Communication

This is frequently identified as the most important factor underlying the ability of a group of people to work together productively. People gain perceptions of a task, an individual and an organisation through the things they hear, see and read. For the agricultural production manager to improve performance, s/he must be ensuring that the team knows:

• What to do
• Why they are doing it
• How to do it
• How well to do it and
• How well they are doing it.

Good communication is vital if the objectives and goals are to be clearly understood and effectively met.

Communication Planning

Communication and in particular written communication for a specific context is always improved if the message is well planned and organised. The communicator (in both the case of written or verbal communication) needs to consider four main areas in planning the communication message:

• The reason for the message
• Who the audience will be
• What message/information needs to be disseminated
• How best to transmit the message?

Analysing The Audience

Click here to view a video that explains how to do an audience analysis.

Before any communication takes place, the communicator or sender of the communication message must analyze his audience and identify with whom he wants to communicate.

The more effectively the audience of a message or communication is understood, the more effective communication will be. The recipients or audience of verbal or written communication will therefore affect decisions about the kind of language to use, the channel likely to be the most effective, and the possible obstacles to ensuring that the message is clear. The context of the communication that is required will also affect the planning of communication. In this module, we define the context as the workplace.

Assessing And Addressing Your Audience

Choosing the right vocabulary: The words you use to convey your message should suit the purpose and the audience. Here are some tips to help you choose the right words:

Avoid technical terms: If you have to use them (because your audience is technical or expert), define them in a glossary (if the message is written) or define them at the beginning of your speech (if the message is verbal).

Choose familiar words: Words that are often used – the shorter the words, the better. For example, rather use the word “ask” than “request” and “stop” rather than “terminate”.

Be as specific as possible: For example, rather than talking about a “letter”, you could say “a letter of thanks”.

Watch adjectives and adverbs: How big is “huge”? How good is “excellent”? How much is “very”? Words such as these mean different things to different people – and you and your receiver may not agree on a Definition.

Avoid words that pre-judge a situation: “Why are you hanging around here?” has a negative connotation. The receiver is already given to understand he has done something wrong.

Choose the right level of formality: You will need to be much more formal in a report than if you are writing a short thank you note to a colleague.

Choosing The Right Tone And Style

Tone: Tone describes the sender’s attitude towards the receiver and the material being communicated. Although it would seem that the word “tone” should only be applied to verbal messages, it is just as important in written messages. In a spoken message it is conveyed by your voice, your body language and the words you use. In written messages tone is conveyed by the words you use. Most of your correspondence should have a friendly or neutral tone, rather than a stiff or unfriendly tone.

Tone relates to how a writer deals with his subject or his audience. In written business communication Business English, it is important to adopt a pleasant and often persuasive tone rather than an aggressive or demanding tone. Always put yourself in the shoes of the receiver and think how you would feel on receiving a threatening or aggressively worded piece of writing.

Compare: The receipt of your letter of the 15th instance is acknowledged. Please be advised that the queries are being checked by the undersigned, which will revert back to you in due course. Thank you for your query received on 15 March. I am collecting the relevant information and I will contact you again as soon as possible to answer your questions.

Style: Style refers to a way of writing or speaking. It is the way a sender puts together words for a wide range of purposes and audiences.

Style can be defined in terms of how formal it is:

• Whether it is personal or impersonal
• Whether it is active or passive
• Whether it is concise or wordy
• Whether it is clear or ambiguous
• Whether it is concrete or abstract

Written Communication In The Farming Environment

Within the role of the production manager (farmer), it will be expected of you to communicate with various stakeholders in writing. The forms of written communication include:

The letter: Letter writing is the most common form of written business communication. It is very important that you are able to structure a business letter correctly.

A single mistake in a business letter will spoil the entire letter. Not only must letters be error-free, but also the message must be clear and concise. Your competence is often measured by the quality of the letters that you write.

It is very important that the tone of your business letter is always polite and professional. In some cases, where you are complaining or criticising, the tone must be firm yet never aggressive. A business letter is often the only contact an organisation has with its’ various stakeholders, i.e. its customers, suppliers, shareholders and so on.

A letter’s presentation and the information it contains will have a strong impact on the receiver. It is thus extremely important that letters are well planned, constructed and written.

You need to start by knowing why you are writing the letter – to persuade, to give facts, to ask for information or even to generate goodwill. It is essential that you know the purpose of the letter before you even start writing.

It is also essential that you analyse your audience, in order to understand their needs – for support, for information and so on. If a letter is to achieve its objectives it must be written clearly and in a language the reader can easily understand. We have already discussed style and tone in a previous section, and whatever was discussed then, applies to this section.

Here are some tips to make your letters more readable:

• Have a clear subject line
• Begin by summarizing the situation
• Use headings, even if the letter is quite short
• Use simple words, short sentences and short paragraphs
• Summarise the key points at the end of the letter
• Call for the action required in the final paragraph

Letters today are written in block format. This makes them easy to compile when you are using a word processing package on a computer or are writing electronic messages, which is communicated via e-mail.

Each paragraph begins at the left-hand margin, a line is skipped between paragraphs, and the left and right-hand margins can be set up to fit in with the company letterhead style.

Click here to download a handout that contains an example of a formal letter.

Here is an example of a formal letter:

Reports: A report is a formal detailed account that is written when someone has been instructed to investigate and report on a certain problem or matter of investigation. It contains the results of the investigation and very often recommendations as to the action that should be taken next. A report is generally written for a wide variety of readers, and the report writer should therefore assume a mixed audience unless he has specific information to the contrary.

Meeting communication: Meetings are a formal group activity when a number of people gather together to achieve a specific objective. Groups can vary in size from a few people to a few hundred people. It is normal to have some members who have a designated office or role, such as chairman, secretary and treasurer.

Every meeting should have a purpose and one must avoid the situation where organisational meetings continue to be held out of habit, long after they have ceased to have any relevance. It is the function of the notice of the meeting to set out the reasons for calling the meeting, as well as other details such as the date, time, venue and who should attend.

Notice of a meeting: The members of a committee must be informed of the date and agenda of the next meeting. The agenda contains a summary of points that will be discussed at that meeting. This is given in advance so that the participants can prepare for the proposed discussions. A notice and agenda of the next meeting are set out as follows:

The next monthly meeting of all Department Managers will be held on 8 March 201___ at 15.30 in the Training Room.

Agenda

1. Welcome
2. Apologies
3. Minutes of the last meeting
4. Matters arising
5. Correspondence
6. Proposals to expand customer base
7. Financial Department report
8. Sales Department report
9. Service Department report
10. Stores and Purchasing report
11. Any other business or General
12. Date of the next meeting
13. Closure

L Kubheka, Secretary, Telephone number 476-9076, 18 February 201____

Note:

Note that numbers 1 to 5 and 11 to 13 are fixed items that appear on EVERY agenda.

Numbers 6 to 10 is PARTICULAR ITEMS that vary depending on the nature of the particular meeting and type of club or business.

Minutes of a meeting: Once a meeting is gathered, the secretary (or some other appointed person) is responsible for taking the minutes. The secretary will record what was said and by whom. This will be typed out after the meeting and a copy of the minutes will be given to each participant. The minutes serve as a reminder of the discussion and are used to check that participants are carrying out the actions that they were given at the meeting.

Click here to download a handout that contains information on the layout of the minutes of a meeting.

The Curriculum Vitae

A CV tells a prospective employer about your personal details and what you have achieved during your lifetime. Your CV, together with the letter of application, will be used to sell yourself to a company, and must therefore contain all the facts employers need to know about you. It must look professional, and it must be easy to read.

The Labour Relations Act (November 1996) specifies that no prospective employer may ask questions of an applicant that could be regarded as being discriminatory.

This includes such aspects as age, race, marital status, number of children and religion. It would be naïve of us to imagine that employers do not want at least some of this information, simply because they are not allowed by law to ask for it. Your CV will not need to mention race or religion, but it should contain other personal details.

A good CV should at least contain the following sections.

• Personal details
• Academic record
• Membership to any professional bodies
• Work experience
• Career plans
• Awards/achievements
• Hobbies and interests
• Referees/References