BUSINESS COMMUNICATION AND BEHAVIOURAL STUDIES

This subject demands extensive and intensive reading of the prescribed syllabus. Moreover, students are advised to read other reference books, newspapers, magazines and journals to update themselves with the latest developments in writing and presentation skills. Majority of students had a hang of the concepts tested on the exam but were not able to express themselves as they have very weak English and lack the power of expressing themselves appropriately. One common mistake made by most examinees was that they did not allocate/utilize their time according to the marks allocated to the question.

Enumerated below are question wise comments:

Q.1	(a)	Definition provided by students was generally correct, although there were quite a few who did mix up the definition of channel of communication with that of medium of communication, as there exists a very thin line between the two. Students lost marks in providing examples.
	(b)	Students provided excellent answer to this part of the question and scored very good marks. The important factors that were required included cost, confidentiality, sensitivity, urgency etc.
	(c)	Answers revealed that students did not have a clear understanding of 7 C’s of communication. For example while applying completeness, students missed details of the order placed including order number, order date or quantity. Similarly majority of students did not have an idea of the concept of concreteness or even conciseness. In sentence # 2 the sentence demanded consideration and students should have written ‘we thank you for your loan application’ or ‘we are pleased to receive your loan application. However, most students wrote ‘Your loan application have been received’. This was just a repetition of the original sentence moreover, ‘has’ should have been used in place of ‘have’

Q.2	A simple question but not well attempted. Students mostly identified two methods of data collection i.e. questionnaire & interview. Other methods like focus groups and observation etc. were rarely mentioned.

Q.3	(a)	In this part a large number scored average marks obviously with the exception of those who had not cared to study this area at all.
	(b)	The second part was not correctly comprehended and many gave incorrect answers and failed to mention important characteristics such as co-ordination, logical thinking, creativeness, enthusiasm and analytical skills etc.

Q.4	Of the applicative questions, this was the easiest and more than 75% passed in this question. The only thing missing was good justifications in the body of the letter otherwise the students were pretty clear on the format of the letter and knew how to go about it.


Q.5	Some of the answers were an excellent combination of imagination and classroom teaching. However a large number of students prepared report in a letter format. In some cases it was clear that the students were unable to differentiate between a letter and a report. Those who wrote the report either forgot to mention the procedure, recommendation or conclusion for which they were penalized.

Q.6	Many candidates have no idea about writing a proposal. Some of them wrote it in the form of a letter. They did not mention any advantages if the company funded qualification program is implemented. No example of other companies who benefited with such a program was mentioned. Many did not attempt this question. Some did it half and did not complete it. A great deal of practice is required in writing a proposal. It also requires imaginative thinking which was lacking.

Q.7	Work co-ordination methods were generally well explained. However some of the students mentioned things like salary, bonuses etc. rather than ways in which the work could be coordinated. Many students just gave headings without elaborating them.

Q.8	It was an applied question based on an incident that is known to everyone. Surprisingly some of the students did not comprehend the question. They either wrote letters to the newspaper or wrote job advertisement for five people instead of the required announcement for the newspaper. This shows that English newspapers are not frequently read. Many students didn’t have a clue how to go about answering this question. They grossly failed in giving proper heading, and presentation. Some missed the point about mentioning violence.

Q.9	(a)	Majority of students scored very low marks. Students did not understand the question. They provided sources of feedback including external and internal sources where as the requirement included five dimensions of feedback including Positive-negative, Person focused-message focused, and Immediate-delayed etc.

	(b)	Part (b) can be said to have been comparatively well attempted. However some of the students wrote actual feedback report, which was not required at all.

Q.10	Here, though most had a hang of how the process of Delphi technique works but did not know how a conclusion is derived.

Q.11	The actual solution was divided in three parts – Internal appraisal, external appraisal and factors responsible for opportunities and threats. Students generally covered internal appraisal, partly covered external appraisal but missed the factors responsible for opportunities and threat completely.

Q.12	A high scoring question for students. Majority of students scored very high marks.