Managerial Communication-2

Module-2
Oral Communication
Introduction
Oral communication is one of the most common functions in business. Oral communication
is different from written communication in that it allows more ways to get a message across
to others. You can clear up any questions immediately; use nonverbal clues; provide
additional information; and use pauses, emphasis, and voice tone to stress certain points.
For oral communication to be effective, a second communication skill - listening - is also
required. No matter how well-crafted the content and delivery of an oral presentation; it
cannot achieve its goal if the intended audiences do not have effective listening skills. Some
research has found that nearly 60% of all communication problems in business are caused by
poor listening.
Oral Communication Meaning
In oral communication, both the parties to the process, i.e., sender and receiver, exchange
their ideas through oral words either in face-to-face communication or through any
mechanical or electrical device, such as telephone, etc.
Oral communication, also known as verbal communication, is the interchange of verbal
messages between sender and receiver.
Oral communication also called verbal communication is the interchange of verbal messages
between sender and receiver. It is more immediate than written communication
Need for learning Oral Communication skills
A manager should be able to talk/speak/discuss/converse/argue or negotiate an issue. He
should be able to converse or discuss persuasively, effectively and convincingly with others.
Manager needs oral communication skills to:
• To help problem solving
• To resolve conflict
• To influence people to work together
• To persuade others to be involved in Organisational goals without being
aggressive
• To develop listening skills
• To be an effective negotiator
• To make a proposal
Advantages of Oral Communication
• There is high level of understanding and transparency in oral communication as it is
interpersonal.
• There is no element of rigidity in oral communication. There is flexibility for allowing
changes in the decisions previously taken.
• The feedback is spontaneous in case of oral communication. Thus, decisions can be
made quickly without any delay.
• Oral communication is not only time saving, but it also saves upon money and efforts.
• Oral communication is best in case of problem resolution. The conflicts, disputes and
many issues/differences can be put to an end by talking them over.
• Oral communication is an essential for teamwork and group energy.
• Oral communication promotes a receptive and encouraging morale among
organizational employees.

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• Oral communication can be best used to transfer private and confidential

information/matter.
Disadvantages/Limitations of Oral Communication
• Relying only on oral communication may not be sufficient as business communication
is formal and very organized.
• Oral communication is less authentic than written communication as they are informal
and not as organized as written communication.
• Oral communication is time-saving as far as daily interactions are concerned, but in
case of meetings, long speeches consume lot of time and are unproductive at times.
• Oral communications are not easy to maintain and thus they are unsteady.
• There may be misunderstandings as the information is not complete and may lack
essentials.
• It requires attentiveness and great receptivity on part of the receivers/audience.
• Oral communication (such as speeches) is not frequently used as legal records except
in investigation work.
Objectives of Oral Communication
All business activities except telephoning involve face to face verbal communication. A
telephone conversation is one to one oral communication that requires control of tone, voice,
pitch and precise use of words. Manager’s maximum time is devoted to oral communication.
Manager is engaged in different oral communications activities like meetings, discussion,
negotiations, seminars, presentations, interviwes, peer conversation, subordinate
instructions and telephonic conversation. In all these cases effective oral communication is
must. Objectives of oral communication are:
• To Inform
• To Educate
• To Convince
• To Persuade
• To Lead to Action
Choice of Form of Communication
A manager’s choice between oral and written communication is guided by considering the
suitability of oral or written form for the purpose and nature of the subject of communication.
Both written and oral forms have advantages and limitations as given in the following table

Oral Communication Written Communication

More personal and informal Better for complex and difficult subjects facts
and opinions
Makes immediate impact Better for keeping records of messages
exchanged
Provides opportunity for interaction and Provides opportunity to refer back
feedback
Helps us to correct ourselves Can be read at receiver’s convenience or
(Feedback/nonverbal cues received) pleasure
Better for conveying feelings and emotions Can be revised before transmitting
Can be circulated

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Limitations
Demands ability to think coherently as you Never know if the message is ever read
speak
A word once uttered cannot be taken back Impersonal and remote
Hard to control voice pitch and tone, especially
Immediate feedback is not available for
under stress, excitement or anger correction on
the spot
Very difficult to be conscious of our body Reader is not helped with non-verbal cues that
language contribute the total message
Many people do not like reading if
business/official
Time consuming

Principles of Successful Oral Communication

Oral communication is indispensable in any group or business activity. The purpose of
effective talking is to be heard and understood by the listener. Communication should, have
rhythm and tone of a living voice. The pitch of our voice should take into consideration the
distance between the listener and us. Albert Mehrabiam’s research reveals astonishing facts
about how exactly different factors contribute to a speaker’s total message
• Verbal-7%
• Tone of Voice-38%
• Visual-55%
Bases on above explanations, on can considered following principles in developing oral
communication:
• Clarity of expression
• Make communication a two-way process
• Develop trust by creating listener’s interest
• Be precise, avoid hackneyed
• Avoid communication overload, easy flow
• Overcoming barriers (time, distance & noise)
• Timely feedback
• Communication & Listening Skills
• Correct choice of medium
• Strong conviction
• Sequence, coherence and consistency in contents
• Economical, Accurate, Empathetic
• Identify barriers & try to rectify the problem
• Go for appropriate body language
Characteristics of effective oral communication
According to Francis J Bergin oral communication is characterized by seven Cs i.e candidness,
clarity, completeness, conciseness, concreteness, correctness and courtesy.
In simple terms communicator should follow following:
Oral communication to become successful requires some essential or good characteristics,
those are highlighted as follows:

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1) Pre-Planned: Before transmitting any message, the speaker must have a pre-plan to send
the message properly to the audience or receiver. Pre-Planned communication is always
fruitful.
2) Certainty: The speaker must speak properly while communicating with the audience. The
subject matter or speech must be certain in oral communication to avoid confusion.
3) Conciseness: Information should be /Enriched with concrete, logical and relevant data in
case of oral communication. The subject matter should also be simple to catch the attention
of the audience.
4) Attractive presentation: The message in oral communication should be presented in a nice
tone. The Speaking attitude should be catchy to hold the attention of the receiver.
5) Consideration of the Receiver or Audience: During oral communication, the qualification,
knowledge, experience, and motive should be considered by the speaker. The language
should be simple and understandable to the audience.
6) Neutrality: The audience or receiver should be silent while the speaker is delivering his
speech. The audience must analyze arid evaluate the message provided and then he should
answer properly. The neutrality of the audience sustains oral communications.
7) Realistic: Unrealistic information or, a message can never hold the attention of the
audience. So, a speaker should provide a realistic speech to the audience.
8) Free from error: If the information in oral communication contains any error, then it makes
the audience confused. Moreover, the audience will lose their confidence in the speaker. So,
information must be free from errors in oral communication.
9) Patience: Patience is the key to the success of ineffective communication. Both the speaker
and the audience must have proper patience while making oral communication.
10) Free from emotion: Oral communication should be free from emotion. Because emotion
makes the subject matter to be complicated. Therefore, the audience will make a wrong
interpretation of the message techniques or Way of Oral Communication.
Barriers to effective oral communication
Managers have to communicate individually with people at different levels –superiors,
subordinates, peers, customers, public figures. The oral mode of communication is easy time
saving and functionally helpful in resolving issues. Oral communication demands great control
and communicative competence to be successful. Oral communication shares with written
communication all barriers.
1) Status: In organizations, there are formal and informal status that affects the effectiveness
of face-to face oral communication. The exchange of ideas is blocked by diffidence in the
subordinate because of superior position of the speaker.
2) Halo Affect: Oral communication is conditioned by the impression of the listener about the
moral eminence of the speaker.
3) Complexes: A lack of confidence or a sense of superiority may prevent proper oral
interaction between persons differently positioned. Sometimes one suffers from a sense of
being inferior and therefore, fails to take initiative or involve himself/herself in conversation
or any form of oral communication.
4) Poor Listening: Poor listening may lead to serious communication problems. Too many
people are interested in talking, and mostly talking about themselves. They are so much
involved with themselves that they do not have patience to listen. The result is that they are
not interested in the speaker whose words go waste. Everybody knows about the importance
of listening, but very few actually practice patient, active and empathic listening. Poor

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listening accounts for incomplete information and also poor retention. One may simply not
get the desired result if this keeps on happening.
5) Closed and all-knowing mind: Listening, to a large extent, depends on ones curiosity to
know things. Some persons believe that they know everything in a field or a subject. Their
minds refuse to receive things from other sources.
6) Poor Retention: As a corollary to the problem mentioned above, it is worth noting that
people are also likely to forget messages reaching them. There from arises the necessity to
repeat the message and use more than one medium to communicate the same message.
7) Premature evaluation and hurried conclusions distortions: To listen patiently until speaker
completes his /her argument is necessary for correct interpretation of an oral message. The
listener often distorts the real or intended meaning of communication by either pre-judging
the intension of the speaker.
8) Abstracting: Abstracting is a mental process of evaluation of thought content in terms of
relative importance of ideas in the context of the total message. Abstracting acts as a barrier
when a listener approaches a message from a particular point of view focusing his/her
attention on some aspects of the conversation or dialogue
9) Slant: Slant usually attributed to the biased presentation of a matter by speaker. When
matter is expressed with a particular slant, many other important aspects of the message are
suppressed, left out or indirectly hinted.
10) Language Barrier: The lack of knowledge and practice of spoken English would act as a
barrier to oral communication.
What is Conversational control?
The art of conversation consists in our ability to listen with concentration and reply well.
Conversation control involves skills of listening and talking in a positive and meaningful way
at an appropriate time. It includes:
• Techniques of changing the direction of conversation Smoothly
• The ability to allow a discussion to develop along key issues in an uninterrupted way
towards the desired end.
In business, the following situations require application of conversation control skills-
• How to sells
• How to negotiate
• How to interview
• How to participate in a meeting
• How to disagree without being rude
• How to protest without offending
Skills Required for Conversational Control
Following skills required in conversation control
• Interacting with people in meetings in convincing way
• Handling objections to a proposal made by you.
• Being able to react to criticisms in confident manner.
• Developing skills in interviewing.
• Learning how to get correct information quickly.

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Techniques for Conversation Control

1) Ability to notice cues and Clues: Conversation consists of words as well as non-verbal signs,
signals, cues and clues. Persons skilled in the art of conversation quickly recognize the cues
and know what is of importance to the speaker/ listener that could be the direction and basis
for furthering the conversation or discussion.
2) Recognizing cues and clues: Cues is what speaker gives to listener to understand gist of
talk, Clues refers to hints what listener gives to speaker in form of doubts about speakers talk.
3) Interpreting signs and signals: Visual indicators refers to body language exhibited both by
speaker and listener such as movements of hands, legs, head provides hind about comfort
level of speaker and understanding of content on part of listener.
4) Parallel conversation: It basically refers to when two or more persons have one on one
conversation with each other where listener seeks for further information from speaker.
5) Sequential conversation: Statements used by speaker during speech should be in
sequential order where there should be interlink or relationship between the various
statement of content.
6) Reflection and empathy: reflection basically refers to identify and reacting to key words in
speaker’s statement. E.g. Mr. A to Mr. B Do I have to attend meeting. B should understand
that A is trying to understand his importance in meeting. Empathy basically refers to
understanding feeling or requirement of other person and act accordingly.
7) Sense of time as skill: The speaker should always keep in mind the time taken to
communicate. The time limits announced in formal oral activities should be strictly observed.
Applications of Conversational control
1) Meetings: Advance circulation of agenda papers to enable the members of the meeting
understands the issues and prepares them to present their view point.
2) Chairperson: A meeting is chaired by person whose role is to direct and conduct the
proceedings in an orderly manner. During the meeting the ruling of the chair is to be taken as
final words to be followed and respected by all the meeting members.
3) The procedure: Chairperson should have control during meeting focusing on important
issues and creating conditions for sequential, linked and meaningful discussions for solutions.
4) To be assertive without being aggressive: Skills of avoiding parallel conversation, ensuring
linkage in all members talk, and being assertive about one’s objective without being rude or
hurting others is basic for smooth conducting of business in meeting.
5) Conversational attack and controlled response: The verbal exercise of give and take to
reach a winning end is skill fully managed by conversational control.
Two Sides of Effective oral Communication
There two sides of Effective oral Communication
 Reflection
 Empathy
1) Reflection
Reflecting is the process of paraphrasing and restating both the feelings and words of the
speaker. The purposes of reflecting are:
• To allow the speaker to 'hear' their own thoughts and to focus on what they say and
feel.
• To show the speaker that listeners are trying to perceive the world as they see it and
that listeners are doing their best to understand their messages.
• To encourage speakers to continue talking.

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Reflecting does not involve introducing a new topic or leading the conversation in another
direction. Speakers are helped through reflecting as it not only allows them to feel
understood, but it also gives them the opportunity to focus their ideas. This in turn helps them
to direct their thoughts and further encourages them to continue speaking.
Two Main Techniques of Reflecting:
a) Mirroring: Mirroring is a simple form of reflecting and involves repeating almost exactly
what the speaker says. Mirroring should be short and simple. It is usually enough to just
repeat key words or the last few words spoken. This shows listeners are trying to understand
the speakers’ terms of reference and acts as a prompt for him or her to continue. Be aware
not to over mirror as this can become irritating and therefore a distraction from the message.
b) Paraphrasing: Paraphrasing involves using other words to reflect what the speaker has
said. Paraphrasing shows not only that listeners are listening, but that Listeners are
attempting to understand what the speaker is saying.
It is often the case that people 'hear what they expect to hear' due to assumptions,
stereotyping or prejudices. When paraphrasing, it is of utmost importance that listeners do
not introduce their own ideas or question the speakers’ thoughts, feelings or actions.
Listeners responses should be non-directive and non-judgemental.
2) Empathy
Empathy is defined as the ability to identify and understand another's situation, feelings, and
motives. Communicating with others in a way that reflects more empathy requires listeners
to have a heightened level of self-awareness. Smile is one of the most powerful forms of non-
verbal communication. Sharing professional resources may involve sharing a contact,
providing a referral, facilitating an introduction, becoming a mentor, or simply sharing the gift
of insight with someone.
Modes of oral communication
1) Face to face communication: Refers to when individual is communicating to another
person with intention of creating understanding in mind of person.
2) Interview: Interview is meeting where one person or panel of persons put forward
questions to another person. These are formal conversation conducted in organization with
objective to select suitable person for job.
3) Telephone conversation: Refers to conversation between two or more persons through
network communication.
4) Grapevine: Discussion among employees in an informal manner, on various aspects and
matters concerning the organization and its affairs.
5) Negotiations: Refers to settle down issue by creating mutual understanding between
aggrieved parties.
6) Meetings: Meeting is a formal gathering to resolve and discuss various issues or
development aspects to be implemented in company.
7) Lecture / speech: Lecture/speech is a formal conversation, in which one person usually
speaks and others listen as part of audience.
8) Presentation: Has face to face setting, in which speaker delivers lecture on pre planned
topic to audience interested in subject.
9) Conference/ seminar/ workshops: A group deliberation on various topics, issues are held
in conference, seminars and workshop.
10) Group Discussion: A discussion group is a group of individuals with similar interest who
gather either formally or informally to bring up ideas, solve problems or give comments.

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Listening as a Communication Skill

"Listening" is receiving language through the ears. Listening involves identifying the sounds
of speech and processing them into words and sentences. When we listen, we use our ears
to receive individual sounds (letters, stress, rhythm and pauses) and we use our brain to
convert these into messages that mean something to us.
Listening in any language requires focus and attention. It is a skill that some people need to
work at harder than others. People who have difficulty concentrating are typically poor
listeners. Listening in a second language requires even greater focus.
Listening is the absorption of the meanings of words and sentences by the brain. Listening
leads to the understanding of facts and ideas. But listening takes attention, or sticking to the
task at hand in spite of distractions. It requires concentration, which is the focusing of your
thoughts upon one particular problem. A person who incorporates listening with
concentration is actively listening.
Some of the important facts of listening are as follows:
• If the time spent communicating each day, 45% is devoted to listening.
• Usually a person only remembers about 50% of what is said to them.
• After eight hours they forget another 1/2 to 1/3 of what was originally grasped.
• So that means you typically forget about 75% of what you hear.
• Listening is an important component of conversation control. To be able to
understand and appreciate the other person, you should allow him/her to express
freely, without being interrupted, and listen carefully. Therefore, to improve your skills
of conversation control, you should know whether you are poor or a good listener.
Characteristics of good and poor listener

Fallacies/Mistakes about Listening

Among the great hindrances to effective listening are the fallacies that people hold about
listening. These false ideas often cause people to have inflated opinions of their own listening
performance. Believing that they have no problem with listening, they make no effort to
improve.
Fallacy #1: Listening Is Not My Problem! People generally believe they are better listeners
than those around them. It is the people they work for, the ones who work with or for them,
their family members, and their friends who have a problem in listening effectively—not
them.
Fallacy #2: Listening and Hearing Are the Same: Simply having good hearing does not make
one a good listener. In fact, many people who have perfectly good hearing are not good
listeners. Having good hearing does facilitate one’s perception of sound; but good listeners
don’t simply hear words—they focus on the meaning.

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Fallacy #3: Good Readers Are Good Listeners: This statement is often untrue, even though
both reading and listening depend on the translation of words into meaning. Because of the
shared translation function, there is obviously some kind of relationship between reading and
listening; the problem is, many people mistakenly believe that all good readers are necessarily
good listeners.
Fallacy #4: Smarter People Are Better Listeners: Obviously, intelligence plays a role in a
person’s capacity to listen. Persons with limited intelligence will be limited in their capacity to
process the information contained in messages they receive. Conversely, those having high
intelligence levels will possess a greater processing capacity. Yet, the belief that “smarter
people are better listeners” is often false. In fact, evidence suggests that the reverse is often
true.
Fallacy #5: Listening Improves with Age: Certainly, the capacity or ability to listen and attach
appropriate meaning to messages improves with age and experience—at least in the early
years and at least to some point. But although listening ability increases, listening
performance generally declines at some point. But this doesn’t have to be the case.
Fallacy #6: Listening Skills Are Difficult to Learn: Actually, the skills themselves are not all that
difficult—and initial progress is rapid. But learning to apply the skills consistently does take
hard work. And becoming really proficient takes much time and practice—a lifetime to be
exact. But the effort is definitely worthwhile.
The Stages/Process of Listening

The process of listening occur in five stages. They are hearing, understanding, remembering,
evaluating, and responding.
1) Hearing: It is referred to the response caused by sound waves stimulating the sensory
receptors of the ear; it is physical response; hearing is perception of sound waves; you must
hear to listen, but you need not listen to hear (perception necessary for listening depends on
attention). Brain screens stimuli and permits only a select few to come into focus- these
selective perception is known as attention, an important requirement for effective listening.
2) Understanding: This step helps to understand symbols we have seen and heard, we must
analyze the meaning of the stimuli we have perceived; symbolic stimuli are not only words
but also sounds like applause… and sights like blue uniform…that have symbolic meanings as
well; the meanings attached to these symbols are a function of our past associations and of
the context in which the symbols occur. For successful interpersonal communication, the
listener must understand the intended meaning and the context assumed by the sender.
3) Remembering: Remembering is important listening process because it means that an
individual has not only received and interpreted a message but has also added it to the mind’s

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storage bank. In Listening our attention is selective, so too is our memory- what is
remembered may be quite different from what was originally seen or heard.
4) Evaluating: Only active listeners participate at this stage in Listening. At this point the active
listener weighs evidence, sorts fact from opinion, and determines the presence or absence of
bias or prejudice in a message; the effective listener makes sure that he or she doesn’t begin
this activity too soon; beginning this stage of the process before a message is completed
requires that we no longer hear and attend to the incoming message-as a result, the listening
process ceases
5) Responding: This stage requires that the receiver complete the process through verbal
and/or nonverbal feedback; because the speaker has no other way to determine if a message
has been received, this stage becomes the only overt means by which the sender may
determine the degree of success in transmitting the message.
Types of Listening
Based on objective and manner in which the Listener takes and respond to the process of
Listening, different types of Listening are:
1) Informational Listening: This is simple, straight forward listening. The speaker intends to
get a message across, and the listener's goal should be to understand that message as
completely as possible. The listener might need to ask questions or request clarification to get
the full message.
2) Relationship Listening: The purpose of this type of listening is to improve the relationship
between two or more people. It also plays a big part of friendships and family relationships.
In this type of listening, the speaker expresses her feelings, and the listener's job is to process
the information before responding.
3) Sympathetic Listening: This could be considered the most challenging type of listening
because the listener's role is often not to respond at all. The speaker who seeks sympathetic
listening might have suffered a tragedy or needs someone to listen to a series of complex
thoughts.
4) Appreciative Listening: Looking for ways to accept and appreciate the other person
through what they say. Seeking opportunity to praise.
5) Critical Listening: Listening in order to evaluate, criticize or otherwise pass judgment on
what someone else says.
6) Discriminative listening: Discriminative listening is the most basic type of listening,
whereby the difference between different sounds is identified. If you cannot hear differences,
then you cannot make sense of the meaning that is expressed by such differences.
7) Biased listening: Listening through the filter of personal bias i.e the person hears only what
they want to listen.
8) Deep listening: Seeking to understand the person, their personality and their real and
unspoken meanings and motivators.
9) Evaluative listening: Listening in order to evaluate, criticize or otherwise pass judgment on
what someone else says.
10) Judgmental listening: Listening in order to evaluate, criticize or otherwise pass judgment
on what someone else says.
Principles/ the Ten Commandments of listening-Keith Davis
1. Stop talking. Obvious, but not easy.
2. Put the speaker at ease. Create a permissive, supportive climate in which the
speaker will feel free to express himself or herself.
3. Show a desire to listen. Act interested and mean it.

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4. Remove distractions. External preoccupation is less likely if nothing external is

present to preoccupy you.
5. Empathize. Try to experience to some degree the feelings the speaker is
experiencing.
6. Be patient. Give the speaker time to finish; don't interrupt.
7. Hold your temper. Don't let your emotions obstruct your thoughts.
8. Go easy on argument and criticism. Suspend judgment.
9. Ask questions. If things are still unclear when a speaker has finished, ask questions
which serve to clarify the intended meanings.
10. Stop talking. In case you missed the first commandment.
Non-verbal Communication
The word "Non-Verbal Communication" means Communication not involving speech or
words. By non-verbal communication, we mean all communication that involves neither
written nor spoken words but occurs without the use of words. Thus, this is the wordless
message received through the medium of gestures, signs, body movements, facial
expressions, tone of voice, colour, time, space, style of writing and choice of words.
Characteristics of Nonverbal Communication
1) It is instinctive in nature: Non-Verbal Communication is quite instinctive in nature, that is,
it indicates the attitude, instincts and feelings of the speaker.
2) It is less conscious: Words are spoken after due thinking and with conscious effort.
Depending on the situation we have to make a more or less conscious effort in these/choice
of words. The nonverbal part of communication, on the other hand, is less deliberate and
conscious as most of the expressions, gestures, etc. included in Non Verbal Communication
are mostly unconsciously expressed, as the speaker may not even be aware of these signs.
3) It is subtle in nature: Spoken and written words are quite obvious and easy to see, listen
and understand, whereas, Non Verbal Communication is very subtle, and needs skill to be
understood and expressed.
4) It is complimentary to Verbal Communication: Non-Verbal Communication does not stand
alone on its own and neither does it completely substitute Communication with words; it
complements Verbal Communication and makes it more effective.
5) It forms the larger part of the overall communication activity: On scientific analysis it has
been found that the different aspects of communication account for percentages stated
below
• 55 percent -Facial expression, body position, gestures
• 7 percent- Words
• 38 percent -Tone of voice and inflection
Functions of Nonverbal Communication
Nonverbal communication serves five primary functions.
1. Nonverbal communication provides information by repeating, substituting for,
emphasizing, or contradicting our verbal messages.
2. Nonverbal communication regulates interaction as conversations are managed
through nonverbal cues.
3. Nonverbal communication expresses or hides emotion and affect, since one is able to
show nonverbally how one feels about another person, or one may mask true feelings
through nonverbal behaviors.

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4. Nonverbal communication presents an image, because much of impression

management occurs through the nonverbal channel.
5. Nonverbal communication expresses status, power, and control, since many
nonverbal behaviors are signs of dominance and one can convey power and status
through nonverbal behavior.
Types of Nonverbal Communication
There are multiple categories of nonverbal communication.
1) Kinesics/Body Language: Body language is nonverbal communication through body
motions, also known as kinesics, the study of body language.
a) Eye contact is how and how much we look at the people with whom we are
communicating.
b) Facial expression is the arrangement of facial muscles to communicate emotional
states or reactions to messages; emoticons are typed or graphic symbols that convey
emotional aspects of online messages.
c) Gesture is a movement of hands, arms, and fingers to describe or to emphasize.
d) Posture is the position and movement of the whole body; body orientation refers to
posture in relation to another person.
e) Touch, formally known as haptics, is putting part of the body in contact with
something.
2) Paralanguage: Paralanguage is communication through nonverbal sounds; it is comprised
of five vocal characteristics, including pitch, volume, rate, quality, and intonation, which can
complement or contradict meaning, while vocal interferences can disrupt messages.
a) Pitch is the highness or lowness of a person’s vocal tone.
b) Volume is the loudness or softness of a person’s vocal tone.
c) Rate is the speed at which a person speaks.
d) Quality is the sound of a person’s voice.
e) Intonation is the variety, melody, or inflection of a person’s voice.
f) Vocal interferences are extraneous words or sounds that interrupt fluent speech.
3) Spatial usage: The third category of nonverbal communication is spatial usage, which is
nonverbal communication through the use of the space and objects around us.
a) Personal space is the space around the place a person occupies at a given time; and
proxemics is the study of personal space.
b) Territory is the space over which we claim ownership.
c) Artifacts are the possessions we use to decorate our territory and communicate about
our space.
4) Self-presentation cues: Nonverbal communication includes self-presentation cues, which
are presented to others and are based on physical appearance, use of time, and use of smells
and scents.
a) Physical appearance includes gender, race, body type, and facial features, as well as
clothing, grooming, and body decorations.
b) Use of time is how people view and structure their time.
c) Olfactory communication is nonverbal communication through smells and scents.

5) Vocal interferences: Vocal interferences are the sounds and words we use when we
hesitate or are not sure of the right word. We all use the occasional “uh”, “er”, “well”, and
“you know” to indicate that we are searching for the right word. But such interferences may
become a problem when they pop up too frequently as they can interrupt your listener’s

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concentration and comprehension. Hesitation can be broken down into filled pauses, also
known as vocalized pauses such as “um”, “er”, “ah”, and “uh”; and empty pauses, which
consist of silence. Hesitations occur within the speech utterance, as well as at the beginning
and at the end. These pauses allow the speaker to collect his/her thoughts and also serve as
signals for turn-taking within a face-to-face interaction.
Improving Nonverbal Communication Skills
Improving nonverbal communication skills can be achieved by following some suggestions:
1) When sending messages, be aware of the following guidelines.
a) Be mindful of the nonverbal behavior you are displaying.
b) Adapt nonverbal behaviors to your purpose.
c) Adapt nonverbal cues to the situation.
d) Align nonverbal and verbal cues.
e) Eliminate nonverbal behaviors that distract from the verbal message.
2) When interpreting others’ nonverbal cues, be mindful of the following
a) Be mindful that most nonverbal cues are not emblems.
b) Consider cultural, gender, and individual influences when interpreting
nonverbal cues.
c) Pay attention to all nonverbal communication cues and their relationship to
verbal communication.
d) Use perception checking.
Advantages of Non-verbal communication
• Control: Nonverbal cues may also be used to control the behaviors of other. Silence
controls by refocusing attention. A finger placed against the mouth is a cue for silence.
• Complement: Nonverbal communication can also be used as a complement of verbal
communication.
• Substitute: The major importance of nonverbal communication is that it may be used
as the substitute of verbal message.
• Instant Effect: All nonverbal cues have almost instant effect as the receivers perceive
them quickly.
• Aid to Verbal Communication: Non-verbal methods are extremely useful as an aid to
verbal communication. Maps, charts and graphs are absolutely necessary for
conveying ideas related to geography, locations, data and most of the sciences.
• Sign or Marks of Identity: Nonverbal communication also functions as the sign or
marks of identity for some objects or people.
• Color as a Powerful Means of Communication: Color is a very important and powerful
means of communication. It is a part and parcel of our daily life.
• Pictorial Presentation of Mass Communication: Pictorial presentations are best for
mass communication.
• Arousing Stronger Response: All human beings respond more powerfully to pictures,
colors and plain sounds than to language.
• Contradict: Sometimes, nonverbal behaviors can be also used to show contradiction
to verbal communication.
• Restate or Emphasize: Gestures and facial expressions may be used to restate or
emphasize a particular point.
• For Illiterate People: For the illiterate people, the only method of conveying important
information is by nonverbal symbols.

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Disadvantages of Non-verbal communication

• Incomplete Communication: In most of the case nonverbal communication is used as
complement to verbal communication.
• Problem in Feedback: Nonverbal communication can produce different feedback if
the receiver does not understand the message or misinterprets the meaning of the
message.
• Quite Inactive in some Areas: Nonverbal communication is not effective in some areas
like telephone conversations, hide talking and so on.
• No or Less Effect after the Occurrence: Nonverbal communication has strong instant
and inherent effect but lacks in producing after effect as it cannot be read or heard
repeatedly.
• Lack of Flexibility: Lack of flexibility is another important drawback of nonverbal
communication. There is no scope of changing the meaning of message sent by
nonverbal cues because here in most of the cases nonverbal cues disappear as soon
as communication ends.
• Grater Possibility of exchanging Fraudulent Message: In nonverbal communication,
people can easily mislead others by using some symbols that don’t match with their
mental status.
• Encoding and Decoding problem: Communication produces best result if the sender
encodes the message considering the receiver and receiver decodes the message
exactly as sent by the sender.
• Differences in Nonverbal Cues across Culture: Most of the nonverbal cusses produce
different meanings in different cultures.

Questions
3 Marks
1) What oral communication?
2) What is Conversational Control?
3) What is listening?
4) What is Mirroring?
5) What is Paraphrasing?
6) What is non-verbal communication?
7) What is Informational Listening?
8) What is Relationship Listening?
9) What is Sympathetic Listening?
10) What is Appreciative Listening?
11) What is Discriminative Listening?
12) What is Paralanguage?
13) What is Spatial usage?
14) What is Vocal interference?
15) What is Critical Listening?
16) What is Deep listening?
17) What is Judgmental listening?
7 Marks
1) What is the need of oral communication?
2) What are the advantages and disadvantages of oral communication?

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3) What are the objectives of oral communication?

4) What are the principles of oral communication?
5) Explain Two Sides of Effective oral Communication
6) What are the skills required for conversation control?
7) What are the characteristics of good and poor listeners?
8) Explain application of conversation control
9) List out 10 commandments of Listening
10) Explain characteristics of non-verbal communication
11) Explain different types of Kinesics
12) What are functions of non-verbal communication?
10 Marks
1) What are the characteristics of effective oral communication?
2) What are the barriers of oral communication?
3) Explain different techniques of conversation control.
4) Explain modes of oral communication.
5) What are the fallacies or myths of listening?
6) Explain steps involved in listening process.
7) Explain different types of listening
8) Explain different types of non-verbal communication
9) What are the advantages and disadvantages of non-verbal communication?

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