Business Communication: process, channels and professional writing
Business Communication is the smaller FBLC section but carries easy marks for precise definitions, process ordering and rewriting tasks.
Core concepts
- Process: sender → encoding → message → channel → receiver → decoding → feedback, with noise at any stage.
- Channels: formal (chain of command, reports, memos) vs informal (grapevine); oral vs written; verbal vs non-verbal. Non-verbal cues include kinesics, proxemics, paralanguage and chronemics.
- 7 Cs: clarity, conciseness, concreteness, correctness, courtesy, completeness, consideration.
- Barriers: semantic (jargon, ambiguity), psychological (prejudice, emotions), organisational (hierarchy, overload), physical (noise, distance).
- Listening: active listening involves receiving, understanding, remembering, evaluating and responding; hearing alone is not listening.
- Business writing: a memo has To/From/Date/Subject; an email needs a specific subject, one topic, clear action and deadline; a report follows introduction, findings, conclusion, recommendations.
- Meetings: notice, agenda, quorum, minutes; minutes are the official record, not a transcript.
Worked example
A manager emails: "Please do the needful ASAP." The team misses the deadline. Reasoning: the message lacks a named owner, a specific action, a date and a measurable outcome, so it fails the 7 Cs - especially clarity, concreteness and completeness. A better version: "Ravi, please send the vendor reconciliation to me by 5 p.m. on 12 June; flag any difference above ₹10,000."
Traps
Communication is not complete without feedback. More communication is not always better - overload and filtering distort messages. Do not treat the grapevine as reliable, and do not confuse downward with upward communication. In letters, match the salutation to the recipient and keep the closing consistent.