Essay: Communication skills in business

Communication is very important in people’s lives. People communicate most of the time. Communication is a process of mutual understanding of two or more people. In general it is a mean of connecting people (Cora, 2006)
Communication skills are some of the most important skills that you need to succeed in the workplace. We talk to people face to face, and we listen when people talk to us. We write emails and reports, and we read the documents that are sent to us. Communication, therefore, is a process that involves at least two people which is a sender and a receiver. For it to be successful, the receiver must understand the message in the way that the sender intended (Dr. Knna Muthiah, 2012). Thus, communication skill is one of the most important skill in business. This essay aims at stating the significant role of writing and listening and analysing what extent of speaking is the most effective tool for business communication.
People often says that “speaking is silver, writing is gold” as stated in David J. Lehner in his article of speaking and writing.
Written communication is a mean of communication in which transfer of information from one party to another is done in a written form. There are many example of written communications such as newsletters, memos, books, articles, circulars, reports, posters or even notices. Writing has four stages familiarisation, controlled writing, guided writing and free writing (Badger & White, 1999). Writing is more formal way of communicating compare with speaking. In today’s business world, writing plays a significant role as most of the business contract are finished by writing (J. Flowerdew, 1993). Writing helps to give records, proves and evidence to the person we are communicating because writing is a permanent means of communication. It is very useful if any proof or evidence is needed in communicating. Since they are permanent, written forms of communication also enable recipients to take more time in reviewing the message and providing appropriate feedback.  Another advantage of writing is that written messages do not have to be delivered exactly on the spot instead, they can be edited and revised several times before they are sent so that the content can be shaped to maximum effect. Because of these fact, written forms of communication are more suitable to more complex business message that need to includes important information and figures. Therefore, good writing skills will improves inter-organisational efficiency, customer satisfaction and improves organisation image (Bonner, William H., & Lillian H. Chaney, 2003)
There are also disadvantages of writing, unlike oral communication people can see face reaction which helps the message sent to be clearer which in written communication the sender could not receive an immediate feedback to his or her message. This may frustrate the sender and may lead to uncertainty in business situation in which immediate response is required. In addition, written communication often take more time to compose. However many organisation realised this situation and offer their employees an online writing course or writing workshop to help them structure their letter or mail efficiently (Murphy, Herta A., & Herbert W. Hildebrandt, 1997).
On the other hand, speaking has been playing an important role is business world. People communicate often to do business. Communication is key in building relationship for business.
The vast majority of executives still feels that speaking is essential for business purpose, according to a 2009 Forbes Insights survey of more than 750 business professionals. Furthermore, a few respondents said they preferred speaking over technology enabled communicating such as emailing. Speaking “build stronger, more meaningful business relationships,” while allowing better social opportunities to bond with clients and coworkers. It is also easier to read body language and facial expressions and interpret nonverbal communication signals. Respondents overwhelmingly agreed speaking is best for persuasion, leadership, engagement, inspiration, decision-making, accountability, candor, focus and reaching a consensus. Besides that in speaking directly, there is no delay and speakers can get immediate feedback so they can evaluate the level of understanding of their listener. Quick adjustment can be made to change people’s perception or understanding to get a better positive feedbacks. It may help listeners to get better understanding on speaker’s message.
Nevertheless. There are also disadvantages towards speaking. While communication via speaking is generally preferable. Email and instant messenger communication can accelerate the discussion for large groups in instances where members can’t interrupt their work schedules to meet. Email is more reliable to do schedule and confirm meetings because people tend to forget, it’s the nature of people’s behavior. Memos are best for longer background pieces that require a deeper level of understanding towards a certain topic. On top of that, speaking did not leave any record so there is no reference available after the conversation to refer as an evidence. Frequently this leads to conflicts and misunderstandings because people cannot remember the message that are sent before or misheard the conversation because of the noise from other speakers. Speakers have to consider the mindset of listeners to be on the same page otherwise the conversation will be ineffective. Speaking should be brief and simple, complicated and complex materials cannot be employ
People should be aware of ways speaking and writing complement each other. However speaking and writing are identical in nature. Many studies suggest that speaking is more interesting and clearer to its audience. As Peter Elbow has shown in his article, there are several ways in which writing can be described to reflect stereotyped speech attributes and vice versa. His conclusion is that people should has special awareness of the special relationship between writing and speaking in business (Peter, 1985)
People has to know the importance of both method and how to use them. Senders of messages need to adapt to the message and the way communicating to each situation. Both speaking and writing, has various functions in international business communication respectively. To build relationship meeting with each other is more appropriate. Research shows that even with the best products and business practices, you still need strong relationships to succeed in this marketplace. Business is a people activity, people tend to do business with people they know, like, and trust. They prefer to do business with those who they have relationship with. The stronger the relationships with your customers, the greater will be their trust and loyalty in your business (Holz, 2005).
The reason of building relationship is to make business through developing relationship with certain people. Talking to each other is a common way of getting to know them. It is a way of people expanding their relationship circle to meet new people like business banquets, celebration or even canteen. Speaking is the most efficient method to know each other and to build trust. Without trust, there can be no cooperation, support and help from others. Whereas, in other context of communication such as reports, emails and letters, writing is important particularly in informal occasion. In fact, the ability to write and present well organised report can effect on the advancement and promotion to greater extent especially for technical hands, managerial personnel and government officials.
Speaking is important making negotiation, it is a process between two or more parties. Seeking to discover a common ground and reach an agreement to settle a matter of mutual concern or resolve a conflict.
In conclusion, speaking has advantages such as the speed is fast and it can get immediate feedback and modify the ways of speaking to get the message clear. Besides that, listeners can interpret nonverbal message clearer based on the body language used by the speakers. However, speaking is quite short and simple plus there is no record or evidence of the conversation. Listeners, have a great influence to the effect and efficiency of speaking. In contrast, writing is a more formal way of communicating and provides records. It can be send to many people but the speed of interaction is slower compare to speaking and there is no immediate feedback and nonverbal communication. Writers cannot adjust the strategy to influence objectives.
In business communication, eventhough in most occasion speaking is being used more than writing, professionals should take suitable methods in communicating. Mix methods of combining writing and speaking is relatively important in certain situations to get a more effective communications considering there are particular occasion, individual, external and internal organisational circumstances and background including social, cultural and ethical barriers.