Question

1. How do communicators assure they are being precise and clear about ideas being communicated?
2. Although audiences might be content with ambiguous, vague or equivocating business communications, why is the sender of the communication responsible and accountable for fashioning a clear and meaningful message that anyone can properly interpret?
3. How does inaccurate and imprecise business communication confuse or discourage the audience in making a decision?
4. Why should proper nouns be used rather than pronouns in formal business writing?
5. How can the 3 x 3 writing process help you write better business reports?

Answer 1

Communicators must be precise and clear about the ideas that they are communicating. The communicator is the one who receives the message from the sender and then communicates the message to the receiver. This can be assured only when the communicator agrees that he has properly interpreted the message that he received from the sender. The clarity in understanding of the message without any interruption of noise in the middle of communication is the result of effective communication taken place. The assurance can be given only by the receiver as proper understanding of message is necessary here. If there is any noise in the process in between, this would create an imbalance in the flow of information and incorrect information may pass in the hierarchy which could cause chaos in an organisation.

The sender of the communication is responsible and accountable for fashioning a clear and meaningful message that anyone can properly interpret. This is very true.

We need to first understand the basic model of communication flow in any organisation.

Sender -> Channel -> Message -> Receiver

If you see the above model, the sender is the first foremost person responsible for the flow of communication of message. If the sender is sending an incorrect message, all the further process of communication will become irrelevant. Communication is the transfer of information or sending information from one person to another. The sender is the one who is whole and sole responsible for delivering correct message. He is accountable for the flow of information in an organisation. Communication starts with the sender who is the initiator of the message. After generating an idea, the sender encodes the message in a way that can be comprehended by the receiver. Encoding refers to the process by which the sender translates his thoughts into a series of verbal and non-verbal (gestures, graphics) actions that he feels will communicate the message to the intended receiver.

Inaccurate and imprecise business communications confuses and discourage the audience in decision making. Incorrect information causes chaos and imbalance in an organisation structure. The business communication can be of different types but must be correct and accurate. Clarity in communication and understanding the message is very important. Business communication in an organisation plays a very crucial role. There are business deals related to the output and cost effective strategies that are discussed with the help of relevant facts and figures, if these are not accurate it will confuse the audience in decision making. Decisions cannot be made on the basis of inaccurate data. Accuracy, clarity, precise is the basic requirement of decision making in an organisation. Decision making in business is always based upon accurate facts and figures.

Proper nouns must be used rather than pronouns in formal business writing. This is because proper nouns help us use shorter and simpler sentences which is easy to understand and interpret for all. This also helps in avoiding self references and references to an individual’s state of mind.