Personal Introduction

• Name: Anjum Nisar Qureshi

• Education:
– M Sc (Econ); Karachi University
– MBA (International Finance & Economics); Los Angeles, California; USA

• Diploma & Certification:

– Diploma in Accounting (Los Angeles, California; USA)
– Certificate in Case Teaching Methodology (LUMS)
– Leadership Grid

• Professional Experience:
– 25 years (16 years with multinationals in the USA)
– Years in T&D: 15 Years

Teaching Experience:
– Bharia University
– FAST National University
– Mohammad Ali Jinnah University
– ICT (PTCL)
– University of Southern Queensland (USQ)

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 Personal Introduction
• Membership In Professional Organizations
– HuCaN (Human Capital Network)
– Centre for Capacity Building
– Alliance for Development
– Professional Trainers & Consultants from Pakistan
– Human Resource Forum

• Areas of Specialization:
– Fact Based Decision Making, Strategic Planning Skills, Conflict Management &
Resolution, Team Building, Time Management, Workplace Communication,
Business Writing Skills, Effective Sales & Selling, Excellence in Customer Care,
Employee Motivation & Satisfaction, Leadership, Recruitment and Selection,
and Interviewing Skills; etc.

• Client Organization:
– DRC, Friedrick Ebert Stiftung (FES), Care International, Plan International,
UNDP, SCA, and USAID, CESSD, British Council, OGRA, OPI, Uch Power,
OMV, Roche Pakistan, PEPSI Pakistan, PTC, IPS, Habib Bank Ltd, Khushhali
Bank, Planning Commission of Pakistan, Pakistan Post, PTCL, Ufone,
Ericsson, Telenor, British High Commission (BHC), just to name a few.

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 Ground Rules
1. Participation; a must!

2. Participate and voice your ideas –

and let others to do the same

3. Respectfully listen when others are

presenting.

4. Attend all sessions - & be on time!

No exceptions

5. Your mobile will not ring in the class

6. Respect for the classmates

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 Chapter 1

Achieving Success Through

Effective Business
Communication

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 Learning Objectives
Understand why communication matters

Define professional communication

Assess business communication issues

Explore the communication process

Review communication technology

Investigate ethical communication

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 Understanding Why
Communication Matters

• Communication is the process of transferring information and

meaning between senders and receivers, using one or more written,
oral, visual, or electronic channels.

• The essence of communication is sharing—providing data,

information, insights, and inspiration in an exchange that benefits
both you and the people with whom you are communicating.

• This section outlines the many ways in which good communication

skills are good for your career and your company.

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Understanding Why
Communication Matters

So, Why Does Communication Matter?

 For Your Career

Ambition and ideas aren’t enough.

• Improving your communication skills

may be the single most important step
you can take in your career.

• So, if you learn to write, speak, and listen

well, and communicate in any situation,
you’ll gain a major advantage that will
serve you throughout your career.

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 For Your Company

Effective communication helps businesses in numerous ways:

Closer ties with important communities in the marketplace

Opportunities to influence conversations, perceptions, and trends

Increased productivity and faster problem solving

Better financial results and higher returns for investors

Earlier warning of potential problems, rising from business costs to critical safety issues

Stronger decision making based on timely, reliable information

Greater employee engagement, leading to higher satisfaction and lower turnover

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 Effective Communication

• Remember!

• Effective communication strengthens the

connection between a company and all of its
stakeholders.

• Conversely, when communication breaks down,

the results can range from time wasting to
tragic.

• Union Carbide
• Shell Oil Rig

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 Effective Communication
• To make your communication efforts effective, focus on the
following:
• Provide practical information.

• Give facts rather than vague impressions.

• Clarify expectations and responsibilities.

• Present information in a concise, efficient

manner.

• Offer compelling, persuasive arguments

and recommendations.

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Communicating as a Professional

• You’ve been communicating your entire life, but if you don’t yet have a
lot of work experience, the expectations of a professional environment
might require some adjustment.

• This section reviews ;

• the skills that employers will expect you to have,

• the nature of communication in an organizational environment, and
• the importance of adopting an audience-centered approach.
 What Is Professionalism?
• Professionalism is the quality of performing at a high level and conducting
oneself with purpose and pride.

• True professionals go beyond the minimum expectations and commit to

making meaningful contributions.

• Professionalism can be broken down into six

distinct traits:
• Striving to excel
• Being a team player
• Making ethical decisions
• Dependability
• Etiquette
• Positive Attitude
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 What Employers Expect
The skills that employers expect from you are the same skills that will help you advance in your career:

Organizing ideas and information logically and completely

Expressing ideas and information coherently and persuasively

Actively listening to others

Communicating effectively with people from diverse backgrounds and experiences

Using communication technologies effectively and efficiently

Following accepted standards of grammar, spelling, and other aspects of high-quality

writing and speaking

Communicating in a civilized manner that reflects contemporary expectations of business

etiquette

Communicating ethically, even when choices aren’t crystal clear

Managing your time wisely and using resources efficiently

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 Communicating in an
Organizational Context
• Every organization has a formal communication network, in which ideas and information
flow along the hierarchical levels in the company’s organization structure.

• In a formal network, information flows in three directions:

Upward

Downward Formal Horizontal

Every organization also has an informal communication network:

Interaction Informal Grapevine

Social Media
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 Formal Communication Network

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 Center on Your Audience
Adopting an audience-centered approach means focusing on and caring
about the members of your audience.

The “You” Attitude

Empathy
Business Etiquette
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 Center on Your Audience
• Adopting an audience-centered approach means focusing on and
caring about the members of your audience.

• This approach is also known as adopting the “you” attitude.

• Learn as much as possible about your audience.

– If you’re addressing people you don’t know, try to project yourself into
their position by using common sense and imagination.

– Relating to the needs of others is a key part of emotional intelligence,

widely considered to be a vital characteristic of successful managers and
leaders.

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 Center on Your Audience

• The more you know about your audience, the easier it will be to
concentrate on their needs—which, in turn, will make it easier for
them to hear your message, understand it, and respond positively.

• An important element of audience-centered communication is

etiquette, the expected norms of behavior in a particular situation.

– The way you conduct yourself can have a profound influence on your
company’s success and your career.

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 Unique Challenges of Business
Communication
• Remember! Business communication is far more demanding than the
communication with family, friends, and school associates.

• On the job, expectations are higher and the business environment is

complex.

• The next few slides highlight issues that illustrate why business
communication requires a higher level of skill and attention:

• Globalization of business and increased workforce diversity

• The increasing value of information
• The pervasiveness of technology
• The evolution of organizational structures
• The growing reliance on teamwork
 Global Business
Today’s businesses increasingly reach across international borders to market
their products, partner with other businesses, and employ workers and
executives—an effort known as globalization.

Managers and employees need to communicate

with business partners from many cultures.

Business Communication
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 Workforce Diversity
As people and products cross borders, businesses are paying more attention to
workforce diversity—differences among the people in the workplace, including age,
gender, sexual orientation, education, cultural background, life experience, and so on.

Successful companies realize that a diverse workforce can yield a real competitive
advantage, but it also requires a more conscientious approach to business communication.

Workplace Communication
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 The Value of Information

As competition for jobs, customers, and resources

grows, information is becoming increasingly important.

Today’s companies rely on knowledge workers to

acquire, process, and communicate information on:

•Competitive insights
•Customers needs
•Regulations & guidelines

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 Pervasive Technology
Technology influences virtually every aspect of
business communication in today’s workplace.

To benefit from this technology, however, you

need to have at least a basic level of skills.

Technical Expertise
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 Organizational Structures and
Leadership Styles
Every business has a particular structure that defines the relationships between
people and departments within an organization.

These relationships affect communication throughout the organization.

Tall Flat
Specific structures present
unique challenges.

Matrix Network
In addition to structure, communication efforts
are influenced by the corporate culture; that give
a company its atmosphere and personality.
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 Matrix & Project Structures

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 Reliance on Teamwork
Teams are commonly used in business today, but they are not always
successful—and a key reason that teams fail to meet their objectives is poor
communication.

•Effective Communication
•Complex Group Dynamics
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 Exploring the
Communication Process
• Even well-intentioned communication efforts can fail.

• By understanding communication as a process, you can improve the odds

that your messages will reach their intended audiences and produce their
intended effects.

• We will explores the communication process in two stages:

• first by following a message from one sender to one receiver in the

basic communication model,

• second by expanding on that with multiple messages and participants

in the social communication model.
 Communication Model
• By viewing communication as a process, you can identify and
improve the skills you need in order to be more successful.

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 Becoming An Effective Business
Communicator

• The communication process presents many opportunities for

messages to get lost, distorted, or misinterpreted as they
travel from sender to receiver.

• Fortunately, you can take action at every step in the process

to increase your chances of success.

• Let’s see …

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 Becoming An Effective Business Communicator

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 External Barriers
Noise and Competing
Distractions Messages

Message Channel
Filtering Breakdowns

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• Within any communication environment, messages can be disrupted
by a variety of communication barriers:

– Noise and distractions. External distractions range from poor acoustics to

uncomfortable meeting rooms to crowded computer screens with instant
messages popping up. Internal distractions consist of thoughts and emotions.
Multitasking is virtually guaranteed to create communication distractions.

– Competing messages. Having your audience’s undivided attention is rare. In

many cases, you must compete with other messages that are trying to reach
your audience at the same time.

– Filters. Messages can be blocked or distorted by filters—any human or

technology that intervenes between the sender and the receiver.

• Filtering can be both intentional (e.g., automatically filing e-mail messages

based on sender or content) or unintentional (e.g., an overly aggressive
SPAM filter that deletes legitimate e-mail).

– When channel breakdowns occur, messages may be delayed, misrouted, or lost.

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 Audience Mindset
After a message works its way through the communication channel and
reaches the intended audience, it encounters a new set of challenges.

Understanding how audiences receive,

decode, and respond to messages will help
you create more effective messages.

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For an audience member to actually receive a message, three
events need to occur:

– the receiver has to sense its presence,

– select it from all the other messages clamoring for attention, and then

– perceive it as an actual message (as opposed to pointless noise).

• Even though a message may have been received by the audience, it still
doesn’t “mean” anything until the recipient decodes it and assigns
meaning to it.

– However, there is no guarantee that your audience will assign the same
meaning that you intended.

• Now that your message has been delivered, received, and correctly
decoded.

Now what?
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Will the audience respond in the way that you would like them
to?

Probably—if three events occur.

First, the recipient has to remember the message

long enough to act on it.

Second, the recipient has to be able to respond as

you wish.

Third, the recipient has to be motivated to respond.

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 How Audience Decode
Messages

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 Social Communication
Business Business
Communication 1.0 Communication 2.0
“We talk, you listen” “Let’s have a conversation”

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 Social Communication
• The traditional model of business communication is largely defined
by a publishing or broadcast mindset.

– For external communication, a company released carefully scripted

messages to a mass audience that often had few, if any, ways to
respond.

• Likewise, customers and other interested parties had few ways to connect
with one another to ask questions, share information, or offer support.

– Internal communication tended to follow the same “we talk, you listen”
model, as upper managers issued directives to lower-level supervisors
and employees.

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 Social Communication
• Today, a variety of technologies have enabled and inspired a new
approach to business communication.

– The new social communication model is interactive, conversational, and

usually open to all who wish to participate.

– This new model is revolutionizing business communication.

– Social media have given customers and other stakeholders a voice they
did not have in the past.

– And businesses are listening to that voice.

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 Business Communication 2.0 Model
• However, a company can not be as a social club in which everyone has a
say and a vote.

• A hybrid approach is used in which some communications (such as

strategic plans and policy documents) follow the traditional approach and
others (such as customer support messages) follow the social model.

Traditional Hybrid Social Media

Approach Method Approach

Strategic Customer Project

Policies
Plans Support Updates

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Using Technology in Business Communication

• Today’s businesses rely heavily on technology to enhance communication.

• Many of the technologies we use in our personal life are also used in
business.

• To communicate effectively use the following guideline;

• learn to keep technology in perspective,
• guard against information overload and information addiction,
• use technological tools productively, and
• disengage from the computer frequently to communicate in person.
 Maintain Perspective
• The most important point to remember about technology is that it’s simply
a tool by which you can accomplish certain tasks.

• It’s an aid to interpersonal communication, not

a replacement for it.

• Technology can’t think for you or communicate

for you.

• If you lack some essential skills, technology

can’t fill in the gaps

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 Information Overload
• The overuse or misuse of communication technology can lead to
information overload, in which people receive more information than they
can effectively process.

Less More
Productive Stressful

The result?
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 Information Overload
• Information overload;
• Makes it difficult to differentiate between useful and useless information,

• Lowers productivity, and

• Amplifies employee stress both on the job and at home.

• As a recipient, use filtering to isolate high-priority messages that

deserve your attention.

• As a sender, make sure you don’t send unnecessary messages.

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 Productivity Issues
Information tools can waste as much time as they save.

• Inappropriate web use not only distracts employees from work

responsibilities but also leaves employers open to lawsuits.

The best solution to such problems

lies in:
• developing clear policies,
guidelines; and
• providing sufficient training to
use information technology
productively.

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 Reconnect with People
Technology can hinder communication if it’s overused.

Speaking with people over the phone or in

person can take more time and effort than
sending an email or text message, but it’s
often essential for solving tough problems and
maintaining productive relationships.

Step out from behind the technology

frequently to learn more about the people
you work with—and to let them learn more
about you.

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 Committing to Ethical and
Legal Communication
• Ethics are the accepted principles of conduct that govern
behavior within a society.

• Ethical communication includes;

• all relevant information,

• is true in every sense,
• does not violate the rights of others, and
• is not deceptive in any way.
 Effective Leaders

• Of 462 executives who were asked,

"What characteristics are needed to
be an effective leader today?" 56
percent ranked ethical behavior as an
important characteristic.

--Source: American Management

Association, New York, NY

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 Unethical Messages
Plagiarizing: using someone else's words or other
creative ideas and claiming them as your own.

Omitting essential information the audience need to

make an intelligent, objective decision is unethical.

Selective misquoting occurs when damaging information

is omitted, in order to paint a better (but untruthful) picture
of you or your company.

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 Unethical Messages
Misrepresenting numbers: manipulating data by altering
statistics, or omitting numerical data.

Distorting visuals: making a product look bigger or

changing the scale of graphs and charts to conceal
differences.

Finally, failing to respect privacy or information security

needs is unethical and may be illegal.

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 Ethical Questions
Every company has responsibilities to its stakeholders
often having competing interests.

In some situations, what's right for one group may be

wrong for another. (selling dubious housing schemes)

• An ethical dilemma involves choosing among

alternatives that aren't clear-cut.

• An ethical lapse is a clearly unethical or illegal

choice.

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Ensuring ethical business communication
requires three elements:

Ethical individuals,

Ethical company leadership,

Appropriate policies and structures.

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 Ethical Communication
• These three elements need to work in harmony.
• Employers have a responsibility to establish clear guidelines, such as a written
code of ethics to promote ethical behavior.

• Furthermore, ethical behavior has to start at the top.

• If employees see top bosses ignoring ethics guidelines and making

unethical decisions, then they may conclude that the ethical guidelines
don’t mean anything.

• Bottom line, every employee has the responsibility to communicate in an

ethical manner, whether or not formal guidelines are in place.

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 Legal Communication
• Business communication is also bound by a wide variety of laws and
regulations, including the following areas:

• Promotional communication. Marketing specialists need to be aware of the

many laws that govern truth and accuracy in advertising.

• Contracts. A contract is a legally binding promise between two parties, in

which one party makes a specified offer and the other party accepts.

• Intellectual property. In an age when instant global connectivity makes

copying and retransmitting electronic files effortless, the protection of
intellectual property (IP) has become a widespread concern.

• Intellectual property includes patents, copyrighted materials, trade

secrets, and even Internet domain names.

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 Legal Communication
• Employment communication. Local, provincial, and federal laws govern
communication between employers and both potential and current employees.

• Financial reporting. Finance and accounting professionals who work for publicly
traded companies (those that sell stock to the public) must adhere to stringent
reporting laws.

• Defamation. Negative comments about another party raise the possibility of

defamation, the intentional communication of false statements that damage
character or reputation.

• Transparency requirements. Governments around the world are taking steps to

help ensure that consumers and other parties know who is behind the information
they receive, particularly from online sources.

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 General Ethical Guidelines
• In the absence of clear guidelines, ask yourself the following
questions:

– Have you defined the situation fairly and accurately?

– What impact will the message have on the people who receive it, or
who might be affected by it?
– Will the message achieve the greatest possible good while doing the
least possible harm?
– Are you comfortable with your decision? Would you be embarrassed if
it were printed in tomorrow’s newspaper or spread across the
Internet?
– Think about a person whom you admire and ask yourself what he or
she would think of your decision.

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 Here is an ethical action test for 'rightness' before
implementation:

1. Is it legal?
2. Does it comply with my/our rules and
guidelines?
3. Is it in line with my personal and our
organizational values?
4. Will I be comfortable and guilt-free if I do it?
5. Does it match my commitments and
promised guarantees?
6. Would I do it to my family or friends?
7. Would I be perfectly okay with someone
doing it to me?
8. Would the most ethical person I know do it?

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