Business and Organisational Communication

This chapter on business and organisational communication is a holistic reflection on the various constituent topics within this discipline. Foundationally, it commences with a discussion on the philosophical underpinnings of communication within organisations. This section enlists concepts that are critical in defining organisational communication. Evolution of business and organisational communication as a module discusses the progression of theory and practice of business and organisational communication. This section also attempts to enlist the various terminologies used across the domain of communication studies, and discusses the seminal theories articulating key differences between the theory and practice of such terminologies (such as corporate communication, internal communication, external communication, business communication, organisational communication etc.). A separate section is dedicated to examining the need for business and organisational communication module, as it attempts to position the need for academic articulation of such communication in organisations. This section emphasises on the existential significance of the field of business and organisational communication from a business perspective. Structuring of business and organisational communication as a module discusses the classifications, categories, stakeholders and models in the domain of business and organisational communication. The section on skills and competencies required for effective organisational communication discusses the skills required by a manager to be an effective business communicator. Finally, communicating leadership as a section in this chapter outlines those factors in the domain of organisational communication which are significant elements of communication for leaders, and bring about a nuance in the art of communication when exhibited by leaders. These factors include discussions on strategic communication and crisis communication. In conclusion, this chapter tries to comment on the evolving communication practices within and outside organisations, that are brought about by the changing medium as well as the audiences.