ASSIGNMENT

Unit 1: Introduction to Business Communication

1. Define Business Communication?

Business communication is exchanging information between employees and those

outside the organization. Employees and management interact with one another
through effective communication to accomplish organizational goals. It aims to
reduce errors and enhance organizational procedures.

Types of business communication

Internal Business Communication: Anything that is sent from a subordinate to a

manager or someone higher up the organizational hierarchy is considered to be this
form of business communication.

Lateral Business Communication: Communication among coworkers in the

workplace is referred to as lateral communication. This could be interdepartmental
communication or even departmental business.

External Business Communication: Any communication that deals with clients,

potential clients, vendors, or partners is considered external communication.

2. Describe the importance of Business Communication.

Communication in business is important to convey clear, strong messages about

strategy, customer service and branding. A business building a brand reflects a
consistent message tailored to its audience. Internal communication builds rapport
among employees and managers and encourages teamwork and collaboration.

Good communicators are vital to a business's profit margin and reputation. Employees
who communicate well and understand the company's vision help make the company
successful. Using effective communication skills can benefit a business and its
employees in a variety of ways, including:
1. Building better teams
Effective communication builds a positive atmosphere where teams can flourish.
When communication is positive and encouraging, team members become stronger
and work better together. Those who practice good communication skills make
working beside them easier and less stressful. Job tensions or friction are promptly
addressed since effective communicators work toward finding solutions.

2. Preventing misunderstandings and conflicts

Listening is a part of communicating used to understand a situation fully. Good
communicators listen well and react appropriately, and they're more likely to find
solutions without becoming defensive. When conflicts arise, good communicators
address the problem right away and listen to the other side.

3. Improving customer service

Businesses need to know what their customers want and need from them to serve
them. Forming business relationships is how companies build trust in their brand and
bring customers back. Reliable and positive communication with customers is
paramount to maintaining a valued customer service reputation.

Effective communication with customers by answering questions and providing

solutions helps to improve the business's reputation. Communicating well over the
phone or through social media or email improves customer confidence and loyalty.
Written communication that is consistent with the brand's voice can help promote
community between customers and organizations.

4. Meeting goals and earning success

For a business to be successful, short- and long-term goals must be clear and concise.
When employees know what the goals and visions of their company are, they are
better able to focus their efforts on achieving them.

Communicate goals clearly, and regularly remind employees of the team or individual
goals to keep them motivated and encouraged. It can also help employees understand
the importance of their roles in making the company successful, which can improve
loyalty within the company and reduce hiring turnover.

5. Promoting creativity and innovation

People who are good communicators are usually open to sharing ideas without
judgment. When trust is built based on effective communication, team members are
more apt to share with each other to inspire creativity.
Effective communicators are more inclined to collaborate to find creative solutions, as
well. When employees are keen to share ideas, companies can transform their
approaches and find unique ways to serve customers and clients.

6. Advancing individual career prospects

Good communication skills, such as open and honest communication, eliminate
surprises and reinforce your commitment to solve problems and support the business.
This can help you earn promotions and secure leadership positions in your current
organization or pursue new advanced career opportunities elsewhere.

3. What are the principles of effective business communication?

Swift, clear and precise communication is the foundation of any business operation.
Quick, effective communication improves productivity, increases efficiency, and
reduces redundancies. Whether you are emailing a colleague, pitching a client, or
preparing for a job interview, strong communication skills will help you sell more, get
more done, and land your dream job.

Below, we take a look at the seven principles of communication every business must
follow:

1. Clarity
Clarity is the number one rule all business communication must follow. A message
that leaves the reader scratching his head is a failed message. Clarity springs from a
knowledge of the message (what you want to say), the method (how you want to say
it), and the medium (what format do you want to say it in). A lack of insight in any
one of these components is going to affect the effectiveness of your message.

2. Conciseness
Business communication is founded on the principles of brevity. There is little room
for lyrical prose or academic loquaciousness. This applies to not just the length of
your message, but also its contents. Try to use short sentences and short words.
Avoid jargon and words that send the reader to the dictionary (unless you sell
dictionaries!). Adopt this principle for intra-team as well as client focused
communication.

3. Objectivity
Business communication must always have a purpose. This purpose must be
apparent to any who glances through your message. Before you put a single word to
paper, ask yourself: “what am I trying to achieve with this message?”. This will help
you stay on course through the message creation process and effect a remarkable
improvement in the message efficacy.

4. Consistency
Imagine that you’re reading a book that starts out as a serious medieval romance,
turns into a supernatural screwball comedy around the half-way mark, before finally
finishing as an avant-garde, high-brow literary exegesis. Without a doubt, such a
book will leave you confused and even angry.

This is the reason why all business communication must have consistency of tone,
voice and content. A humorous satire on one page, a serious explanation on another
will alienate your readers. Although you can stray from the set tone from time to time
– a few humorous jokes can help lighten the mood – the overall theme must remain
consistent.

5. Completeness
Each message must have a clear and logical conclusion. The reader shouldn’t be
left wondering if there is more to come. The message must be self-sufficient, that is,
it must hold good on its own without support from other messages. This is
particularly apt for blog posts which often end abruptly and leave the reader
scratching his head.

6. Relevancy
Every message you send out must be contextually cohesive with previous/future
messages. The message must also be relevant to your primary offering. A blog post
about Kobe Bryant’s free-throw record followed by a webinar on inbound marketing
will only leave your readers confused. So make sure that everything you write in a
business setting is contextually related and relevant.

7. Audience Knowledge
Lastly, your message must have a thorough understanding of your primary
audience. Everything else – clarity, completeness, objectivity – results from your
knowledge of your audience. Always know who you are writing for as it will influence
the tone, voice and quality of your message. You can’t write to a company’s SVP the
same way you would write to your colleague in the next cubicle, and you can’t write
to a client the same way you would write to a SVP.

Your message must reflect the age, education level, aims and objective of your
audience. This is possible only if you thoroughly research your readers and can see
things from their perspective.
Conclusion
Business communication is dramatically different from casual or literary
communication. It has its own principles, objectives, language patterns. Mastering
business communication will make you a more effective leader, increase your
sphere of influence, and help improve workplace efficiency.

4. What are the principles of verbal communication?

Principles of Effective Verbal communication:

1. Think before you speak

By organizing your thoughts in advance, you can eliminate many of the awkward
pauses that occur when speaking. It will also help you relay your information more
concisely.

While writing down your thoughts is not always possible in impromptu discussions, it
is still effective to take a minute to organize your thoughts in your mind before you
begin to speak.

2. Speak with confidence

Speaking in a confident manner will help you build trust and command the respect of
your audience. There are several factors which can impact your ability to speak
confidently, including your command of the subject matter, your word choice, the
tone of your voice, your body language, and your ability to make direct eye contact
with your audience.

3. Be clear and concise

The most effective way to get your point across is to make it in a clear and concise
manner. Avoid using complex, convoluted sentences, and try to state your argument
in direct language. Before speaking, ask yourself, “What is the clearest way I can
make my point?”

4. Be aware of your non-verbal communication cues

Your body language significantly impacts the way others interpret what you say. Pay
attention to the gestures you make, your facial expressions, and your body language
to ensure they align with the message you are trying to get across.

5. Be a good listener
Being a good listener is as important as being a good speaker, and it will improve
the quality of your verbal interactions. It shows the people you are speaking with that
you genuinely care about their ideas, and it helps ensure you understand their
needs. This will enable you to build trust and rapport much quicker.

6. Think about the perspective of your audience

Just because you have a strong command of a topic doesn’t mean the people you
are speaking to have the same knowledge as you.

Try to think about how someone else will understand what you are trying to
communicate, particularly if they lack the technical knowledge about a subject that
you possess.

7. Vary your vocal tone

Speaking in a monotone voice is a surefire way to bore your audience. Instead, use
voice inflection to add emphasis to important points, and vary the pitch of your voice
to express emotion. This will help keep your audience engaged in your message.

Strong verbal skills will help to encourage essential discussion while playing a major
role in bringing people together. Ask questions if you are wondering about a new
concept in order to become more knowledgeable about that topic. Explain why you
are confused about a certain policy to get the assistance required for a better
understanding of that set of guidelines.

Express what you experienced in a certain situation so you can work through what
you are feeling. Relaying this information will not only help yourself, but also those
who you are speaking with by solving problems, making connections, and avoiding
conflicts. Additionally, be prepared to serve as a good listener in return because
lacking the ability to give the same level of attention that you expect from somebody
else when you are speaking is not fair.

Effective verbal communication is an important skill to understand. Having the

courage and ability to convey your thoughts in a respectable way will help enhance
mutual understanding, trust, decision-making, and problem-solving between yourself
and others, making the act of properly speaking and listening to an imperative
influence on how we learn and think for ourselves.
5. What are emphasis strategies and what is their importance?

Emphasis, as the term is used here, is the use of typographical effects to call
attention to text. These effects can include italics, bold, all-caps, quotation marks,
color, and so on. Emphasis attracts the attention of the reader—or “cues” them—to
actions they must take or to information they must consider carefully.

Practically any special textual effect that is different from regular body text can
function as an emphasis technique. Things like italics, bold, underscores, caps,
different size type, alternate fonts, color, and more can act as emphasis techniques.

One key to communication is capturing and holding the audience’s attention. No one
likes to be bored, and no communicator likes to send boring messages. To keep
your communications dynamic and interesting, it often helps to use specific
strategies for emphasis. Let’s examine some of these strategies and how to use
them to strengthen your message.

Visual Communication
Adding the visual dimension to a document or speech can be an excellent way to
hold your audience’s interest and make your meaning clear. But be careful not to get
carried away. Perhaps the most important rule to remember in using visuals is this:
the visuals are to support your document or presentation, not to take the place of it.
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it is the words that really count. Make
sure that your communication is researched, organized, and presented well enough
to stand on its own. Whatever visuals you choose should be clearly associated with
your verbal content, repeating, reinforcing, or extending the scope of your message.
 Photograph, Video Clip
 Video Trailer, Video Still
 Bar Chart
 Pie Chart
 Line Graph
 Actual Object
 Body Motion

Signposts
Signposts (or indicators), are key words that alert the audience to a change in topic,
a tangential explanation, an example, or a conclusion. Readers and listeners can
sometimes be lulled into “losing their place”—forgetting what point is being made or
how far along in the discussion the writer or speaker has gotten. You can help your
audience avoid this by signaling to them when a change is coming.
Common signposts include “on the one hand,” “on the other hand,” “the solution to
this problem is,” “the reason for this is,” “for example,” “to illustrate,” and “in
conclusion” or “in summary.”

Internal Summaries and Foreshadowing

Like signposts, internal summaries and foreshadowing help the audience to keep
track of where they are in the message. These strategies work by reviewing what
has been covered and by highlighting what is coming next.

As a simple example, suppose you are writing or presenting information on how to

assemble a home emergency preparedness kit. If you begin by stating that there are
four main items needed for the kit, you are foreshadowing your message and
helping your audience to watch or listen for four items. As you cover each of the
items, you can say, “The first item,” “The second item,” “Now we’ve got X and Y in
our kit; what else do we need? Our third item is,” and so forth. These internal
summaries help your audience keep track of progress as your message continues.
(The four items, by the way, are water, nonperishable food, first aid supplies, and a
dust mask.) (Federal Emergency Management Administration, 2009)

With this strategy, you reinforce relationships between points, examples, and ideas
in your message. This can be an effective strategy to encourage selective retention
of your content.

Repetition
Saying the same word over and over may not seem like an effective strategy, but
when used artfully, repetition can be an effective way to drive home your meaning
and help your audience retain it in their memory. Many of history’s greatest speakers
have used repetition in speeches that have stood the test of time. For example,
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill gave a speech in 1940 that is remembered
as his “We Shall Fight” speech; in it he repeats the phrase “we shall fight” no fewer
than six times. Similarly, in his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, Martin Luther King
Jr. repeated the phrases “I have a dream” and “let freedom ring” with unforgettable
effect.

Another form of repetition is indirect repetition: finding alternative ways of saying the
same point or idea. Suppose your main point was, “global warming is raising ocean
levels.” You might go on to offer several examples, citing the level in each of the
major oceans and seas while showing them on a map. You might use photographs
or video to illustrate the fact that beaches and entire islands are going underwater.
Indirect repetition can underscore and support your points, helping them stand out in
the memory of your audience.