Professional Documents
Culture Documents
BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
IITTM
M.B.A.-II Semester (PGDM-IB)
Unit I
Communication
Fundamentals
What is Communication?
COMMUNICATION
We live in a world of communication: a world in which people
react violently or peacefully to a statement, an action, or a
concept. Pick up the newspaper, snap on the radio, or flip on
the TV for proof. A world leader directs a statement of
hostility to another (communication), and tanks begin to roll! A
president or prime minister steps down (communication), and
peace settles over a torn and battered nation. A
representative speaks in the United Nations (communication),
and fifteen minutes later, rioting and bloodshed take place six
thousand miles away. Nations, companies, families, and
individuals in today’s world constantly act and react as a
result of communication.
Finance Dept
Change in
E-mail
payment systems
Message Message
Sender Receiver
Noise
Feedback
COMMUNICATION PROCESS
The six steps of communication process:
1) The sender has an idea
2) The sender encodes the idea
3) The sender transmits the message
4) The receiver gets the message
5) The receiver decodes the message
6) The receiver sends feedback
(Comm.Process cont.)
1.The sender has an idea
Written Communication
Verbal Communication
The Grapevine
Nonverbal Cues
Electronic Media
Identifying barriers
Communication is about overcoming barriers.
Filtering
Selective
Apprehension Perception
Information
Language Overload
Emotions
Communication Barriers
1)Perceptual and Language Differences
2)Restrictive Environments
4)Distractions
Comm. Barriers
1) Perceptual and LanguageDifferences:
2)Restrictive Environments
Restrictive environment is when
information flow is limited, blocked by an
authoritarian style of management.
Comm. Barriers cont.
3)Deceptive Communication Tactics
4)Distractions
• Emotional Distraction: When you are
upset, hostile, or fearful, you have hard
time shaping your message objectively.
Comm. Barriers cont.
4)Distractions cont.
• Information Overload: Too much
information make it difficult to discriminate,
sort out what is useful/not useful
information.
• Round the clock accessibility: To be
accessible immediately wherever
whenever. Technology demands instant
answers. Professionals are constantly tied
to work by cell phones, voice mail, e-mail.
Physiological Barriers
• Physiological barriers to communication are those that result from
the performance characteristics and limitations of the human
body and the human mind.
Perception – object recognition
• Use feedback
• Simplify language
• Listen actively
IITTM
M.B.A.-II Semester (PGDM-IB)
Unit I
Types of Communication
Types of Communication
1. Personal communication and Business
communication
2. Internal communication and External
communication
3. Upward communication and Downward
communication
4. Formal communication and Informal
communication
5. Lateral communication
6. Interactive communication
7. Mass communication
8. Grapevine
Communication in organizational settings
Internal External
• Formal • Formal
communication communication
network network
• Informal • Informal
communication communication
network network
Internal Communication
Informal Communication
Network:
People have casual
conversations with friends in the
office about anything (personal
and business matters)
External Communication
External communication
carries information into and
out of the organization.
External Communication cont.
Unit I
There are clear variations both within and between cultures in the
use of paralinguistic features.
David Crystal points out some cultural differences:
• Other Functions
Communicating Feelings, Emotions
and Attitudes
• NVC has a particularly important role in establishing
and maintaining relationships, otherwise known as an
affective function
• We rely more heavily on NVC in this area of personal
communication
• Looks, glances, changes in orientation allow others to
know what sort of relationship we want to have
• We use NVC to establish a mutually acceptable level
of intimacy
• Non-verbal leakage – messages
‘slipping out’ in spite of our attempts to
control them – ensures that high
credibility is given to non-verbal cues in
the area of feeling, emotion and attitude
• Puts a lot of power in the hands of a
skilled communicator
• Interpersonal attitudes can also be
indicated by body closeness and
orientation
Communicating Power & Status
• Within organisations such as the army,
positions within the hierarchy are clearly
signalled by uniforms, badges and
behavioural codes such as saluting
• In other organisations the non-verbal rules
of the pecking order may not be so overt,
but they are just as carefully observed
Peter Collett’s Handshake Theory
• The Bonecrusher
• The Limp Handshake
• The Firm Handshake
• The Limpet Handshake
• The Clammy Handshake
• The Reinforced Handshake
• The Relocated Handshake
• The Upper Handshake
The Limp Handshake may seem the most likely to offer evidence of
submissiveness, but this is not necessarily so, as Collett’s more detailed
explanation reveals:
- Power/status
- Emotion/feeling
- Attitude/Identity
Activity 2
Watch a scene from a television drama with
the sound turned down, paying particular
attention to non-verbal clues. Watch again
with sound. How much of a contribution
has the performance of non-verbal codes
made to the meaning of the scene and the
identity of the characters?
Activity 3
Look at the following situations. In each case try to identify a verbal
form, a verbal function, a non-verbal form and a non-verbal function
that could be associated with the situation.
YOU want to get past the doorman and into a crowded pub
• KINESIC BEHAVIOUR
body posture, hand gestures, facial expressions and eye
contact
• CHRONEMICS
the use of time
– M-time (Monochronic) and P-time (Polychronic)
Non-verbal codes
• SILENCE
the use of silence in conversations
• HAPTICS
the use of touching
– high-touch cultures and low-touch cultures
• VOCAL CUES
rate, pitch, loudness, articulation, tone, accent,
pronunciation etc.
• ARTEFACTS
things, objects, decorations etc.
IITTM
M.B.A.-II Semester (PGDM-IB)
Unit II
Oral Communication
INTRODUCTION
• In most of the cases where immediate action is to be
taken, it is advisable to transmit a message orally to
save time.
• Oral communication also saves money.
• Speech is a powerful means of persuasion and control
and the executives often prefer to transmit messages
orally.
• The speaker can get an effective and immediate
feedback if the speech or oral statement given makes a
favorable impressing on the receiver or antagonizing
him, whether the receiver will acquiesce or protest, or
whether the receiver has clearly under stood his
meaning or is feeling perplexed or baffled, and he can
mould and adjust his message accordingly.
CHARACTERISTICS OF FACE TO
FACE EXCHANGE
• Face to Face to communication may seem to be
similar to Oral communication however; there are
certain situations which distinguishes the two.
• A conversation in a telephone is oral but it cannot
be called a face to face communication.
• In some cases face to face communication is not
a oral communication
ORAL STATEMENT
• An important prerequisite of effective oral communication
is that words should be pronounced clearly and correctly.
• When people take pleasure in talking then tend to over
communicate.
• Precision makes oral communication very effective.
Saying “Can you come to office early tomorrow?” is not
as good as “Can you come to office half an hour early
than the usual time?”
• Lack of Conviction causes lack of confidence. Conviction
comes from careful planning and thinking.
• Jumbled ideas create confusion, so an effective
statement is made only if the message delivered is
arranged in a logical sequence.
• The major problem with communication is the assumption that it
has been accomplished. To avoid this it is important to carefully
select the words to be used. In a oral communication it is advisable
to choose words familiar to the listener rather than words the
speaker is familiar about.
• Speaker should avoid hackneyed phrases and clichés like “What I
mean is?”, “Basically...”, “Do you follow?”. These words interrupt
the flow of speech. These phrases are used unconsciously &
conscious effort is to be taken to avoid it.
• Some speakers create a style to impress the audience which will
make it even worse. The most effective speech is that which is
correct and at the same time natural an unaffected. The speakers
should cutivate a pleasing tone and speak clearly and distinctly.
DELIVERING A ORAL STATEMENT
3. Pronunciation of Sentences:
intonation and rhythm
INTONATION: rising / (yes /)
falling \ (yes \)
combination \/ (yes \/)
Attributes of
good oral communication
• 1.Sounds and sound combinations
• 2. Stress
• 3. Rhythm
• 4. Intonation
• 5. Speed: pausing
• 6. Clarity of articulation
• 7. Voice modulation: volume & pitch variation
(avoiding “monotonous speech)
Principles for Designing Listening and
Speaking Techniques
(Brown, 1994)