Business Communication

(11170)
 Brief Introduction

Lecturer
Dr Akin Adisa
[Link]@[Link]

Tutor(s)
Akin Adisa

Important Notes
• You must communicate using your UC
email id
• Will respond your email in 24-48 hours
• Communication – professionally
• Check your UC email and Canvas regularly
Unit Syllabus
In this unit, you will engage in a simulated work environment to build your business
communications skills. It will include working with theories of communication, crisis
communication, and different types of business communication, as well as the some
aspects of critical analysis and presentation skills.

Learning Outcomes
After successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
1. Explain why effective communication is important in a business environments;
2. Apply theories and observations of verbal communication to real-world communication
challenges;
3. Apply theories and observations of written communication to real-world business
communication examples; and
4. Create appropriate business presentations that use written, verbal and nonverbal
communication techniques effectively.
Graduates Attributes
1. UC graduates are professional - communicate effectively
1. UC graduates are professional - display initiative and drive, and
use their organisation skills to plan and manage their workload
1. UC graduates are professional - employ up-to-date and relevant
knowledge and skills
2. UC graduates are global citizens - behave ethically and
sustainably in their professional and personal lives
2. UC graduates are global citizens - communicate effectively in
diverse cultural and social settings
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - adapt to complexity,
ambiguity and change by being flexible and keen to engage with
new ideas
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - reflect on their own practice,
updating and adapting their knowledge and skills for continual
professional and academic development
 Textbook

rchee, R. and Gurney, M., 2024. Communicating as Professionals 4th Ed. Cengag
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Raymond Archee & Myra Gurney Communicating as Professionals, 4th Edition. © 2024 Cengage Australia Pty Ltd.
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Assessment Tasks
 Quiz (10%)
(You need to complete AIM before completing this quiz. If you’ve completed
AIM in the last 12 months, you just need to upload the badge in the quiz)
 Communication Review - Part A (written) 25%
 Communication Review - Part B (oral presentation) 25%
 Effective and ethical communication (analysis of communication types)
40%
Check Canvas site for details and due dates

To be successful in this unit

 Engage with the lecture and tutorials/workshops each week
 Complete your readings and learning activities
 Complete all assessment and submit on time
 Obtain at least overall 50% of the total mark
 Week 1
Communication – Evolution

Why study Communication?

 Sharing and
Communication – A
Historical Perspective
Cave Paintings – 30,000 BCE
Created to communicate, themes included animals and symbol for early man
Pictograms – 5000 BCE
Pictograms and ideagrams represented a
concept, object or activity – they led to
Egyptian hieroglyphics and Chinese characters
Town
Crier/Bellman
– 46 BCE

 A role which has

been in existence
since Roman times
(and still exists)
 Town criers were
the means of
communication
with the
townspeople
Carrier
Pigeons -
776 BCE
Still in use
today in parts
of the world,
ancient
Greeks used
pigeons to
carry
messages
across great
distances.
First Postal
Service – 550 BCE

 In Persia – doubled
as a tax and data
gathering service
 Followed in India,
Rome, China and
the Mongol Empire
Paper –
105 CE
 Using the
inner bark of
the mulberry
tree (with
water and
pounding)
 Printing
Press –
1439 CE
 Gutenberg’s Press,
began in 1436, but
not documented
until 1439 when it
was the subject of a
lawsuit.
 Printing had existed
prior to this, but the
new press was able
to do the printing
with some scale
 First Daily Newspaper
– 1605 CE
Replaced handwritten newssheets
Newspapers – apart from being printed –
need to typically meet four criteria:
1. Public – the contents are reasonably
accessible to the public
2. Periodical – they are published at
regular intervals
3. Currency – the information is up to
date
4. Universality – they cover a range of
topics
Morse Code – 1835 CE

 The character encoding

system was used in
telecommunications to
send messages across
vast distances, there are
multiples codes across
the languages
(alphabets)
 The most common
distress signal is SOS – 3
dots, 3 dashes, 3 dots – is
internationally recognised
by treaty
The
Telephone –
1876 CE
 Antonio Meucci
(1849) invented
the first basic
telephone
 Alexander
Graham Bell
patented the
telephone in
1876
Commercial Radio
Broadcasting – 1919 CE
First
Television
Broadcast
– 1927 CE
ARPANet
– 1969 CE
 Beginnings of
the Internet
 4 computers
 Government
funded (USA)
 Decommissione
d in 1990
 World Wide
Web – 1994 CE

 The amalgamation of
different systems into
one
 WWW is classified by
the browser software
which is needed to
access it – Internet
Explorer, Firefox,
Chrome, Safari
Instant Messaging – 1997 CE
Social Media – since 2000
Instant Messaging – 1997 CE
Social Media – since 2000
Why study Communication?

 The
role of theory in understanding
communication
 Communication: Transmission of
information and negotiated transaction
 The role of ethics in communication
 Reflection/tasks
Why study Communication?

 Unpreparedness and communication failures are

pervasive
 It is important to communicate clearly in everyday
situations and more importantly in emergencies
 Clear communication saves lives
 Communication is a complex exercise – it is more
than speaking or listening
What is communication?

4 common definitions
 Transmission of messages
 Social interaction through messages
 Reciprocalcreation of meaning in a context:
meaning created from message, context
interaction, negotiation, non-verbal cues etc
 Sharing of meaning through
 information – perception of facts
 ideas – concepts, opinion and attitudes
 feelings – e.g love, admiration, distrust, anger
Different modes of communication

 Verbal communication
 Non-verbal communication
 Graphic communication

It is important to remember that communication may involve

all these modes in any combination
The role of theory in
understanding communication
 theory refers to the concepts or ideas that
attempt to explain communication effects or
performance
 Itoften involves use of models – a simplified
representation of a complex concept
 No single theory can explain all communication
phenomena, but most theories would help
 choose appropriate channel of communication
 narrow the communication gap, deal with barriers
 understand cultural differences
 understand why people get different meanings from the
same message
Elements of the Communication
Process
 Sender/source
 Receiver/recipient
 Message
 Encoding
 Decoding
 Channel
 Feedback
 Context
 Noise
Communication as a
transmission of information
 An early way of thinking about communication was that it
was simply a matter of a message being sent and received
between one person (the sender) and another (the recipient
or destination).
 Below is the Shannon & Weaver model of communication
 Several models (Berlo’s, Schramm’s etc) exist and they
include elements of Shannon & Weaver’s

Source: Mohan et al. (1997), p. 26. Based on Shannon & Weaver (1949)
Noise

 One of the distinctive elements of Shannon and Weaver’s

model is the concept of noise; that is, any element that
interferes with the process of communication.

 Environmental or mechanical e.g loud music

 Physiological – e.g result of impairment in hearing or sight,
tiredness, ill-health etc
 Psychological – preconceived notion, biases, prejudice, halo
effect etc
 Ambiguity – semantic or syntactical
Schramm’s circular model
Berlo’s SMCR model
 Summary of the transmission
model of communication

This model reminds us that:

• sources/senders should think carefully about the
effect they wish to achieve
• sources or senders should structure their message
carefully
• the choice of channel or medium can be vital
• the elements of skills, attitudes, knowledge, social
system, cultural awareness play a part in sending and
receiving of messages
• feedback evaluates communication and allows a
sender to adjust their message to the needs of the
receiver
Communication as a negotiated
transaction
 evolved in the 1960s
 acknowledge that when we communicate with one another,
we are simultaneously reacting to what the communication
partner is doing or saying
 we create meaning in the interpretation of words not the
word themselves
 people interpret meanings in context; that is, in a social
situation at a certain time, between particular individuals or
groups. Outside the given context, meanings may vary
considerably.
 so, there is no guarantee that identical inputs will lead to the
same result, or that the same message will generate
identical meanings for all parties, or even for a single
individual, on different occasions.
 humans are not computers!
A Comparison of Two Models of
Communication

• Transmission models • Transaction models

• Communication is dynamic,
• Communication is a series of
circular and unrepeatable
linear steps
• Meaning lies within individual
• ‘Meaning’ lies in the parties, and influenced by
components of the message factors such as education, prior
itself: words chosen and knowledge etc. Shared
treatment experience and common
language are important
• Any variation in the individual
• Communication depends on a
elements e.g., inappropriate
wide range of factors including
channel, can impact on the context, phycological
clarity of the message characteristics of sender and
• Communication describes the receiver
production of meaning and • Communication describes the
messages evolution and negotiation of
meaning
Role of ethics in Professional
Communication

 ethics is abstract, complex and sometimes problematic, but

can be broadly defined as a set of principles of right and
moral conduct, which are sometimes socially and culturally
determined.
 organisations usually set out boundaries of business ethics
in their mission statements and by code of conduct
 despite these we often hear about businesses that have
been caught out acting unethically and sometimes illegally
Hallmarks of good/ethical
communication

 Communication is
 clear – not vague, ambiguous, inaccurate or distorted
 honest – does not lie
 democratic, equitable – does not disadvantage any group and
accessible to all relevant stakeholders
 sincere – uses persuasion and advocacy with facts and
judgment, which do not, either overtly or covertly, appeal to
bias, prejudice or ignorance
 respectsits audience – uses plain language, balanced and non-
condescending
 logically sounds – claims and reasons are aligned and rigorous
Reflection/Tasks:

 Read through Chapter 1 of the textbook

 Which of the four definitions of communication
seems to be the most useful and appropriate in
relation to your work as a student?
 Which forms of communication are most
important in your profession? Give some
examples and situations in which communication
competence is important for you as a
professional.

 Make sure you are enrolled in a workshop