Building Relationships With Business Communication

Building Relationships With Business Communication is aimed at first-year students of Commerce. The book presents material from Business Communication for Success [Author removed at request of original publisher]; Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers by Mike Caulfield; Business Presentation Skills by Lucinda Atwood and Christian Westin; Professional Communications by Jordan Smith, Melissa Ashman, eCampusOntario, Brian Dunphy, Andrew Stracuzzi; and APA Style Citation Tutorial by Sarah Adams and Debbie Feisst. This material is supplemented with new material on personal and social identity; rhetorical listening; inclusive language; storytelling; and territorial Land Acknowledgments. The principles of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion are woven throughout the textbook. Interactive H5P content enhances the student experience.

Part I includes chapters on developing business relationships. The first two chapters explain the importance of effective business communication and the responsibilities the students will have as business communicators. Communication is influenced by personal and social identities. As students work through the third chapter, they consider these identities, the advantages and disadvantages of belonging to these social groups, and the influence these identities have on their communications. Next, students consider the ways in which the communication context, the purpose of the message, the audience for the communication, and the channel of communication impact their writing or presenting strategy. The final chapter of Part 1 considers the importance of inclusive language in developing and maintaining business relationships.

Part 2 presents tools for effective communication and primarily focuses on rhetoric. Rhetorical listening and visual rhetoric are often overlooked elements of persuasion. These strategies are discussed as well as the classical rhetorical strategies of logos, ethos, and pathos. This section also addresses the identification of reliable sources and web literacy skills, skills that are increasingly important in online environments.

Part 3 focuses on preparing and delivering business presentations. This section first addresses speech anxiety and then addresses ways to alleviate this anxiety through clear presentation structures. In addition, this chapter addresses the importance of storytelling in engaging an audience.

Part 4 concerns written forms of communication including email, memos, letters, and reports. Techniques to develop and maintain a positive audience relationship are addressed throughout. Details on creating graphics, lists, and report headings serve as additional resources for students. Examples of both effective and ineffective techniques are provided. An additional resource on APA Style referencing is provided in Part 5.

Building Relationships With Business Communication combines some of the best available open access content for introductory courses in business communication and supplements this content with new material on personal and social identity; rhetorical listening; inclusive language; storytelling; and territorial Land Acknowledgements. The textbook is focused on a Canadian audience of first-year Commerce students. H5P interactive content, the infusion of real world examples, and an engaging layout make this textbook highly readable for this audience.