SEMESTER MBA ASSIGNMENT

Question 1- As a speaker you are addressing a group of people. Explain the elements involved in this communication.

Answer 1- The elements involved in communication are:

Sender or encoder- This is the person who transmits a message. For example, for the purpose of this question I am the speaker addressing a group of people. Here I am the sender.

Receiver or decoder- The person who notices and decodes, or attaches some meaning to a message. Decoding may not always be accurate and a wrong meaning may be attached to a message. For example , my friendly joke might be taken as an offence by any of the people in the group.

Message- This is any signal that triggers the response of a receiver. Messages may be intentional or unintentional. Non-verbal signals can easily convey the message of increasing interest in the message or boredom.

Channel- This refers to the medium or the method used to deliver the message. In the scenario in question, the channel is direct verbal communication with a group of people.

Feedback- Most communication is two-way. Receivers generally respond to messages. This response to a senders message is called feedback. In this case the feedback will be oral. Due to the element of feedback, people are simultaneously senders and receivers of information in face-to-face communication.

Context- This refers to the setting in which the communication takes place and could sometimes determine the success or failure of the communication. Context can be classified as follows;

Physical context- This refers to the physical surroundings. In this case, a work or social environment, in which I am addressing the group of people plays an important role.

Social context- This refers to the relationship between the sender and the receiver. The communication will be affected by the fact that whether the group of people I am addressing is well known to me or not.

Chronological context- This refers to time related factors that cold influence the communication. In this case, If the time of the address is early in the morning or at the fag end of the day will make its influence on the communication.

Cultural context- This refers to the similarity of backgrounds between the sender and the receiver, such as age, language, nationality, religion and gender. These factors could influence the communication favourably or unfavourably.

Each of these key elements contributes to the success of my communication to the given group of people.

Question 2- Describe any situation in your own experience where the communication failed because the listening was faulty. Identify the barrier to listening in this situation.

Answer 2- Listening is not easy and there are a number of obstacles that stand in the way of effective listening, both within and outside the workplace. These barriers may be categorized as follows:-

Physiological barriers: Some people may have genuine hearing problems or deficiencies that prevent them from listening properly. Once detected, they can generally be treated. Rapid thought, difficulty in processing information or memory related problems may be other physiological barriers.

Physical barriers-These refer to distractions in the environment such as the sound of an air conditioner, cigarette smoke, or an overheated room, which interfere with the listening process. They could also be in the form of information overload.

Attitudinal barriers- Pre-occupation with personal or work related problems can make it difficult to focus ones attention completely on what a speaker is saying, even if what is being said is of prime importance. Another common attitudinal barrier is egocentrism, or the belief that the listener is more knowledteble than the speaker and that the listener have nothing new to learn from the speakers ideas. People with this kind of closed minded attitude make very poor listeners.

Wrong assumptions- The success of communication depends on both the sender and the receiver. It is wrong to assume that communication is the sole responsibility of the sender or the speaker and listeners have no role to play. Such an assumption can be a abig barrier to liste4ning.

Cultural barriers- Accents can be barriers to listening, since they interfere with the ability to understand the meaning of words that are pronounced differently. Another type of cultural barrier is differing cultural values.

Lack of training- Listening is not an inborn skill. People are not born good listeners. They have to develop the art of listening through practice and training. Lack of training in listening skills is an important barrier to listening. Especially in the Indian context.

Bad listening habits- Most people are very average listeners who have developed poor listening habits that are hard to shed and that act as barriers to listening. For example, some people hve the habit of faking attention or trying to look like a listener, in order to impress the speaker and to assure the speaker that they are paying attention.

Question 3 Describe any 5 types of presentations with example and their target audience.

Answer 3 Oral business presentations are a powerful way of presenting our ideas to others and are usually called for when a written memo or report is not sufficient to do the job. A written report tends to be less persuasive and may also be set aside without being read, whereas an oral presentation commands attention and fetches immediate feedback. Besides, approval for important ideas is rarely given without a face-to-face explanation. Presentations may be made to both internal audiences superiors, peers and subordinates, as well as to external audiences consumers, intermediaries, bankers, suppliers etc. Presentations may also be of different types, each with a different purpose. Some of the most common types of presentations and the audiences to whom they are addressed are mentioned below:-

Types of Presentation and Target Audience

Type/Purpose of PresentationExampleTarget Audience

Briefing and InformationNew online leave application procedureEmployees

OrientationOrientation to new joineesEmployees

TrainingHow to operate a new softwareEmployees

Reporting Research FindingsConsumer satisfaction surveySuperiors

Reporting ProgressReport of weekly salesSuperiors

Highlighting Companys AchievementsReporting awards won by the CompanyMedia

TV and Radio Interviews to describe Company ViewpointsDescribing companys position on environmental issuesSociety at large

IntroductionOverview of the companyNew employees

Product PresentationHighlighting features of a new productConsumers, intermediaries

Project ProposalNew project undertaken by the companyBankers

Policy ProposalNew mobile phone expense reimbursement policySuperiors

Marking Special OccasionsPresentation at company anniversary celebrationsInternal and external

Question 4- Explain the different types of meetings.Answer 4. According to Deborah Tannen, A meeting is any focused conversation that has a specific agenda, especially but not only if it has been set up in advance. 1 This definition implies that meetings are not aimless discussions, but they require careful planning and revolve around a specific topic that is decided in advance. Therefore, while meetings may be more or less formal in the way they are conducted, they need to be planned, irrespective of the nature of the meeting. Different types of meetings are explained below:-

(a) Task oriented meeting. As the name suggests, this type of meeting is a special meeting that is called to discuss and make arrangements for a specific event. For example, the company is opening a new branch or new factory, which will be inaugurated by a minister on a specific date. All the key people involved may be asked to attend the meeting, to discuss the arrangements that are being made for the inauguration. Specific tasks are assigned to each of the participants of the meeting.

(b)Progress meetings. These are periodic meetings that are called to review the progress being made on a particular front. For example, weekly meetings may be held to review sales progress or if a new project has been initiated, periodic meetings may be held to review the progress of different stages of the project.

(c)Information sharing meetings. In some organisations these types of meetings may be called regularly for the main purpose of exchanging information on a topic of relevance to the organisation. Such meetings may take place among co-workers or may also involve top management.

For example:

The Managing Director of a company may call his senior managers to share information about the companys joint ventures, overseas

collaborations or plans for acquisition.

A weekly meeting of top executives may be held to discuss the activities of the companys international divisions.

The members of the Research and Development (R & D) department may meet regularly to compare notes on the results of their research efforts.

(d)Problem solving or decision making meetings. This type of meeting is the most challenging, as it involves taking some kind of action, making major decisions or changing the existing policies and procedures. Therefore, all interests and departments of the organisation are represented at such meetings. They also tend to be time consuming. For example, the marketing strategy of the company may need to be revised, as sales are on the decline or a new product is to be launched and a meeting may be called to discuss the launch strategy. As problem solving meetings are the most complicated type of meetings, the guidelines offered in this unit are more relevant to these meetings.

Question 5 - You are going to face a job interview for the post of Manager-operations. Which aspects you will keep in mind while facing the interview?

Answer 5 As a job applicant, I will have to do some groundwork before the interview, I will prepare to do well during the interview, assess my performance and do some follow up after the interview. Pre-interview planning is similar to preparing for a sales presentation. I will have to sell myself to the prospective employer, by highlighting my unique strengths and by convincing the employer that I am the right person for the job. It also involves doing a thorough study of the organisation for which I am attending the interview. Employers expect applicants to gather information about the organisation in advance and do not want to waste precious interview time providing such information. Several sources are available for researching an organisation, including business publications, financial newspapers, annual reports, company websites and interviews with company employees. The information that a job applicant needs to gather about a company includes the following:

Name of the company

Its status in the industry, in terms of market share, ranking, sales, assetsand number of employees

Recent developments in the company

Scope of the company whether it is local, national or international

Names of the top management

Products and services offered

Plans for future growth, such as expansion and diversification

In addition, I will need to gather job related information, such as the following:

Job title Required qualifications, knowledge and skills

Job content

The reporting structure to whom would I report and who would report to me.

Opportunities for training and development, for acquiring new skills

Opportunities for career advancement

Preparation before the interview also involves doing a self-analysis, to assess my own abilities, strengths, weaknesses, interests and preferences. For example, am I team player, or do I work better alone? Would I prefer a travelling job or a desk job? Do I enjoy interacting with people? I should list out the company and job requirements in one column and your own qualifications and needs in another column to see if there is a good fit. This will help me to prepare better for the interview.

Part of pre-interview preparation is to anticipate the kinds of questions that might be asked by the interviewer and to prepare answers to these questions. A list of commonly asked questions is provided in the sub-section Interviewers Perspective. Last, but most important, is planning my personal appearance and attire. I will need to find out if the company has a dress code and try to look and dress as if I already work for that company.

Question 6 - Write short notes on:a) Internetb) Intranet

Answer 6(a) Internet - TheInternetis a global system of interconnectedcomputer networksthat use the standardInternet protocol suite(TCP/IP) to link several billion devices worldwide. It is an internationalnetwork of networksthat consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and governmentpacket switchednetworks, linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless, and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries an extensive range of information resources and services, such as the inter-linkedhypertext documents andapplicationsof theWorld Wide Web(WWW), theinfrastructureto support email, andpeer-to-peernetworks forfile sharingandtelephony.The origins of the Internet date back to research commissioned by theUnited States governmentin the 1960s to build robust, fault-tolerant communication via computer networks.While this work, together with work in the United Kingdom and France, led to important precursor networks, they were not the Internet. There is no consensus on the exact date when the modern Internet came into being, but sometime in the early to mid-1980s is considered reasonable.From that point, the network experienced decades of sustained exponential growth as generations of institutional,personal, andmobilecomputers were connected to it.This marvelous tool has quite ahistorythat holds its roots in the cold war scenario.A need was realized to connect the top universities of the United States so that they can share all the research data without having too much of a time lag. This attempt was a result of Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) which was formed at the end of 1950s just after the Russians had climbed the space era with the launch of Sputnik. After the ARPA got success in 1969, it didnt take the experts long to understand that how much potential can this interconnection tool have. In 1971 Ray Tomlinson made a system to send electronic maill. This was a big step in the making as this opened gateways for remote computer accessing i.e. telnet.

Answer 6 (b) Intranet - An intranet is a private network that is contained within an enterprise. It may consist of many interlinked local area networks and also use leased lines in the wide area network. Typically, an intranet includes connections through one or more gateway computers to the outside Internet. The main purpose of an intranet is to share company information and computing resources among employees. An intranet can also be used to facilitate working in groups and for teleconferences. It is acomputer networkthat usesInternet Protocoltechnology to share information,operational systems, or computing services within an organization. This term is used in contrast toextranet, a network between organizations, and instead refers to a network within an organization. Sometimes, the term refers only to the organization's internalwebsite, but may be a more extensive part of the organization's information technology infrastructure, and may be composed of multiplelocal area networks. The objective is to organize each individual's desktop with minimal cost, time and effort to be more productive, cost efficient, timely, and competitive.An intranet may host multiple private websites and constitute an important component and focal point of internal communication and collaboration. Any of the well known Internet protocols may be found in an intranet, such asHTTP(web services),SMTP(e-mail), andFTP(file transfer protocol). Internet technologies are often deployed to provide modern interfaces to legacy information systems hosting corporate data.