Describe the modes of communication The modes of communication are:
Formal and Informal,
Oral and Written,
Internal and External, and,
Verbal and Non-verbal Communication.
1.Formal and Informal
Communication can be both formal and informal. It depends on one's relationship with the sender or receiver. The first social meeting between two individuals tend to be very formal, but as they get familiar the communication becomes friendly and informal. When working directly for the goal of the organization, formal communication is used. Both formal and informal communication modes are equally important. Informal communication within any set-up is known as the grapevine referring to rumour. Written communication can be either formal or informal.
2.Oral and Written
Any communication can be divided into two equally important categories: oral and written.
Oral forms
Written forms
Face-to-face conversations
Memos
Telephone conversations
Letters
Meetings
Emails
Seminars
Faxes
Conferences
Notices
Dictation
Circulars
Presentations
Newsletters
Group discussions
Reports
Interviews
Proposals
Video conferences
Research papers
Bulletins
Brochures
Manuals
In-house journals
THE ADVANTAGES OF WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
The written mode is very convenient to send lengthy messages with a lot of information that cannot be shared orally. In written communication, the response can be well prepared because the medium gives ample time to the receiver to analyse the message and its implications. THE DISADVANTAGES OF WRITTEN COMMUNICATION It takes longer to draft and convey a written reply, thus it will not work in places where time matters, e.g. , when discussing an urgent business deal. In a negotiation-like interaction, which requires a lot of exchanges between two parties, written communication can take a long time. Written communication cannot be supplemented with non-verbal gestures and postures, which are sometimes essential for a message to be properly interpreted. 3.Internal and External
Internal ; Communication within an organization is known as internal communication. It usually is formal. Here interactions take place through pre set formats, and are usually not ad hoc or unplanned.
External ; All official, technical, or professional communication with people outside the organization is known as external communication. This is mode is equally important as Internal communication.
4. Verbal and Non-verbal Communication
Verbal communication includes both oral and written communication.
Non-verbal communication refers to all communication that occurs without the use of words spoken or written. Non-verbal communication is concerned with body movements (kinesics), space (proxemics), and vocal (paralinguistic) features. It includes all unwritten and unspoken messages, both intentional and unintentional.
The four major formal communicative skills are known as LSRW.
L = listening
S = speaking
R = reading
W = writing
Listening
In relation to communication listening refers to the ability to understand an oral message. One is to understand what one hears. Listening attentively as well as assimilating the information is very important for effective communication. The way one listens reveals ones attitude. Listener's response to the message (interest, empathy, boredom etc.) is communicated through the act of listening. The power to comprehend the delivered information quickly is the need of the hour. Effective listening skill is required for a professional as it is one of the basic and most important skills needed for activities such as interviews, group discussions, meetings etc.
Speaking
Which is the most frequently required skill in professional and social spheres? It is Effective Speaking. Effective speaking is but the ability to express one's message effectively to the audience through spoken words. The delivery of messages is possible through both face-to-face communication and electronic devices. This skill is very much required for communicating in conferences, meetings, seminars, group discussions etc.
Reading
The act of effective reading requires the skills of decoding and comprehending the written message. Thus reading is a complex skill. The reader has to develop different skills such as vocabulary, fast reading, and intensive reading. Fast reading skills include; a) scanning, and, b)skimming. Intensive reading includes; a) thorough reading, and, b) inferential skills.
Writing
When we write down a graphic element on a piece of paper , it becomes a written document. This written communication is the second form of communication which is transmitted through words. Effective writing skills are required to write documents such as reports, letters, memos and emails. Why written communication is more important than oral communication? Because it is a permanent record of one's transactions, and it can be referred to at any point of time. Only practice can perfect the writing skill. For effective writing, one must write, rewrite, and finally learn to edit.
Language
is not exact. It can lead to misunderstanding. Noam Chomsky and
Ferdinand de Saussure have classified the language so that the true
nature of the languge could be understood. They are:
Language
is artificial,
Language
is restricted,
Language
is abstract,
Language
is arbitrary,
Language
is creative,
Language
is redundant, and,
Language
is recursive.
Language
is artificial because it is man made.
It
cannot exist in isolation. It is subject to change.
Language
is restricted because it is not capable of
repressenting
our thoughts fully. The limitation of
A) a
general term applied retrospectively to the wide range
of
experimental and AVANT-GRADE trends in the literature
of
the early 20th century, including SYMBOLISM, FUTURISM,EXPRESSIONISM, IMAGISM, VORTICISM, DADA, and SURREALISM, along
with the innovations of unaffiliated writers.
2
hyperbole
B)a
mode of writing that gives the impression of recording or
'reflecting' faithfully an actual way of life. The term refers,
sometimes confusingly, both to a literary method based on detailed
accuracy of description and to a more general attitude that
rejects idealization, escapism, and other extravagant qualities of
ROMANCE in favour of recognizing soberly the actual problems of
life.
3
modernism
C)a
highly conventional mode of writing that celebrates the innocent
life of shepherds and shepherdesses in poems, plays, and prose
ROMANCES. Pastoral literature describes the loves and sorrows of
musical shepherds, usually in an idealized Golden Age of rustic
innocence and idleness; paradoxically, it is an elaborately
artificial cult of simplicity and virtuous frugality.
4
pathetic fallacy
D) an
explicit comparison between two different things, actions,
or feelings, using the words 'as' or 'like'
5
decorum
E)a
sweeping but indispensable modern term applied to the profound
shift in Western attitudes to art and human creativity that
dominated much of European culture in the first half of the 19th
century, and that has shaped most subsequent developments in
literature—even those reacting against it.
6
realism
F)openness
to different interpretations; or an instance in which some use of
language may be understood in diverse ways.
7
Romanticism
G)the
most important and widespread FIGURE OF SPEECH, in which one
thing, idea, or action is referred to by a word or expression
normally denoting another thing, idea, or action, so as to suggest
some common quality shared by the two.
8
ambiguity
H)a
standard of appropriateness by which certain styles, characters,
forms, and actions in literary works are deemed suitable
to one another within a hierarchical model of culture bound by
class distinctions.
9
pastoral
I)exaggeration
for the sake of emphasis in a FIGURE OF SPEECH not meant
literally. An everyday example is the complaint 'I've been waiting
here for ages.'
10
simile
J)the
poetic convention whereby natural phenomena which cannot feel as
humans do are described as if they could: thus rainclouds may
'weep', or flowers may be 'joyful' in sympathy with the poet's (or
imagined speaker's) mood.
I have been listening to TED TALKS for a while now, and I have come across a number of inspiring, courageous, jaw dropping, persuasive, ingenious, fascinating, beautiful, informative and funny talks. I would wonder, laugh, ponder over along with the speakers. But when Sunitha Krishnan spoke it was different. It was a moving speech. In her talk she asked the audience to do whatever they can to spread the story she told. I wanted to do something. I have a blog (this very blog) which is visited by at least 700 people every day. So I thought it would be a good idea to write a post here on Sunitha Krishnan's speech, and to post the transcription of her speech. I don't want to give any comment on her speech because it speaks for itself. I have posted the full speech here. A link to her speech [video] is given at the end of this post. Links to her blog and website are also given. Be a part of her mission.
Now the speech...
I
am talking to you about the worst form of human rights violation, the
third largest organized crime, a 10 billion dollar industry. I
am talking to you about a modern day slavery.
Like
to tell you the story of these three children; Pranitha, Shaheen and
Anjali. Pranitha's mother was a woman in prostitution.
A prostituted person. She got infected with
HIV. And towards the end of her life when she was in the final
stages of AIDS she could not prostitute. So she sold four year
old Pranitha to a broker. By the time we got the information,
we reached there, Pranitha was already raped by three men.
Shaheen's
background I don't even know. We found her in a railway track
raped by many, many men. I do not know how many. But the
indications of that on her body was that her intestine was outside
her body. And when we took her to the hospital she needed
thirty two stitches to put back her intestine to her body. We
still don't know who her parents are, who she is. All that we
know is that hundreds of men had used her brutally.
Anjali's
father, a drunkard, sold his child for pornography.
You
are seeing here images of 3 years, 4 year old and five year old
children who have been trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation.
In this country and across the glob hundreds and thousands of
children as young as three, as young as four are sold into sexual
slavery. But that is not the only purpose that human beings are
sold for. They are sold in the name of adoption. They are
sold in the name of organ trade. They are sold in the name of
forced labour, camel jockeying...anything and everything.
I
work on the issue of commercial sexual exploitation. And I tell
you stories from there.
My
own journey to work with these children started as a teenager. I
was fifteen when I was gang raped by 8 men. I don't remember
the rape part of it so much as much as the anger part of it.
Yes, there were eight, one who defiled me, raped me, but that didn't
go into my conscious. I never felt like a victim then or now.
But what lingered from then to now, I'm 40 today, is this huge
outrageous anger. Two years I was ostracised, I was
stigmatised, I was isolated... because I was a victim. And
that's what we do to all traffic survivors. We as a civil
society, we have PhDs in victimising a victim.
Right
from the age of fifteen when I started looking around me I started
seeing hundreds and thousands of women and children who are left in
sexual slavery like practices but have absolutely no respite, because
we don't allow them to come in.
Where
does their journey begin? Most of them come from
very option-less[?] families. Not just poor. You
have even the middle class sometimes getting trafficked. I had
this IAS officer's daughter who was fourteen years old, studying
in ninth standard, who was web chatting with
one individual and ran away from home because
she wanted to become a heroine, who was trafficked. I've
hundreds and thousands of stories of children from well-to-do
families who are getting trafficked.
These
people are deceived, forced...99.9 percent of them resists being
inducted into prostitution. Some pay the price for it. They are
killed. we don't even hear about them. They are voiceless
Anamikas. Nameless people. But the rest who succumb into
it go through every day torture. Because the men who come to
them are not men who want to make you their girlfriends or want to
make a family with you. These are men who buy you for an
hour...for a day...use you...throw you.
Each of the girls that I have rescued, I have rescued more than three thousand two hundred girls, each of them tells me one story in common. One story about one man at least putting chilly powder in her vagina, one man taking a cigarette and burning her, one man whipping her. We are living among those men. There are brothers, fathers, uncles, cousins all around us. And we are silent about them. We think it is easy money. We think it is short cut. We think the person likes to do what she is doing. But the extra bonuses she gets are various infections, sexually transmitted infections, HIV AIDS,syphilis, gonorrhoea, you name it, substance abuse, drugs... everything under the sun.
And
one day she gives upon you and me. Because we have no
options for her. And therefore she starts normalizing this
exploitation. She believes, yes, this is it. This is what
my destiny is about. And this is normal to get raped by hundred
men a day. And it is abnormal to live in a shelter. It is
abnormal to get rehabilitated. It is in that context that I
work. It is in that context that I rescue children. I
have rescued children as young as three years. And I have
rescued women as old as 40 years.
When
I rescued them what were the biggest challenges I had? Where do
I begin? Because I had lots of them who are already HIV
infected. One third of the people I rescue are HIV
positive. And therefore my challenge was to understand how can
I get out the power from this pain. And for me I was my
greatest experience. Understanding my own self, understanding
my own pain, my own isolation...was my greatest teacher. Because
what we did with these girls is to understand their potential.
You see
a girl here who is trained as a welder. She works for a
very big company, a workshop in Hyderabad, making furniture. she
earns around 12,000 rupees. She is an illiterate girl.
Trained, skilled as a welder. Why welding and why
not computers? We felt that one of the things that these girls
had is immense amount of courage. They did not have any purdahs
inside their body, hijabs inside themselves.
They
have crossed the barrier of it.
And
therefore they could fight in a male dominated world very
easily...and not feel very shy about it. We have trained girls
as carpenters, as masons, as security guards, as cab drivers. And
each one of them is excelling in their chosen field...gaining
confidence...restoring dignity...and building hopes in their own
lives. These girls are also working in big construction
companies like "Ramky Constructions" as masons, full time
masons.
What
has been my challenge? My challenge has not been the
traffickers who beat me up. I have been beaten up more than
fourteen times in my life. I can't hear from my right ear.
I've lost a staff of mine who was murdered while on a rescue.
My biggest challenge is the civil society. It's you and
me. My biggest challenge is your block to accept these victims
as our own.
A
very supportive friend of mine, a well wisher of mine, used to give
me every month 2,000 rupees for vegetables. When her mother
fell sick she says, 'Sunitha you have so much of contacts.
Can you get somebody in my house to work? So that she can
look after my mother.' And there is a long pause. And
then she says, 'Not one of our girls.'
It
is very fashionable to talk about human trafficking in this fantastic
AC hall. It is very nice for discussion, discourse, making
films and everything. But it is not nice to bring them to our
homes. It is not nice to give them employment in our factories,
our companies. It's not nice for our children to study with
their children. There it ends. That's my biggest
challenge.
If
I am here today I am here not only as Sunitha Krishnan. I am
here as a voice of the victims, the survivors of the human
trafficking. They need your compassion. They need your
empathy. They need, much more than anything, your acceptance.
Many
times when I talk to people I keep telling them one thing; Don't
tell me hundred ways how you cannot respond to this problem. Can
you apply your mind for that one way that you can respond to the
problem?
And
that's what I am here for. Asking for your support. Demanding
your support. Requesting your support. Can you break your
culture of silence? Can you speak to at least two persons about
this story? Tell them the story. Convince them to tell
the story to another two persons.
I
am not asking you all to become Mahathma Gandhis or Martin
Luther Kings or Medha Patkars or something like that. I am
asking you in your limited world can you open your minds? Can
you open your hearts? Can you just encompass these people too.
Because they are also a part of us. They are also a part
of this world.
I
am asking you for these children whose faces you see...they are no
more. They died of AIDS last year. I am asking you to
help them...accept as human beings...not as philanthropy... not
as charity...but as human beings who deserve all our support.
I
am asking you this...because no child, no human being deserves what
these children have gone through. Thank you.
END OF THE SPEECH
Link to the speech of Sunitha Krishnan on TED TALK;
TITLE: IGNITED MINDS: UNLEASHING THE POWER WITHIN INDIA
AUTHOR: APJ ABDUL KALAM
PUBLISHER:PENGUIN BOOKS
APJ Abdul Kalam's book Ignited Minds is but the reflection of the mind of a great visionary and humanist. The very name of APJ has now become the synonym for optimism and hope. If one looks deeper it is love that makes him dream for us. This book is the manifestation of positive energy, and as you move along with Kalam you realise that the annihilation of negative energy is happening. There is perfect harmony between the author and his work; a great author and a great work. It is said that Johnson the man was greater than Johnson the writer. But Shakespeare's works are great in themselves. Here Kalam's work Ignited minds is great in itself.
In the preface Kalam writes: “This book is all about breaking away from the forces that would prefer us to remain a nation of a billion people selling cheap labour and raw materials and providing a large market for goods and services of other nations.” He continues, “As it is said, Thinking is the capital, Enterprise is the way, Hard work is the solution.”Kalam himself tells us about the style of writing he used in the book and in a way justifies that the message which needs to be conveyed requires such a style. He writes: “ You will find in this book plain speaking: Surge ahead as a developed nation or perish in perpetual poverty, subservient to a few countries that control the world politically and economically.”
The book is divided into nine chapters:
1.The Dream and the Message,
2. Give Us a Role Model,
3. Visionary Teachers and Scientists,
4. Learning from Saints and Seers,
5.Patriotism beyond Politics and Religion,
6. The Knowledge Society,
7. Getting the Forces Together,
8. Building a New State, and,
9. To My Countrymen.
The Dream and the Message
On 30 September 2001, Kalam was on his way to Bokaro from Ranchi in Jharkhand and the helicopter carrying him crashed just before landing, but all the passengers escaped miraculously. Despite the incident Kalam went ahead with his programme. At night he took a tranquillizer as the doctors persuaded him to do so. The drug made him sleep longer though he woke up at night and fell into a dream like thought; a thought that was centred on the humanity. Five great men took part in that thought process and they spoke out their minds. Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein, Emperor Asoka, Abraham Lincoln and Caliph Omar were these great men. Each of them shared their views on humanity in general and as their importance that spreads beyond their time and social context these views sound universal.
Kalam discusses different stages in one's life:
athlete stage,
warrior stage,
states-person stage, and,
spirit age.
These stages in a man's life is also applicable to a state. Kalam logically describes how a nation passes through these stages. It is amusing that he calls himself a rocket man! Here he narrates his journey as a rocket man living these stages one by one (being in his fourth stage). He would like to converse with the school children for he believes they are tomorrow's India. He ends the chapter saying,”How can we make up for missed opportunities and the failures of the past?”
Give Us a Role Model
India is spiritual and the west is materialistic, Kalam believes that the progress of the developed nations is due to their way of thinking that they must live a good life in a strong and prosperous nation . He emphasises the need for change in India's way of thinking which views wealth and progress as opposite to virtue and spirituality. "I do not think that abundance and spirituality are mutually exclusive or that it is wrong to desire material things." One can lead a life of asceticism but this should be out of choice and not because one is forced to do so. "This was the basis of my decision to contact our young. To know their dreams and tell them that it is perfectly all right to dream of a good life..." Kalam met students in Tripura, and their question was that where do they get a role model from. Father, mother and school teacher are the first role models for an individual, Kalam explains his this notion with examples. 'Why dream?' was another question asked to Kalam referring to his book Wings of Fire. 'Dream transforms into thoughts. Thought result in actions', was his reply. Visionary Leaders and Scientists Kalam shares with us his thoughts about some ancient mathematicians like Aryabhata, Brahmagupta and Bhaskaracharya. Great minds like Srinivasa Ramanujan, Prof. S. Chandrasekhar, C.V. Raman and others are also brought before us. Dr. D.S.Kothari, Dr. Homi.J.Bhaabha and Dr.Vikram Sarabhai are portrayed here as great visionary scientists. They are the founders of three great institutions--DRDO, DAE and ISRO. There is a beautiful incident in the book narrated even more beautifully by Kalam, which describes how Dr. Bhabha met the Bishop and got the consent for acquiring the land where the church building stood as part of establishing the space research station in Thumba. He ends this as follows ; In the Sunday morning service the Bishop told the congregation,"My children I have a famous scientist with me who wants our church and the place I live for the work of space science and research. Science seeks truth that enriches human life.[...] Children can we give them God's abode for a scientific mission?"'There was silence for a while followed by a hearty "Amen" from the congregation which made the whole church reverberate.' Learning from Saints and Seers The fusion of science and spirituality according to Kalam will do good for the humanity. He had a detailed discussion with Pramukh Swami Maharaj of Swaminarayan Sanstha at Ahmedabad regarding this fusion, and the vision we should have as a nation. He made several visits to different spirtual centres of India and sought for solutions. Kalam Summarises this chapter; 'Our spiritual wisdom has been our strength. We survived as a nation the onslaughts of invaders and the numbing effects of colonialism. [...] But in the process of all the adjustment, we also lowered our aims and expectations. We must regain our broad outlook and draw upon our heritage and wisdom to enrich our lives. [...] We need to home-grow our own model of development based on our inherent strengths. Patriotism beyond Politics and Religion "For great men," Kalam writes, "religion is a way of making friends; small people make religion a fighting tool." The answer Kalam gives to a student at Anna University for the question that deals with Dr. Amartya Sen's stance against India's nuclear programme is logical and convncing. Kalam asks, "But after the long independence struggle when we got our freedom and the country got united and has physical boundaries, is it possible to remain with economic prosperity as the only goal?" Patriotism must not be polluted by religion or politics.
Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw said “Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it.” I was aware of this definition for a long time, and so when coming across Kalam's remarks on patriotism I paused for a while. Kalam, I believe, thinks not of being superior to any other nations but of being NOT inferior to. Shaw is ideal but Kalam is practical. Shaw wrote books while Kalam made missiles. In fact Kalam has writen books that are being sold well. Hitler too was a patriot. But it is obvious that Kalam is different kind of a patriot. Shaw excluded the good ones though he (Shaw) was a vegetarian.
Kalam observes; "The greatest danger to our sense of unity and our sense of purpose comes from those ideologists who seek to divide the people. [...] It is when we accept India in all its splendid glory that, with a shared past as a base, we can look forward to a shared future of peace and prosperity, of creation and abundance. our past is there with us forever. It has to be nurtured in good faith, not destroyed in excercises of political one-upmanship."
The Knowledge Society In the twenty-first century capital and labour are replaced by knowledge as the primary production resource. For Kalam a very important mission for India is to become a knowledge super power. Ancient India was more than anything else a knowledge society, and naturally it fostered civilization. Today India should regain the lost status of being a nation and civilization founded on knowledge. Getting the Forces Together
Kalam writes; " In India 2020 we have identified five areas where India has a core competence for integrated action." These five areas are; 1. agriculture and food processing, 2. power, 3. education and healthcare, 4. information technology, and, 5. strategic sector. On 15 October 2000 a website was launched for Kalam. He posted three questions; 1) India has been a developing country for more than half a century. What would you as young boys and girls like to do to make it a developed India? 2) When can I sing a song of India? 3) Why do we love anything foreign in spite of our capabilities in many fields, whereas other countries celebrate their own successes? From more than a hundred answers he received he discusses five answers. The fifth answer is what the 30 per cent of the respondents said; 'theneed for greater transparency in various facets of our lives.' This chapter is rich with the narration of incidents Kalam has had in his life. Building a New State Kalam in this chapter shares an incident which shows the power of human mind. He was to submit the design drawings for a project on designing a low-level attack aircraft. But Kalam got delayed by more than two weeks in submitting his drawings. Dr. Srinivasan was the Director of Madras Institute of Technology, and he realizing that Kalam was nowhere near completion of the drawing told Kalam that if he did not complete the work in three days his scholarship would be stopped. Kalam was fully depending upon the scholarship, for the cost of education at MIT was high. For the next three days he went out only for food and at night slept on a bench in the college. Exactly after three days Dr.Srinivasan visited Kalam's drawing board. He spent an hour examining what Kalam had done and said, "This is good. You have performed a few weeks' work in a few days." Kalam writes; Coming from, it was a great compliment. [...] I realized then that if something is at stake, the human mind gets ignited and working capacity gets enhanced manifold. Building a new state must be carried out in a mission mode. To My Countrymen I think it will be appropriate to include this chapter in the syllabuses of all Indian Universities and schools. He ends this chapter as follows:
"And to God the Almighty! Make my people sweat. Let their toil create many more Agnis that can annihilate evil. Let my country prosper in peace. Let my people live in harmony. Let me go to dust as a proud citizen of India, to rise again and rejoice in its glory."
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