External communication is when you communicate out side of the business. You could be talking to a customer arranging their orders or talking to one of you suppliers ordering some more supply. There are many different ways you can do external communication but some may cost you a lot of money. A lot of businesses now work with suppliers that operate outside of the UK. Businesses can communicate with each other using video links.
Boots use external communication through Internet pup up’s which advertises Boots products. Boots might use e-mail to communicate internally with there four functional areas. They might use e-mail due to you can send the message at once to the people you want the message to go to.
Communication within a business
Within Boots they would use oral communication, as it is quicker and easier than sending letters from one department to another. Some departments would rather keep information to look back on, as it may be vital information, which might be forgotten.
Different examples of communication of how and why the functional areas will communicate with each other are: -
- Finance will communicate with production using telephone to inform them how much they have to spend on resources in the following month. The advantage of using a telephone is that it is quick and convenient. It is also very simple to use and does not require the use of highly technological equipment. The disadvantage of this method of communication is that not always can you get in touch with the person you wish to speak to. This would mean you carrying on ringing until you have a response, which can be time consuming.
- Human Resources would communicate using letter to a functional area if there were a misbehaving employee within that department. They would use this method of communication, as it is the sort of document you would need to keep on file because it is not a small process. The advantages of using letter method of communications are that we know for sure that the letter will get there and also it looks more like formal communication. The disadvantage of using the letter method for the communication is that it takes time to get delivered and also sometime the postman has problems putting wrong letters to the different addresses. Also letters can get lost in the post in the sorting office.
- If they need to send the customer information pack on up coming products they would probably use e-mail as most people are connected to the Internet. The advantages of using this method are that it is a quick, reliable and also convenient of written communication. Once you have sent the e-mail it is saved in the (sent items) folder, which means that you can access the same e-mail again for evidence if you want. The disadvantages are that the Internet is down and it works slowly and the e-mail you write doesn’t get there fast. It is not a good way of communicating because you wouldn’t exactly get you’re reply back as quicker than a telephone because you don’t weather the user you are sending it to is online or not.
- If the company (Boots) wants to advertise their products they can communicate with customers through advertising on television. The benefits of this are that it is very formal and the viewers get the chance to see the product and get a picture of how it is like in their mind. However the disadvantage can be that not all people like to watch television and can miss out on the sales. Also another disadvantage is that this method of communication can be rather expensive.
- Boots would use the talking method of communication because it is very reliable. They would use this when a shop floor assistants is talking to customers. The advantage of this sis that you can have one two one conversation with the customer. Another advantage is that the problem can be solved much quickly. However the disadvantages can be that some customers can go on talking, which would mean more of your time is taken up.
- Faxed communication is also important to Boots. They use this method when boots communicates with another Boots store about the stock exchange for example. This method has a lot of advantages. Firstly it is quick and convenient as well as very reliable. The disadvantages are that it can cost a lot of money sometimes up to £1.50 per sheet. Also the special printing paper is highly expensive.
There are two types of communications they are vertical communication and horizontal communication. A vertical communication is when a Boots employee communicates with someone within the store for example the Boots manager. Basically a vertical communication is when a lower person talks to a higher person within the store. The horizontal communication in Boots is when a store assistant is communicating to a shelf stocker. This vertical communication is also taken place within the store. A horizontal communication is basically the same sort of people at the same level of pay communicating with each other.
Communications come in two other ways, they are formal and informal. Formal is when the message that you are sending anyhow is important. Informal is when the message is not that important.
Finance Human Resources
Finance would communicate with Human Resources department because of their wages. Finance department might want to know if a certain person is good enough to deserve a bonus pay. They would communicate through telephone, because it is quick and reliable. E-mail is a good way of communicating because the message gets delivered quickly and can be saved as a record. They wouldn’t use letters, as this would not make sense delivering a letter within the business. Another thing is that they have to talk privately when they are doing the telephone method of communication because they wouldn’t want other people to know about this.
I.T Finance
I.T department may talk to the finance department because they would want to know if there is any money left for buying new computers. They would communicate by, phone because it is easy to use and is quick and easy. They might use e-mail because it is cheap and very fast and it can be saved. Meetings is another way of communicating in this situation because you get to share their ideas and you can get the reply straight away.
Human Resources Human Resources
Human resources would communicate with the human resources department to discuss who will take the interview, they would use the telephone method to communicate with each other. This method is quick and the reply will come back to you quickly. You don’t need to wait for the reply. E-mail is another way of communicating. This is a very good way of communicating because it is fast and efficient. It’s likely to get a response in a few minutes time depending on if the user is on line or not.
Marketing I.T
The marketing department may communicate to the I.T department because they may need posters or banners to be made on the computer to look more attractive. The way they can communicate with each other is through E-mail or Telephone and Fax. These are very good ways of communicating.
Marketing Finance
Marketing department would communicate with the finance department to ask them how much money they are getting for the new product that has been invented. They can talk face-to-face and get the result of what the finance department says, or they can e-mail each other to communicate. The third way they can communicate is by telephone, which is another good way of communicating because you get the reply straight away. You don’t need to wait for the reply.
