Chapter 1Business Communications

It is the transfer or exchange of thoughts, information, ideas, and feelings by speech, writing, or signals between at least two people.

In today’s workforce, the quality of your communication will have direct bearing on your success on the job.

Provide factual information Inform readers about or provide information Clarify and condense information State precise responsibilities Persuade and make recommendations

Sender has an idea Sender encodes the idea Sender transmits the message Receiver gets the message Receiver decodes the message Receiver sends feedback

FEEDBACK

MESSAGE

IDEA

REACTION

SENDER AUDIENCE

Chapter 1

The situation of communication includes what is happening and where it is happening.◦ School – classroom, lunch table, hallway◦ Church◦ Home – dinner table, in front of tv, between

sibilings◦ Telephone◦ Blog

The sender is the person who is speaking, writing, or typing.

The background and experiences of the sender always affect the message.◦ You◦ Your parent/grandparent◦ The teacher◦ Your BFF◦ Casual friends◦ Boyfriend/girlfriend◦ Principal◦ Boss

The receiver of the message is the audience. The audience could be one person or thousands. Two groups of audiences:

◦ Specialists Principal to teacher(s) Nurse to doctor(s) Computer tech to computer tech(s)

◦ Generalists Computer tech to teacher(s) Doctor to patient(s) Principal to parent(s)

The message is the information and ideas relayed by the sender to the audience.

If the message is communicated in an unclear manner, it can cause workers to waste time, materials, and money.

While there are many purposes to consider, the basics are:◦ Socialize◦ Inform/Report◦ Persuade◦ Request

Chapter 1: Communicating Messages Effectively

Communication is effective if something happens as a result.

Effective communication is an interactive process

Sender must analyze (study) the audience. THEN… Sender must adapt (adjust) the message.

What form should the message take? How will the audience use the message? Will the audience want to hear, read, or listen

to my message? Will a visual help? How can I design a user-friendly page? How can I convince the audience to do what I

want?

Chapter 1

Writing

Revising Planning

Written messages are planned so that the sender says exactly what they want to say to the receiver.

Do your planning before you begin writing

PlanningRevising

Writing

Requires the following:◦ Analyzing the audience◦ Determining the purpose◦ Collecting information◦ Selecting and organizing information

The secret to success is…do it wrong the first time.

Professional writers prepare many drafts with the help of editors and proofreaders.

PlanningRevising

Writing

Write without breaks◦ Stopping to edit breaks your train of thought

Don’t stop to read what you have written If you don’t know how to spell a word, do your

best and correct it later If you don’t know the right word, use the wrong

one – you can fix it later

JUST KEEP WRITING TO THE ENDEdit and revise later!

Writing effective messages requires that you edit: check, proofread, and revise.

If you use a word processing program (such as MSWord) editing is easier using Spell Check and Grammar Check.

PlanningRevising

Writing

Let time pass between writing and revising because your eyes will see what your brain wants on the paper, not what may actually be there.

Read messages aloud to yourself. Sentences may look fine but sound wrong.

Ask teachers, parents, and friends to read your work so that they can also supply feedback and corrections.