Business communication is a complex thing.
Communication as a concept means far more than just a message or a
conversation. It means the mutual understanding of the subject matter and
therefore, in business, communication is most imperative to get right.
Everything in the workplace is dependent on good communication across teams and
individuals, from the planning stages of any activity right through to the
reporting of its success.
In contrast to personal communication,
business communication always comes with an end goal. There is a certain amount
of regulation associated with communication within the workplace, and rules
that each company put into place in order to establish good business practice.
Previously, business communication was limited to telephone conversations and
paperwork, however now there are far more channels of communication including
email, video conferencing and instant messaging.
Understand the unique skill
of business communication as we break down the key concepts
There
are two main types of business communication that incorporate all of the
different communication channels: written communication and oral communication.
Oral communication covers things such as meetings, informal chats, telephone
conversations, group discussions and interviews. Written communication includes
emails, instant messages, reports and documentation.
Based on
Structure
The
first one is the structure of communication; the channel used for interaction
plays a vital role.
It can
be further bifurcated into the following two categories:
Formal
Communication
It is a
regular and organised channel of work-related communication within a company,
where the employees have to coordinate through a proper medium among
themselves.
Types
of Formal Communication Network: A communication network is a pattern
designed to understand how information travels from one person to another.
Let us now go through the different networks provided under formal
communication:
·
Chain: When an employee passes on official
information to the other employee who further communicates it to a third
employee creates a chain pattern. For example; the CEO informs the sales target
to the General Manager, the GM also transmits it to the Sales Manager.
Wheel: When a single
employee communicates any organisational information to a group of co-workers,
a wheel pattern is formed. For example; Team leader reading out a circular
issued by the management in front of other co-workers.
Circular: An employee
communicates information to his colleague, who passes it on to another
co-worker and so on. The message passes from one employee to another and
finally reaches to the person who initiates the process.
Free
Flow: In this type of network, no particular pattern is followed.
Information is spread in a non-systematic manner by anyone. For example; in an
emergency condition in the organisation, say in case of a short circuit, the
information is randomly spread among the employees.
Inverted
V: Under this network, the subordinates can communicate
directly with their immediate senior as well as their senior or top management
too. For example; sales executives can interact with their team leader as well
as with the manager.
Informal
Communication
It is an
unofficial form of communication arising out of friendship or casual relations,
where the discussions may or may not be related to the work or the
organisation.
Types of Informal Communication
Network: Though there is no particular system which is
followed for informal communication, still following are the four informal
networks identified:
·
Single Strand: Similar to the chain pattern, in single strand too,
the information goes on passing from one person to another; then to the next;
and so on.
·
Gossip / Grapevine: One single person spreads information
within an informal group where the message may or may not be valid.
This pattern is also called as grapevine.
·
Probability: It is similar to the gossip pattern, but here, it
is not necessary that everyone is involved in the communication.
·
Cluster: When a person passes on information only to his
trustworthy people believing that they won’t tell it to anyone, but they do the
same thing. Thus, the message spreads to a selected group of people; this
network is known as a cluster.
Based on the
Medium of Communication
The way a message is framed and the channel used
for sending information to the receiver determines the following forms of
communication:
Verbal
Communication
Transmission
of information which is enclosed in words whether written or said is known as
verbal communication.
A
message framed in words when spoken to the receiver is termed as oral
communication. It includes face to face interaction, calls, voice
calls, video calls, a recorded message, etc.
Non-Verbal
Communication
As we
say ‘actions speak louder than words’, expressing information other than words
is known as non-verbal communication. Any communication remains incomplete
without the use of non-verbal means.
There
are different types of non-verbal communication, including kinesis,
paralanguage, chronemics, artefacts, proxemics and haptics.
Kinesis refers to interactions through facial
expressions, body language, eye contact, gestures, postures, etc. However, paralanguage is
the way we speak, i.e. tone, volume, pitch, etc.
Artefacts include the appearance, personality, dressing
sense and presentability of a person. Whereas, chronemics is the timing,
punctuality, pause etc. while speaking.
Proxemics is the distance which a person maintains
while communicating with others, speaks a lot about the relation between the
two. Lastly, haptics or
the touch also inform about the feelings and expressiveness of a person.
