PENYERAHAN DAN PENILAIAN TUGASAN ASSIGNMENT SUBMISSION AND ASSESSMENT _________________________________________________________________________ BBKN3103 BUSINESS COMMUNICATION JANUARY 2012 _________________________________________________________________________

ARAHAN KEPADA PELAJAR / INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDENTS

1. Tugasan ini mengandungi SATU (1) soalan sahaja yang disediakan dalam bahasa modul bercetak kursus ini. / This assignment contains only ONE (1) question that is set in the language of the printed module for the course. 2. Jawab dalam Bahasa Melayu atau Bahasa Inggeris. / Answer in Malay or English. 3. Muat turunkan templat tugasan versi bahasa yang berkenaan daripada MyVLE untuk penyediaan dan penyerahan tugasan anda. Tugasan anda hendaklah ditaip dengan menggunakan saiz fon 12 Times New Roman dan langkau baris 1.5. / Download the language version of the assignment template concerned from the MyVLE for preparation and submission of your assignment. Your assignment should be typed using 12 point Times New Roman font and 1.5 line spacing. 4. Tugasan anda hendaklah antara 2500 hingga 3000 patah perkataan tidak termasuk rujukan. Bilangan perkataan hendaklah ditunjukkan di hujung tugasan anda. Jangan menyalin soalan dan arahan tugasan dalam jawapan anda. / Your assignment should be between 2500 to 3000 words excluding references. The number of words should be shown at the end of your assignment. Do not copy the assignment question and instructions to your answer. 5. Anda dikehendaki menghantar tugasan SECARA ON-LINE melalui MyVLE. Sila rujuk kepada portal untuk arahan mengenai prosedur menghantar tugasan anda secara on-line. Anda dinasihatkan menyimpan senaskah tugasan yang diserahkan untuk rujukan sendiri. / You must submit your assignment ON-LINE via the MyVLE. Refer to the portal for instructions on the procedures to submit your assignment on-line. You are advised to keep a copy of your submitted assignment for personal reference. 6. Anda hanya boleh menghantar tugasan SEKALI sahaja dalam SATU fail. / You can submit your assignment ONCE only in a SINGLE file. 7. Tugasan anda hendaklah diserahkan antara 6hb Mac 2012 hingga 18hb Mac 2012. Serahan selepas 18hb Mac 2012 TIDAK akan diterima. / Your assignment must be submitted between 6th Mac 2012 until 18th Mac 2011. Submission after 18th Mac 2012 will NOT be accepted. 8. Tugasan hendaklah disiapkan secara individu. Anda dilarang meniru tugasan orang lain. Anda juga dilarang sama sekali memplagiat kerja orang lain sebagai kerja sendiri. /

Your assignment should be prepared individually. You should not copy another persons assignment. You should also not plagiarise another persons work as your own.

PENILAIAN / EVALUATION Tugasan ini menyumbang sehingga 30% daripada jumlah markah kursus berkenaan dan akan dinilai berdasarkan kepada Rubrik yang dilampirkan. / This assignment accounts for 30% of the total marks for the course and shall be assessed based on the Rubrics attached . Anda akan diberikan maklum balas tentang tugasan ini sebelum Peperiksaan Akhir Semester bermula / You would be given feedback on the assignment before the Final Semester Examination commences. PLAGIARISME: POTONGAN MARKAH / PLAGIARISM: MARKS DEDUCTION Amaran: Tugasan yang diserahkan, secara automatik, akan disemak untuk menentukan kadar pertindihan. Jika plagiarisme dikesan, markah akan dipotong seperti berikut: / Warning: The submitted assignment will automatically undergo a similarity check. If plagiarism is detected, marks would be deducted as follows: Tugasan dengan pertindihan kandungan antara 10 - 30 % : potongan 20% daripada jumlah markah yang diperoleh. Tugasan dengan pertindihan kandungan antara 31 - 50 % : potongan 40% daripada jumlah markah yang diperoleh. Tugasan dengan pertindihan kandungan lebih daripada 50%: Markah sifar akan diberikan. Assignments with 10 - 30 % overlap with others: 20% deduction from the total marks scored. Assignments with 31 - 50 % overlap with others: 40% deduction from the total marks scored. Assignments with more than 50% overlap with others: Zero mark would be given.

ASSIGNMENT QUESTION

PURPOSE The purpose of this assignment is to develop learners ability to analyse the importance of good communication between groups in business organisations and to suggest relevant improvements. REQUIREMENT Using relevant literature, evaluate the importance of good communication between groups in a business organisation. Recommend strategies that the groups can use to improve communication.

_________________________________________________________________________ MUKA SURAT TAMAT / END OF PAGE

ATTACHMENT ASSIGNMENT RUBRICS BBKN3103 BUSINESS COMMUNICATION / JANUARY 2012

Low Criteria Introduction on good communication Discussion on the forms of communication and the information network in business Discussion on group and functions of group dynamics in business Weig ht 0 No introduction or explanation on good communication No discussion on forms of communication and information network 1 Very brief introduction on good communication was given Able to discuss briefly the forms of communication and the information network but the discussion was disorganised Able to discuss briefly some of the characteristics and elements of groups, and some functions of group dynamics. However, the discussion was disorganised Explanation on the importance of good communication between groups was irrelevant

Fair 2 The introduction on good communication was fairly explained Able to discuss some forms of communication and the information network. However, the discussion was very poor and disorganised. Able to discuss clearly some of the characteristics and elements of groups, and some functions of dynamic groups.

Above average 3 The introduction on good communication was clearly explained

Excellent 4 The introduction on good communication was very comprehensive and very clearly explained Able to discuss in detail all forms of communication and information network. Include relevant examples Able to discuss in detail all the characteristics and elements of groups. The discussion on the functions of group dynamics was very clear and comprehensive. Relevant examples were given. Explanation on the importance of good communication between groups was very clear and accurate Max Mark s

0.5

Able to discuss clearly some forms of communication and the information network. However, no examples were given. Able to discuss clearly all the characteristics and elements of groups. The discussion on the functions of group dynamics was also very clear. However, no relevant examples were given. Explanation on the importance of good communication between groups was clear and accurate

1.5

No discussion on characteristics and elements of groups, and functions of group dynamics

Discussion on the importance of good communication between groups in business

1.5

No explanation on the importance of good communication between groups was given

Explanation on the importance of good communication between groups was superficial

Recommendation s on how groups can improve communication

1.5

No recommendation was given

Recommendations given were irrelevant

ONE practical and well-justified recommendation was given

TWO practical and well-justified recommendations were given

THREE practical and well-justified recommendations were given

Conclusion 0.5

No conclusion was given

The conclusion failed to summarise the key points related to the topic of discussion.

The conclusion summarised only a few key points related to the topic of discussion.

The conclusion summarised most of the key points related to the topic of discussion.

The conclusion summarised all the key points related to the topic of discussion. Written in a precise and convincing manner.

Total points

7.5

30

1.1 Introduction on good communication Managers have traditionally spent the majority of their time communicating in one form or another such as face-to-face discussions, meetings, memos, letters, e-mails, reports, etc. However, there are increasing number of employees find that an important part of their work is communication nowadays, especially due to the service workers that outnumber production workers and research as well as production processes emphasize greater collaboration and teamwork among workers in different functional groups. Additionally, a sea-change in communication technologies has encouraged the alteration of both work and organizational structure. In consequences, communication practices and technologies have become more significant in all organizations, but they are most important in knowledgeintensive organizations and sectors, and to science organizations and also to public science management. Communication can be defined as two-way process of gaining mutual understanding, where participants not only exchanging information but also create and share meaning. On the other hand, business organization is a commercial or industrial enterprise, and the people who comprise it; "he bought his brother's business"; "a small mom-and-pop business"; "a racially integrated business concern". It can be concluded that communication in organizations describes all the means, both formal and informal, by which information is passed up, down, and across the network of managers and employees in a business. These various modes of communication can disseminate official information between employees and management, to exchange hearsay and rumors, etc. However, the challenge for businesses is to channel these myriad communications so they can improve customer relations, increase employee satisfaction, encourage knowledge-sharing throughout the organization, and enhance competitiveness of the firm. Business communication is an instrument that enables the organisation to develop the performance of employees, improve the performance of the teams within the company, and also the performance of the entire organization in order to implement the organizations strategy, and also to accomplish its mission and vision. The literature on communication usually recognizes that the basic function of communication is to concern receiver knowledge or behavior by informing, directing, regulating, socializing, and persuading. According to Neher (1997), the key functions of organizational communication includes compliance-gaining, leading, motivating and influencing, sense-making, also problem solving and decision making, and also conflict management, negotiating and bargaining.

Neher (1997) and Rogers and Rogers (1976) stress the social and organizational functions of organizational communication as a total rather than focusing on the functions of explicit communication exchanges. Thus they unite the functions of informing, directing, and regulating into the broader group of behavioral fulfillment. They also focus on the role of communication in organization threats to organizational order and control, spotting problem solving and conflict management, negotiation, and bargaining as key functions of organizational communication. 1.2 The forms of communication and the information network in business Communication can also be exemplified as vertical, horizontal, or diagonal. Originally, greater prominence was aimed at vertical organizational communication as evaluated to lateral communication but that is no longer the case. Diagonal communication is even more current emphasis in the organizational communication literature. Vertical communication happens between hierarchically situated persons and can engross both downward and upward communication flows. In fact, downward communication is more common than upward communication. Larkin and Larkin (1994) propose that downward communication is most effectual if top managers communicate directly with immediate supervisors and immediate supervisors communicate with their staff. Even a smaller amount is recognized about upward communication, theres one reliable finding is that employee satisfaction with upward communication been likely to be lower than their satisfaction with downward communication. Larkin and Larkin (1994) found low levels of satisfaction with all the strategies frequently used to improve upward communication, for instance, employee surveys, suggestion programs, employee grievance programs, and employee participation programs such as quality circles and team meetings. Gibson and Hodgetts (1991) note several management-based reasons for this lack of satisfaction, considering that these strategies frequently dont engage two-way communication, are not enclosed well, are defectively timed, and are appropriate to cause defensiveness on the part of managers. In addition, McCelland (1988) found a number of employee-based reasons why upward communication tends to be underprivileged, including fear of reprisal where people are afraid to speak their minds, filters where employees feel their ideas are modified as they get transmitted upward, and time, where managers give the impression that they dont have the time to listen to employees. Lateral communication practices communication among persons who dont stand in hierarchical relation to one another. While current trends to compress organizations have improved the importance of lateral communications, studies on lateral communication still

wrap behind those on vertical communication. One fairly partial study found rather high levels of satisfaction with lateral communication among human resource managers but lateral communication across managers of different functional divisions, while often quoted as a main foundation of organization dysfunction, has not been subject matter to much practical research. It has been unspecified that lateral communication at the worker level is less difficult, at least within a functional area. Nevertheless, with the greater significance of teams, more concentration is now being aimed at communication between team members. Lateral communications between workers in diverse functional areas is also becoming a bigger anxiety as more attention is being headed at raising the speed of production through simultaneous, as disparate to sequential, work processes. And there is greater stress on communication across dispersed workers and geographically separated work groups doing similar kinds of work in an effort to endorse learning and the sharing of expertise, lessons learned, and best practices. Furthermore, diagonal communication refers to communication between managers and workers situated in different functional divisions (Wilson 1992). Although both vertical and horizontal communication continue to be important, these terms no longer sufficiently detain communication needs and flows in most modern organizations. The diagonal communication was introduced to detain the new communication challenges related with new organizational forms, for instance matrix and project-based organizations. With the increase of the network organization, both internally and externally oriented networks, communication flows can no longer be limited to vertical, horizontal, and diagonal. 1.3 Group and functions of group dynamics in business We can see the effectiveness of business communication based on the implementation of communication within each level. In order to know whether the business is effective or not, we can evaluate it through the levels of employee, team and the organization. In the employee level, business communication allows them to make decisions, provide feedback in an ongoing basis, make agreements, etc. At the team level, business communication allows team to construct an open communication environment that assists the creation of commitment, breakthrough ideas, trust, etc. On the other hand, at the organizational level, business communication allows the organization to support the whole company in order to perform its strategy, reach its vision, and fulfill its mission.

1.4 The importance of good communication between groups in business The importance of good communication can be understood by considering what things would be like in its absence. For example, if a company has no mechanism for recording and transmitting special order requests from its customers, and the employees in the sales and fulfillment areas only communicate minimally between each other, there's a good chance that when it receives a special request the company will have difficulty delivering what the customer wants. It may even lose the sale as employees grapple with an unusual request the management hasn't prepared them for. Lets consider a company going through a merger. Top executives at the merged entity proclaim that there will be many of layoffs to boost efficiency, but management is slow to tell who will be affected, what the criteria are for deciding who is laid off, and what the separation terms will be. It will be even worse when an unauthorized list of persons facing the ax is rumored to be circulating, and specific names are bandied about as being on or off the list. This situation continues for weeks before management comes forward with the full details. It is hard to see how such a scenario could be anything but detrimental to employee morale, and it might lead to valuable employees who were not slated to be let go jumping ship because of the chaos and management's thoughtless tactics. The other example of poor communication, imagine a business with a large, young workforce that is highly trained. However, the company is very hierarchical and a premium is placed on seniority over originality and other employee traits. A few younger employees have approached management with a new business idea, but their immediate supervisors haven't taken the proposal seriously and upper management is largely inaccessible to these employees. Consequently, the small groups leave the company and start their own firm, which grows quickly and proves to be more profitable. If these situations seem rather predictable where some are based loosely on real events, they serve to illustrate obvious communication gaps and missteps businesses must surmount. It may lead to the dissatisfaction among employees or customers, but each incident could lead to losses of monetary for the organisation. In short, communications, both internally and externally must be open, timely, complete, and precise to keep a business running smoothly and to increase the returns on its human capital. There are many strategies the groups can use in order to improve communication. These strategies may solve four of the most fundamental barriers of communication such as lack of candor, closed communication environment, lack of everyday performance conversations, and lack of feedback. In brief explanation, lack of candor means lack of

truthfulness, honesty, openness, frankness etc in delivering information or process of communication. The barriers of closed communication environment related with the employees own behaviors that fostering this environment that can be a problem if the organization do not break down these barriers. The other barrier is lack of everyday performance conversations. Meaning to say, if you have employees reporting directly to you, it is very likely that you hold day-to-day performance conversations with them. However, if you dont have a process to lead these daily conversations with them, you are probably lost on the power, ease, and effectiveness of a performance conversation process, where you might instinctively be generating barriers to effective communication. In addition, the other barrier is lack of feedback. Feedback is one of the best apparatus to progress communication; yet, it is one of the most misused communication skills. There are four types of feedback includes positive feedback, constructive feedback, negative feedback and lack of feedback. Positive feedback provides to applaud and strengthen your direct reports desired behavior. If it is correctly done, positive feedback can increases desired behavior. Constructive feedback educates your direct report about the disparity between undesired behavior and desired behavior that simplifies what is needed to achieve desired behavior. This constructive feedback is a teaching device. Constructive feedback may decreases unwanted behavior and increases desired behavior if it is properly done. Negative feedback doesnt teach anything, but it can only identify undesired behavior. Anywhere for the same reason, negative feedback comes across as a penalty. Negative feedback doesnt help your direct report to nurture. It is not only useless, but it is even harmful. Additionally, lack of feedback is not giving feedback at all. It may result in a boost in undesired behavior, or in a decrease in desired behavior. Managers always want to increase desired behavior and decrease undesired behavior. However, negative feedback doesnt aid us to do that. All forms of communication can have an impact. A stiffly worded, legalistic memo to employees telling them not to talk to the press about impending litigation could be assumed as admitting that the company did something wrong. In some cases, management's repeated "no comments" to employees and the press on rumored merger talks, but this may only fuel speculation about company suitors, how much the company will sell for, and how many employees will be laid off. Communication should be seen as a continuous and systematic process by which interested parties within the company learn what they need or want to know. While not all

information is appropriate for all people to know, the more in general open and free communications should be encouraged across all levels and divisions of the organisation. Communication in organizations supposed to be easy and understandable. Management terms and jargon or stiff or flowery language may lead to the impression among employees that management is talking down to them, and this may simply loose their interest and defeat the purpose. In fact, management should get and analyze feedback about the state of communications at their company. Managers may have misperceptions about the quality of communications because they have failed to avail themselves to pertinent information from others. 1.5 Recommendations on how groups can improve communication In order to improve the effectiveness of communication, the cooperation between each level of organization is needed. Myers and Myers (1982) combine similar functions into a higher level common function and provide a particularly clear version of the functions of organizational communication. They see communication as having three primary functions, includes coordination and regulation of production activities, socialization, and innovation. The function of coordination and regulation of production activities as the function of communication has distorted the most over time. In traditional bureaucratic views of the organization, prescription is clearly communicating behavioral outlook and the behavioral consequences related with complying or not complying with these outlook and monitoring are considered to be the foundation of organizational order and control. This function of organizational communication was seen as connecting fairly have its own procedures, ruleoriented, one-way, and top-down communication. Tasks in many organizations have become more complex, less routine and repetitive, tightly coupled, and interactive (Perrow 1986) and, as such, the traditional bureaucratic view of organizational communication is not adequate anymore. Production activities of this nature need dynamic, reciprocal, lateral communications between production workers and non-routinized, two-way, vertical communications between production workers and managers. The second function, socialization is stressed in the human relations viewpoint of organizations which asserts that detaining the hearts and minds of organizational members is essential to effectively systematize organizational action in the search of organizational goals. Communication going to socializing organizational members focuses on articulating and emphasizing organizational values and linking individual goals with organizational goals. It is aimed at founding a suitable organizational culture and climate. This type of

communication cannot be one-way or top-down. It must transpire equally between organizational leaders and organizational members. In addition, the third function of communication, innovation explains that the organizational communication literature is increasingly dealing with the importance of communication in promoting innovation as well as control and coordination. Communication to promote innovation is related with strong communication within and across the organization. This approach focuses on the functional goals of organizational communication, rather than on the near-term outcomes of particular acts of communication, such as to make a decision, to persuade, or to resolve a conflict. The more specific functions of specific acts of communication or sets of communication exchange such as decision-making, informing, persuading, negotiating, and problem-solving are includes into each of the three higher-level functional objectives. Nowadays, there has been a sea-change in communication technologies and a equivalent sea-change in communication theory and research. The organizational communication literature traditionally alerts on how variations in organizational communication were affected by variations in the size, structure, and types of organization and how dissimilar types of organizational cultures gave rise to diverse types of organizational communication. The literature has now changed the causal ordering, highlighting how new forms of organizational communication can bring about new organizational structures, cultures, and the whole new organizational forms. These new communication technologies and possibilities, shared with new challenges confronting organizations, are encouraging a whole new approach to organizational communication that challenges the very nature of organizations themselves. Thoroughly new communicationenabled organizational forms are likely and are now promising. On a less pretentious scale, new communication technologies enable almost every feature of organizational management and effectiveness, including change management, knowledge management, participative management, innovation, and organizational partnerships and alliances. The most prominent advances in communication technology are groupware or computer facilitated group communication technologies. Johansen (1984) differentiates groupware in terms of temporal whether in the context of synchronous or asynchronous, and spatial whether in distributed or co-located contexts. These communication technologies can assist traditional organizational groups work together more efficiently. But, they help discrete individuals work as a team. The development of collaboratories was designed to help dispersed scientists to conduct collaborative research and development as if they were colocated in a laboratory, may be one of the most exciting applications of the new

communication technologies and computer-enabled environments. By capitalizing on new communication technologies, an organization can realize a competitive advantage in its performance and in the marketplace. Although communication technologies have opened up new opportunities, scholars and practitioners identify that neither the theory nor the practice of organizational communication has kept up with this fast changing situation. Organizational communication best practices, to the extent that they subsist, are typically years out-of-date. The introduction of new communication technologies has caused problems as well as opportunities. Some communication technologies have led to communication overload. It is a common misleading notion to assume that because communication is generally seen as a good thing, the more communication the better. Communication overload is a real problem as what is needed is better, not more, communication.

Reference Websites BusinessDictionary.com, 2012. Retrieved from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/communication.html#ixzz1mAyYEXv1 Farlex: The Free Dictionary, 2012. Retrieved from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/business+organization Reference for Business, Encyclopedia of Business, 2nd ed: Communication in Organization, 2012. Retrieved from : http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/encyclopedia/Clo-Con/Communication-inOrganizations.html Jos Luis Romero, Definition of Business Communication, 2008 2012. Retrieved from http://www.skills2lead.com/definition-of-business-communication.html

Barriers to effective communication, 2012, retrieved from http://www.skills2lead.com/barriers-to-effective-communication.html How to give negative feedback, 2012. Retrieved from http://www.skills2lead.com/how-togive-negative-feedback.html Kathryn A. Baker, Chapter 13. Organizational Communication, 2012. Retrieved from http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/doe/benchmark/ch13.pdf

Books David, Werner. Managing Company-Wide Communicaton. London: Chapman & Hall, 1995. Johnson, J. David. Organizational Communication Structure. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing, 1993. Poertner, Shirley, and Karen Massetti Miller. The Art of Giving and Receiving Feedback. Amer Media, 1996.