Lecture Business and administrative communication: Chapter 4 - Kitty O. Locker, Donna S. Kienzler

Chapter 4 - Navigating the business communication environment. After studying this chapter, you will know: Why ethics is so important in business communication, how corporate culture impacts business environments, why interpersonal communication is important, how to use your time more efficiently, what the trends in business communication are.

Chapter 4

Navigating the Business Communication Environment

communication

environments

Business Environment

 Shaped by

 Ethics

 Corporate Culture

 Interpersonal Communication

 Time Management

 Trends

 Daily communication decisions involve

ethics

 Language, graphics, and document

design can all be ethical or manipulative

Corporate Culture

 Vary widely among organizations (even

those within the same field)

 Wise companies use it to retain workers

 International differences can impact it

 Communication between people

 Includes multiple skills

 Listening

 Conversation style

 Nonverbal

 Etiquette

 Networking

Listening

 Crucial to building trust

 Harder on job than in class

 Information not as organized

on job

 Jobs require listening to

feelings as well as

information

 Nods, smiles, frowns show

you’re listening

 To reduce errors

 Paraphrase what the speaker has said

 Check your understanding with speaker

 Write down key points

 Don’t ignore instructions that seem

unnecessary

 Consider other person’s background

Conversation Style

 Denotes our conversational patterns and

the meaning we give to them

 Consider these features:

 Communication without words

 Signals such as smiles and gestures

 Can be misinterpreted as easily as words

 Be aware of

 Spatial cues

 Body language

Etiquette

 Treating people with respect

 Using “please,” “thank you,” and “you’re

welcome”

 Making customers feel welcomed

 Using technology appropriately

 Ability to connect with many different

kinds of people

 Create connections before they are

needed

 Being part of the grapevine

 Even more important as you climb

Time Management

 Crucial to success of professionals

 Prioritize demands of your time

 Complete most important demands first

 Keep lists

 Ask yourself where you want to be in five years

 Do large, important tasks first

 Break large tasks into small ones

 Create blocks of times

 Avoid time sinks

 Decide at the end of today what to do tomorrow

12 Business Trends 

7 Diversity

8 Teamwork

9 Job Flexibility

10 Innovation and

Entrepreneurship

11 Big Data

12 Rapids Rate of

Change

1 Data Security

2 Electronic Privacy

3 Customer Service

4 Work/Family Balance

5 Environmental

Concern

6 Globalization and

Outsourcing