BUSINESS FUNDAMENTALS

• Business communication


  The exchange of information within a business or organisation for the purpose of achieving its objectives
• Forms of business communication

  • Verbal
  • Written
  • Non-verbal
  • Electronic
• Effective business communication


  • Crucial for the smooth operation of an organisation
  • Fosters collaboration among its members
  • Involves transmitting messages clearly and accurately to convey ideas, instructions, feedback, and other relevant information to internal and external stakeholders
  • Takes place within different levels of an organisation, between departments, with clients, suppliers, shareholders, and other relevant parties
  • Plays a vital role in facilitating decision-making, problem-solving, building relationships, and achieving overall business success
• Importance of business communication

  • Decision making
  • Relationship building
  • Employee engagement
  • Conflict resolution
  • Innovation and creativity
  • Customer satisfaction
  • Brand reputation
  • Compliance and risk management
  • Adaptability and growth
• Personal development


  Through communication, individuals can articulate their thoughts, express their emotions, and convey their aspirations, leading to greater self-awareness and self-expression
• Conflict resolution


  Effective communication skills are vital for resolving conflicts and disagreements in personal and professional relationships. By expressing concerns, listening attentively, and finding common ground, individuals can navigate conflicts constructively and preserve harmony
• Career advancement


  Strong communication skills are highly valued in the workplace and can contribute to career advancement. Individuals who can communicate effectively are better equipped to collaborate with colleagues, present ideas, and influence decision-making, enhancing their professional success
• Emotional well-being


  Communication serves as a means of emotional expression and support. By sharing their feelings, experiences, and challenges with others, individuals can receive empathy, validation, and encouragement, promoting their emotional well-being and resilience
• Types of communication


  • Verbal communication
  • Non-verbal communication
  • Written communication
  • Visual communication
• Verbal communication


  Involves the use of spoken words, including face-to-face conversations, telephone conversations, video calls, meetings, presentations, and oral instructions
• Non-verbal communication


  Involves conveying messages without the use of words, including body language, facial expressions, gestures, posture, tone of voice, eye contact, and other visual and auditory cues
• Written communication


  Involves the use of written or typed words to convey messages, including emails, letters, memos, reports, proposals, text messages, instant messages, and other written documents
• Visual communication


  Involves conveying information through visual elements such as graphs, charts, diagrams, maps, photographs, videos, and illustrations. It enhances understanding by presenting complex data in a visually appealing format
• Documentation


  Serves as a means to preserve important information, such as policies, procedures, processes, and best practices. It ensures that knowledge is not lost when employees leave the organisation or when there are changes in personnel. It is legally binding documents that can be used in a court of law, including contracts, agreements, policies, and other formal written records that outline the terms and conditions of a legal relationship or transaction
• Purpose of messages


  • To inform
  • To request or persuade
  • To build goodwill
• Most messages have more than one purpose


  Example: When you answer a question, you are informing, but you also want to build goodwill by suggesting that you are competent and perceptive and that your answer is correct and complete
• Business communication and school writing

  • Purpose: Business communication meets an organisational need, while school writing demonstrates that the student has learned the course material and their intelligence
  • Audience: Business communication includes both people inside and outside the organisation, while school writing is limited to the teacher/instructor and other students
  • Information: Business communication usually contains new information to the reader, while school writing may contain information that is new to the student but rarely new to the instructor
  • Organisation: Business communication is organised to meet the psychological needs of the reader, with main points coming up front, while school writing follows the essay form
  • Style: Business communication is friendly with short words and a mix of sentence and paragraph lengths, while school writing is formal with big words, long sentences and paragraphs
  • Document Design: Business communication needs to be skimmable with headings, lists, and visual elements, while school writing may not always prioritise visual design
  • Visuals: Business communication encourages the use of visuals, graphs, tables, and slides, while few school classes expect writing to contain anything other than words
• Writing costs money, including paper, computers, software and most importantly employees' time
• Poor writing costs the organisation a lot as it results in a waste of time, effort, and jeopardises goodwill
• Bad writing wastes time
• Ineffective messages don't get results
• Poor messages damage business relationships
• Good communication is worth every minute it takes and every penny it costs
• Criteria for good business and administrative writing


  • Be clear
  • Be complete
  • Be correct
  • Save the reader's time
  • Build goodwill
• Evaluating a specific document

  1. Know the interactions between the writer, the reader(s), the purposes of the message, and the situation

  2. No single set of words will work for all readers in all situations
• Questions to understand business communication situations

  • What's at stake and to whom?
  • Should you send a message?
  • What channel should you use?
  • What should you say?
  • How should you say it?
• PAIBOC


  A question to analyse business communication problems, covering Purposes, Audience, Information, Benefits, Objections, and Context