2. What are interpersonal skills ?
• Interpersonal skills are the life skills we
use every day when we communicate and
interact with other people, both
individually and in groups. People who
have worked on developing strong
interpersonal skills are usually more
successful in both their professional
and personal lives.
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3. Interpersonal Skills Include:
• Communication Skills, which in turn include:
– Verbal Communication – What we say and how we say it.
– Non-Verbal Communication – What we communicate without words,
body language is an example.
– Listening Skills – How we interpret both the verbal and non-verbal
messages sent by others.
• Team-Working – Working with others in groups and teams, both formal and
informal.
• Negotiation, Persuasion and Influencing Skills – Working with others to
find a mutually agreeable (Win/Win) outcome.
• Conflict Resolution and Mediation – Working with others to resolve
interpersonal conflict and disagreements in a positive way.
• Problem Solving and Decision-Making – Working with others to identify,
define and solve problems, which includes making decisions about the best
course of action.
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4. How to Improve Interpersonal Skills
• While many people believe that interpersonal skills are, to some
extent, innate in each person or acquired at an early age, job
seekers and those looking for promotions can take steps to
improve their interpersonal skills and thereby make themselves
more valuable to an organization. Steps individuals can take to
hone their interpersonal skills include expressing appreciation
for team members and support staff, practicing empathy,
moderating disputes quickly so they don't get out of control, and
planning communications rather than saying or writing the first
thing that comes to mind. Active listening is also a skill that can
be learned through the process of repeating back to a speaker
what she has said to make sure true communication is taking
place
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5. Importance of Communication
process:
Communication is to the organization as blood is to the body. The success of all the
functions of management depends upon the effective communication.
Significance of communication can be understood from the following points:
1. Acts as Basis of Coordination:
• Communication helps in coordinating the activities of various departments and
persons in an organisation by providing complete information about organisational
goals, ways of achieving them, interpersonal relationship among persons etc.
Hence, communication acts as basis for coordination.
2. Helps in Smooth Working of an Enterprise:
• Communication ensures smooth functioning of an enterprise. Existence of an
organisation depends fully on communication. The activities of an organisation
shall come to a standstill if communication stops.
3. Acts as Basis of Decision Making:
• Communication helps in the process of decision making by providing all the
necessary information. In the absence of communication of relevant information,
one cannot take any meaningful decision.
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6. 4. Increases Managerial Efficiency:
The various functions of the manager involve:
• (a) Providing information regarding the goals and objectives of an
enterprise.
• (b) Providing instructions
• (c) Allocating jobs and responsibilities
• (d) Overseeing the work of the workers.
• All these functions involve communication. Thus, communication is
essential for effective performance of managerial functions.
5. Promotes Cooperation and Industrial Peace:
• To ensure smooth and efficient functioning of an organisation is the
main aim of the management. This is possible only when there is peace
and harmony between the management and the workers. The two way
communication helps in establishing same.
6. Establishes Effective Leadership:
• A good leader must possess efficient communication skills for
influencing the behaviour of the subordinates. Thus, communication is
the basis of leadership.
7. Boosts Morale and Provides Motivation:
• An efficient communication system helps in motivating, inspiring and
satisfying the subordinates. Moreover, it also helps in establishing
participative and democratic type of management.
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7. SOCIAL NETWORKING
• A social network is a social structure made up of a set
of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets
of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The
social network perspective provides a set of methods for
analyzing the structure of whole social entities as well as a
variety of theories explaining the patterns observed in these
structures.The study of these structures uses social network
analysis to identify local and global patterns, locate influential
entities, and examine network dynamics.
• Social networking is the practice of expanding the number of
one's business and/or social contacts by making connections
through individuals, often through social media sites such
as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+.
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8. • Based on the six degrees of separation concept (the
idea that any two people on the planet could make
contact through a chain of no more than five
intermediaries), social networking establishes
interconnected online communities (sometimes known
as social graphs) that help people make contacts that
would be good for them to know, but that they would
be unlikely to have met otherwise.
• Depending on the social media platform, members
may be able to contact any other member. In other
cases, members can contact anyone they have a
connection to, and subsequently anyone that contact
has a connection to, and so on. Some services require
members to have a preexisting connection to contact
other members.
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9. • While social networking has gone on almost as long as societies
themselves have existed, the unparalleled potential of the Web
to facilitate such connections has led to an exponential and
ongoing expansion of that phenomenon. In addition to social
media platforms, the capacity for social interaction
and collaboration is increasingly built into business applications.
• Social networks and the analysis of them is an
inherently interdisciplinary academic field which emerged
from social psychology, sociology, statistics, and graph
theory. Georg Simmel authored early structural theories in
sociology emphasizing the dynamics of triads and "web of group
affiliations".Jacob Moreno is credited with developing the
first sociograms in the 1930s to study interpersonal
relationships. These approaches were mathematically formalized
in the 1950s and theories and methods of social networks
became pervasive in the social and behavioral sciences by the
1980s.Social network analysis is now one of the major paradigms
in contemporary sociology, and is also employed in a number of
other social and formal sciences. Together with other complex
networks, it forms part of the nascent field of network science.
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10. WORKPLACE COMMUNICATION
• Workplace communication is very important to companies
because it allows companies to be productive and operate
effectively. Employees can experience an increase in
morale, productivity and commitment if they are able to
communicate up and down the communication chain in an
organisation.
• Workplace communication is the transmitting of
information between one person or group and another
person or group in an organization. It can include emails,
text messages, voicemails, notes, etc.
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11. Main aspects of workplace
communication are:
Workplace communication improves worker productivity.
• Research has shown that effective lateral and work group communication leads to an
improvement in overall company performance. It has also been discovered that
employees who were graded as highest in production had received the most effective
communication from their superiors.
Workplace communication can increase employee job satisfaction.
• Employees feel empowered if they are able to have upward communication. This type
of communication is when information flows upward in an organization and usually
consists of feedback. If bosses or managers are able to listen to employees and
respond, this leads to an increase in employee job satisfaction.
In addition, employees are also happy if there is intense downward communication,
which is information flowing down from superiors or managers to direct reports.
Gertrude recently sent an email to her boss recommending that her department
upgrade its design software. Her upward communication feedback was not just
acknowledged but also acted upon, resulting in a very happy design team.
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12. Workplace communication can also have a positive effect on absenteeism
and turnover rates.
• Communication flow is very important to workers. Employees
have to feel secure that they are receiving truthful and updated
information from superiors. They also want to have the ability to
share ideas, thoughts and concerns within the company. Studies
have shown that even after a layoff, companies that have
excellent communication are able to retain the surviving
employees.
Content
• The content of the information plays a major role in workplace
communication. The level of detail must be according to the
grasping capacity of the audience. Giving too much detail may
get the audience bored and too little detail won’t make them
involved. Use of jargon while communicating is not considered
good for effective workplace communication.
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13. Common barriers to effective
communication at workplace:
• Physical barriers: Physical structure, location and construction of the workplace acts as a barrier
to effective communication. Employees seated remotely from each other hinders effective
interaction.
• Language barriers: Employees with different native languages will be working in an organization. As
everyone in organization are not comfortable with native language of the other person, language
acts as a barrier for effective workplace communication.
• Cultural barriers: Employees from different cultures, following different practices will be working
in an organization. This cultural diversity among the employees can act as barrier for effective
communication at workplace.
• Emotional barriers: Emotional barriers like fear, inferiority, shyness, lack of self confidence and
skills will stop an employee in communicating effectively with his colleagues.
• Perception barriers: Employees will have different experiences, values, preferences and
attitudes.These may lead to a variety of assumptions and can act as a communication barrier.
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14. Ways to Communicate Effectively in
the Workplace:
1. Open Meeting
It is easier to communicate your passion and how you feel to your team via open meetings. In this
kind of forum, they will not only hear what you are saying, they will also see and feel it. This
approach still remains one of the best approaches to communicate effectively with a team.
2. Emails
In official settings, communication via email remains potent. It will enable you to pass messages
to members of your team without pulling them out of their work stations.
3. Use Presentations
Some people grasp messages easily when pictures and sounds are involved. Using presentations like
Microsoft Power Point to communicate with your team will give them the opportunity to refer back
to it if they aren’t clear about certain things.
4. Communication via Training
Your training should be tailored towards communicating certain information to your team
members. Most employees take training serious, especially when it’s part of their appraisal.
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15. 5. Use Visuals
Place visuals at strategic positions around the work stations of your team. They should not just
hear the message, they should also see it. This gives room for better comprehension.
6. Listen to Your Team Members
Communication is intended to be a two way street. Don’t just talk because you are the leader
without listening to anyone else. Encourage them to open up so you can be well guided when
communicating in the future with them. You have two ears and one mouth –so you must listen more
than you speak.
7. Be Articulate
Communication is indeed a skill that must be learned by all, especially if you want to lead any group
of people. Being articulate when you communicate to your team members makes it easier for them
to understand your message.
8. Encourage Feedback
Don’t just talk and walk away. Give room for feedback so that you can measure the effectiveness of
your style of communication. It will also afford you the privilege of knowing if your message was
well understood.
9. Be Appreciative
After every communication session, via whatever means you have decided, always remember to
thank your listeners for their time. It will cost you nothing and it’s a simple courtesy.
Remember that the point of working as a team is to share ideas and boost productivity. When
communication is hampered, it can sidetrack the entire effort.
You must work hard at these communication tactics and create ground rules to keep everyone up to
date, which helps avoid confusion and ensure the completion of the project with ease.
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17. Feedback for the Course
The course helped me learn how academic writing
is conducted, from the beginning till the
completion.
It was a very informative course and has a well
detailed explanations for each topic.
The notes are very helpful and it are not only useful
for the course but outside of the course as well.
The self-assessments and the weekly quiz are
helpful in preparing for the exam, and covers the
entire course structure.
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