Business Communication Name Institution Professor Course Date.

Business Communication
Name
Institution
Professor
Course
Date

Road Map
Different modes of communication exist between and among individuals. They are either formal
or informal. This paper will focus on official business communication. It will outline
characteristics of formal communication, its effects on leadership and management. The main
focus will be on how it is used to pass down policies and get feedback from employees to top
management.
Introduction
Communication is the process of transferring information from one place to another or
from one person to another through a mode well understood such as signs, symbols, and semiotic
rules. Communication process has steps that are common regardless of the type of
communication channels used as stated by (Coffelt, Baker & Corey 2016, pp. 302.
Communication process has a sender, recipient, message and the medium/channel. The
transmission of the message from the sender to the recipient can be affected by factors which
include emotions, the cultural situation, the medium used and location. These factors affect the
complexity of the communication outcome as the feedback from the recipient. The complexity
determines the communication skills required to have effective communication necessary for
business and personal correspondence. The benefits reaped from effective communication at the
business and personal level is essential for the progress of an organization. For instance, the
personal rapport among employees can be established when there is effective communication
among employees. This also applies to the clientele relationship built between the company and
the clients through the employees who act as the representatives. It is also the channel through
which the feedback is passed back to the management for performance review and guidance

(Husain 2013, pp. 43). Robust organizations thrive because of great communication policies and
frameworks within the subjected organization.
Advantages of Organizational Communication
 Good effective written communication is essential for financial savings. Many
surveys indicate that writing is a universal professional skill required in service
industries, real estate, finance, and insurance. It is costly to train employees on better
writing skills but not as compared to outsourcing the services to other companies
according to (Schmeltz 2014, pp. 236).
 Improved business appeal: In the era of technology, company survival is based on the
audience it has both as clients and as employees. An effective communication system
within a company ensures that the employees work in tandem to accomplish work-
related duties. In this regard, there is the opportunity to devote to clients and
confidence in the abilities of the company itself (Khan & Khan 2012, pp. 48).
Besides, good communication increases the company's capacity to expand, with
different cultures and languages in play. Good communication is necessary to
harmonize it and prevent misunderstandings.
 Increased productivity: Good communication among employees and managers
dramatically increases productivity. Instead of wasting time on clearing confusions
caused by a breakdown in communication, employees spend their time on their job
duties. Similarly, management spends time formulating policies to be implemented
and working on the feedback provided by the employees and the clients (Nwabueze
& Mileski 2018, pp. 56). As a result, this creates confidence, trust, great working
relations and conducive working environment that promotes innovations. Employees

are less likely to make mistakes when communication protocols are adhered to in the
workplace.
Communication approaches in organizations: models and flows
Communication approaches preferred by organizations are different due to variations in the
organizational structures and policies. The type of information to be passed determines the
communication approach adopted by the organization. Communication approaches used by
organizations are;
I. Face to face communication which remains the most common form of
communication. An in-person communication improves understanding and helps
solidify a team and build trust among co-workers (Schmeltz 2014, pp. 252).
II. Email conversations and communications: Email has gained popularity as the
most official form of communication in organizations. Official letters, documents,
and memos are shared via email, companies set up reminders and meeting on
email and they are used for reference.
III. Communication in Business Meetings: Organizations hold meetings for various
reasons, mainly being for management to assess the performance of the
employees and communicate the policies and business requirements to be
implemented.
IV. Social media Applications: The most commonly used social media platforms
include Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn
V. Team Messaging Applications: These include Google Hangouts and Facebook.
Services such as Skype allow users to instant messaging, video conference and

business phone calls while tools like Slack and Jira allow for collaboration among
employees.
Communication to employees on the change of dress code
To address the dressing code revamp in the organization, it require the total support from
the employees. The main parties involved are the employees, middle management, the senior
management and partially the general public. The process would be broken into; fact-finding,
opinion gathering, analysis of the findings and recommendation to the senior management. The
fact-finding and the opinion phase will be carried out by the middle management and the
PR/marketing team. Leaders would seek the opinion of the employees and the feeling of
dressing in the company's T-shirt. On the same note, the marketing team would explore how the
public would view the employees when donned in organizational attire. The findings would be
passed to the analysis stage to evaluate the pros and cons of implementing the dress code policy.
Depending on the outcome of this stage, appropriate measures would be taken. If the decision to
execute the dress code is adopted, a suitable approach would be used to make sure
implementation goes on successfully with minimal resistance from the employees. These
changes should be communicated to all stakeholders as a rebranding strategy for the company.
The management needs to undertake the process with precaution by involving stakeholders in the
entire implementation process.
Manager approach
The senior management changed the business working policy by introducing a new
dressing code that had to be adhered by the employees. The parties involved in this situation are

senior management, middle management, and employees. For effective communication, the
choice of the approach to be used would determine the success or failure of implementing the
strategy (Steiger, Hammou & Galib 2014, pp. 43). Dressing code does affect not only the
company but also the culture of the employees. Therefore, for a successful implementation of the
policy, the company need to involve the employees in the design of the type of T-shirts.
Involving the employees in the process eliminates resistance and makes them feel being part of a
company. Since the change in the dress code might signify rebranding, the employees will feel
part of the rebirth of the company. To effectively communicate the anticipated changes on the
dressing code, a meeting should be planned with all stakeholders to highlight new policy
adoption (Schmeltz 2014, pp. 248). Afterward, the employees will be given samples of the T-
shirts to select from and choose a suitable model. This should be followed by an official email
from the senior management thanking the employees for their cooperation in the implementation
of the new policy.
First, before bashing the employees with the policy, it would be essential to organize
meetings with a small group of employees. It can start with the supervisors and departmental
heads to request for a survey on how the employees perceives anticipated changes on the dress
code. Depending on the feedback given, the best approach to implement the changes would be
instituted by the senior management (Sadia, Salleh, Kadir & Sanif 2016, pp. 96-97). The input
from the supervisors should be communicated to the senior management and a meeting held to
draw the plan on the implementation of the changes. Communication in this scenario should
adhere to the characteristics of the business language which include:
1. Plain, direct, concise and straight to the point.

2. Style should be formal implying that an official email or memo should be sent out when
conveying/calling for the meeting with the parties involved.
3. Should focus on drawing attention so that the message is passed out clearly.
4. Should be able to arouse interest, create desire and develop and create room for further
communication as a pathway for feedback.
Good communication model required for effective business communication has
the following characteristics: Clarity, Accuracy, Empathy, Sincerity, Relaxation, and if
it’s over word of mouth, modulation of voice is necessary. Therefore, it require four main
basic communication skills: Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing (Durugbo, Tiwari
& Alcock 2013, pp. 598). It is clear that the higher the position held in the organization,
the more the need for one to improve on the communication ability. This is because of
the need to receive and send information, process information with computers, write
messages and file form as well as give and accept orders. The communication models can
be classified as:
1. Vertical communication can further be organized into;
a) Downward: Messages from higher authority to lower levels; this will include
letters, notes, circulars, and memos. This can be done through face to face or
public address system-meetings
b) Upward: Messages are passed from subordinates to higher people. This can be in
any form and most of the time is treated as a feedback. May include reports on
work done, suggestions and ideas in terms of proposals and requests (Durugbo,
Tiwari & Alcock 2013, pp. 600).

2. Horizontal Communication involves communication with those in equal ranks. It can be
oral or written and may include the exchange of information about activities progress
made, discussions on plans and advice in a friendly way.
3. Grapevine: This involves a secondary channel of personal or informal communication
existing within the organization in addition to the formal channels. It has no definite
pattern or direction. Therefore, it can take both vertical and horizontal. It is mainly flat
since it is person to person and with people with the same temperament (Kim 2016, pp.
239).
This type of model carries a lot of information that may develop or break the
organization. It is therefore advised to management to be careful regarding this type of
communication
In this case, a mix of the three models will be used to achieve the best results and not to leave out
any employee. Since this change is cultural in a way, full participation of employees is
encouraged to offer their total support and hence full adoption of the policy the Grapevine model
will be preferred as compared to the other two (Kim 2016, pp. 234). People need to be brought
on board to achieve a cultural shift at the organization level.
Advantages of the grapevine approach
1. It builds on a cohesion bond among employees making them feel like a family in the
organization
2. It creates trendsetters in the organizations hence easily used to communicate
3. The rapport established at work is immense; therefore employee retains ability is high.
4. The environment created boosts open communication both for vertical and horizontal
communication approach (Robinson & Thelen 2018, pp. 58).

5. It paves and lays a foundation for successful meetings since people will have shared ideas
before the actual meeting. The feedback given will be insightful and help the organization
grow well.
6. Since it involves in-person communication, it allows us to interpret body language and
pick other forms of non-verbal communication cues during the conversation
(Gramatnikovski, Stoilkovska & Serafimovic 2015, pp. 268). Mainly where co-workers
are engaged in group projects that require team effort and compromise.
Disadvantages of grapevine approach
1. It requires time since people need to be involved from different levels to gather enough
information to formulate a working strategy.
2. It breads growth of other powers apart from the official ones established in the
organization, hence creating room for resistance (Baerjee & Singh 2015, pp. 766).
3. Some of the modes used in communication seem to be toxic to the company's culture; for
instance, employees might spend unnecessary time on the internet instead of working. It
is therefore hard to deal with company gossip. Some of the most misused social media
applications are Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn; therefore if not used well can't derail
productivity of the employees.
Conclusion
Business communication is essential for the effective running of the organization.
Policies and structures should be put in place to support and guide the implementation of the
proposed plans and strategies. The policies and procedures set would enable employees to

collaborate and communicate with their superiors without fear or favor. Employees can be
empowered by training effective communication skills. Such policies will not only improve
productivity among workers but also boost the company’s stature. In the case of employees',
appraisal communication can be a key factor in promoting effective and eloquent speakers who
can articulate their ideas. These policies and structures should promote open communication to
allow recipients to give true and sincere feedback. It is from the feedback that the organization
can take necessary measures to determine if communication was effective. Finally, closed
communication tends to infringe people's rights to speech, and they lead to fear and insincere
feedback.
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