Business Communication (BUS 523)

Chapter-1
Introduction
Definition Of Business Communication:

It needless to say that communication is the basic factor for not only business but also for human
civilization.

Communication is a process by which meanings are exchanged among people through the use of
words. Business communication is a process of transmitting information and thoughts between
various parts of an organization and also to people outside the organization such as customers,
investors, suppliers etc. The main function of the business communication is to convey your
message or thoughts effectively to the reader.

Importance of communication:

1.  Managerial efficiency: – Communication helps in smooth operation of management.

Managerial task can only be performed when communication system is effective.
2.  Enhance morale and relations: – Effective communication emphasizes the employee’s
participation in management. It helps to build the employees morale and cordial
industrial relations between management and employees
3.  Effective leadership: – Effective leadership depends upon effective communication.
Two-way communication helps in effective communication. Managerial leader must
handle the subordinates. For ordering qualitative leadership is essential. And that can be
obtained from proper system of communication.
4.  Mutual trust and confidence: – Mutual trust and confidence between labor and
management is necessary for effective movement of organization. When there is effective
communication, it helps to reduce misunderstanding and develop mutual trust.
5. Better decision: – The success of organization can be measured in better decision. When
the information, data and other fact are not effectively communicated, it hampers the
decision making. So, when the facts are communicates to concerned department,
organization and person. It is easy to make decisions promptly.
6.  Staffing: – When the information are correctly communicates in time, it helps in the
function of selection, placement, socialization , promotion and transfer.
7.  Better managerial concern: – all managerial functions such as planning, organizing,
directing, controlling etc can’t be conducted without communication.

Uses of Business Communication:

High hours of working have made us mandatory for us to maintain good relationships with our
colleges. Business is not a one man show. Better the business, more are the people associated
with it. To avoid any kind of chaos and to make business run appropriately, effective business
communication is needed. It can help in different spheres of business such as-

1.Fetching Clients: Only having the best quality products and services is not enough,
presenting it well to the clients is what makes the business really flourish. Thus, communicating
one's company's agendas and business treaty in a better way with the clients is what make it
stand out in the whole market and thus fetches it the best of all contracts earning it a good name
in the market.

2.Better Outputs: An effective communication within the office or a firm that is, between the
employee and boss and between the heads of different departments help in maintaining a
synchronization in different aspects of a business and thus resulting in matching it up with the
business goals marking an increase in total output at lower costs.

3.Avoid Chaos: No one will work if they are not assigned their work properly. Setting up
business objectives and managing the productivity in a firm in one thing and managing the
human resource is another. A firm is nothing without its employees. If the person at superior
level won't be able to make his employees understand their jobs then there will be a lot of
confusion among the workers thus leading to delay in work.

4.Media: In this competitive world, a business can work effectively only after it has its own
standing in the market. Media helps a business in a big way to earn good reputation. Thus,
having an effective communication with media persons is a very important thing as media has
the power to enhance and publicize the business and make it a huge success over-night.

5.Working environment: No one will feel comfortable working at a place where people don't
talk to each other in a healthy and effective manner. Building good relationships with your
colleges and seniors make the work easier. If one is having the quality of conducting an effective
business communication, then it solves most of your problems at work place and also helps you
to be in the good-books of everyone in your office.

An effective business communication helps to bring the best out of the people providing them
with a stress-free and enjoyable working environment.

Read more: Uses of Business Communication

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The Foundations Of Business Communication :

Introduction

Business communication differs from other forms of communication, such as poetry or creative
writing, in that its primary purpose is not self-expression, but the accurate and effective delivery
of factual information.  The reader of a poem or a novel has an intrinsic interest in what they are
reading: They are reading it primarily for the pure pleasure of reading.  The receiver of a piece of
business communication probably has no intrinsic interest in reading or hearing it; instead, they
have a purely extrinsic interest in what it says and how that information might affect them.  For
this reason, the goal of most business writing is not style, but clarity.

Communication Flow:

In an article on “Effective Communication” in MIS, Craig Healey discusses the importance of

free communication flow in a variety of directions within a business organization.

Business communications can be divided into two general classes, based on whether or not the
sender works within the same organization as the receiver.  If the receiver works outside of the
sender’s organization, the message is regarded as external communication.  An example of this
type of communication would be a letter from an office manager to an office supply company
requesting a refund for defective merchandise.  External communication often requires more
detail because sender and receiver do not share a common business environment.

If the sender and receiver work within the same organization, the message is regarded as
internal communication.  An example of this type of communication would be a memo from an
office manager to the other workers in the office requesting that they conserve copy paper. 
Internal communication can often be more concise than external communication due to the
familiarity of sender and receiver with their shared business environment

Internal communication can be further subdivided according to the direction in which the
communication flows within the organization.  A message sent from a worker to a supervisor is
known as upward communication, whereas a message from a supervisor to a subordinate is
known as downward communication.  Communication also flows horizontally between
workers within a particular department, as well as between department heads.  This is an
important distinction because the direction of communication flow will determine much about
how a message should be presented. 
 
  In addition to the formal communication channels described above, every organization also has
an informal network of communication among employees known as the grapevine through
which useful information often travels.  A good manager will make use of this informal network
as well as the more formal modes of communication.

Communication process or| Steps of communication process:

Communication process consists of some interrelated steps or parts through which messages are
sent form sender to receiver. The process of communication begins when the sender wants to
transmit a fact, idea, opinion or other information to the receiver and ends with receiver’s
feedback to the sender. The main components of communication process are sender, message,
channel, receiver and feedback. In the following, some definitions on communication process are
quoted:

Robert Kreitner defined, “Communication process is a chain made up of identifiable links. The
chain includes sender, encoding, message, receiver, decoding, and feedback.”

In the opinion of S. K. Kapur, “The communication process is the method by which the sender
transfers information and understanding to the receiver.”

According to Bovee, Thill and Schatzman, “The communication process consists of six phases
linking sender and receiver.”

C. B. Mamoria has pointed out the parts of communication process by saying, “That
communication process model is making up of seven steps or parts: a. the communication b.
Encoding c. The message and the medium or channel, d. reception by the feceiver e. decoding f.
Action and g. feedback.”

The following diagram represents the communication process

Thus, it is clear that communication process is the set of some sequential steps involved in
transferring message as well as feedback. The process requires a sender who transmits message
through a channel to the receiver. Then the receiver decodes the message and sends back some
type of signal or feedback.

Steps or elements of communication process:

The communication process refers to the steps through which communication takes place
between the sender and the receiver. This process starts with conceptualizing an idea or message
by the sender and ends with the feedback from the receiver. In details, communication process
consists of the following eight steps:

1. Developing idea by the sender: In the first step, the communicator develops or
conceptualizes an idea to be sent. It is also known as the planning stage since in this stage
the communicator plans the subject matter of communication.
 2. Encoding: Encoding means converting or translation the idea into a perceivable form that
can be communicated to others.
3. Developing the message: After encoding the sender gets a message that can be
transmitted to the receiver. The message can be oral, written, symbolic or nonverbal. For
example, when people talk, speech is the message; when people write a letter, the words
and sentences are the message; when people cries, the crying is the message.
4. Selecting the medium: Medium is the channel or means of transmitting the message to
the receiver. Once the sender has encoded his into a message, the next step is to select a
suitable medium for transmitting it to the receiver. The medium of communication can be
speaking, writing, signaling, gesturing etc.
5. Transmission of message: In this step, the sender actually transmits the message through
chosen medium. In the communication cycle, the tasks of the sender end with the
transmission of the message.
6. Receiving the message by receiver: This stage simply involves the reception of sender’s
message by the receiver. The message can be received in the form of hearing, seeing,
feeling and so on.
7. Decoding: Decoding is the receiver’s interpretation of the sender’s message. Here the
receiver converts the message into thoughts and tries to analyze and understand it.
Effective communication can occur only when both the sender and the receiver assign the
same or similar meanings to the message.
8. Feedback: The final step of communication process is feedback. Feedback means
receiver’s response to sender’s message. It increases the effectiveness of communication.
It ensures that the receiver has correctly understood the message. Feedback is the essence
of two-way communication.

Different Types of Barriers to Effective Communication:

For the convenience of study the different barriers can be divided into four parts:

(1) Semantic Barriers

There is always a possibility of misunderstanding the feelings of the sender of the message or
getting a wrong meaning of it. The words, signs, and figures used in the communication are
explained by the receiver in the light of his experience which creates doubtful situations. This
happens because the information is not sent in simple language.

The chief language-related barriers are as under:

(i) Badly Expressed Message:

Because of the obscurity of language there is always a possibility of wrong interpretation of the
messages. This barrier is created because of the wrong choice of words, in civil words, the wrong
sequence of sentences and frequent repetitions. This may be called linguistic chaos.
(ii) Symbols or Words with Different Meanings:

A symbol or a word can have different meanings. If the receiver misunderstands the
communication, it becomes meaningless. For example, the word ‘value’ can have different
meanings in the following sentences:

(a) What is the value of computer education these days?

(b) What is the value of this mobile set?

(c) Value our friendship.

(iii) Faulty Translation:

A manager receives much information from his superiors and subordinates and he translates it
for all the employees according to their level of understanding. Hence, the information has to be
moulded according to the understanding or environment of the receiver. If there is a little
carelessness in this process, the faulty translation can be a barrier in the communication.

(iv) Unclarified Assumptions:

It has been observed that sometimes a sender takes it for granted that the receiver knows some
basic things and, therefore, it is enough to tell him about the major subject matter. This point of
view of the sender is correct to some extent with reference to the daily communication, but it is
absolutely wrong in case of some special message,

(v) Technical Jargon:

Generally, it has been seen that the people working in an enterprise are connected with some
special technical group who have their separate technical language.

Their communication is not so simple as to be understood by everybody. Hence, technical

language can be a barrier in communication. This technical group includes industrial engineers,
production development manager, quality controller, etc.

(vi) Body Language and Gesture Decoding:

When the communication is passed on with the help of body language and gestures, its
misunderstanding hinders the proper understanding of the message. For example, moving one’s
neck to reply to a question does not indicate properly whether the meaning is ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.

(2) Psychological or Emotional Barriers

The importance of communication depends on the mental condition of both the parties. A
mentally disturbed party can be a hindrance in communication. Following are the emotional
barriers in the way of communication:
(i) Premature Evaluation:

Sometimes the receiver of information tries to dig out meaning without much thinking at the
time of receiving or even before receiving information, which can be wrong. This type of
evaluation is a hindrance in the exchange of information and the enthusiasm of the sender gets
dampened.

(ii) Lack of Attention:

When the receiver is preoccupied with some important work he/she does not listen to the
message attentively. For example, an employee is talking to his boss when the latter is busy in
some important conversation. In such a situation the boss may not pay any attention to what
subordinate is saying. Thus, there arises psychological hurdle in the communication.

(iii) Loss by Transmission and Poor Retention:

When a message is received by a person after it has passed through many people, generally it
loses some of its truth. This is called loss by transmission. This happens normally in case of oral
communication. Poor retention of information means that with every next transfer of information
the actual form or truth of the information changes.

According to one estimate, with each transfer of oral communication the loss of the information
amounts to nearly 30%. This happens because of the carelessness of people. Therefore, lack of
transmission of information in its true or exact form becomes a hindrance in communication.

(iv) Distrust:

For successful communication the transmitter and the receiver must trust each other. If there is a
lack of trust between them, the receiver will always derive an opposite meaning from the
message. Because of this, communication will become meaningless.

(3) Organisational Barriers

Organisational structure greatly affects the capability of the employees as far as the
communication is concerned. Some major organisational hindrances in the way of
communication are the following:

(i) Organisational Policies:

Organisational policies determine the relationship among all the persons working in the
enterprise. For example, it can be the policy of the organisation that communication will be in
the written form. In such a situation anything that could be conveyed in a few words shall have
to be communicated in the written form. Consequently, work gets delayed.

(ii) Rules and Regulations:

Organisational rules become barriers in communication by determining the subject-matter,
medium, etc. of communication. Troubled by the definite rules, the senders do not send some of
the messages.

(iii) Status:

Under organising all the employees are divided into many categories on the basis of their level.
This formal division acts as a barrier in communication especially when the communication
moves from the bottom to the top.

For example, when a lower-level employee has to send his message to a superior at the top level
there is a lurking fear in his mind that the communication may be faulty, and because of this fear,
he cannot convey himself clearly and in time. It delays the decision making.

(iv) Complexity in Organisational Structure:

The greater number of managerial levels in an organisation makes it more complex. It results in
delay in communication and information gets changed before it reaches the receiver. In other
words, negative things or criticism are concealed. Thus, the more the number of managerial
levels in the organisation, the more ineffective the communication becomes.

(v) Organisational Facilities:

Organisational facilities mean making available sufficient stationery, telephone, translator, etc.
When these facilities are sufficient in an organisation, the communication will be timely, clear
and in accordance with necessity. In the absence of these facilities communication becomes
meaningless.

(4) Personal Barriers

The above-mentioned organisational barriers are important in themselves but there are some
barriers which are directly connected with the sender and the receiver. They are called personal
barriers. From the point of view of convenience, they have been divided into two parts:

(a) Barriers Related to Superiors: These barriers are as follows:

(i) Fear of Challenge of Authority:

Everybody desires to occupy a high office in the organisation. In this hope the officers try to
conceal their weaknesses by not communicating their ideas. There is a fear in their mind that in
case the reality comes to light they may have to move to the lower level,

(ii) Lack of Confidence in Subordinates:

Top-level superiors think that the lower- level employees are less capable and, therefore, they
ignore the information or suggestions sent by them. They deliberately ignore the communication
from their subordinates in order to increase their own importance. Consequently, the self-
confidence of the employees is lowered.

(b) Barriers Related to Subordinates: Subordinates-related barriers are the following:

(i) Unwillingness to Communicate:

Sometimes the subordinates do not want to send any information to their superiors. When the
subordinates feel that the information is of negative nature and will adversely affect them, an
effort is made to conceal that information.

If it becomes imperative to send this information, it is sent in a modified or amended form. Thus,
the subordinates, by not clarifying the facts, become a hindrance in communication,

(ii) Lack of Proper Incentive:

Lack of incentive to the subordinates creates a hindrance in communication. The lack of

incentive to the subordinates is because of the fact that their suggestions or ideas are not given
any importance. If the superiors ignore the subordinates, they become indifferent towards any
exchange of ideas in future.

Common Barriers to Listening:

There are many things that get in the way of listening and you should be aware of these barriers,
many of which are bad habits, in order to become a more effective listener.  Barriers and bad
habits to effective listening can include:

 Trying to listen to more than one conversation at a time, this includes having the
television or radio on while attempting to listen to somebody talk; being on the phone to
one person and talking to another person in the same room and also being distracted by
some dominant noise in the immediate environment.
 You find the communicator attractive/unattractive and you pay more attention to how
you feel about the communicator and their physical appearance than to what they are
saying. Perhaps you simply don't like the speaker - you may mentally argue with the
speaker and be fast to criticise, either verbally or in your head.
 You are not interested in the topic/issue being discussed and become bored.
 Not focusing and being easily distracted, fiddling with your hair, fingers, a pen etc. or
gazing out of the window or focusing on objects other than the speaker.
 Feeling unwell or tired, hungry, thirsty or needing to use the toilet.
 Identifying rather than empathising - understanding what you are hearing but not
putting yourself in the shoes of the speaker. As most of us have a lot of internal self-
dialogue we spend a lot of time listening to our own thoughts and feelings - it can be
difficult to switch the focus from 'I' or 'me' to 'them' or 'you'. Effective listening involves
 opening your mind to the views of others and attempting to feel empathetic. (See our
page: What is Empathy? for more information)
 Sympathising rather than empathising - sympathy is not the same as empathy, you
sympathise when you feel sorry for the experiences of another, to empathise is to put
yourself in the position of the other person.
 You are prejudiced or biased by race, gender, age, religion, accent, and/or past
experiences.
 You have preconceived ideas or bias -  effective listening includes being open-minded
to the ideas and opinions of others, this does not mean you have to agree but should listen
and attempt to understand.
 You make judgements, thinking, for example that  a person is not very bright or is
under-qualified so there is no point listening to what they have to say.
 Previous experiences – we are all influenced by previous experiences in life.  We
respond to people based on personal appearances, how initial introductions or welcomes
were received and/or previous interpersonal encounters.  If we stereotype a person we
become less objective and therefore less likely to listen effectively.
 Preoccupation - when we have a lot on our minds we can fail to listen to what is being
said as we're too busy concentrating on what we're thinking about. This is particularly
true when we feel stressed or worried about issues.
 Having a Closed Mind - we all have ideals and values that we believe to be correct and
it can be difficult to listen to the views of others that contradict our own opinions. The
key to effective listening and interpersonal skills more generally is the ability to have a
truly open mind - to understand why others think about things differently to you and use
this information to gain a better understanding of the speak.