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  • GCSE Business (Old Spec.)
    • Unit 1: Introduction to Small Business >
      • Topic 1.1 Spotting a business opportunity >
        • Businesses
        • Understanding Customer Needs
        • Market Mapping
        • Competition
        • Adding Value
        • Franchising
        • Revision
      • Topic 1.2 Showing enterprise >
        • What is Enterprise?
        • Thinking Creatively
        • Questions to be Asked
        • Invention and Innovation
        • Taking a Calculated Risk
        • Important Enterprise Skills
        • Revision
      • Topic 1.3 Putting a business idea into practice >
        • Objectives When Starting Up
        • Qualities Shown by Entrepreneurs
        • Estimating Revenues, Costs and Profits
        • Forecasting Cash Flows
        • The Business Plan
        • Obtaining Finance
        • Revision
      • Topic 1.4 Making the start-up effective >
        • Customer Focus & The Marketing Mix
        • The Importance of Limited Liability
        • Start Up Legal and Tax Issues
        • Customer Satisfaction
        • Recruiting, Training and Motivating Staff
        • Revision
      • Topic 1.5 Understanding the economic context >
        • Demand and Supply
        • The Impact of Interest Rates
        • The Impact of Exchange Rates
        • The Impact of The Business Cycle
        • Business Decisions and Stakeholders
        • Revision
    • Unit 2: Investigating Small Business
    • Unit 3: Building a Business >
      • Topic 3.1 Marketing >
        • Marketing
        • Product trial and repeat purchase
        • Product life cycle
        • Branding and differentiation
        • Building a successful marketing mix
        • Revision
      • Topic 3.2 Meeting Customer Needs >
        • Design and research development
        • Managing stock
        • Quality
        • Cost-effective operations and competitiveness
        • Effective customer service
        • Meeting consumer protection laws
        • Revision
      • Topic 3.3 Effective Financial Management >
        • How to improve cash flow
        • How to improve profit
        • Break-even charts and break-even analysis
        • Financing growth
        • Revision
      • Topic 3.4 Effective People Management >
        • Organisational structure
        • Motivation theory
        • Communication
        • Remuneration
        • Revision
      • Topic 3.5 The Wider World Affecting Business >
        • Ethics in business
        • Environmental issues
        • Economic issues affecting international trade
        • The impact of government and the EU
        • Revision
  • A Level Business
    • AS Business >
      • 1. What is business? >
        • Understanding the nature and purpose of business
        • Understanding different business forms
        • Understanding that businesses operate within an external environment
      • 3. Decision making to improve marketing performance >
        • Setting marketing objectives
        • Understanding markets and customers
        • Making marketing decisions: segmentation, targeting, positioning
        • Making marketing decisions: using the marketing mix
      • 4. Decision making to improve operational performance >
        • Setting operational objectives
        • Analysing operational performance
        • Making operational decisions to improve performance: increasing efficiency and productivity
        • Making operational decisions to improve performance: improving quality
        • Making operational decisions to improve performance: managing inventory and supply chains
      • Revision
    • A2 Business >
      • 8. Choosing Strategic Direction >
        • Strategic direction: Choosing which markets to compete in and what products to offer
        • Strategic positioning: choosing how to compete
      • 9. Strategic methods: how to pursue strategies >
        • Assessing a change in scale
        • Assessing Innovation
        • Assessing Internationalisation
        • Assessing Greater Use of Digital Technology
      • 10. Managing Strategic Change >
        • Managing Change
        • Managing Organisational Culture
        • Managing Strategic Implementation
        • Problems with strategy and why strategies fail
  • BTEC Business
    • Unit 2: Learning Aim A >
      • Lesson 1: The role of marketing Introduction
      • Lesson 2: Setting Marketing Objectives
      • Lesson 3: The Marketing Mix
      • Lesson 4: Market Segmentation
      • Lesson 5: Branding
      • Lesson 6: Internal influences on marketing
      • Lesson 7: External Influences on Marketing
      • Lesson 8: Product and Price
    • Unit 6: Principles of Management >
      • B1 - Management and Leadership Styles
      • D1 - Theories of motivation
      • D1 - Financial and non-financial motivators
      • D2 - Techniques to meet skills requirements
      • D3 - Training and development
      • D4 - Performance Appraisal
      • E1 - Change Management
      • E1 - Model of Change Management
      • E1 - Barriers To Change
      • E1 - Stakeholders who influence change
      • F1 - Quality standards
      • F2 - Developing a quality culture
      • F3 - The techniques and tools of quality management
      • F4 - The importance and benefits of quality management
    • Unit 14: Customer Service
  • GCSE Business (9-1)
    • Theme 1: Investigating small business >
      • Topic 1.1 Enterprise and entrepreneurship >
        • 1.1.1 The dynamic nature of business
        • 1.1.2 Risk and reward
        • 1.1.3 The role of business enterprise
      • Topic 1.2 Spotting a business opportunity >
        • 1.2.1 Customer needs
        • 1.2.2 Market research
        • 1.2.3 Market segmentation
        • 1.2.4 The competitive environment
      • Topic 1.3 Putting a business idea into practice >
        • 1.3.1 Business aims and objectives
        • 1.3.2 Business revenues, costs and profits
        • 1.3.3 Cash and cash-flow
        • 1.3.4 Sources of business finance
        • Unit 3 revision
      • Topic 1.5 Understanding external influences on business >
        • 1.5.1 Business stakeholders
        • 1.5.2 Technology and business
        • 1.5.3 Legislation and business
        • 1.5.4 The economy and business
        • 1.5.5 External influences
      • Topic 1.4 Making the business effective >
        • 1.4.1 The options for start-up and small businesses
        • 1.4.2 Business location
        • 1.4.3 The marketing mix
        • 1.4.4 Business plans
    • Theme 2: Building a business >
      • Topic 2.1 Growing the business >
        • 2.1.1 Business growth
        • 2.1.2 Changes in business aims and objectives
        • 2.1.3 Business and globalisation
        • 2.1.4 Ethics, the environment and business
      • Topic 2.2 Making marketing decisions >
        • 2.2.1 Product
        • 2.2.2 Price
        • 2.2.3 Promotion
        • 2.2.4 Place
        • 2.2.5 Using the marketing mix to make business decisions
      • Topic 2.3 Making operational decisions >
        • 2.3.1 Business operations
        • 2.3.2 Working with suppliers
        • 2.3.3 Managing quality
        • 2.3.4 The sales process
      • Topic 2.4 Making financial decisions >
        • 2.4.1 Business calculations
        • 2.4.2 Understanding business performance
      • Topic 2.5 Making human resource decisions >
        • 2.5.1 Organisational structures
        • 2.5.2 Effective recruitment
        • 2.5.3 Effective training and development
        • 2.5.4 Motivation

communication

Learning Objectives:
  • To understand the following key terms (AO1):
  1. Communication
  2. Channel of Communication
  3. Formal Channels of Communication
  4. Informal Channels of Communication
  • To apply how businesses communicate internally and externally. (AO2)
  • To evaluate the effectiveness of business communication. (AO3)
Specification:
  • the impact of insufficient or excessive communication on efficiency, the impact on staff and their motivation and the barriers to effective communication

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Key term: COMMUNICATION - Messages passed between a sender and a receiver, through a medium such as a letter or an email.

Key term: FEEDBACK - A response to a message by its receiver to the sender.

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In order for communication to be effective, information must be:
  • Simple
  • Complete
  • Clear
  • Sent to the right people
  • Sent through the appropriate communication channel
Key term: INTERNAL COMMUNICATION - Communication within the business organisation.
What examples of internal communication can you think of?
  • a receptionist talking to another receptionist
  • a manager sending an 'all staff' memo
  • a director sending an email to his PA
  • a document being sent from one branch to another
Key term: EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION - communication between the business and someone outside the organisation.
What examples of external communication can you think of?
  • a customer services executive talking to a client
  • a director speaking with a shareholder
  • a building firm emailing a a bank regarding a quote for repairs
  • an advert designed to interest potential customers
Key term: CHANNEL OF COMMUNICATION - the path taken by a message, such as horizontal communication, vertical communication or grapevine communication.
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Key term: FORMAL CHANNELS OF COMMUNICATION - channels of communication that are recognised and approved by the business and by the employee representatives such as trade unions.
Information passes along channels of communication. These are channels which are recognised and approved by the business and by employee representatives such as trade unions. There are two main types of formal communication: horizontal and vertical communication.
Key term: VERTICAL COMMUNICATION - Communication up and down the organisational hierarchy.
Key term: HORIZONTAL COMMUNICATION - Communication between workers at the same level of the organisational hierarchy.
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Often, communication does not get passed along official channels in an organisation. Informal communication is called communication through the grapevine. This could be referred to as 'gossip' when employees talk about the business to one another, if it is not directly to do with their job roles.
Key term: INFORMAL COMMUNICATION OR COMMUNICATION THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE - communication through channels that are not formally recognised by the business.
Channels of communication should be clearly laid down by a business. If they are not, then vital information can get sent to the wrong people, or get lost. Communication through the grapevine can sometimes be a problem because messages may get distorted and exaggerated the more people they go through. In general, the fewer the number of stages through which a communication passes (i.e. the shorter the chain of communication) the less likely a message will be misinterpreted. 

There are a number of factors that make a communication effective:
  • INFORMATION - the message being communicated must be accurate, complete and give all the relevant information. It must be simple and clear
  • SENDER AND RECEIVER - the message must be sent from the right people, to the right people.
  • TIME AND PLACE - Communication must take place at the right time and right place so that it is not useless
  • METHOD - The method of communication must be right. E.g. an urgent notice about fire safety shouldn't be passed on by word of mouth

Barriers to communication

Not all communication is effective. There is a number of reasons why communication breaks down.
  • Incorrect communication channel
  • Poor communication skills or message not explained very well
  • Lack of understanding (possibly through use of technological 'jargon')
  • Messages can get distorted if they go through many people
  • Technology breakdown
Benefits of good communication
  • satisfied or well-informed customers
  • clear instruction leads to a better job being done
  • stops misunderstanding amongst employees
Problems of poor communication
  • dissatisfied customers
  • problems with suppliers
  • misunderstanding amongst staff
  • demotivated staff 
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