Short Questions

1. Distinguish between the formal and the informal communication.

Ans: Formal Communication

 The communication in which the flow of information is already defined is termed

as Formal Communication.
 The communication follows a hierarchical chain of command which is established
by the organization itself.
 In general, this type of communication is used exclusively in the workplace, and
the employees are bound to follow it while performing their duties.

Informal Communication

 The communication which does not follow any pre-defined channel for the
transmission of information is known as informal communication.
 This type of communication moves freely in all directions, and thus, it is very
quick and rapid.
 In any organization, this type of communication is very natural as people interact
with each other about their professional life, personal life, and other matter.

2. What is effective communication?

Ans: A two way information sharing process which involves one party sending a
message that is easily understood by the receiving party. Effective communication by
business managers facilitates information sharing between company employees and can
substantially contribute to its commercial success.

It has been determined that older generation managers have failed to fully adapt to new
technology which has hampered effective communication with younger generations of
workers that tend to use texting and emails to share and receive information.

3. Define oral communication.

Ans: Oral communication is the process of expressing information or ideas by word of
mouth. Learn more about the types and benefits of oral communication, and find out
how you can improve your own oral communication abilities.
Oral communication is the process of verbally transmitting information and ideas from
one individual or group to another. Oral communication can be either formal or informal.
Examples of informal oral communication include:

 Face-to-face conversations
 Telephone conversations
 Discussions that take place at business meetings
More formal types of oral communication include:

 Presentations at business meetings

 Classroom lectures
 Commencement speeches given at a graduation ceremony

4.What do you mean by Business Letter?

Ans: A business letter is usually a letter from one company to another, or between such
organizations and their customers, clients and other external parties. The overall style of
letter depends on the relationship between the parties concerned. Business letters can
have many types of contents, for example to request direct information or action from
another party, to order supplies from a supplier, to point out a mistake by the letter's
recipient, to reply directly to a request, to apologize for a wrong, or to convey goodwill.
A business letter is sometimes useful because it produces a permanent written record, and
may be taken more seriously by the recipient than other forms of communication.
Business letters conform to generally one of six indentation formats: standard, open,
block, semi-block, modified block, and modified semi-block. Put simply, "semi-" means
that the first lines of paragraphs are indented; "modified" means that the sender's address,
date, and closing are significantly indented.
5. What do you mean by effective listening? Describe in brief the main principles of
effective listening.

Ans: Effective listening requires both deliberate efforts and a keen mind. Effective
listeners appreciate flow of new ideas and information. Organizations that follow the
principles of effective listening are always informed timely, updated with the changes
and implementations, and are always out of crisis situation. Effective listening promotes
organizational relationships, encourages product delivery and innovation, as well as helps
organization to deal with the diversity in employees and customers it serves.

To improve your communication skills, you must learn to listen effectively. Effective
listening gives you an advantage and makes you more impressive when you speak. It also
boosts your performance.

Effective Listening Skills

1. Discover your interests’ field.

2. Grasp and understand the matter/content.
3. Remain calm. Do not loose your temper. Anger hampers and inhibits
communication. Angry people jam their minds to the words of others.
4. Be open to accept new ideas and information.
5. Jot down and take a note of important points.
6. Work upon listening. Analyze and evaluate the speech in spare time.
7. Rephrase and summarize the speaker’s ideas.
 8. Keep on asking questions. This demonstrates that how well you understand the
speaker’s ideas and also that you are listening.
9. Avoid distractions.
10. “Step into the shoes of others”, i.e., put yourself in the position of the speaker and
observe things from his view point. This will help creating an atmosphere of
mutual understanding and improve the exchange of ideas in communication
process.

6.What do you mean by Group-Discussion?

Ans: G D is essentially an interactive oral process. The group members need to listen to
each other and use voice and gesture effectively,use clear language and persuasive style.

GD is structured: the exchange of ideas in a GD takes place in a systematic and structured

way. Each of the participants gets an opportunity to express his/her views and comments
on the views expressed by other members of the group.

GD involves a lot of group dynamics, that is, it involves both -person to person as well as
group to group interactions.every group member has to develop a goal oriented or group
oriented interaction.A participant needs to be aware of needs of other group members and
overall objectives of the discussion.
Definition: Group discussion may be defined as – a form of systematic and purposeful
oral process characterized by the formal and structured exchange of views on a particular
topic,issue,problem or situation for developing information and understanding essential
for decision making or problem solving.

7. “Grapevine communication provides psychological satisfaction to employees.” Explain

this statement and also state its merit and demerits.
Ans: Grapevine is an informal channel of business communication. It is called so because
it stretches throughout the organization in all directions irrespective of the authority
levels. Man as we know is a social animal. Despite existence of formal channels in an
organization, the informal channels tend to develop when he interacts with other people
in organization. It exists more at lower levels of organization.

Grapevine generally develops due to various reasons. One of them is that when an
organization is facing recession, the employees sense uncertainty. Also, at times
employees do not have self-confidence due to which they form unions. Sometimes the
managers show preferential treatment and favour some employees giving a segregated
feeling to other employees. Thus, when employees sense a need to exchange their views,
they go for grapevine network as they cannot use the formal channel of communication in
that case. Generally during breaks in cafeteria,the subordinates talk about their superior’s
attitude and behaviour and exchange views with their peers. They discuss rumours about
promotion and transfer of other employees. Thus, grapevine spreads like fire and it is not
easy to trace the cause of such communication.

Advantages of Grapevine Communication

1. Grapevine channels carry information rapidly. As soon as an employee gets to

know some confidential information, he becomes inquisitive and passes the
details then to his closest friend who in turn passes it to other. Thus, it spreads
hastily.
2. The managers get to know the reactions of their subordinates on their policies.
Thus, the feedback obtained is quick compared to formal channel of
communication.
3. The grapevine creates a sense of unity among the employees who share and
discuss their views with each other. Thus, grapevine helps in developing group
cohesiveness.
4. The grapevine serves as an emotional supportive value.
5. The grapevine is a supplement in those cases where formal communication does
not work.

Disadvantages of Grapevine Communication

1. The grapevine carries partial information at times as it is more based on rumours.

Thus, it does not clearly depicts the complete state of affairs.
2. The grapevine is not trustworthy always as it does not follows official path of
communication and is spread more by gossips and unconfirmed report.
3. The productivity of employees may be hampered as they spend more time talking
rather than working.
4. The grapevine leads to making hostility against the executives.
5. The grapevine may hamper the goodwill of the organization as it may carry false
negative information about the high level people of the organization.

Long Questions:

Q1)What is meant by non-verbal communication? Explain the advantages and limitations

of non-verbal Communication.

Ans: There is a proverb “Actions speak louder than words.” In essence, this underscores
the importance of non-verbal communication. Non-verbal communication is especially
significant in intercultural situations. Researches in communication suggest that many
more feelings and intentions are sent and received non-verbally than verbally.
Meharabian and wiener following suggested that only 7 % of message is sent through
words, with remaining 93% sent non-verbal expressions (depending on author, verbal
part goes up to 35%). It has multiple advantages or functions:
 1. Complementary: Non-verbal cues complement a verbal message by adding to its
meaning. You can pat someone you offended at the back as you say sorry to him or
her.
2. Easy presentation: Information can be easily presented in non-verbal
communication through using visual, audio-visual and silent means of non-verbal
communication.
3. Substituting: Non-verbal message may substitute for the verbal message especially
if it is blocked by noise, interruption, long distance etc. for example: gestures-finger
to lips to indicate need for quite, facial expressions- a nod instead of a yes.
4. Accenting: Often used to accent a verbal message. Verbal tone indicates the actual
meaning of the specific words.
5. Repeat: Used to repeat the verbal message (e.g. point in a direction while stating
directions.)
6. Help to illiterate people: This type of communication use gestures, facial
expressions, eye contact, proximity, touching etc. and without using any spoken or
written word. So, it is very much helpful for illiterate people.
7. Help to handicapped people: Non-verbal cues of communication greatly help in
handicapped people especially to deaf people. Deaf people are exchange message
through the movements of hands, fingers, eye ball etc.
8. Attractive presentation: Non-verbal communication is based on visual, picture,
graph, sign etc. that can be seen very much attractive.
9. Reducing wastage of time: The message of non-verbal communication reached the
receiver very fast. For this reason it reduces the wastage of valuable time of the
communicator.
10. Quick expression of message: Non-verbal cues of communication like sign and
symbol can also communicate some messages very quickly than written or oral
messages.
Disadvantages or limitations of non-verbal communication:
Despite of advantages of non-verbal communication, it is not free from its limitations or
disadvantages which are:

1. Vague and imprecise: Non-verbal communication is quite vague and imprecise.

Since in this communication there is no use of words or language which expresses
clear meaning to the receiver. No dictionary can accurately classify them. Their
meaning varies not only by culture and context but by degree of intension.
2. Continuous: It is possible to stop talking in verbal communication, but it is
generally not possible to stop nonverbal cues. Also, spoken language has a structure
that makes it easier to tell when a subject has changed, for instance or to analyze its
grammar. Nonverbal does not lend itself to this kind of analysis.
3. Multi-channel: while watching someone’s eyes, you may miss something
significant in a hand gesture. Everything is happening at once and therefore it may
be confusing to try to keep up with everything. Most of us simply do not do so, at
least not consciously.
4. Culture-bound: Non-verbal communication is learnt in childhood, passed on to
you by your parents and others with whom you associate. A few other gestures
seem to be universal. Evidence suggests that humans of all cultures smile when
 happy and frown when unhappy. However, most nonverbal symbols seem to be
even further disconnected from any “essential meaning” than verbal symbols.
Gestures seen as positive in one culture (Like the thumbs-up gesture in the USA)
may be seen as obscene in another culture.
5. Long conversations are not possible: In non-verbal communication, long
conversation and necessary explanations are not possible. No party can discuss the
particular issues of the messages.
6. Difficult to understand: Difficult to understand and requires a lot of repetitions
in non-verbal communication. Since it uses gestures, facial expressions eye contact,
touch etc. for communicating with others which may not be understandable for the
simple and foolish people.
7. Not everybody prefers: Everybody not prefers to communicate through non-verbal
communication with others. Sometimes it cannot create an impression upon people
or listeners. It is less influential and cannot be used everywhere. It is cannot be used
as a public tool for communication.
8. Lack of formality: Non-verbal communication does not follow any rules, formality
or structure like other communication. Most of the cases people unconsciously and
habitually engaged in non-verbal communication by moving the various parts of the
body.
9. Costly: In some cases non-verbal communication involves huge cost. For example,
neon sign, power point presentation, cinema etc are very much costly compared to
others form of communication.
10. Distortion of information: Since it uses gestures, facial expressions, eye contact,
touch, sign, sound, paralanguage etc. for communicating with others, there is a great
possibility in distortion of information in non-verbal communication.

Q2) Explain the essential elements of a good report.

Ans; All reports need to be clear, concise and well structured. The key to writing an
effective report is to allocate time for planning and preparation. With careful planning,
the writing of a report will be made much easier. The essential stages of successful report
writing are described below. Consider how long each stage is likely to take and divide the
time before the deadline between the different stages. Be sure to leave time for final proof
reading and checking.

Stage One: Understanding the report brief

This first stage is the most important. You need to be confident that you understand the
purpose of your report as described in your report brief or instructions. Consider who the
report is for and why it is being written. Check that you understand all the instructions or
requirements, and ask your tutor if anything is unclear.

Stage Two: Gathering and selecting information

Once you are clear about the purpose of your report, you need to begin to gather relevant
information. Your information may come from a variety of sources, but how much
information you will need will depend on how much detail is required in the report. You
may want to begin by reading relevant literature to widen your understanding of the topic
or issue before you go on to look at other forms of information such as questionnaires,
surveys etc. As you read and gather information you need to assess its relevance to your
report and select accordingly. Keep referring to your report brief to help you decide what
is relevant information.

Stage Three: Organising your material

Once you have gathered information you need to decide what will be included and in
what sequence it should be presented. Begin by grouping together points that are related.
These may form sections or chapters. Remember to keep referring to the report brief and
be prepared to cut any information that is not directly relevant to the report. Choose an
order for your material that is logical and easy to follow.

Stage Four: Analysing your material

Before you begin to write your first draft of the report, take time to consider and make
notes on the points you will make using the facts and evidence you have gathered. What
conclusions can be drawn from the material? What are the limitations or flaws in the
evidence? Do certain pieces of evidence conflict with one another? It is not enough to
simply present the information you have gathered; you must relate it to the problem or
issue described in the report brief.

Stage Five: Writing the report

Having organised your material into appropriate sections and headings you can begin to
write the first draft of your report. You may find it easier to write the summary and
contents page at the end when you know exactly what will be included. Aim for a writing
style that is direct and precise. Avoid waffle and make your points clearly and concisely.
Chapters, sections and even individual paragraphs should be written with a clear structure.
The structure described below can be adapted and applied to chapters, sections and even
paragraphs.

 Introduce the main idea of the chapter/section/paragraph

 Explain and expand the idea, defining any key terms.
 Present relevant evidence to support your point(s).
 Comment on each piece of evidence showing how it relates to your point(s).
 Conclude your chapter/section/paragraph by either showing its
significance to the report as a whole or making a link to the next
chapter/section/paragraph.

Stage Six: Reviewing and redrafting

Ideally, you should leave time to take a break before you review your first draft. Be
prepared to rearrange or rewrite sections in the light of your review. Try to read the draft
from the perspective of the reader. Is it easy to follow with a clear structure that makes
sense? Are the points concisely but clearly explained and supported by relevant evidence?
Writing on a word processor makes it easier to rewrite and rearrange sections or
paragraphs in your first draft. If you write your first draft by hand, try writing each
section on a separate piece of paper to make redrafting easier.

Stage Seven: Presentation

Once you are satisfied with the content and structure of your redrafted report, you can
turn your attention to the presentation. Check that the wording of each
chapter/section/subheading is clear and accurate. Check that you have adhered to the
instructions in your report brief regarding format and presentation. Check for consistency
in numbering of chapters, sections and appendices. Make sure that all your sources are
acknowledged and correctly referenced. You will need to proof read your report for
errors of spelling or grammar. If time allows, proof read more than once. Errors in
presentation or expression create a poor impression and can make the report difficult to
read.

Q3)What is meant by an interview? What are the objectives of interview? Explain

various steps involved in conducting an interview.
Ans: An interview is a conversation where questions are asked and answers are given. In
common parlance, the word "interview" refers to a one-on-one conversation with one
person acting in the role of the interviewer and the other in the role of the interviewee.
The interviewer asks questions, the interviewee responds, with participants taking turns
talking. Interviews usually involve a transfer of information from interviewee to
interviewer, which is usually the primary purpose of the interview, although information
transfers can happen in both directions simultaneously. One can contrast an interview
which involves bi-directional communication with a one-way flow of information, such
as a speech or oration.
Interviews usually take place face to face and in person, although modern
communications technologies such as the Internet have enabled conversations to happen
in which parties are separated geographically, such as
with videoconferencing software,[2] and of course telephone interviews can happen
without visual contact. Interviews almost always involve spoken conversation between
two or more parties, although in some instances a "conversation" can happen between
two persons who type questions and answers back and forth. Interviews can range
from unstructured or free-wheeling and open-ended conversations in which there is no
predetermined plan with prearranged questions,[3] to highly structured conversations in
which specific questions occur in a specified order.[4] They can follow diverse formats;
for example, in a ladder interview, a respondent's answers typically guide subsequent
interviews, with the object being to explore a respondent's subconsciousmotives.
The 5 Steps of an Interview
As I see it, the “anatomy of an interview” consists of five steps:

1. Interview Preparation

2. Starting the Interview

3. Asking the Questions

4. Closing the Interview

5. Assessing the Candidate

Before scheduling candidates for interviews, you should make sure to have a list of
interview questions to ask each candidate. The list should be made up of both rapport-
building questions and behavioral interview questions.

I will discuss when to use each type of question in an interview, but first, let’s look at the
five steps that make up the anatomy of an interview:

Step 1: Interview Preparation

The first step of an interview is “preparation.” This may seem obvious to say, but the fact
is that preparation is the most overlooked part of the entire interview process.

It is important to spend time preparing for the interview no matter what your role is in the
hiring process. A lack of preparation is immediately visible to the candidate. Lack of
preparation sends a strong message that you are not truly interested and that filling this
position is not important. After all you have done to get the hiring requisition approved,
this is certainly not the message you want to communicate.

When preparing for an interview, the first thing to do is find a location where you can
conduct the interview without interruptions. Start off on the right foot by creating a
schedule for the candidate’s day that includes the names and titles of the people who will
be interviewing them and the location of each interview.

Next, review the job description and any other relevant documentation. You need to
understand the role and how it fits into the organization. When there is a hiring team
involved, it is important that each member of the team understands their role in the
interviewing process. Each team member needs a clear description of the position being
filled, including responsibilities and expectations, as well as a list of any questions they
are to ask.

Now, select a few competency-based interview questions that focus on the

responsibilities of the job. Wherever possible, you will want these to be behavioral
interview questions. These questions will form your “interview guide.”

Practice how you will begin the interview, including your opening questions designed to
build rapport. These opening questions will often be more general and not as focused on
the responsibilities of the job.

Finally, review the candidate’s profile or resume. As you review the candidate’s
background, note areas you want to discuss in the interview. Identify any concerns or red
flags that should be explored in more detail during the interview.

Step 2: Starting the Interview

Arrive three minutes early for the interview, and be sure to start on time. If you are late,
that sends an unintended message that this interview is not important to you. If you find
you are going to be late, send someone to communicate with the candidate in person. Do
not leave a candidate waiting.
Start with introductions and a discussion of the goals of the interview. Let the candidate
know you will allow time at the end of the discussion for any questions they may have.

The importance of and time devoted to starting the interview will vary from culture to
culture. For example, welcoming and rapport-building is much more important in the
Middle East than in the United States, and so the pacing of the interview will change as a
result.

Regardless of the pacing, you should always know where you are within the three major
parts of the interview: the beginning of the interview, the asking questions phase, and the
closing of the interview. The goal of the beginning of the interview is to establish rapport
and engage the candidate. Open-ended questions work best here.

Some examples of rapport-building questions are:

- “What accomplishments are you most proud of from the last few years?”

- “Give me a couple examples of how your background makes you a good fit for this role.”

- “In researching our company, what have you learned?”

- “What was your greatest contribution in your last job?”

Typically, you only need to use one of these rapport-building questions. Use the question
as a positive platform upon which candidates can begin to speak about themselves.
Encourage the candidate and let them know this is their time to brag! (Some candidates
will be better at this than others!)

Step 3: Asking the Questions

Once you’ve established rapport, it’s time to start asking questions.

This is the part of the interview that most of us are concerned about. The goal of asking
interview questions is to elicit information from the candidate. This information should
address your concerns about moving forward with the candidate.

The primary tool for this part of the interview is the behavioral interview question. In
some cases, the hiring manager or recruiter will distribute a basic list of questions for
interviews to use. If this is not done for you, make sure you come up with your own list
of questions before the interview.

After asking a behavioral question, allow time for the candidate to think about and
compose a complete answer to your question. A complete answer to a behavioral
question should address the following three questions:

- What was the problem you faced?

- What were the actions you took to solve the problem?

- What were the results you achieved?

We call this the P.A.R. model: problem, action, results.

Rarely will you get an answer to all three without digging a little deeper through follow-
up questions. Ask for specific examples from the candidate. Don’t be afraid to ask for
negative examples of their work, in addition to the positive examples the candidate will
likely want to focus on. For example, you may want to ask the candidate to tell you about
a project that did not go well and what they learned from the experience.

As the candidate answers your behavioral questions, pay close attention to any indication
that the candidate may be lying to you or fabricating their experiences. Following up
behavioral questions with the P.A.R. technique can usually uncover the truth about a
candidate’s work history.

Take notes about the candidate’s answers: even the best of minds cannot remember all of
the details of an interview when it comes to the assessment phase.

Ideally, the question phase of the interview should feel much more like an interesting
conversation with the candidate than an inquisition.

Step 4: Closing the Interview

After the candidate has thoroughly answered all of your questions, open up the floor for
the candidate to ask questions of their own. At this point.the “closing of the interview”
stage begins. Allow enough time for the candidate to ask questions and address any
concerns they may have. Keep your answers brief and to the point.
Usually, candidates will ask, “What is the next step in the process?” Make sure you are
ready to answer that question.

If the candidate doesn’t have any questions for you and you still have time left in the
interview, be ready with an additional question or two to ask.

Here are a couple examples of closing questions:

- “What are you proud of that we did not talk about?”

- “When you consider all of the things we talked about, what did we not discuss that you
think we should have?”

Make sure you thank the candidate for their time once all the questions have been asked

The closing of the interview, when done well, allows for a smooth transition to either the
next interviewer or the next step in the hiring process.

Step 5: Assessing the Candidate

Remain as objective as possible when assessing candidates. Don’t totally ignore your gut
instincts, as they can be strong tools when reading other people, but don’t rely on them
alone. Trust your gut instincts, but verify them with candidates’ answers to behavioral
questions. Use an interview evaluation form to score candidates according to an objective
rubric.

Integrating the scores of several members of a hiring team can be challenging. Often, the
easiest way to do this is to meet with the entire interview team. While this is not always
possible, it is the best way to decide whether or not to move forward with a candidate.
You can always use technology as a backup to gather timely information and feedback.

Conclusion

Interviewing is an art form, one that requires careful practice. Follow this road map, and
you’ll have an easier time finding and hiring the right candidates. As an added bonus,
following these five steps should help you conduct that kind of interviews that create
great candidate experiences, so even candidates who aren’t hired will walk out of your
door smiling.
References:
1) Essentials of Business Communication, 10th Edition - Cengage By Guffey and
Loewy's
2) Business Communication Today by Courtland L Bovee.
3) Excellence in Business Communication - Pearson By Thill & Bovee,
4) Business Communication By Varinder Kumar and Bodh raj