Online Resources

Congratulations! You now have access to practical templates of

the Business Communication concepts that you will learn in this
book. These downloadable templates will help you implement
your learnings in the real world and give you an in-depth
understanding of the concepts. The templates include:

They are:
● Punctuation Checklist
● List of Common Grammatical Errors
● Presentation Visuals, Tools, and Applications (Apps) You
Need to Know
● Reference Styles and Other Necessary Mechanics
● A Formal Email Template for Product Introduction
● A Cover Letter Template
● A Business Proposal Template
● A Chronological Resume Template
● A Sample Memo Template

To access the templates, follow the steps below:

1. Go to www.vibrantpublishers.com
2. Click on the ‘Online Resources’ option on the Home Page
3. Login by entering your account details (or create an
account if you don’t have one)
4. Go to the Self-Learning Management series section on the
Online Resources page
5. Click the ‘Business Communication Essentials You Always
Wanted To Know’ link and access the templates

Happy self-learning!
This page is intentionally left blank
 TM

SELF-LEARNING MANAGEMENT SERIES

BUSINESS
COMMUNICATION
ESSENTIALS
YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW

A deep dive into the nuances of effective business

communication

DR. ANNAMARIA BLIVEN

Business Communication Essentials
You Always Wanted To Know
First Edition

© 2024, By Vibrant Publishers, USA. All rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database
or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Paperback ISBN 10: 1-63651-163-5

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Ebook ISBN 13: 978-1-63651-164-1

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Hardback ISBN 13: 978-1-63651-165-8

Library of Congress Control Number: 2024931907

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 SELF-LEARNING MANAGEMENT SERIES

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 About the Author
Dr. AnnaMaria Bliven has worked as a
business professional for over 30 years gaining
experience in business development and
management, business improvement, project
management, time management, career
development and advancement, business
strategy, and in starting and sustaining for-
profit and not-for-profit businesses.

As a seasoned business owner and a master at managing time,

her goals are to share lessons and best practices for starting,
sustaining, and succeeding in business ventures, and leveling
up in career fields. To that end, she meets with clients regularly
assisting them with achieving their career and business goals.
Dr. Bliven started her career as a Certified Travel Consultant while
in the Army National Guard and served a total of 26 years with
combined service in the Army National Guard, Army, and Army
Reserve in the career fields of music, human resources, education
services, and career development.

She has an undergraduate degree in Communication

from Arizona State University, a Master of Arts degree in
Communication from West Virginia University, and a Doctorate
in Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin-
Whitewater. She also achieved her certification as a Global
Career Development Facilitator in addition to becoming a college
instructor. She is also the author of Business Plan Essentials You
Always Wanted To Know, Entrepreneurship Essentials You
Always Wanted to Know and Time Management Essentials You
Always Wanted To Know.
 What experts say about this book!
Topics such as employment communication, social media, and crisis
communication make this book extremely valuable. The quiz and the
summary at the end of each chapter are other value additions. The lucid
way of writing the book makes it easy to comprehend for the Master's
students of business and communication, and the practitioners of
corporate communication, public relations, and brand communication
at the initial stages of their careers. Many examples, largely from the
Western world, clearly illustrate the points made. The book covers both
introductory content and special content in a balanced manner.

– Prof Ujjwal K Chowdhury, Vice President,

Global Media Education Council

Dr. Bliven's book covers all of the main aspects of business

communications and provides it in easily digestible chapters. I have taken
many courses in business communications over the years and I wish I had
this book to serve as a comprehensive summary on how to think about
the proper communication activities needed for any business. This book
is a must-read!

– David Fogarty, Chief Marketing Analytics and Data and Technology Officer,
Evernorth Corporation

"Business Communication Essentials You Always Wanted To Know" offers

practical advice and real-world examples to navigate various aspects of
business communication, from written correspondence to presentations.
Its emphasis on practicality, coupled with accessible language and
engaging examples, ensures relevance for readers of all levels. Whether
you're a seasoned executive or a business student, this book equips you
with the tools to thrive in today's dynamic business landscape.

– Jangho Gil, Ph.D., Accounting Professor,

Monmouth University
 Table of Contents
1 An Introduction to Business Communication 1
1.1 What is Business Communication? 2
1.2 Why is Business Communication Important? 3
1.3 Important Concepts Related to Business
Communication 6
1.4 Types of Business Communication 8
1.5 Establishing Credibility and Incorporating
Fairness In Business Communication 13
Quiz 17
Chapter Summary 20

2 Understanding Your Audience 21

2.1 Tools to Understand Your Audience 22
2.2 Strategies for Analyzing Your Audience 31
Quiz 33
Chapter Summary 36

3 How to Achieve Great Interpersonal Communication 37

3.1 Interpersonal Communication Defined 38
3.2 The Effects of Emotional Intelligence on
Interpersonal Communication 40
3.3 Team Building and Communication 41
3.4 Global Communication 44
Quiz 46
Chapter Summary 49

4 Oral Communication 51
4.1 Oral Communication and Its Types 52
4.2 Understanding Your Different Listeners 54
4.3 Active Listening 55
4.4 Ways to Engage Listeners 57
4.5 7 Cs of Oral Communication 59
Quiz 61
Chapter Summary 64
5 Types of Business Messages 65
5.1 Routine Business Messages 66
5.2 Persuasive Business Messages 67
5.3 Goodwill Business Messages 69
5.4 Bad-news (Negative) Business Messages 70
Quiz 73
Chapter Summary 76

6 Everyday Business Communication Tools 77

6.1 Memos 78
6.2 Emails 82
6.3 Letters 84
6.4 Business Plans 85
Quiz 88
Chapter Summary 91

7 Business Proposals, Reports, and Presentations 93

7.1 Researching and Planning Your Proposals,
Reports, and Presentations 94
7.2 Drafting and Completing Your Proposals,
Reports, and Presentations 97
7.3 Delivering Your Proposals, Reports,
and Presentations 104
Quiz 106
Chapter Summary 109

8 Employment Communication as a Form of Business

Communication 111
8.1 How To Best Communicate Your Professional
Brand To Your Future Employer 112
8.2 Resume/Curriculum Vitae (CV) 115
8.3 Handling Your Pre-Interview Communication
Like a Pro 123
Quiz 126
Chapter Summary 129
9 Business Communication and Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) 131
9.1 Customer Is King: Be All Ears To Your Customers 132
9.2 Effective Business Communication for
Data Collection 135
9.3 Verbal and Non-verbal Cues for Better
Customer Service 139
9.4 Communicating With Emotional Intelligence 141
9.5 Communicating With Cultural Intelligence 143
Quiz 145
Chapter Summary 148

10 Social Media as a Vital Business Communication Tool 149

10.1 Popular Social Media Tools and Platforms 150
10.2 Key Principles for Social Media Management
in Business 156
10.3 Use of Social Media and Some Ethical Issues
For Business Communication 158
Quiz 160
Chapter Summary 163

11 Crisis Communication in Business 165

11.1 Crisis Communication Plan 166
11.2 5 Cs of Crisis Communication 169
11.3 From Crisis to an Opportunity: Case Studies 171
Quiz 173
Chapter Summary 176
 Preface
According to Paul J. Meyer, “communication—the human connect—is
the key to personal and career success.”

Business Communication Essentials provides all the necessary

information that an organization can use to transform how it
communicates with both its internal and external stakeholders.
What separates this book from other related business books out
there is that it treats the core subject-matter of communication
in business comprehensively by providing understandable and
helpful examples.

The executives or managers of most organizations know quite

well that they need to keep their employees engaged and often
reach out to their suppliers, customers, investors, etc. However,
the approaches some of them have been taking are ineffective.
This could potentially set a company towards its downfall.

Company managers as well as departmental supervisors are fully

aware that their professional success and that of their subordinates
(or team members) hang on productive communication. This is
why it makes sense to say that without well-structured internal
and external communication, no company can achieve its
corporate goals and fulfill its mission/vision.

This book simplifies the processes of business communication

in a way that anyone who carefully goes through it can happily
discover some secrets of conducting successful business
communication.
 Introduction to the book
Communication is a vital aspect of running a business/company. It
is very important to connect all stakeholders through routine and
effective business communication. This book shows you exactly
how you could do that.

You will discover all the necessary tips to facilitate excellent

communication between your company’s internal and external
stakeholders. More importantly, you will unearth various business
communication approaches you can use to keep your team,
suppliers, investors, etc. happy and committed.

After reading the entire book, you will be able to identify:

● The importance of business communication and its different

methods and modes

● The importance of understanding your intended audience

and the steps to achieve great interpersonal communication

● The core business messages and their respective

characteristics

● The best practices for drafting, editing, and completing

business proposals, reports, and presentations

● The usefulness of business communication in customer

relationship management (CRM)

● The impacts of social media and other modern-day

technologies in business communication, and

● The best process for managing business crisis

communication
 How to use this book?
This book can be used by anyone who wants to either learn
about business communication or improve their business
communication strategy. Here is how to use this book:

1. Use this book to get your fundamentals cleared -

Understand all the theoretical concepts involved in business
communication and apply them practically.

2. Use the tips and strategies in the book to improve your

business communication - Gain insights into how to
skillfully communicate with your intended audience and
draft written communication, proposals, reports, and
presentations.

3. Learn from modern, relevant, and practical examples or

case studies.

4. Understand the wrong approaches to business

communication and eliminate them from your strategy.

5. Learn how to build an effective crisis communication

strategy.

6. Test your knowledge with the multiple-choice quizzes

provided at the end of every chapter.

So, you should use it as a dependable companion that you

can regularly consult whenever you run into difficult business
communication situations.
 Who can benefit from this book?
Business Communication Essentials is for everyone who aspires to
develop their business communication skills, whether you intend
to learn how to write effective business reports, proposals, and
presentations, or you are managing a team that requires that you
use your business communication skills from time to time.

The following categories of readers will find this book to be of

great help:

1. Students: If you are a university student pursuing a course

in Business Studies, Business Administration, Business
Management, Marketing, or any course that requires you
to learn about business communication, you will unearth a
wealth of information concerning business communication
in this book.

2. Teachers/Professors: If you are a teacher/instructor of

any business-related course, your students will gain a lot
of insights from this book if you use it as your teaching
material.

3. Entrepreneurs/Business Owners/Executives/Managers/
Supervisors: Improve your business communication skills
by digesting everything in this book and subsequently
transform the way you communicate with the stakeholders
associated with your business/organizations.

4. Business/Management Researchers: Discover some new

approaches for doing business communication in this book.

5. Managers/Administrators of Business Development

Centers or Business Incubators: This book will help you
properly mentor the founders of businesses or startups you
are incubating, developing, or investing in.
This page is intentionally left blank
Chapter 1

An Introduction to Business
Communication

B usiness communication is an essential tool or channel

for sharing important information among the
stakeholders connected to a business or an organization. The
stakeholders can be the organization’s employees, managers,
executives, suppliers, clients or customers, investors, and
governmental agencies whose actions and/or decisions may
affect the day-to-day running of the business.
It is imperative for an organization to design and
implement a functional business communication strategy
in order to fully encourage active participation of all its
stakeholders in matters that will lead to higher productivity,
improved performance, better decision-making, and
faster problem-solving capability within and outside the
organization.

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2 Business Communication Essentials You Always Wanted To Know

The key learning objectives of this chapter should include

the reader’s understanding of the following:

● The definition of business communication

● The objectives of business communication

● Important concepts related to business communication

● Types of business communication

● Establishing credibility and incorporating fairness in

business communication

1.1 What is Business Communication?

Business communication can simply be defined as the process

of sharing vital business information among stakeholders within
and outside an organization. To achieve its organizational goals
and objectives, the management of an organization must engage
in ongoing, efficient communication with its employees, who
are its internal stakeholders. It is also important for employees
and those who manage the organization’s business activities
to regularly reach out to its external stakeholders, such as the
organization’s clients/customers, suppliers, investors, partners,
and governmental agencies.

For an organization to achieve efficient business

communication, it must utilize both the traditional and modern
communication tools at its disposal. We are living in a world
where the patterns and styles of business communication are
fast-changing, from face-to-face conversations to social, digital,

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An Introduction to Business Communication 3

and mobile interactions. Nowadays, emphasis is placed on

collaborative business communication, which may entail that
periodic one-on-one meetings are organized, online conference
calls are carried out, and/or written messages are frequently
exchanged among stakeholders.

Business communication is similar to personal communication

in a number of ways. When a person demonstrates great
communication skills, they can enjoy robust relationships,
get a well-paying job, become an effective leader, and achieve
significant success in their calling or profession. In comparison,
any organization that fails to live up to modern business
communication expectations would surely fall behind its
competitors in the face of rising challenges to keep up with the
vast, culturally diverse global marketplace.1

1.2 Why is Business Communication Important?

On a personal level, communication is necessary for directing,

connecting, requesting for services, appreciating good gestures,
and rewarding loyalists or supporters. The use of communication
in business is pretty much the same; organizations employ the
power of business communication to streamline their processes to
achieve their organizational goals as scheduled.

On the other hand, the lack of efficient interdepartmental and

interpersonal communication could cause an organization to lose
focus while spending most of its time and scarce resources on
solving both internal and external disagreements or problems,

1. Boyes, C. (2010). Communication (Collins Business Secrets). London: HyperCollins,

p. 45.
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4 Business Communication Essentials You Always Wanted To Know

instead of utilizing them for better performance and growth. Such

an organization could be considered to be in a chaotic situation
whereby the prevailing atmosphere does not support creativity,
productivity, and advancement.

Some of the objectives organizations can achieve by

implementing productive communication strategies include but
are not limited to the following:

● Quick and regular exchange of information: Organizations

thrive on the prompt and fast exchange of information
among their stakeholders. For instance, the employees
need regular and useful instructions from their managers
to be able to successfully carry out their routine functions.
Similarly, customers and clients of an organization need to
be periodically updated about the organization’s services
and products as well as providing useful feedback that the
organization could use in refining its products/services.

● Motivating employees: A good relationship ensues when

there is robust and understandable communication between
employees and their employers. This helps to improve their
job satisfaction and streamline their education/training. It is
also necessary for managers to direct their subordinates in
the right direction.

● Improving customer service: When an organization

implements a functional business communication strategy,
it will be able to attract and retain loyal customers. It is
through a well-structured communication process that
clients/customers can obtain adequate information about a
business and its products/services.

● Facilitating business operations: No organization can run

on silence or poor communication procedures; employees

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An Introduction to Business Communication 5

require well-detailed information to understand the right

things to do within the organization. In the same approach,
external stakeholders need to be carried along to ensure
that the organization has all the necessary requirements to
operate smoothly and progress. For example, its suppliers
should be informed about the possible supplies or raw
materials and their corresponding quantities that the
organization would utilize to run its operations. The local
governmental agencies need to be updated about the
organization’s business activities so that it can obtain all the
mandatory licenses and permissions and avoid operating
illegally. All these processes could only be achieved through
effective business communication.

● Image or reputation management: Organizational branding

will not happen if an organization doesn’t have great stories
to tell about its missions/visions and products/services. This
is because good storytelling can only be made with effective
business communication.

● Organizational goals: When all the processes within and

outside an organization are properly aligned through a
well-executed business communication strategy, it will
be easy for such an organization to achieve its goals and
objectives.

● Performance enhancement: In a situation where an

organization is falling behind in attaining all or some of its
business goals, it takes efficient business communication to
bring everything under control and enhance performance.

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6 Business Communication Essentials You Always Wanted To Know

1.3 Important Concepts Related to Business

Communication

Some of the important concepts concerning business

communication are simply explained below. They are discussed in
detail in different sections of this book.

1.3.1 Terms related to business communication

● Sender: As its name implies, a sender of communication

is the person, organization, or group that initiates the
communication. It must be emphasized that the sender is
solely responsible for the success of the communication
utilizing all the communication tools or resources at its
disposal. As a sender, an organization can send a catalog of
its new products to its customers.

● Receiver: On the other hand, a communication receiver

is at the end of the communication spectrum, getting the
messages or information initiated by the sender. In the
example above, the customers are the receivers.

● Channels of communication: Business communication can

be horizontal, lateral, or vertical depending primarily on
the sender-receiver relationship and the communication’s
purpose, nature, flow, and intent.

Horizontal communication refers to the communication

between or among departments that are not on the same
departmental level. Hence, there is no apparent competition
between them, and they could collaborate on innovative
projects by sharing vital information with one another.

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An Introduction to Business Communication 7

On the contrary, lateral communication exists between

departments on the same hierarchical level within an
organization. The information shared between them may be
necessary for collaboration and problem-solving since the
departments would always interfere in one another’s affairs
due to the fact they may be working on the same project
at the same time. Vertical communication occurs between
employees at the lower ranks and their superiors (mostly
managers and executives) who are at the upper end of the
corporate ladder. Vertical communication could happen
both ways, either as upward (bottom-up) communication or
downward (top-down) communication. When lower-ranked
employees send messages to their bosses, they are engaging
in upward communication. On the other hand, when
memos are issued by the directors or CEOs of organizations
to their employees, it is a typical example of downward
communication.

1.3.2 Methods of business communication

There are two main approaches or methods of business
communication–verbal and non-verbal. Verbal communication
relies on words to convey messages or share information with
others. However, non-verbal communication utilizes body
language, facial expressions, gestures, appearance, eye contact,
and physical touches to send information to the receivers.

More information about these two methods of communication

is provided in Chapter 9 of this book.

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8 Business Communication Essentials You Always Wanted To Know

1.3.3 Methods of business communication

Communication could take place between the sender and the
receiver via oral/verbal, non-verbal, written, electronic, or visual
modes (see Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1 Modes of business communication

MODES OF COMMUNICATION

ORAL/VERBAL WRITTEN VISUALS ELECTRONIC

Face-to-face Le ers, memos,

messages, Adversements, Emails,
meengs, graphics,
financial messages,
telephone calls, drawings, etc.
documents, and faxes.
conferences, etc. emails, etc.

1.4 Types of Business Communication

In practice, there are two broad types of business

communication–internal and external business communication.
An organization needs to maintain a high level of efficiency in
both its internal and external communication processes to position
itself for unprecedented growth and subsequently outperform its
rivals.

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An Introduction to Business Communication 9

1.4.1 Internal communication

Intrinsically, there are two layers of internal communication—
the communication between an employer and his/her employees,
and the communication among employees within the same
organization.

a. Employer-to-employee communication
In a small company of 5-10 employees, it is possible for
their employer to communicate with them easily and regularly,
whether by holding daily meetings or arranging weekly
discussions with them. On the other, the situation becomes more
complicated in an organization having one hundred or more
employees. Whether the employer is the company’s founder/CEO
or a senior manager, the purpose of maintaining a culture of active
communication with employees is to encourage unwavering
commitment to the initial missions and visions of the company.
People (workers) can go astray if they are not regularly reminded
of their responsibilities within an organization. Therefore, it
is not rare to see founders, executives, or managers of small
and medium companies organizing daily, weekly, or monthly
scheduled meetings with their employees. This is done to make
sure that everyone is on the same page as far as actualizing the
goals of the company.

b. Employee-to-employee communication
Since they are the engines that power their companies’ business
operations, it is crucial that employees are always kept in the
loop. Whether they are working in offices or on the production/
manufacturing lines, employees deserve to be updated from time
to time. Think of it this way: It doesn’t matter how well-equipped
a company is, it will still be filled with unmotivated, redundant

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10 Business Communication Essentials You Always Wanted To Know

workers if they are not told exactly what to do. This is why
employee-to-employee communication is essential. Unfortunately,
employee communication in many companies is broken, and this
problem often leaves workers in a difficult situation.

A report by McKinsey claimed that if organizations actively

engage their employees through social interactions via some
social technologies, they can be able to increase their workers’
productivity by 20-25%.2 This may involve creating a conducive
social environment where workers can freely interact with one
another, strengthening their relationships in the process and
encouraging one another to do their best as far as their work
(which they share together) is concerned.

Generally, the three main problems associated with employee

communication are:

a. Inaccessibility: Some companies invest a lot of their

resources in setting up communication assets such as
an intranet, internal newsletters, mobile intranet app,
employee surveys, collaboration tools, instant messaging
tools, community channels, and so on. Unfortunately, not
all employees know exactly how to use them; they either
haven’t received any training about the usability of the
communication assets, or they have somehow forgotten
how to utilize them. As expected, this supposedly break
in the cycle of internal communication can disrupt the
circulation of information within a company and lower its
productivity.

b. Little or no personalization: When communication tools

are personalized, they offer users more accessibility in

2. Chui, M. et al. (2012, July 1). The Social economy: Unlocking value and productivity
through social technology. McKinsey Global Institute. https://www.mckinsey.com
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An Introduction to Business Communication 11

terms of deriving many benefits from using them. For

example, a company may choose to personalize its intranet
by streamlining its navigation tools and incorporating
multilingual features in the system if the company deals
with customers across many countries and cultures. More
so, everything done on the intranet should be centered on
the unique goals that the company aims to achieve. In this
case, it is imperative the intranet be segmented into different
teams or departments within the company, matching them
only with the objectives they are working on.

c. Comprehensive information: It is one thing to set up

effective employee communication systems, it is another
to properly utilize them in transmitting comprehensive
information to those (the employees) who mostly need them
within the company. So, information should be timely and
regularly communicated to the segments or sections of the
employees who need to promptly act on it. Therefore, it is
not just about passing inadequate information from one
department of the company to the other, the communication
must be detail-oriented, concise, clear, and comprehensive.

1.4.2 External communication

This is the process of communicating or interacting with
people, corporate entities, and other stakeholders outside your
company/organization. These outsiders may include suppliers,
partners, customers, other businesses, investors, government
agencies, and, of course, law enforcement.

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12 Business Communication Essentials You Always Wanted To Know

As indicated above, an organization needs to carry the

outsiders along so as to remain active in business. In other
words, a company needs its customers, suppliers, investors,
and partners to stay in business. Likewise, government agencies
and law enforcement must be regularly updated to ensure that
the company isn’t operating illegally to avoid being shut down
unexpectedly by the authorities. Hence, it takes good business
communication to keep every stakeholder updated about the
company’s activities.

Some of the vital messages an organization may want to pass

across to its external stakeholders include but are not limited to
information about:

a. Product development

b. Brand identity

c. Company news and achievements

d. Promotions, giveaways, and discounts

e. Financial releases

f. New service announcements

Any or all of this information could be communicated to

people externally via press releases, email, social media, phone,
brochures, blog posts, white papers, live chat, periodic reports,
and so on.

External business communication can be formal or informal,

depending on the level of relationship with the audience. When
contacting government agencies and law enforcement, an
organization should use formal language. However, the tone
could be informal or semi-formal when communicating with
partners, suppliers, and existing customers.
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An Introduction to Business Communication 13

1.5 Establishing Credibility and Incorporating

Fairness In Business Communication

Unlike interpersonal communication, business communication

is more structured, credible, and direct. If it is not done properly,
it could have some negative effects on a company’s reputation/
brand identity as well as on its products/services.

Highlighted below are five strategic approaches an

organization can adopt in making sure that all its communication
with both internal and external stakeholders is perpetually
credible:

a. Honesty/Sincerity: An organization/company can win the

respect and trust of its employees, customers, suppliers,
investors, and that of other people connected to it if its
communication is usually honest or sincere. It is quite
impracticable to run a company on lies; it is understandable
that an organization that deceptively promotes its products/
services to current and prospective customers will lose its
credibility when the hidden falsehoods in its advertisements
are discovered and exposed to the public. More so, even
the organization’s employees will lose trust in its crop of
management. When this happens, it may be difficult to
increase their morale and encourage them to do their best to
promote the organization’s interest.

b. Objectiveness: To be credible, business communication

should be objective, direct, and detail-oriented. It should
be perceived as an important exchange of information
that is quite accurate and useful to the targeted audience.
Otherwise, it may be considered insufficient and lacking
impact. Many past employees of dubious organizations
Self-Learning Management Series
14 Business Communication Essentials You Always Wanted To Know

have been arrested and/or indicted due to the fact that they
were previously working for a criminal organization that
had defrauded people through falsehoods.

c. Factuality: Effective business communication is usually

factual, conveying certain essential knowledge and facts.
Take for instance, a company’s press release or product
catalog may be seen as useless and unhelpful if it doesn’t
contain the actual facts and exact information that the
readers had expected to discover in it.

d. Flawless delivery: An organization should constantly

work on achieving and maintaining flawless delivery of
its communication messages. For instance, if a company
promises its employees and customers a monthly
newsletter, it must adhere to the promise. Failure to deliver
as promised will cause the company to lose its credibility
among its employees and customers.

e. Understanding your audience: The first thing an

organization needs to do in order to flawlessly deliver its
business information is to understand its targeted audience.
Who are they? What kind of information do they regularly
want? And how best to reach them?

The managers or executives of organizations should ensure

that an environment for fairness in business communication is in
place at their respective organizations. This entails that both the
internal and external stakeholders related to the organizations
must be given a fair amount of freedom to actively participate
in whatever communication happening within the organization
without any fear of sanction or censorship.3

3. Harvard Business School Press (2003). Business Communication (Harvard Business

Essentials). New York: Harvard Business Review Press, p.25.
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