AN ASSIGNMENT ON BUSINESS
COMMUNICATION &
MANAGEMENT
SAJOL KUMAR SARKER
ID: 1602136
L:4 S:II
Management Study Guide defines business communication as a "mutual
exchange of understanding". It is not merely a transmission of data but a
conversation where everyone must be on the same page. Managers must
be able to effectively communicate goals, strategies, and policies.
Business communication contains many types of media and settings.
Examples include:
- Face-to-face group
- discussion Video conference
- call Phone interview Email
- questionnaire Meeting agenda
Business communication should occur at all levels of a business,
including from supervisor to subordinate and from corporate offices to
branch managers. Communication is the act of sending a message
through different media; it can be verbal or nonverbal, formal or non-
formal so long as it transmits a thought provoking an idea, gesture,
action, etc. Good communication is considered a learned skill. Most
people are born with physical ability to talk, but we must learn to speak
well and communicate effectively. Speaking, listening and our ability to
understand verbal and nonverbal meanings are skills we develop in
various ways. We learn basic communication skills by observing other
people and modelling our behaviors based on what we see. It is however
important here to point out that information is of little use until it is
communicated to the person who is to receive it or who has the need for
it.
Communication threrefore is the process of transmitting, disseminating
or passing information from one person to the other or from one place to
the other. In other words, communication is the process of creating,
transmitting and interpreting ideas, facts, opinions and feelings. It is a
process that is essentially a sharing one, a mutual interchange between
two or more persons. In addition, communication is the exchange
of information between managers.
While an organization is separated from its environment, it has to have
some ways of communicating with the environment. Anything which is
external to a system belong to the environment and not to the system
itseif. This is true of all types of organizations. The environment exerts
considerable influence on the behaviour of an organization at the same
time, the organization can do little or nothing to control the behaviour
of the environment. The environment affects the performance of a
system. Using a business organization as an example, the following
environmental factors might need to be communicated to it :
- The number of competitors in the market place and the strategies
they adopt;
- The product of competitors, their prices and qualities;
- The strength of the domestic currency of the organization‘ countries
of
operation;
- The structure of the company and personal taxation;
- The policies adopted by the government of ruling political body/party;
- Social attitute-concern for the natural environment; and
- The regulatory and legislative framework within which the company
operates.
This implies that information is a very vital part of management.
Management decisions and policies need be communicated to those that
will use them in order to achieve the policy objectives. This is to be done
through effective means of communication whithin and outside the
organization. Decision, irrespective of its purpose, is useless unless it is
communicated. If the Sales Director instance, of some industries for
decides to lower the price of product X and institute an interactive
campaign, nothing will happen unless the advertising departments is
informed and even the other department concerned with preparation of
new packaging to lower the price. At the heart of all communications
cycle outside the organization are the messages which should include:
- Developing and positioning experts
- Targeting and connecting with traditional media
- Distributing messages
- Monitoring and measuring the effectiveness of efforts communication
is the process by which the senders and the receivers of information
interact in a given social context.
There are many methods or techniques of communication depending
on the nature, scope and level of technology and those of application of
information in the organization. For instance, in small scale business
organizations like a sole proprietorship (Sole trader or one-man
business), small scale dry-cleaning firms, etc., most communications
whether between the business owner and the workers or
between him and his clients are done on face-to-face personal
contacts. However, as business expands and nature of operations
becomes more complex, there will normally be the need for more
documentations which necessitates written rather than simple oral
communication. This essentially the is the main feature of the medium
scale business units like the partnerships, and private and public limited
liability companies. In addition, most of the giant companies especialliy
the multi-products, multi-national and trans-national companies, etc,
make use of the modern day high technology .In nearly all these
companies, most communications are done using computers,
telephone, Internet, Intercom, telex, telefax, radiogram, telegram
General System of Mobile communications (GSM) and the like.
In the contemporary private and public organizations, the channels of
management information include the Newspaper, magazines, radio and
television announcements / broad-casting, company journals,
employees hand- books, notice boards telephone conversation, telex,
telefax, telegram, intercoms, post office or postal services, internet,
report, pictures, graphics and cartons, personal contact,
libraries, and sending errand boys and messagers. Others include
information obtained simply by looking round, letter writing, internal
memoranda, statutory books, textbooks and the likes. All these are
common in the modern day business and non-business organizations as
mean of communication.
Informal communication structures have no set direction and they
evolve from employee‘s interpersonal and social interactions. It moves
primarily through word of mouth and one common form is the
grapevine; an informal channel of person to person communication
that is not officially sanctioned by the organisation.
Communication is the key mechanism for achieving integration and
coordination of the activities of specialized units at different levels in
the organization. Managing communication in an organization requires
more than an understanding of the communication process.
Managers must be effective communicators themselves, and they must
also encourage employees to communication effectively. They can plan
well and control the working of their organizations. They have the skills
to transfer their policies, decisions, objectives and job instructions to
the persons working with them at all levels. So these skills are quite
essential for businessmen to perform their managerial functions .Such
communication organizations take the pattern of Interpersonal
communication, group communication and internal communication.
Every organization has a formal communication system in which the
flow of information is dictated by the official organizational structure.
Formal channels follow the organization‘s arrangement of the various
levels, divisions, departments and job responsibilities.
In an organization chart, the line of authority that links the chain of
command are the formal channels managers and employees use to
transmit official information. Formal communications can take many
forms including phone calls, memos, report, staff meeting, department
meetings, seminars, company‘s newsletter and official notices.
Effective vertical communication provides people on lower level with
information about plans, schedules, politics and procedures to help
them accomplish their work and it provides upper level management
with feedback to determine the responses to messages sent
downward. Downward communication is the flow of information from
highest to lowest level in the organizational hierarchy. Managers use it
to accomplish a variety of key organizational functions and objectives
In conclusion, effectively communication can be a very useful tool when
it comes to confrontation. At the work place, confrontations do occur;
that is no surprise! However, effective communication can put many of
these issues to bed if used properly. In a stressful situation, an effective
communicator will be able to defuse the situation. This applies not only
to aggressive confrontations but also to conflicts of interest. One team
member may want to follow option A while the wants to follow option
B. The effective communicator will lay out the positives and negatives
of both options and gather everyone‘s opinions on the situation. This
not only provides a majority decision but also a calm resolution to a
problem. The idea of whether women are better communicators than
men is circumstantial. Sure women tend to engage in more and
lengthier conversations than men, but this is dependent on
personality. There are far too many stereotypes that portray women as
talkers and even more persuasive than their male counterparts.
However, this is incredibly subjective. Environment and upbringing is
the one factor of whether or not someone, despite gender, can become
a good communicator. The argument based on the beliefs of society
that deems women as more conversational is simply not enough to
support the idea that women make better communicators than men.
