Unit 4 – Business communication
Pass criteria 7
P7 – outline electronic and non-electronic methods for communicating business
information, using examples for different types of audience
The way that information is sent depends on the audience, the factors of the audience
include; age and attention span, gender and ethnicity, special needs and accessibility,
reading ability, legibility, interest, distraction avoidance, and business relation experience
and knowledge.
There are many non-electronic methods that can be used to communicate business
information, these methods include letters, memorandum, fax, invoice, flow charts and
publicity material.
A letter is a formal piece of documentation which can be used when Tesco is informing or
responding to someone outside the organisation. The letter has to be clear and concise
because people outside the organisation are reading it and will judge the organisation
depending on how well the letter presents itself. Tesco will need to make sure that the
letter is printed in a big enough size or braille if a person has sight issues. The letter may also
need to be impartial if the sender is relaying information that the person they are sending it
to needs to learn and respond from. All letters will be strictly business related when being
sent from Tesco, this means that the way that they are all written will all have a specific
format that will be adhered to.
Memorandum is more informal than a letter is, they are often referred to as memos. They
can be used by Tesco to write down information within departments if the person it is being
written to will not be seen face-to-face or sent to different departments which is easier than
going over to the different departments and finding the right person to tell the information.
It is easier to send a memo to a department than to go find the person because they may
not know who the specific person they need to tell the information to. For example, a
memo might be sent to a department letting them know that there is an optional training
course that employees can sign up to, to enhance their skill range, this isn’t sent to a specific
person so it could be put on a notice board which is seen by the majority of staff in the
department.
An example of when Tesco uses fax is for people to contact them if they have an issue with
their Tesco.net internet services1. Fax isn’t as commonly used as it used to be due to the
increasing use of email, email may not be as easily used by older people. Fax is used by
Tesco for other things and is more widely available than the internet is, so if an employee is
sent to a country to organise a trade deal then the contracts can be faxed over if no internet
is available.
Tesco uses VAT invoices so other businesses can buy from them and then claim back the tax
that they spent. VAT invoices can be requested from Tesco Direct (when people purchase
online), or then can be requested from instore at customer services if the person has got
their receipt on them. The VAT invoice shows what the person bought, how much tax they
spent and the date. The audience for VAT invoices are people that are able to claim back tax
because they are buying supplies for a business that is VAT registered.