9. Business Communication

Within companies, communication falls into 2 main areas. There is the communication of information and technical knowledge.

Here, paper-based communication replaced with internal websites only accessible by employees. Some very companies have knowledge officers to export the information in a company.

The internal company magazine is the classical communication channel. It may be produced in-house by a communication department or out-of-house by journalists. It may try to demonstrate how the company’s business goes.

Advertising has been the most visible form of communication with customers. Usually this is designed to increase product sales, but there is also institutional advertising, designed to improve perceptions of the company as a whole. Another way to communicate with customers is a customer service center. They are designed to gather information, not just complaints.

Equally, a company must communicate with its investors and investors relations are becoming an important specialized area of PR. Investors want to know how their money is used.

Then there are also press conferences to announce important event, press releases.

Whatever company does it has an image that is why the communication industry is a multibillion-dollar business.

Sociologist’s research showed that businesses of less than 200 individuals can operate through the free flow of information among the members. If its size is bigger, some kind of hierarchical structure is needed to prevent total chaos resulting from failures of communication.

Solution to this problem is to structure large organizations into smaller units. By allowing these groups to build alliances with each other, larger organization is direct personal relationships.

TV producer told a story that the production unit for which she worked, operated successfully until they were moved into purpose-built accommodation. Then, everything started to fall apart. The reason of it was surprise- architects which were designing new building, decided that the coffee-room is unnecessary. With that, they destroyed social network, because people usually discussed their problems and exchange their experience and knowledge during lunch time.

Informal communication over lunch and around the photocopier can be rather effective for emerging of the new ideas and solving problems.

Corporate parties – make the atmosphere better. Communication between ordinary workers and managers– long and short power distances, between CEO and the staff (giving information about overall strategy or lack of involvement). Some companies need to improve communication system to show that they value the staff and to strengthen their sense of common purpose within the organization globally.

10. Teambuilding

In constructing teams, it’s important not just to get talented people, but the right combination of talents. In the famous phrase, ‘it’s important to have a great team of minds, rather than a team of great minds’. Meredith Belbin sees these types as necessary in teams:

• The Implementer, who converts the team’s plan into something achievable

• The Co-ordinator, who sets agendas, defines team-members’ roles and keeps the objectives in view

• The Shaper, who defines issues, shapes ideas and leads the action

• The Plant, who provides the original ideas and finds new approaches when the team is stuck

• The Resource Investigator, who communicates with the outside world and finds new ways to get things done

• The Monitor Evaluator, who evaluates information objectively and draws accurate conclusions from it

• The Completer Finisher, who gets the deadlines right

The idea of roles and competencies in a team is important. People are brought together for a particular project and then disbanded. Here, in addition to Belbin’s types above, the role of the selector\facilitator is crucial.

Good teamworking is very important for effective work. Poor teamwoking is the culprit when meetings regularly overrun, when there are arguments between team members.

There are some stages of team life:

1. Forming. The group feels dependent on a leader. The group is going to discover how supportive, how critical, how serious and how humorous it will be.

2. Storming. There may be conflicts and even sense that task is impossible

3. Norming. At this stage members of group feel closer together, they will start to support each other.

4. Performing. The group is carrying on the task and members feel safe enough to express differences of opinion in relation to others

5. Mourning. The group is disbanded and everybody feels nostalgic about its activities and achievements