Communication In Practice Communication is vital to every part of business. Business needs good communicators. Communication takes many forms: oral, written and computer. All organized effort requires communication. Managers direct, coordinate, staff, plan and control through communication. Good communication skills are required to share your results to others, persuade colleagues to take action, and at review time sell your successes to management. Good communication skills make the difference in your ability to be productive and efficient when working in a team. With good communication one can take advantage of collective knowledge and shared resources. Good communication is necessary in order to continually apply research findings and improve business operations.

Three categories of Communication in Business Inter-operational Communication- the communication done in conducting work within a business. This occurs among the business’s workers to implement the business’s operating plan.i.e. to manufacture products, provide a service, or sell goods. It includes giving orders, oral exchange of information assembling reports concerning sales, production, finance, maintenance and so on. External-operational Communication- work- related communication with people outside the business-suppliers, service companies, customers and the general public. It includes salespeople's personal selling strategies, descriptive brochures, telephone callbacks, follow-up service calls, radio, television massages, newspaper and magazine advertising website advertising and writing messages. Also in this category are all that a business does to improve its public relations, the community service of its employees, the courtesy of its employees and all the messages that the workers write in carrying out their assignments. Personal Communication- non business related exchanges of information and feeling among people. It affects employee attitudes which further affects employee performance.

Verbal Communication The term ‘verbal’ denotes the use of words either in spoken or written form. Thus verbal communication is of two types- Oral Communication and Written Communication. Oral Communication- is the communication by way of uttering words. It is used for day to day liaison, directions, exchange of information, progress reviews, meetings, interviews, speeches, seminars, conferences and the maintenance of inter personal relations. Verbal communication also includes telephonic calls used for quick checkups and for imparting or receiving information. It is the fastest mode of communication. Every time we speak our voice reveals our gender, age, geographical and social background, level of education, emotional state, ideology and our relationship with the person spoken to. While speaking we ‘encode’ important information about ourselves and by listening to others we can decode important information about them.

Advantages of Oral Communication One can make instantaneous and direct contact with ones audience as there is no time lag between the transmission and reception of message. The speaker can have much more command over the receivers attention. It allows instantaneous feedback where one can directly speak to the listeners, one can sort out their queries by rephrasing or elaborating ones points. And one can also revise and modify ones point of view depending upon the situation. Oral communication adds personal quality to the process of communication. It can maintain confidentiality of the matters as a does not create any documentary records. Oral communication supplements the spoken words by adding persuasion and credibility to them. Oral communication supplements the understanding of the message by providing non-verbal cues to the recipient. Oral communication is economical both in terms of money and time. Oral communication is time saving device as instructions and directions can be transmitted quickly to others. Oral communication builds up a democratic and congenial climate in the organization by bringing the superiors and subordinates together. Oral communication helps in interacting with groups. While working in a group one can understand the group members view points and reactions immediately. Oral communication covers the whole world. It is direct person to person communication. The information and skills which are available in one country can be utilized by others and can thus bring foreign exchange.

Disadvantages of Oral Communication There is no documentary proof of transactions done through this medium and the impact is purely temporary. Knowledge of a language can be a major obstacle to this form of communication and even when the encoder and the decoder know the same language, the level of competence of the non- native speaker can create a barrier. Accent, pronunciation, intonation and idiomatic expressions can form a barrier. Expensive and time consuming when the persons involved are at distant locations. When the message is too lengthy or complex or controversial, oral communication may not be suitable. An oral message has more probability of getting distorted because of physical noise like inaudibility of speech, somebody interfering in between and like wise. Oral message can not be retained for long time. Oral communication does not always save time and money as often meetings go on without any results or agreements achieved. Serious decision making is sometimes not possible through oral communication and its also difficult to assign responsibility for any mistake by omission or commission in oral communication.