Business Communication (MB0039)

Assignment -I

MBA 1st Semester Roll No: 521103149 Divyang Panchasara

1) Explain the different types of communication with relevant examples. Ans.: Communication is a process that involves exchange of information, thoughts, ideas and emotions. Communication is a process that involves a sender who encodes and sends the message, which is then carried via the communication channel to the receiver where the receiver decodes the message, processes the information and sends an appropriate reply via the same communication channel.
TYPES OF COMMUNICATION

Communication can occur via various processes and methods and depending on the channel used and the style of communication there can be various types of communication.
TYPES OF COMMUNICATION BASED ON COMMUNICATION CHANNELS:

Based on the channels used for communicating, the process of communication can be broadly classified as verbal communication and non-verbal communication. Verbal communication includes written and oral communication whereas the non-verbal communication includes body language, facial expressions and visuals diagrams or pictures used for communication.
VERBAL COMMUNICATION

Verbal communication is further divided into written and oral communication. The oral communication refers to the spoken words in the communication process. Oral communication can either be face-to-face communication or a conversation over the phone or on the voice chat over the Internet. Spoken conversations or dialogs are influenced by voice modulation, pitch, volume and even the speed and clarity of speaking. The other type of verbal communication is written communication. Written communication can be either via snail mail, or email. The effectiveness of written communication depends on the style of writing, vocabulary used, grammar, clarity and precision of language.

NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION:

Non-verbal communication includes the overall body language of the person who is speaking, which will include the body posture, the hand gestures, and overall body movements. The facial expressions also play a major role while communication since the expressions on a persons face say a lot about his/her mood. On the other hand gestures like a handshake, a smile or a hug can independently convey emotions. Non verbal communication can also be in the form of pictorial representations, signboards, or even photographs, sketches and paintings.Due to advanced communication network, rapid changes in consumer behaviour, varied expectations of variety of consumers and new market openings, modern managers have a difficult task of making quick and appropriate decisions. Therefore, there is a need for them to depend more upon quantitative techniques like mathematical models, statistics, operations research and econometrics.

TYPES OF COMMUNICATION BASED ON STYLE AND PURPOSE:

Based on the style of communication, there can be two broad categories of communication, which are formal and informal communication that have their own set of characteristic features.
FORMAL COMMUNICATION

Formal communication includes all the instances where communication has to occur in a set formal format. Typically this can include all sorts of business communication or corporate communication. The style of communication in this form is very formal and official. Official conferences, meetings and written memos and corporate letters are used for communication. Formal communication can also occur between two strangers when they meet for the first time. Hence formal communication is straightforward, official and always precise and has a stringent and rigid tone to it.
INFORMAL COMMUNICATION:

Informal communication includes instances of free unrestrained communication between people who share a casual rapport with each other. Informal communication requires two people to have a similar wavelength and hence occurs between friends and family. Informal communication does not have any rigid rules and guidelines. Informal conversations need not necessarily have boundaries of time, place or even subjects for that matter since we all know that friendly chats with our loved ones can simply go on.

2) What are the general principles of writing especially business writing?

Principles of Business Writing: The principles of Good Business Letter can be described in the following ways: 1) Knowing the Addressee Good Business Letter should contain the relevant information about the knowledge of subject and the person to whom it is addressed. It will create maximum influence on the reader and will benefit in best possible way. 2) Writing Naturally Good Business Letter should have genuineness in expression of thoughts or ideas. It should be written in soft spoken language and the reader should believe that we are in conversation with him. 3) Writing Clearly and Without Ambiguity Good Business Letter should be free from any confusion or ambiguity. It should insured clarity of thoughts with no omission of words, no faulty punctuation and no disorderly arrangement of facts. There has to be affixation of full stops and commas at right places so that there is no change in the sense or subject of the matter. Besides this, there has to be proper specification of numbers and figures to maintain the authenticity of the matter. The faulty punctuations or faulty words may prove disaster or failure for the business relations.

4) Writing Completely Good Business Letter should have all the relevant facts and complete information so that there are no unnecessary queries. The letter should be complete in all aspects and everything should be described or written specifically. 5) Courtesy and Consideration The courtesy in business correspondence is simply not restricted to obligatory words like Thank you or Please but implies to promptness in attending to the letters. It is important to acknowledge letters when it is not possible to give immediate replies. There has to be politeness in declining business proposals or saying no and it has to be done in decent manner. In business, courtesy begets courtesy, so there has to be congenial and friendly with business associates and parties . 6) Avoiding Jugglery or Jumbling of Words It is important that the language of the letters should be simple and should not be like essay or article from literary point of view. It has to be written in short sentences with simple words. The letter should not have typical or difficult words and it should be refrained from verbose or prosaic style of writing. 7) Avoiding the use of commercial words/phrases/abbreviations The use of commercial words/phrases/abbreviations should be avoided as they have become obsolete and out of practice. There are some important commercial terms that cannot be substituted, yet they should be minimize or avoided in the letters. 8) Effectiveness Good Business Letter should be concise, precise, relevant, concrete and consistent so that it is easily understood by the reader and its contents should be fully followed. The letter should be arranged in the relevant way so that the important facts should be given prime importance. It should be followed by other important facts in continuation so that the entire letter becomes link chain. The letter can be divided into small paragraphs and each paragraph should contain specific type of information. It should be not too short or too lengthy as this may prove monotonous or irrelevant in a business letter to the reader. 9) Planning the Letter The writer of the letter should have good thinking power and should plan out its contents before writing the letter. It helps in assorting all relevant facts, figures and places so that the letter becomes more useful and result oriented. The following steps are to be taken for planning a letter and they are as follows: a) Collecting facts or information It refers to collecting all the relevant facts or Information to be included in the letter. b) Selecting right or accurate style/approach It implies to the initiation of letter and can be done through three approaches or styles. They are: 1) Direct In this type we can jump into main issue or conclusion before giving any type of preface or introduction. For example Enquiries, Quotations, Orders etc. Indirect It involves making indirect or preface for the main information, issue or subject.

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3) How would you prepare yourself for an oral business presentation?

Delivering a formal presentation can be either fairly stress-free or nerve-wrecking. Your level of comfort can depend on the size of your audience, the critical spectators attending your presentation, or the feedback that you may anticipate. Whatever you may find as a cause for concerns about speaking before a group, never let it be your knowledge about what you will speak. With thorough and effective research about your subject, you will discover that you are already halfway prepared to address your listeners. The following steps can complete your preparation. Instructions: 1) Study your subject. You may have already been provided great information from which you could pull. But if there are other sources, such as the Internet or experts, use them to enhance your own insight. Doing so can also help you develop more confidence in your speech. 2) In the comfort of your own study lab (wherever that may be), anticipate all types of responding questions from people in your audience: challenging questions, critical questions, crazy questions, and simple questions (the ones which are so simple that you forgot to prepare an answer for). Equip yourself with facts and insight accordingly. For enlightenment on people's views, I have read several message boards and even complaint sites to help me prepare for the unexpected. 3) Organize the notes from which you will speak. Whether typed or handwritten, you must be able to comprehend them in order to convey them to an audience. So, if you jot your notes down on index cards, write legibly. Also, bind the notes - paper or cards - that you plan to use during your presentation. Dropping loose papers or cards during your speech should not distract an attentive listener, but it can certainly distract you, the speaker. Make your task a tad bit easier on yourself alleviating the possibility of that problem. 4) If you decide to speak with the aid of a Power Point presentation, bear in mind how you will insert information to be displayed. Don't expect an audience to read lengthy sentences or any paragraph - no matter how much time they are given. By all means, do not prepare yourself to read every word written on that Power Point. The audience does not need to see the back of your head. They don't need to hear your voice drift into a state of monotony, which is what can happen if you read word-for-word from your notes. 5) Practice your presentation in private and be willing to be your own biggest critic. Grab a tape recorder or any recording device to listen to your own speech. 6) As I expressed above, approach the podium with a solid knowledge base about every point your will discuss. 7) Please do not imagine your audience in their underwear. You need to focus. If eye contact with any of those listeners intimidates you, then look just past the last row of people to land your sight on either some empty seats or the wall. There are corners of walls and other inanimate objects where you can place your focus until you find 4

yourself comfortable enough to make brief eye contact with a few friendly or neutral faces. 8) Remember that the last row of listeners needs to hear your voice. Unless you have a reliable microphone, be sure to project. 9) Do not overestimate your listeners' attention spans. Keep their interest. Give your tone some range (logical range, that is). And wherever your subject and the points from which you speak will allow, engage your audience with illustrations which they can relate to. 10) Please impose neither overly technical terminologies nor acronyms on your audience. While these expressions of intelligence seem effective, they actually reflect a lazy effort to communicate detailed and comprehensible information to listeners. 11) Remember that, at this point, there should be no reason to lose confidence. If you've studied your subject, grasped a clear understanding of it, and followed the tips above, you have the tools to conquer any sharp sensation that you may feel in the pit of your gut going before any group.

4) You are a team manager having 15 members in your team. Two of your key team members are on 3-weeks leave. You have to call for a monthly team meeting within a week. How effectively you would plan and carry out this meeting?
As pointed out earlier, meetings need to be planned in advance, so that they are successful. Before any planning can be done however, a basic question to be asked id whether to hold a meeting at all. The answers to be followed questions would help to decide whether a meeting is necessary in the first place a) Can the matter be decided or discussed over the telephone? b) Can the matter be expressed in writing, in the form of a memo, or an email message? c) Are key people available to attend the meeting and are they prepared? d) Is the time allotted for the meeting sufficient? If the answers to the first two questions are yes and the answers to the other two questions are no, there is no purpose in calling a meeting. Once the need for a meeting has been determined, the next step is to start planning the meeting. First of all, the type and number of participants should be decided. A problem solving meeting should included representatives from all departments, since the decision would otherwise be incomplete. Shareholders, who are the owners of the company, should also be included. In terms of number, the size of the group could be anywhere between seven and eleven members. An exception to this is an information sharing meeting. Where the number could be larger, So that a maximum number of people benefit from the information.

The second and most important step in planning a meeting is to indicate thepurpose or agenda of the meeting to the participants in advance. An agenda is essentially a list of topics that will be discussed during a meeting. In the works of Adler and Elmhurst, A meeting without an agenda is like a ship at sea without a destination or compass: no one aboard knows where is it headed. An agenda is prepared by the Chairperson of the meeting, or the person who calls the meeting. Apart from a mist of topics, a comprehensive agenda should also include the following1. The time, venue and duration of the meeting- The starting time and length of the meeting needs to be indicated, so that participants know how much to prepare and can plan their other activities and meetings accordingly 2. A List of participants- It is important to let all members know who will be attending the meeting. So that they know who to expect. 3. Background information- This could be in the form of new information, repetition of facts as a reminder, or a brief explanation of the important of the meeting. 4. A clear list of items and goals- These should be included in order to ensure that the meeting has an outcome. Participants need to have a clear idea of their role in the meeting. Goal should be stated so that they sound specific, result-oriented and realistic. 5. Advance preparation by participants- A good agenda tells participants how to come prepared for the meeting- for example, by reading an article, bringing important documents, collecting facts or jotting down their ideas on a particular issue. In case certain members have to prepare in a specific way, this can be mentioned on their individual copy of the agenda. In general, the items to be discussed are listed in the descending order of priority in the agenda- i.e. from the most important to the least important items. AGENDA

DATE : March 5th 2011 TO : (Name of all meeting participants) FROM : (Name of Chairperson) SUBJECT : Planning for the inauguration of new Manipal office TIME : Monday, March 10th, from 9:30 to 11am PLACE : Fourth floor Conference Room BACKGROUND : The inauguration of the new Manipal University learning Office will take care place on March 15th, as previously scheduled. Completion of the following tasks will keep us on target and ensure that the new office becomes functional. We will discuss the following items: 1. Office Equipment Needs: (Name of the person responsible for making a presentation and initiating discussion)

2. Office Decoration: (Name of person responsible for making a presentation and initiating discussion)

5) Distinguish between circulars and notices along with formats.

A circular is a communication meant to convey information of a business firm to customers, business Mends etc. In the course of business, occasions will arise to send out circular letters. The sender aims giving certain information to the public. There are also other ways to communicate or advertise in newspapers or journals. Generally printed or cyclostyled circular letters have a few advantages such as, less expenses, any number of letters can be posted in a day, to a certain extent the personal meet of the sales agents can be substituted, and the recipient, if interested, may call upon the firm or the sales agent, and so the agent need not wait to have an appointment. The objectives of circular letters are: To obtain publicity for a merchandise, to impress the readers with the facts about the firm and the products, to make the readers more interest in their contents, to attain the confidence of the readers and to stimulate sales. A circular letter is one that carries a communication to a number of addresses. The basic difference between a circular and a general letter is that, whereas the former is addressed to many persons, the latter is addressed to only one person. Circular letters are to be read by a large number of people, whereas general letters arc personal and private in nature. Notices are methods used to keep the workforce as a whole up to date with what is going on. There are impersonal methods of communication i.e. the same communication is sent to all the workers. Notices may relate to vacant posts, holiday arrangements, union matters or social events and are likely to be displayed on a notice board. Sometimes important notices are included with wage or salary slips. They keep workers informed and attempt to make them feel a part of a large company. THE ADVANTAGES OF THIS METHOD ARE: It can contain diagrams as well as written information. A written record of the message is kept. They can be created in such a way as to attract attention. Employees tend to look at notice boards in their breaks. Circulars and notices are written forms of communication within the organization. The difference between a circular and a notice is circulars are announcements those are distributed to small or selective groups of people within an organization, whereas notices are meant for a larger group of people. In simple term, a notice is a mention in writing, a sign or placard conveying some information or intelligence. While a circular is a letter or advert, of which many copies have been made, addressed and distributed to a circle of people, customer. Basically, they both convey info. to a predetermined group or circle. The only diff is that while the former is strategically placed in known locations, the latter is forwarded directly to the intended recipients. 7

6) You are a sales manager for a particular brand of mixer and blender. Frame a sample bad news letter telling a customer about that her claim for the product replacement is rejected on the grounds that the product didnt have any defect during the sale.
Dear Customer Services Representative, I am writing this to request you to replace the Mixer and blender, which you had mailed to me last week. I was very impressed with your TV advertisements of Mixer and Blenders. Your statement 100% satisfaction guaranteed made me place an immediate order and send you a cheque for Rs. 1000. This seems to be an outstanding Mixer and Blender, but it arrived with damaged on one side, which unable to work when we used. I am confident that you will live up to this guarantee. I am returning the Mixer and Blender to you and would like another one in first class condition. In case you do not have one in stock, I would like to request a refund. Sincerely, John smith

Note that in above letter, the action or adjustment is requested in the very first Sentence. The second paragraph explains the details supporting the request for action. The closing is friendly, expressing confidence that the request will be granted.