• Understanding and Using Communication in Business (Canfield Press, 1977, with Bernadine P. Branchaw).

• Effective Business Correspondence (Canfield Press, 1979, with Bernadine P. Branchaw).

• Successful Communication in Business (Harper&Row, 1980, with Bernadine P. Branchaw).

• Business Communication: From Process to Product (The Dryden Press, 1987, with Bernadine P. Branchaw).

• Business Report Writing (The Dryden Press, 1984 and 1988, with Bernadine P. Branchaw).

• How to Write Proposals That Produce (Oryx Press, 1992, with Bernadine P. Branchaw).

A lot has changed 20 or so years since I first began writing about business communication. We now know far more about human cognition and how it affects perception and communication than we did when my previous books were written. Also, information technology has changed—and continues to change—the way we communicate in a wide variety of ways. The materials presented here will cover most of the subjects traditionally covered in business communication textbooks and will also incorporate important new material about how people process information and the effective use of electronic communication.

Although communication is widely recognized as an essential skill, becoming an effective communicator is not especially easy. One of the things that makes communication problematic is the universal tendency to behave as though everyone has—or should have—the same view of reality as we do. Even though we know from daily experience that this is not the case, in most of our interactions we presuppose that others derive the same meaning from experiences as we do.

We all are inclined to believe that our own views are correct and that the world is as we perceive it to be. For this reason, to be successful at managing information and relationships, we need to develop a better understanding of the ways in which we and others create and structure subjective experience. Because the quality of our relationships depends on our understanding of and ability to manage our own subjective experiences and those of others, Business Communication: Managing Information and Relationships begins by looking at the nature of subjective experience and its influence on the communication process.

In Business @ the Speed of Thought, Bill Gates says “I have a simple but strong belief. The most meaningful way to differentiate your company from your competition, the best way to put distance between yourself and the crowd, is to do an outstanding job with information.” How you gather, manage, and use information will determine whether you win or lose (p. 3). In the information age, the same is as true for individuals as it is for organizations. How you gather, manage, and use information will play a significant role in your success—not only professionally but also personally, because how you handle information, how well you communicate, influences all your relationships.

The paradox of the Information Age is knowing what information is essential for a given task and being able to obtain and understand it is both easier and more difficult. These materials are designed to help you think about information and communication in a new way so that you can obtain high quality information more quickly and understand how it can help you achieve your personal and professional objectives.

• The Communication Process. To a very great extent, the quality of our lives depends on the quality of our communication. With well-developed communication skills, we are able to be more successful in a wide variety of ways. Being an effective communicator is not necessarily a matter of a large vocabulary and good grammar, although knowing which word to use when and speaking and writing correctly will clearly provide you with an advantage.

  Effective communication requires an understanding of the way in which people perceive themselves and their environment and the ability to provide them with the information they need to achieve their goals. Much of this information is communicated nonverbally, so understanding the fundamentals of nonverbal communication is essential.

• Language, Meaning, and Relationships. We use language to represent external reality and our subjective experience of it. Language is useful to the extent that we share vocabulary and grammar with others. If you’ve ever had the experience of being in a foreign country and being unable to understand the language, you have an idea of how important shared meanings can be.

  This section covers the fundamentals of English usage, a number of useful advanced language patterns, and the ways in which we use language to create and communicate meaning.

• Communication Objectives. Communication takes place in a specific context. Effective communication requires an understanding of the purpose and audience in that context. To be a skilled communicator, you will need to use an appropriate strategy and structure your messages for effectiveness.

• Writing Strategies: Short Documents. Your email, memos, and letters will be more effective when you use a number of specific techniques to meet your readers’ expectations. Whether you are writing to obtain information, convey good news or routine information, or writing to persuade, the right strategy can make the difference between success and failure in both your business and personal endeavors.

  If you earn $50,000 a year and spend 30 minutes planning, composing, and revising a document, you've invested approximately $25 in the document before sending it—and that does not include the cost of the equipment or space you used while writing. If you take an hour, which important documents could easily require, the cost doubles to $50. You will want each document you send to provide a good return on your investment.

• Writing Strategies: Long Documents. Reports, whether relatively short (under 10 pages) or long (perhaps thousands of pages), are sufficiently complex to require a number of special techniques. Depending on the organization for which you work, you may well need to write proposals, progress reports, justification reports, audit reports, financial reports, or any of a number of special report types soon after you begin working.

• Oral Communication. Although email has recently become the most common form of business communication, telephone communication ranks a close second. Nevertheless, most people—even those who conduct most of their business by phone—rarely receive formal training in how to use it effectively. The same is true for face-to-face communication, from informal hallway conversations, to communication in small groups and self-directed work teams, to formal presentations. Each of these situations presents an opportunity for you to enhance your standing with others.

• Communication About Employment. The need to prepare and send resumes (from the French, résumé, a summary of a person’s education and employment history) will not end with your first job following graduation. We are currently in a period of major change, and organizations and occupations are changing at a rapid rate.

  Most new college graduates will change careers three to five times in their working life and change the organizations for which they work more often than that. You will need to keep your resume up to date, because each change will probably require a letter of application, resume, one or more interviews, and appropriate postinterview follow-up correspondence.

A number of different studies have shown that the higher you go up the corporate ladder, the more time you will spend communicating. For this reason, effective communication is one of the prerequisites for promotion and investing the time required to become an effective communicator will serve you well, both now and throughout your career.

While she was my graduate student at Western Michigan University, Renunka Gopinath introduced me to HTML. Dr. Alan Rea, of the Department of Business Information Systems, introduced me to JavaScript and provided the form I have used for the review questions. Jim Jenks, of Kalamazoo and formerly of Western Michigan University, showed me how to use parent/child nested frames to facilitate navigation through the materials.

Additionally, Western Michigan University supported my work on these materials through a Teaching and Learning with Technology Grant and a sabbatical leave for the Winter Semester 2000.