Report on Effective Communication Strategies in Business at Microsoft

This report examines the principles of effective communication within a business context, specifically using Microsoft as a case study. It explores various communication channels and tools, including emails, social media, and the differences between vertical and lateral communication. The report also delves into the importance of clear and correct language in business communication and highlights the role of communication in organizational success. Furthermore, it analyzes different business communication models, such as Shannon's and Berlo's models, to support administrative services. The report concludes with a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of Microsoft's communication systems and suggestions for improvement.

COMMUNICATING IN A
BUSINESS

Executive Summary
Effective communication in the company is very essential as it helps in maintaining
proper flow of operation leading a company to achieve its desired goals or objectives.
Communication helps the company in maintaining relationship with different parties to
operation which in turn build trust of parties towards the company resulting in high sales
volume and profitability to company. It helps in deriving customer satisfaction and help
the company in reducing employees turnover and helps in retention of the same.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................4
MAIN BODY.......................................................................................................................4
Principle of effective communication in the company........................................................4
Different communication channels & tools.....................................................................4
Vertical and Lateral/ Networked Communication Channels..........................................5
Use of Clear& Correct Language...................................................................................6
Understanding the role of communication in organization................................................7
Features of different business communication models that support administrative
services. ........................................................................................................................7
Strength and weakness of an organization communication system .............................8
Improvement to an organization's communication system............................................9
CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Communicating in business refers to exchange of information in order to promote
companies goals, target and activities. Effective communication helps in fostering good
working relation which results in improving efficiency and morale of the company.
Microsoft Incorporation is an American multinational company of technology which sells
computer software, electronics, personal computers and related services. Its best
software product line is Microsoft Windows. Its flagship hardware products are Xbox
video games. Present report will address to principles of effective communication in the
company with explanation of different communication tools and their efficiency. It will
also brief on roles of communication in organization featuring on different models of
communication.
MAIN BODY
Principle of effective communication in the company
Different communication channels & tools
A wide variety of tools & channels are used by the company to facilitate internal
and external communication. It refers to the medium to send message from one person
to another or to one department to another etc. For effective communication Microsoft
selects appropriate channels & tools to send its messages all across. Effective
communication refers to the ability of conveying information efficiently and effectively.
Business managers at Microsoft who are good with verbal, non-verbal & written skills
help in facilitating share of information between the people of the company which are in
favour of commercial benefits derived.
Communication tools in business includes Emails, telephones, cell phones,
laptop's, personal desktops, web conferencing tools, social media and various others.
There are 3 different types of communication- Verbal communication where the people
in company communicate orally. Non verbal communication where people communicate
with the help of gestures and action & lastly written communication where people
communicate with the help of written means such as mails etc. (Berezan,
Yoo,Christodoulidou, 2016 ).
Emails- This source has become today's standard source of communicating
electronically. It is a typed message that is sent from one person to another or groups of
person. This is appropriate and effective as it is the great way of communication in the
company. Emails are efficient source of communication as it helps in reaching large
number of customers at a particular point of time which helps in fast communication with
the customers and solving their queries. Efficiency of this tool is it helps the company in
delivering various private, transactional messages which results in customer retention
and larger profit margin as it saves lot of cost.

Social Media- Social media plays a vital role in the company communication which
helped the company in increased sales volume. It has become a wide platform for
company's like Microsoft to find niche customers with better prospects and the
advantage of promoting the company among audience (Hänninen,Karjaluoto, 2017).
Social Media is an efficient tool as it helps the company in reaching, nurturing and
engaging with its target audience. It is an efficient too as it help the company to
generate brand awareness, leads which in turn generates sales and revenue for the
company. It is also an efficient tool as it help in increasing traffic to the website which
helps the company to promote its products and services at cheaper cost.
Vertical and Lateral/ Networked Communication Channels
Vertical communication is a flow of information between the members of
Microsoft who are different levels in hierarchy of the company. It can be used both in
upward and downward direction. Most of the communications are considered to be
Vertical communication.
Downward communication is a message sent downward from higher levels to
lower levels in which the information is transmitted in forms of instruction, directions and
objectives.
The main purpose of this communication is to implement goals by giving lower level
information about the actions preferred (Consoli, Morgan, 2020).
Upward communication is communication in which information in transmitted
backward from lower to higher level which is used in a situation where managers are
made aware about the difficulties faced by employees of company, reports submitting
the results of employees
The effective way to communicate in company is to rely on both downward and
upward communication which helps to remove barriers such as separation between
higher and lower level, reducing too long period to solve conflict between managers and
staff.
Lateral communication is a communication between individual/ department at
same level. This can be interchangeably be used with horizontal communication. It is an
exchange, sharing of information, ideas between people of Microsoft who are within
same department, peer groups & who are at same hierarchical level which are meant
for the purpose of coordinating efforts and activities for fulfilling common goals of
company. It can also be understood as transmission of information between divisions,
departments, people within the same organizational level. This communication helps in
removing misunderstanding between departments which helps in increasing efficiency
and productivity of projects (Pagani, 2019). It can lead to conflicts between employees
as they might be exposed to each other in a process of communication ( Understanding
Horizontal Vs. Vertical Communication,2019).
Use of Clear& Correct Language.
Clear and correct language support effective communication as it help the parties
to communication to read, understand and use the information. Clear language supports
effective communication. Use of clear language helps in effective communication as it
helps in building better relationship between the parties as the message sent by the
sender is easily understandable by the receiver which in turn results in good
communication (Parker,2020). Clear language helps the company in effective

communication as the messages sent are clear, short and concise which is easily
understandable on the other end. Without the use of clear language communication
between the parties may seem to unclear, vague and uninteresting. Clear language
supports effective communication as it lead to exchange of ideas, views etc. more
efficiently resulting in less or no conflicts in the company (Barroca,Amaral, Buchs,2018).
When use of language is not clear and correct it may lead to words/thoughts
being not expressed with clarity by sender of message, which leads to receiver not
understanding the message properly leading to misunderstanding in company. It may
lead to an assumption in the minds of receiver which may hinders correct understanding
of the messages by their side leading to a state of confusion.
It helps company in a way to build rapport which is a process of developing
connections with the one whom the employees communicate. Use of both clear and
correct language helps in ensuring feedback will benefit both the parties to
communication that is sender and receiver.

Understanding the role of communication in organization
Communication is the key role in success of any organization. For the firm it is the
source of information to the organizational members for their working and decision-
making. Effective communication is an essential tool in achieving productivity and
maintaining strong workplace relations.
Features of different business communication models that support administrative
services.
Shannon's model
This model is called the “mother of all models”. In 1948 Shannon who was an
electronic engineer and weaver who was an American scientist together developed this
model initially it was used to improve technical communication but later it was widely
applied in communication field. There are six components of this model which are
sender, encoder, channel, decoder, receiver and noise is also adopted by Microsoft.
Sender makes message, encodes this message through machine which converts that
message into signals or binary data.
Then the sender chooses channel like telephone or telegraph or email and sends the
message.
The message is decoded by the receiver through a machine that converts signals or
binary data into message (AMARI, 2020).
The receiver provides feedback to the sender according to the message.
Last component is noise which are the physical disturbances like people, environment
etc.
Features of Shannon's model
 this model is more effective in person-to-person communication than group or
mass audience.
 Understanding noise will help to solve various problems.
 Feedback is taken as less important in comparison to the message sent by the
sender.
 In this model the sender plays the primary role and the receiver plays the
secondary role.
 It breaks down communication into understandable parts.
Berlo's model
This model of communication takes emotional aspect of communication into
consideration therefore Microsoft prefers this model of business communication that
supports their administrative services. Berlo's model of communication operates on
SMCR model. In which S stands for source, M stands for message, C stands for
channel and R stands for receiver (Janse, 2019).
S – The Source or sender is one from whom thought originates, and he is one who
transfers the information. It is done with help of communication skills, attitude,
knowledge, social system and culture.
M- When sender converts thoughts into words, a message is created. This process is
called encoding. This message has content, element, treatment, structure and code.
C- Channel is a medium through which information or the message flows from sender
to receiver. Five senses which is seeing, hearing, touching, smelling and tasting are
used as a channel to communicate.

R – When the message reaches the receiver tries to understand what is intended by
the sender this is called decoding.
Features of Berlo's model
 There is no kind of barrier in the communication process as there is no noise.
 As it is a linear model of communication therefore there is no two way
communication.
 This model explains the communication process in a simplest form.
 Sender and receiver must share some common ground for successful
communication of the message.
 It requires people to be on same level for effective communication to happen.
 Communication skills plays a crucial role.
Strength and weakness of an organization communication system
Communication system is a collection of individual telecommunications networks,
transmission systems, tributary system etc. to form an integrated whole. Components or
subsystems that act together to accomplish information transfer or exchange is a
communication system (Tsai. and et.al., 2018). There are five parts in communication
channel which is source, transmitter, channel, receiver and destination. Some examples
of communication systems are e-mails, voice mails, fax, video conferencing, internet,
web bulletin board system.
Strengths of analog communication system of Microsoft
 There is flexibility with the bandwidth.
 It is easy to handle and is not expensive.
 Ambient weather dependencies are low.
 Rectification of faulty components is easy.
Strengths of digital communication system of Microsoft.
 This system is easy to implement and is flexible.
 It is cheaper than analog in some cases.
 Data can be saved and retrieved .
 Better security as the firm can add excellent encryption on transmission.
Weakness of analog communication system of Microsoft.
 This system is not easy to implement.
 It needs specific receiver and transmitter for specific communication scenario. If
need to move to new system and want to change the analog signal then both the
receiver and transmitter needs to be changed.
 There is no security on transmission of data.
 Data cannot be saved and transmitted in case of emergency.
Weakness of analog communication system of Microsoft.
 Ambient dependencies of this system is high.
 Highly sensitive on electronic tolerance and handling.
 More immune to noise and sometimes received data might be different from the
transmitted one.
 It has low life span as they are more dependencies on outer source.

Improvement to an organization's communication system.
Communication at the workplace is an integral component of any modern
organization. Analog communication system is entirely the use of continuous time
varying signal for transmission of information from sender to receiver. And this system is
becoming obsolete in contemporary times with the advent of digital technology.
Employees of Microsoft uses daily communication tools like emails, collaboration
software, video and voice chat. To improve digital communication system some
strategies been introduced by Microsoft such as:
 They can introduce a new communication platform which meets the specific
need of the company such as comprehensive employee communications tool
that prioritize the employee experience.
 Training employees on platform by familiarizing employees with the functions
of new technology. Once employees get comfortable with navigation and how to
execute important processes, true benefits of the platform are realized. And this
can be achieved by well- documenting and supporting the platform.
 It can also be improved by scheduling the communications appropriately.
Many platforms have calendars and scheduling integration. By using these
platforms organizational communication system is improved (Moutsouriz. and
et.al., 2017).
 Scheduling the plan for urgent messages also improves the communication
system as high priority communications are differentiated from standard
messages. Different channels are used by the firm like voice or video calls.
 By giving and receiving regular feedback communication system can be
improved as in feedback session with employees in which they are encouraged
to discuss thoughts on recent projects, issues, ideas etc. This promotes team
work, problem-solving and strong relationships between management and
employees.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded that there are various features of different model of
communication like Shannon's model and Berlo model that support administrative
services of Microsoft. There are different types of communication system such as
analog and digital and these both have strength and weakness. Microsoft have
developed various strategies to improve their communication system by introducing new
communication channel, training employees on the new platform, scheduling the plan
for urgent messages and giving and receiving regular feedback etc.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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Consoli, J.J. and Morgan, C.W., TE Connectivity Corp, 2020. Vertical communication
system. U.S. Patent 10,547,133.
Hänninen, N. and Karjaluoto, H., 2017. The effect of marketing communication on
business relationship loyalty. Marketing Intelligence & Planning.
Moutsouriz, P. and et.al., 2017. Improvements in conveyor and components therefor,
monitoring methods and communication systems. U.S. Patent Application
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Pagani, A., STMicroelectronics Srl, 2019. Electronic system having increased coupling
by using horizontal and vertical communication channels. U.S. Patent
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Parker, J., 2020. Advanced Language-based Techniques for Correct, Secure
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Sasidhar, P.V.K., 2019. Unit-3 Theories and Models of Communication. Indira Gandhi
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Tsai, H. and et.al., 2018. Recent progress in analog memory-based accelerators for
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Online
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Understanding Horizontal Vs. Vertical Communication.2019[Online]. Available
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