Communication Quarter

Communication Quarter (hereinafter, the Quarter) is the first of four lectures of Social Quadrivium (hereinafter, the Quadrivium):

• The Quarter is designed to introduce its learners to enterprise discovery, or, in other words, to concepts related to obtaining data needed to administer the enterprise effort; and
• The Quadrivium examines concepts of administering various types of enterprises known as enterprise administration as a whole.

The Quadrivium is the first of seven modules of Septem Artes Administrativi, which is a course designed to introduce its learners to general concepts in business administration, management, and organizational behavior.

Outline

The predecessor lecture is Worker Productivity Quarter.

Social discovery is data discovery conducted by groups. This data is an aggregate of those individual data that have influenced the group. Some of this data may be stored by social networks such as social media. This particular lecture concentrates on communication because this method is the primary, often the only, for collecting the data of groups.

Concepts

1. Communication. The transfer and the understanding of meaning.
   • Interpersonal communication. Communication between two or more people.
   • Technical communication. The practice of creating easily accessible information for a specific audience.
   • Ethical communication. Communication that includes all relevant information, is true in every sense, and is not deceptive in any way.
   • Signature communication. Communication that, similarly to measurement and signature intelligence, uses detection, tracking, identifying, or describing the distinctive characteristics of actions and artifacts rather than linguistic communication.
2. Nonverbal communication. Communication transmitted without words.
   • Body language. Gestures, facial configurations, and other body movements that convey meaning.
   • Pause. A temporary stop in action or speech.
3. Oral communication. The process of expressing information or ideas by word of mouth.
   • Verbal intonation. An emphasis given to words or phrases that conveys meaning.
   • Active listening. Listening for full meaning without making premature judgments or interpretations.
4. Communication process. The steps between a data source and a data receiver that results in the transfer and understanding of meaning. In other words, communication process is a set of activities involved in transferring meaning from one person to another.
   • Message. A purpose to be conveyed.
   • Encoding. Converting a message into symbols.
   • Decoding. Retranslating a sender's message.
   • Noise. Any disturbances that interfere with the transmission, receipt, or feedback of a message.
5. Channel. The medium a message travels along.
   • Informal channel. A communication channel that is created spontaneously and that emerges as a response to individual choices.
   • Formal channel. A communication channel established by an organization to transmit messages related to the professional activities of members.
6. Channel richness. The amount of information that can be transmitted during a communication episode.
7. Communication network. The variety of patterns of vertical and horizontal flows of enterprise communication.
   • Grapevine. An enterprise's informal communication network.
8. Social network. (1) A network of social interactions and personal relationships; (2) A dedicated website or other application that enables users to communicate with each other by posting information, comments, messages, images, etc.
   • Social network structure. The patterns of informal connections among individuals within a group.
   • Social media. Forms of electronic communication through which users create online communities to share ideas, information, personal messages, and other content.
9. Enterprise communication. All the patterns, networks, and systems of communication within an organization.
   • Formal communication. Communication that takes place within prescribed organizational work arrangements.
   • Informal communication. Communication that is not defined by the organization's structural hierarchy.
10. Hierarchical communication. Communication within the same or through different levels of an enterprise.
    • Upward communication. Communication that flows upward from employees to managers.
    • Diagonal communication. Communication that cuts across work areas and organizational levels.
    • Downward communication. Communication that flows downward from managers to employees.
    • Lateral communication. Communication that takes place among any employees on the same organizational level.
11. Cultural context. The influence of the society the author lives in and his or her culture on his or her communications.
    • High-context culture. A culture that relies heavily on nonverbal and subtle situational cues in communication.
    • Low-context culture. A culture that relies heavily on words to convey meaning in communication.
12. Communication apprehension. Undue tension and anxiety about oral communication, written communication, or both.
13. Reporting. Giving a spoken or written account of something that one has observed, heard, done, or investigated.
    • Internal reporting. Reporting conducted to a limited number of stakeholders usually within an enterprise.
14. Communication need. A need of a stakeholder to receive business reports possibly in a specified manner.

Methods

1. Reporting principle. A fundamental basis of reporting.
2. Five Ws (or Five Ws and How, 5W1H, or Six Ws). A reporting technique based on questions that are considered basic in data gathering and problem solving.
   • Who question. "Who was involved?"

   What happened?
   When did it take place?
   Where did it take place?
   Why did that happen?

Some authors add a sixth question, “how”, to the list:[1]

   How did it happen?

Instruments

1. Data interchange tool. A software implement used to interchange data.
   • Application programming interface (API). A system of tools and resources stored in an operating system that is designed to connect software applications.
   • Electronic data interchange (EDI). EDI replaces paper mail, fax and email by electronically exchanging order and fulfillment/billing information in a standard format between trading partners.
   • Interoperability. Ability of systems to communicate by exchanging data or services.
2. Repository. A real or virtual facility where all information on a specific topic is stored and is available for retrieval.

Practices

• http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/accounting/preparation-of-a-report/good-reporting-system-top-13-principles-financial-analysis/67583
• https://accountlearning.com/general-principles-of-good-reporting-system/
• https://www.ungpreporting.org/framework-guidance/reporting-principles/

The successor lecture is Social Rationale Quarter.