Example of Effective Communication in a Business Environment essay
Communication is an essential part of human life and has a notable impact on all spheres of human life. In business, communication plays a key role in all types of interactions: top-down interactions, bottom-up interactions, interactions of two equal parties, negotiations, etc (Hartley & Bruckmann, 2008). All three types of communications are important for business – written communications, verbal communications and expressed communications, also referred to as body language (Hartley & Bruckmann, 2008). Business performance and outcomes strongly depend on the effectiveness of communication, because all business transactions include the transmission of information between various stakeholders.
One example of effective communication in a business environment took place when I assisted a top manager who was responsible for negotiating with suppliers. I was present at the negotiations and provided various assistance to the top manager. The top manager’s way of conducting the negotiations and his methods of communication were very efficient.
The purpose of the negotiations was to achieve an agreement on the terms and pricing of supplying spare parts for automobiles. The top manager’s goal was to get discounts or to convince suppliers to offer lower prices; furthermore, it was desirable to reach an agreement that would allow our company to pay for the spare parts after the parts were shipped. Initially, it seemed that it would not be possible to achieve the goals of the communication because the initial conditions offered by the suppliers included higher prices and required sending payment before the orders were assembled and prepared for shipping. However, the top manager managed to convince the suppliers to provide 5-8% discounts for bulk orders. Furthermore, the agreement between our company and suppliers allowed for 80% of payment to be sent after the order was actually shipped.
In my opinion, the communication was very effective because the top manager managed to move ahead on each objective of the negotiations, so the new agreement created notable financial benefits for our company compared to the previous conditions. In addition, such agreement allowed to set lower prices for our customers, therefore gaining a market advantage over competitors.
I believe that the communication was effective because of the following reasons. First of all, the top manager was very well-prepared for the conversation and remembered a lot of market information that he used to convince the suppliers. For example, he made a comparative analysis of the conditions offered by other suppliers and showed the projected order volumes to the suppliers. The second factor contributing to the success of the communications was the focus on “win-win” solutions: the top manager analyzed the situation from the point of view of the other party (the suppliers, in this case), and clearly demonstrated the advantages of reaching an agreement with our company on their side. The third factor that made these negotiations effective was the top manager’s attentiveness to the reactions and arguments of the other party; the top manager did not push on the supplier representatives to get maximal discount or maximal payment delay, but instead worked together with them to create a mutually convenient solution.
According to Hartley and Bruckmann (2008), the effectiveness of communication can be evaluated using five criteria: communication fidelity (preciseness), economy (compact use of symbols, time and energy), congruence (the match between verbal and non-verbal signals), influence (the communicator’s ability to change the decisions of the other party) and relationship building (creation of trust and improvement of relationships due to communications). In terms of this criteria, the top manager was successful in at least four categories: fidelity – the top manager’s communication was up to the point and informative, congruence – his nonverbal signals demonstrated confidence and supported his strong position, influence – the representatives of the supplier were impressed by the arguments and took them into account, and relationship building – the other party demonstrated respect and positively perceived the results of the negotiations.
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