Selecting appropriate ways of communication at the workplace is crucial for a successful manager of any company. This is why any skillful and talented leader needs to know what kind of communication is the most suitable in various situations that may occur during the work process.
The manager needs to know when it is the best time to address the problem and by what means. The most popular methods of business communication include verbal face-to-face conversation, oral communication through the phone, electronic mail, written internal communication and newsletters (Stuart, Sarow & Stuart 2007).
Roadmap
This paper explores different methods of business communication, their advantages and disadvantages and distinguishes between the most suitable methods for some typical workplace situations such as an employee’s constant lateness, a special event in the company, communication with a client and a management decision.
Methods
Face-to-face communication is used at the meetings with clients, team briefings, or for the resolution of the most important and personal conflicts (Getting a Message across – the Importance of Good Communications 2014). This type of communication is the best when the leader needs to develop a personal connection with the client or an employee.
This type of communication allows creating a detailed discussion of the issues, making important clarifications and clear statements. Another advantage of this type of communication is that it provides better understanding between the sides.
The only disadvantage of face-to-face communication is that normally a personal meeting with an individual or a group of people requires planning and arrangements; all of the participants need to make some time to attend the gathering.
Telephone and voice mail is good for business conversations or communication with the clients. Voice messages are good for creating an emphasis on the importance of the conversation, leaving several messages will make the customer know the company’s interest and the co-operation. Telephone communication makes business conversations quicker and the work of companies more productive.
The inconveniencies of this method are time limits, because calling too late or too early is impolite, and also noises that make the communicating sides look for quieter places for using the phone. Moreover, telephone communication can be done in the form of teleconference, which provides the corporations with the possibility of having a conversation between more than two people.
This method is highly convenient and it has become very common some time ago due to the fact that in most cases it is very difficult to find a good time for all the participants of the conversation to gather in one room (Sheahan 2014). Teleconference is a perfect alternative to that.
Written internal communication is used widely in the contemporary corporation. This method speeds up the process of communication, it is instant, it saves a lot of time.
Besides, it is possible to avoid unnecessary gatherings and meetings because the modern technologies allow sending multiple copies of one message to several people and informing everyone about something within a very short amount of time. The disadvantage of this method of business communication is that it lacks personal connection.
Email memo is a brief message that serves to inform the employees within one company about some events. It can be used for the communication of different number of people, the workers of one department or the whole company. Its advantage is its information capacity, its disadvantage is the speed of written communication and, sometimes, lack of additional information.
Newsletter is also a type of message that can be instantly sent to multiple computers within one network. It serves to inform the employees about important events and transmits the information that the workers need to know. This method replaces crowded gatherings and saves a lot of time for the workers and the managers.
Newsletters inform the workers about new policies, products, the answer the frequently asked questions, motivate, remind about certain events. The disadvantage of this method is that it is time consuming.
Scenarios
When the employee is not organized, messy and late, this impacts the work process and may affect other workers. In this situation the manager is forced to address the issue and contact the employee. To my mind, the best method of communication suitable for this scenario is written internal communication. The form of communication needs to be dry and strict.
The method that is used to inform the employees about an upcoming event is the email memo. The form of communication through the memo depends on the event and the type of information. It may be friendly or official.
Communication with an important client is more successful during a face-to-face meeting. This method helps to create personal contact and develop better understanding. The form of communication should be official and very polite.
Management decisions about purchasing and business operations are discussed by means of a telephone conversation. The language of this conversation has to be professional, formal and very informative.
Conclusion
Communication during the work process is highly important; various methods help to make this communication maximally effective. A good manager needs to know all of these methods and choose the methods and forms of communication properly for more productive operation of the company and better business organization.
References
Getting a Message across – the Importance of Good Communications. (2014). Business Case Studies. Web.
Sheahan, K. (2014). Business Communication Methods. Web.
Stuart, B. E., Sarow, M. S. & Stuart, L. (2007). Integrated Business Communication: In a Global Marketplace. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.