Attributes and Barriers
Assignment 1, Tom Beach
Task 1
Specific skills
Specific skills are skills that are part of the job role that you are applying for, if for example you were applying to be a IT technician the company may ask that you have work experience working and repairing computers or a knowledge of the hardware components that you will come into contact with, specific skills are an important things to have when applying for the job you want, employers will look for these skills to see if you are right for the job role
General attributes
General attributes are skills that you have that can be useful when applying for a job, they don't have to be related to the job role but they show the employer what type of person you are, general attributes are things like good time keeping, been organised and having overall good communication skills. General attributes can be useful for most jobs that you apply for, employers can then see what you will be like in the workplace and can make you stand out from others.
Attitudes
Good attitudes are an important thing to have, they are things like always been positive, having good leadership and many more, employers will look for people who have positive attitudes when it comes to work because it will show them that you are ready to work and take on tasks they offer, independence will show them that you can complete tasks on your own and you wont always need guidance. It is important to list these when applying for the job so the employer can see what type of person you are.
Task 2
General communication skills
General communication skills are basically sending any information from one place or person to anther either through speaking, writing, images or sign language. When it comes to general communication there could be some barrier that people may come across such as cultural difference in the way people speak, either in the words they use or the accent of their voice that may be difficult for the other person to understand, when using general communication skills it may also help to adapt your voice and any terminology you use so everyone can have a clear understanding of what you are saying.
Interpersonal skills
We use interpersonal skills everyday when speaking to another person, international skills are things like our body language when speaking to someone else, such as having our arms folded and looking away when someone is speaking could show them that you are not interested in what's been said, the tone of out voice when speaking, for example it you were shouting it may show someone that you are angry. Interpersonal skills help us communicate with other people without having to use words. There can be some barriers with interpersonal communication such as people misreading your body language to thinking you are not interested in what's been said so they stop communicating, or someone getting distracted by a mobile phone so they don't pay attention to what your saying or the body language
Communicate in writing
Communicating in writing does not include any verbal communication or interpersonal skills and it can be used for writing letters, emails or text messages and is used on a daily basis, when communicating in writing it is important to try and use the correct spellings so other people can understand what you are saying, written communication can also include emoticons is similar to slang and is sometimes used within written communication but usually in text messages with younger people for unprofessional communication. There can be some barriers in written communication such as messy handwriting, if the letter has been hand written and its not neat the other person may not be able to read it or understand any of the words which can be a big barrier in communication.
Task 3
Background noise
Background noise can be a massive barrier in communication, if there are loud noises outside of the building or alarms going off it can stop the personal from listening to the person speaking properly and they might not remember what has been said when the conversation is over, if it is known that there may be background noise in a certain room that you need to have a conversation in one way to avoid the background noise is to speak to someone to ask if you can switch rooms to avoid the background noise so you can hear the other person more clearly so no information is lost to the background noise, switching rooms to a quite one may also improve the level of concentration because people wont be focusing on the noises coming from outside.
Distractions
Distraction can stop people from paying attention to the person speaking and they may forgot what has been said because they were not listen properly, some common distractions that can occur is mobile phones going off, people outside and other people in the same room also not paying attention. Some mechanisms to reduce these barriers could be that before speaking to kindly ask for mobile phones to be switched off so people don't feel the need to take them out and go on them which will distract their attention from you and may forgot what has been said, another way to overcome on of these barriers is if other people are causing a distraction in the same room as someone who is speaking politely ask them to leave in order for the rest of people to concentrate on the person speaking and what's been said.
Physical barriers
Physical barriers include object that block the communication, for example if there were two rooms next to each other and you needed to speak to someone in the room next to you the barrier would be the wall, and to overcome this barrier you would have to leave the room you were currently in and go next door in order to communicate effectively. Another physical barrier could be trying to communicate with someone that is on a different floor so you use a mobile phone to call them but there is not much signal so the mobile phone doesn't work properly, this would be the barrier, to overcome it you would have to leave your room and travel to the room where the person was which you needed to speak to.
Location
Location barriers could be trying to communicate with someone that is in a different location to you such as in a different city or town, if you were trying to communicate with them through an application such as Skype on the computer, one barrier could be that there may be a problem with Skype like the internet is too slow to be able to connect to the other person, therefor you wont be able to communicate effectively, a way to overcome this barrier could be to try a different form of communication such as a phone call or email, or travel to the location that the person you need to communicate with is staying, that way you can communicate verbally which less chance of encountering barriers.
Lack of concentration
Lack of concentration is also another barrier in communication and is when someone can not keep concentrated on the person speaking, this could be caused by accessing a mobile phone or other people speaking in the same room. A way to overcome this barrier would be to move the conversation to another room were there are no other people so people can pay more attention to the person speaking, if people have a lack of concentration because of mobile phones you could ask them to turn them off before speaking so they are not tempted go on them which may cause them to lose concentration and not focus on the communication between the two of you.