List of topics
Introduction
1 Communicating in the business environment
2 Corporate communication 3 The corporate ethos
4 Problems 5 Making it happen
6 The communications audit 7 Training
Previous chapters have outlined the theory of communication, and investigated what is needed for communication to be effective. This chapter begins the movement from theory to practice which will characterise the rest of this book. After a brief look at communication in general in the business context, we turn to the way corporate entities are organised and run. This leads on to the way communication is organised in such entities, and the effect the overall ethos of the entity will have on the way it communicates. The chapter ends by considering some of the problems that can arise, and offers two possible solutions.
1
Communicating in the business environment
The fact that you are reading this text and proposing to take an examination means that you have already learned at least one language, and a quite difficult one at that – English. Some of you may actually have learned more than one language. You will probably have a vocabulary of several thousand words, and be capable of expressing complex ideas using quite complicated sentence constructions, even if English is not your first language. You are already a successful communicator, so why is there more to learn?
1 For business purposes, your existing vocabulary may not be enough – there will be many words and specialist terms in use around you which you will need to be master of.
2 At work you will need to communicate with a variety of people, both inside and outside the organisation. The words you use and the way you speak in your everyday living may be quite satisfactory for your dealings with friends and family, but they are almost certainly not right for your business dealings.
3 Languages – and especially English – are continually changing and developing. Many of these changes are business-based.
4 Communication is even more important in the business context than in the social – maybe even vital. Good communication, it has been said, is the lifeblood of successful organisations.
5 You need to be confident – to be able to use all the means available to you – telephones and letters, fax and email, reports and memos.
People work better when persuaded rather than pushed, and persuasion is a much- needed management skill. The link between the persuader (the Manager) and the persuaded (the Managed), both upwards and downwards, is communication.
Those who have made a successful career for themselves in business know that doing well is linked, or even dependent on, the ability to communicate effectively.
1.1 Planning and preparation
Over and over again, the importance of planning and preparation will be emphasised in this text.
● Analyse and organise your material.
● Ask yourself, what is it that I want to convey? Can I give it a title which will accurately describe it?
● Can the material be split into smaller, more easily digested parts which will help the recipient to grasp the structure of the whole and appreciate the relationships involved?
● What details are essential? Who, when, where, why, what, how? Arrange the details into a structured, logical order.
● Check the outline. Have I missed anything? Is it in a logical order? Is there too much? Is there too little?
1.2 Style
Pieces of written work – reports, letters, emails, etc. – when sent out, become your personal representatives, especially when they are received by someone who does not know you: these pieces of work will convey to the recipient an image of yourself. You must make sure that the image conveyed is a favourable one. A principal ingredient in producing work which will create such an impression is style.
Style is considered in some detail in Chapter 12, especially with regard to writing. It is enough, here, to think of it in terms of being aware of the different effects that various combinations of words, expressions and structures can have, and developing the ability to express ideas in informative, discursive or persuasive ways.
1.3 Making contact
Whenever you meet someone, greet them, and eventually say goodbye, considerable social interaction is involved, whether the other person is well known to you or a total stranger; these interactions are all part of the communication process. The way you greet them will be determined by how well you know them, how long you have known them, and whether the relationship is an equal one or not.
Initial greetings should be as warm as possible, although cultural differences should always be respected. Meetings can end courteously, even if there has been no
agreement, and a farewell can be as warm and friendly as was the original greeting. How
PART TWO Communication in the workplace 30
style
The approach and choice of words and expression which can be adjusted to suit specific circumstances.
much and, indeed, if any bodily contact should be made is a fine judgement, and cultural and sexual differences have to be considered. A handshake may be a normal greeting in the West but is an inappropriate one in, say, Japan or Korea, where it is normal to bow in greeting, with respect shown and judged by the depth of the bow.
CHAPTER 3 Business communications in context 31
2
Corporate communication
2.1 Corporate communication
There are three branches to corporate communication: ● management communication – by senior managers
● marketing communication – advertising, sponsorship, sales promotion, direct mail ● organisational communication – PR, corporate affairs, internal and external
communication.
2.2 Governance
Governanceis not about the actual running of the company, more about giving direction to the enterprise, and overseeing the management of the company.
Managementruns the business; governance makes sure it is run correctly.
Governance, therefore, is different from management, and involves setting a corporate direction, and overseeing executive action, supervision and accountability.
2.3 Hierarchy, status and authority
In a large organisation, hierarchy can cause distortion, and can stifle upward
communication. This comes about because of the number of layers that messages have to go through to travel from one end of the hierarchy to the other. Centralisation can separate local experts and managers from the decision makers, encouraging irrelevant and misleading information. Status can have a devastating effect on those who have little of it. People of high rank feel free to interrupt those lower in the hierarchy, and may take little account of what those lower say. From a position at the bottom of the chain, your voice may feel weak and unheard. Status confers authority, so that even a
manager’s silence may be subject to scrutiny and interpretation.
2.4 Corporate culture
Deal and Kennedy (1982) suggest that there are four main types of company culture, based on key attributes. The key attributes are:
Stop and think
3.1
Remember the five important points in preparing your work. Think back to the last time you had to write an important letter, memo or report. Try to think how well you carried out each of the points of preparation, and, most importantly, whether you could have done each one better.
governance
The act, manner, fact or function of governing. management The administration of business concerns or public undertakings.
● values: shared beliefs and philosophies
● heroes: individuals who seem to personify the organisation’s values ● rites and rituals: the ways in which members celebrate the values