PURPOSE OF BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

1. PURPOSE OF BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

2. 1. For instruction • The instructive function unvarying and importantly deals with the commanding nature. It is more or less of directive nature. • Under this, the communicator transmits with necessary directives and guidance to the next level, so as to enable them to accomplish his particular tasks. In this, instructions basically flow from top to the lower level.

3. 2. For integration: • It is consolidated function under which integration of activities is endeavored. • The integration function of communication mainly involves to bring about inter-relationship among the various functions of the business organization. • It helps in the unification of different management functions.

4. 3. For information • The purposes or function of communication in an organization is to inform the individual or group about the particular task or company policies and procedures etc. • Top management informs policies to the lower level through the middle level. • In turn, the lower level informs the top level the reaction through the middle level. • Information can flow vertically, horizontally and diagonally across the organization. Becoming informed or inform others is the main purpose of communication.

5. 4. For evaluation • Examination of activities to form an idea or judgement of the worth of task is achieved through communication. • Communication is a tool to appraise the individual or team, their contribution to the organization. • Evaluating one’s own inputs or other’s outputs or some ideological scheme demands an adequate and effective communication process.

6. 5. For direction: • Communication is necessary to issue directions by the top management or manager to the lower level. Employee can perform better when he is directed by his senior. • Directing others may be communicated either orally or in writing. An order may be common order, request order or implied order.

7. 6. For influencing • A complete communication process is necessary in influencing others or being influenced. • The individual having potential to influence others can easily persuade others. • It implies the provision of feedback which tells the effect of communication.

8. 7. For teaching: • The importance of personal safety on the job has been greatly recognized. A complete communication process is required to teach and educate workers about personal safety on the jobs. • This communication helps the workers to avert accidents, risk etc. and avoid cost, procedures etc.

9. 8. For image building: • A business enterprise cannot isolate from the rest of the society. • There is interrelationship and interdependence between the society and an enterprise operating in the society. • Goodwill and confidence are necessarily created among the public. • It can be done by the communication with the different media, which has to project the image of the firm in the society. • Through an effective external communication system, an enterprise has to inform the society about its goals, activities, progress and social responsibility.

10. 9. For employees orientation: • When a new employee enter into the organization at that time he or she will be unknown to the organization programs, policies, culture etc. • Communication helps to make people acquainted with the co-employees, superior and with the policies, objectives, rules and regulations of the organization.

11. 10. For decision-making • Effective decision-making is possible when required and adequate information is supplied to the decision-maker. Effective communication helps the process of decisionmaking. • In general, everyone in the organization has to provide with necessary information so as to enable to discharge tasks effectively and efficiently.

12. Internal and External Communication • Internal • Day-to-day exchange among employees • External • Flows between an organisation and the entities with which it interacts

13. Business Communication is Transactional Give-and-take relationship between sender and receiver in order to establish a common understanding

14. The role of organisational communication in modern organisation is vital to its growth and prosperity. It is through the process of observation and understanding how people communicate with each other through words, symbols and behaviors that we are able to improve the daily activities in organisations.May it be in work settings or others, an understanding of how individuals behave, why they behave as they do and how human interaction can be improved are essentials for organisational success.

15. WHAT IS EFFECTIVE ORGANISATIONAL COMMUNICATION?

16. Require addressing a host of situational & historical factors. • Does not remain constant – varies by company/industry, people involvement, culture, etc. • What work in one organisation does not mean it will work on another.

17. Pattern of interaction – due to change as the world progress  changes in jargon, technology and nature of the industry. • Organization + communication = synergistic communication effect • It is a chain reaction as a result of organization and its involvement.

19. CHARACTERICTICS OF THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS • Communicators simultaneously send and receive • Communication is a process • Communication is irreversible

20. There are seven essential elements to successful business communication: • Structure • Clarity • Consistency • Medium • Relevancy • Primacy • Psychological Rule of 7±2

21. 1. Structure • How you structure your communication is fundamental to how easily it is absorbed and understood by your audience/customer. • Every good communication should have these three structural elements: an opening, a body, and a close.

22. 2. Clarity • Be clear about the messaqe you want to deliver, as giving a confused message to your audience only ends up with them being confused and your message being ignored.

23. 3. Consistency • As well as consistency amongst multiple messages, be aware that inconsistency within your message can be just as deadly to audience comprehension. • At the risk of sounding like the Grouchy Grammarian, please make sure that your tenses remain the same, that your viewpoint doesn't wander between the 1st and 3rd person and back again (unless you deliberately want to create a linguistic or story-telling effect — be careful with this!) and that your overall 'theme' or message doesn't change.

24. 4. Medium • Choosing the right medium or media is obviously critical • with the greatest accuracy • with the largest likelihood of audience comprehension • at the lowest fiscal cost • at the lowest time cost

25. 5. Relevancy • The psychological reality is that sometime the audiences are felt bored with your messages. • Which means that if you force them to attend to your message you will actually turn them against you and be even less likely to receive their attention in the future. • If your business communication needs to touch on several areas that might not be of interest to your entire audience, let them know of alternative resources that more fully address each of these additional areas. • You can do this by, for example, providing them with an easily-remembered and written link to a webpage where a greater depth of information can be stored.

26. 6. Primacy/Recency • Psychologists call the effect of remembering the first few items presented as a 'Primacy Effect'. Similarly, they call the effect of remembering the last few items presented to you as a 'Recency Effect'. • Since individuals differ in which Effect is the most dominant for them, it is best to 'cover your bases' and make an effort to have both a powerful and memorable opening and a powerful close. • A powerful opening can be anything that captures the audience's attention: • a quote, a joke, a loud noise, a preposterous statement.

27. 7. The Psychological Rule of 7±2 (seven plus or minus two) • Psychologists have long known that the human brain has a finite capacity to hold information in short-term or 'working' memory. • The brain is also structured to retain information in 'clusters' or groups of items. These clusters average, across the whole of mankind, at seven items, plus or minus two. • If you want your key points to be remembered even five minutes later, it is essential that you limit your business communication to between just five and nine key points.

28. Internal Communication Patterns • Vertical • Horizontal • Network

29. Formal Communication • Is business related • May be written or oral • Is planned by the organisation • Flows in all directions • Is essential for effective operation of the business

30. Informal Communication • Referred to as “the Grapevine” • May be either business or personal • Is not planned by the organisation • Flows in all directions • Develops and maintains positive human relationships

31. THE FLOW OF INFORMATION IN ORGANISATIONS • Formal Channels – follow an organization’s hierarchy of command. • Official information among workers typically flows through formal channels in three directions : • Downward • Upward • Horizontal

32. THE FLOW OF INFORMATION IN ORGANISATIONS Continued… • Downward Flow – Information flowing downward generally moves from decision makers,including the CEO and managers,through the chain of command to workers. The information includes job plans, policies and procedures.

33. THE FLOW OF INFORMATION IN ORGANISATIONS Continued… Problems: • Lack of Awareness • Insufficient or Unclear Message • Message Overload • Bad Timing • Distortion

34. Upward Flow – Occurs when messages flow from subordinates to superiors. Information flowing upwards provides feedback from non management employees to management. Problem with Upward Communication : • Risk • Distortion • Status Differential

35. THE FLOW OF INFORMATION IN ORGANISATIONS Continued… • Benefits: • It gives feedback on how accurately downward messages have been received • It indicates how well management decisions are being received • It can increase acceptance of management decisions • It can prevent new problems and diagnose old ones

36. THE FLOW OF INFORMATION IN ORGANISATIONS • Horizontal Flow – Laterals channels transmit information horizontally among workers at the same level. Enable individuals to coordinate tasks, share information, solve problems, resolve conflict and build rapport. • Obstacles : poor communication skills, prejudice, ego involvement and protecting one’s interest.

37. THE FLOW OF INFORMATION IN ORGANISATIONS Continued… • Informal Channels – the transmission of information through non-official channels within the organisation • The Grapevine – an informal communication network that supplement official channels

38. OFFICEPOLITICS

39. Office Politics The competitive environment that exists within the corporate culture

40. Communication Process Model

41. The You-Viewpoint The sender gives primary consideration to the receiver’s point of view when composing and sending messages.

42. Analysing the Receiver • Knowledge • Interests • Attitudes • Emotional Reaction

43. Communication Barriers Any factors that interfere with the success of the communication process

44. 1. Poor structure to the communication • It doesn't matter whether that audience is an audience of one or one million, good structure is essential if a communication is to be 'heard' amongst the advertising and marketing 'noise' of today's business environment.

45. 2. Weak delivery • Several businessman who are extremely confident in the public's gaze, very happy to be in front of an audience. • But because their presentations and communications lack a suitable structure, they 'lose' their audience within minutes, the audience becoming increasingly confused and eventually frustrated by not being able to understand clearly and easily what on earth these businessmen are on about.

46. 3. The use of the wrong medium • When considering which medium to use for which type of message you wish to communicate, it is wise to analyze the following: • What is the fixed cost of production? Are there ad agency fees, broadcast or print fees that must be paid, irrespective of the number or volume of items produced? • What are the variable costs -- such as cds, dvds, audio cassettes, printing costs? • How long will it take to write, edit and produce your communication in your chosen medium? • What percentage of your target audience are likely to have access to your chosesn medium at the time you choose to publish/play/present it? • What percentage of your target audience will be likely to pay attention to your chosen medium? • Is your message a complex one? Would your message be more easily and readily comprehended through auditory, tactile or visual (e.g reading or images) modalities? • How quickly do you need your audience to comprehend and take action on your message?

47. 4. A mixed message • It is very hard for an audience -- whether an audience of 1 or 1 million -- to understand your communication if you unnecessarily obfuscate. • If you deliberately, or otherwise, confuse them. A HUGE barrier to business communication is the ability of 'business-speak' to confuse and alienate its audience. • It does this in two ways: • 1. By using terms and phrases that are 'jargon', the meaning of which are possibly recognized but probably not fully understood • 2. By trying to 'save time/paper' by rolling several different communication messages into one.

48. 5. The wrong audience • Topics is not equal to the type of audiences • Bad attention • Chatting around during presentation.

49. 6. A distracting environment • your voice not being strong enough • too many others talking in the room at the same time • police and ambulance sirens outside the venue • too many phone calls coming in to their office while they're trying to read your memo • interruptions while they try to read your report • incoming emails keep popping up while they are reading your web-based communication • their minds are full of other pressing matters • they are supposed to be somewhere else at that moment • their mobile phone keeps ringing, or vibrating if they've set it to 'silent' instead of switching it off • their internet connection is slow • their internet connection keeps dropping out • there are too many interesting people to look at while they are on the bus trying, in vain, to concentrate on your report (which is what is happening to me as I sit here on a bus trying to write this -- there is a 'domestic' happening between a married couple and it makes for fascinating, if voyeuristic, watching!) • the room's air-conditioning is not working and the room is hot and stuffy • the room's heating is not working and the room is cold and clammy