Business Communication

In this topic, you will learn about developing good communication skills requires instruction, practice, and feedback from a specialist. Trends in the new world of work emphasize the importance of communication skills. Increasing global competition and revolutionary technologies demand cultural and communication skills. The communication process has five steps: idea formation, message encoding, message transmission, message decoding, and feedback.

Topic Outcomes

At the end of this topic, you should be able to:

1. Understand the importance of becoming an effective business communicator in today’s changing workplace.

2. Examine the process of communication.

3. Discuss how to become an effective listener.

4. Analyze nonverbal communication and explain techniques for improving nonverbal communication skills.

5. Explain how culture affects communication and describe methods for improving cross-cultural communication.

6. Identify specific techniques that improve effective communication among diverse workplace audiences.

In this topic, you will learn about business writing is audience-oriented, purposeful, and economical. The writing process has three parts: prewriting, writing, and revising. The primary purpose of most business messages is to inform or to persuade; the secondary purpose is to promote goodwill. Channels of choice today must be fast, cheap, and easy. Writers improve the tone of a message by emphasizing reader benefits, cultivating a “you” attitude, and using a conversational tone and inclusive language. Powerful writing tools can help you fight writer’s block, collect information, outline and organize ideas, improve correctness and precision, add graphics, and design professional-looking documents.

Topic Outcomes

At the end of this topic, you should be able to:

1. Understand that business writing should be audience-oriented, purposeful, and economical.

2. Identify and implement the three phrases of the writing process.

3. Appreciate the importance of analyzing the task and profiling the audience for business messages.

4. Create messages that spotlight audience benefits and cultivate a “you” view.

5. Develop a conversational tone and use positive language.

6. Explain the need for inclusive language, plain expression, and familiar words.

7. List seven ways in which technology helps improve business writing.

In this topic, you will learn about the second stage of the writing process involves research, which means collecting the necessary information to prepare a message. Two simple ways to organize data are the scratch list and the outline. Business messages typically follow either (1) the direct pattern, with the main idea first, or (2) the indirect pattern, with the main idea following explanation and evidence. Sentences must have subjects and verbs and must make sense. You can emphasize an idea mechanically by using underlining, italics, boldface, font changes, all caps, dashes, and tabulation.

Topic Outcomes

At the end of this topic, you should be able to:

1. Contrast formal and informal methods of researching data and generating ideas for messages.

2. Specify how to organize information into outlines.

3. Compare direct and indirect patterns for organizing ideas.

4. Distinguish components of complete and effective sentences.

5. Emphasize important ideas and deemphasize unimportance ones.

6. Use active voice, passive voice, and parallelism effectively in messages.

7. Develop sentence unity by avoiding zigzag writing, mixed constructions, and misplaced modifiers.

8. Identify strategies for achieving paragraph coherence and composing the first draft of a message.

In this topic, you will learn about informal reports are relatively short (ten or fewer pages) and usually are written in a memo or letter format. Business reports are systematic attempts to answer questions and solve problems. Information reports present data without analysis or recommendations. Analytical reports provide data, analyses, conclusions, and if requested, recommendations. The direct pattern places conclusions and recommendations near the beginning of a report.

Topic Outcomes

At the end of this topic, you should be able to:

1. Describe business report basics, including functions, organizational patterns, and formats.

2. Follow guidelines for developing informal reports, including defining the project, gathering data, using an appropriate writing style, composing effective headings, and being objective.

3. Describe six kinds of informal reports.

4. Write information and progress reports.

5. Write justification/recommendation reports.

6. Write feasibility reports.

7. Write minutes of meetings and summarises.

In this topic, you will learn about proposals are persuasive offers to solve problems, provide services, or sell equipment. Informal proposals may contain an introduction, background information, the proposal, staffing requirements, a budget, and an authorization request. Effective proposal openers “hook” readers by promising extraordinary results or resources or by identifying key benefits, issues, or outcomes. A database stores information so that it is accessible by computer and is digitally searchable. The World Wide Web is a collection of hypertext pages that offer information and links.

Topic Outcomes

At the end of this topic, you should be able to:

1. Identify and explain the parts of informal and formal proposals.

2. Describe the preparatory steps for writing a formal report.

3. Collect data from secondary sources including print and electronic sources.

4. Understand how to use Web browsers and search engines to locate reliable data.

5. Discuss how to generate primary data from surveys, interviews, observation, and experimentation.

6. Understand the need for accurate documentation of data.

7. Describe how to organize report data, create an online, and make effective titles.

8. Illustrate data using tables, charts, and graphs.

9. Describe and sequence the parts of a formal report.

In this topic, you will learn about downsized organizations, work teams, increased employee empowerment, and global competition mean more emphasis on internal communication. Well-written e-mail messages and memos achieve their goals and reward their writers. Effective e-mail messages and memos contain guide-word headings, focus on a single topic, are concise and conversational, and often use graphic highlighting. A systematic plan helps you write faster and more effectively. Because e-mail is now a mainstream communication channel, messages should be well-organized, carefully composed, and grammatically correct. Avoid wordiness and don’t send confidential, inflammatory, angry, sloppy, or “tongue-in-cheek” messages.

Topic Outcomes

At the end of this topic, you should be able to:

1. Explain the importance of internal communication.

2. Analyze the characteristics of and writing process for successful e-mail messages and memos.

3. Understand how to use e-mail safely and effectively.

4. Explain and demonstrate a writing plan for memos and e-mail messages.

5. Write a procedure, instruction, and information e-mail messages and memos.

6. Write e-mail messages and memos that make requests.

7. Write e-mail messages and memos that respond.

In this topic, you will learn about the third phase of the writing process includes revision, proofreading, and evaluating. Some communicators write the first draft quickly; others revise and polish as they go. The main points are easier to understand in concise messages. To revise for clarity and conciseness, look for flabby phrases that can be shortened. Eliminate wordy prepositional phrases, long lead-ins, outdated expressions, needless adverbs, fillers, repetitious words, and redundancies.

Topic Outcomes

At the end of this topic, you should be able to:

1. Understand the third phase of the writing process, revision.

2. Revise messages to achieve concise wording by eliminating wordy prepositional phrases, long lead-ins, outdated expressions, and needless adverbs.

3. Revise messages to eliminate fillers, repetitious words, and redundancies.

4. Revise messages to use jargon sparingly and avoid slang and clichés.

5. Revise messages to include precise verbs, concrete nouns, and vivid adjectives.

6. Describe effective techniques for proofreading routine and complex documents.

In this topic, you will learn about letters communicate with outsiders and produce a formal record. The content of a message and its anticipated effect on the reader determine the strategy you choose. Writing plan for an information or request, order merchandise, and simple claim request – writing plan: opening, body and closing. Writing plan for an information/customer claim response letter; subject line, opening, body and closing. Writing plan for a letter of recommendation; opening, body and closing.

Topic Outcomes

At the end of this topic, you should be able to:

1. Write letters requesting information and action.

2. Write letters ordering merchandise.

3. Write letters making claims.

4. Write letters responding to information requests.

5. Write letters responding to customer orders.

6. Write letters granting claims.

7. Write letters of recommendation.

8. Write goodwill messages.

In this topic, you will learn about the ability to persuade is a primary factor in personal and business success. Writing plan for a persuasive request: opening: obtain the reader’s attention and interest, body: build interest, body: reduce resistance, closing: motivate action. Use persuasive when you must change attitudes or produce action. Internal persuasive memos present honest arguments detailing specific reader benefits. Effective claim/complaint letters make reasonable requests backed by solid evidence.

Topic Outcomes

At the end of this topic, you should be able to:

1. Request favors and action persuasively.

2. Write persuasive messages within organizations.

3. Make claims and request adjustments successfully.

4. Compose carefully planned sales letters.

5. Implement special techniques in writing online sales messages.

In this topic, you will learn how to dealing with problems immediately is important in resolving conflict and retaining goodwill. Written messages are important (1) when personal contact is impossible (2) to establish a record of the incident (3) to formally confirm follow-up procedures and (4) to promote good relations. Problems with customers generally resolved by first calling and then confirming with a follow-up letter. The indirect pattern softens the impact of bad news. A buffer opens a bad-news letter with a neutral, concise, relevant, and upbeat statement.

Topic Outcomes

At the end of this topic, you should be able to:

1. Describe a plan for resolving business problems.

2. List the four components of a bad-news message.

3. Distinguish between the direct and indirect patterns for business messages.

4. Discuss methods for applying the indirect pattern to bad-news messages, including buffering of opening, presenting the reasons, cushioning the bad news and closing pleasantly.

5. Identify situations in which the direct pattern is appropriate for breaking bad news.

6. Explain when the indirect strategy may be unethical.