There are different types of communication, verbal and nonverbal. Verbal uses words and can be face to face meetings or letters, emails, etc. Nonverbal communication does not use words, it comes from either pictures, body language, or other things that do not involve words. Business writing is much different than other types of writing. The purpose is different, as well as the audience(who can be a person outside of the organization), information is probably new to whoever you are telling, and so forth. There are three basic purposes to business communication, to inform, to request or persuade, and to build good will. Employees with good communication and writing skills can help a company save money by knowing the best way to write to convey a message, and to get it right the first time to save time and money. A message must be effective, it must be clear and correct. Know your audience, your primary audience, secondary audience, initial audience, gatekeeper, and watchdog audience. Make sure the message meets what the audience needs otherwise it will not be effective, it should be clear so that they can interpret it with ease and accuracy. When communicating with someone, you should be aware of their knowledge, demographic factors, personality, values and beleifs, and past behavior. When writing to an audience, use a style that is easy to understand and avoid words that may be offensive or arrogant.
One part of the reading that I find to be very useful is knowing the personality of the person that you are communicating with. If you know this persons personality, it will help you to know the best way to communicate with them effectively, and it will also help you to avoid ways that you know that person looks down upon or does not like as much. Another part of the reading that I thought was very useful was to know the organizations culture. In order for you to fit into an organization, you must understand and usually follow the culture of those that you work with. This will help you to have better relationships with coworkers, as well as possibly open up more advancement opportunities and help you be more happy in your workplace.
