Integrated Communication in Business BCM 3700 Integrated Communication in Business

Today… Welcome, syllabus, schedule, etc. Chapter 1: Achieving Success Through Effective Business Communication Assignments

Required Text Excellence in Business Communication, 11/E John V. Thill Courtland L. Bovee ©2015 ISBN-10: 0133544176 ISBN-13: 9780133544176

Optional Text Excellence in Business Communication, 10/E John V. Thill Courtland L. Bovee ©2013 ISBN-10: 0132719045 ISBN-13: 9780132719049

Optional Text Excellence in Business Communication, 9/E John V. Thill Courtland L. Bovee ©2011 ISBN-10: 0136103766 ISBN-13: 9780136103769

Optional Text Easy Writer 5th Edition Andrea A. Lunsford ©2014 ISBN-13: 9781457640469

Assignments Two (larger) Projects Create and Maintain a Blog (5%) Seven (smaller) Assignments “Self” Analysis (6%) Informative Message (6%) Positive Message (6%) Persuasive and Sales Messages (6%) Negative Message (6%) Designing Flyers and Forms (6%) Visual Impression Analysis (6%) Two (larger) Projects Job Package (10%) Individual Oral Presentation (10%) One (three-part) Team Project Team Report & Presentation (10%) Progress Report and Outline (3%) Final exam (10%) Class contributions (10%)

Achieving Success Through Effective Business Communication Chapter 1 BCM 3700 Achieving Success Through Effective Business Communication

Business Communication “Communication is an essential part of life, but where business is concerned, it is critical to success.” ~sixsigmaonline.org

Business Communication “In nature, language is what sets us apart from the animals. In business, it's what sets true leaders apart from perpetual followers. That's because communicating effectively can make all the difference between success and failure as a manager.” ~Harvard Business Review, 2014

Business Communication “In business, what we say – and how we say it – equates to who we are. And the way in which we communicate is as important as our brand... Whether creating a multi-million dollar Super Bowl ad at the pinnacle of a career or participating in an interview for an entry-level job at the onset of a career, the language choices we make are given tremendous significance by our peers, by those in the board room and by those with the decision making power to hire us.” ~~Brett West, CommPRO.biz, 2013

Effective Communication Communication helps organizations and the people in them achieve their goals. The ability to write and speak well becomes increasingly important as you rise in an organization.

What’s in it for me? Career Advancement Ability to Share Complex Ideas Improving your communication skills may be the single most important step you can take in your career. Ability to Share Complex Ideas Even great ideas won’t go anywhere without great communication. Enhance Entrepreneurial Endeavors If you learn to write well, speak well, listen well, and recognize the appropriate way to communicate in any situation, you’ll gain a major advantage that will serve you throughout your career. Become an Effective Leader As you take on leadership and management roles, communication becomes even more important.

What’s in it for my company? Public perception – customers, suppliers, peers, Internal perception – staff Closer ties with important communities in the marketplace Increased productivity and faster problem solving Improve employee engagement and satisfaction Better financial results and higher return for investors Opportunities to influence conversations, perceptions, and trends Stronger decision making More persuasive marketing messages

To Be An Effective Communicator You must… Provide useful practical information Give facts and evidence Be concise Be clear Be persuasive

Types of Communication Verbal Face-to-face Phone conversations Informal meetings Presentations E-mail messages Letters Nonverbal Computer graphics Company logos Smiles Size of an office Location of people at meetings Business depends on communication. In every organization, communication is the way people get their points across and get work done. Communication takes many forms: face-to-face or phone conversations, informal meetings, presentations, e-mail messages, letters, memos, reports, blogs, text messaging, and Web sites. All of these methods are forms of verbal communication, or communication that uses words. Nonverbal communication does not use words. Pictures, computer graphics, and company logos are nonverbal. Interpersonal nonverbal signals include smiles, who sits where at a meeting, the size of an office, and how long someone keeps a visitor waiting.

Communication Purposes All business communication has three basic purposes To inform (explain or tell an audience something) To request or persuade (want the audience to act) To build goodwill (make good image—the kind of image that makes people want to do business with you. ) Most messages have more than one purpose Example: When you write an e-mail to co-workers asking a question, you inform them about your situation, persuade them to help you, and try to build a good image of yourself as someone who wants to resolve an issue. Business communication has three basic purposes: to inform, to request or persuade, and to build goodwill. When you inform, you explain something or tell an audience something. When you request or persuade, you want the audience to act. The word request suggests that the action will be easy or routine; persuade suggests that you will have to motivate and convince the audience to act. When you build goodwill, you create a good image of yourself and of your organization—the kind of image that makes people want to do business with you. Most messages have multiple purposes. For example, when you write an e-mail to co-workers asking a question, you inform them about your situation, persuade them to help you, and try to build a good image of yourself as someone who wants to resolve an issue.

Audiences Internal External Messages go to people inside the organization Memo to subordinates, superiors, peers External Messages go to people outside the organization Letter to customers, suppliers, others Communication—oral, nonverbal, and written—goes to both internal and external audiences. Internal audiences are other people in the same organization such as subordinates, superiors, and peers. External audiences are people outside the organization such as customers, suppliers, unions, stockholders, potential employees, government agencies, the press, and the general public.

Benefits & Costs Effective writing Poor writing Saves time Increases one’s productivity Communicates points more clearly Builds goodwill Poor writing Wastes time Wastes effort Loses goodwill Stiff, legal language Selfish tone Buried main point Vague requests Misused words Writing costs money. Besides the cost of computers, software, printers, paper, and sometimes postage, there is the major expense of employees’ time. Effective writing helps to save time, increase productivity among workers, communicates ideas more clearly, and builds goodwill. On the other hand, poor communication can cost billions of dollars. Poor writing wastes time because it takes longer to read. It also wastes efforts because ineffective messages don’t get results. Finally, poor writing also loses goodwill.

Criteria for Effective Messages Good business writing meets five basic criteria: Clear: The meaning the audience gets is the meaning the communicator intended. Complete: All of the audience’s questions are answered Correct: All of the information in the message is accurate Saves Time: The style, organization, and visual or aural impact of the message help the receivers read, understand, and act on the information as quickly as possible Builds Goodwill: The message presents a positive image of the communicator and his or her organization Use these five criteria for effective business and administrative communication. Clear. The meaning the audience gets is the meaning the communicator intended. Complete. All of the audience’s questions are answered. Correct. All of the information in the message is accurate. Saves the receiver’s time. The style, organization, and visual or aural impact of the message help the receivers read, understand, and act on the information as quickly as possible. Builds goodwill. The message presents a positive image of the communicator and his or her organization. Whether a message meets these five criteria depends on the interactions among the communicator, the audience, the purposes of the message, and the situation.

Conventions Vary by organizational setting Help people… 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 Business and administrative communication rely on conventions. Conventions are widely accepted practices you routinely encounter. For example, a traditional classroom convention is for instructors to distribute a course syllabus near the beginning of the semester. The document wouldn’t make sense if distributed during the final week because the appropriate context would have passed. Moreover, the document would not function correctly if it did not include conventional elements such as due dates or required readings. Organizational settings also have unique conventions. These help people recognize, produce, and interpret different kinds of communications. The key to using conventions effectively is to remember that they always need to fit the audience, context, and purpose.

Analyze Situations What questions should I ask??… 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? The best communicators are conscious of the context in which they communicate. To analyze your communication situation, ask the following questions: What’s at stake—to whom? Think about the concerns your boss and your audience will have. Should you send a message? Sometimes silence is the most tactful response. What channel should you use? Paper documents and presentations are formal. E-mail, phone calls, and stopping by someone’s office are less formal. What should you say? How detailed should you be? The answers will depend on the kind of message, your purposes, audiences, and the corporate culture. How should you say it? How you arrange your ideas and the words you use shape the audience’s response to what you say.

Create Effective Messages Six-step process for effective messages… Analyze (following 6 questions) Organize Make it Readable Make it Positive Edit & Proofread Follow-up Strategy

1. Analyze Answer the following six questions… Who are your audiences? What are your purposes? What information must you include? How can you support your position? What audience objections do you expect? What part of context may affect audience reaction?

2. Organize Organize to Fit Audience, Purpose, Situation Put good news first Put the main point/question first -or- Persuade a reluctant audience by delaying the main point/question You’ll learn several different psychological patterns of organization this semester. For now, remember these three basic principles: 1. Put good news first. 2. In general, put the main point or question first. In the subject line or first paragraph, make it clear that you’re writing about something that is important to the reader. 3. When you must persuade a reluctant audience, disregard point 2 and approach the subject indirectly

3. Make it Readable Make Message Look Inviting Use subject line to orient reader Use headings to group related ideas Use lists for emphasis Number items if order matters Use short paragraphs—six lines max. A well-designed document is easier to read and builds goodwill. To make a document visually attractive: use subject lines to orient the reader quickly, use headings to group related ideas, use lists and indented sections to emphasize sub-points and examples, number points that must be followed in sequence, and use short paragraphs—usually six typed lines or fewer. If you plan these design elements before you begin composing, you’ll save time and the final document will probably be better.

4. Make it Positive Create Positive Style Emphasize positive information Give it more space Use indented list to set it off Omit negative words, if you can Focus on possibilities, not limitations To create positive style, read your message as if you were in your audience’s shoes. How would you feel if you received it? Remember, good business and administrative writing is both friendly and businesslike. You can emphasize the positive when you put positive information first, give it more space, or set it off visually in an indented list; eliminate negative words if you can; and focus on what is possible, not what is impossible.

5. Edit & Proofread Check… Double-check…  Spelling  Grammar  Punctuation Double-check…   Reader’s Name(s)   Numbers   First and Last ¶ Always always always proofread before sending Business people care about correctness in spelling, grammar, and punctuation. If your grasp of mechanics is fuzzy or if English is not your native language, you’ll need to memorize rules and perhaps find a good book or a tutor to help you. If you know how to write correctly but rarely take the time to do so, now is the time to begin to edit and proofread to eliminate careless errors. Always proofread your document before you send it out. Double-check the reader’s name, any numbers, and the first and last paragraphs.

6. Follow-up Strategy Use Response to Plan Next Message Evaluate feedback you get If message fails, find out why If message succeeds, find out why Success = results you want, when you want them Use responses of previous messages to plan future ones. For instance, evaluate the feedback you get. The real test of any message is “Did you get what you wanted, when you wanted it?” If the answer is no, then the message has failed—even if the grammar is perfect, the words elegant, the approach creative, and the document stunningly attractive. If the message fails, you need to find out why. Analyze your successes, too. You know you’ve succeeded when you get the results you want, both in terms of objective, concrete actions, and in terms of image and goodwill. You want to know why your message worked.

Aspects of Business Communication All of these aspects are present in any business communication …but some might be more emphasized or obvious in certain typed of communication. These aspects are also highly interdependent, …but we separate them for clarification, discussion, and grading.

Aspects of Business Communication 1. Task/Context: “Context” can be defined as… the “time, place, and situation” or the “big picture” for communication. Successful business communicators know that messages never occur in vacuums… but are viewed within the larger situations that surround them.

Aspects of Business Communication 2. Audience: the recipient(s) of the message… whether that be an individual, a group, a market, or a public. “Audience” discussions include… analysis (what’s important about the audience) adaptation (how that affects the message) approaches to particular types of audiences

Aspects of Business Communication 3. Channel Choice: A key consideration, given the proliferation of media and how different they are. Effective communicators make wise choices, recognizing the need for… documentation, speed, direct contact, opportunities for interaction, etc.

Aspects of Business Communication 4. Organization: Smart communicators ask themselves… “What goes where?” and the related question “What follows what?” When they do, they worry about… the order of elements they are working with the relationships among those elements (e.g. visual coherence or transitions).

Aspects of Business Communication 5. Content: In business, “content” covers what is said (or written)… what is omitted how much of it to include about each point Many business communicators forget to consider the importance of amount for small and large areas.

Aspects of Business Communication 6. Self-expression: awareness of the “self” you’re presenting is critical for any business student. The presenter’s credibility, confidence, reputation, appearance, attention to details …are all parts of self expression. “Selves” here are not just individuals, Departments Organizations (A communicator often represents the “face” of an organization.)

Aspects of Business Communication 7. Visual Impression/Format: “Organization” refers to the ordering of content, “Visual Impression/Format” treat its placement, depiction, proportions on a page (paper, PowerPoint slide, Web page, etc.). These considerations include conventions for formats like where the date is placed on a page (often specific to organizations), as well as aesthetic and functional design decisions.

Aspects of Business Communication 8. Mechanics/Language use: Two discrete (though often blurred) aspects are at work here… conventions & style. “Conventions” (spelling, punctuation, grammar) are matters of “right and wrong” which can be corrected. “Style” (word choice and sentence structure) treats matters of effectiveness and is often more difficult to define.

For next time… Get your textbook (bookstore or online) Read: Chapter 1: Achieving Success Through Effective Business Communication Chapter 4: Planning Business Messages Chapter 5: Writing Business Messages Chapter 6: Completing Business Messages Chapter 8: Writing Routine and Positive Business Messages Locate the course website (URL on your syllabus) Bookmark it Pay attention to the “Class Notes” Create your own blog Instructions on the web (under “Resources”) “Describe what you hope to gain this semester from BCM 3700” Email the web address to your instructor

Business and Administrative Communication