Prof Santana Pathak

Assistant Professor
SBM, NMIMS
 Full time MBA Year –Trim II: 1.5 credits ( 50 marks)

 To acquaint students with the principles of written business communication

 To enable them to make effective use of communication techniques to create
high impact messages in today’s business context
 To refine report writing skills

 Goals
 Exhibit ability to organize written thoughts into coherent narratives
1. Writing to an audience
2. Types of business messages
3. Letters and memos: formats and structure
4. Persuasive writing in business messages
5. Email etiquette
6. Types of reports
7. Proposal writing – I
8. Proposal writing – II
9. Group exercise on reports and proposals
10. Feedback on group exercise & responsible writing in social media
 Group assignment - 15%
 Mid term examination – 15%
 End term examination – 20%
 Communication At Work, By Ronald B. Adler and J.M. Elmhorst, McGraw
Hill Companies, Toronto.
 Business and Administrative communication. By Kitty O. Locker, Irwin
McGraw Hill, Toronto
 Excellence in Business Communication. By John V. Thill and Bovee
Courtland, Prentice Hall International Inc. New Jersey.
 Model Business Letters. By L. Gartside revised by S. Taylor, Pitman
Publishing, London
 William Strunk Jr., and E.B. White, Elements of Style, New York:
Macmillan, 1979
High

I
N Advocates
F Decision
L Makers
U
E
N
C
E Gatekeepers Accountants

Low
DECISION MAKING High
 Gatekeeper: A gatekeeper has the power to stop your message before it gets implemented or act on. They can
either be inside the organization as well as outside your organization and can prove to be difficult.

 Accountant: The accountant audience is a stock taking audience who has power to pay close attention to your
message and may derail your message by evaluating its value, though they might not have the power to stop the message.

 Advocate/Secondary audience: Such audiences may be asked to comment on your message or to

implement your ideas after they’ve been approved.

 Decision maker/primary audience: Your primary audience has the power to decide whether to
accept your recommendations or not. It is important to notice that the primary audience may sometimes be influenced
by a gatekeeper or an accountant or even an advocate, so it is important that all such messages are drafted carefully.
SENDER
SENDER
Perception
 Self-concept
 Family
 Culture
 Skills
 Feelings
 Attitudes
 Values

Individuals encode ideas according to their own unique

perceptions
SENDER RECEIVER
Self-concept Self-concept
Family MESSAGE Family
Culture Culture
Skills Skills
Feelings Feelings
Attitudes Attitudes
Values Values

To a receiver who decodes it according to different

individual perceptions.
 CHANNEL
SENDER RECEIVER
Self-concept Self-concept
Family MESSAGE Family
Culture Culture
Skills Skills
Feelings Feelings
Attitudes Attitudes
Values FEEDBACK Values

CONTEXT

Context - the situation, environment or

circumstances of the communication
 CHANNEL
SENDER RECEIVER
Self-concept Self-concept
Family MESSAGE Family
Culture Culture
Skills INTERFERENCE Skills
Feelings Feelings
Attitudes Attitudes
Values FEEDBACK Values

CONTEXT

Interference changes or distorts the message

 CHANNEL
SENDER RECEIVER
Self-concept Self-concept
Family MESSAGE Family
Culture MESSAGE
MESSAGE Culture
Skills Skills
Feelings Feelings
Attitudes INTERFERENCE Attitudes
Values Values

FEEDBACK
FEEDBACK
FEEDBACK

CONTEXT
 Do you want to update your audience or give some routine news?
Inform - direct approach.
 Do you want to give the audience some routine bad news?
Inform - indirect approach
 Do you want the audience to act immediately on a bad news?
Persuade
1. Module 2: Adapting your message to your audience (Attached)
By: McGrawHill Publication

2. Case used for class discussion: Dashman (Attached)

3. Class exercise (Attached)
4. Practice exercise (Attached)
IMP: Your practice exercise, completed, should reach me by tomorrow,
October 6, 12 pm mailed to santana.pathak@nmims.edu