Principals of Business Communication

The principals of communication in business are very simple and intuitive. A

person should be able to grasp them in the first try. The most important
business communication principals are:

Clarity

• Message must be clear & relevant

• No unnecessary information to obscure or distract the recipient

• Choose the message, the method of delivery and the audience carefully
 CONTUE……….
Purposefulness

• The message must have clear objectives and its purpose must be apparent.

• The goal from sending the message must be determined before creating the
message.

Consistency

• The communication must be consistent, coherent and relevant to the

recipient

• Change in contents must be backed by logical explanations

 CONTUE………..
Correctness
• The message must be correct to the best knowledge of the sender.
• Any grammatical mistake will significantly reduce the credibility and the
gravity of the sender.

• The facts must be checked properly before including them in the message

Audience Consideration

• Before creating the message, the sender must think in the shoes of the
recipients

• The message must be written such that the recipient may recognize and
understand it in the same manner that the sender would.
 CONTUE
Brevity

• Messages must be as concise as possible to avoid wasting of recipient’s time

• Do not put too much content in one message. Assign contents according to
the context of the message

• Do not use jargon or words that will require the reader additional resources
for understanding
 CONTUE……..
Feedback

• The sender should consider seeking the recipient's feedback.

• The feedback will help the sender better understand the recipient and use that
knowledge for future communication purposes.

These are the most important principals of business decision making. An

effective communicator always keeps them in mind and uses them effectively
in verbal, written and electronic communication methods.
Process of Effective Communication Model

To conduct effect business communications, one needs to know the process of

it. The ten-step process of effective communication model has both parts for
sender and receiver.

Define situation
Identify need

Consider option Choose an action

Craft message Send message

 CONTUE………
As it can be seen from the illustration, the sender has to follow six steps in
conducting effective business communication. At first, he/she must correctly
identify the need for communication. The need may arise from a problem, an
opportunity, in a form of feedback or report etc. Once the need is correctly
identified, the sender must realize the context and the current situation he/she is in.
This requires the sender to be mindful about the receiver and how the receiver may
respond to the communication. This step will lead the sender to consider
options for the communication. The options may be between choosing
verbal and email communication or between providing the recipient with
specific answers versus providing general answers to the recipient’s queries.
 CONTUE…………
Once the best option for communication is chosen, the sender has to start
crafting the message. The sender must cautiously work out the details of the
chosen communication. Finally, the sender needs to deliver the message
through the predetermined channel. The message must be sent considering the
recipient's time and emotional condition. A good message at a wrong time can
damage the value of the communication and undermine its gravity.
CONTUE..............

Receive
Understand
Message

Decide on
Reply
response
 CONTUE…….
Once the message is sent to the receiver, the sender’s part in the
communication process will conclude and the receiver’s part will begin. If the
delivery is successful, the recipient will receive the message in its intended
form and in the time the message was intended to be received. Upon receiving
the communication, the recipient will try to interpret the message. He/she will
extract information from the communication and may try to understand the
underlying purposes and motivations behind the message. The needs to predict
the specific contexts and interests properly. If he/she successfully do so,
his/her audience will understand the communication as intended by the sender.
 CONTUE
Once understood, the receiver will then be able to craft a reply. The receiver
will become the sender now and follow the six steps to reply to the originator
of the communication. But this time, there will a clearly defined purpose of
the communication which is to provide response to the initial communication
send by the originator. The response should have the desired elements if the
initial message was well received and interpreted by the initial recipient.
Finally, the reply will be sent to the originator often times in the same form of
the initial communication. For example: an email will have a reply by mail
Overall Communication Process:

SENDER

Thought
CHANNEL TRANSMISSION

Reception RECEIVER
Encoding Decoding Comprehension
Feedback
 Factors Affecting Communication
here are 8 critical factors that influences communication in an organization.
The factors are: culture, EQ, past experiences, understanding of the message,
educational background, group affiliations, position and functional
relationship.
 CONTUE……………….
1. Culture: Messages are more likely to be misunderstood or misinterpreted
in workplaces when employees come from diverse cultural backgrounds.
This is a result of our failure to relate to and fully comprehend those from
backgrounds different from our own. When assumptions and speculative
thinking are allowed to continue, they fuel larger organizational issues.
The first step in addressing this issue is to become aware of it.
2. EQ (Emotional Quotient): The significance of communication is most
surely impacted by emotions and how individuals are feeling at the time.
 CONTUE……….
3. Past Experiences: The efficacy of future communications between the
sender and recipient is significantly influenced by earlier communications.
Further contact between the parties is probably going to be futile if one had a
bad experience.

4. Understanding of the message: When people interpret the same term

differently, communication in business may become problematic.
 CONTUE
5. Educational Background: The meaning of communication is also impacted by
the education levels of the sender and the audience. Communication will be
successful if their educational backgrounds are similar. This is frequently
accurate since they share comparable perspectives, ways of thinking, and levels
of understanding.

6. Group Affiliations: People may be a part of several groups. If the sender and
the recipient are members of different official or informal organizations,
communication will be less successful. For instance, management and labor
union leaders may find it difficult to communicate because of their mutual
hostility
 CONTUE…………
7. Position: If the sender and receiver are at dissimilar places in the hierarchy, there is a
probability that their communication will break down. We occasionally witness people
going too far in an effort to uphold the formality of the organization. For instance,
managers could disregard any communication from their employees. In order to escape
the workload and duties, personnel will also strive to avoid any management
instructions.

8. Functional Relationship: The purpose of communication in business is substantially

influenced by the functional connection between the sender and recipient. The recipient
could not grasp the sender's message if they are from different functional departments
or sectors. For instance, the message from the product manager may not be understood
properly by the operations manager, and the message from the internal counsel may not
be understood by the quality control manager.
 Ethics in Communication
Here are some generic steps to ensure ethical communication:
• Be sincere and truthful.
• Listen Actively
• Do not judge while conversing
• Speak from past experiences
• Be empathetic
• Do not use negative tone
• Do not interrupt others

• Respect Privacy & Confidentiality

• Accept Responsibilities