Business Communication

Business CommunicationMBA (Exec.) CP-105

Dr. Himanshu Dutt

Communication: challenges

Challenges …2

Challenges …3

Challenges …4

Challenge …5

Challenge …6

Challenges …7

Challenges …8

Challenges …9

Challenges …10

Challenges ….11

Challenges …12

Lets Begin…

Communication: importance

▸ We receive and send information to conduct work.

▸ It requires ability to express oneself or convey thoughts.

▸ Through gestures, speaking and writing at one end and reading and observing at the other.

▸ Organisation practice management (planning, directing, staffing, coordinating and controlling) through communication.

▸ Business Communication is the ‘flow of information’ that enables management to perform its functions.

▸ Internal-Operational Communication (E.g. procuring orders)

▸ External-Operational Communication (E.g. advertising/selling)

▸ Personal Communication (E.g. non-business info exchange/grapevine)

Importance …2

▸ It is the medium through which an organization adapts to its environment.

▸ It integrates the sub units of an organisation to facilitate coordination among them and achieve business objectives.

▸ Integrates organisation with the external world, especially its customers.

▸ Should lead to increased productivity, faster and better decision-making / problem-solving, improved customer relationships, and team-work / cohesiveness resulting in enhanced professional image for the organisation.

Communication: definition

▸ Process of exchanging information through a common system of symbols (mainly language, expressions, behaviours) – so its always two-way.

▸ Facilitates transmission of knowledge and experience.

▸ Results in shared understanding through interaction.

▸ Can be between one-to-one (superior to subordinate), one-to-many (superior to team of subordinates/lecture), many-to-one (class and teacher/questions).

▸ Interactive and ongoing process in which mutual beliefs and mutual knowledge is accumulated and gained.

Communication: process

1.A message sent by Marci arrives in Kevin’s “sensory world.”

2.Kevin’s senses pick up the message, but may also pick up competing information.

3.Marci’s message is filtered through Kevin’s unique mind and is given meaning.

4.The meaning given may trigger a response, which Kevin’s unique mind forms.

5.Kevin sends the message to Marci. It enters her sensory world, and a second cycle begins.Source: Basic Business Communication by Lesikar &

Flatley.

Marci (sender) to Kevin (receiver)

Process …2

1.A message sent by Kevin arrives in Marci’s “sensory world.”

2.Marci’s senses pick up the message, but may also pick up competing information.

3.Kevin’s message is filtered through Marci’s unique mind and is given meaning.

4.The meaning given may trigger a response, which Marci’s unique mind forms.

5.Marci sends the message to Kevin. It enters his sensory world, and another cycle begins.

Kevin (receiver) to Marci (sender)

Source: Basic Business Communication by Lesikar & Flatley, Tenth Edition, Tata McGraw-Hill

Communication: elements

▸ Sender and a receiver

▸ Medium / Channel

▸ Sensory world (stimuli)

▸ Filter / Distortions

▸ Meaning

▸ Response

depends upon ability of the receiver likesenses (hear, see, taste,

feel)mental alertness, noise…

depends upon ability of the sender like objective, medium, emotions,

conviction, gestures...

Communication is said to have taken place only when cycle is complete. Without receiving a response the cycle is incomplete.

Elements …2

Elements …3

▸ Communication

▸ process of sending and receiving messages with attached meanings.

▸ Source ▸ encodes an intended meaning into a message

▸ Receiver

▸ decodes the message into a perceived meaning

▸ Noise ▸ any disturbance that disrupts and interferes with the

transference of messages

Communication: channels

▸ Face-to-face meetings

▸ Email

▸ Online discussions

▸ Written letters

▸ Telephone

▸ Voice mail

▸ Feedback

Channels …2

▸ Formal channels▸ Follow the chain of command established by an

organization’s hierarchy of authority

▸ Informal channels▸ Diverge from formal channels by skipping levels in the

hierarchy or cutting across vertical chains of command

▸ Grapevine

▸ network of friendships and acquaintances through which rumors and other unofficial information get passed from person to person

Channels …3

Communication: nature

▸ Flow / exchange of information from sender to receiver in a loop / cycle – it’s a continuous process.

▸ Depends upon the ability of sender and receiver to communicate.

▸ Because meanings transmitted are not necessarily the meanings received: meanings are in the mind.

▸ Purpose not fulfilled unless receiver has understood message in the sense it has been conveyed.

▸ Mutual understanding is the underlying principal.

▸ Moves upwards (grapevine), downwards (formal instructions) and laterally (coordination within or among groups) through formal and informal channels.

Nature …2

Communication: functions

▸ Communication serves following functions in a an organisation:

▸ Information – for decision-making/problem-solving

▸ Control – the power to influence people’s behaviour through policies, circulars/announcements, job descriptions, grievances

▸ Motivation – appreciation through feedback (appraisals), reinforcing the desired set of behaviour for team work

▸ Express Emotions – satisfaction vs dissatisfaction

Functions …2

▸ Functions of communication is to help teams:

▸ Make better decisions, faster

▸ Be persuaded to perform effectively – achieve objective

▸ Establish control for guiding team member’s behaviours

▸ Provide a mean to express their sentiments, opinions and grievances

Guidelines for effective communication

▸ Give it directly and in a spirit of mutual trust

▸ Be specific, not general; use clear examples

▸ Give it when the receiver is most ready to accept

▸ Be accurate; check its validity with others

▸ Focus on things the receiver can control

▸ Limit how much receiver gets at one time

Effective communication …2

▸ Effective communication▸ Occurs when the intended meaning of the source and the

perceived meaning of the receiver are virtually the same

▸ Efficient communication▸ Occurs at minimum cost in terms of resources expended

Communication: manager’s roles

Manager’s Roles

Interpersonal Informational Decisional

• Facilitator• Mobiliser• Liaison

person

Disseminator of

Information, Channels its

flow

Intrapreneur: Rationalizes decisions,

achieves pre-determined objectives

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Non Verbal Communication

Phrase: “Action speaks louder than words” Mehrabian Model:

55% of meaning is conveyed through facial expression

38% of meaning is para-linguistic (manner in which words are spoken – style of speaking)

Non-verbal communication: tone, pitch, facial expression, and body language (postures, gestures, eye contact, voice, proximity an touch).

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Non Verbal Communication...2

It is a communication that does not involve words (absence of written words or telephonic conversation) but body motion, characteristics of voice, appearance and proximity. E.g. sitting crossed-legs show defensive posture

Staring into Senior's eyes is disrespectful

Hands in pocket and gum in mouth considered rude

Yawning is a sign of boredom / sleepiness

Sign of “No Smoking”

Important in “emotional expression”.

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Non Verbal Communication...3

Samuel Morse developed “Morse Code” – code to communicate – mostly used in military.

It is a combination of cues and codes (symbols and rules) that work together to produce a certain meaning.

Non-verbal communication is Conscious (e.g. a hug) and Sub-conscious (e.g. gut feeling, authority of police, actors in advertisements selling face wash/fairness cream).

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Types of Non Verbal Communication

Kinesics – facial expressions, pasture, gestures Oculesics – eye contact Haptics – touch Proxemics – space and proximity (distance) Appearance – attire, personality, artifacts (watch,

perfume, pen, jewel etc.) Para-linguistics – pitch, speed and volume Chronemics – effect of time

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Types of Non-Verbal Communication ...2

Gestures (E.g. thumbs up, folded hands, shaking legs, playing with objects)– two types: Conscious and Spontaneous.

Spontaneous gestures types are: Iconic gestures – narrating some event or action

Metaphoric gestures – narrating some metaphor e.g. sickness/unwell using rolling of the hands.

Deictic gestures – pointing (left, right, distance)

Beat gestures – supporting a statement (now I'll show you how to use a ….)

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Oculesics: good eye contact means trust, confidence, lower eye contact means less confidence, admitting a mistake, respect for elders. Also called gazing. Gazing – it is of 4 types: regulatory (e.g. commanding),

monitoring (e.g. correcting a process), cognitive (e.g. rationalizing a decision) and expressive (e.g. give opinion).

Haptics: touch-based communication 4 types: Functional/professional (e.g. handshake, pat on the

back); Social/polite (e.g. touching feet); Friendship/Warmth (e.g. holding hands, hands on shoulders); Love/intimacy (e.g. hug)

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Proxemics: space/distance between receiver and communicator

E.g. standing too close, talking too loud is uncomfortable.

It is the study of the nature, degree, and effect of the spatial separation individually naturally maintained. Coined by E.T Hall in 1963.

Appearance & Artifacts – dull appearance represents bad mood, non-confident, unclean, improper to a formal meeting.

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Paralingusitics – sound that is not a direct form of linguistic communication (has no semantic meaning).

It suggests emotional nuances. Tone : harsh, gentle, pleasing, sharp

Pitch : high-low

Intensity : soft-loud

Rhythm : smooth-volatile

Tempo : rapid-slow

Inflection : spread-narrow (stretching words to stress, pause)

Dysfluency : Umm, Aah, Humm...

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Chronemics – refer to use of time, as a message system including punctuality, amount of time spent another and waiting time.

E.g. coming on time, finishing meeting on time, time to talk over team's problem, time to converse with team casually.

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Cross-Cultural Communication

3 main components to any communication Subject matter (objective/purpose)

Medium of delivery

Cultural considerations

Culture influences the way we: Approach / deal with problems / issues

Participates in groups (teamwork)

Reflects our style of speaking (language & phrases) body language (face expression, eye contact, postures and gestures) and proximity.

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Cross-Cultural Communication...2

Culture is: Group/community that share common experiences which shapes

their understanding of the world.

It includes gender, race, nationality.

A culture can be changed / acquired by moving into a new region or changing the economic status.

In reality, we belong to many cultures at once.

Cross-culture is: Overlapping of two or more cultures

Causes attitudinal differences (referred as Ethnocentrism)

Communication aims at removing these differences (stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination); It deems judging communication of other cultures as fundamentally different / wrong.

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Cross culture communication looks at how people from differing cultural backgrounds interact and communicate.

Misunderstandings and misinterpretations are most common problems of cross culture communication because some expressions, words and phrases are used / understood in different ways and degree of importance given to non-verbal communication.

Within a country regional differences may have powerful influence on the way people interact. Attitudes, ethnicity, values, customs, religion, socio-economic background, gender, sexual orientation, physical disabilities.

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Cross- Communication style – two main distinctions High Culture Context: people are homogeneous and

collectivist (i.e. socio-centric), they have idea about how a particular discussion would progress and how the other person would probably react to a comment.

Low Culture Context: people are heterogeneous and individualistic (i.e. ego-centric), their style is more direct and people have lesser assumptions about other's reactions, blunt questions are asked, people prefer discussing the issue directly rather giving time to know each other or wait to build trust.

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Ethnocentrism

Refers to perceiving other cultural groups from one's own point of view.

Makes invalid assumptions about others' ways based one's own narrow experience.

Misunderstanding by misinterpreting.

It can be dealt by gaining understanding of other cultures to avoid unjustified assumptions/ notions and being tolerant of other cultures.

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Variables influencing/shaping Culture

Education E.g. role of education in politics, science, sex education etc.

Law and Regulations Prohibition of certain ads in certain countries, advertising to

children is stringent (in U.S) and ban on fashion magazines (in Iran), and nudity/violence/racism/gender biasness in many countries including India.

Economics Per capita income, infrastructure, investment climate

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Variables influencing/shaping Culture...2

Politics Style of government (Democratic, Communist, Kingdom) and

concept of democracy differs from country to country, political stability.

Religion Country's outlook towards religious diversity. Religious

holidays also influence countries.

Social Norms Families, societies, buying patterns, thoughts, motivation,

interests, use of resources, age, class.

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Technology– A culture's advancement in technology

Language / Body Language– Each language has its own grammatical patterns &

lexicon that may cause misunderstandings

– E.g. Shaking head horizontal is 'No' while vertical represent 'Yes' in India.

Time consciousness– Time conscious countries (U.S, Germany) are

monochromic and where time is a tool which is not important than convenience of people is polychromic culture (India).

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Decision-making Individualism (U.S) versus Collective decision-making (Japan)

Adaptation Google introduced Hindi translation of their web-pages /

Microsoft introduced option of operating system in Indian languages; McDonald's adapted its menu to Indian food and taste.

Some countries are more culturally sensitive than others.

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Cross Culture Communication Strategies

Opening & Closing of Conversation Knowledge of salutation, social position, how one concludes

meeting.

E.g. In Japan, most senior enters first in the meeting room while in India senior comes after everyone has to taken the place. As soon as he enters, everyone stands up to greet while Japanese stands and bow.

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Cross Culture Communication Strategies...2 Knowledge of when and how to ask questions,

listen-first then-ask or ask simultaneously which is participative mode of communication.

In some cultures people can ask questions, in some people may request to ask questions, in some people aren't allowed to question which may look offensive to the authority unless authority permits them to ask questions.

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Cross Culture Communication Strategies...3 Interruption during conversation

Vocal (loud may mean authoritative, argumentative or taking long pause in between conversations)

Physical (negative body language, not interested or offensive)

Emotional (burst with anger, shout, or show affection)

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Cross Culture Communication Strategies...4 Use of humour

Sometimes used to establish rapport but may backfire as impolite, un-etiquetted if taken otherwise. Caution must be exercised.

Know 'how much' to say Direct, to the point (brief) versus discussions at length, taking

time to discuss.

Asking the right question in right way Sequence what to ask, when; Avoid negative questions, Listen

well, Take notes, Check meaning, Avoid slang, Mix of humour in the right way, maintain etiquette.

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Technology-enabled Business Communication Technology has transformed the way organizations

communicate. Mobile telephony, internet, wi-fi, e-mail, bluetooth, software,

etc – are: Instant Accessible as and when required Timely Informative / Educative Without boundaries (global) Wireless (seamless) Networking scope (social networks) Collaboration made easy

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Technology-enabled Business Communication...2 Some tools to enable Business Communication (for

e.g. file sharing; video conferencing; banking; B2C like flipkart, amazon, ebay /B2B like tradeindia, yellowpages; Social networking, Remote access; Reservations & booking; Information access, Editing, Camera)

Voice-mail / Fax

Mobile phones / PDA / Tablet (hand-held devices)

Computers, Software & Internet (Emails)

Seminars / Crowdsourcing

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Impact of Technology on Business Communication

Positive Impact Easy communication which is fast, better and

instant resulting in business productivity (decision-making, collaboration, info access etc.)

No distance barriers Creation of Information & Knowledge societies

leading to improved quality of information (digital libraries and databases)

Team-work / Collaboration – instant & economical Free flow of communication from one to many,

instant. Increased mobility than ever

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Impact of Technology on Business Communication...2

Negative Impact Information overload

Too much info availability however credibility of information is doubtful.

People isolation

alienates people from physical world impacting health

Mobility blurring the line between personal and professional lives

Family may get disturbed due to this increased mobility.

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Effective Technology-based Communication

Eliminating negative impact (problems of information overload, people isolation, too much mobility) of technology

Selecting the appropriate technology Objective for using technology for communication

Who are the recipients – will they use it?

Time and cost involved

Perceived end benefits – will it accrue the desired benefits?

Leadership & Management

Business Communication