Business Communication

As the term suggests, business communication includes all communication that occurs in a business context. A knowledge of business communication presupposes an understanding of both businessand communication. That's a lot of territory. Although courses in business communication have their roots in the “business English” and “business correspondence” courses common in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, business communication has evolved over the years into a broad discipline providing an overview of all communication that occurs in organizational settings.
Foundations
Business communication draws on information derived from a wide variety of other disciplines, including linguistics (the study of language), semantics (the branch of linguistics most concerned with meaning), rhetoric (the art of using words in speech or writing effectively), psychology (the study of mental processes and behavior), sociology (the study of social relations and societal change),graphic design (the use of visual images and typography to create special effects), management (the study of controlling and directing operations and personnel), marketing (the study of moving goods and services from producer to consumer, including everything from advertising, to packaging, to sales), economics (the study of the production, distribution, and consumption of wealth), andinformation technology (the study of the ways in which technology can be used to create, locate, store, retrieve, and transmit information).
Related Disciplines
For this reason, different authors typically select specific aspects of communication in business on which to focus. The following related areas of study have evolved over time: * Managerial Communication: The term, managerial communication, usually refers to an emphasis on communication strategies for setting and achieving specific organizational objectives. * Organizational Communication: Organizational communication usually refers to established communication networks and the communication flow within organizations and an organization’s communication climate. * Human Relations and Team Building: Over the past 30 years or so, business and industry have increasingly recognized the importance of good interpersonal communication between and among those who work together. Such skills are also important to the success of customer relations programs and strategic alliances. By whatever name, courses on these topics typically cover the fundamentals of understanding other people, differences in perception, differences in motivation and other common behavioral strategies, establishing rapport, developing mutual respect, and reaching consensus. * Sales Communication: Sales communication includes all communication specifically designed to produce sales, from media-based advertising, to telephone solicitation, to direct-mail advertising and direct (face-to-face) sales. * Report Writing: As the term suggests, report writing focuses on written reports, typically including everything from short, informational memos to letter reports (basically long letters that include headings and other report-writing techniques), to complete analytical reports. Books on this subject often include the fundamentals of primary and secondary research, techniques for data analysis, and analytical and presentation graphics. * Communication Technology and Electronic Communication: Whether word processing, page layout and graphic design, electronic mail (email), electronic conferencing, Internet-based services, audio or video conferencing, or multimedia presentations, the technology we use to communicate—information technology—has changed radically over the past few years.
These changes, especially since the advent of the computer, have altered the way we think about communication, and we have yet to see the end of these changes. The ways in which information (computer) technologies and other communication technologies, such as enhanced telephone services, are becoming increasingly interdependent is typically referred to as digital convergence ortechnological convergence. Car phones, cell phones, and pagers help ensure that one can communicate from virtually anywhere to virtually anywhere else at any time, and email has recently become the principal means of exchanging written communication in organizations.
As the volume of communication increases, the chance of information overload also increases, which not only reduces the impact of individual messages but also increases the need for effective communication skills, including listening, speaking, reading, and writing. * International Communication: International communication, also referred to as intercultural communication, focuses on the ways in which cultural differences influence communication expectations and behavior, including the length of time it takes to establish business and personal relationships, differences in the conception of time itself, differences in nonverbal communication, and differences in perceptions as they are influenced by language and culture.
The Importance of Communication to Business
Your success in life, from both a personal and a professional standpoint, will depend to a great extent on your ability to communicate. Nothing happens without communication, without the exchange of information. Technical knowledge and skills—whether of accounting principles, biological processes, or mechanics and physics—are of little value unless you can communicate what that knowledge and those skills mean to others. People evaluate you both formally and informally by your communication skills. We typically gauge the intelligence of others and their ability to do a given job by their use of language and other communication skills.
Most entry-level positions will require you to write effective email messages and memos, use the telephone (including voice mail) effectively, and be effective in group discussions and team meetings. Depending on the job, you may also be called upon to write letters and reports and to present to small groups. In general, the higher a person rises in an organization’s hierarchy, the more time he or she spends communicating both formally and informally.
The Cost of Poor Communication
In today’s fast-paced business environment, poor communication is expensive. A typical one-page business letter will take the average person about an hour to plan, compose, and revise—or about $15 if the person is earning $30,000 a year (assuming two weeks’ vacation), and that does not include the costs of the equipment used to produce the letter, materials, and mailing. Will the letter be worth more than the time it took to write it in terms of the sales and/or goodwill it will generate for the writer and his or her organization?
Badly written messages have a number of hidden costs. Badly written messages are, for example, difficult to read and waste the reader's time. The reader may require additional explanation and a greater investment in time—for both the writer and the reader. Even worse, badly written messages may not produce the desired result: they don’t result in a sale, contract, or customer loyalty.
The telephone seems a simple and easy way to communicate, but telephone communication can also be expensive. Most phone calls do not reach the intended receiver. Instead, the caller leaves a message, either with another person or on voice mail. The receiver then returns the call, perhaps to discover that the original caller is not available, and leaves another message, thus initiating an on-going exchange of messages usually called telephone tag. If you conduct a lot of business by phone, have you included the time you spend "on hold" in your telephone communication costs? Telephone communication is also easily misunderstood. For this reason, most organizations have a practice of putting everything important in writing.
The Benefits of Improving Your Communication Skills
Communication is a complex process in which many opportunities for error exist. Every business transaction requires communication—a phone call, meeting, letter, memo, oral presentation, or formal report—and the success of the transaction depends on the effectiveness of the communication. One of the clichés in business is that nothing happens until somebody sells something. Communication is central in business because it is central in life: it establishes relationships and makes human organization possible.
You have undoubtedly seen magazine ads for products and books promising to improve your vocabulary and communication skills. If you look at the titles on the shelves in the business section of any bookstore, you will find that many of them address communication issues. Such products and books sell because it is impossible to be too good at communication. The benefits of being an effective communicator include the following: * Increased confidence. One of the primary causes of communication reticence is the fear of making mistakes. Although an extensive vocabulary and good grammar will not guarantee effective communication, using words incorrectly or making noticeable errors in spelling and grammar will cause others to pay more attention to your use of language than to what you are trying to communicate. Having a good vocabulary—and knowing for sure what the words you are using actually mean—and having a good command of the fundamentals of English grammar will allow you to communicate with confidence. * Increased efficiency. Understanding the fundamentals of grammar and usage, combined with an understanding of the psychology of communication, will allow you to prepare written materials more quickly and to avoid unnecessary revision or repetition. Spending time now in improving your communication skills will provide a good return on investment in time saved later. * Increased effectiveness. When you improve your communication skills, you increase your ability to get more of what you want in life. You will be able to communicate more clearly and persuasively. Others will pay closer attention to what you say, not only in writing but also in your oral presentations and conversations. * Better professional and personal relationships. In general, others will feel more comfortable with you and like and understand you better when you have well-developed communication skills. You will also understand others better, even when they do not have especially well-developed communication skills.
As the term suggests, business communication includes all communication that occurs in a business context. A knowledge of business communication presupposes an understanding of both businessand communication. That's a lot of territory. Although courses in business communication have their roots in the “business English” and “business correspondence” courses common in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, business communication has evolved over the years into a broad discipline providing an overview of all communication that occurs in organizational settings.
Foundations
Business communication draws on information derived from a wide variety of other disciplines, including linguistics (the study of language), semantics (the branch of linguistics most concerned with meaning), rhetoric (the art of using words in speech or writing effectively), psychology (the study of mental processes and behavior), sociology (the study of social relations and societal change),graphic design (the use of visual images and typography to create special effects), management (the study of controlling and directing operations and personnel), marketing (the study of moving goods and services from producer to consumer, including everything from advertising, to packaging, to sales), economics (the study of the production, distribution, and consumption of wealth), andinformation technology (the study of the ways in which technology can be used to create, locate, store, retrieve, and transmit information).
Related Disciplines
For this reason, different authors typically select specific aspects of communication in business on which to focus. The following related areas of study have evolved over time: * Managerial Communication: The term, managerial communication, usually refers to an emphasis on communication strategies for setting and achieving specific organizational objectives. * Organizational Communication: Organizational communication usually refers to established communication networks and the communication flow within organizations and an organization’s communication climate. * Human Relations and Team Building: Over the past 30 years or so, business and industry have increasingly recognized the importance of good interpersonal communication between and among those who work together. Such skills are also important to the success of customer relations programs and strategic alliances. By whatever name, courses on these topics typically cover the fundamentals of understanding other people, differences in perception, differences in motivation and other common behavioral strategies, establishing rapport, developing mutual respect, and reaching consensus. * Sales Communication: Sales communication includes all communication specifically designed to produce sales, from media-based advertising, to telephone solicitation, to direct-mail advertising and direct (face-to-face) sales. * Report Writing: As the term suggests, report writing focuses on written reports, typically including everything from short, informational memos to letter reports (basically long letters that include headings and other report-writing techniques), to complete analytical reports. Books on this subject often include the fundamentals of primary and secondary research, techniques for data analysis, and analytical and presentation graphics. * Communication Technology and Electronic Communication: Whether word processing, page layout and graphic design, electronic mail (email), electronic conferencing, Internet-based services, audio or video conferencing, or multimedia presentations, the technology we use to communicate—information technology—has changed radically over the past few years.
These changes, especially since the advent of the computer, have altered the way we think about communication, and we have yet to see the end of these changes. The ways in which information (computer) technologies and other communication technologies, such as enhanced telephone services, are becoming increasingly interdependent is typically referred to as digital convergence ortechnological convergence. Car phones, cell phones, and pagers help ensure that one can communicate from virtually anywhere to virtually anywhere else at any time, and email has recently become the principal means of exchanging written communication in organizations.
As the volume of communication increases, the chance of information overload also increases, which not only reduces the impact of individual messages but also increases the need for effective communication skills, including listening, speaking, reading, and writing. * International Communication: International communication, also referred to as intercultural communication, focuses on the ways in which cultural differences influence communication expectations and behavior, including the length of time it takes to establish business and personal relationships, differences in the conception of time itself, differences in nonverbal communication, and differences in perceptions as they are influenced by language and culture.
The Importance of Communication to Business
Your success in life, from both a personal and a professional standpoint, will depend to a great extent on your ability to communicate. Nothing happens without communication, without the exchange of information. Technical knowledge and skills—whether of accounting principles, biological processes, or mechanics and physics—are of little value unless you can communicate what that knowledge and those skills mean to others. People evaluate you both formally and informally by your communication skills. We typically gauge the intelligence of others and their ability to do a given job by their use of language and other communication skills.
Most entry-level positions will require you to write effective email messages and memos, use the telephone (including voice mail) effectively, and be effective in group discussions and team meetings. Depending on the job, you may also be called upon to write letters and reports and to present to small groups. In general, the higher a person rises in an organization’s hierarchy, the more time he or she spends communicating both formally and informally.
The Cost of Poor Communication
In today’s fast-paced business environment, poor communication is expensive. A typical one-page business letter will take the average person about an hour to plan, compose, and revise—or about $15 if the person is earning $30,000 a year (assuming two weeks’ vacation), and that does not include the costs of the equipment used to produce the letter, materials, and mailing. Will the letter be worth more than the time it took to write it in terms of the sales and/or goodwill it will generate for the writer and his or her organization?
Badly written messages have a number of hidden costs. Badly written messages are, for example, difficult to read and waste the reader's time. The reader may require additional explanation and a greater investment in time—for both the writer and the reader. Even worse, badly written messages may not produce the desired result: they don’t result in a sale, contract, or customer loyalty.
The telephone seems a simple and easy way to communicate, but telephone communication can also be expensive. Most phone calls do not reach the intended receiver. Instead, the caller leaves a message, either with another person or on voice mail. The receiver then returns the call, perhaps to discover that the original caller is not available, and leaves another message, thus initiating an on-going exchange of messages usually called telephone tag. If you conduct a lot of business by phone, have you included the time you spend "on hold" in your telephone communication costs? Telephone communication is also easily misunderstood. For this reason, most organizations have a practice of putting everything important in writing.
The Benefits of Improving Your Communication Skills
Communication is a complex process in which many opportunities for error exist. Every business transaction requires communication—a phone call, meeting, letter, memo, oral presentation, or formal report—and the success of the transaction depends on the effectiveness of the communication. One of the clichés in business is that nothing happens until somebody sells something. Communication is central in business because it is central in life: it establishes relationships and makes human organization possible.
You have undoubtedly seen magazine ads for products and books promising to improve your vocabulary and communication skills. If you look at the titles on the shelves in the business section of any bookstore, you will find that many of them address communication issues. Such products and books sell because it is impossible to be too good at communication. The benefits of being an effective communicator include the following: * Increased confidence. One of the primary causes of communication reticence is the fear of making mistakes. Although an extensive vocabulary and good grammar will not guarantee effective communication, using words incorrectly or making noticeable errors in spelling and grammar will cause others to pay more attention to your use of language than to what you are trying to communicate. Having a good vocabulary—and knowing for sure what the words you are using actually mean—and having a good command of the fundamentals of English grammar will allow you to communicate with confidence. * Increased efficiency. Understanding the fundamentals of grammar and usage, combined with an understanding of the psychology of communication, will allow you to prepare written materials more quickly and to avoid unnecessary revision or repetition. Spending time now in improving your communication skills will provide a good return on investment in time saved later. * Increased effectiveness. When you improve your communication skills, you increase your ability to get more of what you want in life. You will be able to communicate more clearly and persuasively. Others will pay closer attention to what you say, not only in writing but also in your oral presentations and conversations. * Better professional and personal relationships. In general, others will feel more comfortable with you and like and understand you better when you have well-developed communication skills. You will also understand others better, even when they do not have especially well-developed communication skills.