Communication Skills - Coursework Example

?Topic – Communication Skills Introduction Communication is an activity which involves more than one party and successful communication depends on carrying out it at right time and in right style. Communication has many forms which can be categorized into small group, intrapersonal, public and mass communication. Communication can take place with or without words. In today’s world, mass communication especially is of great importance as the media revolves around it. Mass communication is a powerful concept and here the communicator is generally an unknown organization or person. The media like television and newspaper has the ability to reach the public in a strong way and communication is the foundation to it. Good communicators are not born but they are made with the help of proper training and knowledge. It is not just easy to thrive in today’s a competitive and demanding world and communication is one factor which is under our control. If one can be best at its communication skill, then he can make things work at his will and favor. The importance of communication in this business world is so great that the success of a company and employee solely depend on it. To become a successful employee in any field, apt communication skill is of utmost importance. Good communication skill is immensely important to work jointly with employees of an organization. To be a good communicator one need to also be a good listener. In his books (Guffey,23)“Communication does not take place unless the sender encode meaningful message that can be decoded and understood by the receivers”. The Importance of Communication Skills The importance of communication skill is highest when it comes to any sphere of human life. When it comes to career, communication stands as a key factor in employee’s job placement, career advancement, performance and organizational success. In hiring a candidate, communication skill is considered as the most needed competency. Most of the companies demand from candidate for best oral and written communication skills. Good communication skill helps people in expressing their thoughts with one another .It helps in understanding the other’s view about you and also facilitate in passing on information to one another. For a better communication, mutual understanding, trust and interpersonal skills are also important. It is very important for people to understand the skills and techniques required to communicate effectively to each other. According to (Wilhelm)“Communication has two parts. The first is the communicator and how effectively she can convey her message to the listener. The second is how well the listener of the communication receives the message. If there is misunderstanding, misinterpretation or confusion – then the communication is not successful”. The success can be achieved by the communicator only if he is well versed with communication skills and techniques. Communication skill is completely beneficial as it creates effective flow of thoughts and information from one party to another as well as minimizes the chances of confusion and misunderstanding. If a person lack in communication skill, then he cannot promote himself and also the organization he is working for. In communication there is exchange of information, thoughts and ideas with the help of dialogues and conversation. It is always a two way process which included gesticulation and vocalization. The importance and value of communication skill never can be disregarded. In all walks of life, good communication skill is extremely important. A poor communication skill can have a negative effect on both the professional and personal life of a person. A good communication skill is very essential in fields like medicine, teaching and media where in the main focus is on the understanding of patients, students and the mass population respectively. Even for a salesperson, communication is of key importance as his profession is entirely depended on his verbal skills. In the same way verbal communication is vital, written communication skill also plays a significant role in communication process. Many a times people tend to take the communication skill for granted. Communication skill is not only about conversing with a person but it is the way in which a person expresses oneself along with his facial expression and body gestures. Importance of communication skill is not restricted only to business field .Effective communication is needed in every aspect of life and relationship. If a person wants to progress in the corporate world it is very essential for him to educate himself with better communication skill. A person may find it extremely difficult to go up in corporate world without proper communication skill. The Types of Communication Skill There are different types of communication skill based on the nature of interaction between people. These can be classified as below. a) Intra – personal communication skill :This is a communicative skill in which the individual reflects inwards to communicate with its spirit and soul for personality advancement. In simple terms, intra-personal communication is communication with one self where in there is self talking and inner speech. For a person to communicate efficiently with others, he must first be able to communicate freely with oneself. It is also help people t o know and understand oneself. Self talk is very important in updating oneself and discovering more about one’s capabilities and potentiality. In intra – personal communication one can interpret their experience, analyze the message of others and the interaction held with others. b) Interpersonal communication skill :This is a communicative procedure in which two individual are indulged in communication with each other. In this face to face communication take place and the nature of dialogue is intimate and direct. Here interaction is done through words, gestures and expressions. Interpersonal skills are essential to communicate better with each other. Good Interpersonal communication is extremely important in work place as it allows having good flow of information with managers and employees. The interpersonal communication skill can be further classified as interaction on focused and unfocused basis i) Focused Communication: This is a communication procedure in which the two people interacting are completely focused .In this procedure the two people in conversation are highly aware of their dialogues. ii) Unfocused Communication: In this type of communication only one person speaks and other listens to it. This kind of conversation take place in restaurants, stations and customer care points where one party needs crucial information. c) Non – Verbal communication Skill In this communication procedure the main factors which take place are facial expressions, eye contact, gestures and body languages. It is also a crucial part of communication and counts towards a successful conversation. There are many forms of non – verbal communication. Firstly, it is used in greeting people where handshakes, salutes and hugs are used .Secondly; it is used to direct communication in a specific manner where signals are used in work places. Thirdly, it is when gestures and body languages are used to communicate with each other. Around the world gestures and body languages can have different meanings. Gestures and body languages can have positive or negative implications. d) Mass Communication This kind of communication takes place in mass media which comprise of news media like newspaper television and radio. Here the message is conveyed by an organization to a mass or entire population. In mass communication, the information originates from one source and direct towards limitless audience without any restriction on creed, caste, nationality or religion. In mass communication, technology is used in high proportion to convey information as the receivers are huge population. Mass communication is also performed through print media wherein information or messages are released in the market with help of paper as medium. Core Elements of Communication Skill Communications skill has certain core elements which are very essential for its successful performance. These can be categorized in to three parts as follows. a) Listening Skills: In communication process listening is as important as speaking. It is very important for people to develop their listening skill in order to be a good communicator. Since information is of an intangible nature it should be received by the listener in an appropriate manner. Listening is an aspect of giving effort to hear what a speaker attempts to communicate. In his book (Downs, 12) writes that “Listening generally involves a five step process: attending, understanding, interpreting, responding and remembering. Listening is an active action and requires a lot of skill and tactics to make it effective. Listening can have different meaning for different people. The tools and behavior used by people may differ from person to person. Listening is mostly seen as a naturally attained skill. b) Expressing Skill: Expressive skill is the ability of a person to give information to others regarding their behavior and also ability to articulate his or her feeling or beliefs. In this process, the information is passed on to the listener with the keen usage of facial expression ad and gestures and also the understanding of the listener about information is assessed. The Speaker should communicate specifically to the other person so that there is no confusion or misunderstanding on part of the listener exists. If the communication is focused on the subject of information, then it can avoid blaming, criticizing and doubt from the part of the listener. c) Managing the entire communication process Here the importance is on following the proper guideline of communicative procedures and interactions. The main objective of communication is to transfer information from one person to another. It is very essential that the other party understand the information precisely. Understanding is a critical point in the communication process, and if this is absent then the communication can be regarded as a failure. Understanding is possible if the parties involved have an agreement on the meaning and nature of the information. At times, communication can be effective but can lack efficiency. Barriers like physical distraction, noise, language inefficiency are to be considered in order to make communication successful. The entire communication process is depended on speaker and listener, and the presence or absence of barriers to the communication process. The Teaching of Communication Skill Since the beginning of industrialized world, the teaching of communications skills has been of great importance to all people. Face expression, hand movement, gestures and signals are all part of a communication process in which people interacts in an interesting and complex ways. In teaching communication skill, emphasis is placed on the fact that all activities occur on the inter- personal relationship of individuals. The efficiency in relationship between the individual results in greater effective communication. To be an expert in communication skill a learner has to be taught about the specific skills required for effective communication. In his book (Hills,9 ) writes that “Part of the challenge of communications is in teaching the students whose primary language and culture are not English One should also know to discover information and understand which information is relevant and essential. One another important factor in proper communication is eye contact. Maintaining eye contact with the person involved in communication leads to establish trust and faith among the communicators. The teachers when coaching students regarding communication skill should make sure that they learn to initiate communication in proper manner. The effectiveness of communication should be assessed by the teacher on a continuous basis. At the initial stage the teacher should make sure that the students are learning to communicate at a reasonable pace. If not the teacher has to modify the teaching strategies to make the situation better. The educators can use interactive videos to assist the learning process effective. According to (Dyer,1)“Communication is perhaps the most important skill a person needs to establish socially meaningful relationships in the home and community”. In the teaching process the educators need to provide the students with real life like situation to practice communicative skills. The teacher can provide learners with role play practice to enhance their learning skill. If the learners feel threatened, then it can be a barrier in their learning pattern. If one has to improve his or her communication skill, then they need to feel confidence to practice their skills. Communication skill is much related to the performance level of a person. A good communicator must be able to deal with a person sensitively and sensibly. All communication starts and ends in the mind and a good teacher must be able to mold the mind of a learner effectively. Methods to Improve Communication Skill In order to improve the communication skill, the people involved in the process must keep in mind certain factors. These factors can be explained as below: a) In communication it is very important for the people conversing to remain focused. They should not distract by taking away attention from each other. Inattentiveness can pave way to confusion and misunderstanding in the information attained. As per (Windle) “ In order to understand the total meaning of a message, we must be able to gain understanding about both the feeling and the content of the message” b) Eye contact is another important factor to improve the communication skill of a person. A person should make eye contact with the person whom he is speaking to. This enhances the mutual agreement between the both, c) Listening consistently to the speaker is also an effective way to improve communication skill. It is not a good practice to interrupt the person when he is speaking. d) When one speak, it should be considerably clear to another person who is listening. Even the pronunciation of the words should be appropriate and precise. e) Reading is also an important aspect to make the communication skill better. Reading makes the vocabulary of the individuals strong. f) Increasing the fluency in the English language is an effective way to improve communication skill. Since English is a universal language, expertise in it can allow the person to achieve new heights. g) It is also essential for the people involved in the conversation to use appropriate, facial expression, gestures and body language Conclusion Nowadays communication skill is a pre- requisite in recruiting employees and promoting them to higher positions. If a person cannot communicate properly, he can turn out to be a failure in all aspects of life. In relationship, career and life a person cannot survive if he is poor in communication. People have a notion that communication is all about the use of words. On the contrary, communication skill is a process, where in many factors come in a right combination to convey information from one person to another. In simple words, effective communication skill is a process where in more impact can be achieved with the use of lesser words. The success of communication can also depends on the technical knowledge of the person involved in communication process. In today’s modern world, there are multiple channels used by people to communicate with each other. So people also need to be well versed with the techniques to communicate through these multiple channels. A good communicator also needs to be excellent with persuasion and influencing skills. However, to get achieve excellent communication skills, one needs to have high level of confidence. Currently, most of the multi- national companies provide communication training to its employees in order to increase their productivity. Communication is the only method by which human can convey their thoughts and ideas with one another .If one does not acquire expertise in communications skill, then his progression in life gets blurred and stagnant References Dyer, K. Teaching practical communication skills. 1st ed.,. Washington D.C.: American Association of Mental Retardation, 1996. 1. Print Downs, L.J. Listening Skills Training. 1sted.,. Danvers: American Society for Training and Development, 2008. 12. Print. Guffey, M.E. 1Essentials of Business Communication. 2nde.d,. U.S.A.: Cengage learning, 2009. 23. Print Hills, P.J. Communication Skills: An international review. 1st ed.,. 1 vol. U.S.A: Croom Helm, 1988. 9. Print Windle, R. "Communications Skills." Website for Knowledge. CADRE, 2011. Web. 23 Jul 2011. Read More