Effective Business Communication to Achieve Business Goals - Essay Example

Business Communication, Management and Success Name Institutional Affiliation Communications in organizations are important in achievement of business goals and objectives. As people gain more authority or are promoted to senior levels in the organization, it increasingly becomes important for them to have ability of good writing and speaking. Communication is a way in which meaningful information is exchanged between people (Locker & Kienzler, 2008). It involves exchanging information, messages or thoughts. Moreover, communication can be thought as a process of exchanging information through system of common signs, behavior or symbols. Different methods are used to communicate. It includes verbal, written and non-verbal communication. In essence, people write as a way of conveying complex data, creating records, and making things convenient for readers. Furthermore, it also acts a way of saving money and in conveying personal messages in a more effective manner. This essay discusses business communication, management, and success. Organizations have certain goals and objectives that they continually strive to achieve. Business communications are also done to fulfill certain goals. Business communication that is effective involves both the person sending the message and the one receiving it. However, the person sending the message must achieve the basic business communication goals. Krizan, Merrier, Logan and Williams (2011) explain receiver understanding, receiver response, favorable relationship and organizational goodwill as the four basic goals of business communication. The message that the sender sends must be very clear in order to be understood by the receiver in the manner intended by the sender. The receiver responds to the message either positively, negatively or in a neutral way and conveyed through action, words or both. This goal is achieved when the receiver of the message understands the message through provision of appropriate response. In fostering favorable relationship, business communication establishes strong positive, personal and professional business relationship between sender and receiver. Senders of messages have a responsibility of attempting to increase their organizational goodwill. They do this by ensuring that communications they undertake reflects in a positive way to the business personnel, products and services. Business communications, just like ordinary life communications can be done in verbal, non-verbal or in a written manner. Verbal communication uses words and it is accomplished by speaking. It is also accomplished by businesses through the use of motivational, challenging, and ‘magical’ words such as thank you for shopping with us or thank you for letting us serve you. It includes informal meetings, face to face, phone conversations and presentations. Written communication entails writing of letters and emails. Non-verbal communication uses no words. It is conveyed through body language, gestures, appearances and company logos and graphics. Communications in workplace are without challenges. In general, writing is required in workplace. Employees that have limited literacy skills can have huge negative effects to the company. It is for this reason that companies spend millions of money in training its employees so that they can have effective writing skills. Additionally, huge chunks of money are also used by organizations in fixing problems that arises due to poor writing. Misrepresentations or conveyance of wrong messages caused by poor writing can have significant repercussions to the company. It distorts communication and passing of the intended messages becomes impossible. In addition, it can also cause an organization to lose millions in ways such as poor drafting of the contractual agreements or deficiencies in writing. If not addressed quickly and in a prudent and correct manner, it can derail the company’s success or makes attainment of organizational objectives and goals difficult and impossible. Employees who have better communications skills have a higher chance of becoming successful. They also help organizations in achieving success in a faster manner. Skills in communication are important in development of an individual career. In every facet of human life, people communicate with each other. A good speaker can easily convince others to perform task or tasks wanted by him to be done. People also are nice to each other when everyone is good speakers. In development of a career, it is very significant to possess writing communication skills. Potential employers always look for good organizations in resumes and cover letter in determining if a person qualifies for a certain position or not. At the moment, nearly all people have email accounts. Therefore, possession of good to excellent communication skills is needed in exchanging email messages with employers, supervisors or co-workers. Business communication has certain rules that are to be followed in ensuring success. First, being more official in our communication is required. Tutors, instructors and fellow students are present at school and in most cases guide us in how we should communicate, dress and behave. In a business world, failure is achieved in a simple manner when all these basic rules are not followed. Also, business and school writing differ in purpose, information, style, organization and audience. The purpose of writing in school is often to show that students have learned and internalize the course material. It also acts to demonstrate their intelligence. On the other hand, business communication is done as a way of meeting organizational needs. Audiences of school writing are few as it are usually other students and the course instructor(s). On the other hand, business communication includes persons within and outside the business. Messages are given attention when they are or they seem interesting, relevant and important by the real audiences. Rarely does school writing have visuals other than engineering, mathematics and construction as many classes writing are expected to contain only words. Business writers are both required and expected to make a choice on how information is to be conveyed in the most effective manner. People are expected to know how to make use of computer programs in creation of visuals, presentations slides or graphs. Writing in workplace is done to inform, request or persuade and in building of goodwill. Most of business messages serve more than one purpose. The audiences that these messages are intended for are both within and outside the organization. Business communication for internal users can be in form of memos to peers, superiors and subordinates. On the other hand, messages intended for external users can be done by sending letters to suppliers, customers, and lenders among others. Business communication should be effective and efficient so as to assist realization of organizational success. Good business writing should be clear, complete, and correct. It should also builds goodwill and saves time for the reader. Furthermore, it increases one’s productivity and communicates points in a clearer manner. In contrast, poor writing wastes time, effort and led to loss of goodwill. This kind of business writing buries main point. It can be characterized by selfish tone, vague requests or misused tones. A goodwill message creates a positive image for the organization. It presents positive image between communicator and the organization. Goodwill message treats its audience as a person and cements good relationship between communicator and the audience. Business communication problems can be addressed through various ways. Information should be organized in order to fit audiences, situation as well as its purposes. This can be achieved by putting good news and the main question/point first. Reluctant audience can be persuaded by delaying the main question/point in the message. Gathering of knowledge and brainstorming needs to be done before any business writing is undertaken. The drafted communication message should be revised for tone. This is essential in checking that the tone is friendly, positive and businesslike. The draft message requires editing for Standard English pertaining to names and numbers. Double-checking of reader’s name, any numbers and first and last names is important. In addition, checking of grammar, spelling and punctuation is crucial to any business writing. As a cardinal rule, proofreading of business message(s) before sending should be always performed. A response is used in planning for the next message. Feedback that is received from the message sent is evaluated in finding out why the message fails or succeeds. In business communication, success is getting the results that are wanted and at the time they are wanted. There are six analysis questions that help in avoidance of business communication problems. First, the communicator should clearly identify the audiences- their relevant characteristics and how listeners/ readers differ. Secondly, the purpose of the message(s) should be known in advance before writing of the message is done. After the purpose is identified, information that must be included is counterchecked by listing all the required points. Certain information is then emphasized or de-emphasized depending on its importance. In conveying business messages, a particular position is often taken. One needs to support his or her position by providing reasons for decision, argument logic and benefits to the audience. The fifth analysis question pertains to expectations of objections from the audience. In knowing the audience objections, plans to overcome them are carried out if it is possible. Additionally, de-emphasizing negative information is done at this point. The last part is finding out the part of context that may affect audience reaction. This may be time of the year, audience and communicator relationship and the organizational morale. Managers are important in achievement of organizational success. They perform various functions in the process of management. There are variation in details in what each manager does depending on organizations and time. However, planning, leading and controlling are the three basic functions widely used in analyzing and understanding the broad functions managers performs (Lewis, Goodman, Fandt, & Michlitsch, 2006). Planning involves setting organizational goals and definition of actions required in achieving the goals. Managers at the top level are involved in establishment of overall organizational goals and objectives. Nevertheless, managers across the entire organization carry out development of operational plans strategy, and goals for their various work groups. These contribute to the organizational success as a whole. Managers also organize their work group members and the entire organization in order to ensure that resources, information, and tasks are flowing in a logical and efficient way throughout the organization. Overall, structuring of the organization should be done in a manner that leads it to achieve organizational mission, goals, objectives as well as allowing it to respond to changes in the organizational environment. Management in business is a crucial task that determines whether success will be achieved or not. It is of great importance to carry out management in an effective, efficient and responsible manner. The management process and philosophy should be forward looking and it should capture the vision of the business. This kind of management requires business managers to have capability of leading (Karmakar, 2011). They must be able to lead their group members towards accomplishment of organizational goals. In becoming effective leaders, managers should understand group and individual behavior dynamics in order to motivate employees and in being effective communicators. For managers to lead properly, they must be capable of controlling situations as this ensures that organization moves towards achievement of goals. Managers need to monitor organizational performance and their progress in the process of operational and strategic plans implementation. In performance of planning, leading, organizing and controlling functions, most of managers’ roles can be grouped into basic functions. Henry Mintzberg work is widely used in explaining the typical roles of managers. He found out that the mangers roles can be categorized into interpersonal, decisional and informational categories (Lewis et al., 2006). Interpersonal roles pertain to relationships and interactions that managers have with members of the organization and other constituents. Being a figure-head, liaison, and leader are the three interpersonal roles managers’ carries out (Lewis et al., 2006). They primarily perform functions which are ceremonial in nature as organizational unit heads. For example, managers at times host luncheons for customers important to the business or attend social events. In performing these, managers fulfill figureheads’ role. Managers are responsible for their organizational units or entire organization success or failure and that is why they must play the leader’s role. In this case, managers work with their employees and through them in ensuring that goals of the organization are met. Lastly, managers act as liaisons. They carry out coordination of activities between work groups and individuals inside the organization. They also perform development of favorable relationships with stakeholders outside the organization. In any business setup, decisions must be made. Managers play decision maker role. They process information and attain a conclusion. It is of note to observe that in itself, information is nearly without any meaning when they are not used in making organizational decisions. Decisional roles that are carried out by managers include negotiator, entrepreneur, resource handler and disturbance handler (Lewis et al., 2006). As an entrepreneur, manager is involved in initiation of projects that capitalizes on already identified opportunities. Managers handle disturbances arising from conflicts of interest or otherwise in the organization. Determination of projects that receives organizational resources is done by a manager as a resource allocator. As pointed out earlier, the roles of a manager are paramount to business success. They negotiate with employees’, customers, lenders and suppliers. He or she is responsible for all negotiations that ensure that the organization is driven towards achievement of its goals. By performing informational roles, responsibility of managers is to ensure that individuals they work with them possess the sufficient information necessary in undertaking their jobs effectively. Managers act as communication centers and source for others within the organization by nature of their managerial responsibilities. They disseminate information, monitor the environment and act as spokesperson of the business. Globalization has brought changes to technology, education, politics and business practices. The scope of change in the recent past has been phenomenal and this can be seen by the way our pace and quality life have been altered. A person having an internet connection, computer or a cell phone can conduct business globally in one location. Workers can also have multiple employment commitments across many countries and locally. Above all these, work needs communication. Individuals communicate in planning products and services to be offered; hiring, training, and motivating workers; coordinating manufacture and delivery of products and services; persuading customers to buy business products and services; and in billing them for sale purposes. Creation and delivery of product and services is done by communication. In any business, getting individuals’ points and messages across, getting work done and getting recognition for personal contributions is carried out by way of communication. Communication is a topic that has evolved over time with several changes experienced in the way. Currently, communication trends that are witnessed include teamwork, diversity, globalization, technology, and balancing work and family. Furthermore, the focus is on quality and needs of the customers, outsourcing and entrepreneurship and legal and ethical concerns. Technology is increasingly embraced in business and in turn helps in increasing productivity and saving money. In particular, advancements in technology provide instant communication at a business enterprise hence increasing its rate of attaining success. Moreover, communications all over the world seems closer through technology. The customers’ satisfaction was in decline in the late 1990s among American consumers but it has been on a general rise in the recent past (Locker & Kienzler, 2008). This can be attributed to the superior quality of products and services offered currently in the market. At the centre of focus on customers’ needs and quality is communication. Problem solving undertaken in groups and brainstorming are crucial in development of more efficient ways of doing things. When this is done, good ideas should then be communicated across the entire organization. Teamwork is a current communication trend that enhances and harnessed the good ideas in the organization. This is so because teamwork constitutes individuals having different strengths and talents important in solving problems and making decisions pertaining to issue at hand. In most cases, teams encompass people from different functions, nations or cultures that are served by the organization. Working in teams is a learning experience of identifying and solving various business problems. Communication is vital here as team members attempts to put their messages across to other members in finding solution to the problem. Teamwork makes sure that diversity is brought to the organization. People of different races, women, and immigrants are all brought together through teamwork. Treating readers of business messages has always been an underpinning principle governing good business communication. Emphasis on diversity also makes it a mandate of economic importance (Locker & Kienzler, 2008). Messages that are sent by the business should take legal and ethical concerns into perspective. They should be ethical in that it treats all the parties equally and fairly and are sensitive to all organizational stakeholders. The arguments should be logical and are supported with enough evidence. Globalization and outsourcing has brought many positive effects to the business community. Challenges of communication have also resulted from this relatively new trend as communicating across many cultures and countries become little tricky. In order to succeed in a global market, it requires ability to successfully communicate sensitively with persons coming from other countries and cultures, based on an understanding of differences in cultural backgrounds (Krizan et al., 2011). Moreover, one must be aware of miscommunication that can occur due to race, gender, ethnicity, religion and lifestyle. This is the foremost step towards achieving effective multicultural communication. In conclusion, effective business communication helps organizations in achieving its set goals and objectives. It can be done verbally, non-verbally or in a written manner. Communication is done to fulfill various goals and needs in the business. In order for these goals to be achieved, communication should be clear, understandable, complete and correct. It is therefore important for employees and all organizational members to have good business writing as this saves time and resources resulting from miscommunication arising from poor writing. Managers also undertake their functions effectively when communication in the entire organization is carried out in an effective and clear manner. This ensures that organizations members have a good understanding of each other. Hence, success in the business enterprise is inevitable. References Karmakar, A. (2011). Principles and Practices of Management and Business Communication. New Delhi: Pearson Education India Krizan, A. C., Merrier, P., Logan, J. P., & Williams, K.S. (2011). Business communication (8th ed.). Australia: South-Western Cengage Learning. Lewis, P. S., Goodman, S.H., Fandt, P.M., Michlitsch, J.F (2007). Management: Challenges for tomorrow's leaders (5th ed.). Mason, OH: Thomson/South-Western. Locker, K., & Kienzler, D. (2008). Business and Administrative Communication (8th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Read More