The book, Business Communication Strategies (BCS) has grown from the numerous communication strategies workshops Prof MM Monippally of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, has conducted for practising managers of various companies during the last several years. It has been successfully tried out on postgraduate students attending management institutes, too. The present version reflects the revisions based on the feedback received over the years from both practising managers and students of management.

The expression ‘communication strategies’ perhaps needs explaining. What is meant here is not ruthless, Machiavellian scheming but an intelligent approach to a task. In a battle strategy is characterized by anticipating the opponent’s moves and making moves that surprise the opponent. Failure to adopt an appropriate strategy leads to failure in the battle regardless of the resources at one’s command. Failure to understand and anticipate the communicatee’s moves and plans will result in the failure of communication, too. BCS goes beyond clear communication into strategic communication.

The author’s objective is to talk to the reader, to provoke them, and to make them reflect on the way they communicate in the business context. He has adopted a stimulating, conversational style throughout the book rather than the typical textbook style. He generously illustrates the points he makes with jokes, anecdotes, and quotations. Throughout the book there are also cartoons that entertain and educate the reader. You can’t get bored with this book.

The Structure of BCS

BCS is divided into three parts. Part I (Chapters 1-3) deals with the process of communication and the roadblocks including cross cultural ones that prevent us from doing it well. Part I is the foundation on which Parts II and III are built.

Each chapter starts with an introduction and ends with a summary. Most chapters also contain references to additional resources to help the reader delve deeper into the topics covered.

This chapter discusses how we communicate. It rejects the standard model of communication that presents communication as coding and decoding. In its place the author presents the inferential model. After justifying the inferential model he uses it to explain why misunderstanding is inevitable in all forms of communication. This chapter also deals with the role verbal and non-verbal symbols play in communication.

This chapter describes seven common but deceptive barriers that make our communication less effective than it could be. It also gives a few general tips on bringing the barriers down and improving our communication skills.

Chapter 3 deals with cultural values that quietly shape our communication, especially the way we attribute meanings to verbal and nonverbal symbols. It alerts us to certain basics that we need to keep in mind if we want to communicate well with people of other cultures especially the Western ones.

Chapter 4 deals with listening, the mother of all speaking. Our listening is mostly partial and passive. In order to make our communication effective both as communicators and as communicatees we need to make our listening active. The chapter describes the anatomy of poor listening and of poor speaking, and goes on to the features of a good listener.

This chapter focuses on spoken communication at a distance – over the phone. The severe reduction in the number and quality of nonverbal symbols when one uses this channel of communication poses a challenge to whoever uses it. Teleconferencing renders the challenge even stronger. Chapter 5 shows how to cope with this challenge and what etiquette to follow when we speak to one or to several in a teleconference.

Chapter 6 is on how to make effective oral presentations. It offers suggestions on how to plan presentations systematically, how to deliver them forcefully, how to develop and display the right kind of visual aids, and how to handle questions from the audience. There are also some tips on how to cope with nervousness which nearly all speakers feel when they stand up to make presentations.

Chapter 7 is devoted to meetings. Meetings are a fact of corporate life. No one can do without them. They are also a major source of terrible waste of time and resources. This chapter analyses the reasons for wastefulness and suggests ways of making meetings work.

This chapter deals with the body language of business writing, especially letters. It identifies the impressions aspects of letters such as the quality of stationery, printing, and formatting have on the reader. It also suggests ways of creating the right impressions.

Many managers are unaware of the impact on the reader of the tone of writing. With authentic samples from the corporate sector Chapter 9 illustrates different tones and shows how to create the right kind of tone.

Chapter 10 takes a close look at e-mail, the modern miracle. It shows how to make your mail smart so that it stands out from the crowd and gets read. It also analyses some authentic samples of good and bad e-mails to illustrate the tips given.

Chapter 11 focuses on reports. It shows what goes into a report that commands the reader's respect and gets their acceptance. It analyses a sample report to illustrate the process of writing a report.

Chapter 12 is devoted to proposals. Executives have to make them persuasive for them to be read and accepted. This chapter shows how. It also illustrates the advice with a proposal.