Preview
IB DP Business Management — Unit 2: Human Resource Management | SL | 2.6 Communication
📋 What You Will Learn
- Define communication and distinguish between formal and informal channels
- Identify and explain the main methods of communication (verbal, written, visual, digital) and the factors that influence method choice
- Explain the communication process model and the role of feedback
- Analyse the key barriers to effective communication and their impact on business performance
- Evaluate strategies for overcoming communication barriers in an organisational context
- Apply communication concepts to real business decisions, linking to the concepts of change, ethics, and organisational culture
📊 Topic Importance
| Paper | Relevance | Common Question Types |
|---|---|---|
| Paper 1 | High | Explain communication barriers in the pre-seen organisation; recommend a communication strategy during change |
| Paper 2 | Moderate–High | Section A: define/explain methods; Section C: discuss how communication links to change or ethics |
| Paper 3 (HL) | Moderate | Analyse communication challenges in a social enterprise; justify a recommendation on communication structure |
🔍 Guiding Question When a message is sent, how can a manager be confident it has been received, understood, and acted upon — and what happens to an organisation when that confidence is misplaced?
🌍 Why This Matters In 2023, Boeing's internal investigations into the 737 MAX crisis repeatedly identified failures of internal communication — engineers raised safety concerns that were filtered, delayed, or ignored before reaching decision-makers. Poor communication is not merely an inconvenience; it can determine whether a business survives, whether employees are motivated, and whether customers trust the brand.
What Is Communication?
Every management decision — a redundancy, a new product launch, a change in working hours — depends on information moving accurately between people. Communication is therefore not a "soft" skill; it is the mechanism through which strategy becomes action.
📘 Communication The process of transmitting information, ideas, or instructions from a sender to a receiver through a chosen channel, with the expectation of a response or action. Effective communication requires the message to be received, understood, and acted upon as intended.
- Communication is two-way : a message sent but not understood is not communication — it is noise.
- The purpose of communication in business: coordinate tasks, motivate employees, inform stakeholders, manage change, and maintain relationships.
- Communication flows in three directions within an organisation: downward (manager to subordinate), upward (subordinate to manager), and horizontal/lateral (between peers at the same level).
The Communication Process
Understanding why communication fails requires understanding how it works. The process model breaks communication into identifiable stages — each one a potential point of failure.
📘 The Communication Process (Sender–Message–Channel–Receiver–Feedback) A model describing how a message travels from its source to its destination. The sender encodes a message, transmits it through a channel, the receiver decodes it, and feedback confirms whether the message was understood correctly.
- Encoding : the sender converts their idea into a message — choosing words, tone, and format. Poor encoding (jargon, ambiguity) is a primary source of misunderstanding.
- Channel : the medium through which the message travels. Channel choice affects speed, formality, and the richness of information conveyed.
- Decoding