Professional communication is dominated by short conversations and exchanges of information at an interpersonal level. Mobile and digital technologies have revolutionised access to communication, so people can correspond through multiple channels. For very brief messages, short conversational exchanges or push notifications, instant messaging or texting may be appropriate. For other short messages, from one paragraph and up to one-two pages in length, emails, memos or letters may be used for communicating across the office and with external stakeholders.

This chapter reviews the common functions of short forms of communication in organisations and outlines ways to craft short messages using four common channels: instant messaging, email, memo and letters. While email is typically the leading channel of internal and external professional communication for an organisation, there is still a vital role for hard-copy communication documents, like letters and memos, in the business environment.

Effective skills in evaluating information are now incredibly important in a world awash with misinformation and the new affordances and challenges of generative AI. Finding and using quality information to enhance your learning and evaluation capability is an important part of your lifelong learning journey. Your reputation as a professional hinges on being able to make informed decisions based on best practice and good research.

This chapter explores the professional information landscape, identifying various information source types and where you can access them. It identifies key challenges related to online access to information. It then explores the four stages of being information literate: identifying your information needs, then finding, evaluating and using information effectively. It outlines what it means to enter academic and professional conversations and how we acknowledge the ideas of others in our own work. The Extend your understanding section outlines the research process and describes the quantitative and qualitative approaches commonly used in communication research.

Promoting and adopting change is often a source of conflict in organisations. These conflicts are a result of perceptions held by the employees and managers. Employees may fear the uncertainties ahead, while managers may hesitate to take decisive action, or feel ill-equipped to implement the proposed changes. Additional factors, including the availability of resources (such as financial or staffing), may contribute to the conflict experienced during a period of transformation.

Such conflicts need to be managed professionally to ensure a positive outcome. This management process usually takes the form of negotiation, so both parties perceive there to be something to ‘win’ from the process. Recognition of the organisation’s culture – that is, awareness of understanding shared values, meanings and assumptions – can help managers communicate and enact changes.

This chapter explores navigating change, designing a change communication plan, acknowledging resistance to change, and recognising and managing conflict. It then looks at negotiation strategies to ensure conflict is managed appropriately.

Communication is an important professional and life skill. Organisations today are looking for people with the communication skills to contribute productively in the workplace and maintain effective relationships with their stakeholders. While we may all communicate, not all our communication is intended, and not all of it is interpreted and understood as we expect. Communication can break down at any number of points.

Your ability to develop messages that are received as they are intended depends on your emotional intelligence (being able to interpret which aspects of communication are required), your emotional competence (being able to manage emotions of yourself and others) and your technical skills (being able to produce messages that are capable of being understood).

It’s important that we learn how to harness the benefits of all the tools available to make us better communicators rather than let them replace us in our communication-focused roles. The purpose of this book is to help prepare you with the skills to improve or enhance your communication and effectively utilise the communication tools and channels at your fingertips.

Working collaboratively with others is inevitable in a business context. In larger organisations, the increasing complexity of business processes requires combinations of abilities and knowledge that a single person is unlikely to have. Even if one person could technically do everything, it would take too long.

As business operations and organisations have expanded globally, the spread of, and access to, expertise has increased. The expansion and global reach of organisations has created more complex tasks and decision-making that teams can help overcome. We are now seeing an increase in geographically dispersed and culturally diverse work groups that are connected via the digital communication technologies that make virtual group engagement and networking possible.

As most businesses aim for growth, the amount of work is increasing. Yet, time frames are shortening. Thus, collaborative activities, whether it be two people, larger groups or even multiple organisations, are a necessary feature of modern organisations. Collaboration will require you to draw on your active listening, emotional intelligence and relationship-building skills to ensure success.