Communication Write Up For Students

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?
Whether in the classroom, the workplace, or in your personal life, the ability to effectively communicate your ideas and feelings is an invaluable tool. When emotions and stress threaten to destroy your communication channels with another party – as they often do in important conversations and interactions – there are methods to help keep your calm and view point clear.

WHAT IS COMMUNICATION?
Communication is a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through the use of words, symbols, signs or behaviors.

WHAT IS A SKILL?
Skill is a learned power of doing something competently. It is a developed aptitude or ability.

THE COMMUNICATION CYCLE

EXPLANATION:

At the outset, the sender realizes the need to convey something to someone (may be an individual or a group). However, the sender needs to structure his thoughts in such a way that it is quite clearly understood by the receiver. Hence, it is important for the sender to choose the right words, sentences, facts, figures, physical and facial expressions, etc. so that the message can be transmitted, delivered and understood by the receiver without distortions and difficulty. This process of ‘packaging the message by the sender’ is called ‘Encoding’. Keeping the receiver in mind, for an effective communication the sender has to pick and choose some words, symbols, gestures and expressions which can be promptly understood by the receiver. Proper ‘Encoding’ is therefore very important to ensure effective communication.

Once the ‘encoding’ is done, the message is ready for onward transmission. It is to be understood that when we speak the speech is a message, when we write the written matter is the message, when we paint the picture is the message, when we gesture the movements of our arms or expressions on our face is the message. Hence, in the process of communication, when an idea or thought is properly encoded, a proper ‘Message’ is ready to be sent to the receiver.

The sender then chooses a ‘Channel’ or ‘Media’ for transmitting / sending his message to the receiver. There can be several media / channel options for the sender – face-to-face exchange of message, a conference, a telephone call, a written message through letter / e-mail, etc. The choice of right channel / media can make a huge difference in the success of communication.

Once the message is received by the receiver for whom the message is meant for, the message is properly analysed to understand the contents of the message. The receiver translates the words, symbols, figures, gestures that can be understood by him. This step at the receiver’s end is called ‘Decoding’ and this step is somewhat opposite to ‘Encoding’. Needless to mention that if the sender properly encodes the message and can choose an effective channel / media to send it across to the receiver, ‘Decoding’ at the receiver’s end becomes more effective and the message then is more clearly understood.

Once the message is decoded and understood, it is only logical that the receiver will act on the message that has been received. The receiver then sends a ‘Feedback’ to the sender confirming that the message has been received, properly understood and appropriate action has been taken. ‘Feedback’ ensures a check on how successfully one has communicated the message.

While communicating, a sender would always desire that the message received by the receiver should be the same as the message sent by him. But that may not always be true, and this happens mainly due to the presence of noise in the communication process. ‘Noise’ is any unplanned interference in the communication environment which causes hindrance and distortion in the transmission of a message. Noise distorts interpretation or the decoding part of the communication process. Noise can be classified as two distinct types – Channel and Semantic. Channel noise is any interference in the mechanics of the medium used to send a message. Common examples of channel noise are noise in telephone lines, background noise (high volume sound of loudspeakers, noise of moving bus/train/airplane, etc.) and so on. Incase of written communication, illegible handwriting can be termed as channel noise. Whereas channel noise develops externally, semantic noise is generated internally, resulting from errors in the message itself. It may be because of the connotative meaning of a word allowing the meaning to be interpreted differently by the sender and the receiver. Other examples of semantic noise are ambiguous sentence structure, faulty grammar, wrong spellings, incorrect punctuation, etc.

TYPES OF COMMUNICATION

Communication can be classified on the following basis:

1. According to organizational structure:
A. Formal Communication.
B. Informal Communication.
2. According to direction:
A. Downward communication.
B. Upward communication.
C. Lateral / Horizontal communication.
3. According to expression:
A. Oral communication.
B. Written communication.
C. Nonverbal communication.

EXPLANATION:

1. According to organizational structure:

1. (A) Formal Communication: In day-to-day running of an organisation, there is continuous communication flow across the organizational hierarchy in the form of orders, instructions, directives, performance feedback, confirmation of actions taken, etc. Such types of communications are classified as ‘Formal Communication’ and are transmitted from a person of one position to a person in another position in an organisation. Formal communication enforces the relationships between different positions of an organisation. Formal communication is done mostly in writing through letters, memos, reports, bulletins, etc. Whereas communication in the form of orders, directions, clarifications and guidelines travel from top to bottom, reports, suggestions, problems and feedback travel from bottom to top.
1. (B) Informal Communication: Informal communication is not based on organizational relationships and is normally free from such formalities. It is based on the informal relationship between parties at the same or different levels. It is generally termed as the ‘Grapevine’. Such communication is not official or authoritative in nature, but spontaneous expression of ideas, opinions or reactions as the case may be. Informal communication arises on account of the natural desire of people to communicate with each other and is a result of social interaction of people. The informal communication system is built around the social relationship of members of the organisation. Whereas formal communication is generally more articulate, direct and has official backing, informal communication is more indirect, less explicit, somewhat spontaneous and flexible. Informal communication has the weakness that it may contain distorted information and may even degenerate into gossip and rumour.

The term grapevine communication is often used interchangeably with the term informal communication. The term originated in the 1860s during the American Civil War. It was used as a term that described the telegraph lines that were strung through the trees in a manner that resembled grapevines. It also came to mean informal communication that was not very effective because the telegraph system was not a reliable source of communication at the time. Almost a century later, it was discovered that the path of grapevine communication does resemble a cluster of grapes.
It has been shown that informal communication or grapevine communication occurs when formal communication is not sufficient. Research and studies have concluded that informal communication occurs either when insufficient of ambiguous information is transmitted through formal communication. Some organizational theorists feel that some informal or grapevine communication is needed in organizational life.

TYPES OF INFORMAL COMMUNICATION OR GRAPEVINE

1. Single Strand Chain OR Straight Chain Pattern
2. Gossip Chain OR Informal Star Pattern.
3. Cluster Net Pattern.
4. Probability Pattern.

Merits of Grapevine communication
1. Quick Transmission: Information is carried extremely rapidly via grapevine channel of communication. Many have said of grapevine communication to spread as fast as wild fire.
2. Solidarity & Cohesion: Because of the nature of the grapevine communication, it tends to create a sense of unity among employees of an organization who share and discuss their views and perspective with each other. This nature of the grapevine communication has been said by many experts to help significantly in the development of group cohesiveness in organizations and firms.
3. Supplements other channels: Grapevine communication helps and supports other formal methods of communication in the organization.
4. There are certain organizations where formal communications do not properly work. In such organizations, grapevine communication is extremely helpful.
5. Safety Valve: Apprehensions experienced by workers on matters like promotions and retrenchments become an obsession with them. Talking about these issues certainly provides them emotional relief. Thus, the Grapevine acts as a kind of safety-valve for the built-up emotions of the subordinates.
6. Feedback: The Grapevine provides feedback to the management. It enables them to get a feel of what the subordinates think about the various management decisions.
Demerits of Grapevine communication
1. Incomplete Information: Grapevine information since it is mainly based on rumors carries partial information and would hardly give the real state of affairs. Thus, there is every possibility of such information being misunderstood or misinterpreted.
2. Distortion: Grapevine information can go a long way in damaging the goodwill of a company or an executive because since it is based on rumors, lower ranking employees might begin peddling false information that is negative about the people at the top.
3. Unproductive Activity: Many have said that another big disadvantage of Grapevine communication is its ability to make employees unproductive since they can spend work hours talking among themselves about the latest rumor at work.
4. Damaging Speed: The speed at which Grapevine transmits information may be damaging. A rumour may spread and cause serious damage before the management get to know about it and can take corrective actions.
5. Leakage: Confidential information may also leak through Grapevine and hence adequate precautions need to be taken by the management to keep this tool under adequate control.
6. Fixing Responsibility: Origin of information flow cannot be ascertained in a Grapevine channel. Therefore, it is difficult to hold anybody responsible for spreading false information.
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2. According to direction:
2. (A) Downward Communication: As the name suggests this form of communication moves from top to the bottom of an organisation, through different levels of executives / staffs. Few common examples could be message from CEO travelling through senior executives and reaching junior level functionaries. Other examples would be communication fro Head Office to Regional & Branch offices, from the Head of a Division / SBU to different units, etc. This form of communication is very important for the purpose of issuing orders, directions and guidelines to subordinates for their effective working.
2. (B) Upward Communication: This form of communication is just reverse of downward communication. It flows from junior level staffs to the senior management, through middle management. In other words, in this form of communication, the flow is from subordinates to superiors. Hence, upward communication is primarily non-directive and is usually found in participative and democratic organizational environments. Depending upon the trigger, upward communication can be of two types – Feedback Information (subordinates respond to queries) or Voluntary Communication (subordinates convey their complaints, grievances, suggestions, opinions, etc. on their own).
2. (C) Lateral / horizontal Communication: This type of communication refers to communication between various departments or units representing the same level, or people within the same or different departments, without having a superior-subordinate relationship. It flows between persons at the same hierarchical level. The main objective of this type of communication is to coordinate the efforts of different departments performing different but related activities.
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3. According to expression:
3. (A) Oral Communication: Oral communication, as the name suggests, occurs through spoken words. The sender and the receiver exchange their views through speech – either in the form of a face-to-face communication between two individuals, or between an individual and a group, or through any mechanical or electrical device such as telephone, public address systems, video conferencing, etc.
3. (B) Written Communication: It means transmission of message through written words or symbols. It may be in the form of a letter, circular, office memo, news bulletins, manuals, etc. Written communication ensures that every one concerned has the same information. It also provides a permanent record for any future reference. It has a great significance in today’s business world.
3. (C) Non Verbal Communication (NVC): Communicating with others through different expressions using different parts of our body is known as ‘Non Verbal Communication’. Effective use of non verbal communication skills does add to the impact of a speech. It has been observed universally that successful communicators make effective use of non verbal communication. Components of NVC include gestures, posture, movement, facial expressions and others.
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ORAL COMMUNICATION
Oral Communication is the exchange of verbal messages / spoken words between sender and receiver. Developing oral communication skills holds great importance in interacting properly and effectively with people. Oral communication is defined as “the effective interpretation, composition, and verbal presentation of information, ideas, and values to a specific audience”. Oral communication describes any type of interaction that makes use of spoken words, and it is a vital and integral part of today’s business world. The types of oral communication commonly used within a business organisation include personal discussions, staff meetings, presentations, telephonic discussions, informal conversations, etc. Oral communication with those outside the organisation can be in the form of meetings, telephone calls, teleconference, videoconference, presentations and speeches, etc. Thus, in oral communication, the sender and receiver exchange their thoughts or ideas verbally either in face-to-face discussion or through any mechanical or electrical device.
Major Objectives of Oral Communication:
1. To convey information.
2. To persuade.
3. To motivate.
Principles of Effective Oral Communication:
1. Brevity: A message to be delivered should be brief – neither too short nor too long.
2. Clarity: While preparing the message, it is important to think and rethink on the subject till such time the idea is very clear in the mind of the sender. Only when the sender has adequate clarity on what he is going to speak about, the message becomes more effective. For the purpose of clarity, it is advisable to use simple, short and common words.
3. Sequences: A speaker should not jump points or change the sequence of a message. One should focus on consistency, continuity and logical development of the subject matter.
4. Avoid Jargons: Not everyone understands jargons. Those who don’t will loose interest in the communication process. Hence a speaker should consciously avoid jargons.
5. Seven ‘Cs’ of effective communication: A sender should focus on delivering a message which is Complete, Concise, Consideration, Concrete, Clear, Courteous and Correct.
How to Make Oral Communication Effective:
1. The Speaker: The speaker himself can play a major role in making oral communication effective. Audience starts observing the speaker even before he starts speaking. They observe the speakers sense of dress code, posture, level of confidence, friendliness & willingness to connect with them, etc.
2. Knowing the Audience: Good speakers make sincere efforts to know their audience in advance and then prepare their speech by adjusting it suitably to the wavelength of their audience. Some speakers prefer to reach the venue in advance to informally interact with their audience and understand their expectations.
3. Preparing the Speech: Good speakers prepare their speech well in advance and in sync with the type of audience. They also fine tune the speech in such a way that they do not exceed the set time limits and budget more time for the critical parts of their speech. It is never advisable to go unprepared and deliver an extempore.
4. Content and Delivery: While content relates to ‘what you say’, delivery is ‘how you say’. Both are very important dimensions for effective oral communication and they go hand-in-hand. The content must be rich, related to the topic and in sync with the wavelength of the audience. Delivery on the other hand should be able to hold the audience interest in the speaker and attract them to the speaker with undivided attention. To improve the delivery quality in speeches, one should be able to use proper voice modulation, pauses – punctuations – punches, gestures, examples with which the audience can relate, etc. If the content is good but the delivery is poor, or if the delivery is good but the content is poor – in either of the cases a speaker will surely not be able to grab the attention of the audience for long.
5. Engaging the Audience: It is important for a speaker to keep his audience attentive and engaged during the course of the speech. Effective speakers make deliberate efforts to keep the audience attentive and engaged by seeking their participation in the form of asking questions, solicit responses, eyeball contact, etc.
6. Summarising and Conclusion: Effective speakers make it a point to summarize and skillfully re-emphasize the key points at appropriate intervals. They normally conclude their speech by reiterating the essence of the message for abundant clarity. They stress on the important areas / points / issues.
7. Speaking Without Hurting: Good speakers know how to speak without hurting any person, weigh their words before speaking, and keep their cool even under strong provocation. They show humility and are not hesitant to accept their mistakes if any. They listen when others speak and they smile to the audience to make them at ease and strike a chord with the audience in this process.
Advantages of Oral Communication:
Oral communication is the most frequently used means of sending messages because it has certain distinct advantages, such as:
1. Immediate Feedback: The great advantage of oral communication is that it provides immediate feedback and clarification. People listening to the speaker can ask questions, make comments and add to the information provided. Both the speaker and the listeners by turn can enter into a kind of short dialogue and make the communication effective.
2. Better Relationships: Oral communication builds a healthy climate in the organisation by bringing the superior and the subordinate together and also building close informal relations among employees, who indulge in oral conversations with each other. This gives the subordinate a feeling of importance and the superior gets a better understanding of his mind. Planned or informal meetings can greatly contribute to the understanding of problems / issues in which they become partners.
3. Time Saving: Compared to written communication, oral communication saves on time. The communication process between the sender and the receiver is instant.
4. Flexibility: It is flexible, as the message can be changed or modified to suit the needs and response of the receiver. Doubts, if any, can be removed then and there.
5. Participation: It provides opportunity for active participation to the receiver.
6. Confidentiality: In organisation communication, there may be certain messages or information that need to be relayed but contents of such messages may be highly confidential and should not be documented for strategic reasons. Oral communication is best suited for such messages.
7. Effective Tool of Persuasion: Oral communication lends a personal touch between the sender and receiver, and hence it can be used effectively for persuasion. While resolving conflicts, a manager / supervisor uses oral communication to persuade subordinates by using appropriate words and tones, which is not possible in written communication.
8. Audience Literacy: Even if the audience is not adequately literate, the speaker can effectively communicate by using words or symbols that the audience understands. The vice versa is also true, where the sender who is not very literate but wants to communicate with the receiver who may be his superior/senior, he can do so through oral communication. The same is not true for written communication, where certain level of literacy is required at both ends – sender and receiver.

Disadvantages of Oral Communication:
1. Long Speeches and Audience Attention: Some speakers tend to make their speech far too long and that can distract and disengage the audience.
2. No Documentation / Lack of Retention: There are no documentary proofs of oral communication, so its impact is temporary. Due to limitations of human memory, oral messages cannot be retained for a long time. This demands immediate action by the receiver and also the sender. The fact that oral communication cannot be recorded or stored, and cannot be referred to in future makes this a serious limitation.
3. Distortion in the Message: While oral messages are transmitted from one person to another in a chain, there is every possibility of the original message getting distorted as perception and interpretation of a message may vary from person to person. Thus there is every possibility that an original message can be distorted substantially as it flows through a long communication chain.
4. No Legal Validity: An oral message do not have any legal validity in itself, unless it is properly recorded in voice recorders or such messages / conversations are minuted and signed at the time of the event.
5. Possibility of Misunderstanding: If a speaker has not carefully organised his thoughts or the receiver misses out on some part of the message due to inattentiveness, there is no way such voids can be made up. This can result in misunderstanding between the sender and the receiver. However, in case of written communication, the receiver can read the message again in case he has missed out some parts of the message.
6. Long Messages: Human mind normally cannot focus on a speaker for a longtime. Hence oral communication is not suitable for lengthy messages.
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WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
As the name suggests, written communication involves any type of interaction that makes use of written words or symbols. Written communication is usually transmitted in the form of letters, memos, circulars, bulletins, reports, manuals, handbooks, magazines, etc. Written messages may be handwritten, printed, or may even be transmitted electronically.

Written communication is an important and integral part of day-to-day business operations today. It is very important for people, more so for managers and supervisors, to sharpen their written communication skills so as to improve on the impact of their written messages.
Forms of Written Communication:
Broadly there are two distinct forms of written communication:
1. External Written Communication
2. Internal Written Communication

External Written Communication: As the term suggests, in this form of written communication a sender communicates in writing with the receiver, where the receiver is located outside of the sender’s organisation. In such cases, a sender has the option of using the most appropriate communication channel out of the several options available. Options can be in the form of business letters, business proposals and quotations, recruitment and employment correspondence, technical write-ups, press release, advertisements, customer newsletters, leaflets and brochures, legal correspondence, etc.

Internal Written Communication: In this form of written communication, both sender and receiver are part of the same organisation. It is widely used for defining authority and responsibility of every employee (Manual of Authority, Employee Handbook, etc.), for informing/updating employees for different events and activities (Notice, Circulars, Memos, Bulletins, Staff Newsletters, etc.), for defining future course of actions in day-to-day operation (Minutes of Meeting, Action Taken Reports, etc.), for employee feedback (Questionnaires, Feedback Forms, Performance Appraisal, Employee Development Plans, etc.), for redressing grievance and complaints (Complaint Letters, SOP for complaint escalation, Grievance Notes, etc.) and for other specific and need based reasons.
Advantages of Written Communication:
1. Consistency: If a written message is sent to multiple receivers, each one of them will receive the message in the same form. Hence, there is a consistency in the message till the point of receipt by the receivers. However, interpretation of the message by individual recipients may vary.
2. Message Distortion: Normally it is difficult to alter the contents of written messages and hence written messages can’t be distorted.
3. Economical: Written communication could be more economical when parties to the communication exercise are situated at distant places from each other.
4. Clear & Specific: Compared to oral messages, written messages are more carefully formulated, and hence they are more clear and specific. In oral communication, exchange of messages is more spontaneous, whereas one can think before writing a particular message. The same is even true for the feedback process.
5. Recorded: Written communication serves as a reliable record for future reference and can be used in legal proceedings.
6. Physical Presence: In written communication, the presence of both sender and receiver at the same time is not necessary. It is an important feature of written communication where the presence of just the sender or the receiver is sufficient at a given point in time to the process of communication.
Disadvantages of Written Communication:
1. Formal: Written communication is generally formal in nature. There is very little personal touch between the parties involved in the communication process.
2. Time Taking: Messages tend to be lengthy when expressed in writing. It often takes long time to convey a written message, and the same is true when the receiver sends feedback to the sender.
3. Feedback: Immediate feedback to a written message may not be possible. Normally there is a time lag for the feedback to reach the sender.
4. Possibility of Amendments: Once a written message has been sent/transmitted, there is limited scope for making any amendments incase any inaccuracies are subsequently found in the message that has already been sent.
5. Writing Skills: A certain degree of command over the language and writing skills are required for effective written communication. In oral communication, even when the sender or the receiver is not much literate, both sides can still continue to communicate by encoding the message appropriately. However, this flexibility is a serious limitation in the case of written communication.
6. Secrecy: Often it becomes difficult to maintain secrecy about a written communication.

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BARRIERS TO COMMUNICATION

When a message is sent, the message itself does not contain meaning. Meaning of a message exists in the minds of the sender and receiver. To understand one another well, sender and receiver must share similar meanings for words, gestures, tone of voice, and other symbols. Problems with communication can be felt at various stages of the communication process. These problems are termed as ‘barriers to effective communication’. Such barriers can be sender oriented; receivers oriented, or even both. Barriers to communication are obstacles that distort or block the flow of needed information. Such barriers can occur in both – oral and written communication. Therefore, any obstacles that come in between an effective communication is called ‘communication barriers’. Such barriers can be either external or internal. External barriers arise from the external environment and external factors. Internal barriers are present within an individual like anxiety & tension, work pressure, high expectations, perfectionism, peer rivalry, etc. Efforts must be made to ensure that these barriers are removed to make the communication process more effective and meaningful between the sender and receiver.

Types Of Barriers To Communication:

There are broadly eight different types of barriers:

1. Semantic Barriers (arising out of difference in meanings to different people).
2. Emotional or Psychological Barriers.
3. Physical Barriers.
4. Organisational Barriers.
5. Personal Barriers.
6. Socio-Psychological Barriers.
7. Cultural Barriers.
8. Technological Barriers.

1. Semantic Barriers: Such barriers are related to the problems and obstructions in the process of encoding and decoding of messages into words or other impressions. Use of different languages, different interpretations of different words and symbols, poor grammatical knowledge & vocabulary, use of jargons & specialist language, etc. are some of the major root cause for semantic barriers.
2. Emotional or Psychological Barriers: Such barriers arise from the motives, attitudes, judgment, sentiments, emotions, and social values of the senders and receivers. Such factors create psychological distance between the participants, and thereby making the communication incomplete and less effective. Some of the key barriers under this category are loss in transmission & retentions, lack of trust on the communicator, failure to communicate appropriately, undue reliance on written orders, lack of attentiveness of the receiver, etc.
3. Physical Barriers: Barriers are created between the sender and receiver because of noise in the communication process, improper time, geographical distance, either inadequate or overloaded information, defects in the medium, etc.
4. Organisational Barriers: As the term suggests, the barriers which are related to the functioning of an organisation are known as organisational barriers. Such barriers may be created due to hierarchical relationships in an organisation, lack of organisational facilities, wrong choice of medium, image consciousness, filtering of messages to suit one’s own interest, status consciousness, etc.
5. Personal Barriers: Effective communication in the workplace is key to efficient teamwork and positive results. There are a number of barriers to communication that employees experience on an individual level, whether it has to do with perceptions of their own skills and abilities or a reaction to the personalities and values of people around them. Communication being basically an interpersonal process, many personal factors inherent in the sender and receiver influence the flow of communication. Few of these factors are ‘barriers in superiors’ (it could be due to attitude of superiors, fear of challenge to authority, underestimation of subordinates, ignoring the subordinates, insisting on following proper hierarchical channel, etc.) and ‘barriers in subordinates’ (arising out of unwillingness to communicate, lack of proper incentive, etc.). There are few more personal barriers in the form of poor listening, negative emotions, selective perception, premature evaluation, etc.).
6. Socio-Psychological Barriers: People have personal feelings, dreams and desires, fears and hopes, likes and dislikes, attitudes, views and opinions. Some of these are formed by family background and social environment in which a person has grown up; whereas some others formed by an individual’s own intelligence, inherited qualities, education and personal experiences. These factors form a sort of emotional filter around the mind, and influence the way we respond to messages that we receive. Factors like the time, the place and the circumstances of a particular communication also influence our understanding and response. Problems of understanding, interpretation and response to communication arise partly from our socially learnt attributes and partly from our personal attributes. These are called socio-psychological barriers. Some of these socio-psychological barriers are – Attitudes & Opinions, Self-centered attitude, Group identification, Conflicting information, Different comprehension of reality (Abstracting, Slanting, Inferring, Frozen evaluation, etc.), Closed mind, Status consciousness, etc.
7. Cultural Barriers: Effective communication indulging the audience of different cultures is challenging. Culture is one of the biggest communication barriers, particularly while communicating on an international level. Different cultures provide people with the way of seeing things, way of thinking, hearing and interpreting the world. Thus, same words could be having different meanings to people from different cultures even when language used is common. If the language used is different, the situation worsens further because of the process of translation used to communicate which leads to a greater potential misunderstanding. Cultural differences often cause communication problems. The same category of words, phrases, symbols, actions, colours mean different things to people of different nationalities or cultural backgrounds. For example, Black is the colour associated with death and mourning in western countries, but in India it is White. People like to be called by their first name in US, but the same is not the case in India.
8. Technological Barriers: Technology is known to facilitate communication, but at times it works as a barrier too. It can become a barrier in cases where a certain technology is used which is not updated, lack of technological knowledge, technical noise, barriers at decoding stage, etc.

COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY:

Topics to be studied –

1. How technology has changed the way business organisations communicate today.
2. Need for communication technology.
3. Media of communication technology. Advantages and Limitations / Disadvantages of:
Internet.
E-mail.
E-commerce.
Videoconferencing.
Mobile Phones.
Mobile Computing.
Virtual Reality.
Satellites.
Facsimile.
Voice Mail.
Teleconferencing.
Telemarketing.
4. Impact of communication technology on office procedures and automation.