Eng 209W

Hurley

Within a business organization, communication flows between people who need to exchange
ideas, solve problems, coordinate projects, and work towards the success of the business.

The Communication Process:

The Flow of Communications at the Organizational Level

The two dynamic systems of communication in business are internal and external
communications. But the emphasis is quite distinct. In internal communications, your emphasis
is in presenting and interpreting facts. In contrast, in external communications, your emphasis
is on promoting goodwill and future business. You will have practice with both systems in this
course.

Internal Communications
The following is an example of a hierarchy chart. It shows the positions of superiors and
subordinates in a company. All communication among the employees is INTERNAL because
they are co-workers. To understand the flow of internal communications, look at the
relationship of the superiors and subordinates with Sales Manager West (highlighted box):
Figure: Internal Communications Flow Chart
(M.E. Guffey, Business Communication Process and Product)

To Superiors

VP
production

To Peers

President

VP
marketing

VP
sales

VP
finance

VP
human
resources

Sales
Manager
East

Sales
Manager
West

Sales
Manager
Midwest

Sales
Manager
Internat'l

To Subordinates

Sales
Rep

Sales
Rep

District
1
Manager

District
2
Manager

District
3
Manager

Sales
Rep

Sales
Rep

Sales
Rep

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Internal communications take place within the company. This means co-workers are writing
to each other to solve problems and to reach their goals. Within a firm, communications flow in
several directions: upward, downward, and lateral. Take a look at the chart above. See the
"Sales Manager West" position?

Upward communication means this Sales Manager West writes to the vice presidents
and the president. If you've ever had to write to your supervisor, you know that this is
not an easy thing to do. So why do workers write upward communications? To report
back and to reply to requests
Downward communication means the Sales Manager West writes to subordinates, in
this case the district managers and sales reps below. Managers write to subordinates to
give orders, to motivate them to work better, to inform them about policies and
progress towards goals, and to promote goodwill and teamwork.
Lateral communication means the Sales Manager West writes to same-level coworkers,
who work often work together on projects. These coworkers need to solve problems
and to coordinate their efforts.

Something else is going on in the company that is not part of this clean and neat
system, and that is the rumor mill. Gossip is always really fast and usually really wrong. It's
through gossip that you find out who's getting a promotion, who's sleeping with whom, and who
might be getting fired. To ignore the rumor mill is to manage blind-folded. Internal
communications usually take the form of memos, memo reports, and other reports.

External Communications
Communications flow outside the company, too. External communications are to
outsiders, those who don't work for the same company. When the Sales Manager West writes
to customers and clients, to government agencies, to suppliers, and to distributors, s/he is
writing externally. This kind of writing must be done carefully since the writer represents not
only him/herself personally but also the company s/he works for. Firms write to these outsiders
to build goodwill, to sell goods and services, and to give and receive information. External
communications are letters, ads, brochures, web sites, catalogs, and reports. The following
chart illustrates typical external communications:
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Figure: External Communications

(M.E. Guffey, Business Communication Process and Product)

The Media
Stockholders
Investors
Lenders
Potential Stockholders

Trade Associations
Unions
Competitors
Other Businesses and Industries

Community Organizations
Charities
Foundations
Special Interest Groups

Customers
Clients
Potential Customers
Supplies, Vendors

Distributors
Wholesalers
Franchisees
Retailers, Agents
Subsidiaries

The
Corporation

Legislators
Government Agencies
Regulators
The Courts
Foreign Governments and Offices

Professional Services
(auditors, legal, advertising, etc.)
Employment Agencies
Potential Employees

Why do we concern ourselves with these two systems? Because the audiences are
different and so are internal and external communications. Think about it. Writing for your
boss, on whom your livelihood depends, is very different from writing to a co-worker with
whom you eat lunch everyday, or your customer on whom you depend for business. Both
audiences require that you focus on the you-attitude to accomplish your goals: getting your
readers to do what you want them to do while promoting goodwill.

sources: ME. Guffey; verbatim in some places from Murphy and Hildebrandt