1. BUSINESS
COMMUNICATIONS
Thuyduong Nguyen
BISM 3200-02
February 28, 2003
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2. Business Communication
• Studies have found that people spend 70 to
85 percent of their work time deliberately
communicating through writing, reading,
speaking, and listening.
• Communication is the lifeblood of any
organization.
• In an organization, people communicate in
many ways.
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3. Organization Communication
• Face-to-face
• Both nonverbal cues and
communication takes
verbal communication
place during one-onsupply immediate feedback.
one discussions, in
• Individuals also
formal groups, and
communicate orally on the
during meetings.
phone and during
• Face-to-face
presentations, and in writing
communication is the
using desktop computers or
most effective form of terminals to compose letters,
communication.
memos, and reports.
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4. The Communication Process
• The communication process includes:
sender or encoder, receiver or decoder,
message, channel or medium, feedback, and
environment.
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5. The Communication Process
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6. The Communication Process
• Sender or Encoder
– The sender initiates a communication-and
determines the intent of the message, how to
send it, and what if any response is required.
– The sender bears the burden in this process,
communicating not only the content of the
message, but information about history and
attitude toward the receivers as well.
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7. The Communication Process
• Receiver or Decoder
– Receivers comprise the target audience of a message
transmitted by the sender.
– The message the sender encodes may not be the
message received.
– Receivers interpret messages based upon their frame of
reference: includes their life experiences, their cultural
background, and the values and beliefs they hold.
– Feedback may help to prevent misunderstandings.
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8. Receiver or Decoder
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9. The Communication Process
• Message
– Contains ideas expressed to other individuals
– Messages generally take one or more of three
forms: informative, persuasive, and actuative.
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10. The Communication Process
• Channel or Medium
– The channel conveys the message to the
receiver, either verbally and face-to-face, or in
another mediated fashion.
– The medium can impact the message positively
or negatively, so the sender must choose the
best medium for assuring effective
communication.
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11. The Communication Process
• Feedback
– Reports back to the sender that the receiver, the
decoder, received and understood the message.
– Feedback makes communication a two-way
process, allowing the sender to become a
receiver and vice versa.
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12. Tips for Improving Feedback
• Feedback should occur
immediately
• Supervisory feedback
should complement
work-related behavior
• Positive feedback
produces the best
results, but neg.
feedback can be better
than no feedback
• Verbal feedback
should accompany and
support or verify
nonverbal signals
• Workers remember
what they hear first
and last in a message
• Feedback allows us to
learn how people think
and feel about things
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13. The Communication Process
• Environment
– The environment in which the communication
process occurs may influence the probability of
success or failure
– This environment includes room color,
temperature, lighting, furniture, and timing, as
well as organizational climate and superiorsubordinate and peer relationships.
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14. Causes of Miscommunication
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Inferences
Word-meaning confusion
Differing perceptions
Information overload and timing
Nonverbal messages
Noise
Listening
Intercultural differences
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15. Inferences
• Draw a conclusion based on
facts
• As a communicator, you
must be conscious of the
inferences you make. Be
careful to label your
inferences.
• Your audience must be able
to distinguish between what
you know and what you
think, assume, believe, or
judge to be true
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16. Inferences Example
• The sun shines brightly today.
– Contains fact because you can easily verify it by
looking out the window.
• The sun shines here, therefore, it shines
50 miles north of here.
– This is an inferences statement, involves
drawing conclusion based on more than what
you observe.
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17. Word-Meaning Confusion
• When a sender and receiver • Example
give the same word different
– If you look up the word
meanings or give different
ill in the dictionary,
words the same meaning.
you probably would
• Words have both denotative
find a definition
and connotative meanings
meaning sick, but in the
• To avoid a similar wordsouthern region of the
meaning confusion, consider
United States, ill could
the person with whom you
refer to a misbehaving
communicate, ask questions,
and paraphrases important
child.
statements.
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18. Differing Perceptions
• Your perceptions provide
your view of reality, but they
depend on how you interpret
what you see and hear
• Perceptions are influenced by
a variety of factors include
personal background,
education, age, and
experiences
• 2 categories of perception:
sensory perception and
normative perception
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19. Information Overload & Timing
• Advance technology has made it easy to send a
fax, make a copy, or print a report
• Unfortunately you have only a limited capacity to
handle and process this communication. Because
so much info must be processed, some of it gets
lost.
• You can prevent such information loss by
becoming concerned more with the quality of your
communication than with its quantity.
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20. Information Overload & Timing
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21. Information Overload & Timing
• When communicating with employees, whether
face to face or over the telephone, effective
communicators always check with their timing.
• If an individual rules in, interrupts, and demands
time, the receiver may feign listening or listen
halfheartedly
• This behavior could costly to an organization if its
results in miscommunication and wrong action.
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22. Nonverbal Messages
• Senders sometimes forget
• When assessing nonverbal
the importance of nonverbal
messages, you should be
messages, but, as a
careful not to place too
communicator, you should
much importance on a
pay careful attention to the
single, isolated nonverbal
nonverbal communication
behavior; instead, look for
of the sender and listen for
several nonverbal cues.
the message “between the
• Nonverbal actions provide
line.”
a key to a person’s true
feelings and attitudes.
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23. Noises
• Noise can be interfere with every aspect of the
communication process. Noise may be external or
internal
• External Noise: comes from you surroundings
– Phone line crackling with static
– A telephone ringing or a co-worker laughing in a
cubical next to you
• Internal noise: comes from within
– Such factors as dislike of your receiver
– Distraction by another problem
– Prejudice against a person
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24. Listening
• Without training, a listener retains only 25% of
what he or she hears.
• Based on Hamilton and Kleiner: when eyes
wander, your retention of what has been said is
affected.
• If you focus too hard on little facts, you can miss
the overall message.
• If you assume the speaker or subject to be
uninteresting, you may miss out
• If you pretend to listen, you may get caught
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25. Listening
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26. Listening Guidelines
•
•
•
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Look at the person speaking to show interest
Ask questions to help clarify what the speaker said
Don’t interrupt the speaker without reason
Don’t change the subject, because the speaker may
have no thoughts on the new subject
• Control your emotions about the subject matter
• Be responsive and let the speaker know he or she
has communicated effectively
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27. Listening
• Another listening barrier occurs because we have
different rates of listening and speaking.
• Speakers generally talk at about 125 to 150 words
a minute, while receivers can listen to about 400 to
500 words per minute.
• Receivers must work at listening and try to avoid
becoming distracted
• To be an effective managers, you must be an
effective listener
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28. Listening
• Longenecker and Liverpool theory of behaviors displaying poor
listening skills
– Looking out the window or at your watch while someone
talks
– Continuing to work during the conversation
– Appearing rushed during a conversation
– Walking away from a person who is speaking
– Continuing playing with pens, papers, and other items
– Finishing another person’s sentences
– Answering incoming phone calls
– Inserting humorous remarks in response to serious problems
– And looking at a person other than the individual speaking
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29. Steps to become a better listener
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Identifying your shortcoming
Postpone the meeting if you don’t have time
Show the employee you want to listen
Do not prejudice the employee
Empathize with the employee
Be patient with the employee
Resist arguments and criticisms
Ask questions and show understanding
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30. Intercultural Differences
• Individuals from different cultures bring different
perceptions, value systems, and languages to the
workplace
• To be successful in business dealings, you must be
aware of and sensitive to cultural differences, use
appropriate language, correctly interpret nonverbal
communication, and value individual and cultural
differences
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31. Being Aware and Sensitive
• Be aware that an
individual’s
background and
experience can impact
his or her
interpretation and
perception of a
message
• Check to see if you have
any hidden biases and see
if you have formed an
opinion about how people
of a certain sex, religion,
or race appear, think, and
act based simply on their
belonging to particular
group
• Try to avoid stereotyping
and the use of sexist,
racist, or ethnic remarks
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32. Using Appropriate Language
• The same word may
mean different things
to people from other
countries
• Some words may
have different
meanings in other
languages
• Use feedback to
clarify your message
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33. Interpreting Nonverbal Communication
• Almost about 70% of our communication occurs
nonverbally and each culture interprets and
displays body language differently
• Certain nonverbal signs can be clues that the
receiver does not understand and is trying to save
face
• The body language may tell you what the words
don’t
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34. Valuing Differences
• As an effective communicator, you must
learn to value, appreciate, and accept
individual differences
• Approximately 49.5 percent of new workers
are expected to be women, while people of
color will comprise 34.7 percent.
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35. Questions?
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