IGNOU MCS-15
- Communication Skills,
Latest Solved Assignment
(July 2023 - January 2024)

Q1: Read the following passage and answers the questions below:

Nobody actually wants to cause offence but, as business becomes ever more international, it is increasingly easy to get it wrong. There may be a single European market but it does not mean that managers behave the same in Greece as they do in Denmark.
In many European countries handshaking is an automatic gesture. In France good manners require that on arrival at a business meeting a manager shakes hands with everyone present. This can be a demanding task and, in a crowded room, may require gymnastic ability if the farthest hand is to be reached.
Handshaking is almost as popular in other countries—including Germany, Belgium and Italy. But Northern Europeans, such as the British and Scandinavians, are not quite so fond of physical demonstrations of friendliness.
In Europe the most common challenge is not the content of the food, but the way you behave as you eat. Some things are just not done. In France it is not good manners to raise tricky questions of business over the main course. Business has its place after the cheese course. Unless you are prepared to eat in silence you have to talk about something —something, that is, other than the business deal which you are continually chewing over in your head.
Italians give similar importance to the whole process of business entertaining. In fact, in Italy the biggest fear, as course after course appears, is that you entirely forget you are there on business. If you have the energy, you can always do the polite thing when the meal finally ends, and offer to pay. Then, after a lively discussions, you must remember the next polite thing to do—let your host pick up the bill.
In Germany, as you walk sadly back to your hotel room, you may wonder why your apparently friendly hosts have not invited you out for the evening. Don’t worry, it is probably nothing personal. Germans do not entertain business people with quite the same enthusiasm as some of their European counterparts.
The Germans are also notable for the amount of formality they bring to business. As an outsider, it is often difficult to know whether colleagues have been working together for 30 years or have just met in the lift. If you are used to calling people by their first names this can be a little strange. To the Germans, titles are important. Forgetting that someone should be called Herr Doktor or Frau Direktorin might cause serious offence. It is equally offensive to call them by a title they do not possess.
In Italy the question of title is further confused by the fact that everyone with a university degree can be called Dottore-and engineers, lawyers and architects may also expect to be called by their professional titles.
These cultural challenges exist side by side with the problems of doing business in a foreign language. Language, of course, is full of difficulties — disaster may be only a syllable away. But the more you know of the culture of the country you are dealing with, the less likely you are to get into difficulties. It is worth the effort. It might be rather hard to explain that the reason you lost the contract was not the product or the price, but the fact that you offended your hosts in a light-hearted comment over an aperitif. Good manners are admired: they can also make or break the deal.

i. Discuss the importance of culture in doing business in the light of the following statement from the text: “------- as business becomes ever more international, it is increasingly easy to get it wrong.”
ii. How are the French different from the British, where ‘shaking hands’ is concerned?
iii. Suggest two ways in which the Italians differ from the Germans in their dealings with business colleagues.
iv. What title would you give the passage?
v. What would you tell a foreign visitor about “good manners” in our country?
vi. Find opposites of the following words from the text:
i. challenge
ii. worry
iii. animosity
iv. friendliness
v. difficulty
vi. light-hearted

Q2: Use the phrasal verbs given in the box to complete the sentences given below:

i. The phone’s ringing. Why don’t you -------------------- the receiver?
ii. I’m afraid she isn’t available at the moment. Can you ----------- later?
iii. Can you --------their number in the directory, please?
iv. I’m afraid she’s with a client, shall I -----------you -------- to her secretary?
v. Hello? Are you still there? I think we were ---------------for a moment.
vi. Mr. Green never seems to be in his office. I’ve been trying to ---------to him all morning.
vii. Could you -------------- for a moment? I’ll just find out for you.
viii. If the telephonist says ‘Thanks you so much for calling’ and plays me that awful electronic music again, I’ll -------------.
ix. If you get a wrong number, it’s polite to say ‘I’m sorry, I’ve dialed the wrong number’ before you ---------------
x. If an American telephonist asks ‘Are you through?’, she wants to know if your call ---------------

Q3: Put the verbs in brackets into the passive form in the following sentences. (10 Marks)

i. You’ll hardly recognize our office. It (redecorate) since your last visit.
ii. Two players (send) off the field during last Saturday’s match.
iii. The hotel, which (complete) only last year (equip) with a business center and a gym.
iv. Application (invite) for the post of Senior Lecturer in the Department of Architecture. Preference (give) to applicants with teaching experience.
v. As my car (repair) last Friday, I (give) a lift to work by a colleague.
vi. As soon as your order (receive), it (process) and an acknowledgment sent.

Q4: Write down what you would say in each of these situations.

i. Your flight to Delhi is delayed. Find out the reason.
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ii. You’re booked on flight AI 879 on May 16. You want to postpone this to ZZ 857 on May 17.
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iii. Flight RA 372 doesn’t leave till 5pm but you’ve arrived at the check-in desk at 12 noon
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iv You don’t understand how to get a boarding-pass from an automatic machine. Ask a passer-by for help.
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v. Someone asks you how to get to the Terminal-3(Delhi Airport) –tell him or her that it’s two blocks down and then left.
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vi. You have arrived late because your flights’ delay. Apologize to your host or hostess.
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vii. You don’t understand some of the dishes on the menu. Ask your companion for help.
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viii. You want to order a plain dosa, which is not on the menu.
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ix. Ask your companion to recommend a local dish.
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x. At the end of the meal you want to pay the bill, but the waiter has given it to your companion.
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Q5: a. What are the four phases in a negotiation process? Discuss.
b. Every New Year XYZ multinational company gives its customers gifts ranging from diaries and calendars to silver items. The financial manager of that MNC says it’s too expensive and wants to stop the practice. The sales manager disagrees. Write a dialogue between the two.

Q6: You are the General Manager –HR of the company. You want to talk about the effective ways of making good presentations to the Sales staff. Use the following points to make your presentation.

• How good presentations can benefit your company.
• How speakers should prepare before giving presentations
• The qualities of a good speaker
• How a speaker can keep the attention of the audience
• The effective use of visual aids in presentations

Q7: Imagine that your General Manager has asked you to find out the precautions and preparations needed to arrange for the disaster management provisions in your company.
These are the notes you’ve made. Draft a report of about 300 words to your General Manager by expanding the notes into paragraphs.

Identified Dangers
i. Fire— particularly in areas where a lot of paper is stored
ii. Earthquake —cracks due to previous earthquake
iii. Lightening —inadequate safety measures

Proposals
i. Fire frightening equipment to be maintained regularly
ii. Fire fighting training to the support staff
iii. Display of safety regulations
iv. Hooters to be installed —signal warning
v. Exit outlets to be highlighted
vi. Important telephone numbers —Hospital, Fire-Brigade, Doctors, senior officials of
the company
vii. Action committee to be formed

Q1. Read the following passage carefully.

Psychoanalysts treat their patients by delving into their past – often their early years of childhood – in an attempt to help them understand present feelings and behaviour. Consultants try to understand their clients’ history and track record in an attempt to identify the roots of failure or the seeds of success.
In some respects, consultants have an easier job; they can look over past balance sheets and profit and loss statements in order to analyse the management of assets, profitability and cost control. They can follow the company’s history through from its initial successes with perhaps a single product to its present-day range of products or services. They can study the organizational structure of the company, marketing and personnel policies, even the physical layout of offices and factory.
However, putting their finger on why one company fails and another succeeds is not always so easy. Companies look outside for this advice because they cannot find the answers themselves. They hope that the consultant will be able to draw on his or her wider experience – perhaps recognize a symptom that he has previously encountered. Then perhaps he or she will be able to diagnose their ills, prescribe a course of treatment for recovery and recommend a new life-style to ensure future health and prosperity

Now answer the following questions:

i. Why do Psychoanalysts and consultants need to delve into the past of their patients and clients?
ii. Why do you think a consultant’s job is easier than a Psychoanalyst?
iii. Companies evidently want help from consultants from time to time. Why? Discuss.
iv. Taking the passage as the basis, write in about 100 words.
“The role of a consultant in a company”.
v. Give an appropriate title to the passage.

Q2. (a) Match the following words from the text in column A with their meanings in column B:

(b) As we saw in the passage, it is possible to draw parallels between business and human health. Match the common medical terms with their business equivalents.

Q3. You have arranged to meet your colleague Priyanshu for coffee in the evening. However, you have just heard an urgent message that you must leave for Kolkatta immediately. Telephone Priyanshu and,
• tell him you won’t be able to meet him
• tell him about the urgent business
• fix another tentative date
The answer must be in the form of dialogues

Q4. You require 2,000 Slate Airdopes 141 items. Since it is a fast moving item, you are ready to buy boxes for six months at once, provided you get a large enough discount. Write a letter to your distributor negotiating a deal. Make use of the negotiation techniques we discussed in the unit.

Q5. Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the verbs in brackets:

i. The consultant _____________ (never work) in London before she got this contract.
ii. She recently _____________ (decide) to move to London.
iii. She ______________ (drive) to London when the storm began.
iv. While the manager _____________ (talk) to the consultant, the employees
_____________ (pack) the prints ready for dispatch.
v. Is that what those men __________ (work) on when I __________(come) in?
vi. Unless we invest in our staff, they _____________(not stay) with the company.
vii. After the initial launch, we ___________ (plan) to extend it to the rest of the country.
viii. We would be doing much better if we ______________ (not waste) so much money last year.

Q6. Complete the following phrasal verb in the sentences by inserting an appropriate adverb.

i. I can’t get to Munich this week, so I’m going to put ______________ my visit till next week.
ii. Despite our efforts, the negotiations have broken _____________ again.
iii. I’m very relieved that the workers have called the strike _______________.
iv. Before you leave, make sure that you shut___________ the computer system.
v. I look _____________ to seeing you in the near future.
vi. To get through security, you’ll have to fill ________________ a form.
vii. I’m afraid I didn’t understand that point. Could we come __________ to it afterwards?
viii.We’ve decided to increase our offer; we’ve put it ___________ by $ 30,000.
ix. Let’s throw this idea _________ and see if it has any potential.
x. He ran _____________ an enormous telephone bill.

Q7. Prepare Power Point Presentations (atleast 15 slides each) on the following.

i. Artificial Intelligence
ii. 3D Printers and Their Applications

Q8. Mark the stress in the following words:

i. Delve
ii. Psychoanalysts
iii. Consultant
iv. Assess
v. Organization
vi. Identify
vii. Profitability
viii.Recommend
ix. Experience
x. Personnel