letters to individuals who cannot convince others through the
instrumentality of words.
When composing business letters, a manager or a delegated writer
should be able to get his facts straight and thus arrange them in a
sequence which naturally follows them. By so doing, he will be able to
communicate his ideas logically, intellectually, clearly, persuasively and
even forcefully.

3.2 Factors to be considered in Business Correspondence

Since it is expected that a business letter should be composed with
a sense of “reader impact”, it means that it should not only influence or
convince the reader but demand, as it were, action from him. A letter which
confuses the reader is not only a disaster to the organisation it is equally a
disservice to its writer. Words logically put together; can be brought to bear

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on the complacent or the timid; they can be utilized to control men in all
spheres of human endeavour.
The effective business letter is the one which has taken into
consideration these five factors:
(1) Clarity
(2) Completeness
(3) Conciseness
(4) Consistence
(5) Courtesy
The writer of a business letter must be mindful of the fact that
because of the severe strains and stresses of daily activities people
seldom have the time to sit to read voluminous correspondence. They
would rather go for the ones which are kept short and simple and straight
to the point. Thus, a letter should not be written in order to impress the
readers but it should be composed so as to express an idea, convey a
request, communicate an instruction, make a demand and what have you.
Therefore, a letter should be written clearly in a language or metaphor
which is not outside the realm of knowledge of the reader. The writer of a
letter confuses his reader greatly where he is unnecessarily esoteric in his
composition. He has neither helped himself nor the reader by his apparent
grammatical show off or arrogance, it is a matter of common sense on the
part of the writer to get his facts and figures in order before committing
thoughts to paper.
The power plan for writing, Guffey (1991) developed this graphically
as follows:
P PLANNING
 Analyze your message to determine it purpose.
 Consider the reader’s reaction to the message.
 Collect necessary data to write accurately.
O ORGANISING
 Follow the deductive strategy for goodness.
 Follow the inductive strategy bad news or persuasion.
 Make a brief outline of the major points.

W WRITING
 Set aside a quiet time for writing.
 Prepare a first version or rough draft.
 Apply the principles of good writing that you have learnt.
E EDITING
 Read your rough draft critically for tone and clarity
 Revise awkward and dull expressions.
 Polish the content and structure of the message.
 Prepare the final copy.
R RE-EXAMINING
 Proofread the final copy for meaning and expression.

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  Proofread for typographical, spelling, grammatical and
mechanical faults.
 Proofread names, addresses and numbers.
 Evaluate placement of message on page, format and neatness.

3.3 Layout of Business Letters

There are three major layouts of business letters that are very
common in most commercial organizations. There is no one “best” layout,
what is “best” is consistence with whatever layout adopted out of the three
common once.
Generally speaking, the layouts of business letters are as follows:
(1) The fully blocked style
(2) The indented style
(3) The semi-blocked style.

3.3.1 The Fully Blocked Style

This layout of letter is now a very popular style being used by most
organization as it saves time while typing the fact that all typing lines flush
to the left distinguishes this style from others e.g. reference numbers, date,
addressee’s address, salutation, subject heading, body of the letter,
complementary close, name and designation of the signatory. Example of
a fully blocked letter is as shown below:

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Ref: FHNL/PERS/VOL. 1/010
Date: 2nd October, 2016
The Procurement Officer
Dangote Group of Companies
11/12 Asa Dam Road,
P.O. Box 2010,
Ilorin.

Dear Sir,

Review of Prices
We thank you for your last letter of 30th of September, 2016 on the review
of prices. The contents of the letter were noted.

It may interest you to note that the revision came about because of the
imposition by government of Universal Basic Education Tax which it has
asked all corporate organizations operating in Nigeria to pay as from
December, 2014.

We agree with you that the present contractual agreement between us

must be respected but we are afraid to say that a clause in the agreement
states thus “If, in the course of the year, economic indices dictate an
upward review of prices, one month notice will be sufficient to effect this
without recourse to drafting another Deed”. The new regime of prices is
expected to be effective from the 2nd of January, 2012 – three months from
the date of our letter to you.

We will appreciate your understanding on the compelling reasons which

have forced us to review our price regime. May we hope that you will still
do business with us, in spite of this review as all organizations are under
obligation to do likewise.

Yours faithfully,

N.O. OLADIPO
Assistant General Manager (Customer Services)

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3.3.2 Example of indented style of a letter is shown below;

Ref: FHNL/PERS/VOL. 1/010

Date: 2nd October, 2016
The Procurement Officer
Dangote Group of Companies
11/12 Asa Dam Road,
P.O. Box 2010,
Ilorin.

Dear Sir,

Review of Prices
We thank you for your last letter of 30 th of September, 2016 on the
review of prices. The contents of the letter were noted.

It may interest you to note that the revision came about because of
the imposition by government of Universal Basic Education Tax which it
has asked all corporate organizations operating in Nigeria to pay as from
December, 2014.

We agree with you that the present contractual agreement between

us must be respected but we are afraid to say that a clause in the
agreement states thus “If, in the course of the year, economic indices
dictate an upward review of prices, one month notice will be sufficient to
effect this without recourse to drafting another Deed”. The new regime of
prices is expected to be effective from the 2nd of January, 2012 – three
months from the date of our letter to you.

We will appreciate your understanding on the compelling reasons

which have forced us to review our price regime. May we hope that you will
still do business with us, in spite of this review as all organizations are
under obligation to do likewise.

Yours faithfully,

N.O. OLADIPO
Assistant General Manager
(Customer Services)

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3.3.3 Example of a semi-blocked style of letter is shown below;

Ref: FHNL/PERS/VOL. 1/010

Date: 2nd October, 2016
The Procurement Officer
Dangote Group of Companies
11/12 Asa Dam Road,
P.O. Box 2010,
Ilorin.

Dear Sir,

Review of Prices
We thank you for your last letter of 30th of September, 2016 on the review
of prices. The contents of the letter were noted.

It may interest you to note that the revision came about because of the
imposition by government of Universal Basic Education Tax which it has
asked all corporate organizations operating in Nigeria to pay as from
December, 2014.

We agree with you that the present contractual agreement between us

must be respected but we are afraid to say that a clause in the agreement
states thus “If, in the course of the year, economic indices dictate an
upward review of prices, one month notice will be sufficient to effect this
without recourse to drafting another Deed”. The new regime of prices is
expected to be effective from the 2nd of January, 2012 – three months from
the date of our letter to you.

We will appreciate your understanding on the compelling reasons which

have forced us to review our price regime. May we hope that you will still
do business with us, in spite of this review as all organizations are under
obligation to do likewise.

Yours faithfully,

N.O. OLADIPO
Assistant General Manager (Customer Services)

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3.4 Memos
Memo; which is an abbreviation of memorandum, forms part of inter-
and intra departmental correspondence. It literally means to provide
information. A memo is a written statement that provides information by a
person or a committee to other people. It is a brief official note circulated to
one or more than one person, depending on the nature of the information
to be circulated.
Typical example of a Memo is shown below:
MEMORANDUM

To: Chief Accountant Date: 10/10/2016

From: General Manager Ref: GM/GC/Vol./226
Subject: Estimate for Computer Accessories.
I would like to remind you that the board of Directors has approved the
estimate you submitted for computer accessories.
You may wish to ask the supplier to make them available in the next two
weeks.

3.5 Reports
Business reports are effort to convey information, they are especially
useful to present complex information in a way that facilitates problem
solving and decision making. Written report are necessary under three
circumstances.
(1) When the person who must make the decision is too far removed
either in distance or technical expertise from a particular operation to
observe it directly or accurately.
(2) When an organisation will need to retain particular information for
comparative studies or future reference.
(3) When a particular situation is so complex that it requires careful
analysis by one or more person.
The main purpose of a business report, then, is to convey
information from persons in a position to observe a situation directly to the
person, responsible for making a decision based on those observations.

3.5.1 Types of Reports

In addition to this main purpose, business reports also contribute to
specific organizational objectives according to the kind of information
conveyed. There are three basic types of reports namely:
(i) Maintenance Report
(ii) Task Report and
(iii) Human Reports.

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3.5.2 Maintenance Reports
These are written to help an organisation maintain its operations.
They are usually a regular part of a job, and companies generally have
“form” with blank spaces that can be filled in to help personnel provide
maintenance information. Because of their regularity, maintenance reports
are also known as periodic reports. Weekly sales reports and monthly
inventory report are examples of maintenance report e.g. servicing of
motor car monthly can be put on record keeping for proper control on
maintenance record for the car in the absence of the owner of the car or
the company.

3.5.3 Task Reports

This involves special assignments to help management solve
particular problems. If you are assigned a task report, you will be expected
to help management make a report that will solve specific problem facing
the management at that particular time or proposed a solution for particular
expected problem in form of a proposal.

3.5.4 Human Reports

Here both maintenance and task report are assigned jobs. A third
kind of business report is not an assigned job. In most organisations,
proposals and format suggestions submitted in report form – help
management learn about problems and possible improvements in
procedures from those closest to the situation. Many organizations provide
incentives to encourage employees to find ways to make the organisations
more profitable and competitive. These reports are frequently called
human report because management’s willingness to consider them
valuable improves company morale such as a proposal.

3.6 Applications and Resume

3.6.1 Filling Up Employment Applications
Besides government departments, public section undertakings,
autonomous bodies under the government, some companies too have a
standardized employment “form” or “format” that they might expect the
candidate to fill mostly before the selection process. The accuracy with
which the form is filled together with the manner in which the details have
been provided helps the organisation in assessing the true merit of the
candidate.
These forms need to be filled carefully and re-read to ascertain that
there is no factual error. It is prudent to get the form Xeroxed and first fill
the copy, check and re-check to ensure that all details required by the
company have been provided and then to proceed with the completion of
the original form. All instructions should be strictly followed at the time of
filling up the form e.g. in case it is stated that the name should be written in
block-letters with last name first, the column should be completed exactly
as per the requirements.

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 Together with the academic information, the application form also
contains certain questions which help the employer to gauge or assess
about the candidate, his personality and his views.

3.6.2 Resume
A resume is a one to two page summary of skills and experience
accomplishments and education written to capture the attention of the
reader, and its basic purpose is to secure an interview. Some of the
characteristic features of a resume are as follows; it can be tailor made for
a company and the job that an individual wishes to apply for; it is original
and geared towards a specific goal. As it is more descriptive than a C.V.
and discusses the qualities of the candidate, viz; the positions that he has
held, the formatting in terms of the content has to be accurate and
interesting, related to the objectives of the company. The positive quality
about a resume is that it helps you to “sell” your traits by providing
pertinent and unique details that standout, assists in relating skills and
achievements necessary for the job.
There is no fixed style of writing a resume, what is however, looked
for is a consistency in approach, at the time of writing a resume, remember
that the employer does not know anything about you. The manner in which
you present information about yourself will generate interest in him and he
would be tempted to summon you for an interview;
Highlight information that you wish to emphasize, and quit
unnecessary and unpleasant details. In short, make your resume goal
oriented and job specific.
Prior to beginning work on the resume, a thorough self-assessment
should be done, which would help you to relate your qualities,
achievements and skills to the needs of the organisation. As you sift and
sieve through these, keep in mind the expectations of the reader. This will
help you to gear yourself in the right direction. The various sections within
a resume include:
(1) Name and Address
(2) Career Objective or Career Goal
(3) Educational or Professional Qualifications
(4) Related Course Work, Special Projects, Academic Award
(5) Work Experience
(6) Skills, Abilities
(7) Activities and Awards
(8) References.

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4.0 BUSINESS SPEAKING SKILLS FOR INFORMING,
INSTRUCTING, JOB INTERVIEWING, SELLING, PERSUADING,
AND MOTIVATING

4.1 Purposes of Communication

It is safe to posit that no organization can exist without
communication in one form or the other. It is rather impossible to create a
scenario where an organization continues to exist and survive without
linkage with all its stakeholders. A situation whereby employees don’t know
what their associates are doing, where management cannot give
instructions, where suppliers don’t receive responses to their letters can
only belong to the realm of imaginings.
Chester I. Barnard viewed communication as the means by which
people are linked together in an organization to achieve a common
purpose. The inference to be drawn from this is that the corporate
existence of an enterprise would be difficult to achieve not think of affecting
change as may be necessary from time to time. To a very large extent, the
main purpose of communication is to effect change, to shift from a position
which has been injurious to the health of an organization to another one
which will help it grow tremendously.
Internally, communication, encompasses all the management
functions which are essential ingredients for doing things right.
Organizations will require integration and specialization. Synthesis as well
as analysis.
Externally, an organization must relate with all its stakeholders –
customers, shareholders, suppliers, employees, labour union, creditors,
government, et-cetera in order to enhance its prestige, deliberately create
goodwill, improve its public relations. Ultimately no organization holds its
stakeholders in contempt or becomes in communicado. On the contrary, it
utilizes communication very extensively to attract, maintain and retain them
for the sake of its survival. Above all communication serves the following
specific purpose.

4.1.2(1) Informing:
In most business organizations communication is employed to share
with others as well as to gain important information about people, places,
events, issues and more often than not, personal feelings. It is taken for
granted that sharing information is an important purpose in business
communication.

4.1.3 (2) Instructing:

Instructions are communicated in organization from the Manager to
his supervisor, from the supervisor to his subordinate. This is a vital
process which can be done orally or in writing.

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4.1.4 (3) Job Interviewing:
An interview can be described as a planned communication between
two parties during which questions are asked and answered. The
conversation is consciously structured to obtain and exchange information
and attitude about a specific subject. The participant who arranges for the
interview always has a specific purpose in mind. The purposes fall into one
of the following categories.
i. Employments
ii. Performance appraisal
iii. Problem solving
iv. Counseling

4.1.5 (4) Selling:

Management must deliberately create in an employee, a feeling of
interest in the survival and growth of the business and organization
through constant communication so as not give room for the spread of
destructive rumours that can affect selling or deprive selling of business or
organization product.

4.1.6 (5) Persuading:

Many messages are direct at persuading individuals to change their
behaviours their beliefs and mindsets. An obvious example is
advertisement which is a form of persuasive communication deliberately
targeted at individuals to buy what they would otherwise not purchase.
Letters, memorandums are not meant to give command or instruction but
to persuade. The structure of a piece of persuasive writing should be
carefully structured for maximum effect. In order to achieve its purpose, the
language used may be emotional or subjective in nature.

4.1.7 (6) Motivating:

An organization would have a contended workforce where
communication is used to motivate them. Saying “Thank you” for a job well
done or asking after why a staff is moody or emotional, or aggressive are
all strategies to show that management appreciates and therefore cares
about the psychological makeup of its employees.

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