Business Communication Course for Working Managers

Purpose, Process, Payoff (The

3Ps)
 Purpose: To arrive at an understanding of
the fundamentals and principles of
business communication
 Process: Presentation, Reading, Class
Assessments, Case Studies and Classroom
Discussion
 Payoff: A more evolved and structured
understanding of business communication
and its relevance in our day to day life
What the hell is this BC?

 What is communication?
“In the beginning, there was word, the word
was
with God and the word was God!” – The Bible
 How important is communication to business?
An analysis of one single issue of the National
Employment Weekly, a publication of the Wall Street
Journal found that of 120 listings, 85 emphasized
communication skills ! Haw!
Why study Business
Communication?
 You can never be too good at it!
 The quality of your professional life is
determined by your communication
skills
 Your communication skills influence
your social relationships
Class Exercise

 What are your strengths and

weaknesses as a writer and as a
speaker ? Consider your personality,
training and preferences. Present
your analysis in a way that will help
your instructor plan this course to
meet your needs.

Time allotted for this task- 20 minutes

 Basic Elements of the
Communication Process

Message

Decision- Decision-
Filters Making Filters Making
Sensory Data

Sensory Data
Beliefs Beliefs
Values Values
Questions & Questions &
Metaphors Metaphors
Behav. Type Beh. Type
State Encoding State Encoding

Sender Channel Receiver

Elements of Business
Communication
 Business communication is about mental maps.
We create internal, mental maps of reality based on our experiences. When we communicate, whether
nonverbally through gestures and actions or verbally through language, we do so based on our mental
maps. If I were to tell you, for example, that Sunrise tastes better than Nescafe, I would not have
actually said anything about either Sunrise or Nescafe. Instead, I would have told you
something about my subjective experience—the mental map I have created for Sunrise and
Nescafe.

 And what we do in the process of mapping is:-

 We delete information
 We distort information
 We generalize
 We assign meaning
Class Assignment

 Think of a communication
experience you have had recently.
Identify the sender, message,
transmission channel and medium,
receiver and feedback. Also identify
any barriers that affected
communication.

 Time allotted for task: 20 minutes

Types of Business
Communication
Verbal
 Written
 Oral

Non- Verbal
Theories of
Communication
 Constructivist Theory
 Elaboration Likelihood Model
 Speech Acts Theory
 Social Penetration Theory
Channels of
Communication
 Formal Channels of Communication

 Informal Channels of Communication

 Management by Walking Around
 Eating in Cafeterias
 Water cooler Conversations
 Grapevine
Structure of an Organization:
Impact on Business
Communication
 Entrepreneurial - decisions made centrally
 Pyramid - staff have a role, shared decision
making, specialization is possible
 Matrix - staff with specific skills join project
teams, individuals have responsibility
 Independent - seen in professions where
organization provides support systems and little
else
Entrepreneurial
Structure
Key Key
Quick to act but
worker worker
pressure on
decision makers

One or two
Decision people make
maker decisions

Great reliance on
key workers
Key Key
supporting decision
worker worker
makers
 Matrix Structure

Marketing Production Finance

Project A
Project teams Staff with
created specialist skills

Project B
Matrix Structure

Not suited to most

Dr A businesses due to
lack of control Dr B

Support systems
to professionals
such as doctors

Dr D Dr C
Vertical/Lateral
Communication
Organisation chart shows vertical (white
arrows) and lateral (green arrows)

Board of Directors

Finance Marketing Production

Finance Marketing Factory

Officers Assistants Operatives
Channels of Communication
•Channels between departments or
functions involve lateral
communication

•Apart from the formal channels of

communication, information also
passes through an organization
informally

•Communication is not complete

until feedback has been received
Thank You!