An Introduction to
Professional and Technical
Communication
Steve Wood
TCCC

Communication in the Workplace
How important are communication skills, including writing, in the workplace?
According to a major report prepared by the US Dept. of Labor in 1992, there are five essential areas of competence necessary for success in the workplace.

Going 5/5
All five areas involve communication.

SCANS
Report

Changes Affecting the Workplace
Heightened global competition
Technology and changing political realities mean that businesses often face non-traditional competition (not just the business down the street).
Flattened management hierarchies
Middle management has been downsized or eliminated.
Expanded team-based management
Many businesses have changed their management style.
From McGuffey’s
Business Communication

Changes Affecting the Workplace
New work environments
Technology has also changed the environment in which business is conducted.
Increasingly diverse workforce
Success in the new workplace requires excellent communication skills.
From McGuffey’s
Business Communication

The Communication Process
Basic Model
5.
Feedback travels to sender
1.
Sender has idea
2.
Sender encodes idea in message
3.
Message travels over channel
4.
Receiver decodes message
6.
Possible additional feedback to receiver
From McGuffey’s
Business Communication

Definition of Communication
“For our purposes, communication is the transmission of information and meaning from one individual or group to another.”

The Communication Process
Expanded Model
From McGuffey’s
Business Communication

Additions to the Model
The preceding definition and model do leave out several important points, however.
Communication involves the use of symbols.
Communication happens on a number of channels, not usually on a single one.
Noise is a part of the communication process that must often be overcome.

Communication involves the use of symbols.
The transmission of information and meaning does not take place directly; it takes place via a symbolic medium.
Spoken language, written language, visual aids like pictures or diagrams, gestures, body language, tone of voice
--- all of these can be a symbolic medium to convey meaning.

The Sign
Saussure once defined language as a system of signs.
A sign consists of two parts: 1) the concept or definition and 2) the sound-image (the group of sounds that make up a word).
For example, the sign BOOK is composed of the concept of a book that we have acquired at some point in our lives and the soundimage that contains the three sounds that make up the word “book.”

The Sign
We can communicate with one another because we share a particular system of signs (we speak the same language and understand many of the same cultural references).

Communication happens on a number of channels, not usually on a single one.
When we speak to one another, for example, there is the channel of the words spoken, but there are other channels including the tone of voice, eye contact, and body language.

Noise is a part of the communication process that must often be overcome.
Noise is any obstacle that threatens to obscure the message.
It can be actually physical noise, but it can also be a psychological or physiological issue.
For example, if you are really worried about someone or are very tired, it may make it difficult to listen to a class lecture or communicate effectively with a family member.