Introduction
To operate effectively within the industry and markets, businesses should focus on developing the effective communication channels in order to control the organisational performance and support relations with the partners and suppliers.
From this point, different types of business communication should address the variety of the businesses’ needs associated with the business contacts and business-customer relations.
The purpose of this report is to discuss the positive and negative features of such business communication types as external and internal business communication and to focus on the advantages and disadvantages of using the social media and computer mediated communication as well as to provide the recommendations for managers on how to improve business communication in organisations.
The report also includes the reflection section.
Discussion of Different Types of Business Communication
External business communication
In the business world, external communication is the specific type of the organisation’s communication with the competitors, suppliers, partners, and customers. The main effective forms of external business communication are advertising and business-customer relations.
The advantages of advertising are in possibility to emphasize the competitive advantage, to communicate the message to the public, to differentiate and promote the product and services and to improve the brand recognition.
Advertising also serves to improve business-customer relations which are based on the customers’ awareness of the organisation’s services and their quality.
Positive relations with customers contribute to the company’s development and to increasing its competitive advantage because of influencing the customers’ loyalty (Ahmed et al., 2010: 108).
For instance, the developed customer loyalty can guarantee the customer’s choice of the concrete product while having the right to select (Kovacs & Anca, 2012: 614). Thus, the main concepts associated with external business communication are advertising, business-customer relations, and competitive advantage.
The challenges associated with this type of communication are the use of ineffective advertisement to promote the product, the use of ineffective methods to communicate the message, and the inability to address the customers’ needs.
Internal business communication
The effectively developed internal business communication is guarantee of the company’s increased productivity and employees’ job satisfaction (Kovacs & Anca, 2012: 615).
Internal business communication is the communication between the employees within an organisation based on face-to-face meetings and verbal and non-verbal exchange of information (Gilley, Gilley, & McMillan, 2009: 76).
This type of communication can be discussed as contributing to increasing the company’s competitive advantage when the communication is based on the formats and channels acceptable and understandable for employees (Turkalj & Fosic, 2012: 34).
To improve internal communication means to increase the employees’ productivity and affect their motivation (Welch, 2012: 247).
For instance, if a manger appropriately composes the memorandum to an employee and the employee understands and follows the instructions in detail, the task is expected to be completed effectively.
The possible challenges of the internal communication are the impossibility of managers and employers to formulate their ideas and tasks effectively, and the inability to employees to exchange the information appropriately.
Social media and business communication
Social media are actively used today in business communication as the tools to improve the relations with customers and partners, and as the ways to stimulate the interactions with the organisations’ target population.
Social media allow the target advertising, contacting the customer of the organisation’s representative directly, reaching the customers and partners globally, receiving the updated information on the target audience’s expectations, and receiving the feedbacks immediately (Kwok & Yu, 2013: 85).
One more benefit is the cost reduction and the focus on the available resources to communicate the customer directly (Worley, 2010: 434).
That is why, such businesses as Qantas Airways and many others actively use Facebook, Twitter, YouTube channels, and Instagram in order to promote the products and services and develop and improve the customer services (Meredith, 2012: 91).
For instance, the use of Twitter allows businesses to receive the feedbacks on their services and react to them immediately as well as to spread the information on launching the new product or service. The negative aspects of using social media are associated with violating the privacy issues (Worley, 2010: 434).
Computer mediated communication
Nowadays, the computer mediated communication based on the use of computer, internet connection, online chatting, e-mail, and web resources is actively supported in organisations because of its obvious advantages such as the ability to contact the employees and customers without depending on time zones and different locations (Ebarefimia, 2012: 17).
Furthermore, the range of tasks completed with the help of computers increases, and the computer mediated communication is effectively used in business for project work (Myers & Sadaghiani, 2010: 227).
The process of providing instructions, controlling the performance, and working in teams becomes more effective (Worley, 2010: 434).
However, there are such challenges as the lack of accessibility to Internet connection, undeveloped skills in working with technologies, the lack of the context for the textual materials (Myers & Sadaghiani, 2010: 227).
For instance, offices in country areas often cannot support the effective connection with the central offices because of the inappropriate Internet connection, and this situation can affect employees’ performance negatively.
Reflection Section
The presentation on the types of business communication and their benefits for the organisations is helpful to understand and explain the issues in business associated with communication.
Thus, the effective work of the organisation depends significantly on the quality of communication between the employer, employees, partners, and customers.
Referring to the presentation, it is possible to conclude that the focus should be made on external communication based on social media resources and on the internal communication where the computer mediated communication and face-to-face communication are balanced according to the organisation’s needs and available resources.
It is important to note that the effective use of social media and computer mediated communication is extremely significant in the modern business environments because of changed approaches to sharing the information and products.
Conclusions and Recommendations
The main types of business communication are the external and internal communication, and these ways to share the information within the organisations and industry depend on the use of such modern technologies and approaches as the focus on social media and computer resources.
In spite of the proposed benefits and advantages, the use of social media and computer mediated communication are the challenging tasks for managers. To improve external and internal business communication, the managers should
- focus on the legal aspects while proposing the advertisements for the target audience with the help of social media;
- focus on the differences of the audience and methods to communicate the ideas;
- develop the guidelines and instructions on using e-mail communication in companies;
- formulate the messages clearly and effectively to communicate hem with the help of e-mail or social media;
- use computer mediated communication to enhance the work of teams;
- propose the alternative variants of communication when the use of computers is impossible;
- follow the ethical and business principles of hierarchy.
References
Ahmed, Z., Shields, F., White, R., & Wilbert, J. 2010, Managerial communication: The link between frontline leadership and organizational performance. Journal of Organizational Culture, Communications & Conflict, 14(1), 107-120.
Ebarefimia, E. 2012. Impact of Business Communication on Organisational Performance in Nigerian Communication. Australian Journal of Business and Management Research, 2(1): 16-26.
Gilley, A., Gilley, J., & McMillan, H. 2009. Organisational change: Motivation, communication, and leadership effectiveness. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 21(4): 75-94.
Kovacs, R., & Anca, B. 2012. Internal and external communication within cultural organizations. Management & Marketing, 7(4): 613-630.
Kwok, L., & Yu, B. 2013. Spreading Social Media Messages of Facebook: An Analysis of Restaurant Business-to-Consumer Communications. Cornell Hospitality Quaterly, 54(84): 84-94.
Meredith, M. 2012. Strategic Communication and Social Media: An MBA Course From a Business Communication Perspective. Business Commiunication Quaterly, 75(1): 89-95.
Myers, K. K., & Sadaghiani, K. 2010. Millennials in the workplace: A communication perspective on millennials’ organizational relationships and performance. Journal of Business and Psychology, 25(2): 225-238.
Turkalj, Z., & Fosic, I. 2012. Organisational Communication as an Important Factor of Organisational Behavior. Interdisciplinary Management Research V, 1(1): 33-42.
Welch, M. 2012. Appropriateness and acceptability: Employee perspectives of internal communication. Public Relations Review, 38(2): 246-254.
Worley, R. 2010. Business communication and new media. Business Communication Quaterley, 73(4): 432-434.