Business Communication

(ENG2006)

Module 1:
Introduction to Business Communication
Topics to be covered

• Define Communication.
• Define Business Communication
• Describe the main purpose for Communication in Business.
• Cross-cultural Communication,
• External influence on business communication.
Significance of Business Communication.
• Communication has become an important component of an
organization in the changing business environment of
multinational competition and globalization.

• Like the functional areas of production, marketing and finance,

communication too is shaping into a distinct area, in the form of
business or organizational or corporate communication.
What is Business Communication?
• Communication in general is an exchange of facts, ideas, opinions or
emotions by two or more persons.
• Business communication means the sharing of information between
people within an enterprise that is performed for the commercial
benefit of the organization.
• In addition, business communication can also refer to how a
company/business organization shares information to promote its
product or services to potential consumers.
• Business communication is the specialized branch of general
communication that is especially concerned with business activities.
What is Communication?
• Man as a social animal has to communicate.
• Communication is life blood of social and corporate world
• Even our silence communicates
• Communication is first and first and foremost social activity.
• The word communication has been derived from Latin word
“communicare / communis’ that means to ‘share’ or ‘participate’.
“ Communication is the process by which we exchange meanings,
facts, ideas, opinions or emotions with other people. It is an essential
condition of our existence and the most important activity of ours.”
• According to William Scott in his book organizational theory:
“ Business communication is a process which involves the
transmission and accurate replication of ideas ensured by
feedback for the purpose of eliciting actions which will
accomplish organizational goals”.
Objectives of Business Communication
1. Stronger Decision Making:
Your ability to communicate effectively increases productivity,
both yours and your organization.
2. Increased Productivity:
With good communication skills, you can anticipate problems,
make decisions, co-ordinate work flow, supervise others, develop
relationships and promote products and services.
Objectives of Business Communication
3. Steadier Work Flow:
Communication acts as tool for the effective work related flow of
information.

4. Strong Business Relationships & Enhanced Professional Image:

You can shape the impressions you and your company make on
colleagues, employees, supervisors, investors, and customers in
addition to perceiving and responding to the needs of these
stakeholders (the various groups you interact with)
Objectives of Business Communication
5. Clearer Promotional Materials:
Your organizations need for effective reach of company name
and public promotions are based on effective promotional
material such as advertisements , bill boards , online add ,
posters etc are all communicated for effective message delivery
and meaning.
6. Provide Advice:
Giving advice is based on individual-oriented and work-oriented ,
advice should not given to the person for pinpointing his
mistakes rather it should be helpful for his improvement.
Objectives of Business Communication
7. Persuasion:
Persuasion may be defined as an effort ‘ to influence the attitudes ,
feelings ,or beliefs of others , or to influence actions based on
those attitudes , feelings , or beliefs.
8. Education:
Education is a very conscious process of communication, it
involves both teaching and learning by which organizations
provide to their employees in the form of training. Education is
given for management, employees and outside public.
 9. Warning:
If the employees do not abide by the norms of the organization
warning is a power communication tool and it can be general and
specific. Specific warning should be administered in private and
after thorough investigation. The aim of the warning should be
the organization betterment.

10. Raising Morale and Motivation Morale stands for mental

health and it is a sum of several qualities like courage, resolution,
confidence. High morale and effective performance go hand to
hand. Motivation is a process that account for an individual
intensity, direction, and persistence of effort towards attaining a
goal.
Objectives of Business Communication
11. To Give and Receive Information
Communication’s main idea is to give and receive information
because managers need complete, accurate and precise
information to plan and organize employee need it to translate
planning in to reality. Information will cover all aspects of the
business.

15. To Provide Counselling:

Counseling is given to solve employee’s mental stress and improve
the employee’s productivity.
External Influence on Business
Communication
• Legal and Ethical constraints
• Diversity Challenges
• Team Environment
• Changing Technology
Legal aspects of communication
• As the volume of business communication increases so does the risk
of getting things wrong or saying what was not meant to be said.
• You have to be very careful while communicating as a single word
might cause a case to be filed against you or your organization.
• To avoid these circumstances be honest and respectful to others
while communicating.
• Speak or write to others as you would like others to speak or write to
you.
• From a legal aspect remember even true sentences can lead to a
legal action while some untrue words or sentences might go
unnoticed or be harmless.
To avoid legal complications the following
points should be kept in mind
• Defamation
• Invasion of privacy
• Misrepresentation and Fraud
• Employment, credit and collections
• Other areas of caution
Defamation
• Defamation is the communication of a statement which tends to be
false or harmful to an individual’s or organization’s character,
reputation or fame.
• Defamation is the result of the following:
Slander is oral defamation which means it is spoken words, signs or
gestures which defame a person in the eyes of others. Slander is also
known as calumny.
• Libel is written defamation which means that it is defamation
through the written word. If you write something which might injure
the reputation of someone he might sue you in the court of law.
Note that the key element in defamation is making certain information public. This
statement leads to two legal terms: Publication and privilege.
• Publication means that you make some defamatory material public or communicate it to
a third party. A private letter or conversation about a person regarding his/her inabilities
is fine but if you communicate this information to a third party you are making this public
whereby you are defaming.
Privilege is the legal right of a person or persons to communicate defamatory statements
in certain conditions and situations. Privilege is divided into two parts (i) Absolute privilege,
(ii) Conditional privilege.
a) Absolute privilege is the right of a person due to his/her rank, position, nature or status
in an organization or society, it is possible in three situations (a) Court proceedings, (b)
Legislative proceedings, (c) Actions of important Government officials.
b) Conditional privilege arises from different situations where one has a temporary
privilege in certain conditions. Suppose if someone inquires you about a person before
hiring or granting a loan to that person and you think that person is not worthy reply in
a true manner and do not mislead in this situation you have conditional privilege, but
you also have to be careful if you give negative remarks and that person was indeed
worthy of that job or loan you might be sued for damages.
Invasion of privacy:
• Every human being has the right to privacy, whenever someone intrudes
into personal matters of an individual it is termed as invasion of privacy.
In other words we can say whenever someone trespasses into another
person’s private matters it would be invasion of privacy.
• According to this definition it means that one should be free to work in
the work area without anyone trespassing into it. Same goes for land
and confidential information. Everyone has the right to keep their
information private from others.
• This information might include: a) someone’s personal disabilities, b)
Personal facts and private matters. c) Past records, reports, data and
results etc.
Misrepresentation and Fraud:
• Fraud basically means when we misrepresent material information or when we change
facts and figures intentionally or when we hide some facts from someone.
• False representation whether in a direct or indirect manner leads to fraud. People usually
provide false information or hide some facts for their own benefits in some manner for
their own profit or use.
• Warranties: Warranties are basically an undertaking by the seller of a product that the
product being sold is in a certain condition, state, nature and of a certain quality.
Warranties may be express or implied.
• Express warranties are those which are created by a seller’s direct statements regarding
the product, its characteristics, its properties and its condition. If the product is later
found to be in some other state than initially stated it would result in a fraud.
• Implied warranties are those which are not directly stated by the seller but are rather
implied even if the seller says nothing about them. They may arise out of an action of the
seller or by an indirect statement by the seller.
Employment, credit and collections
• The employee has the right to some information regarding the
personal and professional facts. We have to be careful when an
enquiry is being made concerning an employee we have to be true
and honest while recommending a former employee to another
company.
• As this information is crucial to the employee, the new company and
your own company, we have to report the true facts and not withhold
any information that would benefit the applying person.
• But there is also another situation when we cannot recommend a
person to some other company due to any reason; again we have to
be careful and diplomatic.
Other areas of caution
• Computer data is very easily accessed, but some data is of
confidential nature and we have to be careful while accessing
such data.
• Copyright material such as books and software cannot be
copied without permission of the owner.
• Confidential and prohibited documents should not be copied
and we should be honest and fair with any type of
communication.
Ethical Issues in business communication

• Communication is the lifeblood of human experience.

• It helps us to develop relationships, understand others and the
world we live in.
• For better communication, understanding the obvious and the
subtle issues relating to communication is necessary. Ethical
issues of business communication are one such issue.
• The vital characteristics of ethical communication are
discussed below.
Conveying the point without offending the
audience:
• While communicating to the audience, conveying the desired
message to them in a significant manner is of primary
importance.
• For instance, the employees in a company can be asked to
increase their efficiency in a demanding manner whereas
managers and executives will feel offended if the same tone is
used on them. There are different ways to explain the exact
things to them in a much smoother manner.
Maintain a relationship with the audience:

• Maintaining the same wavelength with the audience is very

important for a communicator to ensure the audiences feel at
home.
• Experienced communicators immediately build a relationship
based on trust with the audience as soon as they start speaking.
• Great orators such as Winston Churchill and Mahatma Gandhi
always were able to maintain a relationship with their audience
because they were masters at striking the same wavelength of
the audience.
Well organized value system:
• In order to ensure that this concept is successfully practiced
and understood in an organization, a well-organized value
system must be established throughout the organization by the
top management.
• If an organization functions on the base of value systems
common to both the top management and the employees,
mutual respect between them will be present.
• A sound and healthy value system can make way for ethical
communication.
Accuracy of information is necessary:
• Any information that is to be passed on must be true and
accurate. Communicating without checking the truth of the
information can be highly dangerous for the organization.
• Identification of the source and testing the information is
necessary before communicating it.
Ways to overcome ethical dilemma

• Message ahead of the person - Common good approach:

• Most people in organization face ethical dilemma when they
want to withhold crucial information because of conflict with an
individual or a group.
• In such situations, importance should be given to the message
to be communicated and not on the person or the group to
which the message is to be communicated.
• Hence people should give priority to the common good of the
organization rather than interpersonal or inter-group conflicts
Cultural Challenges
• Cross Cultural Communication:
Cross-cultural communication is the process of recognizing both
differences and similarities among cultural groups in order to
effectively engage within a given context.
In other words, cross-cultural communication refers to the ways
in which people from different cultural backgrounds adjust to
improve communication with one another.
Why is Cross-Cultural Communication
Important?
• To be successful in any industry, organizations need to
understand the communication patterns of employees,
customers, investors, and other audiences.
• Awareness and willingness to adjust allow for the exchange of
information regardless of cultural values, norms, and behaviors
that may vary between audiences.
• Given the different backgrounds that each audience comes
from, it is critical to understand how culture influences
communication, and how this can impact organizational
processes.
• Patty Goodman, PhD, the faculty lead for cross-cultural
communication in Northeastern’s program, says, “Effective
cross-cultural communication is essential to preventing and
resolving conflict, building networks, and creating a satisfactory
work environment for everyone involved.”

• Additionally, the Society for Human Resource Management

(SHRM) reports that culture has a significant impact on
productivity. As such, it is important to be cognizant of the fact
that “employees from different backgrounds are motivated by
different incentives and react differently to various management
and communication styles.”
Culture can be observed at three levels.
• Understanding each level help in modifying our communication
style to suit the needs that arise due to cultural diversity.
1. Visible Level: This is the level of culture we first encounter
when we go to a new place.
• This includes physical and visible elements of culture such as
dress, art, music monuments, food and artifacts.
• This visible level show us what is different in a region but does
not inform about how to deal with such differences.
• Adaption is possible at the superficial level.
2. Behavioral Level
• This level explains how members of a cultural group
communicate, explain, rationalize, and behave in different
situations.

• We know how differences in age, gender, class, and status

impact communications style in a particular culture.

• We learn how to deal appropriately with negative, positive, and

neutral messages.
3. Belief System
• Belief systems shape attitudes, values, goals ,and means shared
by cultural groups.
• Understanding belief systems helps in formulating suitable
business negotiations strategies, resolving conflicts, and using
appropriate verbal and nonverbal symbols.
Four Dimension of Cultural differences -
Hofstede
These dimensions can be useful in understanding and
communicating with people from different cultures.
1. Power Distance:
• It describes the extent to which less powerful people expect
and accept the fact that power is unequal within the country or
an organization.
• Hofstede found that people in Malaysia, Panama, the
Philippines, India and Mexico were most accepting of power
distance, while Australia, New Zealanders, Canadians and Irish
were the lest accepting of power distance.
2. Individualism Versus Collectivism.
• Individualistic cultures are those that emphasize individual goals and
behavior
• Collectivist cultures emphasize group goals and behaviors.
• Individualist cultures, people are supposed to look out for themselves
and their family only.
• Collectivist cultures, people belong to groups and collectivities that are
supposed to look after them in exchange for their loyalty.
• The United States, Australia, Great Britain and Canada are more
individualistic cultures.
• Japan, India, China, Korea and parts of Latin Americans are more
collectivist in their value orientations.
Masculinity versus femininity
• Cultures that are high in masculinity enforce distinctly different
roles for men and women.
• Cultures those that are more feminine allow for the blurring of
roles between men and women.
• Middle Eastern cultures including India are generally high in
masculinity
• While Scandinavian countries allow men and women to share
roles and personal characteristics and behaviors.
4. Uncertainty avoidance
• In some cultures, people are more comfortable accepting risk.
• In the United States, for example, it does not seem unusual for
people to leave their jobs to start businesses, even though the
odds of failure are high.
• In contrast, people in some countries, such as France, prefer
jobs with a lifetime guarantee of employment.
How to Improve Cross-Cultural
Communication?
1. Embrace Agility:
The inability or unwillingness to adapt to change is a common barrier to
cross-cultural communication. Often, people are reluctant to accept new
things due to an unconscious fear that doing so will change their culture
or belief system in some way, Goodman explains. If these assumptions
are not questioned, actions can be detrimental to personal and
organizational growth. By becoming aware of unconscious barriers or
subconscious biases, people can become more open to adapting.
2. Be Open-Minded: Similarly, closed-mindedness is another barrier to
cross-cultural communication that can hinder the success of an
organization.
3. Facilitate Meaningful Conversation: A lack of communication in an
organization can exacerbate cultural differences between individuals. In
an environment that does not allow for open communication, people tend
not to speak up or share comments and feedback with one another. So,
how might members of an organization facilitate open conversation and
freely interact with each other? Although the organizational culture is
unlikely to change overnight, making the effort to spark conversations on
the individual level can be a step in the right direction.
4. Become Aware: Another important step to improving cross-cultural
communication in the workplace is to become more culturally and self-
aware.
On a personal level, you should make an effort to acknowledge your own
implicit biases and assumptions that affect the way you interact with
others. Although this may be easier said than done, you can start by
making a conscious attempt to empathize with your audience and gain a
better understanding of their point of view.
5. Improving Workplace Communication
• Cross-cultural communication is just one (albeit important)
aspect of an organization’s overall communication strategy, and
improving in this area can be a great first step in maximizing
employee and business performance overall.
• In addition to the tips listed above, learning the foundations of
corporate communications can provide you with the skills
needed to understand all of the factors that influence
communication in the workplace..
• “Formal education challenges you to think critically and creates
an environment where you can practice your communication
skills in order to be effective in the real world,” Goodman says.
Team Environment
Major strengths of teams
• Teams make workers happier by causing them to feel that they
are shaping their own jobs.
• Teams increase efficiency by eliminating layers of mangers
whose job was once to pass orders downward.
• Teams enable a company to draw on the skills and imagination
of a whole workforce.
What is team?
• A team is small group of people with complementary Skills who work
together for a common purpose.
• Team members set their own goals, in cooperation with
management, and plan how to achieve those goals and how their
work is to be accomplished.
• Employees in a self directed work team handle a wide array of
functions and work with a minimum of direct supervision.
• A key element in team success is the concept of synergy, defined as
situation in which the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
• Teams provide a depth of expertise that is unavailable at the
individual level.
Communication Differences in Work
Teams
In the past most businesses were operated in a hierarchical fashion,
with most decisions made at the top and communication following a
top-down patter. Communication patterns are different in successful
team environments as compared to traditional organizational
structures:

• Trust building is the primary factor that changes the organization’s

communication patterns.
• Open meetings are an important method for enhancing
communications as they educate employees about the business
while building bridges of understanding and trust.
• Shared leadership, which involves more direct and effective
communication between management and its internal
customers, is common.

• Listening, problem solving, conflict resolution, negotiation, and

consensus become important factors in group communication.

• Information flows vertically up to management and down to

workers, as well as horizontally among team members, other
teams, and supervisors.
Maximization of Work Team
Effectiveness
• Teams do not function automatically
• A group must go through a developmental process to begin to
function as team.
• Members need training in such areas as problem solving, goal
setting, and conflict resolution.
• Teams must be encouraged to establish the “three R’s”- roles,
rules, and relationships.
• The ability to give and take constructive criticism, listen actively, clearly
impart one’s views to others, and provide meaningful feedback are
important to the success of work teams.

• Emotional Barriers, such as insecurity or condescension, can limit team

effectiveness.

• Process barriers, such as rigid policies and procedures can also interfere
by stifling effective team functioning.

• Cultural barriers, such as stereotyped roles and responsibilities, can

separate workers form management and each other.

• Understanding of the feelings and needs of the coworkers is needed so

that members feel comfortable stating their opinions and discussing the
strengths and weaknesses of the team.
• The emergence of leadership skills that apply to a dynamic
group setting lead to teams success.
In the dynamic team leadership, refereed to as distributed
leadership, the role of the leader may alternate among members,
and more than one leadership style may be active at any given
time.
Impact of Technology on Business
• Globalization : Local business have become international using
IT services. e.g. Muchhad Panwalaa in Mumbai
• Today companies use digital technologies to overcome physical
limitations.
• Companies now see e-commerce as their best chances to
operate in
global economy.
• It helped reduced response time
Prior to new technology Marketing was a fairly
straight-forward manual process where direct
mails
• Prior to new technology Marketing was a fairly straight-forward
manual process where direct mails.
• Blogging
• Streaming Media
• Social Networking
• Mobile Communication
• Computers and mobile phones are playing an increasingly
valuable role in helping doctors and patients monitor conditions
such as diabetes on a daily basis
Communication Technology
• Printing Phase : Oldest communication technology still used in
print ads.
• Telecommunication Phase : It helped business to transmit
information over long distance.
• Interactive Phase : It helped individuals & business units to work
together beyond geographical barriers.