Business Communication

Communication is neither transmission of message nor message itself. It is the mutual exchange of understanding, originating with the receiver. Communication needs to be effective in business. Communication is essence of management. The basic functions of management (Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing and Controlling) cannot be performed well without effective communication. Business communication involves constant flow of information. Feedback is integral part of business communication. Organizations these days are verily large. It involves number of people. There are various levels of hierarchy in an organization. Greater the number of levels, the more difficult is the job of managing the organization. Communication here plays a very important role in process of directing and controlling the people in the organization. Immediate feedback can be obtained and misunderstandings if any can be avoided. There should be effective communication between superiors and subordinated in an organization, between organization and society at large(for example between management and trade unions). It is essential for success and growth of an organization. Communication gaps should not occur in any organization.Business Communication is goal oriented. The rules, regulations and policies of a company have to be communicated to people within and outside the

organization. Business Communication is regulated by certain rules and norms. In early times, business communication was limited to paper-work, telephone calls etc. But now with advent of technology, we have cell phones, video conferencing, emails, satellite communication to support business communication. Effective business communication helps in building goodwill of an organization.

Business Communication can be of two types:

1. Oral Communication - An oral communication can be formal or informal. Generally business communication is a formal means of communication, like : meetings, interviews, group discussion, speeches etc. An example of Informal business communication would be - Grapevine.

2. Written Communication - Written means of business communication includes - agenda, reports, manuals etc.

Communication is a process of exchanging verbal and non verbal messages. It is a continuous process. Pre-requisite of communication is a message. This message must be conveyed through some medium to the recipient. It is essential that this message must be understood by the recipient in same terms as intended by the sender. He must respond within a time frame. Thus, communication is a two way process and is incomplete without a feedback from the recipient to the sender on how well the message is understood by him.

Communication Process

main components of communication process

1. Context - Communication is affected by the context in which it takes place. This context may be physical, social, chronological or cultural. Every communication proceeds with context. The sender chooses the message to communicate within a context.

2. Sender / Encoder - Sender / Encoder is a person who sends the message. A sender makes use of symbols (words or graphic or visual aids) to convey the message and produce the required response. For instance - a training manager conducting training for new batch of employees. Sender may be an individual or a group or an organization. The views, background, approach, skills, competencies, and knowledge of the sender have a great impact on the message. The verbal and non verbal symbols chosen are essential in ascertaining interpretation of the message by the recipient in the same terms as intended by the sender.

3. Message - Message is a key idea that the sender wants to communicate. It is a sign that elicits the

response of recipient. Communication process begins with deciding about the message to be conveyed. It must be ensured that the main objective of the message is clear.

4. Medium - Medium is a means used to exchange / transmit the message. The sender must choose an appropriate medium for transmitting the message else the message might not be conveyed to the desired recipients. The choice of appropriate medium of communication is essential for making the message effective and correctly interpreted by the recipient. This choice of communication medium varies depending upon the features of communication. For instance - Written medium is chosen when a message has to be conveyed to a small group of people, while an oral medium is chosen when spontaneous feedback is required from the recipient as misunderstandings are cleared then and there.

5. Recipient / Decoder - Recipient / Decoder is a person for whom the message is intended / aimed / targeted. The degree to which the decoder understands the message is dependent upon various factors such as knowledge of recipient, their responsiveness to the message, and the reliance of encoder on decoder.

Feedback - Feedback is the main component of communication process as it permits the sender to analyze the efficacy of the message. It helps the sender in confirming the correct interpretation of

message by the decoder. Feedback may be verbal (through words) or non-verbal (in form of smiles, sighs, etc.). It may take written form also in form of memos, reports, etc.

Seven C’s of Effective Communication

There are 7 C’s of effective communication which are applicable to both written as well as oral communication. These are as follows:

1. Completeness - The communication must be complete. It should convey all facts required by the audience. The sender of the message must take into consideration the receiver’s mind set and convey the message accordingly. A complete communication has following features:

• Complete communication develops and enhances reputation of an organization.

• Moreover, they are cost saving as no crucial information is missing and no additional cost is incurred in conveying extra message if the communication is complete.

• A complete communication always gives additional information wherever required. It leaves no questions in the mind of receiver.

• Complete communication helps in better decision-making by the audience/ readers/ receivers of message as they get all desired and crucial information.

• It persuades the audience.

2. Conciseness - Conciseness means wordiness, i.e, communicating what you want to convey in least possible words without forgoing the other C’s of communication. Conciseness is a necessity for effective communication. Concise communication has following features:

• It is both time-saving as well as cost-saving.• It underlines and highlights the main

message as it avoids using excessive and needless words.• Concise communication provides short and

essential message in limited words to the audience.

• Concise message is more appealing and comprehensible to the audience.

• Concise message is non-repetitive in nature.3. Consideration - Consideration implies “stepping

into the shoes of others”. Effective communication must take the audience into consideration, i.e, the audience’s view points, background, mind-set, education level, etc. Make an attempt to envisage your audience, their requirements, emotions as well as problems. Ensure that the self-respect of the audience is maintained and their emotions are not at harm. Modify your words in message to suit the audience’s needs while making your message complete. Features of considerate communication are as follows:

• Emphasize on “you” approach.

• Empathize with the audience and exhibit interest in the audience. This will stimulate a

positive reaction from the audience.

• Show optimism towards your audience. Emphasize on “what is possible” rather than

“what is impossible”. Lay stress on positive words such as jovial, committed, thanks, warm, healthy, help, etc.

4. Clarity - Clarity implies emphasizing on a specific message or goal at a time, rather than trying to achieve too much at once. Clarity in communication has following features:

• It makes understanding easier.

• Complete clarity of thoughts and ideas enhances the meaning of message.

• Clear message makes use of exact, appropriate and concrete words.

5. Concreteness - Concrete communication implies being particular and clear rather than fuzzy and general. Concreteness strengthens the confidence. Concrete message has following features:

• It is supported with specific facts and figures.

• It makes use of words that are clear and that build the reputation.

• Concrete messages are not misinterpreted.

Courtesy - Courtesy in message implies the message should show the sender’s expression as well as should respect the receiver. The sender of the message should be sincerely polite, judicious, reflective and enthusiastic. Courteous message has following features:

• Courtesy implies taking into consideration both viewpoints as well as feelings of the receiver of the message.

• Courteous message is positive and focused at the audience.

• It makes use of terms showing respect for the receiver of message.

• It is not at all biased.6. Correctness - Correctness in communication

implies that there are no grammatical errors in communication. Correct communication has following features:

• The message is exact, correct and well-timed.

• If the communication is correct, it boosts up the confidence level.

• Correct message has greater impact on the audience/ readers.

• It checks for the precision and accurateness of facts and figures used in the message.

• It makes use of appropriate and correct language in the message.

Awareness of these 7 C’s of communication makes you an effective communicator.

Oral Communication - Meaning, Advantages and Limitations

Oral communication implies communication through mouth. It includes individuals conversing with each other, be it direct conversation or telephonic conversation. Speeches, presentations, discussions are all forms of oral communication. Oral communication is generally recommended when the communication matter is of temporary kind or where a direct interaction is required. Face to face communication (meetings, lectures, conferences, interviews, etc.) is significant so as to build a rapport and trust.

Advantages of Oral Communication

• There is high level of understanding and transparency in oral communication as it is interpersonal.

• There is no element of rigidity in oral communication. There is flexibility for allowing changes in the decisions previously taken.

• The feedback is spontaneous in case of oral communication. Thus, decisions can be made quickly without any delay.

• Oral communication is not only time saving, but it also saves upon money and efforts.

• Oral communication is best in case of problem resolution. The conflicts, disputes and many issues/differences can be put to an end by talking them over.

• Oral communication is an essential for teamwork and group energy.

• Oral communication promotes a receptive and encouraging morale among organizational employees.

• Oral communication can be best used to transfer private and confidential information/matter.

Disadvantages/Limitations of Oral Communication

• Relying only on oral communication may not be sufficient as business communication is formal and very organized.

• Oral communication is less authentic than written communication as they are informal and not as organized as written communication.

• Oral communication is time-saving as far as daily interactions are concerned, but in case of meetings, long speeches consume lot of time and are unproductive at times.

• Oral communications are not easy to maintain and thus they are unsteady.

• There may be misunderstandings as the information is not complete and may lack essentials.

• It requires attentiveness and great receptivity on part of the receivers/audience.

• Oral communication (such as speeches) is not frequently used as legal records except in investigation work.

Written Communication - Meaning, Advantages and Limitations

Written communication has great significance in today’s business world. It is an innovative activity of the mind. Effective written communication is essential for preparing worthy promotional materials for business development. Speech came before writing. But writing is more unique and formal than speech. Effective writing involves careful choice of words, their organization in correct order in sentences formation as well as cohesive composition of sentences. Also, writing is more valid and reliable than speech. But while speech is spontaneous, writing causes delay and takes time as feedback is not immediate.

Advantages of Written Communication

• Written communication helps in laying down apparent principles, policies and rules for running of an organization.

• It is a permanent means of communication. Thus, it is useful where record maintenance is required.

• It assists in proper delegation of responsibilities. While in case of oral communication, it is impossible to fix and delegate responsibilities on the grounds of speech as it can be taken back by the speaker or he may refuse to acknowledge.

• Written communication is more precise and explicit.

• Effective written communication develops and enhances an organization’s

image.• It provides ready records and references.• Legal defenses can depend upon written

communication as it provides valid records.

Disadvantages/Limitations of Written Communication

• Written communication does not save upon the costs. It costs huge in terms of stationery and the manpower employed in writing/typing and delivering letters.

• Also, if the receivers of the written message are separated by distance and if they need to clear their doubts, the response is not spontaneous.

• Written communication is time-consuming as the feedback is not immediate. The encoding and sending of message takes time.

• Effective written communication requires great skills and competencies in language and vocabulary use. Poor writing skills and quality have a negative impact on organization’s reputation.

• Too much paper work and e-mails burden is involved.

Importance of Communication in an Organization

Effective Communication is significant for managers in the organizations so as to perform the basic functions of management, i.e., Planning, Organizing, Leading and Controlling. Communication helps managers to perform their jobs and responsibilities. Communication serves as a foundation for planning. All the essential information must be communicated to the managers who in-turn must communicate the plans so as to implement them. Organizing also requires effective communication with others about their job task. Similarly leaders as managers must communicate effectively with their subordinates so as to achieve the team goals. Controlling is not possible without written and oral communication.

Managers devote a great part of their time in communication. They generally devote approximately 6 hours per day in communicating. They spend great time on face to face or telephonic

communication with their superiors, subordinates, colleagues, customers or suppliers. Managers also use Written Communication in form of letters, reports or memos wherever oral communication is not feasible.Thus, we can say that “effective communication is a building block of successful organizations”. In other words, communication acts as organizational blood.

The importance of communication in an organization can be summarized as follows:

1. Communication promotes motivation by informing and clarifying the employees about the task to be done, the manner they are performing the task, and how to improve their performance if it is not up to the mark.

2. Communication is a source of information to the organizational members for decision-making process as it helps identifying and assessing alternative course of actions.

3. Communication also plays a crucial role in altering individual’s attitudes, i.e., a well informed individual will have better attitude than a less-informed individual. Organizational magazines, journals, meetings and various other forms of oral and written communication help in moulding employee’s attitudes.

4. Communication also helps in socializing. In today’s life the only presence of another individual fosters communication. It is also said that one cannot survive without communication.

5. As discussed earlier, communication also assists in controlling process. It helps controlling organizational member’s behaviour in various ways. There are various levels of hierarchy and certain principles and guidelines that employees must follow in an organization. They must comply with organizational policies, perform their job role efficiently and communicate any work problem and grievance to their superiors. Thus, communication helps in controlling function of management.

An effective and efficient communication system requires managerial proficiency in delivering and receiving messages. A manager must discover various barriers to communication, analyze the reasons for their occurrence and take preventive steps to avoid those barriers. Thus, the primary responsibility of a manager is to develop and maintain an effective communication system in the organization.

Communication Flows in an Organization

In an organization, communication flows in 5 main directions-

1. Downward2. Upward

3. Lateral4. Diagonal5. External

Downward Flow of Communication: Communication that flows from a higher level in an organization to a lower level is a downward communication. In other words, communication from superiors to subordinates in a chain of command is a downward communication. This communication flow is used by the managers to transmit work-related information to the employees at lower levels. Employees require this information for performing their jobs and for meeting the expectations of their managers. Downward communication is used by the managers for the following purposes –

• Providing feedback on employees performance

• Giving job instructions

• Providing a complete understanding of the employees job as well as to communicate them how their job is related to other jobs in the organization.

• Communicating the organizations mission and vision to the employees.

• Highlighting the areas of attention.

Organizational publications, circulars, letter to employees, group meetings etc are all examples of downward communication. In order to have effective and error-free downward communication, managers must:

• Specify communication objective• Ensure that the message is accurate, specific

and unambiguous.Utilize the best communication technique to convey the message to the receiver in right form

2. Upward Flow of Communication: Communication that flows to a higher level in an organization is called upward communication. It provides feedback on how well the organization is functioning. The subordinates use upward communication to convey their problems and performances to their superiors.

The subordinates also use upward communication to tell how well they have understood the downward communication. It can also be used by the employees to share their views and ideas and to participate in the decision-making process.

Upward communication leads to a more committed and loyal workforce in an organization because the employees are given a

chance to raise and speak dissatisfaction issues to the higher levels. The managers get to know about the employees feelings towards their jobs, peers, supervisor and organization in general. Managers can thus accordingly take actions for improving things.

Grievance Redressal System, Complaint and Suggestion Box, Job Satisfaction surveys etc all help in improving upward communication. Other examples of Upward Communication are -performance reports made by low level management for reviewing by higher level management, employee attitude surveys, letters from employees, employee-manager discussions etc.

3. Lateral / Horizontal Communication: Communication that takes place at same levels of hierarchy in an organization is called lateral communication, i.e., communication between peers, between managers at same levels or between any horizontally equivalent organizational member. The advantages of horizontal communication are as follows:

• It is time saving.• It facilitates co-ordination of the task.• It facilitates co-operation among team

members.• It provides emotional and social assistance to

the organizational members.

• It helps in solving various organizational problems.

• It is a means of information sharing• It can also be used for resolving conflicts of a

department with other department or conflicts within a department.

4. Diagonal Communication: Communication that takes place between a manager and employees of other workgroups is called diagonal communication. It generally does not appear on organizational chart. For instance - To design a training module a training manager interacts with an operation personnel to enquire about the way they perform their task.

5. External Communication: Communication that takes place between a manager and external groups such as - suppliers, vendors, banks, financial institutes etc. For instance - To raise capital the Managing director would interact with the Bank Manager.

Grapevine Communication (Informal Business Communication)

Grapevine is an informal channel of business communication. It is called so because it stretches throughout the organization in all directions irrespective of the authority levels. Man as we know is a social animal. Despite existence of formal channels in an organization, the informal channels tend to develop when he interacts with other people

in organization. It exists more at lower levels of organization.

Grapevine generally develops due to various reasons. One of them is that when an organization is facing recession, the employees sense uncertainty. Also, at times employees do not have self-confidence due to which they form unions. Sometimes the managers show preferential treatment and favour some employees giving a segregated feeling to other employees. Thus, when employees sense a need to exchange their views, they go for grapevine network as they cannot use the formal channel of communication in that case. Generally during breaks in cafeteria,the subordinates talk about their superior’s attitude and behaviour and exchange views with their peers. They discuss rumours about promotion and transfer of other employees. Thus, grapevine spreads like fire and it is not easy to trace the cause of such communication at times.

Examples of Grapevine Network of Communication

1. Suppose the profit amount of a company is known. Rumour is spread that this much profit is there and on that basis bonus is declared.

2. CEO may be in relation to the Production Manager. They may have friendly relations with each other.

Advantages of Grapevine Communication

1. Grapevine channels carry information rapidly. As soon as an employee gets to know some confidential information, he becomes inquisitive and passes the details then to his closest friend who in turn passes it to other. Thus, it spreads hastily.

2. The managers get to know the reactions of their subordinates on their policies. Thus, the feedback obtained is quick compared to formal channel of communication.

3. The grapevine creates a sense of unity among the employees who share and discuss their views with each other. Thus, grapevine helps in developing group cohesiveness.

4. The grapevine serves as an emotional supportive value.

5. The grapevine is a supplement in those cases where formal communication does not work.

Disadvantages of Grapevine Communication

1. The grapevine carries partial information at times as it is more based on rumors. Thus, it does not clearly depict the complete state of affairs.

2. The grapevine is not trustworthy always as it does not follows official path of communication and is spread more by gossips and unconfirmed report.

3. The productivity of employees may be hampered as they spend more time talking rather than working.

4. The grapevine leads to making hostility against the executives.

5. The grapevine may hamper the goodwill of the organization as it may carry false negative information about the high level people of the organization.

A smart manager should take care of all the disadvantages of the grapevine and try to minimize them. At the same time, he should make best possible use of advantages of grapevine.

Feedback CommunicationReceivers are not just passive absorbers of messages; they receive the message and respond to them. This response of a receiver to sender’s message is called Feedback. Sometimes a feedback could be a non-verbal smiles, sighs etc. Sometimes it is oral, as when you react to a colleague’s ideas with questions or comments. Feedback can also be written like - replying to an e-mail, etc.

Feedback is your audience’s response; it enables you to evaluate the effectiveness of your message. If your audience doesn’t understand what you mean, you can tell by the response and then refine the message accordingly.

Giving your audience a chance to provide feedback is crucial for maintaining an open communication climate. The manager must create an environment that encourages feedback. For example after

explaining the job to the subordinated he must ask them whether they have understood it or not. He should ask questions like “Do you understand?”, “Do you have any doubts?” etc. At the same time he must allow his subordinated to express their views also.

Feedback is essential in communication so as to know whether the recipient has understood the message in the same terms as intended by the sender and whether he agrees to that message or not.

There are lot of ways in which company takes feedback from their employees, such as : Employee surveys, memos, emails, open-door policies, company news letter etc. Employees are not always willing to provide feedback. The organization has to work a lot to get the accurate feedback. The managers encourage feedback by asking specific questions, allowing their employees to express general views, etc. The organization should be receptive to their employee’s feedback.

A manger should ensure that a feedback should:

1. Focus on a particular behaviour - It should be specific rather than being general.

2. Impersonal - Feedback should be job related, the manager should not criticize anyone personally.

3. Goal oriented - If we have something negative to say about the person, we should always direct it to the recipient’s goal.

4. Well timed - Feedback is most effective when there is a short gap between the recipient’s behaviour and the receipt of that feedback.

5. Use “I” statements - Manager should make use of statements with the words like “I”, “However” etc. For example instead of saying” You were absent from work yesterday”, manager should say” I was annoys when you missed your work yesterday”.

6. Ensure understanding - For feedback to be effective, the manager should make sure that the recipients understands the feedback properly.

While giving negative feedback to the recipient, the manager should not mention the factors which are not in control of the recipient.

Receivers are not just passive absorbers of messages; they receive the message and respond to them. This response of a receiver to sender’s message is called Feedback. Sometimes a feedback could be a non-verbal smiles, sighs etc. Sometimes it is oral, as when you react to a colleague’s ideas with questions or comments. Feedback can also be written like - replying to an e-mail, etc.

Feedback is your audience’s response; it enables you to evaluate the effectiveness of your message. If your audience doesn’t understand what you mean, you can tell by the response and then refine the message accordingly.

Giving your audience a chance to provide feedback is crucial for maintaining an open communication climate. The manager must create an environment that encourages feedback. For example after explaining the job to the subordinated he must ask them whether they have understood it or not. He should ask questions like “Do you understand?”, “Do you have any doubts?” etc. At the same time he must allow his subordinated to express their views also.

Feedback is essential in communication so as to know whether the recipient has understood the message in the same terms as intended by the sender and whether he agrees to that message or not.

There are lot of ways in which company takes feedback from their employees, such as : Employee surveys, memos, emails, open-door policies, company news letter etc. Employees are not always willing to provide feedback. The organization has to work a lot to get the accurate feedback. The managers encourage feedback by asking specific questions, allowing their employees to express general views, etc. The organization should be receptive to their employee’s feedback.

A manger should ensure that a feedback should:

7. Focus on a particular behaviour - It should be specific rather than being general.

8. Impersonal - Feedback should be job related, the manager should not criticize anyone personally.

9. Goal oriented - If we have something negative to say about the person, we should always direct it to the recipients goal.

10.Well timed - Feedback is most effective when there is a short gap between the recipients behaviour and the receipt of that feedback.

11.Use “I” statements - Manager should make use of statements with the words like “I”, “However” etc. For example instead of saying”You were absent from work yesterday”, manager should say”I was annoyes when you missed your work yesterday”.

12.Ensure understanding - For feedback to be effective, the manager should make sure that the recipients understands the feedback properly.

While giving negative feedback to the recipient, the manager should not mention the factors which are not in control of the recipient.

Communication Barriers - Reasons for Communication Breakdown

Communication is a process beginning with a sender who encodes the message and passes it through some channel to the receiver who decodes the message. Communication is fruitful if and only if the messages sent by the sender are interpreted with same meaning by the receiver. If any kind of disturbance blocks any step of communication, the message will be destroyed. Due to such disturbances, managers in an organization face severe problems. Thus the managers must locate such barriers and take steps to get rid of them.

There are several barriers that affect the flow of communication in an organization. These barriers interrupt the flow of communication from the sender to the reciever, thus making communication ineffective. It is essential for managers to overcome these barriers. The main barriers of communication are summarized below.

Following are the main communication barriers:

1. Perceptual and Language Differences: Perception is generally how each individual interprets the world around him. All generally want to receive messages which are significant to them. But any message which is against their values is not accepted. A same event may be taken differently by different individuals. For example : A person is on leave for a month due to personal reasons (family member being critical). The HR Manager might be in confusion whether to retain that employee or not, the immediate manager might think of replacement because his teams productivity is being hampered, the family members might take him as an emotional support.

The linguistic differences also lead to communication breakdown. Same word may mean different to different individuals. For example: consider a word “value”.

a. What is the value of this Laptop?b. I value our relation?

What is the value of learning technical skills?“Value” means different in different sentences. Communication breakdown occurs if there is wrong perception by the receiver.

2. Information Overload: Managers are surrounded with a pool of information. It is essential to control this information flow else the information is likely to be misinterpreted or forgotten or overlooked. As a result communication is less effective.

3. Inattention: At times we just not listen, but only hear. For example a traveler may pay attention to one “NO PARKING” sign, but if such sign is put all over the city, he no longer listens to it. Thus, repetitive messages should be ignored for effective communication. Similarly if a superior is engrossed in his paper work and his subordinate explains him his problem, the superior may not get what he is saying and it leads to disappointment of subordinate.

4. Time Pressures: Often in organization the targets have to be achieved within a specified time period, the failure of which has adverse consequences. In a haste to meet deadlines, the formal channels of communication are shortened, or messages are partially given, i.e., not completely transferred. Thus sufficient time should be given for effective communication.

5. Distraction/Noise: Communication is also affected a lot by noise to distractions. Physical distractions are also there such as, poor

lightning, uncomfortable sitting, unhygienic room also affects communication in a meeting. Similarly use of loud speakers interferes with communication.

6. Emotions: Emotional state at a particular point of time also affects communication. If the receiver feels that communicator is angry he interprets that the information being sent is very bad. While he takes it differently if the communicator is happy and jovial (in that case the message is interpreted to be good and interesting).

7. Complexity in Organizational Structure: Greater the hierarchy in an organization (i.e. more the number of managerial levels), more is the chances of communication getting destroyed. Only the people at the top level can see the overall picture while the people at low level just have knowledge about their own area and a little knowledge about other areas.

8. Poor retention: Human memory cannot function beyond a limit. One can’t always retain what is being told specially if he is not interested or not attentive. This leads to communication breakdown.

Effect of Communication Barriers in Business Communication

An organization is an individual’s first home as one spends the maximum time here only. No organization runs for charity, it is really important that the organization achieve its goals. How does an

organization become successful ? How will an organization achieve its goals ?.

The employees are the assets for any organization and the profitability of any organization is directly proportional to the labour put by its employees. Putting labour does not mean getting involved in hard physical work or digging the gold mines, it actually refers to the smart work done by employees, transparency between the team members, free flow of information from the superior to the subordinates. How does free flow of information happen? How is the transparency between the team members achieved ? - Through Communication and not only through communication but effective communication.

In organizations the barriers in communication go a long way in distortion of the message and the information does not reach in its desired form.Imagine a situation where you want some report from your team members which needs to be forwarded to the managing director of the organization. What if your team misinterprets your information, screws up the project and fails to submit it within the deadline. The managing director will literally sit on your head and make your life miserable. The poor communication can actually cost you your job.

Let us now understand how barriers in communication effect business communication.

Noise acts as a devil in business communication. Any information downloaded at a noisy place is bound to get distorted and result in a complete mess.

Petty wanted to go through the complete budget of the sales, marketing and the operations team. She passed on this information to Joe at his workstation around which lots of other employees were shouting, the base phone was constantly ringing and the photocopier machine was making a terrible noise. At the end of the day, Joe submitted the report but the budget for the operations team was missing in the report. Joe actually had heard only about sales and marketing department and thus skipped the report of the operations team. Petty fired Joe and even stopped his appraisal. Unwanted distractions, noise, chit chats of the other employees etc played the culprit and poor Joe missed out on his promotion. Noise reduces the chances of the correct flow of information from the sender to the receiver. If the office is noisy, errors are bound to happen and thus increasing conflicts among the team members and decreasing the efficiency of the employees.

Unorganized and Haphazard thoughts also lead to ineffective communication in organizations. Business communications are bound to suffer due to ineffective communication. If any individual wants something from his team members, he first must be himself very clear what actually he expects from his team. The boss must clearly mention his team member’s key responsibility areas in clear words to avoid wastage of manpower, duplicacy of work, effective time management and more output from them.

Not cross checking among themselves or with the superiors also spoils the business communication to a large extent.

Misha was sharing her phone number with her client and she never bothered to verify with her client whether he has noted the correct number or not. One day, the client had a major query and he had to discuss with Misha on an urgent basis. He kept on trying the same number which Misha gave but someone else was responding. He then had to call the front desk lady to get connected with Misha and obviously he was furious. The client had wrongly noted Misha’s number and thus wasted his precious time and lost his temper. While sharing any important contact number it is the responsibility of the speaker to cross check with the listener. Email ids must be spelled out properly to avoid wrong spellings and unnecessary wastage of time.

During any business meeting, presentation or seminar, the speaker has to be very careful about his pitch and tone. It has been observed that during seminars or presentations only the front benchers are attentive, the last benchers are almost lost in their own sweet world. The person who chairs the meeting has to speak very clearly, has to be very confident and must maintain a tone audible to everyone, even to the individuals sitting on the last row. Information must pass to them also to expect the best out of them and increase their efficiency. Try to make the seminar or the meeting interactive.Dont just speak, also invite questions from the team. After any seminar or

meeting, the superior or the incharge must send the minutes of the meeting through e mail to all the required recipients to avoid last minute confusions and discrepancies. The speaker must ensure whether everyone is clear or not ?

In any organization, it is mandatory to understand which employee can do a particular assignment, and which employee is not fit for a particular role. Chelsea was not keen for a branding profile but his boss could never understand her interest and always wondered why Chelsea was not effectively performing ? In any organization, before assigning responsibilities to the employees, it is a must to understand the employee and his area of specialization and interest. Communication will be for sure ineffective if a person from an accounting background is asked to deliver a presentation on sales techniques. He is bound to get nervous and the message will fail in creating the required impact. Don’t just impose work on any employee, give him the work he enjoys doing the most.

Difference in thought process also results in a poor communication in business areas. A boss and the employee can never think on the same level. Let us try to understand the situation with the help of an example.

Jude to Harry - “Harry, I need the complete financial report by end of the day”

By financial report, Jude actually meant the complete financial analysis, which would include the complete

details of how much the company spends in advertising, promotional activities, and other marketing activities.,analyse the inflow and outflow of expenditure patterns and so on.

Harry could never understand Jude’s thought process. He simply compiled the expenditure details and handed over to Jude. Jude was obviously not happy. He was expecting much more from Harry. Harry had to resubmit the project resulting in duplicacy of effort and wastage of time. Jude should have made it very clear from the very beginning what all he was expecting from Harry. He kept half of his things within himself and did not share with Harry. Poor Harry had to redo his work. Every individual has a different mindset, different level of understanding and thus it is important to share each and every detail with others and clarify the things from the very beginning.

One should remember that the listeners are also a part of the conversation. The listeners must give their feedback at the end of the conversation. If you are not clear what your boss is expecting out of you, or what you are actually supposed to do, please ASK. Don’t hesitate, ask questions. Don’t hide your queries, ask and clear your doubts then and there only. Your boss will only feel happy if you share your queries with him.

For the successful running of an organization, it is important that transparency is maintained among the employees at all levels. Communication barriers must

be overcome in organizations to ensure the free flow of information between the sender and the recipient and for an effective communication among the employees. Effective communication reduces the error rate, reduces conflicts and misunderstandings and in turn increases the profitability of the organization. Every employee must try their level best to avoid the communication barriers in organizations for an effective business communication.

Overcoming Communication Barriers

There are a lot of communication barriers faced these days by all. The message intended by the sender is not understood by the receiver in the same terms and sense and thus communication breakdown occurs. It is essential to deal and cope up with these communication barriers so as to ensure smooth and effective communication.

As, in the previous section we have discussed the major barriers of communication. Let’s talk about how to overcome these barriers of communication.

1. Eliminating differences in perception: The organization should ensure that it is recruiting right individuals on the job. It’s the responsibility of the interviewer to ensure that the interviewee has command over the written

and spoken language. There should be proper Induction program so that the policies of the company are clear to all the employees. There should be proper trainings conducted for required employees (for eg: Voice and Accent training).

2. Use of Simple Language: Use of simple and clear words should be emphasized. Use of ambiguous words and jargons should be avoided.

3. Reduction and elimination of noise levels: Noise is the main communication barrier which must be overcome on priority basis. It is essential to identify the source of noise and then eliminate that source.

4. Active Listening: Listen attentively and carefully. There is a difference between “listening” and “hearing”. Active listening means hearing with proper understanding of the message that is heard. By asking questions the speaker can ensure whether his/her message is understood or not by the receiver in the same terms as intended by the speaker.

5. Emotional State: During communication one should make effective use of body language. He/she should not show their emotions while communication as the receiver might misinterpret the message being delivered. For example, if the conveyer of the message is in a bad mood then the receiver might think that the information being delivered is not good.

6. Simple Organizational Structure: The organizational structure should not be complex.

The number of hierarchical levels should be optimum. There should be a ideal span of control within the organization. Simpler the organizational structure, more effective will be the communication.

7. Avoid Information Overload: The managers should know how to prioritize their work. They should not overload themselves with the work. They should spend quality time with their subordinates and should listen to their problems and feedbacks actively.

8. Give Constructive Feedback: Avoid giving negative feedback. The contents of the feedback might be negative, but it should be delivered constructively. Constructive feedback will lead to effective communication between the superior and subordinate.

9. Proper Media Selection: The managers should properly select the medium of communication. Simple messages should be conveyed orally, like: face to face interaction or meetings. Use of written means of communication should be encouraged for delivering complex messages. For significant messages reminders can be given by using written means of communication such as : Memos, Notices etc.

10. Flexibility in meeting the targets: For effective communication in an organization the managers should ensure that the individuals are meeting their targets timely without skipping the formal channels of communication. There should not be

much pressure on employees to meet their targets.

Effective Listening Skills - An essential for good communication

Hearing is an effortless activity while listening is an act requiring conscious efforts, concentration and interest. Listening involves both physical and psychological efforts.

Effective listening requires both deliberate efforts and a keen mind. Effective listeners appreciate flow of new ideas and information. Organizations that follow the principles of effective listening are always informed timely, updated with the changes and implementations, and are always out of crisis situation. Effective listening promotes organizational

Listening is a significant part of communication process. Communication cannot take place until and unless a message is heard and retained thoroughly and positively by the receivers/listeners. Listening is a dynamic process. Listening means attentiveness and interest perceptible in the posture as well as expressions. Listening implies decoding (i.e., translating the symbols into meaning) and interpreting the messages correctly in communication process.

Listening differs from hearing in sense that:

• Hearing implies just perceiving the sounds while listening means listening with understanding whatever you are listening. Both the body as well as mind is involved in listening process.

• Listening is an active process while hearing is a passive activity.

relationships, encourages product delivery and innovation, as well as helps organization to deal with the diversity in employees and customers it serves.

To improve your communication skills, you must learn to listen effectively. Effective listening gives you an advantage and makes you more impressive when you speak. It also boosts your performance.

Effective Listening Skills

1. Discover your interests’ field.2. Grasp and understand the matter/content.3. Remain calm. Do not loose your temper. Anger

hampers and inhibits communication. Angry people jam their minds to the words of others.

4. Be open to accept new ideas and information.5. Jot down and take a note of important points.6. Work upon listening. Analyze and evaluate the

speech in spare time.7. Rephrase and summarize the speaker’s ideas.8. Keep on asking questions. This demonstrates

that how well you understand the speaker’s ideas and also that you are listening.

9. Avoid distractions.10.“Step into the shoes of others”, i.e., put yourself

in the position of the speaker and observe things from his view point. This will help creating an atmosphere of mutual understanding and improve the exchange of ideas in communication process.

Characteristics of Good and Effective Listener

Good and effective listener tries to give maximum amount of thought to the speaker’s ideas being communicated, leaving a minimum amount of time for mental exercises to go off track. A good listener:

1. Is attentive- Good listener must pay attention to the key points. He should be alert. He should avoid any kind of distraction.

2. Do not assume- Good listener does not ignore the information he considers is unnecessary. He should always summarize the speaker’s ideas so that there is no misunderstanding of thoughts of speakers. He avoids premature judgements about the speakers message.

3. Listen for feelings and facts- Good listener deliberately listens for the feelings of the speaker. He concentrates totally on the facts. He evaluates the facts objectively. His listening is sympathetic, active and alert. He keenly observes the gestures, facial expression and body language of the speaker. In short, a good listener should be projective (i.e. one who tries to understand the views of the speaker) and empathic (i.e. one who concentrates not only on the surface meaning of the message but tries to probe the feelings and emotions of the speaker).

4. Concentrate on the other speakers kindly and generously- A good listener makes deliberate efforts to give a chance to other speakers also to express their thoughts and views. He tries to learn from every speaker. He evaluates the speaker’s ideas in spare time. He focuses on the

content of the speaker’s message and not on the speaker’s personality and looks.

5. Opportunists- A good listener tries to take benefit from the opportunities arising. He asks “What’s in it for me?”

To conclude, effective listening enhances the communication quality. It makes all attentive. It encourages optimistic attitude, healthy relations and more participation. It leads to better decision- making in an organization. Effective listening is directly related to our ability to do team work. It must be noted that “We listen at about an efficiency rate of 25 percent maximum, and we remember only about 50 percent of what is delivered during a ten minute speech/lecture/communication.”

Effective Presentation Skills

Presentation can be defined as a formal event characterized by teamwork and use of audio-visual aids. The main purpose of presentation is to give information, to persuade the audience to act and to create goodwill. A good presentation should have a good subject matter, should match with the objective, should best fit the audience, and should be well organized.

Characteristics of a Good/Effective Presentation

1. The presentation ideas should be well adapted to your audience. Relate your presentation message/idea to the interests of the audience. A detailed audience analysis must be made before the presentation, i.e., an analysis of the needs, age, educational background, language, and culture of the target audience. Their body language instantly gives the speaker the required feedback.

2. A good presentation should be concise and should be focused on the topic. It should not move off-track.

3. A good presentation should have the potential to convey the required information.

4. The fear should be transformed into positive energy during the presentation. Be calm and relaxed while giving a presentation. Before beginning, wait and develop an eye contact with the audience. Focus on conveying your message well and use a positive body language.

5. To communicate the desired information, the speaker should use more of visual aids such as transparencies, diagrams, pictures, charts, etc. Each transparency/slide should contain limited and essential information only. No slide should be kept on for a longer time.Try facing the audience, rather than the screen. The speaker should not block the view. Turn on the room lights else the audience might fall asleep and loose interest. Organize all the visuals for making a logical and sound presentation.

6. A good presentation must be planned. The speaker must plan how to begin the presentation, what to speak in the middle of presentation and how to end the presentation without losing audience interests at any point of time.

7. Rehearse and practice the presentation. This will help the speaker to be more confident and self-assured. The more the speaker rehearses the better the presentation turns to be.

8. The speaker should encourage more questions from the audience. He should be honest enough to answer those questions. If any biased question

is put forth by the audience, rearticulate it before answering.

9. Summarize the presentation at the end. Give final comments. Leave a positive impact upon the audience.

10.The speaker must have a presentable appearance while giving a presentation. The speaker should stand with feet far apart maintaining a good balance. He must use confident gestures. He must use short and simple words.

11.Try to gain and maintain audience interest by using positive quotes, humour, or remarkable fact.

12.The speaker must be affirmative and optimistic before giving presentation. He should ensure all tools and equipments to be used in presentation are working well.

13.The speaker must state the objectives of the presentation at beginning of the presentation.