Importance of Business Communication

1. Business Communication
S.Y.Bcom.
Prof. A.D.Nandurkar

2. Importance of Communication
• Communication is important because it is
about how information is sent and received
within firms
• The way information is communicated is often
governed by how firms are structured

3. Illustrating Structures 1
The Pyramid
Traditional
view of
organisations
Decisions pass
down formal
channels from
managers to
staff
Information flows
up formal channels
from staff to
management

4. Illustrating Structures 2
Entrepreneurial
Most small
businesses have this
structure
One or two
people make
decisions
Great reliance on
key workers
supporting decision
makers
Quick to act but
pressure on
decision makers
Decision
maker
Key
worker
Key
worker
Key
worker
Key
worker

5. Illustrating Structures 3
Matrix
Marketing Production Finance
Project A
Project teams
created
Staff with
specialist skills
Project B

6. Illustrating Structures 4
Independent
Dr A
Dr B
Dr C
Dr D
Support systems
to professionals
such as doctors
Not suited to most
businesses due to
lack of control

7. More on Business Structure
Centralisation
• Managers keep control
• Decisions are made in the
interests of the whole
business
• Costs can be cut by
standardising purchasing
and so on
• Strong leadership
Decentralisation
• Empowering and
motivating
• Freeing up senior
managers’ time
• Better knowledge of those
closer to customers
• Good staff development

8. Channels of Communication
• Communication in organizations follows paths
or channels
• Communication between managers and
subordinates is known as vertical
communication
• This is because the information flows up or
down the hierarchy

9. Vertical/Lateral Communication
• Organisation chart shows vertical (black
arrows) and lateral (green arrows)
Board of Directors
Finance Marketing
Production
Finance
Officers
Marketing
Assistants
Factory
Operatives

10. Organizational communication
– Purpose, flow, and direction of messages and media used for
those messages
– Another view of behavior in organizations
– “Message behavior”: sending, receiving, and giving meaning to
messages
– Happens over a pathway called a network
– Formal: defined by formal organizational positions;
relationships among those positions
– Informal: patterns of informal social interaction; informal
groups in the organization
– Communication in any direction: downward, upward, horizontal
– Communication networks: interdependent, interlocking,
overlapping systems of interaction

11. The Basic
Communication Process
• Sender
– Decides what message to send
– Encodes it using symbols he or she assumes the
receiver will understand
– Converts message to a signal
– Sends message over communication channel to
receiver

12. Elements of the Communication
Process
• Sender
• Encoding
• Message
• Receiver
• Decoding
• Feedback

13. The Basic
Communication Process (Cont.)
• Communication channel
– Person's voice
– Electronic device
– Written medium
– Video medium
• Receiver
– Decodes message and interprets its meaning
– Responds to message by acting in a manner consistent with that
interpretation
• Communication media
– Telephone
– E-mail
– Letter or memorandum
– Videoconference
– Face-to-face meeting
– Internet chat rooms

14. The Basic
Communication Process (Cont.)
• Choosing medium
– Written media for formality and a clear message
– Face-to-face meeting to convey a sense of teamwork
– E-mail use is largely based on availability and ease of
use to the receiver
• Feedback loop
– Interdependence between sender and receiver during
communication process
– Sender interprets the receiver’s response
– Can send an additional message for clarific

15. The Basic
Communication Process (Cont.)
• Noise: distortions, errors, and foreign
material often affect the quality of the signal
• Additions to the signal not intended by the
sender
• Surrounds entire communication process
• Can make communication less effective
• Diversity, domestic and international, adds
additional noise

16. Types of Communication
• Verbal communication: oral, written, electronic, video
• Verbal communication
– Oral communication
• All forms of speech between a sender and receiver
• Leaves no permanent, retrievable record of the message and response unless recorded
• More effective than written when trying to affect receiver's opinion on some matter
• Nonverbal communication can affect the final interpretation of the message
• Verbal communication (cont.)
– American Sign Language (ASL)
• Uses patterns of hand and finger movements for communication
• Includes facial expressions and body movements to express emotions and distinguish
sentence types
• Country and regional differences in signing systems
• Nonverbal communication: eye movements, gestures, facial expressions
– Adds much of the feeling and emotion that a sender wants to give to a
message
– Often has more effect than verbal on the meaning receivers give a message

17. • Verbal communication (cont.)
– Written communication
• Any form of handwriting, printed memo, or report
• Includes messages sent over an electronic medium
• Receiver's response is more delayed in written than in
oral communication
• Receiver must first read the message before
interpreting and responding to it

18. • Verbal communication (cont.)
– Written communication (Cont.)
• Advantages over oral communication
– Retrievable
– Almost permanent
– Comprehension is better because of rereading
• Verbal communication (cont.)
– Electronic or video communication
• Electronic and video communication becoming more important
• E-mail, computer networks, fax machines, computer conferencing,
videoconferencing
• All now available as desktop systems

19. • Verbal communication (cont.)
– Electronic or video communication (cont.)
• Advantages
– High speed transmission and reception
– Accurate transmission of a message
– Easy dispersal of the same message to people in
scattered locations
– Direct interaction and quick feedback

20. • Nonverbal communication
– Behavior that communicates but does not use written
or spoken words
• Gestures
• Posture
• Seating position
• Pitch of voice
• Speed of speech
• Physical environment . . .
• Nonverbal communication (cont.)
– Combine verbal and nonverbal communication
– Create unique communication style, often
unknowingly
– Can contradict, amplify, or complement verbal
communication

21. • Nonverbal communication (cont.)
– Physical aspects of the person
• Voice: speed, fluency, references to self
• Facial expressions: smile, frown
• Gestures: hand movements
• Body movements: distance
• Posture: leaning forward
• Nonverbal communication (cont.)
– Physical environment of communication
• All aspects of using space, including distance between
sender and receiver (proxemics)
– North America: 5 1/2 to 8 feet between speakers
– Latin America: closer than North America

22. • Nonverbal communication (cont.)
– Time
• Orientation to and meaning of time
– North America: punctual
– Latin America: less punctual
– Swiss: precisely punctual
– Arab cultures: last person to arrive is the most important
• Nonverbal communication (cont.)
– Communication with signs and signals
• Turn signals on motor vehicles, traffic control signals, caution flags
of highway workers
• Hand signals for guiding aircraft
• Special situation: landing on an aircraft carrier

23. Functions of Organizational
Communication
• Share information
– Mission
– Strategies
– Policies
– Tasks, duties, responsibilities
– Both inside and outside the organization
• Feedback about performance
– Reduces uncertainty
– Integration and coordination of various functions
– Especially important in global operations
• Persuasion
– Affecting the behavior of others
– Often the focus of improvement in communication skills
– Related to business presentations
• Emotional expression: let employees express their feelings
• Innovation. Communicate innovations to those inside and outside the
organization

24. COMMUNICATIONS
PROCESS
• Definition of communication
• Elements of the communication process
• Cross-cultural communication
• Describe effective and active listening
• Identify deterrents to effective listening
• Identify methods of enhancing listening
• Define feedback
• Describe the reasons for giving feedback
• Describe guidelines for giving feedback
• Describe the guidelines for receiving feedback

25. The Basic
Communication Process (Cont.)
• Communication channel
– Person's voice
– Electronic device
– Written medium
– Video medium
• Communication media
– Telephone
– E-mail
– Letter or memorandum
– Videoconference
– Face-to-face meeting
– Internet chat rooms

26. • Choosing medium
– Written media for formality and a clear message
– Face-to-face meeting to convey a sense of
teamwork
– E-mail use is largely based on availability and ease
of use to the receiver