COMMUNICATION, WHICH MEANS BUISNESS

     Essence of Business Communication: Business is the exchange of goods and service of value, usually cash or its equivalent. No Business can ever exist without communication. Every exchange is preceded, supported and followed by messages and opinions, in parallel transactions called communication. Communication does not merely measure the value of the exchange transaction; it conveys information to the participants and observers in the transaction.

                                   

Ø      Characteristics of Business Communication

Business communication differs vastly from personal communication. Two major issues dominate the field of contemporary business communication-effective writing and effective speaking. Business functions revolve around the drafting of proposals, reports, memos and letters.  Objectivity, formality, focus and conciseness are critical elements of a good business message. Poor language construction and incorrect spellings bear a negative opinion of the sender. Oral and visual communications have an image of the sender’s personality, which should be a major source of influence over the audience.

Ø      Business Communication as an integral over the schools reflects its multicultural and multilingual society. Students come from a diverse background. Although this diversity instills in them the balance so vital for their social success later in life, their limited schooling given them little capacity to communicate effectively in a business environment. Business education, one must not forget, is full of concepts, methodologies, tools and techniques that are taught in the English language. Although their intelligence is in little doubt, many students need to update themselves quickly on using the English language on two fronts- for writing and speaking it for understanding and learning, and as a medium of business communication.

Communication is instrumental in the crafting of business plans. They control enterprise functions, and facilitate the realization of business objectives. The best business schools in the country have always known these truths.  The IIMs were the earliest in the country to launch a course in Business Communication in their post-graduate management diploma programs, as a clear admission of its critical contribution to the students’ professional development.

Ø      Conflict resolution through business communication:

Business communication resolves conflict, clarifies issues and above all, helps in decision making within the enterprise. The action sites are many: Employee-employer, enterprise, CEO-managers, and across departments and disparate business units. Messages also reflect many angles and levels: Factual, emotional and cultural. The effectiveness of a communication may be diluted because of semantic barriers, organization structure and systems and personal traits of the participants.

Ø      Information Technology led Business Communication:

Information Technology (IT) blends education information and entertainment to facilitate learning, quicken problem solving and decision making and deliver enjoyment from one common platform to another, such as the TV monitor. Paperless communication will speed up the conveyance of information between and within enterprises, and cut down on the business process costs and times. The blackboard will follow the dinosaur into history, as students will seek technologically advanced media such as satellite TV channels, CD-ROMs and the Internet.

Ø      The Future Ahead: The future will continue to challenge the way we do business. The prospective business scenario of the forthcoming millennium sounds more like a sci-fi story. Multimedia will present new opportunities for methods of business communication, cutting cost and process times across political boundaries.