This document provides an introduction to business communication, covering key topics such as the definition of business communication, its purpose and importance, types of communication channels and flows, the communication process, and barriers. Business communication involves sharing messages within and outside an organization to carry out its functions. Effective communication allows for stronger decision making, problem solving and relationships. There are various types of communication including oral, written, nonverbal and technological. Messages flow through organizations via formal and informal networks in downward, upward and horizontal directions. The communication process involves a sender, message, receiver and feedback. Potential barriers include cross-cultural differences, lack of trust, information overload and language issues.

1. INTRODUCTION TO
BUSINESS
COMMUNICATION
CHAPTER 1

2. INTRODUCTION TO
BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
 What is Business Communication?
 Purpose of Business Communication
 Types of communication
 Channel of Communication(Flow of
communication)
 Communication Process
 Communication Barriers

3. DEFINITION
 Your business success depend on your
ability to communicate inside and outside
your organization
 Communication is the process of sending
and receiving messages.
 Process of transferring information and
meaning between senders and receivers,
using one or more written, oral, visual, or
electronic channels.

4. 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.
 . Increase productivity
 . Focus resources
 . Improve morale

5. EFFECTIVE
COMMUNICATION
Communication is effective only when people:
 Understand the message correctly.
 Respond to the message the way the sender wants
to.
The benefit of effective communication:
 Stronger decision making based on timely, reliable
information
 Faster problem solving
 Earlier warning of potential problems
 Increased productivity and lower costs
 Stronger business relationships
 Clearer and more persuasive marketing messages
 Enhanced professional images for both employers
and companies.

6.  Communication connects an
organization with all its stakeholders (
customers, employees, shareholders,
suppliers, neighbours, the community
and the nation).
 To make your message effective,
make them
Practical : provide practical information
Factual : give facts rather than impression
Concise: clarify and condense information
Clear about expectation: state precise
responsibilities
Persuasive : persuade other and offer
recommendation

7. WHAT IS BUSINESS
COMMUNICATION?
 Forms of communication that occur within an
organization( verbal, non-verbal, formal,
informal) in order to carry out the
organizational functions.

8. Purpose of Business Communication
 It can integrates all the managerial functions of
management such as planning, leading
organizing and controlling.
 Can effect changes and also influences
actions between the internal environment and
external environment.
 To meet organizational needs and goals

9. TYPES OF COMMUNICATION
 Oral Communication
 Written Communication
 Nonverbal Communication
 Technological Communication

10. TYPES OF COMMUNICATION
 Oral Communication
 All forms of spoken information; by far the most
preferred type of communication used by
managers.
 Written Communication
 Letters, memos, policy manuals, reports, forms,
and other documents used to share information in
an organization.

11. TYPES OF COMMUNICATION
 Nonverbal Communication
 Kinesic behavior, or body motion, such as gestures,
facial expressions, and eye behavior.
 Physical characteristics, such as body shape,
physique, posture, height, and weight.
 Paralanguage, such as voice quality, speech rate,
pitch, and laughing.
 Environment, such as building and room design,
furniture, light, noise, and cleanliness.
 Time, such as being late or early, keeping others
waiting.
 Proxemics, such as the way people perceive space,
seating arrangements, and conversational distance.

12. TYPES OF COMMUNICATION
 Technological Communication
 Telecommuting or “telework”
 The practice of working at a remote site by using a
computer linked to a central office or other employment
location.
 Electronic mail (e-mail)
 Sending messages through computerized text-processing
and communication networks.
 Video conferencing
 An umbrella term for technologies that use live video to
unite widely dispersed company operations.
 The Internet
 Essentially, “everything” can be done on the internet.

13. FLOWS OF COMMUNICATION

14. FLOWS OF COMMUNICATION
 Messages flow into, through, and out of business
organization in a variety of ways.
 Internal communication takes place between people
inside a company;
 External communication takes place between a
company and outside parties.
 Formal communication network: Ideas and
information flow along the lines of command in the
company’s organization structure.
 Informal communication network: Referred to
as the grapevine, that encompassess all
communication that takes place outside the formal
network.

15. FLOWS OF COMMUNICATION
 Downward communication
 Messages sent from individuals at higher levels of the
organization to those at lower levels.
 Upward communication
 Messages sent up the line from subordinates to managers.
 Horizontal communication
 The flow of information that occurs both within and between
departments.
 Effective organizations encourage horizontal communication
because it increases:
 Coordination
 Collaboration
 Cooperation

16. FLOWS OF COMMUNICATION
 Grapevine
 Is the various paths through which informal
communication is passed through an
organization.
 Grapevine patterns:
1. The single-strand grapevine
 Single strand – A tells B, B tells C,
C tells D and so on. This type of
grapevine is least accurate at
passing on information.
 Example: MGT269 cancelled
and replaced next day

17. FLOWS OF COMMUNICATION
2. The Gossip Grapevine
 One person seeks out and tells
everyone the information he has
obtained. This type of grapevine
is often used when information of
an interesting but non-job related
nature is being conveyed.

18. FLOWS OF COMMUNICATION
3. Probability
 Individual are indifferent about
whom they offer information to.
They tell people at random, and
those people in turn tell others at
random.

19. FLOWS OF COMMUNICATION
4. Cluster
 Person A conveys the information to
a few selected individuals that he or
she trusts. They are most likely to pass
on information that is interesting to them
and job related. It is a dominant grapevine
pattern in organization

20. COMMUNICATION PROCESS

21. COMMUNICATION PROCESS
 Social Context
 The setting in which the communication takes place.
 Sender
 The sender initiates the communication process by
encoding his or her meaning and sending the
message through a channel.
 Encoding translates the sender’s ideas into a
systematic set of symbols or a language expressing
the communicator’s purpose.
 Messages
 The tangible forms of coded symbols that are
intended to give a particular meaning to the
information or data.

22. COMMUNICATION PROCESS
 Channel
 The carrier of the message or the means by which the
message is sent.
 Receiver
 The receiving person or group must make sense of
the information received.
 Decoding the translation of received messages into
interpreted meanings.
 Feedback
 The process of verifying messages and the receiver’s
attempts to ensure that the message he or she
decoded is what the sender really meant to convey.

23. COMMUNICATION PROCESS
 Noise
 Any internal or external interference or distraction
with the intended message that can cause
distortion in the sending and receiving of
messages.

24. COMMUNICATION BARRIERS
 Cross-cultural diversity
 Trust and credibility
 Information overload
 Language characteristics
 Gender differences
 Other factors

25. COMMUNICATION BARRIERS
 Cross-Cultural Diversity
 Individuals from different cultures may encode
and decode their messages differently.
 They may have different behaviors, styles, and
ways of looking at things.
 A common problem in cross-cultural
communication is ethnocentrism.
 Ethnocentrism is the tendency to consider one’s
own culture and its values as being superior to
others.

26. COMMUNICATION BARRIERS
 Trust and Credibility
 A very important barrier to effective communication
is a lack of trust between the sender and the
receiver.
 This lack of trust can cause the receiver to look for
hidden meanings in the sender’s message.
 It can also cause the sender to try and manipulate
the message.

27. COMMUNICATION BARRIERS
 Information Overload
 Managers and organizations can experience
information overload when the amount of data that
can be processed is exceeded.
 Information overload can lead to:
 Failing to process or ignoring some information.
 Processing information incorrectly.
 Delaying the processing of information until the information
overload abates.
 Searching for people to help process some of the
information.
 Lowering the quality of information processing.

28. COMMUNICATION BARRIERS
 Language Characteristics
 Many words and phrases in our language are
imprecise. Individuals often use different meanings
or interpretations of the same word and do not
realize it.
 The imprecision and multiple meanings of words
are one reason why jargon develops.
 Jargon is terminology or language specific to a
particular profession or group.

29. COMMUNICATION BARRIERS
 Gender Differences and Other Factors
 Gender Differences
 Gender differences can result in breakdowns and lead
to distorted communication and misunderstandings
between men and women.
 Other Factors
 Time pressures may cause us to focus on information
that helps us make a choice quickly. Feedback may
be impaired or absent.

30. THANK YOU!!