Business

Communication,
Management,
and Success

Module One

©2014 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.  All rights reserved

McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2014 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Workplace Communication Challenges

 Employers clearly want employees who communicate well:

 States spend more than $220 million annually on remedial
writing programs for employees.

 Corporations may spend $3.1 billion annually to fix

problems from writing deficiencies. The cost is $22.13 per
page for a typical letter.
 Workplace Communication Challenges

 Work requires communication

 People communicate to plan products and services; hire, train,

and motivate workers; coordinate manufacturing and delivery;

persuade customers to buy; and bill them for the sale.

 Workplace Communication Challenges

 For many business, nonprofit, community, and government

organizations, the "product" is information or a service rather

than something tangible.

 Information and services are created and delivered by

communication.
 Verbal and Nonverbal Communication

 Communication takes many forms:

1. Verbal Communication that uses words.

2. Nonverbal Communication that does not use words.

Verbal and Nonverbal Communication

 Verbal Communication
 Face-to-Face/Phone Conversations/Meetings
 E-mail/Voice-Mail Messages
 Letters, Memos, and Reports

1-6
Verbal and Nonverbal Communication

 Nonverbal Communication
 Pictures/Company Logos
 Gestures/Body Language
 Who Sits Whereat a Meeting
 How Long a Visitor is Kept Waiting

1-7
 Workplace Communication

 Communication affects all level of work

 Even in your first job, you'll communicate.
 You'll read information;
 you'll listen to instructions;
 you'll ask questions;
 you may solve problems with other workers in teams.
 In a manufacturing company, hourly workers travel to a
potential customer to make oral sales presentations.
 Workplace Communication

 Good communication skills are vital in today's workplace.

 The better an employee's communication skills are, the better

his or her chance for success.
 Business and School Writing

 Business writing is often different than other school

writing.
 Shorter sentences and paragraphs.
 More conversational tone.
 More dynamic document designs than a typical college essay.
 business writing often has multiple audiences .
 Business and School Writing
Differ based on/ School writing Business writing

Purpose. Show that you have

learned Meet an organizational need.
Audience.
Limited Multiple
Information. New to reader.
Rarely new to reader

Organization Traditional essay form Psychological needs of reader

Style.
Formal Friendly
Document design. Short paragraphs
Long paragraphs
Visuals.
Few More
 Internal and External Audiences

 Communication—oral, nonverbal, and written—goes to

both Internal and External audiences.

 Internal: people in the same organization

 Subordinates
 Supervisors
 Peers
 External: people outside the organization
 Customers/Suppliers/Stockholders
 Unions/Government Agencies
 Press/General Public
 What does communication
accomplish?
 Internal
 Subordinates
 Supervisors
 Peers

1-13
 The Internal Audiences of the
Sales Manager—West
Figure 1.1

1-14
 What does communication
accomplish?

 External
 Customers/Stockholders
 Unions/Government Agencies
 Press/General Public

1-15
 The Corporation’s
External Audiences
Figure 1.2

1-16
The Importance of Listening, Speaking,
and interpersonal Communication

 Informal listening, speaking, and

working in groups are just as
important as writing formal
documents and giving formal oral
presentations.
 Basic Purposes of Messages

 Workplace massages can have one or more of these basic

purposes:
 To inform: explain or tell readers something.
 To request or to persuade: want the reader to act.
 To build goodwill: create a good image of yourself and of
your organization.

¨ Most messages have multiple purposes

 What makes a message effective?

 Is clear.
 Is complete.
 Is correct.
 Saves the reader’s time.
 Builds goodwill.

1-19
 Good Business Writing
(Effective Message)

 Is clear: The meaning the reader gets is the meaning the writer
intended.
 Is complete: All of the reader’s questions are answered.
 Is correct: All information are accurate.

 Builds goodwill: The message presents a positive image of the

writer.
 Saves the reader’s time.
 Good Business Writing
(Effective Message)

 Whether a message meets these five criteria depends on:

 the interactions among the writer, the audience,
 the purposes of the message,
 and the situation.
 No single set of words will work in all possible situations.
 Poor Business Writing

 Poor correspondence costs even more.

 When writing isn't as good as it could be:

 you and your organization pay a price in wasted time,
 wasted efforts, and
 Lost goodwill.
 PAIBOC

Questions you need to answer before you begin composing

your message.
P What are your purposes in writing?
List all your purposes, major and minor:
specify exactly what you want your reader
to know, think, or do.

1-23
 PAIBOC

A Who is (are) your audiences?

How do they differs from each other?
What Characteristic are relevant? How
will they respond to your message?

1-24
 PAIBOC

I What information must your message

include?
Make a list of the points that must be
included; check your draft. Put the
information without emphasizing in the
middle.

1-25
 PAIBOC

B What reasons or reader benefits can you

use to support your position?
Make sure the benefits are adapted to
your reader.

1-26
 PAIBOC

O What objections can you expect your

reader(s) to have?
Some negative elements can only be
deemphasized. Others can be overcome.

1-27
 PAIBOC

C How will the context affect reader

response?
Your relationship to the reader, the
economy, the time of the year,..etc.

1-28
 Assignment

 Introducing Yourself to Your Instructor

 Write a memo (at least 1X pages long) introducing

yourself to your instructor.
 Include the following topics:
1. Background:
1. Where did you grow up?
2. What you done in terms of school, extracurricular activities, jobs, and
family life?
 Assignment

2. Interests:
1. What are you interested in?
2. What do you like to do?
3. What do you like to think about and talk about?
3. Achievements:
1. What achievements have given you the greatest personal
satisfaction?
2. List at least five.
3. Include things which gave you a real sense of accomplishment and
pride, whether or not they're the sort of thing you'd list on a résumé.