Communication in an Applied Context

Communication in an Applied Context

Communication is vital to career and workplace success. Employers consistently list effective written and oral communication as critical employability skills because they know that effective communication reduces costs and increases productivity. When employees or clients understand a message correctly the first time, fewer questions are asked, fewer meetings are held, and more results are achieved more quickly.

New graduates get hired primarily for their technical skills, but they get promoted 得到提升primarily for their communication skills. By understanding the importance of effective communication, and by learning the techniques and strategies we will learn in this course, we can help own careers. Simply put effective communication skills pay for themselves, either in workplace credibility, reputation, or promotion.co

The field of communication has grown significantly in the last few decades and covers a wide range of academic and professional fields. In this course, we will focus exclusively on communication in an applied context. Specifically, we will learn, develop and apply the strategies and skills necessary for effective workplace communication.

Business communication and technical communication are two terms used be professionals to refer to workplace writing. On the other hand, professional writers who are hired specifically to write policies, procedures, user guides, instructions, proposals or reports are usually referred to as technical writers. While there are differences between business and technical communication, both fields share common foundational skills.

We’ll look at the differences between Academic and Business Writing in the next module.

Academic Versus Business Writing

Have a look at the five primary differences between business and academic writing as defined by the UHV Student Success Center:

1. Writing at work focuses on problem solving. Unlike academic writing where you write to persuade your professor how much you know, at work you write to help you perform your job. Primarily, you are trying to achieve a specific goal and to complete a job task.
2. Work-related writing targets multiple audiences with different perspectives. In college our primary and, typically, only audience is our professor. Professors approach student writing similarly. They want to read what you've written and they're trying to determine if you've mastered the course content. The professor is also an expert or authority on the subject matter. But, as an employee you may write to many readers with varied backgrounds--some highly educated experts and some less knowledgeable than you are. You will also write to people within and outside your department and organization. These readers won't necessarily read what you've written unless you persuade them your message is relevant and will help them perform their jobs. You have to make your message relevant, clear, and easy to read.
3. Writing at work may be read by unknown readers. At school, professors rarely share students' writing with others, and students rarely target multiple audiences. But, on the job, you not only target a primary reader but also secondary and tertiary readers who may or may not be known to you. For example, your boss (the primary reader) may decide to give your report to her boss (secondary reader) who decides to pass it along to one of her employees (tertiary reader).

You always need to assume that others will read your documents, that photocopies could be mailed, and that copies of your documents could be filed for further use.

1. Writing produced at work can be used indefinitely and can be used in legal proceedings. While college papers have a limited life span (typically for 1 class), work documents can be filed and used indefinitely. Moreover, parts or all of documents can be used out of context in situations unrelated to the original scenario. Thus, work documents could be used in legal proceedings. You should word your documents carefully to prevent them from being misused. Ultimately, you are responsible for the document, and others can use parts or all of it to support their claims in litigation.
2. The format for work documents varies greatly from the format for academic documents. In school, you primarily write essays, research papers, lab reports, etc. But you rarely write memos, letters, procedures, policies, or employee evaluations--all common work documents. You need to become very comfortable with different organizational patterns and different formats for your writing.

Source: http://www.uhv.edu/ac/business/academic.aspx

Definition of Communication

Communication can be defined in many ways. For our purposes, communication is the development and exchange of information or meaning between individuals or groups. We define communication as a process that involves an exchange because communication is both interactive (between two or more parties) and dynamic (ongoing).

Before we can develop communication products, such as presentations, memos, letters or reports, we must understand the process of communication. The communication process involves six basic elements or components.

The Six Basic Elements of Communication 

The six basic elements of the communication process are the context, sender, message, medium, receiver, and feedback. Figure 1.1 shows the interactive relationship between these six elements.

FIGURE 1.1        Six Basic Elements of Communication

[pic 1]

Context

All communication occurs in context. Context can be defined as the situation or background in which the message is developed, transmitted or received. Figure 1.1 shows context as the background that frames the sender, message, medium, receiver and feedback. Cultural contexts, physical contexts, organisational contexts, and psychological or emotional contexts are the major contexts that frame the communication process.

Sender

The sender is the person who develops and transmits a message. The sender’s message will be influenced or framed by the cultural, physical, organisational, and psychological context in which they develop the message. The sender must encode their ideas into words, symbols or body language before they can transmit the message. This entire text is devoted to helping you encode (write) successful workplace messages.