Effective communication

• How would you better manage emotions (if you can)?

During a conversation emotions could arise due to several reasons such as misunderstandings, lack of mutual respect, lack of willingness to compromise, lack of concentration and jumping in to conclusions. Sometimes even language difficulties and immaturity also could lead to emotional behavior.

We think that being patient, paying attention, listening actively, having confidence of what one talks and also knowing a little bit of cultural background of the other party in terms manipulating the words and phrases to give different meanings could immensely help managing emotions during conversations. Particularly in video conferencing conversations, listening patiently and actively is vital as body language is not fully observable.


• How would you better manage language?

Emotions can be controlled by using language appropriately, particularly when you feel that the other party has misunderstood or misinterpreted what you have said.

As listening is crucial in video conversations, to convey your message or idea to the other party clearly and accurately, appropriate use of language is important.


• How would you better communicate?

We believe in the saying ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’.

We think, apart from using language properly and listening actively in conversations, showing a right picture or demonstrating how to perform an activity or showing a relevant video-clip would not only save loads of explanation but also greatly help make the other party comprehensible very effectively.


Common Ground:

Common ground in general is basically the relevant background of the parties involved in a communication activity. This background may represent many aspects. It may be a collection of the mutual understandings, the past experiences, the cultural values and the different ways of using language (idioms, colloquialism etc) and more importantly the knowledge level of the subject being discussed.

Similar background exists in organizational communication as well. Organizations always work towards a common goal(s). Therefore, communicating how to achieve these goals to its members is very important. When considering the communication within an organization some important aspects, such as organizational values, the ways of using the language, rites and rituals, must be identified and well understood. But, most of all it is the culture, in which the organization operates that drives the process of communication efficiently.

Preparation of Video Conferencing

Location: The video conference equipment will be setup in the conference room as it already has got some equipment to have a discussion for a group of people.

Equipment: We currently do not have video conferencing equipment. Therefore we decided to buy them as we will need them in future as well to communicate with our new parent company. We decided to go with High Definition video communication equipment that gives high quality video and audio as it would help to communicate with a large group of people.
-Two HD video display units for video playback and visual concert
-VC Codec supporting H.323 standard
-Video switching unit
-Wideband stereo audio equipment

We will be using the existing ISDN line for internet and existing PCs and Laptops for data sharing and Net-meeting sessions.


Content: The video conferencing sessions will be scheduled according to the departments involved. Each department will be given two specific time slots. In the first session each individual will be educated about the new job assignments and in the second session any issues related to the new job assignments will be discussed.

Closing: At the end of the discussions each individual is expected to have a good understanding about the new job assignments, the procedures to follow and the functions to perform and will not have any ambiguities or misunderstandings about anything.

Merging of two Companies

In the scenario of two companies merging there are always major issues to address. Employees of both sides will surely sense fear regarding uncertainties about their future in the merged company. If the two companies belong to different region or country then there is always fear or anxiety of adopting a different culture, language and working practices. Merge usually result in some employees from both sides losing their jobs or adjusting to a new pay scale.

With this in mind the managers of the merge process need to make clear to everyone what are the objectives of the merge and how the merge process will be implemented. This should be done firstly with some preparatory meetings with each side of the merge and also later with a joint conference with everyone impacted by this process. One of the options is to create a negotiating committee on both sides so that they can hold regular meetings either face-2-face or by video conferencing. These committees can then go back and update the rest of the employees in the respective companies.

A desired effect of the merge is that both companies should capitalize from the synergies resulting from the standardization of the processes, or how the both sides monitor and control the activities. This should then be the first step of the merge process to ensure a smooth transition to a one single company which will eventually lead to an increase of profit, efficient work procedures and a better working environment.

The next important action is to synchronize the technologies used by both the companies so that all the employees can work on a common platform and can exchange their ideas and experiences. This common platform provides a way to communicate more effectively which not only improves the social, but also the professional work environment.

Communication is the key factor, or the most effective tool, to ensure that each step of the merging process is goes through smoothly and effectively.

Evolution of Communication

One of the most important aspects of life or process which has evolved throughout the history of mankind is communication or the art of communication. From using sign languages and smoke signals thousands of years ago to the usage of Internet and mobile phone in modern day communication has always played an important part in the life of humans.

As the communication evolved the need and techniques of communication has also changed drastically. Daily need to communicate has seen a sharp increase in the last few decades. Team or groups working on different project can easily communicate with each other in a more effective manner which results in the outcome to be faster and better. We can also easily state that being in contact with people around the world and having ocean of knowledge at our fingertips has made up more demanding and this increased our desires for worldly goods.

We have developed better and faster tools to communicate which made us more aware of world by communicating with people from different countries. Although modern tool have put the communication into a different league but it is also fair to say that modern tools are more complex and require more skills to operate them.

Change in the aspects or techniques of communication over the past many millennium has changed our society and people within between culture to a very great extend. We live in a multi-cultural society with people from around the globe bringing unique skills and knowledge which have made us more aware about different cultures extending from North America to Australia, geographically. It will be justified to say that we are more conscious of this world compare to our ancestors.

One strong argument is that communication is playing a very positive role in our life, in this modern world, by using tools such as Internet, mobiles phones or satellite phones. Living standards have risen and this world can be viewed as a global village, courtesy to modern communication.

On the other hand some people can easily argue that development of communication is the basis of making this world more dangerous. Attacks on nations can be launched in a more coordinated manner resulting in losing innocent lives and all thanks to the advance communication methods used by different institutions.

To conclude that, the modern communication has a positive or negative implication on people and on this society is very difficult. I would like the readers to come to their own conclusion using their own personal experiences.