Lecture Business and administrative communication: Chapter 1 - Kitty O. Locker, Donna S. Kienzler

Chapter 1 - Succeeding in business communication. After studying this chapter, you will know: What the benefits of good communication are, why students need to be able to communicate well, what the costs of communication are, what the costs of poor communication are, what the basic criteria for effective messages are, what role conventions play in business communication, how to solve business communication problems.

Chapter 1

Succeeding in Business

Communication

well

communication

 Verbal

 Face-to-face

 Phone

conversations

 Informal

meetings

 Presentations

Text messages

 Nonverbal

 Computer graphics

 Company logos

 Smiles

 Size of an office

 Location of people at meetings

 Business communication has three

purposes

 To inform

 To request or persuade

 To build goodwill

 Most messages have more than one

purpose

 Internal

 Go to people inside organization

 Memo to subordinates, superiors, peers

 External

 Go to people outside organization

 Letter to customers, suppliers, others

 Effective communication

 Saves time

 Increases productivity

 Communicates ideas more clearly

 Builds goodwill

 Poor communication

 Wastes time

 Wastes efforts

 Loses goodwill

 Causes legal problems

 Clear

 Complete

 Correct

 Saves receiver’s

time

 Builds goodwill

 Widely accepted practices you routinely

encounter

 Vary by organizational setting

 Help people recognize, produce, and

interpret communications

 Need to fit rhetorical situation: audience,

context, and purpose

 What’s at stake—to whom?

 Should you send a message?

 What channel should you

use?

 What should you say?

 How should you say it?

 Gather knowledge

 Brainstorm solutions

 Answer five analysis questions

1. Who are your audiences?

2. What are your purposes?

3. What information must you include?

4. How can you support your position?

What reasons or benefits will your audience find convincing?

5. What part of the context may affect

Problems, continued…

 Organize information to fit

 Audiences

 Purposes

 Situation

 Make document visually inviting

 Revise draft for tone

 Friendly

 Businesslike

 Positive

Problems, continued…

 Edit draft for standard English

 Names  Numbers

 Use responses to plan future

messages