Difference Between Communication and Business Communication

There are a lot of differences between general communication (interpersonal) and business communication. These pertain to form, content, and also purpose. General communication has no rules except of course rules of etiquette and manners. However, there are rules of business communication as a lot is dependent upon effective communication in a business environment. We will harp upon these differences in this article to highlight the importance of communication in an organization.

The first and foremost difference lies in the audience. Whereas in general communication you take different tones depending upon whether you are talking to a child, a friend or someone who is a senior, in business communication takes place between people who are talking about a subject that is common and important to all. You engage with others to further your goals whereas communication is informal, rather casual and much more relaxed when you are talking to your friend or chatting with someone on FaceBook.

You can use slang terms and at times be crude when talking to a friend but in business communication, you maintain a distance and use a formal language only. Of course you can enquire about the health of the ailing mother of your client in business but that is more out of courtesy and also to cement the ties rather than any genuine concern as is the case with the mother of a friend. There are times when both types of communication appear to be similar as when you ask a client to come over to a restaurant for a lunch or dinner but if you observe closely, you can find that the ulterior motive is at work during conversation on the restaurant table if you compare it with the tone between two friends sitting in the same restaurant.

Business communication is such as to put the other person at ease but it is unemotional (lacks sentiments). On the other hand, one can feel the warmth and emotions in any general communication. At a broader level, business communication is just a subset of interpersonal communication as two business partners can talk about sports and weather just like any two friends walking down a street. In business communication, there is a clear cut purpose, like trying to convince client about the usefulness of a new product or signing a contract. In a business communication, the tone is professional, often like that of a teacher trying to explain a concept to his students. In business communication, the tone, purpose and content vary depending upon the audience.