English for Oral Communication

Ladies and gentleman,

First of all ,let me share with you a few definition of communication. 1.0 Defining Communication

2.1 Carl Rogers (1952) defined communication as listening with understanding to what has been said and interpreting the message accurately as intended 2.2 Elizabeth Tierney (1998) defined it as a process which comprises the following steps-you have a message you want to deliver, you send it out, your audience received the message, reacts to it and the respond to your message. 2.3 Julia Wood(2009) defined it as systemic process in which people interact with and trough symbols to create and interpret meanings.

Therefore ,we can clearly conclude that communication is listening and delivering the right message to your receiver.Please also bear in mind that of all leadership behaviors, the ability to communicate may be the most important. Communications lays the foundation for leading others.( John Baldoni 2003).Simply put, communication is an activity of conveying information through the exchange of thoughts, messages, or information, as by speech, visuals, signals, writing, or behavior that produces the desired effect or result.Furthermore, communication is effective when the recipients of the message understands its meaning and can express the meaning back to the sender correctly.
Ladies and gentleman,

Exhibit 1.0 An illustration of an effective communication

In addition,I will be sharing the importance of effective communication as its an important element of success in every organization,leader,manager,supervisor and employee.Firstly, an effective communication generates the desired effect, maintains effect and increases effect. It serves the purpose for which it was planned.Secondly,effective communication also ensures that the message is not distorted during the communication process.
Moving to my third points is that effevtive communication may lead to fewer misunderstandings hence causing problem, conflict or friction among superior and subordinates as well as management, plus it will waste time, money and cause mistakes.

Consequently,effective communication is importance in our daily life , be it personal or business. We can say that the points that I mentioned previously are among the benefit of effective communication Nevertheless , to thoroughly understand the impact ,one should fully comprehend the importance of effective communication,
Furthermore , effective communication is fruitful if and only if the messages sent by the sender is interpreted with same meaning by the receiver. If any kind of disturbance blocks any step of communication, the message will be destroyed and failed. Due to such circumstances, disturbances, and blockage, managers in an organization face severe problems. This is what we conclude as communication barriers,thus the managers must locate such barriers and take steps to get rid of them.Simply put, communication barriers means obstacle in a workplace that prevent effective exchange of ideas or thoughts.
Various barriers exist that can distort or prohibit a message from being properly understood or sent. These barriers can cause conflicts such in interpersonal relationships, blocking a business from being successful in a different culture and lead to low motivation in employee satisfaction in an organization. Identifying the barriers to communication is the first step to improving the effectiveness of the communication. As a manager, you need to identify what is the communication barrier and do your best to resolve. For example, if a co-worker came to you with a complaint and steps were taken to resolve it, spend a few minutes with the co-worker to get feedback. If your own boss asked you for a particular report in time for a conference and you delivered it, give him a call after he 's had a chance to review it, this will definitely boost morale, for sure ! These effective communication skills ensure better relationship withing management and co workers as well as subordinates.
Therefore ,I shall be elaborating on a few factors that’s been recognized as the communication barriers.

1.0 Communication barriers.

First point that I want to share is:
1. Perceptual and Language Differences Perception is generally how each individual interprets the world around him. Everybody generally want to receive messages which are significant to them,but any message which is against their values is not accepted. or in another word,the difference in opinion between two people A same event may be taken differently by different individuals. For example : A person is on leave for a month due to personal reasons (family member being critical). The HR Manager might be in confusion whether to retain that employee or not, the immediate manager might think of replacement because his teams productivity is being hampered, the family members might take him as an emotional support.
These are among the example of the most common problem faced these days :the difference in opinion between two people. The varied perceptions of every individual give rise to a need for effective communication
The linguistic differences also lead to communication breakdown. Same word may mean different to different individuals. For example: consider a word “value”.
a. What is the value of this Mercedes Benz?
b. I value our friendship?
c. What is the value of learning computer skills?
“Value” means different in different sentences. Communication breakdown occurs if there is wrong perception by the receiver.

2. Information Overload

Exhibit 2.0

My second point is Information Overload. It is a term popularized by Alvin Toffler in his bestselling 1970 book “Future Shock”. It refers to the difficulty a person can have understanding an issue and making decisions that can be caused by the presence of too much information or in another words, which means the information given by the sender are too complicated, lengthy which may affect the receiver to retrieve the information.
In this globalization area, information overload is experienced as distracting and unmanageable such as information in email spam, email notifications, instant messages, Tweets and Facebook updates in the context of the work environment
In our daily life, we are bombarded with information: advertisements in the mail box, fast paced TV, signs and symbols everywhere we go, internet pages, chat sessions, offers to buy this or to do that, and lots of other stuff. And we are so “entertained with these information” up to the extent considering another people shallow minded if they don’t have Twitter or Facebook accounts,isnt it?
Sad but true, the reality that we are overloaded with information: the more input, the more we shut off and become cynical.
For example, managers, are surrounded with a pool of information. Be it from the Internet,television ,or radio ,it is essential to evaluate and prioritize this information flow or else the information is likely to be misinterpreted, redundant , forgotten or overlooked. Hence, communication is less effective. Therefore managers should know how to prioritize their work while simultaneously should not overload themselves with the work. They should spend quality time with their subordinates and should listen to their problems and feedbacks actively
In our everyday life we are bombarded with information: advertisements in the mail box, fast paced TV, interviews never lasting more than three minutes, signs and symbols everywhere we go, internet pages, chat sessions, offers to buy this or to do that, and lots of other stuff.
We are overloaded with information: the more input, the more we shut off and become cynical. But ad-people, designers and producers respond by feeding us MORE information!
The reason is that we / they rest in a 300 year old mindset, established and maintained by newspapers: that as much information as possible should be conveyed in as little space as possible. The Latin word omnibus means "everything for everybody" and that old newspaper doctrine shows as a desire to impress through a diversity of features mixed in a big bowl of confusion.
The intention is to show the most products and information, so that each one has a ”scatter-gun”-ish opportunity to reach a target audience: ”Look how exciting I am, here you won’t be bored”. The focusing on features results in everything being emphasized - and therefore that nothing really is!

3. Inattention
Inattention means not interested and lack of focus or interest or a reduced attention span. Proper communication cannot be conducted if the listen is inattentive. The mind should always be focused when receiving instructions. At times we just not listen, but only hear. Here are a few example of inattention in workplace or organization : * Difficulty concentrating in long conversations, instruction or meeting * Trouble organising themselves at work place * Easily distracted by activity or noise * Trouble remembering appointments or often being late Another example to share is, a traveler may pay attention to one “NO PARKING” sign, but if such sign is put all over the city, he no longer listens to it. Thus, repetitive messages should be ignored for effective communication. Similarly if a superior is engrossed in his paper work and his subordinate explains him his problem, the superior may not get what he is saying and it leads to disappointment of subordinate.
4. Time Pressures: Often in organization the targets have to be achieved within a specified time period, the failure of which has adverse consequences. In a haste to meet deadlines, the formal channels of communication are shortened, or messages are partially given, i.e., not completely transferred. Thus sufficient time should be given for effective communication.
5. Distraction/Noise: Communication is also affected a lot by noise to distractions. Physical distractions are also there such as, poor lightning, uncomfortable sitting, unhygienic room also affects communication in a meeting. Similarly use of loud speakers interferes with communication.
6. Emotions: Emotional state at a particular point of time also affects communication. If the receiver feels that communicator is angry he interprets that the information being sent is very bad. While he takes it differently if the communicator is happy and jovial (in that case the message is interpreted to be good and interesting).

STEP TO OVERCOME THESE BARRIERS

Ways to improve Communication: To begin with, let us have simple presentations with grammatically correct sentences, in the chosen language.
1.Listening Listening is vital part of communication. Be a good, active listener. Most importantly communication in its highest form extends beyond talking and listening. It includes behavior. Effective communication is dynamic, continuous, irreversible, interactive and a culture of service excellence and mutual understanding.
2. Be an effective listener: Listening is compared to storing vast quantity of potential water in a reservoir of dam. There are ways in which we can improve the art of listening. Listening is an intellectual activity whereas hearing is not so . In listening our brain processes the data received. But hearing is just perceiving the sound.
How to be an effective listener? 1.Establish eye contact with the audience. This will impress the listeners and they will feel the speaker is paying them individual attention to them. 2. Take notes effectively when someone speaks will help the listener to recapitulate the important points.3. Prepare well before communicating.4.Avoid negative mannerisms like speaking to fellow audience when someone speaks.5.Listeners should follow golden rules.

References: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/barriers-to-communication.html http://www.ehow.com/about_6714357_define-barriers-communication.html#ixzz29jDWeY9w http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_overload http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communication http://www.flexstudy.com/catalog/schpdf.cfm?coursenum=97003 http://www.masternewmedia.org/information_overload_what_it_is_and_how/

References: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/barriers-to-communication.html http://www.ehow.com/about_6714357_define-barriers-communication.html#ixzz29jDWeY9w http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_overload http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communication http://www.flexstudy.com/catalog/schpdf.cfm?coursenum=97003 http://www.masternewmedia.org/information_overload_what_it_is_and_how/