Unit – 2

Self – Development and Communication

Q1) What do you understand by SWOT analysis? Why we use a SWOT analysis?

A1) SWOT ANALYSIS

The term SWOT stands for

S = Strengths

W = Weaknesses

O = Opportunities

T =Threats

The SWOT analysis is a technique for matching organisational strengths and weaknesses with environmental opportunities and threats. In fact, SWOT analysis enables an enterprise to use its strengths to exploit the opportunities by the environment. Whereas, threats of environment are neutralised by reducing its weaknesses to the minimum level. SWOT can thus be used to take a broader view of strategy through the formula

Where, SA= Strategic Alternatives

O = Opportunity

S= Strengths

W= Weaknesses

This reflects an important issue facing strategic managers Should we invest more in our strengths to make them even stronger or should we invest in our weaknesses to at least make them competitive? While the experience of conducting a SWOT analysis. is always challenging, the actual process is as below-

(1) First of all, the group discusses the strengths which exist, in a given Situation. The list of such strengths is prepared and some discussion will take place regarding these strengths. In this process, we just identify and list the strengths.

(2) Then we proceed to list the weaknesses. To identify the weaknesses is as important as strengths stage because a number of potential opportunities are identified which emerge out of the weaknesses.

(3) Next step is to generate the comprehensive list of opportunities might be gathered by considering each of the strengths in turn and then each of the weaknesses. It is worth mentioning that this stage is still about exploring or analysing the problem rather than building solutions. This opportunity stage of the SWOT analysis is the longest of the process and groups should seek to generate as many opportunities in terms of both strengths and weaknesses. So, each stage of the SWOT analysis so far is designed to expand the group's understanding of the problem.

(4) The next part of the SWOT analysis in the threats part. TD is stage can be divided into two parts. One is if we do nothing and there will be a number of potential threats which could materialise if no action is taken. In this case it might include such threats as 'A major Competitor could introduce a new product line since it may reduce our market share substantially or we as a banker may lose our experienced staff unless we offer competitive pay package to the employees. On the other side, threats can also be considered from the prospective of threats which could materialise if we take action based on any of the opportunities previously listed. It may be noted, that having started with a broad statement regarding the nature of the problem, the SWOT analysis may literally raise several other problems. The greater is the quantity of information, the more thorough the analysis is likely to be and therefore there will be better data to work with subsequently.

SWOT analysis by itself not a panacea. Some point of criticisms of SWOT analysis can be listed as below:

(i) The same factor can be placed as strength as well as weakness. It generates lengthy lists of several interrelated other problems.

(ii) There is no obligation to verify opinions with data or analysis.

(iii) There is no logical link to strategy implementation.

Why use a SWOT Analysis?

In any business, it is imperative that the business be its own worst critic. A SWOT analysis forces an objective analysis of a company's position vis a visits competitor and the marketplace. Simultaneously. an effective SWOT analysis will help determine in which areas a company is succeeding, allowing it to allocate resources in such a way as to maintain any dominant positions it may have. Below are numerous, current example SWOT analyses for sale.

SWOT analysis is a tool for auditing an organization and its environment. It is the first stage of planning and helps marketers to focus on key issues. Once key issues have been identified, they feed into marketing objectives. It can be used in conjunction with other tools for audit and analysis, such as PEST analysis and Porter's Five-Forces analysis. It is a very popular tool with marketing students because it is quick and easy to learn. During the SWOT exercise, list factors in the relevant boxes. It's that simple.

Q2) Discuss the various channel of communication.

A2) Channels are the pathways of communication to which messages flow from sender to receiver. These should not be too long otherwise the receiver may distort. message before it is received. The work to be smooth and free, the message should be carefully organized into a well-designed network of channels.

The following are the channels or types of communication:

On the basis of organizational structure or relationship or nature:

1) Formal communication: It refers to the flow of messages along the routes prescribed in the organization structure, which follows through a formal channel. These channels are designed to represent authority responsibility relationships between different positions in the organizations. It is a formal organization structure, which follows through a formal channel. These channels are designed to represent authority responsibility relationships between different positions in the 'organization. It is an official communication among official for solving official's problems. For example, If, a branch manager wants to communicate with the chairman of the bank, the former has to pass his message through the area manager, regional manager and other functionaries. For, the smooth and orderly flow of messages, these officially prescribed channels are formed. Formal communication is often slow and rigid, especially when chain of command is long or there are several authority levels in between the sender and receiver.

2)  Informal communication:  In every organization, there exists an informal channel called grapevine. This type of communication is free from all the formalities planned in an organization. No. formal channel is prescribed. It is the result of the natural desire of the people to communicate each other on a regular basis. Under this personal and organization matters are discussed. When one comes to know things like-

(a) Retrenchment of a colleague.

(b) Love affair of the boss.

(c) Differences of a peer with his wife.

They whisper these matters to other, which gives them pleasure too. This communication is supplementary to formal communication. Information under this system may be conveyed by a single glance, gesture, nod, smile or mere silence too. The grapevine is basically a channel of horizontal communication, for it is only people working at same level of hierarchy who can informally communicate with one another with perfect ease. However, it does not follow any set pattern and can be effective horizontally, vertically and even diagonally.

(2) On the basis of direction:

(i) Downward communication: The communication is said to be downward when it flows from top to bottom, i.e., from superior to subordinates, this direction of communication strengthens the authoritarian structure of organization. In other words, Downward Communication flows from individuals in higher levels of the hierarchy to those in lower levels. It is also called downstream communication. lt 1s a mean through which company and departmental objectives, strategies, policies, plans, procedures, rules, methods, standards, authority, delegation, job assignment, guidance etc. flow throughout the organization. Downward communication is used by the management or superiors to give instructions to the subordinates as to what to do, when to do and how to do, relation of his task with those of others, policies and programmes of the organization, his own assessment of the performance of his subordinates just to make them aware of their strengths and weaknesses.

(ii) Upward communication: The communication is said to be downward when it flows from top to bottom, i.e., from superior to subordinates, this direction of communication strengthens the authoritarian structure of organization. In other words, Downward Communication flows from individuals in higher levels of the hierarchy to those in lower levels. It is also called downstream communication.

lt 1s a mean through which company and departmental objectives, strategies, policies, plans, procedures, rules, methods, standards, authority, delegation, job assignment, guidance etc. flow throughout the organization. Downward communication is used by the management or superiors to give instructions to the subordinates as to what to do, when to do and how to do, relation of his task with those of others, policies and programmes of the organization, his own assessment of the performance of his subordinates just to make them aware of their strengths and weaknesses.

(iii) Horizontal communication:  It is also known as sideways communication, lateral communication, crosswise communication and inter-scalar communication. Vertical communication both upward and downward are largely structured as messages flow through the lines of authority. It is also necessary to great extent in order to enable managers to co-ordinate the activities of their subordinates. But at the same time, it causes delays and hampers work performance.

Fuyol pointed out that following the formal channels of communication can be terribly a time-consuming process when prompt decisions and speedy actions are required.

Horizontal communication is the lateral informal flow that occurs both within and between departments. Generally speaking, it is a communication among equals. The system necessarily relates to the communication between persons or one level or of one department with other persons and departments at the same level.

(iv) Diagonal communication: The transfer of information between people who are neither in the same department nor on the same level of organizational hierarchy is called diagonal communication, i.e., it refers to the interchange of messages among the managers located at different levels of hierarchy and outside the direct chain of command. For example, when the assistant marketing manager communicates with the accounts clerk directly or vice president (finance) may request to furnish information, report etc. on the sales subject direct to him instead of passing through regular and routine lengthy channels, diagonal flow of communication short-circuits the rigid chain of command.

(v) Multi-directional communication: It is a communication which takes place when the environment is highly Democratic in the organization. Every. worker can talk with his co-worker, they share their views, ideas, feelings, problems and they are also freely talking with their officers and the officers are also easy accessable to them. It is a rare example of Industrial Democracy.

(3) On the basis of media:

(i) Oral communication.

(ii) Written communication.

(iii) Non-verbal (e.g. Gestural) communication.

Q3) What is formal communication? How it flows in an organization?

A3)  FORMAL COMMUNICATION-

It refers to the flow of messages along the routes prescribed in the organization structure, which follows through a formal channel. These channels are designed to represent authority responsibility relationships between different positions in the organizations. It is a formal organization structure, which follows through a formal channel. These channels are designed to represent authority responsibility relationships between different positions in the 'organization. It is an official communication among official for solving official's problems. For example, if a branch manager wants to communicate with the chairman of the bank, the former has to pass his message through the area manager, regional manager and other functionaries. For the smooth and orderly flow of messages, these officially prescribed channels are formed. Formal communication is often slow and rigid, especially when chain of command is long or there are several authority levels in between the sender and receiver.

Formal communication is generally in the form of:

(1) Policy manuals.

(2) Procedural hand books.

(3) Memoranda.

(4) Scheduled .

(5) Conferences.

(6) Special interviews.

(7) Company news bulletins.

(8) Information regarding.

Formal communication flows in the following direction:

(1) Downward communication.

(2) Upward communication.

(3) Horizontal communication.

(4) Diagonal communication.

(5) Multi-directional communication.

Q4) What is informal communication? Discuss advantages and disadvantages of informal communication.

A4)  In every organization, there exists an informal channel called grapevine. This type of communication is free from all the formalities planned in an organization. No. formal channel is prescribed. It is the result of the natural desire of the people to communicate each other on a regular basis. Under this personal and organization matters are discussed. When one comes to know things like-

(a) Retrenchment of a colleague

(b) Love affair of the boss

(c) Differences of a peer with his wife.

They whisper these matters to other, which gives them pleasure too. This communication is supplementary to formal communication. Information under this system may be conveyed by a single glance, gesture, nod, smile or mere silence too. The grapevine is basically a channel of horizontal communication, for it is only people working at same level of hierarchy who can informally communicate with one another with perfect ease. However, it does not follow any set pattern and can be effective horizontally, vertically and even diagonally

Advantages of Informal Communication-

(1) It is a good measure of employee reactions, responses and attitude.

(2) It operates with greater speed and spreads very quickly.

(3) It developed friendly relations and follow feelings among workers.

Disadvantages of Informal Communication-

(1) One of the major drawbacks of grapevine is that it may spread baseless or distorted news, which may sometimes prove harmful to the employees.

(2) The grapevine information is usually incomplete.

(3) It is not possible to fix responsibility for its source of origin.

(4) Informal communication consists of unconfirmed facts, half-truths, etc

(5) This type of information sometime may harm the organisation due to chances of it's being mis-understood and mis-interpreted information, rumors and distorted information, inaccurate information.

Q5) Difference between formal and informal communication.

A5)

Q6)  What is listening? Explain the process, importance and types of listening.

A6)  Listening-

Generally listening and hearing are confused as one and the same thing but it is not so. Hearing takes place when sound waves strike the airs but listening is more than hearing. Listening is getting meaningful understanding out of the message or we can say that listening means receiving message in a thoughtful manner which leads to an understanding of the meaning in the messages. Listening takes place at two steps in the communication process. First, the receiver must listen in order to decode and understand the original message. Then the sender becomes a listener when attempting to decode and understand subsequent feedback. Identical listening skills come into play at both ends.

Listening is an important aid to communication though its importance has not been realised till very recently. In an American company, when a survey was conducted on how members spent their time communicating, it was surprising that 63 per cent of their time was taken up listening to one another, while reading took 4 per cent, writing 11 per cent and speaking 22 per cent. I is undoubtable that if people are bad listeners, they will also make bad Communicators.

PROCESS OF LISTENING-

It has four elements-

1. Sensing: It involves reception, neural activity, hearing and seeing A listener will receive aural and perhaps visual stimuli which are transmitted through sound waves.

2. 1nterpreting: It requires focused perception of the stimuli through language recognition and understanding. The integration of experience is a significant component of interpretation.

3. Evaluating: When a message is understood and the meaning is assigned to   it, it is called evaluating. It involves critical assessment of the contents of the message.

4. Response: It means providing feedback giving opportunity for clarification, correction or further explanation. However, direct response is not always necessary or possible.

TYPES OF LISTENING-

Listening can be of following types:

1. Active Listening: When a person is committed to communication process by providing response and feedback, it is called active listening. It shows that one is paying attention, is interested in the message and is receiving it. Active listening should not be confused with emphatic listening. It is also called attentive listening.

2. Pretending Listening: It means showing through the expressions that the listener is listening to the message to draw meaning out of it, but actually he is not trying to understand it to respond back. The listener just hears the message and afterwards, ignores it.

3. Emphatic Listening: It involves physical, emotional and intellectual inputs in search of the meaning and the understanding. It means responding to the person fully both emotionally and intellectually (intelligently). The primary goal of emphatic listening is to understand the other person.

4. Content Listening: The objective of content listening is to understand and retain information imparted by the speaker. One can ask questions but basically information flows from speaker to audience. One's job is to identity the key points of the message. For this, one has to concentrate and listen to the speaker-previews, summaries and enumerated points. One can create an outline of the speaker's remarks in one's mind and then review what he has learned. One can take notes but should also concentrate on the key points discussed by the speaker irrespective of whether he agrees of non approves or disapproves the speaker's point of view.

5. Critical Listening: Its objective is to evaluate the message, strength of evidence, validity of conclusions, implications of message, speaker's intentions and motives and omission of important or relevant points. One cannot critically evaluate the speaker until he is finished. Critical listening involves interaction as one tries to uncover the speaker's point of view.

6. Passive Listening: When a person is not directly involved in response or feedback to the sender of the message, it is called passive listening. It takes place, when one listens to radio, watches TV and neglects to respond to the speaker.

7. Selective Listening: It means that one does not take the message as it is, but makes additions or deductions according to one's own wish considering only that part of the message which supports his own beliefs and does not want to learn other person's point of view. Usually, the listener tries to identify himself with the situation either partially or totally and attempts to find his autobiography in the lives of others.

8. Listening for Mutual Creativity: It means when two or more persons listen to each other in such a manner that it leads to promotion of creativity of both or all of them to such a level/heights, which they could not have reached on their own on individual basis. Such listening inspires mutual creativity. It is mainly concerned with two things-

i) What does one want the most?

ii) How can another person help him to get what one wants the most?

Listening for mutual creativity smoothness and accelerates the understanding process through the union of hearts and minds of different people. It relieves the persons from stress and star in and helps them to bring the idea which leads to mutual creativity

Q7) How will you distinguish between good listener and bad listener.

A7)

Good listener

 Bad listener

Q8) Write a short note on seminar.

A8)  SEMINAR-

 Even if, seminar talks might look like speeches, but there is a marked Difference between the two. While speeches are made to celebrate or mark Occasion, happy or sad, to felicitate someone, to bid someone farewell or welcome someone, they do not raise a particular issue for discussion, seminar talk, the speaker, who has made a special study of the subject, gives his exposition of it and presents his views on it. A seminar is a meeting for exchanging information and holding discussion on somewhat smaller scale than a conference. Conferences and seminars help to bring experts in a particular subject together to present their experiences and views. Every participant in a seminar is supposed to present a paper in the reading of which all the participants are supposed to discuss it. There is a meaningful discussion on the papers that are read and summaries of these papers and the recommendations, if any, are published in the form of a report for wider circulation. Thus, a seminar may be held on any important aspect of national life like pollution of the environment or the declining state of education.

Q9) Explain the meaning of grapevine communication.

A9)  In every organization, there exists an informal channel called grapevine. This type of communication is free from all the formalities planned in an organization. No. formal channel is prescribed. It is the result of the natural desire of the people to communicate each other on a regular basis. Under this personal and organization matters are discussed. When one comes to know things like-

(a) Retrenchment of a colleague

(b) Love affair of the boss

(c) Differences of a peer with his wife.

They whisper these matters to other, which gives them pleasure too. This communication is supplementary to formal communication. Information under this system may be conveyed by a single glance, gesture, nod, smile or mere silence too. The grapevine is basically a channel of horizontal communication, for it is only people working at same level of hierarchy who can informally communicate with one another with perfect ease. However, it does not follow any set pattern and can be effective horizontally, vertically and even diagonally.

Q10) Discuss the various communication networks.

A10) 1. Single or Straight-Line Chain Model-

As it is clear from the modal No. 1 that 'A has communicated secrets/private affairs/weakness of his boss to B'by with high confidence some saying that I am only sharing these things with you in confidence but please do not share with anybody. But B' feels after knowing the information. from 'A' that how he can ignore his very close friend C, B' says to 'C', I am only telling to you but please do not share it with anybody, but likewise B', 'C' also shares that talk with D' who further share it with 'E' and within few hours every employee working in that organization come to know what that talk.

2. Cluster Model of grapevine-

This model has got much faster spread as compared to straight line model of grapevine. As it is clear from that an employee e.g. 'A has shared some information to all the employees working in the Accounts Department where B, C, D, are working and D' has further given that information to production Deptt. employees F, G, H, I and I has further shared it marketing Deptt, people J, K, L, M and in this way information reaches within two hours to all the employees working in different departments and every employee will know it in very short time of two to three hours.

3. Star of gossip pattern of Grapevine-

This is known as the model of fastest. grapevine. In this Model No. 3 suppose X is P.A. to Managing Director he happens to know that during this year the Mr. M.D. has announced a Bonus of 20% he wants to share this information will all the employees, in that case X would be a sharing that go0d news with all the employees in a gathering form.