Almost all aspects of Business Management require extensive amounts of both verbal as well as written communication. Business communication is an integral part of business management and nobody can understand it better than the students who are pursuing their management degrees. All aspects of business whether it is planning, management or organizing require extensive amounts of communication with a lot of people.
Business management involves mutual interaction and communication at various levels within a hierarchy. When dealing with a large number of people in an organization, effective communication is the key. For successfully running a business organization, clear communication is required, so that there is no ambiguity amongst subordinates, colleagues and peers. Business communication is always done with a certain purpose. There is always a certain pattern and protocol associated with business communication in an organization.
The importance of effective communication while doing business cannot be emphasized enough. Business communication can be of two types; oral/ verbal and written communication.
Oral communication includes conversations with people via group discussions, interviews, lectures, seminars etc. Verbal communication can be done via intra office communication, reports, charts etc.
Communication in a business organization becomes extremely important for formulation and implementation of various strategies. Management also involves communicating individual tasks to various people so everyone is clear about their roles in the organization.
So, we can very safely say that Business communication is the backbone of any business organization. Without clear communication it will be nearly impossible to run an organization smoothly.
But all this leads us to one question. Which is the language on which all this important communication is done? The answer could not be more obvious. It is English. The influence of English has grown tremendously over the past few years. In India and in many other non- English speaking countries of the world, English is spoken by a large number of people. This number is set to increase even more in the years to come. As people continue to understand the impact that English has been making over the past few years, the number of people taking up courses for learning English has also increased.
Some people may find the importance being given to English language hard to understand. And the doubts are not unjustified. Statistically it is not the most commonly spoken language in the world. However, the influence of English is not limited by borders. In Business communication, if two people do not speak the same language, they generally end up communicating in English only. Therefore, the use of English is not limited to only small businesses. Large scale business organizations make use of the English language as well.
So, it is not very hard to understand why the students who pursue their Business Administration degrees need to have great communication skills in English. Most reputed business organizations conduct their daily business within the office and with other companies in English only. This communication may be done via emails, telephone calls, hard documentation etc. All of this is done in English only. The impact of English on various professions is to the extent that in many industries, English proficiency is a mandatory requirement for even applying for various jobs.
But as it has been stated above, in addition to having an impressive command over spoken English, mastery over written English is also expected of aspiring business managers. Most corporate communication is done through documents, emails, legal papers etc, which means that if a person is not adept at written English; there are very high chances of making career- threatening mistakes in the corporate world. Many companies test the English proficiency of the candidates before hiring. This is done by personal interviews and sometimes written English exams are also taken for ensuring that the aspiring employees meet the industry standards.
Although to be good at communication one needs to have good English, for making sure that your English is up to the requirements of the industry, you can take up special Business communication courses, which are meant to push your linguistic limits to make you stand apart from the crowd. These courses are specially designed for training the MBA students who already possesses the professional know how of their course and are familiar with all the technical and business terminology.
As with any other language, gaining proficiency in English also takes investment in terms of time and patience. Many students get lured in by false claims by many institutes which promise to make the students experts in English within a short period of time. Short duration courses generally teach you the language without the understanding of the basic concepts which are crucial for in- depth knowledge of any language. So, before choosing any institute run credentials check on the institute and ensure that while learning you will not be wasting any of your precious time and money.
Dr. Mitalee Shome is a top English Language Expert & communications guru, based in Mumbai, India. Dr. Mitalee is a PhD in English literature, with over 30 years of rich and varied teaching experience. For all your Business communication learning requirements, please contact us at English Expert India.