Taslim Ahammad :
Communication is the vital spark of business and management process. No business can operate even a day without communication. Business communication can take place with the internal and external parties on the organization.
Communication is the exchange of ideas, opinions and information through written or spoken words, symbols or actions. Communication may be intentional or unintentional; it may involve conventional or unconventional signals, may take linguistic or non-linguistic forms, and may occur through spoken or other modes. For communication to be effective, the message must mean the same thing to both the sender and the receiver. Business Communication is any communication used to promote a product, service, or organization with the objective of making sale. In business communication, message is conveyed through various channels of communication including internet, publications, radio, television, outdoor, and word of mouth.
Thousands years ago, people used to communicate orally. Greeks used a phonetic alphabet written from left to right. When communism was ruling China, communication had become the biggest challenge not only within the vast government, but also between the government and people of China. Postal services were then; launched in China. Rome introduced the postal service after China. The way in which a business communicates has evolved dramatically, with the inventions and mainstream acceptance of postal mail, telephones, the internet and mobile phones. Specifically, the internet and mobile phones are responsible for broad-sweeping changes in business communication models internally and externally. Hence, today’s principles of communication are founded on a mixture of ancient oral and written traditions.
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. Person 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 another person. Hence, the main components of communication process are: Context, sender / encoder, message, medium, recipient and feedback.
Technology and communication – Business communications happen in several different formats that are completely driven by technology. Although businesses often use in-person, face-to-face communications for internal meetings and external communications, technology remains an important driver for most business that happens outside of in person meetings. Phones and the internet create national and international opportunities for businesses. Communications through apps – Several apps and programs exist specifically for internal business communications with some overlap into the external.
They are designed for team environments where regular feedback, questions and media sharing is a necessity. These apps are essentially chat rooms where individuals can organize tasks and teams can collaborate and work on projects. High-level communication – High-level business communications utilize memos, reports, directives and initiatives to communicate and guide a business across all levels. Larger businesses are especially prone to formal processes based on board meetings, shareholder feedback and organizational standards for communicating. An authority may send a memo only to department heads who are relevant recipients of the information. These department heads will then implement the new procedures and practices by instructing. Formal communications – Formal communication practice include quarterly and annual reports, company wide documents and anything that has legal ramifications for the company or individual creating the document. Reports are especially important for business communications. These reports show earnings, losses, capital investments and earnings across the quarter or the year. Meetings and conferences – Face to face meetings are an important aspect of business communications despite the availability of communication specific technologies. The personal meeting is valuable and it provides individuals or groups the opportunity to connect, build morale and understand each other better. Conferences are another form of face to face communications in a semi-formal setting. Industry specific conferences are used to provide networking opportunities while learning from leaders within the specific industry.
Informal communications – Informal communication is something that tends to happen naturally in the workplace. People may call it water cooler talk or simple banter in the office or workplace but it remains an important aspect of many jobs. The ability to communicate ideas quickly and without a formal process makes on the job learning possible.
Brainstorming and talking about projects and process without any oversight spurs creativity and allows employees to test ideas while giving and receiving feedback. External communications – External communications involve everything customer and public facing. External lines of communication directly impact the company image and overall brand.
The press release is a classic form of external business messaging. A company can craft the press release to communicate important news, new products or a response to any good or bad publicity. Communicating with community – Community events overlap with external communications but they are intended as a form of community support that can have a positive impact on the company image. Sponsoring a little league team or organization, sponsoring fundraisers and participating in community oriented events builds trust and shows that the business is a valuable and caring asset within the community.
Marketing and advertising – The final form of business communication is through marketing and advertising. The business website and brochure are both forms of advertising and marketing. Television commercials, radio advertisements, online banner and text advertisements, paid search ads, billboards and even the ads found above the stall in a public bathroom are forms of paid media.
From the above discussion, we can say that business communication is a specialized part of communication that deals with the exchange of message relating to the business activities. Success of business and economic activities depends on effective communication and success of business communication depends on the above stated elements.
(Taslim Ahammad is Assistant Professor, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science and Technology University).
