National Institute of Business Management

Chennai - 020

SECOND SEMESTER EMBA/MBA

Subject : Business English

Attend any 4 questions. Each question carries 25 marks

(Each answer should be of minimum 2 pages / of 300 words)

1. Explain the process of Communication.

2. Discuss Personnel communication.

3. Explain the practical guidelines for using gender inclusive language in business
communication.

4. Explain the pressure of writing a performance review.

No matter how frequently (or infrequently) they occur, performance
evaluations are nerve-wracking for both employees and their
managers. A worker may not be thrilled about being scrutinized by
the boss. Meanwhile, managers face a lot of pressure to present both
the positives and negatives of their employees' work and behavior in
a respectful, professional manner. When managers need to review
serious problems, evaluations can be especially stressful.
As a manager, giving your staff constructive feedback is a crucial
part of ensuring that your organization operates smoothly.
Performance reviews give you the opportunity to praise employees
for what they've done well, correct what they're doing wrong and
discuss your vision for their growth and future at the company. But
too often, bosses struggle to effectively communicate their thoughts
in a way that doesn't overwhelm the employee during the review.
BusinessNewsDaily spoke with human resources administrators,
managers and executives, and based on their responses, we've
compiled a list of the best tips for writing and conducting an effective
performance review
Make it comprehensive
An effective performance review covers all the bases concerning an
employee's work. It shouldn't be all positive or all negative; a healthy
balance of both is necessary to help your staff members evolve in
their roles.
"A formal evaluation needs to have a few key components," said Don
McIver, COO of 5W Public Relations. "The feedback should be
relevant and specific, with examples for both the good and bad
points. Employee strengths should be acknowledged, and corrective
action needed in weak performance areas should be identified."
In addition to highlighting strengths and weaknesses, a review should
establish performance goals for the upcoming year, and discuss the
employee's role as part of a collaborative team. Bill Peppler,
managing partner of staffing firm Kavaliro, also advised providing
employees with a formal objective of the evaluation beforehand.
"A good manager will explain the purpose of the review, what they
will go over and how frequently performance reviews are given,"
Peppler said. "This manages employee expectations and helps
everyone involved be more fully prepared for the meeting."
Recap regular, informal feedback
Employees' annual or biannual evaluations should not be the only
time they receive feedback about their performance. While there's no
need to call a meeting for every individual issue that comes up, there
shouldn't be any surprises when workers read their reviews from the
boss.
"Employee feedback should not wait for an annual review, but
[should] be given throughout the year as performance issues, good or
bad, arise," McIver told BusinessNewsDaily. "A formal evaluation is
ideally a recap of things that have been addressed during the year."
When there is a problem with an employee's habits or actions,
address it as soon as possible after the incident occurs to avoid
bringing that tension into the evaluation. If an employee's behavior
(positive or negative) doesn't warrant immediate feedback, make a
note of it and use it as a reference point during a formal or informal
performance discussion.
Give honest, constructive criticism
It's never easy to tell an employee what he or she needs to improve,
but giving constructive criticism about your workers' performance is
an important part of the review process. Be as clear and direct as
possible about any shortcomings and mistakes, but also take the time
to provide solutions to those problems.
"Fully explain what the issue is, and then expand on options for
improvement," Peppler suggested. "If you see a problem in an
employee's work, then he or she should have a solution to how it can
be fixed. Also, let employees know where this improvement can take
them, such as a promotion to a management role."
 If suggested improvements are related to reaching a professional
goal, be sure to let employees know what you plan to do as a
manager to help them achieve that goal.
Encourage discussion about the review
Most managers agree that it's frustrating when an employee has
nothing to say in response to his or her performance evaluation. You
don't want your staff to fight you on every point, but you also don't
want to be met with silence if you have suggestions. Push your
employees to give you feedback on the issues you raised. The written
review should be a brief but direct overview of discussion points,
making for a more nuanced face-to-face conversation; this calls for
employee feedback.
If the conversation starts to get heated and you want to avoid saying
something that you might regret, you can try diffusing the tension
with humor. You can then continue a more serious discussion later via
email or in another meeting, after the employee has had a chance to
cool down.
End on a positive note
Always end performance reviews on a positive note. Regardless of
what else was discussed during the evaluation, encouraging your
employees and letting them know you appreciate what they do for the
company will give an added boost to a primarily good review, or lift
their spirits after a somewhat negative evaluation. Positive
phraseology and reinforcement can go a long way in giving workers
the confidence and drive they need to perform their jobs even better.

4.Explain the guidelines to overcome barriers to communication.

In almost any career or area of business, written communication is a key
to success. Effective writing can prevent wasted time, wasted effort,
aggravation, and frustration. The way we communicate with others both
inside of our business and on the outside goes a long way toward shaping
the organizations image. If people feel they are listened to and able to get
answers from the firm and its representatives, their opinion will be
favorable. Skillful writing and an understanding of how people respond to
words are central to accomplishing this goal.
How do we display skillful writing and a good understanding of how
people respond to words? Following are some suggestions.
Do Sweat the Small Stuff
Let us begin with a college students e-mail to a professor:
i am confused as to why they are not due intil 11/10 i mean the
calender said that they was due then so thats i did them do i still get
credit for them or do i need to due them over on one tape? please let
me know thanks. also when are you grading the stuff that we have
done?
Whats wrong with this e-mail? What do you observe that may act as
a barrier to communication? Lets start with the lack of formality,
including the fact that the student neglected to tell the professor his or
her name, or which specific class the question referred to. Then there
is the lack of adherence to basic vocabulary and syntax rules. And
how about the lower case is and the misspellings?
One significant barrier to effective written communication is failure
to sweat the small stuff. Spelling errors and incorrect grammar may
be considered details, but they reflect poorly on you and, in a
business context, on your company. They imply either that you are
not educated enough to know youve made mistakes or that you are
too careless to bother correcting them. Making errors is human, but
making a habit of producing error-filled written documents makes
negative consequences far more likely to occur. When you write, you
have a responsibility to self-edit and pay attention to detail. In the
long run, correcting your mistakes before others see them will take
less time and effort than trying to make up for mistakes after the fact.
Get the Target Meaning
How would you interpret this message?
You must not let inventory build up. You must monitor carrying
costs and keep them under control. Ship any job lots of more than 25
to us at once.
Bypassing involves the misunderstanding that occurs when the
receiver completely misses the sources intended meaning. Words
mean different things to different people in different contexts. All that
difference allows for both source and receiver to completely miss one
anothers intended goal.
Did you understand the message in the example? Lets find out. Jerry
Sullivan, in his article Bypassing in Managerial
Communication, [1] relates the story of Mr. Sato, a manager from
Japan who is new to the United States. The message came from his
superiors at Kumitomo America, a firm involved with printing
machinery for the publishing business in Japan. Mr. Sato delegated
the instructions (in English as shown above) to Ms. Brady, who
quickly identified there were three lots in excess of twenty-five and
arranged for prompt shipment.
 Consider the Nonverbal Aspects of Your Message
Lets return to the example at the beginning of this section of an e-
mail from a student to an instructor. As we noted, the student
neglected to identify himself or herself and tell the instructor which
class the question referred to. Format is important, including headers,
contact information, and an informative subject line.
This is just one example of how the nonverbal aspects of a message
can get in the way of understanding. Other nonverbal expressions in
your writing may include symbols, design, font, and the timing of
delivering your message.
Suppose your supervisor has asked you to write to a group of clients
announcing a new service or product that directly relates to a service
or product that these clients have used over the years. What kind of
communication will your document be? Will it be sent as an e-mail or
will it be a formal letter printed on quality paper and sent by postal
mail? Or will it be a tweet, or a targeted online ad that pops up when
these particular clients access your companys Web site? Each of
these choices involves an aspect of written communication that is
nonverbal. While the words may communicate a formal tone, the font
may not. The paper chosen to represent your company influences the
perception of it. An e-mail may indicate that it is less than formal and
be easily deleted.
Review, Reflect, and Revise
Do you review what you write? Do you reflect on whether it serves
its purpose? Where does it miss the mark? If you can recognize it,
then you have the opportunity to revise.
Writers are often under deadlines, and that can mean a rush job where
not every last detail is reviewed. This means more mistakes, and
there is always time to do it right the second time. Rather than go
through the experience of seeing all the mistakes in your final
product and rushing off to the next job, you may need to focus more
on the task at hand and get it done correctly the first time. Go over
each step in detail as you review.

5. Describe in detail the classification of Communication.

25 x 4=100 marks