Acquiring Business Communication Skills Necessary for Business Graduates - Essay Example

Acquiring Business Communication Skills Necessary for Business Graduates Executive Summary The researcher is acting as an intern at the Career Development Centre of the University of Westminster, who tries to elucidate reasons behind high importance of acquiring business communication skills for business graduates. In the report, the researcher has explored the different types of business communications and has emphasised on the value of inheriting these skills, which would eventually help students in the business environment. The report has explained the categories of business communication and ways they should be developed among the undergraduate students. The report has enumerated the recommendations, which students need to follow in order to develop and build an effective business communication. The paper concludes by explaining the need and importance of integration of business communication in the curriculum of undergraduates and graduates taking business courses. Contents Contents 3 Introduction 4 Evaluating Types of General Communication 4 The Business Communication Skills 6 How Communication Skills Can Be Used In Business Environment 7 Improving Business Communication Skills for Students 7 Conclusion 8 Reference List 9 Introduction One of the fundamental requirements for achieving success in many aspects of life is effective communication skills. In the contemporary world, every job demands strong communication skills. People with improved communication skills enjoy better interpersonal relationships with their acquaintances. People can properly connect with others by effectively conveying their views as this facilitates better understanding of a circumstance or an individual (Blundel, 1998). It also enables us in resolving differences and subsequently creates differences, build trust and respect and create environment where creative ideas flourish and problems are solved easily. Lack of effective communication may lead to misunderstandings and create conflicts in personal and professional relationships (Queensland Government, 2014). Evaluating Types of General Communication General communication is more effective when they are spontaneous and not formulaic. It takes time and practice for one to transform into an effective communicator. With more effort and practice, communication gets more instinctive and spontaneous. One has to be efficient in the following categories in order to become a better communicator; (Anderson, 2013) Verbal Non-Verbal Oral Historical Development Business Writing General Communication skills can be primarily of four types; they are: Interpersonal Communication Skills: These are skills that are exhibited during face-to-face communication with one or more persons. It can be verbal or nonverbal communication (Robinson, Segal and Segal, 2014). Verbal communication elaborates effectiveness of speech of an individual, whereas non-verbal communication is communicating through sending and receiving wordless cues between people (Anderson, 2013). Listening: It is a vital interpersonal communication skill. Effective listening does not only mean understanding the words or the information being communicated, but also realizing the speaker’s feelings about the subject matter. Effective listening can: Build a deeper and stronger connection between the speaker and the listener by making former feel heard and understood. Create an amiable environment where people would feel safe to express ideas, feelings, and opinions as well as solve problems in a creative way. Save time by clarifying information and avoiding conflicts (Robinson, Segal and Segal, 2014). Presentation skills: These are skills that are needed to deliver effective and engaging presentations to different audiences. This skill is defined by areas such as, structure of a presentation, designing of slides, tone of voice and body language. This skill is required to deliver information to a group of people in formal or informal gathering (Skills You Need, 2014). Writing Skills: These skills are necessary for putting ideas and concepts on paper so as to organize the knowledge and belief into a convincing argument and to convey meaning through well-constructed texts. The ability to write clearly and properly facilitates effective communication as poor written communication can be frustrating for readers. Personal Skills: These are special skills. Developing these skills bring about improvement in self-esteem and development of confidence, thereby rendering a person more positive about communicating with others (Skills You Need, 2014). The Business Communication Skills In an effective business communication, both the speaker and the listener share responsibility of making the message clear. This is vital for successful customer interactions. In an effective communication, word choice, body language, message clarification, tone of voice and style of communication are essential, which can create differences between success and failure in interpersonal interactions (McKay, 2014). The followings are important to have a better business communication skill: Effective Speaking: The speaker needs to articulately deliver the message in a way that the listener understands. Messages should be delivered in a tone, which goes best with the level of seriousness of the message and keeping expected reaction of the listener in mind. Active Listening It should be practiced by all the parties involved in the communication, active listening involves nods, eye contact, gestures and comments which would reflect the understanding. For the speaker, these gestures are clues to the listeners reaction and comprehension. Asking Questions: Questions asked by both the parties must be open-ended in nature, which cannot be answered by a yes or no. These questions encourage further clarification and understanding. Body Language: This is important because a negative body language can lead a message to be misconstrued. Stance, eye movement, posture, fidgeting, facial expressions, can convey hints to parties involved in the communication. The message can confuse the listener if tone of a speakers voice is not in accordance with his facial expression or posture. Communication Methods: In the modern business world, people communicate in a number of ways. It is not an effective communication if the medium chosen is not suited for the message or environment. For example, sending a written message to a person who is illiterate is useless. This may result in the message being misconstrued. The effective communicator should know his/her limitations and choose the most apt medium for the message (McKay, 2014) How Communication Skills Can Be Used In Business Environment So far, importance of business communication in facilitating seamless working of an organization with less possibility of encountering a crisis has been explained. The following aspects elaborate on ways in which effective communication skills are used in business environment (Morley, 2014). Clarity and Conciseness: Irrespective of written or spoken communication, a good communicator is well aware of ways to convey the message precisely with clarity. As business operations demand swiftness, a good business communicator needs to be able to draft a mail, which gets a complex idea across quickly or clearly explains a concern to their managers without delay. Choosing the Right Channel: Besides being a good speaker and a writer, a good communicator must also be able to choose the right method to send the message across. Choosing of wrong channel could lead to unnecessary confusion and loss of time and money. Good communicator knows the benefits and costs of each channel and ways to choose among them for different audience. Flexibility: Effective business communicators must know ways to analyze their audiences and to disseminate information for each one. Besides that, they also need to be able to communicate in various situations because the audience and purpose of communication drastically changes with situation. For example, the way a businesswoman makes her boss aware about a problem would be quite different from the way she would explain the problem to her clients. Ability to Listen: The better communicators are not only good in delivering information, but are also exquisite in listening. Business individuals who are good listeners can make accurate reports for the management and effectively respond to others’ concerns because proper listening would enable better understanding of concerns and finding out solutions (Morley , 2014). Improving Business Communication Skills for Students The following are the ways in which one can develop proper business communication skills. One needs to practice the following in their daily lives until they become a habit. Be a Good Listener: The first and foremost step to develop a good business communication skill is being a good and patient listener. One need to focus on what the speaker is saying and pay attention to the information being delivered. One must never interrupt a speaker while he is talking and should let the speaker complete first before raising any question (Root, 2014). Be an organized speaker: The speaker must frame the thoughts before presenting them in a way that would make sense and the listener will be able to follow speaker’s opinion (Gregory, 2010). Developing good writing and presentation skills: This is another important aspect, which one needs to develop. No communicator can be good without exhibiting the ability to communicate information in writing through mails. A formal mail would require a person to be precise; the vocabulary used has to be formal and the language must be able to convey the message in the right way to the recipient (Gregory, 2010). Having good vocabulary: Language is the most important tool while communicating, using formal vocabulary and never abusing other co-workers or superiors. The volume of the voice should also be kept under control without being too loud or too feeble. Having a right body language: A right body language signifies considerably about the confidence level of a person. A wrong body language can misconstrue a message. Exhibiting right attitude: A right attitude conveyed through a correct gesture would help in increasing the cordial relations in a business. Conclusion In response to the employers’ expectations and requirements of undergraduate business management students, business communication must be integrated into undergraduate and graduate business courses. Many college business programs have undergone significant curriculum changes so as to integrate functional areas and provide increased emphasis on soft skills such as, communication (Bowers and Metcalf, 2008). The importance of this integration rests in the fact that business institutes are often criticized for not being able to prepare business students in a way required for them to respond effectively towards the contemporary business environment. This step would break the conventional models and will condition students to cope with functioning of the new age business scenario (Bowers and Metcalf, 2008). Reference List Anderson, A., 2013. Successful Business Communication: It Starts At The Beginning. [online] Available at: [Accessed 17 June 2014]. Blundel, R., 1998. Effective business communication: Principles and practice for the information age. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Bowers, M. and Metcalf, M., 2008. What employers want and what students need: Integrating business communication into undergraduate and graduate. [pdf] CMS. Available at: [Accessed 17 June 2014]. Gregory, A., 2010. 12 Secrets of effective business communication. [online] Available at: [Accessed 17 June 2014]. McKay, M., 2014. Effective business communication skills. [online] Available at: [Accessed 17June 2014]. Morley, M., 2014. Examples of business communication skills. [online] Available at: [Accessed 17 June 2014]. Queensland Government, 2014. Communicating effectively for business [online] Available at: [Accessed 17 June 2017]. Robinson, L., Segal, J and Segal, S., 2014. Effective communication. [online] Available at: [Accessed 17 June 2014]. Root, G., 2014. 7 Cs of effective business communication. [online] Available at: [Accessed 17 June 2014]. Skills You Need, 2014. Communication skills. [online] Available at: [Accessed 17 June 2014]. Read More