Unit 204 Nvq Business and Admin

Unit 204 – Communicate in a business environment-Nvq level 2 in Business and Administration Why do you need to know the purpose of any communication you are sending and its Intended audience (1. 1, 1. 2) In what way does this affect the language you might use when producing written communication or information? (2. 3) The purpose of communication is for human us to be able to understand each other for different reasons. So if we develop our communicative skills we can use this skill as a tool to help me learn or explain something to someone or both.We also communicate to help one another, listen to each others' problems, and solve difficulties we face in life, find solutions to obstacles that may come into our lives. If we know the audience, we can more effectively communicate with and persuade that audience. My motivation is to get satisfaction from expressing my ideas and getting recognition from the audience. Colloquial, casual, and formal writing are three common styles th at carry their own particular sets of expectations. Style also depends on the purpose of the document and its audience. Colloquial language is an informal, conversational style of writing.Casual language involves everyday words and expressions in a familiar group context such as conversations with family or close friends. Formal language is communication that focuses on professional expression with attention to roles, protocol, and appearance. It is characterized by its vocabulary and syntax or the grammatical arrangement of words in a sentence. Describe different methods of communication and when you would use them? (1. 3,1. 4) Different methods of communication that I would use in a business environment are:  ® Written communication by exchange of letters, emails or faxes.I would use every day to communicate with customer, colleagues at work and with my supervisors  ® Verbal communication when I use the phone or I talk with someone face to face. I would use this when talking w ith customers by phone and when I talk with my work colleagues and managers face to face or by phone. Communication can be informal, like face to face communication that occurs in general in a daily situation, or formal and It follows proper order, and procedures, and can be recorded to store the outcomes. What are some of the key information sources you may need to refer to when preparing written communication and information? 2,1) The Key information sources I may need to refer to when preparing written communication and information and that can guard me against inaccuracies can be guidelines, policies, procedures, records, meeting notes, specifications, handbooks, directories, service plans, organisation charts and the organisation intranet and I could speak with colleagues or managers. If I am responding to a customer or to a manager I would read them through carefully to check I have addressed all the relevant points. When using email what are some of the key principles you sho uld follow? (2. ) The key principles I should follow when using email are:  ® Start the email with a proper greeting as Mr, Mrs. If is acceptable within the organisation we could ‘Hi’ or ‘Hello’.  ® We must explain the purpose of the message in a concise manner in the subject line.  ® Get to the point of the message as soon as possible.  ® Don’t write in capital letters.  ® Be careful of sending out email to a large number of people because some people don’t want their email address to be known by estrangers.  ® Don’t open an attachment or click in a link in an email from someone I don know as it could end up infecting the computer with a virus. It is not acceptable to use emoticons and abbreviations (like the ones used in mobile text messages). I could look very unprofessional.  ® Never use email to discuss confidential information and follow the Data Protection legislation.  ® Don’t use work email account to sen d personal emails. What should you do to ensure that your written communications are organised, structured and well presented to meet the needs of the intended audience? (2. 4) To ensure that my written communications are organised, structured and well presented to meet the need of the intended audience we should start by identifying who will read the message.We need to think about what they need to know and the vocabulary we need to use. We must think about the tone of the message as well. We should create an outline that will help to identify which steps to take in which order and use simple language. The structure of the document should be â€Å"reader friendly†. What are the main ways you can check the accuracy of any written communication you produce? (2. 5) Any written content or communication has to be free of spelling and grammatical errors. It also has to be in the right and professional format. We need to check the points written down: Whatever we write has to be ac curate, otherwise it will have disastrous effects and can even ruin the reputation of the organisation, and the organisation can itself get into trouble.  ® We need to do a spell check and grammar check. Spell-check is an option available to easily correct typo errors. Sometimes it will not be 100% accurate, because if you had typed a word instead of another, then spell check will not be able to trace it. So it is always best to even read through the document twice before finalising.  ® We could use a template.Every organisation has a different style for documents they produce. As an organisation, documents have to be produce in a standard and professional format.  ® We could have our document read by another reader. Sometimes when we read or own work error can be hard to detect What is meant by plain English and why is it used? (2. 7) Plain English sometimes referred to more broadly as plain language is a generic term for communication styles that emphasise clarity and the av oidance of technical language – particularly in relation to official government communication, including laws.The intention is to write in a manner that is easily understood by everyone and is appropriate to their reading skills and knowledge, clear and direct, free of cliche and unnecessary jargon. Plain English is simple, straightforward, easily understood English, in other words the opposite of the English used by lawyers which uses long words, out-of-date words, technical words and Latin words. Why is it important to ensure that spelling, grammar and punctuation are accurate? (2. 6) The main purpose in the correct use of grammar, punctuation and spelling is ensuring the receiver of the information reads it accurately.Addition to this when given a task to do, your employer expects you to do it perfectly. When a document has inaccuracies, readers tend to distrust everything, including the statistics, opinions, and facts. This would be relayed back to my employer who would t hemselves lose confidence in our ability. For progression in my company I need to ensure I carry out all tasks to a certain standard. Why is it necessary to proof read and check written work? (2. 8) Any work that is written has to be proofread and checked because the content that we write is important.The way a paper or any information looks affects the way others judge it. We all put in so much effort to develop a document and put in all the ideas and skills we have to create a document. So it has to be error free, else it will create a bad impression to the reader, which affects the name of the organisation. So it is always best to create the correct document and make a good impression. As they say, â€Å"The first impression is the best impression†. I should proofread virtually any written piece, from emails to minutes.Just proofreading will have a great effect on the quality of my material, and I am sure that way, I will earn more compliments from people. How do you disti nguish between work which is important and that which is urgent? (2. 9) Important communications those that can provide significant value to the organisation This could be reports to managers, partners, emails and letters to staff about developments or changes within the organisation. Urgent communications are those which have deadlines. Urgent task are not necessarily complicated but are usually linked to the organisation targets for response times.What are the procedures you need to follow for saving and filing written communications in your organisation? (2. 10) The procedures I need to follow for saving filling written communications in my organisation are when I file records, I organise files or records with similar information together. Important documents that need accessing by other departments or member of staff are saved in the shared drive. Any confidential information are kept in personal folders or encrypted with a password. Records may be kept as paper files, or electr onically in shared drives, databases, or document management systems.When speaking with people face to face and over the telephone, what can you do to ensure you are presenting information and ideas clearly and are contributing effectively to discussions? (3. 1, 3. 2) To ensure I am presenting information and ideas clearly when speaking with people face to face or over the phone I should think about what I am going to say before start talking so when I present information and ideas they will be much more concise. Knowing the subject matter by reading about it, doing some research or asking colleagues or managers will help as well.It is a good idea to write it down so we can organise our thoughts and then express them clearly. We can ask questions to get some feed back and make the other person participate in the conversation. How do you show people you are actively listening to them? (3. 3) To show people that I am actively listening face to face or over the phone I need to use appr opriate phrases like I see, I understand, mmmm and ask questions to check my understanding. In face to face communication I can see as well facial expressions of the person I am talking to and they can see mine.Not being sincere or not showing interest in the other person when talking to them can be notice from our facial expressions and our gestures We should make eye contact with the person we are talking to and show that we are actively listening by nodding our head or saying ‘yes’ or ‘I see’. When talking to people face to face or over the telephone, what are the key reasons you would summarise your conversations with them? (3. 4) When talking to people face to face or over the phone they reasons I should summarise my conversation with them is to reflect back what I have heard and because is not helpful to make assumptions.It always better to check if we are not sure of something and ask the other person to give us further information. Summarising can i mprove the quality and accuracy of our conversation. What are the main ways you can get feedback on whether communications with others have been effective and how can that feedback be used to develop your communication skills? (4. 1,4. 2) The main ways I can get feedback on whether communications with others have been effective are asking questions and making sure they understood fully. We should ask colleagues and mangers to give us feed back on how we are communicating with others.During face to face conversations you can watch the facial expressions, gestures, and posture of the person you're communicating with and from this determine their level of interest and agreement with your message. I should observe more experience colleagues and ask them what I do well and areas where I can improve. I could collect examples of well constructed email and letters and use them as a reference. I will have to set the example for the team and create an environment of trust that makes it okay t o share feedback. I should provide my team with a balance of positive feedback and feedback for improvement and receive them too.