​​Communication skills

Communication is the most important part of all our activities in order to organize our self to live in a
society. We need to play different roles in our society and this is only possible through communication. In
order words, communication is ability of one person to express himself to another person and to make
himself understand. The process of communication thus results in achieving some objective that the
sender wants the receiver to know. Letters, reports, interviews, meetings, whether it is written or oral is a
form of communication. These are the lifeline of
any organization.

Features of Communication:
· ​Communication should be meaningful – This

refers that the need to be clearly mentioned about

what we want to say.
· ​Communication is interactional- the channels

should be open so the communication can be created

between people and to make a good rapport.
· ​Communication should always be appropriate-

the relationship between sender and receiver

irrespective of any situation and even the pitch
should be based on the age, rank, status of the
members in that particular communication event.
· ​Communication is supposed to be structured-

Whether is it written or spoken, everyone looks into

the structure or pattern of the information provided
and come up with some
facts related to the
corporate word.

In the world of automation,

with it every organization
is becoming more and
more sophisticated. So,
communication should be
on the top list of every
organization. Most of the
problems in the company's
arise due to miscommunication. Due to the advancement of technology, even people
are expected to be updated. But problems created by human are more complicated than the technologies.
It is the communication that helps to solve these miscommunication or other problems due to lack of
effective communication.
Factors responsible for importance of communication:
· ​Large size of organization-Nowadays organizations are huge compared to former times. Many

organizations have thousands of people working together as a family in different units in different
geographical territories. It is difficult to manage
such a large organization so for that communication
plays a vital role in supervising people, getting
feedback, etc.
· ​Growth of trade union- No system can work

properly without taking the help of the worker’s

unions. Now no organization can work without the
cooperation between management and trade union.
In that aspect, communication is required.
· ​The human relations aspect- Communication

helps the managers to build relationships, changing

attitudes, motivating people seek cooperation.
· ​Public relations Aspect- The managers should

portray a good image of the whole business in front

of everyone. Managers should maintain a good communication with the society. It is not only the internal
environment that should be taken care of, but the external environment is also that matters.
· ​Technological Advancement- As the world is changing, it leads to problems between subordinates

and the superiors. These affects the relationship in the organization. If there is no effective
communication between them, it may result into conflicts in the organization.

Dimensions of Communication

Communication is multi-dimensional and there are several ways in which the event flows.
Usually in large organization, it has eight levels but at the same time it may differ. The types of
communication are given below:
· ​Downward communication: It exists in

organizations where bureaucracy exists. It

would be difficult to manage organization
without downward communication. For
example: letters to the top management.
The problem that takes place here is that the
information gets distorted in the exchange
of information. For this feedback system should be there. Second problem is time
consuming as with the increase of levels the distortion level will be higher.There is a very low chance of
receiving the exact information due to the power distance between the managers and the employees
· ​Upward communication: The purpose of this is to transfer the information from lower to higher so

that the top management knows about all the things that is taking place in the organization. It is
participative in nature. The problems related to this are that communication is misinterpreted,
misunderstood and it is mainly psychological.
· ​Lateral communication: here the communication takes place between two or more members who are

subordinates working under the same person or in the same level. There are no superior subordinate
relationships. Strategies of marketing cannot be successful until and unless the plans are clearly specified
in order to the fulfill customer requirements.
· ​Diagonal communication: It includes the horizontal flow of information at different levels those who

have direct reporting relationship. This facilitates the flow of information as well as adjust the efforts for
the achievement of organization. In this type of communication, few precautions should be taken to avoid
problems. It cannot be assured whether vertical channels of communication will work or not, so the
diagonal communication is used.
Channels of communication can be divided into two parts:
1. Formal
2. Informal
Formal channel of communication:
It is a form of communication that is controlled by managers having same positions in the organization.
Communication can also travel from below and
pass through different steps therefore
strengthening the structure of the organization.
Informal channel of communication:
Along with formal channel, the
organizations also has informal channels. It is
commonly known as grapevine because it
works in all dimensions like vertical,
horizontal, diagonal.
Factors responsible for the grapevine:
· ​There is uncertainty when the organization
is going through some crisis.
· ​Lack of confidence on behalf of the
employees leading to formation of groups.
· ​Formation of a group or a favorite group by
manager, giving other employees a feeling of
insecurity.

Factors influencing organizational communication:

Communication is influenced by four factors in the organization. The formal
channels of communication, the structure of the organization, job specialization and information
ownership.
1. Formal channels of communication: It is mainly controlled by the managers and is restrictive in
nature. There is no scope of free flow of information.
2. Structure of the organization: Communication is also affected by the authority structure of
communication. Power distance and status matters a lot in terms of ease of communication. The content
and accuracy is determined by the people staying in the organization.
3. Job specialization: This helps to communicate with similar group or the same specialized group.
The member of the group have the same thinking process, set similar goals and adopt same methods to
implement it.
4. Information ownership: This states that each individual have own unique information about their
jobs. The person may not be willing to share this with some other person. This will result in lack of flow
of information, although ownership can be shared.

There are many opportunities for formal as well as informal oral communication in the organization. In
maximum cases it is seen that grapevine exists so that people can share all sorts of information and it
helps in establishing relations among the employees. Various kinds of formal oral communication takes
place in the organization. People need to make presentations, participate in meetings and group
discussion, then they need to appear for interviews. All these come under formal oral communication.

Advantage of oral communication:

· ​It provides a quick feedback and clarification. People

can ask questions, make comments and so on. Both the

speaker and receiver can make a communication more
effective.
· ​Oral communication creates a healthy environment

by bring all together whether it is superiors or

subordinates.
· ​Oral communication saves time and that’s why the

managers call up whenever they have any difficulty.

· ​Oral communication is the most effective as it

involves human touch in that in the business. We can solve a conflict without taking help of oral
communication.
· ​It gives ample of chances for a person to make himself clear by convincing through words, gestures,

tone etc.

Disadvantages of oral communication:

· ​Oral communication depends on the attitude of both the sender and receiver so it needs to make it

effective.
· ​Oral message may result into misunderstanding if the sender has not expressed

himself well.
·​ ​Sometimes it depends upon the length of the message.
·​ ​It does not always saves time.

Written Verbal Communication:

·​ ​It requires creativity and one needs to be more careful while writing rather than oral communication.
· ​Written communication is time consuming. The sender takes time to frame the message and then it

takes time to reach to the destination.

· ​It has fewer steps than the oral

communication oral communication as

most written is one step event. Usually a
message is sent and received.

Written communication in
Business:

People usually prefer face-to-face

interaction in the organizations. But
written communication plays an
important part of organizational life. It is
not easy to define authority and
responsibilities without written
communication. Telephone, telex, fax
machines cannot replace letters. They
have changed the form of transmission and made life easy and faster. That’s the reason why written
communication exists in the organizations.

Nonverbal communication

It is the communication that neither involves written nor spoken words but it is used without the use of
words. And compared to verbal
communication it is subtle and instructive.
There are few gestures, body movements
that needs to be considered are given
below:
·​ ​Body language
·​ ​Facial expression
·​ ​Eye contact
·​ ​Gestures
·​ ​Head, body shape and posture
·​ ​Appearance
Presentations:
This is form of oral verbal communication through which non-verbal and written elements help to make
communication effective. To make a successful presentation few steps need to be followed. The steps are:
1.​ ​Be clear about the purpose of presentation
2.​ ​Be aware of your audience
3.​ ​Information regarding the location or area
4.​ ​Plan out the presentation
5.​ ​Deciding about the method of the presentation
6.​ ​Practice before the presentation
7.​ ​Personal aspects should be considered
8.​ ​Be a confident speaker
9.​ ​Present using visual aids

Barriers in Communication
The barriers can emerge at any of the following
levels:
Ø​ ​Sender’s level
Ø​ ​Receiver’s level
Ø​ ​Transmission level
Ø​ ​Feedback level
Guidelines for Effective Communication:
The guidelines given below should be kept in
mind so that it will help to communicate
effectively.
v​ ​Clarity of purpose

v​ ​Communication is the responsible of all person

in the system
v​ ​Similar set of symbols should be used
v​ ​Requirements of the receiver
v​ ​Use feedback
v​ ​Active listening
v​ ​Controlling emotions
v​ ​Be humble
v​ ​Eliminate barriers
v​ ​No assumptions and clarify, if any

v​ ​Use simple language

v​ ​Communication should be complete

v​ ​Crisp content

v​ ​Proper use of body language

Please copy and paste the below link in your respective browser to 
fill up the question: 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1gxgyaeKkVKK4fH2EWSpie5qH26-
8yznzhsSp1eBtqvc/edit