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Communication Strategies in a Downturn
-- Venu Gopal Rao
As the terrible storm of economic crisis envelops organizations across the world, choosing
an appropriate strategy to communicate with employees during such times is essential, the
absence of which can prove to be fatal in the long run. The hasty manner in which some
organizations like Jet Airways in the recent past used ill-suited communication strategies has not only
made employees, the most indispensable assets of organizations, skeptical, but also crippled
their trust in the management. These uncertain times call for a crisp, humane and
transparent communication strategy that addresses the emotional needs of the employees,
fortifies relationship between employees and the employer, and consolidates the reputation
and reliability of the organizations. It is in the interest of the organization that it develops a
credible and long-term strategy of communication to its key internal stakeholders, i.e., the employees.
© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Soft Skills:
Essential for Shaping Well-Rounded Individuals
-- Manishankar Chakraborty
This ever-changing world has made sustenance difficult. The continuous
metamorphosis observed in the global economy, along with geo-political changes, calls for new approaches
to address problems at all points in time. Only subject knowledge with a little application is
no longer the only thing required for a professional to be successful. Also, an integrated
and blended approach of subject know-how with soft skills is required to be successful.
Prima facie, it appears easy for stakeholders involved in manpower grooming to churn out
people who can be world-class. However, time and again, it has been proved that all successful
nations, economies and companies succeeded only because of their right mix of knowledge
pertaining to the core area and the softer part. All the stakeholders involved in manpower nurturing
need to understand that the need of the hour is to make well-rounded individuals, as every day is
a new day full of challenges, be it the personal or professional life. The importance of a
holistic and integrated approach in addressing these issues has never been felt more than the
present scenario, as the environment on the one hand provides a plethora of opportunities, and
likewise the organizations have lots of talent to choose from. The paper tries to highlight the
importance of soft skills for well-rounded individuals.
© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
How Important Are Soft Skills
from the Recruiter's Perspective
-- Meenakshi Sharma
This paper deals with the importance of soft skills for getting a job and for further
promotions and progress in the workplace. In this study, a survey was conducted among 50 middle to
top level executives, who are either HR people involved in recruitment or the managers who
are actively involved in recruiting their employees. The results were not surprising and
confirmed in no uncertain terms that even in technical jobs, soft skills play an important role in
getting the right job as well as also in the future progress a person makes in his/her career. All
the respondents agreed to the fact that soft skills are indeed very important to succeed at
the workplace. And an overwhelming majority agreed that there were gaps between the
industry requirements and the products churned out by the colleges and universities of today.
Similarly, when asked if they were satisfied with the current workforce available for their industry,
74% replied in the negative. The respondents were also asked to rate the top three must have
soft skills to succeed at the workplace. While communication skills was rated as the most
important by 72%, teamwork followed a close second with 66% and then time management with 60%.
© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Role of Paralanguage
in Effective English Communication
-- Binod Mishra
In this modern world, where we live amid the buzzes of machines and beeps of cell phones,
it has become imperative to strike a balance between merely communicating and
communicating effectively in order to succeed in a fast changing cross commercial world.
Communication today is the buzz word, and effective English communication skills have proved to be a
passport to a plethora of opportunities around the globe. However, communication does not mean
only expressing our idea, statements and grievances, but it also means effectively
disseminating information. To say more precisely, communication is not constricted to language alone,
rather its relevance necessitates it to include paralanguage in its ambit. The beauty and benignity
of language that differentiates men from animals seeks its nuances in various
paralinguistic features, and non-verbal attributes, like expression through face, eyes, space and time,
in addition to vocal characteristics. This paper stresses the role and relevance of
paralanguage in various communication situations.
© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
The Importance of Non-Verbal Cues
-- K Subapriya
Communication skills is the success mantra of an individual in this globalized world,
and there is a growing demand for these essential skills, which have branched into a wide
variety of divisions and techniques. The meaning of a text can be communicated to the readers
and listeners only through non-verbal signals. Both the oral and written styles attain
perfection with the usage of non-verbal cues. The verbal sign (language) and the non-verbal cues
together in the right proportion pave the way for a meaningful communication. Among the
various factors determining the success of an effective communication, non-verbal cues play a
vital role. Non-verbal signal operates at two levels. Non-verbal cues in writing involves the form
of stylistic features like headings, titles, subheadings, photographs, captions, figures, graphs
and bar charts, etc., whereas oral communication involves non-verbal signals like gestures,
postures, facial expressions, pace, intensity, tone of voice and body language. In this context, this
paper ventures to deal with the effective application of non-verbal cues, especially in a
classroom setting. A teacher requires immense ability to use non-verbal cues for an effective
interaction with the students, and the students in turn are in need of the knowledge of using
non-verbal cues to write their answers in a better way. The study of various strategic moves involved in
the usage of non-verbal signals can favor both the teachers and students.
© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Cross-Cultural Communication
-- Mahesh Kumar and Kalyana Chakravarthi
Keeping in view the ever-changing management practices across companies, institutions
and workplaces, Cross-Cultural Communication (CCC) calls for immediate attention, in this
context, in terms of education at B-schools or training interventions in the corporate world. This
paper focuses on the importance of learning, understanding and implementation of CCC. It is a
fact that most of us are working from home. Every organization has different cultures, with
people from different walks of life on its rolls. It is a challenging task for corporate executives
and individuals to work in/with multi-cultural teams in an organization.
In this context, effective communication in a cross-cultural setting becomes an
unavoidable skill. Hence, CCC must be taught as an integral part of the curriculum at B-schools,
and periodical training interventions should happen frequently at various corporate entities
where multi-cultural workforce exists, for better results.
© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Technical Writing and Crossing Boundaries
-- D Venkataramanan
Contextualizing the importance of `technical writing' as a repertoire of multi-skills in
today's employment market, this paper explores the possibilities of streamlining `technical
writing' into specific areas based on various subjects. This dispels the myth that technical writing
is restricted only to the industry, especially IT. It showcases how the `power of language'
basically functions at the center and its effective application makes all the difference. The paper
reflects on how a linguistic aporia is present in various users when it comes to the written forms
of documentation. Addressing this issue and taking up a few subjects as case studies, the
paper attempts to suggest modules for each vis-à-vis the writing process. Thus, `technical
writing' comes to be streamlined as technical writing for physicists, technical writing for
geologists, technical writing for corporates and so on. This leads to more specificity in facilitating
a specialized study of `technical writing' with reference to a particular subject.
© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
The Pursuit of Values
-- Komarraju Venkata Vinay
What do all successful people or organizations have in common? Other than success, they
have a host of qualities that contribute to their being successful in their respective fields.
Underlying all these are principles of importance that can be summed up in one word—values. Few
people realize how ubiquitous values are or how they permeate the entire gamut of our existence,
how they affect our choices, how their presence or absence makes or mars our
personality, or how they craft our destiny. The present paper examines the 4
E's of values as well as the relation between values and the individual, values and the organization, and values and soft skills.
© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
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