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©2007 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
2
How
Business
Communicates
©2007 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
21st-Century Business Directions
The explosion of information
available to businesses has
created a maze of data for
professionals to manage.
© Chad Baker/Getty Images
3
21st-Century Business Directions
• Globalization
• The Maze of Information Management
 Management information systems (MIS)
◦
computer network systems that enable users to
access company information
 Management decision support system (MDSS)
◦
helps users make decisions through coordinated
corporate databases that contain important
company and industry facts
 Information overload
◦
when too much information is received at once
4
21st-Century Business Directions
• The Way of Technology
 Intranets
◦
Internal company computer networks that enable
employees to communicate and share information
 World Wide Web (WWW)
◦
service provided on the Internet to allow large and
small companies to conduct business domestically
and internationally
 Wireless hand-held devices
◦
small instruments that offer software features
including spreadsheets, databases, web browsing,
and e-mail
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21st-Century Business Directions
• Change and More Change
• What Is Business Communication?
 Business communication
◦
process of creating structure, relationships, and
meaning through the design and exchange of
business messages
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21st-Century Business Directions
FIGURE 2.1 Typical Organizational Structure
7
21st-Century Business Directions
FIGURE 2.2 Tall Organizational Structure
8
21st-Century Business Directions
FIGURE 2.3 Flat Organizational Structure
9
21st-Century Business Directions
• Types of Business Messages
 Structural messages
◦
relate to company operating policies or procedures
 Relational messages
◦
interpersonal, in that they build rapport between
employees and customers
 Change messages
◦
help the organization adapt and respond to the
environment
10
Communicating Internally
 Internal communication
◦
exchange of messages between employees inside the
organization
• How Do Business Messages Flow?
 Message flow
◦
how communication travels through channels in the
organization
 Structural channel
◦
role, position, or job occupied by an individual in an
organization
• What Is a Communication Network?
 Communication networks
◦
pathways through which messages travel among employees
in an organization
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Communicating Internally
FIGURE 2.4 Channels of Communication
© PhotoDisc/Getty Images
© McGraw-Hill
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Formal Communication Networks
 Formal communication network
◦ official channel or line of communication
•  Downward Communication
◦
movement or path of messages from superiors to
subordinates
 Message filtering and distortion
◦
noise resulting when messages are magnified,
minimized, or altered as they travel through people
 One-way communication
◦
message sender does not expect or encourage a
response from the receiver
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Formal Communication Networks
FIGURE 2.5 Flow of Messages
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Formal Communication Networks
•  Upward Communication
◦
upward flow of messages from subordinates to
higherranking employees
•  Horizontal Communication
◦
lateral exchange of messages between people of
roughly equal authority
 Jargon
◦
specialized words or language specific to a field or
profession
15
Formal Communication Networks
American Golf operates more than 300 public and private golf
courses. Its horizontal communication structure encourages all
employees to share their ideas for improving business.
Royalty-Free/CORBIS
16
Informal Communication Networks
 Informal communication networks
◦ messages that flow in all directions and
through all levels of authority
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Informal Communication Networks
FIGURE 2.6 The Grapevine
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Informal Communication Networks
• Heard It Through the Grapevine
 Grapevine
◦
oral and informal communication network
comprised of various employees
• Grapevine versus Gossip
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Communicating Externally
 External communication
◦
exchange of messages between the organization and
the external environment
 Input
◦
information the organization receives from the
environment
 Throughput
◦
organization’s analysis and evaluation of the input it
receives and the transformation of that input into
outputs
 Output
◦
messages the organization transmits to the
environment in response to received input
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Communicating Externally
FIGURE 2.7 External Communication Process
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Questions
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