Communication in Business - Assignment Example

 Communication in Business Contents Summary ……………………………………………………………… 3 Introduction …………………………………………………………….4 What is Communication in Business …………………………………..4 Types of Communication ………………………………………………5 Importance of Communication …………………………………………7 Need for Communication in the Business ………………………………9 Effective Communication Process in the Business ………….…………10 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………...12 Recommendation ……………………………………………………….12 Summary This report is based on a health service provider business and presents a report on how the business uses communication effectively. It gives the idea of the importance of communication and how communication skills of employees are used to improve the overall business profits and sales revenue. Introduction Communication is one of the most important skills for an individual’s personal and professional life. The skill enables an individual to interact, understand, and interpret instructions and explanations. Communication, in the business aspect, enables employees, employers, stakeholders, and competitors to stay in touch and intact with the important needs of the business. The aim of this business report is to analyze the importance and value of communication in the business and how examples show the use of communication and its effectiveness. Conclusions and recommendations are made on the basis of need of communication and the ways in which communication can help in improving the business position and development. The business used in this report is a large servicing business where the main activity is to offer services to the customers and ensure that they are satisfied. My role in this business is to ensure that the complaints of the customers are heard, the feedback is taken, and the quality of services is maintained. What is communication in business? Communication is defined as the exchange of information between two individuals, groups, or organizations though a medium. The process of communication is used to interact with the other party and to receive or send information regarding the party’s needs, perceptions, desires, knowledge, or affective states. Communication in today’s world is the most important skill that an individual must possess to sustain in the personal and professional life. Communication can be intentional or unintentional and can take many forms including direct or indirect, linguistic or non-linguistic, or through various types of mediums. Communication is the factor through which ideas and opinions have been exchanged ever since humans have existed (Logan, 2010, p. 32). Communication in business is the aspect which is focused in this report. In business, communication is used as a tool to promote, plan, strategize, and develop an organization. There can be no objective or goal of a business which can be fulfilled without communication whether it is increasing sales revenue or satisfying the customers. Communication is the primary tool, the basis on which the business stands and operates. The success of a business is majorly dependent on the ways, types, and forms of communication which is used by the managers, leaders, and employees. Communication is the standard tool which must be used by all the members of the business not just one member or group (Logan, 2010, p. 32). In this report, the communication skill is used and evaluated in the given business. The skill of communication is the style and tactic which is present in a member, which helps him to fulfill his duties effectively and grow both personally and professionally. A corporate environment helps an individual to grow and develop his communication skill academically, personally, and professionally. The business culture would help me to improve my communication skills which would also help in enhancing writing skills and interpersonal skills. Types of communication Communication in business has mainly two types: internal and external. Internal communication in a business is within the organization as a formal or informal function, which is essential for the internal development and successful relationships within the organization. Employees, managers, and leaders use internal communication in different forms in accordance to their jobs and duties. Effective internal communication vitally serves the purpose of addressing organizational dilemmas and concerns. Good communication not only increases the job satisfaction but also ensures productivity and profitability within the organization for example communicating problems effectively to the employer who would in return encourage the employee can help in increasing job morale, satisfaction, and motivation. Internal business communication can be further divided into upward communication, downward communication, and horizontal communication (Sen, 2007, p. 70). Upward communication is when the information is passed on to the superiors from the subordinates or when employees communicate with the management. However, this form of communication may work in vacuum as the sender of the message is unaware whether the message is reached and received effectively. Upward communication is used by the staff members to exchange information, offer their ideas, express enthusiasm, or provide feedback. Downward communication is the information which is flowing from the management to the employees. The top managers in hierarchy communicate the missions, policies, and strategies to the staff lower in hierarchy. An example of this type of communication in this business is the instructions given by the top management to improve the quality of services provided to the customers by adopting new strategies. This communication usually gives out instructions and orders to the lower staff (Logan, 2010, p. 32). The horizontal or literal communication is the one which involves employees of the same level or rank to collaborate and interact. The communication between employees in an organization is the most crucial and essential accomplishment for a business. An example of horizontal communication is solving problems among employees, helping each other for a particular task, improving teamwork, creating a friendly relationship, and building goodwill. The business uses all such types of communication to ensure that the functions are smoothly operated and efficiently carried out (Davis, 2009, p. 76). External communication is also a major tool for the business as it involves communicating with the people outside the business mostly suppliers, investors, or customers. Since this business is for providing services to customers, the main thing is to communicate with them efficiently and effectively. External communication is important for this business as it involves keeping in-touch with the customers, knowing their complaints and suggestions, and learning their expectations from the company (Davis, 2009, p. 76). According to my position in the company, external communication is a skill which is used to improve the sales volume, public credibility, operational efficiency, and company profits. Throughout the years, the service business has seen growth due to its effective external communication as customers feel loved for and cared for, they feel their complaints are heard, and the company fulfills their expectations. Thus, this improves the corporate image and goodwill and increases customer satisfaction and loyalty with the organization. Importance of communication Communication is important in a business as it is a primary tool which helps the employees to coordinate and cooperate throughout the business activities. Communication enhances the interpersonal skills and ensures that an employee is growing personally and professionally. Business operations are impossible to be carried out without good communication as communication allows managers to discuss and plan strategies, it enables them to pass on orders and instructions, and it also helps in keeping in contact with all the stakeholders including customers who are the most important. A business cannot work only by a single person hence when there are two or more people, it is important for them to form good communication that would allow them to work together and collectively fulfill the organizational goals (Sen, 2007, p. 70). Business is all about communication. Successful businesses are those which promote effective communication channels and ensure that employees communicate efficiently with one another, with the management, and with the customers. Communication has different forms and all of them are important in some way or the other for the business. Upward communication is important as it enables the employees to communicate with the management and send them suggestions, complaints, or requests. This sort of communication keeps the staff motivated that they are heard and listened to by the top management (Sen, 2007, p. 71). The downward communication in a business is however the most important as it enables the management to transfer messages and instructions to the lower staff. This is important as strategies, instructions, and policies are communicated by the top management to the lower employees giving them an idea of what are their duties, their goals, and what is expected from them. It is more important for such communication to be two-way as it encourages the staff that they are part of the discussion and they are valued. Vertical communication also allows employees to talk and form better relationships at work which is important to pass important messages, discuss tasks, and increase efficiency and productivity (Hargie, 2012, p. 98). In this business, the importance of communication can be highlighted as this is the services business. The business’ goals and objectives are to hire employees that are able to communicate effectively and understand the techniques of good communication. There are several tools and devices in the company which allow the employees, managers, and leaders to stay in touch with one another. As it is a huge firm, the staff members have to ensure that they communicate with the right person and the management has to ensure that every member is given the chance to speak and give their opinions. In my position, communication plays the key role in assessing the strength and profitability of the business. As customers are the most important stakeholders, connecting and communicating with them is the basic source of growth and increase in sales revenues (Hargie, 2012, p. 98). Need for communication in the business In the business, services are offered and provided to the customers. Communication skill is the most important requirement for the job that I work for. Previously, the organization did not focus on communicating with the customers and worked with their marketing managers to understand the customer tastes and demands in the market and strategize policies to offer those services. The annual reports showed a slow fall in the number of sales and also marked that even the most loyal customers were leaving the services to go to other competitors. This worried the managers and they planned a different strategy. They took a different approach and enhanced the public relations department in the business. The marketing department previously carried out surveys, interviews, and market research to reach the target audiences but now the public relations department was more relied upon in order to reach and communicate with customers directly. My communication skill helped me to talk to the customers and understand their views. We planned to communicate effectively to the customers to find out where we are going wrong and why customers are going for rivals’ services. Several techniques were used including direct messages, e-mails, phone calls, and promotional offers. Through these techniques, the customers were reached and asked what complaints they have. Their feedback and complaints were heard and with the effective communication skills, customers were given the message that they are important assets for the business and the business would try to fulfill their expectations. Strategies and products were then enhanced as per the customers’ expectations and demands (Loewy, 2012, p. 55). This technique greatly helped in building up the customers’ trust and loyalty back to the business. The customers’ feedback told that they felt cared for and thus they switched back to their services. Communication skill is the most powerful tool which enables the business to reach the customers and understand their expectations. The tone, language, and choice of words chosen to communicate are the strong elements which can make communication effective. Effective communication process in the business A business must have high quality products and services that fulfill the demands and expectations of the customers. The public relations department is responsible for external communication as they communicate and interact with the customers and help in improving the business standards. Similarly, the communication skill is also needed for internal communication where the customers’ demands and expectations are communicated to the employees and managers who are responsible for policy-changing. The public relations officer prepares and sends the reports about the customers to the managers and the managers carry out an effective internal communication network to apply the changes. For example, when the customers’ reactions and complaints were recorded about the services including that they find the services low quality and too expensive, as a public relations officer, a presentation and report was prepared which presented the views of the customers in detail. This presentation was given in front of the management and it was very important for the managers to understand the exact viewpoint of the customers. The public relations officer communicated with the customers directly and their skills required them to deliver the messages of the customers to the managers. In this, the officer has acted like a messenger who must communicate the message from one party to another wisely and clearly. Once the message reaches the management and is perceived well, the management carried out a meeting with the finance department, strategy-makers, and the quality-control department. They communicate the budgets, quality-control issues, and the strategies and effectively come to a conclusion and make a final decision. The decision is then communicated to the employees and workers who carry out the processes and fulfill all the given tasks. In this process, the communication skill of the public relation officer, managers, employees, and leaders have made it possible to reach the objectives and improve the sales. This process of communication has disturbance as all the employees are not good communicators. I was able to create a presentation and report for the managers as I had enhanced my communication skills through exercises and activities. Many of the employees fail to understand the orders and instruction and do not take part in effective communication which then creates problems for the whole organization. The communication error and the lack of good relations amongst employees was the reason why initially the quality of services went low. The service providers didn’t communicate well with the customers and didn’t satisfy them creating these issues. A good communication skill of the managers, employees, and leaders would overall improve the business position as it would increase positivity, efficiency, and would improve the flow of information. Effective communication improves the staff morale as they feel engaged in the business activities and they are given the chance to speak and express themselves in the business. Conclusion Conclusively, the report analyses the role of effective communication and good communication skills. The report explains the importance of communication and why it is needed in the business especially a business which is based on the provision of customer services. Interacting and satisfying customers are highly related with a good communication and that helps in keeping the customers loyal to the business. The report shows how communication in this business would improve the sales and profitability of the business as well as improve the communication flow, improve staff morale, and enhance efficiency. Thus, communication skill in business comes with many benefits and it is the sole indicator of a successful business. Recommendations It is recommended that the business must carry out training sessions and educational workshops in order to define the importance of communication and to improve the communication skill of employees. Communication would improve a business only when it is carried out as a collective effort. Thus, training sessions must be carried out to ensure that the employees are trained and educated about the communication skills and given exercises through which they can improve their communication skills. These trainings would also help the employees to create reports and improve their writing skills so that they could communicate their problems and complaints effectively. Training sessions for service providers must also be carried out to ensure that the quality of services is not dropped again. The investment in such training sessions would be beneficial for the overall business and would improve the business structure. References Davis. M. 2009. Messages: The Communication Skills Book. USA: New Harbinger Publications Hargie. O. 2012. Handbook of Communication Skills. NY: Taylor & Francis Loewy Loewy. D. 2012. Essentials of Business Communication. NY: Cengage Learning Logan. J. 2010. Business Communication. NY: Cengage Learning Sen. L. 2007. Communication Skills. 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