1. 1 Business Communication in the Digital Age Business Communication:
Process and Product, 8e
Mary Ellen Guffey and Dana Loewy
Instructor PowerPoint Library, 8e
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2. Draw it….. Write it…. Name Hometown
Describe yourself or something about yourself
Define business communication
List one thing I can pray for you this semester
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3. Learning Objective 1
Explain how communication skills fuel career success and understand why writing skills are vital in a digital workplace embracing social media.
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4. Communication Skills in a Complex, Networked World
Your pass to success
A hot commodity now more than ever
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A learned ability, not inborn

5. Communication Skills: Your Ticket to Work
Most desirable competencies in employers’ view
Critical to effective job placement, performance, and career advancement
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“Career sifter,” leading to great job opportunities or out the door

6. What are the most important communications skills sought by today’s employers?

7. Communication Skills: Your Ticket to Work
TOP CHOICES:
Writing
Critical thinking
Problem-solving skills
Self-motivation
Team skills
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Source: The MetLife Survey of the American Teacher (2011, May)

8. Communication Skills: Your Ticket to Work
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Two thirds of salaried employees have some writing responsibility. One third of them do not meet the writing requirements for their positions.
Source: College Board: The National Commission on Writing (2004, September)

9. Communications Skills?
What Are
Communications Skills?
Traditional abilities
New requirements
Reading
Media savvy
Listening
Good judgment online:
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Nonverbal
Maintaining positive image and presence
Speaking
Writing
Protecting employer’s reputation

11. Writing in the Digital Age
Writing matters more than ever; online media require more of it, not less.
Communicating clearly and effectively has never been more important than it is today.
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Life-changing critical judgments about people are being made based solely on their writing ability.

13. Learning Objective 2
Identify the tools for success in the hyperconnected 21st century workplace, and appreciate the importance of critical thinking skills in the competitive job market of the digital age.
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14. In the future, I think people will not be asked to work harder…but work smarter.

15. Tools for Success in the 21st Century Workplace
Knowledge and information workers engage in mind work.
Workers of the future must make sense of words, figures, and data.
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Knowledge available in the digital universe doubles every year.
Talent shortages plague even a bleak U.S. labor market.

16. Jobs for Knowledge Workers
Three out of four jobs will involve some form of “mind” work.
m-commerce (mobile technology businesses)
e-commerce (Internet-based businesses)
Brick-and-mortar commerce (traditional businesses)
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17. Why Should You Care?
As a “knowledge worker”, you will be generating, processing, and exchanging information.
You will need to be able to transmit information effectively across various communication channels and media.
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You will be expected to make sound decisions and solve complex problems.

18. Thinking Critically in the
Digital Age
Thinking creatively and critically means:
Having opinions backed up by reasons and evidence
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Anticipating and solving problems
Making decisions and communicating them effectively

19. Osborn-Parnes Creative Problem Solving Process
Explore the Challenge 1
Identify the challenge.
Gather information and clarify the problem. 2
Generate Ideas
Come up with many ideas to solve the problem
Pick the most promising ideas 3
Implement Solutions
Select and strengthen solutions.
Plan how to bring your solution to life and implement.
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20. Pick a group Explore the challenge Generate Ideas Implement Solutions1 2
Generate Ideas 3
Implement Solutions
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21. What You Can Expect in Tomorrow’s Workplace
Being proactive and exercising control over your career.
Forging your own career path and developmental experiences
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Finding fewer nine-to-five jobs, predictable raises, lifetime security, and conventional workplaces.

22. What You Can Expect in Tomorrow’s Workplace
Working for multiple employers, even changing careers.
Keeping up with evolving technologies.
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Needing constant training and lifelong learning.
Managing and guarding your reputation at the office and online.

23. Succeeding in a Volatile, Competitive Job Market
What makes the “perfect” job candidate in a gloomy economy?
Fundamental criteria: required major, course work, and GPA
Communication skills
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Ability to work in a team
Strong work ethic and initiative

24. Learning Objective 3
Describe significant trends in today’s dynamic, networked work environment, and recognize that social media and other communication technologies require excellent communication skills, particularly in an uncertain economy.
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25. Social media will have many more positive effects than negative effects on business communication in the future

26. Social Media and Changing Communication Technologies
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To announce promotions and events
To connect with consumers
To improve products and services
To draw traffic to blogs, tweets, the company website, and online communities
To respond to crises
To invite feedback

27. Social Media and Changing Communication Technologies
Word of mouth, positive and negative, can travel instantly at the speed of a few mouse clicks.
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28. Anytime, Anywhere: 24/7/365 Availability
The challenges of relentless connectedness across time zones and distances:
Working long hours without extra compensation
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Being available practically anywhere and anytime
Living with an increasingly blurry line between work and leisure
Remaining tethered to the workplace with electronic devices around the clock

29. Anytime, Anywhere: 24/7/365 Availability
The challenges of relentless connectedness across time zones and distances:
The physical office is extending its reach by becoming mobile and always “on.”
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Americans work 50 percent more than their colleagues in other industrialized nations while enjoying the shortest paid vacations.
A networked, information-driven workforce never goes “off duty” in an organization that “never sleeps.”

30. The Global Market Place and Competition
Factors that prompted companies to move to emerging markets around the world:
Rise of new communication technologies
Removal of trade barriers
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Saturated local markets
Advanced forms of transportation

31. The Global Market Place and Competition
Requirements for successful communicators in new markets:
Coping with challenges of multiple time zones, vast distances, and different languages
Understanding different customs, lifestyles, and business practices
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Developing new skills and attitudes
Practicing cultural awareness, flexibility, and patience

32. Shrinking Management Layers: Advantages
Cost savings and efficiency
Fewer layers between managers and line workers
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Shorter lines of communication
Faster decision making
Quick response to market changes

33. Shrinking Management Layers: Disadvantages
The digital revolution has connected us horizontally.
Even rank-and-file workers shoulder more responsibility.
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Frontline employees must think critically and make decisions.
Nearly everyone is a writer and communicator.

34. Collaborative Environments and Teaming
What cross-functional teams do:
Involve empowered employees in decision making
Form as stable units with the same participants
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Learn to work well together over time

35. Collaborative Environments and Teaming
What project-based teams do:
Meet ad hoc to solve a particular problem
Disband after meeting their objectives
Face challenges of diverse makeup and dispersed members
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36. Growing Population Diversity Asian and Pacific Islanders70 60 50 40 30 20 10
65%
60%
46%
Percent
30%
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19%
16%
13%
13%
13% 8% 6% 5%
White Non- Hispanics
Hispanics
African Americans
Asian and Pacific Islanders
2010
2020
2050

37. Growing Workforce Diversity
Benefits consumers, work teams, and businesses
A diverse staff is better able to respond to an increasingly diverse customer base locally and globally.
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Team members with various experiences are more likely to create products that consumers demand.
Consumers want to deal with companies respecting their values.

38. Virtual and Nonterritorial Offices
Mobile and decentralized workspaces
Flexible work arrangements
“Work shifters,” a new breed of telecommuter
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“Coworking,” sharing communal office space as needed
Anytime, anywhere office enabled by technology

39. Learning Objective 4
Examine critically the internal and external flow of communication in organizations through formal and informal channels, explain the importance of effective media choices, and understand how to overcome typical barriers to organizational communication.
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40. The Networked Office in a Hyperconnected World
Smart electronic devices
Mobility
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Social media networks, Web 2.0
Interactivity
Biggest shift:
One-sided, slow forms of communication
Interactive, instant, paperless communication

41. Media Richness
The more helpful cues and immediate feedback the medium provides the richer and less ambiguous it is:
Face-to-face and telephone conversation
RICH:
Complex issues, sensitive subjects
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Written media ( , letter, memo, note, report)
LEAN:
Routine, unambiguous problems

42. HIGH in synchronous communication: LOW in asynchronous communication:
Social Presence
Definition: The degree to which people are engaged online and ready to connect with others
Media with high social presence convey warmth and are personal.
HIGH in synchronous communication:
LOW in asynchronous communication:
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face to face
video conference
social media post
live chat

43. Information Flow in Organizations
Horizontal Communication
Among workers at same level
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Task coordination Problem solving Conflict resolution
Idea generation
Team building
Goals clarification

44. Information Flow in Organizations
Upward Communication
From subordinates to management
Product feedback
Customer data
Progress reports
Suggestions
Problems
Clarification
Downward Communication
From management to subordinates
Policy procedures
Directives
Job plans
Mission goals
Motivation
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45. Informal Communication Channels
The grapevine: gossip from the break room to the water cooler to social media
Carries unofficial messages
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Flows haphazardly
Can be remarkably accurate
Is mostly disliked by management
Thrives where official information is limited

46. Learning Objective 5
Analyze ethics in the workplace, understand the goals of ethical business communicators, recognize and avoid ethical traps, and be able to choose the tools for doing the right thing.
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47. Goals of Ethical Business Communicators Use inclusive language
Abide by the law
Be objective
Tell the truth
Communicate clearly
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Label opinions
Use inclusive language
Give credit

48. Overcoming Obstacles to Ethical Decision Making
5 Common ethical traps to avoid on the job
The false necessity trap:
Convincing yourself that no other choices exist
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The doctrine-of-relative- filth trap:
Comparing your unethical behavior with someone else’s even more unethical behavior

49. Overcoming Obstacles to Ethical Decision Making
Common ethical traps to avoid on the job
The ends-justify-the-means trap:
Using unethical methods to accomplish a goal
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The self-deception trap:
Persuading yourself, for example, that a lie is not really a lie
The rationalization trap:
Justifying unethical actions with excuses

50. Choosing Tools for Doing
the Right Thing
Five questions to guide
ethical decisions:
Is the action legal?
Would you do it if you were on the opposite side?
Can you rule out a better alternative?
Would a trusted advisor agree?
Would family, friends, employer, or coworker approve?
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51. End
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