Achieving Success through Effective Business Communication

"Om Swastiastu"

Communication, Business and You

Communication is the process of sending and receiving message
Communication is effective only when people:

• Provide practical information
• Give facts instead of vague impressions
• Present information in consist and efficient manner
• Clarify expectations and responsibilities
• Offer persuasive arguments and recommendations

 Effective communication benefit both you and your organization by helping you:

•  Increase productivity - both yours and your company's
• Anticipate problems
• Make decisions
• Coordinate workflow
  
• Supervise others
• Develop relationship
• Promote products/services
• Shape the impressions you make on stakeholders
• Perceive and respond to the needs of stakeholders

 Without effective communication:

• People misunderstand each other and misinterpret information
• Ideas misfire or fail to get attention

Effective business message:

• Provide practical information
• Give facts rather than impressions
• Clarify and condense informations
• State precise responsibilities
• Persuade other and offer recommendations

Communication occurs in many form:

• verbal/nonverbal
• internal/external
• formal/informal

Nonverbal Communication is

• Communication without words
• Less structured and more spontaneous than verbal communication
• Often a more accurate and reliable indicator of meaning than words

Verbal Communication consist of words arranged in meaningful patterns, according to the rules of grammar.

 Given a choice, people would rather talk than write.



Oral Communication

• Take less time
• Offer opportunity for feedback
• Doesn't allow for revisions

 Written Communication (letters, memos, reports and proposals) is preferable when:

• Information is complex
• A permanent record is needed
• Audience is large and geographically dispersed
  
• Immediate interaction with the audience is unimportant or undesirable

 Good communication is particularly important in today's workplace because of:

• Advances in technology, including of burgeoning field of e-commerce
• Globalization and increased workforce diversity
• Greater emphasis on teams and collaboration

Communication in Organizational Setting 

When you join an organization, you become a link in its information chain: you have information that other needs, and they have information that you need.
Internal Communication is the exchange of information and ideas within an organization. Effective internal communicators use both formal and informal channels.
Formal internal communication channel are defined by the official chain of command. Information flows up, down, and across the formal organization:

• Information flowing downwards lets manager see direct activities of employees.
• Information flowing upwards helps manager monitor performance and obtain ideas.
• Information flowing horizontally (across or diagonally) from department to department or from peer to peer helps employees do their jobs more efficiently.

 Informal internal communication channels:

• Reflect and organization's actual communication practices.
• Have no sets hierarchical path.
• Are often called the grapevine. The grapevine is:
• Used by savvy managers to spread or receive informal messages
• Minimized by sophisticated companies by making certain that the official word gets out.

 External communication is the exchange of information and ideas with outsiders. Formal external document are often drafted by marketing or public relations teams. One public of relations is to anticipate and outline steps to deal with them. The reaction of crisis can profoundly affect a company's future.

Organizations use informal external communication to learn more about and from customers, colleagues, competitors, suppliers, government official, community representatives, and investor. The six phase of communication process are repeated both parties finish expressing themselves:

1. The sender has an idea.
2. The sender transform the idea into a mesage (encoding).
3. The sender transmits the message.
4. The receiver gets  the mesage.
5. The receiver interprets the message (decoding).
6. The receiver reacts and sends feedback to the sender.

 Communication succeeds only when the receiver understands the message the sender intended.

"Om Santhi, Santhi, Santhi, Om"