Read the passage and answer in your own words the questions that follow: The workplace has changed dramatically in recent years. Globalization has brought people from different parts of the world and with different skills together. Markets all over the world offer international products and services. Outsourcing is the buzzword in today’s business world. This global dimension to business has brought about a multiculturally diverse workforce, catering to culture, language, religion, gender and nationality. So, handling diversity at the workplace becomes an important factor in successful business. A certain businessman let’s call him Mr. X often travels across the world to learn about latest trends in environment-friendly lighting systems. Even when his hosts speak English, there are cultural variations that make all the difference to the nature of this experience. The challenge of communicating across cultures – even through a shared language – can hardly be overemphasized. It is important to be able to understand the significance of culture in communication and develop skills to handle such situations suitably. Clearly, communication is not just about speaking the same language. The ‘human element’ has a very important role to play at all levels of interpersonal dealings. After all, it is people who are engaged in business dealings, or communication, and not machines. In business dealings, the buyer and seller, service provider and client, or a manager and his/her junior, need to understand each other enough to be able to make sense of the sender’s message. Building trust for successful transactions depends on this clarity of the communication channel. This also ensures a high degree of commitment between the parties involved. Communication is a dynamic process which takes place verbally and nonverbally. The message communicated or sent may not necessarily be the message received. We generally tend to believe that communication largely depends on the words used to convey the message. But it is not so. About 7 percent of the message depends on the verbal part; the remaining 93 per cent depends on the nonverbal. When a senior responds to our greetings with a stern face and a curt tone, we know something is wrong. So our social behaviour, our gestures, our tone, our body language, all play a very important role in communication. It is this social behaviour of a person which ‘speaks volume’ to the person receiving the message. This social behaviour is learnt from culture.

1a How has the workplace changed dramatically in recent years? Discuss. 

1b “Clearly, communication is not just about speaking the same language.” statement from the passage (para 2) and comment on it.

1c Is communication only a verbal process? Discuss. 

1d Give an incidence from your own life where non-verbal communication had a big impact in the communication process. 

1f Make sentences of your own with the following words/phrases from the passage: 

i changed dramatically                                       vi diverse

ii outsourcing                                                     vii environment-friendly

iii buzzword                                                        viii make sense                               

iv multicultural                                                    ix ensures

v catering                                                            x curt

The new software can be mastered easily in a couple of days. You……………………………………………..

You are a part of a group discussion on ‘life during corona pandemic. Write out the discussion using the following points:

• Reasons for the spread

• Stress management during the disease time.

• Safety measures to be taken.

You should be warned about the dangers of not co-operating with the personnel manager. I………………………………

Imagine you are the Team Leader in your company. Your company has experienced a number of moral and ethical issues. You have been asked by the management to write a detailed report about this. Include in your report the following points:

• Reasons for such behaviour

• Ways and means to resolve/lessen the problem

• A grievance procedure that can be followed whenever there is a dispute

All are expected to participate in the faculty development programme. The Vice Chancellor ……………………………

The new note-taking method will be introduced in our office. We …………………………