Business Communication
References 14
Executive Summary
Business communication is an important of the business since the business must always keep close associations with its stakeholders. Thus, it is vital that a business must have a proper structure of communication which would be effective in sustaining the business activities. The study shall seek to reveal more about the various business communication levels that can be developed in an organization. However, the current improvement in the level of global business has presented the need for organizations to improve their communication processes so as to effectively cater for the demands of the international market. The paper shall therefore take an in depth study amongst three business communications levels to find out how they can be developed so as to impact the organization positively. The business communications levels to be studied include; persuasive business communication, inter cultural business communication and non verbal business communication. The three business levels are believed to be of great importance to the organization due to the various benefits that they offer to the organization. The paper shall therefore provide clarity in the idea of business communication as well as in the three business communication levels identified for study.
Introduction
Business communication refers to the transmission of information from the business to the intended target audience. Business communication is therefore a vital business function that should be well planned and executed so as to ensure that it helps the organization in developing good public relations. Like normal communication, business communication is a process which involves the transfer of messages from the source who in this case is the business to the recipient who represents the target persons of the sent information. Business communication can therefore be categorized into two broad groups depending on the nature of the target audience to receive the transmitted information. Hence, we can have either internal communication or external communication type (Guffey & Loewy, 2010). The internal communication refers to the communication process that is performed within the organization amongst the management. This would be communication within departments or employee to manager communication. This is an important aspect of communication that helps to enhance coordination within the organization by ensuring effective communication and contact amongst the company management. It is important to note that internal business communication can be in a formal nature or an informal nature depending on the type of information being relayed. Internal communication within an organization is believed to have various benefits to the business.
Firstly, internal communication is vital in the formulation and achievement of the company’s goals and objectives. This is because effective communication of the target results to the employees would be useful in ensuring their full realization. Internal communication is also an important component of decision making and implementation. Enhanced internal communication initiates the flow of ideas within the business therefore creating an opportunity for viable decisions which would be implemented by an organization. Finally, internal communication also assists in the development of good employer employee relation by ensuring a close association between the two parties. This consequently leads to employee job satisfaction and hence improved organizational performance backed by active employee’s efforts. On the other hand, external communication of a business is the business communication process which involves the organization transmitting information to the outside environment of the organization (Guffey & Loewy, 2010). For instance, this type of communication would be between the company and its suppliers or communication between the company and its customers. Hence, it is a communication between the company and its outside stakeholders. This is the most important form of business communication that organizations must sustain because it portrays the nature of the organization to the outside world. It is the communication process that leads to the development of a company’s public relations.
External business communication can be conveyed through a variety of channels which include; advertising, media, conferences and company reports. External business communication yields a variety of importance to the organization. Foremost, it helps the organization in the staffing function by conveying information on selection and recruitment to the public thus making it easier for the organization to hire. External business communication also facilitates the dealings of the business with its customers to ensure that they provide quality service delivery. Consequently, this helps to ensure improved customer satisfaction which is a core aspect of improved business performance. External communication also helps the business in associating with its external stakeholders who include; suppliers, financiers and investors. These are important partners of the business who need to be in constant link with the business operations and prospects. Lastly, external communication is also helpful in developing a relationship between the business and the government. The government acts as an authority to the business and it is therefore prudent for the business to have increased association with government bodies to safeguard the business from any impending government restrictions. Business communication plays some significant roles in the operations of an organization. To begin with, the most important function of business communication is to relay information among the people in the organization as well as to the outside world.
Secondly, business communication is also used in carrying out the control function of an organization. Communication in the organization can enhance management control and planning of organizational activities as well as performance evaluation. Lastly, business communication also helps managers to realize the component of motivation through effective communication to the workforce. However, to ensure that the organizations benefits from their adopted mode of business communication, it is prudent for the management to adopt a business communication structure that would be effective in coordination and conveyance of information. A good communication structure in an organization is significant in enhancing the achievement of the organizational goals and objectives (Rai & Rai, 2010). Having understood the element of business communication and its importance to the organization, the study shall seek to get an in depth analysis of the various levels of business communication that are necessary in ensuring effective business communication. Hence, the study shall perform a consistent scrutiny of three broad levels of business communication which should prevail in the communication policies adopted in the company. These levels of business communication include; persuasive communication, intercultural communication and non verbal communication.
Persuasive Business Communication
The agenda behind communication in an organization is to convey given information and also be able to capture the response of the message relayed. In order for the organization to be able to receive the response of its communication it must be endowed with a given art of persuasion which would cause the recipient to offer a response. Hence, it is very important that an organization must adopt a persuasive business communication model so as to efficiently influence their target audience. In most organizations, the art of persuasion is believed to be only useful in the sale of products or when making business deals. However, studies have proved that if persuasion is used constructively it may accrue various benefits to the business beyond the sales and business deals belief (Forsyth, 2002). For instance, persuasion would form a strong basis of leadership in an organization given that the leaders in the company have the necessary skills of persuasive communication. This is due to the fact that those leaders would be able to convince the employees about particular policies to be adopted by the company for improved performance.
However, to ensure that the organization achieves a persuasive business communication there has to be an informed way of learning the art of persuasion by the management. The idea of persuasion requires that people have to be logical and persistent while using their personal capabilities to endorse a given idea so as to convince their audience. Hence, persuasive communication involves a predetermined process that must be learned exhaustively so as to ensure its success in the organization. This process of persuasion in business communication takes four distinct phases which help to mould a person into a powerful persuader. To begin with, the first phase involves establishing given credibility for the persuader. This is necessary because people must have to trust the position taken by the persuader and hence it is important to have a given level of integrity so as to ensure that people would believe in the chosen position. It is believed that credibility in an organization can be enhanced by two main elements which include; proficiency and relationships. A person is assumed to have proficiency if they possess a history of being knowledgeable and informed in their areas of work as well as passing acceptable judgments in the organization.
Once a person has this level of proficiency he or she can be trusted to take a given position in an idea that people know he or she is knowledgeable. The element of relationships is achieved by people developing robust relationships with employees in the organization. A person must therefore ensure good relationships by ensuring fairness, generosity and trustworthiness to the people in the organization. Thus, before initiating a persuasive communication in the organization, employees must determine if their credibility is good by ensuring that they meet the elements of proficiency and relationships. If they find that they are lacking a given element they should go ahead and improve it so as to ensure that they have the required credibility for effective persuasion. The second phase in persuasion involves the persuaders taking a common position which they have to be knowledgeable in so as to be able to convince people about their given stand (Forsyth, 2002). The position taken by the persuaders forms the basis of the intended persuasion and hence they have to be smart in their position. The third phase of persuasion communication requires that persuaders must own enough evidence to back up their common position.
Therefore, persuaders must ensure that they take ample time in researching for evidence relating to their chosen stand so as to be able to efficiently persuade their colleagues in the company. Having evidence on your position ensures that you can handle any kind of resistance that is subjected to the position adopted. This evidence also helps to present a vivid description of your position to the people in the organization and thus they would easily trust your held position. The last phase of persuasive communication involves the development of an emotional connection with the chosen position of the persuader. The persuade must show some emotional attachment with his or her stand so as to prove to people that the position is not only crafted in the mind but also from the heart. However, effective persuaders must also be able to have a control of their emotions by ensuring that they also respond to the emotions of the audience or the colleagues in an organization. This process of persuasive communication is a complex practice but it can be achieved effectively by adhering to the four phases outlined in the study. Once the persuaders have undergone through these phases they are fit to persuade their colleagues in the organization or any other place about their perceived position.
Intercultural Business Communication
The present business trends have revealed that globalization has been taking an upward shift with many companies expanding their operations to cover international markets. However, this level of globalization has resulted to new markets which posses’ different customers who have varying cultural beliefs. Thus, to be able to perform well in the global business the organization would have to align itself with a cross cultural way of handling operations in the international business. Consequently, this requires that the organization must adopt a communication method that would effectively cater for the various cultures represented in the global business platform (Bargiela-Chiappini & Nickerson, 2003). Therefore, the organization would be tasked at identifying and adapting various cultural beliefs and values in communication so as to ensure that they are equally competent in those cultures. It is believed that having a proper understanding of communicating among a variety of cultures would reduce conflicts, improve investments and world trade and also facilitate the growth of the global market. An organization can therefore undertake some steps to ensure that it effectively formulates inter cultural communication in its operations.
Foremost, the organization would perform a cross cultural analysis to help employees learn more in their individual cultural perspective as well as the perspective of the target cultures. This would also involve having people from different cultures used to bring contrast to the employees and hence be able to learn about the differences that prevail in communication amongst diverse cultures. Secondly, the organization can also organize for cross cultural dialogues between their employees and people from different cultures which the organization targets. This helps the employees to learn about other cultures by having conversations with individuals from these cultures. Lastly, the organization would also undertake area studies so as to reveal the cultural beliefs and values in communication amongst various cultures. These area studies would be conducted in specified countries which have varying cultural dimensions in communication (Bargiela-Chiappini & Nickerson, 2003). Having the knowledge of the different cultural communications would help the organization to have an informed and efficient communication method to different stakeholders from different cultures. Hence, this would impact the business positively in the global business platform.
Non Verbal Business Communication
Non verbal communication in the organization refers to the type of communication where no words or language is used to convey the required information. This includes facial expressions which are an important part of non verbal communication since they disclose unseen emotions. However, in an organization, non verbal communication is composed of three broad categories which include; appearance, body language and silence. Employees in the organization must therefore be in a position to know these three categories of non verbal communication so as to ensure that this method of communication is effectively utilized in the organization. It is also believed that some aspects of non verbal communication also affect verbal communication and thus employees must be very careful. For instance, appearance affects written messages by the virtue of the perceived appearance of the envelope or the written materials. These appearances vary from color, size, weight and the layout which may relay some vital impressions or information. Appearance may also affect spoken messages given the exterior look of the speaker which may be influenced by their grooming or neatness. Hence, the appearance of the speaker is very vital in conveying certain messages to the target audience. Organizations must therefore ensure that their employees adopt the best appearance which would positively impact their communication. Organizations should also encourage employees to adopt body language skills so as to supplement their communication methods.
The use of gestures and postures would be very effective in conveying some given information or even to relay information to people with disabilities. Non verbal communication plays various functions in an organization which include; regulating the flow of a discussion, expressing emotions, providing a message either on purpose or unconsciously and also to control other employees in the organization. Non verbal communication is therefore a reliable method of communication since it is quite difficult for an employee to hide his or her appearance or emotions (Learning Seed Company, 2006). Thus it becomes easier for the management to be able to find out information easily without any manipulation. It is also believed that non verbal communication in an organization would be efficient in supplementing or sustaining verbal communication which is mostly used in the organizational setting. Hence, employees can better their verbal communication skills by incorporating more of non verbal communication in their routine verbal communications. Lastly, non verbal communication is very quick in relaying messages and thus it saves the time that would be used by employees in transmitting the same information verbally. As a result, organizations would be encouraged to help their employees in discovering the use of non verbal business communication so as to benefit from the use of this reliable communication method.
Conclusion
Business communication involves the transmission of information within the organization or outside the organization. The communication that occurs within the organization is referred to as internal communication. This is the commonly used means of communication among departments or employees in a company. Communication that takes place from the business to the public is known as external communication. This method of communication is conveyed through various channels which include; media, company reports or conferences. Both internal communication and external communication have various benefits which they accrue to the firm and consequently improve the performance of the firm (Rai & Rai, 2010). The study finds out that an organization must adopt a communication structure which best fits it given the nature of the business activities as well as the nature of the message being conveyed. The study also discussed broadly on three levels of business communication that would prevail in an organization. To begin with, persuasive business communication is a method of communication adopted by employees to facilitate them in convincing their colleagues or other persons to agree with their chosen position. However, for an employee to become an effective persuader in the organization he or she must undergo through a four phase process which helps to learn the art of persuasion.
Persuasive business communication is not only applicable in the sale of products and making of deals but it has the potential of influencing various important functions in the organization. Secondly, the study has undertaken a detailed evaluation of inter cultural business communication method. This method of communication has been seen to be very significant given the current levels of globalization in world trade which have resulted in cross cultural participation in the global markets. This therefore presents the need for organizations to have knowledge of the various communication styles to be adopted in different cultures where they target business. The organization can enhance inter cultural communication amongst its employees through different approaches which are detailed in the study. Lastly, the study has also provided an analysis of non verbal business communication in an organization. According to the study, non verbal communication can be used effectively to sustain the routine verbal communication in a company. Hence, it is the duty of the organization to enlighten its employees about non verbal communication so as to equip them with this reliable communication method. In a nutshell, business communication forms a vital aspect of an organization and should therefore be considered as a possible determinant of business performance due to its usefulness in enhancing organizational efficiency.
References
Bargiela-Chiappini, F., & Nickerson, C. (2003). Intercultural Business Communication: A rich field of studies, Journal of Intercultural Studies, 24, (2): 2-14.
Forsyth, P. (2002). Persuasive business writing: Achieve results and raise your profile with better business communication. Oxford: How to Books.
Guffey, M., & Loewy, D. (2010). Essentials of business communication. Mason, OH: South Western/Cengage Learning.
Learning Seed Company. (2006). Body language: Intro to non verbal communication. Eight Mile Plains, QLD: Marcom Projects.
Rai, U., & Rai, S. (2010). Business Communication. Mumbai: Himalaya Pub. House.
