Abstract: This paper will explain business communication, business communication roles in day to day work activities, business communication trends in the workplace, and message types that results from business communications..
Table of Contents

1. Introduction 1
2. Reaserch Objectives 2
3. Methods 2
4. Results 2
5. Discussion 9
6. Conclusion 13
7. Recommedations 13
8. References 14
List of Illustrations:

1. Introduction
Communication refers to passing of a message or information between two or more people who understand each other through a medium. Therefore, business communication is the contact between members of an organization with an intention of carrying out activities of a business nature. This entails promotion of a service or product as well as passing information as an official statement from an organization.
Business communication is communication used to create partnerships and to encourage ideas, services, and organization within a business. Business communication is vital for sharing information between organizations, organizations and their clients and between members of a similar organization. This can help boost the image of a company, market or brand their products and services, create awareness in the market on their functionality (Saraswat and Chhabra, 2012).
Nowadays, communication becomes a key element that plays a vital role in business context. It is critical for all business entities to have an efficient and up-to date communication trends for surviving in business world.
In United Arab Emirates, all types of business companies pay a significant attention to have a strong and high quality communication system at both internal and external levels as they become more aware about the significant influences of communication methods in staying competitive.
Communication in the work environment has always been an integral part of the work experience. Without communication between employees, employers, and the customers any business or organization will crumble. To be able to work effectively and as a whole organization there needs to be constant contact between the member directly or indirectly related to the workplace.
2. Research Main Objective
This report emphasizes the use of the different methods of communication in the workplace, namely emails, letters, memos, reports, etc. There are some technical documents, which are more preferred in the workplace due to their timeliness and easy to use features. This report uses interview as its method to find the more preferred technical document in the work environment. The purpose of this report is to either confirm or prove wrong our assumption that emails are the most frequently used method of communication in any work environment including MNCs, law firms, government agencies and others.

3. Methods
The methods (Interview)

4. Results
After interviewing professionals in UAE work environment, they emphasize the significance of keeping up to date with the new trends in all business aspects especially in communication.
4.1. Business Communication Strategy
UAE’s Government has taken notice to the influence of technology very early. The Government Communications Office (GCO) was established by a UAE Cabinet decree No. (10/29) for the year 2008 with the aim of substantially improving the internal and external communication channels in the federal government of the UAE, in addition to initiating the Government Communication network that consists of all media professionals in Federal Government Entities. GCO conforms to the global technological achievements in this field, comes to ultimately support the UAE Federal Government Strategy 2021 (MOCA, n.d.). Moreover, the GCO has developed many manuals that include modern standards of government business communication. Since the launch of a strategy of governmental communication in public sector, the federal government has accomplished a huge improvement on all levels to ensure dealing with new local and international challenges and changes effectively.
Miss. Al-Mohannadi, the manager of the Governmental Communication Department in one of the public organizations, emphasized the role of her department in coordinating the communication process internally and externally. According to her “Communication in business, especially in the governmental sector, has always been a big concern to us. Having an independent department within each company to serve the communicational purposes shows that the government is paying attention to keep all types of customers connected”. She prepares the organizational business communication strategy in coordination with all other departments to ensure that the strategy fits their working needs. Being updated regularly each three years, the strategy contains an evaluation of the current situation in internal and external communication, customers’ and strategic partners’ classification, departmental strategic goals, yearly communicational plan, required resources, and other analysis as well.
4.2. Structure of Business Communication
Up to Ten years before, there was neither communication specialized department nor communication scheme. Each department was handling its communicational affairs by its own, which made it difficult to coordinate the efforts and follow up the work. In comparison to that time, and being a governmental or private, profit or not-for-profit, all types of business entities have nowadays have an independent section that coordinate the communicational matter with all other sections in the organization. Governmental Communication Department in any local and governmental entity in UAE has a structure and a course description for each job. The structure is derived from the main one made by the GCO, as detailed in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Original Structure of Governmental Communication Departments*
*Source: Proposed organizational structure and job description for the Government Communications teams of employees in federal agencies, General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers

4.3. Objectives of Business Communication
While during last decade, objective of business communication were not stated, they obviously and majorly focused on marketing and advertising beside providing and requiring information. On the other hand, nowadays’ business communication is intended to play many roles. Table 1 shows the main objectives and sub-objectives of the communication department directed by Miss. Al-Mohannadi.
Main Objective Sub-Objectives
1. Cooperating in achieving the organizational main strategic goals 1.1. Coordinating internal communication efforts to empower the organization’s reputation and position.
1.2. Enhancing proper communication campaigns to aware and educate the targeted customers.
1.3. Communicating directly with targeted customers.
2. Providing an effective media coverage for the organization 2.1. Training and providing the official representative with supportive media messages and reports
2.2. Empower the organization’s image in media and provide local media coverage for events.
2.3. Launching specialized media office to deal with different media companies.
3. Improve the performance of Government Communications Department 3.1. Designing and improving procedures to monitor the department’s work
3.2. Increasing the efficiency of the team and hiring employees with job-related skills
Table 1: Main and Sub-Objectives of Governmental Communication*
*Source: Governmental Communication Strategy, Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research, 2010

4.4. Function of Business Communication
In reaching those objectives, the Governmental Communication Departments in all public organizations do the following:
1. Make and implement an integrated strategy for internal and external communication, in accordance to the governmental trends.
2. Search areas of communication and partnership with various corporations.
3. Announce media activities, and enhance effective communication tools with customers.
4. Announce public relations activities related the organization’s business.

4.5. Types of Business Communication
Regardless the time and technology influences on business communication, there are two types of Communication in UAE’s business entities; internal and external. However, two communication types have purposes that are more specific:
a) Internal communication, which enhanced between different ministries and entities through the sharing of information and exchange of expertise, as well as strategic media planning, building the media and communications capacities of various federal government entities and conducting communications-oriented research.
b) External communications, which includes communicating with interested stakeholders to ensure transparency, accuracy of information and consistency of messages in alignment with UAE Government Strategy 2021. (MOCA, n.d.)

4.6. Communication Channels
Miss. Fatemah Al-Mohammadi recalls that during her long professional experience at the company, the only methods of business communication were phone calls, face-to-face meetings, and letters. “With the introduction of technology into business, a numerous changes happen not only in the communication channels with customers, but also in the work itself”, said Miss. Al-Mohannadi. As the director of the communication department, she has identified in details all communication channels used within the organization. Shown in Table 2, is a summarized list of communication channels for each customer classification including the frequency of usage. Those channels have been classified in accordance to the type of communication and the type of customers. Besides, in Figure 2, Miss. Al-Mohannadi is participating in one of the leadership regular meetings.
Communication Type Customer’s Classification Communicational Channel Frequency of Usage
Internal Communication Leaders Regular Meetings Weekly
Email Daily/Weekly
Face-to-Face Communication Daily/Weekly
Phone Communication Daily/Weekly
Official Letters Monthly/Quarterly
SMS Weekly/Monthly
Employees Posters Quarterly
Awareness Lectures Yearly
Meetings and Work Shops Quarterly
Meetings with Leadership Yearly
Questionnaires Yearly
Email Monthly
Face-to-Face Communication Weekly/Monthly
Phone Communication Monthly/Quarterly
SMS Quarterly
Official Letters Monthly/Quarterly
Competitions Yearly
External Communication Individuals Academic Counselling Yearly
Awareness Workshops Yearly
“Student’s Guide” Book Continuous
Brochures and Manuals Continuous
Educational Fairs Upon Fairs’ Work Plan
Organization’s Website Continuous
Social Networks Continuous
Local Newspapers Continuous
Email Continuous
Face-to-Face Communication Continuous
Phone Communication Continuous
SMS Continuous
Questionnaires Yearly
Governmental /Local Organizations Regular Meetings Upon the need
Email Continuous
Working Teams Upon the need
Induction Forum Yearly
Official Letters Continuous
Table 2: Business Communication Channels for Various Types of Customers*
*Source: Model of Internal Communication Channels 08/12/2013, Plan of External Communication 13/082013, Governmental Communication Dept., Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research

4.7. Customers’ Satisfaction on Business Communication
Knowing that keeping continuous communication with its customers is important to identify their needs and expectations, the Governmental Communication Department has developed a Questionnaire to measure the level of customer satisfaction with means of communication the organization uses. With the responses of 281 customers, the results showed that 81.81% of them are satisfied. Figure 3 shows the customers’ preferred communication channels. The results indicate that Phone communication, E-mails, and social networks are the most preferred communication channels respectively.
Figure 2: Leadership Regular Meetings*
*Source: Governmental Communication Strategy for the Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research,2010
Figure 3: Customer’s Most Preferred Communication Channels*
*Source: Results of the analysis of customer satisfaction questionnaire about communication channels, Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research, 2013
5. Discussion
The research results show that as technology is moving forward, so is business communication. The influence that technology has on business communication is unquestionable (StudyMode, 2011). People are extremely familiar with technology and would prefer Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) which carried out via computers or any other electronic devices such as mobiles, iPads etc. (Scott & Timmerman, 2012). It is a common misconception that people in the workplace would prefer discussing aspects of certain work related issues in person rather than through emails or memos; however a study conducted showed that the face-to-face communication in workplaces is not as common as people think. Moreover it is carried out on very rare occasions only when it is needed most. (Charlot & Duranton, 2010). Figure 3 shows the widespread use of emails as compared to other forms of communication, and the various stages of passing information. In the figure, email use is shown as the most widespread form of communication in a business setting as compared to writing to the receiver, use of social media and face-to-face presentation.
Figure 4: The Widespread Use of Emails as Compared to Other Forms of Communication*
*Source: Results of the analysis of customer satisfaction questionnaire about communication channels, Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research, 2013

Though the merits of emails are many including timeliness, easy to use features, formal and speedy etc. many employees believe that emails are not as glorious as they are hyped up to be. Some say that emails and other CMC not only create informality in the workplace but also lessen privacy, interrupt the formal and work oriented nature of the office and implore employees to engage in polychromic communication i.e. indulge in communication with a number of people through different media simultaneously. (Cameron & Webster, 2005)
As compared to emails, a business letter provides a permanent physical account of communication. Hunter (2012) confirms that emails are susceptible to technological challenges like spam, which are unsolicited bulk messages, which at times carry dangerous programs or viruses. Apart from being personalized, letters are the standard set official means of communication in a business environment. Emails on the other hand do not possess the physical attributes that letter carry since they are on soft copy. Another advantage with letters in business communication is that they offer an option of enclosing additional physical information like a sample of a product or a free give-away from one organization to another. Letters can be utilized for all the above purpose since they offer a formal and personalized form of communication. They offer a permanent evidence of communication for authenticity between the involved parties.
With all that in consideration, it is very important not to neglect the fact the customers nowadays prefer communicating via emails and social networks more that face-to-face meetings. This is obvious especially with the need to keep up with the fast track of the world by saving as much time as needed. Companies in UAE are more aware of the dramatic role social networks play in communication in this new era, and that is the reason why all organizations use those networks to keep people notified about their business and social events.
Figure 5 reflects the tendency to move from one communication tool to another, showing that emails and social networks are the most widely used in the present communication in comparison to phone conversations and letters sent by faxes which were the dominant in the last century.
Figure 4: The Historical Change in Communication*
*Source: The future of collaboration in business. Transfer Magazine, January 2014

Moreover, Letters are still used widely especially with the formal and official communication between different business organizations. They carry more legal power than do the other computerized communication tools.
The results emphasized the significance of Communication in influencing customer satisfaction and perception on the entire business. According to Donald Trump, famous business tycoon and host of the popular reality TV show “The Apprentice”, the extent on which the competitor’s success or downfall depends solely on the quality and amount of good, healthy communication that exists between the business and the customer or client. (Kinnick & Parton, 2012)
6. Conclusion
Conclusion
7. Recommendations
Recommendation

8. References
Business Communication Trends. StudyMode.com. Retrieved 01, 2011, from http://www.studymode.com/essays/Business-Communication-Trends-536089.html
Cameron, A. F., & Webster, J. (2005). Unintended consequences of emerging communication technologies: Instant. Computers in Human Behavior.
Charlot, S., & Duranton, G. (2010). Cities and Workplace Communication: Some Quantitative French Evidence. Urban Studies.
Hunter, N. (2012). Internet safety. Chicago, Ill: Heinemann Library.
Kinnick, K., & Parton, S. (2012). Workplace Communication: What The Apprentice teaches about communication skills. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly.
Ministry of Cabinet Affairs (MOCA) (n.d.), Government Communication. Retrieved from: http://www.moca.gov.ae/?page_id=576&lang=en
Saraswat, P., & Chhabra, N. (2012). Global trends in business communication. New Delhi: Enkay Pub. House
Scott, C. R., & Timmerman, C. (2012). Relating Computer, Communication, and Computer-Mediated Communication Apprehensions to New Communication Technology Use in the Workplace. Communiction Research.
Transfer Magazine (2014, 1). The future of collaboration in business. Retrieved from: http://www.steinbeis.de/en/publications/transfer-magazine/transfer-032012/die-zukunft-der-zusammenarbeit-in-unternehmen.html