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BUSN20017 Effective Business Communication Assignment Sample

You will individually write a short self-reflection essay that analyses your personal communication experiences within the business context. You must pick one of following topics: defensive and supportive internal business communication, persuasive and/or influential internal business communication, or internal business email communication. You may pick the same topic as your individual group presentation topic, but please remember this essay focuses upon your personal communication experiences within the business context. With your chosen topic in mind, you must provide an example of effective and ineffective communication. Here you will need to explain why the communication is effective and why the communication is ineffective. Next, you will need to discuss what you could do to improve your identified ineffective communication. Here you will need to identify specific communication behaviours that would improve upon your ability to communicate (as directly related to your previously identified ineffective communication) within the business context.

For example, you could focus upon your workplace experiences with influential and/or persuasive internal business communication. Think about your experiences in this regard--What do you do well? What could be improved? Based upon your answers to these questions describe one internal influential and/or persuasive business communicative interaction that you did effectively and one influential and/or persuasive business communicative interaction that was ineffectively. Please make sure you back up each example by explaining why the communication is either effective or ineffective. Next, you will need to discuss how you would specifically change your ineffective communication—describe the remedial communication behaviours and justify why these behaviours would be effective.

Solution

Introduction

Communication holds an important place in every walk of life, whether professional or personal life. It is important to polish all types of communication patterns, including verbal, non-verbal and written, thus understanding self weakness and strengths. As per personal experiences, it can be ascertained that business communication in workplace scenarios is very crucial as it largely impacts profits, communication with peers and senior management, along with the satisfaction of all stakeholders that influences the business. The report is a reflective essay done through the Gibbs cycle that subcategorises experiences into description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion and action plan.

Gibbs Reflective cycle

The Gibbs Reflective cycle was originally developed in 1988 by Graham Gibbs to provide a structure for all types of learning experiences (Gibbs' Reflective Cycle for Writing Center Training, 2020). As per the assignment brief, personal experiences on different topics, although internal business communication or email, will be explored for this reflective cycle.

Description

Internal business communication holds an important place in workplace scenarios as routine tasks are dependent on clear and succinct communication from employees to employees or from employees to supervisors (Cavanagh et al., 2019). They are etiquette which needs to be followed while sending emails to seniors or colleagues. I want to reflect on three of my experiences while working as a desk customer service executive at a retail store. My job was to solve customer complaints transferred through toll-free numbers vis CRM portals; thus, I was required to talk to the client, understand the issue, contact the store, and seek a solution to email the unsolved complaints or grievances to headquarters. The email was important for every work responsibility while working as an apprentice in the company.

Once, I faced a very angry customer who had complained many times. However, his complaint was not satisfactorily solved, and he wanted evidence of how the retail company was processing his grievance. As usual, I contacted the store, inquired about the issue and understood that the problem could be only solved through headquarter intervention. Since the customer was very angry, I added the customer's email id with another attachment email that I was forwarding to the headquarter senior of mine. It was a breach as no external parties or clients could be added to internal communication through emails. This was the first time I got a warning email which meant my job was at stake if I did the mistake again. The second mistake I made was writing in capital letters while sending the email; my caps lock button; I did not check the text as I was in a hurry owing to professional reasons. The third experience was sending emails in fragmented form without including a subject and an attachment. The reader could not understand the email and the customer complaint or query remained unsolved. Reflecting on all three experiences regarding internal communication, I realised business communication holds an important place for satisfying customers, meeting responsibilities and ensuring business success. All three experiences I mentioned indicate that a lack of email writing knowledge makes the message ineffective, which could impact routine tasks and could lead to frequent conflicts. None of the complaints was solved in all three situations mentioned, after which my line manager had to intervene and generate a new mail chain while including all information or progress that had been made to the point. This delayed the process of customer experience enhancement and hence could impact the business reputation.

Feelings

Email errors are common among new interns and seniors who lack grabbing readers' attention to messages quoted within emails in workplaces (Cavanagh et al., 2019). Many workplaces rely on emails as their easiest mode of communication, while it also acts as evidence for referring to any situation or issue. When I encountered my first email experience by including a customer's email address in an internal process, I was warned by the manager and headquarters senior through harsh words. Although I realised my mistake and understood that communication through email followed etiquette, I did feel bad, so I should have included an external email address. However, I could have asked or inquired my line manager, which I could not do. In a second and third experience, I was only asked to resend it again with a warning that email etiquette should be followed to ensure the closure of customer complaints. I felt demotivated as I repeatedly made a mistake for which my line supervisor had to feel embarrassed as he was being questioned on training provided for me.

Evaluation

Email etiquette is important, along with following language, clear writing, and emotions portrayed through punctuation marks (Mascle, 2013). Reflecting on my experiences with internal communication through emails, I understood that I lacked email etiquette and basic knowledge of how communication through written and electronic mediums are done. I could have searched online or asked a colleague if the manager was not available before drafting emails. I should have read the text once and asked anyone if I felt something was not okay. None of the communication was effective due to incomplete messages or distracting readers' attention.

Analysis

Email etiquettes for assignment help are only polished if formal training and regular practice help to improve the receiver’s attention to the message. In everyday email communication, the reader must understand the message as it might include important details like instructions, changes in rules and policies, notices or any essential warning. Thus, written communications which are incomplete or lack the use of punctuation or subject lines might be misunderstood (Flynn et al., 2020). Thus, writing emails or formal written communication training should be given to all; it is vital for new employees. It is also essential for the existing workforce to update knowledge and skills for enhancing communication when body language and verbal cues are absent. I was provided with refresher training when I entered the organisation. However, the training was not given frequently, due to which I made mistakes that delayed the process of customer satisfaction. I seldom did not try learning new things or grasping information as I did not realise the consequences of miscommunications or improperly written emails. My communication was ineffective as once I distracted the reader's attention by writing in capital letters and involving a third party in internal matters due to pressure from the client. My communication was ineffective when I missed the subject line and attachment. The reader would not have read the mail as it lacked information on the content and the attachment, which disrupted the communication flow. I should have learned communication through writing by accessing help from colleagues, line managers, or available tools on the internet.

Conclusion

Written communication lacks verbal cues, body language or the presence of physical existence; thus, the sender needs to include all information clearly and concisely without missing any details, attachments, subject lines or punctuation marks. It is important to teach email writing or other forms of written internal communication to freshers or apprentices. Still, it is also vital that training be imparted to all staff frequently to make the communication process complete and effective (Flynn et al., 2020). All the steps should be taken to improve the overall communication patterns of the organisation as it impacts the culture and brand reputation.

Action Plan

Since then, I have started improving my communication patterns; although my written communication is still not the best now, I do not write more emails as I used to do earlier. If next time I face a similar situation, I would like to ask for help from seniors and colleagues and refer to self-learning tools for improving the same. I would also like to read through the job description more clearly and vividly to understand my role, polishing my communication skills and knowledge for delegating my responsibility more effectively. In addition, the internal communication skills that I would like to improve in the next six months would include writing crisp messages in longer emails, guiding the reader through paragraph flow, adding a catchy and correct subject line and finishing the mail with warmth and a feeling of being understood. I want to learn to send emails to different readers as it changes as per the audience. As for suppliers, simple language should be used. A personal element and information could be added for a colleague, while sending mails to headquarters requires a professional and brief message.

Conclusion

Communication is an important part of personal and professional life, although written communication is comparatively lesser-used than verbal ones. Hence, it becomes important to understand the tone of writing by including phrases and punctuation marks and including additional information like attachments. This reflective essay has made me understand that I need to learn the tone, audience type and brief emails in the next 6 months to make my communication more effective.

References

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