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Business communication
Introduction to communication
INTRODUCTION
Communication is an important component of success in our personal and professional lives
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It is a part of 'soft skills' as opposed to the
domain or technical knowledge, which is part of 'hard skills
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Telecommuting is a work arrangement in which employees work from a remote location
usually their homes and communicate with their company using electronic means
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Telecommuting may significantly decrease
interpersonal communication requirements and is therefore affecting effective communication
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, & Hearn, G
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The participants
were working in the following different categories:
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Administrators
Computer system designers
Journalists
Legislative drafters
Managerial consultants
Project workers
Public relations consultants/executives
Sales-marketing personnel
Solicitors

About 46% of the participants of the survey were female telecommuters
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Meetings were
conducted based on the following three situations:
➢ Complexity of task and required feedback
➢ Management predictions for contacting their telecommuters
➢ Need for currency of information
The satisfaction levels of telecommuters varied across the three situations
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About 18% of the participants found meetings either difficult to attend or a disturbance to
their work-at home schedule
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Daily telephone or other forms of contact was the main means of communication for nearly
30% of telecommuters
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Once the communication patterns were established, the telecommuters began to use two-way
communication
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Consequently, they sometimes did not receive critical information on time
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Timeliness of communication is more important for telecommuters since they lack proximity
and quick referral to co-workers as well as other information
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Communication has been defined differently by different writers and behavioral theorists
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➢ According to Allen Louis, "It is the sum of all the things one person does when he wants
to create an understanding in the mind of another"
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➢ In the words of Anderson, "Communication is the process by which we understand
others and in turn, endeavor to be understood by them
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➢ According to Berelson and Steiner, "Communication is the transmission of information,
ideas, emotions, skills, etc
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"
➢ In the words of Fotheringham, "Communication is a process involving the selection,
production, and transmission of signs in such a way as to help a receiver perceive a
meaning similar to that in the mind of the communicator"
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Our body language, the way
we dress, the importance we give to arriving on time, our behavior, and the physical
environment in which we work, all convey certain messages to others
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➢ It is a process - Each message is part of a process and does not occur in isolation
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For example, your boss' response to your request for a
promotion will depend on your past relationship with him, as well as his mood at that
particular moment
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➢ It could be verbal or non-verbal - Communication could be through the use of words
in spoken or written form, or through the use of body language such as gestures and
facial expressions
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When the message is wrongly interpreted, the communication is
a failure
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➢ It is a dynamic process - Communication involves sharing of thoughts and experiences
in a meaningful manner while assimilating, processing, and responding to the person
one is talking with
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➢ It enables understanding - Communication enables people to understand the necessity
for change, the reasons for performing certain things, the method of implementing
processes, and the importance of their actions
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The communication model
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SENDER /

RECEIVER /

ENCODER

MESSAGES
Channel(s)

(SENDS & RECEIVES)

DECODER
Channel(s)
(RECEIVES & SENDS)

Figure Communication Model
The elements involved in communication are:
➢ Sender or encoder - This is the person who transmits a message
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Here the manager is the sender
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Decoding may not always be accurate and a wrong meaning may be
attached to a message
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➢ Message - This is any signal that triggers the response of a receiver
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➢ Channel - This refers to the medium or the method used to deliver the message
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For example, you could
communicate with a customer through a letter, email or telephone
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Receivers generally respond to messages
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This response to a sender's
message is called feedback
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Sometimes feedback can also
be given in a written form
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At other times, feedback could be non-verbal, as in
smiles and nods of appreciation during a talk or presentation
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Due to the element of feedback, people are simultaneously
senders and receivers of information in face-to-face communication
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Context can be
classified as follows:
• Physical context - This refers to the physical surroundings
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Asking your boss for a
promotion might be received differently, depending on whether the communication
takes place in your office, your boss' office, at a company party, or over lunch at a
restaurant
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• Taking the same example, asking for a promotion is likely to be received differently,
depending on how well you get along with your boss and whether you are personal
friends or not
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For example, is your request made first thing in the morning or at the
far end of the day? Is it made during or after work hours? Is it done at a time when the
company is going through problems such as a strike in the factory, or major losses?
• Cultural context - This refers to the similarity of backgrounds between the sender and
the receiver, such as age, language, nationality, religion and gender
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Each of these key elements contributes to the success of communication
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For example, a junior accountant in a company
writing a letter to a bank, asking for a loan for a project worth several crore, is not likely
to get the bank's approval
➢ The message is unclear or badly worded
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Placing an ad for a liquor product in
a religious magazine for example, is not likely to be received favorably
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➢ The message is wrongly interpreted, i
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, the receiver attaches the wrong meaning to
the message
➢ The feedback is not adequate to ensure understanding
➢ Physical, physiological or psychological noise distorts the message
➢ The communication takes place in the wrong physical, social, chronological, or cultural
context
CLASSIFICATION OF COMMUNICATION
Some experts have categorized communication into different types based on the following
factors:
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Number of people involved in communication
Physical proximity of the communicators
Immediacy of communication
The context of communication

The various types of communication are:
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Interpersonal communication
Intrapersonal communication
Group communication
Mass communication

Let us now discuss the features of these classes of communication
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Feedback is an important concept of
interpersonal communication
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➢ Group communication - This involves three or more people
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➢ Public communication - This involves a large number of people
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