KASOZI.

EMMANUEL UB18416BBU26251

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION SKILLS

A Final Thesis Presented to AIU The Academic Department Of the School of Business and Economics In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Bachelors Degree in Business Administration

CONTENTS

About this thesis Introduction Chapter1. Communication 1.1. Communication defined

3 4

6 6

Chapter2. 2.1. Effective Communication 2.2. Features of effective Communication 2.3. Factors to be considered for effective communication 2.4. Merits of Communication 2.5. Communication with Jobs Chapter3. 3.1. Types of Communication Chapter4. 4.1. Managing a Presentation Chapter5. 5.1. Buriers for Effective Communication List of References 33 35 29 19 9 9 12 14 15

About this thesis

Managing is all about communicating, if someone is communicating then he/she is also managing. Take an example of a manager in an organization when a manager is not communicating then he/she is not managing too. Nowadays Management is not just an issue of command and control. Its a matter of working with matrix management and networking, with subcontracting and companionships. Managers must influence people to act, but not brandishing power over them. Our prosperity depends on other people or employees in an organization. The new technologies also have been a mixed go-ahead. Information Technology helps us keep in touch and can reduce our chances of talking to each other. Many people have become cubicle workers, spending most of their time in interfacing with computers. But in other words communication is all about four things that is to say: talking, writing, reading and listening. But communication requires two people to take place that is the sender and the receiver but on the other hand it may require a go between/a media which connects the both sides the sender and receiver to be effective. Through this thesis we are going to focus all things like what is communication?, effective communication, sender, receiver, a media, transmission model, relevant communication among others. Communication is effective after being attached with feedback. Like a student who has studied for a period of time to be identified of his work done at school, he/she is being identified by his/her results. Not by the way they put on, not by age but by the results of his performance. This applies on the communication to be effective it must bear the feedback.

INTROCTION
Communication plays a huge part in our daily lives. Communication is born in families, raised in schools, colleges and universities and developed in the workplaces. Therefore everything is basing on communication. A baby/child talks with the mother or parents, we talk to friends, bosses, students talk with teachers and also we talk on internets. Communication involves listening, understanding, and then giving the feedback where necessary. Communication becomes irrelevant of ineffective if it does not involve understanding. Therefore any communication to be effective it must be clearly understood by the receiver. Communication without understanding it is a matter of wasting time. It recalls me the secondary school error, where our teacher of mathematics came into our class and he provided a lesson for a period of two hours, most of the students seemed to be tired and started dosing but the teacher when he saw some students dosing he started to narrate funny stories to wake them up. Then one of my friends after the teacher getting out of the class he said the teacher has taught and taught but I have grasped nothing. So though the teacher taught for a period of two hours but his communication was not effective to my friend because he understood nothing. So communication to be effective must be persuasive and clearly understood by the receiver. In an organization managers always receive written communication, or call it application letters from eligible employees. But these managers they receive many application

letters so what they consider first is the persuasive and concise letters. This means that any communication must be persuasive and understandable. Buriers/ineffective communication according to my own research appear to be the cause of mistakes which are mostly done by most people. People are doing mistakes and the biggest percentage give an excuse that I didnt understand what you told me to do. So the is a need for a communicator to make sure that his/her communication is clearly understood by the receiver.

1
Communication
The question to be asked here is that what does the word communication means? Every person when you talk about communication the minds goes straight the exchanging of information from one person to another. But most people they consider most oral communication. It is very easy for one to make communication to anybody else but the problem comes to the understanding capacity of the receiver. Remember communication becomes productive when it is clearly understood by the receiver unless otherwise it will be wastage of time to communicate to someone who doesnt understand the information being communicated. When the information is clearly understood by the receiver then the communication becomes effective communication. Every communicator his/her main aim of communicating is to make effective communication. So the communicator in order to make effective communication has to use persuasive language.

Communication defined. Communication refers to as the process of transmitting and receiving information from the sender to the receiver. Communication is very crucial at workplaces, in families, schools and universities, and in churches or mosques. Its communication which leads to understanding there is no way one can understand without communication be it verbal or non verbal

communication. Therefore communication shouldnt be taken for granted; it should be taken as serious as any other crucial things. The information being transmitted to the receiver by the sender it has to pass into the transmit ion models. After the communicator being noted the transmit ion models then the information will be received successfully by the receiver. Shannon, Claude E and Weaver, Warren (1949), A Mathematical Model of Communication. These engineers in a telephone lab published their version of transmission model which intended to make telephone cables more efficient and accessible. These engineers suggested formulated six factors of a transmission models which are as follows:

a source . an encoder a message a channel a decoder a receiver Their functions were to produce message, encode messages from the source, transmit or make signals clear, and receive messages from the signals.

Noise Cha nnel

Source

Encoder Message

Decoder

Receiver

Feedback

Figure1. The ShannonWeaver transmission model of Communication

The illustration above illustrates the telephone communication that after the source, encoder, decoder, channel and receiver being connected by the wire then communication is getting transmitted from the former to the later by forming what is called noise. After communication is being transmitted from the source to the receiver then the receiver takes back the feedback in order the sender to know that communication is done or transmitted effectively. This can also be seen automatically for example when the teacher is in the classroom teaching, the teacher can identify that is communication is received effectively by the students in the classroom by observing the responses of the students in the classroom.

Figure2. Students responding to their teacher

The teacher can really identify that his/her communication is received by the students by observing the activeness of the pupils.

2
Effective Communication
"For effective communication think about how is your speech is perceived than in what you are actually saying." Byron Rivers"

Any person before he/she communicate should bear in mind such a question. Why should communicate? Where, how and when to communicate?

All those question when are considered by someone who is aspiring to communicate then automatically that person becomes an effective communicator. Not all communication delivered is effective, some communication is just wastage if it is not properly communicated by the communicator. Then that communicator who doesnt know why he/she is communicating will be wasting time. But the main aim or goal of an effective communicator is to ensure that his or her information is properly conceived, understood and considered by the intended receiver. In fact every person whose is listening effective communication will get inspired, motivated, and will be interested to listen, listen and listen because he/she is listening to someone who is well prepared, ready, knows the value and the reason of communicating.

Features of Effective Communication

 An effective communication should be clearly understood by the receiver Clearly interpreted Properly planned and organized Should be communicated to the right person, in the right place and in the right time The intended listeners of an effective communicator will be willing to listen, interfere, and interpret the formation passed by the communicator and also the effective communicator him/her self will be able to: 1. Evaluate him/her self. Because he/she can be in position to receive the responses from the listeners. The responses may be positive or negative opinions. 2. Persuading. He/she can be with the ability to sway others to receive the information.

3. Clear, brittle and succinct. Making sure that the voice is loud and clear, inciting and clearly understood by the listeners.
Every listener will be eager to understand what is being communicated and put it into consideration. But if the communication is not effective the receivers will be totally bored and not willing to listen anymore. Likewise the communication which is not effective results into bad outcomes like failing of interviews, failing of exams by the students, strikes to the politicians among others.

Figure3. Active listeners are busy listening and writing down important information. People fail to get hired because they lack effective communication skills. They simply dont know how to handle an interview Its because of taking communication for granted people fail to get what they wanted to get for example:

Vicky wanted to get a job from a certain office.

Vicky: Morning sir, Boss: Fine and you? Vicky: I am good. Boss: Can I help you? Vicky: I want a job from you Boss: which job do you want?

Vicky: Any job sir Boss: Where did you get the information from? Vicky: from nowhere but I have come to try here. Boss: Our office specialized in transportation services; we need drivers, conductors and engineers to repair our vehicles which one of those would you prefer? Vicky: Vicky I am specialized in music Boss: we are very sorry because we cannot employ you according to our positions we have.

Vicky was not prepared and was not organized her communication data to apply a job. This is why most people fail to communicate effectively due to the fact that they are not organized. But its nice one to be aware of where you are today where you will be tomorrow and where you shall be after tomorrow likewise on the side of communication it is so good one to note what to communicate, when to communicate, how to communicate, where to communicate and to whom to communicate to. After considering all those I think the communication process will be effective.

Communication makes possible all relationships, friendships, workmates and family closeness. How is it mastered? How can it be developed and maintained. Dwyer 2005, Proposed that Ineffective communication can lead to errors, misunderstanding, poor performance, lower motivation and morale, negative feelings in the workplace and many other issues that may detract from achieving organizational goals It is, therefore, important to try to minimize barriers to effective and efficient communication: communication barriers distort or interrupt the message and its meaning. Its only communication which leads to human success If Vicky was organized her communication data maybe she would have succeeded.

Factors to be considered for Effective Communication:

 Describe the purpose of your communication before continuing with anything else. Use plenty of time organizing your talk so that to be effective Fastening the attention of your audience early in a communication speech so that they continue listening Enlighten the audience the reason of communicating to them at the beginning, and the end of your communication. Conquer the stage terror by making it work for you. Use stories and anecdotes to bring your talk to life. Appraise each speech you communicate so that you can continually advance your communication skills. Go ahead practicing till it is understood. Preview your speech to check out whether it is effective.

Merits of Communication
Communication sometimes is not what you first hear, listen not just to the words, but listen for the reason." (Catherine Pulsifer)

Communication has the following advantages

1. Elimination of misunderstandings, effective communication avoids the differences between people, for instance a conflict cannot be solve by keeping quiet. In order for the conflict to be solved the conflicting sides have to sit down and communicate effectively to avoid misunderstandings. Through this members

will express their feelings, views. Wants and dislikes so as coming to an agreement.

2. Self-assurance, as we have seen earlier that effective communication requires listening and evaluation, someone who is a good listener and evaluates his communication data he/she is self-confidence 24/7 due to the fact that he is confident and he/she is very sure of his/her talk and ready to share it with other people without doubt.

3. It eliminates communication buriers. Effective communication helps the communicator to escape communication buriers since it involves active listening and full of understandings. This means that the message will be sent directly to the receiver and eventually feedback is taken back to the sender which stipulates effective communication.

4. Strengthens relationships. Sometimes they say that birds of the same feathers flock together it appears true also to the human beings. Some people like to make communication to those of the same opinions and ideas a very good example is the politicians, sportsmen and sports ladies. This makes their relationships stronger and stronger as time goes on.

5. Job success. Managers who have the ability to communicate well with others in their workplace, who can get their messages across to others in an effective way and can accurate the instructions to complete the assigned tasks they can lead their jobs to a great success in the organization.

Though communication skills may be difficult to some people, but it is very crucial one to note that it can likewise be practiced and learned. Learning is all about how communication goes, using the better mode of communication, ways of communicating what you want to say, and the ability to convince others to receive the message.

Communication with Job Interviews:

In most cases effective communication is a burrier to those who are applying for jobs. Most people fail job interviews due to lack of effective communication. As we saw in our example of Vicky above, she was not organized her communication data to apply for a job which made her failing to attain a job. The applicant is the source of communication; the applicant should the purpose of applying a job and the ways of communicating to achieve a job, in order the applicant to succeed a job interview he/she must be very clear about the message he/she is sending to the interviewer. Do you know what exactly you want to communicate with the interviewer? Have you gathered data about the job you are applying?, do you have the job requirements?, do you know the reason of communicating?, are you sure of what you are communicating about?. Then if the applicant cannot answer all these questions he/she is starting the interview communication with a high chance of failure. An interview involves the exchange of information between the applicant and the interviewer. There we can say that interviews it is all about communication views and communication views are all about efficient communication. So the applicant to succeed in interviews should consider various factors.

Factors to consider for an Interview. The interview involves the communication skills of inquiry and persuasion of the interviewer. Knowing the objective Knowing the time Keep an eye on body language Rehearsing

Knowing the objective

Here the applicant should clearly know the job objectives, the job requirements, and the reasons prompted him/her to apply a job. Can I afford this job? , whom am I talking to? And how can I talk to him/her. Since an interview is all about persuasion, the applicant should be very ready to persuade the interviewer that she/he has the ability to be hired to perform the organizational activities. Putting in mind that discipline also matters at this level, one can be with the persuasion language but discipline less which can too limit him/her to be hired for a job. Some people they talk to the interviewer as they talk to their age mates, however much the interviewer is younger than the interviewee the sign of respect should be shown by the interviewee, since an interview is not all about age.

Knowing the Time. Questions like when and where should be answered here by the interviewee and the interviewer. The interviewer should consider the place and time to hold an interview. Does the place suitable for interviews? Where the interviewees come from. Because some interviewees come from different parts therefore the interviewer should consider the appropriate time. Also the interviewee should keep time in order to catch up the interview and note some interviewers use different techniques to interview people so he/she should prepare him/herself to face such challenges.

Keep an eye on body language. However much they say that never judge a book by its covers. But on the other hand it can be judged by its covers when it comes to an interview. The body language determines your behaviors when it comes to ones clothing, answering questions and appearances. You cannot go for an interview while putting on min-skirts, shorts etc. Try not to be too casual recommended and normal cloths which do not make people wonder you. Also

the comb well, shaves well, iron well and be smarter to show that you are a responsible person.

Rehearse This consists, all the above stages. The interviewee should rehearse his/her body language, put in mind time and objectives. Knowing how to answer questions is very crucial; also the interviewee should be confident. But confident comes after practice and practice is attained after gather all the information required. If an interviewee works upon all those he/she will be in position to persuade the interviewer to hire him/her for the organizational job.

Now lets see one interview question and its answer from www.jobinterview.net/Bank/Qfirstjob.htm Question It's my first job. What can I do/say to convince the interviewers I will be able to handle the job despite my lack of experience? Answer Look over your courses and part-time & summer jobs (if any); do not neglect any other activities such as clubs, sports, etc. Now---think about all the skills that are needed to perform the job you are interviewing for. Lots of skills are transferable and highly valued such as communication, delegating, organizing. First think in terms of verbs...things that must be done. Next, think of adjectives that should describe the person doing the job such as calm, patient, incisive, creative . . . you get the idea. Now that you have this list of what is needed for the job (verbs and adjectives), come up with as many examples of these attributes in your experience and/or coursework. For

example, if you had completed several extensive reports, they involved research, time management and organizational skills. Tell short stories as examples of 'proof' of your expertise. Being able to translate college experiences to job-needed skills is an art in itself. If you are not certain of the qualities needed for the job, do some research on it yourself? Talk to professional organizations or individuals in the field. Make sure you do some research on the organization you want to work for...show them that you are interested and motivated by the fact that you did your 'homework' before applying. This 'skill-matching' exercise can also give you your key selling points and areas to highlight in your resume and marketing letter. Source: http://www.job-interview.net For more information on interviews visit the following websites. Job Interview Tips and Tricks http://www.jobsontheweb.com/tips.htm

Job Interview Questions http://www.job-interview-questions.com Ask the Interview Coach http://www.asktheinterviewcoach.com

Interview Mastery http://www.interviewmastery.com

3
Types of Communication
Verbal communication is the phrasing of ones feelings and ideas by using a native tongue or written messages. This on the other hand called spoken. Since communication is all about understanding and interpreting ones information, verbal communication seems to be the most effective communication method which is commonly used compared to other methods of communication like non-verbal or body language communication. Verbal communication is all about using of words to convey the information to the active listener or the receiver. Therefore it can be divided into oral and written communication. Oral communication is based on expression of ideas and feelings through vocalization or by the use of tongue. This comprises face to face conversation, group meetings, preview meetings, telephone calls, teleconferencing; computer calls ie Skype calls among others. This is called pick and pay communication due to its effectiveness since it doesnt involve debts. The means that it involves automatic feedback thats why it is called pick and pays communication, you talk and receive your feedback there and then. But it lasts of a while compared to written communication. Written communication, in this type of communication, ideas and feelings are expressed in written words or in written words. Ears and eyes are used to interpret information so here you can either listen to the reader or you can read by your eyes and interpret the information and eventually understand.

Written communication Medias include, letters, memos, electronic Medias like computers, phones by use of text messages and facsimile machines like faxes etc. this communication is durable, stable and formality but sometimes it delays feedback especially when the receiver is not available or faraway from the media.

Application Letters/cover Letters as A written Communication Most people use letters to convey information to their bosses, superior, friends, colleagues, among others. But is method of communication needs more seriousness and demands the sender to be more specific and straight to the point directly since it may take the reader off topic and destroys the meaning of the message or information. Written message can be preserved for further references. In our first example of applying for a job we saw Vicky that was not prepared to apply for a job by using face to face communication because she had not gathered communication information. Likewise through written communication when the sender is not serious may end up failing to achieve the intended goal/ objective. This written communication requires the sender to be concise, persuasive and straight to the theme in order to depict clearly the communication meaning to the receiver or reader. Now lets see how an application letter should be as a written communication media.

October 13, 20 Sentrol Inc. Attn: HR Purchasing 10831 SW Cascade Blvd. Portland, Oregon 97223

Dear Human Resources Manager: I am responding to your October 9th advertisement in The Wall Street Journal for Purchasing Manager. The following comments show how my qualifications match your stated requirements: YOUR REQUIREMENTS 1. Electronics and mechanical purchasing background. MY QUALIFICATIONS Ten years in all phases of electro-mechanical assembly, five plus years as purchasing manager. 2. Experience and knowledge of international business and purchasing standards. Familiarity with ISO 9000 Series and the FDA's Good Manufacturing Practices.

3. Experience developing world class supplier relationships to achieve cost delivery and service including implementing JIT and direct to line supply programs.

Developed many systems to meet requirements for world class manufacturing in addition to several supplier programs for JIT.

4. Strong communication skills, including negotiation skills.

Worked on all major contracts over a five year period resulting in 2-5% cost reductions.

5. Strong management skills and the ability to develop a purchasing team.

Excellent leadership abilities and believe in employee participation and empowerment.

6. Must be customer service and

Total focus for PIC and

team oriented.

Purchasing was to satisfy the Customer.

Please contact me to talk further about this exciting opportunity. Regards,

John B. Doyle Source: http://www.careerlab.com/letters Supporting the above example of a cover letter above of John B. Doyle, he was straight to the point, brief and concise and Understandable. This means that Doyle had all the writing tips which will attract the reader or the receiver to read and consider his information as compared with Vicky.

Writing Tips When one is writing it is very crucial to put in mind the writing tips which will help you to win the receiver. Important to note the following: Purpose Whom you are writing to Conciseness Compelling Clear Correct

Purpose I understand that Im what Im for a purpose and too you are what you are for a purpose. Therefore any living organism does what he/she does for a purpose. The purpose may lead you to achieve what you intended to achieve. I remember when I was young I used

to pay visits to my aunt, my aunt used to give me sugarcanes. So that technique of giving me gifts my aunt used, made me to like visiting my aunt, therefore whenever I prepared a visit to my aunt, I had a purpose. When you are writing with a purpose, you will be in position to conquer the reader and persuade him to continue reading your message. The purpose in any written communication acts as the foundation of writers message. Writing without a purpose makes your message to be boring, even the reader will lose morale of reading your message. The writing purpose will pull the readers attention.

Whom are you writing to? Knowing whom you are writing to it is very paramount in writing skills unless otherwise the writer will end up wasting his/her time. When one is writing should be in position to know exactly whom he/she is writing to, when and how to write to that person, if you cant observe it then written communication is not the suitable choice to use. Once the writer has distinguished whom he/she is writing to then she/he should straight forward the main point first, since writing communication is considered for saving time the reader after reading the main point will pay his/her attention to the body and if the main point is not attracting the readers attention no time wasted the reader will put it aside. See an example of a poor writing communication

Dear Kokubanza, Yesterday I spent time with Rweyemamu discussing and passing through the performance of our sales department of the year 2011. Compared to the year before, the performance and profits obtained by the company went down approximately 40%. If an action is not taken immediately the companys situation will be worse than the current situation and also the sales of our company went down 50%. I think it is bad news to our company and the well wishers. We

resolved that we should meet immediately and take a proper action to rescue our company. There I would like you to inform the sales team, board of directors, accountants and managers so that we meet on Friday the following week, will it be possible?. If it is possible let me know. Yours Mujuni,

Mujunis writing communication was not straight forward and not focusing at the main point till to the end. Therefore it will consume the readers time to get to the main point. If the reader is overloaded and too busy, he/she will put it aside and Mujunis communication will not be effective. Instead Mujuni would compose his letter like this.

Title:

Call for a meeting of the Board of Directors, Managers, Accountants, and

the Sales Team- please reply. Dear Kokubanza, I would like to meet your sales team, accountants, managers and board of directors on Friday the following week to discuss and find the possible ways to rescue our companys performance following the poor performance of our company in the previous year. If possible we meet for a while, can you? Yesterday I took time with Rweyemamu discussing and passing through the performance and profits obtained by the company went down approximately 40%. If an action is not taken immediately the companys situation will be worse than the current situation and also the sales of our company went down 50%. I think this is bad news to our company and we should meet immediately to find out the possible ways to rescue our company. Thanks Yours Mujuni

Now I think that you can witness the difference between the two communication letters. The former ones the subject line of the letter was not straight forward and requires to read up to the end to understand what the communication is all about but you can see that the later is straight forward to the subject line and it doesnt consume the readers time to understand what the communication is all about.

Conciseness Any concise written communication is written to win customers, clients and readers. Busy people cannot read any communication which is not concise and relevant; the communication should be brief and concise. To be concise in any communication one should focus on the purpose of the communication be it verbal or written communication. Its also very important one to note or be able to answer the why, who, how and when questions before starting any communication.

Compelling Most writers tend to be too long in their writing communication, but it is very important for one to consider the readers time. The writer should narrow down the communication by pointing out the main points which can attract the readers attention and bring out the exact meaning intended. How do you make your communication compelling? One can make his or her communication compelling for example in writing communication the writer should consider the following: The purpose, this shows clearly the objectives of communicating

Body of the communication The conclusion of the communication It is very crucial one to use words that can be easily read and understood by the reader. When you use words which cannot be understood by the reader, you may fail to persuade the reader and attract his/her attention which may lead you fail to get you goal.

Correct Correctness in writing communication means being serious, therefore a writer should use correct spellings and preview his/her message before submitting it to the reader or receiver. Whenever you write, you must proofread your document carefully before sending it to a reader. It is also very important for a reader to proofread his/her communication immediately after writing, after a period of time to check the grammar and punctuations and lastly the writer should proofread the communication at least three times before submitting it to the reader.

Nonverbal Communication This communication type does not involve words. Gestures, expressions, vocal sounds among others are mostly used in this type of communication. Bovee et al (1993), says nonverbal cues carry more than 90% of the emotional meaning of message, as a result these cues have a greater impact than verbal communication.

Also by observing nonverbal cues and interpreting those correctly in an organization managers can learn a lot about individuals and the messages they convey. Cues convey information in different means and their absence likewise may convey the information in a different picture take an example of thugs who practice stealing in police uniforms or army uniforms, the common people interprets them as police or army officers. The use of space is the symbol of status. For example use of personal space refers as to nonverbal communication. One may pinch someone else when he/she does not want him or she to do/say something which shouldnt be done/said that too implies as a sign of nonverbal communication.

Formal Communication This communication channel is made up of information flow which is dedicated by the official organizational structure. In most cases formal communication is comprised of written communication and nowadays the presentations like telephone calls, newsletters, written CDs, video tapes, MP3 presentations among others all are forms of formal communications. In formal communication the information flows from the top department to the bottom/down departments. This is commonly known as upward communication and downward communication. Upward communication This is the flow of information from lower to higher levels of management in an organization. The upward organizational communication is important because it is intended to: Transfers feedback messages from the subordinates to their superiors To receive information concerning operational menaces in the organization

Downward Communication The information here flows from higher management level to the lower level, in other words information flows from superiors to subordinates within an organization.

The downward flow of organizational information is very crucial in the following ways: To give or direct organizational members their duties and tusks To explain clearly the subordinates performance within an organization To solve conflicts within organizational members To strengthen the relationships between the organizational superiors and their subordinates

The Directors of Masaka Town College (MATCO) communicating to their Students as an example of downward communication

4
Managing a Presentation
Making a presentation its not a joke, it is a serious task which needs determination, competence and organization. Communicating to a group of people is a notoriously stressful and tiresome task. Most people spend most of their time holding conversations. Something strange seems to happen, whenever theyre called in front to talk to a group of people formally. It recalls me back to my secondary school era during the debate periods, I had a friend who used to fear debate so much whenever he was called in front to debate people used to knock the desks that point of order, can you touch in your shirt, point of information among other. So that friend of mine whenever the time of debate approached he used to dodge because of fearing to make his presentation. So making a presentation is a serious task at all. Making a presentation needs three main elements: 1. The message 2. The audience 3. Yourself or the speaker as commonly known

The main aim of the presentation is persuasion of the audience, but the engineer or driver of the presentation is the presenter or speaker. Experts say that to win persuasion the presenter needs to work upon the following: working out your big idea: your message; validating your message using SPQR (situationproblemquestionresponse)

Arranging your ideas coherently; Expressing your ideas vividly; Remembering your ideas; Delivering well

Getting ready for a presentation The presenter before staging on the presentation he/she has to question him/herself questions and find the solution to the questions. Questions the presenter has to answer are: What is your message? To whom are you going to make a presentation? How are you going to present? Where and what time do you going to use when presenting?

Answers to the questions: Question What is your message? Answer: know your message you are going to present to the audience, know what it is all about. The presenter should prepare his/her message before it is presented and rehearse it twice or thrice before presenting so as to gain confidence with your message. Presenters who are not organized leave their presentation dead on the floor the reason not that they are weak, not competent but because of not being organized. The message is the foundation of the presentation and also the more the organized message the more persuasion to the audience. An organized message will inspire the audience and eventually the audience will be called an active audience.

Question To whom are you going to make presentation? Answer: knowing whom are you communicating to is very crucial to win the persuasion of the audience. Nowadays some politicians misuse their presentations, one politician went in church and he was give a chance to make his contribution but the politician change the theme into politics which led to some of the Gods followers to move out the

church. So the politician didnt know who he was presenting to, therefore it is very vital to know whom you are presenting to. If its children present a message which goes with the age of the audience and if it is adults present a message which match with their age and interests. Also the question answers the where question. Is it in church, is it in burial ceremony, is it in a politics rally, where exactly?

Question How are you going to present? Answer: here the presenter should be very serious with the Dos and Donts of the presentation. He/she should study the likes and dislikes of the listener and if it is the dislikes he/she should know how to twist or sell them to the audience so as to win their attention and promote the objectives.

Question For how long do you going to present? Answer: as they say that time wasted never be regained. The presenter should know and budget the time appropriately. Focus more on the introduction, body and conclusion of your message. Dont over talk you will end up boring people and being irrelevant and that might leave the floor dead and yet your message will not be conceived by the audience. So your objective must be to inspire your audience. If you have any other objective, choose another method of Communication. If you are simply making a pronouncement and not seeking or expecting any kind of response, you may as well write it down. For teaching or instructing, you will need to adapt a presentation into a much more interactive activity.

Welcoming Questions as part of a presentation

Questions are part of the presentation, the presenter because he/she is organized and ready to make his/her presentation he should expect questions from the audience and he/she should welcome them and answer them concisely. Questions in a presentation are a symbol of understanding and shows that the audience have been actively listening to the presenter. Also questions when answered by the presenter the audience will be persuaded in the presenters speech. As a presenter do the following when you are welcoming and answering questions: Welcome questions from the whole audience. You may welcome one by one or you may welcome all at per. Note or record down the questions asked by the audience, you may decide to answer one after the other or answer them at per. Be brief and concise when answering questions Balance questions with time Answer questions honestly, dont tell lies the audience answer what you know and if you dont know say so honestly to be frank. Be loud and clear

5
Buriers to Effective Communication
Message being delivered to the receiver it doesnt mean that the message is clearly conceived and understood by the reader or receiver. The message recipient may receive the message without understanding it and obviously when the message is not clearly understood by the receiver, the intended communication will be ineffective and eventually the senders communication will be meaningless. The buriers of communication are both organizational and interpersonal buriers like noise, poor listening, wrong perception, meager filtering, typecast, information overload, varying status and task direction among others. Dwyer 2005, states that Ineffective communication can lead to errors, misunderstanding, poor performance, lower motivation and morale, negative feelings in the workplace and many other issues that may detract from achieving organizational goals. It is, therefore, important to try to minimize barriers to effective and efficient communication: communication barriers distort or interrupt the message and its meaning. Poor Listening You and I we are not the same though we are all living organisms. We can all listen the same message but we interpret it differently and perceive it differently too. What you interpret is what you have understood, so if you have poor listening likewise you capacity of understanding the information will be poor. Research shows that managers to overcome listening problems should learn to be active listeners by promoting characters such as asking questions for verifications of meaning, keeping emotional blazes under control, avoiding skipping to conclusions about a speaker, paragraphing what has been understood, listening without interruption and keeping an open mind.

Information overload Managers sometimes are human beings like any other people and sometimes they are too busy and receive various messages beyond they capacity which lead them fail to get effective communication. Therefore managers need help by other employees and sorting equipments to gather different information.

Varying status and task directions Some organizational members rely most on their superiors when sending information by considering the messages which favor their superiors which leaves aside the receivers side. Biasing on one department is very dangerous because other members will misunderstand different and likewise the relationship will not be good at all. So communication should consider both sides in order to be understood effectively.

Wrong perception Individuals process of receiving and interpreting information differs from person to another. One may communicate in his manner and another person interprets it in different manner. This is due to individuals cultures, beliefs, values and experiences and expectations. Therefore it is very crucial to understand the characters of the people we are working and living with to communicate effectively.

List of References
1. Carnegic, Dale (1990). The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking: New York: Pocket Books. 2. Graffin, Jack (1998). How to say it at work: Putting Yourself Across with Power words, Phrases, Body language and Communication Secrets. New York Prentice Hall Press 3. Faske, John (1982). Introduction to Communication studies: London: Rout ledge. 4. Jeary, Tony (1996). Inspire Any Audience: Proven Secrets of the Pros for Powerful Presentations. Dallas: Trophy Publishing. 5. McQuail, Denis (1994). Mass Communication Theory: London Sage Publication April 1997 Quotes on communication 6. http://www.leadershipnow.com/listeningquotes.html 7. www.wow4u.com/communication/index.html