Business communication: concept, types and features

What is business communication? Ethics and features Types and forms Basics of business communication Styles and strategies Conclusion

Business communication is one of the foundations of running a competent business, interacting not only with employees within the company, but also outside it. It is a form of communication between people solving a common professional problem to achieve a set goal. Communication between business people requires compliance with certain norms and rules.

The concept of business communication is significantly different from the concept of everyday communication. There is no place here for demonstrating one’s “I”, for displaying behavior. You should learn how to communicate professionally. It is necessary to understand that personal qualities, although they are also taken into account, become unimportant. The desires, goals, and aspirations of the opponent come to the fore, which one should strive to combine with one’s own, and, ultimately, ensure that the joint activity has a result that satisfies both parties.

Functions of business communication

Information and communication

It consists of an exchange of information, the success of which depends on the degree of concentration of attention, the interest of the parties, the elaboration of the topic, and its value for opponents.

Interactive

It involves planning the sequence of actions of communicating business people. Helps to evaluate the actions of opponents, which allows you to adjust and control your own behavior.

Perceptual

It lies in the perception of one opponent by another. Gives you the opportunity to analyze the information received, compare it with your ideas and knowledge, and also contributes to personal development.

What it is?

Business communication is interaction in the sphere of official relations, the purpose of which is to solve specific problems, achieve certain results, and optimize any activity. Moreover, each participant has his own status - boss, subordinate, colleagues, partners.

If communication occurs between people at different levels of the career ladder (manager and executive), then there is a vertical relationship, that is, a subordinate relationship. If interaction is conducted on the principles of equal cooperation, then this is a horizontal relationship.

It is business communications that a person carries out every day at work, at university, in schools, and in official institutions. This is the name for communication between teachers and students, bosses and subordinates, colleagues, partners and competitors.

Whether the interlocutor is familiar with the rules, forms and methods of such communications determines whether he will be able to achieve his goal. Partners must speak the same language (both literally and figuratively), understand each other, and have common social experience.

Terms of business communication

For business communication to be effective, a number of conditions must be met:

Communication must have a clear goal, in achieving which all persons involved in the process are interested. For example, networking, concluding an agreement, coordinating an event, developing terms of cooperation, etc.
Participants should contact each other regardless of likes and dislikes.
Observance of business etiquette, chain of command, job roles, and formal restrictions is mandatory.

Formal restrictions mean both various regulations, routines and protocols, as well as the banal need to control the strength of one’s own emotions and respect the interlocutor.

Also, the manager or other most interested participant must ensure that business communication is manageable. Participants need to be motivated to find a solution, otherwise they will simply be passive observers of the meeting who do not offer any ideas.

Organization of business communications

When organizing business communication, certain rules apply. They concern preparation taking into account different outcomes, both positive and negative. You need to plan your time, create an appropriate environment, prepare your emotional state, and get acquainted with information about your partner.

The place of communication should not distract or interfere with communication. If necessary, you need to provide equipment - prepare auxiliary materials, some necessary documents, etc. When choosing a strategy, tactics, you should determine the direction, understand what can be sacrificed during communication. The process of direct communication must begin with establishing contact in order to create a favorable atmosphere. The process of information exchange is important. You need to be able to ask questions, listen to your opponent, observe his behavior, and correctly analyze the interlocutor’s reactions.

Forms of business communication

The two main forms of communication are contact (direct) communication and indirect (mediated).

In the first case, the interlocutors communicate face to face and have the opportunity to evaluate each other’s non-verbal behavior, so the effectiveness of such contact is higher. In the second case, interaction occurs using any means of communication - telephone, letters, etc.

More specifically, the most common forms of business communication are:

Meeting.
Presentation.
Business conversation.
Negotiation.
Telephone conversations.
Exchange of official business documents (application, agreement, power of attorney, memo).
Consultation.
Interview.
Public speaking, conferences.

In turn, using certain forms of business communication, participants can take a confrontational or partnership approach. The first option is a confrontation: each side intends to win. The partnership approach involves finding a solution that will be acceptable to all participants.

Forms and purposes of business communication, its functions

There are several forms of business communication. The main ones are:

Conversation;
Negotiation;
Discussion;
Meeting;
Meeting;
Correspondence;
Performance.

Each of the listed forms has its own characteristics. However, the general rules of business communication are observed in all cases. For example, respect for opponents is present in every form. Another example would be the rule of punctuality. It is unacceptable to be late for the same negotiations.

If we talk about the purpose of business communication, it is defined as the impact on others. Such influence is expressed in the desire to persuade opponents to take some actions, actions, change their opinions, and achieve from them what they want within the business framework. An additional goal can be called the desire to learn more information about the interlocutor in order to use it in further communication to achieve the main goal. At the same time, the rules are followed, for example, the conversation is conducted in a polite manner, since in the communication of business people an impolite attitude towards an opponent is unacceptable.

Functions of business communication:

Information and communication – associated with the accumulation, formation, as well as transmission and reception of information;
Regulatory-communicative – involving the correction of behavior, the choice of methods of influencing the opponent;
Effective communication – expressed in the formation of the emotional shell of the interlocutors.

Stages

Despite the fact that types of business communications vary, they are almost always characterized by several stages:

Preparation. This is setting tasks, goals, collecting and analyzing information, determining behavior strategies. After all, a business meeting or negotiation is not organized in order to chat “about nothing” and find out how things are going in the personal lives of the interlocutors.
Planning. The meeting can be held spontaneously, but it is still believed that a professional must have a clear plan: what he will say, how to argue, what exactly he wants to get from the other party.
Discussion – discussing ideas, proposals, finding common points of interest, making a joint decision.

This scheme is most relevant for negotiations. Other types of communications may not include all stages. A cold call or issuing instructions, for example, may not involve any discussion.

Business communication styles

There are not only types of business communications, but also styles. When it comes to professional interactions, the most commonly used are:

Official business. In turn, it has administrative-clerical, legislative and diplomatic substyles. A business conversation is characterized by speech clichés and certain communicative forms.
Scientific. Used in preparing reports, speeches at seminars and lectures.
Journalistic. This includes any public speaking, including through the media.
Colloquial and everyday. Informal relationships also take place in a professional environment, and in some companies they are even encouraged. Colleagues do not always communicate exclusively through memos. However, it is necessary to understand where such a style is appropriate and where it is not.

Business ethics

Ethics in business communication is one of the most important components of successful cooperation between partners.

What is ethics? In general, its concept includes a set of norms that regulate human behavior in society. The word itself denotes the manner in which one should behave when communicating with other people. Business ethics implies almost the same thing, only it concerns exclusively managers and businessmen. It represents the rules that must be followed during business negotiations.

The head of a company cannot always conduct a conversation flawlessly. But every mistake made can lead to failure. To prevent this from happening, you should be able to admit your mistake and take steps to prevent it in the future.

When greeting, you must politely say hello by shaking hands with all participants in the negotiations. Don't squeeze your hand too hard.
Before starting a conversation, you should offer your partners coffee or tea. This tradition appeared not so long ago, but nowadays almost everyone uses it. Drinks are offered to make a person feel relaxed and have a more positive attitude.
If an unpleasant mistake was made during the negotiations, you must apologize to your partners for the inconvenience caused. After this, you can continue the conversation.
When discussing business issues with your partner, try to answer all his questions. If for some reason you cannot answer right now. Apologize and ask for time to think about it before a specific date.
Have a pen and notepad with you and write down all important information. At the end of the negotiations, you should not go back and ask again for information that you have already been given.
Don't raise your voice, speak clearly and clearly.
When dressing, adhere to a business casual style.

Ethics in business communication also involves following certain steps in business communication.

Features of business communication

Why does business communication require preliminary preparation for communication in advance? Firstly, people spend personal and work time on official meetings for a reason, and no one wants to wait for the initiator to collect his thoughts. Secondly, the other party is not always interested in any interaction or is committed to cooperation, but sees it completely differently.

As you know, there will be no second chance for a first impression. It is necessary to be able to establish contact so that all participants are in the mood for discussion. If the other party did not initially plan to work together, then you should at least interest the interlocutor and arrange a meeting with him at a more convenient time.

At the international level, business communication has its own peculiarities, because different cultural characteristics can greatly interfere with the progress of negotiations. For example, Americans are accustomed to arriving at a meeting on time and after a short greeting getting down to business. Arabs are also punctual, but business conversations begin from afar, first discussing nature, weather, food. The Italian does not see anything terrible in being late for a meeting and also does not immediately begin a business discussion. And the Japanese will avoid direct gaze during a conversation.

Thus, we learned what business communication is, what its features are, what forms, types and styles are characteristic of it.

What are the principles of such communication?

To conduct successful negotiations, it is necessary to create a certain atmosphere. To achieve this, it is important that partners feel as comfortable as possible during the communication process. Therefore, it is necessary to know what the basic principles of business communication are that should be followed.

These include:

Control over emotions. The concept of principles of business communication must necessarily include this point. This is a very important point, since emotions can destroy even long-established relationships in a second and show a person from the negative side. You should not react if the interlocutor behaved unrestrainedly. Everyone should clearly understand that work and emotions are incompatible things.
The desire to understand the opponent. When business negotiations are conducted, the parties must be attentive to each other's opinions. If one participant constantly talks only about his own interests, without listening carefully to the other side, this will not produce any positive results, and the relationship will most likely fizzle out.
Concentration of attention. Very often, during the monotonous process of communication, truly important points can slip away. During the conversation, it is important to be able to focus people’s attention on the topic when it is observed that partners have stopped listening carefully and delving into really important things.
The truthfulness of the conversation. Running a successful business is based on trusting relationships. Let your opponents leave something unsaid or deliberately be a little disingenuous in order to exalt their own merits. But in fundamental moments it is necessary to say things that correspond to reality, which you can back up with action. This is how reputation in business is earned.
The ability to separate the interlocutor from the subject of communication. In no case should you mix your personal attitude towards your interlocutor and work issues. This also differentiates personal communication from business communication. It often happens that a very unpleasant opponent can be useful to you and it is not worth missing out on the benefits for the success of your business. Naturally, we are talking about things that do not violate the basic moral principles of a person. And on the contrary, it happens that very good people in your life who impress you turn out to be insolvent in business terms.

These are the basic principles of business communication that every person who wants to learn how to negotiate correctly and build a good business reputation should take into account.