The two words 'information' and 'communication' are

often used interchangeably, but they signify quite different

things. Information is giving out; communication is
getting through.
- Sydney J. Harris
What is Business Communication?

The word communication originates from Latin word

“communis”, which means “common”. And the word
“business” stands for any economic activity which is
undertaken with a view to earning profit. In this
regard, the communication undertaken in the process
of this activity is termed as “business communication”.

To put it more pointedly, the use of effective language

to convey a clear business message to achieve a pre
determined objective is called effective business
communication.
Objective of Business Communication
To inform the objectives, goals and policies of business
organization to their employees as well as other part of
the concern.
To develop and enhance the learning aspects for
different partners to perform their tasks and
responsibilities of the concern.
To provide the training and education to employees
and different persons of the concern about their
responsibilities and accountabilities.
Continues…
To make simple and effective means in the decision
making process through different information, facts
and figures.
To develop the motivational aspects through various
media and forms of communication so that the level of
moral and enthusiasm might be developed.
 To solve some problems and challenges of the concern
through effective and reliable role of communication.
To develop coordination and integration among
different activities of the concern.
Importance of Business Communication

To ensure transparency 

To facilitate innovation
To build an effective team
To manage employees
To promote the company
To build and maintain relationships
7 C’s of Effective Business Communication
1. Clarity
2. Conciseness
3. Completeness
4. Consideration
5. Correctness/Accuracy
6. Concreteness
7. Courtesy
Four Paths of Communication in an Organization

1. Downward communication: Takes place from upper levels

of management to lower levels that exists in an organizational
hierarchy .
2. Diagonal communication: Takes place from lower to upper
levels of the organizational hierarchy in the form of feedback
and performance appraisals.
3. Lateral/horizontal communication: Takes place within the
managers or employees working in the same level. For
example, the communication between marketing manager
and production manager, as they are placed on the same
designation in their respective departments.
4. Upward communication: Takes place within the employees
at different levels.
Relevance of Business Communication
Communication is the key to success of any organization.
In an era where everything is going global, it is very
important for all the business houses to communicate very
well with their internal and external environment. Internal
environment consisting of shareholders, stockholders,
employees etc. must be well informed about company
policies clearly to reduce ambiguity.
Humans are an essential asset for any organization and
thus human capital these days is given utmost importance.
External environment consisting of customers etc. should
be communicated well about company policies and
procedures with the help of accurate facts and figures.
Dynamism is the key to success and it comes along with
effective business communication.
Method of Communication
The main methods of oral and written communication,
both internal and external:
Internal Level
1. Oral Communication
Telephone
Message
Face-to face discussion
Presentation
Meeting/ Conference
Intercom
Internal Level
2. Written
Memo
Report
Staff newsletter
Graphs/ Charts
E-mail
Meeting/Conference
Fax
Notice
Form/Questionaires
Fax
Notice
External Level
1.Oral Communication
Telephone
Teleconference
Videoconference
Conversation
Conference/ seminar
Meeting
Presentation
2. Written Communication
Leaflet/ Brochure
Invitation
Forms/Questionaires
Press Release
Customer newsletter
Advertisement
Report
Graph-chart
Letter
Fax
E-mail
Communication in a Changing Workplace

In today's fast-paced business environment, employees at

all levels find themselves being asked to handle more tasks,
meet more deadlines, take on more responsibilities, and
adapt to more change. So, in constantly changing and
developing workplace, effective communication is a must to
meet numerous challenges such as:
Advancing technology
Global communication
Team-based business environment
The information age
Safer work environments
Barriers to Effective Business/ Managerial Communication
 Partiality and workplace politics
Addressing team members disregarding pitch and tone:
Addressing employees during lunch hours or when they
are about to leave for the day
Prefer to interact verbally
Communicate separately with team members:
Using slangs, professional jargons and regional
colloquialism
Noise and distraction
Differences in perception and viewpoint:
Physical disabilities
Competing message
Filters
Channel breakdowns
 We can easily manipulate and control what we say through verbal
communication while we cannot entirely through non-verbal
communication. It is, therefore, said that "action speaks louder than
word." Even if we were to mask our feelings and true emotions while
talking, our body language and our attitude would tell the person the
exact opposite of what we say they feel. So, it is often said that to spot
a liar, it is imperative to look at the speaker’s body language instead
of listening to his/ her words.
People tend to take non-verbal communication barrier more
seriously as it prevents them to know many things about the
characters, attitude and other dimensions of the speaker's characters.
A lot can be said without words in a face-to-face conversation.
Often, our non-verbal communication—our facial expressions,
body posture, eye contact, etc.—speaks the loudest. These non-
verbal cues play a huge role in how our words and intentions are
interpreted. Good non-verbal skills can help show our support by
expressing sympathy and empathy. We can overcome non-verbal
communication barriers by:
 paying close attention to what the person says. 
 maintaining a comfortable eye contact.
 maintaining an open body position.
 sitting down, even if the person is standing. 
 sitting alongside and angled toward the person rather than
opposite them. 
 being aware of fidgeting situation. 
 
 In order to be a successful businessperson or
make a successful career in business sectors, the
below mentioned skills:
Active listening skills
Writing skills
Verbal skills
Teamwork skills
Presentation skills
Selling skills
Negotiation skills
Networking skills
 Business Communication Model

Traditional Model:
Social Model:
Hybrid Model:
For detail: See Page no: 16
Social Media and Changing Nature of Business
Communication
With the revolution in social media, most
communication happens online through twitter,
email, facebook, skype, linkedin, youtube etc. Using
these channels as means of communicating with
clients and other businesspeople, the business can be
effectively boomed. The uses of social media in
business are discussed below:
Twitter and its uses in business communication
Facebook and its uses in business communication
Linkedin and its uses in business communication
Google+ and its uses in business communication
Continue…

Pinterest and its uses in business communication

Skype and its uses in business communication
YouTube and its uses in business communication
E-mail and its uses in business communication
Whatsapps and its uses in business
communication
Importance of Blog for Business Communication
A blog (a derivative of "web" and "log") is essentially
an online diary, where anyone with a basic knowledge
of computer can post anything such as random
thoughts, photos, homework, and poetry, just to name
a few for the rest of the world to see. Blogs range in
scope from individual diaries to political campaigns,
media programs, and businesses. Blog is quite
important in business for the following reasons:
Reaching new customers
Developing brand or 'personality'
Gathering feedbacks, reviews and testimonials
Responding to and managing complaints
Making Strategy
See page no: 19 for detail
Effective Business Communication and its Benefits

Stronger decision making and faster problem solving.

Earlier warning of potential problems.
Increased productivity and steadier workflow.
Stronger business relationships.
Clearer and more persuasive marketing messages.
Enhanced professional images for both employers
and companies.
Lower employee turnover and higher employee
satisfaction.
Better financial results and higher return for
investors.
Employer’s Expectation from Potential Employees
Motivation
Intelligence
Endurance
Team players
Self-confidence
Sense of humor
A ‘can do attitude’
Accomplishments
An ability to think quickly
Logical professions
Performance
Relevance Experience
Integrity
See page no: 22 for detail
The Communication Process
Step 1: Sender: The person who wants to communicate.
Step 2: Message: The information the sender wishes to communicate.
Step 3: Encoding: How the message is to be communicated e.g. verbally
or written.
Step 4: Channel: How the message is sent e.g. face to face or by email.
Step 5: Receiver: The person to whom the sender sends the message.
Step 6: Decoding: How the receiver understands or interprets the message.
Step 7: Feedback: The receiver’s response to the message.
Step 8: Noise: Anything that might interfere with communication or
reduce the chance of successful communication.

The process of communication is incomplete without feedback. Until and

unless we get the response from the receiver in the form of feedback, we can’t
say our communication is complete. Look at the diagram for further
clarification
Advantages and Disadvantages of Teams
Improving employees’ relation
Learning opportunity (information and knowledge
Work efficiency
Increasing diversity of views
Higher performance levels
Increasing acceptance of a solution
Disadvantages of team
Despite above-mentioned advantages, we cannot
deny some of the disadvantages of teamwork. Hence,
team should always be aware of the following
potential disadvantages:
Groupthink
Hidden agendas
Cost
Characteristics of Effective Teams
Clear goals
Defined roles
Open and clear communication
Effective decision making
Valued diversity
Management of conflict
Positive atmosphere:
Cooperative relationships
Participative leadership
Team Communication and
Applicable Tools
 Instant Messaging
 Video Conferencing
 Personalized Video Rooms
 Group Chat
  File Sharing
 All-in-one Communications
Mastering Listening Process

The listening process basically involves five activities,

which are mentioned below:
Receiving ( physically hearing the message)
Decoding (assigning meaning to what you hear)
Remembering(storing the message for future
reference)
Evaluating ( thinking about the message)
Responding(reacting to the message, taking action, or
giving feedback)
For detail see page no: 29
Non-verbal Communication and its Categories
Non-verbal communication is important because at
times, actions speak louder than words. Body language
is more difficult to control than words and may reveal a
person’s true feelings, motivation, or character. In this
sense, people tend to take non-verbal communication
quite seriously. Its categories are:
 Facial expression
 Gesture and posture
 Vocal characteristics
 Personal appearance
 Touching behavior
 Use of time and space
For detail see chapter 4
Key Areas of Good Business Etiquette
Workplace etiquette: The sense of mannerism can be
different from company to company, therefore, it is
imperative to pay attention to how the executives behave
and stick by the standard rules.
Table manners and meal etiquette: There’s far more to
dinner and meal etiquette than knowing which fork to use.
So, it is imperative to know how to take and handle business
lunch and dinner appropriately.
Professionalism: Being professional means contributing to
a pleasant, productive, and inclusive work environment.
Professionalism includes an entire range of expected
behaviors.
Communication Etiquette: It includes phone etiquette,
email etiquette, in-person etiquette, virtual meeting
etiquette, etc.
Etiquette Online (Netiquette)
The word netiquette is a combination of ’net’ (from
internet) and ’etiquette’. It means respecting other
users’ views and displaying common courtesy when
posting your views and other information to online
discussion groups. In other words, internet etiquette
includes a set of expectations that describe
appropriate behaviors when interacting online. It is
essential to learn basics of professional online
behavior to avoid mistakes that could hurt your
company or your career. The basic rules of etiquette
online or netiquette are discussed below:
 Continue:
 Avoid personal attacks
 Be human
 Be professional
 Be a responsible digital citizen
 Do not present opinions as facts; support facts with evidence
 Use virus protection and keep it up to date
 Ask if this is a good time for an IM chat
 Avoid multi-tasking while using IM (Instant messaging)
 Never assume privacy
 Do not use “reply all” in e-mail unless everyone can benefit from your reply
 Do not waste others’ time with careless, confusing, or incomplete messages
Ethical Communication Choice
Ethics are the accepted principles of conduct that control
human behavior within a society. To put it another way,
ethical principles define the boundary between right and
wrong. When a person knows the differences between
what s/he has a right to do and what is the right thing to
do the ethics comes to the fore. In order to make a right
choice as a business or managerial communicator, a person
has a responsibility to think through not only what s/he
says but also the consequences of saying it. Ethical
behaviors are expected in each and every company. There
must be ethical communication among the stakeholders
such as employers, employees, customers, labor
organizations, investors, legislators, environmental groups
etc.
Barriers to Ethical Communication

Anytime when a person tries to mislead an audience,

the result is unethical communication. Here are some
barriers:
Plagiarism
Omitting essential information
Selective misquoting
Misrepresenting numbers
Distorting visual
Failing to respect privacy or information security
needs
Ethical Dilemma
An ethical dilemma is a decision making problem
between two possible moral imperatives. Here, a
person has to choose between two options, both
of which are morally correct but in conflict. It
involves making a choice when the alternatives
are not completely wrong or completely right.
See examples in page no: 36
Intercultural Communication
It refers to the effective communication between
people/workers/clients of different cultural
background. It also includes managing thought
patterns and nonverbal communication. Every attempt
to send and receive messages is influenced by culture.
Culture is a shared system of symbols, beliefs,
attitudes, values, expectations, and behavior norms.
Barriers to Intercultural Communication

Ethnocentrism:
Stereotypes
Xenophobia
Interpretation of time
Personal space requirements:
Touching:
Body language
Recognizing Cultural Variations
and Their Eight Categories
Contextual differences
Legal and ethical differences
Social differences
Non-verbal differences
Age difference
Gender Differences
Religious differences
Ability differences
For detail see page no : 42/43
Opportunities of Intercultural Communication
Inter-cultural communication offers ample
opportunities to deal across cultures.
Being able to deal with this cultural difference
peacefully brings opportunities in a global
marketplace.
Manufacturers can produce their goods in foreign
countries or cities that offer corporate tax rates that
are favorable and also have a low-cost labor.
Intercultural communication helps join multinational
organizations where people from an increasingly
diverse and multicultural workforce are employed.
continue….
Intercultural communication facilitates for the free
movement of goods, capital, services, ideas and
information across national boundaries.
Intercultural communication helps to possess high
quality communication skills for the new age
employees who seek their career in multinational
organizations.
Effective intercultural communication helps bring
intercultural harmony among people from different
nationalities and cultures.
Natural boundaries and national borders disappear as
increasing numbers of people work in multicultural
settings.
It helps to show respect for culture differences
Challenges of Intercultural Communication
There is a risk of discrimination as an intercultural
workplace presents more potential for discrimination. It
is natural that if you put people together with different
traits, employees could turn against each other.
Having to coexist peacefully with the clients or business
partners from different cultures.
Being aware of what they say, or do, so no one gets
insulted.
Culture influences everything from language, nonverbal
signals, word meaning, time and space issues, and rules
of human relationships; therefore, one must have
patience, and the ability to take precautions for each of
these differences.
Ways of Improving Intercultural Communication

overcoming ethnocentrism.
recognizing cultural variations.
enhancing sensitivity to culture and diversity.
improving intercultural communication.
studying other cultures and languages.
writing and speaking clearly.
respecting style preferences.
listening carefully.
using interpreters, translators, and translation
software.
helping others adapt to your culture
Applying Three-step of Writing Process
The first step is planning. Planning is one of the
most important steps in writing business messages
out of the three-step process and also the longest
step. A lot of people out there think that writing is the
most important when it comes to writing a message
but that’s neither true nor correct. Planning is just as
important and a well-written message requires a lot of
planning. When planning a business message there
are four basic steps we need to follow:
Continue…
1. Analyze the situation
Defining your purpose and developing an audience
profile. Knowing what your audience needs.
2.   Gather information
Determine your audiences needs and obtain the
information necessary to satisfy those needs.
3.   Selecting the right medium
Selecting the best medium (oral, written, visual, or
electronic) for delivering your message.
4.   Organize the information
Define your main idea, limit your scope, select a direct
or an indirect approach, and outline your content
Continue…
The second step in the three-step writing process is the actual writing.
The actual writing as you can see comes after the planning which
makes it the second most important part of writing a business
message. When writing a business message the most important thing
to keep in mind is who you are writing the message to. And when
writing the message there is only two things you have to keep in
mind:
1. Adapt to your audience
Be sensitive to audience needs by using a “you” attitude, politeness,
positive emphasis, and unbiased language. Build a strong relationship
with your audience by establishing your credibility and projection
your company’s preferred image. Control your style with a
conversational tone, plain English, and appropriate voice.
2. Compose the message
Choose strong words that will help you create effective sentence and
coherent paragraphs.
 The third and final process in the three-step process for writing a
business message is completing. Completing a written message is a
very important process in writing a message and also requires a lot of
work. When you complete a message there are four major things you
need to keep in mind to do after you complete the message. These
steps are:
1. Revise the message
People often skip this step when it come to writing a message due to
their high confidence in themselves that they are good writers.
Everyone should always revise his or her written work. By revising the
writer will see his or her mistakes and make the necessary corrections
they need to make. When revising your message you must evaluate
content and review readability, edit and rewrite for conciseness and
clarity.
2. Produce the message
 In this area you want to make sure that you use an effective design
elements and suitable layout for a clean, professional appearance for
your audience.
3. Proofread the message
This is where you check your message for any errors in layouts, spelling,
grammar, and mechanics before distributing it to your audience.
4.   Distribute the message
This is fourth and final and most important step in the three-step
process business message writing. When distributing the message you
want to make sure you deliver your message using the chosen
medium (oral, written, visual, or electronic) you also want to make
sure that all your documents and relevant files are in the correct
format and are distributed to your audience successfully.
Conclusion:
This three-step process on how to write business
message is a good starter for anyone looking to
improve on his or her business writing skills. The
step-by-step broken down method is so easy to follow
that anyone could use it to compose a written
material in any form not just business. 
Developing Unified and Coherent Paragraphs
Effective paragraphs are both unified (focused on a single
idea) and coherent (logically organized). An ideal
paragraph contains a topic sentence that reveals the subject
of the paragraph, support sentences that develop the topic,
and transitional words and phrases that help the readers
move between sentences and between paragraphs. You can
develop paragraphs through:
illustration ( giving examples)
Comparison and contrast (pointing out similarities and
differences)
Cause and effect( giving reasons)
Classification ( discussing categories)
Problem and solution ( stating a problem and showing how
to solve it).
Designing Message for Readability
There are four techniques that help to improve readability. They are:
1. Varying sentence length
Varying sentence length helps keep your writing fresh and dynamic while
giving you a chance to emphasis the most important points.
2. Keeping paragraph short
Paragraphs are usually best to keep it short to make it easier for readers to
understand.
3. Using lists and bullets
Lists and bullets are effective devices for delineating sets of items, steps in
a procedure or other collections of related information.
4. Adding headings and subheadings
Headings and subheadings help to organize your message, call attention
to important information and help readers make connections between
related pieces of information.
The Ultimate Tips to Proofreading
Prepare mentally
Trust no word:
Study the tables and illustrations
Double-check numbers, scientific notation, and
symbols: 
Take regular breaks
Proofread more than once:
Try different methods:
Focus on the small things
Review complex electronic documents on paper if
possible:
See the big picture
Some Techniques to Make the Message Readable
1. Use shorter sentences.
2.Reduce jargon, acronyms, and “insider” words.
3. Use active voice.
4.Turn complex points into simple sayings.
5.Stay on point.
6.Always leave blank lines between paragraphs –
especially in emails.
7.One-line paragraphs are acceptable but make sure the
sentence contains news you want the reader to focus
on.