Communication World

Includes related article on merger announcements Mergers and crises have similar impact on business organizations. Both draw considerable media and public attention to the company, involve decision making at the highest level, disrupt business operations, and require an immediate and coordinated public relations response. In addition, without careful planning, both a crisis and a merger presents the risk of the corporate communication team losing control of the message. To avoid this danger, the communication departments of the merging comp...

Bad international communication has killed many a deal ... teletranslation may be the answer.

Teletranslation can deal with many of the problems posed by international communication. This approach takes advantage of the emergence of new telecommunications technology and the proliferation of language services. There are a number of companies providing interpretation services using sophisticated communication systems. These include AT&T's Language Line, France Telecom's Translatel and Japan's KDD Teleservice. Computer users dealing with text in various languages can also seek assistance...

Benchmarking study illustrates how best-in-class achieve alignment, communicate change.

Includes profiles of participating companies A best business practice is a process that a company does better than anybody else and serves a model for other organizations that want to enhance their performance. Companies can identify best practice organizations and use them as models through benchmarking. American Productivity & Quality Center conducted a study to identify best practices companies in the area of internal communication. Ten organizations cited, including Hallmark Cards, Levi Strauss, Motorola, Xerox, 3M and Texas Instrum...

Chapter leaders, speakers work to give members the most for their membership.

1996 International Association of Business Communicators Chapter Leaders Institute The 1996 International Assn. of Business Communicators' (IABC) Chapter Leaders Institute provided an opportunity for its nearly 150 attendees to share best practices for chapter management and to give tribute to the winners of chapter management awards. The two-day conference featured discussions on the structure, membership and governing body of the IABC; brainstorming sessions on ways to crate effective teams, bolster voluntarism and improve all aspects of chapter management; and exchanges ...

Characteristics of Japanese communication.

Business communication in Japan The field of business communication in Japan is fairly young. It began to develop in the 1950s and 1060s with the emergence of public relations or public affairs departments in the public and private sectors. Communication has traditionally been overlooked in the country because, given its common race, culture and religion, it has been assumed that everybody understood every one else without verbally communicating. Japanese communication differs from Western communication in terms of four fac...

Corporate culture defined differently outside the U.S.

Proudfoot PLC's 'People Power' survey investigated the attitudes of top business executives in seven countries about corporate culture and other issues. Findings reveal that US executives define corporate culture as the 'ethos of the company.' In contrast, their counterparts in the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia and Canada define the same concept as 'shared valued or team spirit.' Results also show that corporate culture is universally acknowledged as vital to success and tha...

One simple question.

Asking the right question in communication planning Communication programs fail to realize their full potential because it is not clear what they are trying to accomplish. Communicators do not exert enough effort to examine exactly why they are communicating. In communication planning, the 'why's' are answered by the goals and objectives of the project. Any initiative will be more effective and more focused in its root purpose as well as its supporting objectives are clearly defined. Once communicators have determined precisely what they want ...

Puzzles and protocols of international market research.

Many US-based companies that do business in foreign countries have come to rely on international market research. There are a number of factors that have to be considered to ensure the success of such research. These include addressing language differences and checking the accuracy of translations, incorporating differences in style and cultural expectations in market analyses, understanding taboos and cultural requirements, and determining the best times when to conduct research. Other issue...

Selling to another language.

International marketing Selling products or services in non-English speaking countries requires a well-planned communication strategy. Marketing efforts should involve the use of simple and specific words and their most common meanings, of action-specific verbs, and of visual aids. Business communicators should avoid long sentences and paragraphs, as well as idioms, slang, jargon and acronyms. Jokes and humor should also be avoided because they are often difficult to translate. Messages should be formal and polite, ...

The missing 'why?' chromosome of meetings, training, communication.

Business communicators should always try to measure their performance in terms of its impact on the company's bottom line. Practically every communication activity can be translated into bottom-line dollars. Meetings, for example, will benefit the organization more if they are not held too frequently or held at inconvenient times of the day or week. Meetings will also be more productive if they have a clear rationale and have agendas distributed ahead of time. With regard to training, it must...

Use graphic metaphors to communicate organizational change.

Organizational change can be better communicated to employees with the help of graphic metaphors. These communication tools will enable them to form a mental picture of what is happening in their organizations. One metaphor that can facilitate their understanding of concepts and processes is the exploration metaphor. This model is made up of the following components: values, or sets of real beliefs; guiding principles, or a values-based philosophy of operations; visions which are the product ...