CHAPTER 2:

THE NATURE OF BUSINESS

COMMUNICATION
 SUB-TOPIC

• 2.1 Explain the business communication process

• 2.2 Describe the business communication barriers
• 2.3 Recognize the effect of business communication barriers
• 2.4 Explain on overcoming barriers to effective business
communication
Define business communication process
 Components of business communication process
• Sender:
• Sender is a person who sends the message.
• A sender makes use of symbols (words or graphic or visual aids) to convey the
message and produce the required response.
• Sender may be an individual or a group or an organization.
• The views, background, approach, skills, competencies, and knowledge of the sender
have a great impact on the message.
• The verbal and non verbal symbols chosen are essential in ascertaining interpretation
of the message by the recipient in the same terms as intended by the sender.
• Example: Unilever advertising agency is the sender.
• Encoding:
• Encoding means the process of putting thought into symbolic form which can be
understood by another person to whom the sender wants to communicate the idea.
• In other word, encoding means converting the idea into a understandable message.
• Example: Unilever advertising agency assembles words and illustrations into an
advertisement that will convey the intended message.
 Components of business communication process
• Message:
• Message is a key idea that the sender wants to communicate.
• It is a sign that elicits the response of recipient.
• Communication process begins with deciding about the message to be conveyed.
• It must be ensured that the main objective of the message is clear.
• Media:
• Media refers to the specific communication channel through which the message
moves from sender to receiver.
• It bridges the gap between the sender and the receiver.
• Use different types of media for transmitting messages like letter, newspapers, radio,
TV, telephone, fax, e-mail etc. in our example; media means television and specific
television program that Unilever selects.
 Components of business communication process
• Decoding:
• Decoding is the process by which the receiver assigns meaning to the symbols
encoded by the sender.
• According to Bovee and Others, “Decoding is the process of interpreting a message
to arrive at the senders meaning.”
• Communication will be more effective if decoding matches clearly with encoding. In
our example, the consumer watched the advertisement of Lux and interprets the
words and illustrations it contains.
• Receiver:
• Receiver is the person or party who receives the message sent by the other party
(sender).
• Example, receiver is the audience who watches the advertisement of Lux soap.
 Components of business communication process
• Response:
• Response is the reaction of the receiver after being exposed to the message.
• It is the action or reaction of the receiver after getting the message.
• The response may be immediate or deferred, favorable or unfavorable.
• Example, the responses of advertisement of Lux may be consumer likes Lux better, likely to
purchase Lux soap next time etc.
• Feedback:
• The observation of the receiver’s response is called feedback.
• In other words, the part of the receiver’s response communicated back to the sender is called
feedback. Actually, it is the amount of response of the receiver that reaches to the senders.
• Example, the feedback may be that consumers praise or criticize Unilever advertising its
products. Feedback is extremely important for making two-way communication effective.
• It enables the sender to evaluate the effectiveness of the message.
 Components of business communication process
• Noise:
• The last element of Business Communication Process is noise.
• Noise is the unplanned static or distortion during the communication process
that results in the receiver’s getting a different message than the sender
sends.
• It is the disturbance occurred in the process of transferring the information.
Noise may occur in any of the steps in the communication process.
• Example, the audience or consumer may have poor TV reception or may be
distracted by family members while watching the advertisement.
ACTIVITY 1:
Activity 2: Pandang-pandang, cerita-cerita, lukis-lukis

• Objektif: Memberikan kefahaman betapa pentingnya komunikasi dalam kumpulan.

• Material: Gambar, pen marker dan kertas lukisan.
• Perlaksanaan:

1. Sebuah lukisan diletakkan di sebuah bilik atau ruang tertutup.

2. Ketua kumpulan akan membahagikan kumpulan mereka kepada seorang pemandang, seorang pelukis dan baki ahli kumpulan akan
menjadi talian telefon.

3. Pemandang akan diberi masa selama 3 minit untuk melihat gambar yang digantung di dalam sebuah bilik.

4. Setelah pemandang berpuas hati dengan ingatannya. Pemandang akan bergerak ke arah talian telefon yang merupakan ahli
kumpulan yang berbaris. Pemandang akan menggambarkan apa yang dilihat sehingga beliau berpuas hati. Kemudian Talian 1 akan
bergerak ke talian 2 untuk menyampaikan maklumat. Ia berterusa sehingga talian habis. Kemudian talian terakhir akan
menyampaikan kepada pelukis. Pelukis akan melukis berdasarkan apa yang diceritakan kepadanya.

5. Hasil lukisan akan dibandingkan dengan lukisan asal.

6. Kenapakah ini terjadi? Bincangkan.

Discussion;
• Mengapakah lukisan ini berbeza sedikit daripada lukisan asal?
• Apakah kemungkinan-kemungkinan yang menyebabkan maklumat
yang dikomunikasikan berubah?
• Bagaimana hasil aktiviti ini dapat diperbaik?
Define business communication process
 Business communication barriers

Barriers

Noise and Competing Channel

Filters
distractions messages breakdowns
 Business communication barriers
• Noise and distraction
• External distraction range from poor acoustics to uncomfortable meeting
rooms to crowded computer screens with instant messages and reminders
popping up all over the place.
• Internal distraction are thoughts and emotions that prevent audiences from
focusing on incoming messages.
• Competing messages
• Having your audience’s undivided attention is a rare luxury.
• In many cases, you must compete with other messages that are trying to
reach your audience at the same time.
• Too many messages can result in information overload.
 Business communication barriers
• Filters
• Messages can be blocked or distorted by filters, which are any human or technology
intervention between the sender and the receiver.
• Filtering can be both intentional (such as automatically filing e-mail messages based
on sender or content) or unintentional (such as an overly aggressive spam filter that
deletes legitimate e-mail).
• Channel breakdowns
• Sometimes the channel simply breaks down and fails to deliver your message at all.
• A colleague you were counting on to deliver a message to your boss might have
forgotten to do so, a brochure you sent to a customer might have gotten lost in the
mail or a computer serves might have crashed and prevented your blog from
displaying.
Effect of business communication barriers
• Noise acts as a devil in business communication.
• Any information downloaded at a noisy place is bound to get distorted and result in a
complete mess.
• Noise reduces the chances of the correct flow of information from the sender to the receiver.
• If the office is noisy, errors are bound to happen and thus increasing conflicts among the
team members and decreasing the efficiency of the employees.
• Example; Munirah wanted to go through the complete budget of the sales, marketing and the
operations team. She passed on this information to Rahman at his workstation around which
lots of other employees were shouting, the base phone was constantly ringing and the
photocopier machine was making a terrible noise. At the end of the day, Rahman submitted
the report but the budget for the operations team was missing in the report. Rahman
actually had heard only about sales and marketing department and thus skipped the report
of the operations team. Munirah fired Rahman and even stopped his appraisal. Unwanted
distractions, noise, chit chats of the other employees etc played the culprit and poor Rahman
missed out on his promotion.
Effect of business communication barriers
• Unorganized and Haphazard thoughts also lead to ineffective communication in
organizations.
• Business communications are bound to suffer due to ineffective communication. If any
individual wants something from his team members, he first must be himself very clear what
actually he expects from his team. The boss must clearly mention his team member’s key
responsibility areas in clear words to avoid wastage of manpower, duplicacy of work,
effective time management and more output from them
• Not cross checking among themselves or with the superiors also spoils the business
communication to a large extent.
• Misha was sharing her phone number with her client and she never bothered to verify with
her client whether he has noted the correct number or not. One day, the client had a major
query and he had to discuss with Misha on an urgent basis. He kept on trying the same
number which Misha gave but someone else was responding. He then had to call the front
desk lady to get connected with Misha and obviously he was furious. The client had wrongly
noted Misha’s number and thus wasted his precious time and lost his temper. While sharing
any important contact number it is the responsibility of the speaker to cross check with the
listener. Email ids must be spelled out properly to avoid wrong spellings and unnecessary
wastage of time.
Effect of business communication barriers
• During any business meeting, presentation or seminar, the speaker has to
be very careful about his pitch and tone.
• It has been observed that during seminars or presentations only the front benchers
are attentive, the last benchers are almost lost in their own sweet world.
• The person who chairs the meeting has to speak very clearly, has to be very
confident and must maintain a tone audible to everyone, even to the individuals
sitting on the last row. Information must pass to them also to expect the best out of
them and increase their efficiency.
• Try to make the seminar or the meeting interactive. Don't just speak, also invite
questions from the team. After any seminar or meeting, the superior or the in charge
must send the minutes of the meeting through e mail to all the required recipients to
avoid last minute confusions and discrepancies. The speaker must ensure whether
everyone is clear or not ?
Effect of business communication barriers
• Difference in thought process also results in a poor communication in business areas.
• A boss and the employee can never think on the same level. Let us try to understand the situation with
the help of an example.
• Jude to Harry - “Harry, I need the complete financial report by end of the day”
• By financial report, Jude actually meant the complete financial analysis, which would include the
complete details of how much the company spends in advertising, promotional activities, and other
marketing activities.,analyse the inflow and outflow of expenditure patterns and so on.
• Harry could never understand Jude’s thought process. He simply compiled the expenditure details and
handed over to Jude. Jude was obviously not happy. He was expecting much more from Harry. Harry
had to resubmit the project resulting in duplicacy of effort and wastage of time. Jude should have made
it very clear from the very beginning what all he was expecting from Harry. He kept half of his things
within himself and did not share with Harry. Poor Harry had to redo his work. Every individual has a
different mindset, different level of understanding and thus it is important to share each and every
detail with others and clarify the things from the very beginning.
• One should remember that the listeners are also a part of the conversation. The listeners must give
their feedback at the end of the conversation. If you are not clear what your boss is expecting out of
you, or what you are actually supposed to do, please ASK. Don’t hesitate, ask questions. Don’t hide your
queries, ask and clear your doubts then and there only. Your boss will only feel happy if you share your
queries with him.
 Overcoming barriers to effective business communication

• Eliminating differences in perception:

• The organization should ensure that it is recruiting right individuals on the
job.
• It’s the responsibility of the interviewer to ensure that the interviewee has
command over the written and spoken language.
• There should be proper Induction program so that the policies of the
company are clear to all the employees.
• There should be proper trainings conducted for required employees (for eg:
Voice and Accent training).
 Overcoming barriers to effective business communication

• Use of Simple Language:

• Use of simple and clear words should be emphasized. Use of ambiguous words and
jargons should be avoided.
• Reduction and elimination of noise levels:
• Noise is the main communication barrier which must be overcome on priority basis.
• It is essential to identify the source of noise and then eliminate that source.
• Active Listening:
• Listen attentively and carefully.
• There is a difference between “listening” and “hearing”.
• Active listening means hearing with proper understanding of the message that is
heard.
• By asking questions the speaker can ensure whether his/her message is understood
or not by the receiver in the same terms as intended by the speaker.
 Overcoming barriers to effective business communication
• Emotional State:
• During communication one should make effective use of body language.
• He/she should not show their emotions while communication as the receiver might
misinterpret the message being delivered.
• For example, if the conveyer of the message is in a bad mood then the receiver might think
that the information being delivered is not good.
• Simple Organizational Structure:
• The organizational structure should not be complex.
• The number of hierarchical levels should be optimum.
• There should be a ideal span of control within the organization. Simpler the organizational
structure, more effective will be the communication.
• Avoid Information Overload:
• The managers should know how to prioritize their work.
• They should not overload themselves with the work.
• They should spend quality time with their subordinates and should listen to their problems
and feedbacks actively.
 Overcoming barriers to effective business communication
• Give Constructive Feedback:
• Avoid giving negative feedback.
• The contents of the feedback might be negative, but it should be delivered constructively.
• Constructive feedback will lead to effective communication between the superior and
subordinate.
• Proper Media Selection:
• The managers should properly select the medium of communication.
• Simple messages should be conveyed orally, like: face to face interaction or meetings.
• Use of written means of communication should be encouraged for delivering complex
messages.
• For significant messages reminders can be given by using written means of communication
such as : Memos, Notices etc.
• Flexibility in meeting the targets:
• For effective communication in an organization the managers should ensure that the
individuals are meeting their targets timely without skipping the formal channels of
communication.
• There should not be much pressure on employees to meet their targets.