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Business Communication - 1

Module 4

Vinod V Nair

Syllabus
Module 1
Nature of Communication, Define Communication, Process of Communication, Types of Communication (verbal & Non-Verbal),
Importance of Communication, Different forms of Communication. Managing Language, Presentation, Use of on-line tools for
vocabulary building, Use of software for editing.

Module 2
Barriers to Communication Causes, Linguistic Barriers, Psychological Barriers, Interpersonal Barriers, Cultural Barriers, Physical Barriers,
Organizational Barriers, Effective Speaking Oral Presentation - Importance, Characteristics, Presentation Plan, Power point
presentation, Visual aids.

Module 3
Nature & Function of letters, Principles of Letter Writing, Elements of structure, Forms of Layout, Styles of presentation. Business
Correspondence: Inviting quotations, Sending quotations, Placing orders, Inviting tenders, Sales letters, claim & adjustment letters and
social correspondence.

Module 4
Group Communication: Forms, Body language in group communication, Group Discussions, Meetings, Conferences. Other Business
Communication: Define Memorandum, Essentials of a memorandum, Drafting Inter -office Memo, Notices, Agenda, Minutes, E-mails

Module 5
Communication for Effective Negotiations: Stages in Negotiation, Negotiation Strategies, Communication for Conflict Management:
Managing the Process of Communication in Conflict; Verbal Skills for Communicating in Conflict. Communication for Employment: CV
Guidelines, Application Letter. Social media: Nature and Types, Choosing the Right Social Medium.

Recommended Books
1. Mohan,Krishna & Banerji, Meera (2009) Developing Communication Skills,2e , Macmillan India Ltd.
2. Raman, Meenakshi & Sharma, Sangeeta(2011) Technical Communication: Principles and Practice, 2e, Oxford University Press.
3. Chaturvedi,P.D & Chaturvedi, M (2017) The Art and Science of Business Communication, 4e,Pearson.
4. Kumar,Sanjay & Pushplata (2000) Communication Skills, Oxford University Press.
5. Beebe, T. and Mottet, X. (2014) Business and Professional Communication: Principles and Skills for Leadership. New York, NY:
Pearson.
6. Bovée, Courtland & Thill John, (2010). Business Communication Essentials. A Skills-Based Approach to Vital Business English. Pearson
Education.
7. Kaul, Asha (2009) Business Communication,2e, Pearson /Prentice Hall of India Pvt Ltd.

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Group Decision Making

Group : Aggregate of two or more persons but not a too large gathering
Group personality
Spirit of conformity
Respect for group values
Resistance for change
Group prejudice
Collective power
Advantages
Very high information availability*
Alternative solutions explored
Democratic solutions
Latent talent brought out
Cordial work relations*

* Depends to a large extent on the individuals making up a group

Group Decision Making

Disadvantages
Time consuming
Responsibility fixing difficult
Domination of a few articulate members
Improper time management
Expensive for organisations

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Groups & Teams– Phases in Development

Meetings

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Meetings

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Dimensions of Meetings
The examples illustrate two of the main dimensions along which
meetings can vary:
• the use of formal rules and regulations;
• the degree of structure in the meeting (how clearly it is
organized in terms of theitems to be discussed and the order
in which they are discussed).

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WHAT MAKES MEETINGS EFFECTIVE?

• Meeting Masters Research Project (Tropman, 1996) aimed to
identify individuals who ran excellent meetings and to decide
how they did it. The research suggested that ‘Meeting
Masters’ always followed seven main principles, as follows.
The orchestra principle
• The orchestra principle emphasizes the high degree of co-
operation necessary to complete the task, as you need with
the performance of a symphony orchestra. The role of chair is
analogous to the role of the conductor: making sure that
everyone delivers their best performance, and making sure
that everything fits together.
The role principle
• The person in the chair should act as a role model to
encourage the other members of the group to contribute
openly and positively.

The three characters principle

• The three characters principle is based upon the notion that you can do
only three things in a meeting:
– announce something;
– decide something;
– discuss something.
Tropman also suggests that each business item can do only one of these three
things.
No new business
• The meeting should cover only items which have been placed on the
agenda and which the members have had some chance to think about.
No more reports
• Members are never asked simply to ‘give a report from their department’,
as this can often lead to individuals concentrating on topics which show
them up in the best light and failing to identify important issues.

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The imperative of proactivity

• Meetings should always include some items which deal with
future plans or problems, so that issues are discussed before
it is too late.
High-quality decisions
• Not only are decisions made, but those decisions show
‘evidence of quality’.

Tropman suggests rules which can help you apply these

principles.

How to Make Meetings Effective?

The question then is how to use these ideas to

make meetings more effective?
This is where Tropman came up with the
- rule of six
- rule of two-thirds
These rules help in holding effective meetings

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Effective Meetings
The rule of six
Tropman suggests that:
• About one-sixth of the items on an agenda should be from
the past. These have not been completed or perhaps have
been deliberately held over from a previous meeting.
• About four-sixths of the items should come from the
present. These are important issues that need to be dealt
with immediately.
• About one-sixth of the items should relate to the future.
These are issues which are likely to be important in the
future and which are worth discussing before they become
urgent.

The rule of two-thirds

• Tropman suggests that all meetings can be divided into three
parts, what he calls ‘the “get-go”, the heavy work, and the
decompression’.
• The middle part of the meeting should contain the important
items for decisions, and this is reflected in Tropman’s
procedure for organizing the agenda.

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Effective Meetings
• One of the most important devices for structuring a meeting
is the agenda. For a two hour meeting it may be like that
below

Meetings - Minutes

Minutes and follow-up

• The minutes of a meeting can be very different in style and
detail: ‘minutes vary from the cursory “bullet” variety to the
long “court reporter” variety’. Effective minutes should
include

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PROCEDURES AND TECHNIQUES TO IMPROVE

MEETINGS

Several techniques have been recommended in order to

improve particular aspects of meetings, including:
• brainstorming, which is designed to produce more
creative ideas;
• structured problem-solving;
• Nominal Group Technique, also designed to help
problem-solving and decision making;
• Delphi technique, to support a group which cannot
physically meet;
• encouraging group innovation;
• clarifying decision-making procedures.

Group Decision Making

• Committee meetings
• Brain-storming sessions( 6 -10 members)
• Free wheeling
• No criticism
• Quality focus
• Delphi technique
• Physical presence of members not required but similar to
brain storming
• Questionnaire response from members used in a cyclic or
iterative fashion – independent responses in the first cycle are
compiled and members given the results, a second cycle
begins after this but based on the first cycle. Cycles repeated.

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Brainstorming
• There are two general principles behind brainstorming: that
problem-solving is best done in stages and that each stage
should obey certain rules.
• The first stage is the generating of ideas. All the ideas
generated during this stage are recorded for later
consideration. Usually a time limit is set for this stage.
• After the time limit is up, each idea is looked at in turn to see
if it is worth pursuing.

NGT
Nominal group technique
Nominal group technique (NGT) tries to organize
the group decision-making to give everyone in
the group equal status.
The presumed advantage is that everyone will feel
able to generate ideas without worrying about
how those ideas will be judged by other members
who might have higher status.
NGT mixes group discussion with independent
generation of ideas and independent judgement.

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NGT
Usually with an external facilitator to work through the process,
the specific steps are as follows:
• The problem is fully explained to the group.
• Individuals work independently to write down ideas and
possible solutions.
• Each individual presents one idea to the group in turn until all
the ideas are recorded (this could be on a flipchart or
whiteboard or using Post-It notes or index cards pinned to the
wall).
• Each idea is discussed, clarified and evaluated by the group.
• Individuals privately rank the ideas.
• The group decision is the idea which achieves the highest
average ranking.

Delphi Technique

The Delphi technique does not involve a face-to-face

meeting.
The main stages are:
• enlisting the group;
• distributing the statement of the problem to the group
members and inviting them to respond;
• compiling the responses;
• sending out the compiled responses for further
comment.
• These last two phases are then repeated until a
consensus is reached.

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Group Decision Making

Define the problem
Find solution or solution sets
Evaluate or test
Choose solution
Plan for action

Group Discussion
• Group dynamics come into play
• Communication cycles
• Leadership abilities are demonstrated
• Interpersonal communication in a formal way
• Modes can be different based on background
of the participants
• Effectiveness of oral communication and
listening skills are gauged

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A Group Exercise
• Form two groups of 12-14 students
• Two students will act as observers
• Each group should prepare and deliver a presentation
on any area of communication ( speaking, writing skills,
group communication skills etc) ( 15 min prep + 5 min x
2 delivery )
• The delivery of the presentation can be with or without
the help of PowerPoint.
• The other group will then analyse and present their
evaluation ( 10 min x 2 )
• Observers will evaluate the groups while they are doing
the exercise amd present their findings ( 5 min x 2)
• For TMC student)

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