IGNOU MCS-15
- Communication Skills,
Latest Solved Assignment
(July 2024 - January 2025)

Q1. Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow:

Whatever the type of job interview — a walk-in, a telephone interview or a regular in-person job interview, preparation is the key. It is important that you keep yourself in a state of high motivation and readiness, making optimum use of your time to equip yourself to excel. Here are a few things you’d like to do for sure, by way of preparation.

You are certain to be asked specific questions about your potential employer, so make sure you’ve done your homework on company information like company history, recent performance, their last year's profits and latest product launches. Nothing is as disappointing as when a candidate shows enthusiasm and then doesn’t even know the most basic facts and figures about the company. So, where can you find all this information? The most likely place is the Internet. A visit to the company website could help you get all the vital statistics, including products and services as well as a feel of the company culture. You must also check out the annual report and look for a press or company news page. Put their name into a search engine to see if they’ve had any recent interesting stories written about them. It is also advisable to tap industry sources, trade journals, newspapers and other business publications to give you good background knowledge of the industry as well as the company.

Talk to people who work in the company or in similar companies / areas to gather as much information as you can about the nature of work, responsibilities, work culture and work requirements

For the interview, you need to know your CV inside out. Go through your CV carefully and make notes on how you will elaborate or illustrate what you have stated. You need to be ready with examples from your experience to be able to substantiate all the claims you have made. Try to relate specific areas of your CV back to the job description. It will make it clear to the interviewer why they should hire you. Also go through the copy of your application carefully before the interview. The interview panel is likely to ask specific questions about it.

Going for a job interview is no different from going for an exam. It is important that you go well prepared and confident so that you can field any question that is put to you.

Before the Interview

Apart from finding out about the company and being thorough with your CV, it would be helpful to follow these tips:
• Make a rational assessment of yourself before you go for the interview. Know your strengths and weaknesses.
• Review your skills and abilities.
• Have a mock interview with a friend based on the common interview questions you’re likely to face.
• If you are asked to bring certificates, references, etc, get them ready well in advance to avoid having to chase around them on the morning of the big day.
• If you have filled up a statement of purpose as part of the application, be ready for some probing questions based on this.
• Be sure you know the time, date and location of the interview.
• Decide how you will get there and when you need to set off to arrive in good time, anticipating any delays. Visit the place once beforehand if possible.
• If you look good, you tend to feel good too. Avoid any last minute panic by preparing what you’re going to wear the night before.
• Don’t go into the interview with lots of baggage - psychological or physical. Take the bare minimum with you so you can concentrate on the interview, and nothing else.
• Prepare at least 5 questions that you would like to ask the panel about the company or your job. You don’t have to ask them all. See for yourself what is most appropriate to ask during the interview.

(a) What should be your state of mind when getting ready for a job interview?
(b) Why do you need to do adequate homework about the company where you have been called for an interview?
(c) What sort of information can you get about the company from the internet?
(d) Going for an interview is just like going for an exam? Discuss.
(e) Regarding the tips given in the passage which is the most useful for you and why.

Q2. Find words from the passage that mean the same as the following:

(a) The state of being prepared for something
(b) To the maximum
(c) To stand out
(d) Possible in the future
(e) Eagerness
(f) Most important
(g) Give details
(h) Objective and reasonable
(i) Searching
(j) Being aware of

Q3. Identify the part of the sentence which is grammatically incorrect:

(1) Even in thick fog, (2) the tower of the Taj (3) can be seen clearly (4) and so do those of the Agra fort.
(1) (1)The ship had sank (2) in the Pacific (3) before the distress signal (4) was sent.
(1) (1)Rajiv drove (2) as fastly as he could (3) but failed to (4) overtake the train.
(1) I don’t wish (2) to buy a new camera (3) as my old one (4) works perfect.
(1) The meanings of certain (2) difficult terms and phrases (3) are given (4) in the bottom of the page.

4. Rewrite these sentences beginning with the words given below.

(a) The crop have been destroyed due to heavy rainfall.
Heavy rainfall………………..
(b) We will hold the meeting on 9th of this month.
The meeting………………..
(c) The farm is being sold.
They are ………………..
(d) You are requested to maintain silence.
Please ………………..
(e) The college has organized an inter-school debate competition.
An inter-school………………..

Q5. Fill in the blanks with a/an, the or no article Ǿ.

The larger …….. meeting, the more difficult it becomes to reach at …….. decision. …….. ideal size of …….. meeting depends on…….. purpose of …….. meeting. If…….. meeting has been called to give…….. information to the members, the number of participants do not matter. But if …….. meeting has been called to take…….. decision on any matter, it is advisable to call just…….. few individuals for it.
All…….. meetings have something in…….. common. …….. most important feature is …….. agenda. The next is the role of …….. Chairperson. …….. efficient chairperson will adhere to …….. agenda and time and focus only on…….. purpose, and …….. reaching desired objectives of the meeting.

Q6. Write short notes on the following:

(a) An effective meeting
(b) How to overcome panic while presenting

Q7. Write an essay in 250 to 300 words on any one of the following:

• Social Media is Boon or Bane for students.
• The impact of Artificial Intelligence on Society.
• The role of ICT in the business success.

Q8. Mark the stress in the following words:

examine examination
academic academician
favourite favoritism
exhibit exhibition
govern government

Q9. Write a conversation between you and your father. Discuss how people have, over the years, changed the way they spend their leisure time. Take about 15 turn’s atleast.

Q10. Write a letter to a friend about your new job in a Multi National Company. Talk about the nature of work that you do and the satisfaction that you derive from it. Also talk about your team-lead, team members and project manager. Write in about 150 words.

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.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ii. You’re booked on flight AI 879 on May 16. You want to postpone this to ZZ 857 on May 17.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
iii. Flight RA 372 doesn’t leave till 5pm but you’ve arrived at the check-in desk at 12 noon
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
iv You don’t understand how to get a boarding-pass from an automatic machine. Ask a passer-by for help.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
vi. You have arrived late because your flights’ delay. Apologize to your host or hostess.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
vii. You don’t understand some of the dishes on the menu. Ask your companion for help.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
viii. You want to order a plain dosa, which is not on the menu.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ix. Ask your companion to recommend a local dish.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
x. At the end of the meal you want to pay the bill, but the waiter has given it to your companion.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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