Business Communication Strategies: A Case Study of Barclays Bank

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of business communication strategies employed by Barclays Bank. It examines different types of business information, including verbal, written, multimedia, and web-based sources, and differentiates between internal and external information sources, highlighting their respective purposes. The report evaluates Barclays' external corporate communications, focusing on the strengths and weaknesses of their advertising campaigns. Furthermore, it delves into the legal and ethical considerations surrounding the use of business information, such as data protection and whistleblowing, and explores operational issues like information security, backups, health and safety, and business continuity plans. Finally, the report discusses electronic and non-electronic methods for communicating business information within and outside the organization, emphasizing the importance of clear and relevant communication to avoid potential disasters. Desklib provides students access to this and many other solved assignments.

BUSINESS
COMMUNICATION

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................1
P1.Different types of business information, where the information originates from and the
purpose of the information and analyse them.............................................................................1
TASK 2...........................................................................................................................................3
P2. Covered in PPT.....................................................................................................................3
P3. Poster.....................................................................................................................................3
P4.Evaluate the external corporate communications of an existing product or service..............3
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................4
P5. Explain the legal and ethical issues in relation to the use of business information..............4
P6. Explain the operational issues in relation to the use of business information......................5
P7. Electronic and non-electronic methods for communicating business information...............5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Communication is the process of communicating with the audience through different
channels of communication. Whereas business communication is any communication used to
promote a product, service, or organization – with the objective of making sale. In business
communication, message is conveyed through various channels of communication including
internet, print (publications), radio, television, outdoor, and word of mouth. In business,
communication is considered core among business, interpersonal skills and etiquette (Bovee,
2010). This assignment will be dealing with whereas areas of business communication by taking
the Barclays bank scenario which is UK's renowned bank.
TASK 1
P1.Different types of business information, where the information originates from and the
purpose of the information and analyse them.
Verbal Communication
Verbal communication is communicating a message verbally to whoever is receiving the
message. An advantage of verbal communication is the opportunity for immediate feedback to

make sure the message was understood. These can apply to Barclays because it’s important for
Barclays to receive immediate feedback which they can go on and improve on the Business
(Guffey and Loewy, 2010). A disadvantage of verbal communication is that it is harder to
communicate around the world.
Written Communication
Written communication means communication by means of written symbols either
printed or handwritten. Advantages of written communication are that it is more accurate.
Another advantage is that a physical record of the communication is made. These can apply to
Barclays because Barclays has to make sure that their communication is as clear as it gets for
their terms & conditions pages, and written communication makes this easy for them as there is a
high possibility that they won’t make mistakes.
Multi-media/ On-screen Information
Multi-media/ On-screen Information is media on new technologies such as text
messaging. This can apply to many companies in today’s society. An advantage of Multi-media
communication is that the information can be spread to a lot of people at one time. This applies
to Barclays because they usually have many meetings, and in them meetings they can use a
projector showing a presentation which allows all members in the meeting so see. Another
advantage of Multi-media communication is that it’s cheaper to use.
Web-based Information
Web-based information shows many benefits of multimedia technology. With the fast
broadband connections in today’s society, it is possible to stream sophisticated content to a
computer anywhere in the world (Grunig, 2013). A significant amount of interactive multimedia
content is now delivered via the internet through web-sites such as www.barclays.co.uk.
Information can be obtained from Internal and External sources:
Internal Sources of Information
Internal sources of information are those which can give valuable information regarding
the organization from within. For example, a business like Barclays can give new employees an
insight of information regarding how the business operates. An advantage of internal source is
that the information is most likely to be accurate because the source of the information is from

within the company its-self which is reliable. Disadvantages of internal sources of information
are that it can be costly to produce, for example many people are employed on a specific job to
just collect and analyse data.
External Sources of Information
External sources of information is secondary research. Pros of secondary research is that
the information already exists meaning that this will save time. Cons of secondary research are
that we have less control over how the data was collected. With secondary research, there could
also be biases in the data that you don’t know about (Okoro, Washington and Cardon, 2011).
Purpose of internal business information is that it update knowledge, inform decision making,
provide instructions or initiate action, persuade, clarify, share ideas, opinions and etc. External
business information purpose is to promote a product, service or idea, built relationship,
persuade, clarify, share ideas, opinions and beliefs.
TASK 2
P2. Covered in PPT
P3. Poster
P4.Evaluate the external corporate communications of an existing product or service.
Adverts are the best source a company has to appeals to its target market. The aesthetic and
wording of these specific adverts are what will attract a person into reading and observing these
adverts increasing the likelihood of them then to invest in that precise product. Colours and
location of these adverts are also very important for a similar reason (Usunier and Roulin, 2010).
Bellow, I will be evaluating an advert to explain the strengths and weaknesses involved within
advertisement.

This specific advert is designed by Barclays as a visual attraction for its consumers to entice
them to invest into the brands products. The ‘dance bot’ avatar will have over a million unique
versions and be shareable across social media. This type of advertisement is very eye-catching to
a passer-by. Though there lot going on within this poster, so some may describe it as
boring/disinteresting, however it does the job and is purely image based. The well-known logo of
this brand is situated at the top with the companies’ catch phrase “50 years of shopping”
underneath. Because Barclays such a well established brand the logo on its own will attract a
customer due to its familiarity (Sigmar, Hynes and Hill, 2012). This images is likely to appeal to
those who are interested in music so will result in this advert having a level of persuasion over
this person to go and invest in the concert and products. Though the words used within this
advertisement are not considered powerful it still upholds a strong humorous sentence that will
appeal to the people who observe this poster (Jones, 2011). The images of different kinds of
people are spread all over the poster which will be the main thing that a person focuses on as
well as the large slogan. The design is very successful and straight to the point which will inform
the potential consumer much more greatly compared to a poster with a lot going on/a lot to
observe and read. This will result in this advert being a great success.

TASK 3
P5. Explain the legal and ethical issues in relation to the use of business information.
Legal and ethical issues are usually to do with something that involves people having to
abide to a law. Most businesses have different information about people working for them, that's
when the Data Protection Act 1998 protects the information held about people being misused.
The information usually on the company's database must be: obtained fairly and lawfully, only to
be used for the purposes stated during collection, adequate relevant and not excessive in relation
to the intended use, accurate and up to date, not kept for longer than necessary, proceed in line
with your rights and also protected from transfer to an area outside the European Economic Area
unless adequate protection exists for that data in the area. Barclays tries to follow this Act and
make sure that they safeguard the account information of their customers. They should use
software and security protocols which will help them from saving the customers account
information from hackers. The Computer Misuse Act 1990 it is a law that does not allow certain
activities when using computers, this include: hacking into other people's systems, misusing
software or helping a person to gain access to protected files on someone's else's computer (Ru-
Chu, 2013). There are also ethical issues that are dealt with using organisational policies and
codes of practise such as: use of email, internet and whistle blowing. These go under business
ethics meaning moral principles concerning acceptable and unacceptable behaviour by business.
Whistle blowing is also one of the ethical issues users can use and relate to. This is when an
employee raises a concern about a business practise either to management within the company or
to an outside organisation like the press. if there is any kind of danger like crime, cyber bullying
or fraud that offend customers.
P6. Explain the operational issues in relation to the use of business information.
Operational issues in relation to the use of business information, including security of
information, backups, health and safety, business continuance plans and costs.
Barclays have to store and manage countless pieces of information with some being far more
important than others. To make sure that information is managed appropriately, a number of
policies and procedures have to be put in place, concerning; security of information, backups,
health and safety, organisational policies and business continuance plans and cost. For security
of information it is important for Barclays to have the right information available as and when

they need it, in order to make good business decisions. Information security management deals
with maintaining the integrity and availability of Barclays information and knowledge (Dyrud,
2011).
Backups is also one of the operation issues as most businesses have
developed programs constantly to try to minimise the risk of losing vital information stored on
IT servers. This involves producing backups of information stored on the servers. Some
companies back up constantly and some less frequently. Health and safety is also one of
operational system and so are business continuance plans and costs. Business continuance plans
are the steps that Barclays puts into place to make sure it is capable of surviving a worst-case
scenario.
P7. Electronic and non-electronic methods for communicating business information.
Electronic and non electronic are the methods which are been used to make an proper
communication in the firm which would help them in getting proper information. There are two
type which is electronic and non electronic:-
In electronic the information is been gathered by the electrical things which are like the mobile
phones, etc. this is done with the help of the get the information
There are many non-electronic methods that can be used to communicate business information,
these methods include letters, memorandum, fax, invoice, flow charts and publicity material. A
letter is a formal piece of documentation which can be used when Barclays is informing or
responding to someone outside the organisation. The letter has to be clear and concise because
people outside the organisation are reading it and will judge the organisation depending on how
well the letter presents itself. Barclays will need to make sure that the letter is printed in a big
enough size or Braille if a person has sight issues. Memorandum is more informal than a letter is,
they are often referred to as memos. They can be used by Barclays to write down information
within departments if the person it is being written to will not be seen face-to-face or sent to
different departments which is easier than going over to the different departments and finding the
right person to tell the information (Jagongo and Kinyua, 2013). It is easier to send a memo to a
department than to go find the person because they may not know who the specific person they
need to tell the information to. Fax isn’t as commonly used as it used to be due to the increasing
use of email, email may not be as easily used by older people. Fax is used by Barclays for other

things and is more widely available than the internet is, so if an employee is sent to a country to
organise a trade deal then the contracts can be faxed over if no internet is available.
Conclusion
This is to conclude that business communication includes sharing of the information
internally and externally in the organisation. Whatever information is shared should be relevant
enough and should be proper because any wrong information or any misleading communication
can lead to disaster in Barclays. So they should have a proper strategy which should define how
the communication will take place. They should know which communication channel should be
used for advertisement of their product and services. They should follow and abide all the laws
and regulation related to the information because it is very important for them to protect the
information or data of the customer.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bovee, C.L., 2010. Business Communication Today, 10/e. Pearson Education India.
Guffey, M.E and Loewy, D., 2010. Business communication: Process and product. Cengage
Learning.
Grunig, J.E., 2013. Excellence in public relations and communication management. Routledge.
Okoro, E.A., Washington, M.C and Cardon, P.W., 2011. Eportfolios in business communication
courses as tools for employment. Business Communication Quarterly. 74(3). pp.347-
351.

Usunier, J.C and Roulin, N., 2010. The influence of high-and low-context communication styles
on the design, content, and language of business-to-business web sites. Journal of
Business Communication. 47(2). pp.189-227.
Sigmar, L.S., Hynes, G.E and Hill, K.L., 2012. Strategies for teaching social and emotional
intelligence in business communication. Business Communication Quarterly. 75(3).
pp.301-317.
Ru-Chu, S.H.I.H., 2013. Effect of using Facebook to assist English for business communication
course instruction. TOJET: The Turkish Online Journal of Educational
Technology. 12(1).
Dyrud, M.A., 2011. Social networking and business communication pedagogy: Plugging into the
Facebook generation. Business Communication Quarterly. 74(4). pp.475-478.
Jagongo, A.O and Kinyua, C., 2013. The social media and entrepreneurship growth (a new
business communication paradigm among SMEs in Nairobi).
Jones, C.G., 2011. Written and computer-mediated accounting communication skills: An
employer perspective. Business Communication Quarterly. 74(3). pp.247-271.
Smart, K.L., Witt, C and Scott, J.P., 2012. Toward learner-centered teaching: An inductive
approach. Business Communication Quarterly. 75(4). pp.392-403.
Waller, R.L and Conaway, R.N., 2011. Framing and counterframing the issue of corporate social
responsibility the communication strategies of nikebiz. com. Journal of Business
Communication. 48(1). pp.83-106.
Kelm, O.R., 2011. Social media: It’s what students do. Business Communication
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Online
What is Business Communication?. 2017. [Online]. Available through
<http://www.managementstudyguide.com/business_communication.htm>. [Accessed
on 6th June 2015].