Communication Skills Mrs. 7 C’s of effective communication • Completeness - The communication must be complete. It should convey all facts required by the audience. A complete communication has following features: • Complete communication develops and enhances reputation of an organization.
• Moreover, they are cost saving as no crucial information is missing and no additional cost is incurred in conveying extra message if the communication is complete. • A complete communication always gives additional information wherever required. It leaves no questions in the mind of receiver. • Complete communication helps in better decision-making by the audience/readers/receivers of message as they get all desired and crucial information.
• Conciseness - Conciseness means wordiness, i., communicating what you want to convey in least possible words. • It is both time-saving as well as cost-saving. • It underlines and highlights the main message as it avoids using excessive and needless words. • Concise communication provides short and essential message in limited words to the audience.
• Concise message is more appealing and comprehensible (understandable) to the audience. • Concise message is non-repetitive in nature. • Consideration - Consideration implies “stepping into the shoes of others”. Effective communication must take the audience into consideration, i., the audience’s view points, background, mind-set, education level, etc.
Ensure that the self-respect of the audience is maintained and their emotions are not at harm. Modify your words in message to suit the audience’s needs while making your message complete. Features of considerate communication are as follows: • Emphasize on “you” approach. • Empathize with the audience and exhibit interest in the audience.
This will stimulate a positive reaction from the audience. • Show optimism towards your audience. Emphasize on “what is possible” rather than “what is impossible”. Stress on positive words such as jovial (jolly), committed, thanks, warm, healthy, help, etc.
• Clarity - Clarity implies emphasizing on a specific message or goal at a time, rather than trying to achieve too much at once. Clarity in communication has following features: • It makes understanding easier. • Complete clarity of thoughts and ideas enhances the meaning of message. • Clear message makes use of exact, appropriate and concrete words.
Clarity is lost because of following reasons: • Using words which are difficult to understand. Cantankerous instead of quarrelsome • Writing illogical sentence structure. • Using words that create ambiguity. • Using Complicated sentences.
• Concreteness - Concrete communication implies being particular and clear rather than fuzzy and general. Concreteness strengthens the confidence. Concrete message has following features: • It is supported with specific facts and figures. • It makes use of words that are clear and that build the reputation.
• Concrete messages are not misinterpreted. • Courtesy - Courtesy in message implies the message should show the sender’s expression as well as should respect the receiver. The sender of the message should be sincerely polite, judicious (sensible), reflective (thoughtful) and enthusiastic. Courteous message has following features: • Courtesy implies taking into consideration both viewpoints as well as feelings of the receiver of the message.
• Courteous message is positive and focused at the audience. • It makes use of terms showing respect for the receiver of message. • It is not at all biased. • Correctness - Correctness in communication implies that there are no grammatical errors in communication.
Correct communication has following features: • The message is exact, correct and well-timed. • If the communication is correct, it boosts up the confidence level. • Correct message has greater impact on the audience/readers. • It checks for the precision and accurateness of facts and figures used in the message.
• It makes use of appropriate and correct language in the message Nature and Scope of communication • Communication is the process of passing information and understanding form one person to another. • There are two types of communication Internal Communication and External Communication • Internal Communication : is the process of interacting and information sharing between employees of particular organization or an enterprise. The functions of internal communication are as follows: • Establishing and disseminating the vision, mission and goals of an enterprise. • Brainstorming for better ways to improve business.
• Effective interpersonal relationships at work that minimize conflict. • Recruiting , training and appraising the employees. • Leading, directing and motivating the staff so that they can contribute their best. Controlling the work process in line with set targets.
• External Communication : is communication that takes place between the members of an organization and the public at large. This public will include all the stake holders (investors, customers, vendors, business associates, dealers, financers, media, local community etc. Externally, communication relates an enterprise to the environment outside. Scope of communication • Scope of communication means the normal functioning area of this subject.
Since communication is essential in every sphere of human life, its scope is wide. No one can pass even a day without communication. In the following a brief discussion on scope of communication is given: 1. Communication in personal life: Communication is closely related with every sphere of human life.
From dawn to sleep at night, a person communicates with others. Communication in social life: Now we are on the verge of human civilization and living in an integrated society. In social life, people need to develop social bondage. Communication helps us in creating and strengthening this social bondage.
Communication in the state affairs: Communication is also pervaded in all areas of state affairs. Without communication, state neither can administer its various wings nor can maintain relationships with the other part of the world. Due to revolutionary change in communication technologies, the whole world has turned into a global village. Communication in business: Communication is the lifeblood of business as it provides necessary information in formulating business plans and policies.
It also ensures effective performance of business activities like production, distribution, finance, warehousing etc. Communication in management: Management is the means of achieving organizational goals. Efficiency and effectiveness of management depend on effective communication with the various internal and external parties. Communication in industrial relations: Industrial relation means a labor management relationship in the industry or in an organization.
Friendly industrial relation is a precondition for business success. On the other hand, free and fair communication is a pre-requisite for creating good industrial relation. Communication in international affairs: In this age of globalization, communication is not merely confined within the national boundary. Countries are exchanging their cultural, economical, social, political, educational and technological affairs with each other continuously.
Communication in religion: Communication is also present in perching, spreading and circulation various religious doctrines (principles). Prophets and saints have preached the verses of almighty to their followers and even now, many religious thinkers are performing the duty of preaching and circulating religious verses. Non-Verbal communication Non-verbal communication includes facial expressions, eye contact, tone of voice, body posture and positioning within groups. It may include the way we wear our clothes or silence we keep.
Nonverbal communication cues can play five roles: • Repetition: they can repeat the message the person is making verbally. • Contradiction: they can contradict a message the individual is trying to convey. • Substitution: they can substitute for a verbal message. For example, a person's eyes can often convey a far more vivid message than words.
• Complementing: they may add to or complement a verbal message. A boss who pats a person on the back in addition to giving praise can increase the impact of the message. • Accenting: they may accent or underline a verbal message. There are many different types of non-verbal communication.
• They include: • Body Movements for example, hand gestures or nodding or shaking the head; • Posture, or how you stand or sit, whether your arms are crossed, and so on; • Eye Contact, where the amount of eye contact often determines the level of trust and trustworthiness; • Para-language, or aspects of the voice apart from speech, such as pitch, tone, and speed of speaking; • Closeness or Personal Space, which determines the level of intimacy (understanding); • Facial Expressions, including smiling, frowning and even blinking; and • Physiological Changes, for example, sweating or blinking more when nervous. Cross Cultural communication • Cross-cultural communication is a field of study that looks at how people from differing cultural backgrounds communicate, in similar and different ways among themselves, and how they endeavor (effort) to communicate across cultures. • Cross-cultural communication has become strategically important to companies due to the growth of global business, technology, and the Internet. Understanding cross-cultural communication is important for any company that has a diverse workforce or plans on conducting global business.
This type of communication involves an understanding of how people from different cultures speak, communicate, and perceive the world around them. • Understanding Cultural Diversity Given different cultural contexts, this brings new communication challenges to the workplace. Even when employees located in different locations or offices speak the same language (for instance, correspondences between English-speakers in the U. and English-speakers in the UK), there are some cultural differences that should be considered in an effort to optimize communications between the two parties.
• Developing Awareness of Individual Cultures However, some learning the basics about culture and at least something about the language of communication in different countries is important. This is necessary even for the basic level of understanding required to engage in appropriate greetings and physical contact, which can be a tricky area inter-culturally. For instance, kissing a business associate is not considered an appropriate business practice in the U., but in Paris, one peck on each cheek is an acceptable greeting. And, the firm handshake that is widely accepted in the U.
is not recognized in all other cultures. • Demand Mutual Acceptance Cultivate and demand mutual acceptance and understanding. In doing this, a little education will usually do the trick. Explain to team members that the part of the team that works out of the Australia office, for example, will be working in a different time zone, so electronic communications and/or return phone calls will experience a delay.
And, members of the India office will also observe different holidays (such as Mahatma Gandhi's Birthday, observed on October 2). • Keep It Simple When you communicate, keep in mind that even though English is considered the international language of business, it is a mistake to assume that every businessperson speaks good English. In fact, only about half of the 800 million people who speak English learned it as a first language. And, those who speak it as a second language are often more limited than native speakers.
When you communicate cross-culturally, make particular efforts to keeping your communication clear, simple and unambiguous. And (sadly) avoid humor until you know that the person you're communicating with "gets it" and isn't offended by it • Get Help If You Need It Finally, if language barriers present themselves, it may be in every one's best interest to employ a reliable, experienced translator. Factors affecting Cross Cultural communication • Cultural identity Culture can be defined as the values, attitudes, and ways of doing things that a person brings with them from the particular place where they were brought up as a child. These values and attitudes can have an impact on communication across cultures because each person's norms and practices will often be different and may possibly clash with those of co-workers brought up in different parts of the world.
• Gender roles Another factor that impacts intercultural communication is gender. This means that communication between members of different cultures is affected by how different societies view the roles of men and women.