Business Communication-I

Dr. Sarju Devi Business Communication Assistant Professor ITS-IM, Greater Noida

UNIT-I
1. Introduction to communication: Classification and methods 2. Communication Process 3. Importance of communication 4. Role of communication in organizations 5. Models of communication process 6. Barriers to communication 7. Making communication effective.

Communication
Introduction: Communication is the flow of information and understanding from one person to another at the same level or at different level. It is the process of sending and receiving messages- sometimes through spoken or written words and sometimes through such non verbal means as facial expressions, gestures and voice qualities.

Communication
The word communication is derived from the Latin term communicare or communico, both of which mean to share. But communication is not merely transmission of meaning from one person to another through symbols. It implies that the system of communication is commonly owned, accepted and recognized by the members of a community. It enables them to acquire, exchange, store, retrieve and process information.

Communication
Verbal
Oral Communication Para verbal
-tone

Non verbal
-facial expressions

(use of words) (how we say the words) (use of body Language)

Written

Face to face Memos Telephone letters Meetings emails Seminars notices Conferences reports Dictation circulars

- pitch -postures and gestures -pacing of our voice -signs

Communication Process
Step 1: sender conceives an idea depending on the purpose. Step 2: sender chooses appropriate symbols encodes the idea and formulates the message. Step 3: sender sends the message through a suitable channel. Step 4: receiver receives the message. Step 5: receiver decodes the symbols and interprets the message. Step 6: receiver sends response to the sender.

Importance of Communication
Social advancement has to be matched with the development of efficient techniques of communication in order to sustain the tempo of growth. In modern professional organizations a great deal of importance is therefore attached to devising and maintaining an efficient system of communication. This enables the gathering and marshalling of data which is necessary for decision-making.

Direction of communication
1. 2. 3. 4. Downward communication Upward communication Horizontal communication Cross-channel communication

Downward communication and Upward communication

1. Downward communication: In most organizations the largest number of vertical communication move downward- from someone of higher authority to someone of lower authority. 2. Upward communication: Upward communication is the flow of information from lower-level employees to upper-level employees. It is important because (i) it provides higher management with the info needed for decision making (ii) it also cultivates employee loyalty by giving employees an opportunity to be heard and (iii) it provides the feedback necessary to let supervisors know whether subordinates received or understood messages that were sent downward.

Horizontal communication and Cross-channel communication

3. Horizontal communication: It is the flow of information among peers within the same work unit. It is important to help coordinate work assignment, share information on plans and activities, negotiate differences, and develop interpersonal support, thereby creating a more cohesive work unit. 4. Cross-channel communication: It the exchange of information among employees in different work units who are neither subordinate nor superior to one another.

Communication Network
Communication Network A communication network is simply a diagram showing all communication patterns or relationship that are possible within a group or among individuals. 1. Formal 2. Informal CHAIN Grapevine WHEEL CIRCLE ALL CHANNEL

CHAIN and WHEEL NETWORK

1. Chain: It rigidly follows the formal chain of command. The CHAIN is a typical network formation in a classical type of organization where the information flows only up or down in a hierarchical chain of command. 2. Wheel: The wheel network is also known as a star network represents a supervisor in the centre with four subordinates.

CIRCLE and ALL CHANNEL NETWORK

3. Circle: In a circle network, members of the group interact with adjoining members and no more. The group may have a formal leader or the supervisor, the interaction is typically found in the autonomous work groups. 4. All Channel: The All Channel network permits all group members to actively communicate with each other. Finally in the All Channel or the completely connected network, each of the members can communicate freely with the other four.

Informal Network
The information flows along the well-known grapevine and rumours can flourish. The grapevine has three main characteristics: i. It is not controlled by management ii. It is perceived by most employees as being more believable and reliable than formal communiqus issued by the top management. iii. It is largely used to serve the self- interests of those people within it.

Barriers to Communication
According to the processes message formation and delivery, we can indentify three types. 1. Intrapersonal 2. Interpersonal 3. Organizational

Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Organizational.

1. Intrapersonal: Individuals are unique because of differences in perceptions, experiences, education, culture, personality. Each of us interprets the same information in different ways as our thinking varies. These differences lead to certain inbuilt or interpersonal barriers. 2. Interpersonal: occur due to the inappropriate transactions of words between two or more people. 3. Organizational: Irrespective of size, all organizations have communication policies which describes the protocol to be followed. It is the structure and complexity of this protocol that usually causes communication barriers.

Tips for Effective Communication

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Always keep the receiver in mind. Create an open communication environment Avoid having too many transfer stations Do not communicate when you are emotionally disturbed Be aware of diversity in culture, language etc. Use appropriate non-verbal cues Select the most suitable medium Analyze the feedback.

The 7 Cs of Communication
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Completeness Conciseness Consideration Concreteness Clarity Courtesy Correctness

Completeness
1. Completeness i. A message is complete when it contains all facts the reader or listener needs for the reaction the sender desires ii. Provide all necessary information iii. Answer all questions asked iv. Give something extra, when desirable v. One way to help make the message complete is to answer the five W questions: WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY and any other essentials, such as HOW. For example: to order merchandise, make clear WHAT you want, WHEN you need it, to WHOM and WHERE it is to be sent and HOW payment will be made.

Conciseness
2. Conciseness: it is saying what you have to say in the fewest possible words without sacrificing the other C qualities. i. Eliminate wordy expressions ii. Include only relevant material iii. Avoid unnecessary repetition Conciseness is a pre-requisite to effective business communication.

Consideration
3. Consideration: It means preparing every message with the message receiver in mind. i. Focus on you instead of I and we ii. Emphasize positive and pleasant facts iii. In a broad but true sense, consideration underlies the other six Cs of good business communication. iv. To create considerate, audience-oriented message, focus on HOW message will benefit, WHAT they will receive and what they want or need to know.

Concreteness
4. Concreteness: Communicating concretely means being specific, definite and vivid rather than vague and general. The benefits to business professionals of using concrete facts and figures are obvious: the receivers know exactly what is required or desired.

Clarity
5. Clarity: Getting the meaning from your head to your reader accurately is the purpose of clarity. i. Choose precise, concrete and familiar words ii. Construct effective sentences and paragraphs iii. At the core of clarity is the sentence. Important characteristics to consider are LENGTH, UNITY, COHERENCE and EMPHASIS

Courtesy
6. Courtesy True courtesy involves being aware not only of the perspective of others, but also their feelings. Courtesy stems from a sincere you-attitude. It is politeness that grows out of respect and concern for others.

Correctness
7. Correctness i. All the information should be correct ii. At the core of correctness is proper grammar, punctuation and spelling iii. Use the right level of language.

UNIT-II
Effective Listening and Reading: 1. Listening Skills 2. Listening Process 3. Levels of Listening 4. Types of Listening 5. Barriers to effective listening 6. Improving listening abilities 7. Reading skills 8. Reading process 9. Approaches/style of reading 10. Selective reading 11. Reading rate adjustment 12. Note taking 13. Improving reading skills

Listening
Listening might be defined as the art of hearing and understanding what someone is saying. Listening is a very important skill. It is quite similar to reading, as it involves the reception and decoding of verbal messages from another person.

Listening
No communication process is complete without listening. Several studies have indicated that business people spend almost 45% of their working time in listening. Similarly, effective listening is extremely important for students, as they spend most of their time listening to lectures. While we may not necessarily be born good listens, active listening skills can be learnt and developed.

Listening: Definition
We can define listening as follows: Listening is a process of receiving, interpreting, and reacting to a message received from the speakers. Listening in relation to communication refers to the ability to understand an oral message. The listener is required to understand what he/she has heard. The ability to listen attentively and assimilate the information is very important, in order to communicate effectively. Listening is also a mode of communicating ones attitude- this is done through the listeners response to the message, which can indicate interest, empathy, boredom.

Levels of Listening
LEVEL 1, LEVEL 2 and LEVEL 3 Level 1: Non Listening: Listener may appear to be listening but actually he is more occupied with his own thoughts. Level 2: Passive Listening: Passive listening is more of hearing than actually listening. The listener superficially hears the words but does not understand in depth what is being said. Level 3: Active listening: This is the most desirable form of listening wherein the active listener gives full attention to what is being said. An active listener not only comprehends the message better but also is in a better position to remember and recall the message.

Process of Listening
In order to be a good listener, it is necessary to understand the various stages of listening. These are: 1. The sensing/selecting stage 2. The interpreting stage 3. The evaluating stage 4. The responding stage 5. The memory stage

The sensing/selecting stage and The interpreting stage

1. The listener selects, from among a multiple of stimuli, the only one that seems important at that point in time and converts it into a message. 2. The listener is engaged in the act of decoding the message. It is at this stage that the listener is faced with multiple barriers that could be semantic, linguistic, psychological, emotional or environmental.

The evaluating stage

3. A great deal of critical listening takes place at this stage. The listener assigns a meaning to the messages and seeks accuracy of information and evidence. Often the listener is disturbed by prior experiences, beliefs, and emotions, which often come in the way of the evaluation process.

The responding stage

4. This is the stage when the listener is ready to respond. In addition, this feedback stage is important for a speaker. The listeners nonverbal signals tell the speaker whether he or she has been understood or not. The speaker also has to be able to understand whether the listener is faking attention.

The memory stage

5. This is the final stage of listening. Effective listening helps listeners retain chunks of what they have heard. Unfortunately, no matter how brilliant a speaker is, most listeners can retain only 10-25% of a talk or a presentation the day after.

Types of Listening
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Discriminative listening Comprehensive listening Evaluative listening Attentive listening Pretending listening Selective listening Intuitive listening

Discriminative listening and Comprehensive listening

1. Discriminative listening is the most basic type of listening, it involves indentifying the difference between various sounds and the typicality of a language can be identified by this kind of listening. 2. Comprehensive listening involves attaching meaning to what is being listened to, i.e., comprehending the message including nonverbal message

Evaluative listening, Attentive listening and Pretending listening

3. Evaluative listening involves not only comprehending the message but also evaluating and analyzing the message being received in the light of ones own background. 4. Attentive listening involves making a conscious effort to listen attentively and decode the message. 5. Pretending listening means pretending through facial expressions that the communicated message is being listened to when actually, it is not.

Selective listening and Intuitive listening

6. Selective listening involves selecting the desired part of the message and ignoring the undesired part of the message. 7. Intuitive listening means listening through the intuitive mind by silencing the other forms of internal dialogues going on simultaneously.

Tips for Effective Listening

Dos 1. Be mentally prepared to listen. 2. Evaluate the speech, not the speaker. 3. Be unbiased towards the speaker by depersonalizing your feelings. Donts 1. Pay undue emphasis to the vocabulary as you can use the context to understand the meaning. 2. Pay too much attention to the accessories and clothing of the speaker. 3. Prepare your responses while the speaker is speaking.

Tips for Effective Listening

Dos 4. Fight distractions by blocking off sound sources. 5. Be open-minded. 6. Ask questions to clarify and confirm thoughts. 7. Paraphrase from time to time. 8. Send appropriate non-verbal signals from time to time. Donts 4. Hold preconceptions and prejudices. 5. Get distracted by outside influences. 6. Concentrate too hard. 7. Interrupt too often. 8. Show boredom even to an uninteresting speaker.

Barriers to Effective Listening

Physical Barriers Noise, poor acoustics, frequent interruptions and uncomfortable seating arrangement. People related barriers can be both physiological and psychological -state of health -impairment -wandering attention Psychological Barriers These barriers relate to attitudinal and behavioural aspects Unsure of the speakers ability, personal anxiety, attitude, impatience, emotional blocks.

Improving Listening Abilities

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Concentration Preparation Show interest Listen for the whole message Empathy Listening before evaluation Note taking Paraphrasing Body language

Advantage of Listening
Listening is the highest compliment one human being can pay to another. Some of the ways that it helps us in our daily lives are: 1. It breaks up the barriers between people 2. We can understand each other more 3. It prevents miscommunication of objectives and priorities among people. 4. It also prevents time lost because of having to communicate a second or third time to get things straightened out.

Questions
1. What are the types of Listening? 2. Briefly, discuss the importance of listening in communication. 3. Listening is an art and like any other art, it has to be cultivated consciously. Discuss. 4. List some of the common external and personal barriers to listening. How are they similar/ dissimilar to the general barriers to communication.

Reading Skills
Reading is one of the most important academic tasks faced by students. It is equally important in the commercial working world. Time spent by professionals on communication activities: Writing 9% Speaking 30% Listening 45% Reading 16%

Approaches/Style of Reading
1. Scanning 2. Skimming 3. Critical Reading 4. Analytical reading

Scanning
1. Scanning: Scanning is a fast reading style in which the reader examines the text to look for specific information. This type of reading is usually done for searching information through a list of numbers or addresses for a specific one. Scanning is extensively used while browsing the web pages to look for specific information.

Skimming
2. This type of reading is done when one wants to identify the core/ main idea of the material. It is useful in selecting relevant material that can later on be read in detail. It is also suitable when a lot of material has to be read in a limited time as one does not read word by word. Generally, it involves going through the chapter headings and sub-headings, introduction and summaries.

Critical Reading
3. Critical reading involves evaluating the arguments presented by the writer. To gain deeper understanding of concept it is useful to critically read the text. Critical reading provides an answer to the following questions: Are the arguments used logical? Are the statements backed by adequate evidence? Are both sides of the case presented evenly?

Analytical Reading
4. Analytical reading involves active reading in which the reader gains an in-depth understanding of what he is reading by simultaneously analyzing it.

Reading Rates
Reading rates vary depending upon the reading material. As our eyes move across the page they make a serious of jerky movements. Whenever they come to rest on a word, it is called a fixation. In order to increase our speed we must take in more words with each fixation, rather than make our eyes move faster.

How to read faster

1. Try to avoid focusing on every word, but rather look at groups of two to three words. For example: for instance/this sentence/could be grouped/thus: 2. Work on your vocabulary. Familiarize yourself with new words so that you do not get stuck on them when you read them again. 3. Read more. 15mins a day of reading an average size novel equals about 18 books a year at an average reading speed. 4. Spend a few minutes a day at a faster than comfortable rate. 5. If you have poor concentration when reading, practice reading for only 5-10 minutes at a time and gradually increase this time.

Note-Taking
Note-taking is a process of summarizing information from spoken material. The skill requires adequate practice. [as a students, you do this exercise daily when you attend your
classes]

First, one has to listen to what is being said with full attention. Next, one has to recognize quickly the main points that the speaker makes and note them down immediately. The speed of the speech is faster than the speed of writing. So, some extra effort is required to keep pace with the speaker.

Improving Reading Skills

It is essential to read with a purpose. Preview the material you are planning to read by scanning the table of contents, heading, introduction, and conclusion before you actually start to read. When searching for specific information follow the 80-20 rule i.e., 80% information in 20% time.

Tips for improving reading skills

1. Underline/highlight the main points. 2. Put a question mark next to sentences that you are unclear about. 3. Read a lot as this will help you read better. 4. Taking notes while reading helps one to remain focused and also improves retention.