Internal communications

People in different parts of an organisation will often communicate with each other using a variety of non-verbal paper-based methods. Transmitting information in a written paper-based format has the advantage of providing a record of the message, the persons sending and receiving the message, and the date of the communication. The key forms of internal communication are as follows:

Memorandums, or memos, are usually sent through the internal mail and are short communications, focusing on a small number of points. Minutes provide a summary of decisions made and action resulting from business meetings. They are kept for future reference and may be used at a later date to assess the work and action taken by those at the meeting.

Reports tend to be written for specific reasons, for example, to reveal the effectiveness of a recent sales promotion, or monitor health an safety at work. Reports summarise large quantities of information an draw readers' attention to key issues which need decisions.

Some firms produce their own regular newsletters or bulletins. They usually highlight important new developments in the firm and provide a chance for management to praise their staff. Other organisations might use a daily or weekly bulletin highlighting key points for staff. They might be pinned to a notice board, for example, outside the canteen are where everyone will be able to see it.

External communications

Postal services are mainly provided by the Post Office. A wide variety of services is available, including box numbers, recorded delivery, registered post, freepost, and business reply services. There is a growing number of private postal firms, such as DHL, who are willing to guarantee a delivery time for deliveries anywhere in the world.

Electronic communications. Communications have been revolutionised by affordable personal computers. Using computer networks, business organisations can send, receive, store, and analyse information to and from any part of their organisation and other organisations, anywhere in the world, in a matter of seconds. Most paper-based communications are now written, printed, and stored using a word-processing package on a computer. The means of electronic communications include:

To send and receive information via a computer, it must be connected to other computers in a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN). Once connected to a WAN via a modem, a computer can be used to send and receive information by a variety of means collectively known as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).

Electronic mail (E-mail) is an increasingly popular means of transmitting data between staff within a firm at the same location and also between firms in geographically dispersed locations. Using E-mail, staff may communicate with each other using a computer network.

The advantage of E-mail is that a large number of people can be sent the same message in one transmission. Once sent, the message will wait in electronic mailboxes for the user(s) to access it. The sender is then able to check to see if the messages have been looked at.

The Internet is a global computer network made up of links between many smaller networks. In 1995, around 30 million people regularly used the Internet to communicate electronically via computer modem.

The Internet is expected in future to provide not only a fast world-wide communications network, but also a world-wide system for making payments, and a means of receiving banking services, as well as electronic shopping and a wide range of other services.

Computer-generated speech. Voice-recognition and voice-generation software is likely to revolutionise communications with computers in the next few years. Computers with varying degrees of speech recognition are already emerging, and some are beginning to transform the traditional dictation process. Proper dictation systems such as IBM's Personal Dictation System provide a highly accurate speech recognition system that analyses spoken words and turns them into text on the screen. These systems allow a user to dictate into software applications at speeds of between 50 and 100 words a minute, using a large vocabulary. The advantages are that the user's hands and eyes are left free, allowing them to get on with the job in hand, or to read from source material at the same time.

Pagers are small hand-held machines which alert users to the fact that someone is trying to contact them. Message pagers can display a message of up to 15 words.

Facsimile transmissions (fax). Fax machines are small desktop machines which may be connected to a telephone line. To operate the fax, the user types in the fax number of the recipient of the message. The sender's fax then rings the receiver's fax and establishes contact (this may be heard as a series of screeching tones). Once contact is made, documents placed in the sender's fax machine are read through, one page at a time, and the details sent via the phonelines to appear as an exact copy at the other end. Fax machines are a useful way of sending pictures, drawings, signatures, and many other very urgent documents.

Telex. This is a service using teleprinter machines (like those seen printing out the football results on television). Telex machines can be left on 24 hours a day and will continue to print out messages received.

Voice messaging allows telephone users to record a message and have it delivered to an electronic ‘mailbox’. The user dials the mailbox and uses a personal identification number (PIN) to listen to the messages. Voice messaging systems are used by business people who travel or who are often away from their offices. The advantage of voicemail is that it is useful for communicating out of office hours and across time zones.

Teletext refers to the pages of computerised information which can be displayed on TV screens fitted with a teletext decoder. Thousands of pages of information are available, covering a wide variety of subject, including arrival and departure times of planes and trains, as well as share prices and world news.

Viewdata is similar to teletext except that it involves the transmission of information to a specially adapted TV or computer screen by telephone line and allows two-way interaction with the user. For example, the system can be used to book and confirm a holiday, order goods from a supermarket, and for home banking.