Communication & Customer Service.pdf

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Advanced
Vocational
Training
(elt gt:
Professional certificates

SS Communication
& Customer Service
Héctor M. Pérez Feijoo
Jorge M. Pérez Hernandez
Lia Lépez Gonzalez
Carmen Caballero Bravo





www.mhe.es

2. ion & Customer Service
Héctor Marcos Pérez Feijoo
Jorge Manuel Pérez Hernandez
Lia Lépez Gonzalez
Carmen Caballero Bravo
Technical advisor
Maria Vicenta Sanchis Martin
IRES - CARAGAS - GUATEMALA - MEXICO
0 - SAO PAULO
MONTREAL - NUEVA DELHI - PARIS
Education OUIS - TOKIO - TORONTO

3. Communication & Customer Service. Advanced Vocational Training
This book shall not be partially or fully reproduced, neither digitalised nor transmitted
through any means, whether electronic, mechanic, photocopies, recordings or other
ways, without prior written consent by the holders of the Copyright. Please contact
CEDRO (Centro Espajfio] de Derechos Reprograficos, www.cedro.org) if you need to
photocopy or scan parts of this book.
All rights reserved © 2013, regarding the first edition, by:
McGraw-Hill/Interamericana de Espafia, $.L.
Edificio Valrealty, 1.a planta
Basauri, 17
28023 Aravaca (Madrid)
ISBN: 978-84-481-8546-6
Original book: Communication & customer service © 2012,
regarding the first edition in spanish, by McGraw-Hill Interamericana de Espafia, S.L.
ISBN original edition: 978-84-481-8086-7
Publishing team: Pablo Regueiro, Marta Reyero Saez, Caja Alta Edicién & Comunicacién S.L,
Antonio Aguilella Asensi and Audrey Bourke.
Translation: Antonio Aguilella Asensi.
Pictures: 123rf and McGraw-Hill’s image stock.
Illustrations: Age Fotostock, Valentin Ramon.
Layout: Caja Alta Ediciédn & Comunicacién.
Cover design: rload.es
Book design: dfrente.es

4. Introduction
The book you are holding in your hands, Communication & Cu.
is a clear and updated text that highlights the practical issues of
communication in order to provide you with the skills required for
of the Advanced Vocational Training Course in Administration and Fin
Managing Assistance you are studying.




When dealing with such a broad and diverse subject, the aim of being extreme
exhaustive might lead to inefficiency and confusion. Therefore, this text tries to
escape from dogma and impositions. Our goal is to develop every aspect of the
curriculum, but also to provide open alternative solutions to the problems in
business communication. Specifically, this trend is expressed in the type of activi-
ties that are included throughout the book. Along with the most common
activities for the settlement and testing of the knowledge gained by students,
we include others that are more open and participatory, consistent with the
characteristics of this subject and supported by text and web references.
In addition, we want to make the development of these activities easier for
students and teachers, and for this purpose we provide some patterns that,
within a flexible framework, will guide the process of solving problems.
Accessibility is another major advantage of this book. Along with a clear and direct
language, we have included multiple resources such as diagrams, graphs, tables
and images that allow a simple and flexible interpretation of the content. We have
also carried out a careful selection of documentary sources and references to web
pages.
In short, this text is designed as a practical introduction to a very large area by
means of direct and simple language and supporting examples, problems and real
documents that students will encounter in their future working life. These
supporting materials will complement teaching performance by suggesting
potential ways to expand the knowledge of students about this exciting subject:
business communication.
The authors

5. Dy Contents
Business organizations
1
2



1. The COMPANY AS AN OFFAMIZALION ou... eeseescsesssseeessssesssseecssssssssseessssesssssesssssssssesssueessssessssseesssssssssessssssssssessssesssssesssuecssssssssuesssesssssusesssnssssseessssessssseess 8
2. Types of DUSINESS OFGAaNIZALIONS ou... ecsssessssescssseesssstessssessssessssesssssssssseessseesssssessseesssee 10
3. Functions in the organization: planning, management, organization and control 12
4. Departments in the company. Organizational Charts ess escssseessssesssseesssseees we TS
B. Decision-Making... cccsecsssecssssecsssssssseessssessssessssseessssessssesssssssssesssssssssseesssssssssssssuecssssssssssessssessssseessnessssseessuuesssssssssusesssnssssssesssussssssesssuesssessssseesssnessssee 17
6. Corporate identity and Corporate IMAE «nec sessseecsssesssseeessssssssseessssessssseesssuesssssessssesssssssssueessssssssueesssnssssssessssessssseessusssssssessusesssssesssneessseessseee 20
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Check your learning .........ccccssescessesessesnsseensssensssensssenssseneeseneeseneesoeeseeeceesseneceneeceaesneneaseseneeseneeseneeseneeseesseeeeeaeesseeeeesaeennanennasennacennaceanaes 27
The communication process
1. Elements involved in the COMMUNICATION POSS... ees ssseessssesssseeesssessssseessssesssssesssseessssessssesssssssssessssessssseessssessssseessuessssseessseesssesesssseessseess 30
2. Barriers tO COMMUNICATIONS... eeccsssesseseseesssesssseesessessssssssssessssssssssssssssssssssessssssessusssssuessssusessscessseessssssssssssessessssussesstssssssessseessssssssnssssseessssseesseessssesee 39
3. Solutions to COMMUNICATION DALTi€LS ........sessesssseseeessseeee we A]
3


4. Differences between communication and information . 42
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Communication within the company
1. Communication within the COMPANY. TYPES ......cesssceccssecsseessssessssessssseessssessssesssssssssseesssssssssesssuecssssesssseessssssssseessssessssssssssssssseessneesssesessseeessseess 48
Z. Internal COMMUNICATION uu. eeesecsecssessnessscssesseessccsesesssnccsssssscsssssessecsscesscesssnscsssssssnscssecsesescessesesassenscssssssssucsseesessscesssssssnsssucaneessesseenessscessessssnscsnessesnsesses 50
3B. External COMMUNICATION uu... cesesseessesssessssseccnccsscssessscssecsesssccnscsssonssnssssesusessecssssssenscsussuscsscsscsucssesuscescesssssscsscsuesssesseessssssenscssssucsnsessceseceseessencsensenscnsesse 55
4, COMMUNICATION ON A CLISIS...... es esseseseecessecsessssnscsessenccsssseesscsssscsnensssucusssscsssusssssssnssussnessssususessesssussnessssusueesscsssucasessesssseasscussusssessssssnessensesususensenseneaes 61
5. COMMUNICATION NECWOKKS uu... cesesseessesseessessescsccsccsnsssecsscssessscesccnscsnssnsssucsssensecseesesascenscssssusssuesscsueesscescesssssscsscsucansesseessssssenecsussucsnsessesuessseeseessessssnscnsease 63
6. Communication as a source of behaviours. 65
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4




Oral communication
5

Test review.......... 68
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Non-verbal communication
J. Non-verbal COMMUNICATION ...eessesssseesssssssssseessssesssssessssuesssseesssecsssssssssseesssssssssessssesssssesssussssseesssuesssssesssuecsssnssssssessssssssssesssuesssssesssuesssesesssseessseess 72
2. Factors related to non-verbal language... essecsssssssseeessssssssseessssesssssesssssessssesssssessssssssseesssssssssesssssssssesssnssssssesssssssssseessusesssssessnersssesessseeessseess 75
3. Functions of non-verbal COMMUNICATION wu... eessescsssesssseesssssessssessssseesssessssseesssssssssesssssssssseessusesssseessusesssssssssuesssnssssssesssnssssssessssssssssesssneesssnessssee 84
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T. Oral OXPreSSiON....cssssssssscsssessssesssseeessssssssseessssssssseessssssssssesssuuessssssssssessssssssssesssuesssssessssssssssesssuecssssssssseessssnsssssessssessssseessusesssssesssuecsssnssssssessssnssssseessneee 90
2. Listening for better communication. 199
SUMIMALPY ues ceeettteceestseneeeecenseneneeee - 107
6


Test review.......... -108
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Telephone communication
J. Telephone COMMUNICATION ou... eee ssssseecsssesssseesssesssssessssssssssessssesssssesssuecsssuessssuesssnsssssesssussssssesssuessssseessuuesssssssssusesssnssssssesssssssssseessuessssesssseesssy 112
2. Telephone Media ANd CQUIPMENE us eessssesssseeesssscsssseesssssssssssssseessssesssueessssesssssesssssssssseessusssssuesssssssssseesssussssssssssuecsssessssseesssesssssseesssesssssessnees 113
3. Additional services offered by the telephone CqUuIPMENt ou. es sessssecsssessssseessssesssssessssessssseessssesssseessseesssssesssueessssesssueesssnsssssessssessssseess 116
4. Rules for a good telephone COMMUNICATION ues eeecsssesssseeessssessssesssssesssseesssueessssssssssesssssssssseessuuesssssssssueesssnssssssesssssssssseessuesssseesssussseessseeesse 120
B. Telemarketing... cecsssesecsssesssseecsssessssseessssessssssssssesssnsssssesssssssssssesssssssssesssussssssssssessssssssusesssnsssssesssssssssssessssessssseessueesssesssssueesssnssssseessssesssssessssessssseess 125
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Test review.......... . 130

Check your learning..

6. Contents

Written communication within the company
7
1
2
3.
4
. Written communication
. Produce or reproduce documents.....

Models of written documents in the company
. E-mail and netiquette.......
Summary
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The customer service department
8
1.
2.
3.
4.
The customer service department. CUStOME SEFVICE.... ec ecssessssescssseessssesssssecssssssssseesssesssssesssssssssseessusssssseessusesssssssssueesssnsssssesssnssssseesssness 164
Stages in the process of customer service
Procedures to solve complaints and claims..
Enforcement of rules on resolution of complaints and claims...
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After-sales service
9
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

After-sales service
Relationship of the after-sales service with other processes within the company.
Quality management and the after-sales service...
Techniques and tools for quality management
Structuring the after-sales service
Management tools of an after-sales service
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The information processing
10
1.
2.
3.

Information processing 1 204
The file.......
File media. a
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7. iy How to use this book
© Introduction to the unit



wna
The communication process

Here you'll find the assessment
criteria of the unit. |
You will also find a summary of
the contents you'll study. P|







© Development of the contents
68 Case study. Activities
They use what has been learnt in order to solve real They are used to work on the contents as they are
problems and situations of your professional environment. explained, and they ensure a progressive learning. Do
you think that there some issues that must be dealt with
talking instead of in writing? Why? Explain your answer.



Clear and concise explanation of the theory, along with
margin sections that provide a better understanding of
the most relevant topics:
2 Do you know that...? Examples
Gg © Web
Important
A Vocabulary
7 Watch out! rE Spanish assistant



™ Closure of each unit

Summary Review




- Diagram of the contents of this unit. It allows the detection of learning problems.




|
i Sea
Te cites Check your learning
Sd
= [=a == Two pages with final activities grouped by assessment criteria.
aa

8. Unit

Business organizations
In this unit you'll learn how to:
+ Identify the different types of existing
business institutions.
* Relate the usual functions of
the organization: management, planning,
organization, execution and control.
+ Be aware of the importance of an
adequate organizational structure to
carry out the provision of quality services.
+ Identify the different stages of the
decision-making process.
+ Recognize the different types of existing
trademarks.
+ Differentiate between corporate identity
and corporate image.



unctional and
nal features of every
ganization.
rtments in an organization.
ional charts.
methods for decision-making.

9. 7 Business organizations

Vocabulary
Profit. Gain or advantage taken of
something.


@ 1. The company as an organization
How many companies surround us? The bus that we take every day belongs to a transport
company; the bakery where we buy bread (Fig. 1.1) is a company too; and the bookstore where
we buy academic material or text books is a company as well. They all look different but they
have many things in common. From this starting point, we can define what a company is as
follows:
A company is a for-profit entity the primary purpose of which is to obtain benefits
through the sale of goods or services on the market.
Let’s consider this definition:
+ Entity. This is a community considered as a unit, that is to say, there is a group of people
forming the entity that are not treated individually, but collectively as a whole.
+ For-profit. This means that it has been created in the interest of making money, unlike other
types of organizations such as foundations or NGOs (non-profit organizations), which are
aimed at obtaining a social benefit.
* Through the sale of goods or services on the market. Companies may engage in the sale of
goods (bread, photocopies...) or services (public transport).
When a company is created, the employer or the partners provide capital with which the com-
pany purchases a range of goods. In addition, many times premises are bought to develop
the activity; it may also have mobile phones, company cars, etc. These are the assets of the
company.
However, the value of the company rarely coincides with the value of its assets, and this is
because the company, in its every-day performance, gains customers and tries to retain their
loyalty, creates a good image in the market (corporate image}, and also generates expectations
for benefits.
The value of these intangible assets is very difficult to assess. In addition, they are not
included in the list of the company assets that we can check through accountancy. However,
when the company is sold, it is not only for the price of its tangible assets, but also for the value
of its intangible assets. Those assets that add value to the company exist because there is an
organized exploitation of resources.
This is the reason why the most relevant is-
sue about the company concept is that all this
group of goods, rights and people must be or-
ganized; therefore, hereinafter we will refer to
it as an organization (Scheme 1.1).
In turn, organization is a broad concept that
may have different meanings:
* Regarding the allocation of tasks to emplo-
yees, the way decisions are made and who
takes the corresponding responsibility, we
may talk about internal organization
Fig. 1.1. A small shop is a company too. Think about original or very specialised small shops * Ina broad sense, companies are called or-
that you have seen lately in your town or neighbourhood. ganizations.
>

10. Business organizations ]

Assets
Property
+ rights
+ obligations





Intangible
value of Work
the company Employer
Image + employees
+ customers
Scheme 1.1. Components of the concept of organization.
When it comes to perform their activity, organizations must develop mechanisms for
communication, both among its members and with other economic agents they are rela-
ted to (suppliers, customers...) That is to say, an internal communication and an external
communication. We'll deal with these two types of communication later.
Also internally, the organization is structured on areas or functions, which give rise to
departments. Imagine you read an article in the newspaper or hear an interview with a pres-
tigious doctor; usually the function of the person who writes the article or the doctor appears
under the name and includes the correspondent department (for example, Jaime Alvarez,
Director of Human Resources of Petroleros Europeos, S.A. or Alejandro Salgado, Head of Gas-
trointestinal Surgery at Hospital Salud es Vida).
Thus, the organization has an internal structure in which the work is divided among em-
ployees and hierarchical relationships are settled with the aim of optimizing the skills and
knowledge of each member.
In the following sections we'll learn more about these issues, as well as their legal or juridical
form, as organizations can be formed in several types (corporation, limited partnership, etc.),
and also about corporate image or corporate identity of the company.
65 Case study 1. Buying a company
The company Brokers, S.A. wants to buy another company, Aislantes, S.L. which has been
running for several years.

The total value of the goods of Aislantes, S.L. after deducting debts (that is to say, its
assets), amounts to three million euros. However, Brokers, S.A. is willing to pay up to four
million euros to obtain not only the assets of Aislantes, S.L. but also its image, techno-
logy, customers and profit expectations (already signed contracts).
Solution:
This gap of one million euros corresponds to the value of the organization Aislantes, S.L.
and it’s usually known as goodwill.
S
ih Spanish assistant —————_
Hay muchas formas de referirse a
una empresa en inglés. El término
mas general es business, que se
refiere al concepto de "negocio"
en general. Cuando ese negocio
se crea por la asociacién de varias
personas, recibe el nombre de
company, que es el término que
usaremos casi siempre en este
libro. Ademas, también pode-
mos referirnos a ella como firm
o enterprise. Por otro lado, una
corporation es una empresa que
tiene personalidad juridica propia.
S
Vocabulary
Goodwill. Intangible value of a
company.

a

11. 7 Business organizations

Do you know that...?

Freelance workers (self-employed
workers such as many taxi drivers,
lawyers, etc.) belong to the cate-
gory of individual private com-
panies.


Watch out!

The owner of the company is
not always its manager. In pymes
(small and medium-size compa-
nies) both roles usually coincide in
the same person, but in large com-
panies management is delegated
to professionals on a fee.

oO Spanish assistant —————_

Hemos dejado los nombres de
las diferentes formas juridicas
en espafiol porque suelen variar
de pais a pais, asi no tienen una
traduccién exacta. Por ejemplo,
seguro que has visto alguna vez
las siglas Ltd. después del nom-
bre de una empresa anglosajona;
pues bien, esas siglas significan
Limited, que se corresponderia
con nuestra S.L., aunque con dife-
rencias. Si quieres saber mas, con-
sulta el siguiente enlace: http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Types_of_
companies.
/
VA Activities
1. Search the web and indi-
cate the minimum required
capital to form a corpo-
ration (S.A.) and a limited
company (S.L.), and the
difference between stocks
and shares.

2. List the types of existing
S.A. and S.L. You can find
documentation online.


@ 2. Types of business organizations
Business organizations may be classified according to various criteria. In our case we'll focus
on those features that allow us to distinguish their legal and organizational structure.
© 2.1. Legal classification
First of all, we must distinguish between public and private companies, depending on who
holds the managing power (the State in the first and individuals in the latter).
In turn, private companies are divided into individual companies, when they belong to only
one person, and corporate companies, when the owners are several people.
In Spain, there are several types of companies with their own legal features:

Sociedad anénima (S.A.)

Limited liability companies
(partners do not respond with
their personal assets)
Sociedad de responsabilidad limitada
(S.R.L.0 S.L)
Sociedad cooperativa


Companies with unlimited liability Sociedad colectiva
(partners respond with their Sociedad civil
personal assets)


Comunidad de bienes

Limited partnership (general
partners respond with their goods, | Sociedad comanditaria
but community partners don’t)

Societies in which a minimum S.A.
capital is required S._L.


Societies in which no minimum
capital is required Other companies

Companies that, apart from
obtaining benefits, aim at
integration with the environment
and social cohesion
Cooperativas

Sociedades laborales

Companies that only seek profit Other companies

Sociedad colectiva

Sociedad comanditaria
S.A.
S.R.L.

Market companies

Companies whose activities
are commercial

Non-market companies Other companies

Table 1.1. Types of companies in Spain.
Besides the abovementioned features in Table 1.1, the following are also relevant:
+ The minimum capital of the S.A. is higher than the one of the S.L.
+ The identity of the partners is important in the S.L., so partners must give their approval
when they transmit their shares; in the case of a S.A. (stock), this is not important.
+ Inthe S.C., partners bring money or time to implement it; in the C.B., the participants ex-
ploit or manage pre-existing property without obligation to bring further capital to form
the community.

12. Business organizations ]

© 2.2. Classification according to the
organizational structure
Each of the several divisions that we may find in this type of structure is known as department.
The organizational structure is the distribution of the parts of an organization.
Organizations use this means to achieve the goals they have set.
© Types of organizations by organizational structure

+ Its structure is clearly defined and very stable.
Formal + Each element of the company is located and identified and performs its function obeying orders
from other individuals that are clearly identified.

Informal + It arises from spontaneity: its members engage in relations that were not previously defined.

Centralized
* The decision-making authority occupies the top position in the corporate hierarchy.
* The possibility to delegate tasks to lower positions is minimal.

Decentralized
the structure.
* The authority assigns or delegates the decision-making to individuals in lower positions of







hierarchical
* The principle of hierarchy: each employee receives orders from his
Linear organization immediate superior.
Simple + Itis typical of pymes.
Functional + Subordinates in lower levels receive orders from several heads of
organization department instead of receiving them from only one head.
Mixed or hierarchical + Heads with authority make their decisions upon the previous advice
functional _
ae from specialists (staff).
organization
Organization * Decisions are made and responsibility is taken as a group, but not
in committees individually.
Complex
* The organizational structure resembles a double-entry matrix.
For example: one entry would be the function to perform in the company
Matrix organization and the other would be the project to be developed in the company. Thus,
there are at least two heads: a hierarchical-type head linked to functions
and a project head.
Highly
* There's a large number of hierarchical levels and thus a big gap between staff and managers.

Flat + Virtual absence of intermediate levels of command between management and staff of the company.

Table 1.2. Types of organizations according to their organizational structure.
65 Case study 2. Matrix organization
The company Ricos Quesos, S.L. is divided into two geographi-
cal areas: north and south. In turn, it develops three different
products: cured cheese, semi-cured cheese and soft cheese.
Thus, if Ricos Quesos, S.L. was organized independently in each
geographical area, we would have duplicate structures and tasks.
It could also happen that the different criteria between the both
areas resulted in different products depending on the area. Howe-
ver, this could be avoided if employees simultaneously received
orders from the area manager and from a product manager in
charge of unifying the technical criteria for both areas.
How could this approach be reflected in a matrix?

Solution:
Head of cured cheese Employees Employees
Head of semi-cured cheease Employees Employees
Head of soft cheese Employees Employees
S
a

13. 7 Business organizations

6 Vocabulary
These are some concepts related
to planning:
* Forecast. It’s something that is
expected to occur. It is a hypo-
thesis about what we believe
will happen in the future.
Budget. It’s a forecast, but asse-
ssed in monetary terms.
Program. A set of tasks, a calen-
dar for carrying out these tasks, a
responsible person for them, and
resources to perform them. S
[ee Do you know that...?
There are several tools in planning
that can help us make plans in the
short, medium or long term.
The most important and well-
known are the following two:
* PERT: it was originatedin the U.S.
Navy. Basically it involves the
graphic representation of a se-
ries of tasks that form a project.
GANTT: it’s another graphic te-
chnique in which you specify the
expected time to spend on each
task within a process.
@® 3. Functions in the organization:
planning, management,
organization and control
In the different classifications that we have seen before, we talked about the leadership role
of line managers. In turn, we distinguished between the owner (employer) and the manager of
the company, who, as we studied, may not always be the same person.
The individual or individuals who manage the company have the mission of organizing all the
resources with the aim of obtaining benefits for the company or organization through
four functions: planning function, organization function, direction function, and control
function.
3.1. Planning function
The planning function consists of establishing the goals that the company has to reach.
In other words, it is the ideal that will guide the company in its performance.
For example, the company Disconta XS, S.L. wants to launch a new product to market with
the purpose of covering an unmet need.
The employer can plan many variables such as what product or service a company will sell,
which activities it will develop or which organizational structure will be implemented.
To do this, goals must be initially settled, and, according to them, the best strategies to achieve
them will be determined. This is known as strategic planning.
In any strategic planning there are several factors that the employer must take into account:
+ Resources: the questions concerning this particular issue are which elements should be
used to achieve the goals, if they are available and, if they are not, how to obtain them.
For example: according to the example above, and as a result of several market studies, the
company Disconta XS will devote an initial budget of € 50000 and a total of 15 workers
will handle all the processes to launch this product.
+ Actions: the question here is what is going to be done in order to achieve these goals. Mo-
reover, these actions have to be sequenced in time and, if it’s necessary, some of them will
have to be prioritized over others. For example, the plan made by the company Disconta XS
implies the performance of the following phases:
a) Market research for the product.
b) Determination of physical resources and staff needed.
c) Manufacture of the product.
d) Distribution and sale of the product.
+ People: the point here is how many people are needed to achieve the objectives set and
which tasks or functions have to be performed by each staff member. In the event of
not having all those people available, the question is if it's possible to hire them or not.
For example:
a) Product design: as the company itself does not have this specialized staff, it has to
outsource it.
b) Manufacturing: it has been decided that a total number of ten employees will be needed
for the performance of the different stages in the manufacture of the product.

14. Business organizations ]

c) Storage: three workers are considered necessary for this function.
d) Distribution and sales: the tasks of distribution and sales will be outsourced (that is, they
will be performed by staff outside the company); therefore, there's no staff assigned to
this function.
+ Control: the point here is which control measures have to be established to act in the
events where deviations from planned objectives or goals occur. For example: the esta-
blished control system is based on the following standards:
a) Product/employee: productivity of each employee cannot fall outside the 5% over the
initial target that has been proposed.
b) Costs: the costs for each production process may not vary more than 3 % of planning.
® 3.2. Organizational function
The employer must ensure that every human and material resource meets the assigned
function, and also controls what relations are established among them and intervenes if it is
necessary. That is to say, the aim of the organizational function is that all the resources that
have been settled in the planning phase are adequate and that the relationship between them
is optimal to reach the achievement of the targets.
Every organization process implies a restructuring in which bodies or departments are created
to carry out the corresponding tasks.
® 3.3. Leadership function
Once the functions of planning and organization have been defined, the company has to start
working.
The leadership function (or management) is the task of control that the employer has
to perform upon his or her staff to motivate and guide it in the achievement of the
objectives that have been previously planned.
Leading is also to explain or transmit the company’s plans to others and give appropriate
instructions so that, by means of performing them, the planned goals are finally reached.
This is one of the most complex existing functions in business, as the employer should not
only guide and motivate, but also understand the problems that his or her employees may
face in the process of achieving the objectives, in order to intervene, if it’s necessary, by faci-
litating support tools.
Schematically, this function could be summarized as follows:
ny Important
A leadership style is the set of
methods and procedures used by
management to fulfil their leader-
ship roles. There are many classi-
fications of leadership styles, but
they can be grouped into three
main types:
a) Authoritarian style: also called
"autocratic", it’s based on the
allocation of tasks and workers
by managers. Each employee
knows what to do. This is not
positive for the participation
of employees in the decision-
making process.
b) Democratic style: also known
as "support to workers", it faci-
litates teamwork and the par-
ticipation of employees in the
decision-making process.
c) Advisory style: it is regarded as
a combination of the two styles
above. The manager consults
with his or her employees, and
therefore they feel valued in the
company. However, the mana-
ger is the one that ultimately
decides.
d) Passive or liberal style: in this
case, the directors or managers
settle the objectives that the
organization has to reach and
employees organize with each
other how to achieve them. The
role of the manager is limited to
giving advice or transmitting in-
formation on work procedures
in the event that the employees
ask for it.



Scheme 1.2. Functions of the management of the company.

15. 7 Business organizations

=
—
Fig. 1.2. Levels of direction.

Vocabulary
Effectiveness. Ability to achieve
the desired effect.
Efficiency. Ability to achieve the
desired effect at the least possible
cost.

3 Case study 3. Control systems
turing process.

>
The company Control, S.L. is dedicated to manufacture and sell variation for this variable will also be set (for example:
computer hardware. It decides to establish a control system in -5 %).
the company in order to evaluate the results of the manufac-
The estimated production volume per month is 5000 units for production of each employee will be obtained every
a total amount of 200 working hours per month. Which control day.
system would be the most suitable for this company?
Solution: report daily data to the control department. This de-
a) Control variable: a variable regarding production/em- partment will assess and determine the corrective mea-
ployee will be set. Moreover, the affordable range of sures to be carried out in the event of deviations.
In turn, when we talk about management we may find three different levels (Fig. 1.2):
Globally: this is management itself, since it refers to the entire company. This is also known
as top management.
Departmental level: it includes what is known as "company management", as it relates to
the technical or intermediate heads of the organization. Its scope is each and everyone of the
departments in which the company is structured.
Operational level: it refers to every defined group of people or tasks. It is usually known as
supervision, and it corresponds to the operational level of the organization.
® 3.4. Control function
The control function is to verify if everything goes as it was previously planned, if the
instructions that have been given are being followed, and if the settled principles are
being observed. This verification will highlight potential weaknesses and mistakes so
that they can be solved or corrected and prevent them from happening again.
Moreover, this function also helps the employer to assess the outcome of the decisions that
have been adopted by means of the measurement and correction of the activities that are
being performed in the company, and always trying to ensure that the outcome fits the plans
that were previously developed. Thus, the employer may detect possible deviations that can
be analyzed in order to decide which corrective measures are the best to adopt with the aim
of solving potential problems.
As we can see, there is a direct relationship between planning and control, as any planning
process necessarily requires a control system. Thus, the organization has a monitoring me-
chanism that allows it to assess the extent of achievement of the objectives that have been
proposed and, therefore, to assess the effectiveness of the planning.
In any control process, we can define the following stages:
a) Establishing several control variables (for example, productivity / employee).
b) Specifying how we are going to gather information about the variable that we have set
(daily production statistics, etc.).
c) Heads of the control department will compare the expected data to those that have been
collected on an actual basis and will discuss the deviations that may have occurred. For
example, if it is planned that 1000 units of product A must be obtained every day but daily
production statistics show that only 950 units have been obtained, there is a deviation
from the figures that were previously planned.
d) According to the obtained deviations, the most appropriate remedial actions will be
proposed. In our case, the measure could be to increase working time.

b) Data collection: it will be done through the company’s
internal accounting. To do this, worksheets with the
c) Control department: the heads of departments will

J

16. Business organizations ]

@ 4. Departments in the company.
Organizational charts
© 4.1. Concept and types of departments
As we mentioned before, the function of organization involves dividing the company into
smaller units or structures.
These units are known as departments, areas or functional units of the company,
and they are specialized in one or more specific tasks in order to achieve the goals or
objectives that have been planned.
The tasks that are carried out in each department are usually supervised by the head of such
department.
Generally speaking, departments are usually set according to the functions attributed
to them. Thus, there are four main functions that most common departments usually per-
form (Table 1.3): production, commerce, finance and human resources.
+ It generates products or services through the transformation of resources.
* It is also known as operation unit.

Purchasing department + It’s responsible for the procurement of goods or services for the company.


Sales department + It’s responsible for pricing, customer relations, conditions of sale, etc.

* It obtains and manages the money that the company needs to develop its
activity and controls all economic activities.

+ It plans and implements the decisions relating to recruitment, selection,
training and design of compensation policies of the company staff.
+ It may also be responsible for security and hygiene at work.
+ In large companies, it develops performance evaluation programmes to
assess the activity of employees.
Table 1.3. Most common departments in companies.
® 4.2. Organizational charts.
Concept, features and types
An organizational chart is a diagram that schematically shows the formal structure of the
company and its departments, functional areas and its relationship of interdependence.
The main features of a classic organizational chart are those appearing in Table 1.4:
It outlines the structure of the company, representing the units that form it and indicating the hierarchical relationships among them.

It highlights the degree of dependence, as well as its hierarchical relevance.

It indicates the specific name of departments and, sometimes, the name of those responsible.

It shows a temporal reality: it must represent the hierarchical structure in the company at the time it is made, but not the when the company was created.

It must be understandable: the graphical representation must be easily understood by those who read it.


It is expressed simply: it must contain only the essential elements to provide the information that is intended to transmit.

Table 1.4. Features of a classic organizational chart.
a

17. 7 Business organizations

As for the existing types of organizational charts, they vary depending on the criterion that
has been chosen, as shown in the following table:

Informative It informs the general public about the company structure, so it tends to be very simple.

Analytical It contains the whole structure of the company in detail.

General It covers the full set of the organization concerned.

Partial It only shows a part of the structure.

Structural It only shows the names of the elements, their hierarchical position and authority relations.

Functional It reflects the functions or contents that are assigned to the different departments.

Staff It contains information on job positions.

Vertical It is made from top to bottom in a pyramidal layout.

Horizontal It is made from left to right, and the base of the pyramid would be on the right.

Circular

The highest authority is placed in the centre and from this point, increasing circles are
developed to represent the different levels of authority.

Table 1.5. Types of organizational charts according to different sorting criteria.
Here you can see two examples of charts: the first belongs to a highly hierarchical company,
and the second belongs to a flat company.

Example of a highly hierarchical company

General management



Staff director


Financial director Commercial director





| I |
Head of the technical office Financial technicians Head of sales department Head of purchasing
department


—_— ——



Payroll responsible Selection responsible Store operator





Scheme 1.3. Chart of a highly hierarchical company.

Example of flat organization


Manager
|


Marketing head

Production head Financial head Human resources head



Scheme 1.4. Chart of a flat-organization company.



As you can see in the first chart (Scheme 1.3), there are three department managers: staff,
financial and commercial. The general manager (or CEO) is above, and below we can find heads
of different areas or technicians, who may also have, in turn, workers in charge of different tasks.
In the second chart (Scheme 1.4), only basic information is shown: a manager and four
department heads.
VA Activities
3. How many organizational levels are there in the organiza-
tional chart in Scheme 1.3? Specify who reports directly to:

4. Make the following organizational charts:
a) Informative chart of a farming company.
a) The commercial director.
b) The head of sales.
c) The store operator.
b) Partial chart of a computing company.
c) Functional chart of a hotel company.
d) Vertical chart of a wine export company.

18. 1
Business organizations

@ 5. Decision-making
We are constantly making decisions in our daily life: we decide the clothes that we will be
wearing, the road we will take to go somewhere, and many other issues that arise all the time.
However, we are scarcely aware of many of those decisions, as we make them as if they were
reflex actions; nevertheless, there are other decisions that we consider important enough to
think about them thoroughly.
The decision-making process is one of the major responsibilities for managers or executives,
because, depending on the decisions they make, the company will meet its objectives or not.
This is the reason why many economists and human resources specialists believe that busi-
ness management is definitely an ongoing process of decision-making.
Decision-making in the company is a rational process by which one or more individuals
choose between two or more alternatives in order to solve a problem.
© 5.1. Types of decisions
Decisions may be taken as an individual or as a responsible for an organization; all those deci-
sions may vary a lot depending on their level, importance or scope. Therefore, in Table 1.6 you
can find the most significant classifications:
+ It is made by one single individual who is the one responsible


Individual for it.
Group + It is made by several people, who are responsible for it.
+ It is made by the top hierarchical level.
* This decision involves planning and organization issues
Strategic / Level | of the company.
+ It has to do with long-term goals.
* This decision involves planning and organization issues
of the company.

+ It is made by the middle positions of the company.
* It is aimed at the efficient allocation of resources to achieve
the goals set at the strategic level.
Tactical / Level Il

+ It is made by the executives at the lowest level.
* It involves the type of decisions that are made in the
performance of regular work.
Operational /
Level Ill

+ Itis repetitive; it must be taken regularly.
poreculod * There is a process to facilitate its performance

+ It is new to the company, and then it has to be made when
the unforeseen circumstance arises.
* There's no settled procedure for it.
Non-schedulable

Table 1.6. Types of decisions according to different sorting criteria.
Activities

5. Mr. Roda is the final decision maker of Banco Oscense. Give examples of the decisions
that he or the rest of decision-making levels could adopt for the bank according to
the types in Table 1.6.
6. Search the web for other possible classifications of decisions
authority, consensus, etc.).
(regarding experience,
> «i

Fig. 1.3. The decisions we make lead us
one way or another. Just think about th
decision you made to study Vocational
Training and the changes that it has
brought to your life.
Oo Examples
Types of decisions:
* Strategic/Level |: where to lo-
cate production facilities, which
the capital resources should be
or which products will be pro-
duced,
Tactical/Level Il: budget use and
control.
Operational/Level Ill: alloca-
tion of tasks to workers.
Programmable: payroll.
Non-programmable: launching
a new product.
je

J
yo

19. 7 Business organizations


Do you know that...?
When somebody has to make a
decision, the choice is influenced
by several factors:
Resources available.
* Risk.
* Time.
Pressure.
Beliefs.
Values.

3 Case study 4. Decision-making process
Gestoria FiscalSur, S.L. is increasing its customer base and
plans to hire more staff, but it has a problem: the lack of space
in its current workplace. Which process of decision-making has
to be taken in order to solve this problem?
Solution:
the following stages:
The process that has to be taken for making such a decision has
5.2. The process of decision-making
As we indicated before, decision-making is a process consisting in choosing between two or
more alternatives (take the bus or the subway, go to the gym or go shopping, etc.).
It is obvious that when we have alternatives that are common and without much importance
(as those above), the decision process is almost mechanical. But when we face new problems
or those that are relevant somehow, it is necessary to perform the entire process and assess
all possible alternatives.
The decision-making process consists of four main stages:
1. Analysis of the situation. In this first stage, we must define the goal we want to achieve
to solve the problem and what causes it. Therefore, it is essential to find all the necessary
information, both present and past.
2. Planning and assessment of alternatives. In a second step, we identify the different
options that we can choose and even raise new ones. Thus, the more options we have, the
more we are able to find the most suitable. We will make an assessment of the alternatives
by eliminating the less advantageous.
3. Decision and execution. At this stage, we will decide which the best option is among the
possibilities and we will put it into practice, that is to say, we will execute it.
4. Monitoring and evaluation. Finally, we will assess whether the results correspond to our
planning or not, that is to say, if we have achieved the objective or if we have solved the
problem that we wanted to solve. Otherwise we will have to go through the process and
the selected alternative again.

on the suburbs; c) place C: this location is slightly sma-
ller than the above, but it is in a big neighbourhood in
the city and surrounded by many businesses.
3. Decision and execution: the company will finally take
place C, because although it is somewhat smaller, it
is easily accessible and is situated in a neighbourhood
where there are many potential customers.
1. Analysis of the situation: the company wants to rent a
new place, where there is room for more workers, but in
turn this place must be easily accessible to their custo-
mers and allow the company to gain new customers.
2. Planning and assessment of alternatives: FiscalSur, S.L.
has three alternatives: a) place A: it’s downtown, but with
few parking areas (it will be dismissed for lack of acces-
sibility); b) place B: it’s very accessible, but it’s located
. Monitoring and evaluation: once installed at the new
location, FiscalSur, S.L. will check if the main problem is
solved, that is to say, if they have enough room for ever-
yone. It also has to make sure that the place is comfor-
table for its customers, and if, moreover, moving to this
new place has implied an increase in its customer base.
Otherwise, it may want to rethink its decision and keep
looking for more suitable premises.
5.3. Decision-making in a group
In business, individual decisions are very common, although today there is a growing
tendency to make decisions collectively or at least to allow a group to express their opinions,
although the final decision is made only by one person.
The decision-making process in a group has a number of advantages and disadvantages with
respect to decisions on an individual basis:

20. Business organizations ]

Advantages:
+ It allows for more and better information gathering and offers different viewpoints.
+ It produces more and better solutions.
* It increases motivation and commitment.
+ |t encourages creativity.
+ Decisions are usually accepted by everyone, even those that are riskier.
Disadvantages:
Fig. 1.4. Today companies tend to make
their decisions on a group basis because
of its many advantages.
+ It takes a longer time.
+ It dilutes individual responsibility.
+ There's a risk of conformism: sometimes a right personal opinion is abandoned in order to
reach a consensus.
+ There may be members of the group that self-censor, avoid defending their views or critici-
zing the others for fear of rejection from the group.
+ There is inequality: members of a group are never equal, as they differ in experience, level
or role in the organization, verbal skills, etc. Therefore, a member may try to dominate the
group.
As for the way of making group decisions, there are many techniques (Table 1.7), and
the following are the most important:

+ Its aim is to develop creativity and find an innovative solution.
* Once the problem has been explained, each participant brings ideas spontaneously, regardless of the order in which they speak,
the value or relationship of the ideas.
* Ideas are written where everybody can see them.
* To be effective, one cannot judge the ideas of others and self-censorship has to be avoided.
* Once the group is not able to develop more ideas, these ideas must be valued and the members have to decide the solution;
this stage may be done by the same group or by a different one.

+ It consists in dividing the group into subgroups of 6 people, who will discuss a topic for 6 min.
+ After this time there will be a sharing, and together they will draw a final conclusion based on reports of the subgroups.
* It is very useful when dealing with a problem that can be split by assigning each of the sides of the issue to a subgroup.

* The decision can be analyzed from six different perspectives, each of which is represented by a hat of one colour:
— White: it represents the facts objectively, it works with facts.
— Black: this is the most pessimistic thinking, working with drawbacks and mistakes.
— Yellow: it symbolizes optimism, and works with advantages, successes and benefits.
— Red: it represents emotions, feelings, intuitions ...
— Green: it’s related to creative, innovative and different ideas.
— Blue: it organizes and coordinates the various thoughts. It is used by those running the meeting.
* The idea is to give the different types of thinking among the members of each group and analyze the problem from
the perspective of the corresponding hat.


It combines individual work and group work. It is divided into these steps:
— The moderator of the team formulates the problem and asks each group member to write as many answers as possible.
— The moderator collects the answers and reads them aloud, guaranteeing anonymity. Similar ideas are grouped on
a whiteboard.
— The group discusses ideas to clarify, develop or qualify them.
— In writing, each member assigns a score to ideas. The moderator collects the scores, also anonymous, and quantifies them.
— The ideas with the most votes will be adopted as group decisions.
+ It develops a great deal of ideas and, as the process is made in writing, it prevents some of the disadvantages of oral group
decision-making, such as interferences caused by hierarchical differences or having more outgoing people covering most of the
meeting time.

Table 1.7. Techniques of decision-making in a group.

21. 7 Business organizations

Important

Corporate identity has to be based
on actual qualities or intentions
of the company, and not only
in what is believed to please the
public.
If the company uses attributes
that do not belong to it, the public
will clearly notice the inconsis-
tency.

@ 6. Corporate identity and corporate
image
6.1. Corporate identity
In the beginning of this unit we talked about the need for controlled communication processes in
the company. In order to understand this importance, first of all we must understand why the
company needs to communicate. And not only to communicate, but also why this commu-
nication has to be performed in a controlled way.
In advanced societies, people are subjected to thousands of daily advertising stimuli. We go
down the street and there are advertisements everywhere; we turn the TV on, and advertise-
ments are there too; and the same goes for magazines. All these companies that launch their
messages want us to buy or use their products or services and to recommend them to the
people we know, but there are too many of them. This oversupply is the reason why compa-
nies have to make a major effort to stand out from their competitors, and the only way of
standing out is making their consumers perceive them as a unique product, trademark
or professional.
Thus, we can define corporate identity as the enduring traits that define the personali-
ty of the company. That is to say, it is what the company decides is going to differentiate
it from its competitors for a long period of time. We could say it’s its DNA.
© A. Properties of corporate identity
When it comes to implement corporate identity, a company must fulfil four properties:
* Stability: it has to be maintained over time so that the public may have the possibility
of being aware of it.
* Consistency: it must be based on actual attributes, but not in qualities that the company
does not have.
+ Evolution: it has to evolve as time goes by to adapt to changes in society.
+ Uniqueness: the definition of the company must be exclusive, that is to say, products,
technology or services can be copied, but not the identity. This is the most important
property.
©) B. Dimensions of corporate identity
Corporate identity has two dimensions:
+ Objective identity: it is formed by actual elements: legal form, corporate structure,
history, the goods it produces...
* Subjective identity: it is formed by the attributes associated with it, but they don’t need to
be tangible. For example, the company may be friendly, modern, classic, green...
Making an analogy with people, we could say that an objective identity might be formed by
traits such as age, hair colour, skin colour, nationality, etc., while subjective identity might be
formed by other traits, such as being sympathetic, altruistic, friendly and so on.
It is essential that all members of the organization know and share the corporate identity of
their company, as this identity is present in each and every action that the company performs:
it’s in the way phone calls are answered, and also in its advertisements. Everything must be in
accordance with corporate identity.

22. Business organizations ]

©) C. Communication of corporate identity
Any organization, by the fact of its mere existence, is sending information about itself to the
environment. This information is issued in two ways:
* Voluntarily: this is the information that the company issues in a controlled and intentional
way. For example, if a line manager of the organization offers a lecture on the history of the
organization at a conference.
+ Involuntarily: this is the information that the company issues without control. Those data
are inferred from comments, actions or opinions that are produced in private or unintentio-
nally. For example, if the president of the organization meets his or her old college buddies
and talks about the way sales are going in that semester.
When we receive information from different companies, we understand it in the same way,
regardless of whether this was voluntary and, therefore, controlled by the company, or invo-
luntary or uncontrolled.
That is to say, all the information we receive through several channels makes us create an
image of the company.
Therefore, if the company wants us to have the image it is trying to create, communication
must be:
+ Constant: the company cannot communicate with its public only when it’s convenient;
it has to keep a constant communication.
* Consistent: all communication actions undertaken by the company have to be faithful to
their identity. That is to say, what the company is, what the company does and what the
company says it does must be in the same line.
If there are inconsistencies, unconsciously or even consciously, the consumer will trigger a
warning signal that will cause distrust of all information and actions of the company, and even
more when they are voluntary or controlled.
6.2. Corporate image
To put it simply, we may say that corporate image is what the public think of our
organization. It’s not just what an individual or group thinks, but what emerges from the
collective.
© A. Building corporate image
The public builds corporate image from the information it receives from:
+ The company itself: this type of information may have been issued both voluntarily and
involuntarily.
+ The competitors: the messages of competitors about themselves influence the image of
other companies for comparison.
* The environment: this includes any information related to the company or sector that
reaches the public through media, friends, acquaintances...
© B. Measuring corporate image
After creating the corporate image of the company, it is necessary to measure its impact
on the market. This measurement is possible through market research techniques, such as
opinion polls.
© Watch out!
We may use the term public as
a collective noun when we mean
the set of individuals forming
the society in which the orga-
nization is immersed. The term
general public is also used for this
meaning.
We also use the term public when
we refer to all groups of individuals
that form a whole with common
features.
For example, for the Regional
Government of Madrid, the public
is formed by all the inhabitants
of the Region of Madrid. But the
public of an organization is iden-
tified with a group: workers of the
organization, users of the services
it provides, suppliers of the orga-
nization, etc.

23. 1
Business organizations

The two elements that can be studied to carry out the measurement of corporate image are:
The reputation of the company, that is to say, the valuation that the public has about the
company.
Positioning, that is to say, the place that the company has in consumer’s mind compared
to its competitors.
To sum up, we can say that corporate identity is formed by traits that belong to the organi-
zation, while corporate image is formed by the mental perception or idea that the public has
about the organization (Fig. 1.5).
In any case, the goal of any organization is to make sure that its identity and its image are the
same, as this is the way to ensure that the public has the mental picture of the organization
that is best for it.
5 Case study 5. Building corporate image
The sneaker company Zapatines, S.L. designs and produces shoes for young people aged
between 12 and 18. Its corporate identity is formed by the following objective features:
young company, founded in 2008, working team of an average age of 32. And the following
subjective features: it supports young people, it’s different, rebel, urban, and fighter.
Solution:
To create a corporate image in the public so that it identifies that image with the
abovementioned values of youth, rebellion, and so on, Zapatines, S.L. decides to adopt
the following measures:
Remove formal barriers within the company, creating an informal and equal
working environment.
Use the media that young people use in order to advertise the company. For exam-
ple, social networks.
Use a young language in all its communications.
Hiring well-known graffiti artists €
to do some designs of their shoes.
4
Sponsor skate and graffiti cham- fF
pionships and music contests. ; Za pat j ness.
1 Deke
z
Support new clothing designers
by creating scholarships. J

Activities
7. The company Reposterias Lépez, S.L. owns several brands in the food sector. After
more than 40 years on the market, it has decided to replace its traditional logo, con-
sisting of the initials RL in plain blue uppercase letters, for a new one in which the
initials are not plain, but formed by the symbols of the different brands of the com-
pany. In doing so, Reposterias L6pez seeks to convey vitality, while maintaining the
strength and solidity that the previous logo transmitted. By including the symbols
of all the brands of the company, the public can also fully perceive what is behind
Reposterias L6pez, what it does and how it does it. In orther to complement the logo
change, the company has hired an advertising campaign.
Which corporate identity properties are evident with this information? Which ele-
ments of objective and subjective identity is the company intending to communi-
cate? How does Reposterias Lépez want its identity communication to be? What is
the requirement for a corporate image to match a corporate identity?

24. Business organizations ]

6.3. The trademark
The term trademark refers to any sign used to distinguish our products, services and
industrial or commercial establishments in the market.
The main feature of a trademark is that it has to be unique, that is to say, there can be no other
identical or similar trademark in the market.
The trademark must be unique for two reasons:
+ Because this uniqueness helps consumers to differentiate products, companies or services
from each other.
+ Because it helps the company to be in the market, as it supports visually its distinctive
qualities, that is to say, its identity.
There are three basic types of trademarks:
+ Nominative: these are formed by a name or letters. They can use a unique font or not.
In the example of the right margin, that would be BBVA logo (Fig. 1.5).
Figurative: they are symbols, signs or images, such as Movistar logo (Fig. 1.6).
* Mixed: formed by letters and symbols combined, such as El Corte Inglés logo (Fig. 1.7).
These three types are the most commones, but there are other things that may also be a
part of the brand, such as a melody (as the one in Nocilla advertisement) or a colour that
has been exclusively used for this trademark (as the red colour in the case of Coca-cola). Today,
even exclusive flavours are created so that they can be associated with trademarks.
In any case, the fundamental types of trademarks are always formed by three elements:
* The symbol: the figure or icon that represents our organization. For example, the flag of
El Corte Ingles.
* The logo: the name of our organization written in a certain way or in a particular font.
For example: the letters of El Corte Inglés.
* The corporate colours: colours that identify us as an organization. For example,
colours green, white and black are the defining feature of El Corte Inglés.
6.4. Corporate Visual Identity (CVI)
The term corporate visual identity refers to the development and application of the
trademark in all areas of the company.
Today, as a result of the increasing number of existing trademarks, companies have realized
that their identity can’t only be based on design, and must go further and make a real dif-
ference.
Thus, just as we have noted the importance of consistency in corporate identity, in the case
of visual identity this need becomes even more evident because, as a general rule, the first
contact that an individual has with the organization is through the trademark.
Therefore, if we want our trademark to be recognized in the future, or if we want that the
actor of an advertisement is clearly identified, we must not change the graphics application
of the trademark.
For example, if we go down the street, the first thing we usually see before entering a store is
its sign. Moreover, if the store contacts us by postal mail to confirm an order that we have just
made, we need to identify the trademark, and this is the reason why it must be recognizable
both in the sign and printed on paper.
BBVA
Fig. 1.5. BBVA logo. Example nominative
trademark: formed by letters.

Fig. 1.6. Movistar logo. Example of figura-
tive trademark: a specially designed M as a
trademark.
Tent uy ey
Fig. 1.7. Logo of El Corte Inglés. Example
of mixed trademark: it combines a parti-
cular font with the symbol of the flag.
Ho Spanish assistant —————
La palabra espafiola "marca" puede
decirse de dos formas en inglés:
trademark y brand, como habras
visto en este pagina. Aunque la
mayoria de las veces se aceptan
como sindénimos, no esta de mas
que sepas que no lo son: mien-
tras que trademark es un término
general que hace referencia a la
marca registrada en si misma, el
término brand se suele emplear
para referirse a elementos {visua-
les, sonoros o de otro tipo) que
sirven para diferenciarse de la
competencia. Por eso se dice que
algo esta branded cuando muestra
alguno de estos elementos, por
ejemplo, un boligrafo con el logo
del BBVA. yy
a

25. 7 Business organizations

Web
http://www.um.es/cpu/imagen/

In the section "Servicio de Comuni-
cacién y Proyeccién Universitario"
of the University of Murcia, you
can access its Corporate Visual
Identity Manual.

Ty ary

Fig. 1.8. Logo of El Corte Inglés in black
and white.

i Do you know that...?
Pantone is a U.S. company that
invented a system, the Pantone
Matching System, which identi-
fies colours by a certain code.
Thus, the colours that appear in
logos and symbols will remain the
same regardless of where they are
printed.

Summing up to achieve an appropriate visual identity, it is necessary to develop a set of rules
to guide the implementation of the brand in various media; in other words, when the brand is
used in commercial letters, envelopes, websites, corporate gifts, etc., it must keep the identity
and perfectly suit these media.
These rules of application are usually explained in the corporate identity manual.
The aim of the corporate identity manual is that everyone in the organization in charge of
working with some element of visual identity knows how to apply the trademark. This is the
way to achieve unification and standardization of communication elements.
As for the elements that form corporate visual identity, they are the following:
Activities

Logo: it is the written part of the identifier of the trademark. For example, the letters
forming the words El Corte Ingles.
Symbol: it’s a graphical representation of the trademark. For example, the symbol of sports
trademark Nike.
Corporate colours: the choice of the colours that form the symbol, the logo or both. Co-
lours have an standard reference for each one so that they can be faithfully reproduced. For
example, a Pantone reference.
Fonts: the font used in the logo, as well as the one to be used in all company communica-
tions, has to be identified. For example, CEPSA has chosen the font family Gill Sans as its
corporate font.
Figure-background relationship: that is, how to apply the logo depending on the back-
ground colour. For example, the brand CEPSA determines that if its logo can not be used
with red background and white lettering, the background has to be black.
Monochrome version: how to apply the logo or symbol using only one colour. The logo in
Fig. 1.8 is a good example.
Applications: all possible applications of the logo and/or symbol in different materials and
media. For example, cards, letterheads, envelopes, banners, uniforms, company cars,
and so on.

8. Using the Internet, search websites of companies, educational institutions, govern-
ment agencies, NGOs, etc., and find a complete manual of corporate visual identity
of the organization:
a) Indicate which of the elements that we have seen in this unit are included in that
manual and which are not.
b) Once you have identified them, indicate which of the absent elements in the
manual should appear.
9. Find three brands on the Internet that match the concept of nominative, figurative
and mixed trademark.
10. Do you think that the choice of corporate colour influences the success of a
brand? What colours would you choose to represent a brand of wines from the south
of Spain? Why?
11. The font may be used to give a formal or informal character to the brand. Use a word
processor to search for two fonts, one formal and one informal, to convey the brand
image of the company Centro de formaciédn Calculus, S.L.

26. Business organizations

Classification
of companies
according
to their
organizational
structure
Functions
of the
organization
Organizational chart
Decision-making
Corporate
identity (DNA
of the
company)
Trademark
Formal or informal
Centralized or decentralized
Simple (linear or functional) or complex
Hierarchical or flat

Planning Production
Sales
Organization Commercial
Departments Purchasing
Management Financial
Control Human resources
Schematic diagram showing the formal structure of the company and its
departments, functional areas and their relationship of interdependence.
Purpose
Range
Sorting criteria
Content
Graphical Layout
Situation analysis
Planning and assessment of alternatives
Process with four stages
Decision and execution
Monitoring and evaluation
Techniques of decision-making in group: brainstorming, Phillips 6/6,
Six thinking hats, nominal group.
Objective identity: formed by real elements: legal form, structure,
history, goods produced... Corporate identity
Subjective identity, formed by the attributes associated with it, x
but those doesn’t have to be tangible: friendly, modern, classic, green... Corporate image
(public perception)
Corporate visual identity: development and application of the mark
in all areas of the company.
Sign used to distinguish our products, services, industrial
or commercial establishments in the market and so on.
a

27. 7 Business organizations


Test review
. The business organization is NOT:
a) Assigning tasks to employees.
b) Paying applicable taxes.
c) Distributing responsibilities among members of the
company.
d) Line managers making decisions.
. Which of the following types of company divides its share
capital and limits the liability of the partners?
a) Sociedad limitada.
b) Sociedad colectiva.
c) Sociedad andénima.
d) Sociedad cooperativa.
. The function responsible for raising the targets or goals to
be achieved by the company is:
a) Organization function.
b) Control function.
c) Planning function.
d) Management function.
. Which of the following are managing functions of the
employer?
a) Identification of objectives, planning and control.
b) Identification of objectives, organization, planning and
control.
c) Identification of objectives, resource allocation, man-
agement and control.
d) None of the above.
. Regarding the decision-making process, which of these
statements is correct?
a) When we face a common problem, the full process has
to be performed.
b) The situation analysis involves identifying the different
options that we can choose.
c) The more options we have, the lower the chances of
finding the best.
d) It is necessary to assess whether the results correspond
to those planned or not.
. In the technique "six thinking hats" each colour reflects a
different thinking style. Indicate the wrong option:
a) The black hat represents the most pessimistic thinking:
it works with drawbacks and mistakes.
b) The yellow hat symbolizes optimism: it works with
advantages.
c) The blue hat represents the facts objectively: it works
with facts.
d) The green hat is associated with creativity, innovative
and different ideas.
7. The properties of corporate identity are:
10.
11.
12
a) Uniqueness, objectivity, consistency and evolution.
b) Stability, objectivity, evolution and uniqueness.
c) Stability, consistency, evolution, uniqueness.
d) Consistency, kindness, uniqueness and evolution.
. The construction of the corporate image results in:
a) The creation of the company’s trademark.
b) The communication of voluntary and involuntary infor-
mation.
c) Two measurable elements: positioning and reputation.
d) The subjective elements of the company’s corporate
identity.
. The elements of a trademark are:
a) Figurative, nominative and mixed elements.
b) Fonts, the figure-background relationship and applica-
tions.
c) Design, colour and creativity.
d) The symbol, logo and corporate colours.
A decision that is made on matters arising repetitively and
with an established procedure is known as:
a) Scheduled decision.
b) Intended decision.
c) Routine decision.
d) Non-schedulable decision.
A decision that is made by a superior and that refers to the
organizational structure of the company is:
a) Strategic or Level |.
b) Tactical or Level Il.
c) Operational or Level Ill.
d) None of the above.
. The organization whose decisions are taken by the leaders
but with professional advice is:
a) A matrix organization.
b) A hierarchical functional organization.
c) Aclover organization.
d) None of the above.

28. Business organizations ]



Check your learning
Distinguish types of existing business institutions
1. Media usually refer to a special kind of company known
as pyme. Find out what a pyme is and define the different
types of existing pymes.
Tip: the website www.creatuempresa.org/apoyoinfo.htm
may be helpful to solve this activity.
2. Search the Internet and find out what the laws governing
corporations and limited liability companies are and indi-
cate the minimum capital required to constitute them.
3. There are other types of companies that participate in the
social economy principles. Enter the website of Confedera-
cién Empresarial Espafola de la Economia Social (CEPES),
www.cepes.es, and indicate which they are. Also indicate
all the basic features of social economy companies.
Relate the common functions of the organization: manage-
ment, planning, organization, execution and control
4. List the factors that influence strategic planning and that
every employer should consider.
5. Which is the difference between the functions of mana-
gement and organization? Give an example of a task that
belongs to each of these types of functions.
6. The company TEXTILNOR, S.L. raised the following issues
in amanagement meeting:
a) The operations department proposes a change in staff
shifts to produce at lower costs.
b) It is proposed to choose between two possible product
lines to launch next year: decorative items or toiletries.
c) The heads of different departments explain the degree
of achievement of the objectives and the deviations that
have occurred on the plans while establishing measures
to correct these deviations.
d) The manager emphasizes the need to motivate staff and
to explain clearly its functions.
Which function of the organization relates to each case
above?
Be aware of the importance of an adequate organizational
structure to perform the provision of quality services
7. Make the chart of a company including (from the highest
to the lowest priority) the following organizational levels:
+ President of the company.
+ General manager.
+ Departments of:
8. Following the classification of the charts, match the
— Production.
— Staff.
— Logistics.
— Administration. This one has a technical staff of
investments.
+ Employees (hierarchically dependent and independent
from the different departments).
following types with the group they belong to:

General chart
Depending on the purpose

Organizational chart



Circular chart Depending on the range

Analytical chart

Horizontal chart Depending on the content


Partial Chart

Depending on the layout
Staff chart

9. Describe the features that concur in the following organi-
10. Think about the reasons you had to study this Vocational
11. Make a classification of the types of existing decisions
zational chart:







Employees

Middle
positions
Department
heads
Manager
Training Course. In relation with your thoughts, design your
own decision-making process for this specific case.
according to the level criterion.

29. q
OY
7 Business organizations


Check your learning
12. Match each type of decision with its meaning:
1. Decisions made during the develop-
ment of regular work.
a) Scheduled
b) Operational
c) Individual
d) Strategic
2.They are adopted by the supe-
rior level of the organization. They
settle long-term goals.
3. Decision made by a single person
with final responsibility.
4. Decisions to be taken periodically.
13. Describe a scheduled decision you usually make every
day. Why do you think that it is scheduled? Was it a non-
schedulable decision in the past?
. List the advantages and disadvantages of decision-making
in groups.
. Indicate if the following statements are true or false:
a) Decision-making in the company is an irrational process
by which one or more individuals are choosing between
two or more alternatives.
b) According to the level of the decision maker, there are
scheduled and non-schedulable decisions.
c) Strategic decisions are those related to the objectives of
the company on a long-term basis.
d) Encouraging creativity is an advantage of decision-
making in groups.
e) The technique Phillips 6/6 combines individual work
with team work.
f) The technique "six thinking hats" allows analyzing a
decision from six different points of view.
Recognize different types of existing trademarks
16. List three examples of famous companies of each of these
types of trademarks: nominative, figurative and mixed.
Differentiating between corporate identity and image
17. Indicate whether the following statements correspond to
elements of subjective corporate identity, objective corpo-
rate identity or corporate image of the company:
a) The company Tadami decided to adopt the legal form
of corporation to facilitate the entry of new members.
b) It was founded forty years ago.
c) It manufactures wooden furniture of high quality.
d)|t has always advocated the use of wood from sus-
tainable exploitation and its products are covered by a
pan-European forest certification.
18.
19.
20.
e) Its customers value their involvement with the preser-
vation of the environment.
f) Tadami, S.A. commits to cutting-edge designs that offer
innovative solutions.
g) \ts designs have obtained several awards for innovation
from magazine conducting consumer surveys.
h) It produces furniture collections for living-rooms, bed-
rooms, offices and dining areas, and therefore customers
find solutions for the entire house in its catalogue. They
value this issue because they can keep the same style
throughout the house.
Read the following statements and indicate whether they
are true or false:
a) Corporate identity may change constantly to adapt to
what the public demands.
b) Companies should always communicate with their
public, and not just when it’s convenient for them.
c) The identity of a company can be copied, as well as the
services it provides.
d) Corporate identity is known by the line managers of a
company, and the rest of the company members don’t
need to know about it.
e) The information received by the public of a company
through friends or relatives do not affect its corporate
image.
f) Consistency is one of the issues that the corporate iden-
tity needs to have so that the public may create the
image that the company is interested in.
We have created the corporate visual identity of the ba-
kery Tupan. Which potential applications should we consi-
der in the manual of corporate visual identity?
Indicate if the following statements are cases of voluntary
or involuntary communication of corporate identity:
a) The president of the NGO Salvacién Sur offers a lecture
on the history, goals and values of the organization.
b) The marketing manager of Zapatines, S.L. calls for an
internal meeting to inform partners about the new
advertising campaign.
c) The accountant of the bakery Tupan tells the accountant
of the fruit store Freshverd that sales are going down.
d) The purchasing manager of Zapatines, S.L. meets two
friends and tells them that the new advertising cam-
paign that her company is about to launch seems "for
dummies" to her.

30. Unit

The communication process
In this unit you'll learn how to:
Identify the elements and stages of a
communication process.
Assess the importance of maintaining
a positive attitude towards a
communication process.
Analyse the various barriers that may
arise in communication.
Differentiate between communicating
and transmitting information.
Choose a suitable alternative to solve
communication problems.

of the communication
er, receiver, message,
, context and feedback.
e between communication
ation.




arriers to communication.
ions to barriers
cation. r
,

31. 2 The communication process

6...
In this web page you can obtain
more information about the com-
munication process:
www.portalcomunicacion.com


@ 1. Elements involved in
the communication process
In the first unit we defined a company as a business organization where people work. We also
explained that those who work in it must communicate with each other (internal communi-
cation) and that the company also communicates with the outside (external communication).
But what are the roles that communication plays in organizations? They are the following:
* Motivating employees and creating a proper cooperative environment.
* Reporting or providing data needed for decision-making and spreading the goals and ob-
jectives of the organization.
* Controlling the performance of plans and the behaviour of its members.
* Expressing emotions about work achievements or failures and relate the organization with
its environment.
In this unit we will focus on communication in general and we will introduce a series of basic
concepts to expand and apply them to business communication in the next unit.
From a practical point of view, the issues related to oral and written communication are
considered separately. Oral communication, on the other hand, is not only the set of words
that is transmitted: there are also elements, such as gestures, that we use when we speak
face to face, as well as the voice tone that goes with these words and that is a part of the
meaning that you want to give to the message. These elements form the so-called non-verbal
communication, as we will see in detail in the following sections.
Activities
cases:
success:

1. Indicate the communication role in each of the following c) A study on prospective customers of a new cola:
a) The placement of a poster with the picture of the
employee that has excelled in the past month:

b) The expressions of joy of the athletes when they get a


Cola demand
y = -139.53x3 + 1258.5x? - 3900.7x + 4168.2
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0

1.25 1.75 2.25 2.75 3.25

d) An internal circular letter asking the employees to
observe the dress code of the company:

32. The communication process 2

(5 Case study 1. Communicating the new company’s product

The company Piedras Soneira, S.L. is organized according to this organizational chart:

Operator 1
; Vicente Bajo
Operations manager
Alejandra Diaz
Operator 2
Juan Sala
Marketing manager Sales agent
Pedro Pérez Luisa Vargas

Financial manager Administrative assistant
Alba Soneira Sara Castelo
Scheme 2.1. Organizational chart of the company Piedras Soneira, S.L.
The manager, Arturo Soneira, wants to launch a new range of marble countertops for
catering establishments. For this purpose, he brings the heads of the three departments
together at his office and tells them his idea. The three of them express their agreement
and undertake to carry out a joint plan for that launch.
What elements can be identified in this communication process?
Solution:
In the communication process occurring in Arturo’s office we can identify several ele-
ments:
The sender: the person issuing the message, which is Arturo Soneira.
The receivers: the recipients of the message. In this case the heads of the three
departments.
The message that is transmitted: "We are launching a new line of marble countertops
for the catering sector."
The channel or medium through which it is transmitted: it is transmi-tted orally
by Arturo Soneira.
The code or set of signs and symbols that transmit the message: in this case,
English language.
The context: location, time, culture of the participants and, in general, the circum-
stances in which the message is transmitted. In this case, they meet at the office
of the general manager after being called by Arturo Soneira.

g Activities
2. The company AQUAOCIO, municipal swimming pool
supplier in the towns of the Autonomous Community of
Castilla y Len, sends messages to the cell phones of the
customers that have been with the company for more than
one year to announce the gift of some invitations to a ther-
mal treatment. Indicate the elements of this communica-
tion process.
Web
If you want to expand your know-
ledge on communication within
the company, visit the following
link:
+ http://www.ciberconta.uni-
zar.es/leccion/comui/100.htm
(©Esther Puyal)


3. Enter the website of the campaigns of Direcciédn General
de Trafico (DGT), www.dgt.es/was6/portal/contenidos/
visor_multimedia, and answer these questions:
a) Who is the sender?
b) Who are the recipients?
c) What channel or channels are used?

a

33. 2 The communication process

© Watch out! —————————_
Do not mistake the meaning of
the message for its content. The
meaning is given not only by
words, sounds, pictures or gestu-
res that are transmitted, but also
by the context in which we live.
Take the sentence "Let’s go to the
bank". It could be said by a busi-
nessman to a customer with the
idea of going together to a finan-
cial institution to deposit some
money; but it could also be used
by someone who invites a friend
to have a walk along the riverside
of their town.

Web
In the following website you can
learn the rules for the proper use
of the microphone:
www.asesorutil.com/uso-del-
microfono-conferenciantes


The most common scheme for the communication process (Scheme 2.2) was established in
the last century by Roman Jakobson, renowned Russian linguist, and is usually represented as
follows:
Receiver

Sender
Decoding

Message

qT
Channel
Feedback
Scheme 2.2. The communication process.
For a communication process to develop, an exchange of information is required. If there is
no exchange, there is no communication, as this is only information transmission.
VA Activities
4. Ediciones Aprende, S.A. is a company dedicated to publishing textbooks. It has a
website aimed only at posting information about its products. What other functions
could be incorporated to the website so that the communication with its customers
and suppliers could happen? Form groups of students to solve this activity.

5. The communication model that we have represented is not the only theory that has
been developed on the subject. Harold Dwight Lasswell, for example, proposed a
theory that has been widely used in mass media performance. Using the resources
provided by Internet, find out what this theory is about.

© 1.1. The sender
The sender is the one who transmits the message.
In a company, the sender may be, for example, a manager giving instructions to his or her
employees.
The sender seeks or intends a certain reaction in the recipient as a result of the information
transmitted. Therefore, the sender's primary mission is to encode the message. Encoding a
message means:
* Choosing a transmission system or channel to ensure the connection and a suitable code
or system of signs to allow the communication process. For example, no fluent commu-
nication will be achieved using the Spanish language with a person who usually does not
use it.
+ A proper use of the transmission system. For example, when we speak on a microphone.
The proper use of the microphone to address an audience is very useful to avoid annoying
sound distortions that might prevent the message from being clearly perceived. To avoid
this, you should check some issues such as the distance to the microphone, the volume of
your voice or the direction in which to speak.

34. The communication process

In a conversation, the sender and the receiver alternate their roles as information is
exchanged (for example, the boss speaks first, then the employee, then the boss again, then
the employee, and so on; however, when the boss brings the company’s employees together
to inform them about new internal rules, this only implies a transmission of information).
In turn, the communication process always entails an exchange of messages, along which
the sender and the receiver exchange their roles successively (in the example above, the boss
explains something to the employee, the employee answers if he or she thinks that these
ideas are viable, etc).
This means that, sometimes, we cannot know who the original source is and who the recipient
was initially, and we must consider them as a source or sender and receiver simultaneously
(Fig. 2.1).
For the message to be transmitted with guarantees by the sender, it is important that he
meets a series of recommendations:
+ Developing the ability to communicate and improvising.
+ Transmiting ability, confidence and credibility.
+ Knowing and showing interest in people and culture of the organization and in communi-
cation techniques.
Moreover, there is no doubt that the style used by the sender in communication influences
the effectiveness of communication. Thus, a sender may be aggressive, inhibited or assertive.
In the first case, intimidation may lead to a poor response from receivers, who do not feel free
to give their opinion or possible answer because of fear. In the second case, we have senders
whose shyness gives a sense of lack of control, and therefore they transmit insecurity and
lack of confidence. The third case is the most effective communication style, as assertiveness
refers to express what you want in a direct and honest way, apart from showing respect to
the speaker or receiver.
VA Activities
6. Companies often turn to public personalities to strengthen their credibility in the
message they send to consumers. Find three examples of advertisements in which
celebrities appear and say if you think that the credibility of the product improves
with their appearance.


© 1.2. The receiver
The receiver is the recipient of the message and the one who interprets it to understand
its meaning. It may be a single person or several.
When a receiver performs this interpretation of the signs that come as a message, we say that
he or she decodes it. Thus, in a written message, the receiver reads and interprets it through
his or her knowledge of the language in which it is written.
To produce a real communication process, it is necessary for the recipient to react in some
way when the message is received, that is to say, to transmit information to the sender about
the reception of the message to verify the existence of good communication. This is called
feedback and it is another element of the communication process that we will be discussing
in detail in section 1.7.
When you receive a message, especially in some types of communication such as face-to-face
conversations, the receiver must maintain an active attitude; this is why we usually talk about
the importance of active listening.
Content Content
a tree tree al
b~
Sender Receiver
Fig. 2.1. Relationship between senderand
receiver. The sender thinks about the
content that he or she wants to transmit
and encodes it using the spoken language.
The receiver listens and decodes the
information, interpreting the content.
For content to be easily understood, the
sender can show images supporting
the words to the receiver.

Spanish assistant

Como ya habras visto, el “emisor”
y el “receptor” son el sender y el
receiver en inglés, respectivamen-
te. Pero hay mas palabras para
referirse a ellos; asi, “emisor” tam-
bién puede ser issuer o source,
y “receptor” también puede ser
recipient. Lo mismo ocurre con el
verbo “transmitir”, que puede ser
to transmit 0 to convey.

35. 2 The communication process

[2 Do you know that...?
The expression lingua franca refers
to the language in which people
who speak a different language
and who perform a common acti-
vity can understand each other.
The expression comes from the
language of the Franks, a people
who founded the empire of the
same name in the Middle Ages.
This language was commonly used
for business transactions among
the peoples of the Mediterranean.
Nowadays, it is said that English is
the lingua franca for business.



Regarding the receiver, the recommendations to enrich the process of oral communication in
a positive way can be summarized as follows:
* Watching the interlocutor during the conversation, because we can infer his or her attitu-
des and feelings on the matter we are dealing with from gestures and behaviour.
* Communicating with our own gestures that we are listening to the conversation or that
we agree with some point of the dialogue, for example, nodding.
* Using a voice tone that suits the circumstances in our turn of the conversation. It is
also important to show, from time to time, that the message is being understood with
expressions like "right", "sure" or other similar ones. In any case, do not interrupt the person
who is speaking.
* Waiting our interlocutor to expose all his or her arguments before making judgments.
Once finished, we can offer solutions or assistance if necessary. In any case, we must be ca-
reful when we express our opinion and, if possible, we must think before speaking to avoid
hurting the feelings of the other person.
© 1.3. The message
The message is the information that the sender transmits to the receiver. It is the idea
that we try to transmit and it is the main element in the communication process.
The characteristics (Scheme 2.3) of a good message are:


— Clarity — Unequivocal and easy to decode.
The information transmitted in the
Accuracy = —— message must be accurate and complete.
—— Objectivity —— True, authentic, as unbiased as possible.
It must be transmitted at the right time, that
| Opportunity — is, the moment in which the message has the
proper effect for the purpose
to be achieved.
wu Interest — Information must be relevant to interlocutors.
Scheme 2.3. Basic features that a properly-made message should have.
Activities

7. In the article by Enrique Sueiro, "Comunicacién intima
y preventiva en la empresa", released in the newspaper
El Pais on July 23, 2010, we can read the following:
"[..] some organizations sacrifice the truth to preserve
the good. Thus, they conceal or disguise information
to their employees in order not to discourage them with
facts and data that do not suit the official message, they
show managing incompetence, and act with managing
immaturity and lack of sensibility. This communication
disease implies using the facts (which are denied by
words) to practice the saying ‘the end justifies the means’.
In the best case, silence or denial only work for a short
time. [...]
[...| In the discussion after a session in Barcelona, | was
asked about the best way to communicate an imminent
collective dismissal in a company. The first thing is that we
shouldn't let urgency affect our time schedule because, in
communication, the clock is as important as the compass.
Also sensitivity is. Moreover, unlike the advice of Direccién
General de Trafico, the important thing here is not to get
to our destination, but to do it on time. The severity of
being late always ends up with scars and, sometimes, it is
progressively or fulminantly lethal. It’s all about practicing
what we call preventive communication [...]"
What message features fail in the communication of the
companies that Sueiro describes in his article? Why?

36. The communication process 2

In the communication process, when it comes to transmit a message, we can distinguish
three types:
* Intended or planned message: the one that the sender intends to transmit.
* Sent message: the message that has actually been transmitted and that is in the commu-
nication channel.
* Received message: the message that has been decoded and understood by the receiver.
In effective communication, these three messages should be identical, but in practice they
rarely are. The problems in encoding and decoding the message, which we will see later, cause
differences between the intended or planned message and the one that is actually received.
© 1.4. The channel
The communication channel is the means through which information circulates. It is a
form of connection between the sender of the message and its receiver.
This is a necessary element in any communication and influences the content and code of a
message. Many of the distortions (called noise) that can occur in the communication process
are due to an inappropriate choice of channels. Therefore, we must choose a channel that
provides us with results and suits our possibilities.
The communication channels or means can be classified according to different criteria. One
classification distinguishes between personal and impersonal channels:
¢ Personal channels are those in which the sender and receiver have direct contact, such as
the telephone. They allow an immediate response or feedback.
* Non-personal channels are divided into two categories: mass media and selective me-
dia. The former are intended for general public, such as newspapers, while the latter are
addressed to specific groups. An example of selective media is a specialized magazine for
computer fans.
A second classification focuses on whether the formal structure of the organization is used
or not, according to which they may be formal or informal:
* Formal channels: those occurring within the formal networks of the organization, that
is to say, the hierarchical relationships established in the organizational chart. Some
examples are:
* Bulletins or newsletters.

Oo Examples
Intended, sent and received mes-
sage
It is told that king Carlos V recei-
ved a sentence that he had to sign.
The text said "Perdén imposible,
que cumpla su condena. Carlos V
was feeling magnanimous that
day, and a little funny too, and be-
fore signing the sentence he era-
sed the comma and put another
before the word "imposible". The
text after his signature had litt-
le to do with what was initially
planned...


roan ncn en 200
Za salarias

* Posters.
Calls.
Internal information publications.
Ipresas _
re
Fig. 2.3. Newspapers are a mass medium.
‘eon
ieerempule

* E-mails.
* Informal channels: those occurring among a group of people outside hierarchical relation-
ships. It is a social network. This is the scope where rumours are usually born.
But a channel can be also understood as the line of people through which messages are
distributed in the organization. Then, depending on the direction in which information travels,
communication may be top-down, bottom-up or lateral.
That is to say, when we consider the communication channel from this point of view, we must
remember the hierarchical relationships appearing in organizational charts. For example, in
top-down communication, an individual with a leadership role in the organizational chart of
the company communicates with his or her subordinates to give them instructions on how to
perform a task.

Do you know that...?
Rumours can be divided into seve-
ral types:
* The aggressive rumour: it goes
against a person or group.
* The menacing rumour: it causes
fear or anxiety.
* The rumour that expresses desi-
res or wishes.

37. 2 The communication process

3 Case study 2. Communication directions
The company Talleres Gémez, C.B. has the following organiza- Any internal communication started by Ernesto Gémez and
The following case study illustrates these ways of communication within the organization:



















tional chart: addressed to his employees will be a top-down communica-
Ernesto Gémez tion: Ernesto Gémez
General manager LA General manager NK
i NY
iA Y he
Juan Diaz Pedro Moreno Elena Pérez Juan Diaz Pedro Moreno Elena Pérez
Operator Operator Administrative Operator Operator Administrative
assistant assistant



company?
Solution:
cation:
What are the possible directions of communication within this
Any communication started by any of the employees and
addressed to Ernesto Gémez will be a bottom-up communi-




The communication that occurs among operators or bet-
ween an operator and the administrative assistant is a lateral
communication:

Ernesto Gémez
General manager



Ernesto Gémez




J General manager \

















Fig. 2.4. QR code on the main
page of the website Wikipedia in
Spanish.
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Codigo_QR
WA \ Juan Diaz Pedro Moreno Elena Pérez
Operator Operator Administrative
Z aN assistant
Juan Diaz Pedro Moreno Elena Pérez
Operator Operator Administrative
assistant



VA Activities
8. Summarize and discuss with your classmates the main ideas of the article "Rumores,
evitar el virus" by Ferran Ramén Cortés, which can be read on the website of El Pais
through the following link:
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/portada/Rumores/evitar/virus/elpepusoceps/20
090712elpepspor_5/Tes
9. Think about the hierarchical relationships in your environment and think about speci-
fic examples of the three types of communication described for the company Talleres
Gémez, CB. J)

® 1.5. The code
The code is the set of signs, gestures, sounds and/or images used to build the message.
In turn, encoding is the stage where the message takes its shape and becomes transmitted
information through the channel.
The most common code is the language, but there are other possibilities, for example,
graphical codes such as a QR code (Fig. 2.4), which becomes a readable message after being
read by a scanner or a mobile phone.

38. The communication process 2

As we mentioned before, when explaining the transmission of a message from a sender to a
receiver it is necessary to focus on the concepts of message encoding and decoding. That is
to say, we must focus our attention on the successive transformation processes that allow
the message to approach from the source or sender to the receiver, so that this receiver can
understand the message as the original sender wanted. Sometimes technology is required to
decode the message, such as the access to IT (Information Technologies).
Encoding is the process through which the sender turns his or her ideas into signs that
can be received by the recipient, that is to say, the conversion of the idea into an inter-
pretable code. We can codify our ideas into images, gestures, sounds, etc.
Decoding is the process through which the receiver translates the message that has
been issued and codified by the sender in ideas. Expectations and references of the
receiver influence his or her way of decoding the message.
For the message to be successfully transmitted, the code has to be known by the sender and
the receiver (if we don’t know the Braille literacy system, we can hardly read a book written
in this code). However, sometimes the receiver can use a decoder to convert a code that he
or she doesn’t understand into something understandable. An example of this would be hiring
a Mandarin Chinese translator for the company Jamones Serranos, S.L. in order to assist its
managers in a meeting with a Chinese food supply company to be held in Shanghai with the
aim of promoting Huelva ham in that country.
VA Activities
10. Obtain some information about the whistled language of the island of La Gomera
(silbo gomero). Based on the information provided by the UNESCO website (http://
www.unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?RL=00172), indicate what common know
ledge the sender and the receiver must have in a message that is transmitted this
way.

Also explain the relation that the silbo gomero has with the issues that you have
studied so far.

1.6. The context
In short, we can define context as every parallel element to the communication that has
an influence on it.
6 Vocabulary ————————__
IT. Information Technologies,
particularly the Internet.
When we talk about a “digital divi-
de" we refer to those who cannot
access the information provided
through IT. The reasons for the
existence of a digital divide are
mainly two:
* Not having access to technology.
* Not knowing the correct way to
use technology.


Case study 3. Communication elements
Japanese company at a restaurant in A Corufia to assess the
possibility of joint ventures in Japan. The conversation takes
The company Aluminios del Norte, S.A. has a meeting with a + The city where the meeting takes place: A Corufa.
* The specific place where it takes place: the restaurant.
place in English. * The specific nature of the meeting: a working lunch.
What elements surround this communication process and have * The activities surrounding the communication itself: the
an influence on it? food and the restaurant service.
Solution: + The respective cultures of the participants: Spanish and
Elements that influence this communication may include: Japanese.

From the Case study above, we can infer the importance of context as another element of
the communication process. When talking about the context we can mention geographic
and cultural factors or parallel activities taking place around senders and receivers. We may
also name other issues, such as economic, social or historical references of the interlocutors.

39. 2 The communication process

exoate™
a
Ney go®
goo?
O ynrord
Fig. 2.5. Example of written feedback.

Spanish assistant
Aunque en espafiol se usa muchas
veces el término feedback, lo
correcto es decir “retroalimenta-
cién” o “realimentacién”. Ademas,
en ciertos contextos en inglés,
también puede traducirse como
“comentarios” (We need feedback
from our customers).



Watch out!
Feedback can be perfectly organi-
zed in communication. For exam-
ple, we can send an e-mail message
asking for a confirmation of the
receipt or even for the agreement
with its content.

Finally, the situation in which we communicate also modifies the communication: if we are
in an informal situation, the way we communicate will also be informal; on the contrary, in
a formal situation, the way we communicate will also be formal. These varieties occurring
according to the situation are known as registers.
1.7. Feedback
The feedback is the information that the sender obtains from the effects of the trans-
mitted message on the receiver.
The received information allows the sender to know if the message has been properly unders-
tood and the impact it has had on the receiver, and this information will allow the sender to
modify the following messages.
This is a time-consuming process: the sender needs to wait for a verbal, written (Fig. 2.5)
or non-verbal response from the receiver. In turn, it reduces errors, as it verifies the informa-
tion process. Therefore, the absence of feedback reduces the communication time but increa-
ses the errors in the process.
When we talked about the message in section 1.3, we said that the message intended by the
sender might not match the message perceived by the receiver. However, if there is a feedback
message, we can verify if the received message matches (or not) the intention that the sender
had.
Finally, in the field of organizations, feedback is a useful tool to modify the company’s actions
that do not match market demands. Thus, if the company “listens to the market", it can avoid
strategic mistakes that may harm its image or its economic performance.
Activities
11. The article in the link http://lacomunidad.elpais.com/vpa-internet/2010/11/1/
el-email-como-medio-crm (source: www.vpa-internet.com.ar/blog) deals with the
use of e-mail in relation to the possibility of obtaining feedback from customers of a
company. What does the author suggest?

12. Social networks can be configured as another communication element between the
company and its prospects. Answer the following questions:
a) Do you know what a social network is? Name three examples.
b) Can you think of any relation between social networks and the concept of feed-
back in business communications?
13. The following quote is taken from the article that we can read on http://www.
marketingdirecto.com/punto-de-vista/editorial/el-malentendido-de-las-redes-
sociales, which talks about the relationship between social networks and companies.
"Markets are places to trade. Places where products are offered, sold and purchased.
This is the core of the market. Exchange. And while all this happens, you can talk, have
a conversation. All this conversation does is humanizing something, a mere financial
transaction. [...] But make no mistake about it. We can manage just as well without
these conversations. We want the product above all. How long do you normally talk
with the employee of an Apple store? Do you miss something when you fill the basket
of your online purchase at Amazon? Do you really want to be friends with a brand?
Or do you want it to do its job and listen when you have a problem or a question?"
Do you agree with what is said or do you think that social networks are more impor-
tant? Discuss the topic in class.

40. The communication process 2

@ 2. Barriers to communication
Proper coordination of all elements of the communication process at once is not an easy thing
to do. However, a careful choice of the message, the channel, the code and the context is an
appropriate step to overcome communication problems.
But we may find barriers in every element of the communication process; these are elements
that adversely affect the effectiveness of the message, so we'd better know these barriers in
order to be able to minimize them. The following table lists the most commones:

* Working in environments that do not meet adequate comfort conditions is an additional difficulty



and prejudices
Location or wae
timin to transmitting a message.
eB * Poor timing also affects the process.
+ These are the disturbances or interferences that distort the intended message. If the interference is
Noise minimal, such as a cough or a filler, it does not usually become an insurmountable difficulty for
communication, but it can disturb anyway.
Lack ofempathy - Lack of capacity to put in someone else's place in order to better understand its reactions and feelings.
Stereotypes * The tendency to prejudge people on the basis of personal conditions (sex, age, race, etc.).
* Cultural heritage and social relationships are often a source of stereotypes.

+ Natural tendency to judge people on the basis of the first impression they cause.

pret * In this case, communication will lack objectivity: our behaviour is conditioned by this first impression.
+ It means deducting one thing from another.
Inferences + Often, these deductions are baseless, and they in any case imply anticipating a result that works
against the communication process.

+ When the communication among several people is often repeated, the usual mistake is thinking
that the behaviours of others are always the same.
+ Assuming the result of communication whatever the circumstances are.
Generalizations

* When establishing a communication, sometimes one or both parties are only focused on
De transmitting information without worrying about what the other party says.

Sender and
receiver do not
share exactly
the same code
+ Example: the sender uses technical terms that the receiver does not know.
+ Another example is the emission of a message in a language that one of the parties does not command.
* Errors in encoding or decoding change the meaning of the message and make that the message
intended and the received message do not match.

+ Without background information, communication is incomplete. You might think that the message
has been understood in cases where this has not happened.
* Lack of feedback on the interpretation of the message is one of the main barriers to
communication, as the sender often assumes some knowledge by the recipient that does not exist.
Lack of feedback

Table 2.1. Barriers sorted by the communication element they affect.

6 Case study 4. Communications barriers
Antonio Rodriguez Galicia is a publicist who has been hired by
a company in Madrid to perform a campaign. After a meeting
with Maria Reyes, who came to Vigo to lay the foundations of
the agreement, they settled a work schedule and the guidelines
for the assignment.
Solution:
: A barrier for the distance between the interlocutors,
which prevents continuous face-to-face communication.
+ Encoding and inaccuracy problems of the message.
What Maria wanted has not been understood and the
new schedule contains information that alters the ori-
ginal message.
Two weeks later, Antonio sends a first draft of the work and
continues with the rest of the assignment. Three days later
he checks his e-mail box and reads several e-mails from Maria
explaining that she is disappointed as a result of the work
he has done. She suggests an alternative version that differs
significantly from the original work and sends a schedule for .
reviews that she didn’t mention at the initial meeting. .
+ Maria’s reaction to alter the original shows a lack of
empathy and can lead to discouragement in Antonio.
There is a problem of lack of listening by both parties.
There has been no appropriate feedback, as Antonio did
not make the questions that had been necessary. What barriers are detected in this communication process? J
a

41. 2 The communication process


Fig. 2.6. When we are away from our
receiver, we tend to shout, but this
reduces the effectiveness of the message.

Fig. 2.7. The meaning of gestures varies
depending on the context or culture in
which they develop.

Fig. 2.8. When disagreements arise,
negotiation is important.
In addition to the above classification, barriers to communication are usually divided into in
three main groups.
0 A. Physical barriers
A physical barrier is a constraint that exists in the physical environment where the
communication process develops. Examples of physical barriers are distance or noise.
At the organizational level, the structure of the organization itself can lead to physical bar-
riers. For example, we want to communicate with the sales manager for a matter of urgency,
and the only access channel is through his cell phone, but the line is always busy.
We also talk about physical barriers when we refer to organic-body constraints in the sender
or the receiver that work against communication, such us people with limited visibility.
Finally, when physical barriers are consciously modified to be used as a part of the message
that is sent, we talk about environmental control. An example would be the use of candles as
the only source of light in a restaurant to give a sense of privacy.
OB. Intellectual barriers
An intellectual barrier occurs when the knowledge of the sender and the receiver do
not match and, therefore, there are differences between both of them in the interpreta-
tion of the message.
Such barriers are subdivided into cultural and semantic barriers.
* Cultural barriers: they appear when there is a knowledge gap between the sender and the
receiver, caused by educational differences between both parties, for example.
* Semantic barriers: they refer to the different interpretation given by the sender and the re-
ceiver to the same expression. In a broad sense, gestures may also have different meanings
for both parties. For example, if we want to nod in India or Bulgaria, we have to move our
head from side to side instead of moving it up and down.
© C. Psychological barriers
A psychological barrier occurs when the previous ideas of the interlocutors have a more
important role when interpreting the message than what is actually said.
Such barriers may be due to philosophical aspects (different values, beliefs or ideologies)
or merely psychological aspects (such as the attitude of the interlocutors).
* Philosophical barriers: those resulting from the different ways in which the sender and the
receiver understand and interpret the everyday situations that they face throughout their
lives. For example, when the sender and the receiver agree on the good and the bad sides
of any situation.
* Psychological barriers: these are the previous attitudes of the interlocutors about them-
selves, about the message or about others.
Lg Activities
14. Read the following piece of news in here: www.publico. What barrier to communication is it talking about? What
es/ciencias/29277 1/google-quiere-derribar-otra-vez-la- are the advantages and disadvantages to a human trans-
torre-de-babel lator?

>

42. The communication process 2

3. Solutions to communication barriers
If we start from the last classification of communication barriers that we have seen, dividing
them into physical, intellectual or psychological barriers, we can group different solutions or
strategies to eliminate, or at least refine, the obstacles to the communication process that
we can find. Thus:
* Physical barriers. To eliminate or refine such barriers we can:
Mature, as much as possible, the idea of the message we want to transmit to avoid am-
biguity in the receiver.
Avoid unnecessary abruptness in communication and show that we are interested in the
communication process.
Use multiple channels to reinforce the information that we intend to transmit.
Reduce hierarchical levels in the organizational structure of the company, as the more
complex the organization is, the more likely to meet a physical barrier.
Vocabulary
Empathy. Ability of a person to
put in someone else’s place and
share his or her feelings.
Assertiveness. Ability to express
opinions openly and without fear,
while respecting each other and
properly solving problems as they
arise.
Feedback. In the scope of commu-
nication, it refers to the sender's
ability to collect the reactions
of the recipients {and viceversa),
either through verbal or nonverbal
language and, according to the atti-
* Intellectual barriers. To prevent such barriers, we can:
— Use arich and wide vocabulary to expand our ability to communicate.
Adapt to the intellectual or cultural level of our interlocutors.
tude they show, modify the me-
ssage or not.
— Use the words that best define the message we want to deliver, to ensure that our
receiver will understand it.
— Donot use words or technical terms that work against the understanding by the receiver.
— Try to empathize with the person or persons to whom we address.
* Psychological barriers. To prevent such barriers we can:
— Find a trust atmosphere in the other part of the process.
— Check whether there are signs of tiredness in the receiver that may disturb communi-
cation.
— Positively accept differences, as well as different thoughts and opinions.
— Adopt impartial attitudes and try to be receptive.
— Try to ensure that the feedback process doesn't take too long, so that communication is
interesting to both parties all the time.
As we can see, we need to perform an analysis of the communicative situation in order to
prevent possible communication barriers and solve them as they appear.
Fig. 2.9. Communication is easier in a
trust atmosphere.


Case study 5. Solving communication barriers
The company Go Software, S.L. has a videoconference meet-
ing with a prospective customer, the company Jigai Ltd.,
based in Indonesia. The Indonesian interlocutor has insis-
ted on making the conversation in Spanish, as he says he has
a better command than in English. During the call several
incidents occur:
a) There are interferences due to a slow Internet connection.
b) Our interlocutor doesn’t have a good command of
Spanish.
c) The receiver seems to be tired.
Solution:
A slow Internet connection is a physical barrier due to a failure
in the channel. A possible solution would be to enable alterna-
tive communication channels such as telephone connection.
The problem with Spanish is an intellectual barrier. We can try
to use a clear and simple language, illustrated with examples of
what we mean. Diction must be clear too.
Tiredness indicates a possible psychological barrier. The recei-
ver doesn't pay proper attention if the communication is long
and difficult. It is solved by going "to the point”.

43. 2 The communication process

Case study 6. Information vs. media communication
@ 4. Differences between communication
and information
We usually mistake the terms communication and information. But the difference between
them is very clear.
We can clarify the meaning of both terms using some explaining figures. Remember that, in
order to produce information, the sender must issue a message addressed to the other part,
which is the receiver. The message flows through a channel or medium:
Sender Receiver
Message
—
Channel


Scheme 2.4. Information process.
On the contrary, if we want to talk about communication, we must add a new element to
the scheme above: feedback. This means that, at any time, the sender becomes the receiver
and the receiver becomes the sender. Thus, to refer to communication we must modify the
scheme above as follows:
Message
[ —>
Channel






Sender Receiver
Feedback
Scheme 2.5. Communication process.

According to what you have studied in this unit, could we say mass media categoty. It is true that the person who receives the
that reading a newspaper is a communication process? message (the newspaper reader) actually has a right to reply
Solution:
and he could even write a letter to the editor or ask for clarifi-
cation on what he is reading, but he couldn't do it immediately.
Obviously, not. And yet we consider that a newspaper is a Therefore, the lack of feedback implies that reading a newspa-
mean of communication, when we should include it in the per is not a communication process; it is information.

VA Activities
15. Imagine that you are lis-
tening to a spot on a radio
station. Is this a commu-
nication process? Or an
information process? Dis-
cuss your answer with your
classmates.


At this point, we might ask the following question: is there communication in the company
from a strict point of view? If we stick to what we have seen, we could hardly speak of a real
communication process.
It is true that in an organization, information can flow properly from the managing posi-
tions to lower levels, but could employees openly discuss or even reject an order that comes
from an immediate superior?
Basically they could, but they will usually have the fear that they could suffer from some re-
taliation as a result of openly defending a different opinion.

44. The communication process 2


Sender
Receiver
Message
Channel
Code
Context
Feedback
Clarity
Accuracy
Objectivity
Opportunity


— Interest
Depending on the element
of the communication
process involved
Depending on the nature
Feedback a

Inform = Communicate
Encodes
Is able to improvise
Transmits credibility
Shows interest
Is assertive

In the context




In the message/channel

-—| Noise

Lack of empathy


In the receiver/transmitter
Halo effect


Inferences
Generalizations
Lack of listening








In the feedback -—| Lack of feedback
Physical
Intellectual



Psychological

Message encoding ————>
——_—

y

45. 2 The communication process


Test review
. The set of signs through which a message is issued is:
a) The channel.
b) The context.
c) The code.
d) None of the above.
. Ina communication process, when the receiver "answers"
the sender we talk about:
a) The noise.
b) The message.
c) The halo effect.
d) The feedback.
. Assertiveness is:
a) An informal channel of communication.
b) Showing respect towards our interlocutor.
c) A form of physical barrier in communication.
d) Another name for noise.
. Amessage must be:
a) Clear.
b) Accurate.
c) Objective.
d) All of the above.
. A message decoded and understood by the receiver is:
a) An intended message.
b) A transmitted message.
c) Areceived message.
d) An assertive message.
. The rumour usually appears in:
a) Very hierarchical organizational structures.
b) Formal organizational structures.
c) Informal organizational structures.
d) Very personal organizational structures
. The communication that occurs between two employees
in the same factory is:
a) Bottom-up.
b) Top-down.
c) Lateral.
d) Diagonal.
8.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
The interferences over the phone are:
a) A physical barrier.
b) A psychological barrier.
c) An intellectual barrier.
d) None of the above.
. To overcome an intellectual barrier, we:
a) Must use a wide vocabulary.
b) Must adapt to the intellectual level of our interlocutors.
c) Should not use many technical words.
d) All of the above.
The report made by a section manager for the general
manager is:
a) Informal and top-down.
b) Formal and lateral.
c) Informal and diagonal.
d) Formal and bottom-up.
In the mere transmission of information there is no:
a) Feedback.
b) Channel.
c) Code.
d) None of the above.
If we say that a person lacks the ability to "walk in other's
shoes", we are saying that this persons has a lack of:
a) Empathy.
b) Assertiveness.
c) Retroactivity.
d) Reliability.
Accepting the opinions of others is a way to solve:
a) Physical barriers.
b) Intellectual barriers.
c) Psychological barriers.
d) None of the above.
Which of the following characteristics does not apply toa
good sender?:
a) Assertiveness.
b) Ability to improvise.
c) Credibility.
d) All of them apply.

46. The communication process 2


Check your learning
Identifying the elements and stages of a communication
process
1. How do you call the communication performed by a
company with its customers, the public authorities or
suppliers?
2. List the functions that communication has in an organiza-
tion.

3. What is missing from this list of the elements of the com-
munication process?: Sender, message, receiver, context.
4. What element of communication are we talking about
when we say that the message is influenced by issues
like the lighting or the place where communication takes
place?
5. Define the role of the sender in communication.
6. What does the sender do to encode a message?
7. How many types of messages are there?
8. What message feature are we talking about when we say
that it must be impartial?
9. What is noise in communication?
10. Name three examples of communication channels in which
the emission and the reception of the message is occurring
at the same time.
11. What kind of channel is a television channel?
12. What concept is this sentence talking about? "Channel in
which sender and receiver have direct contact.”
13. What formal channels would you use to communicate the
rules for a literary contest at your school?
14. What types of channels are used in these situations?
a) The company Mantecados Asturleoneses posts to a
newspaper ad to fill a vacancy in the sales department.
b) The President of the U.S. Government turns to its citi-
zens through a televised message.
c) The chancellor of the university meets the deans of the
different faculties.
d) The public body responsible for organizing trips for
seniors sends its offer for this season to the travel agen-
cies.
15. Is a company internal newsletter a channel? Why?
16. In what type of channels do rumours occur?
17. Briefly define the encoding process.

Assessing the importance of maintaining a positive attitude
in a communication process
18. What are the three styles of communication that the sen-
der can develop?
19. Match each case with the appropriate type of communi-
cation:
a) The expression "Okay, but I’m not interested yet”
b)
1) Aggressive.
2) Inhibited.
3) Assertive. c) In any situation he tends to think what the others
think.
Distinguish between communicating and transmitting
information
20. What barrier to communication occurs in each of the
following cases?
a) The person who is in charge of purchases of a depart-
ment store doesn't like a salesman of a cosmetics firm
at first sight.
b) The teacher of a course to employees in a factory
doesn't read the assessment surveys of the students
about the development of the training activity that he is
performing after the first sessions.
c) Several executives of companies in the construction
sector doubt the ability of a woman to be appointed as
representative of the public administration for relations
with their sector.
d) A lawyer uses many legal terms to explain the status of
the case to clients.
e) Representatives of employers and workers are unable to
understand the positions of the other party in a collec-
tive bargaining process.
f) The Internet connection fails from time to time while
some managers meet by videoconference.
g) The chief of an employee believes that this employee
won't perform his instructions properly at first, as, in his
opinion, this worker "never does anything right the first
time".
h) A company performs an advertising campaign; however
it does not check the effect it has had on its target cus-
tomers.

47. 2 The communication process


Check your learning
21. What type of barrier is there between two people who do
not share the same language?
22. Can you define the halo effect?
23. Match the following options with the correct answer:
Solution Barrier


Using multiple
communication channels Physical


Being assertive


To not use technical terms

Empathizing with our part- Intellectual
ner


Seeking feedback

Clear message
Psychological Adaptation to other's
cultural level


Differentiating between communicating and transmitting
information
24. In your opinion, what is the main difference between infor-
mation and communication?
25. Read the following cases and write an "I" when they refer
to information and a "C" when you think that they are
communication situations. In cases of doubt, discuss with
your classmates whether you think that it is an information
or a communication case:
You hear an information
spot on a radio programme.

Meeting of the department
employees of a hypermarket
to increase sales.

Team instructions in a Formula
1 race to a runner "inviting"
him to allow the overtaking of
his companion.

Disapproval of a company
manager towards an employee
who is often late for work.

We are watching the TV news.

Analysing the various barriers that may occur in communi-
cation and choosing a valid alternative to solve communica-
tion problems
26. In the following activity you must put into practice what
you have learnt so far in units 1 and 2:
The company Transformadores y Rebobinados del Sur has
an organizational structure consisting of 30 people. Five
of them belong to the Board of Directors, four are general
managers, eight are department heads and the others are
employees. It is a highly hierarchical structure in which the
tasks carried out by the company are those related to
the production of electrical transformers, to the logistics
of the company, to human resources and to financial and
accounting issues.
Earlier this year, the Board of Directors notes that the
production figures for the first quarter had a significant
decrease in relation to the previous quarter. Therefore,
it decides to hire an outside consultant to analyse the
possible causes of this unexpected decline in production
results.
The conclusions reached by the consultant were:
+ Lack of motivation in the company staff.
+ Moderate decline in the productivity per employee.
+ Discontent in the lower levels of the organizational
structure of the company due to their lack of participa-
tion in making business decisions.
+ Failure in the communication systems of the company.
Taking these conclusions into account, the Board of Direc-
tors decided to reconsider the company’s organizational
structure and to change the policy regarding its emplo-
yees.
Given this situation, answer the following questions:
a) In your opinion, what legal form is the most suitable for
this company?
b) What is the departmental structure that this organiza-
tion should have? And what its main functions should
be?
c) Make the organizational chart for this company.
d) Have you noticed any communication barrier in this
company? What solutions would you take?
e) According to the diagnosis proposed by the consultant,
what type of organizational structure would you set up?
f) What technique or techniques would you develop for
making group decisions?

48. Unit

Communication within
the company
In this unit you'll learn how to:
Define communication channels within
the organization.
Distinguish between formal and informal
organizational communication processes.
Assess the influence of informal
communication channels and chains
of rumours in organizations.
Relate the process of information demand
in accordance with the type of internal
or external customer.
Assess the importance of the transfer of
the corporate identity of the organization.





ontal and diagonal.
mmunication: advertising
relations.
ication of crisis.
communication networks:
and informal. The rumour.
munication as a generator
ehaviours.

49. 3 Communication within the company

@ 1. Communication within the company.
Types
Vocabulary If communication is important to our personal and private life, for a company, being an
Medium. Material element where organized activity that is developed by people (Table 3.1) and benefit-oriented, it is essential.
the message is fixed. You could never imagine that each employee works on their own, without any coordination
or communication the others.

So much so that the success of a business depends, on many occasions, on the ability of
its leaders to communicate, that is to say, their ability to understand and be understood by
others.
Therefore, good communication between employees and management undoubtedly influen-
ces better performance and greater job satisfaction of workers.
As for the types of communication that can be developed in the company, as in many other
areas, they are diverse. The following table gives a classification of types of communication in
the company according to different criteria:







* It occurs among members of an organization.
+ It links the different levels and departments of the hierarchical organization.
For example, communication between the production department and sales.
Internal . .
(Section 2, Unit 3) * It is established between management and employees of the
‘ Vertical company (can be bottom-up or top-down according to the sense
of the message).
Horizontal + Itis among employees of the same hierarchical level.
+ It is the communication between the company and the outside.
External + It links the company with its environment.
(Section 3, Unit 3) * Itis made up of communications with customers, suppliers, creditors and official bodies.
+ Itis the scope for advertising and public relations.
+ It takes place through the spoken language (conversation).
oll * It usually occurs among people face to face or when communicating over the phone.
ra
(Unit 5) * Feedback is faster than in written communication, the sender gets an immediate response
and allows for clarification to avoid possible misunderstandings.
+ It is recommended for urgent action.
+ It requires the use of some type of medium (such as paper or a computer hard disk).
Writt . . . . see ae wpe ge
(Unit 7 * Feedback is slower, it does not allow immediate clarification or modification.
+ It is necessary to develop the message.
+ It is performed through gestures, glances, facial expressions, body movements, and so on.
+ We can decide whether or not to communicate verbally, but non-verbal communication is
Non-verbal difficult to hide, because we are constantly sending messages through the face and body.
(Unit 4) * Non-verbal messages are used to supplement and support what we say, but sometimes they
can be contradictory if our gestures do not match what we want to transmit, which is very
possible, as many times we do these gestures unconsciously.

Table 3.1. Types of communication depending on the scope, code and the level of control (cont.).
>

50. Formal
(Section 5.1, Unit 3)
Communication within the company Se
+ It can be argued that formal communication is well defined, even drawn, since it develops
according to the lines of the organizational chart.
+ It is used to transmit information on topics related to the organization.
+ Example: the sales manager brings all the sales representatives together to inform them about the
results of the previous month and gives the instructions needed to perform the job for the next month.

Informal


+ It can happen anywhere, inside or outside the company and working hours.
+ It arises in spontaneous relationships that are based on affinity between job mates.
It covers all sorts of topics, not just those relating to the job or organization.
(Section 5.2, Unit 3) * It is important and takes place very often, because the messages, codes and channels are
not controlled by management.
+ Example: the groups that come together to chat on the breaks or to have breakfast,
or workers who share a car to go to work or who spend part of their spare time together.

Table 3.1. Types of communication depending on the scope, code and the level of control.

£5 Case study 1. Types of communication |
Lucia is reading the newspaper and sees a job offer to cover an
administrative position in the company Muebles El Robledo,
S.L. The offer indicates that those interested should send a CV
to the address appearing. Lucia decides to respond to the offer
and applies for the selection process.
How many types of communication will appear in this situation?
Solution:
* Written and external communication: the advertisement
in the newspaper, as the company uses advertising to reach
potential workers.
* Written communication: used by Lucia to answer to the
offer, as she will send a CV with a cover letter.
+ Oral communication: as the company will probably pho-
ne her to arrange an interview, during which the interviewer
will conduct a series of questions that Lucia must answer
(oral conversation).
* Formal communication: this refers to the whole process
that is described here because, at all times, the company
controls the information.

£3 Case study 2. Types of communication II
The general manager of the company Confecciones Buz,
S.A. wants to create a procedures manual including the way
they have to perform the most common operations in the
company. Then the manual will be given to the staff and its
contents will be mandatory.
What act of communication occurs in this case? Why is it im-
portant that the manual is distributed in writing? Is it vertical
or horizontal communication? Why is it not advisable to per-
form this communication informally?
Solution:
The act of communication that occurs is the distribution of the
procedures manual among company staff.
The manual must be delivered in writing because the docu-
ment is intended to be permanent within the company, and
it also stresses the formality of this act of communication. It
is a set of instructions that the management of the company
passes to its staff, so no immediate feedback is expected.
This is a clear act of internal communication. It is also
top-down communication because the process flows from
management to the staff.
Finally, it is highly recommended that the procedures in the
company are transmitted in writing. There are many reasons
for that, such as: the importance, permanence and reliability
of the information provided, as noted above, and the need to
avoid repeating the message orally again and again, with the
danger of transmitting different guidelines in each case.
Activities
study centre.
company, what types of communication can occur?
1. Make a list of formal and informal communications that can occur in your school or
2. Depending on the scope in which communications are carried out within the


a

51. 3 Communication within the company

Watch out!
Internal communication can also
be classified according to its con-
tent:
* Operational communication: it
refers to work performance.
* Motivational communication:
it promotes a sense of belon-
ging to the company and a good
working atmosphere.



Do you know that...?
A particular tool in top-down
communication is performance
assessment, which consists of
providing employees and subordi-
nates with a form to assess the
level of quality and quantity in
the performance of their duties.
It is often carried out periodically.


@ 2. Internal communication
Internal communication occurs among members of a company.
When this communication is satisfactory, production is usually increased and the company
runs smoothly. To do this, managers must promote good relations among employees, en-
couraging teamwork and cooperation among them, and provide transparent information on
the characteristics, objectives and expectations of the company, so that workers know them
perfectly.
Certainly, if workers internalize the image and the message that the company wants to sell,
this information will reach society in a more clear and consistent way.
According to the sense of the message through the company, this type of communication can
be divided in:
* Vertical communication (bottom-up or top-down).
+ Horizontal communication.
2.1. Vertical communication
Vertical communication is established among the different levels of the hierarchy of
the company.
In turn, it may be top-down (from top to lower positions) or bottom-up (from lower to
top positions).
©) A. Top-down communication
Top-down communication is the one going from the different levels of management
to the other members of the organization following the hierarchy.
This is usually the most common and the most important within the company, and therefore
it is usually well organized.
It can run from the general manager to a lower-level employee, either directly or through
middle management.
In general, in large and medium companies, the information comes in cascade through middle
management, which may cause the final message to be distorted from the original.
The role of top-down communication is to inform employees about:
+ The functions and objectives of the company.
+ The role of the worker in the company and his or her position in it.
* The department chief and the immediate supervisor, that is, the persons they have to report to.
+ What the company expects and desires of its employees.
+ The results that are obtained periodically.
+ Plans and prospects.
+ News of interest to the members of the company.
+ Services and benefits offered by the organization to the workers through, for example, the
institutional agreements made by the company.
+ Anything that can strengthen motivation and sense of esteem and belonging to the company.
Top-down communications take the form of orders, programs, tasks, recommendations,
reports, etc., transmitted by hierarchical superiors to employees who depend on them.

52. Communication within the company Se

This type of communication may be developed both in oral and written form. The oral form is
faster and more agile, but it has the problem of unreliability and tendency to distortion, which
can lead to misunderstandings.
However, if it is performed in written form, there will be evidence of what was said through
labour regulations, reports, bulletin boards, letters, brochures, newsletters, employee hand-
books, etc., and therefore, distortions will be avoided.
Finally, to allow the incorporation into the company, some of them provide new
employees with welcome manuals or appoint someone to be specifically responsible for in-
forming them about all aspects of the company, serving as a reference for any questions or
concerns.
© B. Bottom-up communication
Bottom-up communication is, as its name suggests, the one that flows from the
bottom to the top positions in the organizational chart.
It starts in lower hierarchical levels and its target is a higher step.
It can be used to report the results, the status of running tasks, complaints, problems, ideas,
proposals, etc., as well as to answer top-down communication (feedback). For this purpose,
there are suggestion boxes, regular meetings with employees, surveys, informal interviews,
polls, and so on.
Undoubtedly, the possibility to communicate with superiors encourages participation and
improves the work atmosphere, the trust in leadership, the sense of belonging to the com-
pany, and, therefore, the motivation to work.
Although it is less common than top-down communication and is usually neglected, more and
more companies are gaining awareness of its importance and significance. So much so, that
for the organization to function properly, it is necessary that communication flows freely in
both directions: bottom-up and top-down.
When communication is only top-down, problems will soon arise, because managers do not
have information on how their orders are received and interpreted and, on the other hand,
subordinates do not have the opportunity to express their views and make suggestions on the
proper performance of their work.
6 Case study 3. Senses of vertical communication
In a meeting at the company Perfuimate, S.L., the marketing manager informs his team
that the launch of the latest perfume is not reaching the expected sales.
In turn, one of the employees suggests that sending free samples of that perfume by
postal mail would be a good way to encourage the population to test the product and,
therefore, to buy it.
What senses of vertical communication have been used at this meeting?
Solution:
Bottom-up and top-down communication.
* Top-down communication: the marketing manager informs his or her team that the
new perfume sales are not as expected.
* Bottom-up communication: it is performed by the employee who suggests sending
free samples of the perfume by postal mail to encourage the population to test the
product and to buy it later.

Do you know that...?
A bypass occurs when a top mana-
ger passes somebody over in the
chain of command to communica-
te an order, or when a subordinate
does the same to make a proposal
or to express a protest.
The bypass causes distress to the
person that has been passed over,
who will try to assert its position
or status by strengthening the
importance of its position.

ub Spanish assistant —————_
Seguro que ya te has encontra-
do en este libro con el verbo to
perform y con sus derivados, ya
que son muy comunes en inglés.
Ademas de su significado prin-
cipal, que es “realizar” o “llevar
a cabo”, también puede significar
“rendir” en el trabajo o “desempe-
fiar” una tarea; en esta linea, las
empresas suelen llevar a cabo la
performance assessment, que es
la evaluacién del rendimiento de
un empleado.

53. 3 Communication within the company

Bottom-up
1
Horizontal
————__—_ >
® 2.2. Horizontal communication
Horizontal communication is developed by persons with the same professional ca-
tegory, that is to say, it is settled among members of departments or sections of a
company belonging to the same hierarchical level.
It is very important, when coordination among employees is required, to develop a common
task and it is essential for the functioning of the company. In turn, it is very useful to strengthen
the spirit of cooperation among workers and to prevent potential competition that may exist
among them.
To be effective, it is required to create an atmosphere that allows communication in an equal
environment, without favour or preference for some departments or work teams over others.
This is the type of communication where informal communication is more likely to arise.
®§ 2.3. Diagonal communication
In addition to the types of communication discussed so far, there is another kind of internal
communication, diagonal communication, which happens among people who occupy differ-
ent levels in the organization, but do not report to each other. A good example would be the
communication settled between the head of the purchasing department and an employee of
the accounting department.
The following diagram shows the flow of the internal communication types studied so far.
7
Diagonal







Scheme 3.1. Different flows of internal communication.
Activities
3. What type of communication occurs in each of the following cases?
a) The sales manager informs a subordinate about the remaining tasks for the day.
b) The accounting head discusses the accountancy status with the purchasing mana-
ger.
c) The members of the sales team discuss the football game of the night before while
having breakfast.
d) A production employee makes a suggestion to his boss.
e) Anew employee joins the company and receives a welcome manual.
f) Employees of the sales department delivered a report to their boss about the pre-
vious month's sales.

g) The marketing manager gives the expense bills of the last campaign to an accountant.

54. Communication within the company Se

® 2.4. Working meetings
Working meetings are key means of communication in a company, both vertically and
horizontally, as they constitute the most common channel for companies to reach agree-
ments, develop projects or make decisions.
Probably, the higher our position is in the pyramid of the hierarchical organizational chart, the
more meetings we must attend.
However, sometimes there is an overload of meetings or the existing ones are unnecessarily
long, but if they are proper they become necessary and convenient. Therefore, we will try to
be very careful with the endless discussions that lead nowhere and with the meetings that are
not adapted to real needs or that do not have a clear goal.
Every meeting implies a high cost in time and money, and this is the reason why we must
consider whether it is really necessary or not. A meeting without a clear justification is always
worse than the lack of a meeting.
For meetings to be properly conducted, they must meet a number of features:
* They must have a specific and clearly defined objective.
+ The moderator or coordinator of the meeting must be able to do so.
+ Participants must be interested in the subject of the meeting.
+ The number of participants should be adequate.
+ The meeting should be called at an appropriate time and should not take too long.
* The place where the meeting is held must meet the appropriate standards of comfort, ease
of access, visibility, acoustics, and so on.
+ All required documentation must be prepared in advance.
+ |t must promote a positive attitude; confrontation, creation of subgroups, interruptions,
and contempt for the opinions of others must be avoided.
In practice, there are many types of meetings. In the table below we will establish a classifi-
cation of them according to the goal they intend:
* Also called regular or periodic.
* These are held to manage the day-to-day business.

* Also called in extremis.
+ These are urgent meetings that were not scheduled, for example,
to deal with a crisis situation.

* These are used to transmit information: to make an agreement,
deny a rumour, explain a plan or program, announce a change,
report the numbers and results of the company, and so on.

+ Their purpose is to make decisions, suggest, discuss and agree on
goals, solve a problem, agree on responsibilities, settle or modify
action policies, budgets and so on.

* These are aimed at knowing the opinion of the group on a topic,
project or alternative.

Table 3.2. Types of meetings and goals.

Fig. 3.1. It is convenient to take note
of the points discussed at the meeting
and the decisions that have been
made, and, afterwards, we must send
the minutes to every to participant.
8 Do you know that...?
At certain types of companies
{especially the creative ones), a
common practice is to mix work
with breakfast meetings; that is
to say, first thing in the morning,
with some coffee and in an infor-
mal way, topics of the day are
discussed and ideas are provided.
Whatever the nature of the mee-
ting is, it will always have a fun-
damental purpose: to generate
productive communication.

55. 3 Communication within the company
© Watch out! ————_
A meeting requires teamwork, un-
der a shared responsibility.

In practice, the types of meetings listed in Table 3.2 do not occur in pure form; they are usu-
ally mixed and, therefore, several types concur in the same meeting. Some possibilities are
routine-informative, extraordinary-negotiation, advisory-negotiation, and so on.
At the time of developing, any meeting must have three stages: preparation, development
Decision-making will be more in- and closure.
formed because the team provides
more information and shares expe-
riences and knowledge. Preparation of the meeting
When working as a team, it is
advisable to have a limited num-
ber of participants, with a maxi-
This is the stage where the success or failure of the meeting is set, because it will deter-
mine many elements that will have a decisive influence on it. These elements are:
mum of about twelve people. Any + The order of the day, the guide of the issues that will be discussed at the meeting, and
meeting that exceeds this number also the date, time and venue of the meeting.
will have difficulties reaching an + People attending the meeting.
agreement, among other things,
because subgroups usually come
up. It is considered that the ideal
number ranges from six to nine
people.
+ It is also recommended that the convener prepares a short introduction to talk about
the goals and procedures to be carried out at the meeting.

/ Development of the meeting
All meetings go through different stages in its development that may vary from one
meeting to another, although it is always advisable to follow this procedure:

* Presentation of the topic: the coordinator of the meeting introduces the issue or
problem to be discussed. To do this, it is recommendable to create a pleasant atmos-
phere that encourages participants to participate with their ideas and collaborate on
finding a solution.
+ Analysis and discussion: at this stage, the problem is analysed and discussion is
encouraged. At this point, the skills of the person running the meeting will be very im-
portant: it must be a good communicator, capable of directing the discussion towards
the objectives and summarizing the most significant points, be a tolerant person and
be as impartial as possible, etc.
* Decision-making: this is the stage where a solution must be reached, either by con-
sensus, unanimity, majority or whatever established procedure.
Closure of the meeting
Once the decision is taken, a plan of action to be implemented must be settled.
Activities
4. What kind of meeting would you recommend for each of
the following cases?
e) The management of the company is considering the
possibility of changing the timing of customer service,
.. . but they want to have the opinion of its employees first.
a) The productivity level of a team is not as expected. The
reason for low productivity must be found out. f) There is an electric power failure and the information
contained on the computers of the company has been
partially lost; it is necessary to find an urgent solution
to the problem.
b) An employee of the work team has been fired because
of his tardiness and his repeated and unjustified ab-
sences.
5. Read and discuss with your classmates the article "Cémo
c) Sales were lower than expected and thus, income was organizar reuniones productivas y rentables", published in

>
also decreased. The possible causes of the problem must
be analysed.
d) When conducting a market survey about our new fra-
grance, it was found that the bottle is too heavy, and
therefore, the packaging must be changed.
the magazine Emprendedores. You can find it at this web
link:
http://www.emprendedores.es/hemeroteca/2008/124_
enero/124_como_organizar_reuniones_productivas_y_
rentables

56. Communication within the company Se

@ 3. External communication

Vocabulary
External communication is the one that the company has with the outside. Through General public. Group of indivi-
this communication, the company is linked to the environment. duals that get or may get in touch
with an organization.

This communication is held with the general public, customers, suppliers, creditors, other
institutions, and so on.
3.1. Types of external communication according
to the content of the message
Depending on the content of the message, we can make the following classification of the
existing types of external communication:
1. Commercial: it has an impact on the brand or on the product or service.
+ If it affects the communication of the product, it will provide objective information
about it. For example: "100 ml bottle".
+ If affects the communication of the brand, it will transmit symbolic values, for example,
tradition, trust, etc., or values of the brand personality, for example, joy, dynamism, and
so on.
2. Corporate: it is focused on reporting about the qualities of the organization. For example:
traditional in its structure.
3. Business: it is based on objective corporate identity. For example, facilities, number of em-
ployees, awards, etc.
4. Institutional: it is based on subjective corporate identity. For example: friendly, nice, and
so on.
When developing its communication activity, the organization identifies different publics
to communicate, taking into account the environment in which it is inserted. The organiza-
tion will focus its communication activity on a specific public depending on the message it Important
wants to issue or the importance it has for the organization at some point. For example, Target public
if it wants to increase sales, it will focus on customers, and if it is looking for funding, it will The target public is the group of
focus on financial institutions. individuals with common charac-
teristics that will be recipients of
our message.
3.2. Types of public in external communication The strategies to identify and
group individuals by common
The basic classification of the types of external public that an organization may have is as characteristics are called segmen-
follows: tation strategies.
1. General public. The organization communicates with the general public to generate a po- Traditional segmentation criteria:
sitive image of itself. * Geographic: by the areain which
they live. For example, Spanish,
European or Asian.
— Customers: they are a priority public, since the success of an organization depends on * Socioeconomic: by the objec-
their satisfaction. tive features of the individual:
age, education level, annual inco-
me, and so on.
2. Commercial public:
— Suppliers and distributors: communication with them must be as fluent and clear as pos-
sible, as this will encourage trust relationships in order to obtain a continued cooperation.
* Psychological: by its personality.
For example, impulsive, introver-
ted, progressive, and so on.
3. Public administration. Communicating regularly with public administrations encourages an
understanding atmosphere before the possible creation of policies or legislation affecting

the sector. .
+ By the behaviour as consumer/
4. Media. Due to their role as opinion makers and speakers, it is important to maintain good receiver: for example, motiva-
relations with them. The information they provide will help the organization build its tions, concerns or needs.
image. S/S
‘a

57. 3 Communication within the company

© Watch out!

Receiving visits
It is an external communication
action. In business it is usual to
receive visits of colleagues, su-
ppliers, customers, partners, inves-
tors... and the image we offer is
very important; this is the reason
why everyone involved in the visit
process should follow the same
rules of courtesy.
* Reception: the company must
have a room where people can
wait comfortably. It is important
to schedule visits and to avoid
that, for example, two competi-
tors meet at our offices.
Identification: if the visitor is
unknown to the company, the
person who welcomes him or her
must introduce him or herself
beforehand. Then he or she will
explain the procedure during
the visit.
Management: the visit must be
planned in advance, so that our
guest doesn’t waste time. We
must take hierarchy into acco-
unt so, that, for example, the
commercial manager of a firm is
not welcomed by a department
assistant, but by someone of the
same hierarchical position.
Farewell: the same person who
has served throughout the visit
must take the guest to the exit.
S
in] Important —————————_,

Differences between advertising
and public relations
In the advertising message, the
organization decides what it wants
to show and how it will do it. Then
it pays for a space (billboard, web-
site, etc.) where it will be shown to
the public.
In public relations, the organi-
zation conducts actions, but it
cannot totally control if the media
will publish the information, if
what we want will be published,
how much space will be devo-
ted to us... since the organization
doesn’t pay for that.
5. Financial institutions. Whether they are banks or other entities, the image of financial
strength or weakness of the organization depends on the good relationship that is has with
these entities.
6. Community publics. There are many community publics, such as neighbourhood asso-
ciations, NGOs, parents’ associations, online communities and so on. They help build the
image of the organization.
The organization establishes wichi public it wants to communicate with, when and also what
is the purpose of this communication.
Once it has decided this, it must find the most appropriate channels and strategies for
communication and, thus, for achieving its goals.
Now, we will study two ways that the company has to communicate with the external public:
public relations and advertising.
3.3. Public relations (PR)
Public relations are the set of deliberate and planned actions that the organization
performs to keep rapport with its public, as well as a positive corporate image.
O A. Characteristics of PR
When implementing public relations, they must:
+ Be proactive. One of their main missions is to detect trends of public opinion and anticipate
questions or comments. Thus, the organization assumes a role as a source of information.
+ Act individually. As we have seen, they must identify target public and tailor each action
individually.
* Be consistent. The actions cannot be contradictory.
+ Promote a positive and credible image of the organization.
* Follow a planned process.
© B. The process of PR
If we want the PR actions that we develop to be a success and achieve the desired goals, we
must follow certain steps, which make up the Public Relations Plan:
1. Research. Those in charge of developing the PR plan must:
* Develop a thorough understanding of the corporate identity of the organization.
+ Find the weaknesses and problematic issues of the organization, that is to say, those as-
pects that may cause rejection in the public. For example, having suffered work accidents
within the company or not having collaborated in the last blood donation campaigns.
* Define what the target audience will be. For example, health professionals of the Auto-
nomous Community of Castilla y Leén.
2. Planning. Here, we must set the general guidelines on which actions will be grounded,
specifically:
* The goals we want to achieve.
* The current situation that helps or prevents us from reaching our goal.
* Our target public and what we want to achieve from each one of them.
* The actions that best suit each public. The means we have and which ones we will use to
implement those actions.
* The duration of our actions and the geographic area that they will cover.
* The human and financial resources that we will invest.

58. Communication within the company Se
3. Implementation of the plan. The issues that have been decided in the planning stage are
performed observing the settled timing and controlling expenses, so that we don’t exceed
the budget.
4. Assessment of the results. This step is often forgotten in some planning, even though it
is as important as the others, since it allows us to identify whether we have achieved our
objectives. For example, if the trust in our organization has grown.
OO C. Communication actions of PR
As noted above, communicative actions should be set according to publics that have been
defined as targets in the PR plan.
Today, the actions that may be developed are increasingly varied and the public appreciates
originality in the way we communicate with them. Undoubtedly, the continuing social and
technological changes that occur, especially those derived from developments in the Internet,
force PR professionals to update their actions to make them attractive.
Considering these difficulties, we can establish some basic actions of PR depending on the
public we address. Thus:
+ Sponsorship of massive .
events
Customers + Sponsorship of events
- Participation in fairs or public initiatives
and exhibitions
- Guided tours of
the facilities of the
organization
* Development and funding * Personal interviews
of research studies
* Creation of corporate blogs
* Suppliers
- Publication of the
annual accounts report
- Guided tours of
the facilities
+ Send press releases + Publication of the annual
accounts report
+ Sponsorship of events,
+ Arrange interviews Parties, sports teams...
* Personal contact with * Donations
members of these
institutions
* Organization of all kinds of
events in which journalists
are able to contact the
company staff
* Guided tours of the facilities
* Participation in forums,
blogs and social networks as
issuers of reliable and useful
information
Table 3.3. Basic actions of PR.
VA Activities
ny Important
Public relations 2.0
With the latest developments in
technology (mobile Internet, Wi-Fi
access in public spaces, handheld
devices...) and the emergence of
blogs, forums, communities and
social networking, companies
have been forced to change their
PR strategies to approach their pu-
blic more directly.
This does not mean that conven-
tional approaches are no longer
suitable, but it is required to in-
clude new ones according to social
changes.
Companies need to adapt the way
they relate to their public, and to
this end they must consider that:
+ Individuals have become power-
ful transmitters of information.
* They are not content with recei-
ving information; they also want
to communicate with the orga-
nization.
* Communication channels have
multiplied.
* Public segmentation is becoming
moreandmore complex. Internet
allows knowledge of the most
particular trends.
* Communication is immediate
and cannot be controled.

6. Look in the newspapers (paper or digital) for information
that reflects how companies use PR activities to increase
their visibility.
For example, the saving banks Unicaja and Caja de Ahorros
de la Inmaculada de Aragén (CAI) support two basketball
teams. 1287492497.html

Unicaja sopesa igualar la oferta del CAl a Cabezas, que ya
tiene las maletas hechas
=
http://www.marca.com/2010/10/19/baloncesto/acb/

a

59. Ls

3 Communication within the company


Case study 4. Public relations
The company Tadami, $.A., which manufactures high-quality
wooden furniture, has decided to open a new production plant
in the town of Cataperbes. The town is famous for its artisan
furniture manufacturing, and local industry may consider this
establishment as a threat to their business.
What public relations can Tadami, S.A. perform to achieve a
good image among Cataperbes population?
Solution:
Before construction:
+ During the construction works of the factory, the company
may meet with public authorities in Cataperbes to show
them first the project of the new plant.
* Performa "foundation stone" event, in which an authority
lays the symbolic first stone of the factory. Subsequently,
there will be a luncheon with local media to introduce the
project. During this lunch, a press kit with information will
be provided to local media, which will contain information
about the company (history, expansion, number of emplo-
yees, turnover, etc.).
It will also include information on the benefits that the esta-
blishment of factories like this has brought to other towns in
the area regarding the creation of infrastructures, the increase
of occupation and the growth of the region as a result of
the establishment of subsidiary companies.
Before opening the plant:
+ Make a guided tour for suppliers and distributors.
Opening:
+ Opening ceremony where some authority cuts the ribbon
(depending on the size of the plant, this authority could be
the president of the Regional Government).
* Include leisure events in which the town inhabitants can
participate.
Day to day:
* Once the factory is operating normally, it is highly recom-
mendable that the communication plan includes actions
to sponsor local sports activities and public holidays, to
work with local neighbourhood and education associations
through visits to facilities for students, etc., aimed at main-
taining a corporate communication policy over time that
is not limited to the period prior to the installation of the
factory in the town.


© 3.4. Advertising

Vocabulary
Social sciences. They study the
behaviour of the individual andso-
ciety in tangible and intangible
aspects.
Some social sciences are Eco-
nomics, Sociology, Psychology,
Anthropology and Law, among
others.


Advertising is a type of external communication that is characterised by its economic
costs and its goal of persuading the receivers to lead them to some action.
It arises from oversupply. The consumer can choose from many similar products, and adver-
tising helps make these products known, recognized and desired.
Advertising communications can help compensate or disguise the weaknesses of a product,
brand or organization, but will never be able to erase errors or deficiencies of the product it-
self, the pricing strategy, the distribution or the customer service.
©) A. Nature of advertising

It pursues a commercial, social or political purpose. It seeks to influence attitudes or
behaviours, not only to transmit facts.

The language of advertising appeals to feelings, emotions, fears, and so on. It mixes
rational and emotional issues.

But its goals are accurate and reflect a strategy. Thus, it is not art.

However, it is not a social science.

Only good things are advertised (there are some exceptions such as traffic awareness
or abuse campaigns).

It cannot get away from the convention. It uses the same stereotypes that society
uses, since the public must understand it.

The issuer is known: a brand, a company or a product.

Table 3.4. Nature of advertising.
OY

60. Communication within the company Se

© B. Types of advertisers and their advertising goals
When using advertising, the goal to be achieved will depend on the type of advertiser concer-
ned, as classified below.
+ Companies
Business goals: 1.
Introduce a new product.
Increase sales.
Present a promotion. For example: "Just this month, you get a 20 % increase in
2-liter bottles”.
Report a different consumption habit. For example: having cereals for dinner,
instead of just for breakfast.
Publicize specific product characteristics that differentiate it from competition.
For example: the only one with 100% vegetable oils.
Increase brand recognition.
Attract consumers to a particular space. For example, a bank or a mall.
Defend against competitors. For example, campaigns emphasizing prestige
brands that do not produce items for other brands.
Support distribution. For example, using posters or signs to place in their own
establishments.
. Institutional goals:
Create, maintain or enhance the positive image of the brand or company.
Attract investors.
+ Public institutions
Inform people about their obligations and rights.
Report services that are available to citizens.
Publicize new laws and other legal texts.
Change consumer habits or attitudes. For example, through campaigns to promote
electricity savings.
Promote or enhance its image. For example, publicizing the actions they perform,
such as new infrastructures.
+ Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
— Raise awareness of a problem.
— Change behaviours.
— Raise funds or attract new members.
© C. Stages of advertising communication
To achieve the intended goals, advertising must follow these steps:


4th Cause action in the potential customer


Web
http://www.anuncios.com
Anuncios.
retresea tise
ideas con

Website of the Spanish publica-
tions Anuncios. Semanario de
publicidad y marketing, where you
can find national and international
campaigns, news on the adverti-
sing sector, reports, follow-up of
festivals, and so on.
2nd Arouse interest
The message has to motivate in-
terest.
3rd Create desire

Achieving this last stage is not easy and does not only depend on the advertisement,
but also on its subsequent recall, on the customer's previous opinion about the pro-
duct or brand, on the messages that competitors issue at the same time, and so on.

“ Whether offering arguments or
using suggestive messages.

61. 3 Communication within the company

© D. Components of advertising
Oo Examples Advertising messages are often composed of two main elements that may appear together
There are advertisements in which or not. Thus:
some components are more im-
portant than others.

Fig. 3.2. Unconscious
persuasion. MAGNUM
campaign, 2006.

© E. Media selection
+ Informational component: it is intended to influence consumers through knowledge and
; provides objective data. For example, an advertisement of a new milk with omega-3 fatty
Check out this case: acids, in which it is stated that these acids help regulate cholesterol levels.
+ Persuasive component: it deliberately tries to influence people through three mechanisms:
— Rational: these are based on the logical response of people to a particular argument.
For example, a very low price.
— Emotional: these are linked to feelings and emotions. For example, a car campaign using
this slogan: "You cannot live without it”.
— Unconscious persuasion: it is a mix of instincts, suggestion and other issues that,
through the advertising message, creates a seductive influence that causes the desire for
possession. For example: "This cake is as good as your mum's".
The media planning strategy is the most important part of the advertising process, because
the message and design will be created depending on the media we have decided to hire. Thus,
when selecting the media for our campaign, we must analyse the following issues:
* Qualitative features. Whether it is a visual, a sound medium, or both. For example, if we
yy, launch a new product we must show it, so we have to choose image media.
* Quantitative characteristics. We must identify the type of audience that consumes this
medium and determine if this audience is the same as our target audience. We will choose
the media that our target audience uses.
* Available budget. This is the most important factor, because it will determine the media
that we can afford and those that we cannot.

6 Case study 5. Stages of advertising communication
The company Bebé XxXI, S.L. produces baby food. In the
last two years, sales have been going down. After analysing
the outlets and performing a consumer satisfaction survey,
the company reaches the conclusion that the problem is in
the low brand recognition; therefore, they decide to launch an
advertising campaign.
Let’s see the process they have followed to perform this
campaign.
Solution:
1. Identification of its public: communication will be focused
on people who are going to be parents in the near future.
2. Selected media: magazines for prospective parents such
as Mi bebé y yo, El mundo de tu bebé, Embarazo sano or Ser
padres hoy. Also, websites of the same theme: serpadres.
es, mibebeyyo.com, elbebe.com and todopapas.com.
3. Components of the advertisement:
a) Informative: the ads must contain information that
creates confidence in the prospective parents. The com-
pany decides to use this message: "More than 30 years
of experience in baby food".
ay
b) Persuasive rational: the consumers that follow our
campaign will get free samples and will benefit from a
discount of 20 % on the purchase of their jars.
c) Persuasive emotional: they will use pictures of parents
with their children that transmit the idea of protection.
d) Unconscious persuasion: they will appeal to the res-
ponsibility of feeding the baby properly. The message
is: "Only the best for your baby. Because you love him".
Stages of the message:
1. Attract attention: the use of a tender image of the mother
or father with the baby.
. Arouse interest: the possibility of obtaining free samples
before buying and get a discount on the purchase.
. Create desire: it is achieved through the slogan "Only the
best for your baby. Because you love him". The process you
want the consumer to follow is: "| love my baby and | want
the best for him, so | have to give him this food".
Cause action: make prospective customers visit our web-
site to learn about the brand and the company; make them
request a sample so that they can check its quality, whether
by themselves or consulting their paediatrician; once tested,
make them buy for the first time with 20 % discount.
J

62. Communication within the company Se

@ 4. Communication on a crisis
A crisis is any event, usually negative, which turns the organization into the focus of
media, public bodies, trade unions, opinion leaders, etc., and endangers its image.
When the company faces this kind of situation it must adopt a series of actions and issue
some communications aimed at safeguarding its good image and solving the problem in the
best way they can for those affected.
4.1. Dealing with a crisis
Ina crisis, we must always act following a strategy that must have been previously prepared and
included in the Crisis Handbook. This should include:
The priority public. When in a crisis, those are usually the media, the government, the civi-
lian population, the insurance company, customers and employees of the company.
The potential weaknesses of the business strategy and tactics to overcome them.
The responsible individuals of the departments that will form the crisis cabinet.
The spokesperson in the event of a crisis.
Different possible scenarios of crisis within the company. For example, if the company is a
refinery, it should foresee situations of fuel leak, gas leak, possible failures, fire, and so on.
4.2. Principles of crisis communication
The principles that we must consider and apply in a crisis situation are:

Above all, stay calm: we should not rush into making a decision or make statements that
could lead to a major problem.
Communication must be active: don’t wait for the media to come to us; we have to anti-
cipate and contact them to provide answers.
The response must be quick: we should not beat around the bush in search for a response,
as the public involved will quickly look for other sources of information.
A single message and a single spokesperson: all communication must be transmitted
through a single contact (Fig. 3.3), who delivers a single message to every public.
First at home: that is to say, the company must contact its employees first. If you create
distrust between them, they will seek other sources of information, or create unwanted
rumours and leaks.
Report all at once: the company must obtain all possible information and transmit it at
once to eradicate the problem right away. Thus, it is more difficult to make conflicting
statements or to be misunderstood by the media.

Important

Crisis communication combines
actions of internal and external
communication in an unusual si-
tuation for the company: a crisis
situation.


Do you know that...?
The crisis cabinet is formed by a
group of people, mostly managers,
who have been chosen for their
links to the various crisis scenarios
outlined in the Crisis Handbook.
This group should be small to
allow a quick response.

Fig. 3.3. The president of Toyota, Akio Toyoda, at a press conference
in early 2010. In this press conference, the company apologized for
the problem detected in the accelerator pedal of some of its models
that caused it to block. The apology came late, because until that
date, when million vehicles started being checked, 34 people in the
U.S. may have died in traffic accidents as a result of this problem.
a

63. 3 Communication within the company

£5 Case study 6. Communication plan in a crisis situation

One afternoon, the paper warehouse of the company PAPEL-
MAX, S.A. bursts into flames while everybody is working.
As a result of the fire, ten workers are injured in several
degrees and taken to the hospital, and part of the warehouse is
destroyed, along with stored materials.
Short after the fire, the media call the company for expla-
nations, as it has been rumoured that two of the injured
workers had no proper contract and that the fire measures had
not worked.
What steps will the company follow to solve this crisis?
Solution:
The crisis cabinet of PAPELMAX, S.A. meets the night of the
day of the accident.
Each cabinet member has fulfilled its responsibilities as stated
in the Crisis Handbook.
After the first meeting of the crisis cabinet, this information
is obtained:
Human resource management: its leaders have spoken
to the warehouse shift supervisor and found that two of
the workers who were working were in the morning shift,
but they had requested a change that week for personal
reasons. Their contracts are in order and the accident ha-
ppened within the established working hours.
Maintenance management: they have been in contact
with the outsourcer to confirm that the revisions of the
safety systems had been made following the legal deadli-
nes and that there had been no deficiency.
Communication management: they have collected the
first information from the media and have determined

that the potential sources of these rumours may be tem-
porary workers who are unhappy with their working con-
ditions.
The cabinet decides to open an inquiry to find out the causes
of the fire.

Immediate actions:
The morning after the accident, the president of the com-
pany will go to the hospital where the injured are to know
about their health status and to care for their families.
By mid-morning there will be a meeting with represen-
tatives of workers to assess the opinion atmosphere and
to provide information about the employment situation of
the injured colleagues and about the proper functioning
of the security measures.
The company calls a press conference for the afternoon,
which will be offered by the general manager with the
attendance of maintenance, HR and communication ma-
nagers. This press conference will be used to clarify the
rumours, and the media will be called for subsequent state-
ments as soon as the company has more details about the
causes of the accident.
J
Activities

7. Indicate whether the reactions of the following companies to face crisis situations were
correct or not. In the case of wrong reactions, explain what could have been done.
a) A piece of teething ring Dientitos2000 got stuck in the mouth of a 10-month old
baby. The toy company reacts by withdrawing the product from the shops; then
it makes an advertising campaign warning consumers of the danger and inviting
them to return the teether. It also provides consumers with a phone number to
solve any doubts.
b) The sales manager of cement company AURORA, Maria Lépez, accuses the pre-
sident of the company of sexual harassment. The company decides to wait, since
Maria Lépez hasn't filed any lawsuit.
c) The chemical industry QUIMICAL, S.L. detects an accidental discharge of toxic
substances into a river near the plant. Despite knowing about the discharge, the
company ignores it. Once it is discovered, it denies that the source is the chemi-
cal plant and accuses a feed company nearby. The water is analysed and it is soon
discovered that the toxic product could only come from the chemical plant.

64. Communication within the company Se

@ 5. Communication networks
A communication network is the set of paths that information takes to spread.
Thus, it is considered that there is a network when there is a group of members of an organi-
zation in which they have greater facilities for communication.
Imagine, for example, three colleagues in the systems department of an organization: they
share the same language and professional jargon and common interests, and their computers
are connected to a private network. Therefore, they form a network.
When classifying communication networks, according to the degree of control that the com-
pany has on them, there are two types: formal and informal networks.
Before studying them separately, you should know that it is virtually impossible to establish a
barrier between formal and informal networks of the organization. Likewise, it is very difficult
to define the exact moment when two people who work together every day stop being pro-
fessional colleagues and become friends.
5.1. Formal communication networks
These networks are usually formed following the lines of the organizational chart in bottom-
up and top-down directions, and they are used to transmit messages aimed at coordinating
work activities, for example, guidelines to perform certain tasks.
© Types of formal networks
There are five types of formal networks that may appear within the company:
Chain network: each person communicates with the closest person. It can occur within the
same hierarchy (horizontal) or between different hierarchical levels (vertical or diagonal).
As there is only one communication channel, this is less effective (Fig. 3.4).
Circular network: no member is isolated in this network, but the information is transmitted
very slowly (Fig. 3.5).
Star network: there is a leader who transmits the information and communicates with every-
one. Only the person in the centre of the communication knows all the information (Fig. 3.6).
Multiple-way network: all the components communicate with each other. All of them know
the information and feel involved. It may cause a waste of time and coordination (Fig. 3.7).
Y-shape network: it is a combination of a star network and a chain network. Members
at the ends of the network may feel isolated from the communication process (Fig. 3.8).




5 5 5 5
@. 7 @. 7 @L7 @
Fig. 3.4. Chain network.
ae
LL aeTN
wv a
Gh Ge



Nei’
Fig. 3.5. Circular network.







3 Zs
@ @
Ss
i
a a
et Gh

Fig. 3.6. Star network.









2 SZ
yt @
a
Git
Ss Ss
Ct Gt

Fig. 3.7. Multiple-way network.

2 Z
oy @


2
ye

Fig. 3.8. Y-shape network.

Case study 7. Communication networks

The finance department of the mattress company El Confortin Solution:
is formed by the financial manager (Mr. Gonzalez), the respon-
sible for treasury (Lara) and two administrative assistants (Juan
and Mariana). Lara, Juan and Mariana report to Mr. Gonzalez,
and, at the same time, they communicate with each other
in order to perform their tasks. On the other hand, Lara and daily professional duties.
The members of this department are inserted into a formal
multiple-way network (as the one that you can see in Fig. 3.7),
since all of them communicate with each other to develop their
Mariana belong to the same bowling team in a championship in — On the other hand, Mariana and Lara are neighbours and share
their neighbourhood. What networks are established between —_a hobby that leads them to join the informal network of the
the members of this department? championship in their neighbourhood.

65. 3 Communication within the company

Important
The channels of informal commu-
nication networks are more vague
than those of formal networks.
That is, networks are established
without a predetermined order,
spontaneously, without hierar-
chies and the information flow in
them is uncontrolled. They arise
from unexpected psychological
and social relations and have no
defined targets.



Do you know that...?
In general, the existence of these
informal networks is positive, as it
allows communication, reduces
monotony at work and promotes a
sense of integration. But the down-
side is that these networks are the
perfect support to the transmi-
ssion of inaccurate information
and rumours.


© Watch out!

The only way to avoid the creation
of rumours is to use prevention,
knowing the working of informal
networks of communication and
anticipating the emergence of
uncontrolled information.
If a company is going to make a
financial change that involves a de-
lay in the payment of the next pay
slip, the right thing to do is to send
an e-mail to all employees as soon
as possible, informing them of the
reasons for the delay.


Activities
8. Indicate whether the networks that have been established
among these people in the company PAPELMAX are formal
5.2. Informal communication networks
In the workplace, the usual thing is that day-to-day working relations gradually lose formality
and games and jokes emerge as a result of affective bonding among colleagues, that is to say,
informal networks are created around the formal horizontal networks.
OA. Settlement of informal networks
These networks can be settled:
+ Among colleagues of the same department, as they coexist in the workplace. For example,
the companions of an assembly line.
+ Among workers who, despite not working in the same department, have positions of the
same level. For example, the financial manager and the sales manager.
+ Due to common knowledge or shared interests outside the company. For example, because
they are neighbours, because they belong to the same soccer team, and so on.
© B. The rumour
The rumour is the unofficial spread of information through informal networks of the company.
The information that has been spread through a rumour may not necessarily be completely
false. The fact of containing a true ground makes it credible.
The settlement of a rumour may happen for two reasons:
* The need for human beings to know what happens in their environment.
* The lack of formal information.
Rumours respond to a situation of anxiety in which, in a given circumstance, the organization
has not offered any information or at least not enough.
The process followed by a rumour is:
1st: Birth. It is born from a situation of uncertainty and ignorance regarding an event that will
happen or that has already happened. In general, it is impossible to determine the source of a
rumour. For example: "A group of foreigners have come to visit us". Rumour: they are going to
sell the company to a U.S. investor.
2nd: Propagation. The rumour spreads quickly in chain. Each person involved in that chain
may provide new information and/or eliminate some other.
3rd: Death. The rumour is usually dead quite soon. Sometimes because the company performs
certain actions to silence it or because, after losing the quality of novelty, it finally disappears.
Contrary to what you may think, organizations may use rumour channels to spread informa-
tion that is favourable for it. This implies that the company has a deep understanding of the
existing informal networks within the organization.

or informal:
a) Maria and Alberto work as administrative assistants in
the accounting department and also share car to go to
work because they are neighbours.
b) Juan, Mario and Patricia work in logistics, orders and pur-
chases departments, respectively. Everyday, they send
c) Marcela works in the accounting department, and Sofia
works in the logistics department. They are both mem-
bers of the hiking club Los Alces, where they regularly
meet.
d) Roberto, Marcos and Almudena work in the systems
department. Each of them works with a module of a
management program. The project is coordinated by
José, who is the person they usually discuss their con-
cerns with.
purchase orders and material outputs to each other.

>

66. Communication within the company Se

@ 6. Communication as a source
of behaviours
Throughout this unit we have seen how the company communicates, the need for communi-
cation it has and the importance of doing so in an organized and planned way.
On a day-to-day development of the activity in the organization, communication is a key
element to generate certain behaviours in the members who compose it.
Therefore, efficient communication in organizations is critical for work decisions, and ins-
tructions must be properly understood by those who have to perform them. It is also a key
element in the motivation and satisfaction of members of the company.
In addition, every employee needs proper and useful information to make the right decisions;
when the data are incomplete, inadequate or inappropriate, they affect motivation, attitude,
satisfaction, performance and all areas of the organization, depending on the scope of the
information.
® 6.1. Behaviours related to communication within
the organization
There are three main attitudes related to communication within the company:

Aggressive behaviour
It is used to enforce orders, desires or opinions regardless of the feelings or opinions of
the interlocutor. This behaviour leads to an immediate rejection by the receiver.

Table 3.5. Common behaviours in internal communication within the company.
The best approach to achieve the best results is the assertive behaviour. When communica-
tion is previously established this way, the line between managers and employees disappears,
new collaboration relations emerge, teamwork is developed, creativity is stimulated, and so
on. In short, the organization becomes more productive.
® 6.2. Factors to be considered to allow assertive
communication
When communicating, maintaining a proper attitude and following certain guidelines facilita-
te assertive communication. Thus, we must:
+ Choose the appropriate time and environment. We must be sure that the interlocutor
feels comfortable and is willing to listen.
+ Maintain an attitude of understanding and interest towards the interlocutor, treating
him or her as an equal. We shouldn't act with superiority or dominantly, as the interlocutor
will avoid communication.

Vocabulary
Motivation. Set of factors that ac-
tivate and conduct the behaviour
of human beings.

67. 3 Communication within the company

Listen actively. And not only listening, but also motivating participation, encouraging
questions and paying attention the comments that the others make.
Ask for advice or opinion, so that the others participate and feel valued.
Know the others by their names and show interest about their hobbies, family, etc., as it
leads to a loyalty atmosphere.
Accept criticism or objections. Opening debates without imposing oneself and assuming
that the others want to collaborate with improvements.
Suggest several options and explain the choices made. At the same time, accepting
arguments in favour of other options, since it leads to the emergence of useful information
for the company.
Transmit positive information and acknowledge the good work done by colleagues and
subordinates.
Confront perceptions. Discussing what we have perceived to confirm if we have understood
everything correctly. This allows discussion and feedback and avoids misunderstandings.

3 Case study 8. Behaviour in communication
Here is an example of assertive behaviour in communication
within the company.
Solution:
In the cement company AURORA, the following situation occurs:
Manuela Gomez, commercial director, comes to the desk of
Juan Martinez (assistant in the sales department) and says:
"Juan, please, can you come to my office to discuss the report
you sent me yesterday?". And Juan replies: "Yes, of course”.
They meet and the conversation goes as follows:
Manuela: "In this section, sales figures do not match the total
amount of the year. Is it possible that there is a mistake?".
Juan: "They are correct. On the last meeting of the trade com-
mittee we decided to eliminate the export figures from this
section, this is why the figures don’t match”.
Manuela: "It’s true, sorry, I forgot our decision about this issue.
But in that case | think that it would be appropriate to indicate
that foreign sales are not included at the end of the table, don't
you think?".
Juan: "Yes, | think it will be more clear”.
Manuela: "Thank you very much, Juan’.
Juan: "You're welcome, Manuela’. J

Activities
9. Recreate the following situation in the classroom with your
mates. Everyone must apply assertive communicationte-
chniques and must reach an agreement. Remember that
there are no right or wrong proposals, the goal is to reach
consensus:
The president of the company is very upset about the sales
dropping by 5% in the last year. In this situation, he decides
to bring the heads of departments together to find solutions,
which will be collected in an action plan and implemented in
the following six months.

Financial manager
This manager argues that the company must spend less in order
to cope with the sales drop.


Human Resources
manager
This manager argues needs to improve the training of its sales
workforce so that they can learn how to sell more.


Commercial manager —
This manager argues that the company needs to hire more sales
agents to reach areas where they are not selling right now.


Marketing manager
This manager argues that the company needs to elaborate
a promotional and advertising plan to encourage sales.

68. Communication within the company 3



Summary
Internal/External
Oral/Written/Non-verbal
Formal/Informal
Communication among hierarchical levels.









It flows from management to the other members of
Top-down a : :
the organization following the chain of command.
It flows from the lower positions to the top ones
Bottom-up = . ae
following the organizational chart.

It happens among persons of the same professional category.
Instrument of communication, both vertically and horizontally. HH
Types: Routine/Extraordinary/Information/Negotiation/Advisory.
Deliberate and planned actions undertaken by the organization to maintain
rapport with their public and a positive corporate image.
External communication that is characterized by its economic cost and by
trying to persuade the receivers to lead them to some action.
Event that turns the organization into the focus of media, public,
opinion leaders... and implies that its image is in danger.
They follow the lines of the organizational chart (bottom-up and top-down).
Types: chain, circular, star, multiple-way and Y-shape.
The creation of these networks is spontaneous, arising from unforeseen
psychological and social relationships and with no target. Rumours spread
through these networks.
Passive/Aggressive/Assertive

69. 3 Communication within the company

Test review

1. Bottom-up communication is used to:
a) Encourage collaboration among workers and avoid com-
petition that may exist among them.
b) Filing complaints, problems, ideas and proposals.
c) Inform subordinates of the functions and objectives of
the company.
d) None of the above.
2. To avoid distortions in the orders or instructions in the
company, we use:
a) Written top-down communication.
b) Bottom-up communication.
c) Oral top-down communication.
d) Non-verbal communication.
3. Horizontal communication is the one that:
a) Goes from some of the employees to managers.
b) Happens among people of the same professional cate-
gory.
c) Goes from the general manager to subordinates.
d) Happens among people occupying different levels in the
organization, but without dependency relations among
them.
4. For a meeting to develop properly:
a) The goal doesn’t have to be defined in advance.
b) It can last forever.
c) The number of participants is not important.
d) Participants should be interested in the subject.
5. The meeting at which the point is to make a decision in
order to solve a problem is:
a) Advisory.
b) Extraordinary.
c) Negotiation.
d) Informative.
6. What are the three stages of a meeting?
a) Preparation, development and decision-making.
b) Preparation, introduction and closure.
c) Preparation, development and closure.
d) Introduction, development and closure.
7. Which of these statements is incorrect?
a) The success of an organization depends on customer
satisfaction.
b) The followers of a blog are a type of community public.
c) The organization communicates with the public only
through the media.
d) The media, through their actions, help build the image
of the organization.
8. What are the stages of PR?
a) Research, planning, implementation and evaluation.
b) Research, strategy, execution and evaluation.
c) Analysis, planning, implementation and evaluation.
d) Research, planning, implementation and assessment.
9. Which of these statements cannot be applied to the
advertising communication?
a) It uses the same stereotypes as society.
b) It is fundamentally creative.
c) It is an intended communication.
d) It mixes the rational and the emotional.
10. If we talk about crisis communication, which of these
statements is true?
a) There is no need to have only one spokesperson. Any
member of the crisis cabinet can speak to the media.
b) It is better to conceal everything from employees until
the last minute.
c) The media must be called even if we do not have enough
information about the facts.
d) Above all, we must stay calm.
11. Which of these networks is informal?
a) Maria, Julio and Lorena send their department’s sales
reports to each other every Monday by e-mail.
b) Pedro sends an email to the coordinators of works and
materials to communicate the new dates of the sche-
duled works.
c) Mario and Manuela talk on the company phone to meet
for coffee outside.
d) Marcos speaks with his superior, Julio, about the best
way to solve a problem with the server.
12. Which of the following are the most common behaviours
related to communication within the organization?
a) Passive, aggressive, assertive and sensitive.
b) Aggressive, passive, affirmative and negative.
c) Passive, aggressive and assertive.
d) Active, passive and assertive.

>»

70. Communication within the company Se



Check your learning
Defining communication channels within the organization
1. What is non-verbal communication?
2. Match each case with the appropriate type of communi-
cation:
a) The company Muebles El Robledo receives a letter from
the Tax Office.
b) Luis, head of sales department, phones a provider.
c) Elena, the staff manager, posts a notice in the bulletin
board with the holiday shifts of the employees.
d) Alejandro, an employee, frowns because he disagrees
with the shifts set by Elena.
e) Alejandro makes a suggestion to improve Elena’s holiday
shifts.
1) Non-verbal.
2) Bottom-up.
3) Written/External.
4
5
Written/Top-down.
Oral/External.
)
)
Differentiating formal and informal organizational commu-
nication processes
3. What types of vertical communication have been studied
in this unit?
4, What is horizontal communication?
5. Name examples of bottom-up and top-down communica-
tions that may occur in your school or study centre.
6. What kind of communication is there between the pro-
duction manager and a subordinate? And between the
production department head and the sales department
head?
7. Which of the following statements are true? Correct
those that are wrong:
a) In oral communication, feedback is faster than in the
case of written communication.
b) Gestures may provide information about the character
of a person and always support what is said in words.
c) Formal communication occurs within the organizational
chart.
d) Informal communication always occurs outside the
workplace.
e) Top-down communication is always done in writing for
the record of the statement.
8. Which of the following statements is related to informal
communication?
a) It is channelled through the managers and the company.
b) It is done through gestures, glances, facial expressions,
and so on.
c) They are spontaneous affinity relationships that are
established between colleagues.
d) |t is the communication that the company keeps with
the outside.
e) It is the most recommended for urgent action.
9. What is diagonal communication? Give an example.
10. Tell what type of meeting should be conducted in the
following situation: an employee is creating tension in the
team because his behaviour is not appropriate in accor-
dance with the objectives and rules of the company.

11. What are the three stages in the course of a meeting?
Assessing the information demand process in accordance
with the type of internal or external customer
12. What types of external communication occur in these
situations?
a) The organization sends a dossier to the media with
information about its birth, background, number of
current employees and billing information.
b) The president of the organization offers a lecture on the
values that have defined his company.
c) In an interview with suppliers, the commercial manager
explains that the new brand of sneakers will be associa-
ted with youth, urban environments and hip-hop.
d) The marketing director of a company of cleaning pro-
ducts presents the new packaging to suppliers, which
have a greater capacity and an ergonomic handle for
better grip.
13. Which of the following groups includes the external public
of the company Quesitos Buenos, S. A.?
a) The supermarket chain COMPRABARATO.
b) The members of the cooking recipes forums.
c) Current consumers of Quesitos Buenos, S.A.
d) The Ministry of Health, Consumption, Social Policy and
Equality.
e) The monthly magazine Quesos del mundo.
f) The dairy cooperative Leches Unidas, which sells milk to
Quesitos Buenos, S.A.

71. 3 Communication within the company


Check your learning
Aspects that transmit the organization's corporate identity
and its importance
14. What are the features of PR actions?
15. According to the PR process, sort and identify what stage
of the plan corresponds to each of these actions of the
company PAPELMAX, S.A.
a) This plan will have an investment of 2% of turnover
from the sale of the lines of school and office supplies.
b) The company has detected that society is more and
more concerned about the environmental conservation.
c) 40% of young people aged between 16 and 25 are
members of the three main environmental NGOs in the
country.
d) None of the stationery products companies currently
conducts conservation policies for the environment.
e) A year after the start of the program, PAPELMAX, S.A.
carries out a research of brand awareness, which shows
that the positive opinion about its products has in-
creased by 10%.
f) Those responsible for the proper execution of the plan
will be marketing and communication departments.
g) The company PAPELMAX, S.A. has been in contact with
the main environmental NGOs in the country to deve-
lop together a plan for reforestation and sustainable
development of logging exploitations.
h) The agreement with the NGOs will last at least two
years.
i) The company PAPELMAX, S.A. wants to be identified as
a company that is committed to the conservation and
sustainable exploitation of forests.
j) The company, along with the NGOs concerned, call a
press conference to explain this plan to the media.
k) The NGOs sent the news of this plan to their members
through their usual communication channels.
1) Consumers who are more committed to environmental
conservation are young people between 16 and 25 years
living in urban areas.
16. Which of the following actions belong to public relations
and which belong to advertising?
a) Sponsoring a local soccer team.
b) Renting billboards on major roads out of the cities of
Spain.
c) Collaborating with the Red Cross in raising funds for a
new children’s hospital.
d) Calling the media to a press conference to mark the
opening of a new shopping centre. q
>
e) Publishing in national press a discount coupon for the
purchase of mattresses of the company El Confortin.
f) Publishing cooking recipes submitted by customers on
the website of a supermarket chain.
17. What are the objectives of these actions? What kind of
advertiser is behind them?
a) Campaign for the responsible use of medicines.
b) Place an ad in a magazine announcing that Pepacola
soda bottles will contain 25 % more for a whole month.
c) A message at the beginning of the DVD that tells you
that "Piracy is a crime punishable by up to 4 years in
prison”.
d) A bank ad that reads: "Bring your mortgage. Let’s talk
and you'll get a coffee machine".
e) A poster on the soda aisle in the supermarket that says:
"Pepacola is here. Just take it".
f) Vaccination campaign against influenza.
18. What steps should be followed in crisis communication
and why?
Influence of informal communication channels and chains
of rumours
19. What types of networks have been established in the
development of these tasks in the company?
a) Maria, Juan, Alberto and Nuria have made a report for
the commercial manager of the organization. Maria tells
her doubts to Juan. He doesn’t know the answers but
he knows that Nuria has the information. As Juan has
no contact with Nuria, he asks Alberto to request the
information they need.
b) Juan Ballester and Mario Roca are the sales and purcha-
ses managers, respectively, and have the same assistant,
who prepares reports for both.
c) Josep is the project manager in a computer company.
When they start a new task, he distributes the tasks
among his five employees and they consult the doubts
they have.
20. Explain the positive and negative aspects of informal rela-
tionships in the workplace.
21. Why do rumours arise? Do you remember any rumour
that has spread in the centre where you study? Could you
explain the process of that rumour following the stages
that we have seen in this unit?

72. Unit


Non-verbal communication
In this unit you'll learn how to:
* Understand non-verbal
communication
as another form of communication.
+ Differentiate among the concepts
of body language, paralanguage
and proxemics.
* Assess the importance of aspects such
as voice tones, speaking speed, looks, etc.
in the communication process.
+ Analyse the functions of non-verbal
communication.

udy:
pt of non-verbal
eaning of personal image.
unctions of non-verbal
unication.

73. 4 Non-verbal communication

Do you know that...?

When the first studies on non-
verbal communication — started,
their approach was only intended
towards sales agents, managers
and executives.



Fig. 4.1. In many cases, non-verbal
communication can communicate
by itself.
Case study 1. Different meaning of gestures according to cultural environment
@ 1. Non-verbal communication
So far, we have dealt with concepts related to verbal and written communication. In this unit
we will study the language that supports the spoken language, which is formed by the ges-
tures, positions or looks that we use (both consciously and unconsciously) to express moods
and feelings on a regular basis: non-verbal communication.
Its relevance is stated in the fact that, in a face-to-face communication, there is a 35%
of verbal elements and a 65% that corresponds to non-verbal communication (gestures,
movements, signals, etc.) (Fig. 4.1). Therefore, this type of communication transmits more
information.
Do not mistake non-verbal communication for the communication that is not spoken (oral).
As you can see, there are forms of non-verbal communication, such as written and sign
languages, which are not oral:

Spoken language Paralanguage


Written language Body language and proxemics

Table 4.1. Oral and non-oral communication vs. verbal and non-verbal communication.
® 1.1. Parties to non-verbal communication
There are three main parts that we can clearly distinguish when we talk about this type of
communication:
a) That formed by the gestures, hands, position, looks, etc.
b) The voice tone, speed of the speech, etc.
c) Personal distance that we need to feel safe. It depends on the interlocutors and the
circumstances in which we are.
® 1.2. Non-verbal acts
Signs or signals that form non-verbal communication vary depending on the context in
which we are.
Ekman and Friesen, experts on non-verbal communication (20th century), identified three
variables that influence non-verbal acts: origin, usage and encoding.
OU A. Origin
The origin of non-verbal acts may be physiological, that is to say, imposed by our nervous
system or resulting from our environment: culture, beliefs or social habits (for example,
touching your mouth is related to being hungry).

In our culture, putting your feet on the table is considered Solution:
as bad manners.
For North Americans, putting the feet on the table is normal
Do you know the interpretation that other cultures, such as the —_ and inherent to their culture, especially among male population,
U.S. or Muslim countries, give to this gesture? but in Muslim countries this gesture is considered an insult.

74. Non-verbal communication 4

OO B. Usage
Non-verbal acts can be used to enhance, repeat or illustrate a verbal message. But someti-
mes, these acts may not be related to the spoken message, or they may even contradict
it. For example, we usually gesticulate when we are talking on the phone, often uncons-
ciously, although our interlocutor is not watching us.
On the other hand, if we cross arms in a conversation, it may be because we are cold and have
no relation to the conversation that we are having at that time.
© C. Encoding
Encoding (relation between the sign and its meaning) of non-verbal acts may be:
Arbitrary: when the non-verbal act has nothing to do with the meaning of that act.
For example, crossing fingers wishing luck (Fig. 4.2).
Iconic: when the non-verbal act is related to its meaning. For example, raising a fist as a
threat to beat someone.
® 1.3. Types of non-verbal acts
Non-verbal acts can be classified into four categories: emblems, illustrators, regulators and
adaptors.
OO A. Emblems
An emblem is equivalent to a word or short phrase admitted by all members of a community.
Emblems are usually made with our hands and face.

8 Do you know that...?
The origin of the non-verbal act of
crossing fingers may be related to
the origins of Christianity, when it
was believed that making the sign
of the cross could prevent bad luck
and take evil influences away.

Fig. 4.2. In our culture we cross fingers
wishing luck.
S/S

Case study 2. Interpretation of the emblems
Look at the fist in the image. What could be the meaning of this emblem?
Solution:
This emblem may refer to:
a) The size of something (as in the Spanish expression "decir verdades como pufios’).
b) A specific political trend.
c) A sports victory.

© BB. Illustrators
Illustrators are those linked to verbal communication and their role is to reinforce the
meaning of the information we are expressing verbally. For example, putting the palm of your
hand up and pointing straightforward shows offering (Fig. 4.3). It illustrates the explanation.
They are very important in face-to-face communication or on camera. In turn, the degree
of use varies greatly, depending on the level of excitement or enthusiasm we have at the mo-
ment. When illustrators are spread among members of a community and gain some level of
formalization they may end up as emblems.
VA Activities
1. Look at the images of the following a) ‘ b)
illustrators and indicate the meaning ‘
that you think they have:



Fig. 4.3. Illustrator to support explanation
and offer.
y

75. 4 Non-verbal communication


Fig. 4.4. If this gesture with the index
finger points to a person at eye level, it
means that we are asking that person to
give us an answer in a conversation or
that it is his or her turn.
oO Spanish assistant —————_
éTe has fijado en la expresién non-
verbal communication? El guién
es una forma muy comun de for-
mar adjetivos compuestos en
inglés. Otros ejemplos que te pue-
den ayudar en tu vida profesional
son time-saving (dicho de algo
que ahorra tiempo), open-minded
(dicho de alguien que tiene una
mente abierta) o world-famous (di-
cho de algo o de alguien que tiene
fama mundial).

(J C. Regulators
Regulators are the non-verbal acts that have the role of organizing or leading the
conversation that is taking place between the interlocutors. For example, those gestures
or expressions to indicate our interlocutor that it is his or her turn, that he or she can carry on
speaking (Fig. 4.4), that we want him or her to repeat something, that we have not understood
something, that we want him or her to slow down or to pay attention, and so on.
The most common regulators are the nods or denial gestures that we do with the head
and that are equivalent to verbal "yes" and "no", respectively.
Proper use of regulators in a conversation is essential to provide a positive impression.
Furthermore, the proper use of the regulators will allow us to have control over any type of
negotiation, debate, speech, and so on.
VA Activities
2. Look at the following picture and state the meaning
you think this regulator has when the speaker uses it in
a dialogue, as you can see:

a) Insecurity.
b) Stop talking.

c) Indecision.

© D. Adaptors
These are the last category of non-verbal acts
and include those movements, gestures or ac-
tions that we use to unconsciously lead our
feelings or control our responses, that is to say,
they are adaptive.
Adaptors may be:
+ Social adaptors: those arising in relations
among people. For example, shaking hands
and bowing.
+ Instrumental adaptors: those are related
to the performance of a task. For example,
the act of rolling up your sleeves may mean
that you are ready to do something or to
start any task.

* Subsistence adaptors: its origin is related
to the existence of organic needs (feeding,
resting, gestures related to stressful circum-
stances, doubt, etc.) (Fig. 4.5).
VA Activities
3. Look at the following picture.
Fig. 4.5. Touching your lip and chin
is a subsistence adaptor expressing
indecision.

What is the meaning of the adaptor that
this man is using? What kind of adaptor
is it?

76. Non-verbal communication 4

@ 2. Factors related to non-verbal language
Within non-verbal communication, in addition to the gestures that we have classified and
analysed so far, there are certain factors which, in turn, fall into the three disciplines that we
will explain below: paralanguage, body language and proxemics.
These factors may be, in turn, related to verbal and behavioural factors, as we see in the
following scheme:



Watch out!

You may think that the voice
tone, rate, volume, silence or tim-
bre should be elements related
to verbal communication, but as
these elements rely on emotions
or intentions of the issuer, rather
than in the very meaning of the
words that are issued, they are
classified as factors related to non-
verbal language.


Tone
Rate
Factors related to Volume paral
verbal language
aralanguage
Silences
Timbre
Facial expression



Look
Factors related to Positi
behaviour osition Body language
Gestures
Proximity
Personal space ——— Proxemics

Scheme 4.1. Factors related to verbal language and behaviour.
Speaking of non-verbal communication, we must refer to three fundamental areas of study:
+ Paralanguage: it studies non-semantic aspects of language, for example, the tones used,
the rate of the speech, the voice volume, silences and timbres (high, low...).
* Body language: it studies the meaning of human movements (crossing your legs, frowning,
hand weaving, etc.).
* Proxemics: term coined by the English anthropologist Edward T. Hall to refer to the analysis
of personal space or space, that surrounds us.
® 2.1. Paralanguage
When we communicate verbally, we use a certain tone and timbre of voice, a higher or lower
volume, we speak faster or slower, we pause, and so on. These characteristics cannot be re-
garded as verbal, because they depend on certain circumstances of the issuer, such as his or
her emotions or intentions when delivering the message. All these features make up the so-
called paralanguage behaviour.
Now we will go through each of these aspects.
Do you know that...?
Our brain is able to process a thou-
sand words a minute.


Important
In addition to these three discipli-
nes, there are two other branches
of study that are worthy of men-
tion:
* Chronemics: it is the study of
the use of time in non-verbal
communication.
Diacritical behaviour: it analy-
ses individual and group identity
through symbols (for example,
the use of religious symbols,
makeup, jewellery, etc.).
J
iy

77. 4 Non-verbal communication

Vocabulary
Sarcasm. Hint, mockery.
Watch out!
The volume of the voice has to
adapt to specific environmental
characteristics, the number of part-
ners there are or the type of acti-
vity we are doing.


Do you know that...?
If someone uses above 200 words
per minute, we say that this per-
son is tachyphemic (speaks very
quickly and so we may have trou-
ble in understanding), and below
100 words per minute, we say
that this person is bradyphemic
{the rate is very slow and may be
boring).

0 A. Voice tone
The voice tone, which can be modulated by the strain of the vocal cords, is a factor that
relates the feeling to the expression that we use, that is to say, what we feel and what we
verbalize.
Its proper use is essential to transmit exactly what we want, as an inappropriate tone can
distort the meaning of the message we are sending.
We can distinguish three tones when speaking:
* Ascending: it expresses doubt, hesitation or question.
+ Descending: it transmits strength, determination and confidence.
+ Mixed: it suggests irony and sarcasm.
© B. Rate
The rate is the verbal fluency of a person or, in other words, the number of words
per minute this person says.
For our message to be understood, we must use a rate of between 100 and 150 words per
minute.
O C. Volume
The voice volume is related to the intensity we use when speaking. We use it to emphasize,
regulate and even alter a communication process.
Generally, a low volume will indicate shyness, submission or sadness. By contrast, a high
volume transmits authority, self-confidence or control of a situation.
© D. Silences
Silences are pauses made in verbal communication. Sometimes, we need not to say some
things so that we can express other things. Silence can be interpreted positively or negatively.
Pauses are different from silence: these are stops that we make in verbal communication to
invite our interlocutors to speak or to emphasize what we are communicating. By contrast,
sighs (which are a special form of silence) are deeps breaths followed by audible expirations
to express grief, relief, tiredness, desire, and so on.
© E. Timbre
The voice timbre is the register that allows us to distinguish a person immediately. For
example, if we know the timbre of the voice of someone close to us, when we hear it, even
without seeing that person, we will know that he or she is coming.
There are four timbre degrees: low, medium-low, high or very high.
VA Activities
4. What can be the meaning of the following silences?
a) A teacher is explaining something in class. Students keep on talking and then, the
teacher decides to remain silent.
b) After explaining something, the teacher is silent.
5. Try this experiment: record your own voice and listen to it at home later. Is it hard for
you to recognize that voice? In addition, you can use this experiment to count how
many words per minute you say and to check if it is a good rate.

78. Non-verbal communication 4

© 2.2. Body language
Body language, also known as kinesics, is the discipline that examines attitudes, gestu-
res and body movements.
The following are some of the body gestures and expressions analysed by Birdwhistell
(father of modern kinesics):
Their respective meanings are:
1. Stop!
2. Louder.
3. Silence!
4, | don't know.
5. Look out!
6. Take me in your vehicle.
When considering these factors associated with
behaviour, kinesics usually classifies them as:
a) Gestures and positions. In the gestures we
analyse the movements of the face, hands,
arms and legs, head and body as a whole.
Gestures transmit information about our
mood or express an assessment of something
or about someone. For example, in our daily
relationships, we make many gestures with
our eyebrows that express different types of Fig. 4.6. Gestures and expressions studied by kinesics.
emotions.

For its part, positions are behaviours that tend to be more stable than gestures and
that can last from minutes to several hours. The study of body positions focuses on Vocabulary
the way we stand, how we sit, and even the way we walk. They usually communicate Kinesis. Greek word for move-
emotional intensity or express what our emotional state is at any given time. For example, ment.
when we cross arms, we are indicating that we don’t have much willingness to do so- Kiné. Minimal move that can be
mething or simply that we are cold. perceived by a person.
b) Eyes. We state our presence to others with our looks. This is why we usually talk about Kineme. Move or sequence of
ocular behaviour. Through the eyes we transmit our emotional state or the intentions we moves that have some meaning in
have. For example: maintaining a steady gaze is a sign of threat to the other interlocutor. the context in which we are.

c) Body contact. Physical contact involves the establishment of a physical relationship bet-
ween two or more people. Through it, a strong emotional load is transmitted.
|?) Do you know that...? In the following sections we will analyse in depth the main non-verbal acts that kinesics studies.

According to research, a newborn
0 A. Facial expression child is able to mimic the expre-
ssions of surprise and joy of a face
Through the face, and more specifically, through the gestures we make with it, we transmit that is known to him or her (espe-
large amounts of information, especially through the eyes and mouth, which express feelings cially the mother). or attitudes of the sender.
VA Activities
6. Discuss with your partners the information that the In relation to body contact, do you know the meaning
following looks may transmit: of the usual gesture of giving a slap on the back or
shoulders of someone? And, in connection with head
moves, what is the meaning of lowering one’s head in
b) To increase the blink rate when looking at a person. front of someone?


a) To dodge the look from another person.

79. 4 Non-verbal communication

0 Examples
Read this curious text related to
teeth smile, through which we
reach laughter.
Elisa’s laughter
"Elisa was an administrative assis-
tant with possibilities to be pro-
moted to executive secretary in
the sales department. She only had
a small flaw: when she crossed
the threshold between smile and
laughter, nothing could stop her.
One morning, Elisa was at her
workplace when the phone rang.
She answered and, after gree-
ting, she asked who was calling.
At the moment, everybody heard
a laugh that they all identified.
Her job mates were accustomed
to hear that laugh, but this time
it was louder than normal. Elisa
reacted and handed the phone to a
colleague, who apologized to her
interlocutor and answered pro-
perly.
When the laughing fit passed, Elisa
told her colleagues that when she
heard the name of the person who
phoned she couldn't help what
happened. But on top of that, she
was a labour inspector who wan-
ted to make a visit to the company.
Unfortunately for her, Elisa was
not promoted. Her supervisor and
the sales manager also heard."
Source: La comunicaci6n no verbal,
by Andrés Minguez Vela.


a) Spanish assistant —————_
Tal y como ocurre con muchas
palabras en inglés, look puede fun-
cionar como verbo o como nom-
bre {“mirar” o “mirada”). Por otro
lado, el inglés tiene muchisimos
verbos dentro del campo seman-
tico de la vista: to see {ver), to
stare (mirar fijamente), to glance
0 to glimpse (mirar brevemente) o
to gaze (mirar a alguien o a algo
con aprecio). Y recuerda que cuan-
do estos verbos hacen referencia a
la vista casi siempre van seguidos
de la preposicién at.

The research carried out by Ekman concluded that there are seven basic emotions of the
human being that we transmit through facial expression:
* Joy + Disgust
+ Sadness + Contempt
+ Fear + Surprise
* Anger
One of the most important issues in the analysis of facial expressions is the smile. It is one
of the gestures that can be expressed with the mouth, which provides information about a
person's mood.
Thus, there are two types of smiles:
* The simple smile (without showing teeth). In turn, it can have:
— Low intensity: this type of smile is very common during the adolescence. It transmits
insecurity (Fig. 4.7.a).
— High intensity: it is normally used to greet strangers. It transmits confidence (Fig. 4.7.b).
* The teeth smile happens when we show our upper teeth (Fig. 4.7.c). It transmits joy. It
is the one we use with people we trust or if we are extrovert. This smile is the road to
laughter, which may not be accepted by some companies or in certain work situations.
)

Fig. 4.7. a) Low-intensity simple smile. 5) High-intensity simple smile. c) Teeth smile.
© B. Looks
We transmit much information through the eyes. The look indicates that we are listening to
our interlocutor; it is very difficult to establish a smooth conversation without looking at the
other person.
If we stare at a person during a certain period of time, we are transmitting a sign of hostility
(and even more if we don’t know that person).
On the contrary, if we lower the gaze, we transmit a sign of insecurity or submission.
There are three kinds of perspectives:
a) Work look: it occurs in work environments. We must ensure that our look does not fall
below the eye level of our interlocutor.
b) Social look: our look falls below the eye level of our interlocutor.
c) Intimate look: issuer's eyes cover the body of his or her interlocutor.

80. Non-verbal communication 4

DO C. Position
Position is the way the body adapts when standing, walking, sitting or lying down. As well
as gestures do, the body position also supports verbal communication. For example, if you
observe a conversation carefully, you will see that the body position changes when the topic
does or when interlocutors start or stop talking.
It reflects the emotional state of people, especially if they are tense or relaxed. Anxiety, for
example, may not be detected in your face or voice, but it can be seen in position, as the
anxious person will probably have a rigid position. However, if this person is stooping, this
means depression and sadness.
Special attention should be paid to the analysis of leg positions and the expression through
body movements.
a) Legs
There are many positions of the legs, each one transmitting different feelings, emotions or
moods. In short, they are:
Crossed legs: it shows insecurity or shyness.
Semi-open legs: it shows insecurity (for example, when we sit on a chair and put our
feet around its legs).
Stretched legs: it shows arrogance.
One leg in front and the other behind: it shows a stress situation.

Case study 3. Positions and their meaning
In our culture, putting your feet on the table is considered as bad manners.
a) b)

Solution:
a) Arrogance. b) Shyness. c) Insecurity. J

b) Body moves
When two people share the same point of view, their fundamental positions are also sha-
red: this is what we call echo positions. That is to say, people who share the same opinion
on a specific topic take similar positions, and when one of them changes his or her mind, he
or she will probably issue a postural signal, rearranging the body position. If we pay atten-
tion to this detail, we can observe it in any debate programme or talk show on television.
However, when two old friends are arguing, they can keep similar positions throughout the
duration of the argument, which highlights the fact that their friendship does not change
even though they have different opinions.
0 Examples
Receptive position

The image shows how the sen-
der maintains a position of close-
ness. Meanwhile, the hands of the
receiver form a pointed arch, which
express responsiveness and atten-
tion to the sender, as well as con-
fidence in herself.

Do you know that...?
Most people start with a very
limited repertory of positions and
change position according to pre-
dictable sequences.
For example, when we get into
bed we do it always in the same
position, which is usually different
from the position in which we
finally fall asleep.

81. 4 Non-verbal communication


Fig. 4.8. What do we mean by this
gesture? Its meaning depends on the
cultural or social context in which
the person is.
8 Do you know that...2 ———{
i ee

|
Fig. 4.9. A handshake is properly
done when hands attach in a way
that the thumbs and index fingers
make contact, as shown in the
picture.
In a context in which we are in a group of three or more people, we will usually divide the
orientation of our bodies. This way, each person will place the top of his body facing one
of his companions and the bottom part facing the other. If this does not occur, that is to say,
if two people stand entirely facing each other, the third person would feel excluded, despite
the attention paid to include that person in the conversation.
Finally, we can say that position is as personal as a signature, and is usually a reflection of
character. This is why we usually recognize our friends, even at great distance, simply because
of the way they walk.
© OD. Gestures
Non-verbal communication, as well as verbal communication, is acquired through learning.
The culture or society in which we live may affect this type of communication and, just as the
speech is different, gestures have different meanings depending on context.
For example, in the U.S., the gesture with the thumb up (Fig. 4.8) means that you did a good
job, that everything is fine or that something is right; in Greece, however, this gesture is
interpreted as a rude insult.
Thus, the same gestures may be used in different countries but with different meanings.
For example, the symbol OK for the North Americans, forming a circle with the thumb and
index fingers, means “zero” in France, and “money” in Japan. Another example is the gesture of
sticking the tongue out at someone, which is a sign of mockery or rudeness among
Westerners, while for the Tibetan people is a sign of courtesy and kindness.
Gestures can also allow us to detect whether someone is lying to us. Thus, children often
cover their mouths with their hands when they lie, while teenagers only rub their mouths
subtly and adults usually touch their noses.
These differences arise because, as they grow, people try to refine their gestures in attempt
to improve their ways of lying.
Other signs that may betray a liar are:
+ Looking away, not looking at the eyes of the interlocutor.
+ Rubbing an eye with the hand.
+ Pulling the collar.
+ Rubbing the ear. This gesture corresponds with the child who covers his ears when he is
going to be scolded.
+ Rubbing the chin.
As we have seen, our hands play an essential role in the most important gestures. They are so
important that scholars have studied three of those hand moves or gestures: the handshake
greeting (Fig. 4.9), standard hand movements, and gestures with both hands.
+ Greeting. Some forms of greeting are almost universal. Every greeting provides
information on the type of relationship that both people involved have had, have or expect
to have in the future. Thus, the handshake is part of what is known as signs of social ties, a
set of non-verbal cues we use to interact with other individuals in our culture. During the
process, information is transmitted in six different ways:
— Appearance of the nails: self-esteem degree and personal image.
— Hands texture: about work activity.
— Dryness or moisture: about being nervous.
— Duration: about the degree of emotion.
— Pressure: the more pressure, the more domination over the person you greet.
— Style: it allows us to know the attitude that our interlocutor has about us: collaborative,
submissive or dominant.

82. Non-verbal communication 4

+ Hand movements. One of the most significant gestures with hands is to show the palms.
This gesture is associated with truth, honesty and loyalty. When someone wants to be
honest, he or she puts the palms up and shows them to the interlocutor. For example, in bu-
siness, there are three movements with the palms of the hands that have different meanings:
— If we show the palms up while giving an order, the person receiving it will not feel
pressured or threatened. It indicates willingness.
— If the palms are down, the petition will be construed as an absolute order.
— If you close your hand and point out the direction with your index finger, this may cause
anxiety in the person who must perform the order.
+ Gestures with both hands. There are four main types:
— Weaving hands: this may show that the person is nervous, sad or anxious.
— Hands in a pointed arch: this gesture is common in work environments where relation-
ships are established between bosses and subordinates. They involve security in the
information that is transmitted and authority.
— Take the wrist with a hand: this gesture usually occurs while waiting, as the person who
waits may not know what to do. It transmits nervousness.
— Thumbs contact: it is used to transmit dominance and superiority.
g Activities

7. Identify the meaning that each of the pictures below may have:
a) b) ¢)


® 2.3. Proxemics
We all have a minimum living space, an invisible distance around us that we consider that
belongs to us and that, apart from intimate moments, we don't want anyone to pass through.
Proxemics (or spatial proximity) is the discipline that studies the space and distance that
people keep in verbal communication.
This distance depends on several factors:
+ The degree of intimacy that the sender and the recipient have. The more intimate the
relation is, the closer they are.
+ The purpose of the meeting. If it is a formal meeting, for work purposes, the distance will
be bigger than when it is a friendly meeting.
* Personality. Extroverted people keep a shorter distance than introverted people.
+ Age. Young people tend to be closer than the elderly, except when they engage in
a conversation with them.
+ Culture or race: distance may change from one to another.
Arab, Mediterranean and Japanese people are closer to others than Anglo-Saxons, who may
regard approach as an invasion, assault or wooing attempt; likewise, those people may percei-
ve Anglo-Saxons as cold and distant. For example, North Americans use a distance of about
75 cm to talk. In contrast, North Africans are so close that they almost touch each other.
So conversations among people from different cultures may create a little conflict.

Do you know that...?
The need for personal space is also
evidenced among animals.
If we look at the flocks of swallows
flying over our fields we will see
that, when they land on an electric
wire, they keep a default distance
that they all respect; this distan-
ce is between once or twice the
width of their bodies with folded
wings.

83. 4 Non-verbal communication



Fig. 4.10. Our friends have the privilege to
invade our intimate distance.


Do you know that...?
The distance between the hips of
two people who are kissing each
other tells us the relationship bet-
ween them. People without much
confidence often leave a minimum
distance of 15 cm.

Watch out!
When someone invades your per-
sonal space to intimidate you, the
best thing to do is to step aside,
instead of stepping back.



According to our level of intimacy and harmony with a person, the areas that mark
the distance where this person is allowed to be are the following:
+ Intimate distance (up to 45 cm). This is the distance for an intimate conversation. The
exception is some special strangers, mainly doctors or dentists, who have our permission
to invade this space in order to do their job, but it is usually reserved for family members
or close friends (Fig. 4.10).
* Personal distance (45 to 120 cm). It is the distance we keep with people we know, that is
to say, in personal but not intimate meetings: conversations between co-workers,
neighbours, etc. The distance of the personal bubble of someone from Western cul-
tures is between 45 and 75 cm, but in Eastern or Scandinavian cultures, this personal
distance increases to approximately 120 cm. When someone invades this area, we try to
separate unconsciously to keep a safe distance.
* Social distance (120 to 360 cm). Physical contact in this area is almost impossible;
therefore it is used for formal conversations, impersonal meetings or with strangers. It
is the kind of distance between managers and employees. This can be seen in the offices
of relevant positions in the company, which have desks that are deep enough to keep that
distance.
+ Public distance (over 360 cm). This distance is used for speeches or conferences and
meetings, since it confers prestige and authority. For example, this is the distance between
the president and the shareholders at general meetings of banks and big companies.
When, for some reason, we are closer than usual to a person we don’t know that much
(for example, in an elevator), the conversation will be limited to greeting, and then we will
look away pretending to focus our attention on every small detail. As the amount of people
inside the elevator decreases, we will move to distribute the available space proportionally.
In fact, when our personal space is invaded, we tend to take a step back to avoid reducing
this distance. Sometimes, this invasion is intended to intimidate or to make the interlocutor
nervous and oblige him or her to step back and, therefore, to show submission.
In general, when we don’t know the other person, we don’t like or don’t trust him or her, our
space is significantly expanded. Therefore, the dimensions of the space that surrounds us in
this situation depend on the circumstances of the meeting.
In short, you must keep the physical distance respecting each person’s living space. If we
don't take this into account, our interlocutors may feel attacked if we invade their space; on
the contrary, if the space that we keep is too wide, they may think that we are not interested
in the conversation.

Activities
the following pictures:

8. We have seen that proxemics is focused on the space that surrounds people. Identify what kind of distance corresponds to

84. Non-verbal communication 4

® 2.4. Personal image
The concept of personal image is much more than just the idea of clothes, since it also refers
to all the physical features, gestures and movements, walking style, the voice tone, the way
they look, etc.
In this line, personal image is equivalent to style, a highly relative concept, as each person
forms his or her own image, different from what others may think.
We all know that clothes don’t make the man, as we studied in Unit 2; however, factors such
as the halo effect, stereotypes or first impressions are very important in communication.
We must distinguish between our private personal style and our professional style. In busi-
ness, certain jobs or professions require a certain clothing (uniform) or equipment (firemen,
doctors, soldiers, etc.).
In the administrative sphere, especially the staff who has contact with the public, personal
image is very important, because it somehow represents the image of the company: in the
same way that we have a first impression of someone after the first time we see him or her, a
professional who represents a company gives us an idea of that entity.
You may think that everyone is free to dress as they want, and you would be completely right;
however, when you decide to join an organization that has certain rules, you must accept
them. In fact, certain organizations, both business and non-business, have rules regarding
image and personal appearance (the so-called dress code).
In this sense, if we want to achieve an appropriate personal image and appearance, we must
try not to stand out, either by excess or by default (for example, we will try not to attend an
informal meeting with elegant clothes or not to wear a casual style on a formal event). If our
appearance does not fit a given situation, this may result in insecurity and shyness as a way
of compensating the look we have.
Our external appearance usually contains a heavy communicative content. For example,
the mismatch between what a person says and the image he or she transmits causes lack of
credibility in those who listen.
The analysis of someone's shoes may give us an idea of the perception that this person has
about his or her future economic situation. If we are not sure about what our future econo-
mic situation could be, shoes are the last thing we will buy. In turn, a new and expensive pair
of shoes transmits the image of a good economic situation. By contrast, a pair of worn-out
shoes gives a negative image.
Anyway, we always have to think that clothing is only an external issue, a packaging; the most
important thing is what you have to say, but not what you wear.
g Activities
9. Search the web for two pictures of people of your same gender whose image seems
appropriate to you (if they are celebrities, just pretend you don’t know them).


Assign them a profession based on the image they have on those pictures.
What details have you considered to assign those professions?
10. What is good image to you? Discuss it with your classmates; it is most likely that you
disagree on the answer.
11. Imagine you have a job interview for an administrative position. What image of
yourself do you want to offer? How would you dress? Why?
© Watch out!

Proper clothes are the best intro-
duction you can ever have, becau-
se the first impression we get
is someone's image. This is even
more important in the case of the
company sphere and the workpla-
ce, as it represents the image of
the company. Therefore, we must
pay attention to every detail in
the way we dress.

85. Fig. 4.11. As the saying goes, a picture
is worth a thousand words, and so are
expressions.
63 Case study 4. Functions of non-verbal communication

4 Non-verbal communication


Replacing
words or ex-
pressions:
this drawing
transmits
the fact that
"it’s starting
to rain".
@ 3. Functions of non-verbal
communication
Non-verbal language can have different functions, including the following:

VA Activities
+ Guiding verbal communication: in
Emphasizing verbal language. Illustrators are often used for this purpose, as we have seen
before. For example, moving the hand while we say goodbye emphasizes what we are ex-
pressing in words. That is to say, non-verbal communication may merely repeat what was
said verbally.
Expressing feelings and emotions. It communicates our state of sadness or joy.
Replacing words. Non-verbal acts replace verbal acts when we make a gesture and say
nothing. For example, the cases we have seen in the beginning of this unit when talking
about emblems, such as when someone asks where to find something and we point with
the finger without speaking. In turn, a non-verbal message can replace a verbal one, for
example, when a person comes home after work and is asked about his or her day and he
or she says nothing, but uses an expression that replaces the statement "I had a disastrous
day".
Guiding the way in which verbal message should be interpreted. The same content may
be interpreted in different ways depending on the volume and the voice tone or gestures.
So if we say "Come!" with a loud tone and a high volume, we will give an order; but if we
say it in a sweet tone and a low volume, we are inviting the listener to approach us.
Possible conflict with verbal communication. Non-verbal signals must be consistent with
the verbal content of the message so that it can be decoded accurately. Therefore, a non-
verbal message can contradict a verbal message (as when we say something and, through
gestures, we suggest otherwise). This is the case when a person must speak in public and,
despite having a sweaty brow and trembling legs and knees, he or she says: "I’m not ner-
vous".
Regulating communication. Non-verbal messages regulate the verbal message when we
use gestures to hold a conversation. Thus, if a participant in a conversation bangs on the
table, he or she is setting the rhythm of a conversation. In this sense, sometimes we make
judgments about the regulatory ability of other people, such as "talking to him is like talking
to a brick wall" or "when she speaks, she doesn’t let the you get a word in conversation".

12. Name several examples in which you can see each of the functions of non-verbal
communication.
J

+ Expressing
feelings: this
pr time, the dra-
wing depicts a
sense of won-
der or perple-
xity.



this case, the drawing helps us interpret
verbal communication (through clothes
or a hand gesture).

86. Non-verbal communication 4

Summary







Tone
Rate
Volume
Silences
Timbre
Facial
expression
Look
Position
Gestures
Proximity

Communication element that relates
feelings and their expression in words.


Verbal fluency that a person has.


Intensity with which someone speaks.


Breaks made in verbal communication.


Register to distinguish one person
from another.


Information transmitted through
the expression of the face.


Information transmitted through
the expression of the eyes.


Body moves that go with
verbal communication.


Visual stimuli that are sent to the person
you are speaking to.


Analysis of the space surrounding people
in their communication with others.
This is the style of a person: clothes, physical features,
gestures, walking ways, movements, and so on.

87. \
>
4 Non-verbal communication

Test review
1. Paralanguage:
a) Is a form of oral communication.
b) Is the study of human body moves.
c) Is a form of verbal communication.
d) Studies the voice tones or volume.
2. When you're giving a speech and you clench your fist, you
are using:
a) An emblem.
b) An illustrator.
c) A regulator.
d) None of the above.
3. Looks are non-verbal acts that are studied in:
a) Oral communication.
b) Written communication.
c) Verbal communication.
d) None of the above.
4. What part of your body acts in facial expression, fun-
damentally?
a) Ears.
b) Eyes.
c) Hands.
d) Nose.
5. When a person emits less than 90 words a minute is:
a) Bradyphemic
b) Tachyphemic.
c) Proxemic.
d) Tachycardiac.
6. The discipline that is responsible for analysing the space
surrounding a person is:
a) Kinesics.
b) Paralanguage.
c) Emblematic.
d) Proxemics.
7. A distance of less than 45 cm is:
a) Social.
b) Intimate.
10.
11.
12.
13.
. Speaking of position, when two people share opinions:
c) Public.
d) Close.
. According to Ekman, through facial expression we usually
transmit:
a) Surprise.
b) Anger.
c) Fear.
d) All of the above.
a) Simple positions appear.
b) Social positions appear.
c) Echo positions appear.
d) Parapositions appear.
A voice tone that transmits irony or sarcasm is:
a) An ascending tone.
b) A mixed tone.
c) A descending tone.
d) A paused tone.
Which of the following is a function of non-verbal commu-
nication?
a) Giving emphasis to verbal language.
b) Showing our personality to the outside.
c) Eliminating verbal language.
d) All of the above.
According to what we have studied, the following picture
would correspond to:
a) An emblem.
b) Aregulator.
c) An illustrator.

d) An adaptor.
Specify the meaning that the following picture may have:
a) Nervousness.
b) Authority.
c) Anxiety.
d) Submission.

88. Non-verbal communication 4



Check your learning
Understanding non-verbal communication
1. Define non-verbal communication.
2. Which of the following forms of communication is non-
verbal?
a) Spoken language.
b) Written Language.

c) Body language.
3. According to Ekman and Friesen, what variables influence
non-verbal acts?
4. Indicate which of the following categories do not belong to
non-verbal signs:
a) Emblems.
b) Illustrators.
c) Adaptors.
d) Indicators.
e) Regulators.
5. Define the concept of emblem.
6. Complete this sentence: the usual gesture of saying "no"
or "yes" with your head is...
7. lf you touch your chin in a conversation, what element of
non-verbal communication are you using?
Differentiating between the concepts of body language,
paralanguage and proxemics
8. Which is the category of the gestures below?
a) During a job interview, a young woman is constantly
touching her hair.
b) A student goes to the blackboard to solve an accounting
case study, but he doesn’t know how to start and shrugs
his shoulders.
c) A student is about to start a test and can’t help biting
his nails.
d) Two entrepreneurs have just closed a deal and shake
hands.
e) At a meeting, a man wants to intervene and raises his
hand.
f) Ina television contest, the winner makes the sign of vic-
tory being on camera.
9. Personal space is analysed by:
a) Kinesics.
b) Proxemics.
c) Paralanguage.
d) All of the above.
10. The voice tone is studied by:
a) Kinesics.
b) Proxemics.
c) Paralanguage.
d) All of the above.
11. Define paralanguage.
12. Which of the following statements concerning paralan-
guage is or are false?
a) The ascending tone suggests sarcasm or irony.
b) The rate is the verbal fluency of someone's expression.
c) Ahigh volume indicates authority, self-confidence, and
command of the situation.
d) Silence can be expressed negatively or positively.
e) The voice tone allows us to recognize a person imme-
diately.
13. Define kinesics.
14. List some acts studied in the kinesics.
15. Indicate if the following statements about proxemics are
true or false:
a) Culture or race of people will influence the use of a long
or short distance.
b) Any person can invade the living space of another.
c) In a conversation, Anglo-Saxons are so close that they
almost touch each other.
d) Personal distance is reserved for family and close fri-
ends.
e) When we don't know, don’t like or don’t trust our inter-
locutor, our space is greatly extended.
f) Failure to respect the living space a person can make our
interlocutor feel attacked.
16. Are a silence and a sigh the same thing?
17. According to paralanguage, what does a descending voice
tone of express?
Assessing the importance of aspects such as tone, rythm,
looks, etc. in the communication process
18. What is a tachyphemic person?
19. What does a low voice volume indicate?

89. x
>
4 Non-verbal communication

Check your learning
20. Select the seven basic emotions from this list:
a) Joy.
b) Pity.
c) Fear.
d) Repulsion
e) Contempt.
f) Anger.
g) Excitement.
h) Surprise.
i) Sadness.
j) Hope.
k) Remorse.
1) Panic.
m) Disgust.
n) Gratitude.
21. What are the different types of smiles?
22. Complete: the look that falls below the eyes of the person
we are talking to is...
23. How would you define position?
24. Speaking of positions, if two people share the same opi-
nion...
25. What signs can betray a liar? Mark the false choice:
a) Rubbing the ear.
b) Avoiding eye contact to another person.
c) Rubbing hands together.
d) Rubbing the chin.
26. What factors influence distance?
a) Dress manners, age and sex.
b) Personality, culture and the degree of intimacy.
c) The purpose of the meeting, age and the lack of hygiene.
d) The speech and the language.
27. What kind of distance is used used in meetings with work
fellows or in neighbourhood meetings?
28. Social distance is the one that:
a) Occurs between managers and employees, for example.
b) Occurs among people that know each other but are not
close.
c) Occurs in speeches, conferences or meetings.
d) Occurs in intimate conversations.
29. Which of these statements about personal image is correct?
a) The concept of personal image only refers to how a per-
son dresses.
b) The personal style of our private aspect must be the
same as our professional style.
c) If our appearance does not fit a given situation, this may
result in insecurity and shyness as a way of compensa-
ting the look we have.
d) The external aspect of a person does nothing to com-
munication.
30. What is a dress code?
Analysing the functions of non-verbal communication
31. List three of the functions that non-verbal communication
may have.
32. Give an example in which non-verbal communication can
contradict verbal communication.
33. Indicate the function of non-verbal communication in the
following examples:
a) We are angry at a colleague and therefore we change
our voice tone when we talk to him.
b) We explain to someone that to go to the station he or
she has to turn left at the same time that we point in
the right direction.
c) We have just been given a gift and we show gratitude
with a big smile.
d) We want to participate in class and raise our hand.
e) We show a very serious facial expression, but when we
are asked we say that we are not angry.
f) We finished dinner at a restaurant and make a writing
gesture to the waiter to indicate that we want the bill.
34. Match the following concepts:








Thumbs up
Tones Personal image
Simple smile Kinesics
Body position Paralanguage
Clothes Proxemics
Social distance Emblems
Tachyphemic

90. Unit
Oral communication
In this unit you'll learn how to:
+ Identify the elements of oral
communication in the messages
transmitted.
+ Recognize the different forms
of oral communication.
+ Perform communication with clarity,
accuracy, courtesy, respect and sensitivity.
+ Analyse the most common
mistakes that occur in oral
communication.
+ Apply techniques to reduce
mistakes in oral communication.




que , improve
nd obtai 1 the attention
terlocuto
communicate assertively.
f

91. 5 Oral communication

oO Vocabulary ————————_
* Courtesy. Set of verbal and non-
verbal expressions that are used
toavoid or mitigate conflicts that
may arise among interlocutors.
Dialectics. The art of dialogue,
argumentation and discussion.
Eloquence. 1. Ability to speak
or write effectively to delight,
move or persuade. 2. Efficacy to
persuade or move with words
or gestures and any other act or
thing capable of expressing so-
mething vividly. The eloquence
of facts or figures.
Grammar. Art of speaking and
writing a language correctly.
Oratory. Art of speaking elo-
quently.
Rhetoric. Art of proper speaking,
of making written or spoken lan-
guage effective enough to de-
light, persuade or move.
VA Activities

@ 1. Oral expression
In previous units we have studied the communication process in general, and applied to
the company. In this unit we will discuss the communication that takes place by oral means,
especially that occurring within the company.
When we refer to expression or oral communication, the most important thing is
the medium or channel that is used to transmit: the spoken word. In oral communication, the
term interlocutors is often used to refer to the senders and receivers of communication.
Interlocutors may be present, and this is what we call face-to-face oral communication; if
they are separated from each other, we refer to distance oral communication.
When communication is face-to-face, what we say is supported or modified by our gestures or
attitudes. That is to say, there is a non-verbal oral component in communication made in person.
The most common form of oral communication is a dialogue, but there are others such as de-
bates, conferences, interviews... Each has its own characteristics, which we will learn through-
out the unit.
When we communicate orally we must be clear about why we communicate; we must know
what we want to achieve and what we want our receivers to do or feel later. Thus, we can say
that the goals of both language and oral communication are:
+ Report - teach - train.
+ Stimulate - encourage - motivate.
+ Persuade - convince.
+ Find out - discuss - negotiate.
+ Amuse - entertain.
Whatever our goal in communicating through language is, we always try to influence
receivers, and this can be achieved by three complementary ways:
+ Through our behaviour, using our credibility to improve the efficiency of our power of
persuasion.
+ Adapting to the mood or emotions of the audience.
+ Using a message that persuades by itself.

1. What do you think about the following statement? "The 2. The objectives of oral communication are often mixed
truth works by itself, but lies are only sustained through together in the very act of communication. What are the
argumentation techniques that distort facts". Discuss goals of a soccer coach when he meets his players during
this topic in class, taking into account the three ways of halftime in the changing room and makes a summary of
influencing interlocutors that you already know. the first half and prepares the second half with them?

1.1. Requirements and characteristics
Obviously, the basic requirement for oral communication is a situation where the receiver
and the sender transmit information using speech. However, such transmission of information
does not guarantee that communication takes place smoothly, as it is necessary to comply
with certain requirements or premises.
First of all, we must analyse the communicative situation:
* Intentions of sender and receiver.
* Relationship between interlocutors.
* Space where communication takes place.
* Time that we have to talk.

92. Oral communication 5

Clearly, this process makes more sense in formal than in informal situations. However, it is
useful in any case.
When conducting an oral communication, it is important to avoid the barriers we talked
about in Unit 2. For this purpose, we must follow these recommendations for each element
of the communication process:

* Transmit credibility and capability.
+ Have a rich vocabulary and expressive resources.

+ Listen properly and provide feedback.

* Clear, neat and accurate.
* Objective, according to the data.



+ Adaptation of the message to the context of the receiver.

Table 5.1. Recommendations for oral communication.
In turn, oral communication has certain advantages and disadvantages:

* Speed.
+ The message may be supported by non-verbal + The message must be understood immediately.
elements. * It requires more attention from interlocutors.
+ It provides feedback.
VA Activities
3. List five possible types of oral fillers and three body-type fillers. Do you use some
type of filler when you speak?


4. Do you think that there some issues that must be dealt with talking instead of writing?
Why? Explain your answer.

® 1.2. Developing an oral message
Sometimes we must improvise our oral messages, but normally, in addition to the above
recommendations, we must organize and introduce our ideas properly.
Therefore, now we will learn the steps and guidelines to follow to ensure that oral communi-
cation is smooth and understandable.
C A. Stages of development
When developing the oral message, we can identify several consecutive stages:


0 Do you know that...?
A filler is a word or sentence that is
frequently repeated as a bad habit.
Sometimes, fillers are the result
of nerves, and in other cases they
are used to fill gaps, uncertainties
or other inadequacies in the me-
ssage. Typically, fillers are sounds,
single words or sentences (eh...,
hum..., right?, well...), but they
may also be body-type fillers, that
is to say, gestures performed by
the sender of the message. 7

Fig. 5.1. Having a draft to give a lecture
makes it much easier.

Avoid repetition of ideas


Eliminate confusion


Allow a clear expression:
structuring ideas

a

93. 5 Oral communication

Make a brief and appealing introduction to arouse interest of the listeners,

Speak accurately
- Speak clearly
Handle the topic
in a dialogue
Interact with other
interlocutors
_ Non-verbalaspects __
VA Activities

which may include a summary of the topics. It can be used to define or clarify new
or unfamiliar terms that will be used.
The exposition itself
Conclusion or summary of the basic ideas
Simplify sentence structure
Avoid all noise words
Do not use routine expressions and formulas
Avoid fillers, pauses and repetitions
Self-correction
Clarify and refine the meaning of what is meant
Repeat and summarize the most important ideas
Restate what has been said if it was not clear
Customize the message to the receiver or receivers
and use a vocabulary that is known to them
Search for appropriate topics for each situation
Start or suggest a topic
Develop a topic
End a conversation
Lead the conversation to a new topic
Diverting or avoiding a conversation topic
Relate a new topic with an old topic
State that we want to intervene (with gestures, sentences)
Choose the right time to intervene
Effective use of the right to speak
Notice when an interlocutor wants to speak
Give the right to speak to an interlocutor at the right time
Control voice: intonation, volume, pitches, tone
Use appropriate non-verbal codes: gestures and movements
Control the look: addressed to interlocutors
As we saw in Unit 2, feedback is essential for effective
communication to exist

| say everything
Use the time to
that is deemed
necessary


Stick to the
conventions
of the type of
speech
(subject,
structure, etc.)




Mark the begin-
ning and end of
the speech

5. In groups, prepare an oral presentation about job opportu- 6. We must always try to communicate orally with
nities of the vocational training course you are studying. To
do this, follow these steps:
a) Analysis of the situation.
b) Preparation of the subject.
c) Preparation of a draft.
d) Preparation of supplementary material.
e) Exposition.
correction, but sometimes we may use a_ relaxed
pronunciation, generic and familiar vocabulary, informal
syntax (unfinished expressions or discordant sentences
between subject and verb) or a direct and flexible attitude.
In your opinion, in which oral communications may
this happen? Which of the guidelines that we have
seen in this section are we breaking with each of these
mistakes?

94. Oral communication 5

© B. Accuracy and clarity in the message
As explained so far, the main features or characteristics that an oral message must meet
should be accuracy and clarity.
In Unit 2 we discussed the projected message, the message transmitted and the mes-
sage received, and we said that there were differences between them as a result of the
problems occurring in the stages of encoding and decoding. By accuracy we refer to the correct
encoding of the message, so that the words that we use are the appropriate ones for the
transmitted and the projected message to match as much as possible.
Thus, the following recommendations may help us develop an accurate message:
+ Transmit one idea per sentence, or several sentences to one idea, but never different ideas
in one sentence.
+ Use a language that matches the idea that we try to transmit avoiding vagueness,
exaggerations and fillers.
The other basic requirement for oral communication is clarity. A clear exposition requires
clear ideas, and the following recommendations may help us obtain a clear message:
+ Use explanations about specific cases, rather than relying on abstractions. For example:
"We need an accounting software as the one that our competitors have", instead of "If we
just had something that would help with accounting...”.
+ Express our intentions. For example: "We will need a longer payment period", instead of
"We may consider our relationship with suppliers’.
+ Establish connections among the approaches that we have introduced. For example:
"Communication by telephone is only a form of oral communication, the characteristics
of which we have already studied", instead of "Another form of communication is the
telephone".
* Try to summarize as much as possible. For example: "The main internal communication
data are...", instead of "We can list the most relevant data of the communications occur-
ring among employees of the company, such as...
+ Select support materials carefully and make sure that we know how to use them. For
example, in a conference, the speaker uses a PowerPoint© presentation, but he doesn't
know how to move from one slide to another and must ask for help.
+ Relate ideas of the message to other general ideas. For example, the speaker uses the
example of drawing a pension to explain the procedure of a financial income.

Do you know that...?
We refer to demagogy when a
speaker (especially a politician)
tries to gain power by appealing
to the prejudices, emotions, fears,
vanities and expectations of the
public. Some of the tactics
used by demagogues are deceit,
manipulation of meaning or
diversionary tactics, for example.



Web
Check these links containing infor-
mation that is required to perform
a successful oral communication:
http://agrega.educa.jcyl.es/
visualizar/es/es-cl_ 2010031512
_9113946/false
http://agrega.educa.jcyl.es/
visualizar/es/es-cl_2010031512
_9112507/false


Activities

7. Prepare a dialogue with the following guidelines: one person
explains to another the contents that are studied in the Vo-
cational Training Course of Administration and Finance, and
the other person makes questions about this. You may use
the resources you want to make the message clear. You may
also talk about the job opportunities of this course, and so on.
8. The speaker has many available resources to support the
message. Match each resource with its definition:
+ Verbal support based on experiences.
* Create images with words.
+ Express verifiable realities.
+ Express ideas of others.
* Quotations.
* Facts.
+ Examples.
* Descriptions.
9. Steve Jobs, founder of the company Apple, died on
October 5 2011 after a long battle with cancer. On June
12 2005, at Stanford University, he delivered a short
speech that has been considered as an example of ora-
tory. You can find a transcript in http://www.elpais.
com/articulo/tecnologia/Encontrad/amais/
elpeputec/20111006elpeputec_5/Tes, and also another
link to the video. Read it and divide the speech in the
three parts that we have studied (introduction, exposition
and conclusion). What are the main ideas set forth in the
text? What are the relationships that Jobs established to
connect the dots presented in the speech?

95. 5 Oral communication


Fig. 5.2. Ina debate, the moderator’s
role is not only to ensure the proper
functioning of the turns of speech, but
also to handle the situation if it goes wild
and to deal with interlocutors developing
a leading role in the debate.
VA Activities
© 1.3. Forms of oral communication
Now we will introduce a set of types of oral communication that match several situations in
the work environment in which information is transmitted orally.
OC A. Dialogue and debate
A dialogue is the exchange of information between two or more people, personally
and directly. In a dialogue the roles of sender and receiver are alternated between
interlocutors. Without feedback there is no dialogue.
We must follow these rules to have a fluent dialogue:
+ Acommon language for interlocutors.
* A specific vocabulary, according to the sociocultural level of interlocutors.
+ Do not discuss topics about which you don't have proper information.
+ Use clarity and accuracy, avoiding ambiguities in your exposition.
+ Talk in turns, alternating the roles (sender and receiver).
In turn, the debate is a form of dialogue in which there is a moderator, a person who
regulates the exchange of information.
In order to defend our point of view in a debate we must:
* Have a clear idea to defend.
+ Support the arguments with data.
* Consider others’ rebuttals to respond.
+ Listen carefully to what others say.

10. Divide the class into two groups and discuss the convenience —-11. Who is the moderator in a debate? Is it required in every
of splitting timetables (lessons in the morning and in the debate? Name at least one advantage and one disadvan-
afternoon). One group must defend the split timetable and tage of having moderators in the debates and give an
the other will be against it, using data in both cases. example of a debate with a moderator.

©) B. The report
A report is the exposition of a set of data in order to explain an issue or situation.
Reports can be submitted in writing or orally, being usual to combine both types of
presentation; here, we will focus on the oral report.
Any report must follow the order listed above: introduction, body and conclusion. In addition,
we must follow these recommendations for the preparation of a report:
* It must contain a clear and accurate language:
— We must use examples that explain the ideas, especially in those which are more diffi-
cult to understand.
— We must explain the same idea in other words when it is difficult to understand.
— We may use graphics, slides, transparencies, statistics, maps... Depending on the
topic, they may help explain our ideas and complete information. Oral reports in
the company tend use audiovisual media to illustrate the arguments shown. For
example, illustrating the presentation with PowerPoint©.
— We may use anecdotes, comparisons, and so on.

96. Oral communication 5

: As far as possible, we must prepare a draft or outline of the ideas that we want to transmit
and the order in which they will be introduced.
+ If we are going to give our opinion when interpreting data, we should indicate it. For
example: "From my point of view...", "I believe that...", "In my opinion...".
A report is not aimed at convincing the listeners or readers, as reports should explain data
objectively.
In general, a report may be used to:
+ Report to all segments of a company: owners, partners, managers and staff in general.
* Prepare decision-making.
When classifying the types of oral reports, the first sorting criterion is the moment when
they occur. According to this, reports may be periodic and non-periodic:
* Aperiodic report must be performed on a regular basis (monthly, quarterly, yearly...).
+ Anon-periodic report is performed on specific occasions, and may be spontaneous or at the
request of someone.
+ As oral reports are almost always less formal than written reports, they tend to be
non-periodic.
According to its purpose, there are three types of reports:

They only transmit
information without making
judgments or drawing
conclusions.
The sender uses its expertise
and knowledge to assess the
information presented in
the message.
They are intended to prove
certain facts by providing
data and supporting
documentation.

Table 5.2. Types of reports according to their purpose.
All reports must be made following the order explained in Scheme 5.1.
Whatever the variety and type of report are, its basic elements are:
+ The subject or topic of the report.
+ Its goal or goals.
* The methodology that is applied.
+ The development of the report itself.
* The conclusions, which can be explained in the beginning or in the end.
VA Activities
12. What is the goal of the following reports of the company Caramelos Benedicto, S.A.?

a) A report of the production department indicating that the machine used for
packaging has failed for the third time in the last six months and recommending
its replacement.
b) A financial report explaining that it is less expensive to buy a new machine with a
bank loan than paying a rent for the machine every month.
c) Areport stating the cost savings of buying the new machine.
13. Both analytical and persuading include conclusions are drawn. Then, what is the
difference between these two types of reports?

Web
The following links provide infor-
mation on how to make oral
presentations:
* For oral presentations at a pro-
fessional level:
http://cvc.cervantes.es/ense-
nanza/biblioteca_ele/ciefe/
pdf/01/cvc_ciefe_01_0018.pdf
For general presentations:
http://www.optica.unican.es/

Docencia/presentacionoral.pdf J

Production

Writing

Scheme 5.1. Order in which the report
must be made.

97. 5 Oral communication

(0 C. Conference

Vocabulary
Monologue. Reflection that is ma-
de aloud and alone, without input
from others. Monologue is synon- understanding of it.
ymous with soliloquy.


A conference is the organized explanation of the ideas, thoughts or knowledge of a
speaker about a particular topic, so that people who listen may obtain a comprehensive
Conferences include speeches, which are monologues in which a sender (also known as
speaker) develops his or her ideas about a topic before an audience. In this case, feedback
Watch out!

Sometimes at the end of confe-
rences, there is a colloquium or
takes place once the speaker has completed part or all of his or her exposition and the public
reacts approving or disapproving this performance.
The conference must follow a logical order, like all oral communications (introduction, body
or development of the topic and conclusion or summary of the main ideas). In addition, the
speaker must use a clear and accurate language, for example by:
dialogue with the public to clarify
or further develop the topics that
have been discussed.



Fig. 5.3. Decline in sales.
3 Case study 1. Developing an oral message
Noemi Pérez is the commercial director of a new company,
Jabones Suavemar, S.A.; her mission is to make a presentation
of its products at a trade fair. What planning will Noemi make
to introduce those products?
Solution:
Using examples, anecdotes or comparisons that illustrate what he or she wants to
explain. For example, the head of commercial department of Astilleros Atlanticos, S.A. sets
before the board the idea of using the facilities of the company to manufacture wind tur-
bines instead of supertankers. To illustrate his point, he or she mentions the success of the mo-
torcycle manufacturer Honda in the U.S. when, by chance, they realized that the small
motorcycles that they used for staff transportation in the company were much more inter-
esting for the U.S. market than large motorcycles, which were the first plan of the company.
Seeking an alternative explanation for the same topic when it is difficult to unders-
tand. For example, the financial manager of the company Textil Pérez, S.L. presents a
report discussing the possibility of self-financing the expansion of the company through
negative working capital. As the manager does not understand this term, he explains that it
means delaying the payment period to suppliers and trying to collect cash from customers;
then, the company may have the money for some extra days, in which they can invest
it and pay the suppliers with the benefits of this investment.
Using audiovisual media to clarify and complete information. For example, the manager
of the company Quesos y Mantequillas, S.A. presented to the shareholders the decline in
sales suffered by the company. To support this statement he shows Figure 5.3.

to products, and also to rely on brochures and PowerPoint®
presentations. Finally, she develops a draft for structuring her
speech, including the following matters:
a) Presentation of the company: field, objectives...
b) Classification of the product lines of the company.

Activities
Noemi analyses the situation and detects that the purpose
of the communication is to introduce those products to poten-
tial buyers. This is absolutely necessary, as the product is un-
known because the company is new. The public, in this case, is
formed by distributors that will attend the trade fair.
Noemi also finds that the most effective way to communicate
is to alternate oral expositions and the physical introduction
c) Detailed explanation of the characteristics of each
product and display of samples.
d) Benefits for distributors (discounts, deadlines...).
e) Conclusion and delivery of business cards, brochures and
catalogues.

14. Read the text on the website http://www.radiocable.
com/obama-ciceron8756.html. Then explain the com-
munication resources that the president Barack Obama
usually uses and give an example of each of these types of
resources.
15. The company Jamones JR, S.L. is planning to enter the
Chinese market. Divide the class into even groups; half of
the groups will produce a speech with three arguments in
favour of this expansion, and the other half will prepare
three arguments against it.

>

98. Oral communication 5

( OD. The interview
The interview is a type of oral communication in which someone (interviewer) makes
a series of questions to another person (interviewee) to obtain information or opinion.
The types of interviews may be classified depending on the number of participants:
+ Individual interview: there is only one interviewer and one interviewee.
* Panel interview: there are several interviewers.
+ Group interview: there are several interviewees.
And also according to the procedure used in the interview:
+ Structured, planned or directed interview: the interviewer asks a set of questions in a
systematic, organized and intended way. Its main advantage is that it removes part of the
interviewer's subjective criterion.
+ Unstructured interview: questions are open and change depending on responses.
* Mixed interview: questions are both open and predetermined.
Another sorting criterion is the purpose of the interview: it may be aimed at knowing perso-
nal or professional aspects of the interviewee, at extending or confirming any news of interest
or at meeting a candidate for a job and report to him or her on this position. Because of the
importance of the job interview, we will learn more about it in the following section.
( E. Job interview
A job interview is held between the interviewee, who applies for a job, and one or more
interviewers, who represent the company.
Both the interviewer and the interviewee (candidate) pursue certain goals:
Interviewer Interviewee

Knowing if the candidate can do the job Showing interest in the job

Knowing the difference between the candidate
and other applicants Showing sufficient capacity for this position


Table 5.3. Goals of interlocutors in a job interview.
The most important thing when facing a job interview from the interviewee’s point of view
is to appear natural and sincere, with confidence, using previous preparation for possible
questions in the interview.
g Activities

Ho Spanish assistant —————
éTe resulta curioso el término
interviewee? El sufijo-—ee es una
forma caracteristica del inglés de
denominar al objeto de un verbo.
En este caso, to interview (entre-
vistar) da lugar al interviewer (el
que entrevista) y al interviewee
(sobre el que recae la accidn, es
decir, el entrevistado). gRecuerdas
algtin otro ejemplo en este libro?
jExacto! Llamamos employer al
empresario o a la persona que
contrata a alguien y employee al
empleado.
Web

If you want to expand your know-
ledge about job interviews, visit:
http:/Awww.entrevistadetrabajo.
org


16. Check the following website and write down the features
that the interviewer should have and the issues that he or
she must avoid: http://www2.uca.es/dept/enfermeria/
socrates/entrevista/09.htm text:
17. Imagine that you are in a job interview and answer in wri-
ting the following list of typical questions in the table
below. Write the answers that you would give in this con-

+ Do you like team
work?
* What was your main influence
when you chose your career?
+ What were your roles in pre-
vious jobs?
+ How did you get that job? + Define yourself. + Are you planning to extend
your training?
* What do you know about our com-
pany?
* Would you be available to move to
live elsewhere or to travel frequently?

99. 5 Oral communication


Fig. 5.4. Smiling when talking on the pho-
ne provides a pleasant tone that will
improve the outcome of communication.
Important
In telephone communication the-
re is only one channel, the voice
over the phone, and we don’t have
the support of non-verbal co-
mmunication.
Sender Receiver
af
Channel


6 Vocabulary
Jargon. Special and familiar lan-
guage used among individuals
from certain jobs and activities,
such as bullfighters, students, etc.

OF. Phone calls
Phone calls are very important in the workplace; this type of communication has some
specific features that differentiate it from personal and direct contact. These characte-
ristics arise from the specifics of the communication process that is held in a telephone
conversation. Thus, unlike direct communication, where multiple channels are used
because there is access to gestures, movements, etc. of the sender, phone calls use a single
channel: the voice over the phone. Then, misinterpretations may occur much more easily in
the messages by both parties.
To minimize this type of mistakes in the messages received, telephone communication must
be carried out using specific techniques to help reduce distortions and misunderstandings and
facilitate their effectiveness. These techniques are:
+ Use of the voice: voice tone and intonations are crucial, as they usually transmit attitudes.
The receiver is particularly receptive to the tone used by the speaker because all the
attention is focused on the voice. Therefore, the tone of the telephone conversation should
reflect:
— Kindness: attitude and mood are transmitted by telephone. The best way to transmit
sympathy and kindness is smiling: the interlocutor will notice despite not being face to
face. Many call centres require the use of this technique by telemarketers.
- Trust and credibility: speaking confidently and transmitting that the speaker knows
what he or she is talking about. The speaker must use the specific language of the sector
and show knowledge on the subject, because this is what the receiver needs to feel safe.
— Interest: customizing the voice on the other side. We must treat the caller as if we were
in front of him or her, but not miles away.
* Ability to listen: we must stay focused on the message that comes through the phone.
In addition, due to lack of contact, the other interlocutor must feel that we are really
listening. The use of expressions like "I see", "Sorry to hear" or "Sure" will help the listener
to see that we are paying attention.
* Speak slowly: in a face-to-face conversation, the receiver can supplement verbal
information with that coming through other channels. However, in the case of telephone
communication this is impossible, so if you speak slowly you will reduce the chances that
the message is not fully received.
* Choose your words: use common words that are simple and easy to understand, as this
is essential if we want the message to be understood. We must avoid jargon and local
expressions that cannot be easily understood.
+ Focus on the conversation: if the interlocutor hears the computer keyboard or is
interrupted because we are answering a comment from someone else, he or she will infer
that we were not paying attention, or, in order words, that we were not listening.
Activities
tive telephone communication:
b) Chewing gum while speaking.

a) Turning off the radio before answering.
c) Gesturing while frowning or snorting.
18. Identify which of these activities helps or damages effec- 19. Divide the class in pairs and represent the following situa-
tions. Sit without seeing each other to simulate a telephone
conversation. Then simulate the telephone call from a cus-
tomer that is very upset because he has received a very high
bill for repairs, and he also takes the opportunity to com-
plain about customer service. The employee must focus on
the conversation and make the customer understand that
d) Maintaining a calm and gentle voice tone. the plant manager of the customer approved this budget.

100. Oral communication 5

@ 2. Listening for better communication
Human beings differ from other species, among other things, in the ability to communicate
and achieve common goals through that communication. For communication to be effective
and complete, interlocutors should listen to the message of the sender, that is to say, they
must grasp (hear) and understand the message that is addressed to them.
2.1. Attention and active listening
Active listening may be defined as the ability to make available to the speaker our full
attention and effort, listening with interest and appreciation, without interrupting and
showing empathy.
Therefore, the first requirement to know how to communicate is listening. In active listening,
our role is not only to pay attention to what the other person expresses directly, but also to
the feelings, ideas or thoughts that underlie. That is to say, we must interpret both verbal and
non-verbal expressions.
This quality of active listening is difficult to achieve because it requires the interlocutor to be
completely free of prejudices, distractions and personal concerns to focus on the needs of the
speaker. Therefore, it requires a psychological predisposition and an inner preparation to listen
by observing the other part, that is to say, to identify the content of what he or she says, and
his or her goals and feelings. In short, paying attention to everything that the speaker states
through verbal and non-verbal communication.
©) A. Barriers to active listening
When we communicate, we usually have a number of barriers that make active listening very
difficult to achieve, preventing us from paying attention to the interlocutor:
+ Self expectations. Our own expectations in relation to a topic or a specific situation
prevent us from hearing the actual answer; we only hear what we want, ignoring the part
of the message that contradicts our expectations. Example:
— Employee: Good morning, Mr. Méndez. | want to talk to you because, as a result of my
efficient work over the last months, the efforts | made and the successes we have achie-
ved in the department, | would like to request a salary increase.
— Boss: I’m sorry, Maria, but this is not a good time. The project that we are undertaking is
very expensive and our resources are scarce.
— Employee: | think that a 5 % increase would be fair.
— Boss: 2???
* The tendency to make judgements. This is the tendency to assess the speaker according
to our own values, ideas or beliefs and approve or disapprove of what he or she says; we
must accept the speaker unconditionally.
+ Disconnection. When the information we receive is too complex or has no interest to us
we tend to "disconnect", that is to say, we stop paying attention.
+ Hurry. If we want to listen actively, we must give the interlocutor the time he or she needs
to complete the message. Many times we have no time to wait for the interlocutor to
finish building the message and we tend to rush with interruptions such as "I only have five
minutes", "So...2", and so on.
+ Distractions. As the conversation goes on, attention decreases, so we have to make
an effort to maintain it. There may be multiple distractions, such as the clothes of the
inter-locutors, the details of the room where we meet, and so on. In short, those stimuli
may capture our attention and divert it from the message that our interlocutor is trying to
transmit.

Vocabulary

Hearing and listening are not the
same thing. While hearing means
perceiving sound through our ears,
listening means paying attention
to what we hear.


Spanish assistant

Ya tienes clara la diferencia entre
ofr (to hear) y escuchar (to lis-
ten). Pero hay otra cosa que debes
saber: we hear someone pero we
listen TO someone. Asi que no te
olvides nunca de afadir to cuando
digas en inglés que estas escu-
chando...

101. Fig. 5.5. Looking at our interlocutor when
5 Oral communication

he or she is talking is essential, not only
to show good manners, but also because
we will be able to pay attention both to
verbal and non-verbal communication.

Do you know that...?
Some researchers have found that
the inability to empathize is an
important, and sometimes dange-
rous, characteristic for some peo-
ple: it works against creating
strong social bonds and, in extre-
me cases, it can lead to antisocial
or aggressive behaviour.



Watch out!
When we want to show empathy
through verbal communication
we must avoid using clichés or
stock phrases such as: "Please
accept my condolences".
As those are pre-set formulas,
they will not transmit empathy,
but the opposite: a certain uncon-
cern.


>”
(J B. Techniques to reach active listening
There are certain techniques that help us develop active listening. They are:
+ Listening attitude. It means being mentally prepared to listen. The best way to be
prepared is to having prior knowledge of the subject involved. For example, if we are ina
meeting to discuss opening a new market in Poland, we can make some research on Polish
economy, main competitors in the area, etc., so that we can be focused on the subject.
+ Paraphrasing and summarizing. This means capturing the main ideas of the message
and repeating them with our own words. This technique is important because it helps us
understand what the other is saying and allows us to verify that it is properly understood.
To check our understanding of the message, we can use expressions such as "Do you mean
that...2" or "If | understand correctly, do you think that...2”.
+ Using reinforcement words or compliments. These are verbalizations involving a
compliment to the other person or reinforcing his or her speech, as they transmit the
approval, agreement of understanding of what the interlocutor has just said. We may use
direct sentences such as "You're very good at...", or more general expressions such as "great",
"perfect", "well done", and so on.
+ Choosing the right place and time. If we are in an uncomfortable, noisy or crowded place,
it will be difficult for us to provide the necessary listening. Therefore, it is better to move
the conversation to a suitable space, with no distractions, where it is easier to concentrate.
+ Looking at the interlocutor, without being excessive. Keeping eye contact with the inter-
locutor will help us concentrate on his or her words (Fig. 5.5).
® 2.2. Showing empathy
Empathy is the ability of a person to take the place of another and share his or her
feelings; this is an essential component of active listening.
We can show empathy both to negative feelings (pain, failure, sadness...) and positive
feelings (improvement, pride, happiness...). For example, hugs and other gestures of the
players on a soccer team when someone scores are a sign of empathy.
To show empathy, as well as to keep active listening, we must value others and their feelings.
We cannot underestimate or ignore their feelings, as this will make communication much
more difficult because our interlocutor will notice that we are not treating him or her as equal
and that we are neglecting him or her. Thus, we should not use expressions such as "That's
nothing" or "Don’t make such a big deal out of it", among others.
O) A. Steps to empathising
+ Knowledge of the feeling. The ability to empathize is fully proportional to the ability
to experience our own feelings and identify them. If you have not gone yourself through
certain experiences, both good and bad, you can hardly understand others completely and
what they have been through. For example, if you have never been in love, it will be very
difficult for you to understand a friend of yours that has fallen in love.
+ Recognition of the feeling. To empathize is to recognize the other's feelings, to identify
what the other is feeling. It would be much easier if the other states directly his or her
feelings openly, but this rarely happens. Therefore, if we are in a situation where we want
a truly effective communication, we need to "investigate" in order to know the feelings
of our interlocutor and, thus, complete the message we send. This "investigation" can be
performed with questions, interpreting gestures (non-verbal communication) or sensing
(commonly known as "reading between the lines’).

102. Oral communication 5

(CB. How to empathize
We can show empathy in different ways, depending on the kind of feeling that we are
experiencing, on traditions and social mores or on the greater or lesser proximity to the
interlocutor.
Broadly speaking, there are two ways of expressing empathy:
* Through verbal communication. Using expressions that make the interlocutor perceive
that we have recognized his or her feelings and that we share them. For example, using
expressions such as "I understand how you feel...", "I know why you're upset...", and so on.
* Through non-verbal communication. We also empathize with gestures such as giving a
hug, taking someone's hand, caressing someone... These actions must fit the moment, the
bond with the other person and cultural customs.
® 2.3. Knowing how to ask
Knowing the right way to ask is almost as important as knowing how to express ourselves.
Questioning is a fundamental part of the feedback process to verify whether the message has
been understood since, as we saw in the communication process, what the sender says does
not always match what the recipient receives.
0 A. The benefits of asking
+ The interlocutor feels valued. If we ask our interlocutor if what we have understood is
correct, he or she feels that we are listening carefully and that we are following the speech.
Moreover, if we ask about his or her opinion, the interlocutor will feel important and,
therefore, valued.
+ It allows us to obtain new information or verify what we know. It also allows us to
another way of interpreting things.
+ It allows us to find out what interlocutors think and feel. Therefore, it is a tool for
empathy, because, if we formulate the right questions, we can obtain information to
recognize the feelings of the interlocutor.
+ It can also be useful to guide the conversation in other directions of interest to the
questioner.
©) B. The art of good questions
* Asking the right person, the one who has relevant information, or asking those people in
whose opinion or feelings you are interested, or those you need to influence.
* Choosing the appropriate context. This includes the environment and the arrangement
where the interlocutor is.
+ Asking the question properly. Keep in mind the personality of the interlocutor, the
expectations, the relationship you have with him or her... For example, if we make a very
direct question to a superior, he or she may consider that we are being disrespectful.
* Asking fluently. Include questions into the conversation, share information, assess
the answers positively... Above all, we must keep the conversation from becoming an
interrogation or a series of questions and answers. To do this, we can make the conversa-
tion turn into brief statements of the interlocutor followed by our questions, but keeping in
mind that it doesn’t have to seem artificial.

Fig. 5.6. Leading the conversation in a par-
ticular direction to keep the focus on the
subject is a good way of making questions
and answers more fluent.
Oo Examples
An example of fluent question:
— President: | think it’s time to ex-
pand the business. We have to
grow 25% in the coming years if
we don't want to be erased from
the market by our competitors.
— Vice-president: That's true, if we
don’t grow quickly, the gap be-
tween us and our competitors
will grow even more, and being
market leaders will be much
more difficult.
— Director: Expansion is a good
strategy. What would our tar-
get countries be?
"a

103. 5 Oral communication

© Watch out! —————————_
Open and closed questions have
certain advantages and disad-
vantages:
* Open questions have the ad-
vantage of giving more freedom
to answer to our interlocutor;
however, that freedom may
divert the subject of the conver-
sation.
Closed questions provide grea-
ter accuracy, but also involve
greater psychological pressu-
re on the interlocutor, who can
only choose among the alterna-
tives that we give.

0 Examples
Examples of questions to groups
In a regular meeting of the steering
committee, the general manager
makes the following questions:
"How is the sales situation in
northern Spain?": this question is
addressed to the group.
If the general manager asks this
question to the financial manager:
"Francis, did we get the loan for
the new factory?", this is a direct
question.


Case study 2. Knowing how to ask
© C. Basic types of questions
Now, we will study the basic types of questions that we may ask; the convenience to use a
specific type depends on the context.
+ Open: the answer options of the interlocutor are not limited, and he or she can answer
what they want. For example: "How did you get to this conclusion?" "What did you eat
yesterday?".
They may be formulated to inquire about a subject or with the aim of directing an answer,
for example, "Could your aggressive attitude be caused by...2".
Open questions allow you to introduce the conversation, provide you with more informa-
tion and encourage the other to feel free to answer.
+ Closed: the look for specific information, a precise data, so the caller is offered possible
answers that he or she will have to choose. For example: "Do we sign the contract?"; "In
your opinion, who should be promoted, Maria or Julia?".
+ Confirmation: they are formulated as a repetition of what has been said. They are gene-
rally used to confirm that the message has been properly received and understood. For
example: "So Mary and | should be at the airport at midnight to wait for the vice-president,
is that right2".
+ Rhetorical: it is made out loud, but no answer is expected, as it is not aimed at obtaining
information. It is generally assumed that the interlocutor will agree with what we have said,
so it is just a way to emphasize the aspect we want. For example: "How many times do |
have to say | want an espresso?", We must avoid this kind of questions or use it carefully,
as it implies aggressiveness.
When communication involves a group of people, questions can be directed to the group or
to a particular member.
When we ask the group in general, hoping that someone answers, we are emphasizing a
specific content and encouraging group participation, and we may also know the knowledge
level of the interlocutors.
Instead, if we address the question to an individual member of that group, we will be using a
direct question, and therefore, we are looking for accurate information from the person that
we believe may know the answer.

At a meeting of the creative department, someone presents a
new design for an underwear ad in which the model is naked.
The creative director, visibly angry, directs this question to the
group: "But who has come up with such madness?"
Obviously there is no answer, but do you know why?
Solution:
In this case the creative director should have made a
direct question to the appropriate person, who is the
responsible person for that especific customer's account.
To know the reasons for this idea, he should have asked,
for example: "Why is not the model wearing the clothes of the
customer?"
And finally, to know who the author of the idea is, he might
have asked: "Whose idea was this?". Then he would have obtai-
ned all the information that he needed but asking the right
questions.

VA Activities
20. Imagine you move to a new department at work and talk
with your new supervisor. What questions would you ask
about your new job?
21. Classify the questions you have raised in the previous
activity according to the basic types of questions that you
have already studied.

a”

104. Oral communication 5

2.4. Improving feedback
A really effective communication requires an effective feedback. Through proper and fluent
feedback we can know the effect that communication is having on the receiver, so that we can
reset the message, correct misunderstandings or do what we need.
As we have seen previously, feedback can be expressed non-verbally, but in this section
we will focus on oral, verbal feedback.
Keys to improve feedback
+ Feedback will be better welcomed if the interlocutor has requested it. For example, if we
have asked for advice or opinion or if we have made a question.
+ Should we offer feedback without being requested, we must be careful with the tone
and time we choose, not to bother the sender.
+ Statements must keep a neutral position and be based on objective factors. We must avoid
personal assessments.
+ Avoid making value judgments about the sender or its behaviour. Feedback must focus on
observable elements, on facts and not on results.
+ Feedback is better transmitted directly, without intermediaries that can distort the
message.
+ Feedback must encourage the exchange of information. For example:
— Department supervisor: "I think Mary is the perfect candidate for that position”.
— Department manager: "I’m not so sure, but it seems very clear to you".
+ Manager's feedback encourages the supervisor to share the reasons why Mary is
the perfect candidate.
+ We must offer alternatives, leaving the door open to other possibilities. This prevents
the recipient from being forced to walk in one direction.
+ We must focus on the present and avoid references to past events.
2.5. Strategies to attract receiver’s attention
We have seen that the communication process is plenty of multiple factors that fight for the
attention of the interlocutor. Therefore, there are some strategies to try to attract and keep
the attention of the receiver. They are the following:
+ Using questions. Apart from obtaining information, questions are also useful to attract
attention to what is being said. For example, using questions like: "Don’t you think?",
"Do you agree?".
* Mentioning the name or names of attendees. Attention increases when people hear their
names or the name of someone who is present. For example, "Well, Maria, | think that’s all"
or "As our colleague Martin Lopez said...".
+ Using comparisons. Instead of just presenting facts, data, explanations, etc., we can use
this resource to make the message more appealing and more understandable. An example
of comparison would be: "This investment is 370000 euros, or, in other words, the GDP of
Austria”.
+ Dramatizing the events. Instead of explaining the facts, we can perform. For example,
instead of simply saying: "When you argue with an employee you must keep a calm tone",
we can show what we mean saying the same sentence screaming and then with a calm
tone, so the difference can be noticed.
© Watch out! ————————_
In addition to these strategies,
there are others aimed at attrac-
ting the attention of the interlo-
cutors, but they are rarely used
in the workplace because of its
informality:
Surprise elements: a sudden
shock, turning off the lights, using
music in a presentation... These
shocking elements "re-attract"
attention to the exposition.
Costumes and scenery: we may
introduce elements that have to do
with the oral presentation but that
are rare. For example, putting a box
of eggs on the table while we talk
about egg production.
In both cases, resources must
be used carefully, as they might
attract all the attention and the
information might be ignored. J
iy

105. 5 Oral communication

interlocutor, but we must be careful. The comment must be included in the right time,
must match the subject that is being treated and must be appropriate for the interlocutor
according to his or her culture, to the personal relationship we have with him or her, and so
+ Using humour. We can use anecdotes, jokes or occurrences to attract the attention of the
Watch out! ——————_—_—__
Assertiveness is a behavioural
habit or pattern (such as washing
hands before eating or greeting on. Anyway, if we don’t obtain the expected effect with that comment, the best thing is to
with a handshake) and, therefore, carry on with the conversation and never try to mend it.
it can be learned. «Using pauses. Pauses and silences in the middle of a message may be as shocking as ban-
If we want to be more assertive, ging your fist on the table. They provide some rest for the interlocutor and let him or her
theoretical formulas are not think about what has been said so far and prepare for further hearing or to participate.
enough: you must practice and
repeat this behaviour to make it
a part of yourself. A good way to


learn is to imagine real life situa- VA a
tions where you need to apply the Activities
techniques of assertive communi- 22. Make a presentation of about ten minutes on a topic you know (sport, hobby, music,
cation. So when the time comes, etc.). You can also use your voice to transmit the message, and you must use at least
you will find it easier to put them three of the resources to attract the attention of the receiver that we have stu-
into practice. /) died. Your mates must identify these resources and confirm whether you have achie-

ved your goal or not.

® 2.6. Assertive communication techniques
As we studied in Unit 3, assertiveness is the best form of communication to reach our goals.
Now we will study a number of techniques that will be helpful to face a conversation assertively.
(J Techniques to be assertive in a conversation
+ Aman goes to the customer service desk. He is visibly upset
because he bought a toaster a week ago and it has stopped
working. The conversation takes place as follows:
— _ Employee: Good morning, sir, how | can help?
— _ Customer: Look, | bought this toaster a week ago and it’s
already broken.
— Employee: Well, may | see your receipt?
— Customer: | don’t have it, but | bought it here a week ago.
Broken record — Employee: | understand, but | need the receipt to verify the
It is to repeat your point of view over and over again, calmly, without get- date of your purchase and request the guarantee.
ting into arguments or provocations that might make the other person feel
onary. 8 P 8 P — Customer: What? Don’t you trust me? It’s not enough to
sell me a defective product, now you say I’ma liar...
— Employee: No, sir, | trust you. But the rules of the company
require us to ask the receipt for any claim.
— _ Customer: | can’t believe it. Are you telling me that | have
to come back another day with the receipt?
— Employee: | understand that this is an inconvenience for
you, but as soon as you bring us the receipt we will make a
complete refund. Unfortunately we cannot accept any
claim without the receipt.

Table 5.4. Techniques to face an assertive discussion and examples (cont.).
a”

106. Oral communication 5


Fogging
This technique involves agreeing with some limited part of what the other
is saying, but never agreeing totally. We accept the part with which we
agree, showing a reasonable behaviour, but we refuse to accept the
remaining arguments and also make clear that we will not argue
anymore.
In this technique we must take into account the tone we use, because if we
use a neglecting tone we can cause aggressiveness in the interlocutor.
Our tone should be very quiet. To apply this technique we can use
expressions such as: "Maypbe...", "You might be right about...", "In a sense...".
It is convenient to show or paraphrase the key points of the position taken
by the other person and then add a sentence to express that we haven't
changed our mind, such as: "...but | cannot do that", or "...but no, thanks",
or "...but | don’t think so".
The manager of the purchasing department calls Antonio, the
department assistant, to his office. The conversation takes place
as follows:
Manager: Antonio, have you finished the report | asked for
the meeting?
Antonio: No, sir, I’m still working on it.
Manager: Antonio, you're always the last to deliver
everything. When we are late you're always the one to
blame.
Antonio: | may not be the fastest in the department, but |
don’t think I’m always the last to deliver the reports.

Assertive postponement
It consists of delaying our response to the person who has criticized us
until we feel more relaxed and able to answer correctly.
In an argument of a boss with an employee, the following conver-
sation takes place:
Employee: It’s not fair, I’m taking the most workload and
Roberto has been promoted because he has more training,
but I’m the one who really works here.
Boss: Mario, | think this is a tricky issue, so you’d better go
home now. We will talk about it more quietly tomorrow.

Change processing
It is to shift the focus of the argument to the analysis of what is happening
between the interlocutors. It’s like forgetting about the content of what we
were talking about and look at the scene from the outside. The most diffi-
cult thing of this technique is to keep a cool head and to be able to realize
what is happening.
The best thing to do is not to engage in discussions that don’t lead
anywhere and to assume our responsibility, instead of defending ourselves
from a small attack with heavy artillery.
The following argument takes place between a boss and
an employee:
Employee: It’s always the same. When we are about to finish
a project and the deadline is over we have to make all the
changes.
Boss: Well, but who’s to blame for this situation? You are,
because you waste your time and you don’t react until we
press you with deadlines.
Employee: That’s not true. Blame it on the team of engineers.
It takes ages for them to deliver materials, and when they do,
everything's wrong, and we have to check everything very
closely so that our work doesn’t have the same mistakes.
Boss: Well, | think this has gone beyond the limits... We
obviously have an organization problem with the tasks that
must be solved, but engaging in an argument right now won't
do any good.

Ignoring
It is similar technique to the previous one, although in this case there is
only one responsible person. We can use it when we see that our interlocu-
tor is getting angry and we fear that his or her criticism results in an insult
without even having the chance to reply.
Our voice tone is also very important. It must be kind and understanding,
because a contemptuous or sudden tone may cause aggressiveness in the
interlocutor, who is already angry and may consider this tone as a provo-
cation.
This conversation takes place between two work mates:
Marcos: You've done it again... you’ve delivered your work
before me, and you knew that | was hurrying to deliver this
work.
Victor: Marcos, | delivered the work when | finished.
Marcos: But it’s always the same, you just want to annoy
me...
Victor: Sorry but | don’t want to argue about this.

Table 5.4. Techniques to face an assertive discussion and examples (cont.).
“a

107. 5 Oral communication


Assertive agreement
It is almost the same as fogging; however, instead of giving ground,
without further comment, we make clear that we acknowledge that
the other person has a reason to be angry, but we don’t accept the
way it is told.
* This conversation takes place between two work mates:
— Marcos: You've done it again... you’ve delivered your work
before me, and you knew that | was hurrying to deliver this
work. It’s always the same, you just want to annoy me...
— Victor: Yes, I’ve delivered the work before you, but it was
not on purpose and it’s not always like this.

Assertive question
It is a very old technique, and is aimed at turning the enemy into an ally.
To use this technique we must consider that the criticism we are suffering
is well-meaning (regardless of whether it is or not). Thus, we will force
the other person to give us more information about his or her arguments
so that we know what he or she means and what he or she wants us to
change.
If the criticism is malicious, then the interlocutor will have no arguments;
but if it is consistent, his or her arguments will be helpful to modify our
behaviour.
* This conversation takes place between two work mates:
— Marcos: You've done it again... you’ve delivered your work
before me, and you knew that | was hurrying to deliver this
work. It’s always the same, you just want to annoy me...
— Victor: Well, then, what do you want me to do so that it
doesn’t happen again?


Table 5.4. Techniques to face an assertive discussion and examples.
Activities
23. Work in pairs and solve the following situations applying
some of the assertive communication techniques that
we have studied. Sometimes you may use several
techniques.
a) Two department mates argue over who should do
a task.
— Mate A to Mate B: "You have always been responsi-
ble for meeting records. So you have to do it this time
too.
— Mate B: you have to show your partner that you
have always being in charge because the meetings
were about subjects of your section. But this
time, the meeting was about a subject of his or her
section.
)
— Boss: you're very angry because there is much delay
in the delivery of a project; the president calls you
everyday to ask when it will be ready, but progress is
very slow. You blame your employees for their little
dedication.
— Employee: you have had problems with the documen-
tation you received because it was incorrect. Moreover,
a team member has just been fired and has not been
replaced.
— Customer: you have bought two tons of cement. You
are very upset because the cement that the supplier
~~
has sent you is not suitable for your needs. You pho-
ne the supplier and you tell him that they made a
mistake.
— Employee: you are checking the invoice and the order
is exactly what the customer requested. Everything is
correct.
d)
— Employee: you are angry because a colleague that has
just joined the company has been promoted, and you
want to know why.
— Boss: you have very good reasons for giving the
promotion to the other employee, but you are reluctant
to tell because you are the boss and you don't have to
give explanations.
e) You are at the end of the month and your department
must meet sales targets. The member of the depart-
ment that meets sales targets first will get a bonus
of € 200.
Read this argument and continue arguing according to this
information.
— Mate A: "You used my computer to process your order
before me and get the bonus. | had an order that was
ready to be processed".
— Mate B: "You were in a coffee break and my compu-
ter is not working. When you came back | had already
finished”.
J

108. Oral communication 5


Summary



1A A

Requirements: analyse the situation and prevent barriers.
Features, advantages and disadvantages of oral communication.
Stages: planning/structuring/transmission/feedback.
Exchange of information between two or more people,
with a moderator in the second case.
Oral presentation of data on an issue or situation.
Public dissertation about scientific, technical or cultural issues;
it’s similar to the debate but on broader issues and with a
subjective component that is missing in the report.
A person (interviewer) asks a series of questions to another
(interviewee) for information or opinion. Example: job interview.
Techniques for effective telephone communication: voice
use/ability to listen/speak slowly/choose words/focus
Barriers
Techniques
Steps
Benefits of
asking
Types
on the conversation.

Own expectations/making judgements/
disconnection/hurry/distractions.



Attitude of listening/paraphrase and summarize/
issue reinforcing words or compliments/choose
the right time and place/look at the caller.

Feeling knowledge/feeling recognition.


Through verbal communication/through
non-verbal communication.


The interlocutor feels valued/know
new information or verify what we know/find
out what the other person thinks or
feels/guide the conversation.


Open/closed/confirmation/rhetoric.


{
In group: addressed to the group/direct
question to a group member.
It allows you to know if the message has been perceived in
the right way and to close the communication process.
Environmental/Non-verbal/Verbal.
Broken record/fogging/change processing/ignoring/
assertive agreement/assertive question.
iy

109. \
>”
5 Oral communication


Test review
1. Indicate the feature that does not correspond to a structu-
red interview:
a) The same questions are asked to all candidates.
b) You can compare the answers.
c) There is no previous set of questions.
d) The information you have is limited.
2. Which of the following is not a way of influencing the reci-
pient of an oral message?
a) Environmental conditions.
b) Using the credibility of the sender.
c) Transmitting according to the emotions of the audience.
d) The message is credible in itself.
3. Which of the following is a disadvantage of oral commu-
nication?
a) Speed.
b) The use of nonverbal elements to emphasize the mes-
sage.
c) Feedback potential.
d) The language must be understood at first.
4. Which of the following is not an advantage of making a
draft?
a) Not repeating ideas.
b) Structuring ideas.
c) Avoiding the confusion.
d) All of the above are advantages.
5. Which of the following options expresses one of the main
purposes of a report?
a) Ask for something.
b) Support the decision-making process.
c) Transmit a complaint.
d) Express opinions.
6. According to the number of participants, an interview may be:
a) Individual.
b) Job.
c) In group.
d) Panel.
7. Mistakes are more likely to happen in telephone commu-
nication because:
a) The voice is not properly used.
b) The wrong words have been chosen.
10.
11.
12.
13.
c) Little attention is paid to the interlocutor.
d) There is only one communication channel.
. What are the barriers to active listening?
a) Own expectations, hurry, disconnection, judgements
and distractions.
b) Judgements, distractions, disconnection, own expecta-
tions and summary of what is heard.
c) Own expectations, distractions, hurry and judgements.
d) The interlocutor is not the right person.
. Which statement about empathy is correct?
a) To show empathy first, we must know the feeling and
then recognize it in the interlocutor.
b) Empathy is an essential component of active listening.
c) To show empathy, we must value others and their
feelings.
d) All of the above.
For making questions properly we must:
a) Ask the right person at the right time.
b) Ask everything we need at any time to obtain more
information.
c) Formulate the question properly.
d) a) and c) are correct.
Which of these strategies is not intended to attract the
attention of the receiver?
a) Dramatizing the events.
b) Planning the message.
c) Using humour.
d) Using comparisons.
A question like "What do you know about Odonata
insects?" is:
a) Open.
b) Closed.
c) Mixed.
d) None of the above.
What is the technique of assertive postponement?
a) Repeating the own point of view quietly.
b) Shifting the focus to the analysis of what is happening.
c) Postponing the answer until everything is calm again.
d) Agreeing partially with the other person but without a
total surrender.

110. Oral communication 5



Check your learning



. List the techniques for effective telephone communication.








rent ways to perform them. Then make a chart with what
Identify the elements of oral communication in the trans- A dialogue between the head of admi-
mitted messages nistration and an employee in which Entertain
. . the boss praises the performance of Amuse
1. Name the advantages of oral communication. Recognize _| the subordinate.
the different types of oral communication
2. Do you think this statement is correct? "The unstructu- A meeting at which the various de- Persuade
red job interview has the disadvantage that some skills, partment heads discuss the best way Convince
knowledge or experience of the applicant might be raise the company. Negotiate
missed’. Justify your answer. An informal meeting in which mem- Find out
3. What is the difference between a report and a conference? bers of the company tell work anec- Discuss
otes.
4. Make a scheme of the different types of reports.
5 8. Search the web and define group dynamics and the diffe-
6 . Lucia Ruiz, manager of Pinturas Plasticas del Sur, S.L., has
produced a report on the sales of the company before the
board.
In her presentation, she has sought to highlight the rea-
sons why the company has suffered a decline in turnover
and to suggest alternatives for improving these results:
The first part of the report was a general description
of the situation: a 4% drop in global sales and the loss
of 6.5 % of the customers. Then, she used statistics to show
that the decline in sales was due mainly to two factors:
the economic crisis and its impact on the decline of the
activity in the construction sector and the emergence
of anew competitor that has obtained part of the market
share of the company.
Finally, Lucia has concluded that the situation of
Pinturas Plasticas del Sur is critical right now, because
the volume of sales is not enough to stay in business. The
solutions she suggests include the performance of a more
aggressive sales policy to regain market share or to reduce
the size of the company.
Indicate what are the basic elements of this report.
7. Match the following examples of oral communication with
language functions.





10.
11.
should and should not be done in group dynamics.
. List strategies to attract the attention of the receiver and
give an example of each.
Read this dialogue and find the different techniques to
obtain active listening.
Marcos, manager of human resources, wants to talk
to Dolores, who is an assistant in the purchasing de-
partment. The meeting is held in Marcos’ office. They
sit facing each other on both sides of the table.
Marcos: "We need a supervisor in the logistics de-
partment and, given your strong performance in the
purchasing department, | was thinking that this posi-
tion may be interesting for you".
Dolores: "You mean you're offering me a promotion2".
Marcos: "That’s right. It will imply more workload and
possibly working overtime, but you'll have a better sa-
lary".
Dolores: "That means | will earn more but | will have
more responsibilities and less free time’.
Marcos: "I’m afraid so".
Which of these expressions show empathy and which
don't?
a) A colleague has just been fired and he is shocked. Your
comment is: "Come on, that’s no big deal’.
A speech of the manager about the pimulate b) You have just been promoted and your friends give you
need to work harder to raise the Encourage hugs and say: "Congratulations’.
company. c) A colleague is very upset because he lost the receipt for
the delivery of an order. You say: "| know how you feel,
stimul it happens to all of us".
i i timulate
A course for employees in which the Motivate d) Your supervisor is sent to another department where he
speaker teaches how to use the new : oe .
machines Encourage will have more opportunities for promotion. The other
Ines. department supervisor says: "You will have to work har-
der than here".

111. WW
5 Oral communication


Check your learning
12. Match the following questions with the type they belong to:

1. What do you think is better, to continue A. Question
in the finance department or to create addressed
an accounting department of our own? to a group

B. Confirmation
question
2. How do | have to say that the figure | need is
the export figure?

3. At a conference: Who works in SME? C. Open question

4. Tomorrow we all have to be at the reception


to greet the president. Do we all have to be D. einen
at the reception? 4
5.1 like your plan to reduce costs, but how
‘ . E. Closed
can you implement a workforce reduction uestion
without negotiating with trade unions? q
winger
6.Ata department meeting: "Mario, you F. Rhetorical
are responsible for the budget. How can ‘
question
you explain the deviation of 5 %?".

13. Which of the following statements about feedback are
true? Correct those that are wrong:
a) It is essential to include personal comments.
b) It is a good opportunity to review all past events and
discuss them again so that they don’t happen again.
c) It is better to produce it directly and without interme-
diaries.
d) \f no feedback has been requested from us, the best
thing is to use a sharp tone so that everybody can listen.
e) We must avoid value judgments about the sender or his
or her behaviour.
14. Indicate which assertive communication techniques were
used in the following cases. Explain each of them with your
own words.
a) — Boss: “Julian, this is the third time | have asked you
for the project and the third time | have said that
you have to check the figures because they are wrong”.
— Julian: "No problem, Rodrigo. If you can tell me which
parts need checking and which figures are wrong |
will deliver it again in a second”.
b) — Employee: "Mr. Martinez, we delivered the work
before the deadline and we wanted to take the paid
holiday week that you promised".
— Boss: "Well, José, this is not a good time. In addition
the situation is not good to give you a holiday week
with salary".
— Employee: "| understand, but you promised us that if
we finished the work before March 23 you would give
us a paid holiday week".
— Boss: "José, | cannot give you that, there’s a lot of
work to do and we need all your help".
—Employee: "Well, the thing is that some emplo-
yees have already booked travel tickets and hotels
because you promised that week off if we finished
the work before March 23".
c) Alfredo, computing manager, and Marta, accounting
manager, have the following conversation:
—Marta: "For God’s sake, Alfredo, the server fails
everyday, it’s impossible to work this way".
— Alfredo: "Well, | think this is not happening every
day".
— Marta: "Not every day, but it happens every week.
Can you and your team do a repair that lasts for
more than just some days?".
— Alfredo: "You are right when you say we often have
problems with the server, but my people work very
hard to minimize those problems”.
d) Between coworkers:
— Julian: "Ana, here is the documentation you reques-
ted from me".
— Ana: "No, Julian, this is not. | asked you the documen-
tation of 2009".
— Julian: "Are you kidding? It took me three days to
develop this information. You told me 2008".
— Ana: "| didn’t, Julian, | need the documents of 2009.
Furthermore, | need them for tomorrow. You don’t
pay attention and don’t listen when somebody talks
to you".
— Julian: "You're wrong, as this is exactly what you do.
You're always on the phone or drinking coffee and
don’t even know what you request”.
—Ana: "Well... | think we are getting angry with this
issue. For the next time I'll ask in writing so that
there is no misunderstanding, right?".
Analyse the most common mistakes that occur in oral com-
munication
15. Why are mistakes more likely to happen in telephone
communication?
16. Identify barriers to active listening that occur in the
following situations and provide solutions:
a) Laura, supervisor of the logistics team, tries to give
orders to her team at the loading dock while waiting for
a truck.
b) Mario tells his friend Julian that he is unhappy in his
marriage.
c) At a meeting to discuss the negotiation of a loan the
warehouse supervisor and the coordinator for cleaning
were present.

112. Unit
Telephone communication

In this unit you'll learn how to:

+ Assess the importance of telephone
communication within the company.
+ Identify the different devices and
business opportunities for telephony.
+ Analyse the various services offered
by telephone media.
* Make and receive effective
corporate phone calls.
+ Properly apply verbal and non-verbal
communication techniques.
+ Use your phone as a tool for business
and marketing purposes.
on features of the
e telephony and

113. |? | Do you know that...?

6 Telephone communication

Alexander Graham Bell (1847-
1922) was born in Edinburgh (Scot-
land). He was raised in a family of
speech therapists. Both his grand-
father and his father were spe-
cialists in this field, and he also
decided to continue the family
tradition to teach people to speak
properly.
Throughout his life, he became
interested in improving education
systems for the deaf, so his main
activity was aimed at studying
the learning system for those with
hearing impairments.
In 1873 he was appointed profes-
sor of Vocal Physiology at Boston
University. In addition to his teach-
ing tasks, Bell studied how to design
an electromagnetic device that
could convert electrical impulses
into sound. Initially, his idea was
to build a device that was capable
of imitating the human voice and
reproducing vowels and conso-
nants. In 1878 he opened the first
telephone exchange in New Haven
(Connecticut), United States, and
in 1884, the first long-distance
communication within the coun-
try from Boston (Massachusetts)
to New York was made.



a”
@ 1. Telephone communication
Telephone communication is one of the most important forms of communication within
the company. Although today its use is being replaced by other forms of communication
(such as email), phone use is one of the most common means by which to materialize both
internal and external communications.
It is very important in business because it is the medium through which the first contact
with, or from the company is made. So, before any personal contact, the usual thing is to make
a phone call to arrange an interview or to specify any matter or topic. The interlocutor at the
other end of the line will form an idea about the company depending on the impression after
this first telephone contact.
In any case, beyond the business sector, it is also crucial to follow a proper technique when
having telephone conversations, as it is an essential tool to achieve our goals in a phone call,
either as its senders or its recipients.
From the standpoint of business communication, telephone use has an enormous advantage:
interlocutors don't see each other, and this may work for solving tricky or unfavourable
situations. As interlocutors don't see each other, the arguments provided in a telephone con-
versation may be more solid and credible if we apply the proper techniques and procedures.
Another advantage of this type of communication is that we can do other things as we speak,
such as taking notes, search for something on the computer, ask something to a work mate
(always with discretion), and so on.
Thus, we may say that applying the appropriate telephone techniques is essential to get the
most out of this communication tool in business.
Thanks to advances in technology, telephone communication devices have evolved genera-
ting new services and expanding its capabilities.

65 Case study 1. Who invented the telephone?
Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) has been traditionally regarded as the inventor of the
telephone. However, both Antonio Meucci and Elisha Gray claimed that they were also
the authors of this invention. What can you say? Find information online about the three
of them (for example, www.asinorum.com/meucci-bell-y-gray/407 or www.xatakaciencia.
com/telecomunicaciones/7-de-marzo-graham-bell-se-lleva-el-gato-al-agua).
Solution:
From the information in these links, it seems that the inventor of the first voice-transmis-
sion device was the Italian Meucci; however, he couldn't inscribe the patent of his tele¢-
trofono because of several economic and bureaucratic reasons. Both Graham Bell and
Gray inscribed on February 14, 1876 two separate inventions that were essentially the
same in the patent office, but the former got priority in the process (apparently because
of his contacts in the office). But in 2002, the Congress of the United States of America
also recognized Meucci’s invention.
VA Activities
1. Today, there are several phone companies operating in
Spain, but do you know which company had the mono-
poly on phone service in our country? When did it begin
operating in Spain?
2. Customer phones usually start with the prefixes 900, 901
or 902. What are the differences among these prefixes?
3. Do you know how many users of mobile telephony are
there in Spain? Are they many or just a few regarding the
population in our country? Check these links for further
information: http://www.ontsi.red.es/ontsi/es/indicador/
evolucion-del-numero-de-clientes-de-telefonia-movil-en-
espana and www.ine.es.
/

114. Telephone communication 6

@ 2. Telephone media and equipment
Almost everybody has a phone today (mobile, mostly). This device is widespread among the
population and, as we stated above, is one of the most important communication tools in
the field of business.
At the present time, more and more companies are using telephone systems to provide their
business services.
The various devices used in telephony are usually grouped into three types:
+ Fixed individual devices.
* Private branch exchanges (PBX).
* Mobile devices.
We will know more about these devices in the following sections.
© 2.1. Fixed telephony devices
These devices are known as fixed telephones. They are non-portable devices that connect
to other phones or to a telephone exchange through a network of conductive metals (copper
networks, although today these are being replaced by optical fiber networks).
© 2.2. PBX
A private branch exchange or PBX is the equipment that connects calls between two
destinations or ends.
They are located in places or locations that hold all the equipment that plays the role of
connecting two different geographical points. Telecommunication companies manage the
equipment and provide services to both business and individuals.
Basically, PBXs are small telephone exchanges that are installed in the offices of a company;
their basic functions are call transfer among extensions, caller ID, conference calls, call waiting
and voice mail, among others, according to the needs of the company.
While they may be analogue or digital, digital PBXs today have virtually replaced the analogue
devices.
Furthermore, the development of services through the Internet has changed the classical
concept of PBX, which has been replaced by IP PBXs.
DO A. IP PBXs
Also known as VoIP phone systems, these
comprehensive telephone systems provide
telephone calls over IP data networks
(Fig. 6.1).
An IP PBX is configured to send all calls
using data packets through a data network
(Internet), rather than through traditional
telephone network. As we indicated above,
companies are now replacing their tradi-
tional systems for IP PBXs because of their
many advantages.
Fig. 6.1. IP PBX model.
oy Vocabulary ————————__,


Optical fiber. Transmission me-
dium that is often used in tele-
communications, consisting of
a very thin fiber {it has the thic-
kness of a human hair) that is
made of transparent material,
glass or plastics. It sends light
pulses that represent data to
be transmitted. The light source
may be laser or LED. Compared
to copper networks, it is much
cheaper (the raw material is
sand), but it has the disadvan-
tage of its fragility and difficulty
to be welded.
Laser. Beam with a single wave-
length (monochromatic), and the-
refore with a single colour.
LED. Light-emitting diode.
Diode. Electronic component that
allows an electric current to pass
in only one direction.
IP. It corresponds to the acro-
nym for Internet Protocol. This
system allows sending and
receiving data over the Internet.
Watch out!
We must differentiate between
the concepts of Voice over IP
(VoIP) and IP telephony.
VoIP is a set of standards, pro-
tocols, devices and technologies
for the delivery of voice over the
IP protocol.
IP Network is the publicly avai-
lable telephone service with
VoIP technology.
/


vy

115. 6 Telephone communication


Fig. 6.2. Call centre.
a"
PBXs also have telephone terminals or IP telephone terminals; the latter devices allow
communication using an IP network, either through a local area network or through the
Internet. Although they look like a regular telephone, this is actually a hardware that uses a
data network connection instead of a telephone network connection.
IP phones often have more options and advantages than a conventional telephone. As this
system is fully digital and programmable, those terminals usually have special keys; some
include a video camera to make videoconferences. The price of these devices is usually the
same as traditional phones.
© B. Call centres
A call centre is a tool aimed at communicating with customers who use the phone
as a primary device.
Call centres (Fig. 6.2) manage both incoming calls (inbound) and outgoing calls (outbound).
Today, most call centres are managed with IP PBXs because the cost is much lower than with
traditional PBXs, and also offer a greater variety of services.
O C. Contact centres
Contact centres are an evolution of call centres aimed at managing a large volume
of phone calls, both incoming and outgoing calls.
They can also manage the relationship with customers through other media such as fax, chat
or messaging systems, both SMS and multimedia.
63 Case study 2. Free registration in IP telephony software
Internet provides users with IP telephony software that allows them to call or receive
calls at no extra cost on the price of their Internet connection. One of the best known is
Skype, which is very easy to install and configure.
In this case study we will download and configure it with the following parameters:
Account name with Skype.
User.
Password.
E-mail.
Add a contact to your Skype account.
Solution:
Creating an account with Skype is very easy. The steps are the following:
Download the program from the web: http://www.skype.com
Click on the file setup.exe
Follow the installation steps. We must enter: account name, username and password
(a combination of letters and numbers).
If the user is available, our Skype account is ready to be used.
VA Activities
4. Search the Internet for some VoIP service providers and write down the name of
three of them at least.


5. List three Spanish companies that have a call centre, and three with a contact centre.

116. Telephone communication Se

® 2.3. Mobile devices
Mobile phones have undoubtedly meant one of the great revolutions of the twentieth cen-
tury, as it has provided communications and mobility as no device ever did before. It has been
so successful that in some countries like Spain, recent studies indicate that the number of
mobile phone devices far exceeds the number of inhabitants.
A mobile phone is a portable device (wireless) that allows access to the mobile phone
network in geographic areas where the service provider has coverage.
Apart from making and receiving phone calls, there are many and varied functions that can
be performed today through a mobile device: making payments and balancing inquiries from
bank accounts, connecting to the Internet, sending and receiving emails, recording videos, ta-
king quality pictures and running many other applications, depending on the phone we have.
The mobile terminals are now grouped into two types of devices: PDAs and Smartphones:
* PDA. It is virtually a small computer (Fig. 6.4). The acronym goes for Personal
Digital Assistant. They allow us to browse the Internet and check our email at any time and
anywhere.
* Smartphone. Imagine a mobile phone with further functions such as pictures and videos,
radio, MP3 player or television: this is a Smartphone (Fig. 6.5). The fundamental reason
why these devices have arisen is to try to make it easier for business management over the
phone.
The first so-called Smartphone was developed by the company IBM in 1992 and was called
SIMON. Its features were very limited (send and receive calls, calendar, address book, and
send and receive faxes), especially compared to current devices.
The main services that a Smartphone may provide are:
+ Internet, whatever our situation (work, home, etc.).
+ E-mail.
+ File transmission, mostly images.
+ Videoconference.
+ Digital camera (for video recording and photography).
* Audio and video quality player.
+ Electronic personal agenda.
* GPS (geographical location maps of great accuracy).
* Own operating system.
VA Activities


6. You probably have a personal mobile phone. Make a short list with the main features
of your terminal.
7. Search the Internet to find out the reason why mobile devices always have English
names.
8. Do you know the meaning of the following icons displayed on a mobile terminal?
2s%@e- @e8
Fig. 6.3. The first mobile phone. It is the
Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. It went on
sale in 1983 at a price of $ 3,995. It had
a weight of 0.79 kg and its battery took
ten hours to charge. For its development,
Motorola invested one hundred million
dollars and its research lasted almost
fifteen years.

Fig. 6.5. Smartphone model.
Watch out!
For some of the mentioned ser-
vices, first we must hire or apply
for them to our telephone service

provider.
“a

117. 6 Telephone communication

@ 3. Additional services offered by
the telephone equipment
The services that telephony equipment can offer are varied, and availability depends on our
supplier of these services. In most cases, these services imply an extra charge.
Supplementary services may be grouped into:



Fixed telephony
PBX




Mobile telephony

Scheme 6.1. Additional services of telephone equipment.
® 3.1. Common features
There are certain features that are common within each type of service. We will study them
in the following sections.
OU A. Fixed telephony
These are the common features of fixed telephony:

Table 6.1. Typical services of fixed telephony.
VA Activities

It allows the user to receive information on the cost of a call during and/or at the end of it.

It diverts incoming calls to any phone number that has been previously chosen.

It keeps a call on hold to attend another incoming call and retrieves it again.

It notifies an incoming call to the subscriber while talking, so that the subscriber may reject, accept
or ignore that call.

It displays the incoming call on the screen and allows the recipient to accept or reject it.

It identifies the incoming call numbers.

Three people can talk simultaneously.

In case of failure to answer a call, or when the user is busy, the call is finished.

It enables a user to connect two incoming calls.

It allows a communication with more than one recipient at a time.

It makes a call to the last dialed number, even several times.


9. The services in Table 6.1 are not the only ones. Search the a) Do not disturb.
web and explain these two supplementary services: b) Multiple subscriber.

a“

118. Telephone communication 6

DO B. PBXs
In the case of PBXs, the most common supplementary features are:
Identification of incoming calls.
Call restrictions. It limits the number of calls made to the outside.
Music on hold. Through this service, the user hears a musical tune chosen by the company
until the operator or the appropriate telephone extension answers that call.
Billing information. Through this feature we are informed about the cost of a service.
In addition to these features, there are others that are specific for IP PBXs, including the
following:
Call transfer, both internal and external.
Call forwarding when the line is busy or the call is not answered.
Do not disturb.
Do you know that...?

Remote extensions out of office (for telecommuters or employees of other offices).
Call groups. Telecommuting or telework is a
method that allows distance work.
Remote call capture. Today, more and more companies
take advantage of the benefits
that this system has for employees
E-mail. and for the company.
Voice mail (general, individual and group) protected by password.

Management of blacklists (phone numbers with forbidden access).
Actions to be taken according to dates and times (working hours, holidays, etc.).
Conference rooms (two or more terminals simultaneously).
List of incoming and outgoing calls, with consumption graphics.
Automatic detection of incoming faxes.
Queuing of incoming calls (function for call centres).
Recording of incoming and outgoing calls (function for call centres).
Videoconferencing, which allows to carry out conversations and see two or more people
located in different geographical areas over the Internet.
©) C. Mobile telephony
The features that mobile terminals can offer will depend on the specific model and the
service provider (telephone company). The most common are:
* Length of calls: both incoming and outgoing.
* Voice mail: if a call is not answered, a mailbox will collect the messages.
* Call forwarding.
* Call waiting.
* Missed calls: if our phone is off, out of coverage or busy, this feature will notify us the
incoming calls that we have received but haven't answered. This notice is usually carried
out via SMS.
* Address book: the terminal can store the phone numbers of your contacts. Each contact
typically includes several types of phone numbers (main, work, home, etc.), as well as other
data, such as email or web page.
* Conference calling: it allows having conversations with several people at once.
¢ Emergency call: it can communicate with an emergency telephone number, 112 (for
Europe), regardless of the mode in which the phone is.
vy

119. 6 Telephone communication

A. Vocabulary ————————_
* Bluetooth. Communication tool
that allows voice and data trans-
mission via radio.
WI-FI. The term was coined by
the "Wi-Fi Alliance". It is a set of
standards for wireless networks.
It works with radio waves.
WAP. Protocol that uses wire-
less networks (such as accessing
the Internet through a mobi-
le phone). It means "Wireless
Application Protocol".
UMTS. It means "Universal Mo-
bile Telecommunications Sys-
tem". It replaces the old GSM
and is used in 3G (third genera-
tion) terminals.
3G. Abbreviation for third gene-
ration. Services related to third
generation terminals provide the
ability to transfer voce, data and
non-voice data (such as down-
loading programs, exchanging
email and instant messaging).
Protocol. Set of rules that are
established for two devices to
communicate with each other.
/
>"
* Voice recognition: it allows you to call a user number using your voice without typing
or selecting the number.
* Infrared: it allows data transmission between devices. Now it is being replaced by the
Bluetooth system.
* GPRS: this technology allows access to various services such as user location, routes and
maps checking, online shopping, etc.
* SMS messages: service that allows you to send short messages. Each message is often
between 160 and 200 characters.
* Multimedia messaging or MMS: it allows you to send messages with pictures, videos,
voice files, songs, etc.
* Video calling: you can see your interlocutor in your terminal screen as you speak.
* Downloads: you can perform legal downloads of music, videos, programs, and so on.
* Email: you can send and receive e-mails on your terminal, but first you must configure your
mobile phone to do so.
* Internet services: you can access the web via a modem or Wi-Fi networks.
+ GPS navigation: it allows you to use your terminal as a navigation system, for example,
when driving in cities that you don’t know.
3.2. Billing-related services
Both fixed and mobile telephony have billing-related services. Depending on the service
provider, they may be offered for free or involve extra costs.
These services can be grouped into three types:
+ Information on bills: it is the set of data that appears on your bill, such as the user, phone
numbers that you call, duration and costs of every call, discount plans, and so on.
+ Consumption control: if requested, this service sends an alert to the user when a specific
billing limit has been exceeded.
+ Flat fee: it means that we pay a fixed amount in the billing period, regardless of the amount
and duration of calls. It is usually applied to fixed telephony users, but currently it is
expanding to mobile telephony.
3.3. Business-related services
When talking about telephony services related to business (apart from what has been already
discussed in previous sections), we must refer to the set of relationships with suppliers, emplo-
yees and customers. Thus, in the corporate business world there are two important concepts:
» M-Business (Mobile Business Development): it is the use of technology and applications
that enables business processes using mobile devices. It includes a number of activities
ranging from communications via e-mail to receiving product information via SMS or
ordering through the phone. M-business includes the following business types:
— B2B (Business to Business): applications oriented to the sale of goods and services. For
example, it happens between a company and one of its customers (which, in turn, is
another company).
— B2C (Business to Consumer): the process that occurs between a company and a con-
sumer. For example, it happens between a company and a person buying something
through a mobile phone.

120. Telephone communication Se
— BZE (Business to Employee): set of activities aimed at providing products or services to
a company’s own employees.
- B2G (Business to Government): it is focused on business activities between business
and governments (either locally, regionally or nationally and even internationally).
M-Commerce (Mobile Commerce): this concept includes any transaction carried out
through a telecommunications network (such as those made through a mobile phone or
through PBXs). Buying a movie ticket using the mobile phone is an M-Commerce situation.
In turn, there are three types of service within M-Commerce:
— Mobile-ticketing: a customer can order, pay for, obtain and confirm tickets from any-
where and anytime with a mobile device.
— Mobile-banking: it is the use of mobile devices for transactions, payments or any other
kind of operation with a financial institution. It is performed via SMS or online.
— Mobile payments: it is the charge to customers through mobile devices.

63 Case study 3. Services through mobile phone
We need to make a telephone appointment at a health care service, which is provided
through a call centre.
Let’s see what kind of services are produced when we call from a mobile phone and:
a) We call a 902 number and we are informed about its cost.
b) They invite us to choose an extension (such as when we hear: "For consultations,
please press 1; for outpatients, please press 2; otherwise, please hold the line’).
A tune plays while we wait.
c) An operator tells us that the conversation will be recorded for security reasons.
d) We are told that the date and time of the appointment will be sent to us via a text
message (SMS) to our mobile phone.
Solution:
The types of services that we have been offered are:
a) Call to a premium-rate phone number (information on costs).
b) Call transfer with music on hold.
c) Queuing for incoming calls and recording of incoming calls.
d) SMS message service.
Activities
10. Indicate what type of business is occurring in each of the following cases:
a) Acar company sends an SMS about a new car model.
b) A bank offers insurance for a client company through an MMS.
11. Imagine you have a mobile terminal and you receive the following messages:
a) "Sudinero Bank informs you that a charge of € 150 has been made on your card
4546.XXXX.XXXX.8796 on 12.12.2012. Concept: purchase made on Amazon.
More info: 909.11.22.33".
b) "Entradasdirectas.com: confirmation is requested for purchases on 12.12.2012 at
19:30. Concept: 3 tickets. Send an SMS to 600.56.89.75. SMS cost: 0.09 cents + VAT". /
iy

121. 6 Telephone communication

is Spanish assistant —————_
Aunque en esta unidad hay varios
ejemplos de frases que suelen
utilizarse al teléfono en inglés,
aqui tienes algunas mas para que
puedas afrontar la dificil tarea
de comunicarte a través de este
canal:
¢ Hello, this is Maria Gutiérrez.
How can | help you?: como ve-
ras, al presentarnos no decimos
lam, sino this is.
+ May I speak to the HR mana-
ger, please?: fijate en que es
mas correcto usar may que can
cuando queremos expresar el
motivo de la llamada. Sin em-
bargo, otra forma muy comtn
de expresar los mismo es: Can
| have the HR manager, please?
* Please hold (the line): esta es
la forma de pedir a quien llama
que se mantenga a la espera
mientras pasamos la llamada
o consultamos que la persona
que puede solventar el proble- ma. /
W
@ 4. Rules for a good telephone
communication
Achieving a smooth and effective communication when we hold a telephone conversation is
essential, as we anticipated. Therefore, we have to follow certain rules such as those provided
below.
® 4.1. Basic rules
Today, the phone has become an essential element in the normal life of any company.
In section 2.5 of the previous unit we studied some techniques for establishing effective tele-
phone communication from the point of view of the channel; in this section we will see other
techniques not only to achieve effective communication, but also to generate a positive ima-
ge of ourselves and the company and achieve business and professional goals.
A phone call is often the first contact that our interlocutor has with our company, so this
call has to be perfect in order to transmit a good image. Similarly, when we make
personal calls, we must also act in an appropriate way, because what we pass on will create
an image of ourselves in our interlocutor.
© Stages of a phone call
When making a phone call, we can distinguish four stages in the process:

At this stage, whether we call or receive a call, we must greet, identify ourselves (by
name and surname), identify the company and include the reason for the call. For
example: "Hello, my name is Josefa Martin, from the company Metalplus, S.A. 1 want
to talk with the head of works, please".

Once we have contacted the person we want, the conversation starts. For
example, if we want to introduce new products or services, we must explain the
advantages and the features that differentiate them from similar options; we may
name some customers who have already purchased some of them, and so on.

During the course of the conversation, we must assess the interlocutor in order to
adjust to adjust the vocabulary we use to his or her level, because if we use technical
terms they might not understand us.

We will also pay special attention to fillers, such as: "Eeehhh...", "um...", because
the perception about our intelligence or security in the interlocutor may be
damaged. Instead we can use a pause, as it will only last a few seconds and the caller
won't notice.

It is the turning point of the conversation, as we must have achieved the goal of
the call before hanging up. For example, if you want the interlocutor to give you an
appointment to introduce your products, you can say: "If it’s OK with you, Mr. Diaz,
we could meet in your office next week and would show you some samples. Could
you make it on Tuesday?".

If you don’t reach the goal in the first call, try to arrange another phone call for a
more convenient time for the interlocutor. In that call you will repeat the process.

It is time to finish the communication with our interlocutor. To say goodbye
properly, we must thank the interlocutor for the attention and use a polite set
expression such as: "Thank you for your time, Mr. Diaz. Have a nice day".

Table 6.2. Stages of a phone call.

122. Telephone communication Se
Now, we will study certain rules that will allow us to answer a phone call properly and
to transmit a good image of our company. Table 6.3 groups them into two types: those
associated with non-verbal communication and those concerning verbal communication.
® 4.2. Rules for answering a call

Answer politely and courteously. For example: "Tadami Muebles, good
Answer calls as soon as possible: the first or second ring. morning", "Tadami Muebles, this is Maria speaking, how | can help you?".

Pay attention to your diction and pronunciation. You must take special
Speak in a relaxed and soft tone. care if you have a very strong regional accent that may prevent our
interlocutor from understanding.

Be very careful with words that we don’t want the interlocutor to hear, as
Voice volume must also be moderate. covering the handset may not be enough. If your interlocutor hears what
you say, you will create a very bad impression.

Do not forget the rules of courtesy and always treat your interlocutor with
Do not keep the caller on hold for long. A maximum of 30 seconds. the word "usted", unless he or she tells you not to do so.

If we know that it will take a long time until we assist the caller or if
the person he or she wants to talk is not available, it is best to inform You must give time to say goodbye and wait for the caller
the caller, ask him or her to call some other time or give the chance of to hang up before we do.
leaving the name and/or a message.

If you notice that the interlocutor is a foreigner, you will speak slowly and
Stop what you are doing and pay attention to the call. vocalizing, but never shout.

Table 6.3. Rules to answer a phone call properly.
® 4.3. Rules for making a call
The rules that allow us to make successful telephone calls and to create a good image of our
company and ourselves are the following:
When making a call, we must greet the interlocutor and identify ourselves
with our name and surname and the name of the company we work for. For
example: "Good morning. I’m José Pedrosa, from the company Complete
Consulting. May | speak with Mr. Juanes, please?". If we are not calling for
professional reasons we can simply say: "It’s personal”.
When greeting, you will use a voice tone transmitting strength
and confidence, avoiding hesitation.

You must vary the tone throughout the conversation. There is If we ask for a specific person, the right thing is to use "Don" or "Dofia" before
no need to exaggerate, but using a monotone tone bothers the name, or "Sefior" or "Sefiora” before the surname. Never use family
the interlocutor, as it shows a lack of enthusiasm or boredom. names or nicknames.

If the person you want to talk to is not available at this time, we may ask what
time is best to reach him or her.

If you have already contacted the right person, you should ask whether it is
good time for him or her to talk, as this person may be busy. If the interlocu-
tor can talk at that time, we will continue with the conversation; if he or she
cannot, we will arrange another time to make the call.

If you leave a message with the reason for the call, the message must be clear
and concise and should reflect the reason for the call, as well as our name and
phone number for future contact.

If you are calling somebody back, you must state when you were called.


If we have agreed day and time to call, we will respect the agreement.

Table 6.4. Rules to make a phone call properly.
"a

123. 6 Telephone communication

in] Important
When we answer the phone we
must be prepared to take note of
any message they want to leave,
so remember to have a pen and
some paper at hand.
Ask the caller his or her name,
company, reason for calling, con-
tact information (if he or she will
call again, leave a contact num-
ber...), and other information that
may be of interest to recognize
the caller (for example, the per-
son and the occasion in which the
interlocutor is asking to meet).
Before hanging up, we will repeat
the most important information
of the message to make sure that
we have taken the right data.

0 Examples
If we answer the phone and we
must lie and say, for example,
that someone is not in the office
at that time, we must respect the
proper times to sound credible. For
example:
—Z: "Zapatines, S.L., good mor-
ning".
—M: "Good morning, | want to
speak with Mr. Méndez, please".
—Z: "One moment, please, just
let me check is he is available.
Who's speaking?".
—M: "Mariano Torre, from the
company Megacord".
— Z: "Hold on, please".
(Pause to ask questions or to pre-
tend you do)
— Z: "He is in a meeting right now.
Do you want to leave a messa-
ge?",
—M: "No, thank you very much.
I'll call later".
— Z: "Thank you, have a nice day".
—™M: "You too".

a”
4.4. Skills to act as a filter
When one of your tasks in your job is answering the phone, you must develop several skills,
such as acting as a filter.
Acting as a filter is to select those calls that we must pass to our superiors among all
the calls we receive in the company.
The filter function also involves trying to find out the reasons for the calls and knowing who
is the right person to answer every call.
© Techniques to act as a filter
+ Act naturally: you must keep a kind and gentle tone in all circumstances, especially when
you have to lie, a situation that we will often face when answering the phone at the company.
+ Find out the relationship that the caller has with the organization and if this person is
already known in the company. In many cases, the right question is: "Could you please tell
me the reason for your call?".
+ Check exactly who the caller wants to talk to. This is particularly relevant in the case
of sales calls: the sales agent or representative usually asks for the manager or the head of
a department, but they may not be the right persons to answer the call properly.
+ If we don’t know whether the caller can be assisted or not, we will leave the call on hold
for a reasonable time to find out.
+ If our interlocutor cannot be assisted at that time, we will apologise and give the reason,
whether real or invented, why the person the caller wants to talk to cannot answer the
phone at that time. In addition, we will offer the possibility to leave a message.
4.5. Skills for dealing with complaints over the phone
More and more medium and large companies are providing a department or a person
responsible for handling the complaints that customers usually make.
However, many other companies are too small to afford the specific coverage of this
service, and then any employee must be ready to meet any customer and/or supplier
complaint, which are mainly communicated over the phone. Therefore, we must take into
account a number of techniques that allow us to properly address these calls.
1) Techniques for dealing with complaints over the phone
* Greet and identify ourselves: we will transmit security to the caller.
+ Stay calm, with a soft voice tone and an average volume, although the interlocutor -as it
usually happens- is nervous, raises the tone and even screams.
+ Let the caller explain the whole situation that causes the complaint. This is better than
trying to interrupt with explanations.
* Show that you are listening by using brief statements such as "I understand", "I see" and
the like.
+ Take notes of key points of the complaint so that you can answer them one by one without
forgetting any. If you have questions or you are not sure whether the caller understood
everything correctly, we may ask. This will also help us to maintain control over the con-
versation.
+ Don't underestimate the problem, even though the customer is exaggerating.
+ Agree that the caller is right only if he or she is, but not just to end the call.
+ Don't promise things that you cannot keep. If we have doubts about how to solve the situa-
tion, take note of everything you have talked about, write down the name and telephone
number of the caller and promise to call back as soon as you have made some inquiries
+ about the problem. This call back shouldn't take more than 24 hours.

124. Telephone communication Se

© 4.6. Job search with the phone
Although the use of the phone is not a very common method for active job search, it can be
very effective, particularly in SMEs, where it is relatively easy to contact the person respon-
sible for recruitment (and it often coincides with the figure of the manager or owner).
To use this method properly and effectively, we must follow a series of steps that we will
study now.
© A. Preparation
First of all, we must know the appropriate place to call. For this purpose, we have to select the
companies that might be offering a job position that fits our training and expectations.
Once the companies have been selected, we should collect information about them and about
the sectors to which they belong (Fig. 6.6).
If possible, we should also obtain the name of the person we want to contact: the head
of HR, the head of the department, the manager of the company... Another useful
technique is to find a possible contact within the company who can open doors when we call.
We must prepare what we want to communicate, so that there is nothing left to mention
after the call. To do this, it is advisable to have our professional and academic profile available,
allowing us to answer any questions that we might be asked during the call.
Finally, we must bear in mind the ultimate goal: to obtain an interview or to find out the
name of the person we can send our written information (CV, cover letter...).
© B. Calling process
Once prepared, we should make sure if we are calling at an appropriate time; thus, we will
avoid peak hours and the moments right before the departure time of the company.
Then, we will make calls in the order that we have established, and will take note of each one
of them to know where we have to call back and when we have agreed to do it, who we will
talk to and other issues of interest that they have provided.
Keep in mind that the call may be initially answered by an employee that will act as a filter, so
we must be prepared to pass this filter and to insist. In the event that the person you want to
talk to is not available, ask what time is good to locate and talk to him or her.
© C. Reaching the goal
If we have succeeded in contacting the right person, we must speak without a plaintive tone,
and briefly and calmly explain who we are and what we believe we can provide to that par-
ticular company.
In our communication we will use the following keys, creating a good impression over the phone:

Fig. 6.6. Before calling the company
offering the position, we should be
informed about it as much as we can.
Visiting its website may be really useful.
Show a positive and optimistic attitude. Speak slowly and vocalize. Don’t let nerves affect you.

person we want to talk to.

When we are asked about the reason for our call to the company,
Use a strong and assertive tone. we will clearly explain it, indicating the position or the responsible


Table 6.5. Keys to give a good impression over the phone.
Finally, if we have an appointment for an interview, we will make sure the day, time and per-
son we have the interview with, and we will write it all down to remember it.
"a

125. 6 Telephone communication

5 Case study 4. How to establish telephone contact with someone
Julia Martin works for a company that sells office supplies, | company Cachon y Asociados, but she doesn’t know the name
Caperplush. She wants to introduce these products to the res- _ of the person she has to speak with. Let’s study the develop-
ponsible person for purchasing office supplies in the consulting ment of the conversation.
Solution:
————=
Repeat the call
—C: | understand, I’m sure the company you work with has a
good service. But we can offer exceptional prices because we
are manufacturers and don’t work with intermediaries.
—G: | didn’t know you were manufacturers.
— C: Yes, we have twenty years of experience in the sector. Do you
think we could meet this week? Could you make it on Thursday?
—G: Yes, Thursday is a good day. Is that OK at half past three?


lu
a
5
Ww
Oo
1
Oo
= | —C: On Thursday at half past three I'll be there. Thank you very . . ,
S much for your time, Mr. Gémez. Sea for your time, Mr. G6mez. Have
iu . . .
ee — G: Thank you. Have a nice day. —G: Thank you too.


—C: You too. J

Activities
12. Divide the class in pairs and prepare the following 13. Following the pattern presented in the previous case
situations. For some situations you can ask a third student study, develop at least three possibilities for this conver-
to play the role of receptionist, if necessary. sation.
Situation 1. Student A has just obtained a degree in Marcos Gutiérrez owns a repair shop. Juan is responsible
Administration and Finance and is looking for a company for accounting and also handles phone calls. Alfredo Lopez
to provide some training. Student B will be responsible is a young man searching for his first job as a mechanic; he
for the Human Resources department. has made a three-month training period in another repair
shop and has studied a course on vehicle electrics during
Situation 2. Student A is the sales agent of a telephone the last six months,
company that wants the company Pandehoy to hire

its services. Student B is responsible for the provision Alfredo makes a phone call to Marcos’ repair shop, but
of these services in the company and is very satisfied he doesn't know the person he has to talk to in order to
with the service of the company they have right now. arrange a possible job interview. )

\

126. Telephone communication 6

5. Telemarketing
Telemarketing is a marketing action in which the telephone is used as the communi-
cation channel; it is directly aimed at contacting customers or potential customers for
commercial purposes (for example, sales) or at improving corporate image (for example,
technical support), among other things.
Telemarketing itself is not a comprehensive sales strategy, but a sales or supporting method
for the company within its overall sales strategy, and it has specific characteristics. Thus,
mobile phone companies, for example, often use telemarketing to increase sales, but they
also use other complementary tools such as e-mail communication, conventional advertising
campaigns, etc. as well as their conventional stores (Fig. 6.7).
The two functions performed by this tool are: firstly, as a means of communication, and se-
condly, as a marketing channel.
+ Asameans of communication, it allows us to select and customize each contact, assisting
every client or potential client individually. It also allows for interactivity, since we can ob-
tain the recipient's response at the same time that we issue the message.
+ As a marketing channel, it allows us to schedule a sales visit at once in order to make
the sale of a product or service, and even to perform a direct sale (teleshopping), if that is the
goal of the call.
© 5.1. Telemarketing applications
Telemarketing applications are very diverse, but most of them are commercial and marketing
applications.
+ Commercial applications. Their goal is to make a sale, either during the call itself or
arranging an appointment to make that sale. Examples of such applications are:
Locating potential customers.
Arranging interviews for the sales team.
Keeping track of previous contacts. For example, to confirm the interest shown in a pre-
vious call, to sell or to confirm an order.
Teleshopping. That is to say, closing the sale of a product or service in the very act of
the call.
Generating new sales of a product that has been previously purchased or sell another
related product to the same customer.
Renewing subscriptions to services, publications, etc.
Communicating new offers and custom offers.
Attracting new customers or recover former ones.
Reactivating "silent" customers, that is to say, to work again on inactive user accounts.
* Marketing applications. Their main objective is to gather information on actual or
potential customers. Their needs, customs, traditions, ideologies... This type of telemarke-
ting doesn't have a clear sales purpose. These applications are:
Conducting customer satisfaction surveys.
Creating or updating customer databases, whether real or potential.
Fig. 6.7. Telemarketing workers must
develop for optimal listening and
customer care with each client.
ih Important


There are two different activities
within telemarketing, depending
on the direction of calls:
In outbound telemarketing
the company gets in touch with
customers or potential custo-
mers according to a contacts da-
tabase that has been previously
developed.
In inbound telemarketing the
company receives calls from
customers or potential cus-
tomers. These contacts result
from a previous action of the
company. For example, a com-
pany launches a newspaper,
e-mail or SMS campaign, in
which it invites customers to
call in order to obtain some pro-
duct or service in return.
Vocabulary
Upgrading. Generating another
purchase of the same product.
Cross-selling. Make the sale
of a product that is related to
another that the customer has
previously purchased.
Follow-up. Keeping track of
commercial offers that have
been previously provided by
postal mail, e-mail or visit.

S/


"a

127. 6 Telephone communication

— Market research. This section includes multiple applications: surveys on consumption
habits, on brand awareness or positioning and on immediate response to an advertising
campaign, among others.
— Launching and keeping loyalty programs.
— Customer service centres.
— Surveys on voting intentions.
® 5.2. Advantages and disadvantages of telemarketing
Like other advertising tools, telemarketing has certain advantages but also some disadvanta-
ges, which must be assessed to decide whether or not it is appropriate to apply this technique
in our business strategy.
There is a direct and immediate contact with the actual or poten-
tial customer. By establishing a feedback channel we may know the
customer questions and clarify any doubts on the spot, prevent-
ing potential uncertainty in the purchase decision and encouraging
There is no visual information, so that people who make or answer calls
must be aware of all the recommendations we have mentioned above in
the process of telephone communication.
the final purchase.

time and travel costs.
The cost is lower than making personal visits, as these require more
If our company has no database of potential contacts, the acquisition or

It allows the task of finding potential customers quickly.
creation of a custom database is very expensive. If we buy an existing
database, many contacts might not match our potential customers. And if

personally.
We can keep in touch with customers even when we cannot visit them
our company already has one, we must consider the costs of maintaining
and updating it so that can be effective and useful.

The sales territory may be expanded without creating branches or hiring
representatives in other regions or countries.
This tool is often regarded as an intrusion, and many companies don’t
make a proper use of it; thus, this type of communication has become a


acceptance.
It provides immediate results on the benefits of the action or its
nuisance to many phone users, who reject any telemarketing action as
soon as they know the purpose of the call.

Table 6.6. Advantages and disadvantages of telemarketing.
Web

If you want to learn more about
telemarketing applications, read
this article:
http://www.puromarketing.
com/23/6979/maneras-utilizar-
llamadas-masivas.html


W
® 5.3. Skills to develop a telemarketing professional
To make a successful telemarketing campaign we must consider three aspects:
1. The contact file or database of potential customers must be properly updated and
consistent with the objectives of the service or campaign. For example, if we want to offer
an Internet connection via optical fiber, it doesn’t make much sense to have contacts in our
database who already have this type of connection or who live in areas where this type of
connection is not possible.
. We must have the appropriate technical and technological means. For example, if we
want to make five thousand contacts a day we have to calculate how many phone lines
we will use, how many computers, what is the quickest way to fill in the forms, and so on.
. Finally, we must have a sufficient workforce that is trained and skilled enough to meet
the objectives. For example, if we want to extend our sales network, we must have
team available to move to the client’s office to close the sale if necessary. Furthermore,
when the telemarketing team is large, or in massive campaigns, we must hire a supervisor
for every eight or ten workers to monitor both quantitative (for example, the number
of calls) and qualitative aspects (for example, if phone assistance is being polite,
correct, etc.).

128. Telephone communication Se
+ We will carefully prepare it: we must test our voice tone, the words that we will use to say
hello or goodbye, and even how to react to situations of rejection or verbal aggressiveness
by the interlocutor.
Let's have a look at the stages that we must follow:
Before the call
+ We must believe in our work. If we sell a product, we believe in its quality, and if we work
in customer service, we must want to help those who call.
During the call

The voice tone must always be soft and gentle. Always use proper and polite language.

Check your voice volume. Use an average tone or raise it just a bit
if the caller doesn’t hear you properly. Speak slowly and clearly so that the caller can understand you.

Maintain an upright body position, a kind gesture and evena smile, | When greeting, always mention your name and the company you work for. If we
as the attitude is also perceived through the voice. are calling, we will also explain our purpose.

Speak with confidence and professionalism so that the caller can
also feel safe. Develop strategies to pass the filters and reach the right person.

During the conversation always try to keep everything under control. For example,
use questions to guide the conversation.

Keep a collaborative attitude with the caller, answering questions politely and chec-
king if he or she understands your explanations.

When finishing the conversation, always thank
Let the speaker talk without | the caller for their attention before ending the
interrupting until the end of | communication.
his or her explanation.


Always wait for the caller to hang up.

Table 6.7. Aspects of verbal and non-verbal communication to be considered during the call.
After the call
+ If the call was successful, we will review the key points of the conversation: how we kept
everything under control, the strategy that we used to avoid a negative response, and so
on. These points will be analysed and used for future calls.
+ If the conversation was not successful, we will review our weak points and assess our
mistakes to avoid making them again.
+ If the caller always gives the same excuses, doubts or objections to a question or about a
feature of the product or service we offer, we must change our arguments or notify our
supervisor, because there might be a mistake in the planning of the campaign or service.
Activities
14. Divide the class in pairs and prepare the following telemarketing campaigns. Then
perform them using your classmates as real or potential customers.

a) Outbound. You work for a natural gas company. You're going to call your current
customers to persuade them to also hire household electricity. Prepare the business
strategy in terms of: customer benefits, advantages of having a single supplier...
You must be ready to answer any questions that may arise.
b) Inbound. You work for a company that sells breakfast cereal and you have set a phone
line for customers to call and ask the questions they have about the new range of
cereal: fiber and vegetables, puffed rice with cheese and red-wine-flavoured corn flakes.
Develop the features of each product, such as nutritional values, possible counter-
indications, etc. You must be ready to answer any questions that customers may ask. J
iy

129. 6 Telephone communication


63 Case study 5. Telemarketing calls
The NGO Nifos en el Mundo is performing an action to attract
new members through a telemarketing campaign. Maria Llopis
is one of the telephone operators working in this campaign; she
likes her job and performs it with kindness and professionalism.
Let’s have a look at the following telephone conversation
between Maria and a potential member. Pay attention to the
friendly and gentle tone of Maria, to the knowledge she has
about the NGO she represents and to the use of questions
to keep the conversation under control.
—X: Hello, good morning.
— ML: Good morning. My name is Maria Llopis, from the NGO
Nifios en el Mundo. What's your name, please?
—X: José Fernandez.
—ML: Good morning, Mr. Fernandez. | was wondering if
maybe we could talk two minutes about something that will
make you think...
—X: I’m kind of busy right now.
—ML: | understand, but did you know that 25,000 children
around the world starve to death every day? And that this
could be avoided with a small contribution of each one of us?
— X: Well, | didn’t know that.
—ML: Our NGO, Nifios en el Mundo, has worked for over
twenty years with communities in third world countries to
develop self-sufficiency projects for these communities, so
that they can supply themselves and eradicate this problem.
Don’t you think this is a very important job?
—X: Of course | do.
— ML: It is. But we need people like you, Mr. Fernandez, to help
us develop these projects. More and more members are
joining our NGO, because with only € 10 per month, not a
big deal for us, you can save the lives of many children. I'm
sure you want to help us with this.
— X: Sure.
—ML: Thank you, José. Would you be so kind to give me your
address and your ID card number?
—-x: Yes, | live in...
—ML: Thank you very much. Now | need your bank account
number. Take your time, I'll be holding on.
—X: Here it is. Take note...
— ML: Thank you very much for your time, José. In a few days
you will receive your membership by postal mail. With this
action you are helping us save many lives.
—X: Thank you.
— ML: Have a nice day.
—X: You too.

Activities
15. Give five existing examples of phone numbers of inbound telemarketing. Search
the web if you need it.
16. In pairs, think of three examples of commercial applications, and other three
examples of marketing applications. Once listed, explain the reasons why these
phones are included in either group.
17. Work in pairs and perform the following telemarketing conversations. When pre-


paring the conversations, remember that the telemarketer must know the product
or service, so you will have to provide the product or sevice with history, characte-
ristics, advantages for the consumer, and so on. A piece of the teething ring Dienti-
tos2000 got stuck in the mouth of a 10-month old baby. The toy company reacts by
withdrawing the product from the shops; then it makes an advertising campaign
warning consumers of the danger and inviting them to return the teether. It also
provides consumers with a phone number to solve any doubts.
a) Student A is a worried father or mother who doesn’t understand the composition
of a baby food jar that has just given to his or her son, who is allergic to lactose.
He or she also wants to confirm the production process. Student B is part of the
telemarketing company Bebesanote and must answer these questions.
b) Student A belongs to the team of a telemarketing campaign of the company
FoodExpress, aimed at home delivery service of food. The company wants to set
up in the city of Cadiz, but first it will perform a survey of potential customers to
assess the acceptance. Student B is a young bachelor, aged 30, who works full-
time: the ideal consumer of FoodExpress menus.

130. ~~ Ca
Telephone communication 6

Telephone
communication
Telephone means
and equipment
Additional services
provided by the
telephone equipment
Rules for a good
telephone
communication
Telemarketing
Importance of telephone communication within the company.
Fixed telephony devices.
IP PBxs.
PBXs. Call centres.
Contact centers.
Mobile devices. PDA.
Smartphone.
Fixed telephony.
Common features. PBXs.

Mobile telephony.
Billing-related services.
M-Business.
Business-related services.
M-Commerce.
Stages of a phone call:
Basic rules. . .
introduction/development/closure/farewell.
Aspects of non-verbal communication.
Rules for answering a call. oa
Aspects of verbal communication.
Aspects of non-verbal communication
Rules for making a call. o.
Aspects of verbal communication.
Techniques to select the calls that
Skills to act as a filter. :
must be passed to our superiors.
Skills to handle telephone complaints.
Preparation/Process/Reaching the target
Job search over the phone. Keys to create a good impression
over the phone.
Communication tool that uses the phone as the main communication
method in a systematic and planned way.
Commercial applications.
Telemarketing applications.
ing applicatt Marketing applications.
Advantages and disadvantages of telemarketing.
Before the call
Aspects of verbal
Skills to develop a professional telemarketing. During the call and non-verbal
communication.
After the call
"a

131. >”
6 Telephone communication


Test review
1. A fixed phone is:
a) A mobile device.
b) A portable device.
c) Anon-portable device.
d) None of the above.
2. Call centres today are:
a) Digital.
b) Analogue.
c) Analogue and digital.
d) None of the above.
3. An IP PBX:
a) Sends calls through packet data.
b) Uses IP telephone terminals.
c) Sends data over a network (for example, Internet).
d) All of the above.
4. The first mobile phone was a:
a) Motorola.
b) Nokia.
c) Samsung.
d) None of the above.
5. The Personal Digital Assistant is:
a) A smartphone.
b) A type of IP phone.
c) APDA.
d) All of the above.
6. With a Smartphone you cannot:
a) Send an email.
b) Make a video call.
c) Play music.
d) None of the above.
7. When a user receives information on the cost of a call, this
service is:
a) Call forwarding.
b) Completed call.
c) Recall.
d) Notice of charge.
8. What are the stages of a phone call?
a) Introduction, development, closure and farewell.
b) Greeting, presentation, development and farewell.
10.
11.
12.
13.
c) Presentation, development and closure.
d) Greeting, development, closure and farewell.
. Which is the most appropriate greeting?
a) "Corrella company. Good morning".
b) "Corrella speaking".
c) "Corrella company, Julia speaking. How can | help you?"
d) "Corrella company, what do you want?”
Which of these statements is not true?
a) We can use "tu" with the interlocutor if he or she gives
us permission.
b) If the interlocutor is a foreigner, we must speak slowly
and clearly.
c) We must answer the phone before the third ring.
d) The interlocutor must hang up before we do.
Which is the best way to introduce oneself?
a) Good morning, my name is Juan Peldez. May | talk to
Tito, please?
b) Hello, may | talk to Javier Casares, from the Contracts
Department, please?
c) Good afternoon, my name is Nerea Terdn, from the
company Marcola. May | speak with Mr. Gutiérrez,
please?
d) Good afternoon, may | have the manager, please?
Which of these statements regarding telemarketing is not
true?
a) The team that makes telemarketing campaigns should
receive specific training.
b) The customer databases are revised while the campaign
is conducted.
c) Telemarketing allows contact with customers in remote
areas.
d) A good telemarketer should practice before making
calls.
Which of these statements regarding the development of a
telemarketing call is not true?
a) You must keep an upright body position when you talk
on the phone.
b) You must maintain the conversation under control, for
example, using questions to lead the interlocutor.
c) You must speak with confidence and professionalism.
d) At the end of the call you must apologise for having
wasted the interlocutor’s time.
4

132. Telephone communication Se
19. Match the concepts in these two columns:


Check your learning
Assess the importance of telephone communication within
the company

B2B
1. Explain in your own words why telephone communication
is important for the company.


Mobile ticketing Mc
-Commerce
Phone media that are currently used


. spe as wae . Business to Government
2. List the classification of existing telephony media.

3. What kind of wiring network is used to connect fixed tele-
phony equipment?
B2E M-Business


4. What is the function of the classic telephone exchange?
5. Indicate what type of PBX is used in most companies today. Mobile payments

6. What kind of network do IP phones use to connect?

7. Define:
a) An IP PBX.
b) A call centre.
Making and receiving effective corporate calls
20. Explain with your own words the different stages of a
phone call and give examples of each.
c) Acontact centre. . .. . .
21. Imagine that you have finished your Vocational Trai-
ning and that you want to start a job search in your area.
What are the previous steps before starting to call? Find
the name of three companies in your area and try to find the
name of the person responsible for human resources.
8. Today mobile phones are of two types, which are...
Most common features of fixed and mobile devices and PBXs
9. List some of the services offered by mobile telephony.
22. Rewrite the following conversations following the patterns
10. Mention three features that fixed telephony usually offers. and recommendations that we have studied in this unit.
11. List four features that are usually performed by IP PBXs. Conversation 1
12.
13.
Identify seven features of mobile phones. — X: Gomez y Asociados speaking.

What billing-related services are usually provided over the
phone?
14. Define:
a) M-Business.
b) M-Commerce.
c) Mobile-banking.
d) Business to business.
15. What concept does the following definition refer to?
"Charge to customers made through mobile devices”.
16. The set of business processes occurring between a com-
pany and its customers though mobile devices is called...
17. What is the call forwarding service?
18. What telephone service allows you talk to three people at
once?
—Y: Good morning, miss. My name is Justino Paz, from
the company MTX. May | speak with Mr. Rodriguez?
—X: Do you want to speak with Lalito Rodriguez or Paco
Rodriguez?
Conversation 2
— X: Fresnadillo company. Good morning.
— Y: Hi. I’m Luis Pol. Give me Don Armando.
—X: Yes, hold on a sec.
Pause
— X: Don Armando is not available right now. Do you want
to leave a message?
—Y: Yes, tell him that his brother-in-law called and that |
need him to call me back.
— X: Okay, I'll tell him. Bye!
"a

133. >”
6 Telephone communication


Check your learning
Conversation 3
—X: Good afternoon. Zapatines, S.L. This is Pedro Lores
speaking, how | can help?
— Y: Good afternoon. May | speak to Mr. Méndez, please?
—X: Yes, hold on a sec. Who's calling?
—Y: I'm Mario Torre, from Megacord.
—X: Mm... | think Mr. Méndez has just started a
meeting.
23. If you have to take a call from an unhappy customer, what
techniques would you apply to handle it?
Properly apply verbal and non-verbal communication
techniques
24. Explain briefly the importance of tone, volume and body
position in telephone communications.Also indicate the
tone that you would use in the following situations:
a) When answering a call.
b) When calling a company because you are looking for
a job.
c) When dealing with a complaint.
25. Indicate whether the following statements are true or
false:
a) If the person you talk to on the phone sounds younger
than you, you may use "tu".
b) If we call back, we must state the day and the approxi-
mate time when we called.
c) If the caller is a foreigner, we will speak slowly,
vocalizing and raising our voice so that the caller can
understand.
d) Regional accents are not a problem in communica-
tion. We must use our own accent instead of trying to
correct it.
e) If we call a company and we have a close relation with
the person we want to speak with, we may use a nick-
name to refer to that person.
f) |f we make a mistake while dialling a phone number we
have to apologize before hanging up.
Use the phone as a tool for commercial and marketing
purposes
26. Indicate whether the following statements are true or
false. If they are false, explain why.
a) Telemarketing allows you to have direct contact with
the customer.
b) Many users feel an immediate rejection before any tele-
marketing action.
c) The consumer helpline is not telemarketing.
d) The cost of one telemarketing action is lower than the
cost of visiting clients at home or in their office.
e) In telemarketing actions, it takes between a week and
a fortnight to get the results on the profitability of the
action.
f) A database must be updated to be truly effective and
useful.
g) The immediate feedback we obtain with telemarketing
doesn’t help in any purchasing decision.
27. What are the applications of telemarketing? Explain them
with your own words and give at least three examples of
each.
28. Explain in which of these actions would you use telemarke-
ting. Justify your answer.
a) You want to sell a new range of household items to
distributors; your product is characterized by modern
and contemporary design.
b) You want to arrange meetings with potential customers
to introduce a training company and its services.
c) You want to inform your customers that the billing
procedure of the company will change in the near
future.
d) You want to set up a helpline for customers so that they
can solve their doubts about the new highway code.
e) You want to create a helpline for customers to call and
give their views on a new horseradish-flavoured yogurt
that you have just launched.

134. dy:
written communication.
nd reproduction
nt of written documents.
netiquette or protocol
ic guidelines for the preparation
ach document type in the
iness field.
jocuments in the company.
Unit
Written communication
within the company
In this unit you'll learn how to:
+ Select media and channels to
develop and transmit documents.
» Apply 3R techniques (reduce, reuse,
recycle) to documentation.
+ Identify the writing styles of
professional documentation.
+ Apply techniques of corporate image
transmission in written communications,
assessing their importance.
+ Use computer applications for text
processing and desktop publishing,
as well as proofreading tools.

135. { Written communication within the company

in) Important
The style we use in written com-
munication is essential for its suc-
cess. Therefore, many institutions
and organizations develop their
own style guidelines, manuals or
books.
In the following links you can find
some examples:
* Style guide for students of the
newspaper EFI Pais:
http://estudiantes.elpais.com/
libroestilo/indice_estilos.htm
Manual del espafol urgente:
http://www.fundeu.es/
manual-espanol-urgente.html
Style guide of Wikipedia:
http://es.wikipedia.org /wiki/
Wikipedia:Manual_de_estilo /
0...
Internet offers many tools: dictio-
naries, grammars, seekers of sy-
nonyms and antonyms, and so on.
Through this link you can access a
collection of these tools:
http://www.etsimo.uniovi.es/
links/idiomas.html
Watch out!

When writing, we must always
avoid technicalities and ambi-
guous terms: ideally, we must use
a clear language (but not simple).
>”


@ 1. Written communication
In the business context, as we have seen so far, we use both non-verbal and verbal
communication. However, written communication is the most used type of communica-
tion in this area, since it allows to record the subject in writing; moreover, it is the standard,
legal and mandatory procedure to communicate certain issues (contracts, notices, invoices,
etc.). This type of communication within the company is both internal and external:

As we will see later in this unit, technological advances have allowed written communica-
tion to overcome its main disadvantage compared to oral communication: the speed of
information transmission. Today, we can use services such as fax, email, chat and networking
to receive written messages almost at the same time they are sent.
As for its advantages, one of the most important is that written communication is
lasting, that is to say, it remains over time in the medium in which information was reflected
(documents, email, notebook, etc.). It also allows the reader to carefully analyse the text, as
there is plenty of time to understand it, to read it again or to resume reading at any time it
is needed.
Despite these clear advantages, we must acknowledge its major drawback: the sender is not
present. This situation requires the message proofreading is properly prepared, because once
the text has been written and delivered, or sent, the sender cannot correct misunderstandings
in its interpretation immediately.
© 1.1. Steps to develop a written text
Written communication requires more preparation than oral communication, so that the
message is clear and understood from the very beginning, as we don’t have the immediate
feedback that allows us to correct, to point out or to clarify any doubts. Therefore, we must
express the message so that our communication is effective and achieves its objectives.
Some of the keys to be considered by the sender to make an effective text are the following:
+ We must choose words that the receiver (the person who reads the message) can
understand.
+ We must check that the information is complete, that is to say, it must answer any
questions that the reader may have.
+ We must put ourselves in the reader’s place (empathy) and think about what he or she
might need or wants to know.
+ We must take into account the length of the writing: the shorter, the better, as it takes
more time to read long texts and they are usually less attractive.
+ We must be aware that our writings will transmit an image of ourselves and our style, so a
logical and coherent planning and elaboration becomes essential.

136. Written communication within the company {

A proper development of our text also requires the right order. The specific steps that we
must follow are:

Think about the situation that has generated the need to write. This will help us ask ourselves questions such
as: Who am | addressing? Who will read it? What do | expect from the receiver? What corporate image do |
want to transmit? What length and tone should the text have?

Find information and relate it to the ideas we want to transmit.

Make decisions about the message and the amount of information, that is, to select the main idea of the
message. We may ask ourselves questions such as: What does the receiver know? Does he or she have any prior
information available? What is the basic idea of the message?

Once we know the message we want to transmit, we must follow a clear structure: introduction, development and
conclusion. To do this we may ask ourselves: Where will | include the main idea? What information will support it?

Think about the content and the recipient, as this will allow us to organize ideas logically.

Correct mistakes and improve all that is necessary in order to adapt the text to the reader and to our goal. Someti-
mes, this will involve modifications of the content or of everything that may affect the understanding of our text.

Check whether the text is complete and finished, or if, on the contrary, it needs more work. We may ask
ourselves: May the recipient understand it? Is all the information | want to transmit included? Is it easy to read
and understand? Will| transmit everything | want to the reader?


Table 7.1. Stages to develop a written text.
Activities
1. Which of the following features belong to oral communication? And to written
communication?

a) Language must be clear and vocabulary
must be adapted to the recipient. Informe Econémico
b) The sender obtains immediate feedback.
c) Words remain and the message is not alte-
red with time.
La evolucién econémica ha
sido buenisima. Las ventas
han suvido mucho y cada dia

d) Non-verbal language must be considered.
e) We must use short sentences and elimi-
nate unnecessary details.
f) The receiver is the reader.
g) Information is transmitted through speech.
. Pilar delivers this report on economic deve-
lopments in the company during the current
quarter to her boss. The report was written
out by hand.
Check the text and answer the following
questions: Is the language used appropriate?
What do you think about the presentation
of the text? What about spelling?
vana mejor nuestros vende-
dores estan haziendo gran-
des negocios por lo que los
benefizios serén bastante
importantes este afio.
Bebemos intentar conse-
guir que el afio que viene las
ventas de todo los productos
sean iguales mayores que
las deste afio porque asin
podremos ampliar nuestro
mercado y acernos lideres
del sector sin competencia.

© 1.2. Principles of written communication
We have already mentioned the lack of immediate feedback in written communication and
the importance of making our message fully understandable.
Therefore, when writing a document, it is not all about presentation, spelling and punctua-
tion; we must also take into account a number of principles that are required to develop an
effective communication.
iy

137. { Written communication within the company

The text must have a proper presentation: we must respect the margins and arrange the text in an
aesthetic way. Paper should be clean and have certain quality and printing features.
The vocabulary we use (learnt, technical, familiar, colloquial...) must be adapted to the receiver.
The language must be clear and polite.

Use short sentences and eliminate anything that is not necessary.
The text should be brief. It must express the maximum number of ideas with the minimum number of words.

Respect the spelling and syntax rules of the language.
Choose words and syntactic constructions with a precise meaning; never ambiguous sentences that may
cause misunderstandings.

Be clear and structured.
Use a single paragraph to develop an idea and separate paragraphs with full stops and line breaks.
A coherent text must take into account the amount of information (all data must be included), its quality
(ideas must be clear, use of examples, etc.) and its structure (a logical sequence).

Connect the sentences of each paragraph to prevent the reader from losing information.
Connect paragraphs together to show the relations of order, cause, effect, time... between two or more ideas.


Highlight the main idea of the message we want to transmit.

Table 7.2. Principles of written communication.

£3 Case study 1. Developing an oral message
What can we do to obtain an accurate text? And to give it
cohesion? How can we emphasize key ideas?
Solution:
+ Accuracy
a) Avoid the accumulation of verbs in the infinitive,
replacing them with shorter expressions. So, instead of
“Se consiguié llegar a formar una comisién que investi-
gard el caso”, we can use, “Se form6”.
b) Avoid expressions that unnecessarily create long senten-
ces:
Enla fecha de hoy Hoy
Enel momento presente Ahora
Con la finalidad de que Para que
Durante el tiempo que Mientras
c) Paragraphs should not be too long, as this may tire or
confuse the reader. Short paragraphs are more readable
than long ones. The line break gives some rest to the
reader, a chance to reflect on what has been read.
Cohesion
a) Relate paragraphs or sentences using links that may
indicate: a clarification (es decir, esto es), the end of a
speech (por ultimo), a consequence (por consiguiente),
a list (en primer lugar), a conclusion (en resumen), and
so on,
b) Use pronouns to refer to an element named above:
Ladirectora llam6 asu despacho a forgey a Luisa. Les han
concedido una beca para estudiar en el extranjero.
Emphasis
c) Place key ideas or words in privileged positions of the
sentence or paragraph: the beginning or the end.
d) Insist on the same idea using synonyms or parallel
expressions.
e) Use graphic resources such as bold letters, underli-
ning, capitalization, different font, different colours,
and so on. But not too much, because we might get the
opposite effect.
J
Activities
3. What principle of written communication is behind the
following recommendations?
a) Writing without spelling mistakes.
b) Using examples to illustrate what is meant.
c) Using words that are appropriate and suitable for our
type of readers.
d) Developing an introduction in each paragraph that rela-
tes it to the paragraphs above.

a *

138. Written communication within the company {

@ 2. Produce or reproduce documents
Today, there are many means, both for production and reproduction of documents. Thanks to
technology, paper is no longer the only medium for document production, as now we can use
computers and the means they provide, such as CD ROM, DVD, USB drives, hard drives, and so on.
Some of the most common means for the production and reproduction of documents are:



It is commonly used in the company for the preparation of documents, informal notes and project drafts, among others.

It is obsolete due to the widespread use of computers, although they still exist, especially electrical typewriters.

The computer is, at present, the basic working tool in virtually all businesses. To work with it, we use applications such as word
processors, databases, spreadsheets or e-mail.

It has the advantages of the telephone (communication speed regardless of distance) and the mail (it allows you to receive the
written message and thus leave a record of the sent message or telegram). Telegrams are usually sent through the post and telegraph
offices, but they are becoming less common due to the use of e-mails.

Table 7.3. Means for document production.

It can quickly copy documents. It is often used, especially in communication networks within the company.

It reproduces a document that we have previously made using our computer.

It is connected to telephone network and allows you to transmit documents between different terminals.

It reads and reproduces documents and incorporates them into the computer’s hard disk as files.

Table 7.4. Means for document reproduction.
® 2.1. The three Rs: recycle, reduce and reuse
Society demands that companies behave responsibly. One manifestation of this responsibility
is to take care of the environment. One of the main strategies to get to be responsible in this
area is to practice the three Rs, consisting of:
Web


* Recycle waste generated by economic activity.
+ Reduce consumption of goods.
+ Reuse used goods.
Check what Telefénica does regard-
ing its paper consumption:
http://www.rcysostenibilidad.
telefonica.com/es/medio_cam-
bio/huella.php J
When implementing this strategy, the company becomes a paperless office, as it reduces the
use of paper and encourages the use of electronic documents, it recycles waste paper and reuses
papers that are no longer needed (for example, by printing on the free sides of paper).

65 Case study 2. Reproduction of documents
Irene works in a marketing company in Seville. Her colleague Solution:
Sandra has gone to Madrid to give a lecture on business commu-
nication. From the hotel, Sandra phones Irene because she has a .
problem: she has forgotten two pages of her lecture in her folder b) She may scan the pages and e-mail them so that Sandra
and she needs them urgently. How can Irene help Sandra? can print them. J
Activities
4. What is the difference between a printer and a photocopier? 5. Search the web and find out what a bureaufax is and
a) She may fax those two pages to Sandra’s hotel in Madrid.




If we have an original document in paper and electronic for- name its main features. Do you think this is a good
mat and we want to make copies of it, what medium do you way to make an official communication? Explain your
think is most appropriate and why? answer. S/
iy

139. { Written communication within the company

@ 3. Models of written documents
in the company
In daily work, companies produce many documents, mostly:
* Correspondence between companies: business letters.
+ Documents (contracts...) regarding the sale of goods and services.
* Internal documents.
+ Promotional documents or advertising.
Practice and habit have settled a particular form of writing these documents, which has led
to documents models. In some cases, there are even official or standardized models that we
don’t have to write, but just fill in, such as tax declaration (VAT, tax return, etc.).
3.1. Business letter
Comercios ;
de Alimentos Teléfono: 983 11 II 11
Paseo del Rio, 25 C es 983 os 33 33
47074 Valladolid | E-mail: [email protected]
Valladolid, 6 de abril de 2011
N/ref: RL/ms
Asunto: reclamacién
Conservas de Levante, S.A.
Avenida del Sur, s/n
46001 Valencia
Muy Sefiores mios:
Hemos comprobado que en su envio de mercancias del dia 4 de abril,
correspondiente a nuestro pedido nim. 942 del dia 30 de marzo,
existe una discrepancia estre el ntimero de unidades que figura en el
albaran y las realmente recibidas.
Esta estriba en que la cantidad de tarros de mermelada que figura en
el albaran es de trescientos -300-, mientras que la cantidad realmen-
te recibida es de doscientos cincuenta-250-.
Suponemos que ha sido un error por su parte, por lo que les roga-
mos que no emita la factura de la venta hasta que no se aclaren las
circunstancias por las que reclamamos.
Esperando recibir una rdpida contestaci6n, les saluda atentamente,
Raquel Alvarez
Directora Comercial
RR/mys
Fig. 7.1. Example of business complaint letter.
Broadly speaking, a business letter is any written communi-
cation that takes place between companies.
While currently e-mail has greatly reduced the use of business let-
ters, now we will study how to properly write a standard business
letter (Fig. 7.1), and we will focus on e-mail later.
The standard letter presented has an advantage regarding elec-
tronic media, as it provides a more close and personal image. By
contrast, its major disadvantage is its dependence on particular
times of postal mail services.
Let’s look at the main features of business letters.
CA. Structure of the business letter
The structure of the business letter is similar to that of the stan-
dard letter: it has a beginning, presentation or header, a body and
an end.
+ Beginning, presentation or header
The beginning of the business letter is where we introduce our-
selves and show the goal of the communication that we are
doing.
In this part of the business letter we must include our name,
our company and the position we have. In particular, it contains
the following sections:
CENTRO
UNIVERSITARIO
DE MARINA
CENTRO UNIVERSITARIO DE MARINA
C/ Santa Luisa, 2
08900 Barcelona
Tel.: [phone]
www.cumarina.es
Fig. 7.2. Example of letterhead.
>”
— First, the place and date of the letter, and also the contact details of our company in the
upper right part (letterhead, Figure 7.2).
— Then, we will write the data of the recipient or receiver, that is to say, the person or
company to which communication is addressed and the position held, if applicable.
— Inthe next paragraph, we will include a brief greeting (“Muy Sr. mio” or, if it is a company,
“Muy Srs. mios”). If you wish, before the greeting you can write the subject of your letter.
Example: “Asunto: invitaci6n a una demostraci6n de productos para depuraci6n de piscinas”.
— Finally, we will end with a brief summary of the reason for the letter. It will have one
line showing the subject of the letter. Sometimes it includes a reference, that is to say,
an internal code to identify and file correspondence.

140. Written communication within the company {

Content
The actual content or
body of the business let-
ter is the part where you
develop the ideas you
want to communicate.
There are no strict rules
of expression in this part,
regardless of the basic
rules for effective com-
munication: order, clarity,
relatedideas, conclusions,
summary...
End
After the body, the only
thing left is to say good-
bye with a brief polite
expression, such as “Loo-
king forward to hearing
from you”, followed by
our signature. The signa-
ture may include affixed
the seal of the company
or entity and the name

[Company address]
[Zip code and city]
[Phone number]
[Fax number]
[City and date]
[Letterhead]

Estimado cliente:
Le agradecemos su confianza depositada en la contratacién
de nuestros servicios y le damos la bienvenida como nuevo
cliente de [company name].
A partir de este momento podra disfrutar de todos los
productos y servicios que ha contratado con nosotros y en
cuya prestacio6n garantizamos la mas alta calidad y completa
atenci6n.
No dude en ponerse en contacto con nosotros para consultar
sus dudas, realizar sugerencias o cualquier otra cuestién. Le
recordamos que cualquier consulta que usted realice es de
gran valfa para [company name], ya que trabajamos cada
dia para dar respuesta a sus necesidades y ofrecerle mejores
productos y servicios.
Sin otro particular, aprovechamos la ocasién para saludarle
atentamente y agradecerle una vez mas la confianza deposi-
tada en [company name].
Muy atentamente, [company name]
and position of the per-
son sending the letter,
and the signature itself
must be in ink (Fig. 7.3).
[name and signature]
Fig. 7.3. Model of business letter.
© BB. Styles of business letters
A style is the way we arrange the contents of a business letter. The following styles are the
most common in business letters:
* Modern style: it starts at the left margin of the paper and has no indentation.
* Modified modern style: it is very similar to the previous one, but in the end the signature is
written on the right. If you are using window envelopes, the recipient data must be on the
right so that when the letter is folded and inserted in the envelope, these data are visible
through the window.
* Professional style: it uses indentation in the greeting expression and also at the beginning
of each paragraph. The recipient appears in the top right of the letter, and farewell and
signature may appear on the right.
+ Evolved style: it ignores greeting and farewell, and the remaining contents are arranged in
any of the three previous styles.
g Activities
Do you know that...?

You can still find letters including
uppercase initials of the person
who dictates the text and lower-
case initials of the person who
types it.



Web
If you want to expand your know-
ledge on business letters, visit:

http://www.cartascomerciales.
com.es


6. Read the following article: http://www.emprendedores.
es/var/em/storage/original/application/em102_08.pdf.
What types of business letters are included? What are
the categories of business letters of the examples? What
are the differences between addressing the letter to a
different styles:
company or to an individual? And between introducing
a product and introducing a service?
7. Write a business letter with the same content but using
a) Modern b) Professional cc) Evolved

iy

141. { Written communication within the company


© C. Abbreviations and acronyms
The Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy of Language (DRAE) defines abbreviation as the
“short graphic representation of a word or group of words, obtained by removing some of
the letters or syllables of its full writing with a full stop in the end”.
When we use abbreviations, we must make sure that the receiver knows what they mean in
order to have an effective communication; therefore we will only use well-known acronyms
and will avoid the rest. In any case, the following abbreviations are commonly used in business
language:







AIA alaatencién C3, Cia., C.ia, Comp. compafiia div dias vista
a/c acuenta c/co cta. cte. cuenta corriente Fdo. firmado
acept. aceptacion cént. (pl. cts.) céntimo fra. o f3 factura
admon. administracion ch/ cheque impto.; imp.to impuesto
adm.or (fem. adm.ora); admr. administrador depto. o dpto. departamento L/ letra de cambio
atte. atentamente dto. o desct° descuento p. d. portes debidos
Bco. banco Dir. (fem. Dir.a) director, direccién tel.; teléf. o tfno. teléfono


A:
asia A4
AD5 {etx29,7 om] A2
(21 x 14,8 cm)


(42 x 84 cm)
A3
(42 x 29,7 cm)
Al
(84 x 59,4 cm)
Fig. 7.4. Different paper sizes.
Fig. 7.5. American window envelope.
VA Activities
Table 7.5. Most common abbreviations in the business field.
(J) D. Customizing business letters and envelopes
Business letters should transmit corporate identity. Therefore, the letterhead and the logo
should be included both in paper and envelopes.
Regarding the format of paper used, the most common is DIN A4 (Fig. 7.4), on sheets of good
quality but flexible enough to be folded. As for the envelopes, the measures of the most
widely used model are 22 x 11.5 cm (American) (Fig. 7.5), and those may include a window
(transparent rectangle on the front of the envelope) that will match the data of the recipient.
This system saves the label outside of the envelope, but it is essential to fold the paper properly.
Each company has its own designs for paper and envelopes, as part of its corporate identity.
In terms of envelope design, the most widely used includes the logo in the bottom left of the
front and the data from the company below (although the envelope only includes postal mail
data: company name, address, zip code and town). We may also include the telephone number
on the envelope. When using window envelopes, we must make sure that the logo and data
are not visible through it.

To properly insert DIN A4 letter paper in an
American envelope, we must fold the paper into
three parts, as shown in Figure 7.6.
Finally, half-sheet envelopes (26 x 18.5 cm) are also
frequently used; they can contain a sheet folded
in half. And you may also find full-folio envelopes
(32x22cm),whichareusedtosendcontracts andor
documents that cannot be folded. 1
Fig. 7.6. Folded A4 letter.


8. Write a business letter in Spanish with and without abbre-
viations. Try to use the most common for business corres-
pondence.
9. In Unit 1 we defined the different types of companies.
What abbreviations do we use to refer to the different legal
forms?

WW

142. Written communication within the company {

© E. Computer applications and formats for business
correspondence
The documents generated by the company in its internal communication (and some also for
external agents, such as business letters) are usually written with the support of software
applications that make this task easier, both for editing and proofreading.
The use of computer applications in the development of documents for business entails cer-
tain advantages. First, word processing programs, such as Word®© (Fig. 7.7) or OpenOfflce©,
include a spell checker that can be automatically applied to documents according to the de-
fault language (some email systems do it too), provided that this tool is properly configured
and enabled. In addition, these programs may include grammar checkers.
With regard to formal aspects concerning the format, there are several recommendations for
the margins that should be used in business correspondence:
* Top margin: 3 cm to 4 cm.
+ Right margin: 2 cm to 3 cm.
+ Left margin: 3 cm to 4 cm.
+ Lower margin 2 cm to 3 cm.
In turn, the body of the letter usually begins at a distance of triple spacing from the greeting
(by default, line spacing in Word © is 1.15, but a single 1 spacing is also valid and commonly
used). The distance between paragraphs must be a double spacing.
If we don’t know how to start a business letter, we can use online templates that show the
proper format and/or practical cases of business correspondence.
® 3.2. Commercial documents
A commercial document is generated as a result of the delivery of goods or services by
businesses.
There are two main groups of commercial documents: sales documents, which are those
arising from commercial transactions performed by companies (order proposal, delivery note
and invoice), and payment documents, which are those used to certify that a certain amount
of money has been delivered (check, bill of exchange and promissory note).
© A. Sales documents
In this section we will study the documents arising from the trading relationships between
companies. In general, the relationship between buyers and suppliers generates a document
flow such as this one:

Request for information or offer




o
Offer fs
fe uw
> a
mn Ss
Order 7)


Response to the order: invoice, bill

Scheme 7.1. Regular document flow in a sale process.



Onografia y gramdtica: Espatal (Espaa, internacional [2 mea]
tse enconbd SS
Flyert[o volsates “ Oni una ree
at (Omit today
| [ Aaresaeal deoenana
‘Suggrencias: 7
es -
Fives (a SO
Fiuves 5 Cambgar todas
uyera =
Flyer ‘Agtocorreccin
rover -| i
Idioma del @coonana: Espero! (Espafls, mtermaccray) [=]
7 Reyer gramética
Qpoones... ‘Cancer
Fig. 7.7. Spelling and grammar checker
in Word. As you can see, the program
highlights a term that is not included in
its dictionary and suggests other terms;
then, we can change this term once or
every time that it appears on the text.


Examples
If you want to see models of busi-
ness letters, visit:
http://office.microsoft.com/
es-hn/templates/carta-diseno-
comercial-TC010067038.aspx

‘fa

143. { Written communication within the company

OB. Request for information or offer
When an employer wants to buy a product or to hire a service from another company, he
or she may request information about that product or service or about offers; this request
usually includes amounts, purchase prices and delivery times.
Due to the costs involved in the supply of goods or services (handling in the warehouse,
preparation, distribution and delivery...), when making an order, companies tend to group
together a comprehensive list of requests in a single document, so planning is needed. For the
same reason, it is usual to ask the supplier to confirm availability of the products or services
that are being ordered before delivery, in order to make corrections that may arise.
In addition to the amounts, purchase prices and delivery times, there are other factors to be
agreed, such as discounts, possible financing arrangements, insurance covering goods, and so on.
Many companies have their own order forms; they provide them to their customers, who
only have to fill them in and send them back by postal mail, fax or courier to make requests.
In other cases, the order is placed electronically through forms that are usually provided in the
websites of supplier companies.
When there is no order form or when it is not available, the structure of the order letter
should be similar to the following example (Fig. 7.8):
»
“2 “Header, including the letterhead and logo, if any. In any
CLETE ALICATADOS INGLETE, S.L. case, contact information must be included.





CIF B89878787
C/ Viejo Camino, 3
43206 Tarragona
28 de abril de 2010
Addressee. This information may appear on the right or
on the left. If you know the person's name, you should
include it too.



Asunto: Pedido
Re RS Date. It is placed on the right or on the left, but never
Estimado sefior: centred.
r
Le agradeceriamos que nos enviase la siguiente mercancia:
500 cajas azulejos “aguamarina’” (20 unidades) Subject and reference of the business letter. Some ex-
200 cajas azulejos “rustico” (40 unidades) perts hold that the reference of the business letter
La mercancia serd recogida de sus almacenes en el plazo de (an internal code identifying the letter) should not appear
cinco dias tras la recepcidn de esta carta por un operario in the copy that is sent.
de mi empresa.
Le recordamos que las condiciones de pago pactadas son:
. , ———$—$—— nr , i
- 50% al contado en efectivo a la entrega de la mercancia Body of the business letter. The content itself.
- Resto mediante cheque nominativo cruzado en el plazo
de una semana tras la recepcién de la factura
Signature. The position of the person who signs the letter
Sin otro particular se despide atentamente. . .
|
5 |
is usually included here.
Antonia G6mez
Fig. 7.8. Order letter.



OJ C. Offer of professional services
The way to raise awareness of the professional services provided by companies or
professionals is through advertising or also with a document (usually a letter) in which the
sender explains a proposal to carry out certain services for a potential customer. In fact,
this is an advertising document that explains the advantages of hiring the service and the
disadvantages of not doing so.
a”

144. Written communication within the company {

Here we can see a sample letter to provide professional services, written with the intention
of attracting the attention of the target company (Fig. 7.9):
Fecha 19/10/2011
Estefania Lopez Martinez.
Gerente
Grupo de empresas Lopez Martinez
Poligono industrial La Rueda, s/n
15050 Isla Cristina (Huelva)
Estimada Sra.:
Me comunico con usted a los efectos de presentarle nuestros servicios de asesoria fiscal,
laboral y contable.
Los costes asociados a la gesti6n administrativa pueden reducirse drasticamente a través
de una asesoria profesional como la que ofrecemos. Nuestros asesores disponen de am-
plios conocimientos y experiencia profesional.
Ofrecemos:
- Asesoria contable. - Impuestos (AEAT, locales, etcétera).
- Gestién de néminas. - Obtencisn y gestién de subvenciones.
- Negociacién con entidades financieras.
Todo ello con la flexibilidad y seguridad necesarias para sus necesidades y requerimientos.
Ademas, garantizamos contractualmente la confidencialidad de todos sus datos.
Adjunto encontrara una propuesta detallada con el precio conjunto de nuestros servicios
y los precios de cada una de las opciones que puede contratar por separado.
Por favor, no dude en consultar cualquier duda que le surja sobre esta informaci6n.
Atentamente,
OQ
Juan José Pérez Lépez
Pérez Lopez Asesores. C/ Cardenales, n° 17. 15000 Huelva. Tel.: [phone] E-mail: [email protected]
Fig. 7.9. Sample letter offering professional services.
In addition to these documents related to the sale, the following table includes other three
documents: order proposal, delivery note and invoice.

Order proposal igaemse GYD Fa 31 6662331
+ Adocument by which the buyer or customer agrees to acquire the goods ordered from the
supplier.

+ It is always signed by the person who makes the request, that is to say, the customer, and it is a —_ : —= = -
subject to approval by the recipient, that is to say, the supplier.
+ Each company will settle its own order form according to its own needs and to its activity.

Delivery note
+ Document annexed to the delivery of goods. It is issued by the supplier or seller and it includes
the goods that are delivered. The customer uses it as a reference to check the items that have
been received, and the supplier uses it as a proof of having delivered the goods or services.

Table 7.6. Sales documents in business (cont.).

145. { Written communication within the company


Invoice
A document that legally justifies the implementation of a sales transaction. It is legally provided
by the Royal Decree 1496/2003, on November 28th, which passes the regulation governing billing
obligations, and amends the Regulation on Value Added Tax. This regulation, in turn, is amended
by the Royal Decree 87/2005, on January 31st. It must include:
a) Number and, if appropriate, series. The numbering of invoices within each series will be
correlated. Invoices may be issued by separate series when there are grounded reasons.
b) Date of issue.
c) Full name and full corporate name, both of the person or company issuing the invoice and the
recipient.
d) Tax Identification Number (NIF). ’
e) Full address of seller and buyer.

f) Description of transactions, including all the data required for settling the VAT base, the price,
including unit price before taxes, and any discount or offer that is not included in the |
unit price. ——
g) VAT rates applicable to the operations.

h)VAT share resulting from the application of the tax rate to the amount before taxes.
i) The date when transactions were done (delivery date, etc.).

Table 7.6. Sales documents in business.
© D. Payment documents
Finally, we will study the four usual payment documents in corporate transactions: receipts,
checks, promissory notes and bills of exchange.






= ark
st de
Receipt (noni de
Document issued as a proof of having received a certain amount of money. ieee aol A
’ ue te 200
Banco Dinero
Cheque ect te Tada) 28
ZAI Madrid fur €
por ethe cheque a ul
Order given by the holder of a bank account to deliver a certain amount of money to a third party. peo
Cheques are filled on forms provided by credit institutions as chequebooks, with a specific number : ee ee ee ee
for each cheque.

M's 07 7a5s4


Banco Dinero
sal Madr

Vendmdents de ret
Promissory note /oRtITE Rael at COMPRONLTO A GAA CB NNO RAEABO
Document issued by the debtor (buyer) by which agrees to pay a sum of money to another. = = = ze



aucszeas.
Bill of exchange
~ SL =
Increasingly obsolete commercial document drawn on stamped paper.



Table 7.7. Payment documents in business.
a“

146. Written communication within the company {

Activities
10. Do you know what an electronic invoice is? Does it have the same value as a
conventional invoice? Find information to answer at http://www.facturae.es
11. Look at this bill of exchange:
tenretnaiete Ai Conte qd) woe FUrOS y= #1.000.- €# ©)
Tecoma la vECAMBIO 4 ES O08 (445 de Julio de 2008 6)
expresado 2 Sociedad Labrador S. A(6)
Ia canidad de (importa to
Mil euros----(7) eh
Persona o entidad:
CLASE 19%

@ A 0682835
ap
LIBRADOR:
@ y domibciliop
Oe
P.P Sociedad Labrador
en él domicilio de page siguiente:
‘OER CORNED UTE ore
0128 0338 75 4121012365
ena @entidad Banco Dineros
Direccién w oficina:' Pyerta de Toledo, 25 (8)
Poblacidin: 28019 Madrid
ACEPTO Cléusulas:
Fecha 01/03/2008 umaoo Sociedad Labrador S.A.
Fina) Nombre: Plaza del rey, 5
Domicilio: 28019 Madrid
Poblacién:
Cc.

PP. Sociedad Librada
Provincia

Tie orlipar omy opecin for paar anced pars sepeion Pe

Can you tell what the numbers in the image stand for?
a Important
Corporate law provides the
procedure for meeting requests
in company boards, as well as
the means by which they should
be sent.
For example, the Annual General
Meeting must be convened with
a notice published in the Official
Gazette of the Mercantile Registry
(BORM) and one of the largest
newspapers in the province, with
a minimum of fifteen days before
it takes place. The notice must
state the date of meeting and all
issues to be addressed; it may also
include a second date in the event
that a second meeting is needed.
A minimum period of 24 hours is
mandatory between the first and
the second meeting.
3.3. Internal
documents
Now we will study the main docu-
ments used by companies to ca-
rry out written communications
within them.
0 A. Meeting
request
A meeting request is a docu-
ment to officially call certain
people to attend a meeting
or assembly.
It should include the date, time
and place of meeting and its
agenda. The agenda is formed by
the list of issues to be dealt with or
discussed at the meeting. In most
meeting requests, the first issue
is to read and pass the minutes
of the previous meeting, and the
last point is usually called “any
other business” (ruegos y pregun-
tas), referring to further questions
on topics that haven't been ad-
dressed.
Let’s look at this example of mee-
ting request:
CONVOCATORIA DE REUNION
En cumplimiento de lo dispuesto en el articulo 25
de los Estatutos, se convoca a los socios a la Junta
General Ordinaria que tendra lugar el préximo 16 de
diciembre de 2011, a las 11:00 horas en primera convo-
catoria, en la sede central de la empresa, 0 en segunda
convocatoria, el dia siguiente a la misma hora y en el
mismo lugar.
Orden del dia:
1. Aprobacion del acta de la reunién anterior.
2. Aprobacién de los presupuestos del ejercicio 2011.
3. Ruegos y preguntas.
Se hace constar el derecho que corresponde a todos
los socios de obtener de la sociedad, de forma
inmediata y gratuita, los documentos que han de ser
sometidos a la aprobacién de la Junta.
V2 B.° del Presidente El Secretario
Fig. 7.10. Meeting request.

iy

147. { Written communication within the company

© B. Meeting minutes
The minutes are the written statement of what happened and was discussed and agreed
during a meeting or assembly.
This document must reflect at least the following issues:
+ Place, date and time of the meeting.
* Name of the attendees.
+ Issues included in the agenda.
+ Results obtained in the discussions of each issue, and the results of voting, if any.
+ Agreements reached.
+ Interventions of the attendees in the last part, “any other business”.
+ End time of the meeting and signing of the attendees. This point is made upon a set
expression such as:
— Porno haber mds asuntos a tratar, se pone fin a la reunion, a las (...) horas del dia de la
fecha.
— Alno haber mds asuntos a tratar, se levanta la sesi6n, a las (...) horas.
The minutes must be written in an impersonal way, in chronological order or grouped by
subject, without omitting any data. The Secretary, who is in charge of writing the minutes
after it is finished, must be neutral.
Before signing the document, its content must be approved by the attendees. Generally,
the minutes are approved at the next meeting, being the first point on the agenda. Finally, the
minutes are recorded in a book prepared for that purpose and known as minute book.
Let’s have a look at this example (Fig. 7.11) of meeting minutes.


Nudm. de acta €3eympi
ACTA N22 DE LA COMISION NEGOCIADORA DEL
| CONVENIO COLECT
REPRESENTANTES DE En Madrid a 14 de febrero de 2011, siendo las
LOS TRABAJADORES 10:45 horas se reunen en la Sala de Juntas de
Fernandez Sanchez, Pablo la empresa, sede en Avenida Margatitas, 5
Garcia Navarro, Teresa (Madrid) las personas al margen
Sanchez Abril, Julio relacionadas como representantes de la parte
. . social y representantes de al direccién para
Gémez Alonso, Jesus instar las negociaciones del | Convenio colec-
Pérez Ruiz, Pedro tivo de la empresa Gympi, S.A.
Gil Vazquez, Luisa ORDEN DEL DiA:
Cuestidn previa.
Attendees on the margin: 1/3 of the paper,
although in this example is more than half.
Text on the right starting with fixed expression:
“En (town) a (date)...”.
ASESORES Agenda + development of the meeting.
Serrano Sanchez, Luis
Rubio Ortiz, Paula
Marin Ramos, José Manuel
Torres Navarro, Daniel
Blanco Castro, Silvia
REPRESENTANTES
DE LA DIRECCION
Mujfioz Mufioz, Samuel
Abril Delgado, Julio
Garcia Gonzalez, Antonio
Sant Navarro, Ana
FIRMAS DE LOS REPRESENTANTES
La parte social mayoritariamente propone que
las intervienciones en esta mesa se recalcan
comenzando siempre por las secciones
sindicales mas representativas y por los menos
representantes.
La direcci6n propone a su vez a la sede social
las cuestiones de procedimiento para esta
mesa negociadora, siguientes:
- Limitar el tiempo de reunién hasta las
14:30 h.
- Hacer un receso a mitad de cada reuni6n.
Sin mas asuntos que tratar, se levanta la sesion 4
alas 13.00h.

Fig. 7.11. Example of meeting minutes.
a“
Interventions and agreements.
Fixed text to finish: “Sin mas asuntos que tratar, se
levanta la sesion a las...”.

148. Written communication within the company {

OD C. Internal note
The purpose of an internal note is that different departments or sections of a company
communicate to each other incidents, requests, etc. that may arise among them.
In this type of document, the text must be kind, including handwritten words such as “thank
you”, “please”, etc. (Fig. 7.12).
Fecha: 15.11.2011
De: Jefa del Departamento de Marketing
A: Jefe del Departamento de Contabilidad
Asunto: Peticién de extracto de cuenta
Te ruego que, a la mayor brevedad posible, me re-
mitas extracto de cuenta desde el 1 de enero hasta
la fecha, de nuestro cliente Muebles El Robledo,
S.A., debido a que nos ha solicitado una nueva
campafia de publicidad para el proximo afio.
Wuchas gracias
Fig. 7.12. Internal note.
© D. Greeting
The greeting is a document that is normally used by companies, government agencies
and authorities to express appreciation, invite to events and report takeovers, changes of
registered offices, and so on.
These are currently used as invitations, so more and more avant-garde designs are being used.
Its structure is as follows: it starts with the position of the sender and the word “saluda” in
a prominent place. It is followed by the receiver's name and the specific text of the commu-
nication (information, invitation or as appropriate). In turn, this is followed by the name of
the sender and the farewell, which is usually a polite expression such as “aprovecha la ocasién
para ofrecerle su consideracién mas distinguida”. The last part is the name of the town from
where it is sent and the date (Fig. 7.13).
Keep in mind that a greeting is never signed.

El Director General de Antigiiedades Luque
Saluda
a Don CRISTOBAL UXTA CASTELO y se complace en convocarle para la préxima
inauguracion de una nueva tienda en Salamanca, que se celebrard el préximo
dia 15 de Noviembre a las once de la mafiana.
LUIS LUQUE LERMA
aprovecha la ocasion para ofrecerle su consideracién mds distinguida
Madrid, a 24 de octubre de 2011

Fig. 7.13. Greeting.
iy

149. { Written communication within the company

OO E. Memorandum
Do you know that...?
Memorandum is a Latin word
which means "thing to bear in
mind".

The memorandum is a brief communication between departments or individuals of the
same company to provide certain information or to remind someone of something.
The contents of a memorandum should refer to a single subject and the information must
be clear and accurate. In terms of structure, it is very similar to a letter (Fig. 7.14), but usually
shorter. In addition, the memorandum does not include the usual forms of greeting and fa-
rewell appearing in letters.

C/ Toledo, n.° 6.
21001 HUELVA
DE: Dia. Pilar Marin
Directora de RR.HH.
SUPERMERCADOS MERCASUR, S.L.
MEMORANDUM
A: José Luis Garcia
Jefe de almacén
Asunto: Llamada de atencién por falta de puntualidad.
Se le recuerda por este medio que su horario de trabajo es desde las 7:00 horas hasta las 15:00
horas, con un descanso de 30 minutos. Usted esta incurriendo en faltas repetidas de puntua-
lidad, por lo que si se repite tal situacié6n estaremos obligados a tomar medidas disciplinarias
y nos veremos en la penosa necesidad de descontarle de su némina el porcentaje de salario

Departamento de RR.HH.
proporcional al tiempo perdido.

Fig. 7.14. Memorandum.
OF. Application or request
The request or application is a document used to request a service to the authority or
person that can grant it.
This document has a fixed structure; due to its frequent use, there are printed models in which
you only need to fill in the different sections.
Let’s look at the structure of the application (Fig. 7.15):


D. ALBERTO RUIZ SANZ, empresario individual, natural a
de Avila, con domicilio en c/ San Francisco, n° 25, 3.° E,
con DNI 48714652
EXPONE: <—
QUE es propietario de un local comercial, situado en
la calle Santo Domingo, 14 de esta localidad, en el que
desea instalar una carniceria.
QUE dispone de los proyectos de reforma del local,
asi como el correspondiente a las instalaciones requeri-
das para la actividad citada, cuyas copias adjunto, y es
por lo que,
SOLICITA: <«—
Le sea concedida la correspondiente licencia de obras.
Avila, 23 de febrero del 2011
ALBERTO RUIZ SANZ
ILMO. SR. ALCALDE DEL AYUNTAMIENTO DE AVILA ~~

Fig. 7.15. Request or application.
>“
Heading: it includes personal data of the person who sends the
request (name and surnames and ID number), address, town, job
and, optionally, date of birth, marital status or other information
that may be of interest.
Body: these are the reasons for the application or request. This
section usually starts with the word “EXPONE”. If there is more
than one reason, each of them will be explained in a separate
paragraph starting with the word “QUE”. The body ends with ex-
pressions like “por la que”, “por lo cual” or “por todo lo expuesto”,
which are the link to the final part of the request.
Petition: here is where the application is explained, always be
preceded by the word “SOLICITA”. It should be brief, because the
details have already been explained in the body.
Farewell: it includes the town, date (usually in letters), signature
and identity of the applicant.
Foot: at the end we will write the status and position of the reci-
pient in capital letters.

150. Written communication within the company {



Case study 3. Types of communication Carlos has read a request for public employment on the Solution:
newspaper; it consists of a competitive exam for an adminis-
a) He must fill in and deliver an application or request.
trative assistant position, and decides to apply.
b) Article 71 bis states that:
iver?
a) What type of document must Carlos deliver? A responsible statement is a document by which a person
b) What are the responsibility statements before public admi- declares before the Administration that he or she meets the
nistrations? Search for information on Title VI of the law requirements to possess or exercise a right, that he or she has
30/1992 on this matter (http://www.boe.es/aeboe/consul- documents supporting this right and that he or she undertakes
tas/bases_datos/act.php?id=BOE-A-1992-26318). to keep such requirements during the performance of this right.


Activities
12. Read Case study 3 again and write the application that Carlos should deliver in order
to apply for the competitive exam.
These are his personal data:
Carlos Ruiz Ortega DNI: 51794562X C/ Juan Ruiz de Apodaca, n° 5. Almeria
The application must be sent to the Mayor of Almeria.
13. Angela has lost her bachelor’s degree and she needs it to make a competitive exam.
She needs to apply for an original copy of her degree. Write the application that she
must deliver to Instituto Clara de Campoamor in Valladolid. These are her personal
data:
Angela Espejo Sanz = DNI: 52694374B w_C/ Amapola, n° 7, 5° D. 47017-Valladolid
The request must be sent to the headmaster.
A certificate is a document issued by an authority to state a particular event or status
(services, studies, payments, etc.).
O G. Certificate
It has legal value, and may be issued both by government agencies and companies.
lts content is divided into three parts (Fig. 7.16):
Heading: the letterhead of the agency or company that issues it will appear on the top,
followed by the name, surnames and position of the person certifying.
Body: it begins with the word “CERTIFICO” or “CERTIFICA” (as it may be written in first or
third person). This will include the applicant’s personal data and the fact or circumstance
that is certified. We must be careful with figures and dates, which should be written in
figures and letters to avoid mistakes or subsequent alterations.
Watch out!

Currently, public authorities have
Closing: it includes: many application forms availa-
ble so that citizens may perform
different procedures. These can
be found on their websites and
— Place and date. The date is always written in letters and is preceded by any of these
expressions:
Y para que conste a los efectos oportunos, firma (firmo) el presente certificado en (place)... most are in a PDF format that can
. be filled and sent electronically {if
Y para que conste donde y cuando proceda, firma... we have an electronic signature)
or printed to be delivered where
Y para que conste a los efectos oportunos, ya peticién del interesado (interesada), firmo... appropriate
— Signature of the person certifying, whose data are leading the certificate.

iy

151. { Written communication within the company

Let’s look at an example of certificate:

Vocabulary

Target or potential customer.
Person or persons that are more
likely to buy a good or service
because of their specific age, gen-
der, purchasing power and other
characteristics.


Fig. 7.17. Persuasive advertising of a
famous yogurt brand.
La prevencion es —
la mejor medida

cts « CGRPER ES
Fig. 7.18. Part of the brochure of a
campaign to prevent influenza A
(informative advertising).
http://www.informaciongripea.es/
descargas.html
>”

AMBIENTADORES FLOR
YX c/ Estrellas y cielos, 55
46002 Valencia
DONA ANA LOPEZ
GERENTE DE AMBIENTADORES FLOR, S.L.
CERTIFICA:
Que el trabajador JAIME ALVAREZ SALGADO, durante el afio 2009, ha percibido
un salario bruto, por todos los conceptos de: 15255,00€ (QUINCE MIL DOS-
CIENTOS CINCUENTA Y CINCO EUROS).
Los descuentos y retenciones practicadas al citado trabajador, en el mismo
periodo, han sido los siguientes:
+ Retencién IRPF: 2520,74€ (DOS MIL QUINISENTOS VEINTE EUROS CON
SETENTA Y CUATRO CENTIMOS).
+ Descuento de la Seguridad Social: 1260,24€ (MIL DOSCIENTOS SESENTA
EUROS CON VEINTICUATRO CENTIMOS).
Y para que conste a los efectos oportunos, firma el presente certificado en Va-
lencia, a tres de marzo de 2010.
7
Ana Lépez Maldonado

Fig. 7.16. Certificate.
© 3.4. Promotional texts. The advertising message
Promotional texts try to encourage the public to buy a product or service. The advertisement
they contain is a combination of the text, images, sounds, etc. aimed at encouraging potential
customers to buy something.
An advertising message has the following goals:
Attract the attention of the receiver.
Communicate an idea that matches the advertising purpose.
Make the target remember that idea associated with a product or service.
In any case, as we saw in Unit 1, an advertising message transmits the corporate image.
The strategy of these messages may be informative, that is to say, a description of the
characteristics of a product, or persuasive, that is to say, when it appeals to public feelings.
In Figure 7.17 we can see an example of persuasive advertising, and in Figure 7.18., an example
of informative advertising.

152. Written communication within the company {

It is difficult to classify an advertisement as only persuasive or only informatve; although it
contains information, the usual thing is to find elements aimed at persuasion.
Finally, we shouldn't forget that there are also advertisements that are only aimed at making
the public remember a company or a particular product (for example, those ads that only
show the logo on a coloured background).
Activities
14. Match these objectives of the advertising message with their corresponding role:

a) Encourage to change brands.
b) Suggest new uses for a product.
c) Attract new customers. * Persuade.
d) Maintain the reputation of the product. + Inform.
e) Describe the characteristics of the product. * Remind.
f) Communicate the introduction of a new product.
g) Increase the amount of purchases.
© A. Business card
Business cards for companies have the same role as business cards for individuals: to introdu-
ce themselves and give customers the chance to remember our contact details.
As it transmits a first impression of the company, it must reflect the corporate image. When
printed they can be made of cardboard, magnetic materials, etc.
The content of a business card is very simple: company name, logo, activity and contact
details. If it is the card of an employee of the company, it will also include the name and
position, as well as contact details (phone extension, if any, and email).
O B. Company presentation
The presentation of the company is the document that the company shows potential
customers. It includes:
+ Basic data of the company: name, company name, Tax Identification Number, address,
telephone and other contact details.
+ Products or services provided by the company.
+ An account of performed work by the company to show its technical soundness.
+ Additional data and technical means used to produce goods or services or the reasons that
differentiate the company from its competitors.
As we see, the purpose of this document is to show the capability and professionalism of the
entity for potential customers.
O C. Leaflet
A leaflet is a document in which the company offers information about its products and
the conditions under which customers can buy them.
Unlike the advertising brochure, which is only a list of products and prices, the leaflet includes
detailed information about the nature and conditions of the products or services that the
company offers. Therefore, the customer can claim in the event that the company fails to
provide the goods or services in the way they appear on the leaflet.

Web
Further information about:
+ Advertising:
http://tv_mav.cnice.mec.es/
Audiovisuales/Alumnos/uni-
dad3.html
Definitions of advertising, pro-
paganda, promotion and public
relations:
http://www. promonegocios.
net/mercadotecnia/definicio-
nes-mercadotecnia.html )



Examples
We can find an example of a com-
pany presentation letter at:
http://www.montajesnoain.
com/files/Presentacion-NOAIN-
0709.pdf

"a

153. >, Written communication within the company


Fig. 7.19. Ways to fold a three-page
leaflet: c fold and accordion fold.
o
|
iViva la Republica
Independiente de mi Casa!
aa ee cee
Fig. 7.20. Example of advertising
catalogue that can be found both printed
and in digital version: http://www.ikea.
com/ms/es_ES/virtual_catalogue/
online_catalogues.html. On-line
catalogues are not necessarily printed in
paper.
>”
In some cases, the law requires the seller to deliver a leaflet to the buyer before entering into
the sales transaction, such as when hiring investment funds or when granting mortgage loans.
Leaflets can take various forms:

Small leaflets in a single sheet with little weight (thin). They are delivered in
large quantities and often in the street.

Like the flyer, it has a single sheet, which can be printed on both sides.
However, it has a larger size and paper quality.

Leaflets that are folded in half. Therefore, diptychs have a front and a back
cover, such as books. The cover design should attract potential customers,
and the back cover should include contact details.

Leaflets that are folded twice (Fig. 7.19), so that there are three parts. When
folded, we only see the front and back covers. As in diptychs, the
cover must be attractive and contact details should appear on the back cover,
leaving the inner pages for information. The weight here is very important,
as very thick paper won't let us fold the sheet properly.

Table 7.8. Common formats of leaflets.
© D. Advertising catalogue
An advertising catalogue is a list of products or services provided by the company with
their corresponding prices.
Catalogues (Fig. 7.20) are structured with a cover, the content and a back cover. In turn,
the content has multiple pages.
They are usually made of good quality paper (as this is a very important product for the
company and is usually long-lasting) and printed in colour with illustrations (photographs
and/or drawings).
© E. Press release
A press release is a document that the company uses to send information about a topic,
person or product to the media for public dissemination.
Unlike previous documents, the press release is not an advertisement itself.
It must refer to an event that involves a story or fact interesting enough for the media to
decide to publish it. As it is like a piece of news, the press release has a short life.
When writing a press release, we must be brief and accurate. Unlike pure advertising
message, we must avoid adjectives and try to give credibility to the message.
In general, journalists who receive a press release check the reliability of the source before
publishing the news, so we must avoid introducing non-testable data or opinions.

154. Written communication within the company {


* Place and date of issue :
efi mowstar | Po
* Headline NOTA DE PRENSA
PRESS RELEASE
* Content of the release PS en
lees EL EQUIPO CICLISTA “MOVISTAR TEAM" MUESTRA LAS PRIMERAS
* Basic information of the entity |. ee
that sends the information ="
(Estes son les valores sobre tos que se ha constrwsgs la Imagen ee
* Contact details

+ —Elequipo ciciista espafiol comenzaré a rodar en 2011 oon wna imagen insovadora
[> Madrid, 16 do diiemben oe 2010, £1 Movestar Team muestra los cetaes el mute que vestiran sus
cloitstas la prisima temporada. 6) maitiof ceenta con un disafo tmico, innovador, especial, diferente y elegante.
Mevistar Team,


<p> twits 2A atten ne (1 movistar
Fig. 7.21. Press release.
VA Activities
15. Do you know what an e-press release is? Make a research a) Logo.
and give an example. Then develop a scheme of the main
advantages and disadvantages regarding traditional press b) Name of the house.
releases.
c) Services provided.
Hint: you can use the information at this link: http://www. d) Prices
razonypalabra.org.mx/anteriores/n32/orojas.html
‘
16. Design a leaflet to explain the services of offered by an Explain the selection of text and images that you have
agritourism house. The minimum elements that it must made on the basis of the image of your company that you
contain are:
want potential customers to receive.

© 3.5. The report
The report is a type of communication that is used to transmit business information
both internally and externally.
This document is generally prepared at the request of a superior or a client, and the infor-
mation it contains is very useful for decision-making.
It is generally used to present, in a clear and detailed way, a summary of the events or
activities that have been performed or planned. In addition to objective data, a report can
offer interpretations, conclusions and even recommendations.
© A. Types of reports
The reports are categorized according to three criteria: content, scope and intent, as we can
see in the following table:

for a job.
These contain information relating to people and are used, for example, in the process of hiring new staff
Personal for the company. They may be requested to a third party who may provide references on the candidate


need to expand facilities and so on.
They refer to the activity of the company or to information of its interest. They may discuss the
Commercial evolution of sales, the number of defaults, changes in demand, competitor actions, absenteeism, the

Internal They are developed by the company staff and include internal information.



External The author is a person or entity outside the company.

Table 7.9. Report types according to their content, scope and intent (cont.).
“a

155. { Written communication within the company


Descriptive
The author merely states the facts clearly and objectively, in a logical order. They can be used,
for example, to describe the manufacturing process of a product.


Assessing
This type of report does not only describe the data, but also analyses and interprets them subjectively.
It includes recommendations and conclusions.

Persuasive


These are intended to convince the reader of an opinion or idea; therefore, data must be both explained
and proven.
Table 7.9. Report types according to their content, scope and intent.
OH Spanish assistant —————_
Ya hemos comentado que en
inglés hay palabras que pueden
funcionar como nombres y como
verbos. Report es otra de esas
palabras; no solo la usamos para
decir “informe”, sino que también
se utiliza como verbo dentro del
Ambito de la empresa para decir de
quién depende cada trabajador.
Por ejemplo, si yo fuera comercial
de una empresa, podria decir: /
report to the sales manager. S/

Cover
© B. Steps to prepare a report
You should follow these steps to write a report:
1. Develop a scheme with the main points.
2. Identify sources of information.
3. Collect data.
4. Select what is important.
5. Organize information.
6. Write the report.
Before preparing a report, we need to know why we do it. There are several questions we
must ask ourselves: What information should it contain? What are the main and secondary
points? What terminology do we use? Developing a good report implies answering these
and other questions.
A report should be understandable, brief and accurate; it should be written directly and
impersonally and should be monographic, that is to say, deal with a single topic.
© C. Structure of the report
As we have already studied, there are different types of reports, but the structure is always
the same, regardless of the information it contains.
Thus, the contents of a report can be divided into three parts, and these, in turn, into several
sections:

It is very important, since it is the first impression that the reader has. The cover page must contain
the title, the name of the person, department or company that requests it, the author’s name and his
or her position in the company, as well as the date and place of issue.

Index
It reflects the organization of content; it should contain the first and second-level sections within and
the page number where each section begins. It is also common at the end of the report.

Introduction
In this part, the author or authors of the report will specify the subject and how to deal with it,
so that the reader has an idea of the content or body of the report.

Summary

This section is not included when the report is too short. It is very useful, as it allows the reader to
know the essence of the report.
Table 7.10. General structure of a report (cont.).
>”

156. Written communication within the company {


This is where factual information appears. It should have a clear structure so that it can be properly
understood.

Conclusion
This part includes the personal interpretation of the facts and recommendations. It is the answer
that the author or authors give to a specific question made by the person or entity that requested
the report such as: should we hire new staff? Should we increase production? Is it advisable to open a
new branch?

Annexes
Sections including all data, tables, graphics... which are strictly required for the overall understanding
of the report.

Bibliography
It includes a list of books, articles and reviews dealing with the subject of the report that have been
used as an information source to produce it.



Table 7.10. General structure of a report.
The structure explained in Table 7.10 should be applied according to the length of the report
and to the type of report. If we want to write a descriptive report, we will never include a
conclusion; however, this part is essential in those reports that assess a situation.
Activities
17. Use the elements we provide (an image and two articles from the newspaper EI Pass)
to prepare a written report on the evolution of car sales in Spain.
“Las ventas de coches caen el 37,6% en octubre” (available at the following link:
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/economia/ventas/coches/caen/376/octubre/
elpepieco/20101103elpepieco_8/Tes).
“Las ventas de coches se desploman por cuarto mes consecutivo” (available at the
following link: http://www.elpais.com/articulo/economia/ventas/coches/desplo-
man/cuarto/mes/consecutivo/ elpepueco/20101102elpepueco_5/Tes).
ASi VA EL MERCADO
VENTAS EN EL MES DE JULIO VENTAS ACUMULADAS EN 2010
$2.167 686.328
Diferencia respecto a julio de 2009
—24,0 (82.167 |


= 124.756 saves
22 102.873
98.404 96.639 90553 91.281

77.373 93.637
70,130
58.509
Jul. Ago. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dic. Ene. Feb. Mar. Abr. May. Jun. Jul.

Fuente: Instituto de Estudios de Automacién.

“a

157. { Written communication within the company


63 Case study 4. Reporting
In recent months, the courier company URGENTEX, S.A. has
suffered several breakdowns in their vans and motorcycles, so
it is considering renewing its fleet. Before making a decision,
the company manager, Luisa Roce Gutiérrez, requested a re-
port the head of the purchasing department and expenditure
management, Alejandro Alvarez Salgado.






INFORME SOBRE LA RENOVACION
DEL PARQUE DE VEHICULOS
Una vez recopilados todos los datos,
se ha procedido a elaborar un estu-
dio del conjunto del parque del que se
obtiene el resultado siguiente:
- El parque actual esta compuesto por
cinco furgonetas y siete motocicletas.
- La edad media de los vehiculos es
de 6,8 afios.
- El estado general de los vehiculos
es aceptable, pero se ha detectado
un aumento preocupante en el nu-
mero de averias durante el Ultimo afio
que ha supuesto un coste de 23873 €
en reparaciones.
- Las averias suponen retrasos en los
envios y por tanto, pérdidas econdé-
micas y de imagen para la empresa.
4
CONCLUSION
- Es necesaria la renovacién del par-
que de vehiculos.
- Dicha renovacién debe iniciarse de
inmediato para los vehiculos con mas
de cinco afios de antigliedad y comple-
tarse en un plazo maximo de dos afios.
- Debido a que adquirir todos los ve-
hiculos supone una gran inversién y
que los costes en reparaciones es-
tan siendo muy elevados, seria mas
rentable para URGENTEX, S.A. con-
tratar el uso de los vehiculos con una
empresa de renting, que se encarga-
se de su mantenimiento.
- El coste de contratar con una em-
presa de renting oscila, segtin los
presupuestos consultados, entre
los 16 OOOE y los 19 OOOE anuales.
Solution:
a7 UrgenteX ,S.A. tay UrgenteX ,S.A. tay UrgenteX ,s.A.
INFORME INDICE INTRODUGCION
RENOVAGION DEL PARQUE Con el fin de analizar la conveniencia
DE VEHICULOS Introduccién 3 de renovar el parque de vehiculos de
enna eenensaeneeeseeneneees la empresa URGENTEX, S.A., se ha
EXPOSICION......ccccseeseeeeeesenenes 4 solicitado al Dpto. de Logistica infor-
Elab : we . i”
a orado Por CON lUSION.....ceeeseeeseeseeneeeees 5 macion sobre la situacion actual de
Alejandro Alvarez Salgado los vehiculos. Los datos solicitados
Dpto. de Compras Anexos 6 de cada vehiculo han sido: antigiie-
dad, estado, kilometraje actual y nu-
Solicitado por: mero de averias que ha sufrido en el
Luis Roce Gutiérrez Ultimo afio (Ver Anexo |).
Director de URGENTEX, S.A.
Por otro lado, se ha analizado si es
; mas ventajoso que la empresa ad-
Granada, a 15 de noviembre de 2011 quiera los vehiculos o que realice un
contrato de renting.
2 3
#27 UrgenteX ,s.A. Za] UrgenteX. ,s.A. iy UrgenteX ,s.A.
ANEXO
DATOS DEL PARQUE MOVIL

Vehiculo | Afios | Km | Averia | Estado



Furgo 1 XXX | XXX XXXX XXXX
Furgo 2 XXX | XXX XXXX XXXX
Moto 1 XXX | XXX XXXX XXXX


AVERIAS DE FURGONETAS/MOTOS
10
—— Furgo
5
0 —— Moto
© 2 2
@ o Oo
g + §
s
&


>*

158. Written communication within the company {

@ 4. E-mail and netiquette
The e-mail is characterized by the emission of the message via the Internet. Unlike other
forms of communication that use the network, the e-mail doesn’t require that both parties
are on-line at the same time (as it happens in chat rooms) and is not public (as it happens with
forums).
The e-mail works through two pathways:
* Through software known as e-mail clients (as Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird,
Eudora, etc.).
+ Directly through websites, the so-called webmail (such as Gmail).
In postal mail, the main requirement is to have an address where to send and receive
letters; the email has the same requirement, but in this case the address is electronic. All email
addresses have the following format:
[email protected]. For example: [email protected], [email protected],
or [email protected].
As you can see, the address is divided in two parts by the @ symbol (Figure 7.22). The left
part is the user name; it is case sensitive and punctuation marks and symbols are not allowed.
4.1. Netiquette
The netiquette is a set of social conventions that we must follow when we communi-
cate over networks.
The term netiquette is a French word derived from net (network or the Internet) and etiquette
(courtesy, good manners).
Netiquette rules, as well as courtesy rules, are a cultural creation. That is to say, they have
been developed by consensus of Internet users, regardless of legal regulations. In particular,
some common netiquette rules for e-mail communications are the following:
+ If you use the email of the company and not the personal one, you should check the terms
of use with the corresponding person in charge. For example: Gabriela Diaz acts improperly
when she uses the company email to send pictures from her last trip to her friends.
+ Unless we use encryption, we must assume that this kind of communication is not secure,
so we should avoid sending confidential information. For instance: the company Carnicas
del Duero, S.L. makes an order by means of a non-secure email providing all required data
to access one of its bank accounts.
+ We must keep in mind copyright rules when reproducing documents. For example: José
Diaz sent several manuals for copyrighted computer programs by e-mail to several
colleagues within the company.
+ We must clearly identify the receiver. Sometimes, several people use the same computer
and/or the same email account. For example: the email address atencionalcliente@empre-
saejemplo.es may be checked by different people in that department. Therefore, we must
write the name of the person we are addressing to.
+ We must sign the e-mail to show the name of the sender. For example, an e-mail sent by
[email protected] doesn’t indicate the sender. However, this can be solved by typing the name
of the sender at the end of the message: Helena Garcia Yanez.
+ The e-mail system is not as private as it seems. We must be careful with the things we
write, as other people might read them.



@ Sap (iM

0 Do you know that...?

Fig. 7.22. Example of e-mail structure.

The Internet domain is a name
that identifies a person or
company in the network. Domains
are grouped by geographical or
thematic networks that can be
identified by an extension; this
allows us to locate the domain
or to find out its main purpose.
Examples of domain labels include
the following:
.es: Spain.
.com: generic domain. It comes
from the word commercial, so
most of these addresses are used
for business purposes. However,
they can also be used for
non-commercial purposes.
.eu: this is the geographic domain
for the European Union.
.org: organization. This is mostly
used by non-governmental orga-
nizations (NGOs).
.edu: educational agency.
yy
iy

159. { Written communication within the company

© Watch out! —————————_
In order to use an email account,
we must follow certain steps to
set it up. In general, we have
to fill out an electronic form in
which we have to choose a user
name and password. We may also
provide additional information
such as personal data, address or
photo.
One of the most popular webmail
services is Gmail©. You can see
the steps to configure it here:
http://www.gmail.com.
/
3 Case study 5. Developing an oral message
Consider the netiquette of this email:
Mensaje sin enviar.
Dew. | | [email protected]


seen Mensaje reenviado ----
De: <[email protected]>
Para: <[email protected]>
Enviado: lun,27 septiembre, 2010 11:50
Asunto: Fw: Catalogo
Solution:
following problems:
b) No subject in the message.
VA Activities
a) The sender is not identified.
We must show empathy and think about potential answers: don’t forget that, although
we are looking at the screen, someone will receive what we're writing. If we receive an
email that we don't like, it is best to wait until the next day to answer it, but never write
something that we might regret in a future.
We should not send messages without a subject. We must describe the contents
of the email briefly and clearly. For example: if we want to place an order, the subject of the
message should be something like: “Subject: ordering merchandise’.
We should never include the entire original message in our reply: leave only what is
necessary to give context to the answer.
Delete all e-mail addresses in the message if you are forwarding it.
Use the BBC field (blind carbon copy) to write the addresses when you want to send an
email to several people without stating that one copy was sent to a certain recipient. This
will ensure that the addresses of other persons to whom the message is forwarded are not
public.
Avoid CAPITAL LETTERS: in Internet slang, they mean that you are screaming.
Regardless of these basic rules of netiquette, there might be some exceptions. These rules
are a set of basic tips that must be adapted to every situation; for example, we might work in
a company where the rule is to carbon copy certain employees and to exclude some others.
a | a! he le e a . ope
Lge) [socadenonmateencha.com, crasocedad@ejenpl. com, tercercan@ejerpe, com f) The company that sends the mail is not identified.
cen |
Asunto We could have written it this way:
ESTIMADOS SENORES: Mensaje sin enviar,
PODRIAN MANDARNOS UN CATALOGO DE SUS PRODUCTOS. (Den. } |memoresathotal.com
GRACIAS, Pardon} | miemorese Ghotmel com
In addition to the poor wording of the email, it has the
c) The addresses of all recipients are visible. write our own e-mail address in the field To.

d) Irrelevant information is included in the message (from
the forwarded email).
e) It is written in capital letters.
(cco. } |socedadenonimateiemolo.com presecedsd@rienio,com tercereicmole Seieolo,com
Asunto: | Peticién de catalogo.
Estimados sefiores:
Estariamos interesados en recibir un catdlogo de sus productos ya que creemos
que pueden ajustarse alas necesidades de nuestra empresa.
Atentamente.
Jorge Marcos Alonso, Jefe del Departamento de Operaciones de Noqui, $.L.
With this e-mail, netiquette problems are solved.
Besides, when we don’t want any recipient to know the
rest of e-mail addresses included in the message, we can
J

18. Read the following article and explain what netiquette 2.0 19. Make a list of email suppliers and another list of the possi-
is. What type of Internet communication it is applied to? bilities offered by these types of accounts.
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/portada/Manual/urbani- 20. If you want an Internet domain with the extension .es,
dad/ciberamigos/elpepusoceps/20100425elpepspor_10/Tes what do we have to do? Find the answer on-line.

>”

160. Written communication within the company {



Summary

Hit

Production: handwriting/typewriter/computer/telegraph.
Reproduction: copier/printer/fax/scanner.

Structure: beginning + content + end.
Styles: modern/modified modern/professional/evolved.
Abbreviations.
Customization of letters and envelopes.
Computer applications and formats for business correspondence.

Request for an offer or information/
Sales documents offer of professional services/proposed
order / delivery note/invoice.


Receipt/cheque/promissory note/
Payment documents __| bill of exchange.


Meeting/memorandum/minutes of the meeting/application/
internal note/certificate/greeting.
Aimed at informing, persuading and/or reminding. The advertising
message should transmit the corporate image.

Business card/company presentation/
leaflet (simple, flyer, diptych and
three-page leaflet)/advertising
catalogue/press release.
Types



Scheme > Sources > Data collection > Selection >
Organization > Writing.
Header/Body/Appendix.

iy

161. \
W
{ Written communication within the company


Test review
1. Written communication:
a) Requires less preparation of the message to make it
clear.
b) Is when the receiver writes the message.
c) Means that the longer the text is, the easier to under-
stand.
d)\|mplies that our writings will transmit an image of
ourselves and our own style.
2. Emphasizing a text means:
a) Using short sentences.
b) Highlighting the main idea of the message.
c) Being clear and structured.
d) Complying with spelling and syntax rules.
3. A document model:
a) Is always an official form.
b) Does not include the copy.
c) Explain the right distribution of documents.
d) All of the above.
4. A professional-style business letter:
a) Uses indentation for the greeting and the beginning of
each paragraph.
b) Does not use any indentation.
c) Does not include greeting and farewell.
d) None of the above.
5. The document reflecting that goods have been carried
from the warehouse is:
a) The order.
b) The delivery note.
c) The invoice.
d) The offer.
6. The document by which someone orders unconditionally
the payment of an amount is:
a) A credit note.
b) A cheque.
c) A bill of exchange.
d) A promissory note.
7. An invoice should not include:
a) The invoice number.
b) The name of the acceptor.
c) The VAT base.
d) A description of the transaction.
8. The document used to officially call certain persons to
attend a meeting or assembly is:
a) The minutes.
b) The meeting request.
c) The application.
d) The internal memo.
9. Choose the correct statement concerning the characteris-
tics of an application:
a) The heading should include the name and two sur-
names, ID number, address, hobbies and date of birth.
b) We must write EXPONE in the body exhibit and
SOLICITA in the request, both in capital letters.
c) There's no need to include the date in the farewell.
d) The foot should include the name and two surnames of
the person who will receive the application.
10. The greeting should not contain:
a) The position, name and surnames of the sender.
b) The word SALUDA.
c) The name of the recipient.
d) The signature of the sender.
11. Which document would you use to request a service to the
agency or person who can grant it?
a) A telegram.
b) Aminute.
c) An application.
d) A fax.
12. Which document would a manager use to communicate a
takeover?
a) A greeting.
b) A letter.
c) An e-mail.
d) An internal memo.
13. Which of the following is not an advertising role?
a) Persuade.
b) Inform.
c) Remind.
d) All of the above.
14. Which of the following documents does not contain an
advertising text?
a) A greeting.
b) A leaflet.
c) Acatalogue.
d) A press release.

162. Written communication within the company {



Check your learning
Describe the elements and basic resources of writing
1. What are the advantages of written communication versus
oral communication?
2. List the steps to develop a written text.
3. What can we do for a text to be accurate? And to be
correct?
Select media and channels to develop and transmit
documents
4. Indicate whether the following means are used for the
production or reproduction of documents:
a) Photocopier.
b) Typewriter.
c) Handwriting.
d) Telegraph.
e) Computer.
f) Printer.
g) Scan.
h) Fax.
Apply 3R techniques (Reduce, Reuse, Recycl to documen-
tation)
5. What is the relationship between 3R techniques and the
documents of the company?
Differentiate the structures and styles of writing professio-
nal documents
6. Match each document with its corresponding type:
a) Invoice.
b) Memorandum. 1. Business correspondence.
c) Cheque. 2. Advertising texts.
d) Greeting. 3. Internal documentation.
e) Press release. 4. Protocol texts.
f) Leaflet.
g) Minute.
7. Search the Internet to find the difference between a
cheque, a promissory note and a bill of exchange and
explain them.
8. Search the web for information to define a personal
cheque, a cashier’s cheque and a blank cheque and make a
table with the differences.
9. What is the agenda?
10. What kind of written document must be used in these
situations?
a) Eva Gonzalez Rojo has read in the newspaper a call for
public employment to cover a position of administrative
assistant in a secondary school in A Corufa.
b) The company PRINT, S.A. must inform all shareholders
about the next general meeting.
c) The company VALENCIA SHOES must certify that Jaime
Blanco Ruiz has worked in the company since January
10, 2001.
11. Match each document with its use:
a) Application. 1. Record of what happened and was dis-
cussed and agreed during a meeting.
b) Minutes.
2. Appointment for a meeting or as-
c) Internal note. sembly.
d) Call. 3. Express gratitude, invite to events or
report takeovers, changes of registe-
red office, and so on.
. Communication between depart-
ments of a company.
5. Ask for any service to the agency or
person who can grant it.
6. Brief communication between de-
partments or people withinacompany
to remind someone of something.
7. Verify a particular event or situation
(services, studies, payments, etc.).
e) Memorandum.
f) Certificate. 4
g) Greeting.
Apply techniques of corporate image transmission in
written communications, assessing their importance
12. Design a letterhead for the automotive parts company
Recambiauto, S.L., addressed in Poligono del Rio Ebro, s/n
(Logrofio) and telephone number 555-455455.
13. Write a business letter using the principles set out in the
corresponding section of this unit, fold it and insert it into
a window envelope.
14. Explain the difference between a descriptive and an asses-
sing report.
15. Which are the parts that a report should include?
Write the appropriate document in terms of structure,
terminology and form, according to its purpose and to the
initial situation
16. Write the documents of the buyer and the seller regarding
the order of the following example:

“a

163. a”
{ Written communication within the company


Check your learning
Muy sefiores mios
Les acuso recibo del cataélogo de su empresa, que nos ha
parecido muy interesante. Por lo tanto, les rogamos nos
envien con la mayor celeridad los siguientes productos:
- 20 botellas de litro de aceite de oliva virgen extra,
ref. 222-51, 6,00 €/ botella
- 30 latas de 5 litros de aceite de oliva primera
presion en frio, ref. 210-22, 45 € p/unidad.
Como sistema de pago usaremos un pagaré a 30 dias,
por lo que rogamos nos envien su ntimero de cuenta.
Un saludo cordial (Firma)
17. Fill out a bill of exchange issued by the company
Jamones Montymar, S.L. and that the company Supermer-
cados Garcia, S.A. must pay on 17/11/2011 amounting to
€5000. These are other details needed to fill the bill:
Expiration: 30 days from the date.
Payment by direct debit in Cajasol.
The address of Montymar is C/ de la Paz, 8, Teruel; and
the address of Supermercados Garcia is Avenida de la
Constitucién 285, Zamora.
18. Indicate the minimum contents of the minutes of a
meeting.
19. Consider the following document:
20. What data are missing in the following certificate?


Dojia Inés Gonzalez Valladares, Jefa del departamento
de personal
CERTIFICA:
Que el trabajador JUAN JOSE RUIZ PRIETO, durante el
afo 2009, ha percibido un salario bruto de 18 350,00€.
Los descuentos y retenciones practicadas al citado
trabajador, en el mismo periodo, han sido los siguientes:
* Retencién IRPF: 3 101,25 €.
+ Descuento de la Seguridad Social: 1 752,13 €.
INES GONZALEZ VALLADARES



El Rector de la Universidad de Granada
Saluda
Dia. ISABEL JIMENEZ CORDERO y tiene el honor de
comunicarle que el préximo viernes 17 de diciembre
de 2012 a la 12:30 horas, en el Rectorado de esta
universidad, tendra lugar la toma de posesién de
Dia. Lucia Sanchez Romero como Directora
del Instituto de Idiomas.
JOAQUIN LLANEZ MENDOZA
Aprovecha gustoso esta ocasién para ofrecerle
el testimonio de su mas distinguida consideracién.
Granada, a 10 de diciembre del 2010
a) What type of document is it?
b) Analyse and correct any mistakes you may find.
21. Compose an email asking for information about training
courses for employees of your company. You will need
these data:
a) Company name: Grdficas Norte, S.A. located at
C/ Pelayo, 2, Gijon.
b) You send the e-mail as the head of human resources.
c) The receiver is the training company Formasa S.L.,
located at C/ Betis, 100 (Sevilla).
d) Arepresentative of the company came to your offices to
explain its services, included in a leaflet. The course we
are interested in is called Freeware Office Applications.
e) According to the leaflet, the cost of the course is
€250 per person. Fifty employees are interested. The
representative talked about the possibility of having a
discount for groups of more than thirty people.
Use computer applications of word processing and desktop
publishing, as well as correction tools
22. Compose a business letter in Word© with the following
text using the spell checker to correct possible misspellings
and grammatical mistakes:


Estimado sefiores. Al hechar un vistazo a su catalogo
hemos obserbado que sus ofertas se adaptan a nues-
tras nesecidades por lo que en la ultima reunién que
tubimos los miembro del Consejo de Administracién
decidimos hacer el pedido siguiente:
- Dos cientas cajas de reloges de kuko a 20€ la unidad.
Atentamente.
Francisco Luego, director comercial de Luengo, S.A.

164. omer service.
ice
e and functions.
mer service and
partment.
ustomer service.

Unit
In this unit you'll learn how to:
* Assess the importance of customer
service to the company and identify its
functions, stages and characteristics.
+ Analyse the principles of customer service.
+ Identify the types of phone demands or
claims and manage them.
* Assess the importance of proactive
behaviour to foresee possible problems
in the process.
+ Handle the documents related to manage-
ment of queries, complaints and claims.
* Know consumer protection and apply the
appropriate regulations.

165. 8 The customer service department

© Watch out! ——_
Customer service:
* Is not a passing fad. Nowadays
it is aneed for the company.
Is not temporary. It is a strate-
gic decision that requires daily
practice.
Is not just another sales-related
function: it requires the invol-
vement of everyone working in
the organization.
Is not an expense, rather it is a
permanent source of profitabi-
lity.
Is not a goal, it is part of the
mission of the company.
Is a fundamental business stra-
tegy for staying in the market.

@ i. The customer service department.
Customer service
Customer loyalty is one of the objectives of any company, and for this purpose, the company
must make the customer feel assisted and satisfied with the purchase of a product or with the
performance of the service.
Therefore, the success or failure of the company depends on the proper management of
customer relation, and particularly on satisfaction. Companies that are more aware of it try
to match two fundamental parts: employees and customers, as this will give them a compe-
titive advantage over the others.
In any case, most managers are fully aware of a reality regarding customers: it is more difficult
and expensive to get new customers than to keep those you already have in your portfolio.
Moreover, when a company decides to implement a management system for customer
service is because it is trying to obtain a benefit from it. And that benefit not only depends
on trying to keep the customers and prevent them from going with competitors, but also on
trying to make them trust us in future services.
Therefore, it is a big mistake to leave the customer service development to poorly-trained,
unmotivated staff. Those working on customer service must have equal salaries regarding the
rest of the company. If companies don't follow these lines, they will eventually have negative
consequences on economic and production results.


















/
® 1.1. Principles of customer service
Any customer service relationship is grounded in a number of principles:
are the most important individuals for the organization.
don’t depend on our company. It is our company
that depends on them.
never stop our work. We work in a company, whether
public and private, because customers exist.
are not there to argue with them, and even less
to make them look silly.
come to our company because they seek a good or
service to cover some need. And the company must
provide it in a way so that this process is as beneficial
as possible for both parties.
are not a number. They have emotions and feelings that
we must respect.
Scheme 8.1. Principles of customer service.
Ultimately, the customer is the backbone for the company, since without it the company
VW does not exist.
Activities
1.A customer brings his car to a workshop. Previously, pick up the car. The repair was successful and the estimate
mechanics of the workshop gave him an estimate, assured
him that he wouldn't have to wait and told him that his car
would be ready around six o'clock. At that time, he receives
a phone call from the workshop informing him that he can
was respected. However, in a survey on customer satis-
faction in relation to the service, on a O-to-10 scale, the
customer selected 1. What do you think the reason could
be for such a low assessment?

a“

166. The customer service department 8

© 1.2. The customer service department
Although initially one might think that the customer service department's main objective is
handling complaints, its tasks are much larger (Fig. 8.1).
On the one hand, the existence of this department transmits a sense of confidence to
customers, as they perceive that any problem that they might have with the company is going
to be easily solved, or at least properly managed.
On the other hand, this department is responsible for gathering information on different
aspects of the customers as these, through claims or suggestions process, offer relevant in-
formation on the weaknesses that the company may have, which could be solved through an
optimal management.
Therefore, according to recent studies in relationship marketing, it is a huge mistake when
companies create a customer service department for the sole purpose of complying with
the law or, indeed, when they create it because they think it is a fad. In these cases, one
of the worst things they can do is assigning poorly motivated staff to this department, that
is to say, staff that has been displaced within the organization or that has become irrelevant
after a job restructuring.
Instead, customer departments should be part of the organizational structure of the com-
pany; that means that another serious mistake is to outsource this service, since it must be
the company’s own staff, and by extension, the entire staff personnel, who should be involved
in providing an adequate customer service.
A customer service department that offers a service with a high level of quality in its task has
considerable advantages for the organization, such as the following:
+ It increases customer loyalty.
+ It encourages participation in its market share.
+ It provides improvements in profitability for the company.
* It allows the acquisition of new customers (for example, through word of mouth arising
from customer satisfaction).
+ It saves costs to the organization.
+ It provides a better company image, as well as of the brand’s products and services.
Furthermore, any customer service department must provide the following options in the
management of its service:

Be a service that offers reliability to the customer.

Have a quick response capacity.

Have a professional and highly motivated staff for the task it performs.

Have a structure that is easily accessible to users.

Assist the user politely.

Empathize with customers and, above all, understand them.

Have an adequate infrastructure and provide physical comfort (for example,
waiting rooms).


Table 8.1. Options to be provided by a customer service department.

Do you know that...?
According to 2010 data, the sec-
tors that lead to more complaints
from consumers are:
* Telephone companies (49%).
+ Real estate (23 %).
* Financial sector (14%).
+ Appliances (14%).



a
yi
Fig. 8.1. The staff in direct contact to
customers is usually prepared to face all
kinds of situations and reactions from
their interlocutors.
VA Activities
2. Search the website of any financial institution. Then, browse complaint. Do you think the service is easily accessible?
and find out the procedure provided to submit a possible Why?

iy

167. 8 The customer service department

8 Do you know that...?
In the nineties, banks had two
ways to manage the relations-
hip with their customers. Current
Banco Santander and Banco
Popular were, respectively, exam-
ples of these policies.
In particular, Banco Santander
spent about thirty-five million
euros in customer acquisition cam-
paigns. However, Banco Popular
only had to spend €120000 to
implement the proper manage-
ment of their customers.
The cost of acquiring a new custo-
mer is about five times the cost of
maintaining an existing and profi-
table customer.
/
<3



© A. Customer service channels
In recent decades there has been a significant progress in this field, as a result of changes in
the pathways through which customer service is performed.
Initially, the customer service was only made in person, which corresponds to the typical
situations where you saw an employee of a company behind a window and a group of people
waiting to be served.
Today, however, there are different customer channels through which the customer may
be assisted regarding its potential claims, complaints, suggestions, etc. Keep in mind that the
more ways to access the company we provide to our customers, the more satisfied they will be.
In general, regarding customer service, we can refer to four basic types of channels:
+ Personal: it implies a high cost (most of all, salaries for employees) but it makes it easier to
establish lasting relationships with customers.
+ Phone: it has a lower cost and allows staff to deal with customer relationships homoge-
neously. At present, it is conducted through call centres, as we will see later on.
* Printed: it is virtually obsolete and works against the respect for the environment, and this
is the reason why it is being replaced by electronic media. It is useful when the customer
wants to file a claim or complaint against a specific person or department.
* Electronic: it is more and more frequent. Its cost is very low, but it has the major drawback
of the lack of direct relation between individuals, and this can make it less useful than
telephone or personal care.
© B. Staff of the customer service department
The staff in charge of customer service is an essential factor in the management of customer
satisfaction.
Therefore, we must adopt a series of measures in relation, first, to those workers that will
have the first contact with users. These measures, in summary, refer to:
+ Provide these employees with some leeway so that they can interact efficiently with
customers.
+ Train these employees to know the products and/or services offered by the company and
to use the most appropriate techniques to assist clients.
* Train workers in the use of technologies and information management systems.
+ Settle a system of incentives and remuneration according to their work and the tasks they
have done.
But actions are not only aimed at employees; the company management must have a clear
commitment in relation to customer service. It should:
+ Motivate employees working in the customer service department.
+ Select the appropriate staff. For this purpose, a selection process to choose the most
qualified staff in customer service must be performed. In this regard, the appropriate em-

*
aes Fo
Fig. 8.2. The involvement of company
executives is critical for the staff
responsible for customer service to
achieve its objectives.
a“
ployee for this department should:
— Know how to empathize with users.
— Have good interpersonal skills.

168. The customer service department 8

— Be nice and show sympathy.
— Take special care of their look (a pleasing appearance, proper voice tone, etc.).
* Conduct a proper training program. Once selected, the staff has to carry out a training
process in the specific areas of this job. This training is related to interpersonal skills, the
tools to be used and the features of the product or service offered by the company. In turn,
it is also desirable that these employees are aware of the different internal departments of
the company, and of the people who work in them.
(J C. Functions of the customer service department
Within the organization of the company, the customer service department is responsible for
receiving and responding to inquiries, providing general information about the organization
and, ultimately, collecting complaints and suggestions.
The functions of this department can be grouped as shown in this table:
Making recommendations to other company departments in order to
improve the service.
Providing users with all the information they need about the products
and/or services offered by the company.

Submitting proposals to management improvement. Collecting and analysing the suggestions made by customers.

Reporting on the functions performed. Addressing and solving complaints and claims submitted by customers.

Keeping a record of complaints and claims handled.
Informing users about the procedures carried out in response to a
complaint or claim.

Table 8.2. Functions of the customer service department according to its field.
Regarding the structure of the department, it will depend on the amount and type of work
there is. Thus, it may be organized by geographic area, by product features or by business
units, so that there is a set of tasks and areas assigned to each member of the department.
This departmental structure allows a better control of the work of the team responsible for
customer service and also the implementation of in-depth analysis of the workflow, so that
assignments are made optimally.

£5 Case study 1. Claim in the telecommunications sector
We have previously indicated that one of the sectors that
receive more complaints is telecommunications.
Search for the website of the Ministry of Industry, Tourism
and Trade that is responsible for assisting the telecommunica-
tions user and, once located, find out the procedure for filing a
complaint before the corresponding department.
Solution:
Web: http://www.usuariosteleco.es
This is the procedure for submitting a claim:
a) We must meet the first requirement: the person filing
a complaint before the Telecommunications Customer
Service Office must have previously claimed to his or
her operator.
b) The term for this type of claim is three months from the
operator's response or the deadline of a month that it
has to respond.
c) If the claimer is a natural person who has submitted to
the Arbitration Board within those three months but the
operator refuses to submit to them, this refusal reopens
the three-month period to complain before the Office.
d) The Office will process and solve this claim.
e) Once the appropriate paperwork has been done, the
Telecommunications Customer Service Office issues
a decision on the matter. If there is no response, by
means of the silence procedure, it is considered that the
user has accepted the claim; if there is a negative deci-
sion, the contentious-administrative judicial proceed-
ing starts.

169. 8 The customer service department


2 | Do you know that...?
According to a research by a pres-
tigious consultant, the ten aspects
that customers value in their
relationship with companies are
that these companies:
1. Get in touch with the customer
on the date and time agreed.
2.Offer an explanation of the
reasons why the problem has
arisen.
3.Provide sufficient information
about their products or servi-
ces,
4.Contact with users after having
solved a problem.
5.Give the opportunity to con-
tact someone from the organi-
zation with some authority.
6. Specify the period in which the
problem will be solved.
7. Provide alternatives in case
they cannot solve a problem.
8. Treat users as people.
9. Advise on how to prevent
problems in the future.
10. Give enough explanations in
the event that the problem
cannot be solved.
~\
@ 2. Stages in the process
of customer service
To ensure the proper functioning of the department of customer service, we must create
a set of quick and flexible procedures to allow its task and to avoid problems, since the
responsiveness of this department is fundamental.
Although it is difficult to establish general operating guidelines for all activities that an orga-
nization performs, the usual stages that can be found in customer service departments are:
a) Ordering. Orders may reach companies in several ways: phone, e-mail... whether through a
sales agent or the customer itself. In either case, we must fill a series of basic data to avoid
possible incidents: customer name or customer number code (when it is already registered
in the database of the company), delivery date, references and amount of the product,
the name of the person requesting the order and any comments on the way and place of
delivery, timing, etc. If we use a computer management tool, our computer should display
a section for comments where the details to be solved are included.
b) Information request. In theory this is the main goal of the company, but in practice very
few manage to achieve it because, despite creating or outsourcing this service or spe-
cific department, this stage often has deficiencies or problems in implementation. This
situation contrasts with the effort that many companies do to strengthen and improve its
communication channels with customers, channels that increasingly diverse, as we saw in
the previous section.
c) Claims and/or complaints management. The management model that is designed must
be useful, in principle, for all types of claims that can be made. Today, telephone has the
main role (through call centres), although the internet is growing by leaps and bounds as
a method to bring claims or complaints. In this sense, when dealing with claims, we must
take into account:
* Who the claims should be addressed to, depending on the level of relevance and
content. In any case, a good procedure should operate with the utmost discretion and, in
turn, with the greatest possible provision of information.
* What data should be sent to the customer to take action on the claim. The amount of
information we request will depend on the relevance of the claim.
* Claims are classified into three levels, establishing a standard level of response for the
two lower levels and leaving the last for those special claims that require specific action.
In addition, the staff of the customer service department should:
-Be prepared to collect a serious claim and take action on it, delivering it with the
utmost discretion to the person who can do something about it (a superior).
-In the case of lower and middle-class claims, the staff in charge must quickly take
the appropriate actions and answer the claimant. Measures to be adopted will depend
on company policy.
+ There are general claims that don't imply immediate action, but that we'd rather answer
showing gratitude for the constructive contribution that the customer has made to help
us improve the service. The content of these claims may range from comments about
advertising campaigns of the company to the opening hours of certain premises.
+ False or imaginary claims. They are caused by misunderstandings and usually the com-
pany is not to blame. The best thing is to communicate with the customer to explain
the mistake and to provide the information again.
+ Having claim forms available may make the task much easier and even prevent a pos-
sible fierce discussion. In later sections of this unit we will study some common claim
forms.
Finally, complaints must be analysed by those responsible in the company to extract from
them any information that may be relevant to the policy of the organization.

170. The customer service department se

©) After-sales services
Customer service should be provided at all times, not only during the sale process, but also
after selling the product or service has been made.
Thus, the after-sales service is a type of customer service that is provided once the cus-
tomer has already made the purchase of a product or has already enjoyed some service.
The provision of a good customer service has some objective benefits, such as providing
the customer with a greater enjoyment of the product or service, increasing the possibility of
a further purchase of a product or service (customer loyalty) or increasing the possibility that
our customer may recommend us. But the after-sales service also allows the company to keep
in touch with customers and, thus, to work on a lasting relation with them.
For example, with this service we may know the customer's impressions after having purcha-
sed the product or having used the service, and this will let us know what we should improve,
be aware of new needs or preferences, or inform about our offers or campaigns.
The most common types of after-sales service are:
+ Promotional. Those related to sales promotion, for example, in order to make offers or
special discounts to our frequent customers or invite them to participate in contests
or sweepstakes.
* Psychological. These are linked to the client's motivation. We use them when, for
example, we send a gift or a greeting card on customer's birthdays or at any particular
holiday. Another example is when we call the customer to make sure that the product was
received or to know about the customer’s experience with our product or service after the
first week.
* Security. These provide protection for the purchase of the product, for example, when we
provided guarantees for the purchase or the possibility of refund if the customer is not
satisfied.
* Maintenance. Those involving a maintenance or support service (also known as service
desk), for example, when we offer the service of installation and training on the use of the
product or when we schedule follow-up visits to ensure that the customer is making a good
use of the product and has no problem with it.
Activities
3. Search the Internet and find five after-sales contacts in different companies. For
example, identification of the company, phone numbers and possible contact ways
for the customer.

Hint: you may focus on companies aimed at technical support services.
4. Work in pairs and perform simulations of different types of after-sales services in the
following situations:
a) A customer wants to return a pair of earrings that she received as a birthday gift
because she doesn’t like it.
b) A gas installation company phones a customer to verify that the installation made
a month ago is working properly.
c) The sales agent of a company aimed at office supplies phones a school to offer the
new promotions and send some gift calendars.
d) A month after buying a car, the customer receives a call from the dealer who is
interested in knowing if the vehicle is working properly. J

Important
The CRM (Customer Relationship
Management) is a business stra-
tegy that puts the customer as
the central figure in all business
decisions. It includes not only the
use of technological tools, but
also concepts of marketing and
business planning.
Its main objective is to select
and manage customers with a
greater value for the company
in order to increase profit mar-
gins and company profitability.
The CRM is usually mistaken for
the acquisition of a particular
computer program or the use of
techniques related to relationship
marketing over the phone (call
centre or contact centre).
yy
“a

171. 8 The customer service department

Watch out!
A complaint is the mere expres-
sion of dissatisfaction, while a
claim, in addition to expressing
the complaint, is used to request
the performance of some action
or response by way of compen-
sation.

@ 3. Procedures to solve complaints
and claims
Managing the complaints and claims made by customers is one of the most characteristic
tasks of the after-sales service. Both complaints and claims are the expression of dissatisfac-
tion because of unfulfilled expectations.
Although it may sound strange, complaints may be a real source of advantage for the
company, because if we solve them optimally, we can retain our customers. In addition,
through complaints we obtain information to improve our products or services.
A well-structured after-sales service includes three functions that can be performed by

Vocabulary
Disciplinary proceedings. Pro-
cedures that the company uses to
assess the possibility of sanction-
ing an employee.
* The procedure must be public and known, visible to customers, staff and other interested parties.


the same employee or by several employees:
+ Responsible for customer service: in charge of receiving the complaint or claim and
starting the process according to the nature of the complaint or claim.
* Technician: responsible for performing the actions that are needed to repair the damage.
* Trainer: responsible for training the customer in the features and use of the product or
service.
The management of complaints must follow an objective process, that is to say, it must be
clear, impartial, confidential, accessible, comprehensive, equitable and sensitive. In addition,
the staff affected by the complaint must be informed of the filing, must have the chance to
give explanations in this regard and must be supported and reported about the process and
resolution of the complaint. Furthermore, the claim process and the disciplinary proceedings,
if any, should be regarded independently.
All claims and complaints procedures should follow these principles:


* The process for handling complaints should be easily accessible to all claimants.
+ Information about the details of implementation and resolution of complaints must be visible.
* The process for handling complaints and supporting information must be easy to understand and use.
* Information should be in plain language.
+ Information and assistance on how to express a complaint should be available in all languages in which the
products have been offered or provided, including alternative formats, such as print, Braille or audio tapes, so that
no claimant can be adversely affected by physical limitations.

+ Receipt of each complaint must be acknowledged to the complainant immediately.
+ Complaints must be dealt quickly in accordance with their urgency. For example, complaints that are important
* The contact with claimants should be polite; they should be informed of the progress of the complaint through
for health or safety must be processed immediately.
the management process.

* The handling of each complaint must be conducted in a fair, objective and impartial way throughout the process.

* Access to the process of complaints management should have no cost to the claimant.

* The claimant’s personal data will only be made available to those responsible for the management of the claim
when they are required to solve it and won't be disclosed without the express prior consent of the customer or
claimant.

* The organization must be customer-oriented and open to feedback, including complaints, as well as showing its
commitment to solve the claim with actions.

* The company must clarify who is responsible for responding on the actions and decisions of the organization in
relation to the handling of complaints and who should report them.

* The continuous improvement of the processing of complaints and the quality of the products has to be a
permanent objective of the organization.

Table 8.3. Principles of complaints management.
a”

172. The customer service department se

Upon receipt of the complaint or claim, the following procedure is as follows:
1.
2.
5.
Report the customer about the basics of the procedure.
Analyse the nature of the complaint or claim: is it a technical problem? Is the customer
angry because of the way we treated him or her? Payment problems? And so on.
. Provide after-sales service or solve the problem itself: it may involve personal actions with
the customer, such as personal care of complaints, possible training in the use of the pro-
duct or technical services such as installation, maintenance or repair.
. Assess customer satisfaction: we must check if the customer is satisfied with the solution
provided by the company. If he or she is not, we must resume the process to find a satisfac-
tory solution.
Suggest improvements of the product or service from complaints and claims received.
Fig. 8.3. Process of providing after-sales service complaints.
Then, we will discuss the five steps of the procedure.
® 3.1. The communication of the basics
of the procedure for filing complaints
This means that the customer should be aware at all times about the place and the way to
submit his or her claims and complaints. Therefore, companies must use a location and simple
language to explicitly explain aspects such as:
Where to submit the complaint: the location where customers can submit their complaints
must be public.
The means for receiving complaints and claims, for example, a customer service de-
partment, an email, a web form, etc.
The process of complaint management must be clear: who will receive the complaint and
further steps until it is solved.
The deadlines.
The options for complaints resolution, including external complaints that may be sub-
mitted, for example, as possible complaints to the Municipal Offices for Consumer
Information (OMIC).
The way to find information regarding a complaint.
g Activities

Fig. 8.4. Many companies and public
bodies still require that the submission
of complaints or claims is performed in
writing.

5. Match these two groups:
Means Advantages
* Creatting a free telephone number. + Written complaints allow the customer to suggest solutions.
* Suggestions and complaints box. + It increases customer confidence and security.
+ Satisfaction survey. + |t improves the brand image.

"a

173. 8 The customer service department

68 Important
Legislation on complaints and
claims
The set of rules governing consum-
er protection is very broad.
The European Consumer Centre in
Spain provides information about
legislation at European level at the
following link:
http://cec.consumo-inc.es/cec/
secciones/Ayuda/Derechos/
Europa/Derechos_es.asp?
Origen=DERECHOS
In Spain, the basic rule is the Royal
Legislative Decree 1/2007, of No-
vember 16, passing the revised text
of the General Law for the Pro-
tection of Consumers and Users.

a”
©) A. Receipt of the complaint or claim
Receiving a complaint or claim is to serve the customer that is dissatisfied with our company.
If the complaint is submitted in person, whether on site or by telephone, the staff dealing with
it should implement the principles of active listening that we studied when talking about oral
communication.
In turn, when we manage the submission of a claim, we must provide the claimant with an
identification number for that specific claim. Moreover, along with the claim, we will include
in the file a card with the required data for tracking the complaint or claim, such as:
The reason for the complaint.
The solution requested by the customer.
The products, services or organization practices that cause the complaint.
The deadline to provide the answer.
The identification of individuals, departments, branches and market segments.
The immediate action taken, if any.
The use of such cards provides the possibility of tracking the whole resolution process
of complaints and claims, so that we can keep the customer informed at all times.
Upon receipt of the complaint, we must acknowledge its receipt to the customer, either by
phone, email or regular mail.
Here you can see a regular card model for complaints and claims:
Data from the claimant:
Name / COMPANY o.....ssssssccssssssscessnesseessnesssesssesessnsseeessnsaeeessniaseessnseessneseesnseatesnneeanssnseeenssnseceassnsseeessnsneees
ArOSS .....sssssssssesssssssnesessssnessesnsneessennnessseneeesesaneeseanaees ZiP COG ooon.sesssesssssseesssssseesssssnessessntessesnaneesesnaees

Contact person (if different from claimant)...


Product description:
Reference number of the product or order (if KMOWN).....ssssssssesescsseceesesesssnsnsssmneeseeeeseeeeeesses
D@SCIIPTION ......sseessssesssseessssessssnessssessssneessssassssesssusssunssssseasssuocssusasssueesssuesssanesesseassuuasssusasssuaesesuesssanesssasasaaee
Problem found:
Date it happemed..........essseessssessssssessseseesssnseessssnsessssnnsessssnsssssnaeenssnaeatssnunseessnunsesesnnnsssesuessseaanees
Description

Yes No

Signature
List of attached documents...



Fig. 8.5. Model form for filing complaints.

174. The customer service department 8
© B. Analysis of the nature of the complaint or claim
The resolution of complaints depends to a large extent on the company’s ability to analyse
and determine its nature. This is done using classification criteria, such as importance, com-
plexity or the need for immediate action, for example.
In Figure 8.6 we see an internal document model used to assess the nature of complaints:
Assessment of the complaint:
Objective: to assess the extent and severity of actual and potential effects of the complaint.
Relevance of the complaint



Complexity
Impact on business
Need for immediate action: Yes O NoO
Possibility of immediate action: Yes O NoO
Possibility of compensation: Yes O NoO
Fig. 8.7. Internal document to assess the nature of the claims. A more comprehensive report should be
required in the event of very relevant claims or complaints.
Another method to classify complaints is to determine the problem that has caused customer
dissatisfaction because, as we will see, this will allow us to suggest a solution. The following
model form is used to determine the reason for the claim:
Problem found:























Date:
Persistent problem:
Yes O NoO
Category:
Oo Product not delivered
Oo Service not provided / partially provided
Oo Delay in product delivery
Duration of delay in delivery:
Oo Delay in providing service
Duration of delay in the delivery:
Oo Defective product
Oo Poor service
Details:
Oo Product doesn’t match what was agreed
Oo Unrequested product
Oo Damaged product
Oo Refusal to comply with the warranty
Oo Refusal to sell
Oo Refusal to provide a service
Oo Business practices / sales methods
Oo Wrong information
Oo Inadequate information
Oo Payment means
Oo Price
Oo Price increase
Oo Unjustified costs / charges
Fig. 8.8. Form to determine the reason for the claim (cont.).
QO 0 OK)

Fig. 8.6. Companies have their own
internal forms to classify claims and
complaints, which make their processing
and resolution much easier. In turn, these
classifications are a valuable source for
internal analysis.
© Watch out! —————————_
Documentary evidence
In general, people who file a com-
plaint or claim must support it
with documentary evidence. Some
documentary evidence include
the claim form itself, advertising
brochures in which the claimed
company offers certain conditions
or invoices and receipts. Check
the following link, including the
documentary evidence that must
be produced in the case of a claim
to a travel agency:
http://www.losviajeros.com/
foros.php?t=5779
iy

175. 8 The customer service department

Spanish assistant
Seguro que a estas alturas ya te
has familiarizado con el verbo fo
provide, que significa “proporcio-
nar’, “suministrar” o “facilitar’.
Pero este verbo tiene dos deri-
vados que son muy importantes:
provider, que significa “provee-
dor”, y provision, que quiere decir
“suministro”, “provision” o “abas-
tecimiento”.


a”

Terms of contract

Coverage of contract

Damage assessment

Refusal to pay compensation

Inadequate compensation

Modification of contract

Poor performance of the contract

Cancellation / termination of contract

Cancellation of service

Loan repayment

Application of interest

Failure to comply with commitments

Incorrect billing

Undue delay in processing a complaint
Othe s:fessessserencesstatettarearesttatestarestnetataanaseartnatataatsananttasatnenancanttesstnatentantanssteerenrereretenenrtatss

D/OJO;JO/Os/O;O;O/O/O;O;O;O}/O;O

Further information:.

Fig. 8.8. Form to determine the reason for the claim.
© C. Service provision
Once we have conducted the research into the complaint or claim, we will be able to suggest
a solution. Sometimes this solution is obvious and is offered to the customer upon receipt of
the claim. Other times, however, the solution is the result of an analysis of the problem and
therefore, it may take some time. Thus, the response to a complaint may be:
+ Arefund of the money paid by the customer.
* Technical assistance.
+ Provide some necessary information.
+ Replace the damaged product.
+ Repair the product or provide the service again.
+ Compensate for damages.
+ Apologize.
+ Offer gifts or expressions of good will.
Besides the answer, we must take care of all issues related to the claim, track customer satis-
faction with regard to its resolution, offer similar solutions to customers with the same pro-
blem who have not complained and disclose information on any complaints to relevant staff.
The ISO 10002:2004 on management of complaints offers a form as shown in Figure 8.9.
In any case, we always have to communicate the solution to the customer. In fact, the
closure of the complaint does not occur until the customer accepts any of the actions or
suggested solutions.
If the customer accepts the suggested solution, this is performed and the closure is registered;
but if the customer rejects the suggested solution, we must keep the complaint open, register
the refusal and inform the customer of possible alternatives designed to achieve satisfaction,
and which may come either from the company (internal) and from the outside (as we will
study in the next section).

176. The customer service department se


Resolution of the complaint:

Resolution required: YesO NoO

Action to take:

Product delivery

Product repair / new service provision

Product change

Cancellation of sale

Enforcement of the guarantee

Compliance with commitments

Completion of a contract

Cancellation / Rescission of contract

Cancellation of invoice

Information

Correction of damages assessment

Payment of compensation AMOUNTING tO .......eeseeeeeeeseeeeteeerseeeeeeetenseeneenseeneeee

Refund of advance payment amounting to


Refund of other payments made amounting to..

DisCOUNT AMOUNTING tO.......ceceeeceeceeeseeeeeesseeseessaeseeeseesseeseesseseeesseeseeeseeseensenesenses

Payment facilities

Apologies

DJOJOJO/OJO/O;OJO;OJO;O;O/O;O/O;/O;oO


Fig. 8.9. Possible solutions for a claim.
g Activities
6. Match the solutions we have explained for claims with the reasons for claiming in the
previous section.
7. Make a scheme of the process followed from suggesting a solution until it is accepted
or rejected by the customer.

© OD. Analysis of satisfaction
Once the complaint is closed, it is very important that the company verifies the level of
customer satisfaction with the solution and with the process that has been undertaken. To
this end, surveys are often used.
Measuring customer satisfaction enables the company to also carry out an internal
assessment of the process. Using a form like this will make the task easier:
Acknowledgement of receipt of the
complaint to the complainant

Assessment of the complaint

Investigation into the complaint

Resolution of the complaint

Report to the complainant

Correction

Verified correction

Closure of the complaint
Fig. 8.10. Model form for the assessment of the process used to solve a complaint or a claim.
"a

177. 8 The customer service department

in SMEs.
OE. Proposal for improvement
In the abovementioned standard ISO 10002:2004, it is acknowledged that a system such as
that suggested for solving complaints and claims may be very hard and difficult to implement
So, it raises a number of recommendations available to any company for handling claims pro-
perly. These recommendations are:
Keeping an open attitude to complaints. This can be achieved through signs indicating the
importance of customer satisfaction.
Collecting and registering complaints.

Fig. 8.11. The analysis of the various
complaints and claims received in a
company is essential to implement plans
to reduce them in the future.
Giving acknowledgment of receipt of non in-person complaints over the phone or e-mail.
Assessing the origin of the complaint, its potential impact and the best person to handle it.
Acting immediately: prompt resolution.
Reporting the customer about possible solutions and adopting the most suitable according
to customer's preferences and usual habits in the company’s field.
Communicating the decision to the customer in the event that, despite all efforts, we
haven't been able to satisfy the customer's claim. We must register the result and offer any
alternative action.
Regularly review complaints to determine the existence of trends or elements that may be
63 Case study 2. Handling complaints

changed.

The company Microdomésticos, SL is in the business of selling
appliances to individuals through its only premises located in
the shopping mall Bonito Centro, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
On September 8, 2011, the employee who is in the customer
service desk assists Juana Lépez Pérez, a customer who is not
satisfied with the coffee machine she bought on September 5,
2011 because she says that it has to be turned on and off seve-
ral times before it finally works. Juana has brought the coffee
machine with her.
How will the company respond to this claim?
Solution:
First, the employee should practice active listening of the com-
plaint.
Then, the employee will fill in a part of the claim form
specifying the reason for it, in this case, a technical problem.
The employee tells Juana that the technical department
will check the cause of the failure in the appliance. She
VA Activities
should also explain the customer that, if the problem is
due to a manufacturing fault, she will be given the opportu-
nity to receive a new coffee machine of the same model or to
ask for its refund. Finally, she should deliver a receipt
of the complaint to the customer and explain that the
company is committed to providing a solution within
48 hours.
The next day, an employee of the company informs Juana
that the problem was actually a manufacturing fault and that,
if she agrees, she will receive a new coffee machine at home
without additional cost. Juana accepts the solution and three
days later she receives a new coffee machine.
A week later, the customer service department gets back
in touch with Juana to verify her satisfaction with the
resolution of the complaint.
Finally, the employee should notify the customer service staff
and the technical service department about the possibility of
malfunctions in this model of coffee machine.

8. Find out which activities have a specific regulation for
claims and complaints.
Hint: to do this research, you can use the information con-
tained in the following website: http://www.consumo-inc.
es/GuiaCons/como
9. Arranged in twos, one student will perform the role of a
customer of a gas station who has a complaint regarding
certain issue relating to the last refuelling he or she has
made, and the other student is responsible for handling the
complaint and suggesting alternatives.

a“

178. The customer service department se

@ 4. Enforcement of rules on resolution
of complaints and claims
Consumer's protection is a constitutional right (under Article 51 of the Spanish Constitution),
and therefore several laws and regulations have been developed to enforce this protection.
At present, the current law on consumer rights is contained in the Royal Decree 1/2007, which
passes the revised text of the General Law for the Protection of Consumers and Users and
other complementary laws.
This law states that the consumer must have available all the information concerning the
product before buying it and, specifically, it provides that the product must contain such
information in its own package, on a sticker or an annexed leaflet. It also states that the ad-
vertiser must comply with the advertised contents of its product or service in the terms that
are included therein; for example, if an advertising brochure shows a building block with a
communal swimming pool, the advertiser must comply with this feature and build this pool
when the building block is finished).
If consumers still consider that their rights haven't been observed despite the regulations
above, they may use three ways:
+ Complaints before the consumer protection agencies or consumer organizations.
+ Mediation: the parties to the conflict hear a non-binding proposal carried out by a neutral
mediator to solve the problem. It remains open to the possibility of bringing a lawsuit if
there is no agreement on the proposal.
* Consumer arbitration system: it is a voluntary system in which the companies involved
are subject to the resolution of a consumer arbitrator. In this case, the resolution is binding
(mandatory) for the parties and excludes the possibility of bringing a lawsuit.
+ Civil courts, or criminal courts if there are crime evidences.
In turn, the agencies before which consumers can go to lodge their complaints or claims are:
* The Municipal Offices of Consumer Information (OMIC) of the municipalities.
+ The Department of Consumer Affairs of the Regional Governments.
* The Association of Consumers and Users.
+ Consumer Arbitration Boards.
* Courts of justice.
Once the consumer has filed a complaint before any of the bodies listed above, the procedure
for resolution begins. For this purpose, the agency contacts the company that is claimed to
try to produce a rapprochement between both parties. If mediation doesn’t work out, there
is still the possibility of starting another claim procedure.
Consumers have to follow these steps to lodge a claim:
1. Try to solve the problem with the company.
2. Manage the claim before the OMIC.
3. Request consumer arbitration if mediation had a negative result.
4, Proceed to court.
Regardless the procedure described in the preceding paragraph, consumers may request on
site a complaint form to file their claim or complaint directly. The regional governments have
developed models of complaint forms, as we can see in Figure 8.13.
JUNTA ARBITRAL
DE CONSUMO
ESTABLECIMIENTO
ADHERIDO
ARBITRAJE
DE CONSUMO
Fig. 8.12. This symbol identifies the
businesses submitted to consumer
arbitration boards.
Web
You can use the following links to
access different legal texts and
procedures related to consum
rights:

General Law for the Protection
of Consumers and Users and
other complementary laws:
http://www.consumo-inc.es/
GuiaCons/
Online complaints processing:
http://www.confianzaonline.
es/gestiona-tu-reclamacion/
informacion-general
http://intecap.info/public/
manuales/aseguramiento/
ISO %2010002 %20Ed %20
2004.pdf
Web of the banking customer:
http://www.bde.es/cliente-
banca/quejas/quejas.htm
Models and forms of OMIC in
Cérdoba:
http://www.consumo.ayun-
cordoba.es/secundarias/omic/
reclamaciones_consumo.aspx
Online claim form:
http://www.juntadeandalucia
.es/salud/sites/csalud/conte-
nidos/Informacion_General/
c_8_consumo/sistema_hojas_
reclamaciones?perfil=ciud
S/

179. 8 The customer service department

Web
The deadlines and procedures for
filing complaints and claims vary
depending on the activity sector
to which they refer.
For further information on this
point, visit:
http://www.aytorota.es/doc/
omic/campa_as_informativas/
informacion_nueva_hojas_
reclamaciones.pdf


Activities

10. Search the web for leading
consumers and users organiza-
tions and make a list with their
website addresses.
What differences do you see
between a consumer's organi-
zation and an OMIC?
1
ay . Read the following article and
make a summary.
www.elpais.com/articulo
/tecnologia/reclamaciones
/telefonicas/saturan/juntas
farbitrales/consumo/el
peputec/20101124el
peputec_6/Tes
Do you think that the number
of claims in telecommunica-
tions services is particularly
high? In your opinion, what
other areas do have many
claims? Search the web for data
to support your arguments.


Case study 3. Procedure to enforce claims
CLAIM FORM N°: 0000000
COPY FOR THE CLAIMANT
IDENTIFICATION OF THE BUSINESS

CLAIMANT INFORMATION
NAME? 0... eeee eee eeeeeeeeeeeesneeenseeeeeeeeesseeensneeenseeeees ID/Passport: ..
Adress:.. D neceeeeee ee ceeeeeeeseceeeeeeseeeeeeenees PrOVINCE? -......eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Zip Code...

Signature of clamaint: Signature of the business:
Council for Social Welfare-Consumer Department
Regional Government of Extremadura
Fig. 8.13. Model of the claim form for the Regional Government of Extremadura.
In addition, there are specific procedures for handling complaints focused on certain indus-
tries, such as:
+ Filing a complaint regarding consumption.
+ Filing a complaint before the Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Information
Society.
+ Filing a complaint before the Data Protection Agency (APD); for example, regarding perso-
nal data that are not being adequately handled.
In either case, certain basic conditions must be met:
+ Identifying the recipient of the complaint: the name of the company or organization
(or its website) and an email contact. These data are usually found on the website of the
company.
+ Collecting all information related to the complaint to be able to show it in the different
procedures that are in place. The original copies of this information are reserved for arbi-
tration or judicial proceedings.
* Communicating the complaint to the recipient so that there is a proof of our claim, with
a certified letter, a bureaufax or an acknowledgement of receipt. The first two can be
submitted in the Post and Telegraph offices, but the acknowledgement of receipt has to
be made by the recipient of the complaint. This step is important if we are planning
to file a consumer claim or an action.

We want to make a claim because we disagree with a phone mediation fails, request a consumer arbitration process
bill, but the company doesn't meet our demands. What else if the company is subject to the consumption arbitration
can we do? system and the claimant is a natural person.
Solution:
We have several options:
a) Request a claim form.
b) Ask the OMIC to conduct a mediation procedure with
c) If the company doesn’t answer the claim, file a claim
before the Telecommunications User Office, as long
as the claimant is a company or a natural person who
doesn't want to apply to the arbitration system.
the company. Then we must wait for the result and, if d) File an action before the authorised court.

>”

180. The customer service department se
Principles of customer service



Summary

Customer service _| Channels of customer service > Staff of customer service department
department > Functions of customer service department


Orders > Complaints and claims handling > After-sales service


Receipt of the complaint


Assessment of the nature of the complaint
Communication of the
basic elements
of the procedure for
filing complaints


Service provision


Assessment of satisfaction


Proposal for improvement



Claims before the agencies of consumer protection
or before consumers and users organizations

Ways to solve
complaints and Consumer arbitration system
claims



Civil or criminal jurisdiction, depending on the case


Municipal offices of consumer information (OMIC) of
the municipalities > Department of Consumer Affairs
of the Regional Governments > Consumers and Users
Associations > Consumer Arbitration Board > Courts of Justice
Agencies to file
complaints and —
claims
Procedures to follow in case we want to file a complaint or claim
Solution of the company > OMIC mediation > Seek consumer arbitration > Proceed to court

Basic actions in the event of claims or complaints:
Identify the recipient of the complaint > Collect all the information
> Communicate the complaint to the recipient a i ft
"4a

181. W
8 The customer service department


Test review
1. Which of the following statements is true?
a) The company depends on the existence of customers.
b) The customer service department provides a competi-
tive advantage to the organization.
c) A company creates a customer service department,
among other reasons, because it expects a profit from it.
d) All of the above.
2. When you approach a counter to lodge a complaint and are
assisted by someone you are using:
a) A personal channel.
b) An after-sales service.
c) An arbitration system.
d) An immediate channel.
3. Regarding the staff of the customer service department
it is true that:
a) Any member of the company may belong to it.
b) It can be formed by an employee without qualification,
since it is not necessary for the job.
c) Its members must have good interpersonal skills.
d) All of the above.
4. Which of the following is an internal function of the
customer service department?
a) Inform users about what they need.
b) Solve claims and complaints.
c) Analyse the suggestions made by users.
d) Make suggestions for improving the management of
the company.
5. Chronologically, the steps in customer service are:
a) Information request, orders, after-sales service, com-
plaints and claims.
b) Place orders, request information, complaints handling
and after-sales service.
c) After-sales service, place orders, request information,
complaints handling and suggestions.
d) Information request, complaints and suggestions
handling, place orders and after-sales services.
6. Select the right answer:
a) The main channel of customer service is face-to-face.
b) The customer service department can increase the
profitability of the company.
c) The customer service department is not required in a
large company.
d) The staff of the customer service department doesn’t
need training in computer systems.
7. An employee involved in the claims and complaints proce-
dure can perform the following functions:
a) Training the client in using the product.
b) Filling the claim.
c) Proceeding to arbitration with the customer.
d) None of the above.
8. Which of the following concepts doesn’t have to do with
objectivity in the process of handling complaints?
a) Equity.
b) Bias.
c) Confidentiality.
d) None of the above.
9. Being customer-oriented means that:
a) The process of handling complaints should have no cost
to the customer.
b) Complaints should be dealt according to their urgency.
c) We must be receptive to feedback, including complaints.
d) The procedure must be visible to all parties involved.
10. Which is the correct sequence of a process of providing a
complaints and claims service?
a) Communication, complaint analysis, receipt, service
provision, satisfaction assessment and proposal for
improvement.
b) Communication, satisfaction assessment, receipt,
complaint analysis, service provision and proposal for
improvement.
c) Communication, receipt, service provision, complaint
analysis, satisfaction assessment and proposal for
improvement.
d) Communication, receipt, complaint analysis, service
provision, satisfaction assessment and proposal for
improvement.
11. Which of the following criteria is not useful for assessing
complaints?
a) The potential impact on company image.
b) The possibility of external action.
c) The complexity of the complaint.
d) The relevance of the complaint.

182. The customer service department se



Check your learning
Assess the importance of customer service to the
company and identify its functions, stages and
characteristics
1. Explain why companies need a customer service de-
partment.
2. Name at least six of the principles of customer service.
3. If | want to file a complaint and, for this purpose, | fill in a
form and submit it via the Internet, how many channels am
| using? Which ones?
4. List the measures that we must adopt regarding the staff
working in the customer service department.
5. What decisions should the management of the company
take regarding the employees working in the customer
service department?
6. Name at least three characteristics to be met by the
customer service staff.
7. What are the issues in which the staff of customer service
should be specifically trained?
8. List the functions that employees of the customer
service department perform:
a) Internally.
b) Externally.
9. Which are the criteria to form a customer service
department?
10. Currently there are two ways of performing the processing
of complaints and suggestions. Which are they?
Analyse the principles of customer service
11. What is an imaginary or false claim?
12. What is the after-sales service?
Identify the types of claim or demand and handle them
13. Claims can be grouped into, at least, three levels. List
them.
14. In principle, what kinds of claims are to be solved by
employees responsible for customer service?
15. Indicate the stages of the claims and complaints handling
process in which the company and customers are in con-
tact.
16.
17. What are the different types of claims that can arise if we
18.
19.
Match each task or service with its corresponding field:

Make recommendations to




other departments
Keepa record of complaints Internally
and claims
Analyse suggestions raised
Externally


Make proposals for
improvement

Inform users

have a dispute with a company?
You are responsible for the department of customer service
of the company Hoteles Reunidos, S.L. You receive a phone
call from some guests of Hotel Rey David, in Las Heras de
Don Sancho, complaining of their stay. They were given a
room of a lower category than the one booked, they have
been ignored by the hotel staff and threaten to file a for-
mal complaint before the Consumer Agency if they are not
properly compensated.
Answer the following questions:
a) What behaviour should you adopt in the phone call with
those unsatisfied hotel guests? (Use the content of this
unit and Unit 5, regarding oral communication).
b) Fill in the forms that we have explained in this unit for
the handling of complaints, using fictitious data of both
customers and the stay.
c) Decide what compensation you could offer to
customers and inform the guests about it by e-mail (use
the contents learnt in Unit 7, about written communi-
cation).
d)|magine that the customer does not accept the
compensation you have offered; inform the guest about
the outside options available.
Work in pairs, prepare one of the following situations
(you can use this link: http://revista.cconsumer.es/web/
es/20000901/practico/consejo_del_mes/30167.php) and
perform it before your classmates.
Different groups should choose different situations as far
as possible. One student will play the role of the customer
and the other will be the employee responsible for dealing
with complaints and claims.
"a

183. >”
8 The customer service department


Check your learning
a) A customer buys a dress suit in a department store
in sales time. The suit needs some alterations in the
sleeves. This department store doesn’t usually charge
for these alterations, but the employee says that there
is a charge, this time because the purchase was made in
sales time.
b) A customer claims that a laptop is defective. The emplo-
yee says that the customer must prove that the device
was not working when it was delivered.
c) Some books have been purchased over the Internet. The
customer phones the company to return them, as he or
she bought the books less than 7 days ago.
d) A washing machine is taken back due to manufacturing
defects. The company that sold it doesn’t want to make
the refund, but to give the customer some vouchers for
the purchase of products in the same establishment.
e) Several chairs were purchased in a department store.
As they were uncomfortable, they are returned to the
store.
Assess the importance of a proactive behaviour to foresee
possible problems in the process.
20. How can the company foresee claims or complaints that
its customers may lodge in the future?
21. Do you think that complaints or claims can help the com-
pany? How?
Process the documents created for handling queries, com-
plaints and claims
22. Alfonso Pérez lodged a complaint after celebrating his
wedding in Salones El Amanecer because of the following
incidents occurring during the celebration:
a) The amount of prawns was not enough for all the guests
to repeat, as it was agreed.
b) The staff rudely urged the guests to the end the party
soon.
c) Alfonso wouldn’t have lodged the claim for the reasons
above if he hadn't been requested to pay for the menu
of two guests who finally couldn't attend the celebra-
tion.
What claiming reasons will Alfonso include in the form?
23. What solutions could be suggested by the company in
response to the grounds alleged in the claim described
in the previous activity?
24. What data must be recorded in the file that is opened
when a customer files a complaint or a claim?
Know the importance of consumer protection and apply the
appropriate regulations
25. What is a complaint form? And a claim form?
26. How is the consumer protected in Spain? What options
are available to a consumer who wants to complain to a
company?
27. A customer buys a diet product with some supposed
beneficial health effects, as announced in the advertising
broadcasted on television and indicated on the product
packaging. However, the European Food Safety Agency
(EFSA) states that there is no evidence of such beneficial
health effects of this product. Can the consumer complain
about it? Why?
28. Read the following article:
Article on the procedure for making complaints and claims:
http://www.elmundo.es/sudinero/noticias/act-144-06.
html
Write a summary of the main ideas that are developed in
the text.
What public administrations issue the standards for con-
sumers’ rights?
If your regional government had a rule that would
give consumers more protection than a rule at European
level, do you think that companies would be allowed to
apply the European rule instead of that of your regional
government?
An employee of an appliances business tells you that
the company headquarters are in the U.S. and that the
laws of that country state that the warranty period for
the washing machine that you have just bought is shorter
than the warranty period in Europe. What would you say
to that employee?
29. Go to http://www.autocontrol.es and answer the follow-
ing questions:
a) What is the scope of this website?
b) Does this initiative replace the legal regulation?
c) What is a code of ethics?
d) What is the difference between the claims handled by
Autocontrol and Copy Advice service?
d

184. r-sales services.
e after-sales
er processes
nization.
s and tools for quality
t
nagement in after-sales

turing of the service.
ement tools for after-sales
se,
Unit
After-sales service
In this unit you'll learn how to:
* Define the after-sales service and its
structure within the organization.
* Assess the importance for a company to
offer an after-sales service to its customers.
* Know the after-sales services that
companies may offer.
+ Identify the proper actions and tools
to manage the quality of the after-sales
service.
* Find and fix mistakes in after-sales service.
+ Identify the tools that may be used in the
after-sales service.

185. 9 After-sales service

Important


After-sales service is one of the
ways to add value to a product or
service and involves supporting
customers and making their rela-
tion with the company easier.


Vocabulary

Loyalty. This marketing concept is
about making the company’s cus-
tomers remain loyal to it, that is
to say, keep on buying its products
or services.


Do you know that...?

A satisfied customer will reco-
mmend a product or service to at
least three potential customers. In
contrast, a dissatisfied customer
means the loss of ten potential
customers, as people usually tell
negative experiences rather than
the positive ones.


>”
@ 1. After-sales service
Today, most companies know that their responsibility to quality in all processes is not over
when their products or services are sold. They know this isn’t true and also that afterwards
they must provide an after-sales service in order to fully satisfy the customer.
We define after-sales service as a set of mechanisms and tasks that the organization
uses after the sale is done to obtain total customer satisfaction so that the customer
repeats the sale, recommends our brand or product, and so on.
In terms of obtaining loyalty from our customers, the after-sales service is one of the most
important issues of the sale process, since it shows our concern for our customers and also
transmits the idea that we are not only interested in them spending their money in our
company.
In addition, the after-sales service is one of the most important sources of information in a
company, allowing us to keep in touch with customers and understand their feelings and pre-
ferences about our products, and we can even send them new offers and promotions.
Therefore, after-sales service should not be considered as a source of expenses or costs
(although it is not free), but as an investment, a future revenue generator. This is the perspec-
tive that more and more companies are adopting by providing a quality after-sales service to
carry on being globally competitive.
Specifically, the main reasons for taking the time and effort to keep the customer relationship
beyond the sale are:
+ It is proven that it is easier to sell more products or a new product or service to satisfied
users than finding new customers to buy our products or services.
+ Satisfied users are the best source, through their recommendations, to gain access to
potential new customers.
+ Visits to satisfied customers give us the chance to obtain new ideas to improve the product
or service that the company sells.
Although the advantages of having an after-sales service are undeniable, there are
certain disadvantages that companies also assess, as shown in the following comparison
(Table 9.1):
It provides greater customer satisfaction. It involves certain costs.

It improves the image of the company and
. . It needs to be controlled.
its products or services.

. . It causes a possible increase in the number of
It improves direct knowledge of the market. P


claims.
It involves potential customer loyalty. It implies greater demands for service and quality.
It implies a likely increase in sales. It causes more staffing needs.
Table 9.1. Advantages and disadvantages of the company’s after-sales service.
® 1.1. Types of after-sales service
After-sales services are usually related to the warranty that companies provide on tangible,
long-lasting products; however, while this warranty is one of the most common after-sales
services, it is not the only one that may be provided.

186. After-sales service 9

Thus, after-sales services can be of different types, as we can see in this table:

Those related to sales promotion. In particular, they allow us to promote special offers or discounts to our
frequent customers or encourage them to participate in contests or sweepstakes, among other possibilities.
For example, many malls and chain stores offer their customers a card to accumulate money for their next
purchases in the same establishments; other companies send their customers a monthly magazine promoting
their new products and conducting sweepstakes.

Those services related to customers motivation, such as congratulating them for their birthday, sending them
a gift, calling them to ask if they received the product on time and under the agreed conditions, or asking
them about the first week of use of the product they bought.
This not only allows the company to show that it cares about customers, but also helps it know the
impressions about the product and, for example, know how they can be improved.
For example, this type of after-sales service is a common practice of several boutique chains that send a
greeting card with a voucher that can be exchanged for products at their stores as a birthday present.

Those providing protection for the purchase of the product, such as a warranty covering a certain period after
the purchase or the possibility of making refunds if customers are not satisfied.
The slogan of a famous Spanish company is a good example of this: "Si no queda satisfecho, le devolvemos su
dinero”.

Those involving a maintenance or support service. Companies may provide installation services and training on
product usage, or schedule follow-up visits to ensure that the customer is making good use of the product and
has no problem with it.
The advertising slogan of a telecommunications operator is a good example: "Nuestros clientes vienen por el
ahorro, pero se quedan por la calidad del servicio técnico".
Above all, this kind of after-sales service allows the company to keep its relation with the customer, because
from time to time a member of the company must be in touch with the customer.
Table 9.2. Types of after-sales service in the company.

3 Case study 1. Types of after-sales service
The company Camara Flash, S.A. is in the business of selling
photographic equipment for professionals.
What kind of after-sales services could it offer?
Solution:
* Promotional:
- It can give a discount on the second product that the
customer buys.
- Once a year, it can conduct a sweepstake among its regu-
lar customers consisting of photography equipment.
g Activities

Psychological:
- It can call its customers within ten days of purchase of a
new camera to ask if they are satisfied and if they have
any questions or problems and need help.
- |tcan send a Christmas greeting card to all its customers.
Security:
- Inthe event of customer dissatisfaction, Camara Flash,
S.A. will refund the money or will replace the camera.
Maintenance:
- Camara Flash, S.A. will perform equipment check and
repairs.

1. Think of the products or services that you have used lately.
Have you been given any after-sales service? Did you have
to apply personally for any of these services? Tell your
experience.
. Imagine that you work for the after-sales service of a
major car company. Give at least one example of each
type of service that you could offer to increase customer
satisfaction.

“a

187. yo After-sales service
The various activities that take place after the sale of products and services fall into two
main groups: technical services carried out on products and services provided to customers
who have purchased the product or service. In turn, there are different categories within both
groups. Let’s look at the following tables.

It includes a set of operations performed on the premises of the customer to get the product ready to use,
and also includes bringing it into operation. The complexity of this process depends on the characteristics
of the product itself and can be carried out by specialists or by the user; in this case, the installation must
be simple and explained through step-by-step instructions that must go with the product. For example:
self-assembly furniture.

Many products suffer wear as a result of their use, which can cause them to fail in performing their functions
and, thus, customer dissatisfaction. To avoid this, maintenance activities must be carried out to restore some
of the features of the product and to maintain others.
Maintenance may include checks, cleaning, lubrication, new parts, and so on.


Repairs are carried out with the aim of restoring the features of the product that are not working by replacing
parts and/or components, or through simple adjustments.
During a period of time, known as the warranty period, the supplier will repair the product free of charge to
the customer if previous requirements are met (which usually consist of keeping the receipt of the purchase
and being within the maximum term of the warranty).
Table 9.3. Types of technical services for the products.

Do you know that...?
According to Law 23/2003 of
Guarantees in Consumption Goods,
the minimum warranty period for
long-lasting products is two years.

The technical services listed in Table 9.3 can be provided by producers in their own facilities or
can be outsourced to other companies, but, in any case, they must be performed by properly
trained staff.
The services that can be provided directly to customers who purchase our products or
services are the following:

The company should establish a system of communication with the customer whereby it knows how the
customer uses its products and is able to train or guide customers to do so effectively and get the most out
of them.
In complex products that require a special installation by specialists or by the customer, these services can be
combined. These activities are more difficult to frame in the case of simple products or services, as sometimes
they overlap with the sale or the provision of the basic service.

The existence of a complaint proves the existence of a possible defect in the product or service that affects
customer satisfaction. Although complaints and claims are a source of valuable information, as we studied
in the previous unit, they don’t necessarily reflect the reality of system performance, since some customers
may complain even if the product or service meets the requirements, while others do not complain even if
there are problems.
Thus, there is a number of factors that influence potential complaints:
- Customers’ characteristics: the fact of filing a potential complaint is influenced by characteristics
of people such as age, educational level or character, among others.
- Importance of the product or service: the number of complaints tends to grow for valuable products
and services, as customers cannot ignore or accept failure easily.
- Unit price: when the customer has paid a large sum to enjoy a product or service, he or she usually expects
more from the service, and when the product or service doesn’t meet these expectations, a complaint
usually arises. By contrast, the lower the price of the product, the less complaints.
- Moment when the problem appears: the failure occurring long after the purchase, primarily in long-life
products, is assumed to be normal and doesn’t usually cause complaints or claims.
Table 9.4. Types of services provided to customers.
>*

188. After-sales service 9

@ 2. Relationship of the after-sales
service with other processes
within the company
The after-sales service cannot be planned independently from other processes within the
organization that have an impact on planning, creation and marketing of a product or service,
as all these processes pursue a single goal: customer satisfaction.
Satisfaction is a subjective measure that depends on the total value that the consumer
has assigned to the product or service and on the perception of the extent to which the
product or service fulfils this value.
Thus, the total value that a consumer assigns to a product or service is formed by three factors:
+ Purchase value: the customer wonders how much value the product or service will bring.
+ Usage value: it is related to the satisfaction that a product or service brings during its use.
+ Final value: it is the satisfaction that the customer obtains after the whole consumption
experience.
Since the whole value is created through the full experience using the product or service, from
purchase to total consumption, companies must offer a solid after-sales service to provide
customer satisfaction after the purchase.
2.1. After-sales service and its relationship to quality
As we have seen, the after-sales service is very important in achieving the quality of a product
or service. It is the last step in the chain of processes that begins with the research on market
and customer needs and ends with satisfaction assessment and identification of new needs
and improvements. This is where the after-sales service plays its role.
Now we will study the relation of the after-sales service with the other processes aimed at
achieving quality products and services. As with all processes within an organization, the first
step is obtaining the necessary information to know which way to go in production.
Depending on the stage of the product or service, the organization must adopt different
competitive strategies to increase sales or, if necessary, to slow sales decrease. The imple-
mentation of these strategies particularly affects the after-sales service, which is used in
the different stages as a tool to achieve the best possible business goals, as we will see in the
following sections.
© A. Inputs from business environment
Inputs from business environment are all the information that the company gathers
from the environment. It may be specific information of a business sector (for example,
about competitors or types of customers) or general information (for example, about
laws and regulations affecting production or marketing).
* Needs and expectations of customers: companies use two tools to meet expectations
and needs of customers; firstly, market research, and secondly, the results of the after-sales
service. With this information; the organization can move forward and create new products
or services or improve existing ones to meet customer demands.
* Competitors: competition in current markets is very high. Therefore, the after-sales servi-
ce is part of the company’s competitive strategy, since providing a better service than other
companies becomes a huge advantage over competitors.

Vocabulary

Competitive strategy. It refers to
all actions undertaken by the
company to defend its market
position. The elements that can
endanger this position are com-
petitors (current and future), the
bargaining power of suppliers and
customers and the appearance of
substitute goods.



Watch out!
Quality is a subjective concept,
and, therefore, it is dynamic (as it
is constantly changing) and non-
universal (since it depends on
each customer or sector).

yy

189. © Watch out! —————————_

9 After-sales service

Expectations are classified into
several types. Everything depends
on the client and service features,
as there are clients who are more
satisfied than others with the
same quality of service or pro-
duct.
The types of expectations are:
* Expected service: it is what
the customer expects to obtain
from a service or product. For
example, if we stay in a 5-star
hotel, we won't allow any mis-
take in the service.
Adequate service: it is the mi-
nimum level expected from a
product or service. For example,
if we stay in a hostel, we expect
it to be clean and comfortable.


Web
To learn more about the expecta-
tions of a potential customer,
check the following link:
https://portal.uah.es/portal/
page/portal/GP_EPD/PG-MA-
ASIG/PG-ASIG-34322/TAB42351/
CS.5.%20Las%20expectativas
%20claves%20de%20los%20
clientes. pdf


>”
© B. Inputs from other internal processes
The actions of the other departments in the organization influence the development of a
good or bad customer service. Therefore, we must know the nature of those critical processes
to the after-sales service:
* Quality strategic plan: all the processes taking place within an organization must be
oriented towards obtaining products and services that meet the quality standards that
have been strategically planned by the company. Thus, all departments must know
and comply with their part of the process to achieve the desired quality. After-sales
service must also meet the desired quality and will undoubtedly benefit from the proper
performance of other departments.
* Sold product or service: the after-sales service is developed after the sale of the service or
product, which may have already been consumed (for example, food), be in use (for exam-
ple, a car that breaks down) or even remain unused (for example, a computer equipment
that is yet to be installed).
+ Characteristics, scope and management of products and services: the after-sales
service must know all the features, limitations and usage guidelines of the product or ser-
vice to provide the appropriate response to customers.
+ Process development in previous periods: the after-sales service must keep a record of its
actions in order to constantly improve its service.
* Quality warranty: during production or execution periods, errors can occur. To prevent
these mistakes from impacting too negatively on customer satisfaction, warranty periods
are provided. During these periods, the producer or service provider is responsible for the
failures. The terms and scope of this responsibility are fixed (also by law, as mentioned
above) and must be known to the after-sales service.
: Available resources: to properly develop its activity, the after-sales service must have
material, human, financial and information resources that the organization should provide.
© C. Outputs to business environment
As a result of after-sales service activities, the company may obtain certain elements that
are addressed to the outside of the organization, that is to say, to the market. These are the
following:
+ Product or service fit for use: this element is the result of the services of installation,
maintenance and repairs, the function of which is to keep and/or restore the product or
service features that are required to meet the customer needs or to create the proper usage
conditions, as in the case of installations.
* Training for use: as we have seen, one of the functions of the after-sales service is to
provide the customer with the necessary skills to use the product or service.
+ Customer satisfaction: the after sales-service is a powerful element to create customer
satisfaction and, therefore, to provide more value to the product or service.
+ Solution to a complaint or claim: as we have also studied, another function is to provide
effective solutions to customer complaints.
(J) D. Outputs to other internal processes
As we explained above, the after-sales service is related to other processes within the com-
pany by obtaining information and resources from them, but also by offering information and
useful elements. Thus:

190. After-sales service 9

+ Information for the control of processes: the after-sales service can collect useful infor-
mation for other departments within the organization. For example, it can detect an error
in production through constant complaints.
+ Assessment of products and processes: with the information obtained by the after-sales
service the company will be able to:
Assess customer satisfaction regarding the product or service, by comparing created
expectations and the result that is finally obtained by the consumer. For example, if the
advertising campaign exaggerated some aspects and created expectations that are not
eventually met.

Identify opportunities for improvement through customer feedback.

Inputs from business environment:
+ Needs and expectations of customers.
* Competitors.


Inputs from other internal processes:
* Quality strategic plan.
* Sold product or service.
* Characteristics, scope and management of the product or service.
+ Process development in previous periods.
* Quality warranty.
* Available resources.



Outputs to business environment:
+ Information for the control of processes.
+ Assessment of products and processes:
asses customer satisfaction and detect
opportunities for improvement.

Outputs to other internal processes:
* Product or service fit for use.
* Training for use.
* Level of customer satisfaction.
+ Solution to a complaint or claim.

Scheme 9.1. Inputs and outputs of the after-sales service.
ie Case study 2. The after-sales service in relation to product life cycle
The company TXP, S.A. manufactures espresso coffee machi-
nes for cafes and restaurants. Let’s have a look at the different
processes taking place in this company to produce a new model
and the relationship of all of them with the after-sales service.
Solution:
* Inputs
a) From business environment: the marketing depart-
ment makes a market research, which reveals that cus-
tomers want the coffee machines to take up less space.
It also reveals that the coffee machines produced by its
major competitor have the same features but take up
5.cm in width less.
b) From other processes: the new model must be sma-
ller and with improved quality. In earlier periods the
after-sales service detected a fault in the steam valve
that cause the machine to block easily.

* Outputs
c) To other internal processes: the fault in the valve was
detected thanks to the complaints received by the after-
sales service. Those claims also proved the need for
improvements in the training service and the instruc-
tions handbook, as customers complained that machines
had features that were not explained, or not sufficiently
explained, in the training process. For this purpose, the
company will use the customers’ record to detect those
who have a machine that had to be repaired because of
wear and will provide the list to the sales department so
that they can offer the new model to these customers.
d) To business environment: the after-sales service will
make improvements in the training process by offering
a more comprehensive service. Moreover, those who
have had problems with the faulty valve will be offered
a machine replacement at a very low cost.
/
Activities
3. Imagine that you work in the after-sales service of the company
Impresiona, S.L., which is in the business of printers for offices.
a) What would be the role of the after-sales department in
the launch of new products?
b) What information can the after-sales department obtain
from the production department in order to perform its
tasks better and more efficiently?
c) And from the marketing department?

iy

191. 9 After-sales service

oO Important
ISO 9000 Certification
The term ISO stands for the
International Organization for
Standardization.
The international standards deve-
loped by this organization include
those related to the ISO 9000
family, about to management and
quality.
In short, ISO 9000 is a set of ru-
les that determine the steps that
an organization should have in
the production process. These
standards cover industrial produc-
tion, administrative procedures,
delivery times and service levels,
among other issues.
Obtaining certificates that gua-
rantee certain quality standards is
an important tool, as it transmits
confidence in the products and
services offered by the companies
that use them.

>”
®@ 3. Quality management
and the after-sales service
The perception of quality in the after-sales service is the difference between customer
expectations (what they expect to obtain after buying the product or service) and what
is actually obtained.
The quality of the after-sales service has two components:
+ Internal quality: it is related to technical and operational aspects of the service.
+ External quality: it is the assessment made by the customers of the way after-sales service
was performed.
® 3.1. Actions to manage quality
in the after-sales service
To manage quality in the process of after-sales service, the actions that take place are: plan,
implement, control and improve quality in this process.
Scheme 9.2. Actions to manage quality of the after-sales service.

DC A. Planning
The quality planning of any process means deciding what to do, how to do it and what to use
in the process; to do this, the following elements must be defined and designed:
1. Define the characteristics of the after-sales service, which may be:
— Quantitative: those that can be measured by means of a quantity. For example, the
response time in case of repairs and handling of complaints, the degree of compliance
with a maintenance contract, the deadline for works or installations, and the number of
visits or calls to request a service, among others.
— Qualitative: those related to quality. They are harder to measure, since they are
essentially subjective and are predominantly found in the moments of interaction
between the customer and the service provider. Some examples are trust, care, courtesy,
communication, and so on.
— Referred to the process: some of these features may be the duration of the process,
people involved in it, the availability of resources or the status of complementary
elements in the process.
2. Define indicators to assess performance and levels to be attained in each service.
Indicators are patterns for measuring the efficiency and effectiveness of the after-sales
service, so their definition should also include the levels to be attained.
In Table 9.5 we can see some common indicators of after-sale services.

192. After-sales service 9

+ Response time.
* Number of complaints.
+ Financial indicators.

* Compliance with the plan.
+ Response time.
* Number of complaints.
+ Financial indicators.

+ Response time.
* Percentage of solved cases.
* Percentage of solved technical faults.
+ Returns rate.
+ Economic value of returns.
* Number of complaints.
+ Failure rate (percentage of unsolved cases).
+ Financial indicators.

+ Response time.
* Rate of solution.
* Economic value of disagreements.

* Failures due to poor operation.
* Claims arising from ignorance of the customer.

Table 9.5. Indicators of customer service.
3. Design the process for the performance of each service. To ensure that the service deve-
lops in the best possible way, we must define and document the procedures to be used for
the provision of customer service.
4. Define the resources we need. To ensure the performance of a quality after-sales pro-
cess we need to determine the required resources and materials. For example, we must
establish the amount and type of parts required for repairs, supplies for maintenance and
facilities, and so on.
5. Define the organizational structure. All workers involved in the after-sales service play
a crucial role in achieving a quality service; therefore we must define the organizational
structure itself, specifying the responsibilities and functions of each and every one of the
workers.
In any case, to provide a quality service, the staff in this department must have the appro-
priate training. In this line, during the quality planning we will determine the possible need for
staff training in order to ensure its competence and update.
© B. Implementation
This stage means that we will carry out everything we have planned in the previous stage,
which means:
* Training staff responsible for service development.
* Acquiring the required resources for the provision of each service.
* Implementing the procedure designed to perform each service.
* Using the documents and records designed for each service.

Spanish assistant
eSabes cual es la diferencia entre
claim y complaint? Pues exac-
tamente la misma que hay entre
una “reclamacién” y una “queja”.
Por cierto, “presentar una queja”
se dice to lodge o to make a com-
plaint.


Fig. 9.1. The training of the after-sales
service staff is an essential tool to
provide a quality service.
"a

193. 9 After-sales service


Watch out!
The four stages of quality manage-
ment in the process of after-sales
service (planning, implementation,
control and improvement) are
not linear, but interactive; thus,
for example, control and improve-
ment actions are also performed
during the planning and imple-
mentation stages.


Case study 3. Quality management
O C. Control
Control must be carried out both on the process of the after-sales service and on the result of
the service, which means:

Calculate the performance indicators for each service.


Record the procedure used for each service.


Check the use of the records.


Comparing achieved levels to planned levels.


Comparing the practical procedure to the designed procedure.


Identifying deviations.



Determining their causes and those responsible.


Taking corrective and preventive actions to avoid deviations.


Recording actions taken.




Assessing the effectiveness of measures taken.

Scheme 9.3. Control of the process and results of the after-sales service.
©) D. Improvement
The improvement of the processes takes place when, after having reached the planned levels,
we set more ambitious and demanding goals that lead to greater degree of perfection and
superior quality of products or services. These goals involve redefining:
+ The requirements of each service and the indicators to assess performance and levels to
be achieved in each service.
+ The necessary resources.
+ The necessary organizational structure and the assignment of new responsibilities and
functions.
Training requirements of the staff.
The procedures for carrying out each service should also be redesigned.

Neumiaticos Espafioles, S.A. has three types of customers: Solution:
- Individual customers (natural person). 1. Plan the after-sales service.
- Companies with a small fleet of vehicles. 2. Implement service quality, that is to say, perform every-
- Trucking companies.
What actions must Neuméaticos Espafioles, S.A. follow to
thing that has been planned.
3. Control the provision of the service and assess its results.
manage quality in its after-sales service? 4. Improve service in every possible way.

VA Activities

4. What indicators can be adequate for Neumaticos Espafio- 5. Should Neumaticos Espajioles, S.A. follow the same proce-
les, S.A. to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of its dure with all three types of customers? What could be the
customer service? differences?

>”

194. After-sales service 9

@ 4. Techniques and tools
for quality management

Web
Check this link for examples of the
There are several statistical and leading techniques that we can use for the management of techniques in the table:
quality in the after-sales service process; some of them are used in a specific action, for exam-
ple, in control or improvement stages. Other techniques, however, are most commonly used
and both the number of participants and the method applied may vary.
http://www.programaempresa.
com/empresa/empresa.nsf/pagin
as/03A22725777BA653C1256FB7
0061013D?OpenDocument

Let's have a look at the most important techniques:

* Brainstorming is a way to analyse business problems that is aimed at developing creativity and finding inno-
vative solutions.
* Foran effective use, five basic rules must be followed:
- Do not criticize the ideas from others.
- The ideas provided must be temporarily accepted for discussion.
- Find as many ideas as possible.
- It is desirable to improve and combine ideas.
- Select and sort ideas.
* The number of participants must be between five and eight people, and it should last between thirty minutes
and two hours depending on the complexity of the subject under discussion.
* The coordinator will record the ideas issued and will make everybody obey the rules of the game, especially
not to criticize.
* At critical times, when it seems that the group has run out of imagination, the coordinator should encourage
the group members to make more suggestions and alternatives.

* This method is aimed at designing or redesigning a product or service to ensure, at minimum cost, all the
functions that the customer wants and is willing to pay.
* The objectives are reducing the costs of the product or service and increasing customer satisfaction; in addi-
tion to reducing its cost, the product can also be improved.
* The application of value analysis requires:
- Identifying the main elements of a product or service.
- Analysing the functions performed by the elements of the product or service.
- Developing several alternative designs to perfom the same functions.
- Assigning costs to each of the most promising alternatives.
- Selecting one of the alternatives and developing it.
* The team size can range between four and twenty people, but it must include a representative of the custo-
mer or user to help make decisions.

* Itis a diagram that identifies all actions required to achieve a goal:





Action 1.1
Action 1 i
Action 2 — Action 2.1


* There are two important questions for each branch:
- Will the performance of all the activities listed on the right of a specific rectangle ensure that the goal in
this rectangle is reached?
- Do we need all the activities appearing on the right of a particular rectangle to successfully achieve that
goal?
+ The purpose of this tool is to avoid carrying out unnecessary tasks or omitting any important task.

Table 9.6. Techniques and tools for quality management (cont.).
“a

195. 9 After-sales service


* It is away to organize and represent the causes of a problem. This type of diagram is also known as Ishikawa
diagram or fishbone diagram.
+ Steps to develop the diagram: Cause A Cause B Cause C
- Define the problem or effect.. Solution At os, PA,
- Identify the causes.
~ Add sub-causes —
- Analyse the causes and identify those “7 Kn
causing more problems in the effect. r Solution F1
Cause D Cause E Cause F

* It is a graphical representation of the sequence of steps required to achieve a certain result. Each step is repre-
sented by a symbol, for example:
O—=> UO A OO
Operation Transport Inspection Storage Decision

+ Data collection and analysis is essential for decision-making.
+ First, we must formulate the phenomenon, process or problem that we want to analyse, collect all the data
involved, and finally analyse and represent them.
* This tool is often used in combination with others.

* Graphs are visual representations of quantitative data. They can summarize large amounts of information in
little space and communicate complex situations clearly and accurately. They may have different shapes, such
as lines, bar, sectors, and so on.


P-chart of defective fraction

+ There are variations in any process, either 0300 (variable sample size)
random (natural variations) or non-random = 0250
of ° ,6205= = = err errr rere errr
(unforeseen, due to a specific cause). A control 3 2
ae % 0,200
chart shows the total variation of a process. = aso
av
. . . >
. The simplest kind of graph is called P-chart, % 0,100
which represents the defective percentage, 3 oso
that is, the percentage of times that an esta- 2 0000.
blished standard is not met. "123456789 1011 12 13 1415 16 17 18 19 2021
Samples

Table 9.6. Techniques and tools for quality management.

Case study 4. Techniques and tools for quality management


The company Music, S.A., which is in the business of music pla- Solution:
yers, has detected an increase in the number of complaints and —_First, the company must perform a data recording method.
claims within the last month. Then, it must draw a cause-and-effect diagram to analyse
the causes of the increase in complaints. If claims are due to
What techniques or tools can be used to analyse the problem —_ product defects, it must make a P-chart. Finally, it may use the
and improve quality? brainstorming to find a solution.

VA Activities
6. Explain which tool of quality management would be more b) It wants to generate new ideas to offer the customer a
suitable for the company Music, S.A. (Case study 4) if: quality after-sales service.
a) It wants to reduce after-sales service costs and increase c) It wants to analyse the process followed to answer
customer satisfaction. a complaint and to try to improve it.

>”

196. After-sales service 9

@® 5. Structuring the after-sales service
After-sales services can be integrated within the organization itself or outsourced to a con-
tractor. In fact, outsourcing this service is an increasing trend.
Whether internally or externally developed, the after-sales service must have some degree
of autonomy in managing and making decisions that affect their operation, as this will provide
it with greater flexibility to respond to incidents suffered by customers.
Moreover, this service or department has to work closely with the customer service
department, since the efficiency of both depends on each other. Sometimes we may find
that both services in the same company are being provided by two different companies;
in this case, the company that provides the product or service and that has outsourced both
departments is responsible for keeping a fast and efficient flow of information between
both services.
5.1. Structure of an after-sales service
The structure of the after-sales service or department varies greatly from one company to
another, as it has to adapt to the type of product or service and the internal organization of
the company; yet we can describe the structure and basic functions of the different parts that
make up this department.
© A. Receiving and addressing incidents
In order to provide a good after-sales service it is essential to have a good mechanism to
receive and address incidents.
First of all, the customer must find it easy to contact the supplier or manufacturer. In this first
contact, which usually occurs through the customer service, employees must follow a set of
procedures, as we saw in the section on quality management of this service.
Specifically, the functions related to receiving and addressing calls, in this order, are:
1. Addressing incidents. At this point we must apply all the patterns studied in Units 5 and 6
about the proper techniques to answer a call, active listening and assertiveness in commu-
nication.
2. Discriminating calls. It means that the responsible for receiving incidents must dif-
ferentiate between those that must be processed through the after-sales service and
those to be managed by other departments. For example, a problem involving a billing
mistake should be addressed by the accounting department, a complaint about the
treatment received by an employee should be addressed by the staff department, and
so on.
3. Managing incidents. Following the outlined procedures, the person who addresses the
incident must differentiate between those common problems that can usually be solved
with a single call and those that require the intervention of another section. As we can see,
this department is not and should not be a mere call centre, as the staff must be properly
trained to understand the problem and, if possible, to offer an immediate solution. For
example, if a customer has an ADSL connection failure, the first thing that the call centre
checks is that the modem or router is working properly.
When the problem posed by the customer requires the involvement of other departments,
communication must be fast and efficient to reach the solution as soon as possible in order
to achieve customer satisfaction.

Vocabulary

Outsourcing or subcontracting.
This term refers to the process by
which a company hires another
organization to perform certain
tasks, which are usually those with
a high component of specializa-
tion, such as the maintenance of
electrical or computer installa-
tions.


Fig. 9.2. The task of selecting calls
performed by the customer service or the
after-sales staff is essential to achieve
“a
the highest service quality.

197. 9 After-sales service

8 Do you know that...?
Spanish law regulates those issues
regarding repair and after-sales
services as follows:
Royal Legislative Decree 1/2007,
November 16th, passing the con-
solidated text of the General
Law for Consumers and Users
Protection and other comple-
mentary laws.
Chapter IV. Additional commer-
cial warranty, documentation
requirements and after-sales
service.
Article 127. Repair and after-sales
services.
1. Regarding long-lasting products,
consumer or user is entitled to
a proper technical support ser-
vice and to the provision of spa-
re parts for a minimum period of
five years from the date when
the product is no longer manu-
factured.
N .lt is forbidden to raise prices
of spare parts when they are
used for repairs, as well as to
charge for labour, transportation
or visit higher amounts than the
estimated average costs in each
sector, and the bill must inclu-
de the different concepts. The
price list of spare parts should be
available to the public.
3.The action or right of recovery
of the products delivered by
the consumer or user to the
company in order to be repaired
expires after three years from
that delivery.
Regulations will establish the data
that the employer must provide
at the time when an item is
delivered for repair, as well as the
ways in which this delivery can be
certified.



a”
OB. Technical support service
The company that provides the product or service must have experts who know perfectly that
good or service in order to provide quality assistance. When the customer has an issue with
the product or service purchased, the expert will get in touch with him or her to assess the
problem and provide a solution.
According to the nature of the problem, the most common solutions are:
: Assisted self-repair: this solution is offered when the customer can perform the repair
with the help of a specialist over the phone, chat, video conferencing, and so on.
* On-site repair: in this case, the specialist will go where the product or service is. This
solution applies when the transfer is absolutely necessary, for example, when repairing a
service like phone or gas, which needs to be assessed on-site or when the cost of transport-
ing the product is higher than the visit of an expert.
+ Repair shop: this solution applies in cases where the product has to be necessarily repaired
in the premises of the supplier.
The experts are also responsible for identifying the possible causes of the problem, for finding
failures in the product or service and for suggesting possible control or repair measures. Thus,
the expert must be able to:
+ Identify the exact causes of customer complaints or claims.
* Assess the reasons for the problem: improper use by the customer, sabotage, manufactur-
ing mistake, wear and tear, and so on.
+ Defend and protect the company in cases where the customer wants to use the warranty
when he or she caused the problem.
+ Defend and protect the customer when the problem or damage is due to a manufacturing
defect or deficiencies in the training provided to the user.
Finally, the specialist will decide, after the assessment, if the product or service must be
repaired or replaced by the same model or by a more advanced one.
© C. Other departments or services involved in the structure
Besides the customer service department, sometimes there are more departments of the
company involved in the structure of the after-sales service, which depends on the proper
performance of those departments. Let’s consider some cases:
* Transportation. In the event that goods must be delivered to the customer in some
specific location, delivery times and quality in service provision are crucial. In order to
reduce the costs of the after-sales service, some companies usually outsource economic
transportation companies, which can lead to delays in collection or delivery of products or
improper handling of goods, and this may even cause greater damage than the repair itself.
Moreover, we should bear in mind that, despite the fact that this service is not integrated
into the company, the customer will perceive it as part of it.
+ Warehouse. This is also a difficult issue. The company must take into account what
components may fail and if they can be replaced. The decision to replace a part will depend
on its cost plus the hours of work needed for the replacement.
In any case, regardless of the decisions of each particular company, in this respect the law
stipulates that "regarding long-lasting products, consumer or user is entitled to a proper
technical support service and to the provision of spare parts for a minimum period of five
years from the date when the product is no longer manufactured" (Law 47/2002 of December
19, about Retail Trade).

198. After-sales service 9

+ Follow-up. Once the repair or replacement of the product has been made, we must carry
out a follow-up on customer satisfaction about the solution. This function may be perfor-
med by the after-sales department, the customer service or even the sales department,
depending on the company (Fig. 9.3).
Regardless of who carried out this function, the follow-up must be performed because:
— It will help us assess the quality of our service. Thus, if the customer is not satisfied, we
can detect the weak point of our supply chain and try to improve the service. For exam-
ple, if there has been a delay in collecting the product, if the problem was not properly
assessed in the first contact, and so on.

Fig. 9.3. Support service in case of
breakdown is a common after-sales
— It will help us identify new customer needs in order to improve the product. service among many automakers.

5 Case study 5. After-sales department structure
The company Computering, S.A. sells laptops and desktop _ includes technical maintenance. Let’s go through the possible
computers. One of the functions of its customer service development of an incident received in that department.






Call reception
ee Management: it was connected.
2 & | We received a call from a customer | Discrimination/ After doing it, it works. END
S 2 | whose computer will not turn on. call management
2)
Zi We ask the customer if he or oo, .
2 x she can check whether the | Management/discrimination: it
Y 2 PC is properly connected to | Was connected. Then we must
m4 the mains. record the problem and transfer
it to the technical support service.
Solution:
Discrimination The technical support department transfers data from the old
The technical support service admits that there is a fault computer to the new one.
in this computer model. The only solution is to change the
computer for a new one. The incident is recorded and trans-
ferred to the transportation department to proceed with
The transportation service delivers the new computer with
old data to the customer.



collection. .
The sales department calls the customer to confirm customer
Management satisfaction about the service in terms of speed, kindness and
The transportation service picks up the broken computer. effectiveness of the solution.
J
Activities
7. The company LAVAQTLAVA, S.L. manufactures industrial they have bought has been a total mess. They say
washing machines and dishwashers. Its main customers are that they have a new machine but still don’t know how
laundries, hospitals and catering companies. What would be to use it. Moreover, as the company has taken the old
the most appropriate or convenient structure for the after- machine, they cannot work.
sales department of this company? .
c) The production department reports to the after-sales
8. In groups of three students, develop different possibilities service department that a problem has been detected
that can occur in the following communications with the in the ALM 3000 model, and this failure may cause the
after-sales service of the company LAVAQTLAVA, S. L. dishwasher to explode and damage the user. They have
a) The restaurant Pepito’s calls because their dishwasher already sold 150 units.
has broken down. It’s Thursday and they have more cus-
tomers on the weekends. d) The laundry of the hospital Nuestra Sefiora del Dolor
has to incorporate a new employee responsible for laun-
b) The laundry Brillex calls to complain because the train- dry services. The former employee has left office without
ing that they have received to use the new machine notice and was the person who trained new employees. /
iy

199. 9 After-sales service

@ 6. Management tools
of an after-sales service
To develop its functions, the after-sales service or department needs a series of tools so that
its members are able to effectively manage and solve problems that customers may have
after purchasing a product or service. Specifically, the most common tools are:

* This is a list of the most important data of our customers (name, address, phone, email, data on the purcha-
ses they have made, etc.). For the database to be effective, it must be periodically updated; this is a crucial
requirement for the after-sales service, as this database includes all the information for each customer that
will help the department provide the necessary care and follow-up after the sale.

+ As we studied in Unit 6, this tool is carried out over the phone and allows us to communicate with our
customers quickly, efficiently and profitably.

+ Postal mail allows us to keep a relationship with our customers by sending them catalogues, magazines,
* Currently, fax and email are used to send these messages, as these means have the advantage of the speed
invitations to events, free samples, and so on.
with which the message reaches the customer, sharing the rest of the features with traditional mail.

* Many companies already have a website with forms through which consumers can send emails with
comments, questions, suggestions and other concerns they have about the company or its products or
services. This system features speed both in delivery and receipt of the message.

* This is the most expensive method of follow-up, but also the only one that allows a face-to-face communica-
+ After the visit, we must always prepare a report to keep a better track of customer satisfaction.
tion in both directions. When a company takes the time to make a personal visit, the customer feels valued.
Table 9.7. Common tools of the after-sales service.
>”

Case study 6. Management tools
What tools can the company of Case study 3 (Neumaticos Espafoles, S.A.) use to
manage its customer service?
Solution:
Database. Develop a list of data from all customers, both individuals and companies.
Telemarketing. Call a week after changing tires to check customer satisfaction.
Correspondence. Mail a catalogue of brands and prices of tires and rims.
Internet. Have a website promoting its products and through which customers can send
suggestions or complaints, and even make an appointment to bring their vehicles to the
workshop.
Personal visit. Regular visits, mainly to trucking companies, to carry out a follow-up of
the use of their products, showing an interest in customers.
Activities
9. Besides the services outlined in the previous case study, what other services could
Neuméaticos Espafioles, S.A. offer using these tools?
J

10. In relation with activity 2, how would you use the managing tools of the after-sales
service in a car company?

200. a
. X
After-sales service 9

After-sales service
Relationship with
the product life cycle
Quality management
and after-sales service
Structuring the service
Management tools of
an after-sales service
Set of mechanisms and tasks that the organization uses, once the sale is done,
to achieve total customer satisfaction so that the customer wants to buy again,
to recommend the brand or product, and so on.
Types of after-sales
: Promotional/Psychological/Security/Maintenance.
services
Technical services Installation/Maintenance/Repair.
for products
Services for customers Training for use/Handling of complaints and claims.
Life cycle stages of the product or service: Introduction > Growth > Maturity > Decline
Introduction: after-sales service to make consumers feel secured.
Growth: after-sales service that differentiates us from our
The after-sales service as a competitors and that is aimed at making the customer buy again.
competitive strategy Maturity: satisfactory after-sales service for customers.
Decline: the after-sales service should try to replace customers’
products for more modern models with better features.

1. Define the characteristics of after-sales service.
2. Define indicators to assess performance
and levels to be achieved.
ae 3. Design the process for the performance of each service.
4. Define the necessary resources.
5. Define the organizational structure.
implement Perform everything that has been planned: training staff, acquiring
the necessary resources, implementing the procedure, etc.
It must be performed on both the after-sales service process and
Control its results, which means: measuring the actual system perfor-
mance, comparing actual performance to planned performance,
and acting accordingly, that is, adopting corrective measures.
After reaching the planned levels, we must draw more ambitious
Improve goals that lead to a greater degree of perfection and high
quality products.
After-sales services can be developed internally or externally.
The customer must be able to contact
Customer service : :
the supplier or manufacturer easily.
The company must have experts who know perfectly
CoS De the product or service provided.
Others Transportation, storage, incident tracking.
Databases Telemarketing Correspondence Internet Personal visit
iy

201. 9 After-sales service


Test review
. It is necessary to devote time and effort to keep a relation-
ship with the customer because...
a) Unsatisfied users are a source of recommendations.
b) Customers give us ideas for improving the product or
service.
c) It is more difficult to sell something new to satisfied
customers.
d) It is necessary to maintain a relationship with the custo-
mer after the sale.
. Which of the following is not an advantage of the after-
sales service?
a) Possible customer loyalty.
b) Improved company and product image.
c) Increased staffing needs.
d) Probable increase in sales.
. After-sales services are those that...
a) Are linked to customer's motivation.
b) Are related to sales promotion.
c) Imply a maintenance service for the product.
d) Provide warranties for the purchase of the product.
. The technical services that are performed on products are:
a) Installation and training for use.
b) Installation, maintenance and management of com-
plaints.
c) Maintenance, repairs and training for use.
d) Installation, maintenance and repairs.
. Choose the right sentence about handling complaints:
a) When the failure occurs long after the purchase, it is
assumed to be normal and doesn't result in a complaint.
b) Personal characteristics such as age, education level,
behaviour or knowledge of the product don’t have an
impact on complaints.
c) In major products and services, the number of com-
plaints tends to decrease as customers can ignore or
accept the failure.
d) The higher the price of the product, the fewer com-
plaints.
. Actions to manage quality in the after-sales service are:
a) Planning, controlling and organizing.
b) Planning, organizing, controlling and improving.
c) Planning, implementing, controlling and improving.
d) Planning, directing, controlling and improving.
7. Which of the following tools allows us to organize and
represent the causes of a problem?
a) The flowchart.
b) The P-chart.
c) The cause-and-effect diagram.
d) The histogram.
8. What is the name of the type of repair performed by the
customer himself helped in the distance by an expert?
a) On-site repair.
b) Distant repair.
c) Self-assisted repair.
d) Self-repair.
9. What are the functions of the call reception service?
a) Reception, response and management.
b) Address, response and monitoring.
c) Address, discrimination and management.
d) Reception, discrimination and monitoring.
10. Which of these functions is accomplished through incident
tracking?
a) Identifying new customer needs.
b) Detecting weaknesses in our customer service.
c) Working for customer satisfaction.
d) All of the above.
11. Outputs to business environment consist of:
a) Product fit for use, training for use, customer satisfac-
tion and solution to a complaint or claim.
b) Training for use, customer satisfaction and available
resources.
c) Training for use, quality warranty, available resources
and customer satisfaction.
d) Products fit for use, training for use, quality warranty
and available resources.
12. Which of the following statements is false?
a) During the production process errors may occur.
b) The after-sales service must keep a record of its actions.
c) The after-sales service can gather important informa-
tion to other departments of the company.
d) Information for improving a product or service is only
obtained through market research.

202. After-sales service 9



Check your learning
Define the after-sales service and its structure within the
organization
1. What is the after-sales service?
2. What is customer loyalty?
Assess the importance for a company to offer an after-sales
service to its customers
3. Name some of the reasons for devoting time and effort to
keep the relationship with the customer after the sale.
4. What advantages and disadvantages does the after-sales
service have?
5. Guess which of the following statements are true:
a) The liability of the company regarding quality stops
when it has already sold the product or service.
b) The after-sales service should not be considered as a
source for expenses, but as a future revenue generator.
c) It is easier for a company to sell its products to new
customers.
d) After-sales services don't require a financial investment.
e) An after-sales service is just the warranty offered by
companies on long-lasting products.
Know the after-sales services that companies may offer
6. List the types of after-sales services that companies may
offer.
7. Explain the type of after-sales service involved in each of
the following cases:
a) A gas station offers a card to its customers in which they
can accumulate points that can be exchanged for gifts.
b) An appliance brand offers a four-year warranty on all its
products.
c) Acar dealership provides its customers with a first revi-
sion for free.
d) A boutique chain sends a birthday card to all customers.
e) A brand of sound and image devices offers its customers
the possibility of total refund on products if they are not
satisfied.
8. What are the two sets of services in which we can divide
the activities that are developed after the sale?
9. What is the installation service? And the maintenance ser-
vice?
10. Which of the services that are related to products can be
provided to customers?
Identify the actions and tools for quality management in
the after-sales service
11. What is the perception of quality?
12. What are the two components of quality?
13. List the actions that are developed to manage quality in
the process of the after-sales service.
14. What is an indicator? Give an example.
15. Quality management in the after-sales service requires
several actions. Indicate what action belongs to each of the
following statements:
a) Identifying required resources and materials.
b) Training the staff responsible for the development of the
service.
c) Defining the indicators to assess performance.
d) Acquiring necessary resources for the development of
the service.
e) Drawing more ambitious and demanding goals that lead
to greater degree of perfection and to high quality pro-
ducts.
f) Defining the characteristics of the after-sales system.
g) Comparing actual performance to planned performance.
16. Which of the following statements about quality mana-
gement in the development of customer service are true?
Correct those that are false.
a) The response time in repairs or complaints and claims
handling is a qualitative characteristic.
b) During the implementation of quality, the training needs
of the staff are identified in order to ensure its perfor-
mance.
c) In general, implementing quality in the after-sales ser-
vice process means implementing its plan.
“a

203. a”
9 After-sales service


Check your learning
17. List the tools and techniques that a company may use for
quality management.
18. Which of the following statements are true? Correct those
that are false.
a) The after-sales service should be under the strict super-
vision of the commercial department, as controlling
the process is more important than a quick response
to the customer response.
b) The technical support service only performs on-site
repairs.
c) The expert of the technical support service must defend
the company in the event that a customer wants to
make an abusive use of the product warranty.
d) The transportation of goods to be repaired or assessed
can be performed by any company, provided that the
costs of its rates justify the transfer of that good.
e) The law requires the manufacturer to have a stock of
spare parts of a product within three years after the
model is no longer manufactured.
. In your opinion, how should the after-sales service struc-
ture of a factory of washing machines be? Identify each
component of the service. Would it be own or outsourced
services? Justify your answer.
20. Pick four products in your daily life (car, motorcycle, hair
dryer, game console, computer, etc.). Imagine that all
of them have a breakdown or that you need some infor-
mation about the way they work, upgrades or addi-
tional services. Would you know how to contact the
after-sales service? Find the way to contact the after-sales
service for each of the products. Is it an easy task?
Find and fix errors in the after-sales service
21. Imagine you work for the after-sales department of a
company that is in the business of selling software. You
have received the following phone calls from different
customers. Explain in your own words the mistake in the
service and suggest several measures to solve it.
a) A customer calls to complain because the company told
him that an expert would call him two days ago to solve
some doubts about the handling of the application, but
no one has called him yet.
b) A customer calls to see if the software she bought two
years ago is compatible with the new operating system
that Microsoft is releasing.
c) A customer calls because a program has frozen exactly
when he was saving the changes of a document and
wants to know if the information can be saved.
Relationship of the after-sales service with other processes
within the organization
22. What are the inputs from business environment to the
organization? Give examples of each.
23. As we have studied, what outputs to business environment
and to other internal processes can occur in a company
aimed at manufacturing digital cameras?
24. Taking the example of the market of laptop computers,
explain the inputs and outputs of the after-sales service
process.
Know the tools that the after-sales service can use
25. List the tools that a company can use to manage its after-
sales service.
26. Do you know what a database is and how is it used in an
after-sales service? Explain it with your own words.
27. Think about the latest products or services you purchased
and explain if some of those companies have used any of
the tools that we have studied in this unit.
28. Imagine that you work in a clinic of cosmetic treatments.
How could you use the tools studied in this unit to manage
the after-sales service?
29. Which of the following statements is false?
a) When a company takes the time to make a personal
visit, the customer feels valued.
b) A database should be periodically updated in order to
be effective.
c) Telemarketing allows us to communicate with our cus-
tomers quickly, efficiently and profitably.
d) Fax is not often used as a means to keep in touch with
customers.
e) Many companies already have a website with forms
through which consumers can send emails with com-
ments, questions, suggestions and other concerns they
may have about the company or its products or services.

204. "
rtance of security when
ith information.
tions of the file.





es of existing files.
assification systems: alphabetical,
rical, chronological, geographical
thematic.
different file media.
ta digitization.

wm 10
The information processing
In this unit you'll learn how to:
+ Identify the most appropriate means to
develop written communication through
electronic means.
+ Identify information security measures.
* Define the concept of file and its
functions.
+ Manage the different systems that
can be used to classify information.
* Assess the advantages and disadvantages
of different file media.

205. Ho The information processing

Fig. 10.1. The classification of information
is crucial to make the most of its value.
0 Examples
A company that wants to set-
tle a new clothing store in town
needs to obtain information from
its potential customers about the
suitability of this opening; thus, it
may decide to use a survey for this
purpose. This type of information
source is internal and primary. If,
instead, it chooses to use sales
figures from other owned stores
in town as an indicator for the
opening of its new store, this type
of information source is internal
and secondary, as data were not
obtained for that specific purpose.
S
@ 1. Information processing
Companies collect data continuously: from their customers, their suppliers, their partners,
etc. Thus, data contained in annual accounts or bills of exchange (as we saw in Unit 7) is an
authentic source of information.
Therefore, databases —so valuable in the market— may come from the data handled by the
company itself or by other companies that, in turn, have sold them.
The users of this information can range from managers to basic staff, both in private and
public companies, which may be, in turn, customers, suppliers or other participants in the chain.
However, all this information is not genuinely valuable if it is not properly updated or
classified. Thus, once collected, the company has to sort, select and process this data, as this is
the only way of making an efficient use of them so that data can help make rational decisions.
This means that we must carry out the information processing, that is to say, a set of
successive operations that are performed with the information obtained and that include the
following stages:
Scheme 10.1. Stages of information processing.

® 1.1. Information search
As we stated a few lines above, when collecting information, the company may choose to
obtain it directly or to collect data from third parties, that is to say, it may choose between
internal or external information sources. But in both cases we say that the source of infor-
mation is primary if we get it first-hand, that is to say, from a direct contact. However, if the
information has been obtained indirectly, through documents or people who, in turn, have
gathered the information from other sources, we refer to secondary sources.
Thus, we can group information sources as shown in this table:
+ Internal databases (from suppliers and * Websites and webpages.
customers, for example). + Official publications.
+ Financial statements. + Magazines.
* Records (sales, staff, costs, etc.). + Statistics.
* In general, all kinds of documentation + Data from suppliers, customers, competitors,
generated by the company (Unit 7). and so on.
+ Surveys. + Databases of the company.
* Interviews. + External databases.
+ Company staff. + Chambers of Commerce.
* Sales records. + Statistic institutions.
+ Books, magazines and general publications.

Table 10.1. Sources of information.

206. The information processing q O

©) Finding information on the Internet
Until recently, searching for information was an arduous task that required a great deal of
patience and time. Thanks to technological advances, information search today is usually
performed through Internet search engines.
A browser or search engine is a website that searches other websites that meet at least
one search condition set by the user. In turn, the search condition is the word or set of
words that the websites that we seek must contain.
For example, if the search condition is "Barcelona", the search engine should return a list
of websites that contain the word "Barcelona" as a result.
When we perform Internet searches, we find that it is quite normal to obtain too many re-
sults, and we waste so much time trying to locate the specific information we need. This
problem can be partially solved by using any of the following options:
+ Select specific keywords on the topic we want to find. For example, if we want to find
information about universities in Barcelona, we won't only search with the word "Barcelo-
na", but we will also add "universidades’.
+ Use a set of words between quotation marks as a search condition. This is the formula
we use to tell the browser that we want to find those exact words in that order. In the
same example, if we type "Universidad de Barcelona", we will get all the results related
to this specific university, but if we introduce the word "universidad" and "Huelva" in the
search engine without quotation marks, the results will contain all the websites where both
words appear, not necessarily together, and even only one of them (for example, a website
devoted to an activity of the University of Barcelona in which this city is mentioned).
+ Use advanced search options offered by the search engine that allows us to limit the
context and the terms, language, and so on.
+ Exclude similar words. In many cases, search engines give us results that don’t contain
the exact term we are looking for, but derivations of it or similar words. Again, we can
prevent this using quotation marks.
+ Use Boolean, proximity, or sign operators in the search condition. These logical operators
perform the functions that are usually carried out with the advanced search, and we must
type them between the words forming the search condition. The following logical opera-
tors usually work in all browsers:
— Boolean operators: usually AND, OR and NOT. If we use AND between two words
in the search condition, we are telling the search engine that we want results contain-
ing both words necessarily. On the other hand, the OR operator instructs the search
engine to find any of these words and display the results. Finally, if we type NOT
before a word we are stating that we don’t want the first word to be related to the second
one.
— Proximity operators: usually NEAR and ADJ (standing for "adjacent"). The operator
NEAR has the same function as AND, but only returns those websites in which the
distance between both terms is ten words or less. In the case of ADJ, the condition is
even stronger, as both terms must appear together on the website, but they don’t have
to be in the same order as entered.
— Sign operators: usually + and -. With these operators we can instruct the search engine
to show websites including a particular term (+) or without a particular term (-).

Geogle
blabla & blabla
Fig. 10.2. Surfing the Internet is not
difficult, but if we want to locate some
specific information we need to know
certain rules such as the use of operators.

Web
The following website includes an
updated list of useful search engi-
nes:


http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Lista_de_motores_de_busqueda

“a

207. Ho The information processing


Vocabulary
Business strategy. It is the set of
long-term goals of the company,
such as the definition of its busi-
ness areas.
Businesstactics. Itisthe realization
of the strategy in the shorterterm
plans, such as the type of products
that the company will launch.
Business operations. It is the
specific way of performing opera-
tions on a day-to-day basis.

VA Activities

© 1.2. Classification of information
At the beginning of this unit we explained that the information the company obtains must be
classified or, in other words, be grouped by common characteristics or attributes. This need
for classification of information is the source of the information systems (IS), used to sort,
process and use information.
An effective information system should include the following features:
+ Accuracy. This feature is very important in every information system. However, accuracy
usually implies high costs in terms of time and money; thus, we must obtain a balance
between accuracy and economic viability.
* Timing. Timely information is that obtained at the right time. The information obtained
too early or too late is less valuable.
* Capacity. The information system must be able to provide all the data at once and to avoid
delays.
* Conciseness. The information provided must be brief. We must synthesize information
without losing its capacity for decision-making.
+ Relevance. In data collection, information processing and system outputs there are some
levels and priorities that must be set, as data are not all the same and shouldn't be process-
ed as they are obtained.
+ Availability. Information must be accessible whenever necessary.
+ Security. This may have different approaches: the use of security levels for every user, the
security of stored information or the protection of the confidentiality of personal data.
Information systems may be classified according to several possibilities. The first one is
related to the main function of these systems: classification of information, so they are group-
ed according to the hierarchy levels of the organization. In other words, each level of the
company usually requires different types of information; for example, the upper level
(senior management) needs information for the design of long-term strategies for the company;
the intermediate level (heads of departments, middle managers, etc.) needs information to
design medium-term tactics; and the operational level (operators, vendors, etc.) needs infor-
mation for the performance of tasks.
Thus, this classification includes four types of information systems:

Transaction processing system: information for day-to-day business (short term).

Management information system: information resources for daily control operations (short term).

Decision support system: information for tactical decisions (medium term).


Executive information system: information for strategic decisions (long term).

Table 10.2. Possible information systems according to the hierarchical level.

1. Match the types of information systems and the hierarchi- 2. Carmen Gutiérrez, general manager of Industrias Comino,
cal levels they are created for: S.L., wants to implement an information system in the

Transaction processing
systems
company to provide fast, reliable data for the decision-
Middle management making process.

Management information
systems
In addition, she needs a proper performance of computer
Operating heads applications, as the previous system was not working pro-

Decision support systems
Senior management perly and greatly hindered the information flow.

Executive information
systems
State what features of the system are priorities for Carmen
Other staff and what other features are desirable.

208. The information processing q O

Another classification of information systems divides them into exact systems and ambi-
guous systems.
A classification system is exact when contents are grouped into sections that are fully
differentiated from each other, so that the same information never belongs to more than
one classification. In turn, these systems can be classified alphabetically, geographically or
chronologically:
+ Alphabetical classification: it follows the order of the alphabet for some attribute of
information. For example, when ordering information about the company staff we may use
the alphabetical order of the employees’ surnames.
+ Geographical classification: it is based on the place from which the information is
obtained. For example, we may classify some information from customers according to the
place where they live.
+ Chronological order: it organizes information by date. An example is accounting informa-
tion, which is usually organized according to the date on which operations are performed.
In contrast to exact classification systems, we refer to ambiguous systems when the user of
the information is given the chance to search for certain content the exact location of which
is unknown, but which could be found by searching a specific category. For example, we want
to access the personal profile of an employee; we don’t know his or her name but we know
that he or she belongs to the commercial department.
Therefore, if there is a classification of employees according to the department to which they
belong, it will be very easy to find the information we need. Ambiguous classification systems
include thematic classification and classification by groups of users:
+ Thematic classification: similar contents are grouped by category. For example, all infor-
mation concerning suppliers.
* Classification by groups of users: when the information is presented separately to the
various interested parties. For example, a website in which the information of interest for
suppliers is separated from the information of interest for customers or from the contents
for employees.
In summary, we can represent all these systems of information classification as follows
(Table 10.3):
Alphabetical classification
Thematic classification

Geographical classification

Chronological classification Classification by groups of users


Table 10.3. Information systems according to its accuracy.
VA Activities
3. Imagine that the files of the employees of a company include the name, address and
years of seniority. What classification systems could be used to properly organize this
information?

4. The company ALFA, S.L. is in the business of animated films and classifies its infor-
mation using separate criteria for movies for children and for adults. What type of
classification does it use when making this separation?
0 Do you know that...?


One of the uses of geographical
classification of information is the
so-called geomarketing.
For example, when we are in a mall
and we want to pay, we are usually
asked our zip code. This informa-
tion and the details of our purchase
are used to make consumption
maps containing the provenance,
buying preferences and purcha-
sing power of customers grouped
by geographical areas. This allows
for more efficient marketing
operations aimed at potential cus-
tomers in each area.
Watch out!
In technology environments, me-
taphorical classification is used
sometimes. The idea is to use
familiar terms to explain abstract,
information-related concepts to
the user. For example, the first
thing that appears on the screen
when loading the operating system
is a desktop, we save the informa-
tion in folders, and deleted infor-
mation goes to the recycle bin.



“fa

209. cs
Wed
ra
Fig. 10.3. Filtering the information that
we have collected and sorted is essential
for the receivers.
0 Examples
When the information is wrong,
the decision made is also wrong.
An example of this is the case of
a company of A Corufia that once
thought about launching a new
product. To make the decision, it
commissioned a survey, the results
of which foresaw that this launch
would be an excellent idea. As
the survey was not done properly
because of a poor selection and a
small number of respondents, the
company launched a product that
was a complete failure.

Vocabulary
Internal auditor. Sometimes com-
panies set internal controls, such
as quality controls, to verify that
the procedures are performed
correctly. An internal auditor is
a person who does this kind of
control. In the field of information
selection, the internal auditor veri-
fies that the information meets
the objectives that the company
has previously set.




1.3. Information selection
Once we have sought and classified information, we must carry out a filtering process where
we will keep interesting information, not only for the company, but also to other potential
users that they can review this information (for example, an internal auditor).
The person responsible for the selection of information should keep the data that, in his or her
opinion, are more important according to the initial purpose of information gathering.
We can define information selection as any action that tends to assess, discriminate
and filter, at any time, information that a company has according to the objectives that
are pursued.
Selecting information is a task of discrimination, as it implies separating information that is
useful for the intended purpose from the information that is not relevant. But before per-
forming this task, we must assess the information available to us. To do this, we will apply
objective techniques (based on criteria or parameters under which we will conduct the
assessment process of the information we have) or subjective techniques (based on personal
criteria). However, we must consider that this assessment process is the main criterion that
we will have when selecting the information.
As for the selection process, there are no universally accepted criteria to perform filtering and
selection of information, and everything will depend on the needs that the business organi-
zation may have at a given time. This fact may lead us to obtain wrong information from the
selection process; thus, at least, we must be careful and ask ourselves whether the selected
information will meet the goals that the company has set or not.
Another problem that we may find when selecting information is the saturation that
the person in charge of filtering the information available may suffer, in cases where data
are too many to choose from (with the consequent loss of time and costs that may be
incurred). Today, with modern computer systems at our disposal and use of state-of-the-art
storage systems, this problem is disappearing, but their potential effects still exist.
Despite the potential problem of lack of objective criteria to make the selection, we may list
a number of general criteria that can be used by business organizations when selecting in-
formation:
+ Costs of profitability: the selection process must be developed at the lowest cost possible
to the company. In addition, there may be budgetary constraints affecting our access to
some information sources.
+ Information use and interest: during the filtering process, we must ask ourselves about
the value and interest of the information to the people who can make any relevant decision
to the organization (for example, for the management of the company). The information
may have no practical interest for the company for several reasons:
— There is information with similar content: in this case, we must eliminate duplicate in-
formation.
— Low-Input: some information may be outdated or obsolete (because there is some newer
or because there have been mistakes in its collection).
— Little interest for the end user: this is why the initial assessment cannot be done without
taking into account the potential public that may use this information. That is to say, we
must select the information according to the needs that it intends to cover.

210. The information processing q O

Reliability: we must ensure that the information has been verified or checked. In the event
that we have evidence that a series of data have not been verified, this information will be
automatically discarded.
Available time: in general, the time we have is scarce. However, the more time, the more
likely that selected information is relevant to the objectives we have set.
Nature of information: the medium in which information is collected, its accessibility for
end users or the originality of the information are factors that we must have in mind when
making the selection of material.
Source of information: we may be interested in knowing the origin of the information
when we make the selection; if the data source is well-known, we will choose this one in-
stead of others with less reliable sources.
Objectivity: as we explained above, the information selection should provide an objective
use in the decision-making process. That is to say, we must choose the information that is

Spanish assistant
Aunque reliability puede significar
“formalidad” o “seriedad” cuando
se aplica a personas, en este libro
la estamos usando en su sentido
de “fiabilidad”. Una cosa impor-
tante: si quieres emplear el verbo,
to rely, no olvides usarlo siempre
seguido de la preposicién on: / rely
on this company {"confio en esa
empresa’).


relevant for our purpose and discard useless or incomplete information.


le) Case study 1. Information selection. Criteria
The company Alarma, S.L. wants to launch a new product to
the market. Its intention is to launch it in one of the three geo-
graphical areas for which it has specific information provided
by an external company.
In summary, data on the parameters used to select the infor-
mation to serve as a basis for preparing a report for manage-
ment to raise and proceed to the appropriate decision-making,
is reflected in the following table:





Area A Area B Area C
Reliability 90% 70% 90%
Cost of data
processing and € 190000 | € 150000 | € 190000
selection
Utility Good Good Very good
Objectivity Good Average | Very good

After looking at these data and considering that the company
values reliability firstly and economic cost secondly, we must
analyse what geographic area will be chosen to launch the pro-
duct.
Solution:
Since the company considers reliability of information as an
important issue, it is clear that the information from Area B
will not be selected.
The decision is shared between A and C. However, the cost and
reliability criteria are identical for both areas.
Therefore, we must consider other criteria. As Area C has high-
er levels of objectivity and utility than Area A, C will be taken
as the basis for the elaboration of the report that will be sent
to the company management.
Lg Activities
5. The company Control, S.L. has to perform a market study
to launch a new product in the near future. It has obtained
a lot of information from primary and secondary sources
of information (in this case, statistics obtained from sour-
ces whose reliability and relevance are high). However, the
problem is that its budget is very limited.
What criteria would you use to select the information?
6. What problems related to information selection do you
find in the following cases?
a) The company Trefilerias del Noroeste, S.A. commissions
a study on its sector, but the report that is finally sent
doesn’t include data from half of its competitors.
b) To launch a new product in the next Christmas campaign,
Perfumerias L6pez wants to commission a market research
to a consultancy firm. The consultant replies that a reliable
study would require more time than that available.
c) The board of directors of the publishing house Tochos
receives a report from its sales department that is full of
data from informative websites aimed at students.

“a

211. Ho The information processing

© 1.4. Interpretation and presentation of information
Once we have selected the information, we will conduct its analysis.
We define information analysis as all the operations aimed at providing information in a
different way from how it has been collected, so that it can be used for making business
decisions.
This process of analysis should apply to all all the informaction that was previously selected,
and it ends when it is disseminated and presented to end users.
There are two types of information analysis:
Formal analysis. It is to collect data about selected information such as its origin, the
department of the company in which it was generated, if information is obtained from
primary or secondary sources, etcetera.
Content analysis. It is to study and analyse selected information in depth, so it can be used
by end users.
After analysing the information, we must prepare it for presentation to end users. Depending
on the type of user whom we want to address this information, we will choose the most
suitable presentation form. The possible ways of presenting information that we can use are:



Table title



Source: Self-made (example of footnote)
Fig. 10.4. Standard table model.
a"
Report: it is one of the most common ways of presenting information. It includes select
ed data with one or more topics and is addressed at those people with decision-making
authority in the company. The structure of the report must allow the end user to obtain
information from the very beginning.
Summary or synthesis: it means rearranging the original information using abbreviated
forms and short sentences.
Scheme: it is the graphical representation of the most important information. It usually
consists of a title, the sections of the scheme and most relevant ideas within each section.
Review: it differs from the summary in the fact that it includes personal judgments by
the author. The starting point of a review is the original information; the most relevant is
selected and then the author gives a personal opinion about it. Movies or books reviews
are good examples.
Table: it contains a series of data that relate to each other (Fig. 10.4). The structure of a
table containing information to be submitted must be:
e+ Title: it describes the contents of the table. It
should be brief (maximum 10 words).
* Column header: it describes collected data ver-
tically.
* Row header: it describes collected data hori-
zontally.
Body of the
* Body: it collects data or information, as well as
table
a description of the information. It is collected
in horizontal rows and vertical columns.
+ Footnotes: they explain some detail about the
contents of the table.

212. The information processing q O

* Graph: it is a representation of an information box or table. It is very useful to visualize
information quickly and easily. There are several types of graphs, but the most common in
presentations are:


Histogram
12
M@ 43-21 — Bar graph: it represents a set
M@ 22-30 of data as bars of different
m 31-39
sizes and heights. If bars are
m 40-48 : we
lm 49-57 the same thickness it is called
m 58-66 a histogram (Fig. 10.6).


0
13-21 22-30 31-39 40-48 49-57 58-66
Fig. 10.5. Histogram.
53%
— Sector graph: the most widely used is that
appearing on Fig. 10.6. As you can see,
each sector represents the percentage of
corresponding data.



120 5
100 - Fig. 10.6. Sector graph.
80 5
60 5
40 5 . . .
— Line chart: it expresses the evolution
207 of some variable over a period of time.
o-4 It is mostly used to make or show
pp comparisons among several periods
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 (Fig. 10.7).
Fig. 10.7. Line chart.
Once we have made the presentation of information, we will make decisions. Therefore,
selecting and presenting information in a convenient way is essential in the process of making
the best and most suitable decision.
Activities
7. Use the following data to make a sector graph:


Product A Product B Product C
Sales (thousands of units) 50 120 75


And also a line chart with the following information:

Year 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011
Sales (thousands of €) 120 200 250 279 195 140 155


Imagine that on the latter case you must submit a report on sales trends for the mana-
gement of the company. What would you include in this report? What structure would
you use? J
“

213. Ho The information processing
Fig. 10.8. Protecting the information that

companies have is vital.

Watch out!
In Spain, the Spanish Agency
for Data Protection (AEP) is the
authority that enforces data pro-
tection legislation. Spanish law
provides very substantial fines for
violating the Protection Act
for Personal Data (LOPD).



Important
Security is a continuous process
of improvement, and therefore,
preventive rules and established
procedures for the protection of
information should be reviewed
and, if necessary, adapted to new
risks that may arise, in order to per-
form actions to reduce them and, if
possible, to eliminate them.


1.5. Information security
Information security is the set of measures taken by individuals and organizations to
keep the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the information they have.
Measures taken to protect the information should include preventive rules, security checks
and application of technologies and procedures to solve security breaches.
Security checks should be performed to detect threats that endanger the information. If we
detect vulnerabilities in the security system, we must upgrade security measures or apply
others to help protect and safeguard both the information and the storage and managing
systems.
All organizations, both public and private, have large amounts of information, which is
accessed by employees or citizens, transmitted via computer networks, etc. In the specific case
of private companies, there is a lot of sensitive information that is in danger: customer data,
billing, information about employees, etc. Therefore, if that information is lost or becomes public
in an unauthorized way, the organization would not only lose its credibility, but also custo-
mers, and probably would be involved in a series of lawsuits. Hence, protecting the informa-
tion is a very important issue for companies.
Therefore, security must ensure that the information retains its qualities, which are:
+ Confidentiality
We refer to confidential information when those who haven't been authorized by the
issuer or owner of that information don’t know it.
For example, the balance sheet of a company is confidential; however, if an outside com-
pany audits the accounts, the auditor will be allowed to know the status of these accounts
and other confidential information.
In turn, when we talk about security leaks we usually think about technological attacks,
but actually those leaks may happen in much more usual ways, which can be prevented
most of the times, such as leaving a briefcase with papers of the company in a taxi, having
someone using your computer when you are not in the office because you forgot to turn it
off, and so on. All these cases may lead to a leakage of confidential information.
* Integrity
Integrity means keeping information free of unauthorised changes or omissions.
As it happens with confidentiality, most of the integrity problems about information do
not necessarily come from complicated computer viruses or from network attacks. Thus,
information integrity is in danger when an employee sets fire to a folder of paper docu-
ments because he was smoking in a non-smoking area, when he deletes a computer file by
mistake, when his computer breaks down and all the information stored in it is lost, and
so on.
To preserve information integrity, a common measure is to store those documents that
are particularly important in a file that requires authorization for consultation, and also
to have a system in which to register the changes made to this information, the person who
made those changes, and when and for what purpose they were done. This ensures that
these changes were made by authorized staff.

214. The information processing q O

* Availability
When information is available, it means that those who have permission may consult
it when necessary.
The information owned by companies always includes some relevant data, such as product
features, sales rates, contracts with customers, etc., which should be available at all times.
Therefore, security has to ensure that no failure will prevent the access to this information.
These failures may be due to errors in hardware or software or to common mistakes, such
as losing the key to the filing cabinet or when the door to the room where documents are
kept gets stuck.
©) A. Prevention and information security plan
As we have studied so far, it is clear that it is very important that organizations are prevented
from any possible incident that endangers the security of information. We have also explained
that these violations are not only due to computer-type issues and that the team responsible
for information security should be forewarned and prepared for any kind of problem.
Therefore, the information security plan should include these points:
* Prevention: it is the most important one, as it is to implement barriers against potential
attacks or incidents. Some examples are assigning passwords to company laptops, having the
possibility of deactivating telephone systems in case of loss, making periodical backups or
training other company staff about the importance of ensuring information security.
+ Reaction: the workforce should be prepared to react quickly to any incident, in order to
stop it or to reduce the consequences. As the saying goes, expect the best but plan for the
worst.
+ Restore: this means putting back into operation all the resources and services that have
been affected as quickly as possible, so that the activity of the organization gets back
to normal.
+ Research: this is performed to find the source of the incident, to remedy the security
breach and, thus, to prevent it from happening again.
© B. Mechanisms to provide information security
Now we will study some mechanisms that can provide the security we have mentioned above.
We can divide them into two groups: those regarding communications security and those
concerning storage security.
* Communications security
1. Digital signature. It is a set of rules or protocols the function of which is to prove the
authenticity of a digital message or an electronic document. It guarantees the author-
ship of the message. The electronic signature can be linked to a person or to the com-
puter that sends the message. Depending on its complexity, it can also verify that the
message hasn't been manipulated in the transmission, that it has been fully received and
that the recipient has read it, and it can even make sure that the message is received but
cannot be changed in the destination.
In the business field, it is mainly used for the following procedures:
— Electronic business contracts: in this case, negotiations and agreements on the
provision of services or purchase of goods take place through the transmission of
information over telecommunications networks.
— Electronic invoice: this electronic document meets the same legal requirements as a
traditional paper invoice.
LA Vocabulary ————————__
Hacker. A person who has exten-
sive computer skills, especially in
security matters, and who uses
them to protect organizations or
to warn about security breaches.
Cracker. This individual also has
significant computer skills, but his
or her goal is to take advantage of
flaws in the systems for his or her
own benefit.
Script kiddie. It is a compu-
ting amateur who has no deep
knowledge. This person gathers
information from the network and
runs programs or instructions pro-
vided by other users. As they don’t
have deep computing skills, script
kiddies may cause real problems
infecting their computers and also
those in their networks. They are
also known as skiddies.


Watch out!
The Spanish Law 59/2003 of De-
cember 19 rules the legal effec-
tiveness of electronic signatures
and the provision of certification
services in Spain.


‘ea

215. 1 O The information processing

Web

http://www.osi.es/Seguridad_
Internauta
Website of the Internet User
Security Office (OSI). This govern-
mental service provides the infor-
mation and support needed to
prevent and solve the security
issues that can affect us when
surfing the web.


A. Vocabulary ————————_
Malware or malicious softwa-
re. Those programs that have
been designed to infiltrate other
people’s computers without their
consent and cause damage or per-
form illicit activities.
There are many types of malwares,
and they are classified according
to the purpose for which they
were created.
If you want to know more about
it, visit:
http://www.infospy ware.com
It is a free anti-malware commu-
nity.

Activities

2. Trusted timestamping. This mechanism allows to prove that certain electronic data
exist or have existed, and it indicates the time when the last amendment of these
data was performed. It is normally used along with the electronic signature.
Storage security
The elements of data protection during storage include physical measures against fire,
theft, flood, etc., which are usually covered by organizations, not just for the sake of the
integrity of material goods, but also for the integrity of the employees.
Common security measures protect files on paper, but to protect the information stored
on media such as computers and servers that, in turn, are connected to other computers
and servers, there are certain security measures that any company should have in order to
avoid a potential violation of stored information. They are the following:
1. Firewall. This security system can control connections between the Internet and a com-
puter or a computer network. It can be software, hardware or both simultaneously. It
prevents unauthorized access to the network or computers in a company. We could say
that it is like a gatekeeper: it allows the entry and exit of people that have been autho-
rised by us, but it cannot keep track of what those people are carrying; this is why it
cannot prevent the attack of viruses that are contained in documents or emails that we
have previously considered as reliable.
2. Antivirus. It is a computer program that prevents and avoids the activation of virus
and its spread and contagion. Its main function is to detect the presence of a virus ona
computer or network. Once detected, depending on the virus and the antivirus you use,
it can isolate it, neutralize it, or even repair the damage that it may have caused.
3. Administration of user accounts. The creation of user accounts is used to verify
the identity of individuals who are working with a computer and also to provide the
possibility to access certain information to each individual, that is to say, it manages
access privileges. This is one of the important issues of system management within an
organization.
4. Data recovery. Backups are merely duplicates of relevant information that, in the event
of a computer failure, serve to restore the information.
Performing backups ensures the availability and integrity of information, so it is essential
to conduct periodic or scheduled backups of the information that the company has.

8. Imagine that you work in a legal and administrative agency. In your opinion, what
are the most sensitive documents in terms of confidentiality of data or information?
9. Think about the information you have on your PC. Apply a security protocol for such
information in order to keep its confidentiality, integrity and availability.
10. Read the following articles and discuss the following questions with your classmates:
http://www.abc.es/20101123/medios-redes/usuarios-facebook-infecciones-
201011231239.html
http://www.emprendedores.es/empresa/tecnologia/ciberdelito
Do you think that companies have a sufficient knowledge of the dangers of malware?
What about their employees? What steps should organizations take to protect
against these attacks?
J

216. The information processing q O

@ 2. The file
Conducting a proper documentation filing, that is to say, sorting and categorizing documenta-
tion in a particular place, is an essential task for the company for several reasons:
Do you know that...?

According to various studies on
work in offices, it was found that
workers spend between 15 and
20% of their day looking for,
classifying and sorting informa-
tion.
+ It allows to store, keep and safeguard information.
+ Documents can be quickly and efficiently found.
+ It allows compliance with the laws of documentation maintenance.
+ It can provide support for decision-making.
In turn, we can find three file types (Table 10.4) depending on the frequency with which
information is consulted: 2.1. File systems

It is the type of file where documents that are frequently queried are kept; those documents are usually recent
or related to on-going business processes.

It keeps documentation that is no longer effective, but which won't be immediately destroyed because it must
be kept for legal reasons or because it is of any interest to the company.

It is used to store documents that, despite having lost their validity, still have historical or documentary value

for the company. This information is rarely accessed.
Table 10.4. File types according to the frequency they are queried.


Case study 2. File types
The dental clinic SONRISAS wants to keep an updated file of
all its patients. What will it store in its active, semi active and
inactive files, respectively?
Solution:
The active file will contain the history of all its current patients.
When a customer completes treatment, the record will become
part of the semi-active file, which will be kept for five years.
After this time, the record will move to the inactive file, where
it will remain for another five years (LOPD).
If the patient doesn't become a patient of the clinic again, the
documentation will be destroyed (LOPD), except for certain
data such as discharge or surgical reports or relevant informa-
tion for assistance or preventive purposes, which must be kept
indefinitely.

VA Activities
11. With the help of your teacher, set an appointment with the
responsible for the files of your school. What is his or her
job about?
12. What do you think about leaving filing tasks to a trainee
or to the last person who has joined the company? Do you
think this is a good policy?

© 2.1. File systems
A file system is a criterion for ordering documentation.
As we have already seen, we can adopt different classification systems: alphabetical, geo-
graphical, chronological, thematic, etc. In turn, we can use each of these criteria alone or
combined with others. In this section we will learn some rules and tips for effectively using
classification or filing systems.
© A. Alphabetical order
It is one of the most simple and most commonly used systems to arrange the names of per-
sons or entities with whom we have relations. Now we will study the way it works. First, we
must distinguish whether we are sorting names of individuals or companies or institutions.
‘4

217. a
yy
1 O The information processing

Ordering word. It is the keyword
that we will use as a reference to
sort alphabetically. The rest of the
words of the name are subordinate
to it. An ordering word may be, for
example, the first surname.
* Names of natural persons: in this case, the first surname is the key word or ordering
word. You will proceed according to the following rules:
1. The surnames that have the same initial letter will be alphabetically ordered according
to the rest of the word. Thus:
If our customers are:
Méndez Ortiz, Luis
Macias Caro, Josefa
Martinez Romero, Alfonso
The alphabetical order is:
Macias Caro, Josefa
Martinez Romero, Alfonso
Méndez Ortiz, Luis
2. If two people have the same first surname, we will use the second surname to sort them;
and if the second surname is also the same, we will do it by their names. Thus:
If our customers are:
Garcia Martin, Maria
Pérez Bravo, Ana
Garcia Martin, Manuel
Pérez Mesa, Almudena
The alphabetical order is:
Garcia Martin, Manuel
Garcia Martin, Maria
Pérez Bravo, Ana
Pérez Mesa, Almudena
3. If we have a compound surname separated by a dash, we will proceed as if it were a
single word. Thus:
If our customers are:
Ruiz-Gallardo Rubio, José
G6mez Romero, Pilar
Hidalgo-Diaz Sanz, Alfonso
The alphabetical order is:
G6mez Romero, Pilar
Hidalgo-Diaz, Alfonso
Ruiz-Gallardo Rubio, José
4. When the surname is preceded by an article or preposition, we may choose whether to
consider it as part of the surname or to use the initial letter of the surname; the impor-
tant thing is to keep the same approach all the time. Thus:
If our customers are:
De la Vega Garcia, Elena
De Diego Blanco, Enrique
Del Prado Torres, Eva
The alphabetical order is:
Diego Blanco, Enrique de
Parado Torres, Eva del
Vega Garcia, Elena de la
* Names of companies or institutions: when we want to classify documents concerning
companies or institutions, we must follow these rules:
1. When the company name includes a personal name, we will follow the same criteria
as for individuals, taking the first surname as the ordering word.to the rest of the word.
Thus:
If our customers are:
Hijos de Roberto Alba
Hermanos Delgado
Morales y Compafiia
The alphabetical order is:
Alba, Hijos de Roberto
Delgado, Hermanos
Morales y Compafiia
2. If the company or business name includes a generic word, we won't take it into account
in the classification, as other companies may contain the same word and we would have
problems when trying to locate a specific one. Thus:
If our customers are:
Papeleria Papercolor
Restaurante La Parra
Carniceria Salguero
The alphabetical order is:
Papercolor, Papeleria
Parra, Restaurante La
Salguero, Carniceria
3. If the business name is made up of acronyms, the general rule is to classify it by its full
name; however, if the acronyms are well known, such as RENFE (Red Nacional de Ferro-
carriles Esparioles), we can use them as sorting criteria.

218. The information processing q O

Finally, let's have a look at the advantages and disadvantages of this filing system:

Vocabulary
File. Set of documents that are re-
lated by some circumstance or
event. For example, a company

+ It doesn’t require a special training, as everybody | - We must determine in advance the ordering
knows the alphabet. word. oo . . can have a file for each employee,
+ It fits all types of documents. + The criteria for the ordering word are mere tips, which will included a copy of the
thus each company should establish its own
+ It is open, that is, we can insert new documents contract, payrolls, medical records,

. . rules. .
without moving the rest. holidays, and so on.
_ * If you remove a document, you must leave a
* It has no subdivisions. sign, because otherwise you wouldn't notice its
+ It can be within another classification. absence.

Table 10.5. Advantages and disadvantages of filing system in alphabetical order.


Case study 3. Alphabetical sorting VA Activities
We must classify the following company or institution names — Solution: 13. Use the alphabetical or-
in alphabetical order: der to sort the records
+ RENFE, Red Nacional de Ferrocarriles de Esparia Amnistia Internacional of the following patients of
» Amnistia Internacional British Line the dental clinic SONRISAS:
* Caja de Ahorros del Sur Caja de Ahorros del Sur * Alberto Lopez Hidalgo
* British Line RENFE + José Luis del Pino Mufioz
* SEAT, Sociedad Espanola de Automoviles de Turismo SEAT * Cristina Lépez Maldo-
nado

* Eliza J. Linch
* Helena Da Vinci Rosso
© B. Numeric order
This filing system assigns a number to each document and uses it to classify and order them. ,
The order can be ascending or descending. * Jorge Leén Mora
We can also use an alphanumeric file: 14. Sort alphabetically the
following names of compa-
nies or institutions.


If we have these files: The alphanumeric order will be:
A-15 A-15 * Médicos sin fronteras
noe a * Ministerio de Asuntos
- - Exteriores
S-17 B-63
AT-14 L-50 + Medical Express
oR-25 M-106 * Banco de Espajia
M-106 N-101
L-50 S-17 * BBVA, Banco Bilbao Viz-
B-63 SR-25 caya Argentaria.
* Bar La Parada
Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of the numeric system are: /

+ Itis avery simple method that follows the natural sequence of numbers. | * Locating the document is a very difficult task unless you know the num-
ber that identifies it.
* Itis unlimited, as the numbers themselves.
* Once anumerical code is assigned to a document, there is no chance for | * You must have an index to avoid the previous problem, or create some
confusion. cards for each file including the number and main data of the file to be
* When removing a document from the file, as they are correlative, the able to track it afterwards.
absence is obvious, so you don’t need to leave a sign. * You cannot insert new documents.

Table 10.6. Advantages and disadvantages of filing system in numeric order.
e

219. 1 O The information processing

© C. Chronological order
Important In this filing system, the key element to classify is the date of the document. It is often used
A variant of this file system is in combination with others; for example, when a company wants to order shopping bills,
numerical-chronological classifi- the first thing it does is to sort alphabetically the files of its suppliers and, within each file, the
cation; in this system, the code bills are arranged chronologically, so that the latest are the first ones. Look at this example:
that is assigned to each document
is formed by the corresponding
number and the number of the
year, such as 36/2006, 20/2008,
105/2008, 14/2010, and so on.


Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of the chronological system are:

+ Itisavery simple system. + It is essential to know the date of the document you are looking for.
+ It allows new documents without changing the order of the file. + As in the alphabetic system, we must make a sign when taking out a
+ It doesn’t require the use of indexes or additional cards. document.

Table 10.7. Advantages and disadvantages of a filing system in chronological order.
© D. Geographical order
Documentation is sorted according to locations (home, place of issuance, destination, etc.).
This is a composite system, since it involves several successive classifications: country, region,
province, city, street... Moreover, within these classifications we must follow the alphabetical
approach. The advantages and disadvantages of the geographic system are:

+ Itisavery simple system.
+ No need for indexes or additional cards. + We must leave a sign when we take a document.
* It allows new documents. * It is not a very useful system when the file is very large.
* It can be combined with other classification criteria.

Table 10.8. Advantages and disadvantages of filing system in geographical order
0 E. Thematic order
This method consists of grouping documents by topic or subject. Then, each of the groups we
have created will be sorted according to some other criteria: alphabetical, numerical, and so
on. For example, if a company sells several products, customers can be arranged according
to the product they buy. The advantages and disadvantages of this system are:

* The location of documents is fast, as each one will be located in its own | * We must determine in advance the topics or subjects that we will use.
area.
* Often, a document can refer to more than two subjects, so you must
+ It allows new documents. include a copy of the document in each division.

Table 10.9. Advantages and disadvantages of filing system in thematic order.
a"

220. The information processing q O

@ 3. File media
A file is a set of ordered documents, regardless of the medium in which they are (paper,
digital, and so on).
Mere information is not a document until it is recorded on a material medium that allows
further consultation or review and that can be used to verify or prove something.
© A. Paper
It is the most common and historical filing media, but its days are numbered. We may store
paper documents in hanging file folders, ring folders (A-Z), permanent files (stackable card-
board boxes) and so on. We will choose the most suitable method for the use that is going to
be given to documents: if they are to be consulted frequently, if we only want to store them,
if they require updating, and so on.
As we mentioned above, the days of paper as a file medium are numbered, as it has major
disadvantages compared to other media, especially digital. Thus:
Paper gets damaged with moisture and temperature changes, is flammable, can be affected
by insect and fungal attack, and so on.
It takes large spaces for storage.
It is not environmental-friendly. Paper manufacturing not only requires cutting down trees,
but also treating the wood with chemicals, consuming electricity to produce the paper and
finally refining the waste from the whole process.
© B. Electronic media
Electronic media, usually referred to as digital media, bring huge advantages to documenta-
tion filing, such as:
Savings in the cost of stationery.
Easier audit processes.
More security to keep documents.
Fewer fakes.
Agility in locating information.
No need for storage space.
Speed and efficiency of administrative processes.
Reusability. If the stored information is no longer relevant, it can be removed and the
holder is free to store other documents.
Some have the same disadvantages that paper has, as both are physical media and therefore
they are threatened by fire, water or physical disasters, although to a lesser extent.
Some of the most widely used electronic media are:
Magnetic tape: this medium stores information in tracks on a plastic strip with a magnetic
material. The tapes can record analogic or digital information (data) and, although it may
be an obsolete medium, magnetic tapes are still commonly used in some companies to
perform backups.
Hard drive: it has a high storage capacity and easy access to information. We can delete
and add documents very easily and we can also control the access to them by using pass-
words. It stores all kinds of digitized information: audio, video, text, and so on.
CD-ROM: it offers high reliability in keeping the integrity of the information in the case of
non-rewritable CD-ROM. It can keep text documents and audio or image files. The rewritable
CD-ROM can be reused when the information contained in it is no longer relevant, and
therefore, it may have some risks.


Web
The Spanish government wants to
eliminate paper by 2015. Visit this
website to learn more about
this plan:


http://www.planavanza.es/
Paginas/Inicio.aspx


Fig. 10.9. Hard drive.
y

221. 1 O The information processing

Do you know that...?

Although media have different and
growing storage capacities, the
most common ones are the CD,
which can store 700 MB, and
the DVD, which can store 4.3 GB
(4300 MB).


Fig. 10.10. Original pen drive model.
DVD: it has more storage capacity than the CD-ROM but its features are the same.
Blu-Ray: both CD-ROM and DVD players and recorders use a red laser, but this medium
uses a blue laser (and this is the reason for its name, derived from “blue"). The Blu-Ray
allows you to record and store up to 25 GB of information on each layer, that is to say, five
times a normal DVD. Its features are the same as a CD ROM or DVD, but its high storage
capacity allows higher quality images and sound. Blu-Ray manufacturers have taken advan-
tage and solved some of the problems of the DVD and have included an anti-scratches and
anti-dirt layer, making the recovery of information much more reliable.
Pen drive: it is a portable storage device and consists of a flash memory (type of memory
that can be erased) and a USB port (Universal Series Bus). The main advantages of this me-
dium are its large capacity and small size.
Cloud storage: this type of storage means, roughly, to store information on a network
platform that can be accessed from anywhere and at any time, as long as we have internet
access and the necessary passwords. Many companies offer this service free of charge to
users who require little storage space, but apply a fee for higher storage capacities. The
great advantage of this system is that companies that offer these spaces usually provide
high security levels.
© C. Howto move from paper to electronic media
C companies, public administrations and private consumers share the purpose of giving up
using paper and handling most of the documentation in electronic media.
The procedure for passing the information that is currently on paper or other medium to an
electronic medium is known as digitization. Thus, documents become much easier to handle,
take up less space and cannot be worn and torn as a result of continuous usage (as it happens
to historical documents).
Another good reason for this change is that we can access static images, audio files, text
documents or sound files from a single device (for example, a computer).
6 Case study 4. Documentation med

ia
The company Zapatines, S.A. wants to reduce the use of paper
as a way of saving costs and protecting the environment. What
steps should be taken to reach that goal?
Solution:
Every employee should have a touchscreen laptop to take notes
in meetings, telephone conversations, etc., as if it were a conven-
tional notebook. This implies changing the company’s facilities
to provide access points to the network in all rooms and offices.
It must contact distributors and customers and suggest they
to accept electronic billing.
VA Activities
Likewise, it will suggest its suppliers implementing electronic
systems in their processes: electronic billing, electronic signa-
ture... in order to ensure security measures in communications.
It will computerize all business processes through the im-
plementation of an intranet to serve as a bulletin board for
employees, as a spot for payroll consulting, contracts, and so on.
It will scan paper documents: contracts, deeds, bills on paper...
The originals will be kept for legal reasons, but they will be
used in digital media in day-to-day work.
J

15. What types of media do you use in your everyday life? Do you think you could reduce
paper usage when filing your data? Explain the measures that you think you could
take to reduce paper consumption in the academic field.
16. Use the Internet to find companies that have implemented or are implementing sys-
tems to reduce paper consumption. What media are used instead? In your opinion,
what are the main obstacles to reduce the use of paper?

222. The information processing q O

Summary




HT

Sources: primary or secondary/internal or external.
Today it is mainly based on the Internet.
Depending on the decision level: transaction processing,
management information, decision support and
executive information.
Depending on the accuracy: exact systems
{alphabetic, geographic, chronological) or ambiguous
systems (thematic or groups of users).




Separate the information that Selection criteria: Cost > Utility
is useful for a particular —)| > Reliability > Available time >
purpose from that which is not. Nature > Source > Objectivity
Analyse and process Reports > Abstracts >
information. Present = Schemes > Reviews >
information. Tables > Graphs

Confidentiality/Integrity/Availability.

Prevention/Response/
Prevention and security plan == Restoration/Research


Security mechanisms —— In communications and storage



It is classified in the




Alphabetical —
P order of the alphabet.
. Each document is assigned
Numerical
a number to be sorted.
, It is classified according
Chronological — | _ to the date of the document.


Documents are sorted
Geographical — according to geographical
locations associated with them.


Documents are grouped
Thematic Ss according to the subject
or topic they refer to.

Moving information from paper to digital media.

"

223. Ho The information processing

a”


Test review
1. What kind of information source is a statistic?
a) Internal and primary.
b) Internal and secondary.
c) External and primary.
d) External and secondary.
2. If we search the Internet for an exact content, we must:
a) Seek that content using the expression NEAR.
b) Use quotation marks.
c) Use the expression OR.
d) Use a sign operator.
3. When we establish priorities in an information system we
refer to:
a) Conciseness.
b) Relevance.
c) Security.
d) Accuracy.
4. Which of the following systems is not exact?
a) Chronological.
b) Geographical.
c) Thematic.
d) Alphabetical.
5. What information features should security keep?
a) Integrity, encryption and availability.
b) Integrity, confidentiality and accessibility.
c) Confidentiality, integrity and availability.
d) Availability, security and encryption.
6. Which of these systems serves to protect the secure
transmission of information?
a) Antivirus.
b) Firewalls.
c) Backups.
d) Digital signature.
7. Which is the wrong statement? The file:
a) Is a repository of papers.
b) |s a particular location where information is stored in an
orderly and classified way.
c) Allows the quick location of documents.
d) Allows saving and keeping documentation.
8. What kind of file is used to store documents that are usually
queried?
a) Inactive.
b) Semi-active.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
c) Active.
d) Final.
. When we take a document, we must leave a sign to
mark this absence. Which classification system has this
disadvantage?
a) Alphabetical.
b) Numerical.
c) Chronological.
d) Answers a) and b) are correct.
Chronological order means...
a) Assigning a number to each document.
b) Splitting the file into categories.
c) Sorting by date of document.
d) Sorting by territorial criteria.
What are the disadvantages of using paper versus digital
media?
a) It deteriorates easily.
b) It is not environmental friendly.
c) It takes up large storage space.
d) All of the above.
Which of these media can store both analogue and digital
information?
a) CD-ROM.
b) DVD.
c) Hard drive.
d) Magnetic tape.
When information has been verified we refer to:
a) Utility.
b) Profitability.
c) Objectivity.
d) Reliability.
When we represent the most important information
graphically, we use:
a) A graph.
b) A table.
c) Ascheme.
d) A review.
If we work deeply on information that we have previously
selected, we are making:
a) A formal analysis.
b) Asummary.
c) A graph.
d) A content analysis.

224. The information processing q O



Check your learning
Identify the most appropriate means to develop written
communication through electronic means
1. Classify the following sources of information as appro-
priate (internal or external, primary or secondary):
a) Trade fairs.
b) Legislation, case law and regulations.
c) Patents, industrial designs and trademarks.
d) Monographs and periodicals.
e) Market research.
f) Business directories.
g) Commercial reports.
h) The media.
i) Economic statistics and reports.
2. English acronyms MIS, DSS and EIS (or their Spanish equi-
valents SIG, SSD and SIE) refer to types of information
systems for decision-making in the company. Could you
relate them to some of the concepts that we have studied
in this unit? Use the Internet to find the answer.
3. Match the following features with exact or ambiguous sys-
tems of information classification:
a) Subjectivity in classification can confuse users.
b) Independent sections from the rest.
c) Natural language ambiguity (polysemy, synonymy, etc.),
which can be a barrier to the user in the process of sear-
ching or browsing.
4. Choose a classification system that is appropriate to orga-
nize the company’s commercial documentation and justify
your choice.
Identify information security measures
5. Cana source of internal information be a secondary source?
Explain your answer and give an example.
6. Explain why it is so important to keep information secure
in organizations. State also the features of information that
are protected when using security measures.
7. What is a security plan? What are the points that a secu-
rity plan must include?
8. Indicate which of the following statements is false and
explain why:
a) A firewall cannot protect computers against viruses.
b) The performance of backups only preserves the integrity
of the information.
c) The only reason to create user accounts is to verify the
identity of those who use a computer.
d) The antivirus can always restore the damage caused by
a virus.
Define the concept of file and its functions
9. What are the conditions for the existence of a file?
10. Why do companies need to keep their documentation on
a file?
11. What is the role of filing in a company?
12. Use the information provided in the following website to
answer the questions below:
http://www.gabilos.com/comosehace/OrganizarArchi-
vo/textoOrganizarArchivo.htm
a) What accounting files should the company have?
b) What is the main advantage of filing accounting infor-
mation properly?
c) What is the right procedure for accounting information
if we want to avoid problems?
d) What is a temporary document file?
e) What should not be done with invoices from suppliers
and customers?
f) What is the relationship between sequential numbering
of invoices and VAT legislation?
g) What is the relationship between company computer
applications and files from suppliers and customers?
h) What is the difference between sorting bank documents
and sorting invoices?
i) What should be done with bank receipts and state-
ments?
j) What information is to be stored concerning orders?
k) What is the relationship between filing orders and filing
of letters or faxes?
1) Do we need to separate accepted estimates from not
accepted estimates?
m) What happens to delivery orders when we receive the
invoices that are related to them?
n) Is there any difference between filing delivery orders
from suppliers and customers?
o) What recommendations regarding the file of correspon-
dence are suggested in the article?
“a

225. Ho The information processing


Check your learning
Pp) Should we group all the documents related to taxes in a
sole, common file?
q) What are the recommendations for filing documents
concerning the prevention of occupational risks?
r) What are the auxiliary documentation records?
13. Depending on the frequency with which information is
consulted, what file types do you know?
Manage the different systems that can be used to classify
information
14. This is a list of some of patients of the dental clinic











SONRISAS:
No. Name Town Treatment
28 | Ana Alvarez-Quintero Olid | Huelva Orthodontics
32 | Amalia Da Silva Cangas Huelva Filling
36 | Domingo del Prado Romero | Aljaraque | Orthodontics
35 | Sergio Jiménez Cordero Moguer | Cleaning
34 | Rocio Sanchez de la Vega Aljaraque | Cleaning
37 | Arturo Pérez Leén Huelva Extraction
29 | Roberto Gonzalez Vazquez | Trigueros | Filling
31 | Lorena Marquez Romero Trigueros | Filling
30 | José Maria Macias Medel Huelva Extraction
33 | Elena Jiménez Marquez Niebla Cleaning
a) Classify the patients in alphabetical order.
b) Sort them by file number.
c) Perform a geographical classification.
d) Order patients thematiclly according to their treatment.
15. Complete the following sentences in your notebook taking
into account that each space is a word:
a) The documents that have lost their validity but still have
a historical or documentary value for the company are
saved in the file.
b) The______ word is the one that is used as the key
to sort alphabetically.
c) When sorting the names of natural persons, the
is the ordering word.
d) |f the company or business name includes some_______
word, it won't be taken into account in the classification.
e) Wecanusea__
numbers and letters.
f) Inthe____ file system the key element for
classification is the date of the document.
file system combining
g) Inthe_____ ordering system the subjects in
which to split the file must be previously decided.
16. Why do companies need to select the information?
17. Name the criteria that companies may use to select the
information.
18. Define the formal analysis of information.
19. Define the content analysis of information.
20. What is a report?
21. Which is the right answer? When the information is collec-
ted in short sentences, we refer to:
a) Asummary.
b) Ascheme.
c) Atable.
d) Areport.
Assess the advantages and disadvantages of different media
file
22. What types of media have been explained in this unit?
Explain briefly the advantages and disadvantages of each
one.
23. What electronic media do you use? What are the main
advantages of each one?
24. Explain the concept of digitalization in your own words.
25. Indicate whether the following statements are true or
false. If they are false explain why:
a) Storing documents on paper has countless advantages
in relation to electronic storage.
b) The digitization process involves passing the information
that is currently on paper to electronic media.
c) Cloud storage means that information is stored on a
personal or company computer but is accessible to
anyone with the appropriate password.
d) The only improvement of the Blu-Ray as a medium is
that it provides more storage capacity.
e) If documents are stored in a digital format, we must be
concerned about physical accidents such as fires or floods.

226. Advanced
Vocational
a iee lita}
Ceres -9
Communication
& Customer Service
«The grounds for your future»
McGrawHill’s publishing project for vocational training has been developed
under three basic principles:
© Our methodology is based in practice and consistency of contents
and procedures regarding your professional situation.
© Our materials have been developed to achieve the skills, knowled-
ge and learning results that you will need to obtain your certificate
and to manage in the work environment.
© Our contents are displayed in a clear and appealing way, with
plenty of graphic and multimedia resources that will make your
learning easier.
The project for the professional module of Communication & Customer Service
has been developed under the observance of the competence units of the
Spanish National Catalogue of Professional Qualifications.

Autonomously handle and deal with managing communications.
[UC0982_3]

This means that with McGraw-Hill’s publishing project you will be able to
obtain a part of the following Professional certificate:
¢ Documentary and management assistance in the office
enviroment.
We hope that this useful and efficient tool will help you in your professional
training.