Communication in business (OCR GCSE Business): Revision Notes
📚 Revision Notes
3.3 Communication in business
Ways of communicating in a business context
There are lots of ways that businesses can communicate within or outside the business. Within a business, employees may need to talk via phone, email or text to complete work, and outside of a business they may send marketing emails or letters to customers.
| Form | Uses | Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Letter | Send promotions to customers Discipline/inform employees | Formal Business can keep copies as proof | Slow delivery Becomes expensive |
| Send information to stakeholders/ customers Inform employees about tasks and updates | Immediate delivery Inexpensive | Easily ignored or moved to spam May not be secure | |
| Text | Send customers delivery updates Quick messages to employees | Immediate delivery Checked regularly | Seen as informal Could be ignored or moved to spam |
| Phone | Customer support and questions before buying Talk to colleagues in different locations easily | Not ideal for long discussions One-on-one, real-life interaction | Typically more time consuming Bad signal means calls may not be received |
| Meeting/presentat ion | Present products to customers in real life Hold engaging, meaningful meetings | Easy to collaborate with colleagues Possible to give lots of detail and information | Can be time-consuming Could me inconvenient for those at different locations |
| Social media | Marketing and advertising to customers Sharing updates with stakeholders and community | Easily reach a large audience Encourages customers to engage and interact | Time-consuming and costly for someone to manage Seen as less formal |
| Website | Provide information to customers, stakeholders and investors | Can be used to sell online, 24/7 New traffic from search engines | Poorly designed sites discourage customers Website could be hacked or may crash |
Written and verbal communication
Verbal communication is spoken, such as a presentation, meeting or phone call. Written communication would be something such as an email, letter or text message.
| Advantages of verbal communication | Advantages of written communication |
|---|---|
| Immediately check if information has been understood | Not always possible to see if receiver has actually received or understood message |
| Easier to emphasise certain points | Records are easier to keep |
| Can use diagrams and slides to better explain information | Receiver can re-read message until they understand it or keep it for later |
Importance of business communications
- Share important information needed to make a decision
- Solving problems as a team is more efficient
- Improves employee satisfaction, reducing absences
- Share promotions online
- Create customer loyalty
The influence of digital communication on business activity
Examples of digital communication are emails, social media, text messages, phone calls, video calls and online chats.
- Formal communication: communication that has been recorded
- Informal communication: communication that hasn't been recorded
- One-way communication: manager gives instructions
- Two-way communication: communication between manager and subordinate
- Horizontal communication: communication between workers in different departments
- Vertical communication: communication up and down organisation structure
These help a business by:
- Improving customer satisfaction
- Improving productivity in teams
- Improving customer service
- Improving speed and accuracy of information
- Access to a wider audience online
