Transcript BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

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Defining Communication
Process of Communication
Communication Model
Objectives of Communication
Principles of effective communication
Importance of Business Communication
Importance of Feedback
Communication is the process of exchanging
information, usually through a common system
of symbols.
It takes a wide variety of forms – from two
people having a face to face conversation to hand
signals to message sent over the global telecommunication networks.
Direct exchange between individuals who can be
designated into roles as source and audience
Types:
 FACE-TO-FACE : occurs between two persons
 MEDIATED: occurs when a device such as a
telephone or computer is placed in between the
source and audience. Ex: telephone conversation, email, online chat, and letter writing
Happens within and between groups,
organizations and institutions.
TYPES:
 FACE-TO-FACE: group meetings, lectures, messages
with or without the use of microphones
 MEDIATED: some forms of media or
communications technologies are used to
disseminate messages; may be external or internal
Directed to the general public and, therefore, is
highly impersonal; allow large-scale dissemination
of messages to audiences who are dispersed over a
wide geographical area.
FORMS:
 TRADITIONAL TRI-MEDIA: print, BC and film
 OTHER FORMS: music recordings, advertising and
other strategies for mass marketing and publicity
The studies
Mehrabian and his colleagues were seeking to understand the relative impact of
facial expressions and spoken words.
Study 1
Subjects were asked to listen to a recording of a female saying the single word
'maybe' in three tones of voice to convey liking, neutrality and disliking.
The subjects were then shown photos of female faces with the same three
emotions and were asked to guess the emotions in the recorded voices,
the photos and both in combination. The photos got more accurate
responses than the voice, by a ratio of 3:2.
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Study 2
Subjects listened to nine recorded words, three conveying liking (honey, dear and
thanks), three conveying neutrality (maybe, really and oh) and three conveying
disliking (don’t, brute and terrible).
The words were spoken with different tonalities and subjects were asked to guess
the emotions behind the words as spoken. The experiment finding was that tone
carried more meaning than the individual words themselves.
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Mehrabian concluded the following formula from
these studies:
Total Liking = 7% Verbal Liking + 38% Vocal Liking
+ 55% Facial Liking
This is subsequently generalized to mean that in all
communications:
 7% happens in spoken words.
 38% happens through voice tone.
 55% happens via general body language.
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Language used should be effective.
The message conveyed should be clear.
The predetermined purpose should be achieved.
It can be defined as
The use of effective language to convey a clear
business message to achieve a predetermined
objective.
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Business communication encompasses not only
communicating with external contacts but also with
employees within the organization.
This will aid the business in being well-organized and
every matter whether it is a problem, an inquiry or a
sales letter will be attended to properly and promptly.
It does not mean that only a client’s inquiry should be
responded promptly but also feedbacks or problems
arising inside and outside the business as well.
This is done to have a balance within the internal and
external factors, especially in relation to dealing with
people, whether they are employees or other external
contacts.
Lesser
Misundersta
nding
Increased
awareness
among
employees
Better
quality of
documents
Enhanced
Professional
image
Increased
productivity
Effective
Communication
Stronger
Decision
Making
Improved
customer
relations
Quicker
Problem
Solving
Healthier
business
relationships
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Control – communication acts to control member behavior in
several ways. Organization have authority hierarchies and formal
guidelines that employees are required to follow.
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Motivation – communication fosters motivation by clarifying to
employees what is to be done, how well they are doing, and what
can be done to improve performance.
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Emotional expression – communication, provides a release for the
emotional expression of feelings and for fulfillment of social needs.
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Information – it provides the information that individuals and
groups need to make decisions by transmitting the data to identify
and evaluate alternative choices.
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The communication process includes: sender or
encoder, receiver or decoder, message, channel or
medium, feedback, and environment.
Step 1
Feedback also needs to be
encoded, transmitted, and decoded
Sender
Has An Idea
Step 2
Sender
Encodes Idea
Step 6
Receiver
Sends Feedback
Step 3
Channel
Sender
Transmits Message
Step 4
Step 5
Receiver
Gets Message
Receiver
Decodes Message
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Sender or Encoder
◦ The sender initiates a communication-and determines the
intent of the message, how to send it, and what if any response
is required.
◦ The sender bears the burden in this process, communicating
not only the content of the message, but information about
history and attitude toward the receivers as well.
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Receiver or Decoder
◦ Receivers comprise the target audience of a message
transmitted by the sender.
◦ The message the sender encodes may not be the message
received.
◦ Receivers interpret messages based upon their frame of
reference: includes their life experiences, their cultural
background, and the values and beliefs they hold.
◦ Feedback may help to prevent misunderstandings.
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Message
◦ Contains ideas expressed to other individuals
◦ Messages generally take one or more of three forms:
informative, persuasive, and actuative.
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Channel or Medium
◦ The channel conveys the message to the receiver, either
verbally and face-to-face, or in another mediated fashion.
◦ The medium can impact the message positively or negatively,
so the sender must choose the best medium for assuring
effective communication.
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Feedback
◦ Reports back to the sender that the receiver, the decoder,
received and understood the message.
◦ Feedback makes communication a two-way process, allowing
the sender to become a receiver and vice versa.
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Feedback should occur immediately
Supervisory feedback should complement work-related
behavior
Positive feedback produces the best results, but neg.
feedback can be better than no feedback
Verbal feedback should accompany and support or
verify nonverbal signals
Workers remember what they hear first and last in a
message
Feedback allows us to learn how people think and feel
about things
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Environment
◦ The environment in which the communication process occurs
may influence the probability of success or failure
◦ This environment includes room color, temperature, lighting,
furniture, and timing, as well as organizational climate and
superior-subordinate and peer relationships.
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Information- The main objective of a business is to
pass on information and making people more
informed, E.g.- all the advertisement activity that
we see around as are an attempt to inform and pass
the information on to others, and in case of
business houses this information is mostly about
the product or services that they have to offer. But
the mode of communication may be verbal, written,
visual or any other.
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Motivation- communication in business is also
necessary to increase the motivation in the workers.
So if the communication is done properly and is
successful in motivating the workers and workers
are motivated enough the work gets done easily,
efficiently and they will work independently and
with out supervision.
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Raising Morale - Another very important objective
of business communication (internal) is to keep the
moral of the workers high so that they work with
vigor and confidence as a team. This is a major
factor that can have very serious impact on the
success of a business house.
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Order and instructions – An order is an oral or
written command directing the start, end or
modifying an activity. This form of communication
is internal and is carried out within a business
house. Order may be written or verbal. Written
orders are given when the nature of work is very
important or the person who would perform the
task is far away. We should always be careful while
handing out written orders and should always keep
a copy of the order so that follow up action can be
taken.
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Education and training- Now communication can
also be used in business to increase the circle of
knowledge. The objective of education is achieved
by business communication on three levels
(a) Management (b) employees (c) general public
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Principle of clarity: The message must be as clear as
possible. No ambiguity should creep into it. The
message can be conveyed properly only if it has been
clearly formulated in the mind of the communicator.
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Principle of objective: the communicator must know
clearly the purpose of communication before actually
transmitting the message. The objective may be to
obtain information, give information, initiate action,
and change another person’s attitude and so on. If the
purpose of communication is clear it will help in the
choice of mode of communication.
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Principle of understanding the receiver:
understanding is the main aim of any
communication. The communication must crate
proper understanding in the mind of the receiver.
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Principle of consistency: the message to be
communicated should be consistent with plans,
policies, programmes and goals of the enterprise.
The message should not be conflicting with
previous communications. It should not create
confusion and chaos in the organisation.
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Principle of completeness: the message to be
communicated must be adequate and complete,
otherwise it will be misunderstood by the receiver.
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Principle of feedback: this principle calls for
communication a two-way process and providing
opportunity for suggestion and criticism. Since the
receiver is to accept and carry out the instructions,
his reactions must be known to the sender of
message.
Harold Dwight Lasswell, the American political scientist
states that a convenient way to describe an act of
communication is to answer the following questions
 Who
 Says What
 In Which Channel
 To Whom
 With what effect?
According to Lasswell there are three functions for
communication:
 Surveillance of the environment
 Correlation of components of society
 Cultural transmission between generation
Advantages
 It is Easy and Simple
 It suits for almost all types of communication
 The concept of effect
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Feedback not mentioned
Noise not mentioned
Linear Model
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They were Engineers working for Bell Telephone
Labs in the United States.
Their goal was to ensure the maximum efficiency of
telephone cables and radio waves.
They developed a model of communication which
was intended to assist in developing a mathematical
theory of communication.
C & W's original model consisted of five elements:
 An information source, which produces a message.
 A transmitter, which encodes the message into signals
 A channel, to which signals are adapted for transmission
 A receiver, which 'decodes' (reconstructs) the message from the
signal.
 A destination, where the message arrives.
 A sixth element, noise is a dysfunctional factor
For the telephone the channel is a wire, the signal is
an electrical current in it, and the transmitter and
receiver are the telephone handsets. Noise would
include crackling from the wire. In conversation, my
mouth is the transmitter, the signal is the sound
waves, and your ear is the receiver. Noise would
include any distraction you might experience as I
speak.
Levels of problems in the analysis of communication
 The technical problem: how accurately can the message be
transmitted?
 The semantic problem: how precisely is the meaning
'conveyed'?
 The effectiveness problem: how effectively does the received
meaning affect behaviour?
 simplicity,
 generality, and
 quantifiability.
It also drew serious academic attention to human
communication and 'information theory', leading to
further theory and research.
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Not analogous to much of human communication.
it is relatively static and linear. It conceives of a
linear and literal transmission of information from
one location to another.
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The idea of “source” was flexible enough to include oral,
written, electronic, or any other kind of “symbolic”
generator-of-messages.
“Message” was made the central element, stressing the
transmission of ideas.
The model recognized that receivers were important to
communication, for they were the targets.
The notions of “encoding” and “decoding” emphasized the
problems we all have (psycho-linguistically) in translating
our own thoughts into words or other symbols and in
deciphering the words or symbols of others into terms we
ourselves can understand.
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Tends to stress the manipulation of the message—the encoding and
decoding processes
it implies that human communication is like machine
communication, like signal-sending in telephone, television,
computer, and radar systems.
It even seems to stress that most problems in human communication
can be solved by technical accuracy-by choosing the “right” symbols,
preventing interference, and sending efficient messages.
But even with the “right” symbols, people misunderstand each other.
“Problems in “meaning” or “meaningfulness” often aren’t a matter of
comprehension, but of reaction, of agreement, of shared concepts,
beliefs, attitudes, values. “
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It is a Circular Model, so that communication is
something circular in nature
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Encoder – Who does encoding or Sends the message
(message originates)
Decoder – Who receives the message
Interpreter – Person trying to understand (analyses,
perceive) or interpret
Note: From the message starting to ending, there
is an interpretation goes on. Based on this
interpretation only the message is received.
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It can happen within our self or two people; each person
acts as both sender and receiver and hence use
interpretation. It is simultaneously take place e.g.
encoding, interpret and decoding.
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Semantic noise is a concept introduced here it occurs
when sender and receiver apply different meaning to the
same message. It happens mostly because of words and
phrases for e.g. Technical Language, So certain words and
phrases will cause you to deviate from the actual meaning
of the communication.
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Dynamic model- Shows how a situation can change
It shows why redundancy is an essential part
There is no separate sender and receiver, sender and
receiver is the same person
Assume communication to be circular in nature
Feedback – central feature.
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Early models were based on a transmissive or
transportation approach (ie assuming that
communication was one-way). James Carey in 1975 was
the first to challenge this.
He suggested an alternative view of communication as
ritual in which communication is “linked to sharing,
participation, association, fellowship … the maintenance
of society in time;not the act of imparting information but
the representation of shared beliefs”.
there is more emphasis on signs and symbols.
Medium and message are harder to separate.
Communication is seen as timeless and unchanging.
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The Christmas tree represents the model – it
symbolises ideas and values of friendship and
celebration but has no instrumental purpose. The
tree is both medium and message.
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It takes communication as a means to liberation,
participation in collective life and creation of awareness.
It focus on the fact that communication is, at times, an
exercise of the power one has over others.
It considers the inequalities among classes,castes,economic
and social groups.
It is a reflection of the power relation in family, a factory, or
b/w sender and receiver of mass communication.
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Indian Sage Bharat Muni calls sadharanikaran the key
process in communication.
He said that the right communication is between the
sahridayas(i.e. those whose hearts are attuned to each
other’s).
To be Sahridayas, the sender and receiver have to have a
common culture,common learning and be adapted to each
other.
His Rasa theory states that human mind has nine
permanent moods and these can be aroused to create nine
rasas- i.e. bhayanak rasa(fierce mood),hasya rasa(jocular
mood),karun rasa (Compassionate mood) and so on…
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The message by producing the desired mood in the
audience achieves sadharanikaran(unity of spirit).
This theory emphasises the receiver’s mental
conditioning by which he/she can in tune with the
msg.
While Indian model focusses on the interpretation
by the receiver, western models stress expression.
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Principle of time: information should be
communicated at the right time. The communicator
must consider the timing of communication so that
the desired response is created in the minds of the
receivers.
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Barriers to Communication
Effective Listening – Types and essentials of
effective listening.
Perception and reality
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Mechanical Barriers
Physical Barriers
Psychological Barriers
Semantic and language Barriers.
Status Barriers
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Anything that prevents successful communication
from occurring
Complex and multi-layered
Can be technical or generated
by the medium used, etc.
Some Possible mechanical failures are:
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A weak microphone or poor sound spread of the
meeting place.
Defective telephone lines.
Electricity/computer breakdown.
Poor printing quality or paper, spread of link,
overlap of colors.
Atmospherics on radio or T.V, especially in cloudy
weather.
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Background noise reduces audibility.
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Distance
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Time taken for the message to reach its destination.
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A person of weak hearing or eyesight.
The age of the listener.
A person’s educational level.
Gender Barriers.
A wandering mind.
Ideological loyalties.
Loyalty to a brand or organisation.
Emotional states of the person.
One’s Prejudice- A prejudice is the judgment formed without
proper information.
Fixed images about other people.
Poor retention power is a barrier.
Semantics is the study of how words convey meanings.
A basic principle of communication is that the symbols the
sender uses to communicate messages must have the same
meaning in both the sender’s and receiver’s minds
You can never be sure that the message in your mind will be
clearly sent to your receiver. The world is full with errors, as a
result of differences in semantic (meaning) understanding.
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The Sender’s and receiver’s experience with the
word differ.
Words from one environment are taken out and put
into an environment where they don’t fit.
Opinions are given as facts.
An Abstract word is used when concrete word is
required.
example- One may want to say that student of that
particular college is rowdy but in order to avoid
naming names, one may abstract generalise and put
the blame on the college students as a whole.
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Complex phrases and long constructions are used.
Also when idioms are meant to be understood in
the idiomatic sense but are taken in the literal
sense.
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As for language barriers, we all experience how
different regional groups, sometimes due to their
previous regional habits distort pronunciations.
Example: He is good at Batting.
He is good at betting.
Lack of proper language skills may lead to wrong
choice of words.
Speakers with different accents find it hard to
understand in India while Americans may have
hard time making sense of Indianised English.
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Shiny Abraham at the 1986 Asian Games at Seoul.
Despite coming first by a very wide margin in the
800 m. Race, she was disqualified and lost her gold
medal for having crossed the track at the place
where she should not have gone. According to her
she mistook the symbol, i.e., the colour of the flag.
Whereas in our country the red flag indicates
danger, in South Korea white flag is used for the
same purpose. Misinterpreting the white flag which
had been put up at that point, she crossed the track
at the wrong place and suffered a setback.
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A very interesting example of a communication made effective by the
use of words appropriate to the environment in which they were used
is provided by the following incident that took place in one of the
agricultural states of the USA.A proposal for raising the salaries of the
faculty members of an agricultural college was under discussion. The
farmers' bloc was totally against giving the raise to the college teachers
- they could not see why they should pay those college teachers $5000
a year just for talking 12 to 15 hours a week Faculty representatives
made no headway in their negotiations until one of them who had
some farming experience, got an inspiration."Gentlemen", he told the
members of the administrative body, "a college teacher is a little like a
bull. It's not the amount of time he spends. It's the importance of what
he does!"
Planning and clarifying ideas
Four strategies can be followed for clarity of ideas:
a) Test thinking
b) Collect ideas and suggestions from others
c) Support the decision of those responsible for
carrying out the communication
d) Increase the level of motivation
Create a climate of trust and Confidence
Time your message carefully
Reinforce Words with Action
Use Feedback
Use of simple and meaningful language
Communication should be directed to a purpose
and person.
What Is Perception, and Why Is It
Important?
Perception
A process by which
individuals organize and
interpret their sensory
impressions in order to
give meaning to their
environment.
• People’s behavior is
based on their
perception of what
reality is, not on
reality itself.
• The world as it is
perceived is the world
that is behaviorally
important.
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To better understand how people make attributions
about events.
We don’t see reality. We interpret what we see and
call it reality.
The attribution process guides our behaviour,
regardless of the truth of the attribution.
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The Perceiver
The Target
The Situation
Factors That
Influence
Perception
E X H I B I T 2–1
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Attribution Theory
Selective Perception
Halo Effect
Contrast Effects
Projection
Stereotyping
Person Perception: Making
Judgments About Others
Attribution Theory
When individuals observe
behavior, they attempt to
determine whether it is
internally or externally
caused.
Distinctiveness: shows different behaviors in different situations.
Consensus: response is the same as others to same situation.
Consistency: responds in the same way over time.
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Fundamental Attribution Error
◦ The tendency to underestimate external factors and
overestimate internal factors when making judgments
about others’ behaviour.
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Self-Serving Bias
◦ The tendency to attribute one’s successes to internal
factors while putting the blame for failures on external
factors.
Attribution Theory
E X H I B I T 2–2
Observation
Interpretation
Distinctiveness
(How often does the
person do this in
other situations?)
High
(Seldom)
Attribution
of cause
Low
(Frequently)
High
External
Internal
(Frequently)
Individual
behaviour
Consensus
(How often do other
people do this in
similar situations?) Low
(Seldom)
High
(Frequently)
Consistency
(How often did the
person do this in
the past?)
Low
(Seldom)
External
Internal
rnal
Internal
External
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Selective Perception
◦ People selectively interpret what they see based on their
interests, background, experience, and attitudes.
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Halo Effect
◦ Drawing a general impression about an individual based on a
single characteristic.
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Contrast Effects
◦ A person’s evaluation is affected by comparisons with other
individuals recently encountered.
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Projection
◦ Attributing one’s own characteristics to other people.
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Stereotyping
◦ Judging someone on the basis of your perception of the
group to which that person belongs.
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Prejudice
◦ An unfounded dislike of a person or group based on
their belonging to a particular stereotyped group.
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Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
◦ A concept that proposes a person will behave in ways
consistent with how he or she is perceived by others.
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The art of hearing and understanding what
someone is saying.
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Listening: It is an active process. It involves the
conscious desire to determine the meaning of what
is heard. While listening, one is engaged in
processing the date, reconstructing the data and
also giving meaning to the data.
Different situations require different types of
listening. We may listen to obtain information,
improve a relationship, gain appreciation for
something, make discriminations, or engage in a
critical evaluation.
 Informative Listening
 Relationship Listening
 Appreciative Listening
 Critical Listening
 Discriminative Listening
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Informative listening is the name we give to the situation
where the listener’s primary concern is to understand the
message.
Listeners are successful insofar as the meaning they assign
to messages is as close as possible to that which the sender
intended.
Much of our learning comes from informative listening.
For example, we listen to lectures or instructions from
teachers—and what we learn depends on how well we
listen.
In the workplace, we listen to understand new practices or
procedures—and how well we perform depends on how
well we listen.
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We listen to instructions, briefings, reports, and speeches;
if we listen poorly, we aren’t equipped with the
information we need.
There are three key variables related to informative
listening.
Vocabulary. increasing your vocabulary will increase your
potential for better understanding.
Concentration. Concentration is difficult. You can
remember times when another person was not
concentrating on what you were saying—and you
probably can remember times when you were not
concentrating on something that someone was saying to
you.
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Concentration: There are many reasons people don’t
concentrate when listening.
1. Listeners are preoccupied with something other than the
speaker of the moment.
2. Sometimes listeners are too ego-involved, or too
concerned with their own needs to concentrate on the
message being delivered.
3. they lack curiosity, energy, or interest.
4. Many people simply have not learned to concentrate
while listening.
5. Others just refuse to discipline themselves
6. Lacking the motivation to accept responsibility for good
listening.
Memory: you cannot process information without
bringing memory into play. More specifically, memory
helps your informative listening in three ways.
a. It allows you to recall experiences and information
necessary to function in the world around you.
b. You would be unable to drive in heavy traffic, react to new
situations, or make common decisions in life without
memory of your past experiences.
c. It allows you to understand what others say. Without
simple memory of the meaning of words, you could not
communicate with anyone else. Without memory of
concepts and ideas, you could not understand the
meaning of messages.
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The purpose of relationship listening is either to help an
individual or to improve the relationship between people.
Therapeutic listening is a special type of relationship
listening.
Therapeutic listening brings to mind situations where
counselors, medical personnel, or other professionals
allow a troubled person to talk through a problem.
But it can also be used when you listen to friends or
acquaintances and allow them to “get things off their
chests.”
Although relationship listening requires you to listen for
information, the emphasis is on understanding the other
person.
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Three behaviors are key to effective relationship listening:
attending, supporting, and empathizing.
Attending. Much has been said about the importance of
“paying attention” .
In relationship listening, attending behaviors indicate
that the listener is focusing on the speaker. Nonverbal
cues are crucial in relationship listening; that is, your
nonverbal behavior indicates that you are attending to
the speaker— or that you aren’t! on,” or “attending”
behavior.
Eye contact is one of the most important attending
behaviors.
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Head nods, smiles, frowns, and vocalized cues such as “uh
huh,” “I see,” or “yes”—all are positive attending behaviors.
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A pleasant tone of voice, gentle touching, and concern for
the other person’s comfort are other attending behaviors.
2. Supporting: Many responses have a negative or
nonsupportive effect;
for example, interrupting the speaker, changing the
subject, turning the conversation toward yourself, and
demonstrating a lack of concern for the other person.
Giving advice, attempting to manipulate the conversation,
or indicating that you consider yourself superior then
other behaviors that will have an adverse effect on the
relationship.
Three characteristics describe supportive listeners:
(1) discretion—being careful about what they say and do;
(2) belief—expressing confidence in the ability of the other
person;
(3) patience—being willing to give others the time they
need to express themselves adequately.
3. Empathizing: Empathy is feeling and thinking with
another person. The caring, empathic listener is able to
go into the world of another—to see as the other sees,
hear as the other hears, and feel as the other feels.
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Obviously, the person who has had more experience
and lived longer stands a better chance of being an
effective empathic listener.
You cannot be an effective empathic listener
without becoming involved, which sometimes
means learning more than you really want to know.
commanders can’t command effectively, bosses can’t
supervise skillfully, and individuals can’t relate
interpersonally without empathy.
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Empathic behavior can be learned.
First, you must learn as much as you can about the
other person.
Second, you must accept the other person—even if
you can’t accept some aspects of that person’s
behavior.
Third, you must have the desire to be an empathic
listener. And you must remember that empathy is
crucial to effective relationship listening.
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Appreciative listening includes listening to music for
enjoyment, to speakers because you like their style, to your
choices in theater, television, radio, or film.
It is the response of the listener, not the source of the
message, that defines appreciative listening.
That which provides appreciative listening for one person
may provide something else for another. For example, hard
rock music is not a source of appreciative listening for me.
I would rather listen to gospel, country, jazz, or the
“golden oldies.”
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The quality of appreciative listening depends in large part
on three factors: presentation, perception, and previous
experience.
Presentation:Presentation encompasses many factors: the
medium, the setting, the style and personality of the
presenter, to name just a few. Sometimes it is our
perception of the presentation, rather than the actual
presentation, that most influences our listening pleasure
or displeasure. Perception is an important factor in
appreciative listening.
Perception:Perceptions influence all areas of our lives.
Certainly, they are crucial determinants as to whether or
not we enjoy or appreciate the things we listen to.
Obviously, perceptions also determine what we listen to in
the first place. As we said earlier, listening is selective.
Previous experience:In some cases, we enjoy listening to
things because we are experts in the area. Sometimes,
however, expertise or previous experience prevents us from
enjoying a presentation because we are too sensitive to
imperfections. Previous experience plays a large role in
appreciative listening.
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The ability to listen critically is essential in a democracy.
On the job, in the community, at service clubs, in places of
worship, in the family—there is practically no place you
can go where critical listening is unimportant.
Politicians, the media, salesmen, advocates of policies and
procedures, and our own financial, emotional, intellectual,
physical, and spiritual needs require us to place a premium
on critical listening and the thinking that accompanies it.
The subject of critical listening deserves much more
attention
There are three things to keep in mind.
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They are as follows: ethos, or speaker credibility;
logos, or logical arguments; and pathos, or
psychological appeals.
Thanks