Syllabus: International Baccalaureate - Individuals and Societies - Business management (Higher Level)
Module: Unit 2: Human resource management
Lesson: 2.6 Communication

Introduction

Communication is one of the most critical elements in effective human resource management. In the International Baccalaureate (IB) Business Management Higher Level syllabus, Unit 2.6 explores how internal and external communication underpins organisational performance, shapes culture, and influences stakeholder relationships. This unit is core to developing students’ commercial awareness and workplace readiness, aligning directly with Enterprise Skills’ themes of professional communication and organisational understanding.

This article supports teachers, SLT, and careers leads with insights on teaching 2.6 Communication, offering practical examples, assessment guidance, and cross-curricular career links. It is grounded in the IB Business Management syllabus and integrates employer-validated learning approaches.

Key Concepts

According to the IB syllabus for Business Management (HL), Unit 2.6 Communication focuses on:

• The nature of communication: Definitions of communication and its role in business.

• Types of communication: Formal vs informal, internal vs external, vertical vs horizontal.

• Methods of communication: Oral, written, visual, and electronic methods.

• Barriers to effective communication: Cultural differences, technological challenges, hierarchy, and language.

• Communication channels: One-way vs two-way communication, and the impact of technology.

• The effectiveness of communication: Measured through clarity, timeliness, feedback, and outcomes.

• Cultural and ethical considerations: Communication across global teams, and the importance of inclusive practices.

Students are expected to analyse how communication influences leadership, motivation, and change management, as well as evaluate its role in organisational success.

Real-World Relevance

In today’s workplace, communication breakdowns can cost businesses significantly—both financially and reputationally. For example:

• Meta (formerly Facebook) faced internal criticism over lack of transparency during mass layoffs. Employees cited one-way, top-down emails as insufficient and demoralising.

• Slack Technologies, in contrast, built its entire product around improving real-time workplace communication and collaboration. Its internal structure reflects this, with an emphasis on open dialogue and digital literacy.

Closer to the classroom, UK-based SMEs participating in Enterprise Skills simulations often cite communication breakdowns as the number one issue impacting team performance during tasks, validating this unit’s practical relevance.

How It’s Assessed

In the IB assessment structure, communication appears across Paper 1, Paper 2, and the internal assessment (IA).

• Paper 1: Based on a pre-seen case study. Students may be asked to evaluate communication strategies within a hypothetical business situation.

• Paper 2: Features unseen stimulus material. Section C (HL only) requires extended responses often focused on human resource topics, including communication.

• Command terms frequently used include:

  • Analyse: Break down the impact of communication methods on business performance.

  • Discuss: Explore communication effectiveness across organisational hierarchies.

  • Evaluate: Assess the strengths and limitations of specific communication tools.

Students should be taught how to integrate business terminology, use real-life examples, and structure answers using point-evidence-explanation frameworks.

Enterprise Skills Integration

Enterprise Skills’ simulations and Skills Hub tools are uniquely designed to build the communication competencies highlighted in this unit. Key areas of integration include:

• Professional Communication: Students practice verbal and written communication through team-based tasks, including simulated meetings, pitches, and email writing.

• Digital Fluency: Tools reflect modern communication platforms used in real businesses—Slack, Zoom, and Teams are common analogues.

• Feedback & Reflection: Students receive real-time feedback, building skills in two-way communication and active listening.

• Cross-cultural communication: Simulations often include global business contexts, supporting understanding of cultural sensitivities in messaging.

This approach improves higher-order thinking skills while preparing students for workplace realities.

Careers Links

Teaching communication within the IB syllabus directly supports multiple Gatsby Benchmarks:

• Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers—Skills Hub explicitly connects communication tasks to career roles such as HR, management consultancy, and marketing.

• Benchmark 5: Students engage with employer content and scenarios. Real feedback from professionals is embedded into tools, offering insight into how communication is used in recruitment, onboarding, and leadership.

• Benchmark 6: Simulated workplace decisions give students realistic experiences of internal and external business communication.

Career pathways directly related to this unit include:

• HR officer

• Internal communications specialist

• Management consultant

• PR and brand strategist

• Operations manager

These roles all demand high levels of communication competence across different formats and audiences.

Teaching Notes

1. Emphasise context-based learning: Communication can be abstract unless grounded in real business challenges. Use case studies like remote work challenges post-COVID to illustrate barriers and adaptations.

2. Practical classroom tools: Use Enterprise Skills’ simulation debrief packs to assess how students communicated under pressure and how it affected team outcomes.

3. Avoid common pitfalls:

• Over-simplifying communication as just ‘talking’. Encourage students to explore subtleties—tone, medium, and audience.

• Ignoring cultural implications. Global organisations require inclusive, culturally sensitive communication approaches.

4. Extension activity idea:
Set up a mock internal communication challenge: students must write and present a video message to staff during a fictional crisis (e.g. office closure). This integrates written, visual, and oral communication modes with ethical considerations.

5. Assessment booster:
Practice using past Paper 2 Section C questions with a focus on communication. Encourage planning using PEE (Point-Evidence-Explanation) and PEEL (Point-Evidence-Explanation-Link) structures.