Managerial Communication

1 What are possible sources of distraction in a typical classroom of a business school.

Ans: Devices like cell phones, hand-held games, and even school-issued laptops are some of the
biggest classroom distractions. Students can be easily distracted by a notification or message, taking
them away from the lesson and focusing on texting a friend back or reaching that next level in their
favourite game.
Distractions come from both external sources, and internal sources. External distractions include
factors such as visual triggers, social interactions, music, text messages, and phone calls. There are
also internal distractions such as hunger, fatigue, illness, worrying, and daydreaming.
1. Online Games: Students have access to all sorts of online gaming with their devices. Fortnite specifically
is a huge concern for K-12 students because of the popularity in the last few years. School-issued devices
like iPads also run the risk of app downloads that can distract students during class time.  
2. Social media: This generation of students spends most of their time and life on social media apps
like Instagram, Twitter, and Tik Tok. This is a huge distraction that can be not only provided by school-
issued devices but also devices students have at home as well. 
3. Communication with Friends: Now that students are outside of the classroom, controlling the number
of side conversations and attention span of students is much more difficult because of the availability that
messaging online provides. Students are able to have side conversations privately with their devices that
allows them to stay distracted during class time. 
4. Work for Other Classes: When students feel like they don’t need to pay attention during a lesson, they
might take that time to work on other work for classes. While this may seem somewhat productive,
students are missing out on valuable information and application tactics that the current lesson can
provide to them. This tactic is counter-intuitive because students lose out on other information that they
will need later on to complete assignments, by working on other assignments during class.
5. YouTube videos/entertainment: Another huge distraction is streaming services. YouTube, Netflix, Hulu,
Disney+, etc. are major concerns for student distractions. Because all of these services are compatible and
available with school-issued devices, they are often used as forms of entertainment to distract students
from class. Now that students cannot be thoroughly monitored, and in the comfort of their own homes,
the incentive to become distracted by these services is much more enticing.
6. Online Shopping: Students are now able to browse their favourites stores at their fingertips. Sites
like Amazon, Esty, and Posh Mark are all ways that students spend time finding the latest trends. 
7. Unrelated Learning: Other contents like blogs, articles, online books, etc. all contribute to the concern
for student distractions in the classroom. While these pieces of content are engaging and informative in
itself, it takes away from the learning done in the classroom.
School-issued devices provide students and teachers with many benefits, however, the problems that
these devices bring into the classroom can be detrimental. While they help to conduct learning and create
face-to-face contact, they also present many extra distractions that would otherwise not be an issue in the
classroom. Educators are searching for the right tactics to overcome the student engagement crisis and
defeat student distractions in 2021.

2. What are the components of Business Letters?

Ans: Business is a matter of professionalism. Thus, there is a definite format and parts of a business
letter which is used by the people in and around the business to communicate professionally.
Business letters also keep proof about the conversation taking place. Thus, every business must
follow a basic format and parts of a business letter that will give a glimpse of etiquette.
Each component of the business letter plays a crucial role. To understand the format of a business
letter, it is essential to explain the parts of a business letter in detail.
1. The Heading: It is also known as letterhead. It consists of the name or number or fax number
of the writer. Some people may use the address or logo of the organization. As the receiver
needs to know who the sender is, this part of the business letter plays a significant role.
2. Date: Even though it seems to be simple, the letter is incomplete without a date. So we need
to write the date on the right-hand side top corner. It helps the receiver to understand when it
happened if it is an incident or if it has a deadline to count the remaining days. It is essential in
the parts of a professional letter. Of course, for any letter.
3. Reference: It is imperative among all other parts of a professional letter. Usually, the
department of an organization or logo, etc. can also be used as a reference. In some cases, the
letter number is also considered as the reference of a formal letter.
4. Subject: Another vital component of a business letter is the subject. It refers to the reason for
writing a letter to the recipient. The subject should be like a brief statement, specific to the
point, eye catchy, understandable, and straightforward.
5. Salutation: Salutation is also termed as greeting or wishing. Before starting to write the
content of the letter, the sender will greet the receiver based on their age and relationship. It
may vary from one to another like respected sir, dear, hi, etc.
6. Body: It is the heart of all the parts of a business letter. It is the main content that a sender
needs to convey to the recipient. So it should be clear, straightforward, understanding and
also formal.
The body of the letter is generally categorized into three parts. They are as follows:
a. Opening Lines: The opening lines should be the introduction of the sender if new and formal
greetings and wishes will be there in the first paragraph.
b. Main Content: The sender should write the actual message clearly in a formal way. It should
be the main point that needs to be conveyed to the recipient. The message should be proper
and complete.
c. Closing Part: It is the ending part of the body. Here the receiver can understand what the
sender is expecting, what his action is, or the next step to move, etc. These can be
mentioned clearly. The concluding part should be in a polite way. Use some words to please
the receiver in this part of a formal letter.
d. Complimentary Close: It is the concluding part of the whole letter. It depends on the
salutation, which is based on the age and relationship of the recipient. It is also written
politely. We use it.

Yours sincerely, Yours faithfully, etc. in general.

I. Signature: While explaining all the parts of a business letter, one should give more stress on
this part because a message without a proper signature is not valid. So the signature plays a
vital role in the parts of a formal letter. It includes name, contact and designation. We should
note that the surname is also essential.
II. Enclosure: It is a part of a formal letter that may or may not exist for all business letters. It is
a process of enclosing the required documents. In the case of applications, invoices,
registrations, offer letters, etc., the sender needs to attach the documents to the business
letter. It is applicable for both soft copy and hard copy.
III. Copy Circulation: It is an option used to send to one or more recipients. It is mentioned in
the letter with notation C.C. It helps to convey the same message to multiple receivers.
IV. PostScript: It is an additional part of a business letter. It is used to add extra information
along with the body of the letter. It is denoted as P.S.
These were the components of a business letter. Every part of a formal letter has its significance.
Also, the letter may not be complete without any single part. So, one should be cautious about these
parts of a business letter while writing because these letters may decide the growth and game of an
organization.  The parts of a formal letter create an impression to the receiver if it is adequately
presented. It is important to understand all the parts of a business letter correctly, to make use of
them and get success.

3. List the various non-verbal stimuli you have experienced and describe any five of them.
Ans: Nonverbal communication involves those nonverbal stimuli in a communication
setting that are generated by both the source [speaker] and his or her use of the
environment and that have potential message value for the source or receiver [listener]
(Samovar et al).   Basically, it is sending and receiving messages in a variety of ways
without the use of verbal codes (words).  It is both intentional and unintentional.  Most
speakers / listeners are not conscious of this.   It includes — but is not limited to:

o touch
o glance
o eye contact (gaze)
o volume
o vocal nuance
o proximity
o gestures
o facial expression? pause (silence)
o intonation
o dress
o posture
o smell
o word choice and syntax
o sounds (paralanguage)

Cultural Differences in Non-verbal Communication

1. General Appearance and Dress: All cultures are concerned for how they look and
make judgements based on looks and dress.  Americans, for instance, appear almost
obsessed with dress and personal attractiveness.  Consider differing cultural standards
on what is attractive in dress and on what constitutes modesty. Note ways dress is
used as a sign of status?
2. Body Movement: We send information on attitude toward person (facing or leaning
towards another), emotional statue (tapping fingers, jiggling coins), and desire to
control the environment (moving towards or away from a person).
More than 700,000 possible motions we can make — so impossible to categorize
them all!  But just need to be aware the body movement and position is a key
ingredient in sending messages.
3. Posture: Consider the following actions and note cultural differences:
o Bowing (not done, criticized, or affected in US; shows rank in Japan)
o Slouching (rude in most Northern European areas)
o Hands in pocket (disrespectful in Turkey)
o Sitting with legs crossed (offensive in Ghana, Turkey)
o Showing soles of feet. (Offensive in Thailand, Saudi Arabia)
o Even in US, there is a gender difference on acceptable posture?

4.Gestures: Impossible to catalogue them all.  But need to recognize: 1) incredible

possibility and variety and 2) that an acceptable in one’s own culture may be offensive in
another.  In addition, amount of gesturing varies from culture to culture.  Some cultures
are animated; other restrained.  Restrained cultures often feel animated cultures lack
manners and overall restraint.  Animated cultures often feel restrained cultures lack
emotion or interest. Even simple things like using hands to point and count differ.

Pointing: US with index finger; Germany with little finger; Japanese with entire hand (in
fact most Asians consider pointing with index finger to be rude)

Counting:  Thumb = 1 in Germany, 5 in Japan, middle finger for 1 in Indonesia.

 

5.Facial Expressions: While some say that facial expressions are identical, meaning attached
to them differs.  Majority opinion is that these do have similar meanings world-wide with
respect to smiling, crying, or showing anger, sorrow, or disgust.  However, the intensity
varies from culture to culture.  Note the following:
o Many Asian cultures suppress facial expression as much as possible.
o Many Mediterranean (Latino / Arabic) cultures exaggerate grief or sadness while
most American men hide grief or sorrow.
o Some see “animated” expressions as a sign of a lack of control.
o Too much smiling is viewed in as a sign of shallowness.
o Women smile more than men.

4. What are the common features of a good business report?

Ans: Meaning of Business Report-When a report is written for business purpose, it is called
business report. It is a little bit different from other reports. It deals with business related
information. A business report is prepared containing business-related information that assists
the management to take better decisions. the unique characteristics of business report are
discussed below-
I. Specific Issue: Every report, including business one, is written on specific subject. It
is written to fulfil certain need.
II. Pre-Specified Audience: An important characteristic of report is that it has a pre-
specified audience. Usually, a report is written for a limited number of audiences and
the need of the audience is always kept in mind.
III. Specific Structure or Layout: In preparing report, certain structure or layout or
format is followed. The layout or structure of report is almost same in every case.
IV. Written on Past Events: In most of the cases, the reports are written on past events.
Most of the business reports carry the reasons of happing the incident, the ways of
recovery etc. Reports are also written in past forms.
V. Neutral in Nature: In drafting reports, impartiality it strictly maintained. No biased
or non-objective material is included in it. Biased report may lead to disastrous
decisions.
VI. Factual Information: Business report is always written based on factual information.
The data collected on specific events is factual, not factious.
VII. Joint Effort: A report is an outcome of joint efforts of a group of people. No one can
personally or solely prepare a report. Now-a-days, in most of the cases, committee is
formed containing three to seven people for furnishing a report on certain incident.
VIII. Orderly Presentation: The information of a report is presented orderly so that the
audience can get his needed information from where it is located.
IX. Upward Flow: The direction of a report is always upward in the organizational
structure. The higher authority normally assigns the duty of preparing reports to their
immediate lower authority and after preparing the report, they submit it to their boss
or higher authority.
X. Some Additional Aids in Presentation: A report is always presented in an attractive
way. In addition, analytical reports contain executive summary, contents and index,
necessary charts, graphs and design and conclusion and recommendation etc.
XI. Signature and Date: It is customary to put the signature of the reporter with date at
the end of the report. If it is prepared by a committee, signature must be given by each
member of the committee.
From the above discussion it is found that business report has some unique characteristics. It
helps the respective businesspeople to take pragmatic decisions in specific business areas.

5. Draw up the steps involved in organizing a business meeting.