GBS 233 Business Communication

Short questions and answers

1. People are constantly communicating in the business place and for this reason communication in business is very important Communication is how information is exchanged between or among individuals. There are different types or directions of the flow of communication and different levels of communication. The flow of communication can affect a message in different ways

There are three types or directions of communication flow. Downward communication flows from the supervisor to the employee, or from the top of the organization chart to the bottom. According to Lehman, “Upward communication is primarily feedback to requests and actions of supervisors” (2014, p. 7). Horizontal or lateral communication consists of the interactions between people on the same hierarchical level. The flow of communication can affect a message in different ways. For example in upward communication employees may relay information to their superiors that they think they want to hear, and not their true perceptions (2014).

Communication also takes place at five levels. Intrapersonal communication is communication within oneself. Interpersonal communication is within two people. Group communication is among three or more people. Organizational communication consists of several groups and public communication is when an organization or individual reaches out to the general public (2014).

The way people exchange important information is called communication and communication is key in any business. There are five levels of communication and three directions of the flow of communication: downward, upward, and horizontal. Each flow of communication and level of communication is used in different circumstances.

2. While at the workplace I have experienced several types of interferences that have affected the communication I was involved in. Interferences are barriers or factors that hinder or interrupt the communication process.

One of the interferences I had at the workplace last week involved a noisy environment. I was on the phone talking to a client while my co-workers around me where talking loudly and giggling. The client was able to hear them in the background and we were both getting annoyed as we could not hear each other very well. We had to keep asking each other to repeat ourselves. Another interference I had involved boredom. I was on a conference call regarding client expectations and they were going over things that we already were aware of making the call very boring to me. This made me lose focus and not pay close attention to what they were saying and because of this I could have missed some important information that I was not previously aware of.

Interferences are very common in communication. It is important to try to remove or get away from any interferences while in the communication process so all parties involved can encode the message delivered properly.

3. People learn patterns of behavior and values from their cultures. The business world consists of a lot of intercultural communication. Understanding these barriers can improve intercultural communications. There are six barriers to intercultural communication. Each of these barriers can affect communication in several ways.

The six barriers to intercultural communication consist of ethnocentrism, stereotypes, chronemics, proxemics, kinesics, and translation limitations. The belief that one’s own cultural norms are the right way of doing things is ethnocentrism. When one is not sensitive to other cultural beliefs communication may be rejected. Stereotypes is viewing people in a certain way or creating preformed ideas of them. Stereotyping can interfere with communication when one interacts with another person based on their preconceived ideas rather than communicating with person as a real individual. Chronemics is how a culture perceives time and its use. Some cultures value time more than others and not understanding these cultural time values may result in one party of the communication process feeling disrespected. Proxemics is the study of cultural space requirements. While communication with another person It is very important to understand and respect their personal space. Kinesics is the study of body language. Different cultures may perceive the most basic gestures very differently. Translation limitations is the last barrier. In business people may have meetings with people who are from a different culture and speak another language. Often times a translator may be necessary. Though one may not speak or write another language fluently others appreciate when one makes simple efforts to learn a few common phrases (2014).

Understanding and knowing the many intercultural barriers can allow one to eliminate these barriers s communicating with people with different cultures. This will allow the communication process to run more smoothly and avoid any misunderstandings.

In the dilemma where management decides not to publicize a design flaw in an automobile is a perfect example of a behavior that is both illegal and unethical. It is illegal for manufacturers to not publicize flaws in their products if they can cause injury or even death to their consumers. This decision to not publicize this information is also unethical. This organization should owe their customers the respect to be honest with them, especially when their lives may be at risk. I feel the organization would feel worse not publicizes their designs flaws and it leading to deaths versus having a lawsuit.

Choose one of the ethical issues listed on page 11 of your textbook in the "Ethical Dilemma" box. Describe what dimension of behavior you would classify the issue as, identify whether you felt the decision was moral and ethical, and justify your thoughts.

References

Lehman, C., & DuFrene, D. (2014). Business Communication. Boston: Cengage Learning.