Business Communication Report: Analyzing Information and Communication

This report provides a comprehensive overview of business communication, focusing on various aspects such as different types of business information, their sources, and purposes. It delves into external corporate communications, analyzing methods employed by businesses like Mark & Spencer, including the use of images, fonts, packaging, and page layout. The report also examines legal and ethical issues, including data protection, freedom of information, and computer misuse, alongside operational issues. Furthermore, it explores both electronic and non-electronic methods of communication, such as letters, memorandums, and faxes, considering their effectiveness based on audience characteristics. The report uses Mark & Spencer as a case study throughout, and concludes with a summary of the importance of effective communication in business success.

BUSINESS
COMMUNICATION

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Different types of business information, their sources and purposes...............................1
TASK 2...........................................................................................................................................2
P2 Covered in PPT.................................................................................................................2
P3 Covered in Poster..............................................................................................................2
P4 Evaluate the external corporate communications..............................................................2
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................3
P5 Explain the legal and ethical issues in relation to the use of business information..........3
P6 Explain operational issues in relation to the use of businesses information.....................4
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................5
P7 Electronic and non-electrical methods for communicating business information............5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Business communication is the process of transmitting information about and within the
organization. An example of a business communication is an email to employees with a list of
items to be discussed at the next meeting (Bovee, 2010). In Mark& Spencer business firm, the
communication is good at every level. It is a big retail firm and this company deals in many
items such as electronics items, food products, luxury items and many more. In this report
mentioned about the different types of business information and their main sources. In company,
there are some ethical and legal issues in relation too the use of business information.
TASK 1
P1 Different types of business information, their sources and purposes
Verbal information can be argued to be the best way to communicate because it makes
sure that everyone has a full understanding of the information because questions can be asked
and the information can be discussed. The problems with verbal communication is that it is time-
consuming and in certain situations may be difficult to tell the masses (Crews and Stitt-Gohdes,
2012). Mark& Spencer uses verbal information to communicate when they are coming up with
new advertisements for the business.
Illustration 1: Source: Communication methods, 2017
Verbal communication- It has many advantages including it is the least likely types of
communication to be misinterpreted when it is used to communication between one person and
another. Most people are more confident communicating verbally because it is the first
communication skill that they learnt when they were young, it is also the easiest way to get your
point across.
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Written information- It is the use of symbols to express speech. Written information is a
good way for people to have documented versions of information. Mark& Spencer will write
written terms and conditions that people will be sent when they take out products and goods of
with cited company.
TASK 2
P2 Covered in PPT
P3 Covered in Poster
P4 Evaluate the external corporate communications
External business communication is the exchange of information and messages between
an organization and its external customers outside its formal structure.
This business firm communicates to its external customers on their website. There are many
different methods used by the company’s website and these are: the use of images, the use of
fonts, Packaging and the page layout (Dyrud, 2011). The use of images can enhance a
communication to an audience, as we tend to remember more of what we see than what we hear,
therefore showing images is a better way of communicated the message to the public, and also
helps the audience remember the message.
These particular corporate communications from Mark& Spencer are very simple, the
simplicity comes in the fact that they only include the logo, strapline and some images. The
simplicity could perhaps be the most successful part about it because it gets straight to the point
and people won’t come away from seeing them and be confused about what the advert was
actually advertising.
The purpose of these corporate communications are to keep Mark& Spencer in people’s
minds. Brand recognition is imperative for a business’s success, and this company has to
continually ensure that they do not get forgotten about (Guffey and Loewy, 2010). This company
does not just want people to know about them, firm wants consumers to buy groceries from them
instead of a different shop, so these adverts try to make people see Mark& Spencer in a positive
light and that they sell groceries that consumers will “love every mouthful” without having to
spend too much money.
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TASK 3
P5 Explain the legal and ethical issues in relation to the use of business information
A problem or situation that requires a person or organization to choose between
alternatives that must be evaluated as right (ethical) or wrong (unethical) is known as ethical.
Ethical Issues-
Codes of practice exist in organisations to maintain business ethics on:
Use of email- Many organisations today have a code of practice on the correct use of
email.
Internet- Mark& Spencer has a code of practice on the use of the internet and what their
employees can and cannot use the internet for. There are also codes of practice which govern
selling on the internet, which many businesses adhere to.
Legal issues refer to different legislation to protect the business information from
different source of hackers. The types of legal law that exists are data Protection Act 1998,
freedom of information act 2000, Computer Misuse act 1990, Human Right Act 1998 and
Privacy Act 1974. The main three legal issues that there will be discussing in detail will be Data
Protection Act, Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Computer Misuse Act 1990.
Data Protection Act 1998- It is the data Protection Act controls how your personal
information is used by organizations, businesses or the government (Usunier and Roulin, 2010).
Everyone responsible for using data has to follow strict rules called ‘data protection
principles’. They must make sure the information is:
 Used fairly and lawfully
 Used for limited, specially stated purposes
 Handled according to people’s data protection rights
 Kept safe and secure
 Not transferred outside the UK without adequate protection
In this case Mark& Spencer follows all of these data protection principles to keep every
bit of information safe and guided so nothing goes wrong within the business or outside of the
business. Cited company collect personal information such as names, email address, billing
address, delivery address, telephone number, credit card details and this is all kept for the
customer database (Cardon, 2010). Mark& Spencer's complies with the Data Protection Act
1998 by keeping the data from the customers secured so no one from outside of the business has
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access to it, furthermore Mark& Spencer's are using the data in a right method with helping them
with their services.
Freedom of Information Act 2000: It provides public access to information held by
public authorities. It does this in two ways: public authorities are obliged to publish certain
information about their activities; and members of the public are entitled to request information
from public authorities. This act would also affect Mark& Spencer because the staff would not
want all their personal information to spread outside of the business. There are many examples of
this such as one of the staff members may have some sort of disability. The human resources
staff are not allowed to publish certain information or else they will get sued and they will lose
money.
P6 Explain operational issues in relation to the use of businesses information
Mark& Spencer's complying with Legislation & Ethical Issues cited company's privacy
policy shows customers that the business complies with legal regulations; they state that all
information gathered about customers meets the term of data protection legislation. Here is an
extract from Mark& Spencer privacy policy:
Sharing of Personal Information
It may share personal information within the Mark& Spencer's Family; by this
expression, it mean Cited firm Corporation and each of its subsidiaries, together with their
respective franchisees and certain selected companies (Dyrud, 2011). Those selected companies
are either our partners who perform a function such as prize-provision within our promotions and
offers, or are agencies and suppliers whom we have retained to assist us to more effectively fulfil
orders, manage and conduct promotions and offers, provide technical assistance and support and
perform other functions to support our marketing activities. All selected companies may have
access to personal information if needed to perform such functions, but will only be permitted by
us to use such personal information for the purpose of performing that function and not for any
other purpose.
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TASK 4
P7 Electronic and non-electrical methods for communicating business information
The way that information is sent depends on the audience, the factors of the audience
include; age and attention span, gender and ethnicity, special needs and accessibility, reading
ability, legibility, interest, distraction avoidance, and business relation experience and
knowledge. A letter is a formal piece of documentation which can be used when Mark& Spencer
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. The letter may also need to be impartial if the
sender is relaying information that the person they are sending it to needs to learn and respond
from
Memorandum is more informal than a letter is, they are often referred to as memos (Toth,
2013). They can be used by Mark& Spencer 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. 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.
An example of when this firm uses fax is for people to contact them if they have an issue
with Mark& Spencer. 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 (Usunier and Roulin, 2010). Fax is used
by Mark& Spencer 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. Cited company uses VAT invoices so other businesses can buy from them
and then claim back the tax that they spent. The VAT invoice shows what the person bought,
how much tax they spent and the date.
CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the above report that communication is very important to make the
business successful. In this present report studies about the legal and ethical operational issues in
context to use of business information. There are some effectiveness of business information and
its communication as key contributors to success of company.
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REFERENCES
Books& Journals
Bovee, C. L., 2010. Business Communication Today, 10/e. Pearson Education India.
Cardon, P. W., 2010. Using films to learn about the nature of cross-cultural stereotypes in
intercultural business communication courses. Business Communication Quarterly.
73(2). pp.150-165.
Conrad, D. and Newberry, R., 2012. Identification and instruction of important business
communication skills for graduate business education. Journal of Education for
Business. 87(2). pp.112-120.
Crews, T. B. and Stitt-Gohdes, W. L., 2012. Incorporating Facebook and Twitter in a service-
learning project in a business communication course. Business Communication
Quarterly. 75(1). pp.76-79.
Dyrud, M. A., 2011. Social networking and business communication pedagogy: Plugging into
the Facebook generation. Business Communication Quarterly. 74(4). pp.475-478.
Guffey, M. E. and Loewy, D., 2010. Business communication: Process and product. Cengage
Learning.
Laster, N. M. and Russ, T. L., 2010. Looking across the divide: Analyzing cross-disciplinary
approaches for teaching business communication. Business Communication Quarterly.
73(3). pp.248-264.
Meredith, M. J., 2012. Strategic communication and social media: An MBA course from a
business communication perspective. Business Communication Quarterly. 75(1). pp.89-
95.
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).
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.
Toth, C., 2013. Revisiting a genre: Teaching infographics in business and professional
communication courses. Business Communication Quarterly. 76(4). pp.446-457.
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. The
Journal of Business Communication (1973). 47(2). pp.189-227.
Online
Communication Methods, 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.tutorialspoint.com/management_concepts/communication_methods.htm>.
[Accessed on 18th august, 2017].
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