Business Communications

(10 of 13)

MARIA ASUNCION
 Write a Request Refusal (p. 149)

—  Read “7.3 Customer Negative News:

Costly SUV Upgrade”
Write an email as if you were writing to
Mr. Chan about his unfortunate experience with a large
SUV rented from Budget at the Calgary airport.
—  Make sure you follow the Writing Plan Page 138
—  Please entitle your document NAME 7.3 150
—  When finished, send this email to
mariakasuncion@gmail.com
 Chapter 10 – Communicating in Person

—  Starting from page 218

—  Defining professional behaviour:
¡  Civility: being respectful to others
¡  Polish: having manners
¡  Business and dining etiquette: proper business wear
¡  Social intelligence: ability to get along with others
¡  Soft
skills: personal qualities, habits, attitudes (e.g.,
optimism and friendliness), communication skills,
and social graces
 Ethics (p. 220)

—  Ethics: the study of right and wrong behaviour, from

both a theoretical point of view (normative ethics)
and a practical point of view (applied ethics)
—  There are also specific types of ethic theories:
¡  Duty-based: do what’s right in ALL cases

¡  Consequentialist-based: do what will make most

happy
¡  Social contract-based: do what’s right because you
live in a community and part of this means taking
other people’s needs into consideration
 Empathy & Professionalism (p. 221)

—  Professionalism: a type of ethics (it’s applied ethics

specifically because the respectful, pro-social
behaviours are happening in a real-world setting;
i.e., the workplace)
—  Professionalism includes the importance of
appearance, sounding appropriate at work, and
treating people with respect and consideration
—  The 6 dimensions of professional behaviour: (p. 221)
1.  Courtesy and respect

2.  Collegiality (friendliness) and sharing

3.  Reliability and diligence
4.  Appearance and appeal

5.  Tolerance and tact

6.  Honesty and ethics
Successful Face-to-Face Communication (p. 222)

—  Employment advertisements frequently mention

team, communication, and people skills
—  It’s important to note that one-dimensional
communication technologies cannot replace the
richness or effectiveness of face-to-face
communication
—  Like an actor, you can change your voice to make it a
more powerful communication tool
—  Proper pronunciation means saying words correctly
and clearly with accepted sounds and accented
syllables
Successful Face-to-Face Communication (p. 222)

—  Tone is also important; it determines your

personality and your mood
—  Someone’s tone or voice might sound friendly, or it
might sound angry or patronizing
—  Pitch is the sound vibration frequency, or lowness or
highness of a sound; successful speakers use a
relaxed, controlled, well-pitched voice to attract
listeners
—  If someone’s pitch is flat and monotone, that’s boring
—  Voices are most attractive when they rise and fall in
conversational tones (show reactive emotions)
Successful Face-to-Face Communication (p. 222)

—  Lastly for pitch, speaking in a moderately low-

pitched voice at about 125 words a minute makes you
sound pleasing and professional
—  Volume and rate are also important to consider
—  Volume: degree of loudness or intensity of sound
—  When speaking face-to-face, it’s easy to tell how loud
you should be
—  Usually you can adjust your voice to the other person
or people you’re speaking with, by matching theirs
—  Rate: pace of your speech (too slow or too fast)
Successful Face-to-Face Communication (p. 222)

—  Lastly, emphasis (or stressing certain words) can

change the meaning of what you’re expressing
—  For example, let’s read these sentences with
emphasis on the italicized words
¡  Matt said the hard drive failed again. (Matt knows what
happened.)
¡  Matt said the hard drive failed again. (But he may be
wrong.)
¡  Matt said the hard drive failed again? (Did he really sat
that?)
—  Recall “uptalk” which is when sentences sound like
questions, makes speakers seem weak and tentative
Making Workplace Conversation Matter (p. 223)

—  Use correct names and titles

—  Choose appropriate topics

—  Avoid negative remarks

—  Listen to learn

—  Give sincere and specific praise

 Responding Professionally to Workplace
Criticism (p. 225)

—  Listen without interrupting

—  Determine the speaker’s intent

—  Acknowledge what you are hearing

—  Paraphrase what was said
—  Ask for more information if necessary

—  Agree—if the comments are accurate

—  Disagree respectfully and constructively—if you feel
the comments are unfair
—  Look for a middle position (compromise)
Offering Constructive Criticism at Work (p. 225)

—  Mentally outline your conversation

—  Generally, use face-to-face communication
—  Focus on improvement
—  Offer to help
—  Be specific
—  Avoid broad generalizations
—  Discuss the behaviour, not the person
—  Use the word we rather than you
—  Encourage two-way communication
—  Avoid anger, sarcasm, and a raised voice
—  Keep it private
 Phone & Voice Mail Etiquette (p. 226)

—  Make Professional Phone Calls

¡  Plan a mini-agenda
¡  Use a 3-point introduction
¡  Be brisk if you are rushed
¡  Be cheerful and accurate
¡  Bring it to a close
¡  Avoid phone tag
¡  Leave complete voice mail messages
 Phone & Voice Mail Etiquette (p. 226)

—  Receiving Phone Calls Professionally

¡  Identify yourself immediately
¡  Be responsive and helpful
¡  Be cautious when answering calls for others
¡  Take messages carefully
¡  Explain what you’re doing when transferring calls
 Phone & Voice Mail Etiquette (p. 226)

—  Using Smartphones for Business

¡  Location: turn off or mute your cellphone while
driving, having a meeting, interview, working, at a
place of worship, etc. Also, taking a call in a crowded
room makes it difficult to hear and reflects poorly on
you as a professional
¡  Time: make sure to pay attention to when it’s
appropriate to take a phone call; e.g., do not pick up
the phone when it might interrupt the conversation
 Using Smartphones for Business (p. 229)

¡  Volume: avoid “cell yell” which annoys a lot of people

—  Raising your voice is not always needed since more
phones have excellent microphones that can pick up
even a whisper or the wind passing by you
—  If the connection is bad, louder volume will not
improve the sound quality
—  In a face-to-face conversation, a low, modulated
(regulated, adjusted) voice sounds professional and
projects the proper image
—  Figure 10.2 – professional cellphone use
 Making the Most of Voice Mail (p. 229)

—  Don’t overuse voice mail (do not avoid phone calls)

—  Set the number of rings appropriately (3 times)

—  Prepare a professional, concise, friendly greeting

—  Test your message

—  Change your message

—  Respond to message promptly

—  Plan for vacations and other extended absences

 Leaving Voice Mail Messages (p. 230)

—  Be prepared to leave a message

—  Leave a concise, thorough message

—  Use a professional and courteous tone

—  Speak slowly and clearly

—  Be careful with confidential information

—  Don’t make assumptions

 Adding Values in Professional Teams (p. 230)

—  The Importance of Teams in the Workplace

¡  Better decisions
¡  Faster response
¡  Increased productivity
¡  Greater buy-in (more people agree and support each
other)
¡  Less resistance to change (people who have input into
decisions are less hostile, less aggressive and less
resistant)
¡  Improved employee morale (people are more satisfied)
¡  Reduced risks (responsibility is spread throughout the
group, diffusing [decreasing] blame from only one
person)
Characteristics of Successful Teams (p. 232)

—  Be small and diverse (complimentary roles)

—  Agree on purpose (why is the team formed?)

—  Agree on procedures (deadlines, roles, tasks, etc.)

—  Confront conflict but be constructive about it
—  Communicate effectively

—  Collaborate rather than compete

—  Share leadership

—  Acceptance of ethical responsibilities

 Six Steps for Dealing with Conflict (p. 233)

1.  Listen to ensure you understand the problem

2.  Understand the other’s position

3.  Show a concern for the relationship

4.  Look for areas of mutual agreement

5.  Invent new problem-solving options

6.  Reach a fair agreement; choose the best option

 Ethical Responsibilities of Team Members and
Leaders (p. 234)
—  Determine to do your best
—  Decide to behave with the group’s best in mind

—  Make a commitment to fair play

—  Expect to give and receive a fair hearing (do not
interrupt)
—  Be willing to take on a participant/analyst role
(“looking from the outside in”)
—  As a leader, be ready to model appropriate team
behaviour (set an example for others)
 Conducting Professional Business Meetings
(p. 234)

—  Preparing for Meetings:

¡  Determine the purpose of the meeting
¡  Decide how and where to meet
¡  Select participants (Figure 10.6)
¡  Use digital calendars to schedule meetings
¡  Distribute an agenda (by email usually)
÷ Include date and place of meeting
÷ Start time and end time
÷ Brief description of each topic, by importance
 Conducting Professional Business Meetings
(p. 237)
—  Managing the Meeting:
¡  Get started and establish ground rules

÷  Goal and length of the meeting

÷  Background of topics or problems
÷  Possible solutions and constraints
÷  Tentative agenda
÷  Ground rules to be followed
¡  Move the meeting along

÷  Keep the meeting moving by avoiding issues that “sidetrack”

the group (or distract the group from the main tasks)
¡  Handle the conflict

÷  When a conflict develops between the team members, allow

each to make a complete case before the group
 Conducting Professional Business Meetings
(p. 239)

—  Ending each meeting with a plan and follow up (e.g.,

taking notes and then sending them out to members)
—  Preparing for virtual meetings:
¡  Make sure you know how to use the technology
¡  Respect the needs of dispersed participants

—  Let’s take a look at Figure 10.10 to see the steps to

setting up a web conference for your team
 Conducting Professional Business Meetings
(p. 240)

—  Lastly, let’s consider suggestions for when we’re

interacting professionally in virtual meetings
¡  Establish ground rules for virtual meetings
¡  Anticipate the limitations of virtual technology
¡  Manage turn-taking and other meeting procedures
 Work Time

Please use the remainder of class to complete the

assignments, work on individual writing practice, and/
or group presentation work
If you have any questions, feel free to ask me! J