Important Discussion Questions (Chapter 01)

1) What is Business Communication?

In general, business communication refers to communication in the business context in order to
reach organizational goals and objectives. Precisely, it is the process of sharing information between
people within and outside of an organization that is performed for the business or commercial
purposes and benefits of the organization.
For example- an annual report is a type of written business communication. It provides information
about an organization’s vision, mission, objectives, strategic plans, achievements, future prospects,
etc. Again, for example- when a company shares information to promote its product or services to
potential buyers-it is also business communication.

2) Explain the Importance or Role or Purposes of Business Communication.

The success of a business depends on the effectiveness of business communication. For this,
communication is regarded as the lifeblood of business. The role or importance of business
communication is discussed below:

❖ Exchanging Information: Communication is mainly the exchange of information

between two or more parties. Through communication, business organizations
exchange information with internal and external parties. It helps in achieving business
objectives.
❖ Preparing and Executing Plans and Policies: Realistic plans and policies require
sufficient and important information. The managers collect the required information
from different external and internal sources through communication. In this way,
communication helps in preparing organizational plans and policies and implementation
of those plans and policies.
❖ Increasing Employee’s Efficiency: Communication also helps in increasing the efficiency
of employees. Good communication explains organizational objectives, plans, policies,
rules, directions, and other complex matters to the employees that making them
knowledgeable and efficient.
❖ Enhancing Employee Satisfaction: If there is a free and fair flow of information in the
organization, it will bring mutual understanding between management and workers.
Such understanding enhances the satisfaction of employees.
❖ Achieving Goals: Effective communication helps the employees at all levels to be
conscious and attentive. It ensures the timely accomplishment of jobs and easy
achievement of goals.
❖ Solving Problems: Proper communication helps the manager to be informed about
various routine and non-time problems of the organization and take the necessary
actions to solve those problems.
❖ Making Decisions: Making timely decisions requires updated information. Through
effective communication, managers can collect information from different corners and
can make the right decisions.
❖ Improving Relation: Industrial relation is the relation between workers and
management in the workplace. Communication plays a vital role in creating and
maintaining good industrial relations.
❖ Promotion of Goods and Services: In the modern age, business is becoming highly
competitive. An organization that can communicate better, can also sell better.

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 ❖ Social Communication: Every Organization is to keep in touch with different social
organizations and groups in order to run the business activities smoothly. Business
Communication helps organizations in establishing social relationships.

3) What are the basic elements/building blocks of a communication process?

For communication to be taken place there must be five basic elements, and the elements are:

i. The sender
ii.The message
iii.The channel
iv.The Receiver and
v.The Feedback

These five elements are obvious for an effective communication process. They are also known as the
building blocks of a communication process. [*** Please read the full topic from your textbook for this
question to be answered in detail.]

4) Describe the Communication Process/ Steps in Communication Process.

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

A. Sender side:

1. Developing idea by the sender: In the first step, the communicator develops an idea to be sent. It
is also known as the planning stage. Because in this stage the communicator plans the subject
matter of communication.
2. Encoding: Encoding means converting or translating the idea into an understandable form that
can be communicated to others.
3. Developing the message: After encoding, the sender develops 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
messages; when people cry, the crying as a sort of expression represents the message.
4. Selecting the medium: Medium is the channel or means of transmitting the message to the
receiver. The next step is to select a suitable medium for transmitting it to the receiver. Medium
or means of transmitting the message can be speaking, writing, reading, or listening.
5. Transmission of the message: In this step, the sender actually transmits the message through a
chosen medium. In the communication cycle, the tasks of the sender end with the transmission of
the message.

B. Receiver side:

6. Receiving the message by the receiver: This stage simply involves the reception of the sender’s
message by the receiver. The message can be received in the form of hearing, seeing, feeling, and
so on.

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7. Decoding: Decoding means the explanation of the sender’s message by the receiver. 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 the communication process is feedback. Feedback means the
receiver’s response to the 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.

5) What are the roles to be played by the sender and the receiver to make a communication
process effective?
In the communication process, there are two key participants- the sender and the receiver. For
the communication process to be effective, each participant has some significant responsibilities to
be carried out.

The senders’ responsibilities:

• Audience analysis
• Analyze and understand the message environment
• Soliciting feedback

The senders’ responsibilities:

• Reading
• Listening

[*** Please read the full topic from your textbook for this question to be answered in detail.]

6) Describe the Forms of Communication in Business Organizations.

There can be four categories of communication in business. And the messages exchanged
through these forms of communication can either be written or oral. The major forms of
communication are-

i. Internal Communication:
All the communication that occurs within a business for conducting operations is called
internal communication. It takes place across all levels and organizational units of an
organization. For example, the yearly operational meeting between managers and
employees is an internal communication.
ii. External Communication:
Any work-related communication with people outside the business is called external
communication. This communication takes place with suppliers, customers, government
agencies, other businesses, etc. For example, advertising a product for generating sales.
iii. Formal Communication:
Any exchange of information that follows a line of authority and organizational
hierarchy is called formal communication. Formal communication can be of three types-
a) downward communication (upper level to lower level),
b) upward communication (lower level to upper level), and
c) lateral communication (same level).

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 iv. Informal/Personal Communication:
Any exchange of information that doesn’t follow a line of authority or is not formally
related to operations is called informal or personal communication. Although this form
of communication is not related to the operations of the firm, however, they are
important to organizational success.

7) What is Communication Barrier?

Communication is a conversational process of sending and receiving messages. Anything that
prevents you from receiving and understanding the messages that are sent by others to
communicate their information, ideas, and thoughts is called a communication barrier.

8) What Causes Communication Barrier?

Barriers to communication may occur at any stage in the communication process. Barriers make
your message become distorted and therefore result in confusion and misunderstanding. The causes
of communication barriers may be either internal or external-
A. Internal/Controllable causes:
• Lengthy messages
• Complex language
• Inconsistent body language
• Home or work problems
• Poor listening skills
B. External/Uncontrollable causes:
• Noise
• Unpleasant environment
• Problems with technology or equipment

Effective communication involves overcoming these causes and transmitting a clear and concise
message. A skilled communicator must be aware of these causes of barriers and try to reduce their
impact by continually checking and offering appropriate feedback.

9) What are the Methods to Remove Barriers to Communication? /What issues are to be
considered in ensuring effective communication?
There are various ways to remove barriers to communication and they are-
• Have Clarity in Your Thoughts: You should be very clear about your objective and what you
want to communicate. Arrange your thoughts in proper order and then communicate
accordingly. Aimless talks can be misleading so you should always try to show that there is an
aim or motive behind your talk.
• Understand the needs of your audience: You should be emotional and sensitive towards the
needs of your receiver. Understand his behavior, nature, culture, and religion, however, it does

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 not mean you cannot express your feelings or thoughts, but it simply means that you are
showing respect to his religious beliefs or thoughts and then stating your point of view.
• Take adequate care of your Tone, Language: Messages should be framed in a simple and polite
tone that attracts the listeners. Care should be taken to keep the sentences short and simple.
Technical words should be used only where they are required the most.
• Use Proper Body Language: Do not show any body language that is not understandable or
creates bad feelings in your audience. Try to always keep a smiling face while talking and make
eye contact with the listener.
• Be a good listener: it is necessary to be a good listener if you want to be an effective
communicator.
• Ensure Feedback from the receiver: Feedback ensures the effectiveness of communication. This
would help you to have a better understanding of their reaction and interest.
• Retain Consistency about the Message: The message communicated should be consistent with
the subject.
• Avoid overloading too much information: People would get bored if they are flooded with
unnecessary and too much information. So, try to use a simple and straightforward way. There
should not be any confusion.
• Reduce the level of noise: Always make sure to speak and interact with someone where there is
no noise and the least disturbance. Find the source of noise, remove it and then start
conversing.
• Communication chain should be short: Try to directly communicate with the person concerned.
The risk of distortion increases if there are more people in between the sender and receiver.
• Keep your Anger in Control: Do not be aggressive or show your anger if you do not agree with
any point of view or anything that is going against your ideology. State your thoughts politely
with facts if you have and reflect positivity in your talk and nature.
• Balance between professional and personal life: Do not mix up family and professional issues
together. It creates problems in communication.