INTRODUCTION

1. COMMUNICATION
1.1 WHY IS COMMUNICATION IMPORTANT IN BUSINESS?
1.2 WHAT IS COMMUNICATION IN THE CONTEXT OF
BUSINESS?
1.3 WHY COMMUNICATION IS NOT SIMPLE
1.4 YOUR JOB IS ABOUT COMMUNICATING
1.5 MANAGING YOUR COMMUNICATIONS?
1.5.1 Who you are communicating with?
1.5.2 What is their role?
1.5.3 Why are we communicating?
1.5.4 Where will you communicate?
1.5.5 When will you communicate?
1.5.6 How shall I communicate?
1.6 SO WHAT IS BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS?
1.7 TYPES OF BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS?
1.8 WHAT MEDIUM TO USE?

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. To become aware of the basic definitions of Communications in
the context of Business and the organization
2. To understand the nuances of communications
3. Explore deeper the 5W’s and 1H of communication
4. Understanding various mediums and their uses

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1. COMMUNICATION

You have impressions about people around you. The man who
delivers the gas cylinder, to the sales person or a market survey
person who comes at knocking at your door seeking your time, or the
officials at various points of interaction – be it the local telecom shop
who enables your mobile phone, or the person who collects the bill.
We are all communicating all the time, and forming impressions about
the individuals and through them the organization.

1.1

Achie
WHY IS COMMUNICATION IMPORTANT?

Communication has been called the life-blood of an organization.

Without it, little would be achieved. Until machines or robots take
over from us entirely at work, therefore, we will need to communicate
with each other in order to do our individual jobs. Even then we would
need humans to be programming them. In a sense, then,
communicating is sharing.

We also communicate with each other because using each other as a

resource is the most effective way of running any organization. It has
taken managements many years to recognize that people who do the
day-to-day tasks in a company are likely to know more about that

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work than anyone else. Involving them, and hearing what they have
to say, is therefore crucial.

More importantly, communicating with people is recognizing their

worth as human beings. In a business setting, this means that we
value people not merely as 'role people' but as 'whole people'. It is in
everyone's interests that we all develop and make use of our varied
skills, interests, and Insights. Everyone, including the company,
ultimately benefits.

The quality of communication in an organization will affect staff

motivation and job satisfaction, their sense of commitment and
energy, and their performance and productivity. Staff will react to the
'climate' in the organization - and the main contributing factor to this
climate is managers' values and styles.

A corporate philosophy that believes in openness, and in using all the

human potential within its metaphorical four walls rests on, and must
by definition be sustained by, good communications - upward,
downward, and horizontal. Everyone must be involved and must be
encouraged not only to communicate in all directions, but also to listen
and be prepared to receive feedback.

1.2 WHAT IS COMMUNICATION?

Communication is about conveying 'messages' to others: it is both a

'process' (how do I communicate) and a 'content' (what do I
communicate), though in fact they are often inseparable.

Two definitions encapsulate the simplest notions of communication:

1. Communication is social interaction through messages.
The word 'interaction' focuses on a vital ingredient: the opportunity for
feedback, without which there is no real communication.

Only by checking back, asking for clarification, and feeding back one's
own interpretations and understanding, are we truly communicating
(see Figure 20.1); the alternative is a monologue. This 'Interaction'
involves three elements: the' use of language (our prime, but not sole
means of communicating with one another), our behaviour, and other
symbols (e.g. status symbols that also communicate).

The 'message' is the content: that is, what we are trying to convey,
and what we inadvertently convey.

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2. Communication is about creating shared meaning and
understanding.
By communicating - interacting - we are creating an opportunity to
share our view of something with others and to hear about their views.
We are building a common understanding.

It gives us the opportunity to ensure that our words in particular, but

also our behaviour, are not misunderstood or misinterpreted, as can so
easily happen.
For example, a shrug of the shoulders, or the use of a word such as
'responsibility', can be open to many interpretations.

The
Phase
Sende
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1.3 WHY COMMUNICATION IS NOT SIMPLE
No organization is a gathering of homogeneous people. It is a mix of
employees with different backgrounds and different levels of
education. They bring to work different abilities and aspirations.

Their past experiences differ, as do their present needs. Each

performs a different job - exciting and demanding, or mundane and
routine. Each plays a different role in the company, and views events
and information from a different perspective and angle.

Each will therefore require slightly different

information/communication, in different forms and at different times.
One of a manager's main jobs is to understand and cater for these
differences.

1.4 YOUR JOB IS ABOUT COMMUNICATING

It is by talking and listening that managers get most of their work

done.
You have to talk most of the time, and mostly face to face.
Communicating is a vital part of anybody’s job. You are in fact, at the
hub of a communication network.

Each contact made by you requires a differing form of communication.

What you say to your colleagues, superiors, the language in which it is
couched, where and how it is conveyed, will differ from what you say
to subordinates or to other colleagues. The nuances are endless.

In order to perform the variety of roles that are required, you need
various communication skills:
• Can you express yourselves clearly;
• Can you mix well with people
• Are you a good listener
• Are you supportive, persuasive; above all, to be fair and open,
and to be prepared to talk to everyone around you.
• Are you able to manage the complex web of communications
that surrounds you

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1.5
Effect
Effective C
MANAGING YOUR COMMUNICATIONS?

Communicating encompasses how we relate and interact, and how we

behave and speak. It concerns what we say and to whom, how we say
it, and how we convey it. This includes what 'form' we use - the
spoken or written word - and what 'medium' we use - a meeting or a
memo.

When you read a newspaper, internet or watch televisions news, they

follow a system of series of unstated 'questions' that they ask
themselves when writing an everyday story with the right ingredients.
These are: who, why, where, when, what - commonly known as the
five Ws.

These same five Ws apply to all communications. If you, as a

manager, bear them in mind, no matter what communication you are
involved with, you will have a useful set of guidelines.

There is; however, a sixth question to remember: how. Do I, for

instance, communicate with my staff at a meeting, or by means of a
memo? REMEMBER -- ‘the medium is the message’, or at least an
important part of it. And what does my language and behaviour
communicate?

In everyday life the six questions are interlinked and inseparable: who
you are communicating with determines what you will communicate,
how and possibly even where.

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 C
of Ef
E
1.5.1 Who you are communicating with?
In everyday life, a conversation with our grandmother or our child will
differ from one with a friend in the office, club, or other places. The
same is true in an organization. The 'whos' in organizations will vary
on a number of dimensions:

Who are they?

What is their position in the organization? Are they senior managers,
supervisors, clerks or secretaries? This will begin to tell us about their
needs, their interests, their level of knowledge, the questions they
may ask us, the detail we need to give them, the language to use with
them. In other words, every bit of organizational information has to be
'translated' to suit their needs, to be made relevant to them in their
work or their position.

What is their role?

Are they from sales, production, personnel, research, finance,
advertising?

Practic
Again, their needs will vary and will be geared to their specific roles,

Practi
activities, and perspective - for example, to produce more, save
money, or ensure good working conditions.

Are they all from your own department?

Then at least they probably all speak the same or similar internal
language or jargon. But that is still no guarantee that they will be
interested in the same detail or angle. How many different 'whos' are
you communicating with at anyone particular time (e.g. at a meeting

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or when writing a report)? lf many, you need to tell your story in
different ways - while ensuring it is still the same story. You may even
have to run several separate meetings, or prepare additional separate
written pieces. Your awareness of people's differing needs, and being
prepared to cater for them, is a powerful message to those you
communicate with.

1.5.2 Why are we communicating?

'Why?' is a vague question, not precise enough to elicit specific
information.
A more fruitful way is to ask: What has 'prompted' the need to
communicate, and what 'outcome' am I seeking? In organizations,
any communication has a final purpose or 'outcome'. Something has
to be done, or achieved (e.g. a particular task has to be performed, to
ensure delivery of an item). That outcome has itself usually been
'prompted' by something happening - or not, as the case may be. To
continue our simple example, delays are being caused in another
department.

Thus 'why we communicate' has two parts to it: a prompt, and a

required outcome. Between them, the prompt and the outcome tell us
what the 'task' of our communication is. It may be to teach, persuade,
suggest, inform, motivate, establish good rapport with, and so on.

Knowing what our task is, we can then decide 'how' best to go about
it, that is, what medium to use: a memo, a training session, a pep
talk, or greater involvement in the work of the department (see Figure
20.4).

We should also remember that when we communicate with someone in

our organization on a work issue, the main outcome is an
organizational one.
Managers who observe this point are more likely to be fair in their
interactions with others than managers who 'personalize' these
organizational relationships.

This is not to deny that we often have 'hidden agendas' when we

communicate.
The attractive man in the marketing department may be able to help
me with my task, but I may also be interested in getting to know him
better for other reasons! Nothing wrong in that

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But I need to bear in mind that the organizational outcome is the one
that dictates our communication, even when the marketing man has
abandoned me for someone else.

1.5.3 Where will you communicate?

Where will you be communicating: in a one-to-one encounter, in a
lecture hall, in your room, in the office, factory, outside, at a meeting?
Will the encounter be formal or informal?
Will the other party to the interaction take notice of your
'communication'?
Will they be prepared or caught unawares?

The answers to these questions will have implications not only for
'what' you can communicate, but also 'how' you communicate it. A
personal reprimand on the shop floor, or by memo, is less likely to
achieve the desired effect than a face-to-face meeting in a quiet room.
The 'task' gives us clues about where we can best communicate.

1.5.4 When will you communicate?

Rumour and the grapevine travel with an amazing speed and efficiency
- with implications for managers. Get there first, or at least respond
to them fast and honestly. We come back to management style and
philosophy.

Not having time is used as a frequent excuse for not communicating.

Yet not communicating is itself a powerful form of communication. It
conveys messages about how unimportant the person not being
communicated with is, how undervalued and mistrusted, and how
important and scarce the information is ('information is power').

It also sends messages about the degree of commitment there is in

the organization to 'open communication', in spite of all the
protestations in corporate mission statements and board
pronouncements.

1.5.5 How shall I communicate?

Put simply, 'You can't not communicate'. Virtually everything we do
when in the company of others communicates something to them. So,
considering the five questions posed in the preceding sections, and
creating the most appropriate 'communication', is a considerable step
in the direction of good communications.

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But there is obviously more to it than that. There are two further
elements you have to consider: what 'medium' to use; and what
impression you yourself give to others.

1.6 COMMUNICATIONS AND BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

While Communication is the giving and receiving of feedback between

individuals and/or groups for the purpose of exchanging information.
Business communication is the giving and receiving of feedback
between individuals and/or groups for the purpose of exchanging
information and altering or enhancing performance.

1.7 TYPES OF BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

There are four categories of Business Communication, as follows:

1. Job or task-related Without it, individual jobs and tasks would not
get done.
2. Organizational/work-related Relevant, but not immediately vital,
and the result of a cross-fertilization of ideas, which sparks off
thoughts, and leads to developments or changes.
3. lntegrational involving people in the larger 'whole' of an
organization, its values, vision and sense of purpose.
It adds a perspective and meaning to their work, and gives them a
greater sense of commitment.
4. Housekeeping Less job-, and more people- and place-related: who
has moved where, who has joined, how the canteen is being
renovated, an office party.

Be clear about which category any particular communication falls into,

for each of these four should be conveyed by different means. It is a
strange (but authentic) organization that one day used a memo to
communicate the introduction of a new computer system which would
revolutionize everyone's work, and the next week used the same
medium to ask employees not to throw orange peel into wastepaper
bins.

Returning to the four categories:

The first type would involve face-to-face communication, or possibly
memo.
The second would occur at meetings, and through other two-way
communications (e.g. suggestions schemes), or focused and thought
provoking articles in a company newspaper.
The third possibly through the well-written and thoughtful articles in a
company newspaper but, crucially, backed up by everyday attitudes

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and behaviour, and further enhanced through training and other face
to-face communications.
The last by notice board, or in a section in the company newspaper

By thinking about, and carefully deciding, what to communicate and to

whom - provided you have assessed your recipient and his or her
interests correctly - you are conveying your own understanding and
sensitivity to your listener/recipient.

1.8 WHAT MEDIUM TO USE?

There are a number of different way of communicating, as follows:

Orally One-to-one;
Small groups; committees; larger meetings; telephone; training
sessions
Writing
Letter; memo; note; report; research study; notice board; text on a
computer screen.
Visually
Using a variety of visual materials when writing or speaking (e.g.
charts, diagrams, photographs, and film or video)

You can thus vary your communication.

But you need to ask a number of questions.
• How important is the information?
• Which is the best or most appropriate means for the task in
hand?
• Should the recipient be given the opportunity to respond, or ask
questions?
• Can the information you want to convey be sufficiently simplified
and clarified to be passed on by the written word?
• Or is it more important or complex and therefore better
conveyed orally, giving your recipients the chance to ask for
clarification?

It is not possible in a short space to discuss which medium is most

appropriate for each occasion. But there is one simple test which will
help: ask yourself which you would prefer yourself, if you were in the
position of being a listener/receiver of the item you are planning to
'communicate'.

If you have questions to ask, then the medium you need to use is a
two-way, face-to-face one, rather than a written one.

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The catch, however, is that as a manager you are likely to be more
comfortable with the written word than some of the other people with
whom you deal and communicate. Your own preference in this case
should be carefully considered.
Is your audience as literate as you?

lf you opt for a face-to-face setting, you still have to decide whether a
larger, more formal meeting is best, or a small discussion group. And
that depends on whether the issue in hand is one which would benefit
from a discussion, or whether it merely involves you imparting
information.

The importance and the intention

The importance of the communication will to a large extent dictate the
medium. The 'intention' or task will also dictate the medium. It is not
possible, for instance, to motivate individuals by writing to them. The
issue is too complex, needing insights into what motivates them, and
why they are demotivated. You can only find this out by having some
form of two-way communication.

The 'channel'
Do you wish to communicate something to everyone?
Will you do this by meeting people Individually, or in a group?
Or will you inform representatives, who then pass on the information?
And if you choose the latter, will the information get distorted en
route?
And will it matter?

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