Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Business Communication:
Efficiency, Collaboration, and Success
Michael Murphy
Shorenstein Center for Communication
Kennedy School of Government
Harvard University
September 30, 2014
Murphy
Skills for Effective Business Communication
HKS at Harvard University 30SEP14
I: Introduction
Communicative
Competence and SelfAssessment
II: Strategies for Efficient
Reading
V. Conclusion
Murphy Skills for Effective Business Communication HKS at Harvard University 30SEP14
Other
businesses
Employees
within the
business
Customers
and clients
Murphy
Skills for Effective Business Communication
HKS at Harvard University 30SEP14
Four Sociolinguist
Competencies of
Effective
Communication
Grammatical
Competence
Lexical, syntactic,
semantic,
morphological,
and phonological
knowledge.
Discourse
Competence
Sociolinguistic
Competence
Strategic
Competence
The combination of
linguistic expressions
and the appropriate
way of connecting
these expressions.
Communication in a
social and cultural
context with awareness
of theme, roles,
participants, situation
and norms of
interaction.
The ability to
solve
communication
problems and
compensate for
deficiencies by
verbal and nonverbal means.
Murphy
Skills for Effective Business Communication
HKS at Harvard University 30SEP14
Cumminss (1981b) model of language acquisition (as cited in Madyarov) with four quadrants.
Murphy
Skills for Effective Business Communication
HKS at Harvard University 30SEP14
Writer
Speaker
Clarity;
Succinctness;
Professionalism;
Structural, syntactic,
and lexical
perfection;
Information.
Clarity;
Brevity;
Succinctness;
Accurate
pronunciation, tone,
and style.
Murphy
Skills for Effective Business Communication
HKS at Harvard University 30SEP14
Input (Is)
C
O
M
M
U
N
I
C
A
T
I
O
N
Active;
Engaged;
Aware;
Involved;
Responsive.
Active;
Engaged;
Aware;
Involved;
Responsive.
Reader
Listener
Preview:
Skim:
Cluster:
Murphy
Skills for Effective Business Communication
HKS at Harvard University 30SEP14
Cosby, B. (1982). How to read faster. Power of the Printed Word. International Paper Company.
Retrieved from http://simson.net/ref/1983/international-paper2.pdf
Murphy
Skills for Effective Business Communication
HKS at Harvard University 30SEP14
Conciseness:
Omit
unnecessary
words
Completeness:
Check for the 5
Ws
The 7 Cs of
Effective
Business
Writing
Correctness:
Include only
accurate facts
Clarity:
Apply the
K-I-S-S
Principle
Courtesy:
Be thoughtful
and positive
Consideration:
Focus on you
instead of I
Ohio University. College of Business. Business writing skills. Communication Standards. Retrieved from
Murphy
Skills for Effective Business Communication http://aspnet.cob.ohio.edu/communicationstandards/s1%20business%20writing%20skills.doc
HKS at Harvard University 30SEP14
Phone Etiquette:
(say):
Let me ask a question
Let me suggest
Let me clarify.
Let me summarize.
Murphy
Skills for Effective Business Communication
HKS at Harvard University 30SEP14
(do):
Then, ask the question
Then, make the suggestion.
Then, make the clarification
Then, summarize the
discussion.
10
Ask for
Details:
Give me
more details
about that
Tell me
more about
that.
Murphy
Skills for Effective Business Communication
HKS at Harvard University 30SEP14
Show
Empathy:
That
sounds
wonderful/
terrible.
I understand
what you
mean.
Ask
Questions:
What did
you do
next?
How did
you
respond?
11
Summary
Murphy
Skills for Effective Business Communication
HKS at Harvard University 30SEP14
12