Effective Business Communication: Importance of Communication, Leadership, Emotional Intelligence and Motivation

The essay discusses the importance of effective communication, leadership, emotional intelligence and motivation in managing a business. It provides examples from a case study of two siblings managing different restaurants. The essay explains different types of communication and leadership styles and recommends ways to improve interpersonal skills and motivate employees.

Running head: EFFECTIVE BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
EFFECTIVE BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Introduction
Con and Voula, both brothers and sisters, manage different restaurants that form part of a
very popular chain of restaurants run by their family. On one hand, Con’s team or staff at his
restaurant are always in conflict, disoriented and lack motivation. On the other, Voula has a
highly motivated and inspired team at her restaurant. The evident difference between the two
teams is due to the lack and presence of effective communication. Con’s team lacks proper
communication whereas Voula’s team shows strong communication. As it is known,
communication plays a vital role in the effective management of business.
The essay shall identify and define the various communication theories that may help in
explaining the difference in situations in the two restaurants. In addition, the essay will provide
the importance of good leadership and the influence of communication in good leadership.
Further, the theory of emotional intelligence shall also be discussed followed by the description
of motivation as a factor influencing proper management. Recommendations will also be given
after analyzing each element.
Communication
Communication is the most common and important process that is employed by everyone
in this world for various purposes and not only in business organizations(Pearson, 2017).
However, very few people realize that communication, when done carelessly, results in failure of
many important functions. Communication includes several types like intrapersonal,
interpersonal, group and mass communication.Con faces the issue of poor interpersonal
communication in his restaurant that has resulted in poor management and negative outcomes.
Various theories of communication further help in comprehending the need for effective

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communication especially in organizations like that of Con. Here three communication types can
be discussed these are verbal, downward and lateral communication.
The verbal communication, the listener listensto the speaker for proper understanding of
the meaning. This communication takes place over phone or in person. This medium of message
is most of the time oral. In the business setting, this type of communication is essentialtoo
motivate and guide the employees. According to the critics, this helps communicate
efficiently with the people of the rogationin a wide diversity of situations.
Verbal communication helps the management in some cases when they may
be dealing with culturally diverse people, people of varying ages and people
with different level of experience.
The downward communication is another type that focuses on the on the flow of
information as well as messages from the higher level to the lower inside the organization. The
leaders as well as managers contributeimportantinformation with the lower level of the
employees. It is also called top-down communication. The downward communication canevery
so often invites a response, therefore this is usually a one-directional to a certain extent
reciprocal (Kian, Yusoff& Rajah, 2014). The higher-level communicators do not invite as well as
expect the response from lower level recipients.
In linear model, the communication is measured to be one way process in which the
senders are the people who send the messages and the receivers do not give feedback. The
messagesignal here is encoded then transmitted through the channels in the presence of noise.
The senders are more important in linear model of communication.Linear model can be applied
in the mass communication. This model can never be applicable in the general human

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communication. This is because general human communication needs to have the feedback and
responses.
Therefore, through verbal and downward communicationCon can effectively maintain a
proficient employee structure and positive work culture in his organization.
Leadership
Apart from maintaining and practicing effective interpersonal communication, it is also
important to understand the vitality of leadership. It is clear from the given case study that Voula
possess better leadership qualities than Con does. However, in order to understand the things that
make a good leader, it is important to understand the different styles of leadership. Autocratic,
democratic, transformational, laissez-faire and transactional leadership are the fivemost popular
types of leadership evident in organizations(Tyssen, Wald & Heidenreich, 2014).
Transformational leadership is essential to face the issues in the organization of Con. Through
this style of leadership, the leaders can effectively motivate the employees through their vision,
personality and communicating skills. The transformational leaders can efficiently implement the
strategies which exactlyfit the needs of the organization. As the common issues of Con’s
organization is associated with the employees, a strong leadership style only can change the
entire scenario.
Emotional Intelligence
The capability of humans to identify and manage their own emotions is referred to as
emotional intelligence (EI)(Collins& Cooper, 2014). Introduced by Peter Salavoy and John
Mayer in the 1990s, EI is interlinked to leadership because leaders must possess the capacity to
not only great their own emotions but also others as well(Brackett et al., 2013). Daniel Goleman

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later developed the EI theory and introduced four quadrants to it – self-awareness, self-
management, social awareness and social skill(Howell, 2014). Self-awareness includes
characteristics like emotional self-awareness, actual self-assessment and self-confidence whereas
self-management comprises of skills such as trustworthiness, adaptability and so on. Social
awareness as the third quadrant of EI has empathy, service orientation and organizational
awareness as its features. Visionary leadership, communication, teamwork and collaboration are
the social skills that characterize EI.
Voula as a leader has been successful in applying these four fundamentals of EI in her
team. Con, on the other hand struggled to communicate and inspire his team that resulted in an
unwanted situation.
Motivation
Motivation is something that inspires individuals to act, perform or contribute for the
cause of not only his or herself but also for the team. It is also the direction to an individual’s
behavior and the reasons for her or him to repeat certain behavior. Scholars and experts have
realized the importance of motivation and that led to the formation of several theories of
motivation (Ferris et al., 2013).Herzberg’s Two-factor theory is one of the most important among
these theories. Herzberg has stated that certain factors result in an employee’s job satisfaction
and factors that result in job dissatisfaction. The two prime factors are – motivator factors are
hygiene factors(Ozguner&Ozguner, 2014). Herzberg believed that motivator factors lead to
satisfaction and motivate employees to commit more. Feeling recognized, enjoying work and
progress in career graph are some motivator factors. Hygiene factors lead to dissatisfaction

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incase these are absent in the workplace. Company policies, salary, bond with managers and
employees are all examples of hygiene factors (Jerome, 2013).
This particular theory can be seen in the context of the issues of the case study. This
theory implies that to make a happy as well as productive workforcethere need to have improve
the motivating factors as well as hygiene factors.To help to motivate the employees, which make
sure the employee feel appreciated as well as supported. This leads to recognition of the values
of the employees, which leads them to give feedback. This makes sure that the employees can
understand the method through which they can grow as well as progress through the
organization.Con failed to motivate his employees and this resulted in anunsatisfied team with
lack of good company policies and restrained manager-worker relationship.
Recommendations
The complete analysis of Con and Voula’s management of their respective restaurants
results in the need for some recommendations that both can follow. Voula can follow these to
further boost her team’s performance and Con can use to improve his team’s performance.
At first, Con should improve his interpersonal communication skills and try to interact
more with his employees because lack of interaction leads to lack of interest. In addition,
increased positive interactions also lead to the formation of trust which is very important.
Secondly, he should possess a positive mindset to reach the goals set in his organization
from the beginning. Through motivating the employees and proper style of leadership, he will be
able to maintain a positive ambience in the organization. This is essential because it is evident
from the case study; Con was pessimistic about the success of his venture when it first began.

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Third, he should apply the transformational style of leadership and try to bring in new
changes like policies and code of conduct or even shift in work. This would motivate the
employees to work with dedication.
Finally, through various ways which mainly motivate the employees in the organization
such as reward and recognitions, more leaves and more benefits must be introduced in the firm.
This will help Con to increase the attachment of the employees with the organization.
Conclusion
In the end, it must be stated that effective communication and good leadership are the two
most vital factors that lead to effective management. As evident from the above discussion, the
case of the brother and sister as leaders of a restaurant brings forth several elements of
management. These include communication, leadership, emotional intelligence and motivation.
Emotional intelligence and motivation form part of the communication and leadership element.
The utilization of effective interpersonal communication leads to motivation and positive
atmosphere as evident from Viola’s restaurant. As seen in Con’s case, lack in interpersonal
communication and absence of good leadership leads to poor management and unsatisfied
employees.In the essay, all the elements of management have been elaborated with examples and
applied to the case of Con and Voula. The essay provided recommendations at the end for Con to
follow in order to improve his interpersonal skills and change the situation at his restaurant.

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