Making Connections in a Digital World
Business Communication
Lesikar + Flatley + Rentz
McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
chapter one
Communication in the Workplace
Overview
The importance of communication
The three main categories of communication
in business
Formal and informal networks
The business communication process
Basic truths about communication
The Importance of Communication Skills as
Expressed by Business Authorities
“Top executives from Fortune 500 companies rate
communications skills as the most important quality for
business leaders.”
--Business Section
New York Times
“There may be no single thing more important in our
efforts to achieve meaningful work and fulfilling
relationships than to learn and practice the art of
communication.”
--Max De Pree, Author
The Art of Leadership
Evidence of Communication
Weakness in Business
“I’m surprised how so many people struggle with
communication.”
--Michael Rook, Production
Manager
Hewlett Packard, San Diego, CA
“The first thing the Human Resources
Department did was give me a writing book.”
--Sam Reeves, IT Consultant
AMS, Denver, CO
Main Forms of
Communication in Business
Operational
– Internal
– External
Personal
Intranets (or portals) like this one
from Deere & Company are used
for internal communication.
Communication Networks
Formal Network
– Well-established, usually along operational lines
– Depends on certain established forms or “genres”
in the company
– Planned and managed
Informal Network
– Complex
– Dynamic
The Formal and Informal Communication
Networks in a Division of a Small Manufacturing
Company
Department
Manager
Supervisor Supervisor
Black Solid Lines = Formal Network
Brown Dashed Lines = Informal Network (at a moment in time, for they change often)
Factors Affecting the Communication
in a Business
Nature of the business
Operating plan
Business environment
Geographic dispersion
People
Company culture
The Business Communication Process
The Contexts for Communication
The larger context
– Business-economic
– Sociocultural
– Historical
The relationship of the communicators
The communicators’ particular contexts
– Organizational
– Professional
– Personal
Business Communication as
Problem Solving
Most business-communication problems are
ill-defined problems requiring
– Analysis
– Creativity
– Judgment
Some Basic Truths about
Communication
Meaning is in the mind, and no two minds are
alike.
The symbols for communicating are imperfect,
and so are our best communication efforts.
Communication is about information and
relationships.
Adaptation
“Remember not only to say the right
thing in the right place, but far more
difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong
thing at the tempting moment.”
--Benjamin Franklin