Unit 4 Business Communication Report - Luton International College

This report presents a comprehensive analysis of business communication within the context of Walmart, a major retail corporation. It begins by defining and differentiating various types of business communication, including verbal, written, and electronic methods, and then delves into the specific communication strategies employed by Walmart. The report examines both internal and external communication methods, highlighting the advantages and applications of each. It then addresses legal and ethical issues associated with the use of business information, such as data protection and freedom of information, and operational issues related to information security, backups, and organizational policies. The report also outlines both electronic and non-electronic methods of communication, considering factors such as audience and medium. Finally, the report concludes by summarizing key findings and emphasizing the importance of effective business communication for successful business operations. The report utilizes the Walmart case study to provide real-world examples and illustrate concepts.

BUSINESS AND
BUSINESS
ENVIRONMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Various types of business information...................................................................................3
TASK 2 ...........................................................................................................................................4
P2 Covered in PPT .....................................................................................................................4
P3 Covered in Poster .................................................................................................................4
P4 External corporate communications of an existing product or service.................................4
TASK 3 ...........................................................................................................................................5
P5 Legal and ethical issues while using business information...................................................5
P6 Operational issues in relation to the use of business information.........................................6
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................7
P7 Outline electronic and non-electronic methods ...................................................................7
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Communication is the process of exchange of facts, ideas, opinions and as a means that
individual or organization share meaning and understanding with one another. In other words, it
is a transmission and interacting the facts, ideas, opinion, feeling and attitudes (Ainsworth,
2013). It is the ability of mankind to communicate across barriers and beyond boundaries that
has ushered the progress of mankind. WALMART is the chosen organisation in this present
report; it is one of the largest dealer of retail products and services all over the world. Present
report is discussed various types of communication, i.e. verbal, non verbal and written
communication. Along with this, the report also involves internal and external methods of
business communication.
TASK 1
P1 Various types of business information
Below mentioned various types of business communication, which are stated as follow: - Verbal communication - It is a common way by which individuals transfer their message
to other individuals and businesses. Verbal communication methods may include
meetings, in-person interviews, telephones and video conferencing. In WALMART, it
may be the best communication method because verbal communication allows people to
assess the verbal or non-verbal inferences by individuals giving a message. It may also
create a more comfortable environment for receivers to ask questions and get feedback
from individuals giving the message. Written communication – It includes internal business memos, formal letters, bulletin
boards or posters and other various written communication forms. Individuals may
choose to use written communication if they need to reach multiple individuals at
different locations with a similar message. Individuals may be required to acknowledge
receipt of the message or respond within a limited time frame. Organizations often use
written communication to ensure they have documentation when correcting an issue or
dealing with important legal situations.
 Electric communication - Business technology has opened up new types of business
communications. New communication methods include email, web conferencing, social
networking, company websites, online chat and text messages. Electronic communication

allows companies to send mass messages to several individuals quickly and at a low
business cost. Its methods are often used to reach outside business stakeholders or the
general public. Organizations may create several different electronic communication
channels to reach different target markets or demographic groups with their message. It is
also used to communicate with international organizations or individuals the time
efficient manner.
TASK 2
P2 Covered in PPT
P3 Covered in Poster
P4 External corporate communications of an existing product or service
An organization, when it communicates with Governmental agencies, customers, clients
and public it is called external communication. The media employed may be written media like
letters, reports, proposals or visual media like posters, advertisements video tapes or electronic
media like faxes, telegrams, e-mails, telexes. The communication might also be through
teleconferences, face-to-face meetings, panel discussions or presentations, exhibitions and such
events.
Advantages of External Communication
External communication helps WALMART to keep its outsourcing agencies like
distributors, wholesalers, retailers and clientele well informed about the company’s products,
services, progress and goals. The information gets continuously updated and accurate (Alshare,
Lane and Miller, 2011). All organizations have to maintain cordial relationships with
government agencies, licensing authorities, suppliers of raw materials, ancillary industries and
financial institutions. Continual and updated information without any communication gap is
essential for business houses.
External Communication is used for:
 Through ensuring the information flow from various stakeholders to the organization,
they help to meaningfully define the organization's environmental policy, targets, as well
as operational performance, environmental condition and management performance
indicators.

 Through ensuring the information flow from the organization to various stakeholders
they promote the credibility of the organization.
 Public relations activities include helping the public to understand the organization and
its products. Similar to effective advertising and promotions, effective public relations
often depends on designing and implementing a well-designed public relations plan.
TASK 3
P5 Legal and ethical issues while using business information
Legal and ethical issues Legal issues include the Data Protection Act 1998, the Freedom
of Information Act 2000, and the Computer Misuse Act 1990. WALMART has to ensure that
they comply with all these legal factors otherwise the business could face a fine and/or the
person(s) responsible could be prosecuted.
The Data Protection Act 1998 ensures that peoples personal information isn’t misused.
The data that WALMART collects has to be collected lawfully, which means that the person
they are collected data from needs to understand what it is going to be used for and they need to
give it willingly. WALMART collects people’s personal information when they buy groceries
online and store it in a database so the person doesn’t have to type in their information every
time they make a purchase. Company has to ensure they only use this information for what they
say they are going to, in this instance to process their order, to deliver it and to take a payment
for it. WALMART should only collect the amount of data they need to ensure the order is
processed satisfactorily. For the grocery example, they would not need to know the person’s
height or weight so they wouldn’t ask it, similarly they would need to know the address of the
person so they order can arrive at their door. Business entities needs to give an option for people
to update their information to ensure that it is kept up-to-date so there will be no issues with
orders (Conrad and Newberry, 2012). If a person no longer wants to have an online grocery
account with WALMART, then there needs to be an option for someone to delete their account
and it needs to delete their data off of the database. The major thing that business organisations
needs to ensure is that the database is protected and cannot be accessed or hacked by anyone
unlawfully, this duty is WALMART’s responsibility. The data cannot also be transferred to
somewhere, where there aren’t adequate protection laws of the data. Business organisation has to
ensure that they do all of this to comply with the Data Protection Act.

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 means that WALMART has to supply data to
anyone that requests it, if the information is held by the organisation, if it is not too expensive to
retrieve the information, and if the public interest isn’t effected by the release of the information.
An example of where WALMART complies with this act is an online site where anyone can
request information from WALMART relating to the NHS pharmacies in their stores (Crews and
Stitt-Gohdes, 2012).
P6 Operational issues in relation to the use of business information
Operational Issues- Businesses has store and manage countless pieces information and in
some cases, some information are important than others. To make sure that the information is
managed appropriately, different procedures are put in place such as: Security of information: - Businesses need to make sure that their information are
protected and secured. They can do this by storing information on IT systems that will
enable them to access the information anytime they want (Grunig, 2013). It is important
for businesses to have the right information when needed, because it helps make good
decisions. Therefore, if a business doesn't take care of their information properly, it may
lead to bad decision making.
Backups: - Backups minimises the losses of important information. so many businesses
use back ups to prevent information from being lost. some businesses create information
every hour in order to be on the safe side. This means that if the information is destroyed
or damaged, a copy is available so the business can continue as little disruption as
possible.
 Health and safety: - Although computer equipment in itself is unlikely to be dangerous
but businesses still make sure that workers aren't using computer equipment through out
the day (DeKay, 2012). For example, staying on the computer for the whole day maybe
bad for the eye sight. Bad posture, incorrect positioning of equipment and susceptibility
to repetitive strain injury are health and safety risks that employers are legally required to
take seriously.
 Organisational policies: - Organisational policies that relate the use of business
information can help make sure that the decisions made are not affecting staff in any way.
 Business continuance plans: - These are the plans that a businesses sets in order to make
sure that the business is capable of serving a worst case scenario. One plan that business

may make is to create back up for information they have, in order to prevent the losses of
important information.
TASK 4
P7 Outline electronic and non-electronic methods
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.
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 WALMART 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. WALMART will need to make sure that the
letter is printed in a big enough size if a person has sight issues. 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 (Kernbach, Eppler and Bresciani, 2015). All letters will be strictly business
related when being sent from WALMART, this means that the way that they are all written will
all have a specific format that will be adhered to.
Memorandum is more informal than a letter is, they are often referred to as memos. They
can be used by WALMART 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 (Meredith, 2012). For example, a
memo might be sent to a department letting them know that there is an optional training course
that employees can sign up to, to enhance their skill range, this isn’t sent to a specific person so it
could be put on a notice board which is seen by the majority of staff in the department.

CONCLUSION
From the above mentioned report, it has been concluded that business communication
helps managers and employees for their day to day activities and operations. Present report is a
case study of WALMART; it has described various types of communication such as- verbal,
written and electrical communication. Along with this, it also discussed internal and external
types of communication. Managers are faced different legal, ethical and operational issues while
using business information

REFERENCES
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Online
Corporate Communications. 2014. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/vinayaka57-1556213-corporate-
communications/>. [Accessed on 20th July 2017].