Business Fundamentals: Effective Communication
Gain a practical grounding in communication to boost your personal effectiveness, save you time and reduce your stress levels.
Duration
4 weeksWeekly study
3 hours
Business Fundamentals: Effective Communication
Other courses you might like
This course isn't running right now. We can email you when it starts again, or check out these other courses you might like.
Browse more in Business & Management
Faced with a daily deluge of information, we have never had greater need of clear communication skills. This free course offers you a practical grounding in using a range of communication media, which will boost your personal effectiveness, save you time and reduce your stress levels.
Improve your written and verbal communication skills
You will discover the principles of writing influential documents for work such as reports and proposals. As you learn simple frameworks for emails and meetings you’ll immediately put them into practice and increase your productivity.
You will find new confidence in your ability to make convincing presentations and conduct productive meetings – whether virtual or face to face. You will develop communication approaches that are sensitive to cultural and personal difference and are tailored to the occasion, whether online, in print or face to face.
Develop fundamental business and finance skills
This course has been developed by The Open University Business School – a pioneering institution that is triple accredited by AMBA, EQUIS and AACSB.
It is one of eight from The Open University, designed to help you gain fundamental business and financial skills, including communication, networking, relationship building, project management, personal financial planning and management, investment and financial services.
You can complete this course as part of one of these two programs:
Business Fundamentals: four courses, which will boost your employability and effectiveness at work, and enable you to earn a FutureLearn Award.
Business and Finance Fundamentals: eight courses; holders of FutureLearn Certificates of Achievement for all eight courses can earn 30 UK credits towards The Open University Business School’s BA in Business Management by passing a linked Open University assessment module (requiring separate OU registration and fee).
What topics will you cover?
- Making effective phone calls and writing emails
- Online communication in a professional context
- Delivering effective presentations
- Writing professional reports and proposals
- Conducting productive meetings
- The future trends in professional communication
Learning on this course
On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.
What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...
- Apply and understand principles of effective communication in a range of media
- Improve your writing skills for greater work and study success
- Apply simple but powerful frameworks to get more out of email and telephone calls in less time
- Design and create more convincing presentations and run more productive meetings
- Develop cultural and interpersonal sensitivity in your communication behaviour
Who is the course for?
This course is intended for anyone seeking to develop their fundamental business skills, whether to increase their employability or secure a promotion. The course does not require any previous study of communication.
For further information about registration, the final assessment course, your eligibility and the BA in Business Management, visit the Open University website. The Open University does not operate in Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria. This means that Learners based in those countries will not be able to convert their participation in this Program to Open University course credits.
What do people say about this course?
"I have found many useful pieces of information, and advice from fellow learners, that I can apply in the workplace to better my skills even further."
Who will you learn with?
Hilary is a senior lecturer in executive education with research interests in the economic and cultural role of the creative industries. She researches academic identity and the future of work.
Who developed the course?
The Open University
As the UK’s largest university, The Open University (OU) supports thousands of students to achieve their goals and ambitions via supported distance learning, helping to fit learning around professional and personal life commitments.
Established
1969Location
Milton Keynes, UKWorld ranking
Top 510Source: Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020
Learning on FutureLearn
Your learning, your rules
- Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
- Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
- Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores
Join a global classroom
- Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
- Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
- Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others
Map your progress
- As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
- Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
- Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate
Want to know more about learning on FutureLearn? Using FutureLearn
Learner reviews
Learner reviews cannot be loaded due to your cookie settings. Please and refresh the page to view this content.
Get a taste of this course
Find out what this course is like by previewing some of the course steps before you join:
Do you know someone who'd love this course? Tell them about it...
You can use the hashtag #FLBFcomms to talk about this course on social media.