Etiquette and culture of business communication in an organization

A significant portion of the time in the schedules of organizational leaders, as well as employees whose activities include regulating the work of personnel, is spent on business conversations. These could be meetings, conferences, approvals and other formats of communication regarding production issues. Since the quality of such negotiations directly affects the efficiency and success of the company, it is necessary to comply with certain norms and rules that determine the culture of business communication and etiquette. The ability to adequately and correctly conduct a conversation is a key factor contributing to personal success in business. However, despite the obviousness of the elementary rules of behavior in society, the sphere of business relations still presupposes its own communication features, knowledge of which significantly increases the value of both a modest clerk and a major manager.

The concept of culture and ethics in business communication

The business world is quite strict in its definitions and by its nature excludes any inaccuracies and vague formulations. And yet, the norms of communicative interaction are the side of business where ethical principles prevail. In general terms, these aspects are reflected by the culture of business communication, the concept of which can be defined as a set of norms of moral behavior. Based on the developed principles of culturally appropriate behavior, the style of relationships between people in work processes is regulated.

In business culture, it is important to distinguish between two categories of norms – value and mental. The first group represents a certain set of traditions and defines the ethical component in the business environment. The value aspects of cultural regulation in business communication can also act as stereotypes, habitual behavior or current stylistic forms of corporate behavior. In contrast to the layer of values that lays the foundation for cultural business communication, the base of mental factors is more effective for application. Such principles for regulating communication norms are developed as a response to a request to improve the quality of the business process.

That is, if traditional or customary norms become ineffective or completely inhibit the development of the organization, the mental foundations of a business communication culture are introduced, which allow them to more effectively cope with production situations. In modern countries where the level of economic development is above average, the principles of business culture are based on ethical soundness, an orientation towards freedom of creativity, interaction and independence.

Culture in business communication can also be represented as an element of the general moral development of a specialist who knows how to communicate productively and conflict-free with colleagues and partners, as well as create a favorable and friendly atmosphere.

Among entrepreneurs, etiquette and the culture of business communication are closely intertwined. The concept of ethics is often heard in the context of defining culture in a particular area. As a way of certain systematization, ethical standards help in regulating business relationships. Ethics in the business world is a set of moral rules that determine the behavior of managers and employees in production activities.

Although a significant proportion of the ethical rules adopted by the business world can be classified as generally accepted, there are also special cases of rules developed specifically as a means of regulating work relationships. By and large, etiquette and culture of business communication are based on mutual respect for economic and reputational interests between partners and colleagues. Moreover, the ethical laws of business require respect and consideration of the interests of competitors. This means that the company should not use techniques that go beyond the competitive market.

Business communication

Business communication consists of business: negotiations, conversations and meetings, as well as public speaking. Thus, business communication becomes a multifaceted process of developing relationships in the world of work. The participants in these relationships achieve their goals and specific objectives through communication, while maintaining their official status.

Maintaining status is specific to a given process. The regulation of business communication and compliance with established rules also remains. These include cultural or national traditions, mentality, professional ethics, public and implicit norms of behavior. Business etiquette forms rules that contribute to the development of relationships between people in the work environment and their mutual understanding.

Business etiquette is divided into two subgroups: communication between employees of equal status and communication with superiors. In both cases, the general rule is to treat all colleagues and partners in a friendly and correct manner, regardless of their personal disposition towards the person. The ability to deal well with people is one of the main factors influencing your success in business, official or service activities. D. Carnegie argued that success depends only 15% on your professional skills and 85% on your ability to work with people.

Means of communication:

speech;
language;
Gestures;
pantomime;
Phrases;
Emotions.

Components of the communication process:

Message;
Talk;
report;
Point of view;
It's a compliment.
Types of business communication:
Conversations;
Negotiation;
Meeting;
Visits;
public performance.

Formation of cultural communication skills

The problems of forming and developing business communication skills, which provide for a sufficient level of culture and etiquette, are associated with the organization of processes for mastering knowledge in this area. In addition, the professional tasks of employees are becoming more complicated, which necessitates non-standard approaches to the style of negotiations, speeches, etc. For the most part, organizations are not able to ensure the building of correct business relationships and successful teamwork. In turn, employees sometimes only have a basic understanding of speech etiquette.

Behavioral experience, which is acquired through special methods, is also of great importance. In modern companies, the formation of a culture of business communication occurs in the process of developing practical skills among team members. To achieve this, managers are working in the following areas:

Organization of business communication games.
Conducting training sessions that include democratic behavior.
Trainings on conflict management with modeling of not only professional patterns of behavior, but also interpersonal ones.
Individual, subgroup and collective development of practical skills that will allow you to work harmoniously in a team.

The use of training tools makes it possible to establish the process of forming a culture through practical training of behavioral skills in different situations. At the same time, not only a culture of business communication is developed on the professional side, but also personal development and self-knowledge occurs. From the point of view of benefits for the organization, this means higher employee dedication, focus on results and interest in the success of the company.

Rhetorical principles and culture of behavior

When considering the means of communication in the business sphere, it is impossible not to touch upon the aspect of the effectiveness of the communicative impact on the listener. Still, the success of a specialist in business is largely determined by his ability to clearly, objectively and understandably convey his position. To do this, many use rhetorical techniques of business communication and rules of cultural behavior in a single complex. The effectiveness of negotiations using such means of communication, coupled with adherence to etiquette and good manners, is more likely to create a positive image for both the employee and the entire company. Rhetoric provides several psychological and didactic principles of influence that are used during speeches, interviews, conferences and presentations - these are associativity, accessibility, intensity and expressiveness.

The means of associativity are designed to evoke empathy in listeners and encourage them to think, starting from rational and emotional memory. Achieving this effect is achieved through such techniques as imagery, analogies, references to precedents, etc. Accessibility is a particularly important principle, due to which the speaker can be understood by colleagues and partners with different cultural and educational backgrounds. Accessibility can be increased by communicating obscure and original information in combination with diverse information. Means that increase expressiveness should be used by those who have a highly developed culture of business communication and communicative experience, otherwise you can get the opposite effect of unwanted theatricality. Expressiveness helps a person to emotionally and at the same time sincerely express his attitude towards the topic. Intensity in business communication is, as a rule, the ability to present information at a certain pace in the most complete and accessible way, taking into account the readiness of listeners to perceive it.

Psychological component in business communication

Psychology in the culture of business conversation allows us to determine patterns in the mental state of interlocutors and, in accordance with its characteristics, be able to create a favorable climate for negotiations. A person with psychological knowledge can defend himself against a partner’s incorrect behavior, use ways to defuse negative emotions, refute opponents’ arguments in a gentle manner, and calmly listen to criticism. The psychological culture of business communication is of particular importance in resolving conflict situations, since they often reveal the characteristics of different psychological types.

Among the techniques and methods of psychological behavioral culture in the process of a business conversation, the following can be distinguished:

Forming a good opinion of yourself (or the company).
Creating a psychologically favorable environment.
Listening to the interlocutor and understanding his motives.
Determining the partner’s internal state (by manners and voice).
Neutralization of comments during a conversation.
Ways to protect yourself from inappropriate behavior.
Techniques for conducting conflict-free conversation.
Self-calming technique.

Speech culture

First of all, the culture of conducting a business conversation implies the ability to competently use literary language and choose appropriate rhetorical techniques depending on the situation. Speech culture includes communicative, normative and ethical aspects.

The normative factor presupposes the correctness of speech in compliance with the rules of the literary language. The concept of a language norm is a key factor that determines the speech culture of business communication in negotiation processes. The communicative aspect is a skill that allows you to use language during communication. The ethical component, in turn, is associated with the ability to use the rules of speech behavior depending on the situation. These rules may change, since among partners and colleagues there may be people with different moral and ethical guidelines.

Of particular importance for the success of negotiations is the communicative culture in business communication, determined by the rules of speech etiquette as a system of signs that people exchange during the negotiation process. Verbal speech etiquette provides behavioral culture and can constitute both a general set of communication stereotypes and a narrow niche within the framework of making requests, greetings, attracting attention, etc.

Introduction

Business communication is a necessary part of human life, the most important way of communicating with other people. Ethical norms are eternal and one of the main regulators of these relations, expressing our ideas about good and evil, about justice and injustice, about the right or wrong action of a person. And communication in business relationships with their subordinates, bosses or colleagues, everyone, one way or another, consciously or spontaneously relies on these ideas. But depending on how a person understands moral norms, what content he puts into them, to what extent he takes them into account in communication in general, he can make his business communication easier, more effective, help in solving problems and achieving goals, and also make communication more difficult or even impossible.

The specificity of business communication is due to the fact that it is based on and associated with a specific type of activity related to the production of a product or commercial effect. In this case, the parties to business communication act in a formal (official) status, which determines the necessary norms and standards (including ethical) of people’s behavior. Like any type of communication, business communication is historical in nature; it manifests itself at different levels of the social system and in different forms. Its peculiarity is that it is not self-sufficient, not an end in itself, but a means to achieve other goals. In market relations, the main goal is to achieve the greatest profit.

The most important feature of business communication is that it is necessary to be able to build relationships with different people, while achieving maximum efficiency of business contacts. The most tempting proposal for a partner may “fail” because of his frowning or uneducated appearance. What if the business proposal itself is not a business proposal? Let's take a typical situation: a young, beautiful woman comes to us when we announce a competition for a job related to working with people. She asked: “Why did you come to us?” She tells us confidentially, with a pleasant tone and pleasant expression: “I get so little from my work! I live alone with a child, my husband has not paid child support for a long time. I don't even subscribe to newspapers anymore. I only buy occasionally. I just bought it and here’s your ad.” “Have you ever worked with people?” - “No, but I think I’ll try, maybe everything will work out.” I'm afraid they'll cut me off at work anyway." The outcome of such a presentation is not difficult to predict.

Understanding the specifics of business communication leads to the idea that he must learn.

Business communication culture should be understood as a high level of communication skills in the business world.

The culture of business communication presupposes:

High communication culture, i.e. the art of speaking (including in public) and listening.
The ability to objectively perceive a partner and understand him correctly.
The ability to build relationships with each partner to achieve effective interaction based on mutual interests.

The sides of business communication are interconnected: The ability to correctly perceive and accept a partner or audience helps to find the right arguments, and mastery of rhetoric helps to interpret them. All this is necessary for a successful business contact, where the ability to interact with a partner is demonstrated: overcoming communication barriers, taking the necessary psychological position, achieving the appropriate level of communication, etc. Ideally, a businessman should have equivalent knowledge of all aspects of communication in the business world.

Culture in a telephone conversation

A telephone conversation is a form of conversation within strict boundaries, which often leads to mistakes in business etiquette. On the other hand, the limited format has its advantages, one of which is the ability to model typical situations and ways to overcome them. For example, the rules of business communication culture in a telephone conversation can be reflected in several common examples of behavior:

You cannot call your partner’s home number without prior approval.
The optimal time frame for a possible call can be determined as follows: from 8 am to 11 pm.
If the call is not answered, do not hang up immediately.
If the connection is interrupted, the call initiator must resume it.
You should not speak loudly unless the interlocutor asks for it due to poor hearing.
The conversation should be short and to the point.
You need to answer calls as quickly as possible, otherwise the interlocutor will think that the conversation is not of interest to your partner.
It is undesirable to move away from the phone during a conversation, but if this is necessary, then you should warn the interlocutor in advance.

Also, do not forget that the generally accepted principles of business communication culture require a positive and at the same time meaningful greeting and conclusion of the conversation with a possible summary.

Nonverbal culture in business communication

It happens that words, as such, in business negotiations do not correspond to the true attitude of the authors to the topic. Also, experienced partners may suspect the interlocutor’s insincerity, which affects decision-making. Non-verbal communication, that is, body language and gestures, allows us to eliminate this possibility and identify hidden motives. For example, by facial expressions you can determine the internal state of the interlocutor, his possible thoughts and messages. In this regard, the culture of business communication in an organization may also include non-verbal means of communication, which make it possible to establish trusting contact with a partner.

The ability to understand body language also allows you to anticipate the possible reaction of your interlocutor even before he verbally expresses his attitude to the received information. Accordingly, even in the process of conveying it, in parallel with the wordless language, it is possible to adjust positions in a certain direction.

It is generally accepted that nonverbal communication is accessible to every person, regardless of his cultural level and education. In reality this is not the case. Different people have different stock of gestures, and the higher the communication culture of a business person, the richer the opportunities for wordless communication. In negotiations, nonverbal language will allow you to express a skeptical attitude towards a proposal, emphasize dominant aspects, hide dissatisfaction with criticism, and much more, which will have no less a strong effect on the interlocutor than direct expression in words.

Forms and purposes of business communication, its functions

There are several forms of business communication. The main ones are:

Conversation;
Negotiation;
Discussion;
Meeting;
Meeting;
Correspondence;
Performance.

Each of the listed forms has its own characteristics. However, the general rules of business communication are observed in all cases. For example, respect for opponents is present in every form. Another example would be the rule of punctuality. It is unacceptable to be late for the same negotiations.

If we talk about the purpose of business communication, it is defined as the impact on others. Such influence is expressed in the desire to persuade opponents to take some actions, actions, change their opinions, and achieve from them what they want within the business framework. An additional goal can be called the desire to learn more information about the interlocutor in order to use it in further communication to achieve the main goal. At the same time, the rules are followed, for example, the conversation is conducted in a polite manner, since in the communication of business people an impolite attitude towards an opponent is unacceptable.

Functions of business communication:

Information and communication – associated with the accumulation, formation, as well as transmission and reception of information;
Regulatory-communicative – involving the correction of behavior, the choice of methods of influencing the opponent;
Effective communication – expressed in the formation of the emotional shell of the interlocutors.

Conflict resolution

Conflict situations in the business sphere are not uncommon, and their consequences can be quite serious. In this regard, various means and ways to resolve them are used. Today, there are 5 basic concepts that determine behavior in conflict situations:

Ignoring the actions of the other party.
Adaptation to partners' conditions.
Searching for a new format for cooperation.
Finding a compromise.
Competitive fight.

The choice of behavior style in a particular situation is determined by the specific interests of the participants in the conflict. The competitive style is most often chosen by people who have sufficient authority, will, and broad powers and are not very interested in partnering with the opposite side. This tactic can be used if the outcome of the conflict does not have a major impact on the interests of the organization. But it is important to remember that the ethics and culture of business communication still require compliance with certain laws of competition. That is, even with the obvious advantage of a large company over a small company, the manager who will seek a compromise resolution of the conflict, acting in the interests of the partner, will win. Even if you have to sacrifice your interests, in the future the reputational dividends will be able to cover the lost profits at the moment.

Standards of behavior for a leader

The practice of developing a business style of interaction within organizations has made it possible to develop the most effective norms of behavior for managers and subordinates. Thus, for managers, the following examples of a reference management style can be given:

Work on uniting a team whose members have moral and ethical communication skills.
Involving employees in the company’s tasks, which will allow them to feel more comfortable both morally and psychologically. This usually occurs in the process of identifying an employee with the team.
All comments to employees should be made in full accordance with the rules that prescribe the ethics and culture of business communication within organizations.
When conflicts arise, the manager must find out all the reasons. If the problem arose due to dishonesty or inappropriate behavior of a certain employee, then the boss’s task will be to help the subordinate change his behavior style.
You should not give recommendations to subordinates in matters that go beyond the scope of professional duties.

Business Etiquette

Business documents appeared in Russia after the introduction of writing in the 10th century. The first written documents established in the chronicle are the contractual texts of Russian treaties with the Greeks in 907, 911, 944 and 971, and in the 11th century the first Kievan Russian code of laws “Russian Truth” appeared - an original monument of writing, allowing one to judge the development of the legal and socio-political terminology of that time. In the language of “Russkaya Pravda” it is already possible to highlight the peculiarities of the use of words and the organization of speech, which are one of the characteristic features of business style. We are talking about high terminology, the predominance of composition over subordination in complex sentences, the presence of complex constructions with compositional associations “a”, “and”, “yes”, “how”, and non-union chains. Of all types of complex subordinate clauses, the most common are those with clauses (with conjunctions, if any). Russian Pravda already uses terms that indicate the development of legal relations in Ancient Rus': head (killed), head (killed), ear (killer), ear (witness), vira (looted), booty (property), vein (bride price ), kuna (money). Legal terms represent the most important lexical layer of the language of ancient documents.

Standards of behavior for a subordinate

An adequate and correct attitude towards the manager is also the key to an employee’s successful and effective professional activity. In this case, the culture of business communication is also based on the moral requirements that the manager makes of his subordinates.

Principles of employee behavior in relation to the manager:

Contribute to and assist management in creating a benevolent moral climate within the organization.
You should not try to impose your opinion on your boss - all comments and suggestions should be expressed extremely tactfully and politely.
If any event that is significant for the team, sad or joyful, is planned, the manager should be notified about it.
A categorical tone in a conversation with a manager is excluded. Moreover, the communicative culture in business communication also requires bosses to avoid a rigid style in conversation even with subordinates.
The desire to please, as well as excessive flattery, do not contribute to improving relations with superiors and the team. Such an employee is perceived as a sycophant and a person not worthy of respect.

There are many controversial and ambiguous situations where it is not easy to choose a specific relationship style. For example, difficulties may arise in communication between colleagues from different departments who occupy positions of different status in the organization. In such situations, it is worthwhile to be guided by a simple ethical principle, which instructs a person to treat others the way he wants to be treated.

Principles of Business Ethics

The ethics of business communication must be considered in its various forms: In the relationship between a company and the social environment, between companies, in the same company - between a manager and subordinates, between a subordinate and a manager, between people of the same status. There are peculiarities between the parties to one or another type of business communication. The task is to formulate principles of business communication that not only correspond to each type of business communication, but also do not contradict the general moral principles of human behavior. At the same time, they should serve as a reliable tool for coordinating the activities of persons participating in business communication.

The following six basic principles should be highlighted:

punctuality (do everything on time). Only the behavior of a person who does everything on time is normative. Delays interfere with work and are a sign that the person cannot be relied upon. The principle of doing everything on time applies to all work assignments. Organization and time management experts recommend increasing the time you think you need to get your work done by 25 percent.
confidentiality (don't talk too much). Secrets of an institution, a company or a specific transaction must be kept as carefully as personal secrets. There is also no need to tell anyone what they heard from an employee, manager or subordinate about their work or personal life.
Kindness, goodwill and friendliness. In any situation, it is necessary to be polite, friendly and courteous towards clients, clients, customers and colleagues. This, however, does not mean that you have to be friends with everyone you need to interact with in the service.