Analyzing Business Communications
Analyzing Business Communications
Introduction
The success of any organization hinges on effective communications (Roebuck, 2006). Of 267 U.S. companies surveyed by Watson Wyatt those with effective communications provided an eleven-percent greater return to shareholders than those without effective communications. Additionally, those companies with effective communications also had lower turnover rates (Business & Legal Resources, 2010). This correlation between business success and effective communication demonstrates the requirement for good communications analysis. By analyzing business communications, organizations can improve their communications thereby ensuring greater returns.
By analyzing the business communications at Metasoft Systems Incorporated a determination regarding the effectiveness of their communications can be done. Three messages have been sampled and will be studied. Analysis of the sender, receiver, message content, environment, noise and feedback will be done as well as a look at the technology used to deliver the messages.
Message #1
Starting with message number one (Appendix A) we see that the message’s primary audience was Todd Sherman, Metasoft’s General Sales Manager. All sales managers were included as courtesy copy recipients. The sender, Rusty Jones, is sales manager for the Northeast United States territory. The message is a plea for the organization to develop policies and procedures that will enable management to more effectively lead their sales teams. This message is persuasive in nature but it falls short because it does not have a defined call to action. While requesting that measures be taken, no definition of when or how these measures should be taken are included in the message. It takes an action oriented message to motivate receivers to do a task (Roebuck, 2006).
The environment in which this communication occurred was one where a subordinate was communication with his superior, in a workplace
Introduction
The success of any organization hinges on effective communications (Roebuck, 2006). Of 267 U.S. companies surveyed by Watson Wyatt those with effective communications provided an eleven-percent greater return to shareholders than those without effective communications. Additionally, those companies with effective communications also had lower turnover rates (Business & Legal Resources, 2010). This correlation between business success and effective communication demonstrates the requirement for good communications analysis. By analyzing business communications, organizations can improve their communications thereby ensuring greater returns.
By analyzing the business communications at Metasoft Systems Incorporated a determination regarding the effectiveness of their communications can be done. Three messages have been sampled and will be studied. Analysis of the sender, receiver, message content, environment, noise and feedback will be done as well as a look at the technology used to deliver the messages.
Message #1
Starting with message number one (Appendix A) we see that the message’s primary audience was Todd Sherman, Metasoft’s General Sales Manager. All sales managers were included as courtesy copy recipients. The sender, Rusty Jones, is sales manager for the Northeast United States territory. The message is a plea for the organization to develop policies and procedures that will enable management to more effectively lead their sales teams. This message is persuasive in nature but it falls short because it does not have a defined call to action. While requesting that measures be taken, no definition of when or how these measures should be taken are included in the message. It takes an action oriented message to motivate receivers to do a task (Roebuck, 2006).
The environment in which this communication occurred was one where a subordinate was communication with his superior, in a workplace
References: Roebuck, D. B. (2006). Improving business communication skills (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. RWK Enterprises, Inc.. (2010). Using feedback to motivate staff. Retrieved from http://www.rwkenterprises.com/Feedback-Motivation.htm Appendix A: Message #1 From: Rusty Jones Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 2010 1:31 PM 1John P. Kotter, “What Leaders Really Do, “Harvard Business Review, May-June, 1990, p. 104. From: Todd Sherman Sent: Thursday, August 19, 2010 12:29 PM Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 2010 1:31 PM To: Todd Sherman Todd, As my message dated Wednesday, August 04, 2010 1:31 PM points out, there is a lot of confusion and ambiguity surrounding the methods management is handling requests from reps because there is a lack of written policy From: Rusty Jones Sent: Thursday, August 19, 2010 7:50 AM