Written Communication (E305)

Session Two
Business communications in context
Communicating in the business environment
Corporate communication
The corporate ethos

1- Communicating in the business

environment
Introduction: why is there a need to learn more?
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.

Planning and preparation

Over and over again, the importance of planning and preparation will be emphasised.
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?

Style
Style is the approach and choice of words and expressions
which can be adjusted to suit specific circumstances;
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.

Making contact: social interactions

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 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.

2- Corporate communication:
branches and concepts
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.

Governance versus Management

Governance: The act, manner, fact or function
of governing.
Management: The administration of business
affairs or public activities.

Governance versus Management

Governance is not about the actual running of
the company, more about giving direction to the
enterprise, and overseeing the management of
the company.
Management runs 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.

Effect of Hierarchy on Communication

In a large organisation, hierarchy can cause
distortion, and can stifle (repress, suffocate)
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.

Effect of Status on Communication

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 managers
silence may be subject to scrutiny and
interpretation.

Corporate culture
There are four main types of company culture,
based on key attributes. The key attributes are:
values: shared beliefs and philosophies
heroes: individuals who seem to personify the
organisations values
rites and rituals: the ways in which members
celebrate the values
communication network: the informal channels
which spread the values.

The four types of company culture

1 Tough-guy macho culture: Here individuals take risks, work hard and fast, and
expect quick feedback and awards; it favours the young and is very competitive. It
is difficult to get staff to co-operate.
2 Work hard/play hard culture: This prospers in a much less risky environment where
staff are rewarded for hard work, and team play and conforming to recognised
procedures are all emphasised.
3 Bet your company culture: This is exemplified by large businesses which invest
large amounts in projects which take a long time to complete. Risks are high, but
feedback may take a long time. Members of staff are valued for their
commitment, competence and endurance.
4 Process culture: This places a strong emphasis on how things are done getting it
right and attending to detail. There is low risk and low feedback.

Corporate culture and Communication

An organisations culture is expressed through
communication, and the content of the
communication reflects the cultural values of
the organisation.

Communication strategy
There are three important things to be determined:
1 - What are the objectives for communicating, and what
does the organisation want to happen as a result of
communicating?
2 - What resources are available in terms of:
money
people
time?
3 - What is the organisations reputation; how is it viewed
by the organisation, group, people or person it wishes
to communicate with?

Management/staff communication
management should realise the importance
of communication and act to implement it.
The vision that senior management may have
of the organisation needs to be
communicated downwards to all the
employees; this will set the standard of
communication expected throughout the
organisation.

Upward/downward
It used to be the situation in most organisations
that communication used to flow, for the most
part, in one direction downwards.
Today it is considered to be essential that
information flows in all directions, as needed, and
as appropriate.
Upwards and downwards implies that
communication is taking place between people of
differing status.

Horizontal/Diagonal
Horizontal communication takes place
between people of the same status.
Diagonal communication happens between
different departments, when there is no
obvious line of authority.
Have a look at the following figure:
Communication flow within organizations

MD

HR

Payroll

Recruitment

Marketing

Direct

The corporate ethos

Ethos can mean the disposition, character, or
fundamental qualities particular to a specific
corporation. Ethos refers to the spirit which
motivates the ideas and customs.
Main Corporate ethos qualities include
Trustworthiness, Expertise, and Empathy
(Compassionate understanding)

Trust and credibility

Trust can be seen as the absence of fear. Fear
results from injury caused by someone who
was previously trusted. A manager may be
trusted and respected for many years, but one
lapse and all trust may be lost; trust takes a
moment to be lost and sometimes a lifetime
to build. With trust comes credibility.

 Why is it that some managers seem to be credible, while

others are regarded with hostility and suspicion?
There is an important label on every message the identity of
the person who sent it. It is on the basis of the label, on the
way in which we see the sender of the message, that we
decide whether to accept the message, regard it with
suspicion, or reject it.
Anyone regarded as credible, and therefore trustworthy, can
communicate far more effectively than one seen as
untrustworthy, even though their communication skills may be
the same.

How to increase credibility and trust?

Tell people about things in advance.
Ask them for input.
Listen to everyone carefully.
Show you have been listening, by changing your
plans if necessary.
Stay in touch.
Use plain language.
Bring everyone into the decision-making process,
especially those most affected.

Ethics
The science of morals, moral principles and rules of
conduct.
Morality
The distinction between right and wrong.
Probity
Uprightness, honesty.
Integrity
Soundness, uprightness, honesty.

Ethics
Ethics, morals, probity and integrity
Ethics means the principles of right and wrong
which individuals use to guide them when
making choices in their behaviour. The same
principles can be employed to guide an
organisation in the choices it makes.

Is this unethical?
Consider the problem facing managers over
whether or not to monitor employees who
use a business network for personal reasons.
Is such monitoring just good business sense,
or is it unethical, or even an illegal invasion of
privacy? The problem is even greater when
the network is opened up to include access to
the internet, with all the temptations that
offers.

Probity and Integrity

Probity and integrity are not tenets applicable
only to dealings involving money and finance.
Building and maintaining a reputation for
honest dealing in your communications is just
as important as your reputation in financial
matters. Like trust and credibility, too, it can
take a long time to acquire, and a moment to
lose.

Assignment
Presentation on
Importance of Ethos in Communication