The different kind of communication skill is required as per the situation and the functions of the organizations.
Communication takes on different characteristics as the situation changes.
Oral communication situation:
- Face to Face communication
- Telephone
- Interview
- Presentation
- Public speech
- Meeting
Face to face communication: Body language and paralanguage are fully effective in this situation. A great deal of practice is needed to be able to deal with encounters with different kinds of persons.
When we talk to someone face-to-face, only 7% is conveyed by the words we use, and about 38% is conveyed by the tone of voice. The remaining 55% is conveyed by body language.
Telephone: The guidelines for making a call are: Plan all comments and questions with paper and pen on hand, return the greetings, concentrate, use simple language, take notes, ask questions, visualize the speaker, use conversation cues, listen carefully, summarize the main points and thank. The guidelines for taking a call are: Answer the call promptly, identify yourself, smile when you speak, listen carefully, take responsibility to help, take down message if necessary and keep cool and be patient with a difficult caller.
Presentation: It is formal, prepared to talk on a specific topic, delivered to a knowledgeable and interested audience and has a face-to-face setting. Visual aids are used to enhance the presentations.
Public speech: It is a face-to-face setting, but the distance between the speaker and the audience is great. Its purpose may be to entertain, to encourage, inspiring. Feedback is very little and much depends on the speaker’s skill in using gestures and using the microphone.
Interview: It is structured and characterized by questions and answer type of communication
An interview is a meeting at which one person or a panel of persons discuss a matter with another person or ask questions of another person, who is the interviewee. In this situation each assesses the other in order to judge whether it would be worthwhile to enter into a business relationship with the other.
Meeting: It involves many persons with a chairman or leader, a fixed agenda, backed by note- making during the meeting and writing of minutes, for record, after the meeting. It requires venue and environment
Written Communication:
- Letters
- Reports
- Memo
- Notice
- Minutes
Letter : It is the most widely used form of written communication having a complex layout
Memo: Memorandum is the common form of communication within the organization usually called a memo used in many situations both for one-to-one communications as well as for giving information to a group of persons
Notice: A notice is used when many people in the organization have to be given the same information. It is the most common method of mass communication within the organization. A notice should be short; its language should be simple, and the type should be large and well spaced for easy reading. It must include the points:
1. Whom the notice is for
2. The reason for the notice
3. The details of the event
4. Whom to call for more information?
Reports: A report is used for presenting information. Report writing requires careful research, collection and analysis of data, well-organized presentation of the findings, conclusions, recommendations and suggestions
Minutes: Minutes are the written record of decisions taken at a meeting. Different bodies have their own convention of are recording the discussion and then decisions. Minutes may be written by hand or typed and pasted in a minute book, or typed and filed in a minute file. Minutes are legal documents.
