Business Communication Questionnaire Essay

Using information from your text book, class discussions and your knowledge and experience, answer the following ten questions (in about 50 – 100 words each). Submit your answers that includes the original question in a word document (not hand written). 1. What are the main challenges facing business communicators today? I feel that main challenges facing business communicators today would be listening. I feel it’s very difficult for managers to adjust this skill. Due to the fact of all the pressures of keeping success in the business, there may not be time to sit and listen to the needs of the employees and the customers. Without taking the time to listen and finding a way to understand others point of view, managerial staff may never understand or be aware of the needs and wants an employee might have, which could cause a few problems in the work area. 2. List five trends in the workplace that affect business communicators? How might they affect you in your career? Email made it faster and easier for people to swap words and data, could also be a bad issue due to increasing amount of spam. Another would be shared work space. Many people like their bubble and don’t want people to be crammed in next to Joe the annoying guy. Dress Code would be another. Sometimes people can offend others but what they wear which could cost you your job. Video conferencing would be a bonus because you could be across the world as an owner and still be able to attend meetings. Listening is a great trend. People need to develop great listening skills to move forward in their career. 3. Name five unprofessional communication techniques that can sabotage a career. Speech habits such as using â€Å"like† all the time, or relying on slang. An email is another, not writing in complete sentences or using misspelled words. Spell check is on everything and everyone should use it. One should also not have an inappropriate email address such as â€Å"hotbabe@gmail.com†. Voice mails would be another technique that a person should be aware of. You don’t want any loud music or annoying people in the back ground of your voice mail. You also should bad mouth another employee. You never know who that person you’re talking to might go run and tell and possibly mix up the story or tell the wrong person. Another would be text messaging many times people can’t tell the tone in which you send a text and it might come across offensive. 4. List five suggestions for enhancing comprehension when you are talking with people for whom English is a second language. Context, individualism, formality, communication style and time oriented. It is important that when talking with people whose main language is not English to be patient with them. It’s not easy for them to understand all the different ways we put our words into context one thing to us might mean another to them. Speak to them as if you were in their country and you only spoke a few words of their language 5. What factors are important in selecting an appropriate channel to deliver a message? Many conversations in business are one on one but it is important to know how to be comfortable with speaking in front of large groups. Also one must be aware of anything that could disrupt a transmission also known as noise. An example would be a PowerPoint slide that doesn’t show up properly, or has misspelled words. Same goes for a telephone call, a lot of business people rely on speaker phone and the other person speaking might not realize they are on it and bad mouth someone. 6. How does profiling the audience help a business communicator prepare a message? By Profiling your audience before you prepare a message you can identify the appropriate tone, language and channel for your audience. It doesn’t matter how long or short your message is you want to make sure you target the audience’s interests. Most of the readers or listeners will be thinking about what’s in it for me so you must target them to keep them interested. 7. Why is conciseness especially important in business? Writing concisely means to eliminate words that aren’t necessary because they don’t add anything to the meaning of a sentence. Long drawn out letters in business wastes readers’ time and energy, this can irritate rather than aid readers in what they are reading and potentially make them look elsewhere. 8. How is business writing different from academic writing? Writing for business and academics are both very important skills to know. They either can bring you up in your career or hold you back. I feel that business writing is a little more difficult because you’re not sure how the reader is going to feel about your product or service. Whereas an academic paper such as a research paper you have all the resources you need and are not trying to sell yourself to a potential customer. 9. Describe the â€Å"You-View† approach. The â€Å"you-view† approach when writing a message is adding in words that emphasize second-person pronouns such as you and your instead of first-person pronouns like I’ve or ours. Having a â€Å"you† gives the receiver a more personal message specifically made for them. It could also give complements and gratitude for their business. 10. Describe the key steps in a writing process. Determine the purpose and select an appropriate channel. You must think your message thoroughly before you begin writing the message. Then you must envision your audience and understand who your audience will make it easier to share the message with. After that you must construct a message that is directed to the audience’s needs and concerns, make it about what they want to hear and gain knowledge from. Organize your message would be the next step making sure that your message is concise and well written. Construct a first draft by writing out all your ideas and start with a rough draft. And lastly Revise and proof read to make sure there are no errors and that all your facts are correct.