Week 1
THE NATURE OF BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
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T
To understand the complexity of ‘business’ in today’s world
To appreciate the role of persuasion in business communication
To be aware of the key guiding principles of business communication
HAT IS BUSINESS COMMUNICATION?
The most obvious answer, of course, is to say that it is communication in business contexts.
However, if we think through this answer more critically, we realize that there are many things
we need to understand first before we get a fairly sophisticated understanding of business
communication.
First of all, you may have noticed that we used the word ‘contexts’. It is plural, not singular. If
business communication occurs across different contexts, then it follows that the demands for
effective communication may vary from one context to another. Therefore, it is important to
know that ‘context’ influences the shape of business communication.
he meaning of “business” is not simple
So, what then do we mean by ‘business’? The
It is simplistic to think of business simply
easiest answer is: it is about making money.
as all about gaining profit. Business
However, this is a simplistic way of looking at
communication, thus, must account for
the meaning of ‘business’. In recent years
the complex ways people and institutions
especially, because of increasing attention to
deal with money nowadays.
the environment, technology, and
socioeconomic problems, people have dealt
with money in rather complex (and yes,
different) ways. Some people use money to
find cure for cancer patients, to save some trees or to prevent human trafficking around the
world. In their quest or effort to achieve those goals, they may not talk about money at all as
they ask you for your time, your power or your energy to be used to convince people to take
part in social development projects.
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The lines become blurred when organizations of different types work together for common
causes. The Save the Children organization, for example, a worldwide organization dedicated to
providing basic services to children in poor countries such as education and healthcare, works
very closely with huge corporations such as Mastercard. So while business may indeed be
primarily about money, or exchange of money to be precise, there is more to business than
simply people and companies raking them in. For example, Amadou
Diallo, CEO of DHL Global Forwarding South, Asia Pacific, notes that
any global business has the responsibility to serve the communities
within which it operates:
Corporate social responsibility is very much a part of today’s
business agenda, but the significance of the act needs
reinforcement. As part of the global business community, we
should aim to create an agenda for change based on
sustainable development, and be a trusted and respected
partner within the communities we operate in to win our
stakeholders’ trust. 1
Clearly, business communication is needed to help companies “create an agenda for change”,
“be a respected partner”, or “win…stakeholders’ trust”.
What then do we make out of “business” contexts? Let us consider the following
communicative events to find out more about business communication:
 A multinational company explains to its employees in the Philippines why retrenchment
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is the solution to negative sales.
A female company Vice-President for Sales makes a PowerPoint presentation in Korea
for a media technology innovation.
A tourist in Singapore calls on the manager of a local bank to complain about bad
service rendered by an employee.
A pilots’ union in an airplane company demands a salary increase in exchange for its
members to go back to work.
A European clothing brand describes its partnership with an environmental watchdog
through a print advertisement.
1
(Diallo, A., 2010)
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Indeed, it looks like the business contexts above have varying objectives: to explain, make a
sales pitch, complain, demand, and advertise. There are also other considerations: the
explanation happens in the context of decreasing sales, the female executive makes the sales
pitch in Korea, the complaint is done by a tourist in a local Singapore bank, and so on.
However, if we look deeper into the contexts, we find out that they share one similarity: all of
them hope to convince their readers and listeners to accept their information, ideas and/or
arguments. The role of persuasion may be more clear or obvious in some contexts than others,
but persuasion is the ultimate goal of all.
B
usiness is about persuading people
For example, it is obvious that the main objective of the female sales executive above is to
convince her audience of the desirability of the innovation and, perhaps, to get them to
purchase it. However, persuasion may not be as obvious with the clothing company advertising
its decision to tie up with an environmental organization for a series of environmental projects.
Nevertheless, ultimately there is persuasion in the advertisement: to improve its international
profile, it aims to convince readers that the clothing company is going green. The
advertisement, therefore, must be truthful and believable. Even the environmental partner
must be trustworthy, or else people will readily cast doubt on the partnership.
What about the tourist in Singapore making a complaint? Here, the tourist must be persuasive
as well; the complaint must be well-reasoned or sensible so that it does not come across as
being plain grousing. To the question then about what we may mean by “business” in business
contexts, it may be that it is not simply about money, but about the work of persuasion in these
contexts.
Business may have many contexts, but in most of these the aim is to use persuasion, although
what persuasion means and what it entails depend on where it is used.
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C
ommunication in business contexts is essentially persuasive
Thus, if business communication is communication in
business contexts, then we are talking here of
Persuasion is at the heart of
communication which is essentially purposive and/or
business communication.
persuasive. To put it in another way, persuasion is at
the heart of business communication. Although there
are cases where persuasion may not be obvious (e.g., information giving, clarifying an
information) in ES2002, you will learn thus learn about the persuasive nature of business
communication. Report writing, letter writing, formal oral presentations, networking, giving
feedback: in all these, the main objective is to find out how to communicate persuasively.
C
ommunication that is persuasive must be effective too
However, we must strive to be effectively persuasive. Indeed, the goal of business
communication is essentially persuasive, but we must make sure that it is effective. We can
think of ‘persuasive’ and ‘effective’ as two sides of the same coin. To sell a product, for
example, we must use strategies that we think are effective in convincing the customer to buy
the product. But only when the customer buys it can we say that we have been truly effective.
In other words, to make sure that persuasion becomes effective, the role of the audience (e.g.,
the customer, the ones in the receiving
end of communication) is very important.
Business communication that is persuasive
Thus, business communication that is
is a careful attempt at understanding how
persuasive is a careful attempt at
best we can deliver our message so that
understanding how best we can deliver
people will respond to it -- or act on it -our message so that people will respond
to it -- or act on it -- positively.
positively.
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L
OOKING FORWARD IN THE SEMESTER
With the points above, ES2002 will thus be guided by the
following principles:
1. Business communication is essentially persuasive
communication. To be persuasive in the business
contexts, the message must be delivered effectively
through an audience-centred approach. This can be
accomplished by making sure that the following
communicative principles are adhered to:
CONTENT
What is the message you want to deliver to your specific audience?
o Message and/or purpose of communication is clear.
o Content is relevant.
o Information is correct and complete.
DELIVERY OF CONTENT
How will you deliver your content to your specific audience?
o
o
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Organization is clear and appropriate
Language use is clear, concise and correct
Style and tone are appropriate
Packaging (e.g., formatting, use of non-verbal communication) is purposive and
appropriate
2. Audience-centred critical thinking, intercultural and interpersonal, and listening skills are
helpful skills in accomplishing persuasive business communication.
Critical thinking skills
o Discriminating between relevant and irrelevant information
o Organizing information
o Ask probing questions about ideas, arguments and information
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Intercultural and interpersonal communication skills
o Appreciating cultural differences
o Deploying different types of interpersonal skills across cultures
o Recognizing and avoiding stereotypes in communication exchanges
Listening skills
o Listening genuinely to other people’s concerns and argument
o Identifying and clarifying a person’s main point or argument in a conversation or
discussion
The specific contexts of learning persuasive business communication in the course are the
following:
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Reports (with executive summary)
Letter writing
Mini-lectures
Oral presentations
Feedback sessions
Networking with people
SUMMARY OF FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES
Effective audience-centred message through clear and appropriate content and delivery will
be the main teaching and learning points in ES2002. Critical thinking skills, intercultural and
interpersonal skills, and listening skills are helpful skills in the effective delivery of message.
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TUTORIAL EXERCISES
ACTIVITY 1
Read the commentary on the right by
Daphne A. Jameson of Cornell
University on the recent global
economic crisis spurred by the collapse
of two major investment banks, Bear
Stearns and Lehman Brothers, which in
turn led to more economic problems
around the world. The words she uses
should be familiar to you now after you
have read the introductory notes
above. These are words and phrases
you should learn in the course because
they refer to basic and important
practices in business communication.
The ____________ of Business Communication
[I]n many ways the current situation does seem to
be a series of communication failures. Managers
who had inside information about the problems
failed to persuade others to take appropriate
action. Executives failed to convey the bad news to
shareholders and boards but instead reconfigured it
as good news. Corporate directors and government
regulators failed to listen carefully to alternative or
minority viewpoints (Labaton, 2008). Investors
failed to ask probing questions rather than
However, she reminds us of the bigger
accepting at face value what they were told.
issue we need to know when we learn
Bankers, realtors, and brokers failed to explain
and apply these concepts. In your
information clearly and fairly, especially technical
group, discuss the commentary and
find out what the bigger issue us.
or legal information being communicated to
nonexpert audiences. Consumers failed to read
 What does it say about the role of
contracts and mortgage documents carefully and
business communication in today’s
to question passages that were not clear. No one,
world?
it seemed, could imagine the worst-case scenario.
 If business communication is
essentially persuasive
All these actions are forms of communication: to
communication, what does the
persuade, convey, reconfigure, listen, ask, explain,
commentary remind us of when we
read, question, and imagine. The people involved
persuade people?
either couldn’t or wouldn’t communicate what was
 Complete the title of the
necessary. In sum, although the financial
commentary.
instruments and economic models were complex
and some people acted unethically or illegally, the
most widespread underlying factors that led to the
current crisis were communication failures at every
level of business organizations, the government
institutions that support them, and the publics they
are supposed to serve (Jameson, 2009, p.499).
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ACTIVITY 2
Read the following letter 2 by S Ramadorai, former CEO and Managing
Director of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), one of the world’s leading IT
services consultancy firms with more than 130,000 global workforce and
a turnover of around $6 billion. Our interest in the letter should revolve
around how he packages his accomplishments at TCS which, in turn,
reveals his perspective of what a global business company should be
about. The prompts on the right will help you and your groupmates pick
up some of these business values and relate them to our discussion of
the nature of business communication above.
Dear TCSers,
I write this on the eve of my retirement as CEO and MD of this
wonderful institution we call TCS. I cannot help but look back with
a tremendous sense of fulfillment and pride, upon the long,
eventful and exciting journey of the past 37 years. Inspite of the
belief in ourselves, we could never have imagined that the TCS of
the 1970's that struggled to create credibility for itself in the
market, would experience such exponential growth and achieve
global leadership of being amongst the top 10 IT services
companies of the world. This same belief tells me that the best is
yet to come.
The hard work and sheer brilliance of all of you TCSers, has
powered this success and it humbles me to think of the collective
intellectual capital that we have built over the years. In the days
when we were only setting up the business, the only thing we had
going for us was our 'can do' attitude; we worked hard at earning
the trust of our customers and delivering more than what was our
'can do' attitude; we worked hard at earning the trust of our
customers and delivering more than what was expected. This has
been the hallmark of the TCS way of doing things. This is the DNA
that has passed on and I am happy to see it alive even today. I
truly believe that this customer centric way of thinking is what will
keep us fired up, keep us innovating and keep us ahead of the
pack. It has been the beacon that guided us for the last 40 years
and so it will, for the next forty and beyond.
2
Mr Ramadorai begins his
letter with the personal
pronoun “I”. What do you
think does this accomplish?
Mr Ramadorai shifts to “we”
in this sentence. What is the
advantage of using “we” here
over “I”?
What is the tone of this last
sentence?
This time the letter shifts to
“you”. Why do you think is
this strategic?
What do you understand by
the “can do” attitude?
Why the use of “DNA” here?
What does the author try to
highlight?
How does a customer centric
way of thinking encourage
innovation?
Used with permission from the office of S Ramadorai.
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Another value that has been fostered within TCS is its nonhierarchical and open culture, where people and ideas have
complete freedom to interact. This is a vital prerequisite for the
collaboration and innovation that we seek, now and for the future.
A work environment that helps bring out the best in people and
promotes their professional growth is something that must be
nurtured. My advice to young TCSers is that there is a great deal
of merit in rolling up your sleeves and getting your hands dirty.
Learning and leading by doing, builds the capacity to shoulder
responsibility and helps to build up a huge vocabulary, upon which
you can draw as you grow in your career.
A non-hierarchical culture is
viewed positively here. What
does this say about the
impact of hierarchy on
business communication?
TCS’ story is one that includes tremendous growth and expansion,
but growth with profitability, aggressive global targets with a
fundamental respect for our ethical governance model. The
technological strength we enjoy today has been achieved because
we have fiercely worked towards innovating, collaborating and
creating a knowledge base. A leadership lesson I learnt and have
applied to those around me is that when you empower, enable
and energize those around, you enrich their lives and help them
achieve their potential. A manifestation of this philosophy is
visible in the promising next generation of leaders at TCS who are
confidently charting the course ahead. Led ably by Chandra it
gives a great sense of satisfaction to see TCS in good and safe
hands.
Key adjectives used in the
paragraph are
“tremendous”, “aggressive”,
“ethical” and “fierce”. What
work values are portrayed by
these words?
Another greatly energizing aspect of my tenure has been the way
our business objectives were always finely tempered with a
societal agenda – one that moved away from tokenism, and
writing out contribution cheques alone, to one that involved the
minds and souls of our TCSers. The TCS Maitree movement 3
What does “rolling up your
sleeves and getting your
hands dirty” connote? Why
do you think is there a need
to mention it here?
“Chandra” is Natarajan
Chandrasekaran, the new
CEO of TCS. What if the
author used “Mr
Chandrasekaran” instead of
“Chandra”? Would it have
mattered at all?
What is the problem with
“writing out contribution
cheques”?
3
Here is a description of Maitree from the company website: “Our approach to social initiatives entails being proactively involved and working at the root level. Some of the projects we have undertaken include working with the
differently-abled, aiding under-privileged children across various schools in Mumbai, and helping rural community in
Vazapur, among others. Many programs initiated by Maitree, like employment opportunities for the differently-abled,
HIV/AIDS sensitization, peer education, Green Audits to check the excess consumption of energy resources have now been
accepted as best practices by the organization” (TCS Maitree).
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serves as a great vehicle in this regard, and a reminder of our
Group’s fundamental belief that profits are meaningful when
accompanied by the wellbeing of the communities in which we
operate, and the development of society at large. This is the glue
that binds us all and I hope that this feeling of pride in TCS may
always fuel your efforts and may the responsibility that
accompanies it, humble you always.
I must confess that I feel the same sense of excitement today about
technology as when I joined this organization. IT will continue to
change the world and all of you and TCS will be playing a part. So
while I will step away from my executive role soon, and a chapter
will end in my life’s journey, another chapter will open up. I would
continue to remain associated with TCS as its Vice-Chairman, and
as a non-executive Member of the Board. And equally importantly
for me, serve as a brand ambassador for this great company, and as
a mentor and coach to the next generation of leadership at TCS.
As we go about our jobs, our families make big sacrifices, without
them we would not be able to give our best to our professions. As I
acknowledge the wonderful support of my own family, I do hope
that you too will find ways to show your own appreciation to your
loved ones.
May God bless you and TCS,
With my warmest wishes,
S Ramadorai
Here Mr Ramadorai is
making a stand on what
kind of profits is desirable.
What do you understand
by this position?
What is a brand
ambassador and how does
communication figure in
this role?
How does Mr. Ramadorai
end his letter? What feeling
or attitude is conveyed by
the last paragraph?
Interestingly, the author
signs off as “S Ramadorai”,
not as “Ram” by which he
is also called. Does this
conflict with his constant
use of “I” and “you” in the
letter?
Bibliography
Diallo, A. (2010, May 15-16). Building sustainable communities. The Business Times Weekend , p. 15.
Jameson, D. (2009). Economic crises and financial disasters: The Role of Business Communication.
Journal of Business Communication , 46 (4), 499-509.
TCS Maitree. (n.d.). Retrieved July 3, 2010, from TCS:
http://www.careers.tcs.com/CareersDesign/Jsps/WorkingatTCSMaitree.jsp
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