Bussiness Communication

Basic Concepts: Definite objective - one of the principal differences between casual conversation and business communication. Business communication includes all communication that occurs in a business context The Definition-Business Communication is sending and receiving messages activities within an organization – between two individuals, within a group of people, or one up to some areas that affect organization’s behaviors. Evolving Definition: Foundations 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) Information technology (the study of the ways in which technology can be used to create, locate, store, retrieve, and transmit information). Related Disciplines Managerial Communication Organizational Communication Human Relations and Team Building Sales Communication Report Writing Communication Technology and Electronic Communication International Communication Rationales The Cost of Poor Communication (undesired result, misunderstanding) The Benefits of Improving Your Communication Skills Increased confidence Increased efficiency Increased effectiveness Better professional and personal relationships Rationales cont’d Changing internal environment: Employees needs and behaviors Business activities’ complexity Increased information and data flow Changing external environment: Competition Regulation Consumers demand Increased information and data flow 7’c Principles in Business Communication Completeness (complete information gives trustworthiness) Conciseness Concreteness (not abstract) Consideration (receivers’ situation-condition) Clarity Courtesy (behave) Correctness (consider communicant ability) Variables Source Message Context Channel Receiver Effect Source Credibility Attractiveness Power Homophily Sources of Credibility Attractiveness: Similarity (kesamaan pandang komunikator dengan komunikan) Familiarity (komunikator dikenal baik oleh komunikan) Liking (komunikator disukai oleh komunikan) Physic (menarik secara fisik) Message: Depends on the objectives of the communication strategy: Sending information Persuasive Getting a partnership Context Includes: Physical (e.g. Space, Real objects) Socio- psychology (e.g. S/R status, roles) Time (e.g. series of events, communication moment) The context then affect the formality of business communication process, e.g. in the formal meeting the space, the status and roles of S/R and the time would be different to family dinner. Channel: The principal communication channels are: Nonverbal Oral Written Electronic Non-verbal: Space Between people (proxemics) Allocated to people (territory) Time Amount (duration and frequency) Kind (exclusive or shared) Wait (who waits for whom and how long) Kinesics Open postures and signals (inviting communication) Closed postures and signals (discouraging communication) Appearance Conforming (matches others in dress and appearance) Nonconforming (mismatches others in dress and appearance) Oral Communication: Advantages: Its immediacy- to discuss, to receive immediate feedback, to change their views or messages accordingly, to evaluate the nonverbal message and to use that information to judge the credibility of the verbal message. Disadvantages: more difficult to store and retrieve than those in writing, takes more time to communicate an idea, as speakers are imprecise in the way they say things, People tend to hear what they want to hear. Written Communication: Advantages: across the barriers of time and space, a relatively permanent record, more time to prepare, easy to store, retrieve, and transmit. Disadvantages: much slower channel of communication than either the nonverbal or oral channel-clarity is much more important. The psychological impact of a written message requires careful consideration. Electronic Communication: The advantages of synchronous communication are based on the immediacy of feedback. The principal disadvantage of synchronous communication is the need to have sender and receiver present at the same time. This is especially true when the people involved are from different time zones. The advantages of asynchronous communication are that messages can be sent and received when convenient for sender and receiver. It also provides permanent record of the communication. The principal disadvantage of asynchronous communication is that feedback is delayed and may be difficult to obtain. Receiver: To whom the business communication refer to: Employee Employer Customers Regulation institution Supplier Colleagues Effect: Related to the objectives of communication strategy The objectives can be: Sending information (cognitive) Persuasive (affective) Getting a partnership (psychomotoric)