Forms of Business Communication

This article explores the different forms of business communication, including verbal, written, oral, and non-verbal communication. It discusses the importance and advantages of each form, as well as their criticisms. The article also covers topics such as active listening, conflict management, and the role of social media in business communication. Overall, it provides a comprehensive overview of the various aspects of business communication.

Running head: BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Forms of Business Communication.................................................................................................2
Verbal Communications..............................................................................................................3
Written Communication..........................................................................................................3
Oral Communication...............................................................................................................5
Non-Verbal Communication.......................................................................................................6
Active Listening:.........................................................................................................................8
Conflict Management..................................................................................................................8
Social Media................................................................................................................................9
Types of Business Communication...............................................................................................10
Upward Communication............................................................................................................10
Downward Communication.......................................................................................................11
Lateral Communication.............................................................................................................11
External Communication...........................................................................................................11
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
Communication is very essential for surviving in the competitive world. The better the
communication system, the better will be the prospects. It refers to the transmission of messages,
thoughts and understanding from the sender to the receiver (Ruesch et al., 2017).
Communication is considered to be as the lifeblood of every business organisations. When two
or more parties communicate with each other in order to communicate business affairs, it is
termed as business communication. The main purpose of a business communication is to
transfer information related to business between the internal as well as the external people that
will help in the growth and development of the business. Proper management requires proper
business communication.
In other words business communication or organisational communication refers to
accurate transmission and replication of thoughts and ideas that is ensured with a proper
feedback for the purpose of deciding upon actions that will increase the organisational efficiency
(Sharp & Brumberger, 2013). The process involves proper marketing, consumer behaviour,
employee relations, conflict management, successful negotiations, personal interactions, brand
management, social media, public relations, reputation management, advertising, professional
and technical communications. The purpose of the report is to keep a folio of the different styles
and forms of communications in a business organisation by thoroughly analysing the concepts,
importance and criticisms of each of such forms.

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Forms of Business Communication
There are basically two forms of business communication. They are Verbal
Communication and Non-Verbal Communication.
Verbal Communications
This type of communication is usually represented by spoken and written words. Any
communication using words are generally verbal communication. Words denote and connote
specific meanings as directed towards the receiver (Keyton et al., 2013). It is therefore mostly
used in all kind of serious communication process that is formal communications.
Importance:
A sound and excellent verbal communication helps in maintaining healthy business
relationships. It helps in increasing the productivity of the organisation, reduces errors and helps
in smooth operations. The importance can be listed as below:
i. The business relationships with other business organisations, customers, vendors and
others are fostered if the employees are involved into good verbal communication.
ii. This is essential in case of a diversified workforce as it removes the barriers that arise
because of the differences in culture and language.
iii. It helps in increasing the job satisfaction.
iv. Updated and correct information are transferred from the top management to the
lower groups effectively, which makes the employees feel secure.
v. It increases the ability of all the employees to share their individual concerns,
thoughts and ideas with each other at ease.

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Written Communication
Writing is more creative and unique in nature as compared to the Oral Communication.
Effective writing is constructed by proper choices of the words, the arrangement of those words,
the construction and cohesive composition of sentences. Emails, letters, drafts, memos and many
such are example of written communication (Whiteman, 2013). This process of communication
has the following advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages of Written Communication
i. There is no need for a personal contact as one employee can easily tell about his
problem via an email to the boss, from any place at any time.
ii. It helps in preparing in writing about all the rules, regulations, policies and
procedures of the business organisation.
iii. This mode of communication helps in maintaining records of the information
being delivered.
iv. It is more explicit and precise in nature.
v. Helps in keeping references and records.
vi. It helps in the delegation of authority and responsibilities.
Disadvantages of Written Communication
i. It increases the use of pen and paper thereafter increasing the cost.
ii. The information flow can take a longer time if the sender and the receiver are
separated by distances.
iii. It is very time consuming as the queries and feedback are not spontaneous in
nature. The message encoding and decoding takes time (Mascle, 2013).

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iv. Effective written communication requires sound grip on language and vocabulary
else negative impact can be created on the reputation of organisation.
v. It involves too much paper works.
vi. There is a lack of secrecy that is if the paper is misplaced then the information can
be used by any other unrelated parties, which may cause damage to the business.
Oral Communication
When the information and ideas are transferred verbally from one party to the other
through the means of either face to face conversations or telephone conversations or in any form
of discussions, it is termed as oral communication. It basically implies communication through
mouth (Brink & Costigan, 2015).
Advantages of Oral Communication
i. Since oral communication is interpersonal in nature, therefore a high level of
transparency and understanding is involved in it.
ii. It is very flexible in nature.
iii. The responses are spontaneous and the decisions can be taken quickly without any
delay.
iv. It not only saves time but also reduces costs.
v. It is best in case of resolving conflicts and other disputes as the issues can be put to
end by discussion among each other (Ganguly, 2017).
vi. It is very helpful in transferring private and confidential information.
Disadvantages of Oral Communication
i. It is less authentic in nature as they are mostly unorganised and informal in nature.

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ii. It requires effective listening skills.
iii. In case of meetings long speeches takes unnecessary time.
iv. If the information is incomplete and lacks clarity, then there can be misunderstanding.
v. It cannot be kept as a legal record for future references and uses.
Non-Verbal Communication
This mode of communication does not involve spoken or written words but involves a
non-verbal behaviour that emphasizes parts of verbal messages (Mehrabian, 2017). It is one of
the critical aspects of communication. It helps in bringing forward the personality of the
individuals. The several types can be written down as below:
i. Facial Expression
ii. Gesture
iii. Posture
iv. Body Language
v. Hand Movement
vi. Space and Distance
vii. Eye Contact
viii. Humour
ix. Touch
x. Silence
xi. Personal Appearance
xii. Para-linguistic
xiii. Symbol

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Importance
The proverb “Action speaks louder than words” states the importance of non-verbal
communication. Most of the researchers suggest that the feeling and emotions are more easily
transferred non-verbally than verbally. The importance is as follows:
i. A verbal message is provided with a better meaning by mixing non-verbal actions.
For example patting at the back of an employee who achieved target while telling him
that he did a good job (Knapp, Hall & Horgan, 2013).
ii. Presentations can be easily made understood by facial expressions, movement of
hands and body postures while presenting the information verbally.
iii. It substitutes the verbal messages in case of interruptions, distances and noises by
using lip movements, hand gestures and facial expressions (Tuleja, 2016).
iv. Takes less time in communicating the message to the receiver by using no-verbal
cues like signs and symbols.
Even though this mode of communication is very helpful for the business organisations
yet it has its own criticisms, which are as follows:
i. Long conversations are not possible.
ii. In certain cases the messages cannot be understood at all.
iii. The diversified work culture have different ways of interpreting a message and one
non-verbal communication can imply a good meaning to one person and a bad
meaning to a different personal at the same time. Therefore, it creates
misunderstanding.

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iv. Everybody does not prefer non-verbal communication as in many times it cannot
create proper impression upon people and the listeners.
v. It lacks formality and this creates bad habits as in many cases people habitually or
unconsciously moves certain parts of the body that is not a good mannerism.
Other than these forms of communication there are certain other aspects that construct
effectiveness in the business communication process, which are discussed as below:
Active Listening:
Most people make judgements before the end of a conversation that creates chaos and
confusion. The message remains incomplete and gets distorted (Weger et al., 2014). Active
listening refers to concentrate the words that are being said rather than simply hearing without
concentration. Active listening is of great importance in all business scenarios.
i. The speaker is valued, which makes them feel respected. It leads to a good and
friendly relation between the employers and the employees.
ii. It helps in increasing the level of concentration; stay focused and thereafter store the
information for a long time.
iii. Several new facts and materials are acquired and learnt if listened properly. (Raniere,
2015).
iv. The level of understanding increases.
v. Points that are different from each other and have different meanings can be
distinguished and understood properly if actively listened (Lawson et al., 2016).
It can be thus said that active listening helps in increasing motivation within the organisation. It
will help the staffs think out of the box while providing solutions, stay competitive, become

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more receptive to the customer queries and maintain dynamic staff working environment (Bodie
et al., 2015).It also helps in resolving conflicts. The facts about conflict resolving are stated in
the following paragraphs.
Conflict Management
Effective business communication also involves resolution of conflicts that can be done
by oral communication as well as active listening. It is the ability to identify the key areas of
conflicts and the handle and solve it in a sensible manner (Rahim, 2017). The conflict can be
settled by properly communicating with both the parties that involves the following-
i. Identification of the source
ii. Looking beyond the incident
iii. Request for solutions
iv. Identification of solutions that can be supported by both disputants
v. Agreement
Conflict management is an essential element of communication as this improves the
efficiency of the business organisation. A conflict may arise in any workplace but only effective
business communication can resolve conflict by reducing misunderstandings and by interpreting
the proper messages. However, improper decisions and ideas can lead to a decrease in the
productivity of the organisation and there can be serious misunderstandings between the
employers and employees that can lead to strikes and lockouts (Spaho, 2013).
Social Media
In the world of technological revolution social media plays a great role in the
communication process. Email has always been an online source of transferring messages at ease

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from any corners of the world in real time. It is basically used for transferring formal messages.
Now a day social media has also emerged as the basis of transferring thoughts, ideas,
information and views through online at ease. Unlike email the social media platforms are used
to convey informal messages. For example any office employee would send an email in order to
seek for an approval for leave but if the employee wants to share about any of his personal
thoughts to the others, he would be using the social media like Facebook, Whatsapp, twitter and
Instagram (Kernbach, Eppler & Bresciani, 2015). These social media and email messages are
very convenient and fast. All the data can be accessed at any time and most importantly it helps
in the reduction of the environmental cost of conduct.
Although it has its importance, it is criticised for a number of factors as well-
i. Online sites are very much prone to be hacked.
ii. These social media sites and mail sites are fed with loads of personal data of the
consumers and hence when they are hacked, it poses a great risk for the consumers.
iii. Some important business information can be easily leaked through social media
which can lead to huge business loss.
iv. It reduces the productivity of the employees if they get addicted to the social media
sites.
v. It can provide people with wrong information that can cause serious damage.
Types of Business Communication
Apart from just the forms, the types of business communication can be Upward,
Downward, Lateral and External Communication.

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Upward Communication: In this type of communication information flows from the lower
level to the upper level. For example: the flow of message from the sales officer to the regional
sales manager. The basic problem in this process is that most of the employees are afraid to
interact with the higher authority and hence most of the problems remain unsolved.
Downward Communication: It refers to the flow of information from the superior level to
the subordinate level. For example the Zone Manager conducts a meeting with the other
managers and the officers of the organisation in order to discuss about a business issue.
Lateral Communication: It refers to inter departmental dealings. For example: Emailing or
chatting with the employees of the same department in relation to a team issue or relating to any
clarifications.
External Communication: It refers to the communication with the people other than the
employees like the customers, suppliers, vendors, financers, any regulatory agencies or other
partners.
Conclusion
It can be thus concluded that both verbal and non-verbal communication has its own
importance as well as criticisms. In order to make the business communication process effective
it is necessary to mix both these communication forms along with active listening skills and
concentration. This will help in the reduction of conflicts and proper business negotiations
thereafter increasing the overall efficiency and productivity of the business organisation. A
proper business communication requires all forms of communication irrespective of the type of
the business. A formal mode of communication that is emails, letters, drafts, memos and many

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such are required for effective business proceedings whereas an informal mode like social media,
oral communication, and non-verbal gestures are required for cooperation and coordination
among employees as well as smooth flow of concerns and feedbacks.

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