Business Communication and Interpersonal Communication - Essay Example

Business Communication Name Course Institution Date Business communication The process of communication entails a number of activities, which cannot be taken for granted. Effective communication requires that the speaker and receiver of the communication message being communicate play a role in making the process as effective and appropriate as possible. There are requirements that have to be fulfilled for a communication process to be effective. The first requirement is that of effective listening. A communication process cannot be complete if the message being communicated is not well understood and its meaning deduced effectively by the listener. The listener must work to make the speaker feel understood and create an environment in which the speaker will be free to express his views and put his message across in the most appropriate ways possible. Another requirement for effective communication is that both the speaker and the listener understand the importance and sue of non verbal communication skills. The speaker must be able to uses these cues to reinforce the message he intends to say, and the listener must be able to observe the cues and interpret them as effectively as possible (Drew & Bingham, 2004). The process of communication is often hampered by barriers to achieving effective communication. As such, organizations are constantly seeking ways that they can reduce and eliminate these barriers in order to achieve highly effective communication process. One way that managers can overcome this problem is to draft and disseminate messages that are clear enough to be understood by those they are intended for. Such messages should contain clear information or instructions, and the language used should be simple enough to be understood and free from ambiguity. Workplace grapevine is a common barrier to effective communication as employees engage in informal and unsubstantiated gossip. In order to avoid this problem, managers should pass on relevant information to employees through official means to offer any clarity that may be needed so that they can prevent employees from constant speculation, which leads to the grapevine. Argument and Research The process of research entails a number of activities, including identification of potential information sources, collecting the required information to inform a given study area, analyzing the information collected to meet the study criteria, and to present this information in a manner that serves to reinforce of disagree with the research hypothesis. In the area of research, there are two types of data primary and secondary sources of data (Guffey, 2008). Primary sources of data are the sources that provide first hand information through field studies. Secondary research, on the other hand, is the research that makes use of documented sources that contain information that has already been researched on and analyzed and presented to inform the area of research. Information can be sourced from various sources, including paper-based sources and electronic sources. Paper-based sources are good in that they are recorded for permanency and can be referred to many years later for reference. The problem with these sources, however, is that they are tedious to write and store, as they are voluminous and require large space. Searching for information from these sources is also tedious as it takes time to locate where specific information is stored. Electronic sources, on the other hand, may be expensive in installation but are faster to enter information in them and this information can be retrieved quite fast. With good storage, the information can also last many years, providing permanency to information storage (Eunson, 2012). An important aspect about research is plagiarism, which is the illegal process of taking one’s information and using it as if it belonged to the person conducting the research. Rules of research require that one attributes to the original writer information and data that he may use in his research by proper citation of this information. Failure to do this may result in legal offense, as the original owner of the work being used can sue the researcher for using his work without proper attribution. Reports and Proposals Reports and proposals are a common form of business writing and are used in the presentation of information in a business scenario. Reports fall into many categories and types depending on the information that they contain and the manner in which they are written. These include minutes, laboratory reports, memos, boor reports, progress reports, compliance reports, annual reports, and justification reports among many other forms of reports. Businesses will at one point a number of these forms of reports in their various activities and operations, as they serve different functions that they seek to achieve. All these require professional and specialized forms of writing to generate them, and have to employ a highly formalized form of language to ensure that they pass the required information on to the reader in the intended manner and context. Unlike essays that are written on a certain topic in the features and aspects of the topic, reports write on a certain are to give a report of the findings of the study or investigation done in the area. As such, they are more in depth and divided into many sections to highlight the various areas that the report will give information on (Dodd, 2004). The professional reports writing techniques require that reports are written in a manner that is balanced, meaning that aspects of prejudice, biasness, and unfair presentation of ideas and information in a report should be done away with. With this form of writing, it is expected that the writer reports on the findings of the study for investigation in its raw and factual form, and that his personal idiosyncrasies should not feature in the report. It should be up to the reader to deduce the implications of the information contained in the report after reading it and not with the directions of the writer. The major aim of a report is to ensure that it presents the information needed in the most appropriate manner possible, with emphasis paid to the need for the report to facilitate effective communication to the reader, and that the information given is as accurate as possible. Business Correspondence Business correspondence includes various forms of business communication using written formats. One major form of this communication is using letters for communicating business messages. Letters are preferably used when managers want to communicate matters of utmost importance to an individual, and which require safekeeping for future references. They also use these letters when they need the recipient to include his signature as a proof of reception and approval of the issue and matter being communicated. As such, business letters are commonly used in communicating messages of transfers for employees, layoffs, promotions, acceptance of offers for the employees, and other similar forms of communication. It is important that when writing these letters, the person originating the message follows strictly the procedures of writing business letters so that it passes the message it intends in the most clear and appropriate manner possible. In writing business letters, the writer must follow all or most of the 8Cs of written communication. As such the letter must be concise, clear, considerate in the message that it contains, the message should be courteous, the tone of the message should be cheerful, the information must be correct and accurate, and it should reflect the character and unique attributes of the writer. Letters are used to communicate various forms of messages, both good and bad. Letters that communicate good news should communicate the news with the required cheer to make the receiver appreciate the news. Letters, on the other hand, that communicate bad news must be considerate of the distress of the reader upon receiving the bad news and as such, should deliver the news as gently as possible. It is helpful to give the reader and receiver of the bad news options and alternatives that may alleviate the bad news such as a promise to recommend him to a company in case of a lay off. Interpersonal Communication The process of interpersonal communication entails the processes of nonverbal communication, listening, and feedback to complete the communication cycle. Speakers use non verbal cues to a large extent in their communication events, which serve to provide a great deal of information to the listener. Speakers must understand the meaning of the non verbal cues that they present in their communication processes, as well as the anticipated responses that they expect from these cues. Cues such as eye contact, gestures with hands, shaking heads, pauses, and others play a role in enhancing the understanding of as message. It is also the role of the listener to look out for these cues and interpret them effectively in order to enhance his understanding of the message being communicated. While performing communication activities, however, it is important that both the listener and the speaker share a common understanding of the non verbal communication cues that they use to avoid their cues from being interpreted wrongly, thus causing mis understanding in the communication process (Adler & Rodman, 2008). The listener plays an important role in the communication process and he will determine the success of the communication process. In order to ensure that he understands the message of the speaker, the listener should perform certain functions. One is that he must pay attention to the message of the speaker in order to get the meaning of the message, this, he can achieve by maintaining eye contact with the speaker, asking questions and clarification in parts of the message he does not understand, taking notes to refer the message later, and paraphrasing of the message of the speaker so that he can understand it in his own words. Feedback is the final part of the communication process and it determines and evaluates the effectiveness of the communication process. The listener is expected to respond to the message as required and give his feedback to the speaker. Feedback, however, need to not be positive all the time as negative feedback is also an effective way of determining the effectiveness of the communication process. Reference List Adler, R & Rodman, G 2008, Understanding Human Communication, NY: John Willey Dodd, C 2004, Managing Business and Professional Communication, NJ: Prentice Hall Drew, S. & Bingham, R 2004. The Student Skills Guide. London: Pearson. Eunson, B 2012, Communicating in the 21st Century, Melbourne: John Willey and Sons. Guffey, M 2008. Business Communication: Process and product. NJ:Pearson Read More