Mark & Spencer Communication Skills: Interpersonal & Written Report

This report provides an in-depth analysis of communication skills within Mark and Spencer, a multinational retail company based in London. It focuses on interpersonal communication elements such as body language, active listening, personal presentation, and context awareness, highlighting their importance in effective message delivery. The report also examines written communication, emphasizing the significance of format, structure, expression, grammar, syntax, and punctuation. Furthermore, it discusses the role of presentations in conveying business plans and strategies, as well as the importance of communicating with stakeholders through various tools like social media, email, and websites. The report concludes that effective communication is crucial for the success of any business organization, enabling better coordination, improved productivity, and stronger relationships with stakeholders. The marketing department's role in implementing an effective communication system is also emphasized, particularly in addressing workplace issues and utilizing modern communication approaches to achieve business goals.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK...............................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6
.........................................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
It is very important for a person to communicate effectively with their superiors,
subordinates, colleagues and staff irrespective of the industry they are working. Employees needs
to have great command over their communication skills so that they can deliver correct message
to the other people (Fallowfield, Jenkins and Solis-Trapala, 2010). Communication must be
effective on phones, email and social media. A good communication skills have some common
elements such as active listening, non verbal communication, clarity and concision, confidence,
empathy and feedback. This essay based upon the various aspects of communication with
reference to the company known as Mark and Spencer. It is one of the famous name in terms of
multinational retailers. It is located in London. This essay will mainly focus upon inter- personal
communication such as active listening, body language, personal presentation and context
awareness.
TASK
Inter- personal communication skills can be defined as the way by which two people
share or exchange information and feelings. This can either be carried out by verbal or non-
verbal message. The idea behind a successful inter- personal skills can be evaluated when both
the sender as well as receiver understand the message. Communication plays a major role in any
organisation such as the one chosen for this essay. This is because information must be conveyed
to different authorised people and hence they would be able to perform best in the organisation.
Mark and Spencer is one of the major companies in respect of multinational retailers. In order to
perform all the operations successfully, it is required by the company to use inter- personal skills
in a most effective manner. There are some of the elements which comprises the inter- personal
communication such as body language, active listening, personal presentation and context
awareness (Tucker, McCarthy and Lenk, 2011). Body language can be defined as the way by
which a person present themselves. It may includes their body, gesture, hands movements and
even the facial expression. It has been evaluated that body language conveys most of the
message. It is more effective than what is being said by a communicator verbally. That is why, it
is very important for the employees of mentioned company to be aware about the body language.
Next comes the active listening. This is so far the most crucial part of any inter- personal
communication. This is because a person needs to understand the thought of the receiver as well.
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By doing so, they would be able to make the other people understand the motive behind their
message. It is important for the employees to listen to their employers and then only they van
asked for queries. Without understanding employers and with having haft of the knowledge
about what is being said by them, workers would not be able to perform best as they are not
having appropriate knowledge. This will act like a barrier in communication skills. Personal
presentation may includes the way by which a person represent themselves in the front of the
other people. As said earlier that body language is very important in order to correctly
communicate the message (Locker and Kaczmarek, 2010). That is why, it is essential for a
person to be aware about their personal presentation as well. This will surely enhance the quality
and effectiveness of the message in an inter-personal communication. Context awareness is also
a major element in any communication process. This is because a person needs to have a plotting
of whatever the message they want to deliver. By having awareness about the context, a person
can effectively express their message to the other people.
Written communication can be defined as the way of expressing message with the help of
written format and structure. In this also, a message is being delivered but without the use of
verbal communication. It is important for Mark and Spencer to use both verbal as well as written
format of communication in order to complete different aspects of the company. Written
communication includes format and structure. It is mandatory to follow a set of format and
structure in order to convey and circulate the entire message in the organisation. This is an
effective medium because in a matter of few minutes, whole of the message can be directly sent
to their respective recipients. This will saves the time of the organisation. At any moment of
time, an instant message can be delivered without wasting the time upon making [people
gathered about such event (Wardrope, 2013). Format has to easy in order to understand.
Confusion statement would not be written over there. There must be an opening and closing
statement with the help of which reader can understand the details about the sender. Its structure
must be simpler so that reader found it easy to understand.
There are some basic elements with the help of which verbal inter- personal
communication as well as written communication can be efficiently used. Expression, grammar,
syntax and punctuation are a part of communication. These majorly holds an importance in
written communication. It is necessary to use right form of expression in any written message.
Sender needs to check the grammatical error as well. The sentences formation should not be too
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long because then receiver will find it difficult to understand. The knowledge of syntax is also
very important. It refers to the correct arrangement of all words and phrases in order to create a
well- formed sentence. There has to the correct use of punctuations. This will overall improve
the effectiveness of the message that is being delivered to other person. In written
communication, above mentioned elements must be taken into consideration in order to improve
the efficiency of the message (Di Salvo, 2012). Mark and Spencer uses a set of written
communication with proper format and structure. They also focus towards various strategies with
the help of clarity of expression, syntax, grammar and punctuation can be improved. In order to
adopt the strategies, it is necessary for the company to adopt some techniques which will be
helpful in improvising the various elements of written as well as oral communication.
The format and structure of presentation also plays a major role in delivering the correct
message to the employees of the organisation. Presentation in normal language can be
understood as the way by which the message of an individual get conveyed to the other member
by using inter- personal communication (Maguire and Pitceathly, 2011). This will overall
includes the way by which sender present themselves in front of other. This will be evaluated by
the idea where a receiver understand the real idea behind the message from the sender. But in
broader context, presentation is the platform where any business plan get displayed in front of
board members of the organisation. Thus, there must be a proper format and structure for the
same. Basically it includes the front page as the heading of the entire presentation. Then the
various aspects of the topic of presentation gets displayed.
Organisations like Mark and Spencer is ruling the market and considered as one of the major
market players with the help of their business strategies (Cotton, Falvey and Kent, 2012). This
also includes the criteria they follow in order to communicate different message within the range
of the company. This makes employees more aware about the plans, objective and aim of the
company in most effective manner. As per the format, the person who is liable to spread the
message in the form of presentation must use the structure correctly. The effectiveness of the
presentation can only be maintain once the sender have used appropriate format and structure of
the same. It is important for the above mentioned company to be aware about all the aspects of a
presentation.
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It is essential for a retail company to communicate with their stakeholders in order to
maintain a healthy relation in an effective manner. there is various relevant information which
should be shared with investors, customers, shareholders, employees and staff. For example,
M&S needs to announce their profit for their investor over a period of time (Heaven, Clegg and
Maguire, 2010). There are various traditional and modern approaches has been used by the
marketing department. But evolution of internet change dramatically all these tools and provide
new methods of communication. These approaches are more effective and efficient as compare
to traditional methods which meet its goals and objectives in an effective manner. Apart from
that, there are various issues and problem at workplace required an effective communication.
Therefore, this is responsibility of marketing manager is to installed an effective communication
system which interlinked all division of M&S can be exercised in an appropriate manner. For
example, staff facing various problem at work place, marketing manager required to address
such issue and communicate directly with higher authorities and solve these issue at initial level
which create a harmonious relationship with their staff and increase productivity and efficiency.
There are various tools of communication which can be used by the cited firm. Social
media is one of them (Kinnick and Parton, 2010). This is one of the most appropriate approach
which helps provide a platform for a company to interact with its stakeholder in a more
appropriate manner. It involves Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and so on. These all approaches
become one of the significant part of communication where marketing department easily talk and
know customer response on specific issue. It helps to provide competitive advantage in the
market over other firm. There are some basic significance. Social media network is not a channel
of communication, these are part of corporate strategy which promote firm’s product and create
awareness in the public. For example, M&S wants to launch a new product in to the market, they
required to develop brand recantation and communicate aggressively to make success their good
in the near future.
Customer demand are change dramatically which need to launch new product which satisfy their
needs. Therefore, social media tools provide facility where marketing manager can conduct
feedback and modify their product in an appropriate manner (Beamer and Varner, 2010). It will
lead to increase customer loyalty and profit which is a core goal every business. Email is again a
very important tool of communication. This is another electronic communication tool which
focused on specific key target audience. This approach one of the most usable save money and
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environment and increase effectiveness of massage. In this technique, company needs required to
send a written message for a group of people (Hargie, 2010). Most of the advertising business
entity are commonly used to promoter their product and services. For example, M&S need to
launch a product for their customer. for this they can conduct feedback by using email and
analyze these responses in an effective manner. Apart from that, there are various other
communication tool such as chat, video conferencing etc. where employees can interact and
share information with each other which help to increase decision making.
Website is the third most important tool of communication. In today business scenario
innovation and technology is too significant for communicate with various stakeholders at a time
(Cameron, 2011). This is an online platform where marketing department required to put all
relevant information regarding their product, services, process and so on. for example, M&S can
put their annual report on its official website where anybody can check this information any
time. It helps to increase corporate image in the market which is too essential in modern
business.
CONCLUSION
As per the above mentioned report it has been concluded that communication plays a
prominent role in the success for each and every business organization. This report explained
about different types of interpersonal communication such as body language, listening skills,
[presentation skills, personality, context awareness. The report also discussed about the written
communication and its different styles which help to increase effectiveness at workplace. Apart
from that, there are also various issues such as grammar, facial expression, punctuation having a
large influence. Further, the report included various electronic communication tools and
techniques which can be used by the cited firm.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Hargie, O. ed., 2010. The handbook of communication skills. Psychology Press.
Maguire, P. and Pitceathly, C., 2011. Key communication skills and how to acquire them. Bmj,
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Fallowfield, L., Jenkins, V and Solis-Trapala, I., 2003. Enduring impact of communication skills
training: results of a 12-month follow-up. British journal of cancer, 89(8). p. 1445.
Tucker, M.L., McCarthy, A.M and Lenk, M.M., 2011. Community service learning increases
communication skills across the business curriculum. Business Communication
Quarterly, 61(2). pp. 88-99.
Locker, K.O. and Kaczmarek, S.K., 2010. Business communication: Building critical skills. New
York, NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Wardrope, W.J., 2013. Department chairs' perceptions of the importance of business
communication skills. Business Communication Quarterly, 65(4). pp. 60-72.
Di Salvo, V.S., 2012. A summary of current research identifying communication skills in various
organizational contexts.
Cotton, D., Falvey, D. and Kent, S., 2012. Market Leader: Elementary: Business English Course
Book. Pearson education.
Heaven, C., Clegg, J. and Maguire, P., 2010. Transfer of communication skills training from
workshop to workplace: the impact of clinical supervision. Patient education and
counseling, 60(3). pp. 313-325.
Kinnick, K.N. and Parton, S.R., 2010. Workplace communication: What The Apprentice teaches
about communication skills. Business Communication Quarterly, 68(4), pp. 429-456.
Beamer, L. and Varner, I.I., 2010. Intercultural communication in the global workplace. New
York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Cameron, D., 2011. Globalization and the teaching of ‘communication skills’. Globalization and
language teaching, 2(1). pp. 67-82.
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