Implications of Technology for Communications

In addition to making it easier to create, edit, and disseminate information, technology is

having the following effects on business communication:

More Information Available – Technology has increased dramatically the amount of information instantly available to the manager. Managers are receiving more computer-generated reports than ever before. Managers can carefully and critically evaluate the information they receive in timely manner.

Increased Importance of Direct Writing Style and of Abstracting – Because of the increased pressures on managers to consume more information, they are seeking ways to get to the main point of each document as quickly as possible. Executives prefer a direct style of writing from their subordinates with the major ideas presented first, followed by supporting details.

More Informal Style of Writing – Today, many executives do their own keyboarding and often e-mail to send the memo directly to the receiver’s computer. Because many messages these days are never printed on paper, they lack the polished format.

More Collaborative Communications – The increasing quantity and complexity of the information available makes it difficult for any one person to analyze a given situation. Thus, collaborative writing and collaborative oral presentation are becoming quite prevalent in organizations.

Improving Intercultural Communication 

Communication Ethics

I think that failures in ethics and integrity here are less excusable than errors in performance.

- Frank Cary, Former Chairman IBM

Basic Principles

•         Ethics cannot be avoided

•         Ethics involves both motives and results

•         Ethics is a matter of:who

i)        what

ii)      when

iii)    where

iv)    why