GM12 Business Communication

Assignment No.I
Assignment Code: 2011GM12B1 Last Date of Submission: 30th Sept 2011 Maximum Marks:100

Attempt all the questions. All the questions are compulsory and carry equal marks.

Section-A

Ques. 1

You can play fast & loose with words but, its much more difficult to do that with

gestures. Discuss . Ques.2 Ques.3 Ques.4 Discuss the effect that the purpose / goal of communication has on business communication. a) Give 4 important things to be observed while talking on the telephone? b) Tick 3 basic email etiquettes that depict professionalism. a) List out 2 reasons why you would want to know a persons personality style while communicating? b) Give 2 aspects which influence your method of communication? Section-B Case Study: When misfortune strikes Founders day celebration had been planned. Meticulously passes had been issued to the high and mighty of the city to come and witness the parade. All those who had passes were feeling very privileged to be seated beside the whos who of the huge conglomerate. A huge pandal was constructed with chairs placed on steps to aid vision even from the back. The top of the pandal was covered with tarpaulim. The crowd was busy watching one pageant after the another came and go. The weather was good. There was joy in the air and everything seemed better than it actually was. A spark was noticed at one end of the pandal. There was a bit of smoke. Before anyone realize what was going on the whole place was went up in flame. A stampede ensued. People ran wherever they could find space. Some tripped and fell. The smoke was asphyxiating and the flame scorching. The smell of burning plastic and flesh hung heavy in the air. A misfortune had struck and it was of gigantic proportion. An end of the pandal had caught fire due to a spark from an electric wire. The tarpaulin covering the pandal had caught fire immediately and the whole bamboo structure came crashing down in flames on the unsuspecting spectators.

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Many officers had sent their wife and children. Many old people had come to watch proceeding. Several top brass of the city had sent their children escorted by their nannies to watch the pageant. The dead primarily included children, ladies and old people. The dead count was huge because the pandal had been jam packed. There were utter chaos in the city. People rushed to the city hospital where dead and injured were being carried. The press and rumor mills began their work in dead earnest. A tragedy of such proportions had never struck the city. The site was governed by the company and the onus was on them. The local government officials were there but their role seemed limited. The crisis was handled admirably well by the company officials. Instead of declaring the hospital out of bounds for the general public, the authorities decided to allow everyone to come in. All efforts were made to identify bodies and the injured. It was decided to share all information with people. The managing director spoke and told the gathering that no stone would be left unturned to provide for the injured. A plane was kept ready to fly injured to nearest metro. The dead were mourned, and it was decided on the spot that the company would shoulder the responsibility of rehabilitating all families in whichever way it could. The Aftermath The aftermath of a tragedy is, sometimes, more difficult to handle than the tragedy itself. Proper use of all communication channels and the need to address the most important concerns of the people is very necessary. It is not in anyones interest to shroud a tragedy in a veil of security and let the rumor mills work overtime. Public sentiment can sometimes get out of hand and it can lead to bigger tragedies than the one already witnessed. Questions 1. 2. What are the different means of communications that can be handy in the type of situation? How can a proper communication channel lead to better handling of situation?

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GM12 Business Communication

Assignment No.II
Assignment Code: 2011GM12B2 Last Date of Submission: 15th Nov 2011 Maximum Marks:100

Attempt all the questions. All the questions are compulsory and carry equal marks.

Section-A Ques.1 Ques.2 (a) Negotiation is basically meant to resolve conflicts. Comment. (b) Analyze different stages of negotiation process. Write short notes on the following: (a) D.O. letters (b) Form letter (c) Memos. Communication is what the receiver understands, not what the sender says. Discuss this statement with reference to circulars and memos. An effective business letter can act as your relationship officer Draw the significance of vocabulary or word power in letter writing in business. Section-B Case Study Paperless Offices The Board of Directors of a large courier company decided to do away with lengthy reports, memos and other material by way of hard copy. The whole network was connected through a website and all important functionaries were given e-mail Id to help them communicating through the server. It was also decided that all memos and intimations would be sent by e-mail to all concerned and there would be no hardcopies made. It look some \time for everyone to get into their groove and then the system started working really well. Information was traded and replies to various queries were sent and received via e-mail. Papers were not traded between offices anymore. The mailboxes of various branches, especially those that were the hub centres began to overflow. Data needed to be deleted for fresh data to be sorted. This became normal practice for the branches that had heavy mail traffic.

Ques.3 Ques.4

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The head office received a request from the Income Tax Department regarding a client. The Department wanted to know how letters or packets were couriered from the clients office to certain places and addresses. They wanted a record for the last three years. The company had records for the last three years. It asked all its offices to give them the record pertaining to that particular customer. Some offices complied very quickly others were having certain problems which they had not envisaged earlier. Some offices had already erased records of the period six months prior to the date when the request was made. Form the time their offices were fully computerized, they had made their own norms regarding retention of old records. The head office had a lot of explaining to do for this lapse on the part of their offices. Some offices had a failure in their back-up power system and their data had been lost. This too had led to serious problems in reconstructing the courier records of the client in question. The only records they had were the records of bookings records, on papers, which came in handy in this situation. Backing up It is very necessary to back-up important data on electronic media, as hard copy, for use when urgently required in the future. It is also very important to define retention time for business records. A lot is communicated by records and records can also help a company review its own performance. A record can be replayed, at will, only if it is preserved. Questions 1. Make a memo of the above case assuming that you are Technology Officer and are submitting it to the Vice-President (Technology).

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