JAWAHARLAL NEHRU TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY HYDERABAD
MBA – I Semester Examinations, Feb. 2011
Business Communication & Soft Skills
3 hours Answer any five questions max marks 60
1] Identify the differences between British English and Indian English. Do these differences pose any problem to Indian users of English?
English, a language of imperialistic country, has become a language of survival. Its importance is growing day by day. Every research is taking place in the west. They are naming any invention, policy or anything that is new. We are a member of Common Wealth countries. We follow the British English. there won’t be any difference between the British English and the Indian English. Only thing is that we add our own accent to English. A Tamillian speaks English in Tamil accent and a Muslim speaks English in Urdu way. Our dialect is South Asian dialect. 11% of Indian population speaks English.
Our English pronunciation is dominated by our own mother tongues. Our accent of English is clearly seen in our mother tongue dialect. Some examples of Hindi;
Eg. “ what I mean is, ki, we should adopt this plan. [ ki ]
Let us go and have chai-vai. [chai-vai]
Similarly business-bazi, dadagiri, fighting-witing, cheating giri, tax wallah, dubba wallah, maane,
We use “actually” more number of times. “Actually I am not feeling well.”
Idioms :- yaar! Your good name please? [ there is nothing like good name or bad name. It is Hindi copy]
The movie is deadly yaar! [ in our words deadly means intense, high-tech, stylish, sexy] [yaar is our pet word]
Please call a taxi for Gupta-ji. [we use – ji, Sri, Smt, Tiru, Tirumati, Sahib,… to show respect]
Casual interjections of Hindi used in English -- arey, yaar, bhai, accha, oof, waah, re’, amma,
In Indian English we use words from Bengali, Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, and Urdu.---jungle, bungalow, bandana,
pajama, pundit, guru, idly, sambar, chutney,
This is called Indianization of English. It won’t pose any problem because we have our own mother tongues to explain further if the other man does not understand and ask any thing that we speak.
2] To make an oral presentation effectively, the speaker must be able to exercise control over the material, the self and the audience.
What strategies and techniques should be adopted to have mastery over these three factors?
Control over the on the audience is possible if he has;
1] good personality 2] good voice 3] correct accent 4] smile 5] seeing all
6] should know the audience 7] voice modulation
Control over the material;
1] the subject on which he is going to speak, should be authoritative,
2] the material should be well prepared,
3] it should be relevant to the situation,
4] the material should useful to the audience for their future reference,
Control over self;
1] time consciousness,
2] pauses and punches
3] in between interactive way will be better,
4] involve the audience
5] if audience ask questions, reply sincerely otherwise say “ I will refer and tell”,
6] don’t underestimate anybody,
3] What are the advantages and techniques of fast reading?
Fast reading is generally done to general books. The main purpose is only to know the gist of the topic, paper, or the novel.
It may not be useful for technical books, books of importance, academic books, etc.
If it is a general novel, reading here and there is enough to understand the summary.
If we are reading a newspaper, we read the main heading fast. If anything of our interest is there, we go through that thoroughly. So fast reading enables us to understand what is important and what is not.
4] How do audio-visual aids facilitate effective technical presentations?
Presentation needs audio and visual aids for effective communication.
For audio presentation we have tape recorders.
Fro visual presentation we can use handouts, tab les, graphs, slides, computers, paper presentations, power point presentation, documentaries, film strips, OHPs, etc.
A visual presentation is worth thousand words.
For technical presentation, depending upon the presentation, we require diagrams, circuit diagrams, items used, benefits, applications, and many other things.
All these together facilitate effective technical presentation, and what we want to explain will be understood 100 percent.
5] The success of a meeting largely depends upon the effectiveness of the Chairman.
As the Chairman of a meeting what are the functions, duties and responsibilities that you envisage for yourself.
Chairing a Board Meeting
The chair’s meeting role requires both neutrality, openness to all ideas and perspectives, and activism that is a passion for inquiry.
The skills, the chair has to rely upon, will be different depending on whether
1. a wide range of ideas need to be generated and explored,
2. a problem solved or
3. a difficult choice made,
4. whether the matters before the board are new or
5. familiar territory.
As a process facilitator, the chair must have confidence in the group and see his/her job as bringing out the best in every individual, helping the board, and working as a team.
The chair’s role is one of servant leadership, that is, he/she is there for the board!
Formal meeting rules:
Formal meeting rules are useful for focusing discussion and making clear decisions in the context of long agendas.
Decision-making rule: The chair must know of course, as the whole board must know, how decisions, will be made.
Will the preferred decision making rule be majority vote, consensus or unanimity?
Groups that favour consensus should talk about what this really involves in terms of the meeting
and chairing practices..
How much chairing: Effective boards will articulate what they expect from their chair in terms of facilitating meetings.
Group dynamics: The chair’s job is easier when boards make a collective commitment to one another to good meeting practices, norms or ground rules.
1. Listen actively
2. One person should speak at a time
3. No side conversations
4. Questions are as valuable as answers
5. Link or build on each other’s ideas
6. Encourage everyone to speak
7. Keep the discussion on track (pay attention to agenda and time)
The board meeting ground rules should be written down and distributed.
The chair may want to review them at every meeting as a reminder of the importance of process.
Preparing for meetings
1. The chair must come to the meeting well prepared.
2. He/she will need to spend some time in advance:
3. Preparing or reviewing the agenda in consultation with the executive director and other executive
4. committee members
5. Thinking about which items require real deliberation by the board and which ones do not
6. Identifying time guidelines for each agenda item, in part, to balance reporting and discussion time.
7. Some boards adopt a “consent agenda” to free up time for longer discussions6
8. Determining whether an item is tied to an existing policy or might require a new policy
9. Contacting other board members about them presenting or taking the lead in discussing certain
agenda items.
10. Before the meeting you may want to prepare yourself as well.
11. Be aware of your own agenda and other things on your mind that can interfere with your ability to listen to others and enable the discussion.
Setting the meeting climate is accomplished by:
1. Welcoming the group
2. Initiating a round of introductions (and check-in) if new people are present or if the group is still
getting to know one another
3. Reviewing the agenda and time guidelines, modify the agenda if required and seek its adoption
4. Reminding the group of the meeting ground rules
Encouraging full participation and open discussion
Effective chairs are skilled in directing and asking questions of the whole board as well as of individual directors
The chair can do this by:
1] Summarizing the discussion 2] Offering a clear question to be answered by the group
3] Setting time limits on individual comments and total time 4] Calling for a concluding “go around”.
Here the chair can suggest that everyone can contribute if the situation is discussed in 4 or 5 sequential steps: 1] Problem or issue identification 2] Understanding and analysis
3] Option generation 4] Decision-making and action
5] Asking about the specific outcomes hoped for by the measure
6] Asking for pros and cons, hopes and fears, or opportunities and challenges in relation to a particular proposal 7] Initiating a round of brainstorming
8] Asking board members to describe their relevant experience in other organizational settings
9] Initiating a “go around”, that is, an opportunity for all board members to speak briefly to the item
The chair may want to close with:
1] Acknowledgement of the work done (some figurative “high fives”)
2] A summary of major decisions and action items and who is responsible
3]An assessment of the meeting (asking what went well and how the board can improve its meetings)
6] Before attending an interview for a job by promotion or recruitment, you would normally prepare yourself for the interview.
Give an elaborate account of how you would prepare for the interview and face it effectively.
Personal specifications to be checked before attending interview.
1] physical characteristics 2] necessary qualification 3] problem solving
4] aptitudes such as a] fluency in speaking English b] fluency in writing skills c] analytical skills d] competence in arithmetic e] listening skills f] ability to plan g] organize others’ work h] interest in other things i] ability to accept responsibility j] co-operative type k] ambitious l] ability to work for long hours
5] 100% commitment 6] learning ability 7] communication a] verbal b] non-verbal
8] team work 9] hard work
Your role
1] study job requirements 2] talk of your skills 3] how you got your skills 4] how your skills are useful to the company 5] dress well 6] stand tall 7] make eye contact 8] shake hands firmly 9] be polite 10] wait for your turn 11] don’t give negative information 12] body language 13] different CVs
Dos
1] come 10 minutes early 2] be friendly 3] carry extra copies of resume 4] talk your strengths 5] tell the requirements of the company
Don’ts
1] complain 2] exaggerate 3] bluff
You should know What does your employer want?
He wants that you should
1] work independently 2] artistic 3] solving problems 4] commitment 5] thinking originally 6] taking the initiative 7] adapting to any type of situation 8] organizing 9] vehicle driving 10] vehicle mechanism 11] minimum MS office
You should also know that,
1] An interview is a formal meeting in which a person evaluates or consults another person.
2] Interview can be defined as an oral tool to test a candidate’s traits for employment or admission to a premier institution of learning.
3] An interview reveals the view, ideas, and attitudes of the person being interviewed as well as the skills of the interviewer.
4] An interview is a formal meeting where somebody is asked to see if he is suitable for a particular job.
5] Interview are always goal oriented, which the aim to assess suitability and make a selection.
7] Imagine that a national level book fair has been recently held in your town or city.
Draft a report on the benefits and achievements of this book fair for the consideration of the Government of Andhra Pradesh, Department of Education, so that it may encourage similar book fairs or exhibition in other towns and cities.
Book is a good companion throughout our lives. Friends may come and go. All the relatives and nearers and dearers will not be with us always. But book is such a thing which is always with us.
Book is such a thing which acts as a bridge between older generation and the present generation. Going through the book we can understand the ideologies, commitments, sentiments, thinking range etc. of those our ancestors.
Book fair is such a single exhibiting place, where we can see hundreds of books, published by different publishers. This covers first hand written books to present day published ones.
It covers all the branches of knowledge exhibited at a place. The buyer can have wide range of selection as per his choice.
For writing a book the author may take ten, twenty, or thirty years. But the author’s, those many years of research, efforts, hard work, references, etc. can be read by us in a month or two. In this regard we should be thankful to those writers.
Book fair is a place where book lovers can meet together and exchange their ideas. New ideas can be exchanged. Their friendship may last for years.
The report must contain the following sub-headings
1. Objective of the Book Fair
Its objectives are to introduce new books to the book lovers.
Bring books of older generation to the present ones.
All types of books are available.
Book lovers can come together and exchange their views.
It saves our time to go to far places and get books which are generally not available in our home town.
2. Location and timings of the Book Fair.
Generally book fairs are conducted in such large area such as stadiums, pavilion grounds. They are held in summer. The working time will be convenient even to home makers, i.e. 2 to 8 pm.
3. Particulars of Participating Publishers.
The participants will be publishers – academic, journals, references books, dictionaries, classics, novels, fictions, mysteries, etc. it may range to 100 varieties.
4. A variety of Books and Special volumes.
The variety will be classics, research books, biographies, autobiographies, science fiction, etc.
Generally the special volumes will be like
Vedas in 18 volumes by Sri. Dasaradhi Ranga Charulu
Complete works of Shakespeare etc.
5. Profiles of visitors.
The visitors of all walks of life visit the site. There is restriction for the entry. Books for every type of person will be available there.
6. Benefits to all sections of the public.
The fair will be highly beneficial to the public. As books of all the publishers are present at one place, it will be highly time saving. No need of writing to the publisher, and get copies in VPP.
7. Recommendations.
Book fairs should be conducted every month in all the cities. Sometimes mobile book fairs will also be useful.
8. Conclusion.
Today’s world is running on virtual books. But all cannot have access of these books as they are not with in the reach of common man. Immediately after buying we can go through them. It will not be so with CDs, DVDs, other soft copies.
8] Rewrite the following sentences making corrections wherever necessary.
1. Godavari flows into Bay of Bengal.[The Godavari flows into the Bay of Bengal]
2. All fruits cannot be eaten. [All the fruits cannot be eaten.]
3. When have the British left India? [When had the British left India?]
4. Indians are docile, isn’t it? [[Indians are docile, aren’t they?]
5. Huck Finn was a young vagrant boy. [Huck Finn was an young vagrant boy.]
6. We are friends since school days. [We have been friends since school days.]
7. What kind of a friend are you? [
8. The goods are in short supply.
9. I don’t know as to why she is crying. [I don’t know why she is crying.]
10. There is an urgent message for you. [
11. There is no place in the bus. [There is no seat in the bus.]
12. Seldom he sees movies. [He seldom sees movies]
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