Pandora Advertising Campaign Case

Communication between people as individuals and as groups is as old as language itself. Today it still consists of words going backwards and forwards while someone at either end extracts meaning from the flow. At heart, that is all there is to it. There is no particular mystery to understand; we all do it quite naturally. We only need to learn to perform to a professional standard. Of course this entails acquiring certain techniques of expression and conforming to what is generally regarded as best practice. These are, however, just the tricks of the trade. Communication now is what communication has always been whether you are in business, politics, science or any other field of human endeavour: words and meaning, meaning and words, and turning one into the other.

From this starting point we are exploring how the four fundamental skills involved (Writing, Reading, Speaking and Listening) form the basis of business communications and also relate to the wider world beyond. The purpose of this approach is to make you aware that there is more to effective communication than following the normal conventions regarding such things as where to put the date on a letter, etc. These things are indispensable but they are no more than the tool-kit of the professional. To use them effectively requires an understanding that goes deeper than which fits in what hole. For the purposes of this module that means having an appreciation of the way in which language is used to carry messages, share ideas, and generally get things done. Nobody would claim, however, that from this underlying principle everything else can be deduced as a matter of course. Evidently there are some particular aspects of business practice which are far enough removed from everyday experience to call for special attention. One of these is report writing, another is making presentations, and a third is how to conduct, and how to take minutes of, meetings.