Chapter six

MEDIA OF COMMUNICATION

A. Oral communication
Oral communication is the face to face communication between individuals .It may be in
the form of direct talks and conversation or the public address .It also includes telephone
calls or talking on the intercom system .It is the most effective when settling a dispute
among employees.

Advantages of oral communication

 It is direct, simple and time saving device of communication
 It is least expensive form of communication
 It conveys personal relationship, friendliness and develops a feeling of belongingness
 It removes if there is any misunderstanding between persons
 It lays mutual understanding and confidence
 It allows both parties to participate in a situation where motivation is important

Disadvantages oral communication

 There is formal record of the communication held
 There is a possibility of distortions of message especially if the oral message has to
pass through a long chain of command
 Lengthy and distant communications cannot be much effective
 It may carry less weight being informal
 The formal authority cannot be transmitted effectively in oral transactions
 It can be misunderstood and more or less different meanings might be conveyed by a
manner of speaking

1. BUSINESS SPEECH
Making a speech is an essential tool that promotes organizational/or institutional images
as well as individual prestige. Speech is often made in business or social situations with a
view to informing, advertising, persuading or entertaining a limited audience.

To make a speech more effective, it should be organized in essential parts, i.e.

introduction, body and conclusion to appeal to the interests of the listeners.

A speech may be:

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  Narrative Speech: it is concerned with time and action. More specifically narrative
speech is a form of disclose which recounts a series of related events in such away as
to develop a central meaning. Examples fables and parables
 Explanatory Speech: this type of speech explains about something by giving
important and relevant reasons that really explains it.
 Descriptive Speech: this type of speech concerned based on describing, expressing
and persuading idea, opinion about something.
 Persuasive Speech: this type of speech specifically focuses on convincing some one
through the force of reason and appeal to prejudice, deep seated convictions, hopes
and fear seat. It is able to make some body do or believe something.

Business speech can also fall into several categories depending up on the presentation
techniques used to address to a limited audience. It is thus, important that practicing
speakers have awareness about the following business speech types:

 Impromptu Business Speech: this type of speech delivered to a limited audience

without any preparation of the speaker.
 Extemporaneous Business Speech: this is a well prepared, rehearsed and outlined
speech. In delivering such a type of business speech, the speaker can refer to
important ideas, fact and figures printed on pieces of paper or cards.
 Memorized Business Speech: the speaker requires a lot of time for preparation and
rehearsal prior to presentation. A speaker is likely to forget what he/she wants to say
due to stage fright.
 Textual Business Speech: is a well prepared/researched business speech presented
by reading from printed pages. This type of business speech is used when the issue to
be presented is complex in content.

Guidelines for Effective Speech

 Determine the purpose of speech: the purpose of speech may be either to
inform (aims at increasing the audience’s awareness and understanding of a
subject) or preside (aims to get the audience to adapt the speaker’s point of view
on an issue.) your audience.
 Know your audience: the speaker have to have an aware about his audience’s
age, size, group, knowledge and also religion and ethics.
 Be well organized: the speaker should know all the procedures regarding to his
speech and he should know carefully how audience understand the message.
 Research your topic (by using published and unpublished source): primary
sources- observation and consulting, and secondary sources- reports and
published research
 Anticipate and prepare for questions from audience
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  Practice critically
 Minimize nervousness
 Establish eye contact with your audience
 Be honest in what you say

Characteristics of Good Speaker:-

 Look at your audience
 Vary your volume and speed
 Speak clearly
 Use appropriate gesture
 Check your postures
 Watch and listen for feedback

2. ACTIVE LISTENING
Listening is a combination of what you hear, what you understand, and what you
remember. It includes hearing or receiving oral stimuli from the environment, connecting or
processing the stimuli into meaningful message, and storing message from immediate or
delayed retrieval.

Listening involves five related activities, which most often occur in sequence:

Sensing: is physically hearing the message and taking note of it.

Interpreting: is deciding, and absorbing what your. As you listen, you assign meaning to
the words according to your own value, beliefs, ideas, expectations, roles, needs, and
personal history.

Evaluating: is forming an opinion about a message.

Remembering: is storing a message for future reference. As you listen, retain what you
hear by taking notes or by making a mental outline of the speaker’s key points.

Responding: is acknowledging the message by reacting the speaker in same fashion.

Types of Listening
Content listening: it enables as to understand and retain the message. The goal of content
listening is to understand and retain information imported by a speaker.

Critical Listening: is an even more active process. Not only does it involve listening for
information it involves analyzing and evaluating information. Listening critically means
listening with the intent of evaluating or judging what you hear. It requires a high level of
involvement and concentration.
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Active or Emphatic Listening: is the highest level of listening. It requires concentration,
retention, and judgment. More important, it requires empathy (the ability to put yourself in
some one else’s place and understand his or her feelings). The goal is to understand the
speaker’s feelings, needs and wants so that you can appreciate his or her point of view
regardless of whether you share that perspective.

Guidelines for Effective Listening

Listening is a process that can be improved if the receiver takes an active role. The
following guidelines can help you to improve your listening skills:

Concentrate on the message: people normally speak at 100 to 200 words a minute.
Listeners, however, are capable of hearing up to 500 words a minute. This mismatch
between speaking and listening speeds makes it necessary for people to concentrate
diligently in order to listen effectively.

Determine the purpose of the message: oral message have purposes, as do written message.
As a listener, you need to determine the purpose of the oral message so that you can decide
on the mode that you will use when listen to message are cautious, skimming, and scanning
listening.

Keep an open mind: the speaker presents the message from his/her view point respect this
viewpoint by not aching your own biases to block what being said.

Use feedback: is important. The speaker may volunteer where information he or she
receives positive feedback.

Minimize note taking: you will not be able to concentrate on listening if you attempt to
record everything that is said, instead record key words and ideas in outline.

Analyze the total message: watch the speaker’s action and facial expressions; listen to his or
her tone of voice.

Don’t talk or interrupt: an individual cannot talk and listen effectively at the same time.

Cause for Poor Listening

 Baisedness against the speaker (internal distraction): because of the difference in
background, culture, behavior, etc
 External distractions: environmental disturbances like: highly decorated conference
rooms, distracting perfume, sitting arrangement (closer to each other) and etc...
 Thinking speed: if the receiver has potential to listen more than the words per minute
the speaker is speaking, this will create some gap and can divert the attention of the
listener.
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  Premature evaluation: if the receiver is in a position to conclude the speaker’s
message after getting a hint (little part), his listening focus will decline and become
poor.
 Semantic problems: if the speaker uses jargon (technical) words, the receivers cannot
listen actively.
 Delivery style: the volume variation, facial expression… can influence the listener.

3. TELEPHONING AND FACE TO FACE COMUNNICATION

Telephoning: is one of the most frequently performed activities in offices, and is, in fact,
one of the fastest means of communication in a business environment. When we
communicate with people by means of office telephone, we represent the business
organization we are working for, however insignificant our position may be. Thus, when
we use the telephone either as a caller or a receiver for business purposes, our sincerity and
helpfulness are very much required. On the other hand, any reflection of insincerity,
discourtesy or artificiality is likely to bring about negative reaction not only against us as
telephone users but also against the organizations we are working for.

Suggestion for Effective Telephoning (one to one)

Preplanning by a caller:

 Know the specific purpose of your call

 Know the name and occupation (if pertinent) of the person you are calling
 Consider the best time to phone, from the standpoint of that person and of your
company
 Plan your opening statement
 Jot down the questions you want to ask. Try to limit your call to one main point.
 Have paper and pen handy for note-taking also place near the phone any
information for reference during the conversation.
 Behavior during the telephone conversation
 When you are the caller
 Introduce yourself
 If the person you are calling is not in, ask the best time to reach that person or
you can leave a message.
 When you answer a phone call:
With a clear pleasant voice answer promptly, usually with your name and department. On
receiving incoming calls, we should always be ready to answer the phone call as promptly
as possible with a friendly and warm tone. Under no circumstances should we make callers
on the hold for more than a few seconds.

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Face-to-face Communication is simply interaction that occurs in the presence of two or
more people. Face-to-face oral communication may mostly occur in the form of one-to-one
or one-to-many business conversational situations.

Apparently, business etiquette requires that certain formalities should be consistently

observed when people are involved in the process of inter-personal communication that is
in face-to-face conversation. This category of oral communication may take the form of
introductions, greetings, invitation, requests for information, offering to help, making
apologies, etc…

A successful group conducted by mail or by phone would be much less likely because
of the lack of instant feedback and the absence of nonverbal cues to meaning. But the above
reasons put face-to-face communication the most advantageous.

In opening face-to-face conversation the following communication structures could be

used by individuals: “Good morning” or “Good afternoon” or “How do you do?”

For make polite communication responses, we can use the following structure “Good
morning, may I help you?” or “Good morning, what can I do for you?”

2. INTERVIEW
The word ‘interview’ is derived from the word ‘intrigue’ meaning right between. Interview
means any planned oral conversation with a specific purpose involving two or more people.
It is a planned conversation with predetermined purpose that involves the asking and
answering of question.

Types of Interview

The various types of interviews call for different communication skills

 Job interviews: the job candidate wants to learn about the position and the
organization the employer wants to learn about the applicant’s abilities and
experience both hope to make a good impression and to establish rapport.
 Information interviews: the interviewer seeks facts that bear on a decision or
contribute to basic understanding. Information flows manly in one direction. One
person asks a list of questions that must be covered and listens to the answers
supplied by the other person.
 Pervasive interviews: one person tells another about a new idea, product, or service
and explains why the other should act on the recommendations pervasive interviews
are often associated with, but are certainly not limited to selling.
 Exit interviews: the interviewer tries to understand why the interviewee is leaving
the organization or transferring to another department or division.

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  Evaluation interviews: a supervisor periodically gives an employee feed back on his
or her performance. The supervisor and the employee discuss progress toward
predetermined standards or goals and evaluate areas that require improvement
 Counseling interviews: a supervisor talks with an employee about personal
problems that are interfering with work performance. The interviewee is concerned
with the welfare of both the employee and the organization.
 Conflict-resolution interviews: two competing people or groups of people explore
their problems and attitudes. The goal is to bring the two parties closer together, case
adjustments in perceptions and attitudes, and create a more productive climate.
 Disciplinary Interviews: a supervisor tries to correct the behavior of an employee
who has ignored the organization’s rules and regulations. The interviewer tries to get
the employee to see the reason for the rules and to agree to comply
 Termination interviews: a supervisor informs an employee of the reasons for the
termination. The interviewer tries to avoid involving the company in legal action and
tries to maintain as positive a relationship as possible with the interviewee.
General guidelines to be followed in all types of interviews

Most interviews consist of the following 3 things. These are

Planning the interview

As an interviewer you are in charge of setting the goals and establishing question before the
interview begins

 Determine goals for the interview: make sure that why the interview is take place
(determine the primary and secondary goals)
 Consider the approach or strategy that will be best to achieve your goals: the
considerations involve interview’s needs, goals and interests as well as your own.
 Choose appropriate questions: Before the interview, review and write down key
questions and content areas that you want to cover. The types of questions that can be
used are:
 Open ended questions: Invite the interviewee to offer an opinion, not just a yes
no, or one-word answer. “What do you think your company wants most from its
suppliers?”
 Direct open ended questions: You have some what more control over the
interview, but you still give the other person some freedom in framing a response.
This form is good to use when you want to get a specific conclusion or
recommendation from some one, for example, “What would you do to improve
customer satisfaction in the southern region?”
 Closed-ended questions require yes or no answers or call for short response.
“What is your grade part average?”
 Restatement questions: questions that mirror a respondent’s previous answer.
They invite the respondent to expand on an answer “You said that you dislike
eating injera. Is that correct?”
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  Establish an atmosphere in keeping with your goals: decide on that the last suitable
and effective of your goals
 Choose the most appropriate seating arrangement: the place chosen for interview must
be appropriately quiet comfortable and free of distracting and interruptions.

Conducting the interview

 Establish a pleasant atmosphere begin with sincere. Begin with sincere, pleasant
comments that establish harming and good will.
 Review that agenda: state that purpose of the interview
 Listen attentively. Active listing is essential.
 Percent questions in language that fellows that seven c’s principles
 Clarity actions to be taken after the interview: let interviewee know that will happen
next. Work to achieve agreement on action to be taken what, when, why, where , by
whom and how.
 End the interview sincerely
Evaluating the interview (follow-up after the interview). To evaluate the interview
effectively, consider factors such as the candidate's qualifications, relevant experience,
communication skills, problem-solving abilities, cultural fit, and overall demeanor
during the interview. Reflect on how well they responded to questions, their level of
enthusiasm, and whether they demonstrated alignment with the company's values and
goals. Additionally, gather feedback from other interviewers involved in the process to gain
multiple perspectives.

3. MEETING
A business meeting is a gathering where purposive discourage occurs among three or more
people who exchange information on a common topic or problem, for better understanding
or for solving a problem

Types of meeting

Information exchange meetings

There may be a meeting where department managers present their progressive reports
including their problems and challenges (bilateral comm.)

Information giving meeting

The top management may prepare a meeting in order to communicate some new
amendments and policies to officials of the org. (unidirectional comm.)

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Fact finding and problem solving meetings
First a problem is perceived in an organization, and there may be meeting arrangement to
identify the source (cause) of the problem and to solve the problem.

Preparation meeting

Planning steps before the meeting

 Determine the purpose

 Decide who should participate
 Arrange for meeting date, time , place
 Announce agenda: Agenda means a list of things to be done at meeting
 Take care of physical arrangements
The Role of Chair person

Before the meeting

 Plan the meeting agenda

 Preparing the location: decide where you wilt hold the meeting and reserve the location
During the meeting

 Be on time and started the meeting

 He plays facilitating role
After the meeting

 The chairperson has to be evaluating the meeting. The final common negotiation
decision must conclude.
Minutes

Consists of written book or sheet, are record of the proceedings and resolutions passed at a
meeting. It contains the date, place, members, present proposals and decisions taken by way
of resolution.

B. Written Communication
Written communication occurs through a variety of means such as business letters, reports
memos, instructions, rules and regulations, policy manuals, information bulletins, etc. In
many cases considerable time and effort are expended in preparing written communication.
Written communication ensures that every one concerned has the same information and it
provides a permanent record for future reference

Advantages of written communication

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  It serves as a permanent record for future reference
 It reduces the possibility of misunderstanding and misinterpretation
 It is the easy method of providing detailed information
 It is reliable for transmitting lengthy statistical data
 It informs formal authoritative action
 It can be evaluated and checked for accuracy

Disadvantages written communication

 It may be more time consuming for lengthy reports
 It is the part of red tap’s and bureaucratic system of control
 There is no guarantee that it will be received and read by the person concerned. It
may be lost in transit or may reach in the hands of irrelevant person concerned.
 It does not provide opportunity for immediate response
 It fails to convey personal feelings and hence does not create cooperative spirit
 It leads to excessive formality in personal relations

Business Letter
Business letters are purposeful internal or external communications designed to
communicate business messages or information between the letter producer and the reader
or the supplier and the potential customer.

Requirements of a good business letter

A good business letter should meet the following requirements:

 A business letter should be communicative, that is to say the message or information

the letter is to carry should be readily understandable by the reader
 A business letter has standard and supplemental parts that should be appropriately
used.
The various standard and supplemental parts are as the following:

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1. Letter Heading: this standard letter part identifies the name of the business
establishment together with the postal and telephone, fax, etc. addresses of the sender
of the letter.
2. Message Date Line: this is a letter part that indicates the date, the month and the year
in which the letter is written.
3. Inside Address: this part carries the postal, telephone, fax, etc. addresses of the
receiver of the business letter.
4. Salutation: this part of a business letter is a simple expression of greeting and
appears beneath the inside address. The salutation is often designed based on the first
line of the inside address.
5. Message Heading/subject line: it is meant to convey the reader the central idea or the
theme of the letter in a few logically arranged communicative words.
6. Body of the Letter: is the subject matter of the letter.
7. Complimentary Closures: also known as subscription, are simple expressions of
compliments positioned immediately following the concluding paragraph of a
business letter. Some of the widely used complimentary closures are: ‘yours
faithfully’, ‘yours truly’, ‘sincerely yours’…
8. Signature: this part of a business letter carries the signer’s or writer’s signature
followed by his/her job title in succession.
9. Identification initials: in contemporary business letter writing, these initials are
supposed to correspond to the first letters of the full name of the person/secretary
shouldering the responsibility of typing out the letter, and are represented by small
letters.
10.Attention Line: is the first supplemental letter part that appears above the salutation.
The purpose of this letter part is to enable an executive to re-address the letter to the
concerned authority in the same organization.
11.Post Script (Ps.): refers to any forgotten essential that must be included in the body
of a business letter. It is represented by Ps and is printed following the signature are
of the letter.
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 12.Enclosure Notations: these are standard notations which refer to important materials
that need to be attached with the original letter.
13.Copy Notations: are standard abbreviations which refer to copies of letters that need
to be sent to heads of offices or individuals concerned to make them become aware
of the issues that the letters communicate.
Sample of Business letter
Gateway Training Center
P. O. Box 3355
Hawassa, Ethiopia

20th March, 2006

IBM computer Manufacturing Company
New York, USA
Attention: the sales manager
Dear Sir
Subject: Letter of enquiry, dated 1st March, 2006
We are planning to launch practical computer training program in the coming academic year.
We then require 100 personal computers and 2000 high density diskettes for the training program.
Could you, therefore, supply the items on the usual trade terms?

Yours Sincerely

Eshetu S.
General Manager

abc
Encls. Details of prices and information brochure
Cc. Copy to administrative and finance manager
Ps. please supply us two laser jet printers

Types of Business Letters

Letter of enquiry: are designed by the enquirer with the aim to provide with business
information she/he is interested in. Thus, such letters, often request for price list, catalogue,
brochures, reservation, or other business service.
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Letter of order: is deigned by a potential customer with a view to placing an order for a
certain commodity from a prospective supplier. When designing a letter of order that has to
do with foreign trade the letter write is required to include essential details such as quantity
and type of specification, mode of transport, type of freight, insurance, type of payment and
delivery date.

Claim/complaint letters: is written when a customer has a cause for complaint. A

complaint may arise when a customer feels that he/she has received a wrong order, or
inferior quality or merchandise of different quality.

Letter of Adjustment: are positive replies to complaints made by potential suppliers.

These letters are purposefully designed by suppliers with the aim of fully or partially
adjusting the complaints made by potential customer.

Letter of credit: most of the time, trade could be carried out under terms of credit. Thus
letters of credit will be of paramount significance should you want to do business with a
supplier on credit.

Letter of acknowledgement: is designed by a prospective supplier to acknowledge the

receipt of a letter of order sent by a potential customer.

Letter of recommendation: convey information about a job candidate or about someone

applying to a college or university.

Sales letters: this letter written to a potential customer in order to activate them to a
company’s products. Its aim is to increase awareness of potential customers.

Employment Letters:
Application Letter as one type of personal letter, can be solicited (invited application) and
unsolicited (applications for job that are not advertised)

In writing application letter remember to include:

 Name of the magazine from which you read the vacancy

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  Emphasize your personal quality and skill
 Explain your past experience (if any), or tall your educational background

Resume /Curriculum Vitae (CV)

A resume is a structured, written summary of a person’s education, employment,
background and job qualifications. It is a document containing supportive information and
is enclosed to the application letter. It includes: personal data (name, age, sex, nationality,
date of birth, personal address), educational background (name of elementary school, high
school, college/university), special training (if any), work experience, hobbies and
references.

Memorandums (memo)
The memorandum is a kind of short/informal report, and is a means of communication
widely applied by management for internal communication purpose. A memorandum is
purposely designed either to communicate policies to low level authorities or rank, on the
other hand, and the present factual information to top management or to assist in decision
making or problem solving, on the other. As internal mean of communication,
memorandum can be thus move:

 Downward from top management to low level officials in an organization carrying

policy guidelines and procedural statements.
 Upward from low level officials to top management to assists in problem solving
and decision making process.

Business Report:
Business reports are highly specialized means of communication which are of pivotal
importance in presenting factual information to the reader, on the other hand and
identifying a problem, investigating it and providing solutions and recommendations to
top level management in business organizations in order to facilitate problem solving and
decision making process, on the other.

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Classification of Reports
Based on Content:

 Informational Reports: carry objective information from one area of business to

another. Omit comments or recommendations, e.g. annual reports, periodic reports
…
 Analytical Reports: attempts to solve problems by way of identifying problems
gathering and analyzing facts and providing recommendations, e.g. market surveys,
research reports…

Based on interval of transmission:

 Periodic report: are issued regularly i.e. monthly, quarterly…

 Progressive report: are issued occasionally between the start and finish of a certain
project or an operation. E.g. project reports
 Special reports: are issued regularly in response to non-request and emergency tasks
and special occasions.

Based on directions report travel:

 Internal reports: move vertically up-ward or down-ward within a certain business

establishment.
 External reports: move out of the bounds of a certain organization for general public
consumption

Component of a formal Business report

A formal report always conveys the impression that the subject is important. The longer the
report and the information in it, the greater the number of components it usually contains
and complex information is easier to digest when presented in smaller places. The three
basic divisions of a formal report are:

(1) Preliminaries:

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  Title page: it may contain the following information: sub title, name of the author,
name of the authority for whom the report written, contract, project or job number
and etc…..
 Letter of Authorization: if you have received a letter authorizing you to conduct a
study, then this letter becomes part of the final report.
 Letter of transmittal: introduces the report (not the subject matter of the report) and
offers it to the reader.
 Acknowledgement:
 Table of contents: present the major divisions of the report and indicates their
respective pages. There are two ways for dividing of outline for contents: numerical-
letter combination and decimal system style.
 Table of illustration: a separate list of illustrations is given immediately after the
table of contents if there are a large number of table and figures. If the number of
illustrations is very large, divide it into two parts, namely, list of tables and list of
figures.
 Synopsis or summary: presents the report in a nutshell without any illustrations and
explanations.
(2) The Body

 Introduction: it includes statement of the problem, purpose of the report, definition of

terms, research procedure, the scope and limitation of the report
 Discussion: it includes review of the related literature and finding and analysis.
 Conclusion and recommendations
(3) Supplemental parts

 Appendix: contains materials which is needed to support the main body of the report
but too detailed/voluminous to be included in the text such items as tables, pictures,
maps ….
 Bibliography: is a list of sources used when preparing the report or paper.

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