Understanding

Communication
from Technical
Perspective

TECHNICAL AND BUSINESS WRITING

LECTURE 1
Communication Model
Importance of
Communication Increased chances of employment
in Career

Managerial and administrative role

Operating a business or freelancing

Utilizing minimum time for maximum

benefits
Importance of Communication in a Company
• Building trust and credibility
• Building connections with relevant people
• Opportunities to influence conversations, perceptions, and trends
• Increased productivity and faster problem solving
• Better financial results and higher return for investors
• Stronger decision making based on timely, reliable information
• Clearer and more persuasive marketing messages
• Greater employee engagement with their work, leading to higher employee satisfaction and lower
employee turnover
Effective
Communication
in Today’s
Workplace
PROVIDE PRACTICAL GIVE FACTS RATHER PROVIDE INFORMATION
INFORMATION THAN VAGUE IN CONCISE AND
IMPRESSIONS EFFICIENT MANNER

CLARIFY OFFER COMPELLING,

EXPECTATIONS AND PERSUASIVE
RESPONSIBILITIES ARGUMENTS AND
RECOMMENDATION
Communicating
as a
Professional
Communicating
as a
Professional
Communicating
as a
Professional
Communicating
as a
Professional
Communicating
as a
Professional
Communicating
as a
Professional
Communicating
as a
Professional
Communicating
as a
Professional
Employer’s Expectations from You
Expressing ideas and
Organizing ideas and
Digital information information coherently, Actively listening to
information logically and
fluency persuasively, and others
completely
concisely

Using communication
Audience awareness technologies effectively
and efficiently
Following accepted
Respect for
standards of grammar,
contemporary
spelling, and other
expectations of business
aspects of high-quality
etiquette
writing and speaking

Managing your time

Communicating ethically wisely and using Critical thinking
resources efficiently
Communicating
in
Organizational Formal Communication
Context Network

Communication
etiquettes Downward Upward Horizontal
Communication Communication Communication
(awareness of these
networks)
 Noises and distractions
• External noises
• Internal noises

Competing Messages
• One audience bombarded with different messages
simultaneously

Filters
• Intentional
• Unintentional
Barriers in
Communication Channel Breakdown
01 02 03 04 05 06
Avoid Avoid omitting Avoid selective Avoid Avoid distorting Avoid
plagiarism essential misquoting misrepresenting visuals disrespecting
information data privacy or
information
security needs

Ethical Communication
 Examples
• We’re pleased to announce that the numbers
are in, and as we predicted before the research
began, consumers show strong support for the
Pegasus product concept. The results validate
the several months we’ve invested in product
design and should give a green light to fund
the completion of the project.
• The market research for the Pegasus Project
concluded last week with phone interviews of
236 sporting goods buyers in 18 states. As in
the past, we used Bowerman Research to
conduct the interviews, under the guidance of
Bowerman’s survey supervisor, Sadie
McMahon. Ms. McMahon has directed
surveys on more than 200 consumer products,
and we’ve learned to place a great deal of
confidence in her market insights.
CASE STUDY 1
• A professor needing funding for her medical research on the causes and cures for a disease accepted a
large, multi-year grant from a pharmaceutical company. The research tested the efficacy of medicines
currently on the market, including a medicine produced by a pharmaceutical company. The research
results suggested that the pharmaceutical company's medicine did have a positive effect, but the
research also contained some ambiguous data that could be interpreted as demonstrating that the
medicine has a negative side effect on some patients. As a condition of the grant, the professor was
required to submit a preliminary draft of the report to the pharmaceutical company, for review and
feedback. The professor submitted the report as required, and the pharmaceutical company wrote back
to ask whether the professor would consider deleting the ambiguous data, as it may reflect badly on the
pharmaceutical company and it is not strong data, to begin with. The professor has reached the end of
the grant funding, and to continue the research would need to get additional funding, with one obvious
source of funding being the pharmaceutical company.
CASE STUDY 2
• A journalist won the trust of a public employee involved in a corruption scandal in order to
write an article about it. The journalist sympathized with the employee, who provided the
detail the journalist needed to write the article. The journalist and the employee made no
agreement that the journalist would not publish information about the employee, but the
employee thought that the journalist was the employee's friend, something the journalist
encouraged with text communication and friendly meetings. The journalist published the
article, which exposed a large corruption scandal that had been going on for years and which
diverted badly needed public funds. The employee was not named in the article as the source
of the information but was arrested with others involved in the scandal following the
publication of the article. The employee was also publicly criticized on social media and is
unable to find employment.
CASE STUDY 3
• Lawyers have a professional duty to preserve the confidentiality of the information they gain
while representing a client. They are also supposed to act in the best interests of their client. In
one case, a lawyer represented a defendant in a case involving injuries from a car accident. The
claimant was badly hurt but recovering. To determine the extent of the current injury, the
claimant agreed to be examined by a doctor hired by the defendant's lawyer. The doctor
discovered that the claimant had a heart problem, which was almost certainly caused by the
accident, and forwarded this information to the lawyer through a call. Due to network
connectivity issues, the lawyer could not clearly listen to the doctor and concluded for himself,
given his understanding of the case, that the heart condition was not relevant to the case.
CASE STUDY 4
• An undergraduate course required for graduation has a reputation for being extremely hard to
pass, much harder than similar courses. When posting materials to the class website, the
teacher accidentally posts a test with answers indicated at the end. The teacher notices the error
immediately and deletes the test, but before she does so a student downloads the test. The
website does not allow the teacher to see whether the test was downloaded, and because she
deleted the test with the answers so quickly, the teacher later uploaded the same test without
the answers and required students to take the test. The Student Code of Ethics prohibits
students from taking a test when there is reason for them to believe they have confidential
information regarding the answers to a test they are not supposed to have.
CASE STUDY 5
• After discovering that one of her students tweeted foul language about her, a schoolteacher
confronted the teenager during a lesson on social media etiquette. Inquiring why the student
would post such hurtful messages that could harm the teacher's reputation, the student replied
that she was upset at the time. The teacher responded that she was very upset by the student's
actions. The teacher demanded a public apology in front of the class, and the student
apologized.
Resource Material

• Chapter 1 from Business Communication Today (14th edition) by Boveé and Thill