Modules 1 & 2

Summary

Good communication skills are extremely important in life today. These skills take one of two forms: verbal communication and nonverbal communication. Verbal communication consists of face-to-face conversations, phone conversations, meetings, texts, emails, voice-mails, letters, and reports. Nonverbal communication consists of pictures, company logos, gestures and body language, who sits where at a meeting, how long someone keeps a visitor waiting, etc. 

 Business communication is very different from academic writing. The purposes differ. The purpose of academic writing is often to show what you have learned, whereas the purpose of business communication is to inform your audience.

The audience also differs between the two types of communication. Academic communication often has an audience limited to the instructor and other students. The audience for business communication includes people both inside and outside the organization. Internal audiences include other people in the same organization, such as subordinates, superiors and peers. External audiences include people outside the organization, such as customers, suppliers, unions, stockholders, potential employees, government agencies, the press, and the general public.

Along with purpose and audience information, organization, style, document design and visuals all differ in academic writing and business communication. 

Determining your audience is essential to the success of your communication. Most often you will have a primary audience, secondary audience, initial audience, gatekeeper, and watchdog audience; all of which are important. You also need to know everything about that audience that is relevant to what you’re writing or talking about. You need to know their knowledge on the subject that you are communicating about; you need to know their demographic factors, their personality, their values and beliefs, and their past behavior.

Once you have completed this audience analysis you will use it to plan a strategy, organization, style, document design and visuals for your communication. 

Major Points

Many people are under the impression that they can get away without writing. This is absolutely not true. Although you may not be entering a job as a secretary you will still be required to handle tasks that essentially revolve around writing and communication, no matter what your job title may be, 

It has been noted that managers have three basic jobs: to collect and convey information, to make decisions, and to promote interpersonal unity. All of these things are accomplished through communication. 

Good messages meet five criteria: they are clear, complete, correct, saves the readers time, and builds goodwill.