FY BFM

Chetana Hazarimal Somani College of

Commerce and Economics.

3/9/2012

2012Effective Communication Skills

Group No: 2.

Key Topics:

1. What is Effective Communication?2. Barriers of Effective Communication.3. Listening Skills.

Group Members:

Vishal Narvekar, Durgesh Shivalkar Ruksar Sutar Anusuya Sengupta Swati Narkar Siddhesh Shinde

Presented To:

Prof. Shivprasad Murugan

1

Table of contentsSl No Topic Page No.

1 Introduction to communication 3

2 Process of Communication. 3

3 What is effective communication? 4

4 7 Cs of communication 4

5 Barriers of effective communication 7

6 What is listening 13

7 Techniques of Effective Listening 13

8 Conclusion 15

9 Reference 16

2

Introduction to Communication

The process of communication is what allows us to interact with other people; without it, we would be unable to share knowledge or experiences with anything outside of ourselves. Common forms of communication include speaking, writing, gestures, touch and broadcasting.

• Wikipedia definition

Process of communication

Communication is the process of sending and receiving information among people…

Sender: - he is the person who encodes the information and sends it to the receiver through medium.

Receiver: - He is the person who decodes the received information and replies in the sense of feedback

Medium: - it is the intermediary or channel between the sender and the receiver through which the communication is done. Example- telephone, telegram, internet etc.

3

Effective communication

Meaning –

Effective communication is a two-way process - sending the right message that is also being correctly received and understood by the other person/s. For communication to be effective, it is important to understand how the people you are interacting with may interpret your message. We obtain information through our senses, and it is therefore recommended that your communication includes aspects of the visual, auditory and kinaesthetic language to appeal to all listeners.

Definition –

“The effective communication is the communication which produces intended or desired result.”- Unknown.

7 C’s of Effective Communication There are 7 C’s of effective communication which are applicable to both written as well as oral communication. These are as follows:

Completeness – The communication must be complete. It should convey all facts required by the audience. The sender of the message must take into consideration the receiver’s mind set and convey the message accordingly. A complete communication has following features: i. Complete communication develops and enhances reputation of an

organization.ii. 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.

iii. A complete communication always gives additional information wherever required. It leaves no questions in the mind of receiver.

4

iv. Complete communication helps in better decision-making by the audience/ readers/ receivers of message as they get all desired and crucial information.

v. It persuades the audience.

Conciseness –Conciseness means wordiness, i.e., communicating what you want to convey in least possible words without forgoing the other C’s of communication. Conciseness is a necessity for effective communication. Concise communication has following features:

i. It is both time-saving as well as cost-saving.ii. It underlines and highlights the main message as it avoids using

excessive and needless words.iii. Concise communication provides short and essential message in limited

words to the audience.iv. Concise message is more appealing and comprehensible to the

audience.v. 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.e., the audience’s view points, background, mind-set, education level, etc. Make an attempt to envisage your audience, their requirements, emotions as well as problems. 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:

i. Emphasize on “you” approach.ii. Empathize with the audience and exhibit interest in the audience. This

will stimulate a positive reaction from the audience.

5

iii. Show optimism towards your audience. Emphasize on “what is possible” rather than “what is impossible”. Lay stress on positive words such as jovial, 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:

i. It makes understanding easier.ii. Complete clarity of thoughts and ideas enhances the meaning of

message.iii. Clear message makes use of exact, appropriate and concrete words.

Concreteness –

Concrete communication implies being particular and clear rather than fuzzy and general. Concreteness strengthens the confidence. Concrete message has following features:

i. It is supported with specific facts and figures.ii. It makes use of words that are clear and that build the reputation.

iii. 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, reflective and enthusiastic. Courteous message has following features:

i. Courtesy implies taking into consideration both viewpoints as well as feelings of the receiver of the message.

ii. Courteous message is positive and focused at the audience.iii. It makes use of terms showing respect for the receiver of message.iv. It is not at all biased.

6

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.

Uses –

Effective communication helps us better understand a person or situation, enables us to resolve differences, build trust and respect, and create environments where creative ideas, problem solving, affection, and caring can flourish. As simple as communication seems, many of us experience difficulties connecting successfully with others. Much of what we try to communicate—and others try to communicate to us—gets overlooked or misunderstood, which can cause conflict and frustration in both personal and professional relationships.

Fortunately, effective communication skills can be learned. Whether you’re trying to improve communication with your spouse, kids, boss, or co-workers, it’s important to listen well, recognize nonverbal communication signals, manage stress, and stay connected to your emotions.

Facts on effective communication :

The average worker spends 50 percent of his or her time communicating. Business success is 85 percent dependent on effective communication and

interpersonal skills. Forty-five percent of time spent communicating is listening. Writing represents nine percent of communication time. One-fourth of all workplace mistakes are the result of poor communication. A remarkable 75 percent of communication is nonverbal.

7

Barriers to effective communication

A. Encoding Barriers .

The process of selecting and organizing symbols to represent a message requires skill and knowledge. Obstacles listed below can interfere while encoding an effective message.

1. Lack of Sensitivity to Receiver

A breakdown in communication may result when a message is not adapted to its receiver. Recognizing the receiver’s needs, status, his knowledge of the subject and his language skills assists the sender in preparing a successful message.For example-if a customer is angry, an effective response may be just to listen to the person vent for a while.

2. Lack of Basic Communication Skills

The receiver is less likely to understand the message if the sender has trouble choosing the precise words needed and arranging those words in a grammatically correct sentence. If the sender has command over the communication skills it will be easier to him to encode the massage and also to the receiver to decode the massage.

3. Insufficient Knowledge of the Subject

If the sender lacks specific information about something, the receiver will likely receive an unclear or mixed message.For example-if have you shopped for an item such as a computer, you must have experienced how some salespeople can explain complicated terms and ideas in a simple way. But a person who doesn’t have complete knowledge about computer cannot.

8

4. Emotional Interference

An emotional individual may not be able to communicate well. His emotion my create problem while encoding massage. For effective communication, try to keep the emotions out of the way until you understand what is being communicated.For example- If someone is angry, hostile, resentful, joyful, or fearful, that person may be too preoccupied with emotions and this emotion my affect the encoding of message. If you don’t like someone, for example, you may have trouble “hearing” them.

5. Lacking Confidence

Lacking confidence can be a major barrier to effective communication. Shyness, difficulty being assertive, or lack of self-worth can hinder your ability to make your needs and opinions known. Also, a lack of awareness of your own rights and opportunities in a given situation can prevent you from expressing your needs openly.

B. Transmitting Barriers :

Things that get in the way of message transmission are sometimes called “noise.” Communication may be difficult because of noise and some of these problems:

1. Physical Distractions.

This is one of the main hurdle or barrier in effective communication especially at workplace. Other things due to which physical barrier rises may be the environment or noise. A bad cellular phone line or a noisy restaurant can destroy communication.For example- If a receiver of a communication works in an area with bright lights, glare on computer screens, loud noises, excessively hot or cold work spaces, or physical ailments, that receiver will probably experience communication breakdowns on a regular basis.

9

2. Channel Barriers

If the sender chooses an inappropriate channel of communication, communication may be breakdown. If the channel couldn’t transmit the massage effectively then decoder couldn’t understand the massage.For example- detail instructions presented over the telephone 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. If the length of the communication is long, or the medium selected is inappropriate, the communication might break up

3. Long Communication Chain

The longer the communication chain the greater the chance for error. For example- if a message is passed through too many receivers, the message often becomes distorted. If a person starts a message at one end of a communication chain of ten people, the message that eventually returns is usually liberally altered at the other end of the chain.

C. Decoding Barriers

The communication cycle may break down at the receiving end for some of these reasons:

1. Lack of Interest

If a message reaches a reader who is not interested in the message, the reader may read the message hurriedly or listen to the message carelessly. Miscommunication may result in both cases.

2. Lack of Knowledge

If a receiver is unable to understand a message filled with technical information, communication will break down.

10

For example- Unless a computer user knows something about the Windows environment, he may have difficulty organizing files if given technical instructions.

3. Lack of Communication Skills

Those who have weak reading and listening skills become ineffective receivers. On the other hand, those who have a good professional vocabulary and who concentrate on listening, have less trouble hearing and interpreting good communication.

4. Emotional Distractions

An emotional individual may not be able to communicate well. His emotion my create problem while decoding massage. For example- If you receive a report from your supervisor regarding proposed changes in work procedures and you do not particularly like your supervisor, you may have trouble even reading the report objectively. You may read, not objectively, but to find fault. You may misinterpret words and read negative impressions between the lines. Consequently, you are likely to misunderstand part or all of the report.

5. 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. For example- If a salesman is sealing an electronic product with many features and if he trying to explain them to his customers, sometime it become difficult for the buyer to understand all the feature, because of vast information.

11

D. Responding Barriers

The communication cycle may be broken if feedback is unsuccessful.

1. No Provision for Feedback.

Since communication is a two-way process, the sender must search for a means of getting a response from the receiver. If a team leader does not permit any interruptions or questions while discussing projects, he may find that team members may not completely understand what they are to do. When two communicators are separated, care must be taken to ask for meaningful feedback. If the receiver does not give feedback, the sender does not know if the communication is effective or not; also, if the sender is not paying attention to the feedback, the communication will not be effective.

2. Inadequate Feedback.

Delayed or judgmental feedback can interfere with good communication.For example-If your supervisor gives you instructions in long, compound-complex sentences without giving you a chance to speak, you may pretend to understand the instructions just so you can leave the stress of the conversation. Because you may have not fully understood the intended instructions, your performance may suffer.

12

ListeningMeaning:

Listening is the absorption of the meanings of words and sentences by the brain. Listening leads to the understanding of facts and ideas.

Techniques of effective listening skills

Listening is a communication technique that requires the listener to understand, interpret, and evaluate what they hear. The ability to listen actively can improve personal relationships through reducing conflicts, strengthening cooperation, and fostering understanding.

When interacting, people often are not listening attentively. They may be distracted, thinking about other things, or thinking about what they are going to say next (the latter case is particularly true in conflict situations or disagreements). Active listening is a structured way of listening and responding to others, focusing attention on the speaker. It is one of the must to understand what people are saying and what is happing around them

Importance of effective listening skill

Whatever your role in life you need to understand the importance of listening skills. When you understand the importance of listening skills you will be able to reduce confusion and misunderstandings and evaluate the information you heard. By learning to listen you will positively impact your life, the lives of those around you, and reduce problems and misunderstandings.

13

The following tips show the importance of listening skills and how you can further develop yours.

1. Hearing

Hearing is the primary stage of effective listening. It is the most important factor of communication cycle. It is the process of listening and understanding information send by the encoder carefully and effectively.

2. Understand, Evaluating

After you have heard what a person has to say you can apply listening skills development and begin to understand it by using your personal knowledge to evaluate what you heard. If your personal knowledge of factors involved in what you heard does not match or make sense then you will be able to ask questions to clarify the information.

3. Ask Questions, Responding

Asking questions is key to listening skills and will allow you to better understand what you heard and allow you to evaluate what you heard as well. The better you listen the better the questions you will be able to ask to clarify information, judge discrepancies, and decide how you feel about the information you heard.

4. Remembering

Remembering is the process of memorizing the received information and inculcating the received information.

14

Conclusion

A man is seldom better than his conversation

- German Proverb

15

Reference1. www.australia.edu

2. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communication

3. www.managementstudyguide.com/seven-cs-of-

effective-communicat

4. www.img.kerala.gov.in/docs/downloads/

communication.pdf

16