Business English and Correspondence Handout

Business English and Correspondence Professor Rocio Marie M. TejidoHandout # 1 First Semester S.Y. 2014-2015

Business English and CorrespondenceLesson 1: CommunicationIn our day-to-day life we exchange our ideas, thoughts and other information with our friends, relatives and other people. Sometimes we directly talk to them and sometimes we also write to them. In the modern times, letters, memos and informal reports are the primary ways in receiving information in business.

The primary objective of Modern Business Correspondence is to help you develop the ability to plan and write successful business letters, memos and informal reports- the keys to efficient and productive business operations.

Communication Communication is the art and the process of sharing ideas. It includes exchanging of information, signals, or messages by talk (speech), gesture, or writing Communication is the process of meaningful interaction among human beings (D.E. McFarland) Communication is the exchange of facts, ideas, opinions or emotions by two or more persons.

(Newman and C.F. Summer Jr.) Communication is any behavior that results in an exchange of meaning. (The American

Management Association) Communication is a process of passing information and understanding from one person to

another. (Keith Davis)

Process of Communication Communication is a process that involves some steps. The transmission of the sender’s ideas

(message) to the receiver and the receiver’s feedback or reaction to the sender completes the communication cycle. Such cycle is called the process of communication.

Communication can be one way or two-way communication process.

Elements of Communication1. Source or Sender – initiates the process of communication by having a thought or an idea that a

person wishes to transmit to the audience. Sources in public communication can be single individuals, groups or even organizations. It may also be called speaker, or encoder.- The source is the person (or thing) attempting to share information. The source can be a

living or non-living entity. The only qualifications necessary for a source are an origin of information (in Information Theory, the source generates data that one would like to communicate) and an ability to transmit this information, through a channel, to a receiver.

2. Encoding – refers to the activities that a source goes through to translate thoughts and ideas into a form that may be perceived by the sense. In oral speech, your brain and your tongue work together (usually) to form words and spoken sentences. In writing your brain and your fingers cooperate to produce word patterns or sentences on paper that can be seen.

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- Encoding is the process of assembling the message (information, ideas and thoughts) into a representative design with the objective of ensuring that the receiver can comprehend it. Communication is only established when it results in both the source and the receiver understanding the same information. People who are great communicators are great encoders; they know how to present their message in a way that their audience (receivers) can easily understand. They are also able to identify information that is superfluous, irrelevant or even accidentally offensive, and eliminate it in advance through anticipation.

3. Message – is the actual physical product that the sources encode. When we talk, our speech is the message. Messages in a public communication can be simple or complicated. They can be directed at one specific individual or at millions of people.- At first glance, the message is simply the information you want to communicate. But it

goes deeper than that. Communication theorists examine messages from a semiotic perspective (the study of signs and symbols, and how meaning is created through them; note: it is not the study of meaning, just how meaning is created ). For example, a commencement speaker produces meaning through several criteria. First, there is the object (in this case, the speaker has an inherent meaning, maybe through being a local celebrity or famous alum). The second criterion would be his or her image, acting as a symbol or representation of the meaning of the object (a well-dressed, professional and successful person). The third criterion is interpretation or derived meaning. If the object and image (and, in this case, speech) are successful, then the audience will leave with an understanding of how to proceed toward a life of personal fulfillment.

4. Channel – refer to the ways in which the message travels to the receiver. Sound waves carry spoken words, light waves carry visual messages. Air currents also serve as an olfactory channel carrying messaged to our nose – messages that are subtle but nonetheless significant.- An encoded message is conveyed by the source through a channel. There are numerous

channel categories: verbal, non-verbal, personal, non-personal, etc. A channel could be the paper on which words are written, or the Internet acting in the client-server model that is allowing you to read these words right now.

- A good communicator is one who understands which channels to use under different circumstances. Unfortunately, there is no perfect channel. All channels have strengths and weaknesses (smartphones are great, for example, but a marriage proposal is best done in person).

5. Decoding – the process that consist of the activities that translate or interpret physical messages into form that has eventual meaning for a receiver.- This is where listening, and reading directions carefully, makes its claim to fame—decode

with care, my friends. As we discussed in Encoding, communication is only successful when it results in both the source and the receiver understanding the same information . For this to happen, there can be no errors in processing. The most common among these would be, for example, a first-grader sitting in on a lecture on differential equations, i.e. decoding is impossible if the decoder cannot even understand the message.

6. Receiver – the target of the message – its ultimate goal. The receiver can be a single person, a group, an institution, or even an anonymous collection of people, like TV viewers. Other terms for receiver are listener and decoder.

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- Ultimately, the message is delivered to the receiver. A good communicator takes the receiver’s preconceptions and frames of reference into consideration; how they will react, where common ground is shared, their sense of humor, their moral conduct, etc. All of these things will affect how the receivers decode messages.

7. Feedback – refers t the responses of the receiver that shape and alter subsequent messages of the source. Feedback represents a reversal of the flow of communication. The original source becomes the receiver, the original receiver becomes the sender or source of the message. Feedback can be positive or negative. Positive feedback encourages the communication behavior in progress; negative feedback usually attempts to change the communication or even terminate it.

8. Noise- is something that interferes with the delivery of the message. There are three kinds of noise: semantic, mechanical and environmental. - Unplanned static or distortion during the communication process, resulting in the receiver's

receiving a different message than the sender sent.a. Semantic Noise – occurs when different people have different meaning for different

words or phrases. For example, Filipinos have a penchant for using “just a while” in the telephone of they want the caller to wait. In America or England the term should be “just a minute” or “just a second.”

b. Mechanical Noise - when there is a problem with a machine or tool that is being used to assist communication. A static radio, a broken space, printing error can be considered a mechanical noise.

c. Environmental Noise- it is external to the communication process but nonetheless interfere with it. Like noisy restaurant where you are holding conversation.

- Likewise noise may either be physical or psychological.a. Physical – barking of dogs, insects biting you during lectureb. Psychological – problems, worries, anxieties or prejudices

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Models of Communication

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Concepts

i. The idea of “source” was flexible enough to include oral, written, electronic, or any other kind of “symbolic” generator-of-messages.

ii. “Message” was made the central element, stressing the transmission of ideas.

iii. The model recognized that receivers were important to communication, for they were the targets.

iv. The notions of “encoding” and “decoding” emphasized the problems we all have (psycho-linguistically) in translating our own thoughts into words or other symbols and in deciphering the words or symbols of others into terms we ourselves can understand.

Weaknesses:

i. Tends to stress the manipulation of the message—the encoding and decoding processes

ii. it implies that human communication is like machine communication, like signal-sending in telephone, television, computer, and radar systems.

iii. It even seems to stress that most problems in human communication can be solved by technical accuracy-by choosing the “right” symbols, preventing interference, and sending efficient messages.

iv. But even with the “right” symbols, people misunderstand each other. “Problems in “meaning” or “meaningfulness” often aren’t a matter of comprehension, but of reaction, of agreement, of shared concepts, beliefs, attitudes, values. To put the com- back into communication, we need a meaning-centered theory of communication.”

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Strengths

i. Schramm provided the additional notion of a “field of experience,” or the psychological frame of reference; this refers to the type of orientation or attitudes which interactants maintain toward each other.

ii. Included Feedback

1.) Communication is reciprocal, two-way, even though the feedback may be delayed.a.) Some of these methods of communication are very direct, as when you talk in direct response to someone.

b.) Others are only moderately direct; you might squirm when a speaker drones on and on, wrinkle your nose and scratch your head when a message is too abstract, or shift your body position when you think it’s your turn to talk.

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c.) Still other kinds of feedback are completely indirect.

2.) For example,

a.) politicians discover if they’re getting their message across by the number of votes cast on the first Tuesday in November;

b.) commercial sponsors examine sales figures to gauge their communicative effectiveness in ads;

c.) teachers measure their abilities to get the material across in a particular course by seeing how many students sign up for it the next term.

iii. Included Context

1.) A message may have different meanings, depending upon the specific context or setting.2.) Shouting “Fire!” on a rifle range produces one set of reactions-reactions quite different from those produced in a crowded theater.

iv. Included Culture

1.) A message may have different meanings associated with it depending upon the culture or society. Communication systems, thus, operate within the confines of cultural rules and expectations to which we all have been educated.

v. Other model designers abstracted the dualistic aspects of communication as a series of “loops,” (Mysak, 1970), “speech cycles” (Johnson, 1953), “co-orientation” (Newcomb, 1953), and overlapping “psychological fields” (Fearing, 1953).

Weaknesses

i. Schramm’s model, while less linear, still accounts for only bilateral communication between two parties. The complex, multiple levels of communication between several sources is beyond this model.

Patterns of Business Communication(Organizational Communication)

As communicators strive to achieve the four goals of communication, the organization sends and receives messages both internal and external. Some of these messages are formal while others are informal; some a rework-oriented; other are personal.

INTERNAL COMMUNICATION PATTERN

Organizational communication can flow vertically or horizontally in which the message may flow through a network.

In a vertical communication messages flow upward or downward along a path referred to as the “chain of command.” (Examples: reports and proposals- flow upward; policy statements, plans, directives and instructions- flow downward)

Horizontal message flow occurs between workers or units that need to share data of coordinate efforts.

1. Information flows freely among those who have a link that goes beyond the participants’ role or unit within the organization.

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2. It may be a planned part of a business operation or it may arise from informal interactions. (Example of a planned network is a project team formed to computerize a process; an example of an informal organization-based network is a company-sponsored softball team, which can become powerful on account of networking- In this type of informal communication, members can discuss work-related issues outside the traditional communication structure and then combine efforts to influence the direction of the organization)

EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION PATTERN

External communication flows between a business organization and the entities with which it interacts. External contacts include customers, suppliers, competitors, the media, government agencies and general public. The se contacts may be domestic or international. (Examples: letters, reports, orders, invoices, and web pages illustrate external communication; telephone calls and radio or television advertisements are examples of external communication which may be formal or informal)

1. Formal Communication – written (memo, report and policy) or oral (speech, meeting)a. Planned by the organizationb. Flowing in all directions, andc. Essential for the effective operation of the business

2. Informal Communication – sometimes referred to as a “grapevine,” it consists of both business related messages and personal information. Most informal communication is oral, and the widespread use of e-mail has made it more popular.

a. It is not planned by the organizationb. Flows in all directions, andc. Helps develop and maintain positive human relationships.

Lesson 2: The Seven C’s of Business Communication

Conciseness Conciseness means communicating what you want to convey in least possible words. Conciseness is a necessity for effective communication.

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Conciseness, in a business message, can be achieved by avoiding wordy expressions and repetition. Using brief and to the point sentences, including relevant material makes the message concise. Achieving conciseness does not mean to loose completeness of message.

Conciseness saves time. Concise communication has following features:

◦ It is both time-saving as well as cost-saving.

◦ It underlines and highlights the main message.

◦ Concise communication provides short and essential message in limited words to the audience.

◦ Concise message is more appealing and comprehensible to the audience.

There are seven (7) possible ways to achieve conciseness: 1) Use single-word substitute instead of phrases whenever possible without changing meanings; 2) Use only essential words to get the message across to the reader. Omit trite, unnecessary/ unimportant expressions, and obvious ideas; 3)Omit “which” and “that” clauses whenever possible; 4) Eliminate unnecessary prepositional phrases, determiners and modifiers; 5) Omit repetitive wording, redundant pairs, and redundant categories; 6) Replace wordy conventional statements with concise versions and; 7)Change passive verbs into active verbs.

Completeness

By completeness means the message must bear all the necessary information to bring the

response you desire. The sender should answer all the questions and with facts and figures and

when desirable, go for extra details. Completeness brings the desired response.

Here are three ways to achieve Completeness: 1) Provide all necessary information. Check the five W’s and any other essentials; 2) Answer all questions asked, and; 3) Give something extra when desirable.

Consideration

Consideration means preparing every message with the message that the receivers have in

mind. (try to put yourself in their place)

Consideration demands to put oneself in the place of receiver while composing a message. It

refers to the use of “You” attitude, emphases positive pleasant facts, visualizing reader’s

problems, desires, emotions and his response. Consideration means understanding of human nature.

Here are three ways to achieve Consideration: 1) Focus on “You” instead of “I” and “We”; 2) Take an interest in the reader (show how the reader will benefit), and; 3) Emphasize positive, pleasant facts.

Concreteness

Being definite, vivid and specific rather than vague, obscure and general leads to concreteness

of the message. Facts and figures being presented in the message should be specif.

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Concreteness reinforces confidence.

Here are three ways to achieve Concreteness: 1) Use specific facts and figures; 2) Put action into your verbs, and; 3) Choose vivid, image-building words.

Clarity

Clarity demands the use of simple language and easy sentence structure in composing the

message. When there is clarity in presenting ideas, it’s easy for the receiver/decoder to grasp

the meaning being conveyed by the sender/encoder.

The purpose of clarity is exactly getting the meaning from your head into the head of your

reader.

It is achieved through the right choice of precise, concrete, and familiar words. Clarity makes comprehension easier.

These are four ways to achieve Clarity: 1) Choose precise, concrete, and familiar words; 2) Construct effective sentences and paragraphs; 3) Use parallel constructions, and; 4) Avoid using trite or hackneyed expressions.

Courtesy

In business, almost everything starts and ends in courtesy. Courtesy means not only thinking

about receiver but also valuing his feelings. Much can be achieved by using polite words and

gestures, being appreciative, thoughtful, tactful, and showing respect to the receiver. Courtesy

builds goodwill. Courtesy strengthen relations.

These are three ways to achieve Courtesy: 1) Be sincerely tactful, thoughtful, and appreciative; 2) Use expressions that show respect, and; 3) Choose nondiscriminatory expressions.

Correctness

Being definite, vivid and specific rather than vague, obscure and general leads to concreteness

of the message. Facts and figures being presented in the message should be specif. Concreteness reinforces confidence.

These are four characteristics of Correctness: 1) Use the right level of language; 2) Check accuracy of figures, facts, and words; 3) Use the correct word, and; 4) Maintain acceptable writing mechanics.

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Business English and Correspondence Handout

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