Chapter 1 Business 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 SENDERAUDIENCE

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

 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

 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.

 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 END Edit 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.

 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.