COMMUNICATION

Presented by: Dr Nandini Banerjee

 Life skills
Life skills are abilities for adaptive and positive behavior that enable
humans to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of life. The
concept is also called psychosocial competency.
Life skills are the skills we need to deal effectively with the challenges in
everyday life, whether at school, at work or in our personal lives.
The term ‘Life Skills’ refers to the skills you need to make the most out of
life.
Life skills are usually associated with managing and living a better quality
of life. They help us to accomplish our ambitions and live to our full
potential
Soft skills are more often seen as personality traits you may have spent
your whole life developing. They are called upon when you manage your
time, communicate with other people or confront a difficult situation for the
first time
• Soft Skills are the personal attributes,
personality traits, inherent social cues, and
communication abilities needed for
success on the job. Soft skills characterize
how a person interacts in his or her
relationships with others
 Some Examples of Soft Skills
• Communication
• Self-Motivation
• Leadership
• Responsibility
• Presentation skills
• Teamwork
• Decision-Making
• Critical Thinking
• Problem-Solving
• Inter-Personal Relationships
• Assertiveness
• Self Awareness
• Negotiation skills
• Employability
• Parenting
• Organizing and Time Management.
 Hard Skills
• Hard skills are related to specific
technical knowledge and training.
• Hard skills are often gained through
education or specific training. They include
competencies like how to use a certain
machine, software or other tool.
 Hard skills list
• Bilingual or multilingual
• Database management
• Adobe software suite
• Network security
• SEO/SEM marketing
• Statistical analysis
• Data mining
• Mobile development
• User interface design
• Marketing campaign management
• Storage systems and management
• Programming languages (such as Perl, Python, Java,
and Ruby)
 Definition of Communication
• Communication is a process that
involves the transmission of meaningful
information from one party to another
through the use of shared symbols.

• Communication is successful when

meaning is understood.
 Stages of Communication
• Transmission of information, ideas and
feelings.
• Process of communication: sender and
receiver, how one receives rightly or
wrongly.
• Correct interpretation and understanding of
message is important for organizational
effectiveness.
• Greater the understanding easier it will be
to accomplish goals.
Functions of Communication
Communication
The transference and the understanding of meaning.

Communication Functions
1. Control member behavior.
2. Foster motivation for what is to be done.
3. Provide a release for emotional expression.
4. Provide information needed to make
decisions.
Elements of the Communication
Process
• The sender
• Encoding
• The message
• The channel
• Decoding
• The receiver
• Noise
The Organizational Communication Process

Communication Noise
Noise
Channel

Sender Receiver
(encodes message) (decodes message)

Feedback
Noise
 The Communication Process
• Channel
– The medium selected by the sender through
which the message travels to the receiver.
• Types of Channels
– Formal Channels
• Are established by the organization and transmit
messages that are related to the professional
activities of members.
– Informal Channels
• Used to transmit personal or social messages in
the organization. These informal channels are
spontaneous and emerge as a response to
individual choices.
Patterns of Organizational Communications

Downward Communication

Upward Communication

Horizontal Communication
 Downward Communication
• Establishes linkage between people by flow of
information.
• It is directive in nature.
• Provides information regarding jobs, specific
information to new employees, practices and
procedures.
• Example: Direct orders or instructions from top
executives, speeches, manuals, handbooks,
reports, newsletters , memos etc.
 Upward Communication
• It is nondirective in nature.
• Empowers employees and enables them to
participate freely in decision making.
• Example
– Grievance procedure
– Open door policy
– Counseling, attitude questionnaires and exit
interviews
– Participative techniques
– The ombudsperson
 Horizontal Communication
• Managers communicate with people in
other departments outside their own chain
of command
• It is also called lateral communication
• Henri Fayol’s ‘gangplank' mechanism
 Interpersonal Communication
• Oral Communication
– Advantages: Speed and feedback.
– Disadvantage: Distortion of the message.
• Written Communication
– Advantages: Tangible and verifiable.
– Disadvantages: Time consuming and lacks feedback.
• Nonverbal Communication
– Advantages: Supports other communications and
provides observable expression of emotions and
feelings.
– Disadvantage: Misperception of body language or
gestures can influence receiver’s interpretation of
message.
 Communication Challenge in
today's work place
• Team Based Organization
- Working in team helps to interact, reach
decisions, work collaboratively, and
resolve conflict.
- It helps to understand others, give
balanced feedback, explore ideas, keep
everyone involved.
 Grapevine
• Grapevine Characteristics
– Informal, not controlled by management.
– Perceived by most employees as being
more believable and reliable than formal
communications.
– Largely used to serve the self-interests of
those who use it.
– Results from:
• Desire for information about important situations
• Ambiguous conditions
• Conditions that cause anxiety
 Barriers To Communication
• FILTERING
• SELECTIVE PERCEPTION
• DEFENSIVENESS
• LANGUAGE
• INFORMATION OVERLOADED
• DISTRACTIONS
 The Communication Types

• Two-way Communications
– Communication channels that provide for
feedback e.g. all discussion and dialogue.
• One-way Communications
– Communication channels that provide no
opportunity for feedback e.g. announcements
and memos.
 Need for Communication
• Managerial success.
• Correlation between rank and the amount of
communication skill required.
• Greater the managerial responsibility, the more
time and ability is needed for communication.
• To achieve coordinated action.
• To express feelings and emotions.
• To share information regarding
a) organizational goals.
b) task directions.
c) results of efforts.
d) decision making.
 Signs of unsuccessful
communication
• Not enough information is shared.
• People confused and are in dark
• Messages unclear and contradictory.
• People feel they have no opportunity for
seeking clarification.
• Inconsistent communication.
• Communication blocked: information lost
in the channel.
 Communication as a % of a
manger’s work Total % of workday spent
communicating 87%

Total % of work day

spent communicating
Total % of work day 81%
spent communicating
74%

Listening/Speaking
62%
Listening/ Speaking
Listening/ Speaking
57%
48%

Telephone 8% Telephone 8% Telephone 8%

Writing 17% Writing 14% Writing 13%

Reading 9% Reading 10% Reading 12%

First level supervisor Mid-level manager Top-level manager

Signs of successful communication
1. People feel they have received enough
information.
2. People feel messages and information
received is accurate and clear.
3. People feel that the manager will listen
to them and understand their expressed
concerns.
Skills for Managing Communication

Presentation
Skills

Listening Skills

Nonverbal
Communication
Skills
 Basic guidelines for developing effective
presentation skills include:
• Tailor the presentation to the needs of the
audience.
• Establish credibility if the audience is not familiar
with your credentials.
• Try to speak in a responsive and conversational
style that engages listeners.
• Presentation skills improve with practice.
• Use visual aids to reinforce the verbal message.
 Nonverbal Communication Skills
• Nonverbal communication skills are essential
for sending and decoding messages with
emotional content.
• Dimensions of nonverbal communication:
– Body movements and gestures
– Eye contact
– Touch
– Facial expressions
– Physical distance
– Tone of voice
 Non Verbal Communication

• Body Language
• Paralanguage
ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS
Even when we don’t talk, we unconsciously let
our mood, thoughts, attitude and emotions
out…….
The most expressive part of the body:
EYES
The eyes are a window to the soul
 The next source of information
FACE.
Face is a book where men may read
strange matters
• Highly flexible
• Spontaneous reactions
Just through our facial expressions we can
express our:
– Respect for others
– Attitude
– Feelings
– Overall Personality
 The Rock of Gibraltar
• Strong stable personality
• Confident
• Awaiting a positive message
• Comfortable
• Good self esteem
• Authoritative
• Leader type
 Superiority
• Overestimates himself
• Casually waiting
• Relaxed
• Will not wait too long
• Showman
• ‘Let me see’ attitude
 Boredom
• Bored
• Tired
• Waiting
• Regretting why he/she came here
• Worried
• Anxious of outcome
• ‘What is all this mess I see?’
 Astonishment
• Oh my god!
• This could not happen
• Surprised
• Causing worry
• Can this happen to me?
• Have I missed the boat?
• Oh I forgot something
 Defensive
• How is it my fault?
• What can I do about it?
• I’m helpless
• I’m all alone
• Why do you blame me?
• I’m hardly in the picture
Examples
 Examples

FEAR DISBELIEF TRYING TO UNDERSTAND ANGER

HAPPY
AUTHORITATIVE
REASSURE/ DEFENSIVE
SYMPATHISE
FRANK & OPEN
 Managing Organizational
Communications
Face-to-Face Electronic
Communication Communication

Written Informal
Communication Communication