Introduction

Today in digital world, organizations like government, public or private sectors prefer to hire people who are trained and ready to go to work. But sometimes it does not happen. The real challenge is skills. The two greatest concerns of employers today are finding good workers and training them. Finding such workers who have employability or job readiness skills that would help them fit into aware remain in the work place is a crucial aspect.

Employability Skills

Employability skills are those basic skills necessary for getting, keeping, and doing well on a job. These are the skills, knowledge, attitudes and actions that enable workers to get along with their fellow workers and supervisors and to make sound, critical decisions. At the same time it is necessary to know how you present them to your employers. It is related to a number of facts like:

*Communication Skills

* Self-management Skills

*Basic ICT Skills

*Entrepreneurial Skills

* Green Skills
Communication skills are the most fundamental of employability skills, also needed to succeed in the workplace. At the same time people from the younger generation may not know or even understand the importance of effective communication skills in the workplace. But the requirement is different.

What is Communication?

The term communication is derived from the Latin word “communis” which means commons. When we communicate with someone, we convey a message that the other person is meant a receive and decode. The process of passing any information from one person to the other person with the aid of some medium is termed as communication.

Communication involves common ideas, concepts, imaginations, behaviours , written content opinions or information, that is, the sharing of ideas, opinions or information through any number of channels. If you look at your workplace, the majority of jobs require employees to have good communication skills, so that they can express themselves in a positive and clear manner, both when speaking to people and in writing it is about understanding instructions, acquiring new dolls, making requests, asking questions and laying information with ease.

Importance of Communication

The most important behaviours of communication are best understood when there is lack of –

• Knowledge: When we share information with others and when our teachers, mentors, friends and families communicate with us this is how we get to learn and gather knowledge.

• Strengthening Relationships: la an workplace, when you can get to know each other and discover similarities, your relationship can build a more solid foundation. This applies to anything in life clients, friendships, and more.

•Act as basis of Coordination: it is vital in coordination activities among various departments and persons to achieve certain goals ways of achieving them, interpersonal relationship among persons, etc.

• Increasing Confidence: Communicating clearly means that people will be more apt to listen to you. Not only will you sound more intelligent, but will more easily get your point across And when people value what you say, your self-esteem naturally increases.


• Relieving Stress/Happiness: Whenever you are feeling overburdened and under pressure. it’s a great relief to get things off your chest by discussing your problems with friends. This discussion also helps you to see your problems from new perspectives
With better upward mobility in the workplace, stronger relationships, lower stress, and increased self-esteem, you should find yourself happier all around.

• Manage HR: Communication in the workplace involving personnel communication between colleagues, superior and subordinates is extremely important for the smooth running of m organization.



• Leadership: A leader is expected to represent his her followers and motivate them to reach heights of success through individual and collective efforts. Communication is the best equipment a leader can employ to achieve this goal.

•Helps in Socialising: In today’s life, mere presence of another individual encourages cation. It is also said that one cannot survive without communication.

•Controlling Process: It helps in controlling organizational behaviour in various ways and in implementing certain principles and guidelines that employees must follow in an organization Thus, communication helps in the controlling functions of the management.

Characteristics of Communication

Based on the previous study, we can define the following characteristics of communication. These are-

• It involves at least two person: Communication involves at least two persons, a sender and a receiver.

•Exchange of ideas: it involves transfer of ideas, facts, emotions, gestures, symbols, opinions, and action from sender to receiver.

•It is a two way process. It involves both information and understanding. Communication is not complete unless the receiver has understood the message properly and his reaction or response is known to the sender. A feedback from the receiver to the sender is an essential component of communication.

• It is a continuous process: Communication is an endless process. It is a dynamic process, that is, It grows and develops.

• Communication is systematic :Every component of the process is affected by every other component. For example, if there is a fault in the telephone (channel of communication), it will affect the message received by the receiver.

•Cultural circumstance: It is closely associated with culture like sociocultural, political, economic or even psychological situation.

Methods/Types of Communication

It is understood that communication is a two-way process of giving and receiving information. Whether one is speaking informally to a friend, colleague, addressing a conference or meeting, writing a newsletter article or formal report, the following basic principles apply:

*Know your audience to whom you communicate.

* Know your purpose of communication and communication topic.

*Present a rounded picture about communication to achieve credibility with your audience after communication.

*Follow through on what you say in your communication and communicate a little at a time.

* Present information in several ways with multiple communication techniques.

* Develop a practical, useful way to get feedback.

There are different kinds of information. These are written, verbal, non-verbal and visual communications.

Written Communication

The communication which is performed through any written document is called written communication. It is a word based communication system. In any organization, the electronic mails, postcard, memos, reports, documents, letters, journals, job descriptions, employee manuals. etc. are some of the commonly used forms of written communication.

Written communication includes exams, written interviews or translation or something that requires writing as a medium to communicate. We can use the written communication when:

•there is little time urgency

• the sender wants a record for future references, Le, the message needs to become part of a permanent file.

• the receiver will be referring to it later,

•you do not need immediate feedback

• the message includes a step by step procedure.

•oral communication is not possible because people are not in the same place at the same time .

•a copy of the message should go to another person.

•the ideas are complicated

Advantages of Written Communication

•Easily understood. Written communication is the best way to represent any complex matter easily and attractively.
•Permanent record for future. Written communication provides a permanent record that can be referred to from time to time or passed on to others. Also can be kept for future reference.

•Duplication is easy. Written communication can be duplicated in large quantities or distributed on the Internet relatively inexpensively.

•Easy to preserve and distribute. The written information and messages that are preserved can be verified easily. Also, it is easy to distribute the same Information to a group of people.

•Easy for legal tender. Written communication records and reports are sometimes useful in legal matters

• No misinterpretation. There is no or any opportunity to misinterpret the information or messages of written communication.

Disadvantages of Written Communication

• Wastage of time and cost. The preparation of written documents is time consuming. It costs the valuable time of both the writer and the reader.

• Take time to communicate. It takes much time to communicate with all the parties concerned and to get a response from the message receiver.

• Storage is expensive. It is very difficult and expensive to keep all the records in written communication.

• Useless for illiterate. Written communication is quite impossible to read by illiterate person.

• Lack of secrecy. Secrecy is not always possible to maintain through written communication.

•Lack of flexibility. Once prepared in large quantities, printed documents are difficult to change.

•Needs large number of manpower. Processing and printing lengthy materials are quite expensive. For this communication paper, pen, ink, typewriter, computer and a large number of employees are needed.

• Understanding problem. Technical documents are often too long and complex for the majority of readers to understand.

Verbal Communication

Sharing of information by words or speeches through mouth is called verbal communication. It is done by a spoken language to transmit information. Verbal communication may be of two types: written and oral communication. It includes the information that people hear on radios, televisions, telephones, speeches, interviews, face-to-face conversations, group discussions, counselling, calls, memos, letters, reports, notes, singing, answering and questioning, email, etc. Verbal communication is also influenced by eye contact, gestures and facial expressions.

We can use the verbal communication when:

● conveying emotion and feelings
● the message does not need to be permanent
•there is time urgency
• you need immediate feedback
• the ideas are simple or can be made simple with explanations.

Advantages of Verbal Communication

• Save time and cost effective. It saves time in communication and it is a cheaper way of communication and hence saves money

• Quick feedback. The sender can get a quick feedback as to whether his intended message is received in its intended form or not and can clarify the receiver, in case of any doubt.

• More convenient. While communicating verbally, you are more likely to convey matter simply In plain readable text and understandable language which is widely preferred.

• Ease of preparation. Oral communication is the easiest way of communication as it does not have any need of material to convey the message.

• Flexible and effective. It is flexible and effective for all.

•Better understanding. It provides complete understanding of communication delivered and there is chance to make it more clear in case of doubts in interpretation of words or ideas.

• More reliable and clarity. It is a more reliable method of communication because face-to-face interaction.

• Maintain secrecy. It can be very useful in case you want to maintain secrecy about a matter as there is no way to prove what you said.

Disadvantages of Verbal Communication

• Difficult with lengthy message. It may lead to forgetting some message by the listener if the conversion is lengthy

• Language issues. The message may not be understood by some audience due to language problem. It may cost heavily if you engage another person to interpret this.

•No secrecy. There is a chance of leak of secret information with the help of modern devices such as polygraph or lie detector.

• Problem in long distance conversation. It is difficult to understand the message between the sender and receiver in long distance conversation.

• Creates misunderstandings. In a deep conversation between two individuals, there can be some misunderstandings related to the topic .

Non-Verbal Communication

Non-verbal communication, especially body language, can send a strong message, in spite of what your words say. When messages or information is exchanged or communicated without using any spoken or written word is known as non-verbal communication. Non-verbal communication (NVC) is usually understood as the process of communication through sending and receiving wordless messages.

Let us discuss the non-verbal communications methods.

•Body Movements (Kinesics), For example, hand gestures, nodding, shaking the head, arm crossing, and leg-crossing. It also reflects the feelings and attitude.

• Eye Contact .Eye contact communicates your level of involvement, interest and warmth. The amount of eye contact often determines the level of trust and trustworthiness and such things as looking, staring and blinking are important non-verbal behaviours. Looking at another person can indicate a range of emotions including hostility, interest, and attraction. Normal, steady eye contact is often taken as a sign that a person is telling the truth and is trustworthy .

•Posture. Like how you stand or sit, whether your arms are crossed, and so on. A gesture is any physical movement that helps to express an idea, opinion or emotion.

•Gestures. Gestures like deliberate movements and signals are an important way to communicate meaning without words. Common gestures movements of hands, face, legs, and other parts of the body to express something known as gestures.

•Para-language. It’s not what you said, it’s how you said it,” they were referring to your para language. The most noticeable form of para-language is body language or kinesics. This is the language of gestures, expressions, and postures, voice tone, pacing, pausing, volume, inflection, pitch and speech.

•Proxemics, Closeness or Personal Space. When some person was standing too close and entering your space, this study of personal space and closeness is called proxemics. Every culture has different levels of physical closeness. When we speak, the distance our bodies are physically apart also communicates a message.
Proxemics is the study of such interaction distances and other culturally defined uses of space. You can use physical space to communicate many different non-verbal messages, including signals of intimacy and affection, aggression or dominance.

•Facial Expressions. Each of the seven basic human emotions (anger, contempt, wink, disgust, fear, happiness/smiling, sadness and surprise) has been scientifically proven to have a certain facial expression associated with it because your facial expressions are closely tied to emotion; they are often automatic and unconscious.

•Physiological Changes. The physiological reactions are often the most associated with anxiety and discomfort. While communicating with others if someone feels sweating, blinking more when nervous, shaking, flaring of nostrils, trembling chin, blanching, cold clammy skin, blushing, moisture in eyes, flushing, swallowing, breathing heavily, etc. are expressing more than others.

Advantages of Non-Verbal Communication

• Easy presentation. Information can be easily presented using visual, audio-visual and silent means.

• Attract audience. As it is based on visual, picture, graph, sign, etc. that can be seen very much eye-catching and attractive for mass audience.

• Saves time. The message from the non-verbal interaction is received by the recipient very fast For this reason it reduces the wastage of valuable time of the communicator.

•Helps illiterate people. The type of communication use gestures, facial expressions, eye contact, proximity, touching, etc. is very much helpful for illiterate people to understand the communicator.

•Quick expression of message. Non-verbal cues of communication like sign and symbol can also communicate some messages very quickly than written or oral messages.

Disadvantages of Non-Verbal Communication

• A long conversation is not possible. Lengthy discussion and necessary details are not possible No one can talk about the particular problems of the information.

•Difficult to understand. Since in this type of communication speaker only use gesture, facial expression, eye contact, touch, etc., for communication and it might become difficult for some people to understand.

• Costly. In some cases, this type of communication become costly because sometimes the communicator use tools like a neon sign, PowerPoint presentation, cinema, etc.

Visual Communication

There is an old saying that “a picture is worth a thousand words”. These are some of the reasons why most of people prefer visual communication. These are:

• Visuals can be used to communicate to a wide range of people with differing backgrounds.

• Visuals are useful when trying to condense information into a short time period.

• People think in terms of images, not words, so visuals help them retain and recall technical information

• Visuals attract and hold the attention of observers.

• Visuals simplify technical information.

•Visuals may be useful in presenting technical information to a non-technical audience.

So, visual communication is the conveyance of ideas and information in forms that can be seen. Visual communication in part or whole relies on eyesight, i.e.. people get through the reading or seeing. It can be anything like eye contact, map, chart, facial expression, signals, and poster. You can also include the graphics, models, objects, books, animation, illustration, painting, art work, interactive web design, advertising and the short film. All these come with a message in a beautiful way. These can be more impressive than the words.
For example, while driving on an unknown road, we keep asking the people about the destination. But if you have a medium of visual communication like a map or Google map or GPS, you can simply find out the way without any help.

Important points of communication

1. The process of passing any information from one person to the other person with the aid of some medium is termed as communication.

2. The communication which is performed through any written document is called written communication.

3. Verbal communication is a type of communication where the information flows through verbal) medium like words, speeches presentations, etc.

4. Any communication that happens through signs, symbols, colours, gestures, body language of any facial expressions are known as non-verbal communication.

Questions and Answer of communication

1 .A self-management skill means

(a) control feelings
(b) control emotions
(c) control activities
(d) all of the above

Ans (d)

2. verbal communication in a business place takes place through the communication

(a) eye contact
(b) on phone or in person
(c)television
(d) the mobile message

Ans. (b)



3. Your friends show some print outs in the form of text regarding science subjects What type of communication is this?
(A) written
(b) verbal
(c) visual
(d)non-verbal

Ans (c)

4. In which communication skills, body movement, para-language, eye contact, posture and psychological changes comes under
(a) written communication
b) verbal communication
(c) visual communication
(d) non-verbal communication


Ans. (d)

B. Short answer type questions:

1. What is communication?


Ans. Communication is defined as the process of understanding and sharing information in form of thoughts, ideas and emotions.

2. State five important points of communication.
Ans. Five important points of communication are
●To gain knowledge
● To strengthen relationships
●To increase self confidence
●To achieve leadership quality
● To release stress for gaining happiness

3. Write four points where you feel a verbal communication is required.

Ans.
A verbal communication is needed when
●conveying emotion and feelings
● the message does not need to be permanent
● there is time urgency
● you need immediate feedback

4. Name and explain the three types of communication with very little explanation.

Ans. There are three types of communication.
• Verbal communication involving listening to a person to understand the meaning of a message,

• Written communication in which a message is read, and

• Non-verbal communication involving observing a person and inferring meaning.

5. Write four advantages of verbal communication.

Ans. Four advantages of verbal communication are: save time, cost effective, quick feedback and easy preparation.

6. Why do you prefer visual communication? State any four reasons.

Ans. These are some reasons that people prefer visual communication:

• Visuals can be used to communicate to a wide range of people with differing backgrounds.

• Visuals are useful when trying to condense information into a short time period.
•Visuals attract and hold the attention of observers.
•Visuals simplify technical information,

● Visuals may be useful in presenting technical information to a nontechnical audience.