Oral communication in Business situations

In language itself the spoken language is primary language and the written language is secondary language. There are thousands of languages in the world. Many of them are spoken and written. Some of them are only spoken but not written. But there is no language that is only written but not spoken. Oral communication is constantly and continually employed by an individual in the familial and social environments. Oral communication has also its vital role in business situations. The following are some of the situations in which oral communication is employed.

One to one (dyadic) communication situation

This occurs in a face to face meeting or even in a talk on the telephone. The meeting between two persons where message is transmitted, the boss giving instruction to the employee, the employee reporting something to his superior, or the salesman trying to sell are all one to one oral communication situation.

Meetings whether small or big are oral communication situations in business. Their contribution to the growth of business is vital and is discussed in the chapter under the title meetings. In business as in life the capacity of a person to communicate orally determines his success.

Advantages of oral communication in business

1. Oral communication is time saving. When quick action is required oral communication is resorted to. Writing again and again is a time consuming process.

2. Oral communication is less resource consuming. It saves time, energy, material and money.

3. Since oral communication gets animated by the personality of the individual, persuasion and empathy are easily realised.

4. Oral communication provides instantaneous feed back. The speaker will know the reaction / response of the receiver.

5. Oral communication promotes friendly and cordial relationships.

Disadvantages of oral communication

1. Oral communication is limited to personal contact situation and telephones only.

2. Oral communication has to be short. A long message cannot be communicated orally.

3. Oral messages depend on memory. Memory levels are variant in individuals so they are less authentic over a period of time. Oral communication has no legal validity.

4. Oral communication depends on the receiver’s listening skill. If the listener is not proactive, the communication exercise fails.

5. Misunderstandings are possible if the sender and receiver do not share the same perception.

6. Misquoting and imprecise reporting may lead to undesirable consequences in certain situations.