Business Communication

Business Communication
MBA (Exec.) CP-105
Dr. Himanshu Dutt

Communication: importance
▸ We receive and send information to conduct work.
▸ It requires ability to express oneself or convey
thoughts.
▸ Through gestures, speaking and writing at one end
and reading and observing at the other.
▸ Organisation practice management (planning,
directing, staffing, coordinating and controlling)
through communication.
▸ Business Communication is the ‘flow of information’
that enables management to perform its functions.
▸ Internal-Operational Communication (E.g. procuring
orders)

Importance …2
▸ It is the medium through which an organization
adapts to its environment.
▸ It integrates the sub units of an organisation to
facilitate coordination among them and achieve
business objectives.
▸ Integrates organisation with the external world,
especially its customers.
▸ Should lead to increased productivity, faster and
better decision-making / problem-solving, improved
customer relationships, and team-work /
cohesiveness resulting in enhanced professional
image for the organisation.

Communication: definition
▸ Process of exchanging information through a
common system of symbols (mainly language,
expressions, behaviours) – so its always two-way.
▸ Facilitates transmission of knowledge and
experience.
▸ Results in shared understanding through interaction.
▸ Can be between one-to-one (superior to
subordinate), one-to-many (superior to team of
subordinates/lecture), many-to-one (class and
teacher/questions).
▸ Interactive and ongoing process in which mutual
beliefs and mutual knowledge is accumulated and
gained.

Communication: process
1.A message sent by Marci arrives
in Kevin’s “sensory world.”
2.Kevin’s senses pick up the
message, but may also pick up
competing information.
3.Marci’s message is filtered
through Kevin’s unique mind and
is given meaning.
4.The meaning given may trigger a
response, which Kevin’s unique
mind forms.
5.Kevin sends the message to
Marci. It enters her sensory
world, and a second cycle
Marci (sender) to Kevin (receiver)
Source: Basic Business Communication by Lesikar & begins.
Flatley.

Process …2
1.A message sent by Kevin arrives
in Marci’s “sensory world.”
2.Marci’s senses pick up the
message, but may also pick up
competing information.
3.Kevin’s message is filtered
through Marci’s unique mind and
is given meaning.
4.The meaning given may trigger a
response, which Marci’s unique
mind forms.
5.Marci sends the message to
Kevin. It enters his sensory world,
and another cycle begins.
Kevin (receiver) to Marci (sender)
Source: Basic Business Communication by Lesikar & Flatley, Tenth Edition, Tata
McGraw-Hill

Communication: elements
▸ Sender and a receiver
▸ Medium / Channel
depends upon ability of the sender
like objective, medium, emotions,
▸ Sensory world (stimuli)
▸ Filter / Distortions
▸ Meaning
▸ Response
conviction, gestures...
depends upon
ability of the receiver like
senses (hear, see, taste,
feel)
mental alertness, noise…
Communication is said to have taken place only when cycle is
complete. Without receiving a response the cycle is incomplete.

Elements …3
▸ Communication
▸ process of sending and receiving messages with
attached meanings.
▸ Source
▸ encodes an intended meaning into a message
▸ Receiver
▸ decodes the message into a perceived meaning
▸ Noise
▸ any disturbance that disrupts and interferes with the
transference of messages

Communication: channels
▸ Face-to-face meetings
▸ Email
▸ Online discussions
▸ Written letters
▸ Telephone
▸ Voice mail
▸ Feedback

Channels …2
▸ Formal channels
▸ Follow the chain of command established by an
organization’s hierarchy of authority
▸ Informal channels
▸ Diverge from formal channels by skipping levels in the
hierarchy or cutting across vertical chains of command
▸ Grapevine
▸ network of friendships and acquaintances through which
rumors and other unofficial information get passed from
person to person

Communication: nature
▸ Flow / exchange of information from sender to
receiver in a loop / cycle – it’s a continuous process.
▸ Depends upon the ability of sender and receiver to
communicate.
▸ Because meanings transmitted are not necessarily
the meanings received: meanings are in the mind.
▸ Purpose not fulfilled unless receiver has understood
message in the sense it has been conveyed.
▸ Mutual understanding is the underlying principal.
▸ Moves upwards (grapevine), downwards (formal
instructions) and laterally (coordination within or
among groups) through formal and informal

Communication: functions
▸ Communication serves following functions in a an
organisation:
▸ Information – for decision-making/problem-solving
▸ Control – the power to influence people’s behaviour
through policies, circulars/announcements, job
descriptions, grievances
▸ Motivation – appreciation through feedback (appraisals),
reinforcing the desired set of behaviour for team work

Functions …2
▸ Functions of communication is to help teams:
▸ Make better decisions, faster
▸ Be persuaded to perform effectively – achieve objective
▸ Establish control for guiding team member’s behaviours
▸ Provide a mean to express their sentiments, opinions and
grievances

Guidelines for effective communication
▸ Give it directly and in a spirit of mutual trust
▸ Be specific, not general; use clear examples
▸ Give it when the receiver is most ready to accept
▸ Be accurate; check its validity with others
▸ Focus on things the receiver can control

Effective communication …2
▸ Effective communication
▸ Occurs when the intended meaning of the source and the
perceived meaning of the receiver are virtually the same
▸ Efficient communication
▸ Occurs at minimum cost in terms of resources expended

Communication: manager’s roles
Manager’s Roles
Interpersonal Informational Decisional
• Facilitator
• Mobiliser
• Liaison
person
Disseminator
of
Information,
Channels its
flow
Intrapreneur:
Rationalizes
decisions,
achieves pre-determined
objectives

9/4/14
Non Verbal Communication
 Phrase: “Action speaks louder than words”
 Mehrabian Model:
 55% of meaning is conveyed through facial expression
 38% of meaning is para-linguistic (manner in which words are
spoken – style of speaking)
 Non-verbal communication: tone, pitch, facial
expression, and body language (postures, gestures,
eye contact, voice, proximity an touch).

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Non Verbal Communication...2
 It is a communication that does not involve words
(absence of written words or telephonic
conversation) but body motion, characteristics of
voice, appearance and proximity.
 E.g. sitting crossed-legs show defensive posture
 Staring into Senior's eyes is disrespectful
 Hands in pocket and gum in mouth considered rude
 Yawning is a sign of boredom / sleepiness
 Sign of “No Smoking”
 Important in “emotional expression”.

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Non Verbal Communication...3
 Samuel Morse developed “Morse Code” – code to
communicate – mostly used in military.
 It is a combination of cues and codes (symbols and
rules) that work together to produce a certain
meaning.
 Non-verbal communication is Conscious (e.g. a hug)
and Sub-conscious (e.g. gut feeling, authority of
police, actors in advertisements selling face
wash/fairness cream).

9/4/14
Types of Non Verbal Communication
 Kinesics – facial expressions, pasture, gestures
 Oculesics – eye contact
 Haptics – touch
 Proxemics – space and proximity (distance)
 Appearance – attire, personality, artifacts (watch,
perfume, pen, jewel etc.)
 Para-linguistics – pitch, speed and volume
 Chronemics – effect of time

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Types of Non-Verbal Communication ...2
 Gestures (E.g. thumbs up, folded hands, shaking
legs, playing with objects)– two types: Conscious
and Spontaneous.
 Spontaneous gestures types are:
 Iconic gestures – narrating some event or action
 Metaphoric gestures – narrating some metaphor e.g.
sickness/unwell using rolling of the hands.
 Deictic gestures – pointing (left, right, distance)
 Beat gestures – supporting a statement (now I'll show you how to
use a ….)

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 Oculesics: good eye contact means trust,
confidence, lower eye contact means less
confidence, admitting a mistake, respect for
elders. Also called gazing.
 Gazing – it is of 4 types: regulatory (e.g. commanding),
monitoring (e.g. correcting a process), cognitive (e.g.
rationalizing a decision) and expressive (e.g. give opinion).
 Haptics: touch-based communication
 4 types: Functional/professional (e.g. handshake, pat on the
back); Social/polite (e.g. touching feet); Friendship/Warmth (e.g.
holding hands, hands on shoulders); Love/intimacy (e.g. hug)

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 Proxemics: space/distance between receiver and
communicator
 E.g. standing too close, talking too loud is
uncomfortable.
 It is the study of the nature, degree, and effect of the
spatial separation individually naturally maintained.
Coined by E.T Hall in 1963.
 Appearance & Artifacts – dull appearance represents
bad mood, non-confident, unclean, improper to a
formal meeting.

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 Paralingusitics – sound that is not a direct
form of linguistic communication (has no
semantic meaning).
 It suggests emotional nuances.
 Tone : harsh, gentle, pleasing, sharp
 Pitch : high-low
 Intensity : soft-loud
 Rhythm : smooth-volatile
 Tempo : rapid-slow
 Inflection : spread-narrow (stretching words to stress,
pause)
 Dysfluency : Umm, Aah, Humm...

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 Chronemics – refer to use of time, as a message
system including punctuality, amount of time spent
another and waiting time.
 E.g. coming on time, finishing meeting on time, time
to talk over team's problem, time to converse with
team casually.

9/4/14
Cross-Cultural Communication
 3 main components to any communication
 Subject matter (objective/purpose)
 Medium of delivery
 Cultural considerations
 Culture influences the way we:
 Approach / deal with problems / issues
 Participates in groups (teamwork)
 Reflects our style of speaking (language & phrases) body
language (face expression, eye contact, postures and
gestures) and proximity.

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Cross-Cultural Communication...2
 Culture is:
 Group/community that share common experiences which shapes
their understanding of the world.
 It includes gender, race, nationality.
 A culture can be changed / acquired by moving into a new region or
changing the economic status.
 In reality, we belong to many cultures at once.
 Cross-culture is:
 Overlapping of two or more cultures
 Causes attitudinal differences (referred as Ethnocentrism)
 Communication aims at removing these differences (stereotyping,
prejudice and discrimination); It deems judging communication of
other cultures as fundamentally different / wrong.

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 Cross culture communication looks at how people from
differing cultural backgrounds interact and communicate.
 Misunderstandings and misinterpretations are most common
problems of cross culture communication because some
expressions, words and phrases are used / understood in
different ways and degree of importance given to non-verbal
communication.
 Within a country regional differences may have powerful
influence on the way people interact. Attitudes, ethnicity,
values, customs, religion, socio-economic background,
gender, sexual orientation, physical disabilities.

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 Cross- Communication style – two main distinctions
 High Culture Context: people are homogeneous and
collectivist (i.e. socio-centric), they have idea about how a
particular discussion would progress and how the other
person would probably react to a comment.
 Low Culture Context: people are heterogeneous and
individualistic (i.e. ego-centric), their style is more direct and
people have lesser assumptions about other's reactions, blunt
questions are asked, people prefer discussing the issue
directly rather giving time to know each other or wait to build
trust.

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Ethnocentrism
 Refers to perceiving other cultural groups from
one's own point of view.
 Makes invalid assumptions about others' ways
based one's own narrow experience.
 Misunderstanding by misinterpreting.
 It can be dealt by gaining understanding of other
cultures to avoid unjustified assumptions/ notions
and being tolerant of other cultures.

9/4/14
Variables influencing/shaping Culture
 Education
 E.g. role of education in politics, science, sex education etc.
 Law and Regulations
 Prohibition of certain ads in certain countries, advertising to
children is stringent (in U.S) and ban on fashion magazines (in
Iran), and nudity/violence/racism/gender biasness in many
countries including India.
 Economics
 Per capita income, infrastructure, investment climate

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Variables influencing/shaping Culture...2
 Politics
 Style of government (Democratic, Communist, Kingdom) and
concept of democracy differs from country to country, political
stability.
 Religion
 Country's outlook towards religious diversity. Religious
holidays also influence countries.
 Social Norms
 Families, societies, buying patterns, thoughts, motivation,
interests, use of resources, age, class.

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 Technology
– A culture's advancement in technology
 Language / Body Language
– Each language has its own grammatical patterns &
lexicon that may cause misunderstandings
– E.g. Shaking head horizontal is 'No' while vertical
represent 'Yes' in India.
 Time consciousness
– Time conscious countries (U.S, Germany) are
monochromic and where time is a tool which is not
important than convenience of people is polychromic
culture (India).

9/4/14
 Decision-making
 Individualism (U.S) versus Collective decision-making (Japan)
 Adaptation
 Google introduced Hindi translation of their web-pages /
Microsoft introduced option of operating system in Indian
languages; McDonald's adapted its menu to Indian food and
taste.
 Some countries are more culturally sensitive than others.

Cross Culture Communication Strategies
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 Opening & Closing of Conversation
 Knowledge of salutation, social position, how one concludes
meeting.
 E.g. In Japan, most senior enters first in the meeting room
while in India senior comes after everyone has to taken the
place. As soon as he enters, everyone stands up to greet
while Japanese stands and bow.

9/4/14
Cross Culture Communication
Strategies...2
 Knowledge of when and how to ask questions,
listen-first then-ask or ask simultaneously which is
participative mode of communication.
 In some cultures people can ask questions, in some people
may request to ask questions, in some people aren't allowed
to question which may look offensive to the authority unless
authority permits them to ask questions.

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Strategies...3
 Interruption during conversation
 Vocal (loud may mean authoritative, argumentative or taking
long pause in between conversations)
 Physical (negative body language, not interested or offensive)
 Emotional (burst with anger, shout, or show affection)

9/4/14
Strategies...4
 Use of humour
 Sometimes used to establish rapport but may backfire as
impolite, un-etiquetted if taken otherwise. Caution must be
exercised.
 Know 'how much' to say
 Direct, to the point (brief) versus discussions at length, taking
time to discuss.
 Asking the right question in right way
 Sequence what to ask, when; Avoid negative questions, Listen
well, Take notes, Check meaning, Avoid slang, Mix of humour
in the right way, maintain etiquette.

9/4/14
Technology-enabled
Business Communication
 Technology has transformed the way organizations
communicate.
 Mobile telephony, internet, wi-fi, e-mail, bluetooth, software,
etc – are:
 Instant
 Accessible as and when required
 Timely
 Informative / Educative
 Without boundaries (global)
 Wireless (seamless)
 Networking scope (social networks)
 Collaboration made easy

Technology-enabled
Business Communication...2
 Some tools to enable Business Communication (for
e.g. file sharing; video conferencing; banking; B2C
like flipkart, amazon, ebay /B2B like tradeindia,
yellowpages; Social networking, Remote access;
Reservations & booking; Information access,
Editing, Camera)
9/4/14
 Voice-mail / Fax
 Mobile phones / PDA / Tablet (hand-held devices)
 Computers, Software & Internet (Emails)
 Seminars / Crowdsourcing

Impact of Technology on Business Communication
9/4/14
 Positive Impact
 Easy communication which is fast, better and
instant resulting in business productivity (decision-making,
collaboration, info access etc.)
 No distance barriers
 Creation of Information & Knowledge societies
leading to improved quality of information (digital
libraries and databases)
 Team-work / Collaboration – instant & economical
 Free flow of communication from one to many,
instant.
 Increased mobility than ever

Impact of Technology on Business Communication...2
9/4/14
 Negative Impact
 Information overload
 Too much info availability however credibility of information is
doubtful.
 People isolation
 alienates people from physical world impacting health
 Mobility blurring the line between personal and professional
lives
 Family may get disturbed due to this increased mobility.

Effective Technology-based Communication
 Eliminating negative impact (problems of
information overload, people isolation, too much
mobility) of technology
 Selecting the appropriate technology
 Objective for using technology for communication
9/4/14
 Who are the recipients – will they use it?
 Time and cost involved
 Perceived end benefits – will it accrue the desired benefits?

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