Business Communication

A Practice-Oriented Approach

What This Book Really Is

Business Communication: A Practice-Oriented Approach is a business communication textbook, but it is not trying to be just another theory-heavy classroom book. The preface states that there are already many textbooks and huge amounts of online material available, so the authors had to justify what this one was for. Their answer is very clear: this is a book built around the idea that communication is something students must practice, not just read about. That self-positioning matters, because it explains almost every feature of the book that follows.

The book is also obviously designed for management students, not communication majors. The authors say most readers will not specialize in communications, but all will need communication skills in whatever function they enter, whether finance, HR, IT, operations, marketing, or another field. That means the book is trying to solve a real curriculum problem: how to teach communication to students who may not see it as their main subject but will still depend on it constantly in their careers.

The Larger Educational Philosophy

The strongest thing about the book is that it has an explicit educational philosophy. The preface is written around four “conjectures,” and these reveal the whole design. First, the authors accept that textbooks will have only limited direct use in corporate life, so they want experience to become the teacher. Second, they accept that communication is more about application than concept memorization, so they provide hands-on learning through diagnostic surveys, simulations, reflection journals, real-life case studies, video cases, and picture analysis. Third, they assume readers will work in non-communication business domains, so they use examples across multiple professional fields. Fourth, they recognize that modern communication is technology-driven, so they place smartphones, email, web conferencing, and digital platforms into the book’s regular examples.

This is actually a strong and sensible philosophy. It means the book is not pretending communication can be mastered by definition lists alone. It wants the student to perform communication, reflect on it, and assess their own behavior. That already makes it more useful than a conventional lecture companion.

Structure and Why It Works

The structure is one of the book’s biggest strengths. The guided tour page lays out nine chapters, and the sequence is logical. It begins with Understanding Business Communication, where the student is introduced to workplace communication, communication models, classifications, barriers, and the 7 Cs. It then moves into Interpersonal Communication, which includes listening, feedback, teams, conflict, and negotiation. After that comes Designing and Delivering Oral Presentations, then Fundamentals of Business Writing, then Drafting Business Messages, then Writing Business Reports. Only after those core areas are established does the book widen into Cross-Cultural Communication, Communicating Through Technology, and Employment Communication.

This order works well because it mirrors the development of a professional communicator. First, you need the basics of communication itself. Then you need interpersonal competence. Then presentation and writing skills. Then message drafting and reports. Then the more complex realities of cultural difference, technology, and career-facing communication. It is exactly the kind of progression a business-school course would want.

Teaching Design: This Is Where the Book Stands Out

The most distinctive feature of the book is probably not a single chapter, but the repeated chapter design. The “Snapshot of the Book” pages show the learning devices in a very explicit way. Each chapter begins with learning objectives and often an opening quote plus a comic strip. There is a diagnostic survey so students assess their own current skill levels. Then the chapter develops its material through real-life cases, exhibits, concept-based questions, critical-thinking questions, and other applied elements. Later pages add simulations, picture analysis, video analysis, case studies, and reflection sheets.

This matters because it makes the book feel interactive. It is not only telling students what good communication looks like. It is repeatedly asking them to test themselves, diagnose weaknesses, analyze examples, and imagine how they would act in real situations. That is very consistent with the authors’ promise to make experience the teacher.

Early-Book Strength: Workplace Communication Is Framed Realistically

The early chapters look strong because they place communication inside the workplace rather than treating it as a generic subject. Chapter 1 covers communication at workplace, communication models, classification, barriers, and the 7 Cs. Even from the contents and examples, the emphasis is practical: top employer skills, barriers to effective communication, and cases such as poor communication in leadership settings. This immediately tells the student that communication is not decorative. It is part of organizational performance.

The interpersonal chapter then makes the book even more useful. It covers listening versus hearing, barriers to effective listening, giving and receiving feedback, team development, conflict, and negotiation. This is one of the most important choices in the book because many students think communication means only public speaking or formal writing. Here, the authors show that communication is equally about how teams function, how disagreement is handled, and how trust is built.

Middle-Book Strength: Writing Is Built in Layers

The middle of the book seems especially strong because it builds business writing step by step. Chapter 4, Fundamentals of Business Writing, uses the ABC³ model and emphasizes audience-centric writing, the you-viewpoint, accuracy, brevity, conversational tone, clarity, and courtesy. That is a sensible foundation, because it gives students a way to think about writing before they begin drafting specific message types.

Chapter 5 then turns those principles into practice with routine and positive messages, negative messages, and persuasive messages. The examples of ineffective and effective business messages, such as the request refusal comparison, show one of the book’s best habits: it teaches by contrast. Students can see not only what a message should look like, but what goes wrong when tone, emphasis, empathy, and organization are mishandled.

Chapter 6 on reports extends this progression nicely. The book treats reports as decision-making tools and explains prefatory, main, and supplementary sections. It even includes sample tables of contents, lists of illustrations, executive summaries, and letters of transmittal. That is exactly the kind of material that students often need in practice but do not always get in a communication class.

Late-Book Strength: Modern Realities Are Not Ignored

A major strength of the later part of the book is that it acknowledges how much business communication now happens through culture and technology. The cross-cultural chapter covers dimensions of culture, ethnocentrism, stereotyping, variation in English usage, conversation taboos, written and non-verbal communication, and business/social behavior. This makes the book more useful for globally oriented workplaces.

The technology chapter is especially important because it shows the book is not stuck in an earlier office era. It includes email, instant messaging, teleconferencing, social media, digital footprints, and virtual teams. The authors explicitly frame communication today as heavily technology-enabled, and the chapter design matches that promise.

Then the employment chapter closes the book in a very practical way. It covers the employment process, goal setting, understanding employer mindset, résumés, résumé styles and formats, scannable résumés, application letters, group discussions, interviews, and post-interview messages. That makes the book feel directly useful to students about to leave the classroom and enter recruitment contexts.

Strengths

The biggest strength is pedagogical practicality. The book is consistently built around doing, diagnosing, reflecting, and applying.

A second strength is coverage. It does not stop at writing or speaking, but includes interpersonal skills, cross-cultural issues, technology, and employment communication.

A third strength is usability for non-specialists. The authors know their readers are future managers and professionals, not communication theorists, so the examples are drawn from everyday workplace realities.

Weaknesses

The main limitation is that this is very much a teaching text, so it may feel structured and classroom-oriented rather than deeply analytical or theoretically adventurous. Readers looking for a more research-heavy account of organizational communication may find it more applied than conceptual.

A second limitation is that the wide range of chapter activities may make the book feel somewhat busy. That is helpful pedagogically, but it can also make the book read more like a workshop manual than a smooth narrative argument.

Final Judgment

My judgment is strongly positive. Business Communication: A Practice-Oriented Approach looks like a very effective management-education text because it takes seriously what students actually need: not just definitions of communication, but chances to practice, evaluate, and improve communication in workplace-like situations. Its greatest strength is that it turns business communication into something students actively do rather than passively read about.

Command Palette