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Business Communication

Syed Imad Shah

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Learning Outcomes

Communication and the Communication Process

Why Business communication is different than social communication

Understand the environment organizations work in

Understand the levels of management, types of communication channels,

& decision making types at different levels in organizations

Sources, importance, and uses of information in organizations

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Communication

The process of sending and receiving messages

Syed Imad Shah, 2013

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2. Sender Encodes

the Idea in a

message

1.Sender has an

idea

6. Audience Provides

Feedback/Responds

to the message

3. Sender

Transmits message

through a channel

4. Audience

Receives the

message

5. Audience

Decodes the

Message

The Communication Process

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How business communication is different than social communication?

It is:

More demanding,

More complicated,

Environment is more complex

Higher expectations,

Legalities,


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Figure 1.2 The business environment of an organization and the main factors that influence

it (Source: Bocij et al., 2008, Business Information Systems, 4th

Ed., Prentice Hall) Syed Imad Shah, 2013

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Organization Chart

CEO

Mr A

Manager

Production Dept

Production

Packaging

Quality Control

Manager

Sales Dept

Head of Sales inHome country

Head of Sales inEurope

Head of Sales inSwis

..... etc

ManagerFinance Dept

Mr B

Accounting Dept

Manager

Admin Dept

Human ResourceMgt

Maintenance ofBuilding Facilities

Aux personnel

Manager

IS Dept

Programmers

Operators

Manager

R&D Dept

Board Of Directors (BOD)

Employees

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Formal Communication Upward Communication

Downward Communication

Side Ways/ Horizontal Communication

Informal Communication Grapevine Communication

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Formal Communication

CEO

Mr A

Manager

Production Dept

Production

Packaging

Quality Control

Manager

Sales Dept




..... etc

ManagerFinance Dept

Mr B

Accounting Dept

Manager

Admin Dept

Human ResourceMgt


Aux personnel

Manager

IS Dept

Programmers

Operators

Manager

R&D Dept


EmployeesSyed Imad Shah, 2010

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Informal Communication

(Office Grapevine)

CEO

Mr A

Manager

Production Dept

Production

Packaging

Quality Control

Manager

Sales Dept




..... etc

ManagerFinance Dept

Mr B

Accounting Dept

Manager

Admin Dept

Human ResourceMgt


Aux personnel

Manager

IS Dept

Programmers

Operators

Manager

R&D Dept


EmployeesSyed Imad Shah, 2010

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What do Mangers Do?

Managers job is to forecast, plan, organize, coordinate, and control (Henri Fayol, 1841-1925)

Manager do all this by making

Decisions!

And to make decisions managers need Information Information Information!

(and communication Channels are sources of information)

Decision Types:

Structured Where rules and constraints governing the decision are known; decisions are Repetitive & have lowuncertainty associated with them, i.e. The outcomes of decision are fairly known)

Unstructured Where rules and constraints governing the decision are not known or are complicated; decisions are unique

& have high level of uncertainty associated with them, i.e. The outcomes of decision cannot be predicted)

Semi-structured Decisions that lie between structured and unstructured decision types


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Types of Decision Makers

Strategic

Tactical

Operational

Analytical:That rely onanalytical information, can

justify their decision based on

information, require hard

statistical data

They examine fine details but

overlook the broader, wider

issues, too narrowly focused

Intuitive:Rely on priorexperience, judgement &

intuition. Adopts Holistic

view & examines situation

as a whole. Do take

qualitative information

into decision making

Sometimes may miss finer

tactical, details

Structured

Decisions

Unstructured

Decisions

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Organizational Resources Tangible Resources

Land Labour

Capital

Infrastructure

Machinery etc

Intangible Resources Experience

Motivation

Ideas

Judgement

Data and Information

Businesses need information to Maintain efficiency of internal operation

Forecast future events Familiarize with new industry sectors

Counter competitors strategies

Innovate and develop new products

Identify environmental trends, products, customer preferences, govt regulation etc

Innovate

Create new market niche

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Information can be used for Management Control

Process in Organizations

Establishstandards of

performance

Measure

Performance

Compare

actual results

with

standards

Take

corrective

actions if

required

1

2

3

4

Adapted from: Taylor & Farrell, 1994, Information Management for BusinessSyed Imad Shah, 2013

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Sources of Information

Types of Information in Organizations (Taylor & Farrell, 1994, InformationManagement for Business)

Financial

Non-financial

Sources of Information Internal Sources

Sales records, purchase records, wages & salaries, budgetary control,cash control, payroll, inventory control, accounts, general ledger,internal databases, meetings, stock control, supplier records,

External Sources Annual reports & financial statements of competitors, newspapers,

magazines, journals, libraries, virtual resources, patents, laws and govtregulations, external databases, emails, customers, suppliers, partners

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Systems Theory

System: a collection of interrelated and sometimesinterdependent components that work together towards a

collective goal.

Components of System Input (data in business)

Processes that input

Output (information)

Feedback mechanism

Control mechanism

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System Model

Input Process Output

Feedback

Control

Source: Bocij et al., 2008, Business Information Systems, 4th Ed., Prentice Hall)

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System Characteristics

All components work towards a collective goal Systems operate within a larger environment

Open systems and closed systems

Systems are made up of smaller Subsystems (which support the higher purpose of

the main system)

A system itself can be part of a larger system (hierarchical) Subsystems interactwith each other and output of one subsystem can be input of

another subsystem

Open-looped system vs. Closed -looped system

Feedbackcontrol mechanism (reactive) vs. Feed-forwardcontrol mechanism

(proactive)) Hard systems have specific objective & are governed by fixed rules. Soft systems

operate in unpredictable environment where rules and conditions are uncertain

Deterministic (mechanistic): systems results can be predicted. Probabilistic

(stochastic): results cannot be fully predicted

Discuss: The Chaos theory and the Ripple Effect

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Systems applied to Organizations

Input Process Output

IS

Management

Adapted from: Bocij et al., 2008, Business Information Systems, 4th Ed., Prentice Hall)


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Business Information Systems

Def: A system composed of interrelated components that work collectively to carry out input,processing, output, storage and control actions in order to convert data into informationproducts that can be used to support forecasting, planning, control, coordination, decisionmaking and operational activities in an organization (Bocij et al., 2008, Business Information Systems, 4thEd., Prentice Hall)

Information systems existed before the era of microprocessors! But the Information andCommunication Technology (ICT) give specific advantages to BIS:

Speed

Accuracy (human error free)

Reliability

Programmability

Repetitive tasks

Also they lack in some areas such as:

Judgement

Flexibility

Innovation

Intuition

Qualitative information

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Brief Overview of classifications of main types IS according to

the decision type to different levels of management in

decision making

Strategic

Tactical

Operational

Executive Information

System (EIS)

Decision Support System

(DSS); Expert Systems

(ES)

Transaction Processing

System (TPS)

Management

Level

Decision

Type

Information Systems

Support

Source: Bocij et al., 2008, Business Information Systems, 4th Ed., Prentice Hall)

OfficeAutomation

System(OAS)

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Non-Verbal Communication

The interpersonal process of sending and receiving information both intentionally and

unintentionally, without using written or spoken language.

Three Important roles of non-verbal communication:

1. To complement and strengthen verbal communication if non-verbal communication

matches the words being spoken

Or weaken the verbal communication when the non-verbal signals do not match

the words being spoken

Or it can replace words entirely

2. Second non-verbal cues and signals is to reveal the truth (though not a100%)

3. Third non-verbal signals convey information more efficiently such as nuance and

rich amounts of information in a single instant

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Recognizing non-verbal

communicaiton


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Barriers to Effective

Communication


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PhysicalBarriers

PsychologicalBarriers

3 Types of Barriers

SemanticBarriers

OrganizationalBarriers

Communication Barriers

Anything that gets in the way of clear communication

process

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Status and Position

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NOISE

Physical appearance of communicator, the context of thedocument or the presentation.

Illegible documents, jammed margins, faulty typing, unclear

photocopies all are physical barriers.

Other physical blocks include mumbling, speaking too fast,

distracting gestures, noise inside the room such a ringing

telephones etc or outside the building such as traffic or

aeroplanes.

Your message may be blocked because people in your audience

are uncomfortable, they cannot hear because of bad sound

system and cannot see because of inadequate lighting

Gender Differences

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Communicating Cross-Culturally

Culture

A shared system of symbols, beliefs, norms, attitudes, values, expectations,

and norms of behaviours.

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Ethnocentrism

Is the tendency to judge all other cultures and groupsaccording to customs, standards, and behaviours of

ones own group or culture

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Related to ethnocentrism is Stereotyping

Which is assigning a wide range of generalized attributes to

an individual based on their membership to a particular groupor culture

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Overcoming Cultural Barriers to Communication

While communicating with an individual or a group, use a language they are familiar with.

Have respect for people from other cultures and their values and beliefs.

While communicating, do not include terms or references which are exclusively related to a specific culture.

A knowledge of different cultures and traditions helps you get along with people from other cultures.

With regards to corporate communication, the management can arrange for cross-cultural training sessions,

which contribute to clear communication in people from different cultures.

Be it a hobby class or workplace training, make sure the training material has an easy-to-understand languagefor any group of individuals.

Having the working knowledge of an additional language is also an effective way to reduce the impact of

cultural barriers in communication.

Treat people from other cultures with respect; doing so will enable healthy communication between you.

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