ASSIGNMENT I BUSINESS COMMUNICATION SUB BY : TARUN GIANCHANDANI ENR NO: 02680303913 CLASS: MBA EVE A

Q1) Is the ability to communicate more important criteria of successful performance of an employee? Discuss the importance of communication in todays competitive business world? SOL . The ability to communicate affects the degree of proficiency in other skills that an employee might have. This interaction is of prime concern to human resource managers who worry how a new employee might fare on the job. For example, a potential employee might understand a computer system inside and out, but would have a difficult time explaining the overall system, how to use it and what to do if a problem occurs. The hiring manager may decide to hire someone less proficient in the actual system in favor of someone with more communications savvy. In business reputation and credibility needs to build up In order to get the clients trust and confidence,. Having sense of professionalism will bring a lot to the business, especially in long term relationship with employees and clients. This is where the importance of communication came into play. Success of any business lies in good communication. The more effective the communication is, better the results are. So it is very rightly said that the ability to communicate more, is an important criteria of successful performance of an employee. IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION IN TODAYS COMPETETIVE BUSINESS WORLD ARE:1 Facilitates planning: communication facilitates planning in number of ways. Participation of excecutives in planning is a pre condition for getting the work done. This can be secured only through interaction and communication. planning should be based on accurate information. such information can be available onle when there is sytematic communication in the enterprise. the entire plan can be failed in the absence of accurate information to the planners. 2 Basis of decision making: Decisions may be made by a single leader, a committee or a large group of people, depending on the nature of the organization. Each of these models is more or less appropriate depending on the nature of the decision

and the context in which it is being made. When communication is thorough and accurate, decisions tend to be more informed and effective. 3 Achieves effective co-ordination : Communication helps in synchronising activities of different individuals and group to bring about unity of action. Liaison men who employeed to coordinate work of different individuals in the organisation needs to evolve communication between different parts of organisation. For better coordination group meetings should be encouraged for the exchange of ideas, information and knowledge. 4 Facilitates better administration: Effective communication is imprtant in executing plans and then controlling the activities with the help of relevant information. Information about subordinates performance is necessary to determine whether the planned objectives are being realised or not. Communication is an important aid in directing the emplyees in the organisation and thus an indispensable part of management process also. 5 Creation of mutual trust and confidence: Effective communication helps the both thenmanagers and the employees to express and change their views, ideas, suggestions, information, decisions and knowledge with each other. Thus it helps in building the atmosphere of mutual trust and confidence in the organisation. 6 Motivation of employee : Employee motivation is critical to maintaining productivity. There are several factors that influence motivation, including pay, career opportunities and positive relationships with co-workers. Business owners and managers also need to understand the role of communication in employee motivation, as it can sometimes be the most basic communication errors that lead to employee dissatisfaction. Facilitating effective communication can help improve employee motivation in several ways. 7 Building employee morale: Business leaders seeking to improve employee morale must ensure they communicate clearly and openly with the general workforce. In the face of hiring freezes, layoffs and general economic uncertainty, employees morale might be fall .Frequent communication with employees may be the best way to raise their spirits. 8 Binding force or commitment: Effective communication induces the human resource in the organisation to develop a spirit of cooperation and produces the will to do work. In this way effective communication binds them together and creates the spirit of commitment among them. 9 Facilitates effective control: Effective communication helps in control by transmitting information about the performance of the subordinates to the manager. If the information recieved by the manager reveals the performance of the subordinates is not upto the mark, he can take corrective action immediately.

Q2) Discuss in detail the concepts of Barriers and Gateway in communication? SOL Most people would agree that communication between two individuals should be simple. Its important to remember that there are differences between talking and communicating. When you communicate, you are successful in getting your point across to the person youre talking to. When we talk, we tend to erect barriers that hinder our ability to communicate. Various types of barriers to communication may be classified as under: 1. Physical and mechanical barrier 2. Language or semantic barrier 3. Socio-psychological barrier 4. Organizational barrier 5. Personal barrier PHYSICAL AND MECHANICAL BARRIER

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Noise: Noise is quite often a barrier to communication. In factories, oral communication is rendered difficult by the loud noise of machines. Electronic noise like blaring often interferes in communication by telephone or loudspeaker system. The word 'noise' is also used to refer to all kinds of physical interference like illegible handwriting, smudged copies of duplicated typescript, poor telephone connections, etc. Time and distance: Time acts as a barrier when two communicators cannot adjust to their timing of communication. Distance also acts as a barrier when two people are too far apart to communicate and do not have other modes of communication like a phone at hand. Technology has however succeeded in bridging this gap today to a large extent.

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Information overload: If you receive a message with too much information, you may tend to put up a barrier because the amount of information is coming so fast that you may have difficulty comfortably interpreting that information. If you are selling an item with twenty-five terrific features, pick two or three important features to emphasize instead of overwhelming your receiver (hohum) with an information avalanche.

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Physical barriers: A bad cellular phone line or a noisy restaurant can destroy communication. If an E-mail message or letter is not formatted properly, or if it contains grammatical and spelling errors, the receiver may not be able to concentrate on the message because the physical appearance of the letter or E-mail is sloppy and unprofessional.

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Use of words with different meaning: A symbol or a word can have different meanings. If the receiver misunderstands the communication, it becomes meaningless. For example, the word value can have different meanings in the following sentences: (a) What is the value of computer education these days? (b) What is the value of this mobile set? (c) Value our friendship.

VI Denotations and connotations: Words have two types of meanings: denotative and connotative. The literal meaning of a word is called its denotative meaning. It just informs and names objects without indicating any positive or negative qualities. Words like 'table', 'book', 'accounts', and meeting are denotative. In contrast, connotative meanings arouse qualitative judgments and personal reactions. 'Honest', 'competent', 'cheap', 'sincere', etc., are connotative words. Some of these words like 'honest', 'noble', 'sincere are favourable connotations; others like 'cowardly', 'slow', 'incompetent' have unfavourable connotations. But there also exist a large number of troublesome words that have favourable connotations in certain contexts and unfavourable connotations in others. One such word is 'cheap'. Look at the following two sentences: They gave us cheap stuff. At this shop, they sell things cheap. In the first sentence 'cheap' refers to quality and has an unfavourable connotation, in the second one it refers to prices and is used favourably.

LANGUAGE OR SEMANTIC BARRIER I. Unclear message: This barrier is the sender's fault. It occurs when the person who is speaking does not explain exactly what she wants. For instance, if she wants to tell the receiver that she needs an important document by Friday, she might say, "Try to finish that report by Friday if you have time, okay?" Because of the unclear message, the recipient erroneously gets the idea that the report is not a priority.

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Faulty translation: A manager receives much information from his superiors and subordinates and he translates it for all the employees according to their level of understanding. Hence, the information has to be molded according to the understanding or environment of the receiver. If there is a little carelessness in this process, the faulty translation can be a barrier in the communication

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Technical language: Generally, it has been seen that the people working in an enterprise are connected with some special technical group who have their separate technical language. Their communication is not so simple as to be understood by everybody. Hence, technical language can be a barrier in communication. This technical group includes industrial engineers, production development manager, quality controller, etc.

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Unclarified assumption: It has been observed that sometimes a sender takes it for granted that the receiver knows some basic things and, therefore, it is enough to tell him about the major subject matter. This point of view of the sender is correct to some extent with reference to the daily communication, but it is absolutely wrong in case of some special message.

SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL BARRIER I. Differences in perception: Perceptual barriers, in contrast, are internal. If you go into a situation thinking that the person you are talking to isnt going to understand or be interested in what you have to say, you may end up subconsciously sabotaging your effort to make your point. You will employ language that is sarcastic, dismissive, or even obtuse, thereby alienating your conversational partner. Think of movie scenarios in which someone yells clipped phrases at a person they believe is deaf. The person yelling ends up looking ridiculous while failing to communicate anything of substance Differences in attitudes: Personal, attitude and opinion often act as barriers to effective communication. If an information agrees with our opinions and attitudes, we tend to receive it comfortably. It fits comfortably in the filter of our mind. But if an information disagrees with our views or tends to run contrary to our accepted beliefs; we do not react favorably. If a change in the policy of an organization proves advantageous to an employee/ he welcome it as good; if it affects him adversely, he rejects it as the whim of the Director.

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Emotions: An emotional individual may not be able to communicate well. If someone is angry, hostile, resentful, joyful, or fearful, that person may be too preoccupied with emotions to receive the intended message. If you dont like someone, for example, you may have trouble hearing them. Inattention: When the receiver is preoccupied with some important work he/she does not listen to the message attentively. For example, an employee is talking to his boss when the latter is busy in some important conversation. In such a situation the boss may not pay any attention to what subordinate is saying. Thus, there arises psychological hurdle in the communication. Closed minds: A person with a closed mind is very difficult to communicate with. He is a man with deeply ingrained prejudices. And he is not prepared to reconsider his opinions. He is the kind of man who will 'say, "Look, my mind is made up. I know what I know. And I do not want to know anything else. So just don/t bother me." You approach such a man with a new proposal to improve his business and he will immediately retort, "Look here gentleman, do you presume that you know my business better than I know? I have been in this line for the last twenty years. What can you teach me?" Such a person is not open to conviction and persuasion. If closed-minded people can be encouraged to state their reasons for rejecting a message or a proposal, they may reveal deep-rooted prejudices/' opinions and emotions. Perhaps, one can make an attempt to counteract those prejudices, opinions, etc. But if they react only with anger and give a sharp rebuff to anyone who tries to argue with them, they preclude all possibility of communication.

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Premature evaluation: Sometimes the receiver of information tries to dig out meaning without much thinking at the time of receiving or even before receiving information, which can be wrong. This type of evaluation is a hindrance in the exchange of information and the enthusiasm of the sender gets dampened. Distrust: For successful communication the transmitter and the receiver must trust each other. If there is a lack of trust between them, the receiver will always derive an opposite meaning from the message. Because of this, communication will become meaningless.

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Cultural differences: Cultural barriers are a result of living in an ever shrinking world. Different cultures, whether they be a societal culture of a race or simply the work culture of a company, can hinder developed communication if two different cultures clash. In these cases, it is important to find a common

ground to work from. In work situations, identifying a problem and coming up with a highly efficient way to solve it can quickly topple any cultural or institutional barriers. Quite simply, people like results.

ORGANISATIONAL BARRIERS I. Status relationship: Under organizing all the employees are divided into many categories on the basis of their level. This formal division acts as a barrier in communication especially when the communication moves from the bottom to the top. For example, when a lower-level employee has to send his message to a superior at the top level there is a lurking fear in his mind that the communication may be faulty, and because of this fear, he cannot convey himself clearly and in time. It delays the decision making. II. Organization structure: The greater number of managerial levels in an organization makes it more complex. It results in delay in communication and information gets changed before it reaches the receiver. In other words, negative things or criticism are concealed. Thus, the more the number of managerial levels in the organization, the more ineffective the communication becomes. Rules and regulations: Organizational rules become barriers in communication by determining the subject-matter, medium, etc. of communication. Troubled by the definite rules, the senders do not send some of the messages. Physical barriers: Physical barriers are easy to spot doors that are closed, walls that are erected, and distance between people all work against the goal of effective communication. While most agree that people need their own personal areas in the workplace, setting up an office to remove physical barriers is the first step towards opening communication. Many professionals who work in industries that thrive on collaborative communication, such as architecture, purposefully design their workspaces around an open office plan. This layout eschews cubicles in favor of desks grouped around a central meeting space. While each individual has their own dedicated work space, there are no visible barriers to prevent collaboration with their co-workers. This encourages greater openness and frequently creates closer working bonds

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Mechanical barriers: equipments used for communication should always be in perfect working condition. Any defect in the equipment may distort the impression. Sometime, it becomes too late to communicate as the scheduled time passes away.

PERSONAL BARRIERS I. Lack of Confidence in Subordinates: Top-level superiors think that the lowerlevel employees are less capable and, therefore, they ignore the information or suggestions sent by them. They deliberately ignore the communication from their subordinates in order to increase their own importance. Consequently, the self-confidence of the employees is lowered. II. Attitude of superiors: Sometimes the subordinates do not want to send any information to their superiors. When the subordinates feel that the information is of negative nature and will adversely affect them, an effort is made to conceal that information. If it becomes imperative to send this information, it is sent in a modified or amended form. Thus, the subordinates, by not clarifying the facts, become a hindrance in communication Insistence of proper channel: If the sender chooses an inappropriate channel of communication, communication may cease. Detailed instructions presented over the telephone, for example, may be frustrating for both communicators. If you are on a computer technical support help line discussing a problem, it would be helpful for you to be sitting in front of a computer, as opposed to taking notes from the support staff and then returning to your computer station.

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GATEWAYS TO EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION I. Two-way channel: In communication, two parties are involved, namely the sender or transmitter and the receiver of the message. Naturally, mere transmission of facts, ideas, opinions, etc. does not make any communication effective and meaningful. The imperative need is to keep the channel open is to send the receivers views, understanding an opinion about the event informed. A good communication system is like a two-way traffic.

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Mutual trust: A communication system may be considered good when mutual understanding exists between the sender and the receiver of the message, no matter the communication takes place among the executives or subordinates. Existence of good and healthy relationship is also an indicator of a good system of communication existing in any department of organization.

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Clarity of message: The message must be as clear as possible. No ambiguity should be creep in to it. The message can be conveyed properly only if it is clearly formulated in the mind of communicator. The message should be encoded in direct and simple language so that the receiver able to understand it without much difficulty Timely message: Considerable attention should be given to the timeliness of communication. Old information is worse than none at all Consistency of message: The message to be communicated should always be consistent with the objective, policies and programs of the enterprise. It should not be conflicting with the previous communication, otherwise it would create confusion and chaos in the organization Good relations: The mode of communication should be chosen in such a manner that it does not hurt the feelings of the receiver. It should create proper understanding in their minds if it is to achieve good human relations in the enterprise. It is equally essential that the communicator also attempts to understand the receiver.

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Feedback: Feedback provision in the communication process calls for making it a two-way process. The sender must try to ascertain through some signals whether or not he is properly understood. He should also try to know the reaction of the receiver of the message. Empathetic listening: Manager should resist the temptation of making premature evaluation of a subordinates communication or interrupting him in course of communication. Empathetic listening also allows smooth flow of information

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Flexibility: The communication system should be flexible enough to adjust to the changing environments. It should be able to carry extra loads of information without much strain. It should absorb new techniques of communication with little resistance.