Business and communications
Business and communicationsBusiness and Communications
When someone mentions the word communication, one�s thoughts turn to a newspaper, the radio, television, or another more common means of mass-type communication. One does not usually make the connection between communication and other institutions such as business. Good business, however, goes hand in hand with good communication. Good managers and professionals realize that the ability to communicate is not a silly frill; it�s a necessity that helps all accomplish their work (Murphy 2).
Therefore the question is often posed: Are these problems of poor communications that face managers and professionals becoming more and more critical? The evidence suggests the answer to be yes- these problems are serious and are growing more and more serious everyday. John O. Morris, a Management Communications Consultant consolidates this problem into a single statement called the Morris Maxim. It states that �Communications problems grow much faster in any organization than the organization itself grows� (Morris 3). This maxim emphasizes the need for better communication in organizations such as big business through the implication of what would happen if that organization did not fix it�s structure to better handle increasing communication needs. However, before dealing with a solution to the problem of communication in business, (frequently dubbed business speak) it is important to understand how big business operates.
Big business was created in the mid-1800�s to organize corporations such as the railroad, oil and steel industries. At that time, the only other organizations that had a similar size and structure were the Roman Catholic Church and the United States Army. These organizations are extremely authoritative in nature, and use a system of hierarchical communication. This translates into a business organization/communication style which is basically condescending in nature and is based primarily on status . Business speak is often straight, to the point, and beneficial to the individual speaking first, and to others second. This shows its hierarchical origins in that very often, the speaker is one who will use one or more power strategies, mostly the perception that someone can inflict negative consequences. Other issues in business communications include lack of responsibility in the upper ranks of the hierarchy, lack of training in good communications for the majority of employees, and lack of honest, direct conversation between business and it�s customers. These problems need to be fixed for a business to truly succeed, and can be fixed if managers and high-ranking officials take the initiative and implement a few simple and straightforward techniques into their business styles.
Current problems facing business communications deal mainly with the apparent lack of functional inter-level communication. That is, communication employees as well as customers can understand. One of the main reasons behind this lack of understandable communication is that there are some many ways to avoid good communication and maintain the status quo for the short term. These mostly pertain to issues brought to a company from outside sources. These include letters of complaint, inquiries from government bodies such as the...
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