Trends in Business and

Administrative Communication
 Introduction
The 10 trends affecting business and
administrative communication;
1. Focus on Quality and customers needs
2. Entrepreneurship and outsourcing
3. Teams
4. Diversity
5. Globalization
6. Technology
7. Legal and ethical concerns
8. Balancing work and family
9. The End of the Job/Empowerment
10. Rapid rate of change
 Focus On Quality And
Customers Needs
Customer - responsive organisations grow.
Customer focus may lead to business redefinition.
Communication is at the centre of quality and
customer focus.
Brainstorming and group problem-solving to
develop efficient methods and techniques.
Communicating good ideas throughout
company.
Reorganizing innovators and mobilizing change
agents.
Listening to what customers say, and their
silences.
 Entrepreneurship and
Outsourcing
Success of Entrepreneurs
Emergence of Intrapreneurs who;
Hire, train, motivate and evaluate employees.
Respond to customer complaints.
Draft surveys.
Write business plans.
Make presentations to venture capitalists.
Outsourcing makes communication harder;
More complex for inside audience.
Crisis potential for outside audience.
 Teams
Reliance on cross-functional teams for synergy,
efficiency and quantum performance.
Prevalence of teams puts a premium on;
Learning
Problem-solving
Sharing leadership
Working with others rather than merely delegating to
others
Resolving conflict constructively, and
Inviting everyone to their best job.
 Diversity
Working in teams means working with
people from various backgrounds and
different personality traits;
Gender/sex
Age
Religion
Ethnicity/Race
Education
 Diversity..
Region
Physical abilities/disabilities
This puts a premium on;
Helping each person to reach his/her potential.
Encouraging understanding among workers,
treating readers and audiences with respect.
Requires flexibility and knowledge about
intercultural communication.
 Globalization
Exponential expansion, transfer and exchange
of goods and services as well as investment
across national boundaries.
Exponential increase in communication
challenges.
Heightened need for intercultural competence,
i.e. the ability to communicate sensitively with
people from other cultures and countries,
based on an understanding of cultural
differences.
 Technology
Changes in technology support and
drive changes in other areas.
Technology;
Helps organizations save money but
technological change carries costs.
Makes it easier to monitor workers
and communicate across space and
time.
 Technology..
Creates new jobs, eliminates old ones
and require retraining/multi-skilling.
Generates frustration and
dissatisfaction.
Creates information overload.
Affects the way people expect and
interpret information.
 Legal And Ethical Concerns
Ambiguous communication could
lead to lawsuits with high legal fees.
Fraudulent transactions dissuade
customers.
Language, graphics and document
design can be ethical or
manipulative.
Legal And Ethical Concerns
Persuasion and gaining compliance can be
done with respect or contempt for customers,
peers or subordinates.
Ethical concerns include;
Telling the truth and offering good value for
money.
Being good environmental citizens.
Offering good working place for employees.
Contributing to needs of the community.
 Balancing Work And Family
Work hours constitute more than 1/3 of daily life.
Working life usually greater than non-working life.
Family is the source and provides support to work life.
Family disruptions affect work life negatively.
Communication can be used to balance work and
family;
Show concern and ask about the family.
Share in joy and sorrow of the family.
Visit and interact with the family.
Create/facilitate communication channels between
office and family.
The End of the Job/Empowerment
Jobs are changing from what people are told to
do, to doing what ever needs to be done.
Workers must;
Job-hunt.
Keep up with new technology.
Understand new economic and political
realities.
Engage in life-learning.
Adopt new ways of interacting with people.
 Rapid Rate Of Change
Rapid change is constant in business
and government.
What worked yesterday may not work
for today, much less tomorrow.
Change is stressful and frightening.
Even when change promises
improvement, people have to learn new
skills, new habits and new attitudes.
 Rapid Rate Of Change
School education is not enough.
The skills you learn stand you in good
stead, this includes the ability to;
Write,
Speak, and
Work with other people