Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Communication Skills
Communication Skills
Paralanguage
The way something is said, rather than what is actually said, is an important
component of nonverbal communication. This includes voice quality, intonation,
pitch, stress, emotion, tone, and style of speaking, and communicates approval,
interest or the lack of it. Research estimates that tone of the voice accounts for 38
percent of all communications.
Written communication helps in laying down apparent principles, policies and rules
Legal defenses can depend upon written communication as it provides valid records.
Written communication does not save upon the costs. It costs huge in terms of
stationery and the manpower employed in writing/typing and delivering letters.
Also, if the receivers of the written message are separated by distance and if they
need to clear their doubts, the response is not spontaneous.
Seven major elements of communication process are: (1) sender (2) ideas (3)
encoding (4) communication channel (5) receiver (6) decoding and (7) feedback.
(1) Sender:
The person who intends to convey the message with the intention of passing
(2) Ideas:
This is the subject matter of the communication. This may be an opinion, attitude,
(3) Encoding:
Since the subject matter of communication is theoretical and intangible, its further
The person who is interested in communicating has to choose the channel for
sending the required information, ideas etc. This information is transmitted to the
(5) Receiver:
Receiver is the person who receives the message or for whom the message is
meant for. It is the receiver who tries to understand the message in the best
(6) Decoding:
The person who receives the message or symbol from the communicator tries to
convert the same in such a way so that he may extract its meaning to his complete
understanding.
(7) Feedback:
Feedback is the process of ensuring that the receiver has received the message and
1. Eye Contact: Always maintain eye contact with your audience. However, a
person must ensure that he / she should not fix his gaze at one person for
more than 5 seconds. Too much fluttering of eyes could indicate lack of
confidence. Staring at a person could be daunting and hence is not such a
good idea.
2. Hand Shake: While shaking hands especially in a professional environment,
the hand shake should be firm and not loose. An iron handshake [very strong
handshake] can indicate that a person is trying to dominate.
3. Crossing your Arms: Crossing your arms could imply that a person is not open
to new ideas / opinion especially in case of giving a presentation. However, in
a one-on-one interview if the interviewer has his / her arms crossed, the
candidate could do the same.
4. Sitting Posture: Leaning on a chair is not a good idea. One must sit upright
though in a relaxed position. Sitting back in your chair implies lack of interest
or rejection.
5. Gesture: Gesture refers to a type of non verbal communication which uses a
part of the body with or without verbal communication. Gestures include
facial expressions, nods [which is a sign of approval in most cultures], head
bobbling / shaking.
6. Facial Expression: The face is a best reflection of what a person feels. More
often than not it is easy to recognize if a person is happy, sad, anxious,
Communication Barriers -
Communication is a process beginning with a sender who encodes the message and
passes it through some channel to the receiver who decodes the message.
Communication is fruitful if and only if the messages sent by the sender is
interpreted with same meaning by the receiver. If any kind of disturbance blocks
any step of communication, the message will be destroyed. Due to such
disturbances, managers in an organization face severe problems. Thus the
managers must locate such barriers and take steps to get rid of them.
1. Use of Simple Language: Use of simple and clear words should be emphasized.
Use of ambiguous words and jargons should be avoided.
2. Reduction and elimination of noise levels: Noise is the main communication
barrier which must be overcome on priority basis. It is essential to identify the
source of noise and then eliminate that source.
3. Active Listening: Listen attentively and carefully. There is a difference between
“listening” and “hearing”. Active listening means hearing with proper
understanding of the message that is heard. By asking questions the speaker can
ensure whether his/her message is understood or not by the receiver in the same
terms as intended by the speaker.
4. Emotional State: During communication one should make effective use of body
language. He/she should not show their emotions while communication as the
receiver might misinterpret the message being delivered. For example, if the
conveyer of the message is in a bad mood then the receiver might think that the
information being delivered is not good.
5. Simple Organizational Structure: The organizational structure should not be
complex. The number of hierarchical levels should be optimum. There should be a
ideal span of control within the organization. Simpler the organizational structure,
more effective will be the communication.
6. Avoid Information Overload: The managers should know how to prioritize their
work. They should not overload themselves with the work. They should spend
Hearing implies just perceiving the sounds while listening means listening with
understanding whatever you are listening. Both the body as well as mind is involved in
listening process.
To improve your communication skills, you must learn to listen effectively. Effective
listening gives you an advantage and makes you more impressive when you speak. It also
boosts your performance.