Business communication

The word communication has been derived from the Latin word communis which implies common. Thus communication may be defined as interchange of thoughts and information to bring about mutual understanding.

Business communication encompasses topics such as marketing, brand management, customer relations, consumer behavior, advertising, public relations, corporate communication, community engagement, reputation management, interpersonal communication, employee engagement, and event management. It is closely related to the fields of professional communication and technical communication.

When management communicates with their employees the stress levels of those employees decreases significantly. It gives the employee some clarification and reassurance. Managements goal should be to help their employees be as efficient as possible.[2] In order to achieve this efficiency every company strives to reach communication is necessary. Over communication can only be a bad thing when employees see this as micromanaging. By having good communication and not micromanaging employees, they will feel more valued. It gives opportunity for employees to use their own thoughts and share those perspectives with management. Communication in general is valued even more in international business communications to allow for the understanding of cultures and overall morale of the operation.[3]

Media channels for business communication:

• Internet
• Email
• Print media
• Radio
• Television
• Ambient media
• Word of mouth.

Business communication focuses primarily on achieving goals/aims and, in the case of a public company or organization, increasing dividends of shareholders[4]

Business communication is a common topic included in the curricular of Undergraduate and Master's degree programs at many colleges and universities.

• Marketing[1]
• Brand Management[1]
• Customer/public relations[1]

• Verbal and nonverbal[5]
• Web-based communication;
• Video conferencing: allows people in different locations to hold interactive meetings;
• Reports: important in documenting the activities of any department;
• Presentations: popular method of communication in all types of organizations, usually involving audiovisual material, like copies of reports, or material prepared in Microsoft PowerPoint or Adobe Flash;
• Telephone meetings: which allow for long distance speech;
• Forum boards: which allow people to instantly post information at a centralized location;
• Face-to-face meetings: which are personal and should have a written follow-up;
• Suggestion box: primarily for upward communication, because some people may hesitate to communicate with management directly, so they can give suggestions by drafting one and putting it in the suggestion box.
• Letters;[6]
• Memos: letters to members of a company or organization;[6]

• Starts though learning in a course[7]
• Teachers can implement certain tactics to help their student to get more prepared for what will come in the real world[7]
• The reason that they are trying to teach students to benefit others is, "society demands graduates who are ethical, socially responsible, and globally aware"[7]
• It improves competitiveness[8]

• How encoding or decoding processes occur[9]
• Differences in the states of mind, body and perspective between sender and receiver[9]
• Anything in the environment where the communication occurs[9]
• Problems in understanding[10]
• Problems with interpretation of language[11]
• Culture[12]

• Written feedback[13]
• Clarity[14]
• Taking a business writing course[15]

• Top-down communication
  • Communication within the business that is passed down from the top of the business hierarchy to the bottom, the amount of information passed from one level to another relies on a "need to know" basis.[1]
• Bottom-up communication
  • Communication within the business that is passed up through the business hierarchy from the bottom up.[1]
• Horizontal communication
  • Communication with those who are on the same level in the business hierarchy as one, very little information moves up or down the chain of command.[1]

• Founded in 1936 by Shankar is the Association for Business Communication (ABC),[16] originally called the Association of College Teachers of Business Writing, is "an international, interdisciplinary organization committed to advancing business communication research, education, and practice."
• The IEEE Professional Communication Society (PCS) is dedicated to understanding and promoting effective communication in engineering, scientific, and other environments, including business environments. PCS's academic journal,[17] is one of the premier journals in Europe communication. The journal’s readers are engineers, writers, information designers, managers, and others working as scholars, educators, and practitioners who share an interest in the effective communication of technical and business information.
• The Society for Technical Communication is a professional association dedicated to the advancement of the theory and practice of technical communication. With membership of more than 6,000 technical communicators, it's the largest organization of its type in North America.
• The International Business Communication Standards are practical proposals for the conceptual and visual design of comprehensible reports and presentations.