Business Communication During a Global Pandemic and Other Key Issues

This article discusses the importance of effective business communication and explores various issues such as communicating during a global pandemic, negotiating cross-cultural IT business deals, and ethical concerns. It also provides insights into effective communication strategies and the impact of COVID-19 on various industries.

Business
Communications

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1...........................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Business communication during a global pandemic and the potential issues...................3
1.2 Communicating with employees about significant company changes.............................4
1.3 Negotiating an international and cross-cultural IT business deal.....................................5
1.4 Ethical issues in business communication........................................................................6
TASK 2...........................................................................................................................................6
Reflection.....................................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Information sharing within a business, as well as with those outside of it, is known as
business communication. To achieve organizational goals, management and employees must
interact effectively in the workplace. Its goal is to make administrative procedures better and cut
down on mistakes (Darics, 2022). To accomplish effective business communication, it's critical
to engage across both the communication processes as well as the interactive skills. This
particular project deals with the enumeration and presentation of the varied dimensions of the
subject matter in regards to its significance to the respective companies. The issues in association
with the same will be furthermore explicated. Along with the details, a self-reflection will also be
presented in terms of the experiences contemplated while completing the assigned project.
MAIN BODY
TASK 1
1.1 Business communication during a global pandemic and the potential issues.
During COVID-19, some companies immediately stepped up to send a message – not just
with words, but with action. Their prompt action showed leadership skills and support for the
community. Constructive business communication allows people to see the human side of brands
(Du-Babcock and Chan, 2022). Challenges that were faced by varied business corporations along
with the solution can be furthermore explicated;
Health care and the medical departments – Due to inadequate infrastructure, a lack of
qualified workers, absenteeism, and poor care quality, the healthcare industry is currently
developing and grappling with many problems. With a quick onboarding procedure, healthcare
brands may build a WhatsApp Business Solution and activate the Click-to-Chat functionality.
For e.g. the website's Click-to-Chat function allows users to start a WhatsApp discussion if they
are looking for online support for COVID-19 while on the Healthcare brands' website. To
develop effective corporate communication, use communication techniques and skills.
Customer care stations – It was critical for brands to operate at a high-efficiency level without
sacrificing the level of service in the present environment, which caused a major rise in the call
rates for many brands and organisations. Businesses used AI-powered mechanisms. The AI-

powered chatbot is fully capable of answering users with simple questions. This not only vastly
enhanced the client experience, but also lightened the workload for call centre employees.
Governmental organisations – Global respite efforts were announced by a number of NGOs
and governments to help people withstand and combat the pandemic. There were numerous
humanitarian initiatives made worldwide. Text messaging and push notifications were widely
utilised and are still widely used.
E-commerce industry – On e-commerce websites, there was incredible demand for daily
necessities like groceries. Many e-commerce websites have begun accepting orders via RCS
Business Messaging, which makes it simpler to place an order online, in order to meet the
demand of clients making purchases online.
1.2 Communicating with employees about significant company changes.
With many employees naturally resisting anything but the status quo, leaders often struggle
to keep employees engaged during times of organizational change. Most change, in and of itself,
can generate a sense of unease because it pushes employees out of their familiar and comfortable
territory into the new and unexplored. Properly communicated, though, change can be exciting.
It’s all in the way you get the message across using communication channels (Maiorescu-
Murphy, 2022) Thereby management can take help of certain ways to carry forward the internal
communication strategies in a significant manner.
Communicate the changes from the top to bottom – Leadership's dedication, involvement,
and continuous modelling are necessary for significant transformation. Employees anticipate
hearing first from top-level executives about the current scenario, its complexity, and its
ramifications. An open and two-way team conversation involving administrators, executives, and
supervisors should precede the CEO's initial presentation of the change to all employees
(preferably in person).
Explain, how the change will affect the personnel – Accept the fact that things will change and
express appreciation for the effort it will require to adapt. Be aware that many workers will be
concerned about the future and that this will affect how they react to the shift emotionally. Give
them both the good and bad news (the specific advantages for them) (if any). And by all means,

express gratitude to them for their collaboration, endurance, and steadfast support of the
business.
Being specific about what the employees are expected to do – Employees will want to know
where they fit in and what is expected of them once they have the overall strategy in hand. They
must accept the change and make a commitment at this point. If certain individuals are more
crucial to the success of the change than others, strive to target and tailor the corresponding
messaging to various audiences.
1.3 Negotiating an international and cross-cultural IT business deal.
Within the broader topic of cross-cultural communications, negotiation is one of many
specialist disciplines. Sales representatives and negotiators might gain an edge over rivals by
investing in cultural awareness. More than just how foreigners conclude transactions is at stake
in international commercial negotiations (Marcel, 2022). It requires taking into account all
elements that can have an impact on the events. The procedures listed below must be taken into
consideration by negotiators if they want to succeed in this dimension.
Considerate towards the blind spots – Different businesses bring their own cultural prejudices
and expectations to the negotiating table. When these don't reflect the actual negotiation process,
it can create friction that breeds resentment, erodes respect, and jeopardises the entire
conversation. It is therefore crucial to anticipate one's natural reactions to cross-cultural settings
so that one can control undesirable conducts.
Identification of the gaps in regards to the culture – It is time to consider the specific
difficulties the business is likely to experience while speaking with the other negotiating party
after the business negotiator has thought about the magnitude and nature of the intuitive cross-
cultural reactions. Research their culture and carefully consider how this might affect their
approach to bargaining because it will shape their behaviour because of the firmly held cultural
beliefs they uphold. It's crucial to spot discrepancies between the proposed values and those of
the other party so that the business won't be taken off guard and may prevent needless conflicts
(Omilion-Hodges and Ptacek, 2022).
Regulate and refine the negotiation approach –The negotiator would now want to modify and
improve the bargaining strategy to close those gaps once the corporation had discovered them.

This will entail considering underlying cultural values-driven needs, such as the need to retain
one's face and appear respectable to one's superiors, as well as the best approaches to formulate
the best agreement.
1.4 Ethical issues in business communication.
For management, personnel, and consumers to comprehend what has to be done and how it
should be done, businesses of all sizes depend on communication in its many forms, including
face-to-face, print, and digital. Corporate communications, however, are mostly deregulated.
This opens the door for clever, deceptive, and occasionally inaccurate messaging (Men and
Sung, 2022). This section of the study can be used to explain the most important ethical concern
out of the many others.
Distorting visuals – Graphics can be altered in unethical ways, for as by exaggerating a
product's size and aesthetic appeal. Diagrams and graphs can be scaled up or down to emphasise
or hide discrepancies.
Misrepresenting the data – Data misrepresentation, such as the omission of relevant results
and/or data, or the wilful, careless, or flagrantly negligent presentation of an incorrect data
interpretation. This heading can be used to classify any unreported publishing duplication,
including proposed processing redundancy.
Plagiarism – This is referred to as theft, which is both unlawful and unethical. Imitation is seen
as plagiarising in legal terms. Copyright infringement occurs when a business purposefully uses
another person's experience without giving them due credit.
Marketing ineffective communications – To avoid charges of misleading advertising, the
corporation should take care not to exaggerate the advantages a product or service offers in its
marketing and advertising communications. Advertising is deemed deceptive if it employs false
facts in its copy to pique consumers' attention while parodying the benefits, uses, or results of a
product (Naidoo and Dulek, 2022).
TASK 2
Reflection
The proposed reflection can be in terms of the experiences that were confronted by me
during the examining and analysis of the subject matter. The major of which was in terms of the
scope of business communication at the time of pandemic. The influence it has upon on the

functioning and operations of the corporations were defined by me which explained the
imperative need of certain measures that have to be taken into account for the enhancement and
augmentation of the company’s growth in the external market. The issues that can be faced by
the business corporations in terms of the communique, furthermore helped me to understand the
contemplations of such issues that must be vividly consider while drawing an action plan for the
firm.
CONCLUSION
An inference can thus be made that the efficacy of the business communicational channel
must be maintained in order to comprehend towards the significance it withholds. During the
time of uncertain situations, the company should focus upon the measures that can be taken into
account in order to effectually and efficiently render and cater problems associated with the
reviewal of the problems. The incorporation of sustainable ethics in the communique channel
must be significantly maintained to avoid legal disturbances that can be faced by the corporations
later.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Darics, E. ed., 2022. Language Awareness in Business and the Professions. Cambridge
University Press.
Du-Babcock, B. and Chan, A.C., 2022. A commentary on the use of simulated settings in
business communication research. International Journal of Business Communication,
59(4), pp.641-652.
Maiorescu-Murphy, R.D., 2022. Business-centered versus socially responsible corporate
diversity communication. An assessment of stakeholder (dis) agreement on Twitter.
Public Relations Review, 48(1), p.102138.
Marcel, M., 2022. Communication apprehension across the career span. International Journal of
Business Communication, 59(4), pp.506-530.
Men, L.R. and Sung, Y., 2022. Shaping corporate character through symmetrical
communication: The effects on employee-organization relationships. International
journal of business communication, 59(3), pp.427-449.
Naidoo, J. and Dulek, R.E., 2022. Artificial intelligence in business communication: A snapshot.
International Journal of Business Communication, 59(1), pp.126-147.
Omilion-Hodges, L.M. and Ptacek, J.K., 2022. Personal factors, wants, and needs: Exploring
vocational anticipatory socialization through young adults’ preferences for managerial
communication behaviors. International Journal of Business Communication, 59(4),
pp.621-640.