Business Communication , 2016 E.

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INU, CBE, Marketing Department

CHAPTER - ONE
COMMUNICATION-AN OVERVIEW
Introduction
 The chapter of this course introduces you with the highlight of historical development and
civilization of communication. It gives little highlight when and how communication is
emerged along with the human being development. This chapter also deals with definition and
characteristics of business communication. Apart from this the importance of communication
both in the personal life of individuals and in the business world is also another issue of the
chapter.
1.1 Historical Development of Communication
 Communication is perhaps as old as the human civilization. Its origin can be traced to the
growth of the human society. In the “primitive stage of human society, people satisfied their
wants, which were limited to the basic needs for food, clothing & shelter and by their own
individual efforts. At that time life was isolated and there was little communication. But while
people hunted for food, they too were hunted by other wild animals. They lived in constant
danger.
 The common need for protection and security led to group life. Then, communication was
evolved in the form of sounds, indications, signals, and expressions. As group life
developed, and human wants continued to increase, forms of communication also developed.
 With the growth of business-industry and commerce, ways of expressing ideas in languages
developed. Gradually, people were able to shape their attitudes, norms, values, culture,
religion, etc through communication.
 Science entered the field and new forms of oral, written and audio visual communication
developed. Thus, the development of communication is inseparable from the development of
human civilization.
1.2 Meaning of Communication
 The term communication is derived from the Latin work “Communis”, which means
common. Literally, to communicate means to tell, show, spread and inform.
 As communication is a much more complex factor in our present world, not surprisingly, the
problem of defining it as a subject of study has also become increasingly difficult.

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 A more accurate definition of communication can be found by considering the definitions given
by different authors. Some of these definitions are the following:
 “Communication is a two way process of exchanging ideas or information between human beings.”
Murphy & Peck
 “Communication is the process of people sharing thoughts, ideas, & feelings with each other in
commonly understandable ways” (Hamilton and Parker, 1987).
 “Communication occurs when an exchange of messages result in shared meaning” (Bovee & Thill,
2000).
 “Communication is the process by which information is transmitted between individuals and / or
organizations so that an understanding response results.” Peter Little
 “Communication is the process of conveying messages (facts, ideas, attitudes, & opinions) from one
person to another so that they are understood.” M.W. Cumming
 From the above definitions, you might notice that all of them share something in common. All of the
definitions stress that there should at least be two people for communication to occur & there
should also be some kind of message that is intended to be transmitted from one party to another.
And, when people communicate, they express their ideas & feelings in a way that is
understandable to each other. They share information with each other.
We can also define communication as the process through which people attempt to share meaning
(idea, feelings, thoughts, experience, knowledge, skills, etc) for some purpose through the
transmission of symbolic messages.

 For our purposes, however, we can define communication as: The process by which people
attempt to share meaning (ideas, feeling, thought, experience, knowledge, skill, etc) for some
purpose through the transmission of symbolic messages.
Our working definition of communication calls attention to the following five essential points.
1. Communication is a process: Communication refers to a series of activities to be
accomplished in a sequence; it does not refer to incidental events and transactions among
people.
2. Communication is purposeful: When senders - receivers communicate the sender
originally should have an objective to be checked at the end of the communication
process. Communication is not just the transfer of messages but purposeful transfer of
messages between senders and receivers. Thus it does not refer to incidental transactions
between people.

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3. Communication involves people: Communication shows the degree of understanding

among senders-receivers and how they relate to each other. Therefore, it refers to
communication among people only and the exchange of interpersonal behaviors among
them.
4. Communication involves shared meaning: This suggests that in order for people to
communicate, they must agree on the definitions of the terms and symbols they are using.
The symbols used by the sender should be similarly interpreted by the receiver in order
to ensure equal or similar understanding between them.
5. Communication is symbolic: In communication symbols such as, letters, numbers,
words, gestures, sound, etc can only represent or approximate the ideas they are meant to
communicate. In other words symbols are not perfect representations of our ideas. Thus
we have to take care in selecting symbols that best approximate the sender’s ideas.
 Communication is vital to human existence. It is how we pass on to others our thoughts and
feelings, tell them what we want them to do, ask them to help us, share with them our
knowledge and experience. Without communication we would each live as if alone in the
world.

1.3 Nature/Characteristics of Communication

 As articulated by Gerald Miller, communication has three basic characteristics: dynamism,
uniqueness and transactional nature.
 Dynamism: Every communication event stems from a series of past events and triggers a
series of new ones. Communication is affected by prior attitudes, planned thoughts and
people to whom the message is addressed. It is thus a dynamic phenomenon without
beginning, without end, continually responding, and continually changing.
 Uniqueness: Evolving naturally from the notion of dynamism is the concept of uniqueness.
No two communication events are a like because of the change in the sender, the audience,
delivery, time situation etc.
 Transactional Nature: Communication scholars Wenberg and Wilmot mentioned that in
communication all persons are engaged in sending (encoding) and receiving (decoding)
messages simultaneously. Each person is affecting the other. Each communication
transaction involves reciprocal exchanges of feelings, meanings, ideas and responses.

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1.4 Significance of Communication

 The ability to communicate with others is an essential attribute of human life and we are all of
us grappling with communication tasks most of the time we are awake. Only when we are
alone and also not reading or writing or listening, we stop receiving messages from the world
of people outside ourselves, stop trying to send out messages to the fellow human beings
around us.
 Communication plays, then, a vital part in our personal daily lives. Furthermore,
communication has been characterized as the “life-blood” of an organization. Every
organization depends for its daily functioning on an intricate communication network, which
has grown up during the years and has proved itself indispensable. “No person is an Island”;
today more than ever all the people of the world rely upon another for products, services,
ideas, etc.
 Importance of business communication in an organization can be seen in the below points:

1. Helps in increasing productivity: Effective business communication increases the

productivity of staff by boosting up teamwork. It creates a trustworthy and understanding
environment among employers and employees. Effective communication is related to
cooperating with employees and understanding their needs and desires. By doing so, employees
are able to accomplish their tasks more effectively and efficiently. Also, the scope of doing
mistakes or errors during their work minimizes due to effective communication.

2. Helps in increasing customers: Customers are an important part of any business and
effective business communication can facilitate in attracting new customers and retain the
current customers. A well-defined marketing strategy and public relations campaign run by an
organization generates the interest of customers in its goods or services and helps in building the
corporate image in customers.

3. Enhances business partnerships: Business Communication also improves partnerships in

business. It plays a significant role in dealing with external business clients or vendors. Vendors
may be required to communicate on products regularly for improvements. Also, an effective and
harmonious relationship with other businesses determines the further success of an organization.
A business unit that has developed its image as an entity for easy partnership through its
effective communication can attract other business units for forming business relationships with
them.

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4. Facilitates innovations in business: Effective business communication helps in business

innovations as well as it facilitates employees to convey their ideas and suggestions openly.
Similarly, at the time of launching any new product in the market, effective communication
ensures the performance of the sales team, market acceptance of the product, fast delivery of
products in the market, etc.

5. Information exchange: Business communication is required by an organization for

exchanging information with internal and external stakeholders. This helps in achieving its goals
effectively.

6. Preparation of plans and policies: Through effective business communication,

organizations can make their plans and policies properly. Relevant information is required for
preparing these plans and policies. Through communication, different managers source
information through reliable channels.

7. Execution or implementation of plans and policies: To implement or execute the prepared

policies and plans in a timely manner, managers are supposed to communicate these throughout
the organization. Through effective communication, they are able to disseminate plans and
policies to the internal and external stakeholders.

8. Boost the efficiency of employees: Effective business communication plays a key role in
increasing the efficiency of staff. Through communication, different plans and policies, critical
issues, goals of an organization, etc. are described to employees that enhance their knowledge
and make them efficient to do their tasks effectively.

9. Goals achievement: Through effective business communication employees become attentive

and productive in doing their jobs that result in the timely accomplishment of their tasks and
easy goals attainment.

10. Helps in solving problems or issues: Through different communication channels, managers
get information about different routine and non-routine issues and based upon that they can take
required actions to sort out those issues.

11. Facilitates decision-making: Effective decisions require up-to-date information. Using

effective communication, managers can acquire information from different sources and can
utilize it for making correct decisions.

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12. Improves worker-management industrial relations: In the workplace, workers and

management have an industrial relation. The success of any business depends upon the healthy
industrial relation. Business communication plays a significant role in maintaining harmony in
this.

13. Helps in brand and product/service promotions: In today’s competitive business

environment, lots of companies offer similar kinds of products or services. To sell their products
in a good manner, businesses need better communication to promote products and services in an
effective way.

14. Reduces chances of conflicts: Through effective communication different business parties
can exchange information in a smooth way. This results in fewer conflicts, controversies,
arguments between them.

15. Increases employee satisfaction level: Effective communication which is fair and smooth
creates better mutual bonding and the understanding between employees and management. This
helps in increasing the satisfaction level among employees who put their maximum efforts to
achieve the goals.

16. Increases employee loyalty: Through effective business communication, employees are
well informed about their performance from time to time. Also, employees get appreciation,
rewards in both monetary and non-monetary terms for their better performance. This enhances
their loyalty towards the organization.

17. Enhances efficiency of managers and leads to effective leadership: Effective business
communication leads to an increase in the operational efficiency of managers. With the help of
fair communication, managers can perform different managerial functions like planning,
directing, organizing, controlling, etc. smoothly. Moreover, if communication is effective then
only effective leadership can be taken place. For qualitative leadership activities, a proper and
smooth system of communication in business is essential.

18. Proper functioning of different departments: If information is shared smoothly and

effectively in inter-departments and intra-departments then different departments of any business
like accounts, finance, purchase, operations, HR, IT, and production, etc. can do their tasks more
accurately and timely.

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1.5 The main objectives of communication

1. To inform: the first and foremost objective of any communication is
to inform. In today’s world, information is power.
2. To educate: Another objective of communication in an organization
is to educate, i.e.., to disseminate knowledge and develop skills and
attitudes among the people working in the organization.
3. To train: communication is an integral component of any training program.
4. To motivate: people in any business organization have to be
motivated to pursue goals and achieve higher levels of performance.
Communication provides the means to keep the motivation levels
high.
5. To integrate: Communication binds together people working for a
common objective and helps team-building. Communication is just like a
social glue that tied peoples together.
6. To promote etc

1.6 Communication in marketing

 The Following are the benefits of communication in marketing:
1. Building and maintaining relationships
In order to have effective and long term relationships with its stakeholders, a marketer needs to
have good interpersonal skills. It is important to create an emotional connection with your
clients. It is necessary to make your potential customers feel valued and comfortable while
telling them about your goods and services.
2. Facilitates innovation when marketing
Innovation is one of the most important elements of the marketing process. To market the goods
and services better than its competitors one needs to be creative. For this one needs to have
effective communication skills, so that you are able to convey their ideas well.
3. Enhancing transparency
One needs to be completely transparent with its marketers because they are the brand
ambassadors of the business. They are the ones who will be convincing the customers across the
globe to trust your brand. Moreover, effective communication makes employees and customers

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sure that their needs are considered and understood.

4. Overcoming marketing obstacles
There are many challenges that a business has to face. These could be cultural barriers, language
barriers, etc. which hinder the process of marketing. Therefore one needs an effective
communication system to make the marketing process effective. If a person has the right
communication skills and approaches for specific target groups, then it becomes easier to
understand the needs and establish connections with the customers.
5. Establishing professionalism while marketing
There is always a professional relationship between the business and its customers and clients. It
is required to use a professional language while dealing with customers. As a marketer, one must
possess good interpersonal skills to connect with prospective clients.
Major modes of Communication in marketing
 Following are the modes of communication which largely affect an organization and its
marketing strategies:
 Advertising - It is the non-personal form of communication which is persuasive in
nature. It aims to target the mass audience and is viewed as the cheapest way of reaching
out to the customer. Advertising helps in creating and maintaining the Brand Equity. It
fulfills the four objectives i.e. to inform, persuade, differentiate and remind.
 Public relations - It is a two-way form of communication which identifies, establishes
and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and the public.
Publicity is the primary tool used by public relation practitioners. Public relation helps in
the promotion of the business and elevating the business profile of a firm.
 Direct marketing - It means to communicate directly with the target customers through
telephone, mail or any other electronic means. Direct marketing allows a company to
target more precisely a segment of customers and prospects with a sales message tailored
to their specific needs and characteristics. Direct marketing offers accountability by
providing tangible results.
 Sales promotion - Sales promotion are the extra incentives provided by the company in
order to accelerate the product’s movement from the producer to the consumer.
Consumer promotions include coupons, samples, premiums, and rebates etc. The main
purpose of sales promotion is to spur action as they can motivate a consumer to select a
particular brand.
 Personal selling - Personal selling refers to the face to face interaction with the customer
with the purpose of introducing a product, persuading him about the product and closing

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the sale. Being an interpersonal form of communication, it is the most effective tool of
communication as it provides immediate feedback.
 Marketing communication is an important player in the life of a business. Consumers rely on
the information from marketing communication to make wise purchase decisions.
Businesses, ranging from multinational corporations to small retailers, depend on marketing
communication to sell their goods and services.
 Marketing communication helps move products, services, and ideas from manufacturers to
end users and builds and maintains relationships with customers, prospects, and other
important stakeholders in the company. Communication is vital to marketing because it
brings everyone on the same page. Listening to your clients enables you to come up with
long-lasting solutions to solve their need.