INTRODUCTION
Man is a social animal. He does not live in a vacuum. He lives in an environment. He lives in the society. Communication is the invisible thread that binds him to society. Communication may be written or oral .But more than the written communication; it is the oral communication that builds human relationships. It enables mankind to exchange ideas, feelings, emotions, love and affection to other human beings. The importance of communication can be gauged from what we are communicating in some form or the other almost every moment of our lives. Whether we are walking, talking, playing, sitting or even sleeping, a message is being formulated and transmitted to a person or persons. For the listener it is necessary to understand the communication and apply or modify it in a suitable manner. It is composite of symbols, gestures, and illustrations that accompany either the spoken or the written words.
ORAL COMMUNICATION AN EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT TOOL
Oral communication takes the form of a speech. Speech may be formal or informal. Informal speech is made during the day-to-day life. For instance, parents speak to children and vice versa; friends and relatives communicate, businessmen and customers communicate, teachers and students communicate to each other in the learning process. Formal speech, on the other hand, is made on occasions. It may be a social occasion like festival, political occasion like electioneering or business meetings. Whatever may be the type, oral speech must be delivered effectively. When it is ineffective the purpose is lost. The entire effort taken by the speaker, to draft and deliver the speech becomes a colossal waste. A personnel manager has to speak to his subordinates to get work done through them. A production manager has to instruct his workers about executing his work. A finance manager has to explain the prospects of investment to investors. A marketing manager has to speak to his customers for promoting his products. A general manager has to communicate to all employees under various circumstances. The chairman has to address the share holders in a general body meeting. The importance of speech depends on how effectively it is able to achieve the objectives. Thus, speech or oral communication is a "Management Tool".
SPEECH MAKES A LEADER
A powerful speech can stir people to mutinies to rebellion; it can also make them dispirited or downcast. It converts an agitating mob into a peaceful gathering .Business and political leaders are endowed with the art of good speech; a clergyman delivers sermon to devotees through good speech; and a labour leader binds his fellow workers together to focus their demand for collective bargaining. It is a fact that all these leaders make their speech audience-oriented, interesting and inspiring. A good speaker is lively, earnest; listener oriented and has a sense of responsibility to his audience and his subject of speech. Such a good speaker becomes a mass leader.
SPEECH IN THIRUKKURAL
Modern management gurus emphasize the use of oral communication as an effective management tool. However this emphasis has been laid in ancient Tamil literature. One such literature is "Thirukkural", composed by the sage poet Thiruvalluvar, 2000years ago. Thiruvalluvar belongs to the 'Tamil sangam' era patronized by the Tamil Kings of Pandiyas. Thiruvalluvar had emphasized the importance of managerial concepts like forecasting, planning, organizing and speech making through his poems. His contribution to the management philosophy is very clear and brought out in various forms through many of his Kurals. There are adequate evidences in his Kural, to prove that he was a super poet, manager, statesman, economist and counselor. As a manager, he advocates effective speech as a tool for successful management of human beings. All these management concepts are relevant even today in modern management practices. In his 65th chapter of Thirukkural, Thiruvalluvar speaks volumes about the quality and need for good speech. This is evident from the following equivalent meaning of the ten 'kurals' or 'Couplets'..
According to Thiruvalluvar, the following are the characteristics of good speech:
* Good speech is like valuable asset or wealth which can not be matched with any other wealth.
* Use of soft words in speech will earn fame whereas harsh words will bring misery both to the speaker and listener.
* An effective speech is attractive to listeners; it is capable of attracting the attention of uninterested people also.
* A speaker should weigh the pros and corns of using some words and use the appropriate words, so as to bind the audience.
* Care should be taken to select the most appropriate words for use in a speech with a view to win over the people, only such words will earn the desired virtues and values.
* It is the duty of the speaker to impress the listener with meaning ful words. In other words he should make the speech understandable.
* A powerful speech empowers the audience with strong ideas even to defeat their competitors easily.
* The use of sweet and cogent words in speech will help motivating the listeners to do what the speaker wants.
* A speaker who fails to use flawless and clear words does not achieve his goals.
* It is essential that a speech should disseminate knowledge to the audience; otherwise it will be like a bunch of flowers without fragrance.
TEN COMMANDMENTS TO THE SPEAKER:
In brief, Thiruvalluvar's ideas can be summarized and called as his ten commandments for making effective speech.
They are as follows:
1. Ensure good quality of speech.
2. Use soft and sweet words in speech.
3. Incorporate attractive messages in the speech.
4. Adopt powerful words that can bind the audience.
5. Select words that can win over the minds of people.
6. Make your speech impressive to listeners.
7. Enlighten the audience with correct and flawless message.
8. Make the speech sweet, cogent and interesting.
9. Deliver the speech with clarity of thought and without any flaw.
10. Ensure your speech disseminates knowledge and wisdom.
Communication starts from and ends with the sender. The sender has to get a feed back about his communication. The feedback is what the receiver understands and reacts to the message. It is a two way process. The process gets ended only when the receiver understands the information sent by the sender in the same way, as he perceived it, so whoever the sender may be, and for whatever the purpose of communication it may be, if the speaker follows the "Ten Commandments of Thiruvalluvar", it would lead him to success.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of the above study, it can be concluded that every manager should possess the above Ten Commandments for the successful running of any organizations. Modern management calls for more than developing a product or service, pricing it attractively, and making it accessible to all customers. Companies must also communicate with present and potential stakeholders, and with the general public. To fulfill this process oral communication can be grabbed as an exact tool, with could be sharpened by the commandments of thiruvalluvar.
By Prof. M.R. Vanithamani Asst. Professor School of Management
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